Revolving door operating and speed control mechanism

Claim 2

A revolving door comprising a center shaft adapted to be positioned in a doorway between the ceiling and floor structures of said doorway, said center shaft being at least in part rotatable on the longitudinal axis thereof, radiating circumferentially spaced door wings attached to the center shaft and revolving with the rotatable part of the center shaft in the doorway, and speed control means for the revolving door mounted bodily inside of said center shaft.

Claim 3

The structure of claim 1, and said speed control means for the revolving door comprising a rotational speed changing drive within the center shaft coupled to the rotatable part of the center shaft, and a centrifugal force actuated brake means coupled to said drive and adapted to engage an element of said rotatable part of the center shaft when said drive causes rotation of the brake means at a speed in excess of a prescribed rotational speed.

Claim 4

The structure of claim 2, and a drive motor for the revolving door inside of said center shaft and having a driving connection with said speed changing drive.

Claim 5

The structure of claim 3, and said center shaft comprising a fixed section and a rotatable section, said rotational speed changing drive having a connection with each section of the center shaft, and coacting electrical means on the fixed and rotatable sections of the center shaft associated with said drive motor and operable to stop the revolving door automatically at a quarterline position and also initiating the starting of the revolving door in response to manual pressure thereon.

Claim 6

The structure of claim 2, and a resilient coupling means in the rotatable part of said center shaft to absorb torsional vibrations created by said rotational speed change drive.

Claim 7

The structure of claim 2, and hanger means for said door wings on the rotatable part of the center shaft.

Claim 8

The structure of claim 6, and said hanger means including pivotal bearing supports for the door wings, and yielding detent means carried by the hanger means and engageable with said wings and permitting the wings to collapse in response to excessive manual pressure thereagainst.

Claim 9

The structure of claim 4, and a lubricant seal interposed between said fixed and rotatable center shaft sections.

Claim 10

The structure of claim 1, and support means for the ends of the center shaft adjacent said ceiling and floor structures and being substantially flush with the exterior faces of the ceiling and floor structures.

Claim 11

The structure of claim 9, and said support means for the lower end of the center shaft adjacent the floor structure including a low friction bearing having a connection with the rotatable part of the center shaft, and means to anchor the bearing to the floor structure.

Claim 12

The structure of claim 9, and said support means for the upper end of the center shaft adjacent the ceiling structure comprising a resilient body attached to the ceiling structure and secured to a non-rotatable part of the center shaft.

Claim 13

The structure of claim 4, and electrical control circuitry for said drive motor and coacting electrical means disposed inside of said center shaft.

Claim 14

The structure of claim 3, and said center shaft comprising fixed and rotatable sections, said rotatioNal speed changing drive including a gear element anchored to one of said sections of the center shaft, a coacting deflectable gear element attached to the other of said sections and positioned to engage the first-named gear element, an eccentric operator for said deflectable gear element connected with and driven by said motor and operable to create a circumferentially traveling deflection wave in the deflectable gear element to thereby induce relative rotation between said deflectable and first-named gear elements, and a centrifugal force actuated brake means connected with and driven by said eccentric operator and adapted when activated to arrest relative rotation between said fixed and rotatable sections of the center shaft.

Claim 15

The structure of claim 13, and said deflectable gear element comprising a thin-walled cup-like element arranged within the first-named gear element, the first-named gear element being a ring gear, a brake drum arranged inside of said cup-like element and secured to one of said sections of the center shaft, and said brake means comprising radially expansible brake shoes arranged inside of said drum.

Claim 16

The structure of claim 13, wherein the first-named gear element is anchored to said fixed section of the center shaft and said deflectable gear element is attached to the rotatable section of the center shaft.

Claim 17

The structure of claim 13, and said first-named gear element is anchored to the rotatable section of the center shaft, and said deflectable gear element is attached to the fixed section of the center shaft.

Claim 18

The structure of claim 13, and a driving shaft for said brake means having a connection with said eccentric operator and coupled with and driven by said drive motor.

Claim 19

The structure of claim 17, and a one-way active clutch coupling between said driving shaft and motor.

Claim 20

The structure of claim 18, and said eccentric operator comprising an elliptical bearing element coupled to said driving shaft and engaging inside of said deflectable gear element.