US3079653A

US3079653A - All vinyl door, window or like seal assembly

Info

Publication number: US3079653A
Application number: US668475A
Authority: US
Inventors: George W Cornell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-06-27
Filing date: 1957-06-27
Publication date: 1963-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 1980-03-05

Description

March 5, 1963 G. W. CORNELL* ALL VINYL DOOR, WINDOW 0R LIKE SEAL ASSEMBLY Filed June 27. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR @fw fwa WV/W ATTORNEYS March 5, 1963 G. W. CORNELL ALL VINYL DOOR, WINDOW OR LIKE SEAL ASSEMBLY Filed June 27. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 www ATTORNEYS United States ,3,979,653 v ALL viNYL nooawrrsnow ora-.Linn SEAL Assam( Georgia-'Vi'.` Cornell, Miami; Fla.,iassignor .ojonehalf Ato t The presentl invention relates to positive sealingrassemblies for sealingthe bottom,sideand3top edges offdoor, window or like openings of home or'commercial building structures against passage'of air; the elementsand light and more particularly, to such .a sealing assembly" made up of an impact resistant support strip vadapted ,toj sealin'gly engage a"'support; surface and Va resilientlandjhighly.l deformable sealing strip removably secured' v,tovthefsupport strip in position to sealingly engagej andconformfto the Y opposed surfaces of a door, 'windowior likefclosuref element or the framing'dening such openings.

ealing -assembliesxcomposed of wood; metal Yandlike Y rigid support Vstrips and resilient and 'deformablepolyvin'yl ,chloride seal strips have been heretofore` proposed -and have -rnet'with much success. -Examples ofsuch successful sealing -assembliesearefshown riniapplicants prior V.UuiteclsrStatesvLetters Patent 2,718,677`fdate'dSeptember 27, 1955, and entitled Threshold-and;Door-Sealing Construction. Such-an assembly iswholly adequate as aiseal and. is -widely'vmarketed for-'original .installations `as well as a replacement threshold for installation by unskilled mechanics land home owners. 'When properly installed, Ysuch assembliesadequately; serve to'sea'l the. side and top edgesfofwindow,l door and like closure openings' but such assembliesjdo not lendl themselves to ready nailed attachment, 'do not; provide a particularly.satisfactory` surface foi-,painting to tie in with the general decorative-color -schemes of residential and-commercial buildings, are subject to permanent denting .impressions t when struck by hammer or like blows, present installationproblems when Yused-.along the hinge edgeofa door or casernentfwindow .the sealing strip making opening and closing of a door or window diiiicult, are expensive'to produce because of kthe need of planing andV grooving to impartthedesired shape and surface nish'as well as to 'provide the seal strip retaining grooves and do not have suflicient resilience to assure a sealing engagement with the door,*window or framing surfaces to which they mustV be attached if employed under seal strips.

rityaccordingly, is a'primary object `of this invention to provide la weather resistant Vsealing assembly made up-f a'stit support strip having suicientlresiliency to effectively assure direct sealing engagement with the door, window or framing surface upon which itis mounted to prevent passageof air,`the elementsand light'bet'ween the support strip and its mounting'surface and a resilient and highly 'deformable seal'strip for sealingly cooperating with 'the opposed framing, door or window surfaces Vto prevent the passage of air, the element-s and light jbetween the seal- -ing assembly and such opposing surfaces.

Another important object of this invention is to provide Aa-sealingv assembly made'up of a nai1able,`.high impact Vre- 3,679,553 Patented Mar. 5, i963 ice :.12 sistant, -support strip which 4is-impervio1-is to'moistureee ofswellingftendenciesand,-has1a lowthermal expansion Hand contraction factor and -a resilientfand ,-highly deformablesea1 strip jor sealiuglyeooperating with Vauf opposed door, window-erframing surface.

iA; ur-ther-object-of -thepresent invention is tog provide aY sealing assemblyrmade', upfofganfextruded highgimpact resistant polyvinyl-.chloride support str-ip having 4undericut .-grooveymeans extending longitudinally; alongone 'face -y and-:an` extrudedresilient and-deformable; seal strip having i longitudinally extending-securing meansV foi-'f -matingly 1interlockingly engagingfginvthe -undercut groovemeans to removablygsecuregthesealstripfto the vsupportj `s'tfrlipr'and iprovidefanfassembly unitifand also.v having aV protruding f resilient y andl highlyf deformable; sealing -portionjdisposed ,forv 'sealingengagementrwith `an-fopposedfgc'lo'or,y window, or framing Surface. v

-Stillanotherobject'of-the;present invention' is-toyprovide door, window, or like double face sealing assemblies Y' for encirlclingfassociation with -av -;dark, room-doorto efiectively "prevent -seepage :off VlightfbetweenV the cloorfy and l its framing` made up of a,an extruded-:pigmentedzhigh irn- .-pactresistantY polyvinyllfehloride supportextrusion t and a removably;attachedv .pigmented-resilient-.and 'readily'fde- -formable-polyvinyl-chloride-seal strip. e

