"Friction device for braking the opening and closing movements of doors, windows, furniture and the like"

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DESCRIPTION The object of the present invention is a friction device for braking the opening and closing movements of doors, windows, furniture, and the like.

The need is very felt to brake the opening of doors and windows . In fact , in the event of vigorous , not accompanied, manual opening or closure or in presence of strong air streams, simply hinged doors and windows can be roughly opened or closed thus causing damages to people and things being within the opening and closure range of the door or window. The need is also felt to open and close furniture doors in a braked manner, mainly doors with horizontal hinge axis.

Friction devices are known to brake the opening and closing movements of doors and windows, in which these devices substantially provide two rotatably coupled parts, which are connected to the fixed part and movable part of the door or window, respectively; for braking, a flat friction ring is arranged between two coupling flat surfaces of the two parts of , the device, respectively.

In order to be capable of braking the forces acting on the movable part of the window and counteracting the inertia of this movable part, which can be somewhat heavy, the known friction devices must have a considerable size to have friction surfaces suitable to generate the frictional force required.

A considerable size, however, is hardly associated with aesthetic appeal requirements, which dictate for a device to be applied to a door, window or furniture to be as small as possible, in order to avoid affecting the appearance of the latter.

The object of the present invention is to provide a friction device to be applied to doors, windows, furniture and the like, which is capable of overcoming the above-mentioned drawbacks.

This object is achieved by means of a friction device to brake the opening and closing movement of doors, windows, furniture and the like, comprising first connecting means which are associated with a fixed part of the door, window or furniture, and second connecting means which are associated with a movable part of the door, window or furniture, wherein said first and said second connecting means are rotatably coupled to each other, characterized in that said first and said second connecting means

comprise elements with conical surfaces which are rotatably coupled with interference to create friction during the mutual rotation movement between said first and said second connecting means. A non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the invention is described herein below, as illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a friction device to brake the opening and closing movement of doors or windows, according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the friction device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an axially sectional perspective view of the friction device of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 shows an axial section of the main part of the friction device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of an enlarged detail showing an adjustment mode of the friction device of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, 7 show a perspective view of the friction device according to the invention when applied to a window, in the closed and opened positions of the window, respectively.

The friction device in Fig. 1, generally designated with 10, is configured as follows.

A plate. 11 equipped with holes HA for screws

12, illustrated in Fig. 6, 7, is provided to be secured to the fixed part of a door or window. The plate 11 is further equipped with an outwardly tapered median longitudinal groove HB.

This plate 11 is made as one piece with a bell- shaped element 13 in which a seat 13A is provided, which has a polygonal profile. In the bell-shaped element 13, a through hole 13B is provided, which communicates with seat 13A on the one side, and with the outside on the other side.

A ferrule 14 is accommodated within the seat 13A, which has a projecting base 14A with the polygonal outer profile matching the profile of seat 13A. Thereby, the ferrule 14 is rotatably locked within the seat 13A of the bell-shaped element 13. The ferrule 14 has an inner seat 14B having annular wall 14C with conical development and tapered towards the outside; the corresponding outer annular wall 14D of the ferrule 14 also has a conical development and is counter-tapered relative to the inner wall 14C. In the ferrule 14, a threaded through hole 14E is also provided, which communicates with seat 14B on the one side, and with the outside on the other side. On the bell 13, a lever 15 is pivoted, which has

an eyelet 15A at an end thereof, which is coupled to the bell-shaped element 13.

