WO2019053421A1

WO2019053421A1 - Movable wall

Info

Publication number: WO2019053421A1
Application number: PCT/GB2018/052585
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rob MARR; Dimitris HADJIDIMOS
Original assignee: Duruna Limited
Priority date: 2017-09-12
Filing date: 2018-09-12
Publication date: 2019-03-21
Also published as: GB201714614D0

Abstract

A moveable wall (2) comprising a moveable wall panel (11), a carrier (21) and a means (31) for raising and lowering the panel within the carrier. The carrier itself is moveable and carries the panel. The panel can be raised in one position and lowered in another moved-to position.

Description

MOVABLE WALL

The present invention relates to movable walls. It is known to partition space in a building with an openable partition, in the form of a wide sliding or wide concertina door. It is also known to move a wall, such as from an initial position against a hingeable-down bed, with the wall edging a living room space expanded by the wall being in the initial position, to another position enabling the bed to be used in an expanded bedroom space, with the living room space being reduced as it is not being required at night.

Such an arrangement has required tracks in the floor, if not for bearing the load of the movable wall, for guiding it into the position to which it is moved. Such tracks are unsightly. They can be avoided to an extent by suspending the wall from above, but without some tethering at the bottom of the wall, it will feel insecure to touch.

A movable wall is disclosed on Chinese petty patent application No CN 204225312 (U) with rollers at the bottom of the movable wall.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved movable wall.

According to the invention there is provided a wall movable with respect to a floor, the movable wall comprising:

• a movable wall panel,

• a carrier for carrying the wall panel when raised, the carrier being movable, and

• means for raising and lowering the panel in the carrier whereby the movable wall panel can be raised in one position for movement and lowered in another, moved-to position.

Normally the movable wall will be arranged for movement transversely of extent of the movable wall panel. However it could be arranged to be moved parallel to its extent, in particular when combined with a second wall panel, the two being set at an angle to each other.

Whilst the panel could have a width extent such as not to cover a width of the 5 carrier particularly if the carrier has sides, preferably the movable wall panel does have such width. Where the carrier has a top extending immediately below the ceiling, it will normally be impractical for a height extent of the panel to cover the top completely, with the panel being raised for carrier. Nevertheless, preferably it at least partially covers the top of the carrier and can cover it completely where the top of the 10 carrier is spaced from the ceiling by an amount by which the panel can be raised.

It is envisaged that the carrier may have little extent below its top, with weight of the wall panel supported from above when raised maintaining the panel upright. In such arrangement, the raising lowering means can be envisaged to hold the top of the I S panel from flopping out of upright.

However, preferably the carrier has upright members, conveniently extending at width sides of the wall panel, for assuring that the carrier and the wall panel remain parallel and upright. Guides can be provided between the wall panel and the upright 0 members of the carrier.

The wall panel will normally have at least plain faces; although either or both faces may be provided with wall furniture such as shelves, racks and/or more complex structure such as fold-away work surfaces or beds. Where both surfaces are plain, 5 they could be at opposite sides of a single board, such as an MDF board. However they will normally be provided on separate boards, arranged back to back and abutting directly or with the interposition of another board or a sub-frame of the panel.

In the preferred embodiment, the opposite face boards are provided on a sub- 0 frame sized to fit within the outline of the top and upright members of a thus formed carrier frame. The opposite face boards cover the upright members. Whilst rack & pinion and leverage mechanisms can be imagined for lifting and lowering the movable wall panel, in the preferred embodiment a cable mechanism is used. Again a lifting cable can be tensioned by a winch. In the preferred

embodiment, the cable is tensioned by lateral displacement of a run between two pulleys, which provides advantageous mechanical advantage. Conveniently, the lateral displacement of the cable is downwards.

For bodily movement transversely of the movable wall, that is of the wall panel and the carrier frame together, the frame can be suspended from ceiling rails. These will normally be set in space above the ceiling, with small gaps between the ceiling as such and sidewalls, where the movable wall is between sidewalls. Support of the wall-panel carrier is conveniently via plate-formed brackets extending in the gaps, the brackets being included in bogies able to run on the ceiling rails. Normally the bogies will be motor driven.

The ceiling rails can be at least partially set in sidewalls. Where they are set in the ceiling space, if need be, they can be stiffened as by forming with an upright web. In the preferred embodiment, they are tubular aluminium extrusions with internal webs.

