GB2326183A

GB2326183A - Roller shutter with ends mounted on a plate slidably located in a bracket

Info

Publication number: GB2326183A
Application number: GB9712241A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Colin Bell; Graham John Broom; Andrew Robert Crossley
Original assignee: RSL BRISTOL Ltd
Current assignee: RSL BRISTOL Ltd
Priority date: 1997-06-13
Filing date: 1997-06-13
Publication date: 1998-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 2017-06-13
Also published as: GB2326183B; GB9712241D0

Abstract

A roller shutter comprising a shutter member 1 for covering a door or window aperture of a building, a rotatable shaft 6 to which the shutter member 1 is attached, means 7 for rotating the shaft 6 to raise and lower the shutter member 1, a locating plate 9, 10 for removably locating an end of the shaft 6 and securing the shaft 6 relative to the building, and a slide member 11, 12 into which the locating plate 9, 10 is slid when the shutter 1 is located relative to the building, the locating plate 9, 10 having a threaded portion 13 and an associated threaded securing means which restrains the locating plate 9, 10 from being slid relative to the slide member 11, 12.

Description

Roller Shutters This invention concerns roller shutters and especially electrically operable security roller shutters.

Roller shutters are finding wide acceptance as a means of increasing the security of buildings. Typically such shutters have a rotatable shaft to which is attached a shutter member which runs in vertical guide members, the shutter member in use covering a door or window. The door or window then be covered or uncovered by rotating the shaft to which the shutter member is attached in one or other sense, thereby raising or lowering the shutter member.

The necessary rotation of the shaft to raise or lower the shutter can be effected manually, for example using an operating handle and suitable gearing, or it can be effected using an electric motor. However, which ever method of operation is used, the rotatable shaft has to be securely mounted in relation to the door or window being protected.

Details of the mounting of the rotatable shaft will often depend on the particular situation in which the shutter is to be located. However, it is generally desirable to be able to remove the shutter member and its associated rotatable shaft, for example if the shutter member is damaged or the mechanism used to raise and lower the shutter member needs to be replaced or overhauled. Typically this has been effected by the use of locating plates at each end of the rotatable shaft, the plates each having a pivot pin which journals in a bore in either end of the rotatable shaft and about which the shaft can rotate, and locating guides attached to the building into which the locating plates are slid. In use, the locating plates are prevented from sliding in the locating guides by bolts or screws fastened into the building.

In addition to enabling the shutter member and its associated shaft to be easily removed from a building, one of the. locating plates is often used as a mount for the electric motor used to raise and lower the shutter, the motor then being able to rotate the shaft relative to the fixed locating plate to which the motor is attached.

The prior art locating plates and locating guides suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, securing the locating plates and the locating slides to a steel frame forming a surround to the door or window with which the shutter is used requires holes to be drilled into the frame, and this can act as a source of corrosion. Furthermore, removal of the shutter member and its associated rotatable shaft is often difficult as the only way of pulling them and the locating plates at either end of the shutter member out of the locating slides has been by pulling on the shutter member itself, and access to the outside of the rolled up shutter member is often limited.

According to the present invention there is provided a roller shutter comprising a shutter member for covering a door or window aperture of a building, a rotatable shaft to which the shutter member is attached, means for rotating the shaft to raise and lower the shutter member, a locating plate for removably locating an end of the shaft and securing the shaft relative to the building, and a slide member into which the locating plate is slid when the shutter is located relative to the building, the locating plate having a threaded portion and an associated threaded securing means which restrains the locating plate from being slid relative to the slide member.

The invention further provides a roller shutter comprising a shutter member for covering a door or window aperture of a building, a rotatable shaft to which the shutter member is attached, means for rotating the shaft to raise and lower the shutter member, a locating plate for removably locating an end of the shaft and securing the shaft relative to the building, and a slide member into which the locating plate is slid when the shutter is located relative to the building, the locating plate including grip means for facilitating sliding of the plate relative to the slide member.

The locating plate preferably has a grip, for example in the form of an upstanding portion, for facilitating removal of the locating plate from the slide member when the securing means has been released.

