GB2210657A

GB2210657A - Drive mechanism; fastening closure member

Info

Publication number: GB2210657A
Application number: GB8723629A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gerald Ricketts
Original assignee: INDEPENDENT ENGINEERING COMPAN
Current assignee: INDEPENDENT ENGINEERING COMPAN
Priority date: 1987-10-08
Filing date: 1987-10-08
Publication date: 1989-06-14
Also published as: GB8723629D0

Abstract

In a window or door assembly with a closure member 11, a handle 17 has a shaft 20 protruding from a base plate 18 into member 11 and a drive mechanism 21, 22, 24 transmits drive from shaft 20 to a box 12 mounted for reciprocation in a channel defined by member 11 and having fastening formations 14 (e.g. rollers) for co-operation with fastening formations 13 on a frame 10 of the assembly. The drive mechanism comprises a hollow housing 21, a rotary boss 22 with a non-circular aperture to receive shaft 20 and a rack 24 coupled with bar 12 by means of teeth 25. The housing 21 has opposed side walls 27, 28 and one or both is/ are formed with respective open-ended channel 31 to receive respective rib 35 of rack 24 which slides in channel to guide the rack. Rib 35 may be interrupted to form two projections one adjacent each end of rack 24. <IMAGE>

Description

Title:"Fastener drive mechanism and assembly incorporating same" Description of Invention The present invention relates to a drive mechanism in or for an assembly comprising a frame defining an opening and a closure member mounted for movement relative to the frame between closed and open positions, a handle being mounted on the closure member for movement relative thereto, a bar being mounted in the closure member for reciprocation relative thereto between a fastening position and a releasing position, co-operating fastening formations being provided on the frame and the bar for fastening the closure member in the closed position when the bar is in the fastening position and the drive mechanism being arranged to receive drive from the handle and transmit the drive to the bar.In an assembly of the kind described, the bar generally has two or more fastening formations which are spaced apart along the bar and which are spaced from the drive mechanism, the drive mechanism includes a rack which is coupled with the bar so that the bar reciprocates with the rack and the drive mechanism further comprises a drive element mounted for turning with the handle about an axis which is transverse to the length of the bar and which functions as a pinion to reciprocate the rack when the handle is turned.

In known assemblies of the kind described, the drive mechanism incorporates a housing within which the pinion or other drive element is mounted and within which the rack is disposed. A part of the bar also is disposed inside the housing, opposite end portions of the bar protruding from the housing. With this known arrangement, the drive mechanism and bar are assembled together permanently during manufacture and cannot subsequently be separated, without destruction of the housing.

The length of bar required varies from one assembly to another, depending upon the size of the closure member and upon the number of fastening formations required. A manufacturer of windows who accepts orders for a large variety of sizes of windows must hold a stock of bars and drive mechanisms, the bars of which are different lengths.

It would be advantageous to assemble the drive mechanism of an assembly of the kind described without the bar and to adapt the bar for cooperation with the drive mechanism at any selected one of a plurality of alternative positions along the length of the bar and/or at a plurality of alternative positions across the width of the bar.

According to the present invention, a drive mechanism in or for an assembly of the kind described comprises a hollow housing, a slider mounted in the housing for reciprocation relative thereto along a rectilinear path and a boss mounted in the housing for turning relative thereto about an axis, the boss and slider having mutually co-operating formations for reciprocating the slider when the boss is turned, the housing having a pair of opposite side walls which are spaced apart in a direction along the axis to define a gap, the slider being disposed in the gap, at least one of the side walls defining a channel and a portion of the slider being disposed in the channel.

In the known drive mechanisms, the bar retains the rack in the housing.

In a drive mechanism in accordance with the present invention, the slider is retained in the housing by the portion of the slider which is disposed in the channel and the bar can be mounted in the closure member independently of the drive mechanism.

An example of an assembly embodying the invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein FIGURE 1 shows a perspective view of a part of a window assembly, FIGURE 2 shows an end view of a drive mechanism of the assembly; and FIGURE 3 shows a cross-section through a part of the assembly on the line Ill-Ill of Figure 2.

