US2897514A - Folding shower door - Google Patents

Description

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A llg- 4 l959 s. M. COLLINS 2,897,514

FOLDING SHOWER D003 Filed June 17, 1957 2 Sheets-s116611 1 /72 Hg v-'l L; L; 1J' L-J lll qu U2U'.

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Aug. 4, 1959 s. M. COLLINS v 2,897,514

' FOLDING SHOWER DOOR Filed June 1'?, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent C FOLDING SHOWER DOOR Solomon M. Collins, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Kinkead Industries Incorporated, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application June 17, 1957, Serial No. 665,954

Claims. (Cl. 4-154) This invention relates to a folding closure particularly .adapted for use as a shower door for bath tubs and shower stalls.

It is an object of the invention to provide a shower door which is foldable in nature :and which has greater stability and neater appearance than an ordinary shower curtain.

Briey, the invention consists of a plastic sheet or other waterproof sheet material wide enough to close the opening in question and preferably a little longer than such opening together with suspending devices at the top and retaining devices at the bottom for controlling the curtain in its folding and holding it rmly in place when it is opened.

Drawings accompany the invention, and the various views thereof may be briefly vdescribed as:

Figure l, a side elevation showing the door in mounted position across :an opening of a bath tub enclosure.

Figure 2, a sectional view on line 2 2 of Figure l.

Figure 3, a sectional view on line 33 of Figure l.

Figure 4, a perspective view of the fastening means for the door.

Figure 5, a rear view of the means shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6, a sectional View showing the door as it would appear in collapsed or open position.

Figure 7, a modication showing in perspective a modified stanchion means for a door.

Figure 8, a rear view of the means shown in Figure 7.

Figure 9, a modification showing the sheet provided with locating ribs for the stanchion means.

Referring to the drawings, in Figure l a bath enclosure is shown which may consist of a bath tub or shower stall. This enclosure is dened at the bottom by B and at the sides by structural elements S. At the bottom of the closure is a track T-1 and at the top of the closure is a track T-2, each track having a side slot for receiving glides, as will be described later.

The door comprises a sheet or material F which has a length suicient to close the opening at the bath enclosure and which is formed of pliant material having a height which is preferably slightly greater than the distance between the side slots of the tracks T-1 and T-2, the tracks being mounted in any suitable manner. In Figure 1 they are shown supported by side strips 30 and 32. Reference is made to my co-pending application Serial No. 667,237, filed lune 2l, 1957, in which details of the frame structure are disclosed.

At each end of the sheet member F is a vertical stanchion 34 and 36 which are fastened to the edges of the sheet material. These end stanchions are supported at each end on the tracks T-1 and T-2 by suitable glide members which engage the slots of the track. Spaced along the sheet F are also double clamping members shown particularly in Figures 4 and 5, which comprise an inner member 40 and an outer member 42, which are clamped together to sandwich a portion of the sheet material adjacent the edges of the sheet.

2,897,514 ,Patented Aug. 4, 1959 Each one of these pairs of fastening elements are provided with a glide member 50 which projects outwardly from the surface of the member 42 to co-operate with the horizontal grooves and the track members T-1 and T-Z. The member 42 has a lug 52 which hooks over the top of the member 40 and also has a stud projection 54 which snaps through a hole in the member 40 to assist in the assembly of the device. The `device may also be riveted at 56 if desired.

The combination elements 40-42 are spaced vertically in pairs, and it will be noted that each has flared wings 60-62 to angle the material F in a folding direction as shown particularly in Figure 6, thus insuring that the material will always loop in a single direction away from the supporting tracks.

A handle 70 on the stanchion 34 permits manipulation of the folding closure to a closed position :as shown in Figure 1 or 2, an open position wherein the elements 40-42 tend to move toward each other at one side of the opening. A handle can be provided at both ends so that the device can be operated in either direction.

As shown in Figure 2, the tracks T-l and T-2 also have horizontal slots in the forward edges thereof to permit the fastening of additional slide means 72 for receiving drapery hooks 74, which can support an independent closure element 76 if it is desired.

In Figures 7 and 8, a somewhat similar construction is shown with the exception that the fabric F is sandwiched at spaced vertical portions by full-length stanchions made up of elements 80 and 82 having flared wings 84 and 86.

