GB2095735A

GB2095735A - Shower enclosure doors

Info

Publication number: GB2095735A
Application number: GB8207455A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1981-03-16
Filing date: 1982-03-15
Publication date: 1982-10-06
Also published as: IT8247975A0; ATA103382A; IT1148514B; GB2095735B; FR2501751A1; ES272060U; ES272060Y; AT375824B; AU8151182A; DE3110110C1; FR2501751B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a shower enclosure having a horizontal rail 2 and at least two door sections 16, 18 which are guided in the rail 2 by means of at least one guide member 10 and which are arranged to be shiftable substantially parallel to the rail along its longitudinal direction. To allow easy cleaning of the door section surfaces facing the interior above a shower or bath tub and of the vertical lateral surfaces 72 of the door sections, a releasable pivot lock 86 is provided for at least one door section and a pivot device 94 with a substantially vertical pivot axis is arranged between the guide member and the door section. If the pivot lock is released, the door section can be pivoted around its vertical pivot axis whereby the vertical lateral surfaces of the door sections are disengaged. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Shower enclosure The invention relates to a shower enclosure having a horizontal rail and at least two door sections which are adapted for shifting substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rail and are guided therein by at least one guide member each.

German Published Patent Application No.

2912126 describes such a shower stall or bath tub partition comprising a sliding door consisting of several parallel, horizontally movable door sections which are suspended from an upper rail.

Separate guide rails are provided in the suspension rail for each door section. The door sections include guide members with roller or sliding elements for shifting parallel to each other.

In the open position, the door sections are positioned next to each other, thus permitting free entrance to the shower stall or bath tub.

Furthermore, a lower rail is provided on the brim of the bath tub for safe guidance of the door sections, this lower rail being connected by vertical lateral rails to the upper rail to form a frame. A frame of such type will prevent water from splashing over the brim of a shower or bath tub from the interior of the shower enclosure to the outside.

However, this type of shower enclosure with sliding doors may render cleaning quite troublesome and laborious, for the inner surfaces of the individual door sections are accessible practically from the interior only. If the cleaning is to be carried out with the door sections only partly closed, this requires rather cumbersome and exhausting movement on one's arms and hands.

Obviously that is why shower enclosures of this type are often insufficiently cleaned and the hygienic requirements are frequently not satisfied, which is critical especially in hospitals, but also in hotels.

German Published Patent Application No.

28561 71 discloses a foldable door or wall which can be moved from a folded open position into a straight closed position. This is achieved by a flexible connection of the individual panels at their vertical edges and by supporting components which are pivotable around a vertical axis and are connected to one anchoring element each secured to one end of the panels. These supporting components are arranged so as to be longitudinally movable in a substantially horizontal supporting rail, detent means being provided between each anchoring element and the corresponding supporting component for releasably retaining the anchoring element to the supporting component in at least one detent position.Thus when the folding door is opened and closed the individual panels or door sections swivel on their respective vertical pivot axes while they remain engaged to each other at their vertical edges. Especially in the area of these vertical edges, means are provided to prevent the water from splashing out of the shower stall or bath tub.

Therefore, the inside surfaces of such folding door sections can practically only be cleaned from the inside and only in the closed position where it is difficult to reach the splash-preventing means or links along the vertical edges.

Furthermore, German Utility Model No.

7 318 559 describes a screen enclosure for shower or bath tubs based on the principles of a folding door. One door section of this screen enclosure or folding door is hinged to the wall of the building by a suitable connecting member, and the enclosure can be mounted onto the brim of the bath or shower tub by sliding or pivoting the individual door sections. A special lifting mechanism is provided for this purpose, facilitating the settling down or the lifting off from the brim of the tub. As there are no special supporting or guide rails for the individual door sections, this type of enclosure is not particularly sturdy and it requires a relatively heavy construction of the individual door sections as well as of their hinges to ensure proper operation and functioning as required over an extended period of operation.This type of enclosure also presents problems regarding the cleaning, especially of the inside surfaces.

