The present invention relates to a process for installing and dismantling folding screen arrangements such as those which comprise a vertically movable door leaf, for example, which is formed of a plurality of adjoining door leaf sections which can be connected to each other reciprocally articulated, and which is designe to be supported and guided in guiding and running tracks disposed on either side of the door leaf, etc., extending over the desired displacement path of the door leaf. The main object of the present invention is primaril to make it possible to install and dismantle this kind of screen arrangement simply and rationally, and thereby, amongst other things, to achieve an improved, ergonomic- ally adapted working environment for the installation personnel, the number of whom can also be reduced, thanks to the invention.

The said object is achieved with a process according to the present invention which is characterised in that a door leaf section is designed to be supported and guided by the said tracks, that a lifting arrangement is connected to each end of the door leaf section, that a plurality of elements appertaining to the screen arrange¬ ment is designed to be supported by the said door leaf section which is conveyed by means of the said lifting arrangements to the required height for subsequent installation or dismantling.

The invention also relates to equipment for carrying out the said process, characterised in that a door leaf section which has supporting and guiding elements at its respective ends .is provided at the said ends with elements designed to be connected each to their respective lifting arrangement disposed in the region above them,

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and that the said door leaf section has a plurality of devices which are intended to support elements appertain¬ ing to the screen arrangement.

The invention is described in the following, using as an example the installation of a screen arrangement, with reference to the accompanying drawings, on which:

Figure 1 shows equipment designed according to the invention, disposed in a door aperture, in the state wherein it is ready to lift up a counterbalancing arrange- ment which is designed to be mounted in the upper part of the aperture,

Figure 2 shows the equipment hoisted up into the position for mounting the counterbalancing arrangement,

Figure 3 shows the ^' setting up of theequipment before it is hoisted up into the position for mounting the counterbalancing arrangement,

Figure 4- shows a partial view of the lifting arrange¬ ment appertaining to the equipment, connected to and co-acting with a door leaf section, in its connected state,

Figure 5 shows a sequential view of the lifting arrangement and a protective device to prevent dropping down, with the device in an operative position,

_. Figure 6 is a perspective view of a carrier arrange- ment frame appertaining to the equipment, intended for the installing personnel, viewed at an angle from the front,

Figure 7 shows a supporting arrangement appertaining to the equipment and designed to support elements co - prised in the screen arrangement, in a locked state, viewed at an angle from the front,

Figure 8 shows a leg appertaining to the carrier arrangement frame, viewed at an angle from the front,

Figure shows a supporting arrangement in a state wherein it ^' is ready for installation, and

Figure 10 shows equipment according to the invention which is being used for assembling door leaf sections to form a door leaf.

A screen arrangement comprises a door leaf 1 which is formed of a plurality of adjoining door leaf sections 2 which can be connected to each other reciprocally arti¬ culated, and are supported and guided so that they can ^• be displaced vertically in guiding and running tracks 3 and 4- respectively, disposed on either side of the door leaf 1, extending along the desired displacement path thereof. The said tracks 3 _» - are preferably fabricated in lengths which are assembled together to form two continuous tracks at the site where the door is to be installed, and are fixed to a rigid support such as vertical uprights 5 and 6 and horizontal beams 7 and 8 respectively, for example.

In the vicinity of its respective short ends, a door leaf section 2 has guiding and running rollers 9 and a.protective device 10 to prevent dropping down which are designed to be accommodated in and co-act with the respective track 3 or 4-; this door leaf section is set in place in the tracks 3, 4- as shown in Figure 3. A lifting arrangement 11 in the form of an electrical lift¬ ing winch 11, for example, is suspended by its blocks 12 on the respective beams 7 and 8 or the like, so that the hoistin chains 13 can be looped round the block 12 and lift up the lifting winches 11 into the vicinity thereof. A hook 14- on each of the lifting winches 11, preferably with an arrangement to prevent the load suspended in the hook from sliding off it, is connected by means of a number of chains 15 or wires to a fixed part 16 which is supported on its associated fixing plate 17 on the said door leaf section 2; this plate 17 also supports the said guiding and running rollers 9 and the protective device 10 to prevent dropping down. A manually operated locking device 10', the function of which will be

explained later, is expediently also borne by the said plates 17.

