GB2075564A - Sliding gates - Google Patents

Abstract

A sliding gate assembly has rollers (38) mounted on a fixed support (32) and cooperating in an upper horizontal track secured behind or formed by upper contiguous elements (12, 24) of main and auxiliary frames (10, 22) of the gate. Stabilizing rollers (42) are mounted on a spreader member (40) and cooperate with a lower horizontal track to prevent the gate from tilting. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in and relating to sliding gates This invention concerns sliding gates and relates more particularly to such gates for use in industrial application, for example, for closing openings in walls or protective fences enclosing factory premises, storage compounds and so forth.

Sliding gates find wide usage in such situations since, although they are of a more complicated construction than simple pivotally mounted gates, they are less demanding in the space requirements they impose for opening and closing purposes. However, the sliding mechanism required to mount a sliding gate, especially when it incorporates rollers arranged to support the gate in its movement along its sliding path, is not only expensive but is often rendered insufficient in operation due to lack of adequate maintenance.

This is particularly true of the heavy sliding gates used in industrial circumstances, since the weight of such gates usually makes it imperative that the support rollers shall include either an overhead tracking system or ground rollers, perhaps located within a guide track, which in both cases are liable to contamination by dirt and moisture.

The invention seeks to avoid the use of complicated overhead tracking systems and/or of ground rollers and guide tracks and to provide a sliding gate assembly which can be suspended from a single support.

According to its broadest aspect, the present invention provides a sliding gate assembly including a peripheral frame which is intended to close an access opening in a fence or a similar enclosure and contiguous cantilever means extending from an upper region of said frame and co-operating with suspension roller means secured to a support in said enclosure for supporting said frame in closing relation within said access opening, and anti-tilt means at a lower region of said frame and opposed to said cantilever means for constraining said frame to move along a horizontal path in its opening and closing movement relative to said access opening.

Preferably, the cantilever and the anti-tilt means comprise extensions of upper and lower edge members of the peripheral frame, the free ends of such extensions being joined for stability.

In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides a sliding gate assembly for closing an access opening in an enclosure, said assembly comprising a main frame member having horizontally spaced, upright leading edge and rear edge portions, an auxiliary frame member secured to the main frame member at the rear edge region of the latter and having an upright free edge portion horizontally spaced from said rear edge region, a roller guide track spanning the upper edge region of said frame members from the leading edge region of the main frame to the free edge region of the auxiliary frame member, a carrier member for fixing to a support in or provided by the enclosure and fitted with horizontally spaced rollers engageable by said guide track for suspending said frame members on said carrier member, and an attitude control means for fixing to said support adjacent the lower edge region of said frame members to maintain said frame members horizontal as the guide trace moves along the suspension rollers.

The roller guide track may if desired be integral with the upper edge of the frame members or it may be, for example, a channel member secured along said upper edge.

The attitude control means also preferably comprises rollers which conveniently are mounted in horizontally spaced relation on a spreader member adapted for filing to the support, usually directly beneath the suspension roller carrier member.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a sliding gate assembly embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section illustrating the sliding gate assembly on its suspension rollers; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of an alternative roller arrangement.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, a sliding gate assembly includes a main frame member 10 of rectangular shape having horizontally directed upper and lower frame elements 12 and 14 which are interconnected at their ends by front and rear vertical frame elements 16 and 18. Vertical strengthening elements are generally provided as indicated at 20.

The rear end of the frame 10 either continues as or has secured to it, an auxiliary frame 22 which is co-planar with the main frame 10 and which includes an upper horizontal frame element 24 and a lower horizontal frame element 26, the free ends of the elements 24 and 26 being connected by a vertical element 28. As shown in Fig. 2, a guide track 30 spans the upper horizontal element 12 of the frame 10 and the upper horizontal element 24 of the auxiliary frame 22 and takes the form of a channel member (Fig. 3) which extends along the upper edge of the two frames between the frame elements 16 and 28.

For the purpose of supporting the gate in sliding relation with respect to the opening which it is intended to close, a carrier member 32 is secured to a post 34 which is shown in Fig. 1 as being mounted in a concrete block 36 set into the ground. Alternatively, however, the carrier member 32 may be mounted on a wall or other support forming part of an enclosure. At each end, the carrier member is provided with a roller 38 and the rollers 38 are arranged to fit within the channel member 30, thereby suspending the gate on the post 34. The gate may then be moved transversely relative to the post 34 in order to open or close the access opening.

