Description

Technical field

The present patent application for invention relates in general to the field of finishing works of a building and in particular to that of door and window frames in general.

The invention is applicable to any field where such a type of device can be advantageously used, but preferably it relates to the field of door and window automation.

Prior art

As is known, a roller shutter gearmotor consists of a system by which it is possible to raise or lower a roller shutter simply by acting on an electric switch.

This system is actually very practical for the user, as it allows the user not to have to raise the shutter manually.

Generally these types of gearmotors are suitable for metal shutters having a weight of even one hundred kilograms. For this reason, it is understood that these lifting devices are still widespread today.

Many types of gearmotors for metal shutters are already known in the art, which are reliable or perform the task for which they were designed very well. However and as reported below, such systems are not totally free from drawbacks to be solved in the art.

In fact, one of the most important drawbacks consists of the weight of these gearmotors for shutters, which - even though there are numerous embodiments which tend to reduce it - it is always equal to at least ten kilograms. This condition actually causes serious discomfort for those who have to install it on a spring-holder shaft of the shutter, which obviously is located at a considerable height from the ground and in difficult-to-access positions.

This condition means that precisely due to the technical features of said gearmotors available on the market, installation must always take place through at least a pair of installers who operate in difficult conditions and who will have to handle and support a considerable load and in an inaccessible position.

The alternative that is often pursued in place of the double installer is to constrain said gearmotor to the respective shaft using unsafe methods or without guarantees of stability and safety, such as those that use the temporary fixing of the gearmotor in a triggered condition on the spring-holder shaft by means of an iron wire and so on.

Our invention starts from the assumption that this drawback must be solved, leaving out the search to obtain ever lighter gearmotors, but focusing on the creation of a gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters, which due to the technical features of the fixing mechanism is safe and easy to install even by a single installer and all that must be done in total safety.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is generally to provide a gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters which is safe, provided with all the necessary stability and safety guarantees and therefore can also be installed by a single installer, as well as to make the installation method thereof known with the aim of solving or at least minimizing the above drawbacks, as will appear from the detailed description of an exemplary and non-limiting embodiment thereof, illustrated below.

Summary of the invention The present patent application for industrial invention is intended to describe and claim a gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters and the relative method of installation which are provided with at least a new and alternative solution to the solutions known to date and in particular it aims to obviate one or more of the drawbacks or problems referred to above and/or to meet one or more needs perceived in the art and in particular deducible from the above.

For this purpose, the inventors start from the assumption that the majority of common gearmotors for roller shutters existing on the market are made up of the same main components, including, among others, a system for installing the gearmotor respectively on a spring-holder shaft of a shutter. Said installation system of the gearmotor generally consists of two distinct elements each having a hollow semi-cylindrical shape, the reciprocal coupling and tightening thereof around a spring-holder shaft locks the gearmotor in position thereon. More specifically, a semi-cylindrical element is die-cast with the body of a common gearmotor placed at the top and in contact with a spring-holder shaft, while the other lower hollow semi- cylindrical element is coupled to the similar upper hollow semi-cylindrical element and tightened around the spring-holder shaft by screwing four bolts inserted respectively into four holes obtained in the lower semi-cylindrical element and screwed into the threaded portions obtained in the other upper hollow semi-cylindrical element.

As those skilled in the art will understand, although such aforesaid type of tightening is very effective, if mounted correctly, allowing very high tightening forces to be obtained, this has the limitation that the coupling of the two semi-cylindrical hollow elements by means of the four bolts is quite complicated to perform, especially if this coupling concerns the safe anchoring of fairly heavy objects and which must be carried out in conditions that are not entirely optimal for the installer.

Our invention starts from this need, implementing a coupling system of the two hollow semi- cylindrical elements of the gearmotor body for roller shutters, which can be easily done without the need to resort both to the presence of at least two installers and to the execution of dangerous highly unstable temporary constraints.

For clarification purposes, it should be noted that the coupling systems of the prior art consist in coupling the two hollow semi-cylindrical elements by making the relative through-holes made in the flat housing seats of the lower element coincide with those having screw threads and made in the opposing seats of the upper element and then inserting the respective bolts while trying to keep the system coupled. This solution, as is obvious, involves the serious drawback consisting of the difficulty of keeping the aforementioned holes aligned for the insertion of the connecting member, considering the weight of the gearmotor as well as the inconvenience with which the installers have to work.

The present invention achieves its main objects by basically providing a guide able to more easily constrain the lower hollow semi-cylindrical element to the upper hollow semi- cylindrical element and therefore make them mutually sliding in the longitudinal direction, until they reach a locking point in which the lower holes coincide with the upper holes. As is obvious, this solution is fundamental for solving the drawbacks described in the prior art, since even a single installer will be able without impediments to easily couple the two hollow semi- cylindrical elements and therefore to constrain them by means of the relative connecting members.

