Patent Publication Number: US-6209613-B1

Title: Screen and louver garage doorway enclosure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to an apparatus for enclosing the doorway of a garage and, more particularly, to a garage door enclosure having both a screen and louvers for allowing air and a selective amount of light into the garage. 
     A garage can be useful as a supplemental porch area or even as an additional room of a house, such as a playroom for children. The garage in its usual form, however, is accompanied by several disadvantages when used in this manner. The garage can become dangerously hot during the summer months if the door is left closed. On the other hand, an open garage door invites unwanted intrusion by persons or animals or allows small children to leave the garage area. 
     Various garage enclosures have been proposed in the art for enclosing the opening of a garage. While arguably effective in function, the known garage enclosures still exhibit certain disadvantages. Existing garage enclosures are not suitable to allow sufficient airflow in and out of the garage while also preventing intrusion and selectively regulating the amount of sunlight shining into the garage. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to have a garage doorway enclosure which includes a plurality of door sections that permit air to flow freely in and out of a garage. Further, it is desirable to have a garage doorway enclosure in which the door sections include louvers which may be selectively positioned to regulate the amount of sunlight passing into the garage. It is also desirable to have an enclosure which can be easily pivoted to a storage position that does not obstruct the garage opening. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the garage doorway enclosure according to the present invention utilizes a primary guide track extending longitudinally along a length of the top wall of the vehicle doorway of a garage. The doorway enclosure includes a first and second series of door panels in which each series includes a plurality of door panels connected to each other with hinges. A guide element extends from the top of each door panel and is received within the primary guide track such that each series of door panels may be slidably extended to cover the garage doorway or folded in an accordion-like manner toward opposite side walls of the doorway. 
     When the door panels are moved to the folded position, the guide elements are no longer held within the primary guide track although the guide elements of the door panels adjacent the side walls of the doorway are held within secondary guide tracks. The secondary guide tracks are generally normal to said primary guide track and extend outwardly from the plane of the doorway. Each series of folded door panels may then be slidably moved to a position outwardly displaced from the doorway. The guide elements within the secondary guide tracks are freely pivotal such that each series of door panels may be pivoted from the displaced position to a storage position adjacent the outer walls of the garage. 
     The interior side of each door panel is covered with a mesh material which allows air to flow in and out of the garage while preventing unwanted access by persons or animals. The exterior side of each door panel includes a plurality of louvers which can be incrementally pivoted to desired positions for selectively regulating the amount of light shining into the garage. Particular door panels may also include locking mechanisms for preventing unwanted access to the garage. The door panels may also include wheels which enhance the slidable movement of the panels. 
     Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide an apparatus for enclosing the doorway of a garage that operates independently of the conventional garage door. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, having a plurality of panels which selectively enclose the doorway of the garage in an accordion like manner. 
     Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which allows air to pass in and out of the garage through a screen mesh on each panel. 
     Yet another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which allows a selected amount of light to pass into the garage through pivotal louvers on each panel. 
     A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which inhibits unwanted intrusion into the garage while maintaining adequate ventilation. 
     A still further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, in which the panels can be folded together and then pivoted to a storage position that does not obstruct normal use of the garage doorway. 
     Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the garage enclosure in an extended or closed position enclosing the doorway of a garage according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 in a folded storage position adjacent the outer wall of the garage; 
     FIG. 3A is a top view of the panels of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 in an extended or closed position; 
     FIG. 3B is a top view of the panels of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 in a partially open position; 
     FIG. 3C is a top view of the panels of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 in a folded or open position; 
     FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a panel of the garage enclosure with an enlarged isolated view of a guide element thereon; 
     FIG. 5 is a rear view of a panel of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 with enlarged isolated views of the locking assembly and louver adjustment lever; 
     FIG. 6A is a top view of the secondary guide track of the garage enclosure; 
     FIG. 6B is a side view of the secondary guide track of FIG. 6A; 
     FIG. 6C is a top perspective view of the secondary guide track of FIG. 6A; 
     FIG. 6D is a bottom perspective view of the of FIG.  6 A. 
     FIG. 7A is a front view of a panel of the garage enclosure of FIG. 1 with the louvers in a closed position; 
     FIG. 7B is a front view of a panel as in FIG. 7A with the louvers in an open position and with an enlarged isolated view of the louver pivot mechanism; and 
     FIG. 8 is a bottom perspective view on an enlarged scale of the secondary guide track of FIG. 2 with the panels removed. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Turning more particularly to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a garage enclosure apparatus  20  mounted to a garage structure  10  according to the present invention. In a closed position, as in FIG. 1, the enclosure apparatus  20  completely covers the vehicle doorway of the garage, whereas the doorway is completely unobstructed when the enclosure apparatus  20  is folded to a storage position adjacent an outer wall (FIG. 2) as to be further described below. 
