CA2003590A1

CA2003590A1 - Shower partition

Info

Publication number: CA2003590A1
Application number: CA 2003590
Authority: CA
Inventors: Heinz G. Baus
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-11-30
Filing date: 1989-11-22
Publication date: 1990-05-31
Also published as: NO894773L; DE3840324A1; EP0371348A1; NO894773D0; DK601989A; DE3840324C2; DD289702A5; AU4541889A; PT92472A; DK601989D0

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE:

A shower partition contains, as a separating element, a door designed more particularly as a swinging door and arranged to pivot on hinges about a substantially vertical axis. A separating element, in the form of a stationary wall-element, is arranged at the side of an entrance adapted to be closed by the door. This shower-partition is to be developed in such a manner as to achieve, with few component parts, reliable attachment of the door and/or of the wall-element. Therefore, the separating element is connected preferably by gluing to connecting elements. The wall-element and/or the door, each carries, at its lateral edges, a strusture which covers the glued portions of the connecting elements.

Description

- 20~)3590 SHOWER PARTITION

The present invention relates to a shower partition with a door.
A shower partition of this kind is already known.
It comprises two separating elements arranged substantially at right angles to each other. One of the separating elements is in the form of a door arranged in relation to profiled rails by means of hinges or rotating bearings.
These profiled rails are secured to one wall of the shower-or bath-room. The other separating element may be in the form of a door of suitable design, or of a stationary wall-element. This wall-element is also inserted into profiled rails which form a frame. The profiled rails are secured to the adjacent wall of the shower- or bath-room. The profiled rails are expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, there are gaps between the stationary wall-element and the profiled rails ~surrounding it and these required additional measures - to prevent, as far as possible, the entry and settling of dirt, ~in order to meet the requirements of hygiene. The entry and settling of lime-deposits and dirt in such gaps is ~ 25 undesirable from the point of view of appearance and, above -~ ~all, hygiene. Thus considerable expenses are needed if the shower partition is to meet these requirements after long period of use.
- !A shower partition,having a door i'n the form!of a ~ gwinging~door i8 also known. Such a door is in the form of a ; sw~inging door and is arranged to pivot by means of hinges upon~ a~vert~ic~al profiled part. Arranged in the corner bètw~een the wall-element and the entrance is another vertical ~profiled member, to which the vertical front edge . .:-, , ~: :- .

~j,,,,i,. '.~'.,,'',`' ' ,"

Z0~3590 of the wall-element is attached and which carries a stop-profile for the swinging door. The other vertical edge of the stationary wall-element is included in a third vertical profiled member secured, by means of an equalizing profile, to the wall of the shower- or bath-room. The profiled member carrying the hinges for the swinging door is also secured, by means of an additional equalizing profile, to the relevant wall of the shower- or bath-room. The manufacture of the profiled members, the assembly of the hinges, the stop-profile and the wall-elements to the profiled members require important expenditure. As regards hygiene, there is also a danger of contamination in the ~ ;
vicinity of the joints between the wall-elements, the door, the profiled members and the hinges. If the wall-element and the swinging door are made of glass, especially safety ; ;~
glass, this must be carried out with very great care if the hinges of attachment elements are to be secured by screws in corresponding holes in the wall-element and swinging door.
Even with extreme care, it is not always possible to avoid breaking a sheet of glass in the vicinity of the holes i~`
during manufacture or assembly. ~;
Also known, is an arrangement for securing a - furniture hinge to the inside of a glass door. Arranged on the inside of the glass door, by brazing or gluing, is an attachment-piece containing a thread for a screw. A hinge- -~
part associated with the glass door contains a hole through which the attachment-piece passes from the inside of the door, a screw being inserted into the thread in the attachment-piece from the outsite. The connecting surfaces ;~
between the attachment-piece and the glass door are visible ~ ~
from the outside through the transparent glass door and, ~ ~ :
even if great care is taken during assembly, the solder or glue is visible to an observer from the outside, thus detracting from the appearance of the partition. `-:~ : ., ', ,"~,. X0~:)3590 Finally, it is known to apply structures to the surface of a sheet of glass. This is intended to prevent dazzle and block off heat and to make it possible to observe outside objects without difficulty. The sheet of glass contains a number of small pieces of glass paint which adhere to the surface of an area to be protected and absorb considerable quantities of visible rays and heat rays.
These pieces are spaced from each other in such a manner as to form a pattern, but outside objects may be seen, with sufficient clarity, through the spaces between the pieces.
With an arrangement of this kind, surface areas can neither be covered nor made unrecognizable from the outside.
Based upon the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to develop a shower partition at low structural 1~ cost and to achieve reliable attachment and connection of the wall-element and the door, without having to take account of the above-mentioned disadvantages. Manufacturing and assembly costs are to be low, but the resulting shower .
- partition is to be stable and reliable in operation. The number of components is to be reduced and the shower is to be sealed off reliably from the outside.
According to the present invention, there is provided a shower partition with at least one separating element which is adapted to be secured with at least one connecting element to at least one wall of a room, the separating element having an inner surface and an outer surface, shower partition wherein~
~ -,the connec,ting elejment has a connecting portion which is secured to the inner surface of the separating element, and - the separating element has a lateral edge which carries a structure which covers the portion of the ~ -connecting element which is secured to the inner surface of ~ -the separating element.