Therefore, to the full advantage of practicality and economy, the present invention constitutes an optimal compromise, since the inventive gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters on the one hand maintains the characteristic very high tightening forces around the spring-holder shaft and on the other the method of installation thereof is much easier than that present in the prior art and totally free from dangers and therefore carried out in total safety for the worker.

A further object is to propose a gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters which can be made on an industrial scale, whose components are of a standard type and perfectly available on the market and whose production is fully sustainable from an economic and environmental.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the detailed description of one or more specific embodiments thereof, protected by the various dependent claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The foregoing advantages, as well as other advantages and features of the present invention, will be illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered purely illustrative and not limiting or binding to the effects of the present patent application, in which:

- FIGURE 1 is a bottom perspective view of the gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters in a condition coupled and fixed to a spring-holder shaft according to the present invention;

- FIGURE 2 is a bottom perspective view of the gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters of Fig. 1 in a triggered condition;

- FIGURE 3 is a bottom perspective view of the gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters of Fig. 1 in a triggered condition but partially with the elements mutually engaged;

- FIGURE 4 is a bottom perspective view of a common gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters in a triggered condition and forming part of the prior art.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures and to a preferred embodiment thereof shown herein, in which identical numerical references have been used for the same components.

With reference to the various figures, these show a gearmotor safe anchoring system for roller shutters consisting of two distinct elements each having a hollow semi-cylindrical shape, whose mutual coupling and tightening around a spring-holder shaft locks the gearmotor in position on it. More specifically and as shown in Fig. 2, said gearmotor safe anchoring system consists of an upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100 which is die-cast with the body of a common gearmotor and which, placed in an upper position, is suitable for engaging a spring- holder shaft 300 and a lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 which in turn is placed below and is suitable for engaging said spring-holder shaft 300.

As shown in Fig. 1, said upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100 is coupled to the similar lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 and tightened around a spring-holder shaft 300 by means of common connecting members. A preferred embodiment shown in detail in Fig. 2 provides that said connecting members are bolts 400 inserted respectively into four through- holes 240 obtained respectively on four housing seats 250, obtained laterally and coplanar with the plane passing through the axis of said lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 and introduced and screwed in four threaded holes 140 obtained respectively on four housing seats 150 made laterally and coplanar with the plane passing through the axis of said upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100.

Even more specifically of the present invention, on the lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 at the level of each housing seat 250 there is a guide element 500 extending above, which is adapted during the coupling step of the lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 with the upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100 to engage and implement, as shown in Fig. 3, a constraint limiting the displacement in the longitudinal direction only of the housing seats 150 with respect to said guide elements 500 and in which said housing seats 150 engage in said guide elements 500.

Also and in particular, said couplings between said guide elements 500 and the relative housing seats 150 are made possible up to a locking point in which the through-holes 240 coincide with the respective threaded holes 140, implementing a stable coupling, which does not requires support and which considerably simplifies the tightening step by inserting the bolts 400.

This solution constitutes an optimal compromise, as the inventive gearmotor safe anchoring system for shutters on the one hand maintains very high tightening forces around the spring- holder shaft 300 and on the other hand the ease of insertion of the bolts 400 into a stably coupled system and with aligned holes is much easier than the solutions present in the prior art and totally free from dangers and therefore implemented in total safety for the worker.

The method of installation of the device object of the present invention will now be described, again with reference to an application on a spring-holder shaft 300 suitable for supporting the winding of a shutter, contrasting it in particular with the methods present in the prior art as well as inferable from what shown in Fig. 4.

The method of installation of a gearmotor for shutters by means of the inventive safe anchoring system generally comprises the coupling of the upper hollow half-cylindrical element 100 with the similar lower hollow half-cylindrical element 200 on the spring-holder shaft 300. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 3, the tightening around the spring-holder shaft 300 comprises the preventive engagement between said upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100 with the similar lower hollow semi-cylindrical element 200 on the spring-holder shaft 300, therefore a longitudinal sliding constrained so that the guide elements 500 engage and receive the relative housing seats 150 of said upper hollow semi-cylindrical element 100. In particular, said couplings between said guide elements 500 and the relative housing seats 150 are, by virtue of the conformation of the joints made, made possible up to the point where the through-holes 240 coincide with the respective threaded holes 140, thereby making a stable coupling possible even without the aid of the bolts 400 and finally the insertion of the bolts 400 in the through- holes 240 and then the screwing of the threaded portion of the bolts 400 into the respective threaded holes 140 for correct tightening on the spring-holder shaft 300.

Of course, the data provided herein are purely illustrative and absolutely non-limiting of the scope of the present invention, since they serve exclusively to enable a person skilled in the art to understand some possible applications and embodiments of the invention. Such data therefore serve rather to extend and not to limit the content of the present invention, various obvious modifications could be clearly made by the average person skilled in the art to the above exemplary and non-limiting embodiments described with reference to the figures, without implying an extension beyond the inventive concept as defined by the following dependent claims.