WO1999035360A1

WO1999035360A1 - A rolling fire door including a plurality of substantially unitary pivotal doors

Info

Publication number: WO1999035360A1
Application number: PCT/US1999/000006
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Mckeon
Original assignee: Mckeon Rolling Steel Door Company, Inc.
Priority date: 1998-01-06
Filing date: 1999-01-04
Publication date: 1999-07-15
Also published as: AU4119699A

Abstract

A curtain-type rolling fire door (10) that sealingly closes an entrance or opening to a room or structure may be equipped with a plurality of substantially unitary hinged doors (30) that may be individually or collectively opened when the rolling fire door (10) is in the closed position. Thus, access to the room or structure is provided through a plurality of hinged doors (30) when the rolling fire door (10) is in the closed position and mass ingress to and egress from the room or structure is possible. The hinged doors (30) may alternatively be raised with the rolling fire door (10) to provide access to the room or structure through the entrance or opening during an emergency or other situation where it is desirable to accommodate a mass exodus from the room or structure.

Description

A ROLLING FIRE DOOR INCLUDING A PLU.RALITY OF SUBSTANTALLY UNITARY PIVOTAL DOORS

BACKGROUND OF THE I.NVE.NTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to rolling doors and, more particularly, to a rolling fire door having a plurality of substantially unitary pivotal doors that may be opened individually or raised collectively along with the rolling fire door to permit ingress to and egress from a room or structure. Such a rolling fire door is especially useful for providing emergency exit from a large room such as, for example, casinos, conference centers, and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art

Curtain-type rolling fire doors provide a means for selectively opening and closing an entrance to a room or structure. These doors typically comprise a plurality of generally horizontally oriented slats and are selectively moveable between an opened and a closed position. In many applications, such doors must be fire door, e.g. constructed in accordance with applicable fire code regulations to withstand fire emergency conditions. When deployed in the closed position, such a rolling fire door may completely seal the entrance to a room or structure, thereby containing a fire within the sealed-off room to prevent the fire from spreading. When in the opened position, a rolling door permits free movement through the entrance opening. However, such doors must be disadvantageously deployed in either a completely open or a completely closed position to achieve the desired access to the room.

The above-described rolling doors may also be provisioned to accommodate one or more hinged doors. For example, U.S. Patent No. 5,577,541 to McKeon discloses a rolling door having two cut-outs disposed at horizontally opposite ends of the rolling door within which two fixedly mounted pivotal doors are hingedly connected to a door frame and seat within the rolling door when the rolling door is closed. As the hinged doors are not raised along with the rolling door, they obstruct the opening to the room or structure when the rolling door is in the raised or opened position.

U.S. Patent No. 4,603,723 to Sugihara discloses a curtain-type rolling door have a single hinged door fixedly mounted therein to permit ingress to and egress from the room or structure when the rolling door is in its closed position. A locking mechanism secures the hinged door in place when the rolling door is in the closed position. However, the locking mechanism, which is operated by a plurality of wires, wheels and springs, would not withstand severe conditions such as fire conditions, in which case the door would most likely malfunction, thereby causing the hinged door to lock shut. Thus, egress during a fire emergency would only be possible if the rolling door was deployed in its opened position -- an undesirable result as a primary purpose of such rolling doors is to seal -off or otherwise contain a fire within a specific area or location of a structure.

U.S. Patent No. 1,989,658 to McCloud discloses a rolling door having a single hinged door fixedly mounted therein to permit access to the room or structure when the rolling door is in its closed position. The rolling door comprises a plurality of glass or wooden panels arranged in rows and columns to form a pivotal door. Such a structure not only suffers from the same drawbacks of the aforementioned Sugihara patent, but the pivotal door configuration results in the rolling door being unable to accommodate more than one such pivotal door. Thus, egress from the room or structure during an emergency such as a fire wherein the curtain would, in a likelihood, be closed, would be through the single pivotal or hinged door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advantageously overcomes the above-described shortcomings of the prior art . In accordance with the present invention, a curtain-type rolling fire door that sealingly closes an entrance or opening to a room or structure is be equipped with a plurality of substantially unitary hinged doors that may be individually or collectively opened when the rolling fire door is in a closed position, i.e. when the entrance is closed. Thus, access to the room or structure is provided through a plurality of hinged doors when the rolling fire door is in the closed position and mass ingress to and egress from the room or structure is possible. The hinged doors may alternatively be raised with the rolling fire door to provide access to the room or structure through the entrance or opening during when it is desirable to accommodate a mass exodus from the room or structure.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are illustrative and not to scale, and wherein like reference numerals denote similar elements throughout the several views :