In accordance with the invention, the shower enclosure includes a releasable pivot lock assigned to at least one of the door sections, a pivot device with a substantially vertical pivot axis being arranged between the guide member and the respective door section, which latter is pivotable relative to the associated guide member around a pivot axis if the pivot lock is released, such that the vertical lateral surfaces of the door sections disengage from the rail to leave free space between each other.

Thus the shower enclosure is distinguished by a comparatively simple and low-cost design employing conventional rails and guide members for the door sections. If the door section and the associated guide member are connected, as by the pivot lock mentioned, the operation of the shower enclosure according to the invention does not appear to differ from that of conventional types having sliding door sections. Yet, upon releasing the pivot lock, the door section can be easily pivoted on a mainly vertical pivot axis by means of the pivot device whereby the vertical lateral surfaces of the door sections disengage from the profile rails and as a result the door sections now leave an open space between each other. The interior surfaces of the door sections are thus readily accessible from the outside and can be easily cleaned.The lateral surfaces are likewise easily accessible for cleaning.

For shower enclosures whose door sections are suspended from an upper horizontal rail by means of guide members, pivot locks as well as pivot devices may be provided for the upper guide members as well. With shower enclosures of this type, there is basically no need for a guide rail in the area of the lower edges of the door sections, as it will door the simplest design - to provide suitable rubber seals or the like in the region of the lower door section edges towards the brim of the tub to prevent water from splashing out in this area. However, where a guide rail is provided for the lower edges of the door sections, it is preferred to also provide a correspondingly designed pivot device aligned to the pivot axis of the upper pivot device between the lower guide rail and the lower edge of the door section.A very simple embodiment of such a pivot device may, for example, comprise a pin or a bolt engaging in the lower guide rail whereby, principally, an additional connecting device will be unnecessary. However, if there should be a guide member on the lower rail for safe guidance of the door section, a corresponding pivot lock can be assigned to that guide member.

Furthermore, the invention can also be applied to shower enclosures the door sections of which are guided by a lower, horizontal rail and correspondingly designed guide members. In such case the pivot lock and the pivot device are assigned to the lower horizontal rail. If the shower enclosure has, for example, three sliding door sections, it will be sufficient to fit the pivot lock and the pivot device only to the two lateral door sections or even to the centre section only, though it is to be preferred to equip all door sections with the pivot lock and the pivot device to ensure simple cleaning of all the door sections.

By a preferable design, the pivot lock comprises detent means connected either to the guide member or to the door section, the latter or the guide member, respectively, having engagement counterparts for the detent means. Such detent means can be manufactured at a low cost and without sophisticated equipment; in addition, they allow release of the pivot lock in a simple manner.

Advantageously the detent means of the pivot lock are rocking levers adapted to engage in or disengage from the counterparts which are of reentrant shape such as grooves, offsets or recesses.

This type of rocking lever can easily be connected with the guide member or the door section, respectively, and the engagement in or disengagement from the respective counterparts can be carried out without effort.

It is advantageous to arrange a pivot lock in the areas of each lateral surface of a door section. This guarantees a reliable and sturdy connection between the door section and the guide member without affecting, e.g. due to looseness or tolerances, the mobility of the door section in any way.

In a preferred embodiment, the pivot device has a first bearing surface connected with the guide member and a second bearing surface connected with the door section, the latter being held to the guide member via the bearing surfaces engaging each other if the pivot lock is released. Thus the pivot device expediently also acts as a support, ensuring that the door section will not fall off when the pivot lock is released.

Further, it is preferable to arrange one bearing surface around a bolt comprising a rotor that engages a bore or recess in another bearing surface. Such a rotor-bolt can be easily manufactured and connected to the guide member or the door section, respectively. The associated bearing surface of the door section or the guide member, respectively, and the corresponding bore or recess can also be easily arranged for without particular technical problems. It is to be especially stressed that said rotor will not only allow the pivoting of the door section, but it will also provide a support for the door section whenever the pivot lock is released.