The assembly illustrated in Figure I comprises a rectangular frame, a part of which is shown at 10, which is mounted in an opening in a wall of a building and is permanently fixed with respect to the wall. The frame defines a rectangular opening. The assembly further comprises a closure member, a part of which is indicated by the reference numeral II. This closure member is also rectangular, is hingedly connected with the frame and is arranged for closing the opening defined by the frame. As illustrated in Figure 1, the closure member can swing relative to the frame to an open position. The closure member may incorporate a glazing panel and may be a door or an opening part of a window.

Fastening means is provided for fastening the closure member II in the closed position with respect to the frame 10. The fastening means includes an elongate, rectilinear bar 12 which is mounted in a channel defined by the closure member for reciprocation relative thereto through a limited stroke in a vertical direction, in a case where the bar is disposed at a vertical margin of the closure member I I, or in an horizontal direction, in a case where the bar is disposed at a horizontal margin of the closure member. Co-operating fastening formations are provided on the bar 12 and on the frame 10.In the example illustrated, the fastening formations on the frame are keepers 13 and the fastening formations on the bar 12 have the form of generally cylindrical projections 14 which may be constituted by rollers attached by rivets to the bar so that each roller can turn on its axis relative to the bar.

Alternatively, the fastening elements on the bar may be fixed with respect to the bar.

The bar 12 is attached to the closure member II by means of a plurality of screws 15 or other headed fasteners which extend through elongated slots 16 formed in the bar and penetrate into the closure member II. The screws IS are spaced from each other along the bar and each slot 16 extends along a part of the length of the bar to permit free sliding of the bar between fastening and releasing positions.

There is also mounted on the closure member I I a handle 17 connected with a base plate 18 for pivoting relative thereto about an axis 19 which extends generally in the direction of opening and closing movement of the closure member I I. The base plate 18 is mounted on a face of the closure member II which is presented towards the interior of the building and the handle 17 has a shaft 20 which protrudes from the base plate into the closure member II.

A drive mechanism is provided for transmitting drive from the shaft 20 to the bar 12. The drive mechanism comprises a hollow housing 21 in which there is mounted for turning relative to the housing a boss 22. The housing 21 is disposed in a recess formed in the closure member II and is so positioned that the rotary axis of the boss 22 coincides with the axis 19 of the shaft 20.

The boss is formed with a non-circular aperture which receives the shaft 20 with a sliding fit. In the example illustrated, the transverse cross-sectional shape of the shaft and the shape of the aperture in the boss are square.

The base plate 18 and the housing 21 are both secured to the closure member II by a pair of screws 23 or other fasteners which lie at opposite sides of the axis 19 and extend through the base plate, through a wall of the closure member II into respective bores formed in the housing 21. The screws are threadedly engaged with the housing in these bores. The bores may be presented by stepped bushes which span the gap between opposed side walls 27,28 of the housing 21 and are riveted over at the outsides of the housing.

The drive mechanism further comprises a rack 24 which is disposed partly in the housing 21 and which protrudes from that housing in a direction away from the axis 19 into coupling relation with the bar 12. In the example illustrated, the rack has adajcent to each of its ends a respective tooth 25 which protrudes from the housing 21 into a corresponding recess 26 formed in the bar 12. By means of the teeth 25, the rack is coupled with the bar 12 so that the bar reciprocates with the rack. Longitudinal movement of the rack may be limited by the housing 21 or by the bar 12.

The rack 24 is a loose, sliding fit between the side walls 27 and 28 of the housing. The inwardly facing surfaces of those side walls are generally flat and mutually parallel. However, at that margin of the wall 28 which is remote from the axis 19, there is provided an inturned lip 29 with which a shoulder 30 formed on the rack 24 can engage to prevent movement of the rack in a direction away from the axis 19. The side wall 27 defines a channel 31 having an open mouth which faces towards the side wall 28. The channel is adjacent to that margin of the side wall 27 which is remote from the axis 19. Opposite wall portions 32 and 32 of the channel are connected with each other throughout their lengths by a base 34 of the channel. The base 34 supports the wall portion 33 through the length of that wall portion.

