The present invention relates to a device for locking and regulation panels or slabs for the realization of balustrades, railings, handrails or other fence elements.
More particularly, the invention relates to a device for locking and regulation panels or flat sheets of glass, which are adjacent to one another and achieve a fence structure.
For the connection of structural panels or glass plates in building structures, such as for example slabs or reinforced concrete floors that need railings, it is known to use metal sections (made of steel or aluminum), which are fixed to the building structure and that hold the panels in correspondence of an edge by fastening means, such as bolts or screws, which engage in holes formed on the section.
Other known solutions are that that provide for a gripping system realized by wedges, made of a resilient and/or yielding material, which are inserted into the metal section.
However, if, on the one hand, providing for the holes imply working phases which impact negatively on the production and installation costs of the products, on the other hand, the gripping systems using wedges are scarcely reliable, because the contact surface of the glass sheet and the locking wedge is very little, because the flat contact surfaces of the glass and the wedge are offset, compromising the holding force of the locking and perpendicularity of the plate, especially at the upper end of the latter, which is relatively distant from the portion of the glass engaged by the locking means.
Furthermore, it is also to consider the fact that, although the request is of glass sheets of more and more wide size, it is desirable that the metal support sections be of thinner and of less visible as possible, in order not to have a negative impact on the aesthetic continuity of the installations.
This requirement determines, on the other hand, a lower reliability of the locking device and, in particular, limits the possibility to adjust the inclination of the plates installed and maintain over time the desired position.
The task of the present invention is therefore to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above and, in particular, that of providing for a device for locking and regulation panels or slabs, that is adaptable to the inclination angle of the two faces of the panel or of the slab, in order to adjust in a simple and fast way the inclination of the plate with respect to the respective fixing section beam.
Another aim of the invention is to provide a device for locking and regulation panels or sheets, which guarantees an effective grip in correspondence of the locking means of the plate and then secure the retention of each plate.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide a device for locking and regulation panels or sheets, which is relatively simple to install and which can be applied to any type of panel or slabs, also preserving the aesthetic continuity of installations made with more plates glass adjacent to one another.
This task, along with these and other aims are achieved by a device for locking and regulation panels or slabs according to the appended claim 1, while other detail technical features of the locking and regulation device, which is the object of the invention, are given in the dependent claims.
Advantageously, the locking and regulation device for panels or slabs, in particular made of glass, according to the present invention, results to be of small size and is adapted to perform an effective locking, safe and of high aesthetic value.
Furthermore, the device according to the invention is easily adaptable to the inclination angle of the two faces of the panel, in order to obtain a perfect perpendicularity of each panel with respect to the mounting surface, as well as a total co-planarity of the panels between them, in case where the same are installed in a grid and used for the realization of balustrades, railings, banisters and fences or similar structures.
Further tasks and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, relating to a preferred not limiting embodiment of the locking and regulation device, according to the invention, as well as from the attached drawings, in which:
With reference to the above mentioned figures, with the reference number 10 is globally identified a U-shaped extruded profile, which at its bottom is fixed by locking means 11 to a reference surface 15, such as a ceiling and/or a floor, and which is adapted to house a panel 12, preferably made of glass, for the realization of balustrades, railings and fence structures in general.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, which is illustrated in detail in attached
The sleeve 13 is preferably made of resilient and/or flexible material, the shaped profile 10 being preferably made of steel and/or aluminum.
Still according to the embodiment illustrated in attached
In particular, the adjusting screws 17 are arranged in a direction which is perpendicular to the surface 15 and they pass through the corresponding wedges 16, in such a way that:
The upper portion of each screw 17 is constrained to the respective wedge 16 by means of a circular abutment 19, which fits into a suitable seat or recess 20 of the sleeve 16, while on the head 21 of each screw 17 is provided a seat for the regulation of the latter from the outside; furthermore, by incorporating the head 21 of each screw 17 within the wedge 16 it is also possible to avoid providing the abutment 19 for anchoring the screw 17 the wedge 16.
Thus, the sleeve 13 keeps the plate 12 in a vertical position, while the presence of the opposing blocks constituted by the respective wedges 16 and the lower portions of the sleeve 13 allow to regulate, with ease and precision, the inclination of the plate 12 with respect to the vertical axis K and the extruded profile 10.
Specifically, turning the head 21 of each screw 17 (by means of a specific tool, which can be inserted from the outside of the extruded profile 10 in the upper seat of the head 21), it causes a displacement in the vertical direction of the corresponding wedge 16, whose diagonal wall is thus forced to slide on the respective diagonal wall of the tapered portion 13A, 13B of the sleeve 13 (as shown in detail in attached
In an alternative embodiments of the invention, the anchoring edge of the lower plate 12 may be formed directly from the bottom surface of the extruded section 10 (as shown in detail in attached
From the description above result clear the features of the locking device and regulation of panels or slabs according to the present invention, as are clear the resulting advantages, both operational and functional. It is finally clear that many other variations may be made to the locking and regulation device in question, without departing from the principles of novelty inherent in the inventive idea, as is clear that in the practical implementation of the invention, the materials, shapes and dimensions of the details illustrated may be any according to requirements and they can be replaced with other equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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VI2014A000075 | Mar 2014 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IT2015/000079 | 3/25/2015 | WO | 00 |