AU1021899A

AU1021899A - Protective device for openings in buildings

Info

Publication number: AU1021899A
Application number: AU10218/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Marina Loewe
Original assignee: Stahn Roberto
Current assignee: STAHN ROBERTO
Priority date: 1997-10-28
Filing date: 1998-09-05
Publication date: 1999-05-17
Also published as: EP1027518B1; WO1999022109A1; EP1027518A1; DE59812459D1; JP2001521089A; DE19747486A1; ATE286197T1; CA2308270A1

Abstract

A protective device for openings in buildings such as windows, doors or gates, consisting of a plate and a window frame or a door frame with a door threshold or a gatepost with a threshold. The plate (3) can be placed on the opening (1) of the building from the outside and secured by means of fixing elements that are fastened to its rear side and engage behind the edge of said opening (1). The bearing surface of the plate (3) consists of sealed material (4).

Description

Protective Device for Openings in Buildings The invention concerns a protective device for openings in buildings such as windows, doors or gates, consisting of a plate and a window frame or a door frame with a door threshold or a gatepost with a threshold. Flooding caused by high water occurs in coastal regions as the concomitant of storm tides. Along the courses of rivers, it is a result of the thawing of snow, but also heavy rainfall is a possible cause by virtue of the widespread sealing of the ground nowadays. In all events, people who live in these areas have advance warning of up to several days, which they can use to protect the openings of their residential buildings, such as windows, doors and gates, against water ingress, so that damage to the building substance and the furniture is avoided. Normally, in case of high water, a protective wall is constructed in front of windows and doors, which comprises sandbags stacked next to and on top of one another, to keep the water back. However, the success is only incomplete because water can leak through the spaces between the sandbags, as well as through the sandbags themselves, and generally windows and doors do not close so as to be watertight. Furthermore, with a high water level, the windows frequently cannot resist the pressure exerted upon them above the sandbags, so -2 that with this technique water ingress cannot be reliably prevented. Therefore the printed publication DE-GM 91 04 106 specifies a protective device for openings in buildings against flooding according to the generic concept mentioned above, which consists of plate that is adapted to the respective building opening into which it is placed with play and clamped and sealed by means of an inflatable tube, which runs around all sides of the front of the plate. As additional sealing on the exterior side of the tube a double-sided adhesive tape can be fitted. The sealing of the corners of the openings in the building, however, is problematic using this technique because the inflatable tube does not reliably completely fill up the angles there. Moreover, the tube in these regions can crease. These creases mean it is possible for water to penetrate. Furthermore, the clamp connection with the inflatable tube can only resist a limited water pressure so that a failure of this protective device cannot be ruled out when higher water levels are reached. A further disadvantage is to be seen therein that for the installation the use of an aid in the form of the air pump is required to blow up the tube. By way of contrast, this invention has the object of designing a protective device for openings in buildings such as windows, doors or gates so that the device also seals reliably when water levels are high and the associated water pressure is -3 high and so that no further aids are required for its assembly. According to the invention, this task is solved therein that the plate can be placed on the opening of the building from the outside and secured by means of fixing elements that are fastened to its rear side and engage behind the edge of said opening. The bearing surface of the plate consists of sealed material. The basic idea of the invention is to seal the openings in the building, such as windows, doors or gates, through plates placed on the outside of such openings. The plates are fixed on the inside by means of corresponding elements that engage behind the edge of the opening in the building so that they are also affixed without external pressure. To attach the fixing elements, windows or doors must be opened, if they open outwards, they must also be taken off their hinges. The bearing surface of the plate, which, for example, is formed by the window frame, the door frame with door threshold, the doorposts including associated threshold or alternatively by the masonry surrounding the opening in the building, is to comprise a watertight, sealing material, which prevents reliably water ingress in the building. The advantage of the inventive protective device consists especially therein that installation can be effected without the use of further aids and that high water levels, and an associated high water pressure, can only urge the plate more strongly against the edge of the protected -4 opening in the building, which reinforces the sealing action of the sealing material of the bearing surface. For the fixing element of the inventive protective device, the invention proposes especially the use of eccentric turning knobs, which are fastened to the rear side of the plate, and can be turned into a position in which respectively part of them engage behind the edge of the opening in the building, thus affixing the plate on the opening in the building. As an alternative fixing element, the invention names, for example, tension springs provided with hooks, which are fastened to the rear side of the plate, and whose hooks can be hooked to the inside edge of the opening in the building under the tension of the respective tension spring. Use of tension springs with sufficient restoring force likewise ensures a solid and reliable affixation of the plate on the opening in the building. A further fixing element comprises a spacer and a lever. In the proximity of the opening in the building, on the inside of the plate, the spacer is affixed in a normal alignment, the lever thereby is attached to the free end of the spacer more or less centrically so as to swivel. The one end engages the rear side of the opening in the building and presses the opposite end away from the plate using suitable means. For that purpose, a spindle, which reaches through this end of -5 the lever and is supported on the plate, can be connected. Installation is effected in that after the plate is positioned the lever is aligned and pressed away from the plate by its end directed toward the plate by using a suitable means and comes to fit against the opening in the building from the rear side. Affixation is thus from inside the building and permits the production of a highly stable connection. Moreover, an automatic adjustment and adaptation to the conditions prevailing at the respective point of affixation is effected. For the sealing material for the bearing surface of the plate, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, rubber is used, which is available at a reasonable price, and guarantees a reliable watertight seal between the plate and the edge of the opening in the building. As a sealing material, especially an angle piece is proposed, one leg of which describes the bearing surface of plate (3) and whose other leg rests against the front of the opening in the building. In this way, not only is a sealing of the exterior front side of the building achieved, but through the one leg of the angle piece on the face of the opening in the building. An improvement of the seal can be achieved in this way. As an alternative or as additional measure, which serves the same purpose, on the surface directed toward the building, that is, the inside, a seal is inserted in the sealed material.

