AU662955B2 - Mounting bracket and guide track therefor - Google Patents

Description

662955

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: KALFORD PTY. LTD.

A.C.N. 010 473 971 DAVID JOHN TOFTS CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

MOUNTING BRACKET AND GUIDE TRACK

THEREFOR

Details of Associated Provisional Applications: No. PL1347 Filed 13 March 1992 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- 2 THIS INVENTION relates to a guide track and mounting bracket for use in mounting of guide tracks which may be used for supporting a roller door or other movable panel which may be moved in a substantially vertical plane.

As used hereinafter the terms "outer", "inner", "downwardly", "lower", "inwardly" and similar terms which usually require a frame of reference for their meaning refer to an in use orientation of the mounting bracket and associated guide track.

A fi.rst type of conventional mounting bracket for mounting of roller door support tracks or guide tracks comprises a slotted bracket having a substantially planar body which may be oriented so that the bracket is located closely adjacent to a support surface of a doorway. The bracket had an L shaped end part which engages in an inner channel of a Ssubstantially L shaped guide track. The guide track had an inner channel with a retaining rib for retaining a foot of the L shaped end part of the mounting bracket in desired position.

The guide track included a U shaped outer channel for passage of an adjacent side edge of a roller door. A respective guide track of this type was attached to each side of the doorway to which the roller door was fitted. The mounting bracket included an outwardly extending projection which had a notch for engagement with a corresponding corner rib located externally of the U shaped channel. The roller door was usually corrugated comprising alternate peaks and troughs.

A second type of conventional mounting bracket for mounting roller door guide tracks included an elongate U 3 shaped bracket with one end of the U shaped bracket received within a substantially U shaped retaining channel. An inner end of the U shaped channel of the guide track was provided with an outwardly extending lip which engaged with a corresponding slot or recess of the U shaped bracket.

A third type of conventional mounting bracket included an L shaped retaining leg which was retained in the U shaped retaining channel of a similar guide track used in relation to the second type of conventional mounting bracket.

This type of bracket included a central inner recess for retention of the outwardly extending lip of the guide track.

A fourth type of conventional mounting bracket included a track retaining part having an L shaped abutment at one free end for engaging with an inner surface of the U shaped retaining channel of a similaz guide track used in relation to the second and third type of conventional mounting bracket. The mounting bracket had an intermediate S shaped configuration and the ends of the S shaped configuration engaged with an adjacent free end of the U shaped retaining channel and an end of U shaped retaining channel respectively.

To provide a low friction bearing material between each moving side edge of the roller door and the adjacent surfaces of the guide track in a first arrangement, an adjacent surface (ie usually an outer surface) of each side edge of the roller door was covered in a strip of felt or other suitable flexible bearing material. In this arrangement each support track also carried a strip of felt material which was located adjacent a side wall of the U shaped channel 4 spaced from the outer surface of the roller door. However in this first arrangement an undesirable noise in the form of a creaking sound often occurred when the roller door was being elevated so that the flexible material constituting the roller door was wound about a support drum located above the doorway.

The creaking sound was caused when the felt strip located only on the outer surface of each side edge of the roller door contacted bare metal on the inner surface of the roller door in the wound part of the roller door.

One attempt at overcoming this problem involved an arrangement where the strip of felt from each support track was removed and instead the strip was located on an inner surface of the roller door adjacent the side edge. The second arrangement therefore provided the side edges of the roller door with an inner and outer strip of felt material.

When the strip of felt was removed from each support track in the case of the second arrangement this meant that when an appendage was attached to the support track such as a stop member for preventing undesired movement of the roller door the fasteners which attached the stop member to the track often extended into the U shaped channel and thus contacted the roller door which was an undesirable state of affairs.

Therefore in one aspect of the present invention there is provided a guide track mountable to both sides of doorway for a movable panel such as a roller door which may alleviate or at least minimises the abovementioned problems of conventional guide tracks.