It is to be preferred to arrange the bearing surfaces in substantially horizontal planes. This is a simple way of ensuring both the abovementioned pivoting motion around the vertical pivot axis and the necessary support in its direction.

According to another desirable embodiment, the door section is adapted to be vertically displaced from the rail by a determined distance after a holding device or the pivot lock has been released, a pivot (and supporting) device being provided for pivoting the door section around a substantially vertical pivot axis. In fact, the rail generally includes outside and inside cover strips, on the one hand to cover the guide members for the purpose of a good appearance and on the other hand to avoid the penetration of splashing water or dirt. Due to the mobility of the door section away from the profile rail, pivoting of the door section is effected in a simple manner in accordance with the invention, without the cover strips impeding this motion.

The guide member preferably has a holding rail for the door section which section can be moved away from the holding rail and thus also from the first mentioned rail after the pivot lock has been released in the manner already described. The holding rail, moreover, guarantees a precise location of the door section in the guide member.

Specific advantages are obtained if the holding rail is U-shaped and preferably extends along the whole width of the door section. This will bring about a particularly safe attachment of the door section in the guide member with practically no looseness or tolerances. In addition, the holding components can be simply shaped as detent means, suppressors or the like which ensure a safe hold of the door section in the holding rail.

According to yet another preferred embodiment, the door sections may be suspended from the upper horizontal rail by means of the guide members such that the door sections can be lowered vertically. This design can be realized at extremely low constructional expense. The pivot device can advantageously also serve to hold the door sections when lowered.

If the door sections are guided not only by the vertical rail but also, by means of a second rail and second guide members, along their opposite sides, preferably the lower sides, an embodiment of the invention provides that the second rail and/or the second guide are designed to enable pivoting of at least one door section around the respective vertical pivot axis if the pivot lock is released. In other words, to ensure the pivoting of the door section on a vertical pivot axis, the second rail and guide members associated therewith are disengaged. For this purpose it is possible to arrange either the second guide members for movability relative to the second door sections or to disengage, swivel away or remove the second rail, be it completely or partly.All these designs ensure that the door section can be pivoted around its vertical pivot axis after the vertical movement, in particular after having been lowered.

It is to be preferred to arrange the second rail to be movable vertically relative to a mounting rail.

Such a mounting rail may, for example, rest on the brim of the bath tub and the second rail can be arranged without difficulty in such a mounting rail so as to be vertically movable. The mounting rail is, in particular, U-shaped to receive the second rail, the second guide members, in a first position, engaging the second rail, whereas in a second position the second guide members or the door sections are disengaged for pivoting. Thus the second rail is mainly vertically movable in the mounting rail; the necessary guidance and stopping of the second rail are obtained without sophisticated equipment or procedures for manufacturing.

Preferably, spring elements are arranged between the mounting rail and the second rail such that the second rail is biased towards the door sections. If the second rail and the corresponding guide members are to be disengaged, the rail is pushed into the mounting rail against the spring resistance and can be locked there, if so desired. The spring elements allow, in a simple manner and without sophisticated designs, the second rail to be slid off the mounting rail in order to permit cleaning and, having been swivelled back into the normal sliding position parallel to the guide rail, to ensure a safe guidance of the door sections.

A further design provides for the pivot lock to comprise at least one guide strip adapted to be connected with the first mentioned rail, the door sections, in a first position, engaging the guide strip via associated guide elements, whereas in a second position, corresponding to the position of the guide strip when the pivot lock is released, the guide strip is disengaged for the pivoting movement of the door sections. It will be seen that the guide strip can engage or disengage the rail in various ways..Thus it is within the scope of the invention to arrange the guide strip in adequate guide grooves or the like such that it movable vertically relative to the first mentioned rail.

Alternatively, the guide rail may be designed for complete disengagement from the profile rail in order to allow the pivoting movement.