The two electrically-operated lifting winches 11 are connected via their driving and control line 18 to a common control arrangement 19 which in turn is connected via a cable 20 to the electricity mains. Controlling the lifting winches 11 via the said control arrangement 1 _» the door leaf section 2 is hoisted some way up from the surface of the floor 21, after which a supporting arrangement 22, which is formed of a number of uprights 23 and is shown in Figures 7 and 9 _» is con¬ nected to the door leaf section 2. A supporting arrange¬ ment upright 23 consists of two upright elements 23A and 23B respectively which can be connected to each other. One element 23B is movable and is designed to be accommo¬ dated in the other element 23A. Each of the elements 23A, 23B has its own hook-shaped device 24- or 25 respectively which is designed to engage round the horizontal edge surface 2A or 2B respectively of the door leaf section 2, and they can be locked securely to each other by means of a tensioned locking element 26, which is preferably of the loop-over type of lever lock, with a co-acting lock hook 27 on the other element 23B.

After this, a carrier arrangement 28 which is designed to support the installation personnel when the door arrangement is being installed, is connected to the said door leaf section 2. The carrier arrangement 28 is formed of a number of supporting frames 29 which are shown in Figure 6 and preferably have a U-shaped cross- section, and which in turn consist of a number of support¬ ing frame elements 2 A, 2 B and 29C which can be connected to each other. The first element 29 is accommodated movable in a complementary horizontal part 29B' on the second element 29B, and they can be locked together by means of locking devices which are not shown on the drawing and which preferably consist of a tensioned

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locking arrangement of the loop-over lever type. The third element 29C is in turn accommodated movably in the said second element 29B and they are also designed to be connected together by means of locking elements which are not shown on the drawing, which may be of the kind mentioned above.

Hook-shaped engaging elements 30 and 31 respectively are provided on the rear face of the two said second and third frame elements 29B, 29C, and are designed each to engage, in a similar way to the hook devices 24-, 25 on the supporting arrangement 22, around the relevant horizontal edge surface 2A or 2B respectively on the door leaf section 2, and are securely locked when the locking elements for connecting and locking the supporting elements 29B, 29C to each other are activated. A platform 32, expediently formed of another door leaf section 2, is laid on the upper face of the horizontal parts 9A', 2 B' of the supporting frames 9 and a rail 33, in the form of a bar, for example, is placed in the respective channel-shaped holders A on the free ends of the said first frame elements 29A.

The two supporting elements 29 which are arranged at the respective ends of the door leaf section 2 each have a pivotably mounted hook 35 designed to be swung up and connected to a projection 36 on one of the frame elements 29A, and when it is thus pivoted up it forms a rail at the respective ends of the carrier arrangement 28

After this, two counterbalancing springs 37 and 38 appertaining to the operating mechanism of the screen arrangement, together with their associated wire wheels, etc., are lifted up and set in place, accommodated in their respective mounting arrangements 39 which are disposed at the upper free end of the respective up¬ rights 23, as shown in Figure 1. Alternatively, the springs 37 _j 38 may be positioned on the supporting arrangement 22 as shown in Figure 3, before the said

carrier arrangement 28 is connected to the.door leaf section 2 in the way described above.

The installation personnel who are to assemble the screen arrangement and who, with the present invention, can be reduced to a single person, take their place on the movable platform 32 thus ormed and, by means of the controlling arrangement 9 which is suspended, for example, on the supporting arrangement 22, actuate the lifting winches 11 to lift the door leaf section2 and the supporting arrangement 22 connected to it and borne by it, together with the springs 37, 38 and the carrier arrangement 28 with the installation personnel supported on it. The lifting winches 11, which are preferably of a particular type which slips when a specific weight is exceeded, is stopped when the springs 37, 38 have been raised to the level at which they are to be mounted. Formerly, such springs had to be brought up manually to the said height by someone on a ladder which, as will be readily appreciated, was a laborious and dangerous task since the weight of a single spring can reach around 75 kg. Serious back injury can result from this, and this is one of the problems which the invention seeks to resolve.