,-*AKfurtherfobject off the present-invention is to provide fa-door, window or like, seallassemblywi-th a res'ilientfand `defonnable;seal-strip having -a longitudinally,='continuous f -body Lpertinenti-one face of :which-carries arlpngitudinally continuous locking head andgthe lother face ofjwhich Aprovides a transverselyielongated; deformablebulbielement the exposed laterally Aextending Wall .of whichh'asl-integrallyV formed thereon a plurality of outwardly projecting, highly fexible, thin, relatively I sh0rt,' transversely spaced 'fingerelementsfadaptedigo vsweepingly engageren opposed surfaceupon closings-of a hingedrdoor or fwindow and be bent,upon contact withfthevoppose'd.` surface, ,intofsurface-to-sur-face rsealing engagement :with the opposedfsurface causingdepression/of ,thebulb' element which, fclue` to itsresilient;,deformability, Yassures `Vand* maintainsfi'aflrm -'surfacetosurface sealing contact of `said "ngers while avoiding appreciableresistance to `linalV closing mov-einen of said door orwindow. v

Still Ao'therobjects will appear asV the: following-.descrip- `tion and appended vclaimsjaregread, in conjunction with the accompanying `drawings wherein:

FIGURE l comprises av-fragmental plan View of one Afornrof an abutment type--thresholdsealing assemblyas viewed -fromrabove whengnailed `in placev in yafdoorlor window opening to abuttingly engage t-he bottom edge of a door, window=or like closure -member hingedalonga vertical Yedge kto the openingdening framing;

FIGURE 2^comprises a transverse sectionalview taken vsubstantially along line 2-2of FIGURE '1f illustrating the manner-in which `therabut-ment ftype threshold of vFIGUR'EI cooperates with the oora-nd the loweredge of .an outswinging door-and 'alsoillustrating: onef-form of vertical and top edge-abutment sealing assembly provided -by this inventionforuse infplace .ofitheconv'entional door -stop strippingl usually -em'ployed with x outrswinging doors;

FIGURE 3- is a Ytransversesectional view takenasubstantially online `3 3: of "FIGURE 2 Iand viewed in `the directionof the varrows "t'o illustrate the manner in which the abutmentjsealing yassembly of this invention, jprovided to replace the conventional door-Estop stripping,ncooper ates with the door edges;

FIGURE-3a isafragmental; detailed VviewV of ythe facvtory iinished'ends of the-preferred verticalfdoorffs'trips A. provided by this invention;

Y EIGUREA isa transverse-sectional view similarto ,FIGURE 3 taken-through thehinged verticalgedgeof structures.

a Vswinging door or window illustrating a preferred form of seal strip for use with swinging Windows and doors to avoid appreciable resistance to final closing movement of swinging doors or Windows; Y

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a preferred pigmented sealing assembly provided for effecting maximum light exclusion in sealing the door or window openings of darkrooms and like light tight structures;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 2 illustrating a further form of threshold seal assembly provided by this invention for either an outswinging or inswinging door and attachment either directly to the iioor or a wooden threshold plate employed with the vertical vand top edge seal assemblies of FIGURE 4 to seal and provide door stops for an inswinging door;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view of the right hand groove structure of the support strip of FIGURE 7 illustrating the detailed groove structure; and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmental sectional view illustrating the seal assembly of FIGURE 6 applied to the bottom edge of an overhead garage door of conventional structure. i

With continued reference to the drawings wherein like parts are designated throughout by similar reference characters, sealing

assemblies

10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 embodying the present invention are illustrated by the various tigures of the accompanying drawings. As will hereinafter appear, assemblies 10 and 14 are primarily intended for use as positive sealing threshold or bottom edge sealing assemblies whereas assemblies 11,112 and 13 are primarily adapted for use in sealing the vertical side edges and top edges of door, window or like closures of either the swinging or sliding type.

1-"u'ndar'nentally,v thervarious sealing assemblies of this -invention are composed of generally non-deformable Vsupport stripsllfl; 17 or 18 of varying construction depending. upon the intended end use of the sealing assembly and flexible and deformable sealing strips 19, i 20, `21, 22'or 23 also depending upon the particular end *use to be made of the sealing assemblies. Since it is pre- Yferrred that the support strip be susceptible of sealing cooperation with the surface upon which it i-s mounted and that it be attachable by suitable securing nails as Well as other securing devices, such as screw fasteners requiring fastener receiving openings in the support strip structure, each of these support strips is preferably formed from a material which will not only permit a nail to be driven therethrough but will have suiiicient resiliency (l) to undergo localized bending thereby assuring sealing conformance to minor surface irregularities in the mounting surfaces provided therefor and (2) to resist permanent localized deformation upon Vbeing subjected to hammer or like blows.v While any subtance which exhibits the desired resiliency and impact resistance mentioned above may be employed in forming the various support strips, the present invention isparticularly concerned with the provision of support strip structures formed of a synthetic plastic material that can be readily extruded in continuous lengths, subsequently cut along `transverse lines into suitable marketable strip-lengths and sanded to a smooth finished abutment surface and which will provide a greater affinity to paint than either wood or metal and eliminate the moisture damageinherent in Wood or metal support strips currently employed in such Such a substance available on the open market takes the form of what is -'generally known as high impact resistance, or rigid polyvinyl chloride and these terms as hereinafter used in this description and the appended claims is intended to define such material or equivalent synthetic plastic materials. One of the preferred sources of the ingredients for such a material is the B. F.V Goodrich Chemical Company of Cleveland, Ohio which provides a commercially available high impact resistant, polyvinyl'chloride ingredient composed of i a basic polymer like that disclosed in United States Letters (1) a durometer hardnessrrof the order of 78 or (2) Tensile strength at 78 F. of 500G6500 p.s.i.

