US1950037A - Sliding door - Google Patents

Description

J. SCHAEFER March 6, 1934.

SLlDING DOOR Filed Feb. 20, 1932 A S11/manto@ J'Hco CHHEFER,

ttomta y 7 Il) ll Patented Mar. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE 6 Claims.

My invention relates to sliding doors; especially to sliding doors such as are used in refrigerator display cabinets. More particularly, my invention relates to means for sealing such sliding doors when they are moved to closed position.

Usually, a refrigerator display cabinet or show case is provided in its back wall, often an inclined back wall, with a rectangular door frame; and within this rectangular door frame are mounted two sliding doors slidable in spaced parallel planes between a closed position in which the trailing end members oi` the doors overlap and open positions where the doors overlie each other or nearly overlie each other, and to which the opened door slides past the other door. If such doors are made to slide freely, they will not completely seal the door opening when they are closed, but will permit some leakage around their edges and between their overlapping trailing edges. 1f the doors are made to fit tightly enough to seal the opening, they will not slide easily. It is the object of my invention to provide means in association with such doors to seal them when they reach closed position and at the same time to permit them to slide freely.

In order that the doors may slide easily, 1 desirably mount them on rails fixed to the door frame longitudinally thereof and projecting into grooves in the top and bottom edges oi the door, and 1 provide at the bottom of the ,groove in the lower edge of the door a set of rollers for cooperating with the rail associated with that groove. For sealing the doors when they reach closed position, provide means extending along the top and bottom frame members and projecting between the two doors providing faces slightly out of parallel with the planes in which the respective doors slide and closest to each of such planes at the end frame member toward which the respective doors slide when moved to closed position; and 1 alter the edges of the adjacent faces of the two doors to present surfaces parallel with those provided by the sealing means and in position to wedge against those faces -when the doors are closed. On the end frame members I provide similar sealing means presenting faces similarly oblique to the planes in which the doors slide, and 1 similarly alter surfaces at the ends of the doors to cooperate therewith. On the adjacent faces of the trailing end door-end members I mount co-operating sealing strips which engage each other to seal the gap between such trailing edges when the doors are closed.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention: Fig. 1 is a iront elevation of a door frame and a pair of doors equipped with sealing means embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 6C' is a section similar to that of Fig. 2 but without showing the doors; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing the doors in end elevation and illustrating in dotted lines how a door may be removed from a door frame; Fig. 5 is an isometric view of one of the doors; and Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the display cabinet, partly shown in section to reveal the relative position of the door frame with respect to such display cabinet. 7C

A display cabinet or show case such as that shown in Fig. 6 usually has in its back wall a door casing 10 containing a pair of sliding doors. This door casing comprises a top member 11, a bottom member 12 and two end members 13. For mounting a pair of doors 14 and 15 within the door casing, the casing is provided with two pairs ci rails, the two rails of each pair being co-planar. The respective top rails 16 of each pair are mounted longitudinally on the lower surface of the top frame member 11, and the respective bottom rails 17 of each pair are mounted on the upper surface oi the bottom member 12. Each door has an upper groove 18 for co-operating with the upper rail 16, and similarly has a lower groove 19 for co-operating with the bottom rail 17. The lower groove 19 is of less depth than the upper groove 18 and is provided at its bottom with a pair of rollers 20. Each door is of slightly less height than the opening in` which both are situated, and its upper groove 18 is sufficiently deep to permit the door to be raised :far enough to disengage the lower groove 19 from the bottom rail 17 so that the door may be removed from the door frame. An intermediate position through which a door being removed passes is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawing.

The two parallel pairs of rails are spaced apart to permit each of the two doors mounted respectively on the two pairs of rails to slide freely along its pair of rails past the other. By reason of the rail and groove mounting for the doors, and the rollers associated with the lower grooves 19, each door is easily slidable.

For sealing the doors when they reach closed position, a ridge 22 extends from the lower surface of the top frame member 11 downward to between the two doors 14 and 15, and a similar ridge 23 extends upward from the bottom frame member 12 to between their bottom edges. These two ridges, desirably made of metal, may be substantially co-planar, but their plane is slightly out of parallel with the planes of the two pairs of rails in the direction of door movement, and they are closest to the rails for each door at the end of the frame toward which that door closes. Where the ridges 22 and 23 overlie the faces of the doors, those faces are altered, as by rabbeting, to provide surfaces on the doors parallel with the ridges and in position to approach closely the side faces of those ridges when the doors are closed. Desirably, the surfaces provided by these rabbets are covered with strips of some compressible sealing material such as rubber or felt. With this a1'- rangement, when a door is closed, the surfaces provided by the rabbets and covered with the sealing strips will wedge themselves against the sides of the ridges 22 and 23, and will thus seal the top and bottom edges of the door.

