GB2191531A - A glazing gasket - Google Patents

Abstract

A glazing gasket has a first surface (11) adapted to engage with a surface (34) of a glazing panel (25) and a second surface (14) which engages with a frame, the gasket is provided with a slit or channel (15) which considerably increases the ability of the gasket to provide a sealing engagement with a thin glazing panel (25) or a thick glazing panel, such as a double glazed panel, the slit or channel (15) enabling a considerable elastic deformation of the glazing wedge to enable it to deform adequately to cope with a thick glazing panel. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A glazing gasket Description of Invention The present invention relates to a glazing gasket which is a strip of flexible material, for example a rubber material or a rubber-like plastics material, which is intended for insertion between a glazing panel, e.g. glass or plastics, and a part of a surrounding frame.

Traditionally panes of glass have been mounted in a wood or steel frame and putty is applied between one surface of the pane and a rib of the frame that extends adjacent to said one face to provide a "cushion". Putty is then applied in the form of a bead of substantially triangular crosssection, one surface of the bead engaging the frame and the other surface engaging the glass, whereby the pane of glass is held relative to the frame.

Window frames are now commonly made of a plurality of interlocking extrusions made from plastics or aluminium, and in place of putty it is usual to use preformed glazing gaskets. One gasket is provided which engages with a part of an extrusion and has a surface adapted to engage the outer surface of a pane of glass for example, the pane of glass is then placed in position and a second glazing gasket made from a resilient material is inserted under force between a part of the frame and the inner surface of the pane of glass, thus tightly sealing and securing the pane of glass in position.

Such forms of glazing are now fairly common and a large number of different forms and shapes of glazing gaskets are known and which are available in many different sizes.

The need for having many different sizes of glazing gasket is to cope with different thicknesses of glazing panel, e.g. the thickness of the pane of glass and/or diffeering dimensions of opening to receive the glazing panel, depending on the type of extrusions used for the frame.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new or improved glazing gasket that overcomes or minimises the problems mentioned above.

According to the present invention, we provide a glazing gasket having a first surface adapted to engage with a surface of a glazing panel, a second surface adapted to engage with a frame member which, at least partially, surrounds said glazing panel, and wherein said first surface in its natural state is of concave form and, intermediate edge regions of said first surface a discontinuity is formed therein in the form of a channel or slot in said glazing gasket, said channel or slit extending from said first surface in a direction generally towards said second surface.

Preferably said discontinuity is in the form of a channel.

Conveniently, said discontinuity is situated in a central region between the edges of said surface.

Preferably, said discontinuity is situated approximately mid-way between said edges and extends substantially tangentially from said surface in a direction towards said second surface.

Conveniently, the depth of said slit or channel is less than the thickness of material of said glazing gasket extending from said second surface to the base of said slit or channel.

Preferably, the shape of said glazing gasket is such that the distance between the mouth of said slit or channel adjacent said first surface and a chord extending between the edges of said first surface is greater than the depth of said slit or channel between said mouth and its base.

Preferably, the greatest distance between said surface and said chord is greater than a third of the radius of curvature of said concave face and conveniently said distance is nearly half the radius of curvature.

The glazing gasket of the present invention may be made from any suitable resilient material, for example a natural or synthetic rubber material or from any other resilient plastics compound, e.g. a P.V.C.

It is further envisaged that said glazing gasket may be made from more than one material and, particularly when formed as an extrusion, may comprise a co-extrusion of two different compounds.

The provision of the combination of the convex surface having a slit or channel intermediate its ends enables the gasket to be formed with a concave face of relatively small radius of curvature compared with known gaskets and even with such a relatively small radius of curvature, the gasket has sufficient resilience and may be deformed without harming the gasket. The provision of the slit or channel enables the gasket to be used with many different thicknesses of glazing panel whilst still adequately sealing and holding the glazing panel in position.

The glazing gasket of the present invention thereby overcomes the need to have many different sizes since a single size will cope with a glazing situation which in the past may have required several different sizes of glazing gasket to ensure satisfactory sealing and fixing of a glazing panel.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:~ FIGURE 1 is a cross-section through one embodiment of glazing gasket of the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a sectional view through a glazing assembly illustrating the glazing gasket shown in Figure 1 in position for sealing with a "thin" glazing member; FIGURE 3 is a section through a glazing assembly showing the glazing gasket of Figure 1 sealing with a "thick" glazing panel.

Referring first to Figure 1, the glazing gasket 10 comprises an extruded strip of resilient material, for example natural or synthetic rubber or plastics, the strip of material having a first concave surface 11 terminating in edge regions 12 and 13, a second surface 14 opposite to the first surface 11 and a channel 15 having a mouth 16 adjacent said surface 11 and a base 17.

The gasket 10 has a substantial amount of material between the first surface 11 and the second surface 14, and the depth of the channel 15 is such that it preferably does not extend more than half way between the distance between the first surface 11 and second surface 14.

The radius of curvature of the concave face 11 is preferably small relative to the curvature on faces of known gaskets thus enabling considerable resilient deformation of the gasket 10 by increasing the distance between edge regions 12 and 13to enable the gasket to accommodate different thicknesses of glazing panel.

Resilient deformation of the glazing gasket will open the channel 15 thus providing for such deformation without damage to the material of the gasket itself.

The gasket is provided with a sealing nose 18 having a lower surface 19 also adapted to engage with a surface of the frame.

