AU721281B2

AU721281B2 - Roller bracket

Info

Publication number: AU721281B2
Application number: AU39932/97A
Authority: AU
Inventors: John Martin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-10-30
Filing date: 1997-10-02
Publication date: 2000-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 2017-10-02
Also published as: AU3993297A

Description

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Patents Act 1990 Rglto Original :Complete Specificationh" -Standard Patent.

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RODLLE.RBRACKET

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of per-formingl.

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.5.9 I inv,,n"'on relates generally to methods of and devices for installation of door height adjustment roller carriagesfor levelling sliding wardrobes doors and relates in particular to a bracket which both joins and interlocks sliding door panel stile and bottom rail extruded aluminium frame 9- members and upon which an adjustable roller carriage can be mounted.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a bracket for a door height adjustment roller unit for levelling sliding wardrobe doors, the bracket includes integrally-formed deformable means thereon for mounting and interlocking it within a cavity of a wooden door or wood o door-frame member or within an installation channel of metal door frame members pre-mounted upon a door panel.

Preferably, each door frame member is a metal door frame member one member being a door panel stile while the other member is a door bottom rail or door top rail.

is- Preferably, the bracket is in the form of a metal plate with flanges projecting therefrom and the means for directly mounting the bracket onto a panel stile comprises two resilient side flanges upstanding from the plane of the plate, the side flanges being bowed at the middle or having a bowed section to form tensioning arms which flex during installation when one of the the flanges _o is hammered or tapped into an installation channel of a respective identical left-hand or right-hand panel stile housing a door panel.

Preferably, the flanges of the bracket are inwardly bowed at the middle to engage internal surfaces of an installation channel of a panel stile.

Preferably integrally-formed deformable means on the bracket -2S is adapted to be fitted into at least one hole formed in a base of an installation channel of a standard aluminium extrusion bottom or top rail door frame member pre-mounted upon a panel of the said door and more particularly Schannel of a door bottom rail.

Preferably the bracket is provided with a resiliency slot formed in each flange in a longitudinal direction with respect to the flange.

Preferably, the resiliency slot is formed below the mid-portion of each side flange of the bracket at the junction of the bottom of each side flange and side edge of the top surface of the plate-like portion of the bracket, each slot enhancing tensioning resiliency of the tensioning arm flanges when the bracket is hammered or tapped into the corresponding installation slot of the panel stile.

Preferably, the bracket has slotted means for mounting directly r0 thereon an adjustable roller unit comprising a roller housed in a U-shaped housing.

Preferably, the bracket according to the invention has the further feature of an integrally-formed door top or bottom mounting flange thereon which is provided with at least one tang adapted to penetrate in an interference fit a hole or slot located in the bottom or base of a door bottom rail and adapted to be in alignment with the at least one tang during on-site assembly/ installation. In one form the at least one tang is inwardly-directed in a plane parallel to and below that of the plate.

Preferably, there are two tangs in the bottom mounting flange b and more preferably, there are two inwardly-directed tangs.

The invention according to another aspect provides a method of installing a door levelling, height adjustable roller carriage assembly upon a sliding door, the method comprising first pre-assembling a roller unit onto the above-described roller mounting bracket, then force-fitting a flange of the said S bracket into an installation channel of a door panel stile metal frame member without need for using screws, pop-rivets or the like fastening members.

j- According to the invention the above-described method further 4 prises directly fixing the bracket to a door bottom rail metal frame member by force-fitting at least one integrally-formed deformable tang projecting below the general plane of the bracket into at least one hole or slot in the base of a door bottom rail metal frame member and in alignment with the at least one tang for directly mounting the bracket upon the door bottom rail frame member which has been pre-installed upon a door panel without the need for using screws, pop rivets or like fastening members.

The method according to the invention includes mechanically interlocking a sliding wardrobe door panel stile and bottom rail in a selfretaining corner structure by installing the above-described bracket according to the invention by inserting an integrally-formed, resiliently-deformable side flange of the bracket into an installation channel of a panel stile and force-fitting one or more integrally-formed tangs into a tang-aligned hole or 4 holes or a slot in a door bottom rail.

-A non-limiting example of a practical arrangement of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which 9* o po* Figure 1 is a top isometric and partial assembly view of the adjustable roller carriage mounting bracket of the invention installed upon the bottom corner of a wardrobe sliding door.- roller and casing removed).

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the partly assembled bracket of S_ Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the roller unit prior to mounting upon the bracket of Figures 1, 2 (and 6).

