EP2136027B1 - Edge joints for door and window frames - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a corner connector for door and window frame, with a rectangular cross-section shank for insertion into a mitered frame hollow section and a shank final, weldable or glued, according to the miter of the associated hollow profile extending welding surface and a spreader of one of the rectangular surfaces of the shaft straddling spreader for clamping the shaft in the hollow profile and two spreader webs which are connected to the lateral edges of the spreader and are pushed apart during spreading of the spreader by running on spreader surfaces.

Such corner connectors are already known in the market. They are described, for example, in the non-prepublished German patent application 10 2007 030 618 of the applicant. They make it possible to clamp a corner connector in the vertical direction and in the transverse direction. Most known corner connectors are generally clamped only to one side, mostly upwards and are thus clamped between the upper and the lower surface of the hollow profile, but not in the transverse direction, so that in particular inaccurate dimensioning of the hollow profile insufficient seating of the corner connector in the profile the result can be. The corner connector according to the above-mentioned earlier application can be clamped by means of a spreading on the one hand upwards and at the same time on both sides, so that a total of a determination takes place in two mutually perpendicular dimensions.

The directional information used herein refers to the lower leg of a window frame. In this leg, the corner connectors occupy a position in which the welding surfaces fall obliquely outward. For this leg, the directions used here apply as above or below. For the two lateral, vertical legs of a window frame or for the upper, transversely directed leg directional information must be adjusted accordingly.

If a corner connector of the type mentioned is clamped in a hollow profile, the case may occur that the lateral spreaders or one of them during clamping of the upper expansion reach a position in which the lateral spreaders are not securely locked, so they in their strained position can not be determined. This is mainly due to the fact that it was previously not possible to form a sawtooth or latching profile in such a way that latching in almost any position is possible.

The invention has for its object to improve a corner joint of the type mentioned so that a locking of the lateral expansion paths in almost any clamping position is possible.

This object is achieved in a corner connector of the above type in that the side surfaces of the shaft forming expansion surfaces having a directed in the longitudinal direction of the shaft Sägezahnprofilierung, and that the spreaders, which are pressed apart when lifting the expansion, have finely distributed locking teeth, the engage in the sawtooth profiling.

The sawtooth profiling on the lateral spreading surfaces of the stem and on the inside of the spreader webs forms a number of superimposed, corresponding skewed or wedge surfaces which cause the spreader webs to be forced outwardly as the spreader webs are raised. Only when the path of raising the spreaders have reached the length of a sawtooth step, it comes to latching and thus fixing the Spreizbahnen against falling back. This means a relatively coarse step division, which is opposed to the fact that when clamping the expansion part and the spreader often small ways to achieve the strained end position sufficient.

According to the invention locking teeth are therefore formed on the inner surface of the spreader teeth, which divide the step height of the sawtooth profile, for example, in each case five latching steps, which allow a locking in much narrower steps.

As can be seen from the drawing, which will be explained in more detail later, the ratchet teeth are arranged in several superposed rows, each consisting of several columns. In the illustrated embodiment are three rows of five ratchet teeth in a quadrangular field, which can be seen in the drawing as openings on the outside of the spreader. In the drawing, two adjacent fields of 4 x 3 ratchet teeth are shown in the other. This means that in each case at least one detent tooth from one of the fields engages with the corresponding detent tooth of the other field.

It will therefore be at least two spaced ratchet teeth in engagement, which provide a stable hold of the spreader tracks in the reached height position.

Moreover, run within the fields, the horizontal rows of ratchet teeth slightly inclined to the horizontal, so that also result in this way, slight height differences. The height distance of the individual ratchet teeth is therefore less than 1 mm in the illustrated embodiment.

The sawtooth profile therefore serves only as a wedge surface for spreading the spreader webs and only exceptionally to set the spreader in height.

