GB2369390A

GB2369390A - A moulded sectional door

Info

Publication number: GB2369390A
Application number: GB0026461A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nicholas John Sibley
Original assignee: Cardale Group Ltd
Current assignee: Cardale Group Ltd
Priority date: 2000-10-28
Filing date: 2000-10-28
Publication date: 2002-05-29
Anticipated expiration: 2020-10-28
Also published as: GB0026461D0; GB2369390B

Abstract

A sectional door comprises a series of abutting, moulded panels 10,11 hingedly secured to one another. The abutment between each adjacent pair of panels includes a joint defined by a tongue 16 projecting from a first said panel 10, and an undercut (Fig 1, 17) formed in the second panel of the pair. The tongue and undercut have regions of mutually complementary profile to prevent the formation of a notch that may trap fingers and objects during opening or closing of the door. The molded panels may incorporate embossments 20a, 20b that can form a design that crosses from one panel to another. At the points where the embossments reach the periphery of the panel, the tongue 16 and undercut (Fig 1, 17) may have similar embossments 16a and (Fig 1, 17a) to maintain the anti-pinch feature.

Description

A MOULDED, SECTIONAL DOOR

This invention relates to a moulded, sectional door.

In particular but not exclusively in the garage door art, it is known to provide so-called sectional doors.

A sectional door comprises a series of usually rectangular door panels that are hingedly secured to one another along adjoining, longitudinal edges to define a flexible door.

Each panel of the door has extending from either end a pin that in use of the door is slideably and rotatably received in one of a pair of spaced, parallel guide tracks.

The guide tracks are typically installed on either side of a garage door opening. The tracks extend upwardly at either side of the opening and arc rearwardly into the garage space.

Typically a sectional door is raised and lowered by manual pressure, which causes the pins (and hence the panels) to slide in a desired direction relative to the supporting tracks. A support mechanism for the door includes a counterbalance spring that supports most of the door mass over the majority of its travel. Consequently a user of the door does not have to support its entire mass when opening and closing the door.

In addition to the counterbalance spring a garage door drive motor may be slung from the ceiling inside the garage. The door gear then includes a linkage that attaches to the uppermost panel of the sectional door. On operation of the motor the sectional door is drawn upwardly and rearwardly,

with the pins sliding and pivoting in the tracks, to retract the sectional door to an open position.

Closing of the door is a reverse of this procedure.

As each panel of the sectional door enters the curved section of the track, whereby the panel retracts into an upper region of the interior of the garage, it pivots relative to the panels adjacent it on either side. The abutment between such adjoining panels therefore opens to define a V-notch extending across the width of the door.

The creation of the V-notch constitutes a safety hazard, since it is possible to place fingers into the V-notch. If this happens during closing of the sectional door there is a severe risk of crushing of the fingers.

Consequently it is becoming more and more common to incorporate an anti-trap device that operates to occupy the V-notch that opens between adjacent panels of a sectional door. However, such anti-trap devices are only suitable for straight edges, thereby limiting the scope for panel design and in particular the incorporation of anything other than straight edged, horizontal design features.

The individual panels of sectional doors typically are manufactured from sheet metal, either in a press, using press tooling; or by roll forming. In each case the tooling is capable of impressing the sheet metal only in a direction perpendicular to its major surface. Consequently the longitudinal edges of such panels (and, very commonly, their outwardly facing surfaces) are straight and featureless.

It is also known to manufacture the individual panels by extrusion, but such

panels are also unavoidably straight edged and suffer the same disadvantages as the pressed or roll formed panels. Also it is not possible to include design features in such panels that extend perpendicular to the longitudinal edges of the panels. In any event designers are discouraged from attempting to incorporate such design features because the aforesaid anti-trap devices succeed only when the longitudinal edges of the panels are straight, horizontal lines when in the in-use position.

In other words the door panels may only be decorated with aesthetic features such as embossments and depressions whose dimensions are limited by the longitudinal edges of the individual panels. Thus the decorations on most sectional garage door panels extend horizontally. It would be desirable to provide a sectional garage door that is capable of providing vertically extending aesthetic features such as embossments and depressions, while simultaneously providing anti-trap features.

According to the invention in a first aspect there is provided a sectional door as defined in Claim 1.

The use of a knuckle joint between adjacent door panels as defined in Claim 1 provides an inherent anti-pinch feature that is present in the door as soon as it is assembled.

