GUIDE RAIL COVER FOR AN OVERHEAD SECTIONAL DOOR

Abstract: A guide rail cover for an overhead sectional door, the door leaf of which is guided by means of laterally projecting guide rollers (9), which are supported on projecting axles (11) provided on the sections and engage into approximately C-shaped guide rails (3) having a longitudinal opening (5) directed towards them, in order to provide protection from the guide rollers and the sharp edges of the longitudinal opening of the guide rails comprises according to the invention a one-piece or two-piece elongate cover bar (1), which is at least as wide as the longitudinal opening of the guide rails (3) and is fastenable on the axles (11) of adjacent guide rollers (9) so as to follow a change in the spacing of the latter. The one-piece cover bar (1) has at one end an open longitudinal slot (13) and at the other end, extending transversely to its longitudinal direction, an open-ended slot, by means of which it is clampable onto the axle (11) of a guide roller (9). The two-piece cover bar has two parts, which are displaceable one into the other and are both clampable by means of a transversely directed slot onto a guide roller.

Description: Guide rail cover for an overhead sectional door The invention relates to overhead sectiona-1 doors and more specifically to overhead sectional doors for garages or the like, industrial halls and is directed to a guide rail cover for such sectional doors, the door leaf of which is guided by means of laterally projecting guide rollers, which are supported on projecting axles provided on the sections and engage into approximately C-shaped guide rails directed towards them and arranged on both sides of the garage door opening . • Overhead sectional doors have, on the door frame and under the top of the door laterally of the sectional door leaf, vertical and horizontal guide rails, in which the door leaf is guided by means of guide rollers, which are supported on outwardly projecting axles provided on the door sections. The guide rails, which are approximately C-shaped in cross section and have their longitudinal opening directed towards the sections, are quite predominantly made of cold rolled, laterally trimmed, galvanized steel strip stock. The manufacture of said rails is effected at profiling installations. The free longitudinal edges of said C- shaped guide rails are therefore frequently very sharp. The outwardly projecting axles of the guide rollers- are guided in displaceable and adjustable bearing blocks , which are screwed or fastened in some other manner to the sections. Industrial and garage sectional doors are currently in most cases motor-operated by means of a door drive. During adjustment or maintenance of the doors and the motor drive there is typically nothing to prevent someone reaching into the guide rails while the door leaf is in motion. In said case, a risk of injury is presented not only by the very sharp edges of the runner rails but also by the moving guide rollers. For said reason, various door manufacturers stick adhesive warning labels on the guide rails to draw the attention of the installer and user to the fact that he should not reach into the rails. Eliminating the previously described problem is more effective than a warning label . Only very few doors have specially designed frames, in which the guide or runner rails are designed in such a way that they cover the guide rollers so that the sharp edges are out of reach. It is also known (WO 98/10165) to fit onto the axles of the guide rollers round plastic disks, which in diameter are far larger than the rollers. Said plastic disks admittedly prevent someone reaching into the track of the guide rollers in the vicinity of the latter but do not provide protection from the sharp edges of the guide rails. The risk of injury is therefore not totally eliminated. The technical problem underlying the invention is to provide a guide rail cover for overhead sectional doors, which provides protection both from the guide rollers and from the sharp edges of the guide rails. As a solution to said problem, the invention provides an elongate cover bar, which is at least as wide as the width of the longitudinal opening of the guide rails and is fastenable on the axles of adjacent guide rollers in such a way so as to follow a change of the spacing of the latter. Two advantageous refinements of a cover bar according to the invention are proposed. In the one embodiment the cover bar is of a one-piece construction and at one end has, extending in its longitudinal direction, a longitudinal slot, which is open towards the end and mountable onto the axle of a guide roller, and at the other end has, extending transversely to its longitudinal direction, an open-ended