GB2243200A - Panel jointing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A panel 11 may be joined to a wall mounting plate 10 by means of a straight jointing bar 12. The wall mounting plate, the straight jointing bar, and the panel all have inter-engaging male and female jointing members, which are preferably of dovetail form. The panel 11 may then be joined to an adjacent panel 13 by use of an angled jointing bar 14 which, again, has male dovetails adapted to be received in female dovetails in the adjacent edges of the panels 11 and 13. The system may be applied to all areas of construction including ridge jointing bars 17, top rails 9B of wall panels and bottom rails 9A of wall panels which are adapted to engage with sills 15. A preferred example of the use of the system is in conservatories or greenhouses. <IMAGE>

Description

PANEL JOINTING SYSTEM This invention relates to a panel jointing system to enable panels to be joined in a simple manner to each other and/or to wall mounting plates etc.

Many structural systems involve the use of panels. Panels may for instance be glazed panels or they may be panels filled in with various materials. Alternatively the panels may be in the form of frames for windows or doors or they may be in the form of screens or decorative panels.

One particular example of the need to be able to join panels to form a structure is a polygonal conservatory or greenhouse such as a Victorian type conservatory. Such conservatories are very often.

semi-octagonal or semi-hexagonal or they may consist of a number of panels of various angles joining the panels which are arranged in straight lines so as to produce a polygonal shape.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a panel jointing system which is capable of use by the "do-it-yourself" man and does not need special tools or equipment to join the panels.

Another example of the application of the invention lies in the assembly of dividing panels and screens such as are used to divide J up the interiors of office buildings in a manner such that the interior design can be changed at will. It is highly desirable to have panels which can be assembled and disassembled easily and without the use of special tools so that an office plan, particularly in a modern, open plan office, can be changed readily.

Another example is in the use of exhibition stands where a stand needs to be easily demoutable and transportable so that it can be re-erected at another exhibition. By using the system of the present invention, it is possible to have standard panels which can easily be joined together and joined to fixed structure at an exhibition site without the need for special skills or special tools.

Obviously there are many many other applications where panels are employed to create permanent and temporary buildings where the present invention would be extremely valuable because of the simplicity of the invention and the ability of unskilled workmen to erect panelled constructions using the present invention.

From one aspect the present invention involves a panel jointing system in which panels to be joined to each other, and/or to wall mounting plates or other fixed structure, have male or female jointing features extending along at least one longitudinal edge of each panel, and preferably along both longitudinal edges, and the panels are adapted to be joined to each other, and/or to the wall mounting plate or the like, by a jointing strip which has -y female or male jointing members extending along both faces of the full length of the strip and adapted to co-operate with the male or female jointing members on the panels.

For instance, the jointing members may be in the form of dovetail shaped male and female jointing members on the strip adapted to co-operate with corresponding respective female and male dovetail sections on the edges of the panels. The strips which are used as jointing members may have their two faces on which the male or female members are formed set at angles so that when assembled the panels will stand at predetermined angles to each other.

Instead of using a simple single dovetail arrangement, pairs of dovetails may be arranged in parallel on the strips and on the panels. Alternatively, square section male and female members or tongues and grooves may be used. Another alternative is to use a ball and socket type profile, i.e. a round section male member adapted to engage with a corresponding round profiled groove. Again there may be single and double ball and socket profiles. The term "ball" is used in the sense of describing the shape of the jointing profile seen in section. It will be appreciated that the round section runs the full length of the strip and of the corresponding panel edges.

The jointing system may be used for wall panels but it may equally be used for base panels, sill profiles and roof panel profiles.

For example, a ridge jointing bar may form the jointing member with the angled faces of the ridge jointing bar being provided with the male or female jointing members adapted to co-operate with corresponding female or male jointing members on the edges of the panels which meet at the ridge of the roof.