Manufacture of the door as a series of moulded panels permits the incorporation of aesthetic features that extend perpendicular to the longitudinal edges of the panels. Such features extend vertically in use of the door, thereby permitting garage door designs that hitherto have not been possible. Such features can therefore be arranged to give the impression

that they are continuous, vertically extending features, especially when the sectional door is closed. This in turn draws the attention of an observer away from the (usually but not necessarily) horizontal shut lines between the panels making up the door. The shut lines are in any event arranged in preferred embodiments to be as narrow as possible, partly for aesthetic reasons and partly to maximise their anti-trap effect.

Preferably each of the tongues is convexly curved in the region of complementary profile to the adjacent undercut.

This feature defines an undercut knuckle that prevents the formation of the aforesaid V-notch, and thereby enhances the safety of the door.

More specifically, the curvature of each said tongue is generally congruent to the locus of hinging of a said pair of panels one relative to another. This advantageously ensures that the tongue of one door panel does not foul on the undercut of an adjacent door panel during hinging of the panels as the sectional door moves around the curved part of the track.

It is further advantageous that the tongue and undercut are as defined in Claim 4. These features permit the abutments between adjacent door panels to be substantially flush with one another, with no easily visible gaps between adjacent panels. This enhances the attractiveness of the door.

Preferably the outer surfaces of the panels include embossments and/or depressions defining one or more features that extend beyond the periphery of an individual panel. Thus the sectional door of the invention may include design features that extend eg. vertically, or at an angle to the horizontal, in use of the door.

In an alternative arrangement, the sectional door may be employed with the longitudinal dimensions of the individual panels extending vertically ; and the tracks extending horizontally. In such an embodiment, of course, the features of Claim 5 permit the use of eg. horizontal design features that hitherto would not have been possible.

In any event, where the panels include embossments and/or depressions in the regions where the embossments and/or depressions intersect the peripheries of the panels the tongues and undercuts are embossed and/or depressed. This permits the anti-pinch feature to inure even in regions where there are embossments and/or depressions.

In particularly preferred embodiments the panels are moulded from GRP.

As an alternative it is possible to vacuum form the panels eg. from ABS (Acylonitrile Butandiene Styrene) copolymer.

Preferably the rear face of each panel is as defined in Claim 8; whereby to permit mounting of a hinge interconnecting each adjacent pair of door panels as defined in Claim 9.

An advantage of the hinge mount bars of Claim 8 is that they may overlie any depressions in the rear face of the door that define embossments in the front face of the door, thereby providing a constant datum for securing of the hinges.

The invention also resides in a garage door assembly as defined in Claim 10. Optional features of the assembly are defined in the claims dependent from Claim 10.

There now follows a description of a preferred embodiment of the

invention, by way of non-limiting example, with reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which : Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of a pair of door truncated panels forming part of a garage door according to the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the pair of truncated panels of Figure 1, with the panels hinged relative to one another; and Figure 3 is a perspective, rear view of the truncated panels of Figure 1 showing a hinge mounting bar and hinge.

In the accompanying drawings the door panels are shown truncated for ease of viewing. In practice, of course, the height of each panel would be greater than that shown.

Also the panels in the drawings omit the pins whereby they are retained in the guide tracks for the garage door. In practical embodiments, of course, each panel would have extending at either end a pin of per se known design.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a pair, 10, 11 of sectional door panels.

Each panel has a front face loua, 11 a that in use constitutes part of the outer surface of a garage door assembled from a series of the panels 10, 11.

Each panel 10, 11 also includes a rear face lOb, llb that in use of the sectional door of the invention eg. as a garage door would face the interior of the garage.

The panels are hingedly secured to one another by means of an interconnecting hinge 12.

Hinge 12 has a respective leaf 13, 14 secured to a rear face lOb, lIb of a said panel 10, 11, in a manner described in more detail herein below.

Since hinge 12 is secured to the rear faces lOb, 1 lb of the panels, the panels 10, 11 are hingable from the position shown in Figure 1 (in which the panels are in mutually parallel alignment) to a configuration as shown in Figure 2 in which the panels are skew one relative to another.

The location of hinge 12 defines a region of abutment between the panels, extending from hinge 12 towards the respective front faces I Oa, I I a.

In the region of the abutment panel 10 includes a tongue 16 extending therefrom in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension of the panel 10.

As is evident from Figure 2, tongue 16 so extends along an entire longitudinal edge of panel 10.

Panel 11 includes an undercut 17 extending between the longitudinal edge adjacent panel 10 and rear face 1 Ib.

As is evident from Figures I and 2, the majority of the profile of tongue 16 is convexly curved; and is of complementary shape to undercut 17.

