A sliding window or door arrangement

Abstract: In a window or door arrangement for a building facade, a sliding window or a sliding door is mounted side by side with a fixed building element, e.g. a window or panel portion, such that in the closed position, the mobile sash of the sliding window or door (48) is flush with the fixed building element. By means of displacement fittings comprising a trolley (54, 55) which is supported in a longitudinally displaceable way by a guide rail (53) fastened to the bottom member (52) of the frame structure and is connected by parallel carrier arms (56, 57) to the mobile sash (48), the mobile sash can move by translatory motion to a start location in the displacement plane for subsequent sideways displ-acement therein towards an open position, in which it overlaps the fixed building element. Releasable retaining means (65, 70) assure that the sash (48) during the sideways displacement is retained in the displacement plane. By the translatory motion between the closed position and the start location in the displacement plane, the sash (48) is secured against sideways displacement towards collision with the fixed building element.

Description: The present invention relates to a sliding window or door arrangement for a building façade of the kind defined in the preamble of claim 1. In conventional designs of sliding window and door arrangements, the sliding window or door is also disposed in the closed position, in the displacement plane displaced in parallel with respect to the fixed building element. On one hand, this entails a dislocation in the facade between the sliding window or door and fixed building element, which for aesthetic reasons is undesirable, and on the other hand problems of assuring sufficiently effective sealing in the closed position, as when opened and closed, the sealing between the sash and frame of the sliding window or door is exposed to displacement loads causing both increased wear of the gaskets and difficulty in obtaining a sufficient sealing pressure while maintaining low friction in the opening/closing movement. In a parallel-displacement fitting for sliding windows and doors, known from EP-B-0 103 725, these problems are solved in the way that in the closed position the sliding window or door is kept flush with the fixed building element without facade dislocations as the opening movement starts and the closing movement ends by said translatory motion of the sash between its location in the closed position and the displacement plane disposed in parallel with respect to said location, said translatory motion being essentially perpendicular to the displacement plane. In this known fitting design which is mainly intended for mounting of sliding windows or doors having frame and sash structures of wooden profiles, the release of the retaining means activated at termination of the sideways displacement in the closing direction in the displacement plane is effected through a cooperation of said retainer arm, which is connected to the forward carrier arm in the closing direction between the sash and the trolley, with a fixed stop connected with the guide rail, that during said translatory motion, the trolley is forced to move back against the closing direction when the sash bottom member is moving to its closing position. As a consequence, at the end of closing movement, the sash occupies a tilting position, from which its top member must be brought in place to reach its closing position by manual operation, perhaps using appropriate fittings. For this purpose is required an active safeguarding of the sash bottom member by engagement between a stationary spring-loaded safety bolt connected with the guide rail and an engagement element connected with the sash, e.g. in the form of a knot projecting from the carrier arm connected to sash. On the other hand, when the sliding window or door is to be opened, the sash must first be brought into the said tilting position by manual operation before the translatory motion towards the displacement plane is started by bringing the retainer arm of the retaining means out of engagement with the fixed stop on the guide rail. During the subsequent translatory motion there may be a risk of sideways displacement of the sash towards collision with the fixed building element, before the sash fully reaches the displacement plane. To remedy these functional inconveniences of the above known fitting design and provide a window or door arrangement of the stated kind with such a functional performance of the termination of the closing movement and the start of the opening movement that a tilting position of the sash can be avoided, and at the same time the sash is secured against unintentional collision with the fixed building element, window or door arrangements have been disclosed in DE-C-3643965 and DE-U-3435367, in which the releasing means is disposed for release of the retainer arm while retaining the trolley in an end position in the displacement plane during said side-ways displacement of the sash in a closing direction from the open position towards said location, and the displacement fittings further comprise a locking element which on release of the retainer arm is activated to engage locking means in connection with the guide rail in order to prevent or limit sideways displacement of the sash during said translatory motion. This design results in a continuous movement of the trolley between its locations in the closed and open positions of the sliding window or door, such that occupation of a tilting position can be avoided by using a passive displacement fitting with a guide rail, a