(3) Compressive strength at 78 F. of 7500-9000i p.s.i.

, (4) Flexural strength at 78 F. of S500-1200i) psi.

(5) Izod impact factor 10-20 ft. lbs. in notch (6) A coeicient of thermal conductivity of the order of 4.5 (B.t.u./sec./sq. ft./ F./in./lO-4).

Such commercially available extruded shapes produced by conventional extrusion processes provide continuous strips of varying cross-sectional area which can be produced at very low cost and, when cured in conventional manner, provide shapes having an extremely desirable high impact resistance assuring against marring deformation -when subjected to impact blows while at thersame time providinga support strip that can be readily cut, sanded smooth, drilled and penetrated by conventionai pointed nail-like fasteners or pre-punched to grippingly vreceive and temporarily retain nail or screw fasteners during the attachment of the assemblies. The resilience of these materials is such that support strips made from them exert an exceptionally strong gripping force on the nails or other fasteners employed to secure them in place, provide an unusually desirable affinity to paint coatings, particularly paints o-f the styrene butadiene variety such as Spread Satin and Super Kemtone and are resistant to long exposure to moisture which often causes undesirable swelling and rusting or corrosion of support strips made of metal, wood or other compositions heretofore used for door, window or like sealing assemblies and door or window stops and guides. The susceptibility of these polyvinyl chloride support strips to ready sawing or cutting by conventional saws or cutting elements without clogging the teeth or dulling the blades makes it' possible to readily fit the support strip to a door, window or other framed opening for a closure member. Furthermore, the support strips made from such materials have much greater resiliency than Wood or suitably heavy gauged metal heretofore employed in making such sealying assemblies assuring localized flexing enabling the -surfaces Without special care particularly when raised surface mating formations of minimum cross-sectional area are provided lon the under or abutment faces.

The present invention, accordingly, proposes high impact resistant polyvinyl chloride support strips comprising

arched body portions

24 or 24a having laterally spaced

abutment surfaces

25 and 26 of relatively slight'crosssectional width' on one face or a planar-like body 27 having laterally spaced

abutment surfaces

25 and 26 of slight cross-sectional Width on one face. These strips are readily formed by conventional extrusion methods which permit the incorporation of suitable completely finished under-- cut seal strip attachment grooves 29 and 3l in a vertical edge wall or laterally spaced undercut seal securing grooves 32 in a laterally extending face of the support the need of finishing operations after the strips are formed.,

The location of the 'undercut grooves depends upon `whether an abutment type or a shear type sealing element is desired.

Referring for the moment to FIGURES vl and 2, the support strip of this form of .the invention is of au overall Width of 2.031 inches, .a maximum height of .423 inch and is primarily for use as a threshold sealing assembly of the abutment sealing type often used in sealing the bottomedge of outswinging exterior and patio doors. As clearly seen from FIGURE 2, the abutment surfaces ZSand 26 are of a thickness of about .078 inch, are `widely laterally spaced and the arched body 24 Vis of the order of ..093 inch in thickness and is provided between the abutment faces with a depending, longitudinally extending, reinforcing rib 35 of approximately .078 inch thickness. The abutment face 26 is in the form of a rib ofslight width on a longitudinally `continuous depending protrusion or rib forming a laterally thickened edge wall of .25 inch in thickness having longitudinally continuous undercut grooves 29 vand 3.1 in its outer vertical wall. it will furthermore beclear from FIGURE 2 that the 4undercut groove'29 is formed between `the upper and .lower extremities ofthe laterally thickened edge wall and comprises a mouth portion 35 vof approximately .078 inch width generally centered with respect to and of lesser width than the undercut groove .29 which measures crosswise at the widest point .adjacent the undercut shoulders .187 inch and. is of a depth of .109 inch measured from the rear face of the edge wall. It will further be appreciated from a. consideration of FIGURE 2 that undercut groove 31. opens .downwardly .as well as outwardly of the laterally thickenededge wall to provide what kmight be defined .as an undercut half groove the purpose of which will be presently pointed out. The back wall of groove 3l is about .109 inch from the front face of the edge wall `and the interlock lip depends .G46 inch. The support strip of this form of the :invention may be provided with a resilient and deformable sealing strip of a form like that of any one of theforrns designatedlg, 26, 21 or Z2 without materially aiecting the sealing emciency of the assembly employed asa threshold seal.

Referring iirst to sealing strip 19, this strip is composed of a resilient and deformable plasticized polyvinyl chloride composition of more or less conventional character and comprises a bodywall .3S of approximately .023 inch thickness having integrally formed on one face a longitudinally continuous right angularly related attachment rib 39 of approm'mately .046 inch thickness and .093 inch lengt'. The free edge of rib 39 terminates in an enlarged locking head Si of generally triangular or arrow 'shaped contlguration in cross-section measuring across the tips .125 inch. Head 41 together with rib 39 forms an interlockingattachment or support structure for matingly cooperating with undercut groove 29 and its reduced area mouth 36 to removably interlock the seal strip 19 to support strip 23 with body wall 3S in face Vto face contact with the vertical wall of the support strip at both sides of mouth opening 36. Wall 33 extends downwardly frorn mouth opening 35 to a point short of the lower support strip wall edge and there 'integrallyv joins an intersecting bottom wall portion which extends outwardly, then curves Adownwardly and inwardly to provide an underseal leg 47 terminating in an upstanding lip 4'2 disposed in the downwardly opening groove 3l. Except for' leg 471Which is G46 inch thick, this body wall portion is .G23 inch in thickness. This resulting outwardly protruding curved wall i3 is provided at the center of its outer face with an outwardly directed rib 44- of .G23 inch -thickness which integrally joins a downwardly and outwardly arching, thin, highly deformable sealing wall i5 of .0:23 inch thickness. VRib i4 joins wall 4S adjacent its lower edge i6 to form a Contact lip engageable with the floor F at a point spaced outwardly from the seal strip bottom wall 43.