The hinge 12 spaces the door panels 10,11 only a short distance away from one another. This, together with the complementary profiles of the tongue 16 and undercut 17 as aforesaid, ensures that on hinging of the panels to the configuration shown in Figure 2 the V-shaped notch that would otherwise develop is entirely occupied by tongue 16. Consequently it is impossible for any person to place any part of his anatomy, or any other object, into the

gap between the hinged panels visible in Figure 2 such that damage or injury may occur. The curvature of tongue 16 generally replicates the locus of hinging of the panels 10,11 one relative to the other. This ensures that the tongue 16 does not foul on the undercut 17 during hinging of the panels; whilst ensuring only a minimal spacing between the panels to serve as an anti-trap feature.

The upper edge of tongue 16 adjacent outer face lOa terminates in an upwardly extending shoulder 18. Shoulder 18 is in preferred embodiments of the invention made as shallow as possible.

The undercut 17, in the region adjacent shoulder 18 in Figure 1, terminates in an upstanding edge 19 of complementary profile to shoulder 18. Edge 19 is also made as shallow as possible.

When the panels 10, 11 are mutually aligned as shown in Figure 1, edge 19 abuts shoulder 18, or at least lies spaced therefrom by only a very short distance. Consequently the joint line between the panels 10,11 is barely visible when the front faces I Oa, I I a of the panels are viewed.

The shallowness and mutual proximity of shoulder 18 and edge 19 assist in providing the aforesaid anti-trap function.

The outer surfaces 1Oa, 11 a of the panels 10,11 include (shown in dotted lines in Figure 1) embossments 20a, 20b that define aesthetically attractive features on the outer surface of a sectional garage door made up of a series of the panels 10,11 joined together.

As is best seen in Figure 2, each feature defined eg. by embossments 20a,

20b extends beyond the longitudinal edge of each panel 10, 11 despite the discrete nature of the panels. Consequently it is possible to devise designs of sectional garage door in which the aesthetic features extend perpendicular to the longitudinal dimensions of the individual panels, as illustrated in the drawing figures.

This possibility permits eg. the presence of vertically extending aesthetic features in sectional doors whose panels have their longitudinal axis extending horizontally. This has not previously been possible.

As is illustrated by dotted lines in Figure 1 and in three dimensions in Figure 2, in the regions where the embossments and/or depressions intersect the peripheries of the panels 10,11, the tongue 16 and undercut 17 are similarly embossed and/or depressed, as signified by reference numbers 16a and 17a in the drawings. This permits the anti-trap feature to exist even in regions where there are embossments and/or depressions.

The preferred material of manufacture of the garage doors is hand laid up (moulded) glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP). This choice of material, together with the close abutment of shoulder 18 and edge 19, facilitates the inclusion of the aforesaid aesthetic features that extend beyond the peripheries of the individual panels 10,11.

As is best shown in Figure 3 each panel 10,11 includes a hinge mounting bar 22 extending along a longitudinal edge of the panel that in use adjoins another said panel 10, 11.

As exemplified by leaf 14 of hinge 12 visible in Figure 3, hinge mounting bar may have secured thereto (eg. by screws as shown, although any

alternative fixing may optionally be used) one leaf 14 of a hinge 12. The other leaf 13 of the hinge 12 may be similarly secured to another, similar hinge mounting bar 22 secured to the adjacent panel.

Hinge mounting bar 22 is in preferred embodiments a length of timber batten that is bonded to the GRP material.

As is evident from Figure 3, the use of the hinge mounting bar accommodates undulations in the rear surface of each panel 10,11 caused by the presence of the embossments and/or depressions.

Where there is a depression in the rear face of the door panel 10,11, the hinge mounting bar simply bridges the depression as illustrated in Figure 3.

In an alternative arrangement, in which a portion of the rear face of a panel 10,11 is raised relative to the remainder, hinge mounting bar 22 may be suitably hollowed to accommodate the raised portion.

Figure 3 also shows an alternative arrangement for securing the leaves of the hinges. Therefore leaf 13 of hinge 12 is in Figure 3 shown not secured to the lower hinge mounting bar 22 visible in that figure.

Hinge 13 is instead screwed to a metal shim 23 that is bonded to a flange defining the rear face of an edge of panel 10.

In practice if the shim 23 is employed to secure a leaf of the hinge 12 of the hinge mounting bars 22 may be dispensed with.

It is possible to devise fixing arrangements for adjacent panels that employ combinations of the hinge mounting bars 22 and metal shims 23.

In practical embodiments of the invention there would of course be a series of the hinges 12 interconnecting the edges of adjacent panels, at locations that are spaced along the longitudinal edges of the panels. Alternatively a continuous length of hinge could be used, extending across the full panel width.

A garage door assembly according to the invention includes a frame supporting a pair of spaced, parallel tracks that may extend generally horizontally, generally vertically or indeed at another orientation.

