GB2131859A

GB2131859A - Weatherproof assembly for door foot

Info

Publication number: GB2131859A
Application number: GB08332300A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roy Harvey Bottomley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-12-10
Filing date: 1983-12-02
Publication date: 1984-06-27
Also published as: GB8332300D0; GB2131859B

Abstract

A low, relatively flat sill 10 is mounted at the foot of the door frame and a strip 13 which is L-shaped in cross-section is fitted to the lower front margin and underside of the door 30. A draught-excluding strip 31, e.g. of polypropylene, is mounted on limb 24 of strip 13 so as to abut sealingly against the sill 10 when the door 30 is closed. Any water falling on the front face of the door 30 is guided over limb 23 of strip 13 and is directed onto the sill 10, which preferably has a sloping front surface 17, by a nose 25. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Weatherproof assembly This invention concerns an assembly which is particularly adapted for location at the foot of a door and its respective frame so as to provide a weatherproof seal therebetween when the door is closed.

Conventional door sills, which consist of a substantially upright projection from the foot of the door frame and are designed to provide a seat between the foot of the door and its frame when the door is closed have proved unsuitable for public buildings such as schools, hospitals, offices, shops and old people's homes because many members of the public, particularly the old, young or disabled have difficulty in stepping over the sill or may trip and be injured and the sill provides an obstacle to wheeled objects such as trolleys, perambulators or wheelchairs which have to be pushed through the door. Accordingly, it has been proposed to provide a sill which is low and which slopes at front and rear, i.e. is trapezoidal in cross-section, to maintain the likelihood of anyone tripping and facilitate passage of wheeled objects.For draught-proofing, this sill is provided with a rubber strip or ridge along the centre of its upper surface, which strip or ridge abuts the underside of the door when closed. The disadvantage of this is that the ridge or strip is very quickly damaged and/or dragged out of place by the repeated opening and closing of the door so that people are likely to trip over it and it has to be frequently repaired or replaced with consequent inconvenience and expense.

Moreover, this sill is unsuitable for a sliding door or a swing door as with the former the door is unable to be moved and with the latter the ridge or strip is dragged out of position even more rapidly than with a conventional door.

An object of the present invention is to provide a weatherproofing assembly which, when fitted to the foot of a door and its frame will obviate all the above-mentioned disadvantages. In other words, the aim is to provide an assembly which can be used in relation to any type of door, including a swing door or a sliding door to provide an effective and long-lasting weatherproof seal when the door is closed and a sill over which people and wheeled objects can easily pass.

With this object in view, the present invention provides an assembly which is adapted for location at the foot of a door and its respective frame so as to provide a weatherproof seal therebetween when the door is closed, said assembly comprising a sill for mounting at the foot of the door frame, a strip formed in crosssection of two limbs in generally L-shaped disposition for fitting to the underside and lower margin of the front of the door, said strip having an outward projection or nose adjacent the intersection of the two limbs and at least one draught-excluding device mounted on that limb of the strip intended to be fitted to the underside of the door so as to abut sealingly against the sill when the door is closed.

The sill advantageously has a sloping surface along its front edge, that is to say along its edge which is intended to be directed towards the exterior of a room or building in which the door frame is disposed. Optionally, the sill may also be formed with a sloping surface along its rear edge, or an additional wedge-shaped element may be attached to the rear edge of the sill so as to provide such a sloping surface.

Preferably the or each draught-excluding device comprises a resilient polypropylene strip mounted so as to be readily deformable in a slot in that limb of the strip intended to be fitted to the underside of the door.

Both the sill and the strip may conveniently comprise aluminium extrusions.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which the single figure is an end view of a preferred embodiment of the assembly of the invention co-operating with a door in the closed position.

As illustrated, a preferred practical embodiment of the assembly of the invention comprises a sill 10 in the form of two aluminium extrusions 11, 12 respectively and a strip 13 which is generally of L-shaped cross-section and also comprises an aluminium extrusion.

The first extrusion 11, which is larger than the second extrusion 12, is in the form of a relatively flat strip having a lower surface 14 with a number of grooves 15 and an upper surface which is angled so as to form a flat region 16 and a sloping region 17, the latter forming a front sloping surface of the sill 10. The lower surface 14 is also slightly angled, for reasons explained later, so that the part of the lower surface 14 beneath the upper sloping surface 17 is lower than the remainder of the lower surface 14. At intervals along the extrusion 11 there are holes (not shown) to permit this extrusion to be screwed to the foot of a door frame (not shown). The second extrusion 12 is wedge shaped, having a lower surface 18 with grooves 19 and a sloping upper surface 20.This extrusion 12 can be attached to the larger extrusion 11 by a projection 21 on the extrusion 12 fitting into a corresponding slot 22, extending along the rear of the extrusion 11. In practice the projection 21 will be inserted into the slot 22 from the side and the sloping surface 20 of the extrusion 12 then forms a rear sloping surface of the sill 10.

The L-section strip 13 obviously comprises two limbs or webs 23, 24 which are substantially perpendicular to each other. An outward projection or nose 25 is provided adjacent the intersection of these two limbs 23,24, as shown in the drawing. The strip 13 is intended to be fitted to a door 30 such that one link 23 abuts the lower margin of the front of the door 30 and the other limb 24 abuts the underside of the door 30.