Fig. 1

ist eine perspektivische, teilweise als Explosionsdarstellung ausgeführte Darstellung eines erfindungsgemäßen Eckverbinders; und

Fig. 2

zeigt eine Querschnittdarstellung, ebenfalls mit Zügen einer Explosionsdarstellung, zu dem Eckverbinder der Fig. 1.

Fig. 3

ist eine perspektivische Darstellung einer anderen Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Eckverbinders;

Fig. 4

zeigt in perspektivischer Darstellung einen Eckverbinder mit teilweise fortgelassener Spreizbahn;

Fig. 5

zeigt eine Spreizbahn mit Spreizteil in perspektivischer Darstellung;

Fig. 6

entspricht Fig. 5, zeigt aber einige weitere Einzelheiten.

In the following preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1

is a perspective, partially exploded view of a corner connector according to the invention; and

Fig. 2

shows a cross-sectional view, also with trains of an exploded view, to the corner connector of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 3

is a perspective view of another embodiment of the corner connector according to the invention;

Fig. 4

shows a perspective view of a corner connector with partially omitted Spreizbahn;

Fig. 5

shows a spreading with spreading in a perspective view;

Fig. 6

corresponds to Fig. 5 , but shows some more details.

A corner connector according to Fig. 1 has a rectangular cross-section shaft 10, which is closed by an inclined 45 ° inclined welding surface 12. The welding surface 12 is profiled in the usual manner in its surface, so that the melting in the welding process is facilitated in the connection with a corresponding further corner connector. The rectangular in cross-section shaft is inserted in a conventional manner in a cut at 45 ° mitred plastic hollow profile or in its corresponding reinforcing profile made of steel or the like. In this hollow profile, the shaft must be clamped.

Corresponding corner connector systems are known in many embodiments and have been described many times.

The shaft 10 is U-shaped overlapped from above by an upper spreader 14, from the lateral edges of which flat spreaders 16,18 hang down.

The shaft 10 is open on the upper side, where it forms a sliding track of a spreading device, not shown in detail, which serves to lift the spreader 14 and to spread against the upper inner surface of the hollow profile of a window or a door, not shown in the drawings.

To the spreading device, for example, includes a screw 20 which is screwed into the inclined welding surface 12 of the shaft and, for example, moves the spreading device in the form of a wedge. Such spreading mechanisms have been extensively described and are mentioned only in passing.

By means of the spreading device, not shown in detail, for example, an upper expansion part can be raised, which is designated in its entirety by 14. The upper expansion part is in the illustrated embodiment in several parts and comprises two divided upper clamping surfaces 22,24.

The two clamping surfaces 22,24 are suspended by means of downward hooks 26,28 in a Spreizteilträger 30. From the lateral edges of the clamping surfaces 22,24 hang the already mentioned spreaders 16,18 down.

The clamping surfaces 22,24 are connected to the spreader tracks 16,18 via webs 32,34,36,38, which are arc-shaped according to the drawing.

The webs 32,34,36,38 are designed so that they can stretch under tensile load, for example, in the straight line and thereby achieve a length increase. However, the webs 32, 34, 36, 38 may also be extendible in other ways or even be separable, if the possibility should exist of increasing the distance between the lateral expansion webs 16, 18 and the upper clamping surfaces 22, 24.

The clamping surfaces 22,24 have on the upper side of a wave or rippelförmige training, so that they can provide good strength in particular when applied in the longitudinal direction after they have been clamped in a hollow profile.

The lateral spreaders 16,18 lie on the spreader surfaces 40,42 on both sides of the shaft 10, according to Fig. 1 form a continuous sawtooth profile. The sawtooth profile has a straight line running in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 10 profiling, which covers the rest of the shaft surface.

As is apparent from the drawing, the sawtooth profile forms a series of inclined or wedge surfaces with an outwardly directed inclined surface, while the spreader tracks on the inside has corresponding sawtooth profile with inwardly sloping or wedge surfaces. The slope is directed so that the spreaders 16,18, if they are lifted upwards, are pressed outwards.

