WO1994019572A1

WO1994019572A1 - Building element

Info

Publication number: WO1994019572A1
Application number: PCT/DK1994/000075
Authority: WO
Inventors: Niels Herskind; Jens Harild
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-02-23
Filing date: 1994-02-23
Publication date: 1994-09-01
Anticipated expiration: 1995-08-23
Also published as: AU6139094A; DK9300123Y6

Abstract

A building front element having two opposite and mutually parallel guiding profiles (12, 14) is provided with two frames (22, 24) being displaceable in vertical direction. In addition, and in order to provide a static and dynamic balancing of the displaceable frames (22, 24), the building front element (10) is provided with two wires (34, 35) forming a cross-suspension of the two displaceable frames, said displaceable frames (22, 24) being of the same weight. Thus, one of said wires connects an upper corner at one side of one of the displaceable frames with an upper corner at the opposite side of the other displaceable frame. In the same manner, the second wire connects the other two upper corners of the two displaceable frames.

Description

TITLE: BUILDING ELEMENT

The present invention relates to a building front element compri- sing two opposite and parallelly extending guiding profiles adapted to be placed in a generally vertical position, defining lowermost and up¬ permost ends, and adapted to receive two displaceable frames therebe¬ tween, each having opposite and parallel lateral edges and being dis¬ placeable relative to the guiding profiles in a vertical direction, the lateral edges of said displaceable frames being received in and guided by respective slideways of the guiding profiles.

Building front elements of the above-mentioned kind and in the form of windows are disclosed in numerous publications, e.g. Norwegian patent no. 12488, published British patent application no. 2 193 744, German patent no. 880646, German patent no. 961 294, US patent no. 1 361 163 and US patent no. 1 552 436.

Several of these patents relate to technique claiming to provide a balancing of the displaceable frames of the building front element in question. In accordance with these prior art balancing methods, the la- teral edges of the displaceable frames are connected by means of wires passing via/over pulleys or tackles, said lateral edges being received in and guided by slideways in one of the guiding profiles, or alterna¬ tively, balancing springs or weights are provided for balancing the dis¬ placeable frames. These prior art balancing methods have, however, proven to be quite unsatisfactory and inappropriate, in particular when the window or building front element is of a considerable size and the displaceable frames, accordingly, have relatively large dimensions. In this connection, it has turned out that the employment of conventional balancing methods often leads to a wedge-like blocking of the displaceable frames of the window or building front element in the slideways of the guiding profiles, thus preventing an effortless and reliable opening or closing of the frames.

An object of the present invention is to provide a building front element of arbitrary/any size, said building front element eliminating the limitations and drawbacks related to the prior art balanced and dis¬ placeable frames of prior art window elements, in this way making it possible to move the frames of the building front element of the aforementioned kind in a safe and reliable manner without the window frames blocking by wedging and thus preventing an easy and reliable displaceability and operation.

According to the present invention, this object is achieved by means of a building front element of the aforementioned kind, which building front element in accordance with the realization, upon which the present invention is based, is characterized in that it further comprises two wires, one of said wires being attached to and connecting the edge of a first displaceable frame, which edge is received in and guided by a respective slideway of a first guiding profile, with the op¬ posite edge of a second displaceable frame, said edge being received in and guided by a respective slideway of a second guiding profile, and another one of said wires being attached to and connecting the edge of said first displaceable frame, which edge is received in and guided by a respective slideway of said second guiding profile, with the opposite edge of said second displaceable frame, said edge being received in and guided by the respective slideway of said first guiding profile, said wires passing along said uppermost ends of the guiding profiles, and in that the displaceable frames generally have the same weight. In accordance with the basic realization of the present invention, the two displaceable frames of the building front element are suspended by means of a kind of cross suspension, whereby one edge of one of the displaceable frames, at one side of the building front element, is connected to an edge of the other displaceable frame at the other side of the building element and vice versa, whereby a self-realigning effect is achieved, by means of which a displaceable frame, should it attempt to tip over relative to the slideways of the guiding profiles when subjected to a force during opening or closing, is forced back to a properly guided position in the slideways due to the cross suspension, characteristic of the present invention.

