GB2349164A

GB2349164A - Valve for drainage opening

Info

Publication number: GB2349164A
Application number: GB0009646A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Donald Malcolm Fullard
Original assignee: FULLEX Ltd
Current assignee: FULLEX Ltd
Priority date: 1999-04-23
Filing date: 2000-04-20
Publication date: 2000-10-25
Also published as: GB9909253D0; GB0009646D0

Abstract

The bottom rail of a door or window frame has a rainwater drainage channel 4 leading to a drainage slot 9. To prevent dirt, insects etc entering through the slot 9, an attachment 10 can be fitted to the rail so that a valve 12 closes the slot 9 unless opened by the pressure of water in the channel.

Description

VALVE FOR DRAINAGE OPENING This invention relates to a valve for a drainage opening in a bottom rail of a door or window frame exposed to weather elements.

Door and window frames commonly comprise hollow elongate frame members, formed as extrusions of metal, such as aluminium, or a plastics material, which are connected at their ends to form a rectangular or square frame. The frame is rebated to receive the closed door or window which may have sealing means to seal it to the frame when in the closed position.

A problem which may affect the frame is collection of fluid, usually rain water, at the bottom rail of the frame. The fluid collects there by breaching the seal located between the frame and closed door or window, or by direct access to the bottom rail when the door or window is open.

The fluid can lead to damage of the frame and the lower periphery of the door.

A solution has been to provide a channel along the upper surface of the bottom rail to receive the fluid and to drain the fluid from the channel to the ground outside by way of one or more drainage openings through the rail. Where the bottom rail is a hollow member fluid has been drained away from the channel to an exterior surface of the rail through the hollow interior of the rail. However, the drainage opening or openings can allow particles, dirt and insects access to the cavity into the interior of the rail. Furthermore, the drainage hole opening or openings can be an entry point for rain water into the rail during particularly bad weather conditions.

The present invention aims to overcome these further problems.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an attachment piece adapted to be attached to an external surface of a bottom rail of a door or window frame which rail has a channel to receive fluid and a drainage opening at said external surface communicating with the channel, the attachment piece being adapted to be fitted over the drainage opening and comprising attachment means to allow attachment of the piece to the external surface, and valve means which in a first position serves to block the drainage opening and in a second position allows discharge of fluid away from the channel through the opening, the transition from the first to the second position being effected in use of the attachment piece by pressure of fluid from the channel acting on the valve means at the drainage opening reaching a threshold level, above which threshold level fluid can escape through the drainage opening, and the valve means returning to its first position when the fluid pressure reduces to below the threshold level.

In this way the attachment piece provides a one-way valve to control fluid build up in the channel. Furthermore, the valve means prevent ingress of fluid and dirt and other particulate matter into the drainage opening from the external surface of the bottom rail with which the attachment piece is used.

The attachment piece may be used with a drainage opening which is in the form of a hole or slot. It may be adapted to serve more than one drainage opening in the bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use.

The attachment piece may conveniently be made of a plastics material, which may be moulded. It may be of an elongate form. Preferably it has a hood-like cover which extends over the or each drainage opening which the attachment piece serves in use.

The attachment means may, in one embodiment, comprise at least one protrusion, such as a peg, which is arranged to engage in a complimentary hole in the bottom rail. Preferably the protrusion is designed to be a non-detachable"snap-fit"or"click-into-place"fitting in the complimentary hole so that the attachment means is easily applied to the bottom rail for use. Thus the protrusions may have one or more hooks or barbs for such fitting. The protrusions are preferably in one or more spaced pairs so that resilient deflection of each protrusion in the, or a, pair towards the other protrusion in the pair allows entry of the or each pair into a complimentary hole, the protrusions returning to their original non-deflected state after insertion so that the hooks or barbs on each protrusion prevent removal of the pair from the hole.

The attachment means may take other forms, for example a screw or screws or adhesive.

Preferably the valve means is in the form of a flap attached to a support part of the attachment piece and which can move from the first position to the second position when the fluid pressure reaches the threshold level. The flap may be bodily pivotable or it may be flexible so that part of the flap can flex for movement between the first and second positions. The flap may be urged normally to the first position, for example by gravity or applied loading on, or flexing of, the flap. The flap may be of a suitable plastics material. The bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use may be a hollow member. The channel may connect with the hollow interior of the rail. There may be one or more drainage openings from the channel into the interior of the rail and one or more drainage openings from the rail interior to the external surface of the rail to which the attachment piece is attached. Fluid may pass under gravity from the channel into the rail interior and out through the drainage opening or openings to the external surface by way of the valve means of the attachment piece. Fluid may be allowed to build up in the rail interior until the threshold level of fluid pressure on the valve means is reached for the valve means to take up its second position.