-6 The plate of the inventive protective device must be watertight and sufficiently stable to also resist higher water pressures durably. Therefore, the invention proposes the use of metal plates, which meet these requirements, and recommends especially the use of aluminium, which is cost-effective and noncorroding, and which, because of its comparatively low density, permits the formation of sufficiently light plates which are easy to handle during installation and disassembly and which do not place excessive requirements on the fixing elements. As an alternative, the invention proposes the use of wood plates, which, because of their stability and their reasonable price and easy workability, are also highly suitable for the inventive protective device. To ensure that the wood plates can resist the water even during longer use, without damage caused by the water, the plate can be provided with a coat of plastic or aluminium. The plate of the inventive protective device must dimension-wise correspond to the respective window or door, which is why it is rather unwieldy in many cases and is moreover of not inconsiderable weight. To make handling easier, in an advantageous improvement of the invention, it is proposed to equip the plate on its front side and/or its rear side with one or more handles which facilitate its -7 handling during installation, removal and transport. For the storage of the plates, it is favourable to provide the handles as fold out handles. In the case of handles, which are affixed to the front side of the plate facing outwards, this embodiment has the additional advantage of avoiding that objects floating around in the high water, such as branches, get caught in the handles and expose the fixing elements of the protective device to considerable additional strains. The plate of the inventive protective device must seal the respective opening in the building below the high water line circumferentially, which is why it requires a threshold in case of doors and gates as support and sealing surface. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, it is proposed to effect this threshold by means of a deepening extending immediately in front of the door opening so that the threshold as a whole is lower and in the region of its top surface is flush with the level of the surrounding ground. A reduction in the risk of tripping over the threshold is an advantageous consequence. Through insertion of a dimensionally adapted beam in the deepening, which can be removed for installation of the protective device, the risk of tripping over the threshold can be eliminated entirely. In a further development of the invention, the bearing surfaces of the opening -8 in the building and plate are each bevelled, which allows the spatial position of the plate to be better located and the strength requirements on the fixing elements to be reduced. For an advantageous further development of the invention, the plate is bevelled towards the edges. This is especially of advantage in the case of plates fitting on the exterior wall of building where otherwise the danger exists that objects floating around in the high water can get caught on the edges and place an additional strain on the fixing elements, which could possibly cause the protective device to become damaged and leaky. Further details, features and advantages of the invention can be taken from the following description part in which with the aid of drawings typical embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail. It shows Figure 1 an vertical section through an inventive protective device for a window in a diagrammatic representation Figure 2 a vertical section through an inventive protective device, which seals a door opening. In Figure 1 shows a vertical section through a window opening (1) whose edges are delimited by masonry as well as a window frame (2). Onto this opening, -9 as protection against flood water, is placed a plate (3) of aluminium whose bearing surfaces on window frames (2) are covered with rubber as sealing material (4), which close the joint between plate (3) and window frame (2) watertightly. Serving to affix plate (3) are fixing elements (5) which comprise eccentric turning knobs, which are turned into a position so that they engage behind window frame (2). To facilitate the handling of the plate, especially its installation and removal, a handle (6) is affixed to its inside. Figure 2 shows a vertical section through a door opening (1) whose edges are delimited by masonry and a door frame (7) as well as by a lowered door threshold (8) on the bottom side, which is sealed using an inventive protective device against high water. To that end, building opening (1) is covered by a plate (3), which in the example comprises wood and is provided with a coat (9) of plastic, which at the top and on the sides fits against door frame (7), by way of contrast at the bottom on door threshold (8), where the bearing surfaces of rubber comprise the sealing material (4). Serving as fixing elements (5) in this case are tension springs whose ends respectively are provided with a hook which engages behind door opening (1). Thereby the tension spring presses plate (3), together with sealing material (4), against the edge of building opening (1), which consists of door frame (7) and door threshold (8), thereby closing said opening watertightly. To facilitate the handling of plate (3), it is equipped on its -10 rear side with a handle (6). Plate (3) on its front side is bevelled toward edges (10) to reduce the danger that during flooding floating objects, for example, branches, get caught on the edges and place additional strain on fixing elements (5). As a result, one obtains a flood water protective device for openings in buildings, such as windows, doors or gates, which is easy to install, without aids, and which seals the opening in the building, even in case of a high water pressure, reliably against flood water ingress and thereby protects the interior against flood damage.

