MOUNTING ASSEMBLY FOR SUSPENDING A GLASS-PANE SLIDING DOOR

Abstract: Mounting assembly for suspending a glass-pane sliding door from a horizontal rail, the assembly comprising at least one slide (6, 10) displaceable along the rail and at least one door carrier connectable to the slide and provided with two carrier plates (28, 30) receiving the glass-pane sliding door between the carrier plates (28, 30), characterised in that a coupling piece (16) of the door carrier is provided for connection to the slide (6, 10) and that the glass-pane sliding door equipped with the carrier plates (28, 30) and supported from below can be coupled to the coupling piece (16) and lifted from the supported position to a suspended position and vertically adjusted in the suspended position by a lifting and adjusting means accessible from one flat surface of the glass-pane sliding door.

Description: Mounting Assembly for Suspending a Glass-Pane Sliding Door The invention relates to a mounting assembly for suspending a glass-pane sliding door from a horizontal rail, the assembly comprising at least one slide displaceable along the rail and at least one door carrier connectable to the slide and provided with two carrier plates receiving the glass-pane sliding door between the carrier plates . It is an object of the invention to teach a mounting assembly of this type allowing easy mounting and adjusting of the glass-pane sliding door without requiring a floor rail to be necessarily present for the glass-pane sliding door. To achieve this object, the mounting assembly is characterised in that a coupling piece of the door carrier can be coupled to at least one slide by a mounting connection while the glass-pane sliding door is being supported from below, and that the door carrier can be lifted from the supported position to a suspended position and vertically adjusted in the suspended position by a lifting and adjusting means accessible from one flat surface of the glass-pane sliding door. To enable the glass-pane sliding door to be adjusted also laterally (which may be necessary for driving the glass-pane sliding door into a parking pocket), the mounting assembly may in particular be characterised in that the coupling piece is horizontally adjustable relative to the door carrier in the direction of the flat sides of the glass-pane sliding door. This adjustment possibility is advantageous even independently of claim 1. In order that an adjustment once accomplished be not lost, the mounting assembly is preferably characterised in that the coupling piece is arranged to be fixed in its adjusted position on the door carrier by a fixing means. The construction of the adjusting means is particularly easy and accessible from one flat surface of the glass-pane sliding door, if the coupling piece is provided with an oblong hole and an eccentric is rotatably journaled on the door carrier between vertical longitudinal surfaces of the oblong hole and is arranged to be fixed in any angular position. Adjustment and fixation in two degrees of freedom can be achieved by a single element, if the eccentric is rotatably journaled on a screw enabling the eccentric to be fixed in different angular and vertical positions relative to the coupling piece. This arrangement provides an easy and positive force transfer from the eccentric to the coupling piece, if a front surface of the eccentric facing the coupling piece is seated on an inner peripheral shoulder of the oblong hole while a rear surface of the eccentric facing away from the coupling piece is flush with an outer surface of the coupling piece. A compact accommodation of the coupling piece is achieved in that at least one of the carrier plates comprises a vertical channel closed by a lower end wall for receiving the coupling piece and that an adjusting screw penetrating an opening in the end wall can be screwed from below into the coupling piece and that a head of this screw is seated from below against the end wall when the glass-pane sliding door is in its suspended position. To enable the vertical position to be adjusted in an easy and stable manner independently of the position of the coupling piece relative to the carrier plate, the mounting assembly is preferably characterised in that the adjusting screw passes through elongate holes in the end wall of the channel and in the coupling piece, respectively, which holes extend parallel to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door; that the adjusting screw engages a nut which is supported in the coupling piece and is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door; and that a thrust block is arranged between the screw head and the end wall of the carrier plate, a cylindrical convex upper surface of the thrust block being seated on a cylindrical concave lower surface of the end wall such that the adjusting screw can follow different positions of the coupling piece relative to the carrier plate. In order to render the mounting assembly particularly compact, it is preferably characterised in that all parts received in the channel, and possibly also the thrust block, do not exceed an exterior outline surface of the channel. In order to achieve a centrical suspension of the glass- pane sliding door, the mounting assembly is preferably characterised in that the coupling piece comprises a lower adjusting portion fixable in the channel and an upper mounting portion horizontally displaced relative to the adjusting portion transversely to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door, the mounting portion allowing the glass-pane sliding door to be attached centrically below the slide. In order to give