With specific reference to another aspect of the invention there is also provided a mounting bracket for use in mounting of the guide track to the doorway which overcomes or minimises problems associated with the conventional mounting brackets described above. In relation to the conventional guide brackets, when the bracket was attached to a support surface of the doorway it was often found that the support track was not as securely fastened to the doorway as was required. This was mainly due to the fact that the conventional mounting bracket had a tendency to bend about an axis intermediate the ends of the mounting bracket especially under high winds. This often had the undesirable effect in pulling the guide track away from the support surface of the doorway.

In regard to the first aspect of the invention the guide track is provided with one or more fastener clearance f passages suitably located in a side wall of a U shaped channel .f the guide track. Preferably the clearance passages may be provided by grooves or slots or by enclosed cavities. In the most preferred form there may be provided a pair of grooves in the side wall. More preferably each of the grooves are parallel to each other and extend the length of the guide track.

Preferably one groove is located adjacent a free edge of the side wall and the other groove is located adjacent a corner edge of the guide track which bounds the side wall and a base wall or web of the U shaped channel.

The guide track may also include an inner retaining channel as described above for engagement with a suitable mounting bracket.

The mounting bracket in relation to the second aspect of the invention suitably is so constructed and arranged that it is freely slidable on the guide track S initially before attachment of the guide track to a support surface whereby thereafter the mounting bracket may be securely fastened to the support surface. Preferably the mounting bracket includes one or more outwardly projecting parts which may be located closely adjacent but spaced from an outer surface of the U shaped channel of the guide track in use.

Suitably also the mounting bracket has at least part S thereof and more preferably a major part of its length spaced from the support surface as well as the guide track before fastener(s) are applied to the mounting bracket to attach the mounting bracket and consequentially the guide track to the support surface. This means that when the fasteners are tightened this will result in the mounting bracket having a deflection throughout at least part of its length to thus enable the mounting bracket to firmly grip the guide track after tightening of the fastener(s).

Preferably the mounting bracket is constructed so that one end of the bracket is in contact with the support surface prior to tightening of the fasteners and another end of the mounting bracket is in abutment with the guide track suitably closely adjacent to the support surface.

In a preferred embodiment the mounting bracket has a substantially planar body having a pair of free edges with one 7 edge suitably shorter than the other in width. An edge of the mounting bracket may extend inwardly to abut the support surface during installation of the mounting bracket.

Preferably there is also provided an intermediate step, shoulder or rib of relatively narrow width or thickness to separate the substantially planar body part into an inner section and an outer section in use. An attachment aperture or slot may be located in the outer section.

There also may be provided a pair of flanges on each side of the substantially planar body part. These flanges may be parallel or alternatively each flange may converge inwardly toward a longitudinal axis of the substantially planar body part and have inner flange portions which are substantially parallel to each other.

If desired, each converging flange component has a free edge which tapers .utwardly from the substantially planar body part until a junction with an adjacent parallel flange component is reached whereby at such location the free edge extends downwardly to form a free edge of the parallel flange component. There also may be provided a notch or recess substantially at a boundary of the downwardly extending edge of the converging flange compon,n7t and the free edge of the adjacent parallel flange component. This notch or recess may be located closely adjacent to a corresponding rib located at a corner edge of the U shaped channel of the guide track in use.

The lower edge in use of the mounting bracket may also engage with a retaining groove or retaining rib of the 8 guide track. In this arrangement one side wall of the U shaped channel of the guide track may be provided with a web and an outer flange which extends substantially parallel to the side wall of the U shaped channel thus forming a substantially L shaped inner channel so as to define an accommodating slideway or passageway for the inner edge of the mounting bracket. To this end the inner edge of the mounting bracket may be provided with a locating lip or flange which extends away from the substantially planar body part for retention by the retaining rib.