The normal undeformed configuration of thin highly ,deformable sealing wall 45 rposes `(l) tto provide afrontend reinforcement at the lower end of lflexible and highly deformable seal wall t 4S that will resist acollapsing of the seal wall intocon- Ytact with the main wall 3S in the packaging of the seal assembly Ias well as in use in sealing the door or window and (2) t-orprovide a `compressible undersurface seal at 47 as support strip 15 is drawnhomeby its securing fasteners. The seal at 1 -7, it will be appreciated, is eifected by the gripping of the portion of bottomv seal str-ip walld; between depending rib 25 and the opposed iloorsurface to insure -a highly effective sealing contact with the door along the edge of the assembly exposed to the elements. In addition, this novel seal strip structure provides an additional interlock for retaining the sealing strip in proper position on the support strip. 15

so that the sealing strip will not pull away from the support strip in the area of contact with thefloor when la door abuts and deforms the flexible and highly deformable `sealing wall 45 into surface sealing contact -as illustrated in FiGURE 2.

While the sealing assembly of FiGURE-S land 21 em- `ployed as a threshold may be conveniently secured in place, after its ends are cu-t 4to properly interrlt with 'the side door or window opening framing, by either nailing it to the flooring -wi-th a headed nail 4S as shown in FiGURES 1 and 2 or by a screw fastener entered .into a suitably drilled and countersunk opening (not shown) similar to lthat illustrated in applicants prior Patent 2,718,677, it is preferred that the securing of the iucident assembly be eected by nailing as here illustrated. Such securing means is particularly eieotive with lthe pre-punched or pre-drilled high impact resistant polyvinyl chloride support strip of this invention lsince nail 4S will be 4tightly gripped both before and after it is driven home by reason of the resilience of 'the material. As a consequence, the fastening nails or screws can be pre-set in the stripping to be held in upright position ready to be driven home by a hammer or screw driver leaving the other hand or the installer free to iirmly press successive areas of the strip assembly into proper relative position with respect to the surface to be sealed by the deformable seal strip.

Nail 43 can, if desired, be countersunl; into the material by use of a conventional nailset to firmly secure sealing assembly l@ in place while a screw fastener can be coun-tersunk by suitably countersinking the exposed end of the pre-drilled fastener hole with a conventional countersinking drill bit. ln addition, it has been estab lished 'that the Vhaimner blows necessary to drive a nail head flush with the exposed surface of support strip i5 are ineffective to permanently indent the top surface of the strip and yet the resilience which makes this possible is not sutlicient to cause any appreciable and undesirable distortion of the support strip Vor bouncing of the hammer ns the securing nail is driven home.

While sealing assembly l@ may, if desired, be employed for sealing the vertical and top edges of the door or window opening, a better appearance is effected by use of one or another of the sealing kassemblies il, 12 or i3. These assemblies, `as will be clear from a comparison of FIGURES 2, 3, 3a, 4 and 5 ofthe drawings are of lesser width and employ support strips 16 or 17 of different cross-sectional configuration designed to provide a iinished appearance to the vertical and top .edge or header stripping. VReferring lfor the moment to FIG- URES 3, 4 and 5, .these support strips have arched body portions 24a the lateral edges of which form abutment surfaces 25 and 25. The latter comprises a thickened edge wall having undercut grooves .2%.and 3l substan- .tially identical in construction to that of support strip 15. Body portion .24ahas an overall width of .7:19

structure o3 through a curved merging portion.

aoraess inch which extends in a substantially transverse direction from :the thi irene-d end wall to provide a nail or other fastener receiving area 5l, which can be prepunched or drilled to provide fastener openings, and

then curves downwardly on a rather sharp radius bcgrinning at a point about .39% inch from the outer face of the thickened end wall to provide a curving linished edge 52 located at a distance from the thickened edge wall `of the order of .562 inch, roughly the spacing of reinforcing rib 35 of threshold strip i5. The maximum thickness ot strips 2 :and Z2 is about .390 inch. As clearly seen in EGURES 2, 3, and 4, support strips il, l2 and i5 are also secured in place by headed nails 48 spaced longitudinally along the fastener receiving area 5l. Undercut grooves T3' and 3l are disposed substantially in the same relationship as the corresponding under-cut grooves of the previously described threshold support strip l5. it will be noted, however, that mouth 36 of these 'support strips is somewhat wider, measuring .G93 inch across and that the back wall of groove 13 is aligned with the deepest point of the curved back wall of groove 29. While a seal strip 19 like that described or use with support strip i5 may be employed,

it is preferred that a seal strip 2li, 2d or 22 shown in FIGURES 3, 4 or 5 be used in lieu of the strip i9 heretofore described. Preferably the header strip is attached nrst, its opposite ends being straight cut transversely of the length of the strip toy abuttingly engage ,the plmar faces of :the opposed vertical door or window Iframe members. The vertical seal members are preferably cut at one end at the factory as indicated at 53 (FIGURE 3a) to matingly abuttingly receive the header strip and form a neat completely sealed corner joint. The opposite or lower ends of the vertical seal members, which are provided in lengths sufficient to extend Vfrom top -to bottom or" the door opening to be sealed,

are intended to be cut straight across as indicated in FEGURES 2 and 6 to abuttingly cooperate with the top face of lthe threshold strip that may 'be employed. it will thus be appreciated that the installer is freed from the need of making any mitered or other angular cuts to secu-re proper jointing at the corners of the door openings.

