Movable or removable closures – Frame with closure feature
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-14
2003-10-28
Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Frame with closure feature
C049S471000, C052S204100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637158
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to entryway systems for homes and commercial buildings and more specifically to entryways incorporating continuous threshold assemblies and leak resistance.
BACKGROUND
Entryway systems used in building construction generally include a pair of vertically extending door jambs and a head jamb that frame the entryway and receive a hinged door. An elongated threshold assembly is attached at its ends to the bottoms of the door jambs and spans the bottom of the entryway. Many modern threshold assemblies include an extruded aluminum frame having an upwardly open channel from which a sill slopes outwardly and downwardly. A threshold cap, which may be made of plastic or wood, is disposed in the upwardly open channel and underlies a closed door mounted of the entryway. The threshold cap usually is vertically adjustable to engage and form a seal with a flexible sweep attached to the bottom of the door.
Some entryways include sidelights that flank the door on one or both sides thereof. In such sidelight entryways, mullions or mull posts extend vertically from the top of the threshold assembly to the head jamb to define the door opening and sidelight openings. Many variations of this basic theme such as, for example, patio door entryways, inswing entryways, and outswing entryways, are available to accommodate an equal number of variations of entryway designs.
Traditionally, the bottoms of door jambs, which usually are made of wood, are attached to the ends of the threshold assembly by milling a specially shaped jamb haunch in the bottoms of the jambs and fitting and stapling the bottoms of the jambs to the threshold assembly. A portion of the haunch overlaps and sits atop the sloped sill of the threshold assembly. The problems with this traditional technique are many. For instance, since virtually every brand and style of threshold assembly has a different shape, the jamb haunches in each case must be precisely and specially milled to fit the particular threshold assembly to which they are to be attached. This means that pre-hangers must own and operate expensive and accurate milling machinery and must maintain a number of different shaped milling cutters to accommodate the various configurations of threshold assemblies. This is also true for the bottoms of mull posts, which must be provided with a haunch specially shaped to rest atop the jamb of the threshold assembly. Another problem is that, since the end grain of the jambs and mull posts rests directly on the sill deck, moisture from rain water and the like eventually leaks beneath the haunch and wicks into the wood of the jambs and mull posts causing rot and decay. Finally, water that may seep under the threshold cap of the assembly and into the upwardly open channel that holds it tends to migrate to and puddle at the ends of the channel, where it soaks into the wood of the jambs also causing eventual rot and deterioration.
Another leakage problem that commonly occurs with traditional and modern entryway systems involves the leaking of water into a building structure at the bottom corners of a closed door. Entryways are especially susceptible to such leakage in a blowing rainstorm where water may collect on the sill of a threshold and be forced between the door, threshold, and jamb under the influence of air or wind pressure created by the wind. Manufacturers of entryway systems have attempted to address leakage at this location in a number of ways. One solution sometimes found in modern entryways is a flexible corner pad on the bottom of the jamb where the jamb meets the threshold cap. The theory is that the corner pad will fill the space between the door and the jamb, thus sealing against leakage of water at this location.
FIG. 6
attached hereto illustrates a section of a modern entryway system provided with such a corner pad and further illustrates the reason why such corner pads have not met with complete success.
FIGS. 6 and 6
a
illustrate the portion of an entryway system where the threshold assembly
70
of the entryway meets the vertical jamb
71
thereof. The threshold
70
has a sloped sill
72
and a threshold cap
73
. The bottom of the jamb
71
is milled to form an appropriate haunch to fit the profile of the threshold
70
and is attached thereto with appropriate fasteners (not shown). As best illustrated in
FIG. 6
a
, the vertical jamb
71
is milled to form a vertically extending stop
78
against which the door
79
of the entryway closes when shut. The stop
78
further is formed with a kurf
77
. A length of flexible weather strip
74
is mounted to the stop
78
by means of a locking tongue assembly
76
that extends into the kurf
77
. With this configuration, the weather strip
74
is collapsed and compressed between the door
79
and the stop
78
around the periphery of the door when the door is shut. The bottom end of the weather strip in traditional entryway systems extends below the bottom edge of the door and rests on the sloped sill of the threshold as best illustrated in FIG.
6
.
As mentioned above, entryway manufacturers for some time have attempted to prevent leakage at the bottom corner of a door by installing flexible corner pads, illustrated at
75
in FIG.
6
. Such corner pads may have lobes that extend behind the weather strip
74
to reinforce the weather strip and, it is thought, form a tighter seal between the weather strip and the door at the bottom of the entryway. However, it has been discovered that leakage still occurs at this location, particularly under conditions of blowing rainstorms. Under such conditions, rain water
81
tends to collect on the sill
72
and puddle at the corners of the entryway. In addition, the wind in a blowing rainstorm generates wind pressure (illustrated with arrows in
FIG. 6
) that is greater than the pressure within the dwelling on the other side of the door and that rises in proportion to the strength of the blowing wind.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, it has been discovered that, under such conditions, leakage still occurs at the bottom corners of the door regardless of the integrity of the seal created between the weather strip and the door and between the door and the corner pad. Observation and experimentation has demonstrated that such leakage occurs as a result of weather strip wicking and not as a result of a poor seal between the weather strip and the door or the corner pad and the door. Specifically, when the door is shut against the weather strip, the weather strip folds to create its seal and this folding also forms a capillary channel
100
(
FIG. 6
a
), similar to a straw, that extends along the length of the weather strip. High external wind pressure generated by blowing wind pushes water
81
up into the capillary channel in the weather strip as shown in FIG.
6
. As the external air pressure increases relative to the internal pressure within the building, the water is forced higher into the capillary channel formed by the folded weather strip, eventually rising over the top of the corner pad and leaking into the building. Thus, it is now clear that corner pads have been at least partially a misguided attempt to address the problem of leakage at the lower corners of a closed door.
Thus, a need exists for an improved entryway system that addresses and solves the above-referenced problems and shortcomings of the prior art. Such an entryway system should eliminate the need for specially milled jamb and mull post haunches to fit these elements to the threshold assembly, should eliminate the rotting and deterioration that typically occurs at the bottoms of jambs and mull posts where they meet the threshold assembly, and should provide for the efficient draining off of water that may seep beneath the threshold cap of the threshold assembly. A further need exists for an entryway system that effectively and reliably stops water leakage at the bottom corners of a closed door of the entryway. It is to the provision of such an entryway system that the present invention is primarily directed.
SUMMARY OF THE I
Endura Products, Inc.
Redman Jerry
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC
LandOfFree
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