One of the most underrated pieces of hardware for commercial doors are door closers. Door closers are available in all manners of shapes and sizes. The most popular kind of door closers are surface-mounted. At one point in history, surface mounted door closers were made of a vertical cylinder inside which laid a heavy banded spring – while two other horizontal cylinders housed an oiled piston. These closers did help work doors shut gently, however they were aesthetically garish and not that durable or long lasting.
Later on, the earlier pot shaped door closers were replaced with a more modern shaped iteration. All banded springs found themselves replaced with compression springs, housed in the same horizontal container as the piston. Today’s more advanced door closers have streamlined the clunky shapes of the door closers of yesteryear.
Today’s door closer construction consists of a pinion (a shaft) and a rack attached to each other with gears. The arms of the door closer are directly attached to the pinion, and any rotating of the shaft will move the pinion, affecting the compression spring. Once the door is opened, the spring pressure increases, and when the door is closed, the spring pressure decreases. The hinged door closer arms attach the shaft to the door jamb, and provides a very wide arc of movement rotation for the pinion and rack – so you can effectively control it’s closing.
Most rim mounted door closers have a variety of features. The pinion and rack construction allows for back check control. As wella s dual adjustment valve latching and control. The flat arm and thin cover allows for a heightened level of aesthetic refinement. Also, many accessories are available, including regular or parallel arms, hold open arms,cushion arms, back plates, and drop plates. Some of these door closers are built extra tough, for heavy duty endurance in high traffic environments.