Referring for the moment -to FGURES 2 and 3, seal strip Ztl comprises a body wall S5 of .031 inch thickness having integrally formed on one face a longitudinally continuous right angular releated attachment rib 56 terminating in anV enlarged locking head 57 in all substantial respects similar in construction and function to the and locking head of the previously described seal strip i9. Body wall 5S in this form of seal, however, extends downwardly the full depth of the support strip edge wall face, is inclined sliohtly toward the locking head at each side of rib 5e and then straightens out to form a pressure contact with the support strip wall at each side ot mouth opening 36 and joins a rearwardly directed underseal leg 47a measuring .G46 inch in thickness. The free end or" leg 47a is provided with upstanding locking lip d2. like that of strip lil. Underseal leg tf/'fz and upstanding lip d2 cooperate with the downwardly opening undercut groove 3l in substantially the same way as the corresponding underseal leg 47 and lip 42 of seal i9 do. in lieu `of sealing wall i5 heretofore described in connection with seal strip 1S?, the present seal strip comprises a resilient and highly deformable sealing wall 5S formed by an integral outwardly and downwardly sloping wall portion 59 ot"V .G3i inch thickness merging at -a point approximately opposite the upper lip of locking head in a rounded abutment or Contact nose 6i. Nose el in turn merges with a downwardly and inwardly inclined wall portion 62. of .G23 inch thickness joined to the lower portion of underseal leg 47a by a narrow bottoni wall This particular sealing wall shape presents curved abutment nose 6l for initial contact with a closure member Vmovement of the leading edge.

d Nose 6i, due to the relative 'angular relationships of the wall portions 59 and 62 and the greater thickness of wall portion S9, will upon continued closing movement of the closure member move bodily downwardly and inwardly bowing the walls 5i) and 62 substantially as illustrated in FiGURE 3 to establish spaced sealing contact areas at 66 and e? with the opposed face of the closure member. Because of t e thinness and high deformability of the sealing wall of strip 2i?, it will be appreciated that this sealing bulb formation offers only slight resistance to initial door closing movement when the stripping is properly mounted to have face to face contact with the door. ri`he resistance to closing increases, however, as the door approaches its iinal fully closed position due to the fact that the bowed wall '59 and the short bottom connector wall 63 provide a substantial resistance to compression once the sealing wall 5S is collapsed into the shape shown by the full lines in FIGURE 3. As a result of this rapid build up of resistance to compression once sealing wall 53 is collapsed, the seal assembly il provides an ideal cushioning ste-p for hinged doors or windows. Such assemblies may and preferably are used in lieu of the conventional wooden or like door stops in new constructions but may be effectively used with existing stop structures of old constructions merely by mounting the assemblies on the opening delining face of the lexisting stops. Seal assemblies 1l when used at the hinge edge of a hinged closure member have posed a problem necessitating careful adjustment of the hinge edge strippino. This problem is caused by the tact that the hinge edge follows an extremely short radius arcuate path in its lapproaching contact with the sealing strip causing the leading hinge edge corner to sweep in toward and engage the wall 59 side of nose l vand tend to pull the bulb portion of the seal away from its engagement with the support strip wall and wedge the bulb between the leading hinge edge corner and frming unless the hinge edge seal assembly is carefully adjusted by setting the hinge edge assembly 11 in place backed away sun ciently from the arcuate path of the vleading hinge edge corner to assure that the leading corner will merely tip nose 61 in its initial passing movement. if properly adjusted, however, assembly ii, after contact nose 6i is engaged by the door face, will have its wall 53 pressed into satisfactory sealing engagement during the iinal closing movement of the door.