Reference may now be made to a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the attached drawings wherein: FIG 1 represents the first type of a conventional mounting bracket for guide tracks in use; FIG 2 represents the second type of conventional mounting bracket in use; FIG 3 represents the third type of conventional mounting bracket in use; FIG 4 represents the fourth type of conventional mounting bracket in use; FIG 5 represents a perspective view of the mounting bracket of the iivention and associated guide track; FIG 6 represents the mounting bracket of 5 prior to installation; and FIG 7 represents the mounting bracket of FIG 5 after installation.

In FIG 1 conventional mounting bracket 1 includes a substantially planar body 1B attached to support surface 2.

9 The bracket 1 has an L shaped end part 1C which is retained in L shaped channel 3 of guide track 4. Channel 3 also has a retaining rib 5. The foot ID of bracket 1 may slide in passageway 6 of channel 3. Bracket 1 is also provided with retaining slot IE for fastener 5A and includes a slot or recess IF for leg 5B of channel 3. The mounting bracket 1 is also provided with an outwardly extending part 1G having recess 1H for engagement with corner rib 6A of guide track 4.

The track 4 is also provided with U shaped channel 3A for passage of a side edge of a roller door (not shown) as well as channel 3B for location of low friction bearing material and fasteners (not shown) for attachment of a rolle,' stop member 17. Web 9 is also shown.

In FIG 2 there is shown U shaped bracket 2A for mounting of a conventional guide track 2B having a U shaped Schannel 3 for passage of the side edge of a roller door (not shown). The track 2B also has a retaining channel 2C for S, retention of one end of bracket 2A. Guide track 2B also has an inner end having an outwardly extending lip 2D for location in recess 2E of bracket 2A and adjustment slot for fastener In FIG 3 the conventional mounting bracket 3B has an L shaped retaining leg 3C retained in channel 3D of guide track 2B. The bracket also includes a central inner recess 3E for retention of outwardly extending lip 2E of track 2B.

In FIG 4 there is shown mounting bracket 4A having a track retaining part 4B having an L shaped abutment 4C at one free end. There is also shown an intermediate S shaped section 4D wherein opposed ends of section 4D engage track 2B at 4E and 4F.

In FIG 5 the guide track 4 of the invention is shown and has a U shaped channel 3 which has a pair of side walls 12 and 13 and a web 14. Side wall 12 includes a pair of elongate grooves 8 and an intermediate part 9. There is also shown a stop member 17 having planar body parts 18 and 19 separated by a narrow web 20. The stop member 17 is also provided with opposed grooves 21 which each engage with mating ribs 22 and 23 of track 4 as shown. The track 4 is also provided with a corner rib 16.

The stop member 7 receives a pair of fasteners (not shown) which may each engage with associated fastener attachment apertures 25 so that each fastener is retained within an associated groove 8 to avoid contacting a side edge Sof a roller door (not shown) which may move in U shaped channel 3 ard in particular avoid contact with strips of felt material (not shown) which may be attached to each side of the roller door adjacent the side edge thereof.

There also may be provided mounting bracket 26 which includes a substantially planar body part 27 and an intermediate shoulder 26 separating body part 27 into an inner section 29 and outer section 30. There is also provided a retaining slot 31 which may attach mount:Lng bracket 26 to an adjacent support surface of the doorway (not shown). Inner section 29 includes a retaining lip 32 which may engage in an inner retaining channel 33 of guide track 4 formed by web 34 outer flange 35 and rib 36.

11 Mounting bracket 26 also includes an outer abutment 37 which may be formed by a downward extension of outer edge 38. There is also provided a pair of inwardly tapered flange components 39 which taper inwardly toward the longitudinal axis 40 of bracket 26. Each flange component 39 has a top edge 41 which is tapered outwardly from body part 27 and forming a peak 44 before extending downwardly at 42 to form notches 43. There is also provided a pair of parallel flanges whereby the respective top edges 41A are substantially at the same height above body part 27.