Advantageously, hinges are provided for mounting the guide strip on the first rail, appropriate retaining devices normally preventing the guide strip from swivelling on the hinges. This embodiment can be manufactured without sophisticated means and the devices for retaining can easily be disengaged to allow the swivelling of the guide strip and thus to release the door sections for pivoting.

Examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic vertical cross section of a rail with three door sections shown in a normal sliding position, Fig. 2 is a section similar to Fig. 1 , the door sections, however, being shown in a lowered position relative to the rail enabling pivoting, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a shower enclosure with door sections in a pivoted position, Fig. 4 is a partial elevation showing part of a door section as locked to a guide member, Fig. 5 is a partial elevation similar to Fig. 4 with disengaged locking means, permitting the door sections to be pivoted on a vertical pivot axis, and Fig. 6 is a section similar to the upper portion of Fig. 1, including a pivot lock with guide strips hinged to the rail.

The shower enclosure shown in Fig. 1 comprises an upper horizontal rail 2 having running surfaces 4,6,8 for guide members 10, 12, 14 of three door sections 16, 18, 20. The guide members 10, 12, 14 can each, by means of rollers 22, be slid longitudinally along the assembly 2, i.e. at right angles to the drawing plane. At the lower end of the rail 2 an inner cover strip 24 and an outer cover strip 26 are provided to cover the guide members and rollers and to prevent splashing water and dirt from penetrating.

Each guide member has a U-shaped holding rail 28, 30, 32 (reference in Fig. 2) for the corresponding door section. As explained later on, a bolt 34, 36, 38 each with a rotor 40,42,44 is connected respective guide members 10, 12, 14.

The rotors 40, 42, 44 engage recesses 46, 48, 50 of the door sections 1 6, 18, 20. A second rail 52 is located along the lower edges of the door sections 16, 18, 20 suspended from the upper horizontal rail 2; second guide members 54, 56, 58 of the door sections are shown only schematically here.

The second rail 52 is arranged in a substantially U-shaped mounting rail 60 so that it can be depressed against the bias of spring elements 62,64, from the normal position shown in Fig. 1 to the depressed position shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows the door sections 1 6, 18, 20 -dropped relative to the guide members 10, 12, 14 and the rail 2, with locking devices to be described later on being disengaged. As will be seen from the figure the door sections 1 6, 1 8, 20 are lowered by a height H. They can now be pivoted around vertical axes 66, 68, 70. It is important to note that, when pivoting the door sections, the guide members are in a staggered array, so that the vertical pivot axes 66, 68, 70 are not coplanar with the figure. The second rail 52 is depressed into the mounting rail 60 and is disengaged from the second guide members 54, 56, 58. It will be evident that in the position shown, the door sections 16, 18, 20 can now be pivoted about their vertical pivot axes 66, 68, 70.

It is especially stressed that the above mentioned lowering of the door sections 16, 18, 20 relative to the upper rail 2 is only necessary in cases where the latter has cover strips 24, 26 or the like. However, it will be noted that the pivoting of the door sections 16, 18, 20 can also be achieved without such a lowering and the guide members need not have U-shaped holding rails.

Regarding the lower, second rail 52, it is to be emphasized as well that said lowering is not essential. Thus if the guide members 54, 56, 58 are shaped as bolts which are at least approximately aligned to the vertical pivot axes 66, 68, 70, the guide members bolts may well remain engaged in the second rail 52 when the door sections 16, 18,20 are to be pivoted. If need be, suitable seals for example in form of rubber strips can be mounted to prevent the leaking of splashing water from between the door sections and the strips.

Furthermore, in an alternative embodiment (not shown here) the door sections are not lowered relative to the upper rail 2 but the lower rail is lowered in a manner similar to that illustrated in Fig. 2. However in this case the lower rail needs to be lowered only by a correspondingly smaller distance to disengage the lower guide members.

