GB2435287A

GB2435287A - Wooden door

Info

Publication number: GB2435287A
Application number: GB0504466A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Leck
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-03-03
Filing date: 2005-03-03
Publication date: 2007-08-22
Anticipated expiration: 2025-03-03
Also published as: GB2435287B; GB0504466D0

Abstract

A wooden door comprises a main section 2 and a plurality of substantially horizontal ledges. The ledges are fixed to the main section and have a wood grain 10 extending substantially horizontally. At least one of the ledges extends across a major portion of the door width, terminating in a hinge attachment region comprising additional ledge section 6 having a grain extending in a different direction 14 to the gain of the main portion of the ledge, preferably at right angles. Preferably or alternatively to the grain direction feature, deformable layer (24, figure 3) is provided between the main and additional ledge sections, which is able to accommodate differential expansion between the ledge sections. Preferably, deformable layer (24) is synthetic rubber or foam. The additional and main sections may be joined by a biscuit 22 or tongue and groove joint. The width of the additional section is preferably large enough to accommodate screws for a butt hinge, and is from 10 and up to less than 25 percent of the width of the door. An additional ledge portion is preferably provided at both ends of all ledges of the door.

Description

This invention relates to wooden doors of traditional construction

having horizontal ledges.

There has in recent years been an increase in demand for a traditional style of wooden door for newly built properties and property renovations even in a modern architectural setting. However, the use of a traditional style of door having a plurality of adjacent vertical boards supported by horizontal ledges, with or without diagonal braces, has also required the use of old fashioned T-hinges and "Suffolk" style latches which are often made of wrought iron or hammered steel to match such hinges. Whilst in some applications a completely traditional appearance of door furniture is acceptable or desirable, the Applicant has appreciated that there are many instances where it would be desirable to be able to use more modern butt hinges, for example where a traditional type of door is intended for a more modern setting.

However, the Applicant has further appreciated that substantial difficulties arise in trying to use modern butt hinges with the traditional style of ledged door.

In particular, it has been appreciated that since modern butt hinges are usually wider than the width of the vertical boards, it is necessary to screw them into the ends of the ledges. However, since the ledges have a horizontally running grain it is difficult to make holes in and screw into the grain; whilst on the other hand even if screws are fitted, they are not held very well which can lead to hinges working loose over time, particularly where a heavy hardwood such as oak is used.

It has also been appreciated that since timber does not shrink or expand much in length under normal circumstances, the vertical board will move at a different rate to the horizontal].y running ledges across the width of the door. This can mean that if movement occurs, as is typical, the hinges can work loose or the proper alignment of the door in its frame is affected.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide wooden doors in which the aforementioned problems are at least alleviated and when viewed from a first aspect the invention provides a wooden door comprising a main section and a plurality of substantially horizontal ledges fixed to the main section and having a wood grain extending substantially horizontally, wherein at least one of said ledges extends across a major portion of the width of the door and is terminated in a hinge attachment region by an additional ledge section having a grain extending in a different direction to the grain of the ledge.

Thus it will be seen by those skilled in the art that in accordance with the invention a section at the end of at least one of the ledges has a grain running in a different direction which allows screws to be screwed into it without encountering the problems of screwing into end grain which were set out above. This allows the advantage of being able to screw a butt hinge into the ledge of the door whilst retaining the benefits of having a traditional ledged door.

The additional ledge section is preferably formed from the same timber as the ledge but merely rotated about a suitable axis to allow the grain to run in a different direction. Preferably the grain runs at substantially right-angles to the grain of the main part of the ledge.

The additional ledge section could simply be butted against the main ledge, but preferably it is joined thereto by a suitable joint, e.g. a tongue and groove or biscuit joint.

The width of the additional ledge section is preferably sufficient to accommodate screws of suitable length to hang the door using modern butt hinges. The width of the ledge section is preferably less than 25% of the width of the door, more preferably less than 15% and most preferably approximately 10% of the width of the door.

