EP3874107B1

EP3874107B1 - System for supporting and/or guiding doors for closets with sliding doors

Info

Publication number: EP3874107B1
Application number: EP19791259.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antonio Giovannetti
Original assignee: Effegi Brevetti SRL
Current assignee: Effegi Brevetti SRL
Priority date: 2018-10-30
Filing date: 2019-10-24
Publication date: 2023-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2039-10-24
Also published as: IT201800009914A1; EP3874107A1; WO2020089045A1

Description

The subject of the present invention is a system for supporting and/or guiding doors for closets with sliding doors.
In the world of furniture there are several ways to open a door of a closet.
To mention some of them, there are the so-called side-hinged doors, where the door is locked on the side opposite to the direction of opening by means of hinges; coplanar sliding doors, in which the doors slide alternately one on over the other and, in the closed position, are coplanar; or partially overlapping sliding doors, in which the doors slide alternately one over the other and, in the closed position, are partially overlapping.
The invention relates in particular to closets with sliding doors.
In this type of closet there are tracks, normally both on the upper and lower part of the closet, for supporting and/or guiding the door, equipped for this purpose with special carriages sliding therein.
DE 19612125A , for example, describes a closet with a sliding mechanism for sliding doors, fitted with at least one bearing intended to rotate on a guide track provided with a rolling surface and fixed to the closet. The sliding mechanism has a pivot that supports the bearing and is restrained to an arc fixed to the sliding door, so that the pin goes beyond the lateral surface of the bearing and its end remains in contact with a retaining edge present on the guide track.
In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the mechanism is mounted on the upper part of the furniture item and has two guide tracks in which the same number of horizontal axis bearings slide, each bearing supporting a respective sliding door. The guide tracks are at a staggered height, with the track located at a lower height suitable for the rolling of a first bearing for an internal door and the upper track suitable for the rolling of a second bearing fixed to an external door by means of an arched structure that overlaps the internal door, so as to allow the sliding of the external door with respect to the internal door.
On the lower part of the sliding doors, moreover, there is another mechanism comprising superimposed guide tracks to allow the rolling of the same number of bearings, here with a vertical axis, so as to further restrain and support below the movement of the doors.
German utility model DE 7432015U , which is a document prior to DE 1961215U , describes a closet provided with a similar sliding mechanism, with the difference that the tracks on which the horizontal axis bearings slide are mounted on the same flat upper surface of the furniture item but have different elevations, so as to have the axes of the bearings staggered in height and allow the sliding of an external door with respect to an internal door.
These tracks usually have a length approximately equal to or slightly less than the width of the closet, and are made in one piece.
The manufacture in a single piece of these tracks, which at times reach considerable lengths, has a series of disadvantages: in terms of storage; in terms of handling during the production process, in terms of transport which, necessarily, is more burdensome; in terms of assembly and installation in the space of the end customer.
It is therefore clear that it would be extremely advantageous to have the possibility of making these tracks in sections of shorter length, easy to handle, store and transport.
The object of the invention is specifically to achieve this result.
The manufacture of the tracks in several jointed head sections, which would be the simplest way of joining the sections, would have the additional disadvantage that the carriages, and therefore the door, tend to jump, with the generation of noise, in the passage on the jointed areas of head track, something like the areas of joining of tram tracks.
Therefore, the invention has the further object of eliminating this disadvantage by providing a system of joining of tracks that allows the linear, silent sliding of the door, even when the carriages supporting the door transit on joined areas of the track. These and other objects of the invention are achieved by the system for supporting and/or guiding doors for closets with sliding doors, which has the features of the appended independent claim 1.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
The features of the invention will be made clearer by the detailed description that follows of an example and therefore non-limiting embodiment, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an upper portion of a sliding door of a closet, with the door support carriages shown at the area of joining of two sections of track;
Figures 2 and 3 are side profile views, taken from the left side of Figure 1, showing a door support carriage in two different positions during the traversing of the joint with enlargements showing the engagement or otherwise of the carriage bearings with the sliding tracks as will be explained below;
Figures 4 and 5 are respectively a front view (taken from the internal part of the closet) and a plan view from above of what is shown in Figure 1, with the door moved to the left beyond the joint;
Figure 6 is an enlargement of a detail of Figure 5 showing the area of joining between two sections of track;
Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a lower portion of a sliding furniture door with the door guide carriages shown at the area of joining between two sections of track;
Figures 8 and 9 are side profile views taken from the left side of Figure 7 showing a door guide carriage in two different positions during the traversing of the joint with enlargements showing the engagement or otherwise of the carriage bearings with the sliding tracks;
Figure 10 is a plan view from below of Figure 1, with the door moved further to the left, to better show the area of joining between the two sections of track.
Figure 11 is an enlargement of a detail of Figure 10 showing in plan view the area of joining between two sections of track.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, the system for supporting and guiding sliding doors of closets according to an embodiment of the invention is now described.
A sliding door of a closet, generally denoted by reference numeral 1 in the accompanying drawings, is supported and guided above by tracks that will be described in greater detail here below, provided on the upper part of the closet, for example on a plane 2 with reference to Figure 1, and is guided below by tracks placed in the lower part of the closet, for example below a horizontal plane 3 with reference to Figure 7.
