GB2125472A

GB2125472A - Sliding patio door frame

Info

Publication number: GB2125472A
Application number: GB08223907A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Leslie George Briggs; Edward Kenneth Coventry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-08-19
Filing date: 1982-08-19
Publication date: 1984-03-07

Abstract

A bottom cill rail (8) of a sliding patio door frame is provided with a cover member (26), held in position by the roller members (42), to protect the runner part 16 of the rail from cold air and thus prevent condensation.

Description

SPECIFICATION Sliding patio door frame This invention relates to a sliding patio door frame, and to a sliding patio door when provided with the frame.

Sliding patio doors are well known. They are usually double glazed with a view to avoiding loss of heat from inside a room to outside.

The double glazing also stops much of the condensation that previously occured in winter due to hot air inside the room engaging the relatively cold surface of a single sheet of glass, the said single sheet of glass having its outside surface in contact with the cold outside air. Some condensation may still occur, even with double glazing, on the metallic parts of the frame of the sliding patio doors. This is because the metal frame, which is usually made of an aluminium alloy, has an inside part in contact with the relatively warm interior of the room and an outside part in contact with the relatively cold outside air.

In an attempt to combat condensation on the metal frame of the sliding patio doors, there have recently been introduced so-called thermal break sliding patio door frames. These frames are such that they are divided into an inner part and an outer part which are separated by a thermally insulating material which may be, for example, thermally insulating unplasticised polyvinyl chloride. The thermally insulating material is usually provided as a liquid in desired channels of the frame and is then cured in situ. The metal of the bottoms of the channels is cut away, either before or after the provision of the thermally insulating material in the channels.The cured thermally insulating material then separates the inner and outer parts of the frame and so substantially hinders the transfer of cold from the outer part of the frame which will be in contact with the outside air to the inner part of the frame which will be in contact with the hotter air in the room. Several methods are known of cutting and filling the channels and, since these methods are well known, they will not be described further.

Condensation can still exist on the thermally insulated frames due to the fact that the frames are hollow and various portions of the frames are not closed to the air. Thus, relatively cold outside air can be blown along the inside of the frames and it may engage the inner part of the frame.

Thus, although the inner and outer parts of the frame are physically separated from each other by the thermally insulating material, the inner part of the frame is still subjected to the relatively cold air and condensation still occurs. Attempts have been made to prevent this condensation occurring by blocking parts of the frames.

More specifically, a major source of frame condesation is the bottom horizontal cill rail of the sliding door. This cill rail has to be open along its lowermost edge so that the rollers on which the sliding door slides can project downwardly beyond the cill rail. The known attempts to block the bottom cill rail have not been totally acceptable because difficulties arise in production. In one known frame, the bottom cill rail is filled with a foam material which then has to be dug out to form a channel in which the rollers of the sliding door of the sliding patio door frame can run in.

This is a time consuming operation and is also wasteful of material. In another known frame, a cover member is employed and which is fixed into the bottom rail before the rollers of the sliding patio doors are fitted in position. The cover member saves on material as compared with the foam idea, but the cover member has to be provided with slits to allow the rollers to project through the cover member. Air can thus pass through the slits and contact the inner parts of the cill rail and cause the unwanted condensation.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide a sliding patio door frame in which the above problems associated with the bottom cill rail are obviated or reduced.

Accordingly, this invention provides a sliding patio door frame comprising a frame having at least one sliding frame member and at least one fixed frame member, at least the sliding frame member having a bottom cill rail which is provided with a cover member, the cover member extending longitudinally inside the bottom cill rail, the cover member being held in position by roller members of the sliding frame member, and the cover member being effective to substantially seal an inner part of the bottom cill rail from an outer part of the bottom cill rail.

The cover member may be right angular in cross section. Preferably, the cover member has oppositely extending-flanges positioned at either end of a supporting web, the flanges being arranged at right angles with respect to the supporting web.

The cover member may have a clipping portion for assisting in locating the cover member in the bottom cill rail.

The bottom cill rail of the fixed frame member may also have a cover member. This cover member may be provided with a brush sealing member.

Other parts of the sliding patio door frame may also have cover members for substantially isolating the inner and outer parts of the frame, whereby relatively cold atmospheric air cannot engage the inner parts of the frame. These outer parts may be, for example, upright frame members.

The cover members may be made of an extruded plastics material, for example unplasticised polyvinyl chloride. Other materials such for example as rubber may be employed if desired.

This invention also provides a sliding patio door when provided with the sliding patio door frame.

The sliding patio door will usually be doubled glazed.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a cross-section through the lower part of a sliding patio door.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown the lower part of a sliding patio door 2. The patio door 2 comprises a patio door frame 4 having a sliding frame member 6 and a fixed frame member 7.

Only the lower part of the sliding frame member 6 is shown in the drawing and this lower part of the sliding frame member 6 comprises a horizontally extending bottom cill rail 8 which is hollow as shown. Supported on an upper portion of the cill rail 8 is a double glazing sealed unit comprising two panes of glass 10, 12 which are spaced apart by a spacer member 14. The sheet of glass 10 will be inside a room and the sheet of glass 12 will be exposed to the outside air.

