JP7546274B2 - Door closing assistance device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a door closing assistance device that assists in the closing operation of a pivoting door installed at the entrance or exit of a building or room by pulling the door toward the door frame during the closing process.

In recent years, door closers that can slowly and automatically close open doors have been increasingly installed on pivoting (hinge-type) doors that open and close openings such as entrances and exits of buildings and rooms. A commonly known door closer connects the upper stile of the door frame to the top end of the door with a connecting arm, and controls the opening and closing of the door by the action of a spring and hydraulic pressure. However, when such a door closer is installed, the door often feels heavy to open and close, and the hinges that support the door are constantly under load, which can cause problems such as abnormal noises from the hinge attachment part when the door is opened or the hinges being damaged.

In response to this, Patent Document 1 and other documents propose a door closing assistance device that consists of a device body that is attached to one of the door frame and the door that is rotatably mounted on the door frame, and a trigger that is attached to the other. When the door is closed, the retractable arm of the device body that engages with the trigger rotates during the process, thereby drawing the door to the door frame.

Unlike the door closer described above, the door closing assistance device configured as above does not have a connecting arm that connects the door frame and the door, and is designed to control the movement of the door only in the area where the door is relatively close to the closed position. Therefore, if an open door is manually closed to a certain extent, the door can be closed slowly and automatically from that point on, just like a door closer, and since it does not control the entire opening and closing operation of the door, it can be opened and closed relatively easily. In addition, since there is little strain on the hinges, strange noises and damage to the hinges are less likely to occur when the door is opened and closed.

JP 2010-95979 A

In the door closing assistance device of Patent Document 1, the device body is fixedly attached to the upper frame of the door frame, and the trigger is fixed to the upper end of the door, and the trigger shaft on the trigger engages with an engagement groove on a retractable arm on the device body to control the opening and closing of the door.

However, there are cases where the trigger shaft cannot smoothly engage with the engagement groove of the retractable arm due to dimensional errors in the door frame or door, dimensional errors in the components of the door closing assistance device, errors in the attachment position of the device body to the door frame, or errors in the attachment position of the trigger to the door. In such cases, it is necessary to remove the trigger or device body that has been attached, and adjust the attachment position of the trigger or device body until smooth engagement between the trigger shaft and the engagement groove of the retractable arm can be achieved, which is an extremely time-consuming adjustment process.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a door closing assistance device that assists in the closing operation of a door by engaging a retractable arm of the device body attached to one of the door frame and the pivoting door with an engagement member of a trigger attached to the other, and to easily adjust the position of the engagement member of the trigger in three dimensions.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a door closing assistance device that is comprised of a device body attached to one of a door frame and a door that is rotatably provided on the door frame, and a trigger attached to the other, the device body having a body case and a retractable arm that is rotatably supported on the body case and engageable with the trigger, and when the door is closed, the retractable arm of the device body that engages with the trigger rotates during the process, drawing the door to the door frame, the trigger being configured to comprise a base member that is attached to the door frame or door so that its position in the left-right direction can be adjusted, a slide member that is attached to the base member so that it can move up and down, and a trigger body that is attached to the slide member so that it can move back and forth, with an engagement member that engages with the retractable arm of the device body fixed.

According to the above configuration, by combining left-right position adjustment of the base member of the trigger, up-down position adjustment of the slide member relative to the base member, and front-rear position adjustment of the trigger body relative to the slide member, the position of the engagement member fixed to the trigger body and engaging with the retractable arm of the device body can be easily adjusted in three dimensions.

The specific configuration of the trigger is such that the base member of the trigger has a horizontally long hole extending in the left-right direction and is attached to the door frame or door with a trigger fixing screw that is passed through the horizontally long hole, and the mounting position of the base member to the door frame or door can be adjusted left-right simply by loosening the trigger fixing screw.

The slide member is attached to the base member by a vertically long hole extending in the vertical direction on one side of the base member of the trigger and the slide member, and a through hole overlapping the vertical hole on the other side of the slide member. A vertical adjustment screw is passed through the vertical hole and through hole, and a vertical adjustment nut is fixed to the periphery of the through hole and screwed to the vertical adjustment screw. This makes it possible to adjust the position of the slide member in the vertical direction relative to the base member.

The trigger body of the trigger includes an attachment member that is attached to the slide member so as not to be movable in the forward/backward direction, a support member to which the engagement member is fixed, and a forward/backward adjustment screw that is held on the attachment member so as not to be movable in the forward/backward direction but to be rotatable and that is screwed into the support member, and the support member can be moved in the forward/backward direction by rotating the forward/backward adjustment screw, making it adjustable in the forward/backward direction relative to the slide member.

