Patent Grant
9351612
The present invention relates to shower door assembly, and in particular, to adjustment assembly used therein which achieves fast assembling and adjustment.
Doors used for shower enclosure are often mounted against wall surfaces and the doors thus mounted are kept as vertical as possible. However, the wall surfaces of buildings are often not exactly vertical, for example, titled toward outside/inside by an angle. Therefore, if mounted completely along the wall surface, the doors may not be smoothly opened or closed. In this regard, it is necessary to adjust the distances between the top/bottom end of a door and a wall surface so as to keep the door in a vertical position.
To achieve this adjustment, a door assembly usually comprises a stationary frame to be attached to a wall surface, and a movable frame connected with a door panel, such as a glass door panel. The stationary frame is firstly attached to the wall surface and then the movable frame is moved toward the stationary frame, during which the distances between the top and bottom ends of the movable frame, and the stationary frame are such adjusted that the movable frame is in a vertical position, and thus so is the door panel. The stationary and movable frames are finally connected to each other by drilling thereon and by using fasteners.
However, in one aspect, the drilling operation requires at least two people to cooperate and is very time-consuming. In another aspect, the drilling may inadvertently cause damages to the surfaces of the frames generally made of aluminum materials, which is undesirable to consumers.
An object of the present invention is to provide a shower door assembly which comprises a stationary frame, a movable frame and at least one adjustment assembly disposed between the stationary frame and the movable frame, the at least one adjustment assembly comprising an adjustment device and a locking device, the adjustment device being detachably connected to the stationary frame and having an extension, the locking device being detachably connected to the movable frame and comprising
two opposite sides and a bottom side connecting said two opposite sides, the opposite sides and the bottom side defining a first cavity having a first depth and a second cavity having a second smaller depth, the first and second cavity jointly receiving the extension of the adjustment device;
a blocking element, a pressing element and an elastic element disposed between the blocking element and the pressing element being located in the first cavity, the elastic element being arc-shaped when unlocked, an interface between the first and the second cavity having at least a portion forming an inclined surface projecting to the blocking element; and
a driving device comprising a cam mechanism and a sliding element in the first cavity, the sliding element has one end in contact with the pressing element and the other end sliding along with the inclined surface when driven by the cam mechanism so as to push the pressing element toward the blocking element, and thus reduce the curvature of the arc-shaped elastic element until the elastic element is engaged with the adjustment device.
Preferably, the arc-shaped elastic element has an intrados facing towards the blocking element.
In one embodiment, the blocking element comprises a guiding rod. The pressing element and the arc-shaped each has a through hole, respectively, through which the guiding rod can pass so as to guide the movements of the pressing element and the elastic element within the first cavity.
In one embodiment, the pressing element has a guiding groove for receiving the one end of the sliding element. The guiding groove has a width large enough to maintain the one end within the guiding groove when the sliding element is sliding along the inclined surface.
In one embodiment, the locking device has a threaded hole penetrating through one of the two opposite sides such that when the locking device and the adjustment device are engaged, the engagement can be enhanced by screwing a screw into the threaded hole. Preferably, in this embodiment, a spacer element is disposed within the second cavity in a gap formed by the extension of the adjustment device. The spacer element is provided to prevent deformation of the elastic element already flattened, which may be caused by excessive force applied by the screwing as mentioned above.
In one embodiment, the pressing element has platforms at two sides, for in contact with the two opposite sides of the locking device, so as to prevent turnover of the pressing element during movement.
In one embodiment, the locking device has a receiving groove at one of the two opposite sides for receiving the cam mechanism.
In one embodiment, a surface of the extension of the adjustment device that is in contact with the arc-shaped elastic element is provided with teeth, such that the elastic element will be imbedded between two adjacent teeth when the elastic element is pressed, so as to enhance the engagement of the adjustment device and the locking device.
In one embodiment, the locking device is attached to the movable frame at at least two different linkage points, such that the locking device will not rotate about the movable frame.
In one embodiment, the arc-shaped elastic element is flattened when pressed, i.e., the curvature is zero.
In one embodiment, the stationary frame has two sidewalls, each received within respective slot provided with the locking device.
In one embodiment, the shower door assembly comprises two adjustment assemblies located at terminal ends of the stationary/movable frames, and the adjustment assemblies are disposed in opposite.
In one embodiment, the arc-shaped elastic element is constituted by a single metal sheet or a plurality of metal sheets that are disposed side by side. The single metal sheet, or the plurality of metal sheets as a whole, has a thickness between about 0.1 mm and no more than 0.2 mm, preferably 0.15 mm.
The shower door assembly provided by the present invention transfers the rotation of the cam mechanism to the translational movement of the pressing element by the inclined surface and the sliding element. The movement of the pressing element towards the blocking element makes the arc-shaped elastic element disposed there between flattened, such that the lateral width of the elastic element increases, causing engagement with the extension of the adjustment device. Therefore, the adjustment device is locked by the locking device and thus immovable, the relative position between the stationary frame and the movable frame is thus fixed. When the cam mechanism is counter-rotated, the arc-shaped elastic element will disengage with the adjustment device due to the restoring force of the elastic element and return to unlocked state. The adjustment device can achieve fast assembling and adjustment of the shower door and, in the meantime, is able to lock and release by minimum force.
Elements that are irrelevant of the spirit of the invention is omitted from the drawings for clarity purpose.
The invention will now be described in more detail in reference to preferable examples in conjugation with the accompanied drawings.
The locking device 300 is coupled to a movable frame 200 (see
In
A sliding element 316 is further provided in the first cavity 310 and has one end in contact with the pressing element 315, and the other end in contact with and sliding along the inclined surface 330. Therefore, when actuated by the cam mechanism 317, the sliding element 316 will slide along the inclined surface and push the pressing element to move toward the blocking element 311. The locking device 300 has a groove 304 at its one side for receiving the cam mechanism 317. FIG. 2 shows only a handle 371 of the cam mechanism 317.
The sliding element 316 comprises the one end 361 received within the sliding groove 353, a contact surface 362 in contact with the cam mechanism 317, and the other end 363 in contact with and sliding along the inclined surface 330. When rotated, the cam mechanism 317 pushes, through the contact surface 362, the sliding element 316 to rotate about the end 361, and in the meantime, the other end 363 slides along the inclined surface 330. Because the inclined surface 330 is projected toward the first cavity 310, the sliding element 316 pushes the pressing element 315 to move toward the blocking element 311.
As shown in
Optionally, in this example, the locking device 300 is provided with a threaded hole 305 penetrating through one side of the locking device. When the adjustment device 400 and the locking device 300 is locked, a screw 325 can be screwed into the threaded hole and abutted against the extension 410 so as to enhance the engagement between the flattened elastic element and the extension. On the other hand, in order not to cause unrecoverable deformation to the elastic element, it is preferably that, in the second cavity 320, a spacer element 321 is provided in a space formed by the extension.
It should be understood that various example embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which only some example embodiments are shown. The present invention, however, may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only the example embodiments set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 1 0127978 | Apr 2014 | CN | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150272397 A1 | Oct 2015 | US |
