GB2123465A - Guide for a roller shutter door - Google Patents

Abstract

A roller shutter door has a curtain movable upwardly and downwardly between upright edge guides comprising a column (4) with a guide channel (7) which is fixed at its top and bottom ends respectively to an overhead support (14) and a ground or floor structure (12). One end fixing is longitudinally adjustable to permit thermal expansion. This may be achieved by engagement of a bolt (19) at the top of the column with an elongate slot (20) in a flange (15) fixed to the overhead support (14). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sliding doors This invention relates to sliding doors of the kind (hereinafter referred to as the kind defined) having a curtain movable upwardly and downwardly between upright edge guides.

With sliding doors of the kind defined which are used as fire doors in industrial and commercial premises it is known to use edge guides in the form of rolled steel channel sections which are fixed to supporting door jamb structures defined by edge regions of adjacent building walls. By way of example, reference is made to published Application No. 2056534 which describes one such channel section.

With these known doors, with the aim of preventing buckling when exposed to extreme heat, the channel sections are fixed to the walls with bolts passed through longitudinally extending slots at positions spaced along the length thereof, longitudinal movement of the channel sections relative to the bolts being normally blocked by the provision of fusible plugs or washers around the bolts.

This known arrangement however can be restrictive architecturally in so far as it requires the presence of massive building walls directly adjacent the edge guides to ensure adequate support therefor and an object of the present invention is to provide an edge guide with which it is possible to achieve adequate support with allowance for longitudinal expansion in conditions of extreme heat, without requiring close proximity thereto of any massive supporting wall.

According to the invention therefore there is provided an edge guide for a sliding door of the kind defined comprising a column structure which supports a longitudinally extending guide channel and is adapted to be fixed in upright disposition solely or substantially solely at top and bottom ends thereof, at least one such end fixing being adjustable to permit longitudinal expansion of the column structure at elevated temperatures.

With this arrangement, due to the use of a supporting column structure which, being located essentially only at the top and bottom thereof, is free or substantially free to expand with the guide channel in conditions of extreme heat, good support with adequate allowance for longitudinal expansion can be achieved without any wall or like massive building structure being provided prominently in the immediate proximity of the edge guide. Accordingly, the invention can facilitate neat and convenient installation of sliding doors and in particular can permit installation of multiple side-by-side doors without requiring the presence of unduly obstructive or obtrusive intermediate supporting structures.

With regard to the column structure this may be of any suitable construction. Thus, for example, such structure may comprise a main support body with one or more separate said guide channels attached thereto. Said support body may comprise an upright hollow tubular member for example a rectangular box-section member, or a plurality of side-by-side such members. The or each guide channel may comprise a suitably shaped channel section, for example, a channel section of the kind described in the aforementioned prior Application, and this may be attached to the support body by welding or in any other suitable manner.

Alternatively\, the column structure may comprise a main support body with one or more guide channels formed integrally in one piece therewith.

Where the edge guide is to be used with a single curtain only, the said column structure may have only one side guide channel for such curtain.

Where the edge guide is to be used with two curtains, for example where it is to be used between two adjoining sliding doors, the column structure may have two said guide channels which may face in opposite directions and which may also be laterally offset relative to each other as appropriate.

The column structure may have fire-resistant or fire-retardant cladding and/or any other cladding or other material applied thereto as required.

With regard to the said end fixing devices these may comprise flanges or the like which are adapted to be bolted or otherwise detachably or permanently fixed to local building structures in the vicinity of the top and bottom ends of the column structure such as existing overhead ceiling or roofing support beams or specially provided lintel supports or the like at the top end, and floor or ground structures or the like at the bottom end. At least one such fixing device, preferably the top fixing device may be attached to the adjacent end of the column structure by a bolt and longitudinal slot arrangement to provide said allowance for longitudinal expansion and a fusible plug or washer or the like may be used to prevent relative movement at normal temperatures.

It is visualised that the invention will find particular application in the context of a heavy roller shutter door of the kind conventionally used for fire protection purposes and reference is made to the aforementioned prior published Application for further description in this respect.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:~ Fig. 1 is a perspective view of part of one form of an edge guide according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the guide of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of an alternative embodiment; Fig. 4 is a side view of the guide of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 of the embodiment of Fig. 3; and Figs. 6 and 7 are top end views respectively of the arrangement of Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 1 shows an edge guide for use with a plurality of side-by-side roller doors used as emergency fire doors to close off an area of commercial or industrial premises to prevent or limit spread of smoke and fire. Each door comprises a respective curtain 1, 2 formed from metal laths hinged together at adjacent longitudinal edges which can be wound around and unwound from a roller (not shown) on rotation thereof in the appropriate direction to effect lifting and lowering of the curtain between an upper limit position at which a flanged bottom edge 3 of the curtain is retracted up to the vicinity of an associated door lintel structure and a lower limit position at which such flanged edge rests on the floor. The edge guide illustrated in Fig. 1 is for use between two adjacent such curtains 1, 2 to support and guide the adjacent vertical edges thereof.

The guide comprises a rigid vertical column structure 4 having a main central support member in the form of a steel rectangular box-section 5 with two like rolled steel members 6 welded to opposite short sides of the box-section. The members 6 have channel section parts 7 and L-shaped flange parts 8. The flange parts 8 are welded to the box-section 5 and the openings 9 of the channel section parts 7 face outwardly on opposite sides of the column structure 4 and at diagonally opposite corners thereof. The boxsection 5 and members 6 are enclosed in fireresistant cladding material 10 except for the openings 9.