As described above, the door closing assistance device of the present invention allows the position of the trigger's engagement member that engages with the retractable arm of the device body to be easily adjusted in three dimensions. Therefore, even if a problem occurs with the engagement between the trigger's engagement member and the retractable arm when the device body and trigger are installed, a simple position adjustment of the trigger's engagement member can be used to correct the situation so that the engagement member and the retractable arm smoothly engage with each other.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an installation state of the door closing assistance device according to the embodiment; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of the door closing assist device of FIG. 1 (when the door is being closed); FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main body of the device shown in FIG. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the retractable arm in an assembled state in FIG. 3, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional plan view showing a main part of the main body of the device shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state in which the retractable arm is rotated in the retracting direction corresponding to FIG. 5 . FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state of the door closing assist device when the door is closed, corresponding to FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating a method for adjusting the pressing force of the arm pressing spring of FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective view from below showing the operation of adjusting the pressing force of the arm pressing spring in FIG. 8 . 1A and 1B are explanatory diagrams of the operation when the door is closed when the retractable arm is in the retracted position, respectively. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XI-XI of FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XII-XII of FIG. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the trigger of FIG. 1 as seen from the front side. FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of the trigger shown in FIG. 13 as viewed from the rear side. FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of the trigger of FIG. 13 in the middle of being assembled, as seen from the rear side; 2A is a front view of the trigger in FIG. 1 in a standard position, and FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C are front views for explaining how to adjust the position of the trigger shaft in the left-right and up-down directions from the state of FIG. 2A. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method for adjusting the position of the trigger shaft in the forward and backward directions corresponding to FIG. 11 .

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this door closing assistance device is installed on a hinged door D that opens and closes the entrance to a room in a house, and is composed of a device main body 1 attached to the upper frame of a door frame F provided on the periphery of the entrance, and a trigger 31 attached to the upper end of the door D that is rotatably provided via a hinge (not shown) on one vertical frame of the door frame F. The door frame F has a portion without a door stop S at the upper corner opposite the hinge, and the device main body 1 is attached to this portion. In the following description, the side of the device main body 1 facing the other vertical frame of the door frame F is referred to as one end side, and the opposite side is referred to as the other end side.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the device main body 1 includes a horizontally long main body case 2 consisting of a metallic upper case 2a and lower case 2b, a retractable arm 3 that is rotatably supported by the main body case 2 and can engage with a trigger 31 as described below, a biasing mechanism 4 that biases the retractable arm 3 within its rotational plane, and a braking mechanism 5 that brakes the rotation of the retractable arm 3.

The main case 2 is integrated with the upper case 2a and the lower case 2b by a plurality of case fixing screws 6, with each part such as the retractable arm 3, the biasing mechanism 4, and the braking mechanism 5 built in. The main case 2 is attached to the lower surface of the upper frame of the door frame F by a plurality of case mounting screws 7 (not shown in FIG. 3) that penetrate the entire case, with the longitudinal direction parallel to the upper frame of the door frame F and the retractable arm 3 protruding from the opening on the front side (the surface facing the closed door D). The case fixing screws 6 are screwed into a cylindrical casing spacer 8 fixed to the lower case 2b from the upper surface side of the upper case 2a, and the case mounting screws 7 are screwed into the upper frame of the door frame F while passing through a cylindrical mounting screw spacer 9 arranged between the upper and lower cases 2a and 2b. In addition, a notch that is continuous with the front opening is formed on the underside of the main case 2 in the same shape as the top, so that when closing the door D as described below, the retractable arm 3 can retract part of the trigger 31 to the bottom of the main case 2 without interfering with the main case 2.

As shown in Figures 4(a) and (b), the retractable arm 3 is made up of an arm body 10 whose base end is rotatably supported by the main body case 2 and whose tip end engages with a trigger 31, a slide piece 11 that is triangular in plan view and attached to the tip end of the arm body 10, and a slide piece pressure spring 12 that biases the slide piece 11 toward the base end of the arm body 10. The arm body 10 and slide piece 11 are made of resin.

At the tip end of the arm body 10, a slide piece guide portion 10a is provided on one side in the width direction, which is a roughly trapezoidal flat plate in a plan view and guides the movement of the slide piece 11 along the arm body 10. In addition, the slide piece guide portion 10a is provided with a spring pocket 10b that extends in the longitudinal direction of the arm body 10 and accommodates the slide piece pressure spring 12.

The slide piece 11 has a triangular slit 11a in plan view that opens on the side facing the center of the width direction of the arm body 10 and the side facing the base end, into which a part of the slide piece guide part 10a is inserted, and a spring holding hole 11b that extends from the side facing the tip side of the arm body 10 (slit closing surface) to a position overlapping with the spring pocket 10b. When assembling this slide piece 11 to the arm body 10, after placing the slide piece pressing spring 12 in the spring pocket 10b of the arm body 10, the slide piece 11 can be pushed in while being elastically deformed from the position where the slit 11a faces the slide piece guide part 10a on the side of the arm body 10 until the slide piece pressing spring 12 is held by the spring holding hole 11b.

The slide piece 11 attached to the arm body 10 is biased toward the base end of the arm body 10 by the slide piece pressure spring 12 pressing against the bottom surface of the spring holding hole 11b, and the wall of the slit closing surface abuts against the slide piece guide portion 10a, restricting movement toward the base end of the arm body 10. As a result, when the slide piece 11 receives a force in a direction that compresses the slide piece pressure spring 12, it is guided by the slide piece pressure spring 12 and the slide piece guide portion 10a and slides toward the tip side of the arm body 10 (see Figures 10(a) and (b)).