By using the cross suspension, characteristic of the present inven¬ tion, the displaceable frames of the building front element according to the present invention will always be guided parallelly and in a balanced state or in an equilibrium. Hereby, an easy movement is ensured together with the possibility of positioning the displaceable frames in the building front element at any position, e.g. in a fully opened or fully closed position, or in any partially opened position.

A primary use of the building front element according to the pre- sent invention is for confining e.g. verandas, balconies, pavement restaurants and the like, where these objects should be opened or closed easily, however still maintaining breastwork. The building front element according to the present invention may, however, alternatively be employed as a window element.

Independently of the intended use of the building front element as an independent building front element, or alternatively as a window ele¬ ment, the displaceable frames preferably constitute window frames re¬ ceiving glass panes of one or more glass sheets, e.g. hardened single- layer glass panes, two- or three-layered insulating panes. The dis¬ placeable frames may, alternatively, constitute covering panels, e.g. in connection with pavement restaurants or shops providing an enclosure and cover for display- or facade areas during the closing hours of the restaurant or shop in question. Moreover, and alternatively, the displaceable frames of the building front element according to the pre¬ sent invention may be formed with reinforcements, e.g. a grid or a wire. According to one embodiment of the building front element according to the present invention, the two displaceable frames may be received in separate or respective slideways of the guiding profiles. According to the presently preferred embodiment of the building front element accord¬ ing to the present invention, each of the guiding profiles is formed with a single slideway for guiding respective lateral edges of the two displaceable frames, said two displaceable frames being guided in the same slideway of the two guiding profiles. The two wires of the building front element according to the pre¬ sent invention, said wires constituting the above-mentioned cross su¬ spension, may lead from one edge of the first displaceable frame to the opposite edge of the second displaceable frame via bushings, rollers or, in accordance with the presently preferred embodiment of the building front element according to the present invention, around respective reels, arranged at said uppermost ends of the guiding profiles, the two wires further, and preferably, being fixed to the uppermost edges of the two displaceable frames. The two wires may, alternatively, be connected to e.g. the lowermost edges of the two displaceable frames or at any other location between the upppermost and the lowermost edges of the two displaceable frames, at said lateral edges.

The building front element according to the present invention may alone be formed by the two opposite and mutually parallel guiding pro- files, the two displ ceable frames with their associated wires con¬ stituting the cross suspension, characteristic of the present invention. In accordance with the presently preferred embodiment of the building front element according to the present invention, the building front element further comprises two fixed frames placed between the guiding profiles at their uppermost and lowermost ends, respectively, defining an uppermost and a lowermost fixed frame, respectively. These uppermost and lowermost frames may be of identical dimensions, or different dimen¬ sions, and may, additionally, be identical to or different from the dis- placeable frames, which may again be of different sizes, as long as the displaceable frames are of the same weight or, alternatively, are ba¬ lanced to an essentially identical weight.

It is, however, preferred that all four frames, i.e. the two dis¬ placeable frames and the two fixed frames, are of identical dimensions, thus providing a building front element which, with the displaceable frames being in their closed position, closes off the building front element completely, and with the displaceable frames being in their opened position, provides an approximately 50 per cent opening of the area of the building front element. The fixed frames may be fixated in the guiding profiles or may be received in respective, separate slideways of the guiding profiles, whereby the fixed frames, e.g. for reasons of cleaning and maintenance, may be released from the normally locked or fixed positions and displaced relative to the normal, fixed positions, guided by the respective slideways of the guiding profiles. When the building front element according to the present invention serves as a building front element and is exposed to rain, sleet and snow, the slideway receiving the uppermost fixed frame is preferably placed externally relative to the tracks receiving the displaceable frames and the lowermost fixed frame, relative to the intended position of the building front element, while the track receiving the lowermost fixed frame, correspondingly is placed internally. In this way, a dewatering of the building takes place unobstructedly, the uppermost fixed frame overlapping the uppermost displaceable frame which, e.g. via a drip nose, overlaps the lowermost displaceable frame, which again overlaps the lowermost fixed frame.