The latter may, moreover, be arranged relative to the door sections such that they are movable vertically upwards so that the lower guide members are disengaged from the lower rail to allow the pivoting of the door sections. All these designs, however, realize the principle of the invention which is that the door sections of the shower enclosure are prevented from pivoting when they are to be slid between open and close, respectively, and their pivoting about a vertical pivot axis is allowed when the locking device is disengaged.

The perspective view of Fig. 3 schematically shows the three door sections 16, 18, 20 in their turned-out position. Here the door sections 16, 18, 20 are pivoted around their pivot axes 66, 68, 70 relative to the upper rail 2 through about 90 degrees. The vertical lateral surfaces 72, 74, 76 of the said door sections have a distance A between each other. The surfaces 78, 80, 82 which in the normal, not turned-out position face the interior of the shower enclosure, are now freely accessible.The door sections 16, 18, 20 can be freely pivoted about their vertical axes 66, 68, so that, instead of being pivoted through about 90 degrees as shown in the drawing, they can also be pivoted, for example, through 180 degrees whereby the surfaces 78, 80, 82 are completely accessible from the front side in the direction of arrow 84, allowing simple and easy cleaning. It goes without saying that thus the vertical lateral surfaces 72, 74, 76 are also easily accessible for cleaning.

Fig. 4 shows a front part of the door section 16 with the guide member 10 and the rail 2 but with the covering strip being omitted for greater clarity.

The other door sections are of like design. The guide member 10 is moved in the rail 2 by means of its pair of rollers 22. Two pivot locks 86 are attached to the lateral surfaces of the guide members 10, these locks having rocking levers 86 articulated to the guide member 10. With their free ends, these rocking levers 88 engage reentrant counterparts 90 such as grooves, offsets, etc. of the door section 16 thus connecting it with the guide member 10. The upper end 92 of the door section is indicated by a dotted line and it is inside the U-shaped holding rail of the guide member 10. A pivot device 94 with bolt 34 connected to the guide member 10 and recess 46 are shown in an inoperative position. Rotor 40 of the bolt 34 has a horizontal bearing surface 96 spaced by a distance H from a bearing surface 98 of the recess 46 of the door section 1 6.In this preferred design the pivot locks 86 simultaneously serve as mounting means or holding device to prevent an unintentional lowering of the door sections.

Fig. 5 shows the door section 1 6, similar to Fig. 4, with both the pivot locks 86 being disengaged. The rocking levers 88 are swivelled away from the offsets 90 and the door section 1 6 is lowered vertically by the distance H so that the bearing surface 96 and 98 engage each other.

Thus the door section 16 is prevented from a further vertical downward movement and is also safely held by means of the pivot device 94 described. As will be seen, the upper end 92 of the door section 16 is now disengaged from the guide member 10 and can thus be freely pivoted about its vertical pivot axis 66. It is to be particularly stressed that pivoting through the complete range of 360 degrees is made possible in this way.

Fig. 6 shows a cross-section similar to the upper part of Fig. 1 where a pivot lock 100 is provided at each side of the rail 2. The pivot lock 100 consists of one guide strip 102, 104 each, which are hinged to a rail 114, 116 by means of hinges 110, 112 for swivelling in the direction of double arrows 1 116. In their first position, indicated by dotted lines, the guide strips 102, 104 are swung downward through about 180 degrees and are tightly connected with the rail 2 by locking devices (not shown in detail) whereby swivelling is precluded.The door sections 16, 20 have guide elements 106. 108 which engage the guide strips 102, 104. The centre door section 18 as well as adequate guide elements 1 120 thus rest indirectly, i.e. via the adjacent door sections 1 6, 1 8, against the guide strips 102, 104. The door sections may also be guided by only one guide strip by means of suitably designed guide elements. In the first position of the guide strips 102. 104 as disclosed above, the door sections 16, 18, 20 are thus prevented from pivoting. If, however, the guide strips 102, 104 no longer engage the door sections, i.e. if they are swung upwards according to Fig. 6, then the doors sections 16, 18, 20 can be freely pivoted about their vertical pivot axes 66, 68. 70. In this case the door sections are not lowered as described above for other embodiments, but the door sections 16, 18, 20 are always held in the same vertical positions by means of the pivot devices. It should be added that as far as this design is concerned the pivoting surfaces 96 and 98 are always contacting each other, in contrast to the example shown in Fig. 4.

