GB2277550A

GB2277550A - Folding doors

Info

Publication number: GB2277550A
Application number: GB9309091A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Howarth
Original assignee: ALUMPLAST Ltd
Current assignee: ALUMPLAST Ltd
Priority date: 1993-05-01
Filing date: 1993-05-01
Publication date: 1994-11-02
Also published as: GB9309091D0

Abstract

Folding doors, particularly for shower enclosures and screens are provided with a double-axis hinge 12 and can have brush seals 16. <IMAGE>

Description

FOLDING DOORS This invention relates to folding doors, particularly, but not exclusively, to such doors used as shower doors or bath shower screens.

Such doors are constructed of panels which are hinged together. The hinge, especially in a shower door or screen, is a source of potential leakage, more especially so when modern, high-pressure showers are taken into consideration, and is usually provided with some form of sealing. It is necessary, of course, to extend the sealing to the very top and bottom of the hinge if complete containment of water is to be achieved (though the top is perhaps less important than the bottom, as the shower unit may not deliver spray above a certain height on the door). Sealing at the ends of the hinge (and an "end" may well be at middle height if the panels are journalled intermediate, as well as at, the top and bottom of the door) is problematical as the journal bearings are necessarily displaced along the hinge pin, and this leaves, inevitably, a gap, even if only a small one.

Moreover, while conventional hinging is satisfactory for doors consisting of two panels the outer edges of which are supported, one, for example, hinged to a wall, the other running in tracks in the lintel and sill of the door surround, problems arise when the door is cantilevered, and especially if the door has three or more panels, such as might be used as a bath shower screen for a corner bath.

The present invention provides improved folding door arrangements.

The invention comprises a folding door comprising a double-axis hinge.

The hinge may comprise an elongate hinge member of dumbell cross-section. The dumbell ends of the crosssection may fit into arcuate section channels in the side frame members of hinged-together door panels.

The channels may contain lengthwise-extending seals cooperating between the hinge member and the recesses, and the seals may be brush seals.

The hinge member may have axially extending recesses in each dumbell end receiving spigots of door panels hinged thereby. The spigots may comprise reduced diameter projections from bodies of diameter equal to the axial spacing of the double axis hinge which bodies are as a result in substantial contact though with freedom to roll one on the other whereby to form an endwise seal. The bodies may have meshing teeth whereby to control the disposition of the hinge member between the adjacent door panels.

The spigots may be on insert members inserted into upper and lower door panel frame members. The insert members may be secured to door panel frame side members. Such attachment may be by way of screws inserted through the said upper and lower members and this may constitute the only fastening required to hold together the door panel frame - the screws will naturally be out of sight, leaving all visible edges free of fastenings.

The double axis hinge may also constitute the hinge between the door and the wall or other fixed structure, affording the like firm support and sealing as when it joins two door panels.

Embodiments of folding doors according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : Figure 1 is an exploded isometric drawing showing various components of a hinge arrangement joining adjacent panels of a door; Figure 2 is a drawing like Figure 1, showing a hinge arrangement fastening a door panel to a wall or other fixed structure; and Figure 3 is a plan view of a multipanel bath shower screen disposed to a corner bath.

The drawings illustrate a folding door 11 (Figure 3) comprising double axis hinges 12.

Each hinge 12 comprises an elongate hinge member 13 of dumbell cross-section.

The dumbell ends 13a,13b of the cross-section fit into arcuate section channels 14 in side frame members 15 of hinged-together door panels. The channels 14 contain lengthwise extending brush seals 16 (of which only one is shown in each of Figures 1 and 2) cooperating between the hinge member 12 and the recesses 14. The brush seals 16, comprising bristles set in a rubber extrusion, are carried in grooves 17 in the arcuate channels 14.

The hinge member 12 has axially extending recesses 18 in each dumbell end receiving spigots 19 of door panels hinged thereby or, in the case of the arrangement of Figure 2, a spigot 19 of a wall-mounted support 21. The spigots 19 comprise reduced-diameter projections from bodies 22 of diameter equal to the axial spacing of the double axis hinge 12 which bodies 22 are as a result in substantial contact though with freedom to roll one on the other whereby to form an endwise seal. As illustrated the bodies 22 have meshing teeth 23 whereby to control the disposition of the hinge member 13 between the adjacent door panels.

The spigots 19 are on insert members 24 inserted into upper and lower door panel frame members - the drawings show only the upper members 25, the lower ones being similar. The insert members 25 are secured by screws (not shown) through apertures 26 engaging in seats 27 in the door panel frame side members 15.

The wall fixing shown in Figure 2 is slightly different, the spigot 19 being in a special body 22 that caps the wall mounted support 21 which has two screw seats 27, the cap 22 having two corresponding screw apertures 26.

The door panel frame side members 15 (except for the support 21) and 25 have door panel glass receiving channels 28. With the exception of the inserts 24, the arrangement is made of extruded sections. Assembly is straightforward, and no screws or other fastenings are required except those that go into the top and bottom of the frames. The free edge 29 (Figure 3) can be neatly finished in a plain edge member that needs no screws to be exposed.

Claims

1. A folding door comprising a double-axis hinge.

2. A folding door according to claim 1, in which the hinge comprises an elongate hinge member of dumbell cross-section.

3. A folding door according to claim 2, of which the dumbell ends of the cross-section fit into arcuate section channels in side frame members of hinged-together door panels.

4. A folding door according to claim 3, the channels containing lengthwise-extending seals cooperating between the hinge member and the channels.

5. A folding door according to claim 4, in which the channels carry brush seals.

6. A folding door according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the hinge member having axially extending recesses in each dumbell end receiving spigots of door panels hinged thereby.

7. A folding door according to claim 6, in which the spigots comprise reduced diameter projections from bodies of diameter equal to the axial spacing of the double axis hinge which bodies are as a result in substantial contact though with freedom to roll one on the other whereby to form an endwise seal.

8. A folding door according to claim 7, in which the bodies have meshing teeth whereby to control the disposition of the hinge member between the adjacent door panels.

9. A folding door according to any one of claims 6 to 8, in which the spigots are on insert members inserted into upper and lower door panel frame members.

10. A folding door according to claim 9, in which the insert members are secured to door panel frame side members.