By assembling this slide piece 11, an engagement groove 3a for engaging with a trigger 31, as described below, is formed on the underside of the tip end portion of the arm body 10 of the retractable arm 3. The engagement groove 3a has a straight section that opens at one end at the tip of the retractable arm 3 and extends in the longitudinal direction, and an introduction section that opens from the other end of the straight section to the front side of the retractable arm 3.

On the other hand, the base end portion of the arm body 10 is provided with a pair of upper and lower pivot shaft parts 10c that are rotatably inserted into the pivot shaft hole 2c of the main body case 2, pressure receiving parts 10d that support both ends of the pressure receiving pin 13 arranged in the vertical direction, and connecting parts 10e that support both ends of the connecting pin 14 also arranged in the vertical direction.

The rotation of the arm body 10 around the pivot shaft 10c is restricted by a stopper 2d protruding inward from the top and bottom surfaces of the body case 2 and a casing spacer 8 near one end (the left end in FIG. 2) of the body case 2, allowing the retractable arm 3 to rotate between a standby position corresponding to the open state of the door D and a retracted position corresponding to the closed state of the door D. The stopper 2d is adapted to abut on the same side as the tip side that extends long from the center of rotation of the arm body 10 in order to prevent the arm body 10 from bending. An annular groove is formed around the pivot shaft 10c, and an inward annular protrusion formed by burring the periphery of the pivot shaft hole 2c fits into this annular groove, and a lubricant (not shown) is held in place, allowing the retractable arm 3 to rotate stably.

The pressure-receiving portion 10d of the arm body 10 receives a pressing force from the biasing mechanism 4 via a pressure-receiving pin 13 and a pressure-receiving roller 15 that is slidably fitted into the axial center of the pin. The connecting portion 10e is connected to the braking mechanism 5 by a connecting pin 14 and an oval-shaped joint fitting 16 that has its axial center passed through a hole on one side.

The biasing mechanism 4 comprises an arm pressure spring 17 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the main body case 2 (generating a biasing force along the longitudinal direction), a first spring case 18 and a second spring case 19 that respectively hold both ends of the arm pressure spring 17, and a cam member 20 that abuts against the second spring case 19 on the side opposite the arm pressure spring 17. The arm pressure spring 17 presses against a pressure roller 15 attached to the retractable arm 3 via the first spring case 18, thereby biasing the retractable arm 3 within its rotational plane.

The first spring case 18 has one end of the arm pressure spring 17 inserted into a spring insertion hole 18a provided on the surface facing the second spring case 19, and the pressure surface 18b provided on the opposite side abuts against the pressure roller 15 of the retractable arm 3. On the other hand, the second spring case 19 has the other end of the arm pressure spring 17 inserted into a spring insertion hole 19a provided on the surface facing the first spring case 18, and the inclined cam surface 19b provided on the opposite side abuts against the cam member 20. The inclined cam surface 19b of the second spring case 19 is formed so as to be inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction of the main body case 2 in a plan view. In addition, the band-shaped protrusions 18c, 19c formed on the upper and lower surfaces of each of the spring cases 18, 19 are slidably fitted into the upper and lower guide grooves 2e1, 2e2 extending in the longitudinal direction of the main body case 2, respectively.

The cam member 20 has an inclined cam surface 20a that slides parallel to the inclined cam surface 19b of the second spring case 19, and the rectangular plate-shaped protrusions 20b formed on the upper and lower surfaces are slidably fitted into the upper and lower guide grooves 2f that extend in the width direction of the main body case 2. A spring adjustment screw 21 that penetrates the cam member 20 in the front-rear direction (width direction of the main body case 2) is screwed into an adjustment nut 22 that is non-rotatably housed in a hollow portion that opens into the surface of the cam member 20 opposite the inclined cam surface 20a. The spring adjustment screw 21 is housed in the main body case 2 with its tip abutting the outer peripheral surface of the above-mentioned mounting screw spacer 9 located near the other end of the device main body 1, and its head passing through the short side of the screw holder 23 that is L-shaped in plan view, and can be rotated from the outside of the main body case 2 in the width direction through a hole opened in the front of the main body case 2.

The braking mechanism 5 includes a linear damper 24 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the main body case 2, a damper holder 25 that holds the tubular portion 24a of the damper 24 so that it can move in the axial direction, a damper cap 26 that is U-shaped in side view and engages with the tip of the shaft portion 24b of the damper 24, and a buffer spring 27 that is arranged between the bottom surface of the tubular portion 24a of the damper 24 and the damper holder 25, and the damper 24 brakes the rotation of the retractable arm 3 via the damper cap 26 and the joint metal fitting 16. The damper 24 is adjusted so that the resistance when the shaft portion 24b is retracted into the tubular portion 24a is approximately the same as the resistance when it is protruding.

