GB2238569A

GB2238569A - Method of kit-glazing moulded doors

Info

Publication number: GB2238569A
Application number: GB9024002A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Duncan Miles Green
Original assignee: G B DEVELOPMENTS
Current assignee: G B DEVELOPMENTS
Priority date: 1989-11-28
Filing date: 1990-11-05
Publication date: 1991-06-05
Anticipated expiration: 2010-11-05
Also published as: GB8926906D0; GB9024002D0; GB2238569B

Abstract

An aperture is cut in a door which is made of moulded components which sandwich a cellular polystyrene material, the aperture in one skin of the door being smaller than that cut in the other skin (12) and said material (13), whereby a rebate (14) is created. A double-glazed unit (15) is inserted in the larger aperture and in contact with the rebate. Thereafter, said unit is made secure by applying a trim member (16) and fixing it by screws, adhesive or double-sided adhesive tape. Retaining clips inserted into the polystyrene may underly the trim member. <IMAGE>

Description

METHOD OF KIT-GLAZING MOULDED DOORS.

This invention relates to a method of kitglazing moulded doors and to doors when made by said method.

Doors may be made using panels which are moulded from a suitable plastics material in the following manner : An oversize rectangular sheet of said material is placed in the machine and is clamped at or in the vicinity of its entire periphery.

Thereafter, the whole of the sheet is heated (for example, for about one minute) by a heater or heaters; in some machines, the heater is moved to a position over the clamped sheet whereas, in some other machines, the clamped sheet is moved to a location between an upper heater and a lower heater.

When sufficient heat has been applied, either the heater is moved out of the way or the clamped sheet is moved from its location between the upper and lower heaters. At that juncture, the tool is raised into contact with the heated plastics material or said material is lowered into contact with the tool. As soon as there is contact between said material and said tool, reduced air pressure is applied to one side or face of the sheet by a so called vacuum pump with the result that the heated plastics material is sucked into/onto the impression of the tool.

The sheet is cooled (for example, by blown air alone or by water mister entrained by blown air) for a short time. At the end of that time, the clamping mechanism is undone to release the moulded sheet which is removed by the machine operator who, after placing another sheet in the machine and initiating the next moulding cycle, trims the moulded sheet in order to remove the unwanted part which was actually gripped by the clamping mechanism.

At present, the kit-glazing of doors which are made by sandwiching STYROFOAM (Trademark) or any comparable expanded cellular polystyrene between two such moulded sheets or door panels can be said, briefly, to be carried out in the following manner The area of the door which is to be glazed is cut out of the moulded sheets and out of the styrofoam, the portion which is cut out of one moulded plastics sheet being smaller in area than the portion which is cut out of the other moulded plastics sheet and out of said STYROFOAM, whereby a rebate is created. A double-glazed unit of the appropriate thickness (namely, matching that of the STYROFOAM or other foamed material) is placed in the hole so that it rests on the rebate.This unit is then fixed in position by placing a socalled bead of a plastics material over the periphery of the hole which has been cut in the door and over a narrow marginal portion of the glazed unit; this bead is secured in said position by any suitable adhesive, thereby firmly mounting the unit in the door and covering the gap between the periphery of the unit and that of the hole. This prior art method is illustrated diagrammatically in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

This method results in a product which has a number of disadvantageous features. Firstly, the join created by the bead which is stuck to the periphery of the hold and to the periphery of the glazed unit is unsightly and there are always the dangers not only of dirt sticking to the adhesive but also of the adhesive itself being visible on the surface of the panel. Secondly,the use of the adhesive results in a virtually permanent fixing and any attempt to remove the bead, for the purpose of replacing the glazed unit by another one, will normally result in the bead being destroyed and may also result in the surface of the panel becoming damaged by the efforts to remove the bead.Thirdly, the plastics raw material (namely, unheated and not moulded) which is used for the bead has a different appearance and/or colour from that of the moulded door panel which in some cases will have been heated all over prior to being moulded.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new method of kit-glazing moulded doors, which method will enable a glazed unit, which is mounted in the door, to be changed without difficulty. Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the unsightly join discussed above. Yet another object of the present invention is to do away with the third disadvantage discussed in the preceding paragraph.

According to a first aspect, therefore, the present invention consists in a method of kitglazing a moulded door, said method comprising the following steps, namely, cutting a first aperture of a first size in the sheet which forms one face of the door; cutting a second aperture in the sheet which forms the other face of said door and in the expanded cellular polystyrene material which is interposed between said sheets, said second aperture being in register with and of a size larger than said first size of the first aperture and thereby resulting in the creation of a rebate; inserting a double-glazed unit in said second aperture in contact with said rebate; and securing said unit in position in a readily removable manner by means of a retaining member which is connected by screws to the sheet which forms said other face of the door.

According to a second aspect, the present invention consists in a method of kit-glazing a moulded door, said method comprising the following steps, namely, cutting a first aperture of a first size in the sheet which forms one face of the door; cutting a second aperture in the sheet which forms the other face of said door and in the expanded cellular polystyrene material which is interposed between said sheets, said second aperture being in register with and of a size larger than said first size of the first aperture and thereby resulting in the creation of a rebate; inserting a double-glazed unit in said second aperture in contact with said rebate;; securing said unit in position by means of a number of individual retaining members of which respective one ends pushed into said polystyrene material and of which the respective other ends overlie marginal portions of the double-glazed unit; and covering said other ends of the retaining members and also the entire marginal portion of the double-glazed unit by a cover element.