An additional ledge section may be provided at just one end of the ledge, but preferably an additional ledge section is provided at both ends of the ledge to allow the door to be hung from either side.

Although it will be beneficial in accordance with the invention to provide an additional ledge section on just one ledge of a door, preferably they are provided on at least two ledges. This means that two or more butt hinges can be advantageously attached in accordance with the invention.

The additional ledge section may be in direct contact with the rest of the ledge. However, in accordance with a particularly beneficial feature disclosed herein, a deformable layer is provided between the main ledge and the additional ledge section. This has the advantage of accommodating differential expansion between the additional ledge section and the main ledge without causing warping or other distortion.

This feature is considered to be novel and inventive in its own right, even where the additional ledge section does not have a differently running grain.

Thus when viewed from a second aspect the invention provides a wooden door comprising a main section and a plurality of ledges extending horizontally across the main section and attached thereto, at least one of said ledges extending across the majority of the width of the door and being terminated by an additional ledge section wherein a deformable layer is provided between the main ledge and the additional ledge section, said deformable layer being able to accommodate a degree of differential expansion between the main ledge and the additional ledge section.

The deformable layer could comprise any suitable materials such as synthetic rubber, foam etc. Certain preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a door in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a detailed drawing showing a ledge with additional ledge section in accordance with the invention; and Fig. 3 is a view of a ledge and additional end section in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a traditional ledged door which has been modified in accordance with the invention. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, the door comprises a series of four vertical boards 2 forming the main section of the door which are secured by a series -5.-of three parallel horizontal ledges 4 extending across the width of the door. However, in contrast with the conventional construction of a ledged door, the ledges 4 are not simple continuous boards across the width of the door but are terminated at either end by end sections 6 as may be seen more clearly in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows the edge of the door in more detail.

From here it may been seen that the ledge 4 stops short of the edge of the leftmost vertical board 2. As is indicated by the arrows 8, the vertical boards 2 have their grain running approximately vertically, whereas the grain of the main part of the ledge 4 runs horizontally as is shown by the arrow 10. This means that the end of the ledge 4 presents an end grain 12 when viewed from the side of the door. This end grain 12 is difficult initially to screw into in order to secure a hinge and furthermore will tend to allow the screw to work loose over time.

However, in accordance with the invention an additional ledge section 6 is provided which extends between the end of the main part of the ledge 4 and the edge of the door. The end piece 6 is fixed so as to have a vertical grain as indicated by the arrow 14. In other words, the grain of the end section 6 runs in a different direction to that of the main part of the ledge 4. This means that screws (not shown) may be easily but securely screwed into the end piece 6 to secure a modern style butt hinge 16. The end piece 6 has a recess 18 for accommodating part of one leaf of the hinge 16. The edge of the leftmost vertical board 2 has a similar recess 20 to accommodate the other half of the same leaf of the hinge.

To construct the door, the main structure of the door is fabricated by laying the vertical boards 2 side by side and fixing the ledges 4 horizontally across the back of the boards using screws. It will be observed that in the embodiment depicted the ledges 4 extend at least part way across all of the vertical boards 2.

Whilst this is not essential, it is considered desirable to guarantee the strength of the door as a whole.

The end section 6 is screwed to the leftmost vertical board 2 in alignment with the end of the main part of the ledge 4. The end piece 6 thus extends the ledge 4, to the edge of the door. The end piece 6 in the embodiment shown is joined to the main part of the ledge 4 by means of a biscuit joint 22, well known per se in the art. Of course any other suitable method of attachment could be used such as another type of joint, gluing, screws etc. It could even be secured through use of suitably long screws to attach the hinge 16 passing all the way through the end section.

The recesses 18,20 in the additional ledge section 6 and the vertical board 2 respectively may be formed before or after assembly. The hinge 16 is then screwed onto the door with a pair of screws (not shown) passing into the vertical board and a second pair of screws passing into the additional ledge section 6. It will be appreciated of course that as a result of the ledge end piece 6, all of the screws for the hinge 16 penetrate the grain of the wood at right angles and are therefore securely held. This allows an otherwise traditional ledged door to be hung by modern butt hinges.