trolley and swivel arms between the top members of frame structure and the sash. As the trolley is retained against movement during the translatory motion, there is at the same time obtained an active safeguarding against sideways displacement of the sash during movement between the closing position and the displacement plane such that the risk of collision with the fixed building element is avoided. In the prior art structures this result is obtained, however, at the expense of either a complicated configuration of additional arms in connection with the carrier and retainer arms (DE-C-3643965) or an engagement of the retainer arm with the carrier arm affecting the mechanical stability of the arrangement. According to the invention, the advantage with respect to retaining the trolley in a stable position during the translatory motion is obtained without adversely complicating the structure or affecting the mechanical stability thereof by an arrangement, which is characterized in that said retainer arm has in one end a pin which is journalled to be rotationable and longitudinally displaceable in a longitudinal track in the trolley, said track having in one rear end with respect to the closing direction a short angular track section for retaining said pin, said stop having an inclined stop face, facing backwards with respect to the closing direction, for abutment of said pin on the retainer arm, said pin on the retainer arm being also in engagement with a longitudinal track provided in an arm pivotally connected with the trolley and having a centre of rotation at its forward end with respect to the closing direction, said arm being activated by release of the retainer arm to turn to a locking position in which said longitudinal track coincides with the longitudinal track in the trolley. In connection therewith, a preferred embodiment can be obtained in that an opposite end of the retainer arm is pivotally connected with the forward carrier arm with respect to the closing direction. Whereas in the known design according to said EP publication the displacement fittings is positioned on the inside of the sliding window or door under a projecting cover profile, e.g. of aluminium, which to a considerable extent disfigures the appearance of window or door arrangement and furthermore makes the fittings unsuitable for a possible outer mounting, an 30 appropriate design of the window or door arrangement according to the invention permits to a great extent an invisible mounting of the entire displacement fittings by providing said bottom member of the sash with an essentially horizontal wall portion under a glass or panel area retained in the sash and a downward front section under the horizontal wall portion, the displacement fittings being mounted under the horizontal wall portion and behind the front section. In particular in sliding doors or large and heavy windows, however, the sash top member is appropriately connected with a top member of the frame structure through further displacement fittings which are con-trolled synchronously with the displacement fittings connected to the sash bottom member. The invention is explained further in the following with reference to the schematical drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plane view of a sliding window and an adjacent building element in the form of a fixed window portion, Fig. 2 is a sectional view according to the line II-II in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the window or door arrangement according to the invention, Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views on a larger scale of details of the embodiment in Fig. 3, and Figs. 6-8 are horizontal views illustrating different phases of the closing movement of the sash in the embodiment in Figs. 3-5. The window arrangement 1 in Fig. 1 has a frame structure 2 in which a sliding window with a sash 4 is mounted side by side with a fixed window part 3. The sash 4 can from a closed position, which is shown by a full line in Fig. 2, where it is flush with the fixed window part 3, be moved by sideways displacement in a displacement plane extending parallel to, but in a distance from the fixed window part 3 to a fully open, displaced position overlapping the fixed window part 3. In Fig. 2 the location 4' of the sliding sash is shown by dotted line in the displacement plane outside its location in the closed position. In the location displaced in parallel, the sash 4 is ready for side-ways displacement in the displacement plane towards the open position. The sash bottom member 4 is, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, connected with the bottom member of the frame structure 2 by means of parallel displacement fittings comprising a guide rail 5 which in the shown embodiment is fastened to the frame bottom member 2 along its outside and extends in the entire length of the bottom member, i.e. along both the sliding sash 4 and the fixed window part 3. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a trolley 6 with sliders or rollers 6a is supported in a longitudinally displaceable way on the guide rail 5 and can thus be moved freely in the entire length of the guide rail 5 between the location 4' shown in Fig. 2 and the fully open position of the sliding sash. In the shown embodiment, the trolley 6 has essentially the same length as the width of the sliding sash 4 connected at its bottom member with the trolley 5 by parallel, pivoting carrier arms 7 and 8, each of which is in one end rotationally connected with the trolley 6 and in the other end with the sash bottom member 4. When opened, the window sash 4 is first led by a translatory motion from the closed position, shown in Fig. 1, towards a parallel-displaced location 4', from which the sash 4 can then be displaced sideways in parallel with the fixed window part 3 by movement along the guide rail 5 to the fully opened position where an opening corresponding to the width of the sash 4 is exposed.As seen in fig. 2, the carrier arms 7 and 8 may be designed with such a crank that they may avoid a sash bottom member coinciding with the sash bottom member 4 on the fixed window part 3, if such a bottom member is used, e.g. in order that the fitting parts are not visible from the outside and in order to shield against the weather. In the preferred embodiment shown in Figs. 3-8, the sash profiles in the sliding door 48 comprising a bottom member 49, a top member 50 and side members 51 can be designed as essentially T-shaped sash profiles comprising a bottom member and side members. The guide rail 53 fastened to frame bottom member 52 can be designed as an essentially L-shaped profile with a supporting portion in abutment against the underside of the frame bottom member 49 The trolley comprises two bogie elements 54 and 55 which through carrier arms 56 and 57 are pivotally connected to the sash profiles in the side members 51 and are mutually connected through a bar 58 shown by a dotted line. Each of the bogie elements 54 and 55 is in essentially the same way as described for the embodiment in Figs. 5-10 supported on the guide rail 53 in that non-shown wheels on the bogie elements drive on a rail 59 projecting upwards from the bottom wall of the L-shaped guide rail profile. As shown in Figs. 11 and 12, the pivoting connection of each of the carrier arms 56 and 57 with the sash side members 51 is formed in the way that pipe sockets 60 mounted in sash side members form bearings for a shaft 61 connected to a carrier arm, e.g. 56, said shaft extending in the entire height of the sliding door 48 for connection with a control arm 62 in a passive displacement fitting at the sash top member 50 where the control arm 61 is connected with a slider 62' which is guided in a guide rail 64 fastened to the frame top member 63. At the forward sash side member of the sliding door 48 with respect to the closing direction, one end of a retainer arm 65 is pivotally connected with the carrier arm 56 at a point between the pivotable connections of the carrier arm with the sash side member 51 and the bogie element 54 of the trolley. In the opposite end, the retainer arm 65 has a pin 66 which just as the embodiment in Figs. 5-10 is in engagement with a longitudinal track 67 in the forward end of the bogie element 54 with respect to the closing direction, and the track 67 has at its end facing rearwards in relation to the closing direction a short angular track section 68 which is directed a little forwards in the closing direction. In its end corresponding to the end location of the sliding door 48, the guide rail has a projecting knot 69 with its one wall forming an oblique abutment face 70 facing rearwards with respect to the closing direction and corresponding to the abutment face 40 in the embodiment in Figs. 5-10 for a part of the pin 66 projecting downwards below the retainer arm 65. The knot 69 is provided in an end stop member 71 which fits in the essentially L-shaped profile of the guide rail 53 and is fastened to the guide rail 53 such that its end edge 72 facing rearwards with respect to the closing direction forms a stop for the movement of the bogie element 54 in the closing direction. At its upper edge, the end stop member 71 is provided with a locking projection 73 which by engagement with a recess 74 in the guide rail positions the end stop member 71 at the end corresponding to the end location hereof. Unlike prior art structures, where the two stop functions for the movement of the trolley in the closing direction and for hindrance of the return movement of the trolley in the opening direction, respectively, during the translatory motion of the sliding door between the displacement plane and the end location are carried out by a guide way element and by engagement between a locking knot 24 on the carrier arm 31 and a recess in the guide rail 25, respectively, the two stop functions in the embodiment in Figs. 3-8 are integrated in one pair of cooperating elements, i.e. partly the end stop member 71 fastened to the guide rail 53, partly an arm 75 which is pivotally connected with the bogie element 54 at its end facing forwards with respect to the closing direction outside the end of the track 67. A longitudinal track 76 is provided in the arm 75 and, just as the track 67, in engagement with the pin 66 on the retainer arm 65. When the retainer arm 65, as appears from Figs. 14-16, is released on impact of the pin 66 against the oblique abutment face 70 on the knot 69 and the pin 66 is thus led out of the angular section 68, the arm 75 will as a consequence of the engagement of the pin 66 with the track 76 be turned to a locking position where the track 76 coincides with the track 67. In this locking position, a locking knot 77 projecting outwards from the arm 75 will enter into engagement with the edge facing forwards with respect to the closing direction of the locking projection 73 on the end stop member 71 with its rearwards edge 72 with respect the closing direction forming at the same time a halt for the movement of the bogie element 53 and thus of the trolley in the closing direction. The above described embodiments of the displacement fittings with the guide rail, the trolley, and the carrier arms may alternatively be mounted on the inner side of the window or door arrangement.