The limb 23 is provided on its inner surface with a number of grooves 26 and is shaped at its free end so as to have a surface 27 which slopes away from the door 30. The limb 24 is provided on its outer surface with two spaced-apart slots 28, each of which have a central portion 29 wider than inner and outer portions. Resilient polypropylene draught-excluding strips 31 are located in each of these slots 28, longitudinal edges of the strips 31 being retained in the respective central portions 29 while a central tufted band 32 on one side of each strip 31 projects out of each slot 28 and a space remains behind each strip 31 in the inner portion or base of each slot 28.

The general manner of use of this weatherproofing assembly will readily be appreciated from the foregoing description.

The sill 10 is installed by being screwed along the foot of a door frame with the sloping surface 17 directed towards the exterior of the room or building in which the door frame is disposed.

Because the lower surface 14 of the extrusion 11 is angled downwards at the front, the front portion of this extrusion 11 makes a very firm fit with the frame so that water is most unlikely to seep beneath the sill 10. The wedge-shaped extrusion 12 will be attached to the extrusion 11, as described above, in cases where the door frame is in a public building such as a hospital or school where there is no carpeting or other relatively thick floor covering to the rear of the door frame. In other cases, e.g. the homes of elderly people, the extrusion 12 will be omitted or removed from the sill 10 so that a carpet or the like can neatly abut the rear of the sill 10 and be level with the flat portion 16 of the upper surface of the sill 10.

Before the sill 10 is installed at the foot of the door frame, mastic is applied in the grooves 1 5 (and the grooves 19 where appropriate) so that a waterproof seal is formed between the sill 10 and the frame.

The L-section strip 13 is fitted to the lower front edge of the door corresponding to the aforesaid door frame, by screws or otherwise, the mastic located in the grooves 26 of the limb 23 so as to form a waterproof seal between this limb 23 and the lower margin of the front of the door.

The orientation of the L-section strip 13 is as previously mentioned and as shown in the drawing. The dimensions of the sill 10, particularly the width of the flat portion 1 6 of the upper surface thereof, are such that the projection or nose 25 of the L-section 13 overhangs the sloping front surface 17 of this sill, as illustrated in the drawing. Accordingly any water falling on the front face of the door 30, e.g. in the form of rain, hail, snow, will run down this door surface, over the inclined upper surface 27 of the Lsection 13 and be directed by the nose 25 onto the sloping surface 17 and hence away from the door and the frame. In other words, water is substantially prevented from seeping between the door 30 and the limb 23 by the mastic seal and from passing between the door 30 and the sill by the nose 25, which directs it away therefrom.

The polypropylene draught-excluding strips 31 are located in the slots 28 as previously described. They may be inserted from respective ends of the slots 28 and held in position by small strips of metal (not shown) attached across said ends. These metal strips should be easily removable so that the polypropylene strip can be removed and replaced when necessary. When the door 30 is closed, the tufted bands 32 of each of the strips 31 should contact the flat upper surface 16 of the sill and thereby effectively prevent draughts between the door 30 and the sill 10. If the door is a close fit in the door frame (which the illustrated door 30 is not), the strips 31 can flex upwards into the inner portions of the respective slots 28 when the door 30 is closed. In this way, the chances of the strips 31 being damaged or dragged out of place by repeated opening and closing of the door 30 are minimised.

It should be understood that the foregoing is illustrative and not limitative of the scope of the invention, and variations may be made thereto.

For example, there may be only one or more than two draught excluding devices and these may be in the form of blades instead of polypropylene strips. Also the sill 10 may be formed in one piece with sloping front and rear surfaces or with only a front sloping surface.

The assembly of the invention is, of course, equally applicable to a sliding door or to a swing door as to the conventional door referred to in the above description.

Claims

1. An assembly which is adapted for location at the foot of a door and its respective frame so as to provide a weatherproof seal therebetween when the door is closed, said assembly comprising a sill for mounting at the foot of the door frame, a strip formed in cross-section of two limbs in generally L-shaped disposition for fitting to the underside and lower margin of the front of the door, said strip having an outward projection or nose adjacent the intersection of the two limbs and at least one draught-excluding device mounted on that limb of the strip intended to be fitted to the underside of the door so as to abut sealingly against the sill when the door is closed.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sill has a sloping surface along its front edge, that is to say along its edge which is intended to be directed towards the exterior of a room or building in which the door frame is disposed.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the sill has a sloping surface along its rear edge.

4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein a removable wedge-shaped element provides the sloping surface along the rear edge of the sill.

5. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the or each draught-excluding device comprises a resilient polypropylene strip mounted so as to be readily deformable in a slot in that limb of the strip intended to be fitted to the underside of the door.

6. An assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the or each polypropylene strip has a central tufted band projecting out of the respective slot for abutment with the sill when the door is closed.

7. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sill and the strip are formed as aluminium extrusions.

8. An assembly which is adapted for location at the foot of a door and its respective frame so as to provide a weatherproof seal therebetween when the door is closed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.