Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – Movably interconnected
Patent
1995-01-11
1997-03-25
Purol, David M.
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
Movably interconnected
160232, E06B 348
Patent
active
056135416
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to sliding shutters, particularly, but not exclusively, for use as doors for the load carrying compartments of commercial motor vehicles.
2. Background Art
It is well known to provide a roller or `up and over` shutter or door for closing a commercial vehicle body such as a van or truck body in the form of a vertically sliding member consisting of a series of planks or lathes made, for example, of aluminium or plywood which are hinged together and which are guided at their ends in suitable tracks in the vehicle body. Similar shutters are used for closing commercial premises and to improve the security of domestic premises.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved sliding or roller shutter or door.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention a sliding or roller shutter or door consists of a plurality of generally similar lathes or planks hinged together by elastomeric members attached to adjacent edges of the lathes or planks. Preferably the edges of the lathes or planks are formed with longitudinally extending key-hole shape slots, and the elastomeric hinge members are formed with opposite enlarged portions received in the slots in the lathes or planks. The elastomeric member will preferably be of constant cross-section and may be such that the enlarged portions are joined by a web. The elastomeric members may be dumb-bell shaped in cross-section. Preferably the elastomeric hinges will be attached along the full lengths of the lathes or planks.
The lathes or planks are preferably made from a high impact plastics such as UPVC (polyvinyl chloride). Suitably the lathes or planks may be made by an extrusion process. If desired the lathes or planks may be twin-walled and the resulting cavity or cavities may be filled, if desired, with a thermally insulating material.
Where the elastomeric hinges extend along the full length of the lathes or planks, an air and watertight door or shutter can be produced.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is diagrammatically illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sliding or roller shutter door for a commercial motor vehicle body;
FIG. 2 is a cross-section through a shutter lathe;
FIGS. 3a and 3b are fragmentary cross-sectional views of a pair of lathes of the kind shown in FIG. 2, and showing their manner of interconnection and articulation;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a shutter showing its associated guide members, and
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary end view of a shutter showing how the guide members are received in a guide channel or track.
DESCRIPTION
In the drawings, a sliding or roller shutter door for a commercial motor vehicle body is shown which is conventional in its general arrangement and consisting of a sliding shutter 1 formed by a series of generally similar lathes or planks 2 hinged together along their mutually abutting edges 5 and mounted at their respective ends, which form opposite edges of the shutter, in a parallel pair of L-shaped tracks 3, whereby the shutter is movable along the tracks to open and close the door. The tracks 3, which are generally U-shaped in cross section, are mounted in a commercial motor vehicle body (not shown) so that the vertical limbs of the tracks 3 extend down both sides of the door opening and so that the horizontal limbs of the tracks 3 extend along the vehicle body near to its roof. Conventionally the planks or lathes 2 have been made of plywood joined together with metal hinges or have been made from aluminium extrusions formed integrally at their edges with mating hinge portions.
As shown in FIG. 1, webbing tapes 12 are fixed to the shutter 1 and in conventional fashion are wound around a spring-urged roller 13 mounted in the vehicle body at the top of the door opening to assist the raising and lowering of the shutter. As can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, guide members 15 are fixed to the ends of the lathes and are guided within the tracks 3 to suppor
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James & Bloom Limited
Purol David M.
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