Claims

1. Protective device for openings in buildings such as windows, doors or gates, consisting of a plate and a window frame or a door frame with a door threshold or a gatepost with a threshold, wherein - said plate (3) can be placed on the opening (1) of the building from the outside, - can be secured by means of fixing elements (5) that are fastened to its rear side and engage behind the edge of said opening (1) and - the bearing surface of said plate (3) consists of sealed material (4).

2. Protective device according to claim 1, wherein said fixing elements (5), which engage behind the edge of opening (1) in the building, are eccentric turning knobs.

3. Protective device according to claim 1, wherein said fixing elements (5), which engage behind the edge of opening (1) in the building, are tension springs whose ends are equipped with, for example, hooks. -12

4. Protective device according to claim 1, wherein said fixing element is a lever, which is attached to a spacer that is affixed to the plate in the region of the opening in the building more or less centrically so as to swivel and whose one end engages behind the opening (1) in the building and whose opposing end is supported by the plate and is pressed away from the plate, e.g., with the aid of a spindle.

5. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sealing material (4) is rubber.

6. Protective device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing material (4) comprises an angle piece, one leg of which forms the bearing surface of plate (3) and whose other leg fits on the face of the opening (1) in the building.

7. Protective device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a sealing lip is attached inside on the sealing material (4). -13

8. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the plate (3) is of metal, especially aluminium.

9. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the plate (3) is of wood.

10. Protective device according to claim 9, wherein a coat (9) of plate (3) comprises plastic or aluminium.

11. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 10, wherein plate (3) has at least one handle (6) on its front and/or rear side.

12. Protective device according to claim 11, wherein there is a fold out handle (6).

13. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 12, wherein there is a lowered threshold (8).

14. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 13, wherein there are bevelled bearing surfaces. -14

15. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the front side of the plate is bevelled toward the edges (10).