GB2510470A

GB2510470A - Retractable handle assembly with rotation prevention

Info

Publication number: GB2510470A
Application number: GB201321447A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Leonard Johnson
Original assignee: Grouphomesafe Ltd
Current assignee: Era Home Security Ltd
Priority date: 2012-12-06
Filing date: 2013-12-05
Publication date: 2014-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2033-12-05
Also published as: GB201321447D0; CN103850523A; GB2510470B; CN103850523B

Abstract

A handle assembly having a back plate 5 for affixing to a door, e.g. bi-fold door, a rotatable catch spindle operable for moving a catch into an engaged or disengaged position and a handle grip 22 adjoining a stem portion 24 axially sliding on the spindle for movement between a first position in which the grip 22 is proximate to and retained on the back plate to prevent turning of the handle and a second position in which the grip is spaced from the handle base to provide clearance between the grip and back plate to release the handle for turning. The handle grip is preferably returned/retracted to the first position automatically by magnets 61. A splined portion may protrude from the back plate and engage in a recess in the handle grip to prevent rotation of the handle in the retracted first position. The handle may include an aperture to align with visual markers on the back plate to indicate the position of the catch.

Description

HANDLE ASSEMBLY

The invention relates to a handle assembly for a catch on a door, window or other similar closure, more especially for use with a bi-fold door, and to a locking system and bi-fold door incorporating said handle assembly.

When designing a catch handle for doors, windows or like closures, consideration must be given to the clearance between the underside of the handle grip and the door or window sash surface the handle is mounted onto. Insufficient clearance can make the handle difficult to operate and personal injury may result.

Special considerations apply to so called bi-fold doors, sometimes referred to as bi-parting doors, which typically comprise two or more sashes or panels connected together by hinges or the like that can fold in or out to be fully opened, partially opened or totally closed. Such bi-fold doors operate using a simple tracking mechanism running along the top and bottom sided edges of the doors. In recent years, such bi-fold doors have increased in popularity, especially in domestic homes where the doors can be opened to provide uninterrupted access from the interior of the home to a garden space.

As is well understood in the art, the term "bi-fold door" or "bi-parting door" embraces doors, windows or the like that comprise two or more connected sashes or panels, including both odd and even numbers of panels, and references herein are to be interpreted accordingly.

Such closures are sometimes alternatively referred to as multi-fold doors.

Due to the mechanical function of a bi-fold door, the clearance between adjacent door sashes when the doors are fully open needs to be kept to an absolute minimum in order to maximise the door opening aperture and ensure the door sashes can be stacked in close alignment, preferably parallel to each other, when fully open. For this reason, it is desirable that any handle on the door has a low profile. Equally, where the handle remains external to a folded panel, a low profile is similarly desirable, both from aesthetic and safety considerations. However, as mentioned, handles with low profiles are often difficult to operate and the lack of clearance between the handle grip and the panel or frame can result in a user scraping his or her knuckles as the handle is turned.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a handle assembly for a door or the like, especially for a bi-fold door, that is easily operable yet does not substantially obstruct the stacking or folding of the doors, or does not project significantly from the exposed face of the end sash when the door is in an open configuration.

From a first aspect, the present invention therefore resides in a handle assembly for fitting to a door sash, such as a sash of a bi-fold door or the like, the assembly comprising a back plate for affixing to a door frame, a rotatable catch spindle operable on a catch for moving the catch into an engaged position or a disengaged position according to the direction of rotation, and a handle having a grip portion adjoining a stem portion, wherein the stem portion is slidingly mounted on the spindle for movement between a first position in which the grip portion is proximate to and retained on the back plate to prevent turning of the handle and a second position in which the grip portion is spaced from the handle base to provide knuckle clearance between the grip portion and back plate and to release the handle for turning.

By means of the invention, a user may pull the handle grip away from the door sash before turning the handle to operate the catch and thereby avoid scraping his/her knuckles against the sash as the handle is turned. After operation of the catch, the handle can be returned to the original, first position. As will be appreciated, in returning the handle to the first position, if the spindle is not first counter-rotated by turning the handle back to its initial starting position, the catch will remain in a disengaged position, typically retracted into the side edge of the sash, or frame member thereof. Alternatively, the handle may be turned back its initial starting position prior to returning the handle to the first position to so that the catch once more projects from the frame.