.
.
:

X0t~3590 The shower partition according to the invention is noted above all for the reduced number of individual components and it ensures stable and reliable operation. No vertical profiled parts are needed. Instead the separating element, which is in the form of a door and or wall-element, is secured directly. There is no costly processing of the door or wall-element since the connecting elements, also called attachment parts, are preferably glued and they are in the form of hinges or rigid connecting elements. The attachment-parts are arranged on the inside of the separating element in the shower-room or above the shower-tub. The attachment-parts may be in the form of hinges or rigid connecting elements, for the purpose of securing the doors or stationary wall-elements to the wall of the room.
If the separating element is in the form of a folding door, the attachment-parts may be in the form of hinges by means of which the individual door-elements are hinged together.
The separating element thus has no holes or openings and the - attachment-parts are secured directly to the relevant room-wall. The separating element may consist of a translucent or transparent material, more particularly safety glass and, the glued joints are covered with the above-mentioned applied structure. By means of this structure, arranged at the lateral edge of the separating element, the glued joints are practically invisible to an outside observer.
The structure may be arranged on the outside of ,....
the wall-element or door, so that the glued joints are on the smooth internal surface. The structure may furthermore be arranged on the inside of the wall-elemént or door, in which case the outside is smooth. This has the advantage of simplifying cleaning~
The structure is preferably applied to the surface of the door or wall-element by a screen-printing process, in the form of a screen. The structure may also be applied by :` :

:

ZO~:)3590 etching the surface or by some comparable process. Finally, the structure may be upon an adhesive tape which is glued to the lateral edge of the sheet of glass. This is thus an all-glass shower partition, with no holes or other openings in the sheets of glass. If the separating element is in the form of a door, it may comprise one or two swinging panels.
In the latter case, one of the panels may be hinged directly to the relevant room-wall, while the other panel may be hinged to a stationary wall-element, for example, or to the opposite wall of the room, also by means of hinges. The door may furthermore be in the form of a folding door comprising a plurality of door-elements hinged together at their longitudinal edges where they are sealed with transparent sealing profiles. In all of these designs, the hinges or hinge-parts secured to the relevant separating element are arranged on the inside of the lateral wall and the glued surfaces are concealed from the outside by means of the structure.
At the upper edge of the wall-element, a profiled rail may be arranged in order to improve the stability and strength of the partition. This profiled rail preferably extends beyond the entrance and is secured, in turn, to the wall of the room. The rail may consists of parts arranged substantially at right angles to each other, arranged, on the one hand, over the stationary wall-element and, on the , other hand, over the entrance, and connected firmly together above the corner-area. The upper edge of the wall-element is preferably held by the profiled rail and a stable -structure'is assured, especially si~nce the other part of the profiled rail, extending over the entrance, is secured, with its free end, to the wall of the bath- or showe-room, so that the tensile and/or compressive forces, acting from the side upon the wall-element, can be properly transferred.
The door is preferably connected to the wall of - 5 - ~

