Patent Publication Number: US-2006016144-A1

Title: Field assemblable panel door

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      The present application is a continuation-in-part of Applicant&#39;s earlier U.S. application Ser. No. 10/724,191, filed Dec. 1, 2003 and published on Jan. 6, 2005 as No. U.S. 2005/0000164, and of earlier U.S. application Ser. No. 11/062,755 filed Feb. 23, 2005. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to panel doors and, more particularly, to a panel door which may be assembled in the field from a small number of components, several of which may be cut to facilitate the fabrication of a door which will closely fit the space in which it is to be installed.  
      Panel doors are widely employed for closets and other interior locations and may utilize different materials for the panels. Sliding panel doors are mounted on and guided by top and bottom tracks, and it is frequently desirable to reduce the weight of such doors by using relatively thin panels including mirrors. Bypassing door and pocket door installations are frequent applications for such sliding doors.  
      Because the door openings in which the doors are to be installed may vary in dimension, it is sometimes necessary to order doors of non-standard dimensions to provide an attractive installation.  
      For many years, many panel doors have been assembled from rails and stiles which seat the panels therebetween. Most such doors have been factory assembled or fabricated by a millwork house to a specific size. Frequently this has required trimming of one or more edges for the installation.  
      To minimize such trimming on site and possible injury to the surface, a contractor may have to choose, order and inventory a variety of door sizes to avoid delay for custom measured doors.  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel field assemblable panel door which requires only a few components which can be readily trimmed to the desired size on site.  
      It is also an object to provide such a door which can be fabricated relatively economically and for which the components may be readily stored in a small space.  
      Another object is to provide such a door in which the panels may be readily changed.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It has now been found that the foregoing and related objects may be readily attained in a field assemblable panel door comprising a pair of metallic stiles each having an outer wall, a pair of side walls extending perpendicularly thereto, and an engagement element on the inner surface of the outer wall providing a bore. The side walls provide a first inwardly opening panel receiving channel therebetween, and a pair of flanges extend perpendicularly to the outer surface of one of the perpendicular walls provide a second inwardly opening panel receiving channel therebetween.  
      Coupled thereto are a pair of metallic rails each having an outer side wall, an inner side wall, and a base wall extending between the inner ends of the side walls. The base wall and side walls provide an outwardly opening panel receiving channel, and the base wall provides a third inwardly opening channel.  
      Corner connectors join the ends of the stiles and rails to form a rectangular frame. Each of the corner connectors has an outer end wall overlying the ends of the rails and a body portion extending in the outwardly opening channel in the rail. The connector has an upwardly opening recess adjacent the outer end wall, and a fastener seated in the recess has a shank engaged in the bore of the engagement element in the adjacent stile. A panel is seated in the opposing inwardly opening channels of the stiles and in the inwardly opening channel of at least one of the rails.  
      Preferably, the base wall of the top and bottom rails has an inverted U-shaped center portion and web portions joined to the inner ends of the side walls. The center portion provides a third inwardly opening channel, and the side walls of said rails having inturned lip portions on the outer ends thereof providing guide channels. Desirably, the stiles have a transverse wall extending between the perpendicular walls intermediate the ends thereof.  
      Preferably, a wall extends perpendicularly to the transverse wall parallel to the side walls to divide the first panel receiving channel. The engagement element may be of generally C-shaped cross section, and the fastener extends through an aperture in the center portion of the rail.  
      Generally, there is included an intermediate or tie rail extending between the stiles intermediate the height thereof and providing top and bottom channels seating one edge of each of a pair of panels. The intermediate rail has a side wall with a generally C-shaped cross section providing a channel in the outer surface thereof and intermediate rail connectors are seated at the ends of the channel in the tie rail and engaged in the stiles. A fastener seated in the intermediate rail connector bears upon the rail to bias the panel against the free end portions of the C-shaped side wall.  
      Usually, the panel receiving channels in at least some of the stiles and rails are of greater width than the thickness of the panels and there are included spacers which snugly fit in the channels to press the panels tightly against a side of the channel.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a field assembled panel door embodying the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a fragmentary top view of an upper corner of the door in  FIG. 1  and drawn to an enlarged scale;  
       FIG. 3  is a cross sectional view of a stile in the door of  FIG. 1  drawn to an enlarged scale;  
       FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of a top or bottom rail drawn to an enlarged scale;  
       FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the tie or intermediate rail of  FIG. 1  drawn to an enlarged scale;  
       FIG. 6  is a plan view of a rail connector;  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the rail connector;  
       FIG. 8  is a bottom perspective view of the intermediate or tie rail connector;  
       FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view of the intermediate or tie rail connector;  
       FIG. 10  is an end elevational view of a spacer array;  
       FIG. 11  is a perspective view of the corner components with portions broken away;  
       FIG. 12  is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the assembled rail and corner connector;  
       FIG. 13  is a cross sectional view of the assembled stile, tie rail and connector and pivotal guide wheel; and  
       FIG. 14  is a fragmentary perspective view of an intermediate rail, connector, spacer and panels with a portion in section. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT  
      Turning first to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , therein illustrated is a field assemblable door embodying the present invention and comprised of a pair of stiles generally designated by the numeral  10 , a pair of top and bottom rails extending therebetween and generally designated by the numeral  12 , corner connectors generally designated by the numeral  14 , an intermediate or tie rail generally designated by the numeral  16 , and panels generally designated by the numerals  18  and  20 .  
      Turning next to  FIG. 3 , the stiles  10  have an outer wall  22 , a pair of walls  24 ,  26  extending perpendicularly to the outer wall  22 , and a wall  28  extending transversely between the perpendicular walls  24 ,  26  intermediate the ends thereof, and a generally C-shaped engagement element  30  on the inner surface of the outer wall  22  and providing a bore  32 .  