The assembly includes a sectional door, according to the invention, having a series of the panels 10,11 secured together in the manner described herein.

Each of the panels is slideably and pivotably captive relative to the said tracks, eg. by virtue of the aforesaid pins that in practical embodiments of the invention extend one from either minor end edge of each panel.

The mass of the door in the assembly is counterbalanced whereby to minimise its apparent weight to a user or to a raising/lowering motor.

Counterbalancing of the door mass is achievable eg. through use of a pretensioned spring whose potential energy is transmitted to the sectional door by a per se known pulley and cable arrangement.

The assembly also optionally includes a drive motor (together with associated power supply, control gear and safety features); and a linkage operatively connecting the drive motor to open and close the sectional door according to the loci of the panels defined by the tracks.

Claims

1. A sectional door comprising a series of abutting, moulded panels hingedly secured to one another, the abutment between each adjacent pair of panels including a tongue projecting from a first said panel of the pair and an undercut formed in the second said panel of the pair, the tongue and undercut having regions of mutually complementary profile whereby during hinging of the said pair of panels out of mutually parallel alignment the tongue substantially occupies the region between the adjacent edges of the said pair of panels.

2. A sectional door according to Claim 1 wherein each said tongue is convexly curved in the region of complementary profile to the adjacent undercut.

3. A sectional door according to Claim 2 wherein the curvature of each said tongue is generally congruent to the locus of hinging of a said pair of panels one relative to another.

4. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein each said tongue terminates in an upstanding shoulder adjacent the outer surface of the door; and each said undercut terminates in an upstanding edge of complementary profile to the said shoulder, that lies generally in abutment with an adjacent said shoulder when the panels are in mutually parallel alignment.

5. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein the outer surfaces of the panels include embossments and/or depressions defining one or more features that extend beyond the periphery of an individual panel.

6. A sectional door according to Claim 5 wherein in the regions where the embossments and/or depressions intersect the peripheries of the panels the tongues and undercuts are embossed and/or depressed.

7. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein the panels are moulded from GRP.

8. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein the rear face of each panel has secured thereto a hinge mounting bar extending along an edge of the panel that in use adjoins another said panel.

9. A sectional door according to Claim 8 wherein each said hinge mounting bar has secured thereto a leaf of a hinge the other leaf of which is secured to the said hinge mount bar of another said panel.

10. A garage door assembly comprising: a frame supporting a pair of spaced, parallel tracks; a sectional door, according to any preceding claim, each respective panel of which is slideably and pivotably captive relative to the said tracks, whereby the sectional door is openable and closeable according to loci of the panels defined by the said tracks.

11. A garage door assembly according to Claim 10 including a counterbalance for at least part of the mass of the sectional door.

12. A garage door assembly generally as herein described.

12. A garage door assembly according to Claim 11 including a drive motor; and a linkage operatively connecting the drive motor to open and close the sectional door.

13. A sectional door generally as herein described, with reference to and/or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

14. A garage door assembly generally as herein described.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows

1. A sectional door comprising a series of abutting, moulded panels hingedly secured to one another, the abutment between each adjacent pair of panels including a tongue projecting from a first said panel of the pair and an undercut formed in the second said panel of the pair, the tongue and undercut having regions of mutually complementary profile whereby during hinging of the said pair of panels out of mutually parallel alignment the tongue substantially occupies the region between the adjacent edges of the said pair of panels, wherein the outer surfaces of the panels include embossments and/or depressions defining one or more features that extend beyond the periphery of an individual panel; and wherein in the regions where the embossments and/or depressions intersect the peripheries of the panels the tongues and undercuts are embossed and/or depressed.

5. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein the t : l panels are moulded from GRP.

6. A sectional door according to any preceding claim wherein the rear face of each panel has secured thereto a hinge mounting bar extending along an edge of the panel that in use adjoins another said panel.

7. A sectional door according to Claim 6 wherein each said hinge mounting bar has secured thereto a leaf of a hinge the other leaf of which is secured to the said hinge mount bar of another said panel.

8. A garage door assembly comprising : a frame supporting a pair of spaced, parallel tracks ; a sectional door, according to any preceding claim, each respective panel of which is slideably and pivotably captive relative to the said tracks, whereby the sectional door is openable and closeable according to loci of the panels defined by the said tracks.

9. A garage door assembly according to Claim 8 including a counterbalance for at least part of the mass of the sectional door.

10. A garage door assembly according to Claim 9 including a drive motor; and a linkage operatively connecting the drive motor to open and close the sectional door.

11. A sectional door generally as herein described, with reference to and/or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.