: 20~3s90 the shower- or bath-room exclusively by the glued-on hinges.
The screen-structures are arranged in the edge-areas of the wall-element and of the door, where the connecting elements and/or hinges are secured by gluing. Furthermore, the wall-element and the door are clearly transparent, whereas otherparts may be provided with a decoration or design as desired. The structure is preferably arranged on the outside of the wall-element or door, so that the glued joint in the interior of the shower-room is on the smooth surface of the glass. Thus the glued joint is in no way impaired by the structure and is covered only from the outside. Within the scope of the invention, however, the structure may also be arranged on the inside surface of the glass, as an alternative. This may be used if, for the purpose of facilitating cleaning, the outside of the glass is to kept absolutely smooth. It is common to both variants that the wall-element or the door have no holes or openings for purposes of attachment, the joints being preferably glued and the glued surfaces being covered by the structure, more particularly in the form of a screen.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be explained hereinafter, as examples without limitative manner, having reference the attached drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the shower partition with two separating elements in the form of a swinging door and a stationary wall-element.
Fig. 2 is a view, to an enlarged scale of the swinging door with a glued-on hinge;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged view similar~to Fig. 2,~ but ~0 with the door closed; and Fig. 4 shows another configuration of the screen-structure.
Fig. l shows a shower-tub 2 installed in the usual manner in a corner between two walls 4, 6 in a shower- or ..

Z0~3~90 bath-room. Resting upon the edge of the shower-tub is a wall-element 8 of the partition. The lower edge of the wall-element 8 is sealed in a suitable manner in relation to the edge of the tub, for example by means of a silicone seal, a layer of transparent plastic, or the like. In order to connect the wall-element 8 to the wall 4, use is made of two connecting elements 10 which are glued to the inner surface of the wall-element 8. The connecting elements 10 are spaced vertically from each other and extend over only a small fraction of the total height of the wall-element 8.
The connecting elements are in the form of small angles connected suitably to the wall 4. This connection may be by means of screws and dowels, but glued joints have been found particularly satisfactory. The wall-element 8 therefore has no holes or openings for attachment of the connecting elements 10.
The connecting elements 10 are in the form of ~ rigid angle-parts. At the left-hand lateral edge 12 in the drawing, the wall-element 8, which is made of safety-glass, carries a structure 14 on the outside. This structure 14 covers the glued surfaces of connecting elements 10 so that they are practically insivible from the outside and do not - disturb an observer. This screen-structure is such as to extend over the entire height of the wall-element 8. The density of this screen-structure is at its maximum at the outermost edge of wall-element 8. This density decreases from the outermost rim of the lateral edge 12 nearest the wall, towards the middle, preferably continuously. The structure Ithus forms, at the lateral edge 12 of the wall-element 8, a narrow cover-strip, the rest of the safety-glass wall-element being transparent. It is to be understood that the wall-element 8 may, if necessary, carry a design in the middle also, but this does not cover the connecting elements. The wall-element 8 is essentially in : `' -.''.,''.' '`', X0~)3590 the form of a flat sheet and also has an extension 15 drawn around the front corner. In a section in a horizontal plane therefore, the wall-element 8 has an approximately L-shaped cross section, the short extension 15 extending as far as the entrance and defining it. There is also no corner-profile, or vertical profiles, to be connected to wall 4.
The shower partition also comprises as a second separating element, a door 16 in the form of a swinging door secured to the other wall 6 of the room by two vertically spaced connecting elements in the form of hinges 18. the hinges are fixed to door 16 in the manner already explained for the connecting elements 10, namely by gluing. The lateral edge 22 of the door also carries a structure 24 in the form of a screen. The above comments on the wall-element 8, its structure, and the connecting elements 10, also apply to the door 16.
Arranged at the upper edge 26 of the wall-element 8 is a profiled rail 28 which curves around the corner and extends, beyond entrance 30, to ~he other wall 6. The upper edge 26 is preferably anchored in the profiled rail 28, more particularly in a longitudinal groove therein. The rail 28 may consist of several parts, the free ends thereof ~ being secured, in a suitable manner, to the walls 4, 6. The parts of profiled rails are secured to the walls 4, 6 by means of conventional screws and dowels, but glue may also be used.
The connecting elements 10 and hinges 18 are secured to the walls 4, 6 in the conventional manner by means of screws and dowels. However, theyimay be glued to the walls 4, 6.
- Fig. 2 shows, to an enlarged scale, a part of the door 16 in the vicinity of the upper hinge 18, the door being in the open position. The hinge-part 32 is glued to the smooth inner surface of the door 16. Screen-structure : .., ,. ~.

