GB2307502A

GB2307502A - Door with an adjustable edge

Info

Publication number: GB2307502A
Application number: GB9624068A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David William Mcmorran
Original assignee: DDB ASSOCIATES Ltd
Current assignee: DDB ASSOCIATES Ltd
Priority date: 1995-11-24
Filing date: 1996-11-20
Publication date: 1997-05-28
Anticipated expiration: 2016-11-20
Also published as: GB9624068D0; GB9524088D0; GB2307502B

Abstract

A door 10 is provided with a rail 11 extending from beneath its lower side. The extent of the rail 11 into the door 10 can be adjusted by sliding the rail 11 up or down either evenly along a length of the lower edge of the door or unevenly. The rail can be fixed in position on the door by inserting screws or bolts 19 through holes 20 in side plates 14 of the door with the screws or bolts 19 threadably engaging the ends of the rail 11. In this way the dimensions of the door can be increased or decreased to fit the required opening.

Description

DOORS The present invention relates to a door and to a method of altering the peripheral dimensions of a door.

The invention is particularly, although not exclusively applicable to metal doors.

In mounting previous metal doors7 the door comes at a set size and is mounted into a door frame. The dimensions of the uprights of the frame and the top of the frame can be adjustable to a limited extent or predetermined. However the bottom of the frame is not adjustable. Accordingly the metal door is always made at a length of slightly less than the opening that it is to fill. Thus there will always be a gap between the bottom of the door and the surface of the floor which gap may be at an angle to the lower edge of the door if the dimensions of the floor are not completely square. Whilst a filler could be secured to the floor to allow the door to be a relatively good fit, such a filler projects up from the floor thereby creating an obstruction.

On steel doors in particular, it has previously been necessary to detail exact floor finish thicknesses (carpets, tiles, etc.) so that a true "finished floor level" can be established, in order to allow sufficient clearance between the bottom edge of the door and this "finished floor level", to allow the door to operate freely.

It is an object of the present invention to attempt to overcome at least some of the above described disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a door includes an adjustable member at one edge, the adjustable member being arranged to be movable whereby the dimension of the door in the direction of the movement is altered.

The dimension may be arranged to be increased or decreased.

The adjustment member may extend along one edge and may extend substantially the complete length of the edge.

The dimension of the door may be arranged to be altered evenly along the extent of the adjustment member or unevenly or may remain the same at one location and be altered at another.

The door may include releasable means movable from a first position in which the adjustment member is movable to a second position in which movement of the adjustment member is resisted. The releasable means may be located at one side and preferably at two opposed sides of the door. The releasable means may be accessible from the side edge or edges of the door. In this way the adjustment means are not visible or are discrete or not readily visible when the door is closed and may not be accessed except when the door is in the open position. In the case of locked doors this is only possible when an authorised person has opened the door.

The releasable means may extend through a portion of the door that is not arranged to move with the adjustable member when the dimension is being altered.

The releasable means may comprise a threaded member or members arranged to cooperate with a threaded portion when moving between the first and second positions.

The adjustment member may include a plurality of openings with the releasable means cooperating with a selected opening or openings in the second position.

The adjustable member may be slidably mounted between two opposed spaced sections of the door, which sections may comprise the front and rear skins of the door. The space between the skins of the door may be obscured by a member extending between the skins of the door adjacent to the adjustable member.

The adjustable member may comprise a channel member and the channel member may be located with the channel extending towards the edge of the door.

The adjustment member may be arranged to move within opposed sides of a channel member, which channel may extend towards the edge of the door.

The ends of the or each channel member may be closed off.

The edge that the adjustable member is located at may comprise the lower edge.

The door may comprise a metal door.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a method of altering the dimension of a door comprises moving an adjustable member in the direction in which alteration is required.

The method may comprise moving the whole of the adjustment member in the direction in which alteration is required, for instance by an equal or an unequal amount.

Alternatively one part of the adjustment member may be moved to alter the dimension of the door without another part so moving.

The present invention also includes a method of altering the dimension of a door when the door is as herein described.

The present invention may be carried into practice in various ways but one embodiment will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side perspective view of the bottom part of a door 10 with a rail 11 in a lowered position; Figure 2 is a side cross section through the lower part of the door 10 with the rail 11 in a raised position.

As shown in the figures, the metal door 10 which may include a lock comprises spaced front and rear metal sheets 12 and 13 connected at each side by side plates 14 (only one of which is shown). An inverted channel 15 is inserted into the space between the front and rear sheets and the side plates and is secured thereto by welding, for instance. Alternatively the side plates may be formed by folding one or both of the front and rear sheets.

The inverted channel serves to seal the space between the front and rear sheets from the ambient environment and also provides cooperating surfaces to assist in locating the rail 11 on the door and to allow the rail 11 to slide up and down.

