Abstract:
A segmented door for a shower stall, built within a fixed structural frame with a horizontal upper and lower channel. The door is constructed using a plurality (often four or more) of vertically disposed, side by side arranged, moveable panels that are hung from the upper channel by a plurality of moveable and pivoting wheeled hangers engaged with this upper channel. These moveable panels are connected to each other by a plurality of pivotally joined horizontal rods, which enables the moveable panels to move as a group. Often one of the moveable panels is joined to the upper and lower channel by clamp-on hinges, so that this panel is only able to move by pivoting. The moveable panels are able to move between an open door configuration and a closed door configuration, and can be designed with slight overlap so as to prevent shower spray from going beyond the panels.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the priority benefit of provisional application 61/305,238, “Rolling Closure with Pivoted, Side-by-Side Panels, for a Shower Stall Doorway”, filed Feb. 17, 2010, inventor Mark E. Lambert. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This disclosure relates generally to portal closures and more particularly to a closure for a shower stall. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Shower stall closures are generally doors of the conventional kind, that is, having hinges on one side of the door and a latch on the opposing side. The latch is often a magnetic latch, or a spring loaded conventional door latch. The prior art teaches such shower doors in: Lehman U.S. Pat. No. 1,944,440, Backman U.S. Pat. No. 2,627,327, Whitney U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,433, Doan U.S. Pat. No. 244,535, Lax U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,764, Lyons U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,129, Kiefer US2005/0166366, and especially Risk et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,784. Such shower doors have certain disadvantages. First of all, shower doors of the conventional type must be made of a structural type of glass that is resistant to being broken and such glass is relatively heavy. Therefore, the framing of a shower stall must be robust in order to support such a heavy door and the framing must be secured to wall panels in an equally robust manner. Such construction is heavy itself, relatively expensive, and generally more time consuming to install. Another disadvantage of such heavy shower doors is that they are difficult to operate, especially by children, older folks and the infirm and senile. An obvious disadvantage of using large glass doors is that they present a significant danger upon being broken. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The presently described invention provides a welcome solution to conventional construction providing light-weight shower door closures that are easy to operate, inexpensive to manufacture and install, durable, and, of course, prevent water from spraying out of the shower room or stall. 
     In one embodiment, the invention may be a rolling closure type shower door intended to be mounted in a shower stall doorway. The door may comprise multiple (often four or more) pivoted, side-by-side panels. The panels fit underneath a top a structural channel held rigidly in position by a frame with an opening of the channel facing upwardly. The door consists of a plurality of these vertical panels arranged in side-by-side positions, where each of the panels pivotally engaged by a hanger and the hangers engaged with the upper channel, thus holding the panels in an upright attitude. Further, there are a plurality of rods engaged with the hangers and with the panels so that the panels are able to mutually pivot between an open and a closed position. Thus the panels are able to either close-off the shower stall doorway in a closed position, and are alternately able to open the doorway as a pass through in an open position. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the invention may be a segmented door for a shower stall, built within a fixed structural frame with a horizontal upper and lower channel. The door is constructed using a plurality (often four or more) of vertically disposed, side by side arranged, moveable panels that are hung from the upper channel by a plurality of moveable and pivoting wheeled hangers engaged with this upper channel. These moveable panels are connected to each other by a plurality of pivotally joined horizontal rods, which enables the moveable panels to move as a group. Often one of the moveable panels is joined to the upper and lower channel by clamp-on hinges, so that this panel is only able to move by pivoting. The moveable panels are able to move between an open door configuration and a closed door configuration, and can be designed with slight overlap so as to prevent shower spray from going beyond the panels. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention as seen from above, and from inside a shower stall with individual panels of the invention being shown in their partially open attitude providing access to the shower stall, and showing means for moving all four panels shown laterally. 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of the upper portion of  FIG. 1  but showing the right most panel clamped in place, and showing the individual panels in their closed attitude and particularly showing details of hinging and hanging means thereof. 
         FIG. 3  is a top partial perspective view of the invention particularly illustrating a channel used as a track for receiving the hanging means and in controlling rolling movement of the panels during pivotal action between the closed and open attitudes. 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded partial perspective view of a lower portion of the invention as seen from below, and particularly illustrating a lower channel and rolling, pivoting and guiding means of the invention as it is normally engaged with the lower channel. 