The damper holder 25 consists of a base end 25a through which the mounting screw spacer 9 passes, and upper and lower arms 25b that extend from the base end 25a in parallel to the damper 24 and clamp the tubular portion 24a of the damper 24. The base end 25a has a hole in the side wall that faces the cam member 20 described above for abutting the tip of the spring adjustment screw 21 against the mounting screw spacer 9. The projections 25c formed on the top surface of the upper arm 25b and the bottom surface of the lower arm 25b fit into the positioning holes 2g of the main body case 2, so that the entire damper holder 25 is positioned.

The damper cap 26 has an engagement hole 26a into which the tip of the shaft 24b of the damper 24 is inserted. In addition, multiple protrusions 26b formed on the upper and lower surfaces are slidably fitted into upper and lower guide grooves 2h extending in the longitudinal direction of the main body case 2. A connecting pin 28 passes through the upper and lower arms of the U-shape, and the axial center of this connecting pin 28 passes through the hole on the other side of the joint fitting 16 mentioned above, thereby connecting the damper cap 26 to the retractable arm 3. Note that both ends of the connecting pin 28 protruding between the protrusions 26b from the upper and lower surfaces of the damper cap 26 are formed with a small diameter so as to fit into the guide groove 2h of the main body case 2.

The main body 1 of this door closing assistance device has the above-mentioned configuration, and as shown in Figures 1 and 2, one end face of the main body case 2 faces the upper end of the other vertical frame of the door frame F with a small gap between them, and the retractable arm 3 is attached to the upper frame of the door frame F in a position in which it projects toward the door D.

On the other hand, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the trigger 31 has a cover 32 and a trigger shaft 33 protruding from the top surface of the cover 32, and is attached to the upper end of the door D opposite the hinge so that the trigger shaft 33 engages with an engagement groove 3a formed in the retractable arm 3 of the device main body 1 when the door D is in an area somewhat close to its closed position.

Next, the operation of this door closing assistance device will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, when the door D is open and the retractable arm 3 of the device body 1 is not engaged with the trigger 31, the retractable arm 3 is held in the standby position (pulled out from the main body case 2). The reason why the retractable arm 3 is held in this manner is that, as shown in FIG. 5, the pressure roller 15 of the retractable arm 3 and the pressing surface 18b of the first spring case 18 of the biasing mechanism 4 come into contact with each other above the line A (a line extending from the rotation center O parallel to the biasing direction of the arm pressing spring 17) which is a set of the thinking points of the biasing mechanism 4 relative to the rotation center O of the retractable arm 3, and a counterclockwise moment is applied to the retractable arm 3 by the biasing force from the biasing mechanism 4, and the counterclockwise rotation is restricted by the stopper 2d of the main body case 2 (see FIG. 2).

Then, when the open door D is rotated in the closing direction, in the process, as shown in FIG. 2, the trigger shaft 33 of the trigger 31 comes into contact with the tip of the retractable arm 3 of the device body 1 (part of it enters the straight portion of the engagement groove 3a). At this time, the tip of the retractable arm 3 is pressed by the trigger shaft 33 and rotates slightly clockwise, and the contact point between the pressure-receiving roller 15 of the retractable arm 3 and the first spring case 18 of the biasing mechanism 4 overcomes the biasing point (straight line A) of the biasing mechanism 4.

Then, the retractable arm 3 is released from the standby position, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first spring case 18 moves toward one end of the device body 1 due to the biasing force of the arm pressing spring 17 of the biasing mechanism 4, and at the same time, the retractable arm 3 rotates clockwise (in the retracting direction). As a result, the trigger shaft 33 moves (is retracted) relatively toward the back of the straight portion of the engagement groove 3a of the retractable arm 3, and the door D automatically rotates around the hinge together with the trigger 31 and is drawn toward the door frame F. After that, as shown in FIG. 7, the retractable arm 3 abuts against the casing spacer 8 at the retracted position inside the main case 2 and stops, and the door D also stops in the closed position.

Here, the rotation of the retractable arm 3 from the standby position to the retracted position is braked by the action of the brake mechanism 5 connected to the connecting part 10e of the retractable arm 3. That is, when the retractable arm 3 rotates clockwise from the standby position, the connecting part 10e of the retractable arm 3 presses the damper cap 26 of the brake mechanism 5 and the shaft part 24b of the damper 24 via the connecting pin 14 and the joint metal fitting 16, so that the rotation of the retractable arm 3 is decelerated by the resistance to the sinking of the shaft part 24b of the damper 24 into the tube part 24a. As a result, even if a strong force is applied to the door D in the closing direction by hand, etc., the door D closes slowly and does not generate an impact sound when it hits the door stop S of the door frame F.

Furthermore, with this door closing assistance device, the mechanism described below ensures that even if the force applied to the door D in the closing direction is small, the retractable arm 3 will rotate reliably in the retracting direction when the trigger shaft 33 comes into contact with the tip of the retractable arm 3.