     As shown more particularly in FIG. 8, a primary guide track  22  is fixedly mounted to a top wall  12  of the garage doorway and extends longitudinally along a portion thereof. The enclosure apparatus  20  includes first  24  and second  26  series of door panels coupled to the primary guide track  22  (FIG. 2) for movement in opposing directions therealong. Each series  24 ,  26  includes a plurality of door panels  40  coupled one to another with hinges  42 . An upstanding guide element  44  extends from the top  48  of each door panel  40  adjacent a side wall  52  thereof. Each guide element  44  presents a circular top portion displaced from the top  12  of the door panel  40 , the top portion being slidably receivable within the primary guide track  22  for slidable movement of the panels therealong. As each series  24 ,  26  of door panels is moved to the closed position, the door panels  40  are adjacent one another within the plane of the garage doorway (FIGS.  1  and  3 A). As each series  24 ,  26  is moved toward the side walls  14  of the garage doorway, the panels  40  fold or pivot at the hinges  42  in an accordion-like manner (FIG.  3 B). Ultimately, the door panels  40  may be placed in a completely folded position (FIG.  3 C). When in the completely folded position, the guide elements  44  extending from the panels  40  are no longer held within the primary guide track  22  as the primary guide track  22  does not extend completely between the side walls  14  of the doorway (FIG.  8 ). 
     The garage enclosure apparatus  20  further includes a pair of secondary guide tracks  30  fixedly mounted to the top wall  12  of the garage doorway. Each secondary guide track  30  is positioned immediately adjacent a side wall  14  of the doorway and is normal to the plane of the doorway and primary guide track  22 . The secondary guide tracks  30  extend outwardly from the doorway. As more particularly shown in FIGS. 6A and 6C, each secondary guide track  30  presents a channel  32  into which the guide element  44  of the door panel  40  immediately adjacent the corresponding side wall  14  is slidably received. A first end  34  of the channel  32  of each secondary guide track  30  is within the plane of the doorway and primary guide track  22 . Accordingly, each series  24 ,  26  of door panels in folded positions may be slidably displaced outwardly from the plane of the doorway as the panels adjacent the side walls  14  are moved along the secondary guide tracks  30 . An enlarged opening  38  at the second end  36  of the channel  32  allows the panels  40  to be completely removed from the enclosure apparatus  20 , if desired. 
     The guide elements of the panels  40  adjacent the side walls  14  are pivotal within the secondary guide tracks  30 . Therefore, each series  24 ,  26  of door panels may be pivoted from the displaced position to a storage position adjacent an outer wall  16  of the garage as in FIG.  2 . Each series  24 ,  26  of door panels may be releasably coupled to the outer wall  16  with a hook  18  or other similar fastener. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 4,  7 A, and  7 B, the exterior side of each door panel  40  includes a frame  46  with a plurality of louvers  54  mounted adjacent one another thereon. The louvers  54  pivot incrementally between closed (FIG. 7A) and open (FIG. 7B) positions. At the closed position, the louvers  54  are substantially vertical, and at the full open position the louvers  54  are substantially horizontal. Thus, the louvers  54  may pivot approximately 90 degrees to regulate the amount of air and light permitted to enter the garage. Each louver  54  includes an axle  56  coupled to a connecting rod  58  extending longitudinally through the frame  46 . The connecting rod  58  is coupled to a handle  60  extending through the interior side of the frame  46  (FIG.  5 ). Accordingly, movement of the handle  60  affects movement of all of the louvers  54  of the panel  40 . 
     A mesh material  62  covers the interior side of the frame  46  of each panel  40  (FIG.  5 ). The mesh material may be a wire or nylon screen or other suitable material. Particular panels  40  may include a locking mechanism  64  or “lock-down” such as is known in the art (FIG.  5 ). The locking mechanism  64  includes a bar  66  which extends vertically through the panel frame  46  and is movable between locked and unlocked positions according to user movement of a lever  68 . In the locked position, the bar  66  protrudes from the bottom of the panel frame  46  and mates with an aperture in the garage or driveway surface. It is understood that only one panel  40  in each series  24 ,  26  is equipped with a locking mechanism  64 . The free panels of each series  24 ,  26  of door panels also include a conventional deadbolt locking mechanism  70  for releasably coupling the series  24 ,  26  together (FIGS.  4  and  5 ). 
     Each panel  40  further includes a wheel assembly  72  mounted to the bottom of the frame  46 . The wheel assembly  72  may be attached with a spring such that the assembly may be withdrawn into a recess in the panel frame  46  when the locking mechanism  64  is in a locked position. Some panels also include knobs  74  for user grasping of the panels  40  during the opening or closing of the enclosure apparatus  20  (FIGS.  1  and  3 B). 
     In operation, first  24  and second  26  series of hingedly connected door panels  40  are slidably coupled to the primary guide track  22  and may be extended therealong for completely covering the vehicle doorway of a garage  10 . The mesh material  62  on each panel  40  allows air to freely circulate into and out of the garage  10 . The plurality of louvers  54  on each panel may be selectively pivoted to regulate the entry of light into the garage  10 . The series  24 ,  26  may also be slidably moved toward opposed side walls  14  of the doorway in an accordion-like manner such that the doorway is unobstructed. When the guide elements  44  of each of the door panels  40  are released from the primary guide track  22  and each series  24 ,  26  is in a folded position, each series  24 ,  26  may be displaced outwardly from the plane of the doorway by slidably urging the panels along the secondary guide tracks  30 . Each series  24 ,  26  may then be pivoted to a storage position adjacent the outer wall  16  of the garage  10 . 
     It is understood that while certain forms of this invention have been illustrated and described, it is not limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims and allowable functional equivalents thereof.