Condition responsive door holder-closer

Claim 2

A condition responsive door holder-closer comprising a housing, a closer spring and a dashpot disposed within the housing, a drive spindle projecting through the housing and coupled to the spring-dashpot subcombination to be responsive to the damped forces exerted by the subcombination, means within the housing for latching the spindle at a door hold-open position, means including one or more openings in said housing for defining passageways within said housing to facilitate fluid flow within the housing including the products of combustion, a detector for the particulate products of combustion located within the housing and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, and means interconnecting the detector to the spindle latching means to actuate the latch in response to the flow of the particulate products of combustion through said housing passageway means.

Claim 3

The combination of claim 1 in which the housing is generally horizontally disposed on a door frame immediately over the door, and an arm couples the spindle to the door so that the door and spindle are responsive motionwise to one another.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 2 in which the door is pivoted for movement relative the frame, the spindle being located adjacent the pivot axis for the door and generally at oNe end of the housing, and the passageway defining means being generally located at the opposite end of the housing remote from the pivot axis.

Claim 5

The combination of claim 3 in which the door holder-closer housing is elongated and generally horizontally disposed on the surface of the frame.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 4 in which the passageway defined through the housing is generally vertical.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 5 in which the passageway defined through the housing is both vertical and horizontal attained by openings located on the top, front, and bottom of the housing.

Claim 8

The combination of claim 1 in which the passageway means includes an electrostatic shield, and the detector is an ionization chamber.

Claim 9

The combination of claim 1 in which the detector is an ionization detector.

Claim 10

A condition responsive door holder-closer contained within a housing and including means for mounting the housing adjacent the header portion of a door frame, comprising a particulate products of combustion condition detector located within the housing and responsive to fluid flow carrying the particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said condition responsive detector, a closer-holder spring-dashpot combination including electrically operated means for arresting the spring-dashpot combination to a door hold-open position with the spring, dashpot and electrically operated means being disposed within the housing, and means interconnecting the condition responsive detector to the electrically operated arresting means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through an opening into the passageway releases an arrested spring-dashpot combination.

Claim 11

A condition responsive door holder-closer contained within a housing and including means for mounting the housing adjacent the header portion of a door frame, comprising a particulate products of combustion condition detector located within the housing and responsive to fluid flow carrying the particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said condition responsive detector, a closer-holder spring-dashpot combination including electrically operated means for arresting the spring-dashpot combination to a door hold-open position with the spring, dashpot and electrically operated means being disposed within the housing, and means interconnecting the condition responsive detector to the electrically operated arresting means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through an opening into the passageway releases an arrested spring-dashpot combination.

Claim 12

The combination of claim 9 in which the one or more openings is located generally at one end of the housing, and means located generally at the other end of the housing and projecting therethrough for coupling to a door to effect hold-open and also door release.

Claim 13

The combination of claim 10 in which a door opening is defined by a frame having a header portion at the top of the frame, and in which the housing is supported at the top of the frame with one or more housing openings being generally located toward the mid-portion of the header and the door coupling means being located generally at an end portion of the header.

Claim 14

The combination of claim 9 in which a plurality of housing openings defines a complete fluid flow passageway into and out of the housing.

Claim 15

The combination of claim 11 in which a plurality of housing openings defines a complete fluid flow passageway into and out of the housing.

Claim 16

The combination of claim 9 in which an electrostatic shield located within the housing isolates the fluid flow passageway therein electrostatically, and in which the detector is an ion chamber communicating with the passageway.

Claim 17

The combination of claim 12 in which an electrostatic shield located within the housing isolates the fluid flow passageway therein electrostatically, and in which the detector is an ion chamber communicating with the passageway.

Claim 18

The combination of claim 9 in which the detector is an ionization detector.

Claim 19

A condition responsive door holder-closer to control a door pivotally mounted relative an opening defined by a frame having a header portion at the top of the frame, comprising a housing adapted to be supported above the door on or near the header portion, a closer spring and a dashpot disposed within the housing, a drive spindle projecting through the housing and coupled to the spring-dashpot combination to be responsively rotatable by the damped forces exerted by the combination, the spindle being located adjacent the pivot axis of the door and generally near an end of the housing mounted adjacent an enD of the header portion, an arm coupling the projected end of the spindle to the door to also responsively rotate the spindle by forces exerted on the door, a detector for the particulate products of combustion located generally at the opposite end of the housing toward the mid-portion of the door opening and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, electrically operated means located within the housing for arresting the spring-dashpot combination to a door hold-open position, and means interconnecting the condition responsive detector to the electrically operated arresting means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the door opening releases an arrested spring-dashpot combination to close an open door.

