SE541769C2

SE541769C2 - Sliding door arrangement

Info

Publication number: SE541769C2
Application number: SE1750173A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Lars Rydén
Original assignee: Elfa Int Ab
Priority date: 2017-02-20
Filing date: 2017-02-20
Publication date: 2019-12-10
Also published as: EP3583284A1; RU2019128024A; RU2019128024A3; SE1750173A1; EP3583284A4; WO2018151651A1

Description

SLIDING DOOR ARRANGEMENT Field of the invention The present disclosure relates to a sliding door arrangement comprising a top rail and at least one sliding door configured to be suspended from the top rail, which comprises a fastening arrangement for being attached to a material above the top rail.

Technical background Such an arrangement is disclosed for instance in DE-2555289-A1. The load of the doors is carried by the top rail, and the doors are suspended from wheel devices that run on inner surfaces of the top rail. Thereby the doors are easily slidable and the floor beneath the door can be more or less be left free. One problem associated with such door arrangement is how to provide improved safety.

Summary of the invention One object of the present disclosure is therefore how to provide a sliding door arrangement with improved safety. This object is achieved by means of a sliding door arrangement as defined in claim 1. More specifically, in a sliding door arrangement of the initially mentioned kind, there is provided brackets located at each end of the top rail and each comprising a tongue, configured to be inserted into a slot of the top rail, and an attachment device for being attached to a vertical surface. This provides additional safety measure should the top rail come loose. In such a situation, the top rail may be suspended from the bracket, especially if one bracket is provided at each end of the top rail. The top rail may move slightly downwards, typically until the doors rest on the floor beneath the doors, but the bracket may prevent the doors from falling out and breaking or damaging objects nearby or in a worst case injuring inhabitants in the room.

The bracket may be a simple component made in one piece from a piece of sheet metal bent at 90°.

The top rail may be made from a single piece of extruded metal profile, typically aluminum, and the slot may be formed in the extruded cross section.

The top rail is typically of the type having at least one groove which is open downwards and comprising flanges forming ledges on which wheel units of the sliding door can run.

The bracket may have a shoulder portion that limits the insertion of the bracket tongue into the top rail slot. This makes it possible to provide a minimum distance between an end of the top rail and the vertical surface to which the bracket is attached that allows e.g. insertion of a wheel unit into the top rail without removing the latter. Typically, the distance may be greater than 25 mm.

Brief description of the drawings Fig 1 shows a perspective view of a top rail, and fig 2 shows an end portion thereof. Fig 3 illustrates schematically a sliding door arrangement according to known art. Fig 4a shows a perspective view of a safety bracket, and fig 4b an enlarged portion (A) thereof.

Fig 5a shows a safety bracket and top rail combination attached to a wall and a ceiling, and fig 5b shows this setup as seen from the end of the top rail.

Detailed description The present disclosure generally relates to sliding door arrangements, and one example of such an arrangement 1 is schematically illustrated in fig 3. The arrangement includes three doors 3, 5, 7, which are suspended from a top rail 9. The top rail 9 is attached to a ceiling 11 , or, if the arrangement is used in a doorframe, to the door header. This may be done with a suitable fastening arrangement depending on the ceiling material above the top rail.

The top rail 9 may comprise an extruded aluminum profile comprising one or more channels which are open downwards and include ledges that can support a wheel device 13. Typically, and as illustrated in fig 3, each door 3, 5, 7 may be carried by two such wheel devices 13, although other configurations of course are possible. Each wheel device 13 may comprise two pairs of wheels, where the wheels in a pair run on a ledge formed by a flange on either side of an opening of a downward facing top rail 9 channel as will be shown. The doors 3, 5, 7 may thus hang from the top rail 9, and no track or the like is needed below the door for taking up the door weight. Flowever, it may be useful to attach a pin 15 to the floor, which pin 15 runs in a groove 17 in the bottom edge of the door (only illustrated for door 3). This prevents that the door swings from the top rail 9. The configuration shown in fig 3 is known per se.

Fig 1 shows a perspective view of a top rail 9 according to an example of the present disclosure. The top rail may be produced in a single piece as an extruded aluminum profile, although other materials and methods of production are conceivable.

One end of the top rail 9 of fig 1 is shown enlarged in fig 2. The top rail 9 includes one or more abutment surfaces 19, in the illustrated example two, which will abut the surface to which the top rail 9 is to be attached such as a ceiling. At those surface, there may be provided drilled holes at a number of locations to allow screws to fasten the top rail 9 to the surface above.

The top rail further comprises one or more channels 21, in the illustrated case two, where a door can be suspended, hanging from awheel device 13. Using two or more such channels 21 allows neighboring doors to overlap. Each channel 21 has, on either side of the opening facing downwards, flanges 23 directed inwards, and the upper face of those flanges form ledges on which the wheel devices can roll.

The top rail of the present disclosure further comprises a slot 25 for a safety bracket as will be shown.

A perspective view of a safety bracket 27 is shown in fig 4a. The safety bracket 27 may comprise a thick sheet metal bar which is bent to 90° into an L-shaped configuration. A first leg 29 of the bracket comprises a fastening device in the form of one or more holes 31 that allow this leg to be attached to a wall or, if the sliding door arrangement is used in a door frame, to a jamb of that door frame. Other fastening devices are conceivable.

