Bucket door snubber

Claim 1

Apparatus for dampening the closing of a heavy door of the type mounted for swinging movement along a hinge axis, said hinge axis being located on a heavy movable member, and wherein the closing of the door is effected by moving the movable member in a direction to cause the door to swing by inertia about its hinge axis towards its closed position with respect to said movable member, wherein the improvement comprises a dampening apparatus including a crank having first and second opposite ends, said crank being pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said movable member adjacent said hinge axis, linkage means pivotally mounted adjacent one end thereof on said door and pivotally connected adjacent an opposite end thereof to said first end of said crank, a cushioning device having a lower pivotal connection pivotally connected to said second end of said crank and an upper pivotal connection pivotally connecting said cushioning device to said movable member; said cushioning device having an outer housing with a flat portion thereon, an inner housing telescopically received within said outer housing and having a flat end disposed adjacent the flat portion of said outer housing, bolt means connected at one end to the flat portion of said outer housing and extending through and beyond the flat end of said inner housing, rubber pad means mounted on said bolt means between said flat portion and said flat end, a plurality of rubber pad means mounted on said bolt means between said flat end and the end of said bolt opposite from said one end thereof, said opposite end of said bolt means being threaded, washer means mounted on said opposite end of said bolt means adjacent said rubber pad means, and nut means threadedly received on said bolt means adjacent said washer means and on the opposite side thereof from said rubber pad means, said outer housing being integral with one of the pivotal connections for said cushioning device, said inner housing being integral with the other of said pivotal connections for said cushioning device; whereby, as said door moves past a predetermined position towards its closed position, the lower pivotal connection on said cushioning device will move away from said movable member and beyond the line between the upper pivotal connection for said cushioning device and the intermediate pivotal connection for said crank; and whereby, when said door moves further past said predetermined position towards its closed position, said second end of said crank will exert a pulling force on the lower pivotal connection of said cushioning device to compress said plurality of rubber pads between said flat end and said washer means.