Title: Door-jamb
The present invention relates to a door-jamb arranged in a door-opening between two adjoining rooms, the door-jamb being designed so that it allows ventilation between the rooms.
Technical field:
Ventilation between two rooms, separated by a wall with a door, has traditionally been achieved by a recess in the top rail of the jamb in such a way that a longitudinal gap is created between the top edge of the pivotable door-leaf, when the door is in a closed position, and said top rail of the door-jamb. This solution yields only a small surface for the air to flow through between the two rooms, and the recessed ventilation gap is clearly visible from both sides of the wall. Thus, the ventilation gap can be said to break up the otherwise aesthe¬ tically clean general appearance of the door-jamb.
Technical background:
The German publication DE 1 143 623 shows another solution of ventilation where a longitudinal, rectangular opening has been taken up above the top rail of the door-jamb. The opening is covered by a hatch which, when necessary, can be opened and closed by means of a pull-rod in connection with a handlebar at one of the vertical stiles of the door-jamb. With its external hatch and pull-rod, this solution has an almost devastating effect on the appearance of the door-jamb. It does, however, provide a larger surface of ventilation compared to the aforementioned recessed gap. Ventilation has also been achieved by means of built-in fans in the door-jamb, which is
illustrated by the French patent No. 1,312,749, which in the drawings relates to a window-jamb provided in the stiles and rail of the door-jamb with fans in longitudinal opening covered with a grid net. Such a design surely provides for effective ventilation, but is virtually unthinkable from a mass-produc¬ tion point of view where the consistant use of standard items is strongly urged. In this case also, the ventilation openings can easily be detected by the eye from both sides of the wall.
A better and more industrially applicable solution is illustra¬ ted by the Swedish publication No. 6700190-9. This solution can be adapted to established standard dimensions for door-jambs, and the jamb is provided with detachable profiled architraves. The top rail of the jamb has recessed openings facing toward the edge-surfaces of the wall-opening, which creates free spaces between the jamb and the opposite edge-surface of the wall. On the front faces and on of the side faces of the profiled architraves, harrow perforations are taken up in order to allow airflow via the openings in the jamb. Again, the ventilation openings are clearly visible in the top section of the door-opening, this time in the architraves. The jamb can nevertheless be of standard dimension whereby extensive measures like for instance cuttings in the existing door- opening can be avoided, which is not the case in the afore¬ mentioned ventilation opening above the top rail of a jamb. As mentioned earlier, the openings creates a free space toward the edge-surface of the wall-opening, a space which in the real situation is enlarged since there is often a gap between the jamb and the edge-surfaces of the wall-opening. The gap, not counting the recesses in the described design, varies between a few mm to about 30 mm. When mounting the door-jamb, the jamb can be fitted into the wall-opening by wedging in wedge-blocks between the jamb and the edge-surfaces of the wall-opening. The jamb according to SE 6700190-9 with its recesses toward the edge surfaces of the wall-opening only allows for wedge-blocks to be wedged in at the remaining portions of the jamb still having their full thickness. Another way to fit a door-jamb into a wall-opening is to fill said gap with polymer foam which
is then allowed to solidify. This method was widely used during the 1970:s and provided a quick and accurate fitting of the door-jamb. Originally, polyurethane foam was used to this end, a foam that later proved less suitable because of environmental drawbacks, and as a result the method virtually died out. Today, however, new environmentally suited foam materials have been developed which again makes this method very interesting for mounting jambs. Foam fitting can not be carried out together with the jamb in the aforementioned patent SE 6700190-9, since the foam will when also fill the recesses toward the edge-surfaces of the wall opening, and completely seal these, with the result being zero ventilation. A further drawback of this design is that the recesses, the way they are shaped, inevitably means a considerable decrease in the structural strength of the jamb.
A uniting factor of before know solutions of ventilation is, as has already briefly been mentioned, that the externally visible, main-ventilation openings are facing perpendicularly to the plane of the wall surface and thereby in the direction of passage of the door-opening. Apart from the fact that this ruins the appearance from an aesthetic point of view, it also results in a less effective sound-insulation between the two rooms.
The object of the invention:
The object of the present invention is to alleviate the above problems by providing a ventilated door-jamb with architraves, having preserved structural strength, preserved option to use existing methods of fitting when mounting the jamb, and an aesthetically preserved appearance along with maximum sound- insulation.
The solution:
To achieve the above object the present invention provides a door-jamb in a door-opening, for ventilation between adjoining
rooms, comprising vertical stiles and a lateral rail having a passage for airflow, and architraves having at least one opening communicating with said passage. The invention relates specifically to that the passage, in a direction toward the edge-surfaces of the wall-opening, is delimited by a rear board, connected to the rest of the stiles and rail at at least one side of the passage.