At the bottom end, flanges 1 1 are welded to the box-section 5 and are bolted to a concrete ground structure 12 below the floor 13.

At the top end the column structure 4 is attached to the bottom flanges of an I-beam 14 of the lintel structure by means of a fixing device comprising two corner structures 15 which fit within and project above the top end of the boxsection 5, each such structure 15 having a vertical end wall 16 a vertical side wall 17 and a horizontal top wall 18.

The horizontal top walls 18 are bolted to the I-beam flanges and the vertical side walls 17 are bolted to the box-section sides by means of bolts 19 passed through vertically elongated slots 20 in such sides, there being fusible washers which fit tightly between the bolts 19 and the slotted sides.

The above described edge guide is used in conjunction with further edge guides for the other edges of the curtains 1, 2. One or both such other edge guides may be generally of like form (although of mirror image) to the illustrated guide if further adjacent curtains are to be accommodated. If not further curtain is to be accommodated, an edge guide may be used which is generally like that illustrated but has only one channel section member; or, alternatively, an edge guide of conventional wall fixing kind may be used.

With the edge guide described, in use, for example in emergency fire conditions, the curtains 1, 2 can slide freely down the laterally offset guide channels 7 and the column structure 4 ensures firm support and good guidance. At the same time, buckling in intense heat can be avoided by longitudinal movement of the column structure 4 relative to the fixing devices 15, which movement can freely occur following melting of the fusible washers around the bolts 19 passed through the longitudinal slots 20. In this respect it is observed that it is the entire column structure 4, including the box-structure 5 and channel section members 8, which is free to move, and that therefore the good support and guidance arising from the attachment of the support members 5 to the channel section members 8 is not achieved at the expense of expansion tolerance.

With the embodiment of Fig. 2, two side-byside box-section support members 21, 22 are used in conjunction with channel section members 23 of simpler form than the members 6.

Also, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7 two boxed fixing devices 24 are used at the top end in place of the corner structures 15.

With the embodiments described above an electric motor drive may be provided for rotating the roller to lift the door curtain 1 to the open position and in this case provision may be made for declutching the motor and operating the roller by hand for example with a chain or hand crank or simply by lifting the curtain so that the door can be opened in the event of power failure. Also provision may be made for effecting emergency closure of the door without reliance on the motor.

For example the curtain may have a drop weight which is released by action of a smoke or heattriggered device to cause the curtain to fall to the closed position. Such drop weight may comprise a heavy horizontal bar which falls in guides onto the bottom edge 3 of the curtain, and in this case such guides may comprise additional guide channels incorporated in or attached to the columns.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiment which are described by way of example only.

Thus, for example, although box-secton supports (5, 21, 22) are described it is possible to use other sections (e.g. C or I sections) in conjunction with appropriately differentlyconstructed fixing devices. Similarly, the guide channels may be simple U-sections or sections of any other suitable shape.

Moreover, it is possible to use an arrangement of channels different from that specifically described in that for example there may be two channel openings at a common side of the column, there may be two channel openings at mutually perpendicular sides of the column, or otherwise.

Further, the allowance for longitudinal movement of the column need not be achieved by a top fixing device with a bolt and slot connection as described. Instead other connection arrangements may be used which may involve either a positive tight connection or simply a location of parts (involving for example a sleeve and spigot - such as a fixed spigot projecting into a box-section support of the column) and such longitudinally adjustable connection may be at the top and/or the bottom end of the column as desired.

Claims (14)

1. An edge guide for a sliding door of the kind defined comprising a column structure which supports a longitudinally extending guide channel and is adapted to be fixed in upright disposition solely or substantially solely at top and bottom ends thereof, at least one such end fixing being adjustable to permit longitudinal expansion of the column structure at elevated temperatures.

2. An edge guide according to claim 1, wherein the column structure comprises a main support body with one or more separate said guide channels attached thereto.

3. An edge guide according to claim 2, wherein said support body comprises an upright hollow tubular member.

4. An edge guide according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the or each guide channel comprises a shaped channel section welded to the support body.

5. An edge guide according to claim 1, wherein the column structure comprises a main support body with one or more guide channels formed integrally in one piece therewith.

6. An edge guide according to any one of claims 1 to 5, for use with a single curtain only, wherein the said column structure has only one guide channel.

7. An edge guide according to any one of claims 1 to 5, for use between two curtains, wherein the said column structure has two said guide channels.

8. An edge guide according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said top and bottom end fixing devices comprise flanges adapted to be bolted to local building structures in the vicinity of the top and bottom ends of the column structure.

9. An edge guide according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said adjustable fixing device comprises a fixing structure attached to the adjacent end of the column structure by a bolt and longitudinal slot arrangement to provide said allowance for longitudinal expansion.

10. An edge guide according to claim 9, wherein said adjustable fixing device is the top said fixing device.

1 1. An edge guide according to claim 9 or 10, wherein a fusible plug or washer is provided to prevent relative movement of the fixing structure and the column structure at normal temperatures.

12. An edge guide according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein said fixing structure is arranged to fit within the column structure.

13. An edge guide substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

14. A sliding door of the kind defined having an edge guide according to any one of the preceding claims.