There may be a degree of free motion or play provided in the wall mounting sections so as to allow for out-of-true walls.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of some preferred embodiments of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1A shows in perspective a wall mounting plate and two panels joined in accordance with the invention; Figure 1B is a section through a portion of a Victorian style conservatory constructed in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 shows on the left a frame profile and on the right a jointing profile in section; Figure 3 shows a section through an angled jointing bar profile; Figure 4 shows a section through a bottom roof rail profile; Figure 5 is a section through a sill profile; Figure 6 is a section through a wall mounting profile; Figure 7 shows a double square section profile; Figure 8 shows a single square section profile; Figure 9 shows a flashing strip; Figure 10 shows a pair of base panels; Figure 11, again shows a base panel with brackets for tying to two concrete footings etc.;; Figure 12 shows a double round "ball and socket" jointing profile; Figure 12A shows a rounded dovetail profile; Figure 13 shows a ridge profile; Figure 14 shows a single round jointing profile; Figure 15 shows a double dovetail jointing profile; Figure 16 shows one form of adjustable mounting section; Figure 17 shows a second form of adjustable wall mounting section; Figure 18 is a section through the ridge assembly showing how the various parts co-operate; Figure 19 shows how the door frame head is attached to the bottom rail of a roof panel; and Figure 20 is a section through the bottom rail of a door frame.

Basically what is to be described here is a conservatory or greenhouse construction embodying the present invention as one example of the way in which panels joined in accordance with the present invention may be employed. The conservatory or greenhouse construction basically comprises a number of panels joined to form a polygonal structure, the panels being jointed at their longi,tudinal meeting edges by use of a dovetail or ball and socket or like joint, the jointing member itself being in the form of a strip which carries a dovetail or ball and socket or like jointing members and may be slid down vertically between two adjacent panels so as to join them. If they are to be joined at an angle, then the strip is shaped to ensure this as will be clear from the following description and drawings.

In Figure 1A there is a shown a wall mounting plate 10 to which has been attached one wall panel 11 by means of a straight jointing bar 12. A second panel 13 has been attached to the first panel 11 by an angled jointing bar 14. In practice, the wall mounting panel 10 is first fixed to the wall, then the first portion of a sill 15 (see Figure 1B) is placed in position. The panel 11 is slid along the sill so that the dovetail features of the sill and the bottom rail of the wall panel inter-engage as shown in Figure 1B. To join the wall panel 11 to the wall mounting plate 10, a straight jointing member with dovetail features is slid down between the panel and the plate so that the dovetail features on the jointing bar engage the dovetail features on the panel and plate and hold the two together.

The next step would be to place the second section of the sill 15 in position and slide panel 13 along it and join panels 11 and 13 by use of an angled jointing bar 14 which again has dovetail features set in its two faces. These will be described in more detail later.

As seen in Figure 1B, the top rail 10A of panel 10 has dovetail features which engage the bottom rail 15 of a roof panel. The top rail 16 of the roof panel is engaged by a ridged jointing bar 17 again with dovetail features which may also engage the top rail 18 of a second roof panel. In each instance construction is effected simply by sliding the jointing members or jointing bars into position to connect adjacent panels or connect panels to mounting plates and similarly the ridged jointing bar can be slid along between two roof panels so as to join as shown in Figure 1B.

The form of the jointing members and the joints on the panels may vary and some examples will now be given.

In Figure 2 one portion 11A of the frame profile of the panel 11 is shown. On one side frame profile IlA has a dovetail recess 19 and on the other side it is profiled at 20 to receive glass etc.

The jointing profile shown at 20 is of the type which can be used for the straight jointing bar 12 shown in Figure 1A. The profile 20 has two male dovetail features 21 and 22 adapted to engage in female dovetail members such as 19.

An example of the jointing bar 14 is shown in profile in Figure 3.

It is seen that the jointing bar 14 has angled faces on which are male dovetail members 23 and 24. The bottom roof panel 15 of Figure 1B is shown in section in Figure 4 and again it has a male dovetail member 25.

