GB2569679A

GB2569679A - Seal assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2569679A
Application number: GB1816373.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Bebb Michael
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-11-27
Filing date: 2018-10-08
Publication date: 2019-06-26
Anticipated expiration: 2038-10-08
Also published as: GB2569679B; GB201719628D0; GB201816373D0

Abstract

The assembly 20 comprises a seal member 22 with an adhesive layer 24 on a rear side thereof to permit mounting on the openable member or frame, a backing member 26 being provided to initially cover the adhesive layer wherein the backing member comprises first 26a and second 26b parts extending longitudinally adjacent each other such that the first part of the backing member can be removed to expose a first portion 24a of the adhesive layer to provide an initial mounting of the seal member on an openable member or frame. The seal member can subsequently be removed from the openable member or frame and further mounted on the openable member or fame by removing the second part of the backing member to expose a second portion 24b of the adhesive layer. The seal member may further comprise an intumescent, brush, strip or fin fire and smoke seal. Also disclosed is a seal arrangement and a method to mount said seal arrangement.

Description

This invention concerns a seal assembly, a seal arrangement and a method of forming a seal arrangement, and particularly relates to fire and smoke seals.

Seals are widely provided around doors to produce fire doors, which provide extended protection against fires and/or smoke passing around the door. Such seals are generally mounted in a groove. The seals are generally mounted in a door frame, but alternatively can be mounted in a door leaf. For a fire seal an intumescent material is provided, which in the event of a fire intumesces to close the gap around a door. For smoke seals a brush/fin or strip can be provided, and seals can be provided as combined fire and smoke seals. Typically, such seals are mounted by providing adhesive on the back or side of the seal, which adhesive is initially covered by a removable backing layer.

When mounting a door or other openable member with a seal, for instance in a new build situation, two possible approaches are generally adopted. The first is to initially not mount the seal on the door or frame, but rather supply it unfitted with a door set, with the seal to be fitted after the door or door frame has been painted and decorated. However, it may be that such seals are inadvertently not fitted, or are not correctly fitted or wrong seals are fitted to the wrong doors.

Also, as part of the fitting process, ironmongery such as latches and locks are fitted on to the door and/or frame which means the seals have to be cut where the ironmongery fits. Such ironmongery generally has radius corners meaning it is difficult to accurately cut the seals if not already on the door, to fit around the ironmongery. Accordingly, this approach tends to leave a gap which is unsightly, and provides a poor seal. This is particularly important at this location, as the ironmongery will become particularly hot in the event of a fire.

Fig. 1 illustrates a profile 10 which must be cut into a door frame 12 to accept such ironmongery, illustrating the rounded edges 14 required to accept the ironmongery. Fig. 2 shows a doorframe 12 once the ironmongery 16 has been fitted, and with a conventional intumescent seal 18 in place.

An alternative approach is to fit the seals into the doors or frames before the ironmongery is fitted. This generally provides a tidier appearance and enables accurate cutting of the seals around the ironmongery. The seals however have to be removed for painting and decorating, and it is difficult to satisfactorily refit the seals. The adhesive layer once removed will not work particularly well when refitted, and may for instance attract dirt and other material thereto which will reduce the adhesion between the seal and door frame. This approach can therefore lead to seals not being fitted properly, and could for instance lead to the seals subsequently being removed or dislodged, making the fire door not fit for purpose.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an elongate seal assembly, the assembly being mountable to an openable member or a frame for an openable member, the assembly including a seal member with an adhesive layer on a rear side thereof to permit mounting on the openable member or frame, a backing member being provided to initially cover the adhesive layer, the backing member comprising first and second parts extending longitudinally adjacent each other such that the first part of the backing member can be removed to expose a first portion of the adhesive layer to provide an initial mounting of the seal member on an openable member or frame, the seal member can subsequently be removed from the openable member or frame and further mounted on the openable member or frame having removed the second part of the backing member to expose a second portion of the adhesive layer.

The second part of the backing member may be at least as wide as the first part, and may be of greater width than the first part, and may be up to nine times wider than the first part.

The seal member may comprise any of an intumescent, brush, strip or fin fire and smoke seal.

The assembly may be between 10 and 25mm wide. The assembly may between 2 and 5mm deep.

The backing member may comprise more than two parts extending longitudinally adjacent each other.

