Hinge for a shower screen door

Details Hinge for a shower screen door Hinge for a shower screen door

1999-03-23

2000-06-06

Mah, Chuck Y.

Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,

Hinge

Having clamp for attaching hinge to hinged member

16286, 16250, 16334, 16382, E05D 502, E05D 1110

Patent

active

06070294&

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to hinging and relates particularly but not exclusively to the hinging of glass shower screen doors or like panel doors.


DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

Hitherto, it has been known to provide glass shower screen doors. These have been known in the trade as being of one of the following types: framed, semi-framed, and frameless. In a framed shower screen door, the door is of glass but it is completely framed around its perimeter with a metal frame such as aluminium. Hinges can be fastened directly to the aluminium frame to, in turn, hinge the door relative to a jamb or a return panel of a shower screen installation. The hinging in such frame shower screen installations is generally satisfactory, however, the appearance of the frame around the perimeter of the door tends to be rather aesthetically unpleasing. A semi-framed shower screen door is one which comprises a glass screen door with a top and bottom frame. The hinges are attached to the top and bottom frames. Typically in such arrangements, the hinges comprise pins which extend from the top and bottom frames and pass respectively into a head section and/or a sill section of the shower screen installation. These installations appear aesthetically more pleasing than the fully framed shower screen installations but are still not as aesthetically pleasing as a frameless shower screen installation. In a frameless shower screen installation, there is no frame about the glass screen door. Rectangular cut-outs are checked into one side edge of the screen door and an expensive metal hinge is then fitted within the rectangular shaped cutouts. Typically, such shower screen doors are manufactured from 8, 10 or 12 mm thick glass to provide the necessary rigidity and strength. This, in turn, means that the weight of the screen door is excessive, and the hinge design must take this into account. Because of the rectangular nature of the cut-outs which are time consuming to cut, and the nature of the metal hinges themselves, frameless shower screen doors have been expensive and have had limited appeal even though aesthetically they are superior to the framed and semi-framed types.


OBJECTS AND STATEMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been devised to attempt to overcome one or more of the aforementioned problems.
Therefore in accordance with a first broad aspect of the present invention there may be provided a method of hinging a glass shower screen door or like panel door comprising said door so said first cut-out extends transversely of the plane of said door, said first cut-out being inwardly of the top of said door, said door so said second cut-out extends transversely of the plane of said door, said second cut-out being inwardly of the bottom of said door, cut-outs have been cut, hinge to said door at said second cut-out, said first hinge and said second hinge each having a circular door mounting part of substantially the same diameter as the diameter of the respective circular cut-outs, said circular door mounting part being adapted to fit within a respective one of the cut-outs, each said first and second hinges having two door face clamping parts, one clamping part being for abutting with one face of said door immediately surrounding a respective cut-out, the second clamping part being for abutting with the opposite face of the door immediately surrounding the respective cut-out, and holding means holding both hinges to said door at said respective cut-outs.
Most preferably a respective cover plate is then fitted over the one clamping part and the second clamping part.
It is particularly preferred that said method provide each cut-out of substantially half circular shape by a circular cutter which is positioned to overlap said side edge during cutting.
It is also particularly preferred that said glass door have a thickness of between 5.5 mm and 13 mm and that the positioning inwardly of said cut-outs relative to the top and bottom of the door be at positions to average for minimum flexing of said door cau

REFERENCES:
patent: 1640525 (1927-08-01), Belliveau
patent: 3828394 (1974-08-01), Horgan, Jr.
patent: 4545090 (1985-10-01), Redmond
patent: 5079798 (1992-01-01), Burke et al.
patent: 5297313 (1994-03-01), Brin
patent: 5513420 (1996-05-01), Kennedy
patent: 5613276 (1997-03-01), Franz
patent: 5867869 (1999-02-01), Garrett et al.

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