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the adjustable roller carriage assembly installed upon a door.

10 Figure 5 is a front corner elevational view of an assembled of the roller unit of Figure 3 mounted on the bracket of Figure 1 installed upon the door frame members as in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the bracket of Figure 1 prior to :'"""mounting of the roller unit of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a cut-away corner elevational view of the bracket and roller assembly installed within a door and jointing and interlocking corner door •frame members.

Referring to the drawings there is shown an adjustable roller carriage assembly for a wardrobe sliding door and which referring to Figures 1, 2 and 6 comprises a mounting bracket 10 in the form of a rectangular plate of galvanized steel having four main or peripheral flanges arranged around the edges and formed by turned up side edges and comprising adjustment-screw bearing supporting flange 11, side flanges 12 and 13 which are tensioning arms, all three of these project from the plane of the top surface 1 Oaof the: plate-like bracket. The fourth integrally-formed flange, which will referredto as a door bottom mounting flange 14, is formed in three segments comprising middle segment 14 and left and right segments 14a and 14b formed by slots on either side of the middle segment 14. The fourth flange 14, 14a 14b projects below the plane of the top of the plate-like portion Oa of the bracket and is used when mounting the bracket onto the base of a door bottom rail which is a standard aluminium extrusion used for glazing and panel mounting. The side flanges 12 and 13 of the bracket are are inwardly bowed at the middle to form tensioning arms 12a, 13a which flex and there is a respective tensioning slot 16, 17 formed between the below the mid-portion of the flanges and where they would notionally meet the side edges of the surface of the plate-like portion Oa of the bracket. Each of these tensioning slots 16, 17 has the special function of enhancing the tensioning resiliency of the S:tensioning arm flanges 12 or 13 respectively when either of these flanges is •hammered or tapped into a panel stile slot such as that labelled 18a of the particular panel stile 18 housing the door panel 19 and referring to assembly .views shown in Figures 4, 5 and 7, the bracket 10 is slidably installed within 1 the panel stile slot 18a in an interference or force-fit by hammering or tapping it in during installation. The middle segment of the bottom mounting flange 14 of the bracket 10 is provided on either side with two inwardly-directed or internally projecting tangs 20 and 21 located in the middle of a respective slot and 21a which are each formed by folding over material cut from flange 2o segments 14, 14a, 14b. These two tangs 20 and 21, project inwardly in a plane parallel to that of the plate and below the plate and their function is to penetrate holes or slots such as those two 22 and 23 (shown in Figures 4 and located in the bottom or base of the door bottom rail 15 during on-site assembly/installation. In a pre-assembly step prior to or during installation of the roller carriage assembly upon a sliding wardrobe door referring to Figure 3 the roller unit 24 comprising roller 25 and U-shaped casing 26 is mounted upon the bracket plate by sliding the flanges 24a and 24b within the channels 27 and 28 stamped out of the plate. The whole assembly, including the roller unit 24 is then installed upon the bottom of the door by inserting one of the side flanges 16 or 17 into the installation slot 18a of the panel stile 18 and then hammering or tapping the bracket into the slot in whereupon the tangs 20, 21 are forced into the tang-aligned slots 22, 23 within the base of the door bottom rail 15 and since this is occurring simultaneously with forcing of the side flange 12 into the installation slot 18a, the bracket 10 of the invention is forming a strong, rigid and interlocking, mechanical corner-jointing structure with respect to the door frame members 15, 18 which eliminates the need for screws or pop-rivetting as the bracket of the invention is self-retaining with respect to the S0 mentioned frame members.

There is also shown in the drawings the door-levelling roller height "adjustment screw 29 screwed through a support hole in the flange 11 and also through a hole (not shown) in an additional and internal flange 30 upstanding from the main plane of the bracket and which is integrally-formed by stamping out or folding up material of the plate. There is loosely mounted upon the screw 29 within the gap formed between flanges 11 and 30 a roller unit height •adjustment nut 31.

It-will be appreciated that the bracket according to the invention carr simply be used as a corner jointing and corner frame member interlocking device-or fitting by omitting the roller unit 24 and inserting a bowed side flange into the same installation slot at its top and inserting the tangs into a door top rail (which is of the same profile as the bottom rail), to join the same panel stile and the door top rail to top corners of a panel door. The bracket of the invention is versatile in its corner frame jointing applications.

The tangs will also penetrate wooden doors or door frame members or steel doors which have pre-drilled holes or preformed slots therein.

