Patents Assigned to Hormann KG
  • Patent number: 7146765
    Abstract: The invention relates to an emergency release device for a building closure operator for decoupling a motorized building closure from a motor operator assembly under emergency conditions. To diminish the risk of injury by free-fall of a decoupled building closure wing by a simple and cost-effective design the invention proposes providing a safety or securing unit which safeguards or secures the emergency release device against unintentional or unauthorized actuation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Hormann KG Antriebstechnik
    Inventors: Michael Sanke, Viktor Schütz, Patrick Euteneuer
  • Patent number: 7007427
    Abstract: A separating device for a door leaf that is moveable overhead has a coupling element movable between a coupling position, in which the coupling element couples an output element of the drive device to the structural component, and a freewheeling position, in which the output element of the drive device is decoupled from the structural component. A locking member is provided which is movable between at least one release position, in which the locking member allows a movement of the coupling element into the freewheeling position, and at least one locking position, in which the locking member counteracts a movement of the coupling element into the freewheeling position. The locking member can be coupled to the drive device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2006
    Assignee: Hörmann KG Antriebstechnik
    Inventors: Michael Sanke, Viktor Schütz
  • Publication number: 20050133170
    Abstract: Disclosed is a door comprising a leaf (10) which is closable between an open position and an closed position, a guide rail arrangement directing the movement of the door leaf, a fastening arrangement fixing a rail element (20) of the guide rail arrangement to a wall by means of a plurality of fastening elements (30), each of which can be fixed to the wall as well as to the rail element (20), said wall having an opening which can be closed with the aid of the door leaf, and a pulling means which can be fixed to the door leaf (10) as well as to a drive unit and/or a weight-balancing device. The inventive door is characterized by the fact that at least one protective element (40) is assigned to the guide rail arrangement. Said protective element (40) can be fixed to the rail element (20) and/or at least one of the fastening elements (30) and is used for bridging an intermediate space between the rail element and the wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2002
    Publication date: June 23, 2005
    Applicant: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventors: Thomas Hormann, Herbert Brinkmann
  • Patent number: 6894613
    Abstract: The invention relates to an operator controller for controlling an operator for a powered closure of a building or enclosure, more particularly a door operator controller, including an apparatus for informing a user as to the operating status of the operator controller and/or of the operator to be controlled or of the closure to be powered, especially as to a status requiring user intervention. To avoid unnecessary service calls it is proposed that the operating status information apparatus comprises an apparatus for outputting a combination of a warning signal and message clearly indicating the operating status, preferably without the assistance of any further information. The invention also relates to an operator provided therewith as well as to a method of operating same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: Hormann KG Antriebstecknik
    Inventor: Axel Stab
  • Publication number: 20050098275
    Abstract: The invention relates to a guide rail arrangement for a door, particularly a sectional door, comprising a leaf. Said guide rail arrangement creates a track which is provided with two approximately linear segments and a connection segment joining the linear segments and is used for directing the movement of a door leaf between an open position and a closed position. The inventive guide rail arrangement comprises two rail elements which form a linear segment and are assembled so as to create a guide rail such that the linear segments of the track jointly enclose an angle of less than 180°, preferably about 90°. Each of the rail elements is provided with an essentially linear section and a curved section which is arranged at the end of the linear section, is produced as a single piece therewith, and forms the connection segment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2002
    Publication date: May 12, 2005
    Applicant: Hormann KG Borockhagen
    Inventors: Thomas Hormann, Herbert Brinkmann
  • Patent number: 6655088
    Abstract: An arrangement for monitoring a condition of a counterbalance torsion spring in an overhead door or gate and preventing the door or gate from accidentally slamming shut or dropping too rapidly when the spring fails. The arrangement includes a drum mounted on a shaft which transmits the torque of the spring to the drum. During normal operation a sensor and release assembly maintains a catcher in a inactive position and when the spring fails, the sensor and release assembly allows the catcher to move to an active position and engage a grabber disposed on an inside surface of the drum to block rotation of the drum and therefore movement of the door or gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Hörmann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Thomas J. Hörmann
  • Patent number: 6557301
    Abstract: The invention relates to a locking device and a door-drive device comprising a locking device for a door which can be secured against opening by unauthorized persons using force from the exterior. The locking device has a lever element consisting of two lever arms which pivot about a first pivoting shaft. A connecting element is hinged to the first lever arm for connecting the door and the second lever arm which has an engaging device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Hörmann KG Antriebstechnik