In the eyelet 15A, a bush 15B is integrally provided, which is joined to the eyelet 15A by means of a median annular partition wall 15C. The bush 15B defines an inner through hole 15D, consisting of two tracts 15E and 15F that are symmetrical relative to a transversal median plane, having annular walls 15G and 15H conically developing with counter-posed conicity and particularly each of the two tracts 15E, 15F is outwardly tapered. Between the annular outer body of the eyelet 15A and the inner ferrule 15B, two counter-posed annular seats 15L, 15M are provided, which are symmetrical relative to a transversal median plane, with outwardly tapered walls 15N, 15P conically developing with counter-posed conicity. The body of the eyelet 15A further has two counter-posed annular seats 15Q, which run outside of the hole tracts 15E, 15F and annular seats 15L, 15M; two respective rigid rings 16, for example made of metal, are accommodated within these seats 15Q. In the hole tract 15E of the bush 15B a ferrule 17 is partially accommodated, which has outer annular conical wall 17A with the same tapering as the hole tract 15E and having an inner through hole 17B with polygonal

section .

The lever 15 is fastened to the bell-shaped element 13, integral with the plate 12 by means of a ring-nut 18, a stem 19 and two screws 20, 21. The ring-nut 18 has a through hole 18A having a first tract 18B of larger diameter and a last tract 18C with polygonal section; the head of the ring-nut 18 has an annular series of tabs 18D. The stem 19 has a tract 19A externally having the same polygonal section as the tract 18C of the through hole 18A of the ring-nut 18 and inner hole 17B of the ferrule 17; the stem 19 further has a sequential externally threaded intermediate tract 19B to be coupled to the threaded hole 14E of the ferrule 14; at both ends of the stem 19, two threaded holes 19c, 19D are provided, which are suitable to accommodate the screws 20 and 21, respectively. The stem 19 is inserted within the hole 18A of the ring-nut 18, within the hole 15D of the bush 15B, within the hole 17B of the ferrule 17, within the hole 14E of the ferrule 14 and within the hole 13B of the bell-shaped element 13. The screw 20 is screwed within the hole 19C of the stem 19 and abuts against the bottom annular wall of the hole tract 18B of hole 18A. The screw 21 is screwed within the hole 19D of the stem

19 and abuts- against the outer wall of the bell- shaped element 13 at the hole 13B. The ferrule 14 results to be partially accommodated within the annular seat 15G within the eyelet 15A. The ferrule 17 results to be accommodated and rested within the seat 14B of the ferrule 14.

The lever 15 has, at the opposite end relative to the eyelet 15A, two opposite pins 15R.

The device 10 further provides a linear guide 22 provided with holes 22A for screws 23, one of which can be seen in Fig. 6, 7, in order to be fixed to the movable part of a door or window. The two pins 15R are slidably inserted within the guide 22.

The device 10 also comprises a wrench 23 of a flat and elongated shape, which is provided with a front gripping tongue 23A and having a front tooth 23B and finger-like portion 23C, a pin 23D laterally extending therefrom. As may be seen particularly in Fig. 1, this wrench 23 is inserted within the groove HB of the plate 11 and the tooth 23B of the wrench is inserted between two consecutive tabs 18D of the ring-nut 18 to rotatably lock the ring-nut.

The operation of the device 10 described and illustrated herein is as follows. In Fig. 6, 7, the device 10 can be seen as

applied to a window 100 that consists of a fixed frame 101 to which the plate 11 is secured by means of the screws 12 and a door leaf 102 being connected to the frame 101 by means of hinges 103 (only one of which is shown in the drawings) , and to which the guide 22 is secured by means of the screws 23.

With reference to Fig. 4, the device 10 is adjusted by rotatably acting on the ring-nut 18. The rotation of the ring-nut 18 causes the rotation of the stem 19, because of the polygonal section coupling of the tract 18C of hole 18A of ring-nut 18 to the tract 19A of the stem 19. The clockwise rotation of the stem 19 causes the ferrule 14 to be moved upwards from the bottom of the bell-shaped element 13: in fact, due to the rotational, though not axial, locking of the ferrule 14 within the bell- shaped element 13, and due to the screw coupling between the tract 19B of stem 19 and hole 14E of ferrule 14, the rotation of the stem 19 causes the axial movement of the ferrule 14. The upward movement of the ferrule 14 from the bottom of the bell-shaped element 13 results in an interference between the inner 14B and outer 14D conical walls of the ferrule 14 and the conical walls 15N of the annular seat 15L of the eyelet 15A of the lever 15, the eyelet 15A

being axially locked by the ring-nut 18. Furthermore, during the upward movement, the ferrule 14 also drives the ferrule 17, which is rotatably locked on the stem 19 by means of the polygonal section coupling thereto, but it is free to axially slide, which results in an interference between the conical wall 15G of the tract 15E of hole 15D of the bush 15B and the conical outer wall 17A of ferrule 17.