To overcome this problem, the present invention pro vides the preferred

seal strip construction

21, 22, shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. In these seal strips, the underseal leg 47a is also preferably relieved as most clearly shown in FIGURE 5 to provide the laterally spaced, depending sealing ribs 68. In place of a bulb like that provided by either seal strip 19 or Ztl, seal strips 2i and 22 embody a laterally elongated shallow bulb formation having thin highly iiexible contact lingers 69, 7l and i2 on its ilexible andV deformable wall 73. Wall 73, as in the previously described forms of the invention is of the order of .G23 inch in thickness and is spaced from body wall 57 about .039 inch. As clearly seen from FGURES 4 and 5, wall 73 is joined at its opposite ends to body wall S7 by short radius, curved wall segments. As a consequence, the major portion of wall 73 in its normal assembled relation as seen in FlGURE 5, extends substantially parallel to body wall 53 with the lingers 69, 71 and 72 projecting outwardly therefrom and curving slightly in a lateral direction toward the underseal leg edge of the strip. The several lingers preferably have 'a thickness of about .015v inch and when contacted by the door tace are bent inwardly as seen in FGURE 4. When this strip is mounted at `the hinge edge or" a door as shown in EiGURE 4, the leading hinge edge corner '75 in following its arcuate path sweeps successively across fingers 69, 'il and .72 bending them in the direction of This bending is continued, lafter corner 75 passes the fingers by engagement of `a free end area of each finger by the door face 76. This engagement acting through the arched fingers tends to force the highly flexible wall 73 bodily inwardly against the resilient support provided by the curved ends of wall 73 thereby in effect slightly compressing the shallow bulb as shown in FIGURE 4. As a result, highly cxible wall 73 Vassumes au undulating shape as seen in FIGURE 4. Because of the resiliency of this bulb structure and the inherent resiliency of the fingers themselves, the fingers will be lirrnly pressed outwardly into surface sealing engagement with `the closure member face 75 assuring a positive seal when the closure reaches fully closed position. In actual practice, it has been determined that this resilient lingered sealing bulb structure avoids any noticeable resistanceto closing movement of the door or tendency to pull the seal strip away from the support strip due to the sweeping arcuate path of movement of closuremember corner 75 and its initial shearing contact with the seal strip. It will be appreciated, therefore, that this resiliently backediinger form of the invention is peculiarly suited for proper sealing cooperation with the hinge edge of hinged closure Vmembers and at the same time assures normal abutment sealing contact when employed along the other edges of the closure member. For these reasons the structure of sealing members 2i and 22 disclosed in'FIGURES 4 and 5 constitutes'the preferred seal of this invention.

Polyvinyl chloride extrusions, such as proposed for the support and sealing strips of'the disclosed sealing assemblies, can, if desired, be provided in many and varied colors by utilization in conventional V'manner of suitable pigments in the mixing of the polyvinyl chloride cornpositions. Therefore, it Awill be appreciated that the sealing assemblies of fthe present invention may have desired coloring imparted to them Awithout the necessity of painting them if this should be desired. However, the stocking of varying colors of pigmented polyvinyl chloride stripping assemblies presents a dealers stocking problem which has been determined to be objectionable. For this reason, and as most'homes and buildings utilize white paints for the exterior door openings and as brown or grey .tints at the threshold harmonize quite well `with natural hardwood doors and grey stone or cement door steps, the threshold assemblies provided by this invention are preferably supplied in neutral brown or grey shades yand the usual` edge sealing assemblies il andiZ are preferably supplied in white. Since the polyvinyl chloride `stripping Ahere proposed provides extremely smooth surface areas and is .impact resistant, an ideal surface is lassured for paintcoatings if painting should be desired.

It will valso be 4appreciated -thatthe normally white strip- `ping offers little trouble from the standpoint of showing -and Ait has beenfound to provide an exceptional ailinity for styrene butadiene paints.

However, in attempting to provide complete light exclusion for darkroom and like usage, it was found that white vinyl plastic-sealing assemblies are not truly opaque and refiect light from one side -to the other side of the closure members through the space to be sealed even Vthough they effectively seal the space against the passage of air and moisture. Because of these characteristics of white polyvinyl plastic seal assemblies, wholly satisfactory light sealing ofdarkrooms was found to be .impossible using the customarily marketed side and top edge door seal assemblies. To solve this problem and provide ahighly efficient and suitable darkroom seal, Vthe present invention proposes a polyvinylchloride support strip 24a and a -polyvinylchloride seal strip k22 composed of a jet black, pigmented polyvinyl chloride material. Such a r'this seal assembly is shown mounted in the drawings.

l0 sealing assembly is illustrated in FIGURE 5 Where the black coloring is employed in the kdrawings to distinguish this particular and special product from sealing assemblies employing conventonal polyvinyl chloride compositions. Whileit will be appreciated that pigmented polyvinyl chlorides between dead white and jet black will have varying degrees of translucency and retlectability with the ideal being `jet black, it is contemplated by this application that the light excluding pigmentation should preferably be black or the. deeper shades of other dark colors to vassure maximum efliciency of light exclusion.

Referring next to FIGURE 6, the seal strip indicated by `numeral 23 comprises a ribbon-like extruded strip .ofresilient and deformable polyvinyl chloride having a flexible and deformable wall and is provided .along its lateral edges with oppositely inwardly inclined tabs Si. These tabs inefiect form one half of an arrowhead formation 81a and, when the strip is properly positioned in the undercut grooves 32 Aof support strip 18, are ldisposed in face abutment engagement with the upwardly and inwardly sloping grooved bottorn walls S2 with their free inner edges disposed in the slot 83 (PEG. 7) for-med by the overhanging rounded rib or bead 34 provided along the upper inner groove edges. As clearly seen in FIGURE 7, the bottom wall 82 at its lower end merges into a horizontally directed, relatively narrow corner wall portion 35 which in' turn intersects the downwardly and inwardly inclined outer side wall S. The angle of inclination of side wall S6 and bottom wall -82 .with right angular planes respectively passing vertically and horizontally through the point of i juncture of bottom wall portion S2 and corner Wall portion 85 is preferably or" the order of 15 and the angle of the side wall intersecting the rounded surface of bead S4 is prefer-ably of the order of 42 with respect to the horizontal plane. 'it will further be noted from an inspection of FIGURE 6 that the seal strip face opposite that containing tabs 81 diverges progressivelyfrom the other face in both directions from the longitudinal center toward the lateral edges to points spaced inwardly from the lateral edges where it is cut back at an angle to the center body thickness as indicated at 87 to form protuberant lips S5. Lips d8 are adapted in use to overlappingly engage the upper outer edges of the body portion defining undercut grooves 32 and to provide pressure lips designed to bear upon the support strip when the seal strip is bent into assembled relation. These bearing lips resist bodily shifting movement of the seal strip relative to the-support strip as the door or other closure member swings across and into sealing engagement with the seal strip. ln this way, the shearing forces tending to slide the seal strip out of its grooves is satisfactorily resisted even though a single interlock lip only is provided.