To help understanding of the invention, a specific embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apartment space with a movable wall of the invention in one position;

Figure 2 is a similar view of the apartment space with the movable wall moved;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the movable wall, with facings removed; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of a carrier for the wall-panel of a movable wall developed beyond that of Figures 1 to 3;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of an upper corner of the carrier of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a bogie for supporting the carrier of Figure 4; and Figure 7 is a perspective view of a cable reel for the carrier of Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, an apartment space 1 has a movable wall 2, between a living space 3 and a sleeping space 4. The living space has seating 5 for instance and the sleeping space has a fold-away bed 6 in a fixed wall 7.

A wall panel 11 for the movable wall 2 has a sub-frame 12, suitably of timber or light metal construction. Opposite faces of the sub-frame are covered with wall panel facings 13, which extend sideways and upwards further than the sub-frame. The bottom of the sub-frame and the facings are aligned, with a compressible draught excluder 14 arranged on the bottom of sub-frame.

Within a trough around the wall-panel, sub-frame, at its top and sides, a wall- panel carrier 21 is provided. It is suspended from above the ceiling 22 over the living and sleeping spaces 3, 4, in a manner described below. The wall-panel carrier, fabricated of aluminium box section has a top 23 and two sides 24, together forming a carrier frame. The top itself is of two spaced, upper and lower members 25, 26. Between the upper and lower members are centrally arranged a pusher mechanism 27 and main pulleys 28. Midway between the pusher and the main pulleys are idler pulleys 29 for guiding a cable 30 through the lower member 26. The pulleys and cable are part of a support system 31 for the wall panel 11, which is completed by pulleys 32 on the top of the sub- rame below the main pulleys and anchorage points 33 also below the main pulleys. The run of the cable in the support system is from one anchorage point, around the sub-frame pulley, over the main pulley, through the idler pulleys and under a tensioning pulley 34 at the foot of a pusher rod 35. The cable then runs similarly around the pulleys etc. on the other side of the pusher. The pusher rod has rack teeth, engaging with a worm driven pinion (not shown) on an output shaft of a pusher drive motor. To lift the movable wall panel 11 , the pusher is actuated to press the tensioning pulley down against the cable. As will be appreciated it acts on the cable at an appreciable mechanical advantage to lift the movable panel only sufficiently for the draught excluder to be lifted off floor covering of the living and sleeping spaces 3,4. Typically 25mm of panel lift is achievable with 75mm of pusher rack movement.

The wall panel 11 is restrained from swinging out of the wall-panel carrier 21 by side guides 40 acting between the sides of the wall-panel carrier and the sub-frame.

Mounted in space 39 above the ceiling 22 are two support rails 41 for bogies 42 from which the wall-panel carrier is hung by brackets 43. As shown, a power cable 44 is provided at one side of the movable wall, although it could equally be provided at ceiling level. To move the wall, initial action of a handle 45 causes the pusher motor to tension the cable 30 and lift the movable panel off the floor. Then the wall can be moved bodily with the handle. Once in position, the handle is released, and the panel is lowered by reversing of the pusher motor. More details of specific, further-developed, mounting arrangements in the ceiling space are shown in Figures 4 to 7, in which features of one side only are shown. A support rail 51 comprises a first fixed structural beam 52 in the form of an internally reinforced aluminium or steel extrusion. If necessary due to length of the rail, it can be provided with a vertically extending edge flange. Arrangements for mounting the beam in the ceiling space and support of the ceiling per se are within the ability of the skilled reader and will not be described. The support rail also comprises an upper extrusion 53 fixed on the beam. This extrusion has a horizontal support flange 54 at one edge and a box section 55 at the other side. Between is another box section 56 from which upstand flanges 57, 58 defining a cable channel and a mounting for a rack 59.

A bogie bracket 61 comprises a downwards extending thin tang 62 of 3mm steel plate. The plate is secured to the wall-panel carrier 63, similar to the carrier 21, and requires only a narrow, 15mm gap between a panel 64 of the ceiling and a side wall 65. The bracket includes also a horizontal plate 66 from which extend down three tabs 67,68,69. Between the tang 62 and the nearest tab 67 are journaled three main, load bearing rollers 70. These roll on the support flange 54 and carry the majority of the weight of the movable wall, together with the other side mounting arrangement. The furthest tab 69 has smaller, cantilevered rollers 71 running on top of the box section 55. These stabilise the bogie 72, comprising the parts 61, 62, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, and keep it level without carrying much load. A so-called "pancake" electric motor 73 is secured on top of the horizontal plate 66 and has a pinion 74 on its output shaft. The pinion meshes with the rack 59 fast with the flange 57 of the upper extrusion. Engagement of the pinion with the rack and the main rollers 70 with the box-section 56 provide location of the bogie, sideways of the support rail.

