Abstract:
A door assembly is disclosed which comprises a stationary frame and a movable frame. The door assembly is useful for, as an example, maintaining a door in a vertical position even though a wall associated with the door is not exactly vertical. The door assembly can be assembled without drilling operation, minimizing risk of damage to the door frames, and can be assembled by a single person. Other aspects of the door assembly are apparent upon reference to the detailed description.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENT 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from Chinese Utility Model Application No. 201320458216.3, filed on Jul. 30, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a door assembly, and in particular, to an adjusting assembly used therein for the adjusting of a stationary frame and a movable frame of the door assembly. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Doors, such as shower doors or balcony doors, are often mounted against wall surfaces and the doors thus mounted are kept as vertical as possible. However, the wall surfaces of buildings are often not exactly vertical, for example, titled toward outside/inside by an angle. Therefore, if the doors are mounted completely along the wall surfaces, the doors may not be smoothly opened or closed. In this regard, it is necessary to adjust the distances between the top/bottom end of a door and a wall surface so as to keep the door in a vertical position. 
         [0004]    To achieve this adjustment, a door assembly usually comprises a stationary frame to be attached to a wall surface, and a movable frame connected with a door panel, such as a glass door panel. The stationary frame is firstly attached to the wall surface and then the movable frame is moved toward the stationary frame, during which the distances between the top and bottom ends of the movable frame, and the stationary frame are such adjusted that the movable frame is in a vertical position, and in turn, the door panel is also in a vertical position. The stationary and movable frames are finally connected to each other by drilling thereon and by using fasteners. 
         [0005]    However, in one aspect, the drilling operation requires at least two people to cooperate and is very time-consuming. In another aspect, the drilling may inadvertently cause damages to the surfaces of the frames (generally made of aluminum materials), which is undesirable to consumers. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    An object of the present invention is to provide a door assembly which can be mounted without drilling. Another object of the invention is to provide a door assembly that can be mounted by a single person. 
         [0007]    To achieve the objectives, a door assembly is provided which comprises a stationary frame and a movable frame. The door assembly further comprises an adjusting assembly comprising: a fixing element detachably connected with the stationary frame and having a first slot; an adjusting element detachably connected with the movable frame and having a second slot; a deformable element comprising a first step receivable in the first slot, a second step receivable in the second slot, a through hole penetrating through the deformable element, and a gap provided on the first step; and a fastening element receivable in the through hole of the deformable element and engageable with two ends of the through hole. When the fastening element is fastened, the gap on the first step becomes smaller, making the first step and the second step form “V” shaped structures respectively, such that the first step acts on an inner wall of the first slot and the second step acts on an inner wall of the second slot. 
         [0008]    The door assembly in the present invention utilizes the fastening force provided by the fastening element that penetrating through the deformable element, to bend the deformable element into a “V” shaped structure, such that the steps thereof act on the slots of the fixing element and the adjusting element, so as to fix the relative position of the deformable element with the fixing element and the adjusting element respectively. Then the relative position of the fixing element and the adjusting element can be fixed such that the relative position of the stationary frame and the movable frame can be fixed. 
         [0009]    Preferably, the first slot and the second slot respectively have “T” shaped cross sections, and the deformable element has a “I” shaped cross section. A slot with a “I” shaped cross section can be formed by combination of the two slots to receive the deformable element. Two pairs of the out extending edges of the deformable element with the “I” shaped cross section are used as the steps. 
         [0010]    Preferably, the second step is provided with a “V” shaped gap, so as to form a lager bending. 
         [0011]    Preferably, the deformable element comprises a first deformable portion having a first inclined plane, and a second deformable portion having a second inclined plane, the first inclined plane and the second inclined plane forming a “V” shaped structure. Dividing the deformable element into two portions can facilitate its deformation when maintaining its rigidity. The upper opening of the “V” shaped structure is used as the gap on the first step. 
         [0012]    Preferably, the first deformable portion and the second deformable portion are respectively provided with a positioning hole and a positioning protrusion receivable in the positioning hole, so as to facilitate the alignment of the two portions and avoid rotation thereof. 
         [0013]    Preferably, the fastening element comprises a screw and a screw cap matching each other. When the screw is moving toward the screw cap, the distance between the screw and the screw cap becomes shorter, so as to act on two ends of the deformable element to bend the deformable element. 
         [0014]    Preferably, the deformable element is provided with a limiting protrusion, and the adjusting element is provided with a limiting recess receiving the limiting protrusion, such that the deformable element can be engaged with the adjusting element to facilitate the mounting. 
         [0015]    Preferably, the two ends of the through hole of the deformable element are respectively provided with engaging recesses engageable with the fastening element. 
         [0016]    Preferably, the fixing element and the adjusting element are respectively provided with clamping bases, and the stationary frame and the movable frame are respectively provided with clamping slots receiving the clamping base. 
         [0017]    The door assembly of the present invention is preferably a shower door assembly, a balcony door assembly or other sliding doors, more preferably a shower door assembly. 
         [0018]    The door assembly provided in the present invention can be assembled without drilling operation, minimizing risk of damage to the frames, and can be assembled by a single person. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  shows an explosive view of an exemplary door assembly according to one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  shows an explosive view from another direction of the door assembly in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  shows the relative position of the fixing element and the adjusting element in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  shows the detailed structure of the deformable element in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  shows the deformable element in  FIG. 1  after deformation. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  shows the door assembly in  FIG. 1  in an exemplary mounting way. 