Claim 20

A condition responsive door holder-closer to control a door pivotally mounted relative an opening defined by a frame having a header portion at the top of the frame, comprising a housing adapted to be supported above the door on or near the header portion, a closer spring and a dashpot disposed within the housing, a drive spindle projecting through the housing and coupled to the spring-dashpot combination to be responsively rotatable by the damped forces exerted by the combination, the spindle being located adjacent the pivot axis of the door and generally near an end of the housing mounted adjacent an enD of the header portion, an arm coupling the projected end of the spindle to the door to also responsively rotate the spindle by forces exerted on the door, a detector for the particulate products of combustion located generally at the opposite end of the housing toward the mid-portion of the door opening and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, electrically operated means located within the housing for arresting the spring-dashpot combination to a door hold-open position, and means interconnecting the condition responsive detector to the electrically operated arresting means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the door opening releases an arrested spring-dashpot combination to close an open door.

Claim 21

The combination of claim 17 in which the housing is elongated and is disposed generally horizontally on its elongated axis.

Claim 22

The combination of claim 17 in which the de-tector is an ionization detector.

Claim 23

In a condition responsive door holder-closer contained within a housing and adapted to be mounted immediately over a door opening, the holder-closer including electrically operated means within the housing for effecting door hold-open and door-closing conditions, the improvement comprising a particulate products of combustion detector located within the housing and responsive to particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said detector, and means interconnecting the detector to the electrically operated means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the passageway actuates the door holder-closer from a hold-open to a door closing condition.

Claim 24

In a condition responsive door holder-closer contained within a housing and adapted to be mounted immediately over a door opening, the holder-closer including electrically operated means within the housing for effecting door hold-open and door-closing conditions, the improvement comprising a particulate products of combustion detector located within the housing and responsive to particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to the detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said detector, and means interconnecting the detector to the electrically operated means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the passageway actuates the door holder-closer from a hold-open to a door closing condition.

Claim 25

The combination of claim 20 in which the detector is an ionization detector.

Claim 26

The combination of claim 21 including means for shielding the ionization detector from spurious electrostatic charges.

Claim 27

The combination of claim 20 in which the housing is generally elongated with passageway openings being located generally at one end of the elongated housing.

Claim 28

The combination of claim 23 in which the housing is adapted to be generally horizontally mounted on a header portion of a door frame with the openings being located generally toward the center of the door header.

Claim 29

The combination of claim 24 in which the detector is an ionization detector.

Claim 30

The combination of claim 25 including means for shielding the ionization detector from spurious electrostatic charges.

Claim 31

The combination of claim 25 in which the housing openings are disposed to provide generally vertical fluid flow through the housing for the particulate products of combustion.

Claim 32

The combination of claim 25 in the housing includes top, bottom and front walls and in which openings are provided in all of said walls for passage of the particulate products of combustion.

Claim 33

In a condition responsive door holder contained within a housing and adapted to be mounted immediately over a door opening, the holder including electrically operated means within the housing for effecting a door hold-open condition, the improvement comprising a particulate products of combustion detector located within the housing and responsive to particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said detector, and means interconnecting the detector to the electrically operated means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the passageway actuates the door holder from a hold-open condition whereby the dooR is no longer positively held open by the door holder.

Claim 34

In a condition responsive door holder contained within a housing and adapted to be mounted immediately over a door opening, the holder including electrically operated means within the housing for effecting a door hold-open condition, the improvement comprising a particulate products of combustion detector located within the housing and responsive to particulate products of combustion and in which detector an electrical current characteristic is altered in response to detection of such particulate products of combustion, means including one or more openings in said housing defining a fluid flow passageway within said housing to said detector, and means interconnecting the detector to the electrically operated means whereby the passage of the particulate products of combustion through the passageway actuates the door holder from a hold-open condition whereby the dooR is no longer positively held open by the door holder.