A return 76 is provided on the central tab 68 within the cable channel 77 between the flanges 57, 58. To one side, of the bogie bracket a cable 78 leads from the return 76 to the motor and to the other side, the cable 79 extends in the channel 77. Wires 80 from the cable also extend in a cut-out 81 in the plate 66 and the tang 62, to provide power to the pusher mechanism 27 and features built into the wall.

Thus the movable wall is supported, can be lifted, moved dropped again in the position to which it has been moved. At an end of the support rail 51 , a jockey pulley 82 is arranged for the cable 79 to pass around to a drum 83 and drive motor 84. When the wall is moved towards the jockey wheel, the drum winds the drum and the cable is drawn along the channel as the wall is moved. When the movement is in the opposite direction, the drum pays out the cable which is drawn along in the channel by the motor 73.

A bristle seal 85 is provided along the edge of the ceiling panel 64 and the side wall 65, closing the narrow gap therebetween on either side of the tang 62. The seal allows passage of the thin tang as the wall is moved. Whilst it will be noted that the carrier does not support the weight of the movable wall panel when the latter is lowered, where the run of the support rail is long and the movable wall panel is heavy, assurance of support of the movable wall can be achieved by further support arrangements, such as an upper rail above the pancake motor, secured to the wall and having support rollers run on it. Alternatively, where ceiling to next adjacent floor space is limited, the additional support rail can the let into the wall at the level of the support rail 51, with the further support rollers running on it. Indeed the support rollers could be provided only or primarily on the "additional support rail".

The invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above described embodiment. The movable wall can extend fully across an accommodation space or only partially so. It can be essentially planar or it can curved or angled. For instance it can comprise an L-shape, with the wall-panel carrier being in effect two carrier frames as described and two movable panels. One is moved across a floor space and one is move parallel to itself along a fixed wall. In this way the space in the angle of the L is increased or decreased in size as required. In this way for instance, a bedroom can be provided in an otherwise open plan living space. In another detail skirting boards can be arranged on the facings at their bottom edges.

Further the movable wall can carry wall furniture and fold-out furniture. For instance the fold-away bed 6 shown in Figure 2 could be carried on the movable wall.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A wall movable with respect to a floor, the movable wall comprising:

• a movable wall panel ,

• means for raising and lowering the panel in the carrier whereby the movable wall panel can be raised in one positon for movement and lowered in another, moved-to position.

2. A wall as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the wall is arranged for movement transversely of extent of the movable wall panel.

3. A wall as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the wall is arranged to be moved parallel to the extent of the movable wall panel in combination with a second movable wall panel.

4. A wall as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first and second movable wall panels are set at an angle to each other.

5. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the width of the wall panel is such that it covers the width of the carrier and at least substantially the height of the carrier.

6. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the width of the wall panel is less than the width of the carrier.

7. A wall as claimed in claim 6, wherein the carrier extends at least substantially the height of the room.

8. A wall as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the carrier has upright members extending the width sides of the panel

9. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the means for vertical movement of the panel is attached to the top face of the wall.

10. A wall as claimed in claim 9, wherein the guides are provided between the wall panel and the upright members of the carrier.

11. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the wall panel has plain faces, at opposite sides of a single board.

12. A wall as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the faces of the wall panel are provided on separate boards, arranged back to back and abutting directly or with the interposition of another board or sub-frame of the panel.

13. A wall as claimed in claim 1 1 or claim 12, wherein the wall panel has faces adapted to receive additional structures.

14. A wall as claimed in claim 13, wherein the wall panel comprises boards that are provided on a sub-frame and sized to fit within the outline of top and upright members, thus forming a carrier frame.

15. A wall as claimed in claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the boards cover the upright members.

16. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the panel is lifted and lowered by a cable mechanism.

17. A wall as claimed in claim 16, wherein the panel is lifted and lowered by a rack and pinion and leverage mechanism.

18. A wall as claimed in claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the cable is tensioned by a winch.

19. A wall as claimed in claim 16, claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the cable is tensioned by lateral displacement of a run between two pulleys.

20. A wall as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the carrier frame is suspended from ceiling rails.

21. A wall as claimed in claim 20, wherein the ceiling rails are set in space above the ceiling, with small gaps between the ceiling and side walls.

22. A wall as claimed in claim 20 or claim 21, wherein the carrier frame is supported by plate-formed brackets extending in the gaps, the brackets being included in bogies able to run on ceiling rails.

23. A wall as claimed in claim 20, claim 21 or claim 22, wherein the ceiling rails are partially set in the sidewalls.

24. A wall as claimed in any one of claim 20 to claim 23, wherein the ceiling rails are set in the ceiling space and can be stiffened by forming an upright web.