ZO~)3590 24 is arranged on the outer surface of the door, which outersurface faces wall 6 when the door 16 is opened. As may be seen, the density of the screen-structure 24 decreases continuously from the outermost lateral edge 22 towards the middle of the door. Secured to the wall 6 is hinge-part 34.
All that can be seen of this hinge-part 34 in the drawing is a cover-cap. It is to be understood that this hinge-part is secured to the wall in a suitable manner, either by means of screws, or, preferably, by gluing.
Fig. 3 shows, to a still larger scale, the part already described in Fig. 2, with the door 16 in the closed position, as seen looking towards the outer surface of the door and the structure 24 arranged thereon. As may be seen, this structure almost completely covers the hinge-part 32, secured to the door 16, and its glued surface, which are no longer visible to an observer. The density of the screen-structure decreases continuously from the lateral edge 22 to the middle of the door. The structure 24 consists of uniformly arranged dots which are largest at the outermost rim of the lateral edge 22 nearest the wall 6 and decrease in size towards the middle of the door 16. This provides an almost stepless transition of the structure to the remaining - completely transparent door 16.
Fig. 4 shows another configuration of the screen-structure according to the invention. As compared with the structure in Fig. 3, there is a relatively dark edge-strip 36 where dots 38 are of substantially the same size. In this desirable example of embodiment, the edge-strip 36 extends substantially over half the width of structure 24.
The dots 38 then become smaller, towards the left in the drawing, as already explained in conjunction with Fig. 3.
The degree of transparency is governed by the size of the dots. The distances 40 between individual dotes 38 remain constant over the entire width of structure 24.
~ ' ~ ' ' -,.'""'' ':., :. ~ " -'', ,: : :.:
' ,~,,

Claims

1. A shower partition with at least one separating element which is adapted to be secured with at least one connecting element to at least one wall of a room, the separating element having an inner surface and an outer surface, shower partition wherein:
- said connecting element has a connecting portion which is secured to said inner surface of said separating element, and - said separating element has a lateral edge which carries a structure which covers said connecting portion of said connecting element which is secured to said inner surface of said separating element.

2. A shower partition according to claim 1, wherein said connecting portion of said connecting element is glued to said inner surface of said separating element.

3. A shower partition according to claim 2, wherein said separating element is in the form of a wall-element which rests over a shower-tub, or is in the form of a door comprising two swinging panels.

4. A shower partition according to claim 1, comprising two separating elements, a first separating element in the form of a substantially sheet-like stationnary wall-element secured with at least a first connecting element to a first wall of said room, and a second separating element in the form of a door secured with at least a second connecting element to a second wall of said room.