slot which is clampable onto the axle of an adjacent guide roller. In the other embodiment the cover bar is of a two-piece construction, one part of which is guided in a longitudinally displaceable manner in the other part, and wherein each of the two parts is clampable at one end by means of an open-ended slot extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bar onto the axle of an adjacent guide roller. The guide rail openings are advantageously covered in such a way that only a gap of a few millimetres remains between the sharp edges and the mounted cover bars . The transversely extending slots provided at the ends of the cover bar or of the cover bar parts are advantageously funnel-shaped, having at the base a round recess preceded by a constriction, which in the course of mounting onto the axle of a guide roller is opened resiliently to allow the axle to pass through. Suitable materials for constructing the cover bars are plastics material, metal or even wood. The choice of material depends substantially upon the gap width, which is to be bridged between guide rail and section, as well as upon the expected longevity of the bars . Several constructions of the invention are, together with advantageous details, described in detail with reference to drawings, which show: Fig. 1 a view of a first embodiment of a cover bar, Fig. 2 a longitudinal section through a guide rail, in which two guide rollers run at a distance from one another and have cover bars mounted on their axles, Fig. 3 a view of the row of cover bars shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 a cross section along the cutting line IV-IV in Fig. 2, Fig. 5 a view of a two-piece cover bar, Fig. 6 a longitudinal section through a runner rail, in which two spaced-apart guide rollers run, and through the cover bar illustrated in Fig. 5 and mounted onto the axles of the guide rollers, and Fig. 7 a cross section along the cutting line VII-VII in Fig. 6. The embodiment according to Figures 1 to 4 provides a one- piece cover bar 1 for a guide rail 3, which is approximately C-shaped in cross section and is fastened in a known manner to a frame of a garage door opening. In the runner rail a sectional door leaf is guided by means of guide rollers 9, which are supported on axles 11 (not shown in detail) fastened to the sections of the door leaf and run in the guide rail 3. The axles extend through the longitudinal opening 5 of the guide rail 3. The cover bar 1 is fastened to the two adjacent axles 11 of adjacent door leaf sections and is in turn offset in a step—like manner. The offset in plan view is arc-shaped, as is particularly evident from Figures 1 to 3. The width of the cover bar is slightly greater than the height of the guide rail 3. The length of the cover bar is greater than the distance between adjacent axles 11 plus the diameter of a guide roller and an adequate allowance. At the - in Figures 1 and 3 - left end the bar 1 has a longitudinal slot 13, which is at least as wide as the diameter of the axle 11 and approximately as long as the diameter of the guide roller 9. The longitudinal slot 13 extends in the longitudinal direction of the bar. At the - in Figures 1 and 3 - right end the cover bar 1 has a likewise open-ended slot 15, which extends transversely to the longitudinal direction and by means of which the cover bar is clampable onto the axle 11 of the - in Figure 2 - right guide roller 9. For said purpose, the slot is funnel-shaped, having a round recess 17 of approximately the diameter of the axle 11 situated at the base and preceded by a constriction 19, with which the axle 11 extends away below the - in Figure 1 - horizontal longitudinal axis, so that in the course of mounting the constriction is opened resiliently by the axle 11 of the guide roller 9 to allow said axle to pass through. In said manner, the cover bar is clampable or clippable onto the right axle 11. The slight constriction 19 is necessary to enable clamping or clipping of the bar 1 onto the roller axle 11. As the length of the cover bar 1 is slightly greater than the distance between axes of adjacent guide rollers of the installed sections, for installation purposes the cover bar 1 is first mounted by means of its open-ended longitudinal slot 13 onto the left guide roller axle 11 and then swivelled towards the right guide roller axle 11 and clamped by means of the transversely directed slot 15 onto the axle. In an identical manner, similarly shaped cover bars 1 are fitted on the other adjacent guide roller axles 11 so that, as Figures 2 and 4 reveal, they come to lie a slight distance away from the longitudinal opening of the C-shaped guide rail -3 and, because of their width, also prevent anyone being able to reach into the track in front