The rack 24 has a rib 35 which occupies the channel 31 and thereby retains the rack in the housing 21. The rib 35 is preferably continuous along the entire length of the rack. Alternatively, the rib may be interrupted and may, for example, be constituted by two projections, one adjacent to each end of the rack. The rib slides in the channel to guide the rack for reciprocation relative to the housing.

The channel 31 is open at both ends of the housing and is of uniform shape along its entire length. A similar channel may be formed in the side wall 28 of the housing, in place of the lip 29. In this case, the rack 24 would be provided with a further lateral projection similar to the projection 35 and engaging the housing in the second channel. It will be noted that both the lip 29 and the wall 33 of the channel 31 are connected along their entire lengths with the remainder of the housing and are thus well adapted to resist movement of the rack outwardly of the housing.

As shown in Figure 1, the housing 21 may be arranged with its longitudinal centreline offset laterally relative to a longitudinal centreline of the bar 12, the recesses 26 which receive the teeth 25 being immediately adjacent to a lateral margin of the bar. Alternatively, the recesses 26 may be formed centrally in the bar, in which case there would be no lateral offsetting of the drive mechanism relative to the bar.

The housing 21 is formed as a one-piece pressing from sheet metal. The rack 24 is conveniently formed as a die-casting. The frame 10 and closure member I I may be assembled from extruded lengths of plastics material, for example UPVC, from extruded lengths of aluminium or from lengths of timber.

There may be formed in the bar more than two recesses 26, so that a selected one of several alternative positional relations of the bar and drive mechanism can be adopted during assembly of the bar and drive mechanism with the closure member 11.

It will be noted that one of the projections 14 on the bar lies at a position between the two recesses 26 in which the teeth 25 are engaged.

Thus, this projection is approximately aligned with the axis 19. If there is no requirement for a projection on the bar in this position and no requirement for any other formation on the bar at this position, then there may be substituted for the pair of teeth 25 on the rack a single tooth which engages in a single recess formed in the bar.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means Tor performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately or any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

CLAI MS:

I. An assembly comprising a frame defining an opening, a closure member mounted for movement relative to the frame between closed and open positions, a handle mounted on the closure member for movement relative thereto, a bar mounted in the closure member for reciprocation relative thereto between a fastening position and a releasing position, co-operating fastening formations on the bar and on the frame for fastening the closure member in the closed position when the bar is in the fastening position and a drive mechanism which receives drive from the handle and transmits the drive to the bar, wherein the drive mechanism comprises a hollow housing, a slider mounted in the housing for reciprocation relative thereto along a rectilinear path and a boss mounted in the housing for turning relative thereto about an axis, wherein the boss and slider have mutually co-operating formations for reciprocating the slider when the boss is turned, the slider is coupled with the bar, the housing includes a pair of opposite side walls spaced apart in a direction along the axis to define a gap, the slider is disposed in said gap, at least one of the side walls of the housing defines a channel and wherein a portion of the slider is disposed in the channel.
2. A drive mechanism for an assembly according to Claim ), the drive mechanism comprising a hollow housing, a slider mounted in the housing for reciprocation relative thereto along a rectilinear path and a boss mounted in the housing for turning relative thereto about an axis, wherein the boss and slider have mutually co-operating formations for reciprocating the slider when the boss is turned, the housing includes a pair of opposite side walls spaced apart in a direction along the axis to define a gap, the slider is disposed in said gap, at least one of the side walls of the housing defines a channel and wherein a portion of the slider is disposed in the channel.
3. An assembly according to Claim I or a mechanism according to Claim 2 wherein the channel has open ends at corresponding ends of the housing.
4. An assembly or a mechanism according to Claim 3 wherein the channel is defined between opposite wall portions and said wall portions are connected together throughout their lengths by a base of the channel.
5. An assembly according to any one of Claims 1, 3 and 4 or a mechanism according to any one Claims 2 to 4 wherein said portion of the slider which is disposed in the channel is a rib extending from one end of the slider to an opposite end thereof.
6. A drive mechanism substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.
7. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein or in the accompanying drawing.