5. A shower partition according to claim 4, wherein:
- there is a pair of said first connecting element vertically spaced from each other, and a pair of said second connecting element in the form of hinges also vertically spaced from each other, each of said first pair of connecting elements being connected on the one hand to said first wall and on the other hand being glued by means of said connecting portion to said inner surface of said wall-element, and each of said second pair of connecting elements being connected on the one hand to said second wall and on the other hand being glued by means of said connecting portion to said inner surface of said door, and wherein - said structure extends over the entire height of each of said wall-element and of said door and covers each of said glued portions of said connecting elements.

6. A shower partition according to claim 5, wherein said structure is a screen-structure which has a maximum density at the outermost rim of said lateral edge of said wall-element nearest said first-wall and at the outer-most rim of said lateral edge of said door nearest said second wall, said density decreasing towards the middle of said wall-element and of said door.

7. A shower partition according to claim 6, wherein said screen-structure of each of said wall-element and of said door consists of uniformly arranged dots which are largest at said outermost rims or said lateral edges of said wall-element and of said door and decrease in size towards the middle of said wall-element and of said door.

8. A shower partition according to claim 7, wherein said density of said screen-structure decreases continuously.

9. A shower partition according to claim 1, wherein the separating element is in the form of a substantially sheet-like stationary wall-element, two of said connecting element being in the form of rigid connecting elements, spaced vertically from each other on said inner surface of the wall-element.

10. A shower partition according to claim 9, comprising a second separating element in the form of a substantially sheet-like door, two further of said connecting elements being in the form of two hinges, spaced vertically from each other on said inner surface of the door.

11. A shower partition according to claim 10, wherein said structure for each of said wall-element and of said door is in strip-form and extends over the entire height of each the wall-element and of the door, each of said structures covering only a small part of the total width of the separating element, namely at said respective lateral edges.

12. A shower partition according to claim 11, wherein each of said structures is arranged on said inner surface or said outer surface of each of said separatiing elements, said structures being in the form of a screen print.

13. A shower partition according to claim 1, wherein said structure is in the form of a screen consisting of equally spaced dots, said screen having a density which decreases from said lateral edge to the middle of the separating element.

14. A shower partition according to claim 3, 5 or 12, further comprising a profiled rail which is arranged at an upper edge of said wall-element, said rail being prolonged beyond a corner-area, extending across an entrance, and being secured directly to said wall by two free ends.

15. A shower partition according to claim 5, 6 or 8, wherein said separating-element consists of transparent sheets which are connected to walls of a room exclusively by means of said connecting elements which also include hinges.

16. A shower partition according to claim 4, 9 or 12, wherein said wall-element comprises an extension extending opposite said first wall and forming an entrance, said wall-element having, in a horizontal cutting plane, an approximately L-shaped cross-section.

17. A shower partition according to claim 5, which is free of any corner-profiles or vertical profiles to be connected to said first and second walls, and wherein said separating element is free of holes or openings.

18. A shower partition according to claim 17, wherein:
- said wall-element is curved to define a corner, - said first pair of connecting elements are in the form of angles, - a profiled rail is provided at an upper edge of said wall-element, said profiled rail being curved around said corner defined by the wall-element and extending above an entrance formed by a lower extension of said wall-element, said profiled rail thus extending from said first wall to said second wall.

19. A shower partition according to claim 18, wherein:
- said upper edge is anchored in said profiled rail, and - said profiled rail consists of several parts, the free ends thereof being secured to said first and second walls.

20. A shower partition according to claim 6, 11 or 19, wherein said screen-structure comprises a relatively dark edge-strip having dots of substantially the same size, said edge-strip extending substantially over half the width of said structure, said dots becoming smaller towards the middle of said wall-element and of said door.

21. A shower partition according to claim 4, wherein said wall-element comprises an extension extending opposite said first wall and forming an entrance, said extension being designed with a rounded connecting part having a predetermined area and being integral with said wall-element.