of the guide rollers . When during opening or closing of the door the sections move through the guide or runner rail curves and the distance between axes from section to section possibly varies slightly, said variation may easily be accommodated by the longitudinal slot of the cover bar. In the embodiment according to Figures 5 to 7 the cover bar 1 is of a two-piece construction, namely comprising, as illustrated in Figure 5, a left part 21 and a right part 23. The left part 21 is guided in a longitudinally displaceable manner in the right part 23, for which purpose there is formed in the end of the latter directed towards the left part 21 a guide channel 25 as a sliding guide which, as Fig. 7 reveals, may comprise doubled-back edge strips of the right part 23. The two bar parts have a length, which corresponds to 60 to 70% of the distance between adjacent guide roller axles 11 of adjacent sections of the door leaf . For the purpose of fastening on the guide roller axle 11 the one bar part 21, like the other, has in each case a transversely extending, funnel-shaped, open-ended slot 15 having a round recess 17 of a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the guide roller axle situated at the base and preceded by a constriction 19 so that both parts may be clamped or clipped on a guide roller axle 11. For stiffening the bars, beads 27 extending in each case approximately centrally transversely to the longitudinal axis are provided. When the distance between axes of the guide rollers of the moving door leaf varies slightly in the curves, the mutual displaceability of the bar parts 21 and 23 enables a movement relative to one another. In a manner different to that shown in Figures 5 to 7 it might be possible, instead of providing a guide channel 25 on the one bar part, to design the latter alternatively as a hollow body. This increases the rigidity. Other measures to increase the dimensional stability would then be no longer necessary. In the swivelling region of the two bar parts, which are clamped or clipped in each case onto a guide roller axle, the parts which are in contact are stepped or offset relative to one another in order to achieve a uniform thickness with the part lying between the transverse slots. The two-piece cover bar also is preferably not clipped onto the guide roller axles until after the sectional door has been fully assembled. The invention therefore provides an easily assembled one- or two-piece cover bar for the guide rail of a sectional door, wherein on either side of the door leaf as many bars are to be mounted as the door leaf has sections. Manufacture and assembly of the new cover bar is easy and may also be effected by technically less adept persons at a later stage, after the sectional door was already in use.

Claims: Claims 1. Guide rail cover for an overhead sectional door, having a door leaf composed of sections, axles (11) projecting laterally from the sections and guide rollers (9) supported on said axles, as well as lateral, approximately C-shaped guide rails (3), which are directed towards the guide rollers (9) and in which the guide rollers run, the guide rail cover having the form of an elongate cover bar (1) , which is at least as wide as the longitudinal opening (5) of the guide rails (3) and is fastenable on the axles (11) of adjacent guide rollers (9) in such a way so as to follow a change in the spacing of the latter. 2. Guide rail cover according to claim 1, wherein the cover bar (1) is of a one-piece construction and at one end has, extending in its longitudinal direction, a longitudinal' slot (13) , which is open towards the end and mountable onto the axle (11) of a guide roller (9) , and at the other end has, extending substantially transversely to its longitudinal direction, an open-ended slot (15) which is clampable .onto the axle (11) -of an adjacent guide roller (9) . 3. Guide rail cover according to claim 1, wherein the cover bar (1) is of a two-piece construction, one part (21) of which is guided in a longitudinally displaceable manner in the other part (23) , and wherein each of the two parts is clampable at one end by means of an open-ended slot (15) extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bar onto the axle (11) of an adjacent guide roller (9) . 4. Guide rail cover according to claim 2 or 3 , wherein the transversely extending slots (15) are funnel-shaped, having a round recess (17) situated at the base and preceded by a constriction (19) , which in the course of mounting is opened resiliently by the axle (11) of the guide roller (9) to allow the axle to pass through.

Inventors: DOERING ERICH, DOERING, ERICH
Applicants: DOERING ERICH, DOERING, ERICH
Application year: 2001
Main classification: E05D15
IPC codes: E05D15