Structural members for mounting and guiding sliding doors

Abstract

This invention relates to structural members for mounting and guiding sliding doors and includes an integral extrusion to avoid the high expenditure for mounting the entire structure. The integral extrusion profile is torsionally rigid, and has runner and guide rails arranged exactly vertically, one above the other, which are engaged by runner and guide rollers of the carriage of L-shaped cross-section supporting a door board.

Description

Constructions composed of a number of individual structural members are in use for suspending and guiding sliding doors. These known constructions however, have various disadvantages. Initially, a large amount of labor has to be expended to join, assemble, and secure these conventional sliding door structures. There are particular difficulties in obtaining the exact fit and alignment of the individual parts with respect to one another. The ledges or reglets to be screwed to the runner and guide rollers could not be arranged exactly vertically on top of one another. The consequence thereof was a one-sided wear of the rollers together with loud rolling noises. In constructions of the type employed up to now, it was not possible to use carriages of identical construction since they were not interchangeable with each other.

This invention provides structual members for suspending and guiding sliding doors which avoids the actual high expenses for mounting them, and eliminates the necessity for aligning the guide rails after installation.

In solving this problem, the part which can be mounted at a certain location of the building is in the form of an integral extrusion profile which is torsionally rigid. It has runner and guide rails arranged exactly vertically above one another which are engaged by the runner and guide rollers with concave rolling surfaces for a carriage of L-shaped cross-section which carries the door board. As an additional structural development according to the invention, two runners are mounted at the carriage, and thereabove, two guide rollers, with the guide rollers being adjustable in height through oblong holes and fastening screws. The door board is arranged vertically under the rollers and is also capable of being adjusted in height. At the lower end of the extrusion profile, a groove or way is provided, extending in the direction of movement of the door to receive a sealing ledge. To increase the rigidity of the extrusion profile, its vertical part may take the form of a hollow or concave box. It is also possible to provide a recess in the extrusion profile for receiving the lower part of a fanlight if required.

The great advantage of this invention resides in the reduction of work required for mounting and assembling the entire structure of the individual structural members. The separate alignment of the runner rails can be now completely avoided. After the fastening screws for the upper guide rollers are loosened, it is possible to push them downwardly and to mount the carriage without difficulty. In keeping with the precision of the extrusion profile, the carriage is mounted exactly vertically, below the runner and/or guide rollers which engage the runner and guide rails arranged exactly vertically above one another. This eliminates a constantly acting momentum upon the rollers and rails, and these parts are protected against premature wear, and do not provide unpleasant sliding or rolling noises. Due to the convex form of the runner and guide rails, and the concave form of the runner and guide rollers, there is adequate safety against laterial pendulous displacements of the sliding door so that no additional guides at the foot of the door are required.

The time that can be saved for mounting the installation is about 6 hours with considerable savings in the costs for materials. Since it was formerly necessary to use a left and a right carriage, now the carriages may be of identical construction. The door board suspended from the carriage may be easily adjusted in height by simply turning the fastening screws. They can thus be adapted to prevailing local conditions.

The invention will now be described in connection with the embodiment illustrated in the drawing.

The extrusion profile 1 is provided with an upper rail 2 and a lower runner rail 3. These rails are engaged by runner rollers, and a guide roller 6, mounted on an L-shaped carriage 4. Upper roller 6 is adjustable in height through the oblong holes 7 after loosening the fastening screws. Exactly vertically below the runner and guide rollers 5 and 6, there is mounted a sliding member 9 which in turn there is mounted with two fastening screws 12 extending through slots 11 and engaging the carriage 4 so as to be adjustable in height. Mounting bolt 12 is locked by a nut 13. At the lower portion of profile 1, a groove or way 14 extending in the longitudinal direction is located to receive a sealing ledge 15 which had been arranged in prior art constructions in an extra profile which was screwed to the other part. By loosening the screw with nut 8, it is possible to displace the guide rollers 6 in downward direction and to disengage and lift carriage 4 from runner rail 3. It is possible to adjust sliding member 9 in height in a simple manner by resetting the screw 10 through slot opening 11.

The vertical portion of the extrusion profile is in the form of a concave box which increases the rigidity of the structure.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be obvious to those persons skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A structural member for mounting and guiding sliding doors for a building structure comprising:

an integral extrusion profile having opposed, linear runner and guide rails arranged vertically with the guide rail disposed above the runner rail, said extrusion including an integrally formed hollow box section disposed between the runner and guide rails for increasing the torsional and structural rigidity of said extrusion, said extrusion profile includes a recess for accommodating a lower part of a fanlight, said extrusion profile having an upwardly projecting trapozoidal portion adjacent said upper guide rail having a horizontal slot;

a horizontal member having an inclined "L" shaped end with a horizontal part snuggly engaged in said slot;

an L-shaped carriage having one arm pivotably coupled to said rollers, said carriage having at least one oblong hole for adjustable receiving at least one guide roller so that said guide roller is vertically adjustable between said opposed rails;

runner and guide rollers being pivotably mounted to said carriage, and said carriage comprising fastening screw means for supporting the door vertically below the rollers, said fastening screw means being adjustable with respect to said carriage so as to permit the height of the door to be adjustable;

said runner and guide rollers engaging the runner and guide rails respectively, said rollers having a concave runner cross section;

said hollow box section forming an opening having a vertical depending lowermost portion extending below said runner rails, and said L-shaped carriage to form a connice with the door, and including adjacent said lowermost vertically depending opening portion a thickened corner portion having a groove and a sealing ledge disposed in said groove for slidably contacting and sealing the space between the door and the box section.