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a curtain-type rolling fire door disposed in a closed position and having a plurality of hinged doors mounted thereto and configured in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the rolling fire door of Fig. 1 with some of the plurality of hinged doors disposed in an opened position;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the rolling fire door of Fig. 1 disposed in an opened position; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of an alternative embodiment of the rolling fire door of Fig. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides a curtain- type rolling fire door that is particularly useful for providing ingress to and egress from a large room or structure, e.g. casinos, conference centers, concert halls, etc. In accordance with the present invention, a rolling fire door is equipped with a plurality of substantially unitary hinged doors that permit access to the room or structure when the rolling fire door is in a closed position, i.e. when it is lowered so as to seal or close an entrance or opening to the room or structure. When the rolling fire door is in the closed position, the hinged doors which are pivotally mounted to door frames attached to the rolling fire door may be individually opened and closed.

Referring to the drawings in detail, Fig. 1 depicts a rolling fire door 10 configured in accordance with the present invention. Door 10 is preferably constructed in accordance with fire safety regulations from substantially fire-proof material or from material that can withstand operation at high temperatures, e.g. in fire conditions. A canister 80 houses the means (not shown) for actuating the door -- such means being well known in the art -- and is sized and shaped to accommodate a rolled-up rolling fire door 10 (see Fig. 3) . The canister 80 is fixedly mounted to a wall 100 of a structure or room above an entrance or opening 70 (Fig. 3) . The terms "structure" and "room" are used interchangeably herein and are intended to indicate any substantially bound area that may be used to accommodate a mass of people. As shown, the rolling fire door 10 comprises a rolling curtain 12 formed of a plurality of substantially horizontal slats 20 that are hingedly connected to each other in a manner well known to those having ordinary skill in the art, such as by a plurality of horizontal hinges 22. Adjacent slats 20 may thus be caused to pivot with respect to each other as the rolling fire door 10 is rolled-up and into the canister 80. The rolling fire door 10 is positioned within the doorway 70 and is selectively moveable between a closed position, depicted in Fig. 1, and an opened position, depicted in Fig. 3. According to novel features of the present invention, and as described in further detail hereinbelow, mass ingress to and egress from the structure is possible regardless of whether the rolling fire door 10 is opened or closed.

Referring next to Fig. 2 and with continued reference to Fig. 1, a plurality of substantially unitary hinged doors 30 are mounted in a support frame 90 that is fixedly attached to the bottom slat 24 of the rolling fire door 10. The door frame 90 further comprises a horizontal cross-

SUBSTΓΓUTE SHEET (RULE 26) piece 40 mounted to the bottom slat 24. The door frame 90 additionally comprises a plurality of vertical stanchions including two vertical outer stanchions 50 that are affixed to the horizontal cross-piece 40 and are preferably disposed at opposite horizontal longitudinal ends thereof and a plurality of vertical inner stanchions 60 disposed in horizontally spaced-apart relation between the outer stanchions 50. The outer and inner stanchions 50, 60 thus defined a plurality of door frames or openings 52 through which persons may pass when entering or exiting the structure. Each of the hinged doors 30 is pivotally mounted to a respective door frame 52, e.g. to either an inner or outer stanchion 50, 60 by at least one hinge 32. As shown in Fig. 2, when with the rolling fire door 10 is in the closed position, the bottom 34 of each hinged door 30 rests in a position proximate the floor 110 of the room or structure. When disposed thusly, the rolling fire door 10 sealingly closes the opening 70 of the room or structure, while the individually and separately operable hinged doors 30 may be opened and closed to permit ingress to and egress from the structure. Thus, and by way of non-limiting example, all of the hinged doors 30 may be opened at the termination of an event such as a concert or trade-show to permit rapid and steady egress from the structure. Alternatively, fewer than all of the hinged doors 30 may be opened if controlled egress from the structure is desired. However, if increased egress is desired or if a higher opening is needed such as to place or remove large objects, e.g. machinery, from the structure, rolling fire door 10 can be retracted into the canister 80 to expose the opening 70.

In an alternative embodiment , depicted in Fig. 4, the door support frame 90 further comprises a horizontal base-piece 92. The opening 52 for the hinged door 30 is thus defined by the horizontal cross-piece 40, outer and inner vertical stanchions 50, 60, and the bottom horizontal base-piece 92. When the rolling fire door 10 of this embodiment is disposed in the closed position, the base-piece 92 rests in substantially abutting relation to the floor 110 of the room or structure.