The sill 15 is shown in section in Figure 5. It has an upper male dovetail member 26 adapted to co-operate with the bottom rail of a wall panel and a lower dovetail slot 27 which may co-operate with the male dovetail on, for example, the top of the base panel.

Slots 28 and 29 are provided so as to enable adjacent sills to be interconnected by keep pieces, not shown which may be simply angled ties which go into adjacent slots between the sill profiles so as to hold them together. Obviously sill profiles may be set at angles to each other or they may be straight but in any event keep pieces are employed to keep them in line.

a Figure 6 shows/section through a wall mounting profile such as 10 in Figure 1A. The wall mounting profile is adapted to be attached to the wall by tie bolts or by other means and has female dovetail slot 30 adapted to receive a straight jointing bar as shown in Figure 1A.

Instead of using the dovetail arrangement so far described, the jointing member may be in the form shown in Figure 7 in which a jointing member 31 has double square section profile 32 and 33 adapted to co-operate with double rectangular grooves or slots -y 34, 35 in the wall panel profile 36. Alternatively, single square section profiles 37 and 38 may be used to co-operate with single square section grooves or slots 39. In each instance once the joints have been completed by the insertion of a jointing member, the jointing members are held in position by a screw or nail placed as shown in Figure 7 at 40 and 41 and in Figure 8 at 42 and 43.

Figure 9 shows a flashing strip which is used in the ridge construction.

Base panels on which the main panels of the conservatory are to be mounted can be prefabricated and provided in the form shown in Figures 10 and 11. The base panels 44 and 45 can be in simulated brick form with the brick on the inside or outside or both as required and have at their adjacent vertical edges dovetail features 46, 47 whereby the base panels may be joined to each other.

The profile of the base panel is shown in Figure 11 from which it will be seen that at its upper edge each base panel has a male dovetail 48 adapted to co-operate with the female dovetail 30 shown in Figure 6 on the wall mounting profile. The base panel profile may be held in position by tie brackets 49, 50 (Figure 11) for tying to a concrete base and ties 51, 52 may also be provided which will be set in concrete when the space alongside the base panels is filled.

In Figure 12 a frame profile 53 has double round grooves or slots 54, 55 adapted to co-operate with double round male projections 56 and 57 on a jointing strip 58.

Figure 12A shows a frame profile 59 which has rounded dovetail slots 60 adapted to co-operate with rounded dovetails 61, 62 on a jointing member 63.

The ridge jointing bar is shown in profile in Figure 13 from which the bar 17 can be seen to have male dovetails 64 and 65 which co-operate, as described with reference to Figure 1B with the top rails of adjacent roof panels.

Instead of the double round profiles of Figure 12, single round profiles may be used as shown in Figure 14 on frame profile 64 and jointing strip 65. In Figure 15, double dovetail jointing profiles are shown on frame profile 66 and jointing strip 67.

The wall mounting plate 10 shown in Figure 1A may not be satisfactory if the wall is out of true, i.e. it is not at 900 to the floor. A limited amount of error canoe accommodated by the adjustable wall mounting sections shown in Figures 16 and 17.

Here the wall mounting plates are in two parts 66 and 67 joined by a form of dovetail joint with in-built spaces 68 to allow the two parts to be separated to an extent so as to create an angle between parts 66 and 67 in a longitudinal direction to allow for out-of-true walls. Having set the plate to achieve a true vertical internal dovetail 69, the two parts may be locked by inserting a screw or nail 70 along the wall plate. A simpler form is shown in Figure 17 in which the joint between the parts 71 and 72 of the wall plate is in the form of a simple tongue 73 and groove 74 which extends the full length of the wall plate. Again once the correct adjustment has been achieved the two parts are held together by use of screws or nails inserted at intervals.

Figure 18 shows how the joint between roof sections at the end of the ridged jointing bar may be completed by use of a specially profiled end section 75 which may be attached to the top rail 76 and has attached to it a cover strip 77 which covers the adjacent top rails 78 of the joining roof panels. The whole being completed by the flashing strip shown in Figure 9.