The adhesive layer may comprise more than one part extending longitudinally adjacent each other.

The adhesive layer parts may correspond in number, size and/or location to the backing member parts.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a seal arrangement for an openable member provided in a frame, the arrangement comprising an elongate seal assembly according to any of the preceding four paragraphs mounted on a one of the openable member or frame.

A groove may be provided in the one of the openable member or frame, with the seal assembly locating in the groove.

In one type of seal part of the seal will extend out of the groove. Where the seal assembly is an intumescent seal, in normal use the seal may locate substantially wholly within the groove but will intumesce and extend outwardly from the groove in the event of a fire.

According to a still further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of forming a seal arrangement, the method comprising locating an elongate seal arrangement according to any of said preceding four paragraphs on a one of an openable member or frame by removing the first part of the backing member and adhering the seal member to the one of the openable member or frame with the first portion of the adhesive layer, removing the seal member from the openable member or frame to permit painting and/or decorating, and subsequently removing the second part of the backing member and re-adhering the seal member to the openable member or frame using the second portion of the adhesive layer.

A groove may be provided in the openable member or frame to locate the seal member.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Figs 1 and 2 are diagrammatic perspective views illustrating mounting of a conventional seal assembly on a doorframe;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic side views of a seal assembly according to the invention in respectively first, second and third conditions;

Figs. 6 to 8 are diagrammatic perspective views from beneath of a seal assembly according to the invention respectively in the first, second and third conditions;

Figs. 9 to 11 are diagrammatic sectional views of a seal assembly according to the invention in use, respectively in the first, second and third conditions;

Fig. 12 is a similar view to Fig. 11 but of a further seal according to the invention in the first condition;

Fig. 13 is a similar view to Fig. 9 but of a still further seal according to the invention in the first condition; and

Figs. 14,15 and 16 are similar views respectively to Figs. 9 to 11 but of a yet further seal according to the invention.

Figs. 3 to 8 show a sealing assembly 20 according to the invention. The sealing assembly 20 includes a sealing member 22 and may for example be in the form of a smoke seal with the sealing member 22 in the form of a brush/fin or strip, or an intumescent seal in the form of a length of an intumescent material.

Beneath the seal member 22 is an adhesive layer 24 which is initially at least covered by a backing member 26. The backing member 26 is divided into first and second parts 26A, 26B along the length of the assembly to provide first and second portions 24A, 24B of the adhesive layer. As shown in Figs. 6 to 8 the first and second backing member parts 26A, 26B may be of similar width.

In use the seal member 22 can initially be mounted on an openable member 28 such as a door or perhaps on a frame. The seal member 22 is initially mounted by removal of the first part 26A of the backing member to expose the first portion 24A of the adhesive layer. The seal member 22 is then mounted to the openable member 28, and usually in a groove 30 therein, by the first portion 24A of the adhesive layer.

In Figs. 3 to 8 the first part 26A of the backing member is removed only for part of its length, but in practice the whole length of the first part 26A of the backing member may be removed. In this state the door or other openable member with the seal member 22 attached, can be mounted in place in a frame and any ironmongery or other items can be mounted to the door and frame as required. This means that if for instance any openings or recesses are cut into the door, these will also be cut into the seal member 22.

When it is required to decorate or paint the door or frame, the seal member 22 is removed. After decoration or painting the seal member 22 can be replaced. This is achieved by removing the second part 26B of the backing member exposing the second portion 24B of the adhesive layer. This means that a freshly exposed part of the adhesive layer 24 is available to provide a good bond between the seal member 22 and the door or frame. By this time the first portion 24A of the adhesive layer may have lost some of its tackiness and/or may have dirt or other material adhered thereto meaning that the first portion 24A would probably not provide a good bond between the seal member 22 and the door or frame.

Figs. 9 to 11 show a further sealing assembly 21 with a seal member 22 located in a groove 30 provided in the openable member 28. The seal member 22 comprises a main body 23 located in the groove 30, and two upstanding fins 25 extending along each side edge of the body 23, and extending outwardly from the groove 30. The sealing assembly 20 is a fire and smoke seal and the main body 23 of the seal member 22 is made of an intumescent material which will expand out of the groove 30 in the event of a fire. The backing member 26 in Figs. 9 to 12 has a first part 26A which is approximately a third of the width of the second part 26B.