When the window is opened, i.e. in the example illustrated in Fig. 6, 7, when the door leaf 102 is rotated relative to the frame 101 of the window 100, the lever 15 rotates relative to the bell-shaped element 13 as it is driven by the door leaf 102 being opened, due to the sliding fastening being defined by the two pins 15R at the end of the lever, which slide within the guide 22.

The rotation of the lever 15 causes the rotation of the eyelet 15A of the lever relative to the bell- shaped element 13. The above-seen interference between the various conical walls 14B, 14D, 15N, 15G, 17A generates friction between the walls during the rotation of the eyelet 15A of lever 15 relative to the bell-shaped element 13, thereby braking the movement therebetween. Whereby, as the bell-shaped element 13 is integral

with the frame 101 and the lever 15 is connected to the door leaf 102, a braked opening movement is obtained for the door leaf 102.

The same braked movement is obviously obtained when the door leaf 102 is being closed.

The ring-nut 18 is not rotatably driven by the eyelet 15A, because it is locked by the tooth 23B of the wrench 23.

The frictional force generated by the conical walls can be adjusted using the wrench 23. Particularly, the wrench 23 is removed from the groove HB of the plate 11 and arranged such as illustrated in Fig. 5, with the finger-like portion 23C being fitted between the tabs 18D and the pin 23D being inserted within a polygonal recess 2OA of the screw 20, which is suitable to receive a wrench for screwing/unscrewing the screw 20. At this stage, by acting on the wrench 23, a rotation in either directions is carried out such as to increase or decrease the interference between said conical walls and correspondingly increasing or decreasing the frictional force that provides to brake the opening and closing movements of the window.

The device 10 described and illustrated above has a number of advantages.

The various interfering conical parts described above provide large friction surfaces which allow obtaining the required frictional force to brake the movement of a door or window that can be subjected to a certain amount of force .

The whole is obtained having a compact shape, in the most evident dimensional elements thereof, consisting of a relatively small sized cylindrical structure and a lever of reduced length. This makes the device 10 visually attractive and non-invasive when applied to doors and windows.

In addition, the device structure is not complex and thus has a low manufacturing cost, while being operatively reliable. The rings 16 result to be very effective in restraining any radial deformation of the eyelet 15A, which are due to the interference of the conical walls, thereby enhancing the frictional action.

The symmetry of the hole tracts 15E, 15F and annular seats 15L, 15M of the eyelet 15A of lever 15 allows using the lever 15 in the position as shown in the figures or in a reverse position in the event that the movable part of the door or window is hinged on the opposite side relative to that illustrated in the drawings.

It should be understood that variations and/or additions may be provided to what has been described and illustrated above.

The configuration, size ratios and number of elements may change from what has been illustrated herein.

The cylindrical elements rotatably coupled to interfering conical walls, which are the ferrule 14 and eyelet 15A in the example, can have more conical- walled concentric cavities and penetrate into each other to provide the interference between these multiple conical walls.

The connection of the fixed part to the movable part of the door or window can be carried out in any manner which is suitable to mutually rotatably move the friction-generating conical walled-elements.

The ring-nut and components contained therein which are intended to carry out an adjustable penetrating action between the conical walled- elements can be replaced by equivalent means. The same applies for the wrench, which can be replaced by an equivalent tool .

The solution described and illustrated herein proves to be, however, particularly simple and practical.

This friction device can be as effectively applied to furniture in order to brake the opening and closing movements of doors.

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