In a typical bi-fold door arrangement, each sash comprises an aluminium, uPVC coated-aluminium or wooden frame surrounding a glazed panel, such as a single, double or triple glazed panel, so that the panel section is slimmer than the surrounding frame. To enable adjacent sashes to lie parallel with each other when the door is in an open configuration, the handle grip is preferably substantially planar. This allows the handle grip to lie substantially flat against the underlying back plate in the first position effectively minimising the profile of the handle assembly. As will be appreciated, in the first position, the stem portion of the handle will be substantially entirely retracted within the back plate and door frame.

The handle assembly of the invention is installed on the sash frame, along the left of right side thereof, and the back plate and handle grip are preferably elongate, for example lozenge-shaped, with their longer edges aligned with the side edges of the frame. Ideally, rotating the handle grip of the handle through about 1800 moves the catch between engaged and disengaged states. Thus, in both engaged and disengaged positions the handle grip is aligned with and overlies the back plate.

To provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance, the handle grip preferably substantially covers the back plate, or more preferably extends beyond the back plate perimeter, so that in the first position at least, the back plate is wholly obscured, at least when viewed from the front. The handle grip may have substantially straight sides or may be contoured to provide a more comfortable gripping shape for the user.

In the first position, the handle grip sits on or overlies the back plate (sometimes also referred to as the handle base) and is retained on the back plate to prevent rotation of the handle grip. Preferably this is achieved through complementary features on the handle grip and base. The complementary features may for example comprise one or more splines on the base or back plate which engage with one or more undercuts on the handle grip.

Alternatively, the splines may be provided on the handle with complementary recesses on the base.

To free the handle grip and permit operation of the catch, the handle grip is pulled away from the handle base, for example, resulting in separation of the splines from the complementary undercuts. The handle grip is pulled a sufficient distance to provide comfortable knuckle clearance between the handle grip and handle base; what would be regarded as a comfortable distance can differ for different users, so that the handle may not always be pulled out to its maximum extent before the handle grip is turned.

While the user may be responsible for pushing the handle grip back towards the sash after operation of the handle, the handle grip may be automatically returned or at least assisted to return to the first position. For example, the catch handle may be provided with one or more magnets for drawing the handle grip back towards the handle base or back plate. Preferably the handle base or back plate is provided with one or more permanent magnets for attracting the handle grip. The handle grip itself may include one or more magnets, but may alternatively comprise a magnetic material, for example the handle grip may comprise a powder coated aluminium alloy. Equally, the back plate may incorporate a magnetic material, such as a magnetic alloy, for attracting one or more magnets on the handle grip.

The use of magnets ensures that the catch handle is always returned to the first position whenever the handle grip is released. As described hereinbefore, the handle grip can be returned to the first position with the catch in an engaged or disengaged state depending on the rotation of the handle grip with the spindle. In some circumstances, such as when the door is in a closed position, it may not be possible to see whether the catch is operational as the side edges of adjacent sashes are in abutment. Therefore it is preferable to provide a visual indicator for a user to determine which of the engaged or disengaged states the catch isin.

The handle grip may for example include an aperture or window that aligns with an indicator on the back plate, depending on the rotation of the handle grip. In one preferred arrangement, handle base is provided at opposite ends with contrasting markers such that when the handle grip is returned against the base with the catch in an engaged position a "secured" marker is visible (such as a red panel, pad or the like) through the aperture and when the handle grip is returned against the base with the catch in a disengaged position an "unsecured" marker is visible (such as a green panel, pad or the like) through the aperture.

Upon seeing the "unsecured" marker, a user will know that the door may be opened. The aperture surround may be contoured so that a person who is visually impaired can readily recognise the orientation of the aperture on the handle grip by touch and hence determine the position of the catch.

The stem portion adjoining the grip portion is preferably hollow for accommodating a length of the spindle within and permitting the stem portion to slide along the spindle when moving the handle between first and second positions. The inner surface of the stem portion may be profiled, such as polygonal in cross-section, so that rotation of the stem portion about its longitudinal axis when the handle is turned drives rotation of the spindle. Other alternative arrangements are of course possible, such as providing opposing internal projections on the inner surface of the stem portion for engaging in grooves along the length of the spindle, or vice versa.

From a further aspect, the present invention resides in a bi-fold door system comprising two or more adjoining sashes for installation on a track fitted to an opening in a building and at least one handle assembly as hereinbefore described for fitting to the frame member of an end sash for securing the end sash to a non-adjoining sash or to the frame around the opening.