the mounting assembly an aligned appearance even if it is not precisely aligned, the mounting assembly is preferably characterised in that caps having dimensions exceeding those of the carrier plates are arranged to be mounted to the plates in different adapted positions. An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 shows an exploded view of the mounting assembly, Fig. 2 serves to illustrate the adjustment of the mounting assembly by means of a particular tool, and Fig. 3 shows the application of the mounting assembly in a particular ca~~ . Fig. 1 illustrates a mounting assembly that can be inserted in, and displaced along, a roller rail by means of two rollers 2, 4 rotatable about a vertical shaft 6 independently of each other. The lower end of shaft 6 has a screw thread 10 to be screwed into a female thread 12 of a supported mounting portion 14 of a coupling piece 16. For this purpose, shaft 6 comprises flat surfaces 18 for a wrench which are arranged above the screw thread 10. Further, the coupling piece 16 extends vertically and is provided with a circular hole 22 in its upper part. One side of the oblong hole 20 comprises an annular extension 24 in the form of a shoulder. The coupling piece 16 is designed to be inserted with lateral clearance in a channel 26 of a carrier plate 28, the channel being open at the top. A one-piece glass-pane of a sliding glass door is to be clamped between this carrier plate 28 and another carrier plate 30 by means of screws 32, 34. The screws 32, 34 are countersunk-head screws the heads 40 of which can be sunk in the bottom of channel 26 and which can be screwed into threaded holes 42 of the carrier plate 30, at the same time penetrating holes in the glass pane (not shown) . The shoulder-like extension 24 receives an eccentric disk 44 provided with an eccentric hole through which a flat-head screw 48 can be screwed into an insert member 50 which is inserted in the carrier plate 28 such as to resist pulling and rotating. Turning the eccentric disk 44 about the axis of flat-head screw 48 causes the coupling piece 16 to be displaced laterally. To fix the eccentric disk 44, it is locked by pins 52 arranged on an auxiliary tool 54 and designed to be put into blind holes 56 on the free front side of eccentric disk 44. The auxiliary tool 54 has a centric hole 58 through which a polygonal wrench 60 can be inserted into a polygonal recess 62 in the head 64 of screw 48. Thus, the auxiliary tool 54 can lock the eccentric disk 44 in any desired angular position of the eccentric disk 44 while allowing the screw 48 to be tightened. The circular hole 22 rotatably receives a round counter nut disk 66 for an adjusting screw 68 extending from the bottom through an elongate hole 70 disposed parallel to the flat sides of the glass-pane sliding door and penetrating a bottom end wall 72 of channel 26 in carrier plate 28; the adjusting screw further passes through a corresponding oblong hole 74 in coupling piece 16 and can engage a female thread 76 in counter nut disk 66 opening towards the circumference 78 of the counter nut disk 66. Between a lower head part 80 of screw 68 and the end wall 72, a thrust block 82 is provided having a cylindrical convex upper surface 84 seated on a complementary cylindrical concave lower surface 86 of end wall 72. After the coupling piece 16 has been adjusted, it can be additionally fixed by worm screws 88, 90 engageable in female threads 92, 94 of the side walls 96, 98 of channel 26. Further worm screws 100 passing through female threads 102 in peripheral edges 104 of masking caps 106 allow the caps to be fastened to the carrier plates 28, 30 such that the caps can be aligned. The embodiment of Fig. 3 provides two symmetrically formed carrier plates 128, 130 similar to carrier plate 28, differing only in that their mounting portions 114 face away from each other. In this embodiment, the glass pane 132 can be curved about a vertical axis, in accordance with the curved roller rails 134, 136. For assembly of each glass-pane sliding door, two "slides" are formed of the elements 2, 4, 6, 10, 16 and inserted in a roller rail; then a glass-pane sliding door equipped with the carrier plates 28, 30 is supported on the floor and erected such that the coupling pieces 16 pass into the channels 26. Subsequently, the glass-pane sliding door is provisionally fixed to the carrier plates 28 by tightening .the respective screws 48. Thereupon, the counter nut disks 66 are inserted in the circular holes 22, and the adjusting screws 68 are screwed from the bottom into the counter nut disks 66 and tightened with the help of a tool put into their head parts 80 from below in order to lift and adjust the glass-pane sliding door. Then, the eccentric disks 44 are set and fixed, as shown in Fig. 2, for lateral adjustment of the glass-pane sliding door. Thereafter, the worm screws 88, 90 are tightened. Finally, the caps 106 are put onto the carrier plates 28, 30 where they are aligned and fastened in the described manner. It will be appreciated that a variety of glass-pane sliding doors can be easily mounted and adjusted substantially from one side thereof, for instance in front of or within a parking pocket known as such. In so doing, the assembly (the connection of the glass-pane sliding door to the coupling piece) and the lifting of the glass-pane sliding door are basically separate from the adjusting step (relating to the vertical and lateral position), although same components are used for these purposes. A particular advantage resides in that the assembly and adjustment can be carried out from one side of the glass-pane sliding door in a manner