A second leg 30 of the bracket 27, on the other side of the bend, forms a tongue 33, which is configured to enter the slot 25 of the top rail. The top rail 9 may comprise such slots at both its ends to accommodate safety brackets 27 at both ends. This also facilitates centering of the top rail in between opposing vertical surfaces.

When a top rail 9 is attached to for instance a ceiling 11, as illustrated in fig 3, the quality of the fastening depends on the ceiling material and proper choices of fastening devices. For instance, if a wooden stud is located above the top rail a wood screw is preferred, while a more porous material may require a drywall anchor or the like.

Sliding door arrangements are frequently assembled and installed by DIY end users, who in some cases are inexperienced and may chose a less preferred fastening alternative. As the top rail 9 will carry the load of the sliding doors, which may be considerable, there exists a risk that the top rail 9 comes loose if attached with a less preferred fastening alternative, for instance using a short wood screw in a porous ceiling material.

By attaching, at each end of the top rail, a safety bracket 27 to the wall 12 or jamb, with its tongue 33 inserted into the slot 25, an additional safety measure is accomplished. The safety bracket 27 will under normal operating conditions not carry the load of the sliding doors 3, 5, 7 to any greater extent, but if the top rail 9 comes loose, it will hang on the safety brackets 27. The doors 3, 5, 7 will under those circumstances not be useable, the bottom door edge will most likely touch and rest on the floor if the top rail 9 comes loose. However, the top rail 9 and thereby the upper ends of the doors 3, 5, 7 will be kept close to the ceiling 11, and thus the doors will not fall out. This prevents the more catastrophic event where the door fall out, very likely breaking and potentially damaging other objects or injuring inhabitants in the room. Therefore, even if the door has been incorrectly fastened, this situation can be handled by re-fitting the top rail 9 to the ceiling or the like with more suitable fastening means.

The shown combination of a top rail and safety brackets therefore make the sliding door arrangement safer and more reliable, even if installed by an inexperienced end user. Fig 5a shows a safety bracket 27 and top rail 9 combination attached to a wall 12 and a ceiling 11. Fig 5b illustrates the tongue 33 of the safety bracket extending into the slot 25 in the top rail 9. Further illustrated in fig 5b are elongated screw holes 39 in the top rail, through which the top rail can be attached to a ceiling or the like.

As shown in fig 4a and in the enlarged drawing of fig 4b, the safety bracket may comprise a shoulder portion 35 at a predetermined distance from the first leg 29. The shoulder portion 35 may be wide enough to prevent the safety bracket 27 second leg 30 from being inserted further into the slot 25 of the top rail 9. This ensures a minimum distance 37 between the end of the top rail 9 and the wall 12, of. fig 5a. This minimum distance may be greater than 25 mm. This gap between the wall and the rail may allow for instance a wheel device 13 to be inserted into the groove of the top rail 9 and subsequently being attached to a door without removing the top rail, thereby significantly making assembling of the sliding door arrangement 1 easier.

Another advantage with having a top rail being shorter than the opening the doors 3, 5, 7 are intended to cover is that a shorter top rail reduces the risk of scratching e.g. wall paint when installing the top rail.

If the length 37 between the shoulder 35 and the wall 12 is 30 mm it is required that the top rail 9 is 60 mm shorter than the width of the opening to fit between the safety brackets. However, it may be preferred to increase this difference to e.g. 66 mm to consider manufacturing tolerances and possible measurement faults if the sliding door arrangement 1 is made-to-measure. It is not required that the safety bracket tongue 33 is fully inserted into the slot 25, a play of a few millimeters between the shoulder 35 and the slot 25 does not impair the improved safety function given that the length of the tongue 33 extending from the shoulder portion 35 is sufficient.

Typically, the tongue 33 may extend 70 mm from the shoulder portion 35, although 30-150 mm could be a useful range, depending on the length of the top rail 9.

The present disclosure is not limited to the above described examples and may be varied and altered in different ways within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. Sliding door arrangement comprising a top rail (9) and at least one sliding door (3, 5, 7) configured to be suspended from the top rail, the top rail comprising a fastening arrangement (39) for being attached to a material above the top rail, characterized by brackets (27), located at each end of the top rail (9) and each comprising a tongue (33) configured to be inserted into a slot (25) of the top rail, and a fastening device (31) for attaching the bracket to a vertical surface (12).

2. Sliding door arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the bracket (27) is made in one piece from a piece of sheet metal bent at 90°.

3. Sliding door arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the top rail (9) is made from a single piece of extruded metal, the slot being formed (25) in the extruded cross section.

4. Sliding door arrangement according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the top rail comprises at least one groove (21), open downwards and comprising at least one flange (23) forming a ledge on which a wheel unit (13) of the sliding door (3, 5, 7) is configured to run.

5. Sliding door arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the bracket (27) comprises a shoulder portion (35) that limits the insertion of the tongue (33) in the slot of the top rail (9).

6. Sliding door arrangement according to claim 5, wherein the shoulder portion (35) provides a minimum distance between an end of the top rail (9) and the vertical surface (12), which distance is greater than 25 mm.