         FIG. 5  is a partial perspective view of the lower portion of the invention as seen from one side and particularly illustrating the rolling means engaged with the lower channel. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The above described drawing figures illustrate the apparatus and its method of use in at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiments, which is further defined in detail in the following description. It should be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of example and should not be taken as a limitation in the scope of the present device or apparatus and its method of use. 
     The present invention, a segmented closure for a shower stall entranceway  5 , is described now, in detail. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the present invention is an entranceway closure which is mounted, and operated, within a fixed structural frame  7 . The moving portion of the invention is made-up of a plurality of individual, vertically disposed panels  10  disposed in a side-by-side arrangement. The panels  10  are hung from a horizontally disposed upper channel  20  which is held by, and extends between spaced-apart, vertically disposed, left  30  and right  40  struts. Struts  30  and  40  are appropriately secured to fixed building structures such as walls (not shown). A horizontally disposed lower channel  50  is secured between struts  30  and  40  as well, and is, importantly, oriented in parallel with upper channel  20 . Lower channel  50  is preferably supported by a structural base surface (not shown). The struts  30  and  40  define the width W of the structural frame  7 , said frame comprising elements  20 ,  30 ,  40 , and  50 . Clearly, as shown in  FIG. 1 , a fixed panel  60  may be mounted within structural frame  7 , thereby taking up a portion W′ of its total width W, and leaving entranceway  5  as an open passway to be selectively covered and uncovered by the segmented closure, which, as previously described, is the moving portion of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the panels  10  are individually referred to as “ 10 - 1 ” for the first panel (adjacent to fixed panel  60 ), “ 10 - 2 ” for the next panel to its left, and so on. Four panels  10  are shown in the figures, but the number of panels  10  may be any number depending on the width of the doorway opening that is to be covered, and, of course, on the width of the individual panels  10  and the dimension of their overlap as best illustrated in  FIG. 2 . It is noted that in  FIG. 1 , all four panels  10  are mounted by wheels  110  so that they are able, as a group, to be moved to the left or right on channel  20 . Notice too, that the four panels  10  might be moved behind panel  60  to fully unobstruct entranceway  5 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , panels  10  are arranged in mutually parallel side-by side positions with a slight overlap, and are interconnected by elongated rods; a longer rod  70  and a shorter rod  80  as will be presently described. Noting again that the illustration of  FIG. 2  is as viewed from inside the shower stall, we see that each panel  10  overlaps the immediately adjacent panel  10  to its left. In this arrangement, shower spray would preferably originate from the right side of  FIG. 2  so that spray would not pass through the closure even if it were not absolutely fully tightly closed. Should the spray originate from the left side of  FIG. 2 , the panels  10  could be assembled so that each panel  10  would overlap a panel  10  to its right. All of the hardware of this invention is adapted to enable the moving portion (the closure) to open to the right, as in the present illustrations, or to open to the left, that is, it is fully reversible. 