The invention will now be illustrated in the following drawings by way of example only in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a handle assembly according to the invention in a first position as mounted on a door frame; Figure 2 is a side view of the handle assembly of Figure 1 in a second position; Figures 3 and 4 are perspective views of the handle assembly of Figures 1 and 2 respectively; and Figure 5 is a front view of the handle assembly of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a handle assembly 1 comprising back plate 5 mounted on an upright frame section 12 of sash 10. A handle 20 having a planar handle grip 22 rests against and is secured on the back plate 5, and extends beyond the upper and lower edges of the back plate 5. The handle grip 22 lies flush with the back plate 5 in this first position in which the handle has its lowest profile.

Figure 2 shows the handle 20 in a second position, the handle grip 22 being drawn away from the back plate 5 to expose part of the stem portion 24 which surrounds the spindle (not shown). In this second position, the handle grip 22 is freed from the back plate 5 allowing the handle 20 to be turned to operate the catch. Further, there is space between the handle grip 22 and frame section 10 to allow a user comfortably to grasp and turn the handle grip 22.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the handle 20 in the first position as shown in Figure 1. The handle grip 22 includes an aperture 26 extending through the grip to expose an underlying portion of the back plate 5. The aperture 26 lies above or below the stem portion 24 depending on whether the handle catch is in the secured or unsecured position, achieved by rotating the handle grip 22 through 180°. As may be seen from Figure 4 in which the handle is shown pulled out to the second position, the underlying back plate 5 carries markers 51, 52 which align with the aperture 26 when the catch (not shown) is in its secured and unsecured positions respectively. Thus any person viewing the door 10 can see whether the handle 20 is secured or unsecured according which of the markers 51, 51 is visible through the aperture 26. The back plate 5 is also provided with a pair of magnets 61a, 61b for attracting the handle grip 22 which comprises a magnetic material, so that upon release of the handle grip 22 by a user, the grip is drawn back to re-engage with the back plate 5.

A splined member 30 surrounds an aperture through the back plate 5 and is fixed thereto.

The stem portion 24 reciprocates through the aperture according to the position of the

S

handle grip 22. The rear face 28 of the handle grip 22 includes a complementary profile to the splined member in the form of a recess or undercut (not shown) around the stem portion 24 to accommodate the splined member 30 and prevent rotation of the handle grip 22 when in the first position resting against the back plate 5.

Various adaptations and modifications may be made and it is to be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the specific ways described herein and the scope of the invention is determined by the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A handle assembly for fitting to a door sash, such as a sash of a bi-fold door or the like, comprising a back plate for affixing to a door frame, a rotatable catch spindle operable on a catch for moving the catch into an engaged position or a disengaged position according to the direction of rotation, and a handle having a grip portion adjoining a stem portion, wherein the stem portion is slidingly mounted on the spindle for movement between a first position in which the grip portion is proximate to and retained on the back plate to prevent turning of the handle and a second position in which the grip portion is spaced from the handle base to provide knuckle clearance between the grip portion and back plate and to release the handle for turning.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein handle comprises an assisted return mechanism for automatically returning the handle grip to the first position.
3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the assisted return mechanism comprises a magnetic return mechanism.
4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein the back plate carries one or a pair of magnets and the handle grip is comprised of magnetic material, or vice versa.
5. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims 1, wherein in the first position the handle grip overlies the back plate and is retained thereon to prevent rotation of the handle grip.
6. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the back plate is splined for engaging with one or more undercuts on the handle grip.
7. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handle grip is substantially planar for lying substantially flat against the underlying back plate in the first position.
8. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein in use the stem portion of the handle is substantially entirely retracted within the back plate and door frame in the first position.
9. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a visual indicator for enabling a user to determine whether the catch is in a projecting or retracted state when the handle grip retained on the back plate in the first position.
10. The assembly of claim 9, wherein the handle grip includes a window and the back plate includes a marker that aligns with the window when the handle grip is retained on the back plate with the catch in projecting state, or that aligns with the window when the handle grip is retained on the back plate with the catch in a retracted state.
ii. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the back plate includes contrasting upper and lower markers, on opposite sides of the stem portion aperture, whereby one of said markers is visible through the window when the handle grip is retained with the catch in a projecting state and the other said marker is visible through the window when the handle grip is retained with the catch in a retracted state.
12. The assembly of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the handle grip window has a contoured surround for providing a tactile indicator for enabling a user to determine whether the catch is in a projecting or retracted state when the handle grip retained on the back plate in the first position.
13. A bi-fold door system comprising two or more adjoining sashes for installation on a track fitted to an opening in a building and at least one handle assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 for fitting to the frame member of an end sash for securing the end sash to a non-adjoining sash or to the frame around the opening when the sashes are closed.
14. A handle assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures ito 5 of the accompanying drawings.