Referring again to Fig. 3, and as stated above, the rolling fire door 10 may be selectively deployed in an opened position in which the curtain 12 is rolled into the canister 80. Because the hinged doors 30 are substantially unitary, they are not rolled into the canister 80 but instead remain external thereto when the rolling fire door 10 is in the opened or retracted position. Nonetheless, access to the structure through the opening 70 is virtually unimpeded when the rolling fire door 10 is in the opened position. This is especially useful during emergencies such as, for example, a fire, when any obstacle to mass exodus from the structure could prove fatal .

In operation, and by way of non-limiting example, the inventive rolling fire door 10 may be mounted on the wall 100 of a conference center where it is desirable to control the flow of visitors into and out of the center. If the conference center is being used for a trade show, the traffic flow through the opening 70 will be primarily in one direction, i.e. into the conference center, during the morning and early afternoon hours of daily operation. It is desirable here to control the flow of traffic so as to insure that only ticket holders gain access to the trade show. Thus, with the rolling fire door 10 disposed in the closed position as shown in Fig. 1, fewer than all of the plurality of hinged doors 30 may be selectively opened to control the flow of persons into the conference center, e.g. at the start of the day's activity for the trade show. There will also come a time when the flow of traffic, while still primarily unidirectional, will be out of the conference center -- as the day's activities near an end. Here, control of the flow of traffic is neither desirable nor required. In fact, it is desirable to maximize the quantum of persons passing through the opening 70 at the close of the trade show daily operations to expeditiously clear the conference center of visitors. All of the hinged doors 30 may be opened to facilitate a mass egress from the conference center. Alternatively, the curtain 12 and attached hinged doors 30 may be selectively raised and moved to an opened position as shown in Fig. 3 to permit maximum and unobstructed egress through the opening 70. Such a deployment of the inventive rolling fire door 10 is also especially desirable and advantageous for emergency situations as well as for the removal of large equipment from the structure. Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For .example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements shown and described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

60- 11 - CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A retractable fire door configured for sealingly closing an opening defined in a structure, said fire door comprising: a rolling door curtain having a substantially horizontally oriented bottom slat and being selectively moveable in a generally vertical direction between a first position in which said fire door substantially sealingly closes the opening defined in the structure and, a second position which is out of said first position; and a plurality of hinged doors fixedly mounted adjacent said bottom slat, each of said plurality of hinged doors being individually selectively operable and being sized and shaped to permit ingress to and egress from the structure when said rolling door curtain is in said first position, said plurality of hinged doors being vertically moveable together with said rolling door curtain when said rolling door curtain is moved between said first and said second positions so as to permit ingress to and egress from the structure when said rolling door curtain is in said second position.

2. The retractable fire door of claim 1, wherein said rolling door curtain further comprises: a plurality of substantially horizontally oriented slats disposed in stacked relation to and above said bottom slat; and a plurality of horizontal hinges hingedly connecting said plurality of slats.

SUBST╬ô╬ôUTE SHEET (RULE 26)

3. The retractable fire door of claim 1, further comprising a support frame fixedly mounted to said bottom slat and within which said plurality of hinged doors are hingedly mounted.

4. The retractable fire door of claim 3, wherein said door support frame further comprises : a horizontal cross-piece fixedly mounted to said bottom slat; a plurality of vertical stanchions fixedly mounted to said horizontal cross-piece in horizontally spaced apart relation to each other and configured for vertically supporting said plurality of hinged doors, one side of each of said plural vertical stanchions being configured for pivotally supporting a first vertical side of each of said plural hinged doors; and a plurality of hinges fixedly mounted to said one side of each of said plural vertical stanchions for pivotally mounting said each of said plural hinged doors to said door support frame; said horizontal cross-piece and said plural vertical stanchions defining an opening sized and shaped to accommodate at least one of said plural hinged doors and to permit ingress to and egress from the structure through said at least one of said plural hinged doors .

5. The retractable fire door of claim 4, wherein said plurality of hinged doors are mounted to said rolling door in horizontally adjacent relation to each other.

6. The retractable fire door of claim 4, wherein said plurality of hinged doors are mounted to said rolling door in horizontally spaced apart relation to each other.

7. The retractable fire door of claim 4, wherein the structure includes a floor and wherein said door support frame further comprises a horizontal base-piece, said plurality of vertical stanchions being connected between said horizontal cross-piece and said horizontal base-piece, said horizontal base-piece resting in substantially abutting relation to the floor when said rolling door is in said first position.

8. The retractable fire door of claim 1, wherein the structure includes a floor and wherein each of said plurality of hinged doors further comprises a bottom, said bottom of each of said plurality of doors resting in substantially abutting relation to the floor when said rolling door curtain is in said first position.