The present invention relates to a crush-proofing safety device in automatically opening doors, which finds specific but not exclusive use in the opening phase of doors of lifts and elevators, both of the centrally opening kind and of the telescoping kind.

In the field of lifts and elevators, safety devices are known which are destined to prevent the accidental crushing of the users between the doors during the closure thereof.

Said devices are generally based on photocell systems in which the interruption of a light beam reveals the presence of an obstacle between the doors.

For the same purpose, pressure sensors can also be used which detect the presence of a person between the doors and command them to invert their motion and open again.

All devices described above are activated in the closure phase and serve exclusively to prevent a person to be crushed trapped between the doors.

However, no such protection is provided during the opening of the doors, except in the Italian patent for industrial invention IT 1272823 by the same Applicant, which solves the problem of the possible crushing of the fingers in the gap present between the door as it is opening and the jamb of the door, through the use of means shaped in such a way as to constitute a movable surface which is positioned between the door and the outer frame or jamb, and which, when struck, moves thereby activating a device for stopping the motion of the door and possibly inverting the direction of motion.

Such movable surface is preferably made with a metal or rubber section applied to means for connecting with the jamb and able to actuate a micro-switch for stopping the motion of the door.

This device, however, was provided for use between the door and the jamb, but in the case of doors with multiple panels, in particular telescoping, the problem of crushing could also arise in the gaps present between two contiguous panels.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION.

The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the aforesaid drawbacks and to make available a crush-proofing safety device, which is suitable for use, in the opening phase, both in centrally opening and in telescoping doors, and which has such shape and dimensions as to be suitable to protect both the gaps between door and jamb and those between the door panels.

Said aims are fully achieved by the device of the present invention, which is characterised by the content of the claims set out below and in particular in that it comprises means shaped in such a way as to constitute a movable surface which is positioned between the panel closest to the jamb and the jamb or between two contiguous panels and which, when struck, moves and thereby activates a device for stopping the motion of the door panels and possibly inverting their direction of motion.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION.

This and other features shall become more readily apparent in the following description of some preferred embodiments illustrated, purely by way of non limiting example, in the accompanying tables of drawings, in which: -Figures 1 and 2 show the device applied to a door or to a jamb, respectively in the active and resting position; -Figure 3 schematically shows a doors with multiple devices applied.

With reference to the figures, the reference number 1 globally indicates a door of a lift or of an elevator, which door comprises a plurality of panels 2 able to slide along the threshold of the door on appropriate guides 3 in a known manner, to enter, during the

opening phase, into a compartment 6 to the rear of an outer frame or jamb 5 or to the rear of a contiguous panel.

The door 1 is described herein in the specific case of employment for lifts or elevators, but the device of the present invention may also be used in any door of the automatically opening kind.

In the illustrated embodiment, the door has four centrally opening telescoping panels, but the device can also be applied to doors provided with a different number of doors and with central or telescoping opening.

The device of the present invention can originally be fastened both to an outer frame or jamb 5 of the door and to a door panel 2, as shown in Figure 3.

The device comprises a vertical section 11 substantially extending in length over the entire height of the door, which section enters a recess 4 situated to the rear of the jamb 5 or to the panel 2, substantially entering to measure into a gap 9 between the panel 2 and the jamb 5 or between contiguous panels 2, leaving a clearance of about 6 mm.

The section 11 is so shaped as to constitute substantially a closure surface 7 for the gap 9, movable relative to the jamb or to the panel through means 10 for connecting to the jamb or to the panel, means which comprise a plurality of hinges 12 fastened on one side to the section 11 and on the other to the panel or to the jamb, as Figures 1 and 2 clearly show. The section 11 can be made of various materials, for instance of sheet metal or rubber.

To the jamb 5 or to the door panel 2 is fastened a micro-switch 14 whose activating element 13 can be a pushbutton or a lamina, which is activated as a result of the displacement of the vertical section 11 struck by a user. This activation takes place by means of pressure or rotation of the element 13.

The section 11 internally comprises elastic means not shown herein, and constituted for

instance by laminas or return springs having the task of bringing the section back to the resting position at the end of the activation.

The element 13, in a variation not shown herein, can be associated to the movable surface 7 to strike a contact of the micro-switch 14.

If a person, and in particular a child, inadvertently puts a hand against the door panel 2 in the area in correspondence with the jamb 5 (or with the contiguous door panel) during the door opening phases, i. e. during the sliding of the door panels, a small rotatory angular displacement of the movable surface 7 about the hinges causes the micro-switch 14 to trip, thereby immediately stopping the motion of the door panels and possibly the inversion of their motion (from opening to closure) to prevent any injury due to crushing from being inflicted to the user.

The element 13 and the micro-switch 14 constitute a device 8 for stopping the motion of the panels of the door.

The micro-switch can be of the type with normally open contact, which closes when activated by the movement of the section 11, or with normally closed contact, which opens when activated by the movement of the section 11.

The element 13 can also be of the normally pressed type, which is released as a result of the movement of the section 11, breaking the contact off : in this case the micro-switch with the element 13 would be placed in correspondence with the part 7a of the surface of the section 11. This part 7a would press against the element 13 except in the case in which the movement of the section 11 causes the release of the element 13.

The particular compactness of the section 11 allows the section to be applied both in correspondence with the jamb 5 and in correspondence with the door panel 2, to protect respectively the gap between jamb and door panel and between two contiguous door panels.