ri`hese tensioning lips, particularly the one opposite the closure member engaged side of the seal strip, when forced tightly into contact with the support strip also tend to resist the turning force that would otherwise occur around the fulcrum point formed at the point of bearing of the seal strip edge at the intersection of wall portions d5 and d6 tending to twist the related tab Si out from under its locking bead 34. It will be appreciated, therefore, that the groove and tab structure of these interrelated support seal strips assures maintenance of a proper interlock between the seal strip and support stripv irrespective of the forces encountered iu use.

As heretofore pointed out, the support strip of FIG- URE 6 of this invention is also composed of high impact resistant polyvinyl chloride. The strip is 1.375 inches in width, .15() inch in height and the grooves are spaced in* wardly from .the opposite edges a distance of .281 inch to their outer edges and provide mouth openings of .078 inch in width. Therefore, suitable securing nails 48 can be employed to conveniently secure the seal assembly to the top surface of the wooden saddle plate 91 upon which It is to be understood, however, that the Wooden saddle plate may be omitted, if desired, and the sealing assembly of this form of the invention could then be nailed directly to the ilooring. It will also be noted from FlGURE 6 that the side and top edge sealing assemblies i2 of this form of the invention are cut at their bottom edges to abuttingly fit against the lloor, Vthe angled surface of wooden saddle strip 9i and the polyvinyl chloride support strip 23 and are disposed at the outside edge of the threshold seal assembly to abuttingly engage the exposed face 92 of the inswinging door structure illustrated in this embodiment.

t will also be noted from FIGURE 7, that the upper midway between each outer support strip edge and the adjacent groove edges is provided with a shallow longitudinally continuous groove 91 serving as a nail locating guide.

ln addition to serving as an under door threshold mounted on a threshold saddle strip or under door floor surface, the seal assembly 14 is particularly adapted for attachment to the under edge of any conventional overhead garage door 92 as illustrated in FIGURE 8. Because o' the high impact resistance of the support strip 1S and the ready deformability and surface conformability of the seal strip 23, this sealing assembly is particularly suitable for such service where wooden or metal support strip mounted seals would, under the impact forces encountered in the normal closing of such relatively heavy overhead garage doors be likely to splinter or be undesirably bent in use.

it will also be noted that the se'al strip 23a of this embodiment, while substantially id-entical lto seal strip Z3 of FIGURES 6 and 7 has opposite outwardly directed lips 93 fitting into mating outwardly directed grooves in support strip i8 to further insure against twisting of the secured seal strip edges out of the support strip grooves under shear forces encountered in usage like that illustrated in FGURE 6 Vand heretofore mentioned.

The invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing rom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore t be considered in all lrespects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and `all changes which come Within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is: Y

l. A seal strip for use as a weathers-trip and cushioning element of .a door or like closure opening stop assembly including a support member having a longitudinally grooved wall arranged so that upon installation in said closure opening it will oppose a marginal portion of the closure member comprising an extruded resilient and readily deformable polyvinyl chloride strip composed o-f a longitudinally continuous tubular element having an integral longitudinally coextensive, headed ange projecting away from one side of said tubular element for interlockingly engaging in said grooved support member wall and a thin highly deformable wall portion opposite said one side of said tubular element and having 4a protuberant portion extending therefrom in a direction generally opposite that of said headed iiange to form a resiliently backed, bendable initial contact portion adapted to rirst engage said marginal portion of said closure member during its closing move. lent and thereafter bend and retreat as the closure member completes its closing movement to form a multiple contact seal with the marginal portion oi closure member.

2. "he seal strip of claim l wherein said protuberant portion of said highly deformable wah comprises a rounded nose portion formed between the opposed edges Sul . surfaces of support strip 18 at a point approximately l2 of said wall by a pair of `respectively outwardly converging wall portions.

3. The seal strip of claim l wherein said protuberant portion comprises a series of longitudinally coextensive, spaced, thin, finger-like ribs.

4. In combination with a door frame having head, sill and jamb parts, the improvement which comprises: Ia sealing strip and means for mounting said strip adjacent any of said frame parts in parallel relation thereto, said seaiing strip being constructed of resilient material and including a longitudinal base portion, a longitudinal tubular portion joined to said base portion, and an external longitudinal lip on said tubular portion, said lip projecting substantially tangentially outwardly from said tubular portion toward lan adjacent portion of ythe door frame, and said mounting means including a longitudinally grooved bar adapted to be positioned against any `of said frame parts, said base portion being anchored in said groove.

5. The structure deiined in claim 4 wherein said bar is of angulated sectional configuration, one of the legs Ithereof being provided with said groove, and anchoring means carried by the other leg yand adapted to be anchored to the door frame part to secure said mounting means 'and sealing strip in operative position.