However, the pitch of the sawtooth surfaces formed in this way is relatively coarse. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, it is 5 mm. This means that when lifting the upper spreader 14 and the lateral spreaders 16,18 only every 5 mm a position is reached in which engage the spreaders and can not sink down again.

The relatively rough grading of the sawtooth profile could be reduced, but the sawtooth profile is needed to push the spreaders outward and possibly have a relatively large way available for this purpose. It is therefore not useful to use the sawtooth as the only locking means in the determination of the lateral spreading.

Therefore, a ratchet tooth field has been superimposed on the sawtooth profile on the side of the outer spreader tracks according to the invention, which comprises ratchet teeth, which, in cooperation with the sawtooth profile on the outer surfaces of the shaft offer a very fine division of the ratchet options.

If an inventive corner connector is to be clamped in a hollow profile, a sliding wedge mechanism is set in motion by turning the screw 20 in a manner not shown in detail, which causes the upper expansion part 14 is raised. This tends to lead to the tension of the upper expansion part against the corresponding inner surface of the hollow profile. At the beginning of the tension, however, the lateral expansion webs 16, 18 are now first lifted above the lateral expansion surfaces 40, 42 of the shaft and thereby pushed apart laterally. The individual expansion elements of the present corner connector are dimensioned and adjusted overall so that the lateral expansion paths are always firmly clamped before the upper expansion part 14 is braced.

After the lateral spreader tracks 16,18 have reached the fixed end position, they can not be raised further, but it is also ensured that they do not fall back. Since they can not be pulled up, the further upward movement of the upper expansion part 14 causes the webs 32,34,36,38 gradually be deformed gradually until the upper expansion part 14 is firmly clamped in the hollow section. In this case, the webs may be formed arcuate, they may have a waveform, they may also be stretchable, but have a certain tensile strength, which ensures that the lateral spreader tracks 16,18 are reliably pulled up. Finally, the webs 32,34,36,38 can be separable even at a given load. In any case, it is achieved that initially the lateral expansion webs are firmly clamped and with further spreading the upper expansion part 14 goes into the clamped position.

In Fig. 1 is the left lying in the drawing spread 16 from the outside and the right in the drawing lying spread 18 shown from the inside. It can be seen that the spreaders form locking teeth on their inside. The positions of these locking teeth are visible from the outside in the spreading track 36 shown on the left.

Accordingly, the ratchet teeth are in two fields 44,46, each with three superimposed, not designated rows and four columns.

As can be seen in the drawing, the rows do not run horizontally, but inclined to the horizontal. As a result, a substantially narrower grid can be achieved than in the case of the immediate sequence of the latching teeth on one another. A further narrowing of the ratchet staggering results from the fact that the rows of the second field 46 can each be placed between the rows of the field 44, as far as the height of the rows is concerned. This results in an additional possibility for achieving a close staggering of the ratchet teeth.

The corner connector is a plastic injection-molded part, for which at most a screw 20 made of metal is needed. The corner connector is therefore relatively easy to manufacture and can be offered inexpensively.

In the following, representations of another embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, a spreading screw is not used as the spreading device, as the screw 20 according to Fig. 1 and 2 but an expanding wedge, which is pressed into the corner connector or pulled out of this, as has been repeatedly described in the prior art. A clamping wedge, which is connected to a drawbar eye, which can be pulled out of the corner connector with the aid of a tool, has proven particularly useful.

In Fig. 3 to 6 the further embodiment is shown in various illustrations. The second embodiment is particularly concerned with a revision of the spreader tracks 16,18, so that a fine subdivision of the locking positions of 1/10 mm can be achieved, but still gives a firm and not receding Verspreizung in the final position reached. The spreader webs designated 44 and 46 in the second embodiment also have a relatively coarse sawtooth structure with saw teeth 48, 50, 52, 54 in this case. This sawtooth structure is pulled up by means of the expansion part over the spreading surface 56, 58, which is likewise formed with a sawtooth structure, so that the expansion webs 44, 46 can be forced apart and possibly snap into place at different stages of the sawtooth profiles. However, since this results only in certain height intervals so that the saw teeth 48,50,52,54 and the saw teeth of the expansion surfaces 56,58 exactly to each other, is in addition, as already described, an arrangement of fine, elastic hook members 60,62 provided that allow a locking with the saw teeth of the expansion surfaces 56,58 in a pitch of 1/10 mm.

