Vertical cable manager with slam-shut door

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10714915-B2
Application number	US-201816190896-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2018
Priority date	Jul 14, 2017
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

A vertical cable manager includes a base frame and a door. The base frame has upper and lower support legs and upper and lower crossbars between the support legs. The door has retractable hinge pins at corners of the door. The crossbars have hinge rod receptacles to receive respective hinge pins and elastic latch members having a flexible arm and a catch portion. The catch portions secure the hinge pins in the hinge rod receptacles with the door closed and are deflectable through elastic deformation of the flexible arm to allow travel of the hinge pins through the hinge rod receptacles and past the catch portions when the door is moved from an open to a closed position.

First claim

We claim:

1. A vertical cable manager comprising:
a base frame having upper support legs, lower support legs, an upper crossbar, and a lower crossbar, the upper crossbar k attached between opposing ends of the upper support legs, and the lower crossbar k attached between opposing end of the lower support legs;
a door comprising a door panel;
first and second opposing hinge pin assemblies secured to the door panel and positioned at respective corners of the door panel, each hinge pin assembly including a retractable hinge pin to be received by a respective hinge rod receptacle in one of the upper and lower crossbars of the vertical cable manager;
a door handle assembly;
and a cable assembly connected at opposite ends to the opposing hinge pin assemblies and extending through the door handle assembly;
wherein rotation of the door handle assembly pulls the cable assembly in a direction away from the hinge pin assemblies, which moves the retractable hinge pins of the respective hinge pin assemblies from an extended position to a retracted position;
wherein the retractable hinge pin includes a door post portion at one end and a clearance hole at the opposite end;
the clearance hole receives a splice of the cable assembly;
wherein the hinge pin is disposed within a hinge pin receiver,
wherein the hinge pin extends through the hinge pin receiver with the door post portion located on one side of the hinge pin receiver and the clearance hole located on a second side of the hinge pin receiver;
wherein the door handle assembly includes a door handle and a door handle backing,
the door handle extends through an aperture in the door panel,
the door handle has engagement ribs and the door handle backing has engagement slots that interlock with the engagement ribs of the door handle;
wherein the door handle backing includes channels with bend radius control sections for providing bend radius control for the cables extending through the channels.

2. The vertical cable manager of claim 1 , wherein opposing retractable hinge pin assemblies retract in opposite directions.

3. The vertical cable manager of claim 1 , wherein each hinge pin assembly comprises:
a hinge pin receiver secured to the door panel and configured to receive the retractable hinge pin; and
a spring disposed within the hinge pin receiver and positioned between a portion of the hinge pin receiver and the retractable hinge pin to bias the retractable hinge pin towards the extended position.

4. The vertical cable manager of claim 1 , wherein each cable assembly comprises a cable and splices connected to each end of the cable, wherein the splices engage respective retractable hinge pins to connect the cable assemblies to the hinge pin assemblies and the cable extends through a channel in the door handle assembly.

5. The vertical cable manager of claim 1 , wherein braces are secured to the door for stiffness and to hide the cable assembly when the cable assembly is not in tension.

6. The vertical cable manager of claim 1 , wherein the splice of the cable assembly is inserted through the clearance hole at a non-vertical angle to a longitudinal axis of the hinge pin and the splice is rotated until the splice is coaxial with the hinge pin; and wherein the hinge pin includes overlap tabs that trap the splice once the splice is rotated in the hinge pin.

Assignees

• Panduit Corp

Inventors

• Valenti Joshua A
• Zumbek Kevin M
• O'Young Jason
• Fritz Robert L
• Gleghorn Nathan A

Classifications

• E05Y2201/22

  Locks · CPC title

• H02G3/0437

  Channels · CPC title

• E05D15/502

  by axial separation of the hinge parts at the hinge axis · CPC title

• H02B1/44

  Hinged covers or doors · CPC title

• E05D15/505

  by radial separation of the hinge parts at the hinge axis · CPC title