    Inventors: Thomas J. Hörmann, Michael Sanke, Viktor Schütz
  • Patent number: 6073674
    Abstract: A sectioial overhead door is disclosed with a door leaf comprising several consecutive hinging panels (10, 10', 10") which are guided in the known way by rollers (11) in horizontal tracks and in tracks (12, 12', 12") joined to them to form a bow and are provided with a balancing device (15) in the form of approximately horizontal helical tension springs. The latter are designed to be space-saving, in particular with low drop heights, underneath the horizontal track sections extending into the building, such that on each of the outer side regions (27) of the horizontal track sections (12, 14) facing away from one another one or more helical tension spring units (16) are arranged approximately parallel to one another and one below the other. At least some of the helical tension spring units (16) consist of at least two coaxial helical springs (17, 18), the turns of which are mutually opposing and intersecting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2000
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Thomas J. Hormann
  • Patent number: 5868639
    Abstract: Drive with a belt-driving wheel and a belt-motion deflector with a transmission member in the form of a belt wrapping around them in a continuous loop. The belt is in form-fit engagement with and is driven by at least the belt-driving wheel. Structures are distributed at least part-way along the belt and form fit matching structures on at least the belt-driving wheel. The belt is woven and the structures are applied to the belt in a separate step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: Hormann KG Verkaufsgesellschaft
    Inventor: Thomas J. Hormann
  • Patent number: 5241873
    Abstract: Transmission that converts a rotary into a translational motion and is preferably attached to a motorized drive assembly, with a rotary drive mechanism and a translationally channeled motion-transmitting component that is attached to the drive mechanism in the vicinity of a track and driven by the drive mechanism. A controller wheel is attached to the motion-transmitting component by way of a cogged gear that converts the translational motion of the motion-transmitting component into a rotary motion on the part of the activating wheel. At least one activating component on the controller wheel engages at least one switch in accordance with the angle of rotation of the controller wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 7, 1993
    Assignee: Steuerungstechnik GmbH Hormann KG Antriebs- und & Co. Produktions
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 5108828
    Abstract: Gate-panel element for a gate panel preferably made out of a number of such elements, a ceiling-component gate panel for example, with a space between outer layers, especially made of sheet metal, that enclose each other, and with a core, made of plastic, especially expanded plastic, that completely occupies the space. The element, in order to save weight, has a layer of plastic fibers against each surface of the outer layers that faces the core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1988
    Date of Patent: April 28, 1992
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 5002114
    Abstract: An overhead door having a number of panels secured together by hinges, in which the insertion of a finger into a gap between the consecutive panels is prevented. Facing edges of ajdacent panels have areas that curve around an axis of the hinges to eliminate the occurrence of a gap as wide as a finger at any angle between the panels. Shoulder areas engage each other when the door is in the closed state, and they are located in the vicinity of the interior surface of the door and outside the curved edge areas that extend from the outer surface of the door. To facilitate manufacture of panels that will ensure that the door is tight, well supported, and precisely positioned when in the closed state, there is a section in the area of the gap between the facing edges of adjacent panels as viewed from the outer surface and toward the interior surface of the door. The gap distance is interrupted and the panels rest one on top of another when the door is in the closed state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 26, 1991
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Thomas J. Hormann
  • Patent number: 4893666
    Abstract: Articulated overhead gate consisting of a series of adjacent and interarticulated panels with their sides facing one another, characterized in that the side of each panel that is uppermost in gate-closed state and faces a preceding panel has a curved surface that is convex in vertical section and the side that is lowermost and faces a subsequent panel has a curved surface that is concave in vertical section, with the result that the mutually facing convex and concave curved surfaces in each pair of adjacent panels demarcate a space that is dictated by the hinge between the panels and accordingly has curved edges, and in that the facing sides shift in relation to each other as they articulate around their associated axis of articulation during the transition from the gate-closed state into the gate-open state in such a way that the space remains but decreases along the direction of articulation during at least part of the transition into the state of maximum articulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1988
    Date of Patent: January 16, 1990
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4888531
    Abstract: Variable electrically motorized drive mechanism for gates or similar structure close-off devices that can be installed for the purpose of an assembly operation that is as heavy-duty as possible and without fine adjustments, for which purpose the gate is provided with controls that essentially comprise a position detector, a memory, and a reference-point indicator, the last of which is positioned between the gate-panel limiting positions and outside of any stop positions or defines a corresponding gate-panel reference-point position and synchronizes the position detector at each stroke such that the path that the panel is to travel along from the reference-point position into a particular desired position is dicated or monitored in accordance with a memory output that corresponds to the adjusted position. The system is accordingly continuously self-monitoring and can synchronize itself when the motor is started up again after a power outage and possibly manual operation of the gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1988