In a preferred embodiment, the architraves are mounted on the stiles and rail of the jamb. Each opening in the architraves is positioned in a section of the architrave facing away from the jamb, in a direction toward the edge-surfaces of the wall- opening, at the underside of an overhanging part of the section. Furthermore, the openings of the architraves are slit- shaped. Since the opening of the architraves are positioned under an overhanging part of said section, a so called sound- trap is obtained which provides effective sound-insulation.
Further in the preferred embodiment said passage consists of a slit-shaped opening in the jamb leading out to both sides of the jamb. Furthermore, the jamb has a plurality of passages in each stile and rail, yielding an increased surface of ventila¬ tion.
Brief description of the drawings:
The invention is hereinafter described by way of example only and with reference to an embodiment of the invention and the accompaning drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a view of a door-jamb according to the invention situated in a door opening.
Fig. 2. is a cross-sectional view on line II-II in Fig. 1 of a stile with architraves.
Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of an architrave accor¬ ding to the invention.
Best mode of carrying out the invention:
According to Fig. 1 a door-jamb 1 is mounted in a wall 2 with a wall-opening 3. The jamb 1 consists of two vertical stiles 4 in contact with the vertical edge-surfaces 5 of the wall opening 3, and a lateral rail 6 in contact with the lateral edge surface 7 of the wall-opening. On both sides of the wall- opening 3, architraves 8 are fitted in herefore intended slots 9. For the sake of clarity the architraves 8 are drawn with dot-lined lines i Fig. 1. The stiles 4 and the rail 6 are, as shown in Fig. 2, composed of composite elements with internal layers 10 of wood-fiber material, which layers are partially surrounded by a cover-layer 11. The wall 2 is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 2 with a dot-lined line, whereby the edge-surface 5 of the wall-opening and the side-faces 12 and 13 are clearly visible. Furthermore, a broken section of the openable door- leaf 14 is shown with a dot-lined line in the closed position, whereby it is in contact with the ledge section 15 of the stile 4. In order to achieve ventilation, the air is allowed to flow through the stiles 4 and the rail 6 between the adjoining rooms via a passage 17. The passage 17 is delimited in a direction toward the edge surface 5 of the door opening 3 by a rear board 18, belonging to the jamb 1. The rear board 18 being con¬ veniently made of wood-fiber material and connected to the rest of the stiles 4 with distance elements 19 on each side of the passage 17. A plurality of such passages 17 are provided in the stiles 4 and the rail 6 of the jamb 1. The passages 17 consist as is clearly shown i Fig. 1 och 2, of slit-shaped openings in the stiles 4 and the rail 6 leading out to both sides of the jamb. Since passages 17, as mentioned above, are provided in the stiles 4 and the rail 6, a much increased surface of ventilation is created compared to previously known solutions where ventilation mainly takes place in the top section of the wall-opening at the top rail of the jamb.
The architraves 8, being mounted in slots 9 in the jamb l, consist of thin plastic profiles and are provided with openings 20 communicating with the passage 17 via the airflow. The openings 20 of the architraves 8 lead out in a direction parallel to the sides 12, 13 of the wall 2 and are situated on the underside of an overhanging part 21 of a section 22 facing away from the jamb 1 in a direction toward the edge-surface 5 of the wall-opening. In the described embodiment the openings 20 are rectangularly shaped and situated along the complete length of the architraves 8, whereby the separate openings 20 are separated from each other by protrusions 23. The special positioning of the openings 20 together with the space 24 created on the inside of the overhanging part 21, thus consti¬ tute a so called sound-trap where sound-waves passing from one room to another are damped to a considerable extent. This effect would not appear at all if openings were to be cut out in the front faces 25 of the architraves 8. The openings 20, which are actually hidden under the overhanging part 21, also eliminates the need for ventilation openings in the front faces 25 of the architraves 8, which would ruin the otherwise clean and aesthetic appearance of the architraves.
When mounting the jamb 1 in the wall opening 3 there is often a gap 27 between the edge surface 5 of the wall-opening 3 and the rear board 18 of the jamb 1. The fittning of the jamb 1 in a pre-defined position is either achieved by wedging in wedge- blocks (not shown in the figure) in said gap 27, or by filling the gap 27 with a foam which then solidifies (not shown in the figure) .
According to the above described embodiment of the invention, a jamb 1 is thus provided, which stiles 4 and rail 6 display minimum weakening of the structural strength compared to a corresponding jamb without ventilation facilities. With this solution one also preserves the option to use existing fitting methods in the wall-opening 3 when the jamb 1 is mounted without the ventilation effect being negatively affected. Furthermore, aesthetically pleasing architraves 8 are provided
displaying clean surfaces, seen from the outside, without disturbing perforations for ventilation.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described hereinabove, and it can naturally be varied within the scope of the accompaning patent claims. The passage 17 in the jamb 1 can thus for instance be achieved by milling or alternatively as a plurality of holes. This goes also for the openings 20 of the architraves 8 which can of course also be milled out or be of circular shape. Thus, there is no con¬ finement to rectangular openings as shown in the drawings.