It will be observed that in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 , the centre of gravity of the two frames 10 and 22 is displaced well to the left of the post 34. In order to prevent any tilting movement thus exerted by the weight of the gate about the left-hand suspension roller 38, the invention further provides an anti-tilting arrangement including a spreader member 40 mounted on the post 34 beneath the carrier member 32 and provided with a pair of control rollers 42 situated one on each side of the post.

Under the conditions illustrated in Fig.1, therefore, any tendency of the gate frames 10 and 22 to tilt about the left-hand suspension roller 38 is resisted by the right-hand roller 42, which rides in a guide track defined along the lower frame elements 14 and 26 by means of a channel member 44 secured thereto. As the gate is moved to the right to clear the access opening, the auxiliary frame 22 acts to counterbalance the weight of the main frame 10 to maintain stability of the sliding movement of the gate on the rollers 38 over a major part of the gate movement.

However, when the weight of the gate then displaced to the right of the support post 34 becomes such as to promote tilting of the gate about the right-hand suspension roller 38, any such tilting movement is prevented by the lefthand anti-tilt roller 42. Conveniently, either or both of the anti-tilt rollers 42 may be mounted to be adjustable relative to the gate and to the spreader member 40 to take up any undesirable play in the gate suspension and to take up wear which may occur over a period of time. It will, of course, be appreciated that in moving from the completely open position to the completely closed position illustrated in Fig. 1 , the auxiliary frame 22 exhibits a similar counterbalancing effect except at the extreme ends of the movement, when the antitilt rollers 42 become effective.

Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which instead of providing separate channel members 30 and 44 secured to the frame elements 24 and 26, the frame elements themselves are formed as channel members 25 and 27 respectively and provide the running tracks for the rollers 38 and 42.

The gate provided by the invention may take any required form, in that it may be provided with a mesh facing as indicated at 46 or it may be fitted with palisades as shown at 48.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention.

For example, although the anti-tilt means in the illustrated embodiment has been shown in the form of rollers 42, simple skids or other guides may be substituted in some circumstances. Again, the gate has been illustrated as being carried on a pair of suspension rollers 38 but for some gates, a single suspension roller may be sufficient whilst for very heavy gates, more than two, suitably spaced, rollers may be required.

Claims (10)

1. A sliding gate assembly including a peripheral frame which is intended to close an access opening in a fence or a similar enclosure and contiguous cantilever means extending from an upper region of said frame and co-operating with suspension roller means secured to a support in said enclosure for supporting said frame in closing relation within said access opening, and anti-tilt means at a lower region of said frame and opposed to said cantilever means for constraining said frame to move along a horizontal path in its opening and closing movement relative to said access opening.

2. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the cantilever and the anti-tilt means comprise extensions of upper and lower edge members of the peripheral frame, the free ends of such extensions being joined for stability.

3. A sliding gate assembly for closing an access opening in an enclosure, said assembly comprising a main frame having horizontally spaced, leading edge and rear edge portions, an auxiliary frame integral with or secured to the main frame at the rear edge region of the latter and having a free edge portion horizontally spaced from said rear edge region, a roller guide track spanning the upper edge region of said frames from the leading edge region of the main frame to the free edge region of the auxiliary frame, a carrier member for fixing to a support in or provided by the enclosure and fitted with horizontally spaced rollers engageable by said guide track for suspending said frames on said carrier member, and an attitude control means for fixing to said support adjacent the lower edge region of said frames to maintain said frames to move horizontally as the guide track moves along the suspension rollers.

4. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 3, in which the roller guide track is integral with the upper edge of the frames.

5. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 3, in which the roller guide track is formed by a channel member secured along the upper edge of the frames.

6. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 3, 4 or 5, in which the attitude control means comprises rollers cooperating with a roller guide track spanning the lower edge region of said frames.

7. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 6, in which the attitude control rollers are mounted in horizontally spaced relation on a spreader member adapted for fixing to said support.

8. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 7, in which the spreader member is mounted directly below the carrier member.

9. A sliding gate assembly as claimed in claim 7 or 8, in which the auxiliary frame includes a vertical element interconnecting the ends of the tracks at the free edge region of the auxiliary frame.

10. A sliding gate assembly constructed substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the drawings.