6. A sealing strip and mounting means therefor comprising: a mounting member having an L-shaped cross- -sectional configuration and anchoring means projecting from one leg of said mounting member parallel to and yextending in the same direction as the other leg of said mounting member; the other leg having ra longitunally disposed groove on the opposite side from said one leg; a sealing strip comprising a base portion Iand a tubular sealing portion, said' base portion being interlockingly mounted within said longitudinal groove and said sealing portion having a substantially semi-circular cross-sectiona-l configuration and at least one integrally outwardly eX- tending lip projecting substantially tangentially and generally in the same direction as the other leg and yanchoring means of said mounting member.

7. A seal strip and stop assembly adapted for sealing the space between a door, a Window or like closure memlber and the framing delining the closure opening comprising an elongated, rigid impact resistant, pigmented, synthetic plasticvsupport strip of arched configuration in cross section providing a normally exposed face delimited along one edge by a depending Vintersecting edge wall containing a longitudinally continuous undercut groove and provided along its other edge with a longitudinally continuous, planar abutment face facing in a direction opposite said normally exposed face to provide an abutment seal when said support strip is mounted in lateral spanning relation on said opening defining framing; and a resilient and deformable, pigmented, synthetic plastic sealing strip longitudinally coextensive with said support strip edge wall and having a longitudinally continuous attachment portion shaped to matingly interlockingly engage in said undercut groove and removably secure said sealing strip to said support strip and form a marketable assembly adapted for unitary installation, said sealing strip also having a highly deformable Ibulbous sealing portion of a width to overlie a substantial area of said edge wall in position to sealingly cooperate with an opposing surface of a closure member provided to close said closure opening and said pigmentations of said support strip and said seal strip comprising pigmented polyvinyl chloride lcompositions wherein the pigmentation is sufficiently great to assure a seal strip and stop assembly which will be eifective to both prevent passage of light therethrough and absorb impinging light rays thereby producing a nonreilecting light `seal for photographic darkrooms and like enclosures. p

8. A seal strip and stop assembly adapted for sea-ling the space between a door, a window or like closure member and the framing defining the closure opening comprising an elongated, rigid, impact resistant synthetic plastic support strip of arched conguration in cross section providing a normally exposed face delimited along one edge by a depending intersecting edge Wall containing a longitudinally `continuous undercut groove and provided along its other edge with a longitudinally continuous, planar abutment face facing in a direction opposite said normally exposed face to provide an abutment seal when said support strip is mounted in lateral spanning relation on said opening defining framing; and a resilient and deformable sealing strip longitudinally coextensive with said support strip edge Wall and having a longitudinally continuous attachment portion shaped to matingly interlockingly engage in said undercut groove and removably secure said sealing strip to said support strip and form a marketable assembly adapted for unitary installation, said sealing strip also having a highly deformable bulbous sealing portion providing a longitudinally continuous thin arched wall of a width to overlie a substantial area of said edge wall in position to sealingly cooperate With an opposing surface of a closure member provided to close said closure opening and having integrally formed thereon a series of laterally spaced, longitudinally continuous, generally right angularly protruding, thin, resiliently supported, finger-like contact elements serving to initially contact and thereafter be bent into surface sealing contact with the opposed closure member surface of a hinged closure member to be sealed thereby adapting said sealing assembly for eiective use also as a nonbinding stop strip along the hinge edge of a hinged closure member, said resiliently backed iinger-like contact elements of the hinge edge stop strip acting to initially engage and thereafter effectively seal said hinge edge of a fully closed closure member While avoiding any appreciable resistance to closing movement of said hinged closure member as the opposed hinge edge corner moves through the inal stages of its arcuate path during closing movement.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 678,008 McKinney July 9, 1901 1,700,152 Beck Jan. 29, 1929 2,335,958 Parker Dec. 7, 1943 2,513,043 Nofzinger June 27, 1950 2,522,286 Beck Dec. 23, 1952 2,710,432 Surdanik June 14, 1955 2,718,677 Cornell Sept. 27, 1955 2,779,070 Keller Jan. 29, 1957 2,786,241 Garvey et al. Mar. 26, 1957 2,801,450 Funke Aug. 6, 1957 2,814,841 Brugler Dec. 3, 1957 2,837,151 Stroup June 3, 1958 2,898,634 Alderfer Aug. 11, 1959 2,908,949 Frehse Oct. 20, 1959 2,935,771 Hatcher May 10, 1960 OTHER REFERENCES Building Trades Dictionary by H. H. Siegele, page 76, TH 955, Cop. 4, in Div. 53,

Claims

4. IN COMBINATION WITH A DOOR FRAME HAVING HEAD, SILL AND JAMB PARTS, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES: A SEALING STRIP AND MEANS FOR MOUNTING SAID STRIP ADJACENT ANY OF SAID FRAME PARTS IN PARALLEL RELATION THERETO, SAID SEALING STRIP BEING CONSTRUCTED OF RESILIENT MATERIAL AND INCLUDING A LONGITUDINAL BASE PORTION, A LONGITUDINAL TUBULAR PORTION JOINED TO SAID BASE PORTION, AND AN EXTERNAL LONGITUDINAL LIP ON SAID TUBULAR PORTION, SAID LIP PROJECTING SUBSTANTIALLY TANGENTIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM SAID TUBULAR PORTION TOWARD AN ADJACENT PORTION OF THE DOOR FRAME, AND SAID MOUNTING MEANS INCLUDING A LONGITUDINALLY GROOVED BAR ADAPTED TO BE POSITIONED AGAINST ANY OF SAID FRAME PARTS, SAID BASE PORTION BEING ANCHORED IN SAID GROOVE.