The cill rail 8 is hollow and it is open along its lower most edge 9 as shown. The cill rail 8 has an inner part 16 in the room and an outer part 18 which is exposed to the outside air. In order to prevent cold air on the outer part 18 being transmitted to the inner part 16, the cill rail 8 is separated into the inner part 16 and the outer part 18 by a thermally insulating member 20 formed of unplasticised polyvinyl chloride. As illustrated in the drawing, the lower part of the thermally insulating member 20 will initially rest on a metallic part of the frame (not shown) bridging the inner and outer part 1 6, 18. The thermally insulating member 20 will first be poured into the channel and then it will be cured in situ.When the thermally insulating member has cured, it will be effective to hold the inner part 16 and the outer part 18 together and so, at this point in time, the metal member bridging the parts 16, 18 can be cut away in a known manner to effectively thermally isolate the inner part 16 from the outer part 18.

Because the cill rail 8 is open along its lowermost edge 9 and because the cill rail 8 is a hollow member as can be seen from the drawing, it will be apparent that cold air from the outside can be blown through the cill rail 8, especially in stormy winter conditions. It is thus possible for the cold outside air to touch the inside surface 22 of the inner part 16 and thus cause the inner part 16 to be colder than the air in the room. This will in turn cause condensation to form on the outside surface 24 of the inner part 16.

In order to substantially reduce or prevent the cold air from blowing along the inside of the cill rail 8 and adverely cooling the inner part 16, a cover member 26 is provided. The cover member 26 comprises a pair of flanges 28, 30 which extend in opposite directions and at right angles to a central supporting web 32. The flange 30 is provided with a groove 34 for receiving a flange 36 on the inner part 16, the groove 34 assisting in the precise location of the cover member 26.

When the cover member 26 is appropriately located, a roller assembly 36 can be positioned inside the cill rail 8 and secured in position against an extruded part 38 of the cill rail 8 by screws, one of which is shown as screw 40. The roller assembly 36 is so positioned as to trap the flange 28 of the cover member 26 between itself and the part 38. Thus, as the screws 40 are tightened, the roller assembly 36 is effective to hold the cover member 26 in position. The cover member 26 can thus be held in position and there is no necessity to aperture the cover member 26 to allow the roller assembly 36, or at least the rollers 42 thereof, to protrude through the cover 26, as occurs with a known prior design, whereby cold air could pass through the cover member 26 and adversely cool the inner part 16.

Advantageously, the ends of the cover member 26 are arranged to extend into and across the upright frame members. Thus, if the bottom ends of the upright frame members are open and air passes through the open ends, the air will be stopped by the ends of the cover member 26.

Thus, the cover member 26 is also advantageous in preventing or reducing unwanted condensation in the upright frame members of the sliding frame member 6.

As can be seen from the drawing, the roller members 42 run on a bead 44 which is upstanding from the fixed frame 7. The fixed frame 7 has an inner part 46 which is inside the room and an outer part 48 which is outside the room.

The inner part 46 and the outer part 48 are separated by a thermally insulating member 50 which can be provided exactly in the same manner as the thermally insulating member 20.

The inner part 46 is provided with a rubber threshold member 52 which snaps into an appropriately grooved recess 54 as shown and which may be trod on when the sliding frame member 4 is open.

A pair of brush seals 56, 58 brush against the sliding frame member 6 to stop the ingress of air in the direction of the arrow 60. Air passing in the direction of the arrow 60 cannot get inside the fixed frame member 7 due to a plastics member 62 which is formed with the brush seal 58. The plastics member 62 may be made of unplasticised polyvinyl chloride and it is provided with a slot 64 for receiving a flange 66 whereby the member 62 can be pushed over the flange 66 and held in position.

A cover member 68 is provided in the position shown to stop cold air in the vicinity of the arrow 60 from passing over the top of the thermally insulating member 50 and contacting the frame parts 70, 72, 74 and possibly causing unwanted condensation on the fixed frame part 7. As can be seen from the drawing, the fixed frame part 7 is located on a wooden horizontally extending cill 76. The fixed frame part 7 will be provided with a sealed double glazed unit (not shown) in a known manner.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiment of the invention described above has been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, the illustrated cross sectional shape of the cover member 26 may be varied.

Claims

1. A sliding patio door frame comprising a frame having at least one sliding frame member and at least one fixed frame member, at least the sliding frame member having a bottom cill rail which is provided with a cover member, the cover member extending longitudinally inside the bottom cill rail, the cover member being held in position by roller members of the sliding frame member, and the cover member being effective to substantially seal an inner part of the bottom cill rail from an outer part of the bottom cill rail.

2. A sliding patio door frame according to claim 1 in which the cover member is right angular in cross section.

3. A sliding patio door frame according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the cover member has oppositely extending flanges positioned at either end of a supporting web, the flanges being arranged at right angles with respect to the supporting web.

4. A sliding patio door frame according to any one of the preceding claims in which the cover member has a clipping portion for assisting in locating the cover member in the bottom cill rail.

5. A sliding patio door frame according to any one of the preceding claims in which the bottom cill rail of the fixed frame member has a cover member.

6. A sliding patio door frame according to claim 5 in which the cover member for the bottom cill rail of the fixed frame member has a brush sealing member.

7. A sliding patio door frame according to any one of the preceding claims in which other parts of the sliding patio door frame have cover members for substantially isolating the inner and outer parts of the frame, whereby relatively cold atmospheric air cannot engage the inner parts of the frame.

8. A sliding patio door frame according to any one of the preceding claims in which the or each cover member is made of an extruded plastics material.

9. A sliding patio door frame according to claim 8 in which the extruded plastics material is unplasticised polyvinyl chloride.

10. A sliding patio door frame substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

11. A sliding patio door when provided with a sliding patio door frame according to any one of the preceding claims.

12. A sliding patio door according to claim 11 and which is double-glazed.