Another grading is readily possible ( Fig. 5 and 6 ).

However, these elastic hook members allow only a limited stable latching, as they have to spring in their locking positions, have a certain elasticity. With the present embodiment, the aim is to allow a tension of the corner connector, without this springs back significantly.

In Fig. 4 For the sake of completeness, a spreading part 64 in the form of a wedge is shown, which, for example, by means of an eyelet, not shown, at its front, in Fig. 4 not shown end can be pulled out of the corner connector and in this way the clamping surfaces 22,24 pushes upwards so that they are clamped against the inner wall of the hollow profile, not shown here. Otherwise, in Fig. 5 shown that the teeth of the spreader surfaces 56,58 are divided into relatively fine lower teeth 66, so that the saw teeth 48,50,52,54 of the spreaders can engage in finer gradation. This is a further measure according to the invention for achieving a fine gradation in the bracing of the expansion webs. Corresponding lower teeth can also be provided on the sawteeth 48,50,52,54 of the expansion paths.

In Fig. 6 In turn, the saw teeth 48,50,52,54 are shown in perspective view. The lower sawtooth 54 differs from the three upper sawteeth 48,50,52 in that it has no elastic hook members 60,62. The lower sawtooth 54 is used at the end of the clamping operation to achieve a safe, tight end position for the tensioning device in which this does not recede.

At the upper end of the spreaders are two inwardly projecting individual teeth 68,70, which can also be locked in the expansion surface 56 without yielding elastic.

The lower, rigid saw tooth 54 ( Fig. 6 ) may also have hook members 60 or 62, but in this case must be rigid and relatively strong, so that the lower sawtooth 54 can engage in different end positions depending on Verspannungsweg.

Moreover, the elements of the corner connector are already related Fig. 1 and 2 been described.

Claims (9)

1. Corner connector for door frames and window frames, comprising a shaft (10) with rectangular cross-section to be inserted into a mitre-cut hollow frame profile and an inclined surface (12) at the end of the shaft to be weldable or bondable and corresponding to the mitre of the hollow frame profile, as well as a spreading device spreading a spreading part (14) from at least one of the rectangular surfaces of the shaft, for tensioning the shaft within the hollow frame profile, and two spreading plates (16,18) connected with lateral rims of the spreading part (14) and being pushed away from each other while spreading the spreading part (14) running on spreading surfaces, characterized in that the lateral surfaces of the shaft (10) form spreading surfaces forming a saw tooth profile in the length direction of the shaft, and the spreading plate (16,18) comprise engaging teeth distributed in the height direction and engaging into the saw tooth profile.
2. Corner connector according to claim 1, characterized in that the engaging teeth are disposed in rows that are positioned above each other and staggered in a lateral direction.
3. Corner connector according to claim 2, characterized in that the engaging teeth are disposed in rows that are inclined with respect to the horizontal plane.
4. Corner connector according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the engaging teeth are disposed in at least two adjacent areas each comprising at least two rows above each other and in a plurality of columns, respectively.
5. Corner connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the corner connector is a molded part of a plastic material.
6. Corner connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one saw tooth (54) of the saw teeth (48,50,52,54) is rigid and without elastic hook members (60,62), and allowing a rigid engagement in a final position.
7. Corner connector according to claim 6, characterized in that the saw tooth (58) at the bottom edge of the spreading plates is rigid and without elastic hook members (60,62).
8. Corner connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the saw teeth of the spreading plates and the spreading surface are divided into partial teeth (66) allowing a finer engagement into the respective counter surface.
9. Corner connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that rigid single teeth (68) are provided at the upper edge of the spreading plates (26,28).

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