Referring back to Fig. 1, it will be seen that although it is only normally necessary to use two butt hinges to hang a standard door which will pass into the end pieces 6 of the top and bottom ledges 4, end pieces 6 are also provided on the middle ledge to maintain a symmetrical look. Having the end pieces 6 at either end of the ledges 4 also maintains a symmetrical look and allows a door to be hung from either side.

Another embodiment of the invention will be explained with reference to Fig. 3. Most of the features of this embodiment are the same as those in the embodiment just described and so their description will not be repeated. What may be seen in Fig. 3 is a schematic depiction of a main part of a door ledge 4' and an additional ledge section 6 similar to those previously described. However, rather than the main part of the ledge and the end piece 6 butting against one another, they are separated by an expansion strip 24 which acts as a deformable layer between them. This expansion strip 24 accommodates some degree of relative movement between the main part of the ledge 4' and the additional section 6' without warping or other distortion. In this embodiment, the expansion strip 24 acts as a complete layer between the main part of the ledge 4' and the main piece 6' and thus these two pieces are not fixed together. However, a deformable layer could also be provided between the two parts if they are joined by a joint which can accommodate some horizontal movement e.g. with the deformable layer acting as a gasket extending only across part of the cross-sectioned area. The deformable layer need not be flat -it could be a coating on a shaped joint.

The deformable layer described above is of particular benefit where the end piece has its grain running in a different direction to the main part of the ledge since expansion tends to be different in the direction of the grain to that across it. However, it will be appreciated that the deformable layer is still advantageous where the end piece does not have grain running in a different direction to the rest of the ledge. For example, this feature could be employed in a ledged door with more traditional r!Tfl hinges to prevent distortion from expansion of the timber. In this application the end piece might be significantly wider than in embodiments where the grain runs in a different direction.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A wooden door comprising: a main section; and a plurality of substantially horizontal ledges fixed to the main section and having a wood grain extending substantially horizontally, wherein at least one of said ledges extends across a major portion of the width of the door and is terminated in a hinge attachment region by an additional ledge section having a grain extending in a different direction to the grain of the ledge.

2. A wooden door as claimed in claim 1 wherein the additional ledge section is formed from the same timber as the ledge but merely rotated about a suitable axis to allow the grain to run in a different direction.

3. A wooden door as claimed in claim 2, wherein the grain runs at substantially right-angles to the grain of the main part of the ledge.

4. A wooden door as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the additional ledge section is joined to the main ledge by a suitable joint.

5. A wooden door as claimed in claim 4, wherein the suitable joint comprises a tongue and groove or biscuit joint.

6. A wooden door as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the width of the additional ledge section is sufficient to accommodate screws of suitable length to hang the door using modern butt hinges.

7. A wooden door as claimed in claim 6, wherein the width of the ledge section is less than 25% of the width of the door.

8. A wooden door as claimed in claim 6, wherein the width of the ledge section is less than 15% of the width of the door.

9. A wooden door as claimed in claim 6, wherein the width of the ledge section is approximately 10% of the width of the door.

10. A wooden door as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein an additional ledge section is provided at both ends of the ledge to allow the door to be hung from either side.

11. A wooden door as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein an additional ledge section is provided on at least two ledges of the door.

12. A wooden door as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a deformable layer is provided between the main ledge and the additional ledge section.

13. A wooden door wooden door comprising: a main section; and a plurality of ledges extending horizontally across the main section and attached thereto, at least one of said ledges extending across the majority of the width of the door and being terminated by an additional ledge section, wherein a deformable layer is provided between the main ledge and the additional ledge section, said deformable layer being able to accommodate a degree of differential expansion between the main ledge and the additional ledge section.

14. A wooden door as claimed in claim 12 or 13, wherein the deformable layer comprises synthetic rubber.

15. A wooden door as claimed in claim 12, 13 or 14, wherein the deformable layer comprises foam.