The sealing assembly 32 of Fig. 12 is just a fire seal and has an intumescent seal member 34 which lies substantially flush within the groove 30. The intumescent seal member 34 may for example be of hydrated sodium silicate or graphite and will remain in the groove 30 except in the case of a fire when the intumescent material would intumesce and extend outwardly from the groove 30 to provide a seal between the door or other openable member and the frame.

Fig. 13 shows a sealing assembly 36 which is similar to the sealing assembly 21 except that the adhesive layer 24 is formed of two separate portions 24A and 24B. In practice this may mean that after an initial mounting of the assembly 36 the first portion 24A of the adhesive layer may for instance remain on a door or frame, or may be removed.

As well as the adhesive layer potentially being formed of more than one part, the backing member may be formed of more than two parts. Figs. 14 to 16 show respectively a still further sealing assembly 38 with the backing member provided in three parts 26A, 26B and 26C, with outer parts 26A and 26C being significantly narrower than a wide central part 26B. At Fig. 15 the outer backing parts 26A, 26C have been removed, whilst in Fig. 16 the central backing part 26B has also been removed.

In this example the adhesive layer 24 is also provided in three similar parts 24A, 24B and 24C, with the outer parts 24A, 24C being used for the initial mounting, and the middle part 26B being used for the subsequent mounting.

The above described assemblies permit removal and good subsequent remounting on the door or frame of a seal member, once decoration or painting has taken place.

The seal assemblies are however of relatively conventional configuration and can thus be inexpensively manufactured using conventional techniques, thereby not significantly increasing the cost of the assemblies.

It is to be realised that a range of modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, different materials may be used in the seal. As indicated different relative widths between the two parts of the backing member may be provided. The seal assemblies may be used in applications other than those described.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable 5 feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. An elongate seal assembly, the assembly being mountable to an openable member or a frame for an openable member, the assembly including a seal member with an adhesive layer on a rear side thereof to permit mounting on the openable member or frame, a backing member being provided to initially cover the adhesive layer, the backing member comprising first and second parts extending longitudinally adjacent each other such that the first part of the backing member can be removed to expose a first portion of the adhesive layer to provide an initial mounting of the seal member on an openable member or frame, the seal member can subsequently be removed from the openable member or frame and further mounted on the openable member or frame having removed the second part of the backing member to expose a second portion of the adhesive layer.

2. A seal assembly according to claim 1, in which the second part of the backing member is at least as wide as the first part.

3. A seal assembly according to claim 2, in which the second part of the backing member is of greater width than the first part.

4. A seal assembly according to claim 3, in which the second part of the backing member is up to nine times wider than the first part.

5. A seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the seal member comprises any of an intumescent, brush, strip or fin fire and smoke seal.

6. A seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the assembly is between 10 and 25mm wide.

7. A seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the assembly is between 2 and 5mm deep.

8. A seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the backing member comprises more than two parts extending longitudinally adjacent each other.

9. A seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the adhesive layer comprises more than one part extending longitudinally adjacent each other.

10. A seal assembly according to claim 9, in which the adhesive layer parts correspond in number, size and/or location to the backing member parts.

11. A seal arrangement for an openable member provided in a frame, the arrangement comprising an elongate seal assembly according to any of the preceding claims mounted on a one of the openable member or frame.

12. A seal arrangement according to claim 11, in which a groove is provided in the one of the openable member or frame, with the seal assembly locating in the groove.

13. A seal arrangement according to claims 11 or 12, in which the seal part of the seal extends out of the groove.

14. A seal arrangement according to claims 11 or 12, in which the seal assembly is an intumescent seal, and in normal use the seal locates substantially wholly within the groove but will intumesce and extend outwardly from the groove in the event of a fire.

15. A method of forming a seal arrangement, the method comprising locating an elongate seal arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 10 on a one of an openable member or frame by removing the first part of the backing member and adhering the seal member to the one of the openable member or frame with the first portion of the adhesive layer, removing the seal member from the openable member or frame to permit painting and/or decorating, and 5 subsequently removing the second part of the backing member and re-adhering the seal member to the openable member or frame using the second portion of the adhesive layer.

16. A method according to claim 15, in which a groove is provided in the 10 openable member or frame to locate the seal member.

17. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed herein, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.