     Now referring again to  FIG. 2 , we can understand that in this embodiment, panel  10 - 1  is joined by clamp-on hinges  90  to both the upper channel  20  (shown) and the lower channel  30  (so that panel  10 - 1  is laterally immobile, yet is able to pivot between the closed position, as shown in  FIG. 2 , and the open position, as shown in  FIG. 1 . Clamp on hinges  90  may be positioned selectively so that the panel  10 - 1  may be positioned at a desired location on channel  20 . A rod  80  (the shorter rod) is pivotally joined at its distal end  82  to the edge  12  of panel  10 - 1  at a medial position  14  of the edge  12 . This same rod  80  is pivotally joined at its proximal end  84  to a vertical hanger  100  and to the distal end of panel  10 - 2  as more clearly shown in  FIG. 1 . The means (hardware) for enabling pivotal motion between the parts of this invention, as herein called-for, may be of any type that is known to those of skill in the art, so that these means are not specifically described herein. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 2 , rod  70  (the longer rod) is pivotally joined at its distal end  72  to the edge  12  of panel  10 - 1  at a proximal position  13  on the edge  12 . This same rod  70  is also pivotally joined at its medial point  73  to the edge  12  of panel  10 - 2  at its medial position  14  on the edge  12 . Finally, this same rod  70  is also pivotally joined at its proximal end  74  to a vertical hanger  100  and to a distal end of panel  10 - 3 . It is noted that rods  70  in this invention are pivotally joined at three points, a distal point  72 , a medial point  73  and a proximal point  74 . It is here noted that, as shown in the figures, points to the right of elements shown in the figures are referred to as “distal” and points to the left of elements shown in the figures are referred to as “proximal,” with points located between these two are referred to as “medial.” A further rod  70  has a relationship with panels  10 - 2 ,  10 - 3  and  10 - 4  that is identical to the relationship previously described for above described rod  70  with panels  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2 , and  10 - 3 . Finally, a further rod  80  is pivotally joined at its distal end  82  to the edge  12  of panel  10 - 3  at the proximal position  13  on the edge  12 , and is also pivotally joined at its proximal end  84  to panel  10 - 4  at its medial position  14 . 
     In summary, then, we see that the first panel  10  (leftmost or rightmost) in this second embodiment, is always hinged to the channels  20 ,  50  using clamp-on hinges  90  and is hung from channel  20  in the manner described above for panel  10 - 1  using a hanger  100 . Also, we see that the last panel  10  (rightmost or leftmost) is always mounted as described above for panel  10 - 4  using a short rod  80  and a hanger  100 . Finally, we see that each of the remaining intermediate panels  10  that are mounted between the first panel  10  and the last panel  10  are mounted as described above for panels  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  using rods  70  and hangers  100 . As shown in the figures, the top of each of the panels  10  are sandwiched within channel stock edgings  15 . Assuming that the panels  10  are made of glass, as is preferable, such edgings  15  are necessary for pivotally mounting rods  70  and  80  and hangers  100 . However, when the panels  10  are made of a material, such as plastic, wood or metal, where such materials are better able to receive pivotal hardware structural engagements, the edgings  15  may not be necessary. In either case, when we refer above to the distal, medial and proximal ends of the “edge  12 ,” we are referring to either the bare upper or lower edge surfaces of the panel  10  itself, or alternately, to the up-facing ( FIG. 2 ), or down-facing ( FIG. 4 ) edge surface of the edgings  15 . 
       FIG. 3  shows upper channel  20  and its relationship with hangers  100 . Hangers  100  are L-shaped bars with wheels  110  mounted at their upper distal ends for rotating about the wheels  110  horizontal rotational axes. The wheels  110  are received by channel  20  and roll therein to afford the pivotal motion of the panels  10  as they fold between the closed and open attitudes, and when in the open attitude, panels  10  are able to be rolled into close adjacency with each other so as to take up relatively little space in the passageway  5  or to one side of it. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the lower ends of panels  10  are joined by rods  70  and  80  in an identical arrangement as described above for the upper ends of panels  10 . However, as shown, instead of joining the rods  70  and  80  to hangers  100 , spacers  120  are substituted and wheels  110  are rotationally mounted to the lower terminal ends of spacers  120 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the spacers  120  and their attached wheels  110  are positioned within channel  50  in order to control the bottom of the panels  10  so that they move in a straight lateral direction. Common hardware, such as nuts and threaded studs  130  are used to fasten channels  15  to panels  10  and to mount the rods  70  and  80  to the channels  15 . Other hardware is used to fasten the other parts of this invention together as would be within the normal skill of an individual versed in the art. 
     In some embodiments, in order to create a still firmer seal between adjacent panels when in the shut position, it may be advantageous to cover the vertical edges of the panels (often from top to bottom or at least a substantial amount, i.e. greater than 75%, of the length from top to bottom) with strips of a deformable material such as rubber or plastic (such as polyvinyl). This helps close any remaining openings between the panels, thus reducing the amount of water spray from the shower heads that can penetrate past the shower doorway. 
     The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of the apparatus and its method of use and to the achievement of the above described uses. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element. 
     The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for anyone of the elements described and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim. 
     Changes from the described subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what incorporates the essential ideas.