Field of Invention

The current invention relates to a safety door mount, in particular to a safety door mount comprising a hinge plate for magnetic attachment of a safety door.

Background of the Invention

Suicide prevention poses a major part of choosing and selecting fixtures and fittings within secure facilities and dedicated medical care buildings for patients at risk of self-harm and suicide. A traditionally used option is magnetic fittings that are used as hinge plates and the like to secure doors in place. The use of magnetically attached doors removes ligature points that can be used to affix a noose or the like around hinge points with the effect that any attempt to do so results in the magnetic connection between the door and the door frame being overcome by the weight of the person and the door coming away from the frame.

Such systems are known, see for example GB2570179, which describes an anti ligature system that utilises magnetic attachment between shoots and door frames to reduce ligature points, with a particular focus on ensuring the door is removed by application of non perpendicular force. In such examples, the magnets are provided in an exposed hinge mount to engage with a corresponding disc at the top of the corner of the door to magnetically attach the door to the mount, whilst allowing the door to be removed by a non-perpendicular force. However, this both requires an exposed mount, which could be used as a ligature point and/or can provide access to magnets in the door or mount that can be used by inmates to overcome maglocks and the like.

An alternative system utilises soft doors that easily come away from fixed wall hinges, with the doors having at tubular components that engages with the hinge but provides no point for a noose or the like to be placed over. Such a system is shown in US20090293364. An issue with the systems described above is that the affixing mechanism between the door and the frame is exposed, allowing for the possibility of tampering.

The use of magnets within the door is also problematic due to the widespread use of maglocks and the like to secure inmates or patients within the facility. Allowing inmates or patients access to magnets within the door therefore potentially compromises this security aspect.

The present invention aims to at least ameliorate the above mentioned issues. Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mount for securing a safety door to a door frame, said mount comprising: a hinge plate having a front face for mounting of a safety door and an underside face for securing against a door frame; and at least one magnetic element for engaging with a magnetic counterpart on the safety door to hingedly mount the safety door, said at least one magnetic element being concealed behind the front face to be not visible when the hinge plate is secured to the doorframe.

The present invention is typically used in institutions housing inmates or patients at risk of self-harm. Magnetically attaching a safety door (which in the present context is generally referring to a padded or soft door that acts as a privacy shield or the like at the entrance to a bathroom) is often used to reduce the risk of an inmate using hinge points between the door and the hinge plate as a ligature point.

Such doors are often saloon-type doors, having gaps at the top and bottom of the doors for patient safety and monitoring. Such doors often have artwork or other soothing scenes or decoration to promote patient wellbeing. Such doors are typically padded and/or made from a soft material to prevent risk of misuse as weapons or as tools for self-harm.

By concealing the magnets, their presence is not immediately evident to the patient or inmate, reducing the likelihood that the patient will seek to misuse them. A further advantage of the present invention is removing magnetic elements from within the safety door, which is the traditional approach used in the prior art. Given the easily removable nature of such safety doors and the widespread use of magnetic locks, heart monitoring devices and door top alarms, all of which are potentially disrupted by magnets, by concealing the magnets within or behind the mount, rather than within or on the door this risk is reduced.

In an embodiment, the at least one magnetic element may be provided on an underside of the hinge plate when the plate is attached is attached to the doorframe. Accordingly, the magnetic elements are concealed behind the front side or face of the hinge plate, typically by housing the magnetic elements within a rear space of the hinge plate profile. The hinge plate typically comprises at least one recess in the underside face and wherein each at least one element is placed within a corresponding at least one recess.

Alternatively, or additionally, the at least one element may be embedded within the hinge plate. This further reduces the risk of the magnetic elements being removed and misused by an inmate or patient.

Typically the plate is a plastics material. Such plastics include UPVC, Polycarbonate, or PVC.

In embodiments, the hinge plate may comprise a smooth front face profile. This acts to provide a hygienic, easily cleaned finish for washroom areas, and also provides no ligature points prone to abuse.

Similarly, the front face profile may be angled to avoid ligature points.

The hinge plate may comprise opposing end portions, said opposing end portions having an angled edge to avoid ligature points.

Generally a plurality of magnetic elements are provided, with said elements being spaced (either irregularly or being offset) to allow mounting of the safety door in one orientation only. This aids to prevent an inmate or user from placing the door onto the floor and engaging the door to the door frame, potentially providing a ligature point.

In embodiments, an attachment force of the magnetic hinged mounting may be configured to be weaker than 250 Newtons to allow the safety door to be easily released from the door frame. This prevents the safety door from being overloaded above the attachment force such that the magnetic coupling between the door and the mount fails if subject to such a force (for example by an attempt by a patient to hang themselves).

In embodiments, the at least one magnetic element may be a permanent magnet. Whilst an electromagnetic may be used, and can advantageously dynamically alter the attachment force, the use of permanent magnets ensures that no electricity supply (and backup) is needed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a safety door system for installation inside a door frame, said system comprising: a safety door, said safety door comprising one or more metallic attachment points; and a mount according to embodiment of the first aspect, wherein the magnetic elements are configured to align with the metallic attachment points to magnetically mount the safety door when the mount is attached to the door frame.

It can be appreciated that the safety door may contain no magnets. As noted above, this reduces issues associated with patients obtaining the magnets and using them to disrupt equipment.

According to a third aspect, there is provided a method of installing the safety door system according to the second aspect, said method comprising the steps of: securing the mount to a hinge side of a door frame, optionally covering old hinge rebates, such that the front face of the mount covers the hinge side to face away from the hinge side; and aligning the metallic attachment points of the safety door with the magnetic elements to form a magnetic hinged connection between the safety door and the door frame. In another example, there is provided a mount for securing a safety door to a door frame, said mount comprising: a hinge plate for magnetic hinged mounting of a safety door to a door frame, wherein the hinge plate is attachable to the door frame and comprises at least one magnetic element, said at least one element being concealed when the plate is attached to the doorframe.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from, and elucidated with reference to, the embodiments described hereinafter.