According to a further, preferred embodiment of the present inven¬ tion, the building front element may comprise top and bottom elements joined to the guiding profiles and thus forming an integral frame, of _ which the guiding profiles constitute frame elements. The resulting building front element constitutes an independent unit, of which the bottom element may, preferably, be formed with a drip nose for elimi¬ nating possible dewatering problems. The building front element ac- cording to the present invention preferably constitute a building front element of a height matching the given and intended use. Thus, the building front element may advantageously be of a total height which matches the height between two floors.

When using the building front element for enclosing verandas, balconies or similar structures, the height of the lowermost fixed frame preferably corresponds to the breastwork of a balcony.

The building front element according to the present invention may be manufactured from any suitable and, preferably, weatherproof materi¬ al, such as aluminium, plastic or pressure- or vacuum-impregnated wood. The building front element may also be manufactured by combining ele¬ ments of any of the above-mentioned materials. The building front ele¬ ment may additionally comprise elements made of e.g. iron profiles form¬ ed with a protecting surface coating, e.g. of plastic.

The wires which according to the present invention constitute the cross suspension, characteristic of the present invention, may be pro¬ duced from any suitable material, such as steel or plastic or any combi¬ nation thereof, e.g. steel wire covered with plastic of a thickness of e.g. 4 to 8 mm. In a typical application of the building front element for enclosing e.g. a balcony, the total width of the building front element is 1 to 2 metres, the building front element comprising four frames, two stationary and two displaceable frames of the same width as the building front element, and each having a height of approximately 0.5 to 1 metre. The reels or tackles guiding the cross-suspending steel wires may be manufactured from, say nylon or any durable and preferably non-corroding and weatherproof material, such as plastic, surface- treated or plastic-coated steel, brass or the like.

The present invention will be described in greater detail in the following with reference to the drawing, of which

Figure 1 shows, in a perspective view, a partially opened building front element, Figure 2 shows in a vertical section the building front element of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a top view of the building front element of Figures 1 and 2, Figures 4, 5 and 6 illustrate schematically the building front ele¬ ment of Figs. 1 through 3, having displaceable frames suspended by means of a wire-suspension system,

Figure 7 shows the building front element of Figs. 1 through 6 as applied in the gable of the building, and Figure 8 shows the vertical section through the building front element of figure 1-7.

Figure 1 shows schematically and perspectively a building front element according to the present invention. The building front element, as a whole, is designated 10 and comprises two opposite and parallelly ex¬ tending, lateral elements 12 and 14 which together with opposite top and bottom elements 16 and 18, respectively, form a frame which receives two stationary frames 20 and 26 together with two displaceable frames 22 and 24 which in the positioning of the building front element according to Fig. 1, wherein the building front element is mounted in a generally vertical position, form vertically displaceable frames. The fixed frame 20 comprises a circumferential outer, marginal frame 21 and forms an up¬ permost fixed or stationary frame, while the other fixed frame 26 in the same manner has a circumferential, outer frame 27 and forms a lowermost fixed or stationary frame. The displaceable frames 22 and 24 each com¬ prises respective ci cumferential outer, marginal frames, 23 and 25, respectively. Reels or tackles for wires 34 and 35 are mounted at the upper ends of the lateral elements, the use of which will be apparent from the following description.