      The perpendicular walls  24 ,  26  have inwardly disposed flanges or lips  34  at the free ends thereof and defining a first channel  36  therebetween and a divider wall  38  on the transverse wall  28  parallel to and spaced from the perpendicular walls  24 ,  26  to define second and third channels  40 ,  42 .  
      Turning now to  FIG. 4 , the top and bottom rails  12  have an outer side wall  44 , and inner side wall  46 , a base wall  48  with an inverted U-shaped center portion  50  providing a third panel receiving channel  51  and web portions  52  connected to the and side walls  44 ,  46  which have inturned lips  54  on their free ends.  
      Turning next to  FIGS. 5, 6  and  11 - 12 , the corner connector  14  has an outer end wall  56 , a body portion  58  and a projecting portion  60  including side elements  62  which seat in the channels provided by the lips  54  and in the channels provided between the U-shaped portion  50  and side walls  44 ,  46 . The body portion  58  has a T or key-shaped recess  64  at its inner end and a second recess  66  at its outer end. An aperture  68  extends from the bottom of the recess  66  and a fastener  67  seated therein extends through the body portion  58  and the underlying wall of the U-shaped portion  50  of the rail  14  to bite into the bore  32  of the engagement element  30 . An aperture  70  is provided in the outer end wall  56  and an aligned passage  72  is provided in the body portion  58 .  
      As seen in  FIG. 2 , the corner connector  14  is coupled to a pivotable guide wheel assembly generally designated by the numeral  74  by a threaded fastener  76  having a head seated in the T-shaped recess  64  and a shank threadably engaged in the nut  78 . The head of the fastener  74  may be engaged by a screw driver (not shown) inserted through the aperture  70  on the outer end wall  56 .  
      Turning next to the cross or tie rails  16  as seen in  FIGS. 5 , and  13 - 14 , they are generally H-shaped in cross section with an outer wall  80 , a perpendicularly extending web  82 , and a C-shaped inner wall  84  having inwardly extending lip portions  86  providing opposed channels  88 . The walls  80 ,  84  and web  82  define upper and lower panel receiving channels  83 ,  85 .  
      As seen in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the tie rail connectors generally designated by the numeral  90  are of generally rectangular cross section slidably seat in the channel provided by the inner wall  84  and lips  86 . These connectors  90  have steps  92  in their outer face extending along both longitudinally edges thereof so that the center section  94  lies in substantially the same plane as the lip portions  86  and the face of the stile  10 .  
      The outer face at the stile end of the tie rail connector  90  has a sloping surface  96  terminating at a transverse recess  98 .  
      An aperture  100  is provided centrally of the connector in which are seated a set screw and nut  102  which bear against the tie rail, thus pressing the connector outwardly against the lip portions  86 .  
      To securely seat the panels  18 ,  20  in the channels, resilient spacers  104  are provided in several thicknesses. The appropriate spacers  104  is pressed into the channels of the several rails and stiles.  FIG. 10  illustrates an extruded spacer array  106  from which the appropriately dimensioned spacer may be cut.  
      In assembling a panel door from the previously described components, the desired dimensions are first determined and the stiles and/or rails are cut to the desired length. The panels may also be trimmed if necessary.  
      A pair of stiles  10 , and a top and bottom rail  12  are then assembled by inserting corner connectors  14  into each end of the outwardly opening rail channel, and inserting and engaging threaded fasteners in the bore  32  of the stiles  10 .  
      A first panel  18  is then slid into the other end of the stiles  10  and slid in the opposing channels  36  of the stiles  10  until it seats in the channel provided by the U-shaped portion of the rail  12 .  
      An intermediate or tie rail  16  is now placed between the stiles  10  and moved to seat the edge portion of the panel  20  in the channel  83 . The connectors  90  which have been inserted into the channels  88  are then moved against the stiles  10  with a lip on the stile walls seating in the recess  98  of the connector.  
      A second panel  20  may now be slid into place to seat its edge portion in the other channel  85  of the tie rail  16 . If so desired, a second tie rail  16  may be similarly installed and a third panel  18 ,  20  may be mounted therewith.  
      The lower rail  12  is coupled to the stiles  10  in the seam manner and seats the edge portion on the last installed panel.  
      To secure the panels  18 ,  20  tightly with the rails  12 ,  16 , resilient spacers  104  are inserted into the rail channels. The extruded array seen in  FIG. 10  provides several different thicknesses to ensure a tight fit. The tie rail connector fasteners (not shown) are rotated to securely position the connectors  90  and thereby the rails  16 .  
      As will be appreciated, the stiles  10  provide channels  40 ,  42  of different width to accommodate panels of different thicknesses.  
      The door may employ a self aligning guide roller or wheel assembly engaged with the corner connector is illustrated and described in application Ser. No. 11/062,755 filed Feb. 23, 2005.  
      Although the stiles and rails in the drawings are illustrated as metal extrusions, they may be roll formed from metal sheet. The corner and intermediate connectors are conveniently injection molded from synthetic resin. The spacers are also molded from synthetic resin.  
      With the present invention, there is no predrilling of the rails and stiles. The assembly screw will penetrate the rail wall and bite into the engagement element.  
      Commercial structures embodying the present invention accommodate panels from 3 to 12 mm, and panels of different thickness can be included in the same door. To lock the components, only a single screw at each corner and a hex key at each end of the tie rails are required. The door panels may be easily replaced.  
      Thus, it can be seen from the foregoing detailed specification and attached drawings that the field assemblable door of the present invention requires only a few components which can be readily trimmed on the site to fit the opening in which it will be mounted. The components are easily and economically fabricated, and the disassembled components can be stored in a small space to reduce maintaining a large number of factory assembled doors.