That is, as shown in Fig. 5, the pressing surface 18b of the first spring case 18, which is the contact portion between the retractable arm 3 of the biasing mechanism 4 and the retractable arm 3, is composed of an arm holding surface 18b1 perpendicular to the biasing direction of the biasing mechanism 4 and an inclined surface 18b2 that is continuous with the arm holding surface 18b1 and inclined in a direction away from the rotation center O of the retractable arm 3, and is formed so that the arm holding surface 18b1 contacts the pressure-receiving roller 15 of the retractable arm 3 in the standby position, and the biasing mechanism 4's thinking point (straight line A) is located midway along the inclined surface 18b2. Therefore, when the trigger 31 contacts the retractable arm 3 in the standby position during the process of closing the door D and slightly rotates the retractable arm 3, the pressure-receiving roller 15 immediately comes into contact with the inclined surface 18b2 of the first spring case 18, and the resistance to the rotation of the retractable arm 3 is reduced. This makes it easier for the contact point between the pressure roller 15 and the first spring case 18 to overcome the contact point (straight line A) compared to when the contact surface with the retractable arm of the biasing mechanism is formed only from a surface perpendicular to the biasing direction.

Furthermore, in the braking mechanism 5 that brakes the rotation of the retractable arm 3, a space is provided to the right of the cylindrical portion 24a of the damper 24, and a buffer spring 27 is placed in that space. This means that when the retractable arm 3 starts to rotate in the retracting direction, there is almost no braking action from the damper 24, and the axial movement of the damper cap 26 and damper 24 pressed against the connecting portion 10e of the retractable arm 3 is braked by the buffer spring 27, thereby reducing the rotational resistance of the retractable arm 3.

Therefore, even if the trigger shaft 33 is applied with a force strong enough to lightly abut the retractable arm 3 against the open door D, the retractable arm 3 is released from the standby position, and the retractable arm 3 rotates in the retracting direction to close the door D reliably and smoothly.

When the door D is opened from the closed state as shown in FIG. 7, the operation is the opposite of that when it is closed. That is, when the closed door D is rotated in the opening direction, the trigger shaft 33 moves relative to the tip of the straight portion of the engagement groove 3a of the retractable arm 3, causing the retractable arm 3 to rotate counterclockwise. The retractable arm 3 then comes to abut against the stopper 2d at the standby position and stops, and is held in that state by the biasing mechanism 4. When the retractable arm 3 stops, the trigger shaft 33 disengages from the engagement groove 3a of the retractable arm 3, and the door D rotates independently of the retractable arm 3 to open it.

In addition, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 8 and 9, the spring adjustment screw 21 of the biasing mechanism 4 can be rotated with a hand screwdriver H through a hole on the front side of the main body case 2 while the device main body 1 is attached to the door frame F, thereby adjusting the biasing force of the biasing mechanism 4 (the arrow in Figure 8 indicates the adjustment operation in the direction to increase the biasing force).

In other words, the spring adjustment screw 21 is held immovable in the axial direction by the front wall of the main case 2 and the mounting screw spacer 9, and the adjustment nut 22 screwed to the spring adjustment screw 21 is housed in the cam member 20 immovably, so that when the spring adjustment screw 21 is rotated, the adjustment nut 22 and the cam member 20 move together in the axial direction of the spring adjustment screw 21 (the width direction of the main case 2). At the same time, the second spring case 19, which has an inclined cam surface 19b that slides against the inclined cam surface 20a of the cam member 20, moves in the longitudinal direction of the main case 2. This changes the amount of compression of the arm pressure spring 17, and the biasing force of the biasing mechanism 4 is adjusted.

By rotating the spring adjustment screw 21 as described above to adjust the biasing force of the biasing mechanism 4, the closing operation of the door D can be reliably assisted regardless of the weight of the door D, and the door D does not feel too heavy when opened.

In addition, in this door closing assistance device, the spring adjustment screw 21 is arranged to extend in the width direction of the horizontally long case body 2, and its rotation can be performed from the front side of the door frame F with the door D open, making it easier to adjust the biasing force compared to rotating a spring adjustment screw arranged to extend in the longitudinal direction of the case body from a direction parallel to the upper stile of the door frame.

In addition, with this door closing assistance device, when door D is open, the retractable arm 3 is normally held in the standby position, but even if some force is mistakenly applied to the retractable arm 3, causing it to rotate and be held in the retracted position, door D can still be closed normally as described below.

In other words, when the door D is open and the retractable arm 3 is in the retracted position, as the door D is closed, the trigger shaft 33 of the trigger 31, which rotates together with the door D, moves from the position of the notch on the bottom surface of the main case 2 into the introduction part of the engagement groove 3a of the retractable arm 3 as shown in FIG. 10(a) and abuts against the slide piece 11, and then, as shown in FIG. 10(b), slides the slide piece 11 toward the tip side of the retractable arm 3 against the elastic force of the slide piece pressing spring 12 and enters the straight part of the engagement groove 3a. Then, when the entire trigger shaft 33 enters the straight part of the engagement groove 3a, the slide piece 11 returns to its original position (as shown in FIG. 7) due to the elastic force of the slide piece pressing spring 12, and the door D is closed as usual.