Although the invention has been described for use with specific aluminium-extrusion frame members employed in assembling and installing sliding wardrobe door panel and frame assembly, the invention may have other applications.

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Claims

1. A bracket for a door height adjustment roller unit for levelling sliding wardrobe doors, the bracket includes integrally-formed, resiliently- deformable means thereon for mounting and interlocking it within a cavity of a wooden door or wood door-frame member or within an installation channel or slot respectively of metal door frame members pre-mounted upon a door panel.

2. The bracket according to claim 1 wherein each door frame member is a metal door frame member.

3. The bracket according to claim 2 wherein one of the metal door frame members is a panel stile.

4. The bracket according to claim 1 or 3 and which is in the form of a *A plate with flanges projecting therefrom and the means for mounting the bracket q. onto the panel stile comprises two resilient side flanges upstanding from the r plane of the plate, the side flanges being bowed at the middle or having a bowed section to form tensioning arms which flex during installation when one U of the the flanges is hammered or tapped into an installation channel of a S.to respective identical left-hand or right-hand panel stile housing a door panel.

5. The bracket according to claim 4 wherein the flanges are inwardly .oo. bowed at the middle to engage internal surfaces of an installation channel of a S° panel stile and to directly mount the bracket onto the panel stile..

6. The bracket according to claim 5 wherein a resiliency slot is formed in each flange in a longitudinal direction with respect to the flange.

7. The bracket according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein a resiliency slot is formed below the mid-portion of each side flange at the junction of the bottom of each side flange and side edge of the top surface of the plate-like portion of the bracket, each slot enhancing tensioning resiliency of the tensioning arm Sflanges when the bracket is hammered or tapped into the corresponding 4. stallation slot of the panel stile. S S S...Z S Sq S* Si S U 0 @055 S 5555

8. The bracket according to claim 2 wherein the metal door frame member is a door bottom rail or a door top rail.

9. The bracket according to claim 8 wherein the metal door frame member is a door bottom rail.

The bracket according to any one of claims 2, 8 and 9 wherein integrally-formed deformable means thereon is adapted to be fitted into at least one hole, slot or channel formed in a base of a standard aluminium extrusion bottom rail door frame member pre-mounted upon a panel of the said door.

11. The bracket according to any preceding claim and which further has an integrally-formed door top or bottom mounting flange thereon which is provided with at least one tang adapted to penetrate in an interference fit a hole or slot located in the bottom or base of a door bottom rail and adapted to be in alignment with the at least one tang during on-site assembly/installation.

12. The bracket according to claim 11 wherein the at least one tang is inwardly-directed in a plane parallel to and below that of the plate.

13. The bracket according to claim 11 or 12 wherein there are two tangs.

14. The bracket according to any one of claims 11 to 13 wherein there are two inwardly-directed tangs.

The bracket according to any preceding claim and which has slotted means for mounting directly thereon an adjustable roller unit comprising a roller housed in a U-shaped housing.

16. A method of installing a door levelling, height adjustable roller carriage assembly upon a sliding door, the method comprising first pre-assembling a roller unit onto the roller mounting bracket according to any one of claims 1 to 15, then force-fitting a flange of the said bracket into an installation channel of a door panel stile metal frame member without need for using screws, pop-rivets or the like fastening members.

17. The method according to claim 16 which further comprises directly fixing the bracket to a door bottom rail metal frame member by force-fitting at least one integrally-formed deformable tang projecting below the general plane of the bracket into at least one hole or slot in the base of a door bottom rail metal frame member and in alignment with the at least one tang for directly mounting the bracket upon the door bottom rail frame member which has been pre-installed upon a door panel without the need for using screws, pop rivets or like fastening members.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17 and which includes mechanically interlocking a sliding wardrobe door panel stile and bottom rail in 9 self-retaining corner structure by installing the bracket of any one of claims 1 to 15 by inserting an integrally-formed, resiliently-deformable side flange of the bracket into an installation channel of a panel stile and force-fitting one or more integrally-formed tangs into a tang-aligned hole or holes or a slot in a door bottom rail.

19. A bracket for mounting a door height adjustment roller unit for levelling sliding wardrobe doors and for jointing and interlocking extruded aluminium door panel stile and bottom rail frame members substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 7 of the accompanying drawings. A method of installing a bracket for a door height adjustment roller unit for levelling sliding wardrobe doors substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 4th day of April, 2000 SRA JOHN MARTIN SBy My Patent Attorney: JO~-)N L.DAVIES Co.