providing easy access. TABLE OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 2 roller 4 roller 6 shaft 10 screw thread 12 female thread 14 mounting portion 16 coupling piece 18 flat surface 20 oblong hole 22 circular hole 24 shoulder-like extension 26 channel 28 carrier plate 30 carrier plate 32 screw 34 screw 40 screw head 42 threaded hole 44 eccentric disk 48 flat-head screw 50 insert member 52 pin 54 auxiliary tool 56 blind hole 58 centric hole 60 polygonal wrench 52 polygonal recess 64 screw head 66 counter nut disk 68 adjusting screw 70 elongate hole 72 bottom end wall 74 oblong hole 76 female thread 78 circumference of counter nut disk 66 80 screw head part 82 thrust block 84 upper surface 86 lower surface 88 worm screw 90 worm screw 92 female thread 94 female thread 96 side wall 98 side wall 100 worm screw 102 female thread 104 peripheral edge 106 masking cap 114 mounting portion 128 carrier plate 130 carrier plate 132 glass pane 134 roller rail 136 roller rail

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Mounting assembly for suspending a glass-pane sliding door from a horizontal rail, the assembly comprising at least one slide (6, 10) displaceable along the rail and at least one door carrier connectable to the slide and provided with two carrier plates (28, 30) receiving the glass-pane sliding door between the carrier plates, characterised in that a coupling piece (16) of the door carrier is provided for connection to the slide and that the glass-pane sliding door equipped with the carrier plates (28, 30) and supported from below can be coupled to the coupling piece (16) and lifted from the supported position to a suspended position and adjusted vertically in the suspended position by a lifting and adjusting means accessible from one flat surface of the glass-pane sliding door. 2. Mounting assembly, in particular according to claim 1, characterised in that the coupling piece (16) is horizontally adjustable relative to the door carrier in the direction of the flat sides of the glass-pane sliding door. 3. Mounting assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the coupling piece (16) is arranged to be fixed in its adjusted position on the door carrier by a fixing means. 4. Mounting assembly according to claim 2 or 3, characterised in that the coupling piece (16) is provided with an oblong hole (20) and an eccentric (44) is rotatably journaled on the door carrier between vertical longitudinal surfaces of the oblong hole (20) and is arranged to be fixed in any angular position. 5. Mounting assembly according to claim 4, characterised in that the eccentric (44) is rotatably journaled on a screw (48) engageable in a carrier plate (28), the screw (48) enabling the eccentric (44) to be fixed in different angular and vertical positions relative to the coupling piece (16). 6. Mounting assembly according to claim 5, characterised in that a front surface of the eccentric (44) facing the coupling piece (16) is seated on an inner peripheral shoulder (24) of the oblong hole (20) while a rear surface of the eccentric (44) facing away from the coupling piece (16) is flush with an outer surface of the coupling piece (16). 7. Mounting assembly according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that at least one of the carrier plates (28, 30) comprises a vertical channel (26) closed by a lower end wall (72) for receiving the coupling piece (16) and that an adjusting screw (68) penetrating an opening (70) in the end wall (72) can be screwed from below into the coupling piece (16) and that a head (80) of this screw (68) is seated from below against the end wall (72) when the glass-pane sliding door is in its suspended position. 8. Mounting assembly according to claim 7, characterised in that the adjusting screw (68) passes through elongate holes (70, 74) in the end wall (72) of the channel (26) and in the coupling piece (16), respectively, which holes (70, 74) extend parallel to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door; that the adjusting screw (68) engages a nut (66) which is supported in the coupling piece (16) and is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door; and that a thrust block (82) is arranged between the screw head (80) and the end wall (72) of the carrier plate (28), a cylindrical convex upper surface (84) of the thrust block (82) being seated on a cylindrical concave lower surface (86) of the end wall (72) such that the adjusting screw (68) can follow different positions of the coupling piece (16) relative to the carrier plate (28). 9. Mounting assembly according to claim 7 or 8, characterised in that all parts received in the channel (26), and possibly also the thrust block (82), do not exceed an exterior outline surface of the channel (26). 10. Mounting assembly according to any of claims 7 to 9, characterised in that the coupling piece (16) comprises a lower adjusting portion fixable in the channel (26) and an upper mounting portion (14) horizontally displaced relative to the adjusting portion transversely to the flat surfaces of the glass-pane sliding door, the mounting portion (14) allowing the glass-pane sliding door to be attached centrically below the slide. 11. Mounting assembly according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that caps (106) having dimensions exceeding those of the carrier plates (28, 30) are arranged to be mounted to the plates (28, 30) in different adapted positions.

Inventors: MARINONI MARIO, MARINONI, MARIO
Applicants: ITALIANA PROGETTI, MARINONI MARIO, MARINONI, MARIO, SOCIETA ITALIANA PROGETTI S.R.L.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: E05D13
IPC codes: E05D15