GB2195135A

GB2195135A - Sealing strip

Info

Publication number: GB2195135A
Application number: GB08720998A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alan Whillock; Leonard Boydell
Original assignee: COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ROOFS LIMIT
Current assignee: COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ROOFS LIMIT
Priority date: 1986-09-23
Filing date: 1987-09-07
Publication date: 1988-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 2007-09-07
Also published as: GB8720998D0; GB2195135B; GB8622822D0

Abstract

A sealing strip comprises a main web (42), and a plurality of side-by- side tuba sections (54). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sealing stripping for doors This invention concerns sealing stripping for doors.

The invention is more particularly concerned with stripping as aforesaid for doors of containers which are required to be sealed hermetically or near hermetically so as to preclude, or reduce to an absolute minimum, the possibility of seepage of air past the edge of the door. Examples of such a container are, for instance, a refrigerated room or chamber, and a refrigerated goods vehicle body.

Sealing strips for refrigerator doors are known in various forms, including a form which is an extrusion of constant cross-section providing a web which lies against the edge of the door as well as a tube extending longitudinally of the door and compressible against the frame to which the door fits, so as to provide a seal against such frame, the tube providing a significant amount of flexible material to compensate for surface irregularities on the frame. Such sealing strips must, of course, be designed to match the door with which they are to be used and are, in general, not usable with a range of doors of different thicknesses.

An object of this invention is to provide a construction of sealing stripping of the general kind as above discussed, that is to say particularly suitable for use in sealing a door of a container, such as a refrigerated container, relative to an opening to which it fits, which is so designed that it affords a particularly good seal and which has the added advantage that it can, if desired, be used in connection with a range of thicknesses of doors and is not restricted in its utility to a single door.

With this object in view, the present invention provides sealing stripping for sealing a door relative to an opening in which it fits, said stripping being substantially of constant cross-section and providing a main web for securement against the door's edge or against an associated frame or the like defining the space closed by the door, and, extending side-by-side longitudinally of the web, a plurality of tube sections which, upon closure of the door, serve to seal the door by abutting, respectively, either a facing surface of the frame or the like, or the door's edge.

Preferably the dimensions and configurations of the tube sections are such that upon being compressed by abutting the frame or the like, or the door's edge, they spread laterally to abut one another.

Each such tube section is advantageously of a configuration to provide, in cross-section, an arcuate portion, remote from the web, for abutment against the frame or the like, or the door's edge, and a pair of converging limbs connecting the extremities of the arcuate portions to the web.

The web conveniently has, along one of its longitudinal edges, a primary lip for locating the stripping along the edge of a door, or a frame or the like associated with the door, this lip projecting to the side of the web opposite to the tube sections. For protecting the tube sections against unintentional damage, e.g. when the door is open, the web prefera bly has, along the same longitudinal edge, a flange which projects to the same side as the tube sections and is relatively wider than the primary lip.

The stripping of the invention can be fitted onto a door or frame element of any thickness within a range of thicknesses, simply by reducing the width of the web to match the thickness of the relevant door or frame element. If desired, this can involve cutting away one or more of the tube sections, and for this reason there are preferably several of such sections, for instance four.

If desired, the web may have, along its edge remote from the primary lip, a secondary lip which is similar to the primary lip and defines with the latter a channel of predetermined thickness into which the edge of the door or frame element may be inserted.

The invention will be described further, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a detached perspective view illustrating a pair of doors which serve to close the rear end of a refrigerated container in the form of a refrigerated body of a goods-carrying vehicle, together with the frame into which the doors fit; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view which serves to illustrate the detail of one of the doors of Fig. 1, for instance at the location indicated by the circle 11 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the sealing stripping provided on the edges of the doors shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in Fig. 1, at the rear end of a refrigerated container, in the form of a refrigerated body of a goods-carrying vehicle, is a rectangular frame 10 into which fit double doors 12,14, mounted by hinges 16 on the respective uprights 18 of the frame 10 so as to lie side-by-side and in their closed positions to seal with the frame 10 along three edges and at their fourth edges to seal with one another. The door 12 is shown closed into the frame 10 and locked by means of an upright locking rod 20 which has, at top and bottom, locking heads 22 which interengage with respective keepers 24 provided on top and bottom cross members 26,28 of the frame 10. The rod 20 is held in its locking position by a radial arm 30 withdrawably engaging into a spring retainer 32 secured to the door 12.A corresponding arrangement whose parts have been indicated by similar reference numerals, is provided for the door 14 which is shown slightly ajar so that its locking heads 22 have been disengaged from their keepers 24 by turning the respective rod 20 by means of the respective arm 30 which acts as a handle.

Extending around each of the three sides of the door 12 which seal to the frame 10 are respective sealing strips each indicated by the reference numeral 34. The fourth upright edge of such door 12 is reinforced by channel-sectioned metal edge stripping 36. This stripping 36, in the closed position of the door 12 as shown, does not abut against any surface with which it is to be sealed, since it is fixed along the free edge of the door remote from the hinges 16 and the door 12 is the one which is always closed first and opened last when both the doors 12 and 14 are required to be closed to seal the container or opened to allow access to the interior of the container.

In contrast, sealing strips 34 are provided around all of the four edges of the door 14.

Thus, a sealing strip 34 is provided along the free edge remote from the hinges 16 of the door 14 since this edge, in the closed condition of the door 14 is required to seal with the free edge (on which the stripping 36 is provided) of the door 12.