Said cover element may be a specially moulded trim whose cross-sectional shape may match that of the raised pattern (also called profile or cassette) of the door, or said cover element may be a flat frame which is of such a width as to cover the said other ends of the retaining members and also the whole of the length of the gap between the doubleglazed unit and the surrounding part of the door.

In both of these alternative arrangements, if screws are not to be used to mount the cover element, a double-sided adhesive tape can be used.

Some of the embodiments of the present invention given purely by way of example, will now be more particularly described with reference to Figures 3 to 5 of the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 3 is an exploded view, in perspective, of a portion of a kit-glazed door which has been so glazed according to the invention; Figure 4 is a detail view, in section, of a kit-glazed door; and Figure 5 is a detail view, also in section, of an alternative arrangement of a kit-glazed door.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4 of said drawings, a first aperture 10 is cut in the sheet 11 which forms one face of the door and a second aperture is cut in the sheet 12 which forms the other face of the door. Said second aperture is also cut in the sandwiched sheet 13 of an expanded cellular polystyrene material. Said second aperture is in register with the first aperture but is of larger area with the result that a rebate 14 is created.

A double-glazed unit 15 is placed in the second aperture in contact with the rebate 14 and, thereafter, a pre-moulded trim or retaining member 16 of a plastics material which is the same as that of said sheets 11 and 12 is applied to the sheet 12 by fixing screws 17. Preferably, the heads of the screws are covered by caps 18 made of the same plastics material as the member 16.

A moulded door made in accordance with the preceding description of Figures 3 and 4 is such that the glazed unit can easily be changed without any damage to the sheet 12; the screws 17 are easily removable, whereupon the retaining member 16 can be lifted off and the glazed unit removed and replaced by another one. Moreover, no unsightly adhesive needs to be used in order to secure the glazed unit in position and this means that there is no possibility of dirt sticking to any of the adhesive which may ooze from between the surfaces which are to be stuck to one another.

As an alternative to the use of screws, a double-sided adhesive tape could be employed.

Referring to Figure 5, the important feature illustrated therein is a retaining member 20, there obviously being a number of such members spaced from one another along the perimeter of the glazed double-glazed unit 15. Those ends of the members 20 which overlie the respective marginal portions of the unit 15 are covered by a cover element 21. As shown, the element 21 is a pre-moulded and shaped piece of trim whose cross-sectional shape matches that of the raised pattern (also called profile or cassette) which is indicated by the reference numeral 22. Said element could, of course, be replaced by a simple frame made of flat trim (like the one shown in Figure 2). Whatever cover element is employed, it may be secured in position by screws or by using a double-sided adhesive tape.

The main advantages being derived from the use of the present invention are that the member 16 or 21, being pre-moulded and vacuum formed, is the same shape as the profile to which it is affixed and becomes virtually invisible; the actual area of glass of the double glazed unit is larger by virtue of the members 16 or 21 being moulded instead of as illustrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2 of the drawings; when double sided tape is employed, the tape is not visible to a viewer and the same is true of other adhesive; because the members 16 or 21 are made from vacuum formed sheet, the material from which the sheet is made will suffer a change of colour or surface finish due to the heating process but this will not matter becase the remainder of the door is made from material which has also been subjected to the heating process; and the fact that the members 16 or 21 are pre-moulded to the kind of shape illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5 means that said members are very strong unlike the flat trims which were used earlier (Figures 1 and 2) which tended to buckle between screw fastenings.

Claims

CLAIMS;

1. A method of kit-glazing a moulded door, said method comprising the following steps, namely, cutting a first aperture of a first size in the sheet which forms one face of the door; cutting a second aperture in the sheet which forms the other face of said door and in the expanded cellular polystyrene material which is interposed between said sheets, said second aperture being in register with and of a size larger than said first size of the first aperture and thereby resulting in the creation of a rebate; inserting a double-glazed unit in said second aperture in contact with said rebate; and securing said unit in position in a readily removable manner by means of a retaining member which is connected by screws to the sheet which forms said other face of the door.

2. A method of kit-glazing a moulded door, said method comprising the following steps, namely, cutting a first aperture of a first size in the sheet which forms one face of the door; cutting a second aperture in the sheet which forms the other face of said door and in the expanded cellular polystyrene material which is interposed between said sheets, said second aperture being in register with and of a size larger than said first size of the first aperture and thereby resulting in the creation of a rebate; inserting a double-glazed unit in said second aperture in contact with said rebate; securing said unit in position by means of a number of individual retaining members of which respective one ends pushed into said polystyrene material and of which the respective other ends overlie marginal portions of the double-glazed unit; and covering said other ends of the retaining members and also the entire marginal portion of the double-glazed unit by a cover element.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said cover element is secured in position by means of screws.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 2, wherein a double-sided adhesive tape is applied between said cover element and the surfaces which are to be covered.

5. A method of kit-glazing a moulded door substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3, 4 and 5 of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

6. A moulded door which has been kit-glazed according to the method as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5.

7. Any features of novelty, taken singly or in combination, of the embodiments of the invention hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.