The shape of the gasket 10 is shown having a relatively small radius of curavature and of a size such that the distance X, i.e. the maximum distance between the first surface and a chord 21 extending between the edges 12 and 13 of the first surface 11 is at least a third of the radius of curvature rand is almost half the radius of curvature r.

The depth of the channel 15, i.e. the distance between the mouth 16 and base 17, or distance Y, is less than half the distance Z extending between the first surface 11 and second surface 14, thereby ensuring that the gasket still has resilient properties sufficiently strong to effect a proper seal with a glazing panel and also to provide location of the panel whether the gasket is fully deformed or only slightly deformed, depending on the thickness of glazing panel.

Referring now to Figure 2, a glazing panel 25 is shown mounted in a frame generally indicated at 26.

The frame 26 has a first upstanding member 27 and a conventional glazing gasket 28 engages between the member 27 and an outer face 29 of glazing member 25.

The frame member 26 has a second upstanding member 30 having an end portion 31 with an inwardly directed face 32 and an upwardly directed face 33. A glazing gasket 10 as shown in Figure 1 engages and seals with the inner face 34 of glazing member 25 adjacent its edge regions 12 and 13 and its second face 14 engages with face 32 of end region 31 of the frame 26. The face 19 of the gasket also engages with upwardly directed face 33 of end region 31.

The glazing panel 25 is shown as being relatively thin and, in use of the gasket of the present invention, very little deformation is necessary.

However, because of the relatively small radius of curvature of the first face, pressure is applied to the glazing panel 25 at spaced positions by edge regions 12 and 13 of sufficient force to properly seal with and locate the glazing panel 25.

It will be seen in this example that the channel 15 is virtually the same shape as shown in Figure 1 and will undergo only a very slight increase in width.

Referring now to Figure 3, a "double glazed" glazing panel 40 is shown having an outer pane 41 and an inner pane 42, the glazing panel 40 being located in a frame member 45 identical to the frame member 26 shown in Figure 2.

The outer glazing gasket 46 is identical to the glazing gasket 28 and the inner glazing gasket 10 is the same as shown in Figures 1 and 2. However, in this case in order to accommodate the "thick" glazing panel 40, the glazing gasket 10 has been resiliently deformed to a position where the two halves of concave first surface 11 have become substantially flattened against the inner face 47 of pane 42.

The channel 15 has been considerably changed in shape by the resilient deformation, the mouth 16 having been considerably widened such that the channel is now of substantially V cross-section.

If the channel 15 had not been provided, such extremes of deformation are unlikely to have been possible and even if it could have been achieved without the channel 15 such would have been the force necessary to install the gasket in position that the chances of breaking the glazing panel 40 during insertion of the gasket and/or damage to the gasket itself would have been considerable.

The provision of the channel 15 enables the extreme deformation of the gasket as shown in Figure 3 to take place without difficulty and without any damage to the glazing panel or gasket itself.

Furthermore, because of the ease of deformation, a person installing the gasket may do so without dificulty.

It can thus be seen how the gasket of the present invention provides a satisfactory solution to the necessity of the provision of different sizes of gaskets to cope with different thicknesses of glazing panels.

It will of course be understood that the gasket of the present invention may be made in different sizes since glazing panels come in a wide variety of thicknesses as does the opening in associated frames. However, because of the considerable range of accommodation of different thicknesses of glazing panel provided by a single gasket, the sizes constructed in accordance with the present invention will be considerably reduced.

It is further envisaged that gaskets constructed in accordance with the present invention may be provided on either side of a glazing panel thus further increasing the range of thickness of glazing panel that can be successfully sealed and located by gaskets in accordance with the present invention.

It will be appreciated that in such constructions, the frame section will be different from that shown in Figures 2 and 3.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, or a class or group of substances or compositions, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (13)

1. A glazing gasket having a first surface adapted to engage with a surface of a glazing panel, a second surface adapted to engage with a frame member which, at least partially, surrounds said glazing panel, and wherein said first surface in its natural state is of concave form and, intermediate edge regions of said first surface a discontinuity is provided in the form of a channel or slit in said glazing gasket, said channel or slit extending from said first surface in a direction genrally towards said second surface.

2. A gasket according to Claim 1 wherein said discontinuity is in the form of a channel.

3. A gasket according to Claim 1 wherein said discontinuity is in the form of a slit.

4. A gasket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said discontinuity is situated in a central region between the edges of said surface.

5. A gasket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said discontinuity is situated approximately mid-way between said edges and extends substantially normal to a tangent to said surface in a direction towards said second surface.

6. A gasket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the depth of said discontinuity is less than the thickness of material of said glazing gasket extending from said second surface to the base of said discontinuity.

7. A glazing gasket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the shape of said glazing gasket is such that the distance between the mouth of said discontinuity adjacent said first surface and a chord extending between the edges of said first surface is greater than the depth of said discontinuity between said mouth and its base.

8. A glazing gasket according to Claim 7 wherein the greatest distance between said surface and said chord is greater than a third of the radius of curvature of said concave face.

9. A gasket according to Claim 8 wherein said distance is nearly half the radius of curvature.

10. A glazing gasket according to any one of the preceding claims made from a natural or synthetic rubber-like material.

11. A glazing gasket according to any one of claims 1 to 10 made from a plastics material.

12. A glazing gasket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said gasket is made from more than one material and is formed as an extrusion comprising a co-extrusion of two different materials.

13. A glazing gasket substantially as herein before described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.