The shaft is preferably rotatable by an electric motor, and it is generally preferred that the motor be secured to a locating plate having a threaded portion and an associated threaded securing means which restrains the locating plate from being slid relative to a second slide member.

An embodiment of roller shutter in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Figure 1 shows the shutter mounted in a lintel of a door or window; Figure 2 shows a perspective view, to an enlarged scale, of a locating plate of the embodiment of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a side view, to an enlarged scale, of the embodiment of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, a shutter member 1 is shown mounted in a steel framework consisting of two uprights 2 and a horizontal lintel 3. The lintel 3 and the associated uprights 2 form a surround for a door or window and they are located into the structure of the building. Below the lintel 3 is a horizontal plate 4 through which the shutter member 1 passes when it is lowered.

Within the chamber 5 formed between the lintel 3, the plate 4 and the outer wall of the building is a rotatable shaft 6, and to this the shutter member 1 is attached in known manner. One end of the shaft 6 is attached to an electric motor 7, and the other end of the shaft 6 is journalled on a pivot pin 8 of a locating plate 9. The motor 5, which can be controlled in known manner by means which are not shown, is attached to a second locating plate 10, the plates 9 and 10 in turn being located in two sets of slide members 11 and 12 respectively, the slide members 11 and 12 having been secured to the uprights 2 before being treated to reduce corrosion.

The locating plate 9 shown in Figure 2 has a pivot pin 8 for receiving one end of the rotatable shaft 2. In addition it has an integral threaded member 13 into which a bolt (not shown) can be threaded to secure it relative to the upright 2 when it has been slid into the slide members 11 and 12. Unlike prior art arrangements, the uprights 2 do not have holes drilled in them to receive a bolt screwed into the threaded member 13, tightening of the bolt in the present case merely causing the bolt to press against the surface of the associated upright 2 thereby restraining the plate 9 from sliding relative to the slide members 11 and 12. This securing arrangement avoids the corrosion of the upright 2 resulting from its having holes drilled in it.

An upturn 14 on one end of the plate 9 serves as a grip to facilitate removal of the plate 9 from the slide members 11 and 12 when the blot in the threaded member 13 has been loosened.

As a result it is generally unnecessary to have to pull on the rolled up shutter member 1 to remove it from its working position.

As will be seen from Figure 2, the plate 9 also has a series of slots 15 therein for use in securing the motor 7 thereto. These slots are not required when the plate 9 is used at the end of the shaft 6 remote from the motor 7, but having them enables identical plates to be used at either end of the shaft 6. Thus the plate 10 is identical to the plate 9, but in this case the slots 15 are used to secure the motor 7.

Claims

1. A roller shutter comprising a shutter member for covering a door or window aperture of a building, a rotatable shaft to which the shutter member is attached, means for rotating the shaft to raise and lower the shutter member, a locating plate for removably locating an end of the shaft and securing the shaft relative to the building, and a slide member into which the locating plate is slid when the shutter is located relative to the building, the locating plate having a threaded portion and an associated threaded securing means which restrains the locating plate from being slid relative to the slide member.

2. A shutter according to claim 1, wherein the locating plate has a grip for facilitating removal of the locating plate from the slide member when the securing means has been released.

3. A shutter according to either of the preceding claims, having a motor for rotating the shaft.

4. A shutter according to claim 3, wherein the motor is secured to a locating plate having a threaded portion and an associated threaded securing means which restrains the locating plate from being slid relative to a second slide member.

5. A roller shutter comprising a shutter member for covering a door or window aperture of a building, a rotatable shaft to which the shutter member is attached, means for rotating the shaft to raise and lower the shutter member, a locating plate for removably locating an end of the shaft and securing the shaft relative to the building, and a slide member into which the locating plate is slid when the shutter is located relative to the building, the locating plate including grip means for facilitating sliding of the plate relative to the slide member.

6. A roller shutter according to claim 5, having a locating plate with grip means at each end of the rotatable shaft.

7. A roller shutter substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.