In operation of the guide track 4 and mounting bracket 26 of the invention, the stop member 17 may slide on corner ribs 22 and 23 with grooves 21 engaging ribs 22 and 23.

Fasteners (not shown) attach a respective stop member 17 to guide tracxs 4 on either side of a doorway (not shown) for a roller door (not shown).

The inventive feature of track 4 is the provision of grooves 8 which mlay accommodate the respective heads of a screw fastener (not shown) or any other type of fastener such as rivets or bolts so that the fasteners do not protrude into U shaped channel 11 and thus contact the respective side edges of the roller door and in particular strips of felt material whereby each felt strip is attached on either side of the side edge of the roller door.

In Figures 6 and 7 bracket 26 is attached to track 4 by notches 43 being located adjacerc corner rib 16 of track 4.

Vertical edges 42 may abut or be located closely adjacent an adjacent outer surface 46 of track 4. When mounting bracket 12 26 is attached to a support surface of the doorway initially only edge 37 point B) is in contact with the support surface and corner edge 48 point A) of bracket 26 is in contact with the leg 5b. When the securing of the bracket 26 to the support surface 2 is completed the underside of the bracket adjacent notches 43 represented by the letter D may move approximately 2 mm towards the support surface 2 causing peaks 44 represented by arrow C to move a small distance in the direction of the arrow C. This causes peaks 44 to lock onto the outer surface 46 of track 4 to thus ensure a secure attachment and thus inhibit disengagement of the track 4 from the support surface 2.

The above described installation of mounting brackets 26 to a support surface 2 is clearly shown in FIGS 6 and 7. Figure 6 shows the invention before final tightening of fastener 5A while Figure 7 shows the invention after final tightening. Before final tightening the bracket 26 except for point B abutting support surface 2 and point A abutting leg of track 4 is spaced from surface 2 by space 50. The bracket 26 is also freely slidable on track 4. Each flange 39 is also spaced from track 4 by gaps 51 and 52 as shown.

Upon final tightening of fastener 5A a deflection is imparted to body part 27 of bracket 26 as shown by point D engaging support surface 2. This causes point C to firmly engage surface 46 of track 4 and thus track 4 is firmly retained against support surface 2 in contrast to the prior art mounting brackets as shown in FIGS 1-4 where each bracket was prone to bend about an intermediate location as indicated 13 in FIGS 1-4 and thus no support was provided for surface 46 which constituted the rear or outer surface of web 14 (in Figure

Claims (7)

1. 2. The track of Claim 1 wherein there are two said clearance passages in the one side wall.
2. 3. The track of Claim 2 wherein the clearance passages extend the full length of the track.
3. 4. The track of Claim 2 or 3 wherein one said passage is located adjacent a free edge of the one side wall and the other said passage is located in the one side wall and adjacent the web of the channel shaped track.
4. 5. The track of any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the retaining channel is substantially U shaped and is defined by an outer web, an outer flange and the other side wall of the channel shaped track.
5. 6. The track of Claim 5 including a rib in the retaining channel extending outwardly from the other side wall and along the track and spaced from the outer web.
6. 7. The track of any one of Claims 1 to 6 including a corner rib extending along a junction between the web of the U shaped channel of the track and the other side wall.
7. 8. The track of any one of Claims 1 to 7 including a rib extending along a free edge of the one side wall and a rib extending along a junction between the one side Kside .kb I~ 14a wall and the web, the stop member being slidably receivable by the ribs on one side wall. ABSTRACT There is provided a guide track for slidably receiving a stop member The track has a channel (3) for receiving an edge of a roller door (not shown). Grooves ensure that fasteners used to attach stop member (17) to the track do not project into the channel. Mounting bracket (26) has a lip (32) received in the space between rib (36) and web 'A fastener is received in slot (31) to attach the bracket (26) to a support surface. When the fastener is tightened ends (44) of flanges (39) are deflected into engagement with web Rib (16) is received by notch (43) and in this way the track may be securely fastened to the support surface.