The elements 80 and 82 are riveted together through the sheet by fasteners 88. A suspending device can -be assembled on these plates composed of a member which has a tab 92 which overlies a portion of the face of member 80 and a back portion 94 which overlies a portion of plate 82. A button 96 on the rear face of the back portion 94 projects through the plates and snaps into a hole therein to retain the member 90 on the plates. On the back portion 94 is a slide member 100 which engages the horizontal groove of the tracks T-l and T2. The oper-ation of this device is very similar to that of the first modification described with the exception that the stanchions are full length and will arrange themselves in parallel proximate relation when the curtain is open.

ln Figure 9, a construction somewhat similar to those shown in Figures 7 and 8 is shown with the exception that the sheet member F is provided with formed beads 106 to position the plate members 80 Iand 82 and to reinforce the sheet material at the point of union with the plate members.

I claim:

1. A foldable closure device for use as a shower door for a bath enclosure which comprises in combination upper and lower spaced parallel horizontal tracks to be mounted along a bath enclosure opening and having respective side grooves facing toward the enclosure, a sheet of horizontally foldable water repellant material for closing said opening and extending vertically to overlie said grooves, sheet supports and means for securing them to the sheet in pairs regularly spaced along the sheet, the supports of :any said pair comprising vertically aligned upper and lower supports associated with the upper and lower sheet edges and upper and lower tracks, each said support including a slide member entering the said groove in the associated track and slidable therealong, each said track including groove-associated retaining means cooperating with its associated slide members to retain them in sliding association with the groove of such track against transverse horizontal forces and against forces toward the other track.

2. A foldable closurevdevic'e as defined in claim 1, in which the said means for securing the said sheet supports to the said sheet comprise clamping plates on each face of said sheet arranged in pairs of opposed plates, means for securing the plates of each pair together tosandwich a portion of the sheet between them, the said .clamping plates of each intermediate pair thereof including marginal wing portions on each side of the pair which are angled inwardly toward the said enclosure, each said mar ginal wing portion clamping a vertical section of the sheet to angle it inwardly toward the said enclosure.

(3. A folda-hle closure device as defined in claim 2, in which the said upper and lower sheet supports of each intermediate pair thereof are secured to the adjacent edge .portion of said sheet by separate upper and lower pairs-of said clamping plates, while the upper and lower sheet supports of either end pair thereof are secured to ythe associated end portion of the said sheet by a single pair of the said clamping plates which extend vertically across the sheet betweenthe two sheet supports of the pair to compriseY end stanchions through which the closure device maybe operated.

4. A pfoldable closure device according to claim 1, in which the said means for securing-the said sheet supports to the said sheet comprise similar strip-like vertically extending clamping plates on each face of said sheet arranged in pairs of opposed plates, with the clamping plates of each pair extending the full Vertical height of the said sheet, means for securing4 the clamping plates of each pair together to sandwich a portion of the sheet between them, each said pair of clamping 'plates comprising a stanchion interconnecting two of the said sheet supports to facilitateV folding and unfolding the closure to open and close access to the said bath enclosure, and pairs of vertical ribs spaced apart on the said sheet, with the ribs of any of said pair thereof comprising mated rib portions on each side of the said sheet,l

spaced apart to snugly receive a pair of the said clamping plates between them, the said ribs reenforcing the said sheet at its vertical lines of juncture between its clamped and unclamped portions.

5. A foldable sliding closure combination for an access opening of a shower bath enclosure, comprising upper and lower horizontal track runs for placement along the opening, a horizontally foldable water-repellant closure structure dimensioned to extend vertically between the upper and lower track runs and to have an unfolded length suicient to bridge the said opening horizontally, pairs of supports Vand means for securing them to the closure member at regularly spaced Vintervals along the unfolded length thereof, the supports of any pair cornprising an upper and a lower support located along the upper and lower edges of the closure structure and associated respectively with the upper and lower track runs, each support including means rendering it slidable along the associated track run, each track run including retaining means cooperating with its associated ones of said supports to retain such supports in sliding association with the track run against transverse horizontal forces and against forces toward the other track run.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,550,713 Springer Aug. 25, 1925 1,990,871 Klocke Feb'. 12, 1935 2,388,297 Slaughter Nov. 6, 1945 2,667,218 Collins Ian. 26, 1954 2,699,827 Carson i Ian. 18, 1955 2,770,298 Hiatt 7 l Nov. 13, 1956

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