Emphasis is given to the fact that the pivot lock may include locking elements as for example sliders, bolts or other snap elements, rather than rocking levers and offsets. The design shown of the pivot and holding devices between door section and guide elements is also not to be construed as restricting the present invention.

Thus the pivot device may also be assigned especially to the lower end of one or several door section/s or the lower rail, respectively, with the door then having to be correspondingly lifted vertically to allow the pivoting movement around the vertical pivot axes. If need be, the lower profile rail may also be lowered alternatively or additionally within the scope of the invention so that one or several door sections can be pivoted about a vertical axis after the pivot device has been released.

Claims

1. Shower enclosure comprising a horizontal rail and at least two door sections which are adapted for shifting substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rail and are guided therein by at least one guide member each, wherein a releasable pivot lock is assigned to at least one of the door sections, wherein a pivot device with a substantially vertical pivot axis is arranged between the guide member and the respective door section and wherein the door section is pivotable relative to the associated guide member around a pivot axis if the pivot lock is released, such that the vertical lateral surface of the door sections disengage from the rail to leave free space between each other.

2. Shower enclosure according to claim 1, wherein the pivot lock comprises detent means connected either to the guide member or to the door section and wherein the door section or the guide member, respectively, has engagement counterparts for the detent means.

3. Shower enclosure according to claim 2, wherein the detent means of the pivot lock are rocking levers adapted to engage or to disengage the counterparts which are of re-entrant shape such as grooves, offsets, or recesses.

4. Shower'enclosure according to claim 1, wherein the pivot lock comprises at least one guide strip adapted to be connected with the rail, the door sections, in a first position, engaging the guide strip via associated guide elements, whereas in a second position, the guide strip is disengaged for the pivoting movement of the door sections.

5. Shower enclosure according to claim 4, wherein hinges are provided for mounting the guide strip to the rail.

6. Shower enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a pivot lock is arranged in the area of each vertical lateral surface.

7. Shower enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the pivot device comprises a first bearing surface connected with the guide member and a second bearing surface connected with the door section, the latter being supported from the guide member via the bearing surfaces engaging each other if the pivot lock is released.

8. Shower enclosure according to claim 7, wherein one bearing surface is arranged around a bolt comprising a rotor that engages a bore or recess in the other bearing surface.

9. Shower enclosure according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the bearing surfaces are arranged in substantially horizontal planes.

10. Shower enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the door section is adapted to be vertically displaced from the rail by a predetermined distance after a holding device or the pivot lock has been released.

11. Shower enclosure according to claim 10, wherein the guide member has a holding rail for the door section which door section can be moved away from the holding rail after the pivot lock has been released.

12. Shower enclosure according to claim 11, wherein the holding rail is U-shaped and preferably extends along the whole width of the door section.

13. Shower enclosure according to claim 10, wherein the door sections are suspended from said rail by means of the guide members such that the door sections can be lowered vertically.

14. Shower enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the door sections are guided at a location opposite said rail by means of a second rail and second guide members and wherein the second rail and/or the second guide members are designed to enable the pivoting of at least one door section around the respective vertical pivot axis if the pivot lock is released.

15. Shower enclosure according to claim 14, wherein the second rail is arranged to be movable vertically relative to a mounting rail.

16. Shower enclosure according to claim 14, wherein the second rail is arranged in a U-shaped mounting rail, the second guide members being, in a first position of said mounting rail, engaged in the second rail, and wherein in a second position the second guide members or the door sections are disengaged for pivoting.

17. Shower enclosure according to claim 15, wherein spring elements are provided between the mounting rail and the second rail such that the profile rail is biased towards the door sections.