To get the final panel in place, a panel which may, for example, be a door frame, the bottom rail of the door frame and the top rail in the door frame head are not complete dovetails as shown in Figures 19 and 20. On one side there is a dovetail slot (79 in Figure 19 and 80 in Figure 20) but on the other side there is a simple right-angle feature 81 and 82 respectively. This enables the door frame to be located with its bottom rail over the upwardly projecting male dovetail 26 of the sill 15 (shown in Figure 5).

It is then held in place by a screw or nail 83.

Similarly the head of the frame is located with reference to the bottom rail of the roof panel 15.

Any of the forms of jointing whether they be single or double dovetail or single or double round jointing profiles or any other similar profile with male or female members may be employed in accordance with the invention. The invention is by no means limited to the construction of conservatories and greenhouses but may, as previously mentioned, be employed in any form of permanent or temporary building construction where panels are used.

Because very few screws and nails are used, some of the problems with existing constructions are overcome. The joint between two panels is formed simply by sliding a jointing member down between them and this does not require any paricular skill. The angles are precisely governed by the extrusions or mouldings which are used and thus no accurate measurement of angles is necessary.

Relatively few standard panels and standard extrusions can result in a large number of different sizes and shapes of temporary or permanent buildings.

Claims (15)

1. A panel jointing system in which panels to be joined to each other, and/or to wall mounting plates or other fixed structure, have male or female jointing features extending along at least one longitudinal edge of each panel, and preferably along both longitudinal edges, and the panels are adapted to be joined to each other, and/or to the wall mounting plate or the like, by a jointing strip which has female or male jointing members extending along both faces of the full length of the strip and adapted to co-operate with the male or female jointing members on the panels.

2. A panel jointing system according to claim 1 in which the jointing members are in the form of dovetail shaped male and female jointing members on the strip adapted to co-operate with corresponding respective female and male dovetail sections on the edges of the panels.

3. A panel jointing member according to claim 1 or claim 2 and in which the strips which are used as jointing members each have two faces, on which the male or female members are formed, set at angles so that when assembled the panels will stand at predetermined angles to each other.

4. A panel jointing arrangement according to claim 2 or claim 3 when appended to claim 2 and in which instead of using a simple single dovetail arrangement, co-operating pairs of dovetails are arranged in parallel on the strips and on the panels.

5. A jointing system according to claim 1 and in which the male and female jointing features are square section or tongued and grooved features.

6. A panel jointing system according to claim 1 and in which the male and female jointing features are in the form of a ball and socket type profile, i.e. a round section male member adapted to engage with a corresponding round profiled groove acting as a female member.

7. A system according to claim 6 in which the term 'ball' is used in the sense of describing the shape of the jointing profile seen in section, and the round or ball section runs the full length of the strip and the socket section also runs the full length of the strip and the corresponding panel edges.

8. A jointing system according to any preceding claim when used for wall panels.

9. A jointing system according to any preceding claim when used for base panels, Sill profiles and roof panel profiles.

10. A jointing system according to any preceding claim and in which a ridge jointing bar forms the jointing member with the angled faces of the ridge jointing bar being provided with the male or female jointing members adapted to co-operate with the corresponding female or male jointing members which are on the edges of panels which meet at the ridge of the roof.

11. A panel jointing system according to any preceding claim in which there is a degree of free motion or play provided in the wall mounting sections so as to allow for out-of-true walls.

12. A panel jointing system according to any preceding claim and in which the jointing features are formed by extrusion of plastic material to produce elongated edge portions and elongated jointing strips adapted to join the said panels.

13. A polygonal conservatory, or greenhouse, or room extension comprising panels joined in accordance with the system of any of claims 1 to 12.

14. A housing for a swimming pool, sauna, or the like, constructed using a panel jointing system according to any of claims 1 to 12.

15. A panel jointing system substantially as hereinbefore particularly described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.