Fig. 2 shows a vertical section through the building front element of Fig. 1 and showing in detail the fixed frames 20 and 26, the dis- placeable frames 22 and 24 together with top and bottom elements 16 and 18. Fig. 2 shows that the marginal edges of each of the displaceable and stationary frames are made up from segments of profiled strips carrying suitable sealing strips and serving to receive and fix respective window panes, formed by hardened single-layer glass windows or multiple-layer insulating windows. The top and bottom elements 16 and 18, each carries, as seen in Fig. 2, three slideways; it should be noticed that the lateral elements 12 and 14 shown in Fig. 1, correspondingly comprise three slideways. The top element 16 accordingly, is provided with four downwardly extending flanges 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d, therebetween bordering said three slideways. The left-hand side or outermost slideway receives the uppermost fixed frame 20, while the central slideway serves to receive the two vertically displaceable frames 22 and 24. The right- hand side or innermost slideway shown in Fig. 2 serves to receive the lowermost fixed frame 26. The fixed frames 20 and 26 have preferably been mounted by means of screws or bolt locks relative to the lateral elements 12 and 14, the fixed frames 20 and 26 being formed as frames that may be released from a locked position relative to the lateral elements 12 and 14, thereby allowing a displacement of the fixed frames 20 and 26 from the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and thus allowing cleaning and maintenance of the displaceable as well as the fixed frames. The lowermost, displaceable frame 24 is, as apparent from Fig. 2, on the inside provided with a handle 28, preferably formed by a protruding profiled part of the profiled element, forming the uppermost frame part of the frame 25. Fig. 2 also shows two wires 36 and 38 attached at 40 and 42, respectively, to the upper edge of the uppermost displaceable frame 22 and the handle 28 of the lowermost displaceable frame 24, respectively. The wires 36 and 38, as appears from Fig. 2, pass around reels 33 and 35 received in a bracket 30.

Fig. 3 illustrates the manner in which the reels 33 and 35 are placed at the uppermost end of the lateral element 12, while reels 32 and 34 are arranged at the corresponding uppermost end of the lateral element 14, and received in a corresponding bracket 30. Fig. 3 further- more illustrates the manner in which the wires 36 and 38 pass at the uppermost end of the building front element 10 in a crosslike way. This cross-suspension of the vertically displaceable frames 22 and 24 does also appear from Figs. 4, 5 and 6; Fig. 4 clearly shows how the wire 36 connects the upper right corner of the lowermost displaceable frame 24 with the upper left corner of the uppermost displaceable frame 22, while the wire 38, forming the cross-suspension characteristic of the present invention, in similar way connects the upper left corner of the uppermost frame 22 with the upper right corner of the lowermost displaceable frame 24. This cross-suspension of the displaceable frames 22 and 24 allows for an almost ideal guiding of the vertically displaceable frames which are, at any time, guided mutually parallel and in equilibrium, any tendency of one of the displaceable frames to tip over relative to an intended guiding in the lateral elements 12 and 14 automatically being compensated by this cross-suspension, which accordingly provides a self-realigning effect. Consequently, the cross- suspension does not only provide a static balancing of the two displaceable frames 22 and 24, having the same external dimensions and weight, but also a dynamic balancing providing an easy, frictionless displacement. The cross-suspension also allows for a positioning of the displaceable frames at any position, either fully closed as shown in Fig. 4, partially opened as shown in Fig. 6, or in any intermediate position, fx a semi-open position as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows the application of the building front element de¬ scribed above with reference to Figs. 1-6, in the gable 52 of a house 50. The gable 52 forms an external annex, such as a balcony extension or an external, enclosed staircase. In Fig. 7, a total of three complete building front elements are shown together with the upper part of a lowermost building front element, corresponding to a third, a second, and a first storey and the ground floor of the building 50. In Fig. 7, 54 designates a handrail or balustrade placed on the upper edge of the lowermost fixed frame 26.

Fig. 8 shows a vertical section through the building front element 10 described above with reference to Figs. 1-6, further showing the mounting of the building front element between two adjacent building components 60 and 62. Fig. 8 also shows how the upper fixed frame 20 is intended to be placed outermost, while the lower fixed frame 26 is in¬ tended to be placed innermost, thus providing a particularly simple de- watering of the building front element.

The wires 36 and 38 may be mounted freely accessible and visible as is the case in the presently preferred embodiment of the building front element according to the present invention and as illustrated with re¬ ference to Figs. 1-8. The wires 36 and 38 may alternatively be attached to flange-like protrusions received in separate openings or recesses formed in the lateral elements, in which the displaceable frames are guided, whereby the wires are at least partially hidden in the lateral elements. The guidance of the wires at the uppermost end of the building frqnt element is concealed to the viewer or user in the above described alternative embodiment as well as in the presently preferred embodiment of the building front element described above with reference to Figs. 1- 8.