Next, the detailed structure of the trigger 31 and the method of adjusting the position of the trigger shaft 33 will be described. As shown in Figures 11 and 12 (the aforementioned cover 32 is omitted), the trigger 31 is made up of a base member 34 attached to the door D, a slide member 35 attached to the base member 34, and a trigger main body 36 attached to the slide member 35 to which the trigger shaft 33 is fixed as an engagement member that engages with the retractable arm 3 of the device main body 1 as described above.

As shown in Figures 13 and 15, the base member 34 is a plate-like member formed in a roughly U-shape when viewed from the front, with horizontally long holes 34b extending in the left-right direction on both the left and right sides of a rectangular notch 34a opening at its upper edge, and a vertically long hole 34c extending in the up-down direction below the notch 34a. In addition, both left and right edges and the lower edge have bent edges that bend toward the rear side, and the rear side is provided with multiple vertical ribs 34d that are lower in height than the bent edges, and annular protrusions 34e that protrude from the periphery of each horizontally long hole 34b to approximately the same height as the bent edges. In addition, a notch 34f is formed in the lower edge to engage with a protrusion (not shown) of the cover 32.

The slide member 35 is a metal plate having a thickness that fits within the difference between the height of the left and right sides and the lower edge of the base member 34 and the height of the rib 34d, and has a shape in front view that corresponds to the base member 34, with roughly rectangular windows 35a on both the left and right sides into which the annular protrusion 34e on the rear side of the base member 34 fits. The slide member 35 is assembled on the rear side of the base member 34, and is guided by the left and right bent edges of the base member 34 and the rib 34d to be movable in the vertical direction, and is prevented from coming off in the vertical direction by the annular protrusion 34e of the base member 34 and the bent edge of the lower side.

The widthwise center of the slide member 35 is a stepped portion that protrudes slightly toward the front side between two ribs 34d that extend downward from the lower edge of the notch 34a of the base member 34, and has a through hole 35b that overlaps with the vertically long hole 34c of the base member 34. A vertical adjustment nut 37 is fixed to the through hole 35b from the rear side, and with the slide member 35 assembled to the rear side of the base member 34, the vertical adjustment screw 38 is passed through the vertically long hole 34c from the front side of the base member 34 and screwed into the vertical adjustment nut 37, so that the slide member 35 is attached to the base member 34 so that it can be adjusted in the vertical direction.

In addition, on both the left and right sides of the slide member 35, there is an attachment piece 35c that protrudes slightly toward the front side at the edge of a roughly rectangular cutout in the center of the width direction, and an engagement groove 35d that extends from the cutout toward the window 35a. The attachment piece 35c and the engagement groove 35d allow the trigger body 36 to be detachably attached, as described below.

As shown in FIG. 14, the trigger body 36 includes an attachment member 39 that is attached to the slide member 35, a support member 40 to which the trigger shaft 33 is fixed, a front-rear adjustment screw 41 that is held by the attachment member 39 and screw-coupled to the support member 40, and an upper cover 42 and an inner cover 43 for the support member 40.

The mounting member 39 of the trigger body 36 is a resin member that is approximately U-shaped and opens forward in a plan view and downward in a front view. A horizontal guide groove 39a for guiding the support member 40 is formed on the inner side of the left and right arms, and a mounting groove 39b into which the mounting piece 35c of the slide member 35 is fitted is formed on both sides of the base end connecting the two arms. The lower end of each mounting groove 39b is provided with a locking piece 39c that fits into the locking groove 35d of the slide member 35. The base end holds the head of the front-rear adjustment screw 41 in a recess 39d that opens downward and forward and backward so that it can be rotated from the rear side. In addition, a strip-shaped protrusion 39e is provided on the upper surface of each of the arms to prevent the support member 40 from slipping out forward, as described later.

On the other hand, the support member 40 of the trigger body 36 is shaped so that the entirety, except for the rectangular plate-shaped front portion, fits inside the mounting member 39, and guide portions 40a that fit slidably into guide grooves 39a of the mounting member 39 are provided on both sides of the support member 40, and a screw hole 40b is provided on the rear end surface into which a front-rear adjustment screw 41 is screwed. In addition, a vertical through hole 40c is provided in the center for fixing the trigger shaft 33, and screw holes 40d for fixing the top cover 42 and middle cover 43 are provided on the top surface of the rear end portion.

The top cover 42 and the middle cover 43 are each a roughly rectangular flat plate-like member, and in addition to having holes for the trigger shaft 33 and the cover fixing screw 44, they also have protrusions 42a, 43a that protrude laterally on both sides from the rear end.