    Date of Patent: December 19, 1989
    Assignee: Hormann KG Antriebs- und Steuerungstechnik
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4878529
    Abstract: Sectional overhead garage door for low lintel heights, with the door leaf members of which, except for the one that is uppermost in the closed position, being guided in guide rails having a vertical, an arcuate, and a horizontal section, and with rollers of the uppermost door leaf member being guided in two guide rails, extending with an approximately horizontal section above and in parallel to the approximately horizontal primary guide section provided on the same side, and each of these being connected to an intermediate guide member adapted to be lowered from the horizontal in the direction of the upper frame zone, so that the uppermost door leaf member, when the door leaf is transferred into the closed position, passes into the plane of the closed door leaf along a shorter path than the remaining door leaf members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 1987
    Date of Patent: November 7, 1989
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4819495
    Abstract: An arrangement for converting rotary motion into translational motion in which a motion-transmission device that is movable translationally, is divided into two strings that move longitudinally along their direction of motion. A driving motor provides rotational motion through a rotary drive. The strings are guided transversely and are positioned outside of a guide where they become separated. The strings, on the other hand, become united inside the guide, and this guide prevents the strings from being movable from each other laterally. The strings have teeth on sides facing each other in vicinity of the guide, and these strings have ends secured to an intermediate component in the guide, remote from the rotary drive. The intermediate component is common to both strings, and they become disengaged in vicinity of the intermediate component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1987
    Date of Patent: April 11, 1989
    Assignee: Hormann KG Antriebs- und Steuerungstechnik
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4794972
    Abstract: A sectional overhead door which, in its longitudinal rims pointing in the direction of movement, is inwardly angled in a C-shape and stabilized at marginal zones, by reinforcing struts extending in the direction of movement of the door, with the reinforcing struts contacting the sheet-metal panel of the door leaf member extending in the plane of the door leaf member, and being in shape-mating connection in their two end zones at the front face C-shaped angled portions extending in parallel to the plane of the door leaf member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1987
    Date of Patent: January 3, 1989
    Assignee: Hormann KG Brockhagen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4753057
    Abstract: A length of section for framing the leaf of a gate or door or other structure that closes off a building and with a panel, preferably a wooden panel, especially for swinging doors with a sectional strut made out of a strip of sheet metal that is shaped in such a way that its two longitudinal borders are joined parallel into a web designed as a mount for the panel and having perforations for the screws that secure the panel extending through both longitudinal borders. To make sure that the screws will fit through all the perforations once the strip has been shaped into a length of section, the perforations in one longitudinal border are larger than the perforations in the other longitudinal border and in the cross-section of each smaller perforation in the web on the sectional strut is in the vicinity of the correspondingly positioned larger perforation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1986
    Date of Patent: June 28, 1988
    Assignee: Hormann KG Amshausen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4726247
    Abstract: An actuator has a worm gear which drives a pair of flexible parts into a guide where they are united to form a rigid transmission member. The parts have interlocking teeth which cooperate with each other to transmit stresses in compression and tension along the transmission member. Because the parts are flexible in a direction transverse to the direction of the guide, they may be stored in a space-saving manner to the sides of the guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 23, 1988
    Assignee: Hormann KG Antriebs- und Steuerungstechnik
    Inventor: Michael Hormann
  • Patent number: 4718472
    Abstract: A sectional strip 5 with an outward-facing outside 10 and an inside 11 for roll-up, fold-up, and similar gates exhibits at its top 6 and bottom 7 a point of articulation 8 that extends over the total width of the gate for pivoting the adjacent upper and lower, identically shaped sectional strip in relation to the plane of the gate, which consists of the sectional strips that are not rolled up, when rolled up onto the armor of rolled-up sectional strips. The point 8 of articulation at top 6 is in the form of at least one perpendicular cylindrical sector 12 with an outward-facing surface 13 and the point 8 of articulation at bottom 7 is in the form of at least one cylindrical sector 14 with an inward-facing surface 15. The surface at top 6 and the surface at bottom 7 have radii 16 and 17 of curvature that are practically equal in length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 1987
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1988
    Assignee: Hormann KG Amshausen
    Inventor: Michael Hormann