Referring for the time being to Figures 1 to 6, the upper support and guide system of door 1 is described, which comprises a pair of carriages 10 sliding in a track 20.
The drawings show two carriages 10 supporting the door 1, but it is clear that the number of carriages can be different from that shown.
According to the invention, each carriage 10 comprises a pair of coaxial roller bearings 11 and 12, with horizontal axis X, which here below will also be simply referred to as bearings, able to slide on corresponding parallel tracks 21, 22, as will be explained more clearly below.
In the accompanying drawings the track 20 is shown double, with the inner track serving for the sliding of a second door, not shown. Therefore, here below only the outer track of the double track 20 will be described, it being understood that the inner track can have the same features.
Track 20 is not one-piece, but consists of two or more sections 20', 20", on the basis of the length of the closet compartment to be covered by door 1.
The drawings show the joining between two sections 20' and 20" of track 20, which are placed in line and at a certain distance one from the other. Naturally, the two sections of track 20', 20" can also abut one against the other, without departing from the scope of the invention, as will be seen below.
The two sections of track 20', 20" are joined by means of a joining element or joint denoted by reference numeral 30, having a flat base 31 that inserts for a certain length into the sections of track 20' and 20", and is fixed by means of screws not shown in the drawings.
In the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the sections of track 20', 20" are kept distanced one from the other, the base 31 of the joint 30 has a widening 32 that is placed between the two sections of track 20', 20", as can be seen more clearly in the plan view of Figure 5.
Along said base 31 of the joint 30 said track 22 extends, parallel to the track 21, for the engaging of the bearings 12 of the carriages 10.
Track 22 of joint 30 has a particular profile, which can be seen more clearly in the side elevation view of Figure 4 and in the enlargement of Figure 6. Specifically, starting from the ends, track 22 has a height equal to or slightly lower than the height of track 21 for the sliding of bearing 11, which gradually increases towards the centre, at the section 32 of separation between the two sections of track 20', 20", i.e. at the line of contact between these sections of track, should no separation be provided between the same.
In this way, since the two coaxial bearings 11 and 12 have the same diameter, the outermost bearing 11 normally runs on track 21, while bearing 12 remains inactive, whereas when arriving in proximity of the joint 30, on one side or the other, bearing 12 engages with track 22 and, as the height of this track gradually increases, bearing 11 remains raised by the corresponding track 21, going over the joining section between the two sections of track 20', 20" to engage again with track 21 when bearing 12 leaves track 22 of the joint 30.
With the track joining system 20 according to the invention, there is a linear sliding of the door 10 without perceiving "jumps" when the carriages 10 supporting the door transit in the joining area of the track, thanks to the detachment of the bearings 11 of the carriages 10 from the track 21 in this joining area.
The situation can be seen more clearly in the enlargements shown in Figures 2 and 3. In Figure 2, carriage 10 is transiting far from the join between the sections of track 20', 20", with bearing 11 engaged with track 21 and bearing 12 shown, for explanatory purposes only, further away from track 22. In reality, this situation occurs only when the carriage comes into contact with the joint 30 or comes out of it, while far from the joint the bearing 12 remains free.
Figure 3 shows a carriage 10 transiting over the joint 30, with bearing 12 which has gone to rest on track 22, and bearing 11 detached from track 21.
So far there has been mention of bearings 11 and 12 coaxial one with the other, but it is clear that a single bearing can be provided, with a double groove 11, 12, as moreover shown in the drawings.
Referring now to Figures 7 to 11, the lower guide system of door 1 is described, which is based on the same principle as the upper support system, apart from the different conformation.
Also in this case two lower guide carriages 100 of door 1 are shown, but which obviously could be in a different number, sliding in a track 200.
Each carriage 100 comprises a pair of roller bearings, which here below will also be simply referred to as coaxial bearings, 110, 120, with vertical axis Y, of different diameter, able to slide in corresponding parallel superimposed guides 210, 220, as will be explained more clearly below.
Like the upper track 20, the lower track 200 is also shown double for the sliding of a double door. Since the two tracks have the same features, only the outer track in which the carriages 100 of a door 1 slide will be described here below.
The track 200 is made up of two sections, 200', 200", which are shown separated one from the other in the accompanying drawings, but which could also abut one against the other.
The two sections of track 200', 200" are joined by means of a joint 300 fixed on the bottom of the track 200, and having side walls projecting downwards, so as to determine said guide 220 for the engaging of the upper bearings of smaller diameter 120 of the carriages 100.
The guide 220 of the joint 300 has, in plan, the profile shown in Figure 10 and in the enlargement of Figure 11. In particular, the width of track 220 decreases from the ends towards the centre, so that it has a narrowing in the central area at the join between the two sections of track 200', 200".
In this way, when the carriage 100 transits far from the join between the sections of track 200', 200", the lower bearing of larger diameter 110 is engaged with the guide 210, in particular with the inner side of this guide, due to the slight oscillation towards the inside of the door 1 due to its weight, while the upper bearing 120 is inactive, as shown in Figure 8.
When the carriage 100 transits over the joint 300, the bearing 120 of smaller diameter enters the guide 220, and when it passes in the central narrowing of the guide it causes the detachment of the lower bearing of larger diameter 100 from the corresponding guide 210, as schematically shown in Figure 9, thus allowing the overcoming of the join between the two sections of track 200', 200" and avoiding the jumping and noise that would otherwise occur.
The advantages of the invention appear clear from the above, which allows sliding tracks of the door carriages to be made in several sections, avoiding jumps and annoying noises during the passage of the carriages in the areas of joining between these sections.
Naturally the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment previously described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but numerous detail changes may be made thereto within the reach of the person skilled in the art, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention itself, defined by the appended claims.