The reels described above may alternatively be provided by means of rollers or wheels that may be mounted on ball or roller bearings, and the building front element of the above and with reference to Figs. 1-8 described embodiment is preferably made from extruded, hard anodized aluminium profiles, pressure- or vacuum-impregnated wooden fillets, if necessary combined with profiled guiding means manufactured from e.g. extruded and hard anodized aluminium. The building front element may, as anyone skilled in the art will realize, be formed in any width and height determined by the given application of the building front element. Moreover, it should be noticed that the building front element has specific advantages in relation to a virtually 50% openability, easy and unhindered operation and function, allowing for cleaning and maintenance from the inside due to the displaceability of the normally fixed frames 20 and 26. Furthermore, the building front element according to the invention is distinguished by not employing a bottom profile section, for example a bottom slide profile, as is normal in connection with conventional, horizontally displaceable frames of verandas or elements for covering balconies, said bottom slide profile often collecting large amounts of dirt and precipitation.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. Building front element comprising two opposite and parallelly ex- tending guiding profiles (12,14) adapted to be placed in a generally vertical position, defining lowermost and uppermost ends, and being adapted to receive two displaceable frames (22,24) between them, each frame having opposite and parallel lateral edges and being displaceable relative to the guiding profiles (12,14) in a vertical direction, the lateral edges of said displaceable frames being received in and guided by respective slideways of the guiding profiles, characterized in that the building front element further comprises two wires (36,38), one of said wires being attached to and connecting the edge of a first displaceable frame (22,24), which edge is received in and guided by a respective slideway of a first guiding profile (12,14), with the opposite edge of a second displaceable frame (22,24), said edge being received in and guided by a respective slideway of a second guiding profile (12,14), and another one of said wires being attached to and connecting the edge of said first displaceable frame (22,24), which edge is received in and guided by a respective slideway of said second guiding profile (12,14), with the opposite edge of said second displaceable frame (22,24), said edge being received in and guided by the respective slideway of said first guiding profile (12,14), said wires passing along said uppermost ends of the guiding profiles, and in that the displaceable frames (22,24) generally have the same weight.

2. Building front element according to Claim 1, characterized in that the displaceable frames (22,24) constitute window frames carrying double- or multiple glazing.

3. Building front element according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the guiding profiles comprises a single slideway for guiding the respective lateral edges of the two displaceable frames (22,24).

4. Building front element according to any of the Claims 1 through 3, characterized in that the two wires (36,38) pass around respective reels (30,32,33,35) arranged at the uppermost ends of the guiding profiles, and in that the two wires are attached to the uppermost edges of the two displaceable frames (22,24).

5. Building front element according to any of the Claims 1 through 4, characterized by further comprising two fixed frames (20,26) arranged between the guiding profiles (12,14) at the uppermost and lowermost ends, respectively, defining a fixed uppermost frame and a fixed lowermost frame, respectively.

6. Building front element according to Claim 5, characterized in that the fixed frames (20,26) are received in respective and separate slideways of the guiding profiles.

7. Building front element according to Claim 6, characterized in that the slideway, in which the uppermost fixed frame (20) is received, is placed on the outside relative to the tracks which receive the displace¬ able frames (22,24) and the lowermost fixed frame (26), as seen relative to the intended positioning of the building front element, and in that the track, in which the lowermost fixed frame (26) is received corre- spondingly is placed on the inside.

8. Building front element according to any of the preceding Claims, characterized in that said building front element (10) further comprises top and bottom elements (16,18) joined to the guiding profiles (12,14) so as to form an integral frame, of which the guiding profiles (12,14) constitute parts of the frame.

9. Building front element according to any of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the total height of the building front element (10) matches the height between two floors.

10. Building front element according to any of the Claims 5 through 9, characterized in that the height of said lowermost fixed frame (26) matches the breastwork of a balcony.

11. Building front element according to any of the Claims 5 through 10, characterized in that the displaceable frames (22,24) and the fixed frames (20,26) are of approximately the same height.