The present invention relates to a door holding device of the kind set forth in the preamble of Claim 1.

The object of the present invention is to provide a door holding device which will hold the door automati¬ cally in a fully open position and which can be re¬ leased readily so as to permit the door to be closed, and which is robust and reliable in operation and can be manufactured cheaply.

This object is achieved in accordance with the inven¬ tion defined in the following Claims and described hereinafter with reference to an exemplifying embodi¬ ment of an inventive door holding device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 illustrates the inventive device with the door in an open and a closed position respectively; Figure 2 illustrates that end of a holding rod forming part of said device which is pivotally at¬ tached to a slide mounted in the rail fixedly attached to the door; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III in Figure 2;

Figure 4 illustrates the other end of the holding rod, said end being pivotally attached to a door frame; Figure 5 illustrates the position of the slide when the door is almost fully open; Figure 6 illustrates coaction of the slide with a latching device pivotally mounted on the rail, and shows the door in a fully open position; and Figure 7 illustrates a slide position in which the latching device is released.

Figure 1 is a very simplified illustration of the operational state of the inventive device when the door 1 is in a closed position A and a fully open position B. Attached to the door 1 is a rail 2, which in the illustrated embodiment is a C-rail and in which a slide 3 is slidably mounted. The slide 3 is pivotally con¬ nected to one end of a holding rod 4. The other end of the holding rod 4 is pivotally connected to a pivot journal 5 mounted on a door frame (not shown) and pivots around the pivot journal 5 in a substantially horizon¬ tal plane when the door 1 is opened, said door being mounted on hinges 6. As will be seen from Figure 1, when the door 1 is swung outwardly, the slide 3 will move in the rail 2 from a first position A' to a second position B', in which the slide 3 is in abutment with a pressure spring 18 and compresses said spring to some extent, as described hereinafter. The slide 3 is lat¬ ched in the rail 2 in the illustrated position B', so as to prevent the door 1 from closing.

Figure 2 illustrates the slide 3 in the position A' and also shows the end of the holding rod 4 connected to said slide. The holding rod 4 has a flat end-part 8 provided with a centrally located hole (not shown) . As will best be seen from Figure 3, the slide 3 is pro¬ vided with an abutment member 9 which projects out through the central, longitudinally extending channel 10 of the rail 2 and forms an abutment surface for the end-part 8 of said rod. A bolt 11 is inserted through a hole in the abutment member 9 and through a correspond¬ ing hole in the end-part 8. The bolt 11 is held in position by means of a lock washer 12 and forms a pivot journal which enables the holding rod to swing relative to the abutment member 9 and therewith relative to the slide 3 and the rail 2. Figure 4 illustrates the op-

posite end of the holding rod 4. This opposite end of the rod is also provided with a flat end-part 8', which abuts a flat surface on a bracket structure 13 which is screwed firmly to the upper, horizontal part of the door frame 14, said flat surface extending horizontally in the assembled state of the inventive device. A pivot journal of the same kind as that described above con¬ nects the end-part 8' with the bracket structure 13.

When opening the door 1, the holding rod 4 functions to move the slide 3 in the rail 2, from the position A illustrated in Figure 2 to the door-latching position B, in which the door 1 is fully open.

Figures 5-6 illustrate a latching device 15 which is freely pivotal on a pivot journal 16 carried on the upper side of the rail 2. The latching device has the form of a plate of uniform thickness and in its non- activated state hangs vertically downwards (Figure 5). Figure 5 shows the slide 3 as it approaches the latch¬ ing position B'. During movement of the slide, the abutment member 9 provided on said slide 3 will reach the edge IS' of the latching device and the latching device will be rotated clockwise, as seen in Figure 5, and the forwardly located, preferably straight edge 9 ' of the abutment member (as seen in the direction of movement) will pass beneath and beyond a bottom recess or notch 17 provided in the latching device and reach the position shown in Figure 6. During at least that part of the movement of the slide 3 during which the freely-pivotable latching device 15 located outwardly of the rail 2 is swung, said movement takes place agai¬ nst the action of a compression spring 18 or some like spring element, which exerts a large resistive force on the slide. When the abutment member has reached the

position illustrated in Figure 6, the latching device 15 swings anti-clockwise and an wall-part 17' on the recess 17 is moved to a latching position behind the rear edge 9" of the abutment member. A second wall-part 17" of the recess 17 passes, at the same time, into engagement with the upper, horizontal surface of the abutment member 9 and prevents the latching device 15 from being swung anti-clockwise by the spring force acting on slide 3 so as to release slide 3 and therewith the latched door 2. In the illustrated em¬ bodiment, the recess 17 has the form of a right-angled triangle with one long side 17" and one short side 17', although it will be understood that said recess may have other configurations. For instance, the side or wall 17" of the recess 17 may be concave.

When wishing to release the door 2 from its latched position, the door is pressed slightly in a clockwise direction in Figure 1, wherewith the spring 18, which is not fully compressed in the door-latching position, is further compressed by the slide 3, and when the edge 9" on the abutment member 9 reaches the position shown in Figure 6, the latching device 15 will swing anti¬ clockwise to the rest position shown in Figure 1. When the door 2 is released, the spring 18 will move the slide 3 to the right in Figure 7, therewith causing the edge 9" on the abutment member 9 to swing the latching device 15 anti-clockwise from said rest position and said latching device is able to pass freely due to the fact that its bottom part slides freely pivotally on the upper surface of the abutment member.

Although the invention has been described with refer¬ ence to an exemplifying embodiment thereof, it will be understood that modifications can be made within the

scope of the following Claims. For instance, the il¬ lustrated helical spring 18 can be replaced with a resilient body of any appropriate kind, for example a rubber body.