The trigger shaft 33 is composed of a shaft body 45, which is a cylindrical resin member, a core metal 46 inserted into the shaft body 45, and a cylindrical trigger shaft spacer 47 fitted around the outer periphery of the lower half of the shaft body 45. The shaft body 45 has a plurality of slits 45a extending in the axial direction from the lower end surface, and an annular protrusion 45b is provided on the inner circumferential surface of the lower end, intermittently intersecting the slits 45a. The core metal 46 is pressed into the upper end side of the shaft body 45, so that the lower end of the shaft body 45 is once enlarged in diameter, and then the annular protrusion 45b fits into the annular groove 46a provided at the lower end of the core metal 46, and the shaft body 45 and the core metal 46 are integrated. In addition, a flange 45c is provided at the axial center of the shaft body 45 to prevent the shaft body 45 from coming off the trigger shaft spacer 47.

In this embodiment, the shaft body has a slit at the bottom end to facilitate the insertion and fixing of the core bar, but the slit can also be eliminated to make the outer surface symmetrical from top to bottom. While this makes it slightly easier to insert and fix the core bar, it prevents mistakes in the top to bottom during assembly, and allows the shaft to be reused by flipping it over if a defect occurs due to deterioration over time.

The trigger shaft spacer 47 also serves to suppress the left-right and front-back swinging of the trigger shaft 33 engaged with the retractable arm 3 so that the trigger shaft 33 reliably pulls the retractable arm 3 to the standby position when the door D is opened. If the trigger shaft spacer 47 is made of resin, friction with the trigger shaft 33 is smaller than if it were made of metal, and the trigger shaft 33 can rotate freely and smoothly engage with the retractable arm 3, which is preferable.

To assemble the trigger body 36, first, the support member 40 is fitted into the mounting member 39 from the front side while the head of the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is held in the recess 39d of the mounting member 39, and the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is rotated to screw into the screw hole 40b of the support member 40. Then, the trigger shaft 33 is inserted from above into the through hole 40c of the support member 40. At this time, the lower end surface of the trigger shaft spacer 47 abuts against a step formed on the inner circumference near the lower end of the through hole 40c, and the flange portion 45c of the shaft body 45 abuts against the upper end surface of the trigger shaft spacer 47, preventing it from coming off. Then, the middle cover 43 and the top cover 42 are placed in order, and the cover fixing screw 44 is screwed into the screw hole 40d of the support member 40 from the upper surface side of the top cover 42.

When attaching the trigger body 36 assembled in this manner to the slide member 35, as shown in FIG. 15, the rear end of the trigger body 36 is positioned above the center of the width of the slide member 35, and the mounting member 39 is pushed into the slide member 35 while being elastically deformed, so that the mounting piece 35c of the slide member 35 fits into the mounting groove 39b of the mounting member 39, and the locking piece 39c of the mounting member 39 fits into the locking groove 35d of the slide member 35. This allows the trigger body 36 to be detachably attached to the slide member 35.

The trigger 31 of this door closing assistance device has the above-mentioned configuration, and with the base member 34, slide member 35, and trigger body 36 integrated, the end face of the bent edge of the base member 34 is abutted against the door D, and the trigger fixing screw 48 is screwed into the door D from the front side through the horizontally long hole 34b of the base member 34 and the window 35a of the slide member 35, so that the entire device except for the cover 32 is attached to the door D. After this attachment work, the cover 32, which is placed over the front side, is locked using the notch 34f provided in the bent edge on the lower side of the base member 34.

The position of the trigger shaft 33 of this trigger 31 can be adjusted in three dimensions while it is still attached to the door D (with the cover 32 removed), as described below.

That is, when the trigger 31 is attached to the door D in the standard position as shown in FIG. 16(a), loosening the two trigger fixing screws 48 allows the entire trigger 31 to move left and right relative to the door D within the range of the length dimension of the horizontally elongated hole 34b of the base member 34. FIG. 16(b) shows the state when the entire trigger 31 is moved leftward from the state shown in FIG. 16(a). After loosening the trigger fixing screws 48 and moving the entire trigger 31 left and right in this way, the left and right position of the trigger shaft 33 can be adjusted by retightening the trigger fixing screws 48.

Also, if the vertical adjustment screw 38 is loosened from the state shown in FIG. 16(a), the slide member 35 can move vertically together with the trigger body 36 relative to the base member 34. FIG. 16(c) shows the state when the slide member 35 and the trigger body 36 are moved upward from the state shown in FIG. 16(a). In this way, the vertical adjustment screw 38 is loosened to move the slide member 35 and the trigger body 36 vertically, and then the vertical adjustment screw 38 is tightened again to adjust the vertical position of the trigger shaft 33. During this vertical adjustment, the slide member 35 moves vertically while being guided by the left and right bent edges of the base member 34, so there is almost no left-right positional deviation of the trigger shaft 33.

On the other hand, when adjusting the front-rear position of the trigger shaft 33, first remove the trigger body 36 from the slide member 35. This removal work is the opposite of the above-mentioned installation work, and the mounting member 39 is pulled up while elastically deforming so that the locking piece 39c of the mounting member 39 is released from the locking groove 35d of the slide member 35 and the mounting piece 35c of the slide member 35 comes out of the mounting groove 39b of the mounting member 39. Then, as shown in FIG. 17, the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is rotated from the rear side of the removed trigger body 36 with a hand driver H. Then, since the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is held by the mounting member 39 so as not to move in the axial direction, the support member 40 screwed to the front-rear adjustment screw 41 moves in the axial direction of the front-rear adjustment screw 41, that is, in the front-rear direction (the arrow in FIG. 17 indicates the adjustment operation in the direction in which the support member 40 is moved backward). In this way, the forward/backward position of the trigger shaft 33 fixed to the support member 40 relative to the mounting member 39 can be changed, and then the trigger body 36 can be attached to the slide member 35 again to adjust the forward/backward position of the trigger shaft 33.

