GB2292964A - Door finger guard - Google Patents

Abstract

The finger guard 8 for the hinged edge of a door comprises rigid arcuate sections 10, 11 and 12 which slide relative to each other, preferably in telescopic fashion. The end sections 10 and 12 are mounted to the door 1 and jamb 5 by flanges 26 and 23, preferably arranged for relative pivotal movement with its associated section. <IMAGE>

Description

DOOR SHIELD TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a door shield which is particularly intended for mounting at the hinged edge of a door.

BACKGROUND With doors which are hinged to a jamb, a gap is created between the edge of the door and the jamb when the door is open. As the door closes the gap becomes smaller until it is almost non-existent when the door is fully closed.

The presence of this gap causes a considerable danger to young children, particularly around the age when they are learning to walk, since they often hold on to vertical edges for support. If the door is closed whilst their fingers are in the gap they can easily become trapped, resulting in serious and possibly permanent injury.

An aim of the present invention may be viewed as being to eliminate this danger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes a shield for the hinged edge of a door, comprising a strip-like element having attachment regions along its opposed longitudinal edges for attachment to the door and the jamb respectively, the shield being constructed such that the distance between the said attachment regions can vary with hinging movement of the door.

The shield preferably comprises a plurality of relatively rigid elongate sections which slide relative to each other. The sections are preferably of generally arcuate transverse cross-section.

DEFINITIONS In this specification the term "jamb" is intended to mean any relatively fixed vertical edge to which a door is hinged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The following description and the accompanying drawings referred to therein are included by way of non-limiting example in order to illustrate how the invention may be put into practice. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a general view of a shield of the invention, mounted to a door Figure 2 is a transverse horizontal section through the shield with the door in a closed position, and Figure 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but showing the door in an open position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows a door 1 mounted in a frame 2 which is set into a wall. The door is pivotally secured by hinges 3 at one of its vertical edges 4 to a vertical jamb 5 at one side of the frame 2. An elongate shield 8 is secured to both the edge 4 of the door and the jamb 5, to prevent children from getting their fingers trapped in the door. The illustrated shield only covers the bottom portion of the door edge since children are not tall enough to insert their fingers higher up. However, it will be appreciated that the shield can be of various lengths so that a single shield can cover the whole vertical edge of the door if desired. Similarly, the desired portion of the door edge can be protected by means of several shields arranged to abut end-to-end.

Referring to Fig.s 2 and 3, the illustrated shield comprises three elongate sections 10, 11 and 12, although it will be appreciated that two, four or more sections could be used if desired. The sections are part-circular in transverse cross-section and are arranged to slide circumferentially relative to each other.

The jamb section 10 comprises inner and outer walls 21 and 22 which are secured to a base flange 23 for attachment to the door jamb 5. The side walls 21 and 22 are also joined by end walls or webs (not shown) to determine their relative spacing. The intermediate section 11 also comprises spaced inner and outer walls 24 and 25 and slides within the jamb section 10. Again, end walls or webs are provided to determine the spacing of the inner and outer walls 24 and 25. The door section 12 comprises only a single wall, which slides within the intermediate section 11, and is secured to the door 1 by a mounting flange 26. The jamb section 10 has inturned lips 27 formed on its edges adjacent to the door 1, and out-turned lips 29 are formed on the edges of the intermediate section 11 to prevent the sections 10 and 11 from separating.Similarly, a head 30 is formed on the edge of the section 1 2 which is retained inside the intermediate section 11 by inturned lips 31.

The flanges 23 and 26 may be secured to the jamb and the door by screws, adhesive or the like.

When the door is closed the sections 10-12 are nested within each other but as the door opens the sections slide relative to each other to extend the distance between the mounting flanges 23 and 26 as shown in Fig. 2. In this condition the gap 38 between the hinged edge 4 of the door and the jamb 5 is covered by the shield to prevent a child from inserting their fingers into the gap.

It may be advantageous to provide for pivotal movement between the door section 12 and mounting flange 26 to allow for mounting eccentrically relative to the pivot axis of the hinges 4, although there will often be sufficient relative movement between the sections 10-12 to allow for such eccentric mounting.

Claims (6)

1. A shield for the hinged edge of a door, comprising a strip-like element having attachment regions along its opposed longitudinal edges for attachment to the door and the jamb respectively, the shield being constructed such that the distance between the said attachment regions can vary with hinging movement of the door, which comprises a plurality of relatively rigid elongate sections which slide relative to each other.

2. A shield according to Claim 1, in which the sections are of generally arcuate transverse cross-section.

3. A shield according to Claim 2, in which at least one of the sections comprises inner and outer walls between which another of the sections is slidably received.

4. A shield according to any preceding claim, in which said attachment regions comprise flange portions.

5. A shield according to any of Claims 1 to 3, in which said attachment regions comprise a flange portion which is arranged for relative pivotal movement of the associated section.

6. A shield substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

6. A shield substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A shield for the hinged edge of a door, comprising a strip-like element having attachment regions along its opposed longitudinal edges for attachment to the door and the jamb respectively, the shield being constructed such that the distance between the said attachment regions can vary with hinging movement of the door, in which said strip-like element comprises a plurality of relatively rigid elongate sections which slide relative to each other, such sliding movement being limited by mutual engagement of longitudinally extending projections formed on each adjacent pair of sections.

2. A shield according to Claim 1, in which the sections are of generally arcuate transverse cross-section.

3. A shield according to Claim 2, in which at least one of the sections comprises inner and outer walls between which another of the sections is slidably received.

4. A shield according to any preceding claim, in which said attachment regions comprise flange portions.

5. A shield according to any of Claims 1 to 3, in which said attachment regions comprise a flange portion which is arranged for relative pivotal movement of the associated section.