       
    
    
       [0025]    Elements that are irrelevant to the spirit of the present invention are omitted for clarity. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]      FIGS. 1 and 2  show an exemplary door assembly which is a shower door assembly used generally in a bathroom. The shower door assembly comprises a stationary frame  100 , a movable frame  200  and an adjusting assembly. The adjusting assembly comprises a fixing element  300 , an adjusting element  400 , a deformable element and a fastening element. The fixing element  300  and the adjusting element  400  are respectively detachably connected with the stationary frame  100  and the movable frame  200 . The deformable element comprises a first deformable portion  502  and a second deformable portion  504 . The fastening element comprises a screw  602  and a screw cap  604 . 
         [0027]    The fixing element and the adjusting element can be detachably connected with the stationary frame and the movable frame in various manners, such as by the matching of a screw and a screw cap. To facilitate the mounting, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the fixing element  300  and the adjusting element  400  are respectively provided with clamping bases  304  and  404 , so as to be respectively connected with the clamping slots of the stationary frame  100  and the movable frame  200  (see  FIGS. 1 and 2 ). The fixing element  300  is provided with a first slot  302 , while the adjusting element  400  is provided with a second slot  402 . Both of the two slots have “T” shaped cross sections, therefore a slot with a “I” shaped cross section would be formed by combination of the two slots, so as to receive the deformable element. 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  shows the detailed structure of the deformable element. The deformable element comprises a first step  510  receivable in the first slot, a second step  520  receivable in the second slot, a through hole  530  penetrating through the deformable element, and a gap provided on the first step  510 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , when the fastening elements  602  (only one end is shown) and  604  received in the through hole  530  are fastened, the fastening elements would act on the two ends of the through hole, forcing the gap on the first step  510  to become smaller, such that the first step  510  and the second step  520  would be bent into “V” shaped structures, therefore the first step  510  would act on an inner wall of the first slot  302  and the second step  520  would act on an inner wall of the second slot  402 , such that the relative position of the fixing element  300  and the adjusting element  400  can be fixed. 
         [0029]    The deformable element can be formed integrally, provided that a “V” shaped structure can be formed when forces are applied on its two ends. The deformable element is preferably made of rigid materials, such that its steps can sufficiently act on the inner walls of the slots in deformation. 
         [0030]    To facilitate its deformation when maintaining its rigidity, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the deformable element comprises a first deformable portion  502  and a second deformable portion  504 . The first deformable portion  502  and the second deformable portion  504  combines to form a deformable element with a “I” shaped cross section, and two pairs of the out extending edges of “I” shaped cross section are used as the steps  510 ,  520 . 
         [0031]    To achieve the gap on the first step  510 , the first deformable portion  502  is provided with a first inclined plane  512 , and the second deformable portion  504  is provided with a second inclined plane  514 . The first inclined plane and the second inclined plane together form a “V” shaped structure. The upper opening of the “V” shaped structure is used as the gap on the first step  510 . To further facilitate the deformation, the second step  520  can also be provided with a “V” shaped gap. 
         [0032]    When the deformable element is consisted of two portions, the two portions are preferably engaged with each other in a unique way, so as to form a specific gap to facilitate the deformation. Therefore preferably, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the first deformable portion  502  is provided with a positioning protrusion  522  on one side, and the second deformable portion  504  is provided with a positioning hole  524  on a corresponding side. By the engagement of the positioning protrusion  522  and the positioning hole  524 , a unique alignment of the two portions can be achieved to avoid rotation thereof. 
         [0033]    To engage the fastening element with the two ends of the deformable element, the two ends of the through hole of the deformable element are respectively provided with engaging recesses  532 ,  534 . Such that when the fastening element is fastened, forces acting on the deformable element can be provided. 
         [0034]    To engage the deformable element with the adjusting element, the deformable element is provided with a limiting protrusion  542 , and the adjusting element is provided with a limiting recess  406  (see  FIG. 3 ) receiving the limiting protrusion. 
         [0035]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , during assembly, the adjusting element  400  and the fixing element  300  are mounted to the movable frame  200  and the stationary frame  100  respectively. Then the deformable element is engaged with the adjusting element  400  with the second step received in the second slot. And then the fastening element is put inside the through hole of the deformable element. The first step of the deformable element is inserted into the first slot when the movable frame  200  is moving toward the stationary frame  100 . When a suitable position is reached, the fastening element is fastened such that the relative position of one end of the movable frame  200  and one end of the stationary frame  100  is fixed. Therefore when two or more door assemblies are provided, the distances between the movable frame and the stationary frame in different positions can be adjusted, so as to assure that the movable frame is in a vertical position. 
         [0036]    The fastening element is a structure whose length can be shortened and thus forces towards inside can be generated. In the examples in the Figures, the fastening element comprises a screw  602  and a screw cap  604  matching each other. When the screw  602  is moving toward the screw cap  604 , the distance between the screw and the screw cap becomes shorter, so as to act on two ends of the deformable element and thus bend the deformable element. 
         [0037]    It should be understood that various example embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which only some example embodiments are shown. The present invention, however, may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only the example embodiments set forth herein.