Even if the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is accidentally rotated excessively when moving the trigger shaft 33 forward, the protrusions 42a, 43a on both sides of the upper cover 42 and the middle cover 43 will come into contact with the belt-shaped protrusion 39e at the top of the mounting member 39 before the screw connection between the support member 40 and the front-rear adjustment screw 41 is released, stopping the support member 40, preventing the support member 40 from coming out of the mounting member 39 and the front-rear adjustment screw 41 from falling off.

As described above, this door closing assistance device employs a trigger 31 consisting of a base member 34 that is attached to the door D so that its position in the left-right direction can be adjusted, a slide member 35 that is attached to the base member 34 so that it can move in the up-down direction, and a trigger body 36 to which a trigger shaft 33 that engages with the retractable arm 3 of the device body 1 is fixed and which is attached to the slide member 35 so that it can move in the front-rear direction, so that the position of the trigger shaft 33 relative to the door D can be easily adjusted in three dimensions.

Therefore, even if a problem occurs with the engagement between the trigger shaft 33 and the retractable arm 3 when the device body 1 is installed on the door frame F and the trigger 31 is installed on the door D, a simple position adjustment of the trigger shaft 33 can be used to correct the situation so that the trigger shaft 33 and the retractable arm 3 engage smoothly.

The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims, not the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the device body is installed on the door frame and the trigger is installed on the door, but the device body may be installed on the door and the trigger on the door frame instead.

In addition, in the embodiment, the trigger has a vertically long hole in the base member for vertical adjustment, and a through hole overlapping the vertically long hole in the slide member, but the arrangement of the vertically long hole and the through hole may be reversed.

1 Device body 2 Body case 3 Retractable arm 3a Engagement groove 4 Pressing mechanism 5 Brake mechanism 10 Arm body 31 Trigger 33 Trigger shaft (engagement member)
34 Base member 34b Horizontally elongated hole 34c Vertically elongated hole 35 Slide member 35b Through hole 36 Trigger body 37 Up-down adjustment nut 38 Up-down adjustment screw 39 Mounting member 40 Support member 41 Front-rear adjustment screw 48 Trigger fixing screw D Door F Door frame S Door stop

Claims (3)

A door closing assist device comprising a device body (1) attached to one of a door frame (F) and a door (D) rotatably provided relative to the door frame (F) , and a trigger (31) attached to the other, the device body (1) comprising a body case (2) and a retractable arm (3) rotatably supported by the body case (2) and engageable with the trigger ( 31) , and when the door (D) is closed, the retractable arm (3) of the device body (1) engaged with the trigger (31) rotates to draw the door (D) to the door frame (F) ,
The trigger (31) comprises a base member (34) that is attached to the door frame (F) or the door (D) so as to be adjustable in its left-right position, a slide member (35) that is attached to the base member (34) so as to be movable in the up-down direction, and a trigger body (36) to which an engagement member (33) that engages with the retractable arm (3) of the device body (1) is fixed and which is attached to the slide member (35) so as to be movable in the front-rear direction ,
a pair of mounting pieces (35c) provided on the slide member (35) fitting into a pair of mounting grooves (39b) provided on the mounting member (39), and the pair of mounting pieces (35c) provided on the slide member (35) fitting into the pair of mounting grooves (39b) provided on the mounting member (39), and the pair of mounting pieces (35c) provided on the slide member (35) fitting into the pair of mounting grooves (39b) provided on the mounting member (39), and the pair of mounting pieces (35c) provided on the slide member (35) fitting into the pair of mounting grooves (39b) provided on the mounting member (39), and the pair of mounting pieces (35c) provided on the slide member (35) fitting into the pair of mounting grooves (39b) when viewed from the slide member (35) side . The door closing assistance device according to claim 1, characterized in that the base member (34) of the trigger (31) has a horizontally elongated hole (34b ) extending in the left-right direction, and is attached to the door frame (F) or the door (D) by a trigger fixing screw (48) passed through the horizontally elongated hole (34b). 3. The door closing assist device according to claim 1, wherein one of the base member (34) and the slide member (35) of the trigger (31) is provided with a vertically elongated hole ( 34c ) extending in the vertical direction, and the other is provided with a through hole (35b ) overlapping with the vertically elongated hole ( 34c) , and the slide member (35) is attached to the base member (34) by an up-down adjustment screw (38) passed through the vertically elongated hole ( 34c) and the through hole (35b ) and an up-down adjustment nut (37) fixed to the periphery of the through hole (35b) and screwed to the up - down adjustment screw (38) .

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