Claims: A window or door arrangement for a building facade, comprising a frame structure (1; 52, 63), in which a sliding window (48) or door is mounted side by side with a fixed building element (3), e.g. a window or panel part, said sliding window or door having a sash (4; 49-51) connected to the frame structure (1; 52, 63) by displacement fittings to be displaceable, by translatory motion, from a closed position, in which the sliding window or door is flush with the fixed building element (3), to a location (41) in a displacement plane extending parallel to the fixed building element outside the closed position, the sliding window or door being movable by sideways displacement in the displacement plane between said location and an open position overlapping the fixed building element (3), said displacement fittings comprising a stationary guide rail (53) fixed with respect to the frame structure (1; 52) and having a length corresponding to the total width of the sliding window (48) or door and the fixed building element (3), a trolley (54, 55) supported for longitudinal displacement by said guide rail (53), a bottom sash member (49) of the sliding window or door being pivotally connected with said trolley through mainly parallel carrier arms(56, 57), retaining means comprising a retainer arm (65) for retaining the sliding window or door in the displacement plane during said sideways displacement and releasing means (70) for release of the retainer arm (65) while retaining the trolley (54, 55) in an end position in the displacement plane during said sideways displacement of the sash in a closing direction from the open position towards said location, said releasing means comprising stop means (70) stationary with respect to the guide rail and to act on the retainer arm, (41), the displacement fittings further comprising a locking element (77) which on release of the retainer arm is activated to engage locking means (73) in connection with the guide rail (53) in order to prevent or limit sideways displacement of the sash (4) during said translatory motion, characterized in that said retainer arm (65) is provided in one end with a pin (66) which is journalled in a longitudinal track (67) in the trolley to be pivotable and longitudinally displaceable, said track having in its near end with respect to the closing direction a short angular track section (68) for retaining said pin (66) connected with the retainer arm (65), said stop means (70) providing an inclined stop face facing rearwards with respect to the closing direction, for abutment of said pin (66), said pin (66) on the retainer arm (65) being also in engagement with a longitudinal track (76) provided in an arm (75) pivotally connected with the trolley and having a centre of rotation at its forward end with respect to the closing direction, said arm (75) being activated by release of the retainer arm to turn to a locking position in which said longitudinal track (76) coincides with the longitudinal track (67) in the trolley. A window or door arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that an opposite end of the retainer arm (65) is pivotally connected with the forward carrier arm (65) with respect to the closing direction. A window or door arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that said stop means is formed by a knot (69) projecting from the guide rail. A window or door arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said locking element is formed by a locking knot (77) projecting from said arm (75) for engagement with a locking projection (73) in the guide rail (53) when the arm occupies said locking position. A window or door arrangement according to claim 4, characterized in that said locking projection (73) is formed by an end stop member (71) for said end position fastened to the guide rail (53) and providing at the same time a stop for movement of the trolley in the closing direction. A window or door arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said sash bottom member (4) is provided with an essentially horizontal wall portion (19) below a glass or panel area fastened in the sash and a front portion (20b) projecting downwards below the horizontal wall portion, and that said displacement fittings are mounted below the horizontal wall portion (19) and behind the front portion (20b). A window or door arrangement according any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a top member (50) of the sash (48) is connected with a top member (63) of the frame structure through further displacement fittings (62, 62', 64) which are controlled synchronously with said displacement fittings connected with the sash bottom member (49).

Inventors: GRAVESEN VILLIAM, HAMMER CARL, SMEDEGAARD KAJ, GRAVESEN, VILLIAM, HAMMER, CARL, SMEDEGAARD, KAJ
Applicants: VKR HOLDING AS, VKR HOLDING A/S
Application year: 1998
Main classification: E05D15
IPC codes: E05D15