GB2240805A - Panel clamping system - Google Patents

Abstract

A member 12 contains a screw 11 which is rotatable to move the member along a serrated tongue 18 on a plate 19 adapted to be welded to a marine window frame (22, 24, Fig. 2). The member 12 serves to clamp a window pane (23, Fig. 2) against a seal (25). <IMAGE>

Description

PANEL CLAMPING SYSTEM Field of the Invention The invention relates to panel clamping systems.

Review of Art Known to the Applicant Several conventional methods exist for clamping panels into place in, for example, channels into which an edge region of the panel is to sit.

There are, for example, the well-known options of simply drilling and screwing the panel into place at intervals along the edge region of the panel; or of clamping it into place at similarly spaced intervals using clamps which trap the edge region of the panel against the channel wall; or of trying to force-fit the panel edge region into the channel usually via a resilient sealing strip.

All these have drawbacks. The first two produce stress concentrations which - particularly with glass or clear plastics panels used in windows - will eventually tend to crack the panels at the screwed or clamped points. The third can be unsatisfactory because it does not give a tight enough clamping action.

Summary of the Invention It is an object of the invention to improve on these known panel clamping systems.

Accordingly and in its broadest aspect, the invention provides a clamping system in which a screw, held captive in a housing, draws a serrated tongue progressively through the housing in the manner of a JUBILEE clip (the word JUBILEE is a trade mark); the tongue being adapted to be fixed, in use, to a channel in which an edge region of a panel is to sit; and the action of the screw causing the housing to move along the tongue towards (or away from) the panel so as to trap (or release) the panel edge against (or from) the channel wall.

The invention is particularly applicable to systems for clamping panels of glass or clear plastics, in the form of window panes, in place in channels as marine windows. One such system is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will now be described with reference to those drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows the tongue, screw, and screw housing of the clamping system in exploded" perspective; and Figure 2, drawn to a smaller scale, shows the complete system in use.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment A screw 11 takes the form of a relatively coarsely threaded grub screw with a conventionally slotted head. It is held captive in a block-shaped housing 12. The screw enters a bore 13 which opens out onto one face 14 of the block but which does not go all the way through the block. The bore 14 is internally sized in such a way that, when the screw 11 enters it, the screw can rotate freely in either direction in the bore.

The bore itself is not internally threaded. The screw is effectively held captive within it by inter-engaging the serrations to the tongue. The drawing illustrates the way in which this works.

A slot 15 also runs through the block-like housing 12 and this time the slot opens out onto both opposite faces 14 and 16 of the block. The bore 13 intersects the slot 15 as shown in Figure 1, in such a way that the screw threads of the screw 11 will engage the serrations 17 in a flat tongue 18 and, as the screw is rotated, the tongue 18 will be drawn progressively through the slot 15 and hence through the housing.

This kind of progressive action, similar in many ways to a worm and worm wheel, is the action that has been made overwhelmingly familiar in everyday life by the popular JUBILEE style of hose clip.

The tongue 18 is initially formed as part of a flat plate 19, 21. When the serrations 17 have been formed in the tongue 18, the tongue is bent up slightly out of the plane of the rest of the plate 19 (as best shown in Figure 2); and another portion 21 of the plate is bent at right angles to the main portion 19, and away from the tongue 18, to form a flange.

The tongue-plate-flange component 18-19-21 is spot welded to the base of a channel 22 of a marine window assembly. An edge region of a pane 23 of the window assembly sits in the base of the channel extrusion 22 and is trapped, in use, against the back edge 24 of the channel by the housing 12 which, under the action of the screw 11, moves along the tongue 18 to trap the pane 23 against a resilient seal 25 facing the inside of the channel back edge 24.

When the screw 11 is driven fully home, the housing 12 clamps the pane 23 firmly in place. To release the clamp, the screw 11 is released and the housing then moves along the tongue 18 away from the edge of the panel 23 so as to release the panel edge from the channel back-edge wall 24 and, of course, from the resilient weather strip 25.

The flange 21 and the area of plate 19 abutting it, finish off the inside aspect 26 of the window frame in a visually pleasing manner by blocking in the otherwise open insidefacing region of the channel extrusion 22.

Claims (6)

CLAIMS:

1. A clamping system in which a screw, held captive in a housing, draws a serrated tongue progressively through the housing in the manner of a JUBILEE clip (the word JUBILEE is a trade mark); the tongue being adapted to be fixed, in use, to a channel in which an edge region of a panel is to sit; and the action of the screw causing the housing to move along the tongue towards (or away from) the panel so as to trap (or release) the panel edge against (or from) the channel wall.

2. A clamping system according to Claim 1 and forming part of a marine window.

3. A clamping system substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

4. A marine window frame incorporating a clamping system according to any of the preceding Claims.

5. A marine window incorporating a frame in accordance with Claim 4.

6. A marine window installation incorporating one or more marine windows in accordance with Claim 5.