Patent Application
20080134583
This invention relates generally to non-hanging sliding door systems and, more particularly, to non-hanging sliding doors, windows, mirrors, etc. that include upper rollers, lower sliding wheels, and guiding rollers that together provide a smooth and quiet glide without the use of a lower track.
Every sliding door usually has an upper track and a lower track. In some applications, such as, e.g., the so-called “barn doors”, the door is actually designed to hang from the upper track, such that the upper track carries the majority, if not all, of the door's weight. With such doors, a lower track is normally used to serve as a guide and to keep the door from swinging from side to side.
In certain hanging-type sliding door systems, it is sometimes possible to eliminate the lower track. Nevertheless, regardless of whether a lower track is used, upper tracks of hanging doors are generally known to be problematic because particles accumulate in the track, making it more difficult for the door to slide, and eventually causing the door to become stuck. Once the door has become stuck, the door must be removed in order to clean the track.
In other applications, the majority of the weight of the door is carried by the lower track. Here, the upper track is generally designed in such a way as to guide the door so as to keep it in line and in place. As a result, the upper part of the door is usually looser, and typically creates undesirable noises caused by the friction between the upper part of the door and portions of the upper track.
Thus, in a majority of existing systems, a lower track is usually necessary, either to carry the weight of the door, or to provide a guide when the door's weight is carried by the upper track. Quite often, however, such lower tracks are not only unsightly, but also a health hazard. For example, in applications where a sliding door is used as a room divider, or a pocket door, opening of the door exposes a lower track that is generally attached to the ground. Thus, individuals walking across the room are in constant danger of tripping over the lower track. In addition, even with low-profile lower tracks, it is still important to ensure that the door always remains in its track. In this regard, disengagement of a sliding door (or window, mirror, etc.) from its track is problematic for at least two reasons. First, the door, or portions thereof, might fall and break, thereby requiring costly repair or replacement. Second, and more importantly, a disengaged sliding door presents a significant health hazard not only to the individual operating the door, but also to any bystanders in the vicinity of the door.
Moreover, existing sliding doors provide little or no flexibility based on their functionality. However, it may be desirable to customize a sliding door based on the door's intended function. For example, if the door is intended to function as a room divider, it may be desirable for the panel to be multi-faceted, e.g., have multiple horizontal or vertical panel designs.
However, the only way to achieve such function-based designs with existing systems is to manufacture the door with multiple panels cut to produce the desired shapes and angles. Thus, in order for a glass door to appear as if it has three horizontal sections, for example, the door would have to be manufactured with three pieces of glass fitted within a frame that includes four horizontal frame members. This practice, however, requires that each and every sliding door be custom-made, thereby making it labor- and cost-intensive. In addition, once a door has been custom-made, the only way for a different design to be achieved—e.g., four horizontal sections instead of three—would be for another door to be custom made with the new specifications, thereby rendering the old door useless.
What is needed, therefore, is a sliding door system that allows the door to slide back and forth smoothly without any obstacles, interruptions, or undesirable noises, eliminates the need for a lower track while, at the same time, doing away with a hanging-type upper track, and allows for repeated customization without the requirement of manufacturing a new, custom-made door each time.
In light of the above-mentioned need, the instant invention is directed to a sliding door system with an upper, non-hanging type roller assembly, that provides a smooth and quiet glide, a guiding roller assembly to eliminate the need for a lower track, and a means for effecting design flexibility in a time- and cost-efficient manner.
It is noted that, although, throughout the ensuing discussion, reference is made to a sliding “door”, such reference is made by way of illustration, and not limitation. Thus, the instant invention encompasses sliding structures that may be used as doors (e.g., closet doors); room dividers; (wall) pocket doors, where the sliding “door” extends from, and retracts into, a wall cavity; wall sliders, where the sliding “door” slides back and forth from behind the wall; loft enclosures; cubicle enclosures, etc. In addition, the term “door” is used herein generically and without limitation as to the material of which the door's panel is made. Thus, the panel may be made of clear glass, milky glass, frosted glass, mirror, etc., and combinations thereof.
In embodiments of the invention, the members 16, 18, 20, 22 may be made of aluminum. In addition, in embodiments where the panel 12 is made of glass, the glass may be tempered, and have a thickness of at least 4.0 mm, and more preferably, a thickness of at least 5.0 mm.
As shown in
The upper roller assembly 40 includes first and second rollers 44, 45 that are rotatably mounted on respective first and second vertical shafts 42, 43. With reference to
The above configuration is significant because it allows the door 10 to be stable and slide smoothly without any frictional contact between the upper track 200 and the door 10. Specifically, the upper track 200 defines a channel 210 having first and second opposing side walls 212, 214. As shown in
It is noted that, in a preferred embodiment, the combined span of the rollers 44, 45 is slightly larger than the horizontal distance between the respective inner surfaces of the side walls 212, 214, and rollers 44, 45 are made of flexible rubber, so as to provide for a snug fit between the rollers 44, 45 and the side walls 212, 214. In addition, in embodiments of the invention, one or both of the side walls 212, 214 may extend far enough downwards to completely cover (the front side A, and/or the back side B, respectively, of) the horizontal top portion 16 of the frame 14.
As shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the lower wheel assembly 60 includes a vertical spine 67 which, in turn, has a vertical slot 64 through its central portion. The vertical spine 67 also includes a transverse shaft 66 that is coupled towards a bottom portion of the spine. Lower wheels (e.g., non-marking sliding wheels) 70a, 70b are rotatably coupled to the transverse shaft 66 on respective opposing sides of the vertical spine 67 to form a wheel set 70. Preferably, a washer 61a, 61b is disposed between each of the lower wheels 70a, 70b and the vertical spine 67.
The transverse shaft 66 is perpendicular to the plane of the panel 12, which, in turn, is generally received within a groove 15 that is defined in each of the first and second vertical side portions 20, 22 (see
In practice, the spine 67 connects to a mounting bracket (not shown) by attachment means, such as, for example, screws or bolts, through the vertical slot 64. The mounting bracket, in turn, couples to the vertical side portion 20, 22 using screws or similar attachment means. The height of the vertical spine 67 (and, therefore, the height of the door 10) can then be adjusted by moving the spine 67 up or down, and then fastening to the mounting bracket at the desired location. By way of example, the lower wheel assembly 60 may be coupled to the frame 14 in the manner disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 11/521,237, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Regardless of the specific coupling mechanism that is used, however, the lower wheel assembly 60 is coupled to the frame 14 in such a way as to allow the wheels 70a and 70b of each lower wheel assembly 60 to be in direct contact with the floor below the door 10, with no intervening lower track.
In embodiments of the invention, the sliding door system includes a guiding roller assembly having one or more guiding rollers. In a specific example shown in
The above configuration, whereby respective centers of successive rollers lie on opposite sides of the horizontal spine's longitudinal center line, is significant because it allows the door 10 to be stable and slide smoothly while preventing lateral swinging of the door 10. Specifically, the guiding rollers 302-308 are received in the longitudinal channel 319 of the frame's horizontal bottom portion 18 (see
It is noted, as mentioned previously, that the illustrative example discussed herein employs four guiding rollers. Embodiments of the invention may, however, employ fewer, or more, than four such rollers. In addition, in a preferred embodiment, the combined span of any two successive rollers, e.g., roller 302 and roller 304, may be slightly larger than the horizontal distance between the respective inner surfaces of the side walls 321, 323, and the rollers may be made of flexible rubber, so as to provide for a snug fit between the guiding rollers and the side walls.
In embodiments of the invention, the horizontal spine 310 may have angled flanges 311 at its longitudinal ends. In operation, the extent to which the door 10 can move back and forth is defined by the contact between each flange 311 and the corresponding (longitudinal) end of the channel 319, which may be defined, respectively, by the bottom part of each of the vertical side portions 20, 22.
In addition, the horizontal spine 310 includes attachment means 312 which allow the guiding roller assembly 300 to be used in at least two different ways. More specifically, the ground (or floor) directly below the bottom of the door 10 may be non-covered, or it may be covered by any number of materials, such as, e.g., carpet, tile, laminate, marble, hard wood, slate, etc. Depending on the latter, it may/may not be possible, or desirable, to drill (or otherwise perform any manner of work directly on) the floor.
Thus, in one application, where it may be possible and/or desirable to drill the floor, the roller assembly 300 may be attached directly to the floor by using attachment means (e.g., bolts, screws, etc.) 312. When, on the other hand, it is not possible, or desirable, to drill the floor, the horizontal spine 310 may be coupled to a mounting bracket 400 by using the attachment means 312 and hex nuts 314. Of course, when attachment means other than bolts are used, the holding means 314 will correspond to the specific type of attachment means used, rather than the hex nuts shown in
When the guiding roller assembly 300 is not coupled directly to the floor, the mounting bracket 400 is coupled to a wall parallel and adjacent to the sliding door 10 through the attachment holes 410 in such a way as to place the horizontal spine 310 directly below the horizontal bottom portion 18, and the guiding rollers inside the channel 319. In this way, the need to drill the floor is eliminated. In either embodiment, however, the guiding roller assembly 300 is generally disposed adjacent one of the bottom corners of the door 10 such that, when the door is closed (e.g., when a room divider is fully drawn to divide the space), the free end of the door, i.e., the end that is normally used to pull the door, is farthest from the guiding roller assembly 300.
As noted previously, existing sliding doors allow little to no flexibility in panel design. As shown, for example, in FIGS. 8A-8C of co-pending application Ser. No. 11/521,237, divider strips may be removably attached, e.g., via double-sided tape, to the panel 12 (or the panels 12a and 12b, etc.). Thus, for example, a single, horizontal divider strip may be attached to the panel 12 so as to provide the appearance of two separate (i.e., upper and lower) panels. Similarly, multiple horizontal dividers may be used to provide an appearance of multiple separate panels.
It is noted that, because the dividers can be placed anywhere on the panel, the resulting appearance can be asymmetrical, if such asymmetry is desired. In addition, the dividers may be placed on the panel 12 horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and/or in a combination of orientations. For example, a panel may include a “T” configuration on the bottom, and an inverted “T” configuration on top, etc. Moreover, the dividers may be used in combination with doors that include structural “dividers”, such as doors that include one or more vertical members 21, as discussed above.
While the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof. The accompanying claims are therefore intended to cover such modifications as would fall within the true scope and spirit of the present invention.
This application is related to application Ser. No. 11/521,237, filed Sep. 14, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