In the preferred form having a hood-like cover, the attachment piece preferably provides an outlet at the bottom of the cover whereby when the attachment piece is in use fluid which is discharged when the valve means is in the second position passes from the attachment piece, the outlet being positioned to be below the level of the or each discharge opening of the bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use. A bottom edge of the cover of the piece, forming a margin to the outlet spaced from the external surface of the bottom rail, is preferably tapered to allow easy exit of fluid from the outlet and to improve airflow through the outlet to the valve means.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a bottom rail for a door or window which includes an attachment piece according to the foregoing first aspect of invention to allow drainage of fluid from the bottom rail when installed for use. According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a door or window frame which has a bottom rail in accordance with the foregoing second aspect of the invention.

There now follows by way of example only a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying Figures, of which: Figure 1 shows a front view of a door in a frame; Figure 2 shows a partial cross-section of the door and a bottom rail of the frame of Figure 1 along the line 2-2, where an attachment piece according to the invention is fitted to the bottom rail and valve means thereof is in an open position; Figure 3 shows part of the bottom rail as in Figure 2 but with the valve means of the attachment piece shown in a closed position; Figure 4 shows a fragmentary isometric view of a front face of the bottom rail; Figure 5 shows an isometric rear view of the attachment piece; Figure 6 shows a rear elevational view of the attachment piece; Figure 7 shows an underneath plan view of the attachment piece; Figure 8 shows a side view of the attachment piece; Figure 9 shows a cross-section through the attachment piece along the line 9-9 of Figure 6, and Figure 10 shows a cross-section through the attachment piece along the line 10-10 of Figure 6.

The attachment piece fits to the outer face of the frame base to control drainage of fluid from a channel in the base of the frame when the fluid builds up to a pre-determined level.

Referring to Figure 1, a door 1 is supported in a frame 2 constructed of hollow frame members which may be of aluminium or a plastics material.

The frame 2 includes a bottom rail which is of a cross-section, as can be seen in Figure 2, comprising a hollow rectangular body portion 3, an outer wall 3a which forms part of the body portion, an inner wall 3b on a rearward extension 3c of a base wall 3d of the body portion 3 and a channel 4 between the body portion and the inner wall 3b. The base wall is inclined downwards from the inner wall to the outer wall. The outer wall 3a is raised above the level of the body portion 3 and the inner wall 3b. Seals 5 are applied to the outer and inner walls for sealing abutment with the bottom of the door 1 when it is closed in the frame 2.

Channel 4 is connected to the interior 6 of the body portion 3 of the bottom rail by a hole 7 at the bottom of the channel in a dividing wall 8 of the body portion 3. There is a drainage slot 9 in the outer wall 3a at the bottom of the interior of the body portion. Thus any fluid such as rain water which collects in the channel 4 can run by gravity into the interior 6 of the body portion from which there is drainage through the outer wall 3a by way of the drainage slot 9. An attachment piece 10 is attached to the outer wall of the bottom rail over the drainage slot 9. The attachment piece 10 has a hood-like cover portion 11 and a valve in the form of a resilient rectangular flap 12 which, as shown in Figure 6, is fixed along an upper edge 13 inside the rear of the top of the cover portion 11. The flap 12 normally occupies a closed position, as shown in Figure 3, in which it lies flat against the outer wall 3a of the bottom rail and closes the drainage slot 9, but it can flex under fluid pressure exerted on it at the drainage slot, to swing to an open position, as shown in Figure 2.

The flap 12 remains in the closed position, in Figure 3, until there is sufficient water in the interior 6 of the body portion 3 for the pressure of the water acting on the flap at the drainage slot 9 to reach a threshold level which is able to urge the flap to flex and swing to the open position to permit the drainage of the water through the drainage slot. The flap in the closed position prevents the ingress of water, dirt and other matter 14 into the interior of the body portion through the drainage slot, along the direction indicated by the arrow.