Figs. 2 and 3 serve to illustrate the precise form of the stripping which forms the sealing strips 34 which, of course, are mitred where they meet at the corners of their respective doors 12,14. Fig. 2 shows how the stripping 34 and the door 14 would appear if a portion of the door 14 were cut away substantially horizontally within the circle indicated at II in Fig. 1. It will be seen that the door 14 comprises a main panel comprising a central insulating core 35 surrounded at its edges by timber framing 37 faced on each of its major surfaces by a non-metallic intermediate insulating layer 38 superimposed by an external metal or plastics material layer 40, the latter being, for example, of relatively thin aluminium, steel or glass-reinforced plastics sheeting.The sealing stripping 34 is of a crosssection such as to provide a main web 42 having along its longitudinal edges a primary lip 44, which enables the stripping to be located relative to the outer surface of its door, and a secondary lip 46 which is spaced apart from the primary lip 44 by a distance substantially equal to the door thickness. This provides for snug location of the door edge between the lips 44,46 and enables the web 42 readily to be secured in place to the door edge, e.g. by suitable screws 48, provided with washers 50, driven through the main web 42 and into the frame 37 as shown in Fig. 3. If desired, adhesive (not shown) may be provided between the web 42 and the frame 37, and there may be instances where adhesive only is used.

Projecting to the side of the web 42 opposite to the lips 44 and 46 are several tubular beads 54 which in the illustrated case are four in number, but of which there may be fewer than or more than four according to practical requirements. These beads 54 extend side-byside longitudinally of the web 42 and each is shaped in cross-section to provide an arcuate or curved outer portion 56 remote from the web 42, the ends of this portion 56 connecting with the web 42 by respective converging limbs 58 in a V-shaped configuration.The dimensions, and spacing or distribution of the beads 54 is such that upon closing of the door 12 or 14, to which the stripping 34 is attached, to its frame, or against the free edge of the other door (in the case of the door 14) the beads 54 abut against the edge of the door frame or the edge of the other door and, in addition to being deformed somewhat, are compressed towards the web 42. As a result, they spread laterally and tend to press against one another, thus themselves providing internal heat-insulating air pockets, and additionally defining further heat-insulating air pockets in confined spaces between the abutting edges of the beads 54 and the web 42.The stripping 34 is, therefore, instrumental in providing particularly good and efficient sealing against air egress with the sealed space occupied by a sealing strip (the stripping 34) of a highly efficient heat insulating nature.

The illustrated example of the stripping 34 includes, along the same edge as the primary lip 46, an integral flange 60 which serves the purposes of protecting the beads 54 when the doors 12,14 are open and of masking the joints between the edge of the doors 12,14 and the surrounding frame 10, and between the two doors 12,14 when the doors are closed.

In addition to providing for a particularly good heat-insulating and substantially air-tight seal as above discussed, the stripping as described has the further particular advantage that it can, of course, be employed with a range of thickness of doors. Thus for a door which is widwer than the width of the web 42 between the two lips 44,46 the secondary lip 46 can be pared away. The web 42 will then be secured and/or adhered solely to the outer portion of the door's edge, as dictated by the location of the stripping by means of the primary lip 44. For narrower doors, of course, the stripping can be correspondingly narrowed by paring away an appropriate portion of the web 42 (with or without one or more of the beads 54 as necessary so long as at least some of these are left) to leave a web width corresponding to the door thickness at the edges to which the stripping is to be secured.

It will be understood that the foregoing is only an illustrative example and is not limita tive of the scope of the invention. It will be appreciated that in use the sealing stripping 34 may alternatively be fixed onto the edges of the frame 10 (Fig. 1) instead of to the outer edges of the doors 12,14. This is particularly so in cases where only a single door is to be sealed in an opening. The resultant seal is, of course, just as effective. The stripping can be adapted to the width of frame edges in the same way as to the edge of a door, by longitudinal cutting and, if necessary, removal of one or more tube sections, and/or the secondary lip (which is in any case optional).

Claims

1. Sealing stripping for sealing a door relative to an opening in which it fits, said stripping being substantially of constant cross-section and providing a main web for securement against the door's edge or against an associated frame or the like defining the space closed by the door, and, extending side-byside longitudinally of the web, a plurality of tube sections which, upon closure of the door, serve to seal the door by abutting, respectively, either a facing surface of the frame or the like, or the door's edge.

2. Sealing stripping as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dimensions and configurations of the tube sections are such that upon being compressed by abutting the frame or the like, or the door's edge, they spread laterally to abut one another.

3. Sealing stripping as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein each such tube section is of a configuration to provide, in cross-section, an arcuate portion, remote from the web, for abutment against the frame or the like, or the door's edge, and a pair of converging limbs connecting the extremities of the arcuate portions to the web.

4. Sealing stripping as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the web has, along one of its longitudinal edges, a primary lip for locating the stripping along the edge of a door, or a frame or the like associated with the door, this lip projecting to the side of the web opposite to the tube sections.

5. Sealing stripping as claimed in claim 4 wherein the web has, along the same longitudinal edge, a flange projecting to the same side as the tube sections.

6. Sealing stripping as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein the web has a secondary lip along its edge remote from the primary lip so as to define a channel into which the edge of the door or the frame may be inserted.

7. Sealing stripping as claimed in any preceding claim and including four tube sections.

8. Sealing stripping substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

CLAIMS Amendments to the claims have been filed, and have the following effect: Claims 1,2 above have been deleted or textually amended.

New or textually amended claims have been filed as follows: Claims 3-8 above have been re-numbered as 2-7 and their appendancies corrected.

1. Sealing stripping for sealing a door relative to an opening in which it fits, said stripping being substantially of constant cross-section and providing a main web for securement against the door's edge or against an associated frame or the like defining the space closed by the door, and, extending side-byside longitudinally of the web, a plurality of spaced apart tube sections which, upon closure of the door, serve to seal the door by abutting, respectively, either a facing surface of the frame or the like, or the door's edge, the dimensions, configurations and spacing of the tube sections being such that upon being compressed by abutting the frame or the like, or the door's edge, they spread laterally to abut one another.