AU595274B2 - Improvements in or relating to doors - Google Patents

Description

FORM 10 SPRIJSON FERGUSON COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COM1PLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class I nt. (IasS Complete Specification Lu)dqecl: Accepted: jmne ~dmen a r~de under Section 49) and is correct for printing:.' i

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0 Pub i)1i s hed: Priority: Related Art: Name of Applicanit: ENCLEFTELD PLAkSTIC INDUSTRIES LIMITED) ;Address of Applicant: Diana Drive, Glenf ield, Auckland New Zealand Actual Inventor: Address for Service: C C DEREK JOHN ENGLEFIEK.D Spruson F'ergusonl, Patent Attorneys, Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Complete Specification for the invention entitled: "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO DOORS" The following statement. a tull description o)f this invention, including the best method tf performing it known to its S B R.LMP ''44 0J _..;iuu gee.

e°o ge eg Cee g ee Ce e e Ce egee g g C ge This invention relates to an improved method of hinging doors and in particular doors which are utilised to close the entrance of shower cubicles. The form of door to which the invention is particularly applicable is a door which uses an offset pivot hinge assembly with the axis of the pivot being vertical. Such doors achieve appropriate sealing on the perimeter of the opening of the shower cubicle by means of suitable flexible gaskets and in particular on the surfaces such as the sill of the opening by utilising a rubber wiper seal. The wiper seal is designed to act directly on to the opening of the shower cubicle to form a water-tight seal against the smooth surface of the opening.

One of the disadvantages in such known doors is that when the door is opened or closed, the rubber seal on the underside of the door moves in two opposite directions on either side of the pivot as it wipes across the door sill and the twisting action of the seal around the pivot point leaves a small gap through which water can leak. Where the bathroom floor is not classified as a wet area, damage can occur to the flooring or the floor covering and/or furnishings and such leakage is not acceptable.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved door arrangement particularly for shower cubicles which will minimise the likelihood of unwanted leakage between the door sill and the door.

Accordingly one form of the invention may be said to comprise I- 3.

a door construction including a door, adapted to pivot on a door surround by pivot hinges positioned medially from the upright edges of the door surround, wherein the face of the sill of the door surround slopes downwardly in the direction of opening of the door and wherein the lower pivot hinge for the door is positioned in the sill to project through the said face of the sill, the door being so constructed that during its pivotal movement the lower edge of the door will clear the highest point of the said sill, the door including a wiping seal which projects below the door and which will contact the said sloping *e Sface of the sill at least when the said door is closed.

oooo A preferred form of the invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein 0. Fig. 1 is a front view of a typical shower cubicle utilising o a door according to this invention.

0 Fig. 2 is a view along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

S Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the upper pivot assembly along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the lower pivot assembly along the line 4-4 of Fig. i; and Figs SA and 5B are respectively side views and end views of a hinge member.

4.

In the drawings, the shower cubicle 1 may be formed for instance from a one piece acrylic moulding although the invention is equally applicable to any known type of cubicle with appropriate modification to the sill as will be hereinafter apparent. The cubicle which has a front opening 2 and a surround 3 is provided with a sill 4 a portion of which is more particularly shown in Fig. 4. In this Figure the face 4a of the sill faces inwardly to the shower cubicle and the face 4b faces outwardly of the cubicle.

The face 4c is bevelled as indicated in the Figure so that the fall of the face runs from the face 4b to the inside face 4a so as to allow water which might fall on the face of the sill to drain into the interior of the shower cubicle.

The cubicle is closed by means of a door 5 (see Figs. 1 and 2) which is pivoted to the sill 4 and to a rail 6 so e.o that the door can pivot from the closed position shown in Fig. 1 to an open position or partly open position as shown in Fig. 2.