The rail 11 comprises a channel section having upwardly extending side walls 16 and end walls 17 (only one of which is shown). The side walls 16 are slidably located within the inverted channel 15 and the end walls 17 are slidably located against the side plates 14 of the door.

The door 10 is arranged to be fitted in a generally rectangular opening. Generally the uprights of the frame and the top rail of the frame are of a precise or adjustable dimension. Therefore only the dimension at the bottom of the door need be altered, for instance to take up any slight oversizing in the height of the frame or any slight inclination of the floor 18.

It will be appreciated that it is not practical to reduce the height or angle of the bottom of a metal door.

Accordingly they are traditionally made slightly undersize.

Adjustment of the effective downward extent or angular extent of the door will now be described.

Each side plate 14 includes vertically spaced holes (not shown) through which screws or bolts 19 may pass.

The bolts threadably engage in the holes and extend through aligned holes 20 in the end walls of the rail 11.

Adjustment at each side of the door is effected by slackening off the bolts such that they are clear of the openings 20 and then pushing or pulling the rail 11 further into or out of the bottom of the door. When the rail has been adjusted as required the bolts 19 are tightened again to extend through different aligned openings 20 to hold the rail in position. Adjustment of the rail at each side may be made separately or simultaneously. Furthermore only one side may be adjusted. The lower edge of the rail may be adjusted to be parallel to the lower edge of the door skins or at an angle thereto.

Claims

CLAIM

1. A door including an adjustable member at one edge, the adjustable member being arranged to be movable whereby the dimension of the door in the direction of the movement is altered.

2. A door as claimed in claim 1 in which the dimension is arranged to be increased.

3. A door as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the dimension is arranged to be decreased.

4. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the adjustment member extends along one edge.

5. A door as claimed in claim 3 in which the adjustment member extends along the complete length of that edge.

6. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the dimension of the door is arranged to be altered evenly along the extent of the adjustment member.

7. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the dimension of the door is arranged to be altered unevenly along the extent of the adjustment member.

8. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the dimension of the door is arranged to be maintained the same at one location of the adjustment member and to be altered at another location of the adjustment member.

9. A door as claimed in any preceding claim including releasable means movable from a first position in which the adjustment member is movable, to a second position in which movement of the adjustment member is resisted.

10. A door as claimed in claim 9 in which the releasable means are located at one side of the door.

11. A door as claimed in claims 9 or 10 in which the releasable means are located at two opposed sides of the door.

12. A door as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11 in which the releasable means are accessible from the side edge or edges of the door.

13. A door as claimed in any of claims 9 to 12 in which the releasable means extend through a portion of the door that is not arranged to move with the adjustable member when the dimension is being altered.

14. A door as claimed in any of claims 9 to 13 in which the releasable means comprise a threaded member or members arranged to cooperate with a threaded portion when moving between the first and second positions.

15. A door as claimed in any of claims 9 to 14 in which the adjustment member includes a plurality of openings with releasable means cooperating with a selected opening or openings in the second position.

16. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the adjustable member is slidably mounted between two opposed spaced portions of the door.

17. A door as claimed in claim 16 in which the two opposed sections comprise the front and rear skins of the door.

18. A door as claimed in claim 17 in which the space between the skins of the door is obscured by a member extending between the skins of the door adjacent to the adjustable member.

19. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the adjustable member comprises a channel member.

20. A door as claimed in claim 19 in which the channel member is located with the channel extending towards the edge of the door.

21. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the adjustment member is arranged to move within opposed sides of a channel member.

22. A door as claimed in claim 21 in which the channel member within which the adjustment member is arranged to move extends towards the edge of the door.

23. A door as claimed in any of claims 19 to 22 in which the ends of the or each channel member are closed off.

24. A door as claimed in any preceding claim in which the edge that the adjustable member is located comprises the lower edge of the door.

25. A door as claimed in any preceding claim comprising a metal door.

26. A door including an adjustment member substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in any of figures 1 or 2 of the accompanying drawings.

27. A method of altering the dimension of a door comprising moving an adjustment member in a direction in which alteration is required.

28. A method as claimed in claim 27 comprising moving the whole of the adjustment member in the direction in which alteration is required.

29. A method as claimed in claim 28 comprising moving the whole of the adjustment member by an equal amount.

30. A method as claimed in 27 or 28 comprising moving the whole of the adjustment member unequal amounts.

31. A method as claimed in claim 27 comprising moving one part of the adjustment member to alter the dimension of the door without another part of the adjustment member so moving.

32. A method of altering the dimension of a door substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in figures 1 or 2 of the accompanying drawings.

33. A method of altering the dimension of a door when the door is as claimed in any of claims 1 to 26.