For sealing the leading edges of the doors, the end frame members 13 are also provided with ridges 24, co-planar with the ridges 22 and 23; and the leading edge of each of the doors is rabbeted to present a surface which will approach closely the side surface of the ridge 24 when the door is closed. These surfaces may also be covered with strips of sealing material.

When both doors are in closed position, and trailing edges overlap, and for sealing the gap between such overlapping edges, each may be provided with a sealing strip 25 in position to engage the similar sealing strip on the other door when the doors are in such closed position.

It will be obvious that the rollers 20 in the bottom of the groove of each door will roll on the lower rail 17 and permit the doors to move easily. By reason of the centrally positioned ridges and the cooperating surfaces provided on the adjacent faces of the two doors by the rabbets, and the fact that the sides of such ridges and the cooperating surfaces on the doors are similarly out of parallel with the planes in which the doors move, those door surfaces will engage the sides of the ridges on1y when the doors approach closed position, and will be out of engagement to permit the doors to move freely when they are in any other position than the nearly closed one. By reason of this arrangement, the doors will be freely slidable through substantially all their movement, and yet will readily seal the door opening when they are closed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door structure having a pair of sliding doors each being openable by sliding toward a position in which one overlies the other, a sealing ridge projecting from the door frame to between the adjacent faces of the respective doors at their edges, said sealing ridge being slightly out of parallel with the planes of movement of the the edges of said door faces presenting surfaces parallel with the sides of said sealing ridge, the ridge and such surfaces on each door being arranged to engage when such door is closed.

2. In a door structure having a pair of sliding doors each being openable by sliding toward a position in which one overlies the other, a sealing ridge projecting from the door frame to between the adjacent faces of the respective doors at their edges, said sealing ridge being slightly out of par'- allel with the planes of movement of the doors,

and rabbets at the edges of said door faces presenting surfaces parallel with the sides of said sealing ridge, the ridge and such surfaces on each door being arranged to approach each other closely when such door is closed, there being sealing strips of compressible material on such surfaces.

3. In a door structure having a pair of sliding doors each being openable by sliding toward a position in which one overlies the other, a sealing ridge projecting from the door frame to between the adjacent faces of the respective doors at their edges, said sealing ridge being slightly out of parallel with the planes of movement of the doors, rabbets at the edges of said door faces presenting surfaces parallel with the sides of said sealing ridge, the ridge and such surfaces on each door being arranged to effect a seal therealong when such door is closed, and means associated with the trailing edges of the respective doors for cooperating to form a seal therebetween when the doors are closed.

4. In a door structure having a pair of sliding doors each being openable by sliding toward a position in which one overlies the other, sealing ridges extending respectively from the top and 1 bottom door-frame members betweenthe respeclar sealing ridge extending from each end member in position to overlap the leading edge of 1 a door face, said ridges being out of parallel with the planes of door movement in the direction of such movement, the portions of the door face which will be overlapped by such ridges being altered to present surfaces respectively parallel 1 with said ridges, said ridges and surfaces being arranged to approach each other to effect seals therealong When the doors are moved to closed position.

5. In a door structure having a pair of sliding 1 doors each being operable by sliding toward a position in which one overlies the other, sealing ridges extending respectively from the top and bottom door-frame membersv between the respective planes of movement of the doors in position 1 to overlap the side edges of the door faces, a similar sealing ridge extending from each end member in position to overlap respectively the leading edge of a door face, said ridges being out of parallel with the planes of door movement in the 1 direction of such movement the portions of the door face which will be overlapped by such ridges being altered to present surfaces respectively parallel with said ridges, said ridges and surfaces being arranged to approach each other to effect 1 seals therealong when the doors are moved to closed position, and means on the trailing edges of the respective doors `adapted to engage when the doors are closed to form a seal therebetween.

6. A door structure, comprising a door frame, 1 guiding-means on each of two sides of said door frame, a door slidable along said guiding-means, a portion of the face of the door along each of its sliding edges being altered to present a planar surface slightly out of parallel with the plane 1 of door movement in the direction of such movement, and means on .said door frame presenting surfaces parallel with said altered surfaces and arranged to be approached thereby to effect a seal therealong. 1

JACOB SCHAEFER.

Images