The 'particular method of pivoting the door according to ac\) the present invention includes the use of pivot pin members indicated more particularly in Figs. 3, 4, 5A and As shown in Figs 5A and 5B the pivot pin member includes a face plate .0a, a shoulder 10b and a pivot pin The pivot pin assembly is attachable to the frame 5a (see Figs 3 and 4) of the door 5 by screws, not shown in the drawings, which pass through holes 10d in the face plate and into the frame 5a of the door I: 1. _1 i Fig 3 indicates the top pivot pin assembly which includes a bearing bush 7 which is fixed within a suitable hole formed in the rail 6. The frame 5a of the door engages in the shoulder lOb of the pivot pin member and the member is affixed to the frame 5a of the door 5 so that the pivot pin 10c will extend above the door and will engage within the bush 7.

The lower pivot pin assembly as shown in Fig. 4 includes a lower bearing bush 11 which is fitted within a hole formed in the face 4c of the sill 4 so that the bush is captured within the hole. A pivot pin member 10 is affixed to the frame 5a of the door 5 with the pivot pin 10c projecting Gooe downwardly as indicated in Fig. 4.

0 o To assemble the door into the shower cubicle, the pivot pin 10c of the lower pivot pin assembly is entered into the bearing bush 11 and the pivot pin 10c of the upper pivot pin assembly is entered into the bearing bush 7 and S the top rail 6 is suitably fixed to the shower cubicle so that the door can then pivot in the manner indicated ac) in Fig. 2. In order to prevent or at least minimise the escape of water when the door is closed between the lower edge 5b of the door 5 and the face 4c of the sill, a rubber wiping seal 15 in the form of an elongated strip projects downwardly from the door frame 5a with the upper portion of seal suitably attached to the door frame as indicated in Fig. 4. When the door is in the closed position, the lower edge 15a of the seal 15 will contact the face 4c I ~C-7PIC I I and prevent water from passing from the inside of the shower cubicle to the outside over the face 4c of the sill. Although in the drawing the blade portion of the wiping seal is shown substantially vertical, nevertheless in practice the blade portion can be slightly deformed when the door is closed as a result of the wiping action. The seal extends the full length of the bottom edge of the door frame and so will satisfactorily prevent the passage of water between the lower edge of the door frame and the face 4c of the sill. However, during closing action of the door, water that might lie on the face 4c of the sill will tend to be moved up the face of the sill by the wiping action of the seal but because the face 4c of the sill is angled in the manner indicated, water will tend to flow back down the face of the sill into the interior of the shower cabinet. If as a result of the deformation of the 00 000 seal, a gap is left adjacent to the pivot pin, then any water on the upward side of the seal will drain back through the gap into the shower cubicle.

(O0 In the foregoing description and as depicted in the drawings, the door is pivoted with the hinge in a left hand position.

It will be understood that the door and the surround can be manufactured with the hinge in any desired location so that the door can be formed to open in a left handed or right handed directior or it can. for instance be formed so as to pivot about a central oertical axis. In another -YIL C- r -I form of the invention, double doors may be hung in the opening with the doors being of a size and construction, that when closed, the opposing vertical edge of each door will meet to form a watertight joint.

Although the above description relates to the construction of a door for a shower cubicle, it will be apparent that there are many other applications where it is desired to prevent or at least minimise the egress of fluids between the door sill and the underside of the door when the door is hung by pivots which are offset medially between the uprights forming Lhe door surround, a*l* so* o 00o

Claims (3)

1. 2. The door construction as claimed in claim 1 including a :1 :lower pivot hinge which is positioned medially between the said highest point and the lowest point of the said 4 90 face of the sill.
2. 3. The door construction as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said lower pivot hinge comprises a bearing bush which 0000" protrudes through the face of the sill and a pivot pin
3. 999. which depends from the door and engages within the bearing bush. S 4. The door construction as claimed in claim 2 or in claim 3, wherein the wiping seal extends substantially the full width of the door and is positioned on the closing side of the said lower pivot hinge. The door construction substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. -9- DATED this FIFTEENTH day of JANUARY 1990 Englefield Plastic Industries Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON S 55 S. S S I *SS.SS S S