Claims

A support and guiding system of doors for sliding door closets, comprising carriages (10) on an upper part of a door (1) with bearings with horizontal axis (X) sliding in a track (20) arranged on a plane (2) of the closet, and carriages (100) on a lower part of the door (1) with bearings with vertical axis (Y) sliding in a track (200) placed under a plane (3) of the closet, characterised in that said upper track (20) is made of at least two sections (20', 20") joined by a joint (30) and said upper carriages (10) have a double bearing (11, 12), a first (11) of said bearings being normally engaged with a corresponding first track or guide (21), the second (12) of said bearings going into engagement with a corresponding second track or guide (22) at said joint (30) producing the detachment of the first bearing (11) from the corresponding first track or guide (21), wherein said bearings (11, 12) of the upper carriages (10) are coaxial and of the same diameter, and said second track (22) of the joint (30) of engaging of said second bearing (12) has a height at the ends equal to or slightly lower than the height of the first bearing (11) engagement track (21), the height gradually increasing towards the centre, at the area of joining between the two track sections (20', 20") exceeding the height of the first track (21).
System according to claim 1, wherein said bearings (11, 12) are in a single body and have respective grooves (11, 12) engageable with said tracks (21, 22).
System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said track sections (20', 20") are separated from one another in the region of said joint (30).
System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said track sections (20', 20") abut against each other in the region of said joint (30).
System according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said lower track (200) is made of at least two sections (200', 200") joined by a joint (300) and said lower carriages (100) have a double bearing (110, 120), wherein these two bearings are coaxial and have different diameters, with a lower bearing of greater diameter (110) engageable with a lower guide (210) of the track (200) and an upper bearing of smaller diameter (120) engageable with a parallel and concentric upper guide (220) of the track (200), determined by said joint (300) positioned on the bottom of the track (200), wherein said upper guide (220) has a width which gradually narrows from the ends towards the centre at the area of joining between the track sections (200', 200") to cause the lower bearing (110) to detach from the corresponding guide (210).
System according to claim 5, wherein said bearings (110, 120) are separate or made in a single piece.
System according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said track sections (200', 200") are separated from one another at the joint (300), or abut one against the other.