After fixing the said springs 37, 38 above the door aperture, the door leaf section 2 is lowered down to the plane of the floor 21 again, after which the supporting arrangement 22 and the carrier arrangement 28 are un¬ coupled and moved away from the said door leaf section 2. After this, further door leaf sections 2 can be inserted in the tracks 3, - via their respective rollers 9 and the optional protective devices 10 to prevent dropping down, and can be connected together by means of hinge connections 4-0 which are supported by fixed plates 17 thereon, -to form a long series of sections, as shown in Figure 10. After this, the door leaf part is lowered down so that it rests on the foundations 21,

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so that the lifting winches 11 can be released from the door leaf section 2 disposed at the top and connected to the door leaf section 2 located lowest down. After this, the door leaf part can be raised up by means of the lifting winches 11 a sufficient amount for further door leaf sections 2 to be connected to the ever-growing door leaf part, whereupon the latter is lowered to rest on the foundations 21 while the fixing point 16 of the lifting winches 11 is changed to the door leaf section located lowest down ^' . The said process continues until the door leaf 1 has attained the desired length and can be connected to the operating device for the screen arrangement, by means of wires connected to the said springs 37, 38, for example. Dismantling the screen arrangement is effected in the reverse order, i.e. the door leaf sections 2 are uncoupled from the door leaf 1 at the lower part thereof until the whole door leaf has been dismantled except for one door leaf section 2. The remaining door leaf section 2 is designed to support the supporting arrangement 22 and the carrier arrangement 28 in the manner described above, and to bring down the springs 37, 38 after they have been dismounted.

Thanks to the said protective device 10 for prevent- ing dropping down, the arrangement is safe to use, and the protective device 10 will now be described in more detail, with reference to Figures 4- and 5 on the drawings. A plate 41 with an eccentric shape is rigidly connected to one end of a rotation axle 4-3 rotatably mounted in an axle mounting part 4-2. A spring 44 is threaded onto the axle 43, resting via one section 44A against a fixed part on the door leaf section 2. Another section 44B of the spring 44 rests against a projection 45 which is rigidly connected to the axle 43, and the spring 44 strives to rotate the axle 43 and the eccentric plate 41 in a counter¬ clockwise direction, as viewed on the drawing. A rod 46

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which is rigidly connected to the axle 43 and forms part of the said protective device 10 for preventing dropping down, and which is designed to co-act with a pivot arm which co-acts with a traction wire, thus also strives to pivot in the counter-clockwise direction due to the said spring 44. The eccentric plate is designed to be accommo¬ dated in and to run along the tracks 3, 4 for the wheels 9 on the door leaf sections 2 when the rod 46 is disposed substantially vertically, but comes to rest via the inner faces on the flanges 3A or 3B of the tracks 3, 4- res¬ pectively when the rod 46 is rotated in the counter¬ clockwise direction. The lifting winches 11 are designed to rest against their respective rod 46 via one of their faces 11A, on which face 11A the supporting element 47 which is designed to rest against a door leaf section 2, is also borne by the respective lifting winches 11. If the lifting capacity of a lifting winch 11 fails, for example, in the event of one such lifting winch dropping down as shown in Figure 5, the rod 46 and the eccentric plate 41 rotate so that braking occurs against the track flanges 3A, 3B or 4A, 4B so that the door leaf 1 or the door leaf section 2 and the arrangement supported thereon are prevented from dropping down.

By means of the locking device 10' which is borne on the door leaf section 2 the rod 46 can be locked via an extensible part in a position wherein the eccentric plate 41 is made ineffective, which is desirable in certain phases, for example, when a free door leaf section 2 is to be moved along the tracks 3, - when it is being set up. The said locking device 10' is also designed so that it is automatically released from the said position wherein it co-acts with the rod 46 when the lifting arrangement 11 is activated to lift or lower a door leaf section 2. Further advantages afforded by the invention are that the equipment can be transported easily to the

place where it is to be used, since it is not bulky, and that elements which form part of the door are used for preparing the lifting platform.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment which is ^" described above and shown on the drawings merely by way of example, but can be modified with regard to its details within the framework of the following Patent Claims.

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/V. WIPO