Brief description of Drawings

Embodiments will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawing, in which: figure 1 illustrates a top view of a mount according to the present invention, for mounting a safety door; figure 2 illustrates an end portion of the mount of figure 1 ; figure 3 is a close-up view of a fixing hole for the mount as shown in figure 1 ; figure 4 is an alternative view of the end portion of figure 2; figure 5 is an underside view of the mount of figure 1; and figure 6 is a close-up view of mounting holes for magnetic elements shown in figure 5.

It should be noted that the Figure is diagrammatic and not drawn to scale. Relative dimensions and proportions of parts of the Figure have been shown exaggerated or reduced in size, for the sake of clarity and convenience in the drawings. The same reference signs are generally used to refer to corresponding or similar feature in modified and different embodiments.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 shows a mount 100 for mounting a safety door to a door frame. The mount 100 comprises a hinge plate 110 having a front side 112 and opposing end portions 114. Arranged on the front side 112 are a plurality of mounting holes 120 for securing the hinge plate 110 to a door frame or the like. A safety door (not shown) may be magnetically attached to the hinge plate 110 to form a saloon style door (although other door styles may be employed).

The mount is typically dimensioned to fit within the height of a typical door frame, and the width of the hinge plate 110 can be chosen to cover previous existing hinge rebates, allowing the mount to be retrofit to existing door frames. In the example shown in the embodiment of figure 1, the mounting holes 120 are spaced across the hinge plate 110, with two mounting holes arranged at the end portions 114. Figure 2 shows a close-up view of an end portion 114. As shown, the front side 112 of the hinge plate 112 is typically smooth and the hinge plate 112 is typically made from a plastics material, such as UPVC, PVC or polycarbonate. It can be appreciated that other materials can be used, although metal is unusual due to the facilities where the invention is typically deployed, which aim to minimise potential tools usable for self-harm or as weapons.

Figure 3 shows a close-up view of the mounting holes 120. Each hole 120 comprises an annulus that comprises a outer hole 122 that forms a bore approximately half to two-thirds way into the profile of the hinge plate 110. An inner hole or bore 124 having a smaller radius, approximately a third as big as the radius of the outer hole 122 extends through the remainder of the profile of the hinge plate to provide a hole 120 through the hinge plate 120. This hole 120 is used to mount the hinge plate 110 to a door frame or the like with screws or other attachment means (not shown). Caps (not shown) can be used to cover and conceal the holes 120 to both maintain the smooth surface, which aids cleaning of the hinge plate 110 and ensures that no crevices remain to collect dirt and grime.

Figure 4 shows a close-up view of the end profile 114 shown in figure 2. In this image the chamfered and angled edge 128 is shown. This angled edge 128 is provided on each end profile 114 to ensure that the hinge plate 110 cannot be used as a potential ligature point, such that an attempt to position a rope or the like over or against the end profile 114 is unsuccessful due to the angled edge 128.

Figure 5 shows an underside 130 of the hinge plate 110. The mounting holes 120, in particular the inner holes 124 are shown at their corresponding locations. Additionally, as shown in greater detail in Figure 6, a plurality of recesses 132 are provided in the underside 130. These recesses 132 extend partially into the profile of the hinge plate 110. The recesses 132 are typically grouped and spaced along the hinge plate 110. Magnetic elements (not shown), such as permanent magnets, may be placed and secured within the recesses 132. The recesses 132 are typically exposed on the underside, but they may be capped or covered to embed the permanent magnets into the hinge plate 110. In use, the hinge plate 110 has magnets secured within the recesses 132. The hinge plate 110 is then secured to a door frame or the like using screws or other mounting means that secure the hinge plate 110 at the mounting holes 120. Caps may be used to cover the mounting holes 120.

Once secured to the door frame, the hinge plate 110 provides a smooth surface having concealed magnetic elements at predetermined points along its surface. A safety door, typically having metallic attachment points, can then be aligned with the magnetic elements to mount the door to the hinge plate 110 to form a hinged saloon style door. The metallic attachment points may be integrated into the safety door, and/or covered by padding or the like.

It can be appreciated that the spacing of the recesses and magnets typically matches and aligns with the metallic attachment points. It can also be appreciated that by grouping the magnets in the manner shown, this can ensure that the door can only be mounted in a predefined orientation. This can ensure that the door cannot be remounted in an alternative orientation by a patient, which can increase risk of misuse.

In the event of a patient attempting to use the door as a ligature point, the magnetic attraction between the magnets in the hinge plate 110 and the metallic attachment points in the door fail, and the door separates from the hinge plate 110. The metallic attachment force is typically between 50 and 500, and further typically between 100 and 400 Newtons, more typically between 200 and 300 Newtons and in one embodiment 250 Newtons.

The present invention conceals the magnetic elements used in safety doors in this industry to prevent misuse of the magnets by inmates or patients. Additionally, this system can be retrofit to existing systems. A further benefit is the reduced cost and requirements for the safety doors, which are more likely to be damaged by patients and require replacement.

From reading the present disclosure, other variations and modifications will be apparent to the skilled person. Such variations and modifications may involve equivalent and other features which are already known in the art of safety door systems, and which may be used instead of, or in addition to, features already described herein.

Although the appended claims are directed to particular combinations of features, it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present invention also includes any novel feature or any novel combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or implicitly or any generalisation thereof, whether or not it relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention.

Features which are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub combination. The applicant hereby gives notice that new claims may be formulated to such features and/or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom.

For the sake of completeness it is also stated that the term "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, the term "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality, and reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.