Rolling door operating mechanism

Claim 2

In a rolling door operating mechanism including rollable interlocked slats mountable for movement between raised and lowered positions and counterbalance means providing a bias against movement of the door to its lowered position, including a roll cylinder mounted to support said door in various positions, a shaft to drive said cylinder and a drive means, that improvement which comprises: a. a pair of blocks on said shaft positioned axially adjacent each other, b. means to limit circumferential motion of said blocks relative to each other wherein rotative driving of a first of said blocks will effect a rotative driving of the second of said blocks and a driving of said shaft, c. a plurality of latch bars extending tangentially over said blocks adapted to cooperate with a plurality of stop recesses formed in said second blocks, and d. a plurality of radial protuberances on said first block to cam said latch bars away from said stop recesses in a first relative position of said blocks and to allow said latch bars to engage said recesses in a second relative position, wherein a driving force on said first block will maintain said blocks in said first position, and a driviNg force on said second block from the roll cylinder will shift said blocks to a second relative position to allow said latch bars to engage to prevent precipitous descent of a rolling door on said roll cylinder.

Claim 3

A rolling door operating mechanism as defined in claim 1 in which means is provided acting on said latch bars to move them toward said blocks wherein a friction drag is applied to said first block to shift it relative to said second block in the absence of driving force thereon.

Claim 4

A rolling door operating mechanism as defined in claim 1 in which said first block is square in cross-section with corners serving as protuberances and said second block is round and provided with partial chordal recesses, each terminating in a radial shoulder to engage a latch bar, said corners overlying said chordal recesses axially to block said latch bars in said first relative position of said parts.

Claim 5

A rolling door operating mechanism as defined in claim 1 in which said second block is keyed to a shaft to drive said roll cylinder, said first block being mounted rotatably on said shaft, and gear means to connect said first block to said drive means.

Claim 6

A rolling door operating mechanism as defined in claim 1 in which said means to limit circumferential motion of said blocks comprises interengaging segmental lobes on the adjacent faces of said blocks dimensioned to allow approximately 60* relative circumferential motion between said blocks.

Claim 7

In a rolling door operating mechanism including rollable interlocked slats mountable for movement between raised and lowered positions and counterbalance means providing a bias against movement of the door to its lowered position, including a roll cylinder mounted to support said door in various positions, a shaft to drive said cylinder and a drive means, that improvement which comprises: a. a ratchet block on said shaft having a plurality of radial shoulders peripherally distributed and circumferentially spaced around said block, each shoulder facing in the same circumferential direction, b. a frame surrounding said block, c. a plurality of latch bars mounted on said frame movable selectively to engage one of said shoulders on said block to stop rotary motion of said block and said shaft, d. a latch block rotatable relative to said shaft having a plurality of configurations equal to the number of shoulders on said ratchet block to move said latch bar radially away from said ratchet block to prevent engagement with said shoulders when said latch block is in a predetermined circumferential orientation relative to said ratchet block, means drivingly connecting a sprocket and said latch block, and means to limit relative motion between said ratchet block and said latch block wherein driving motion of said latch block by said drive means will drive said ratchet block and said shaft while said blocks are in a relative position of circumferential orientation to block entrance of said latch bars into engagement with said shoulders, said blocks being shiftable by reverse input on said shaft from said door to a position wherein one or more of said latches will engage said ratchet block.

Claim 8

In a rolling door operating mechanism including rollable interlocked slats mountable for movement between raised and lowered positions and counterbalance means providing a bias against movement of the door to its lowered position, including a roll cylinder mounted to support said door in various positions, a shaft to drive said cylinder and a drive means, that improvement which comprises: a. a ratchet block on said shaft having a plurality of radial shoulders peripherally distributed and circumferentially spaced around said block, each shoulder facing in the same circumferential direction, b. a frame surrounding said block, c. a plurality of latch bars mounted on said frame movable selectively to engage one of said shoulders on said block to stop rotary motion of said block and said shaft, d. a latch block rotatable relative to said shaft having a plurality of configurations equal to the number of shoulders on said ratchet block to move said latch bar radially away from said ratchet block to prevent engagement with said shoulders when said latch block is in a predetermined circumferential orientation relative to said ratchet block, means drivingly connecting a sprocket and said latch block, and means to limit relative motion between said ratchet block and said latch block wherein driving motion of said latch block by said drive means will drive said ratchet block and said shaft while said blocks are in a relative position of circumferential orientation to block entrance of said latch bars into engagement with said shoulders, said blocks being shiftable by reverse input on said shaft from said door to a position wherein one or more of said latches will engage said ratchet block.