Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural and/or with rigid closure – Plural strip – slat – or panel assemblies
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-24
2004-11-23
Lev, Bruce A. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural and/or with rigid closure
Plural strip, slat, or panel assemblies
C160S206000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820675
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sash system having doors, each being freely opened and closed by sliding and folding. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved sliding sash system having an inner sash door and an outer sash door, each of which can be operated through selecting a sliding open/close mode or a folding open/close mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional sash systems of the type, which can be arbitrarily opened and closed through sliding and folding, are well known in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 2001-280018 previously proposed by the present applicant.
In this related art, the sash system has two sash doors including an inner sash door and an outer door sash inside a sash frame. The sash doors are mounted and mutually slidable inside the sash frame integrally assembled in a rectangular form. This sash system has the following structure.
That is, each sash door has a vertical door front frame disposed at the left end thereof, a vertical door end frame disposed at the right end thereof, a horizontal divider panel connecting the door front frame and the door end frame, and a vertical intermediate interlocking frame. The vertical intermediate interlocking frame is disposed at the intermediate portion of the divider panel so as to be two-folded with respect to a rotational shaft. Moreover, the sash frame has an upper frame in which a pair of upper guide rails are built and a lower frame in which a pair of lower guide rails are built. In each sash door, the shaft at the upper end of the door front frame, the shaft at the upper end of the door end frame, and the shaft at the upper end of the intermediate interlocking frame are engaged to the upper guide rails. The shaft at the lower end of the door front frame, the shaft at the lower end of the door end frame, and the shaft at the lower end of the intermediate interlocking frame are engaged to the lower guide rails. The upper shaft of the door front frame is always engaged to the corresponding upper guide rail. The lower shaft of the door front frame is always engaged to the corresponding lower guide rail. The upper shaft of the door end frame is always engaged to the corresponding upper guide rails. The lower shaft of the door end frame is always engaged to the corresponding lower guide rails. The upper shaft of the intermediate interlocking frame can be engaged or disengaged at the position where the corresponding upper guide rail is set. The lower shaft of the intermediate interlocking frame can be engaged or disengaged at the position where the corresponding lower guide rail is set.
In the sash system with the above-mentioned structure, the sash doors can be arbitrarily opened and closed mutually by a sliding operation, with the intermediate interlocking frame engaged to the upper and lower guide rails and with each sash door expanded. With the intermediate interlocking frame disengaged from the upper and lower guide rails, each sash door can be opened and closed arbitrarily in a two-fold state.
Each sash door operates in the two use modes of sliding and folding. That is, the upper end shaft of the door front frame is engagable to and disengagable from the upper guide rail and the lower end shaft of the door end frame is engagable to and disengagable from the lower guide rail. With such an engagement/disengagement function, an engagement/disengagement mechanism, for example, formed of an espagnolette and a lever handle, is mounted to an intermediate interlocking frame. The operation of the engagement/disengagement mechanism causes a vertical movement of an L-shaped slider disposed on the indoor side of each intermediate interlocking frame, so that desired engagement and disengagement is achieved.
By operating the engagement/disengagement mechanism located on the intermediate interlocking frame, the intermediate interlocking frame of each sash door is engaged to and disengaged from each upper guide rail while being engaged to and disengaged from each lower guide rail. For that reason, it is not needed to newly machine the upper frame, the lower frame, or the guide rail in a sash frame. In the sash structure, the airtight holding means can easily maintain high air-tightness in a manner similar to that of the conventional double sliding sash system.
After all, the sash system, having an inner sash door and an outer sash door to one sash frame, has the folded opening/closing function, together with the conventional double sliding function maintained in the opening/closing of each sash door. For that reason, the sash system has the advantage of realizing the folded opening/closing function or selectively fully opening, if necessary, a window, in addition to the general double sliding function.
However, in the above-mentioned sash system, the engagement/disengagement mechanism, which changes from opening/closing through sliding and opening/closing through folding, becomes complicated. Moreover, there is an unfavorable problem in that building the engagement/disengagement means in the intermediate interlocking frame leads to a complicated structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems.
An object of the invention is to provide a sash system that can maintain an air-tightness equivalent to (or substantially equivalent to) that of a conventional double-sliding sash system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved sash system that has a simplified engagement/disengagement mechanism. The engagement/disengagement mechanism can selectively provide quickly, easily and reliably the use mode of sliding sash doors engaged by an intermediate interlocking frame along a guide rail or the use mode of folding sash doors disengaged from a guide rail.
In order to solve the conventional problems and to achieve the object of the present invention, the present invention re-studied air-tightness of the sash system of the type which is opened and closed by sliding. With the inner sash door and the outer inner door closed by sliding, the air tightness of the sash system is generally achieved using airtight members. The air tight member is inserted between the upper, lower, right, and left sides of a sash frame and the contact portions between the sash frame and each sash door, or is inserted between door end frames. The present invention paid attention to the fact that the air-tightness is maintained in a closed state of each sash door.
The contact surfaces between sash doors disposed in a closed state may maintain air-tightness in the elongated direction of the upper and lower frames of a sash frame or in the elongated direction of each guide rail. However, it is obvious that other elongated portions of the upper and lower frames and the elongated portions of each guide rail, that is, the outdoor portion and the indoor portion of the inner sash door and the outer sash door disposed in a closed state do not work to maintain air-tightness. The non-airtight maintaining portion is used to engage and disengage the intermediate interlocking frame of each sash door to each guide rail. In other words, the upper and lower shafts of an intermediate interlocking frame are engaged and disengaged by means of a communicating path, such as a cutaway portion, formed in each guide rail. By doing so, the present invention found that the upper and lower frames and the guide rails can be easily and certainly machined. The present invention further found that both engagement of each guide rail to an intermediate interlocking frame and disengagement of an intermediate interlocking frame from each guide rail can be performed quickly, simply and certainly.
According to the present invention, based on the above-mentioned knowledge, the intermediate interlocking frame can be engaged to or disengaged from a guide rail, with sash doors in an open state where no air-tightness or no airtight holding means can be obtained.
That is,
Lev Bruce A.
Quarles & Brady LLP
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