Near opposite ends of the cover portion 11, away from the flap 12, the attachment piece 10 has two bifurcated attachment pegs 15a, 15b which project rearwardly from the cover portion. The attachment pegs 15a, 15b push into two holes 16 in the outer wall 3a of the bottom rail, spaced symmetrically at either side of the drainage slot 9, so as to attach the attachment piece to the bottom rail. The pegs 15a, 15b have hooks or barbs 16 which snap over the inside surface of the outer wall 3a at the margins of the holes 16 when the pegs are pushed into the holes, to prevent removal of the attachment piece.

A bottom edge of the cover portion 11 of the attachment piece has a tapered surface, as can be seen in the Figure 5. This helps with airflow into the cover portion and exiting of water from the attachment piece. The bottom edge is below the level of the discharge slot and it provides a stop to determine the fully open position of the flap 12.

The hood portion of the attachment piece is made as a moulding of plastics material. The flap, which is fixed by adhesive, or welded, at its upper edge to the hood portion, is made of a plastics sheet material which has a degree of inherent stiffness but will flex under a pre-determined threshold level of fluid pressure exerted on the flap at the drainage slot to allow the flap to open. Resilience of the flap material urges the flap back to the closed position to close the drainage slot when the pressure on the flap reduces to below the threshold level.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. An attachment piece adapted to be attached to an external surface of a bottom rail of a door or window frame which rail has a channel to receive fluid and a drainage opening at said external surface communicating with the channel, the attachment piece being adapted to be fitted over the drainage opening and comprising attachment means to allow attachment of the piece to the external surface, and valve means which in a first position serves to block the drainage opening and in a second position allows discharge of fluid away from the channel through the opening, the transition from the first to the second position being effected in use of the attachment piece by pressure of fluid from the channel acting on the valve means at the drainage opening reaching a threshold level, above which threshold level fluid can escape through the drainage opening, and the valve means returning to its first position when the fluid pressure reduces to below the threshold level.
2. An attachment piece according to claim 1 which is made of a plastics material.
3. An attachment piece according to claim 1 or claim 2 which is adapted to serve more than one drainage opening in the bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use.
4. An attachment piece according to any preceding claim having a hood-like cover which extends over the or each drainage opening which the attachment piece serves in use.
5. An attachment piece according to claim 4 which provides an outlet at the bottom of the cover whereby when the attachment piece is in use fluid which is discharged when the valve means is in the second position passes from the attachment piece, the outlet being positioned to be below the level of the or each discharge opening.
6. An attachment piece according to claim 5 in which the cover has a tapered bottom edge forming a margin to the outlet spaced from the external surface of the bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use.
7. An attachment piece according to any preceding claim in which the attachment means comprises at least one protrusion which is engageable in a complementary hole in the bottom rail to which the attachment piece is attached for use.
8. An attachment piece according to claim 7 in which the or each protrusion is a peg.
9. An attachment piece according to claim 7 or claim 8 in which the or each protrusion has one or more hooks or barbs for resisting detachment of the protrusion from the complementary hole in which it is engaged in use.
10. An attachment piece according to any preceding claim in which the valve means comprises a flap attached to a support part of the attachment piece and movable relative to the support part between the first and second positions.
11. An attachment piece according to claim 10 in which the flap is bodily pivotable relative to the support part between the first and second positions.
12. An attachment piece according to claim 10 in which the flap is flexible and part of the flap flexes for movement between the first and second positions.
13. An attachment piece according to any of claims 10 to 12 in which the flap is urged normally to the first position.
14. An attachment piece substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
15. A bottom rail for a door or window which includes an attachment piece as claimed in any preceding claim to allow drainage of fluid from the bottom rail when installed for use.
16. A bottom rail according to claim 15 comprising a hollow member having a channel to receive fluid and an external surface, the channel connecting with the interior of the hollow member by way of one or more drainage openings for fluid to pass from the channel into the interior of the hollow member, and the external surface has one or more drainage openings therethrough from the interior of the hollow member for fluid to pass through from the interior, the attachment piece being attached to the external surface over the drainage opening or openings.
17. A bottom rail according to claim 16 in which the hollow member and channel have a base wall which is downwardly inclined towards the external surface, and the drainage openings between the channel and interior of the hollow member and from the interior to the external surface are adjacent to the base wall for fluid to flow by gravity from the channel through the interior of the hollow member to the external surface.
18. A bottom rail and attachment piece in combination substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
19. A door or window frame which has a bottom rail as claimed in any of claims 15 to 18.