Patent Publication Number: US-2010107527-A1

Title: Frame Device for Use in Building-in a Balcony

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a frame device, which is adapted to be mounted between a balcony slab and a roof slab located straight above the former and to support wall elements, such as glass plates, for at least partial building-in of a balcony and which has an upper horizontal sectional element, which is adapted to be positioned, when mounting the frame device, close to the roof slab. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Prior art frame devices of this kind, besides having an upper horizontal sectional element, also have a lower horizontal sectional element and at each side a vertical sectional element. When building-in a balcony, which has a balcony slab and a roof slab located straight above the former, the lower horizontal sectional element of such a frame device is placed on supporting elements, which are fastened to one of the edge surfaces of the balcony slab and project slightly from this edge surface. The upper horizontal sectional element of the frame device is subsequently fastened to supporting elements, which are fastened to the corresponding edge surface of the roof slab and project slightly therefrom, the upper horizontal sectional element being positioned close to the roof slab. However, between the roof slab and the upper horizontal sectional element, a gap forms, through which are visible, from the balcony, parts of the supporting elements that are fastened to the edge surface of the roof slab as well as bolted joints, if any, for attachment of the frame device. For aesthetic reasons, this gap is presently hidden by covering plates which, after the mounting of the frame device, are positioned and screwed to the underside of the roof slab and/or to the inside of the upper horizontal sectional element. This means that relatively time-consuming extra work is needed after the mounting of the frame device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to provide a frame device, which is so constructed that this extra work is reduced to a minimum. 
     This object is achieved by a frame device, which is of the type stated by way of introduction and characterised in that the sectional element supports a cover strip, which is fastened thereto by holder means and which extends parallel to the sectional element and has a leg, which is inserted into a pocket formed between the holder means and a supporting surface of the sectional element, the cover strip being extractable from a retracted position in the pocket to an arbitrarily extracted position so as to provide, when the frame device is mounted between the balcony slab and the roof slab, a visual screening off of a gap, which is formed between the roof slab and the sectional element. 
     By means of a frame device thus constructed, a visual screening off of the gap formed after the mounting of the frame device is obtained simply by the cover strip being extracted from its pocket to such an extent that supporting elements etc. are hidden. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the holder means are a plurality of leaf springs distributed along the sectional element. 
     The supporting surface and the leg of the cover strip are preferably substantially horizontal. Besides the substantially horizontal leg, the cover strip can also have a substantially vertical leg. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a built-in balcony provided with a frame device according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows the balcony from the right in  FIG. 1 , the frame side elements of the frame device being removed. 
         FIG. 3  shows a portion of  FIG. 2  on a larger scale, a cover strip being shown in a retracted position. 
         FIG. 4  corresponds to  FIG. 3  but shows the cover strip in an extracted position. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The balcony shown in the drawings has a horizontal balcony slab  1  and a horizontal roof slab  2 , which is located straight above the former and which in this case serves as a balcony slab for an upper balcony. Correspondingly, the balcony slab  1  can serve as a roof slab for a lower balcony. The two slabs  1  and  2  are concrete or steel slabs, which are fastened to a house wall (not shown) in a conventional manner. 
     A plurality of L-shaped holder elements  3 , which have a horizontal leg  3   a  and a vertical leg  3   b,  are fastened, in a spaced-apart manner, by means of bolts  6 , to the front edge surface  4  and the side edge surfaces  5  of the roof slab  2 . The vertical leg  3   b  of the holder elements  3  abuts against the associated edge surface  4 ,  5 , and their horizontal leg  3   a  projects therefrom at the lower end of the vertical leg  3   b.  The bolt  6  extends through an elongated hole  7  in each vertical leg  3   b,  which allows some adjustment of the vertical position of the horizontal leg  3   a.    
     A plurality of L-shaped supporting elements  8 , which have a horizontal leg  8   a  and a vertical leg  8   b,  are fastened, in a spaced-apart manner, by means of bolts  11 , to the front edge surface  4  and  9 , respectively, and the side edge surfaces  5  and  10 , respectively, of the roof slab  2  and of the balcony slab  1 . The vertical leg  8   b  of the supporting elements  8  abuts against the associated edge surface  4 ,  5 ,  9 ,  10 , and their horizontal leg  8   a  projects therefrom at the upper end of the vertical leg  8   b.  The bolt  11  extends through an elongated hole  12  in each vertical leg  8   b,  which allows some adjustment of the vertical position of the horizontal leg  8   a.    
     Each supporting element  8  has a ridged part  13 , which is arranged on its horizontal leg  8   a  and extends parallel to the respective edge surfaces  4 ,  5 ,  9 ,  10 . The ridged part  13  is fastened to the supporting element  8  by means of a bolted joint  14 , which extends through an elongated hole (not shown) in the horizontal leg  8   a,  which allows some adjustment of the distance of the ridged part  13  from the respective edge surfaces  4 ,  5 ,  9 ,  10 . 
     The balcony is built-in and has, on its front side, a fixed lower wall plate  15  made of sheet metal and three glass plates  16 ,  16 ′,  16 ″, which are horizontally movable relative to each other. The wall plate  15  and the glass plates  16 ,  16 ′,  16 ″ are mounted in a frame device according to the invention, which has an upper horizontal sectional element  17 , a lower horizontal sectional element  18  and an intermediate horizontal sectional element  19 . The wall plate  15  is mounted between the lower sectional element  18  and the intermediate sectional element  19 . The glass plates  16 ,  16 ′,  16 ″ are mounted in a manner known per se between the upper sectional element  17  and the intermediate sectional element  19  and are movable relative to each other. The sectional elements  17 ,  18 ,  19  are suitably made of aluminium. 
     The drawings show a corresponding lower sectional element  18 ′ in a frame device at the upper balcony. The two lower sectional elements  18  and  18 ′ are identical. 
     The lower sectional element  18  ( 18 ′) has a longitudinal groove  20  ( 20 ′) on its underside and a vertically downwardly projecting outer flange  21  ( 21 ′) on its front side. 
     The lower sectional element  18  of the frame device rests on the lower supporting elements  8 . The ridged part  13  of each supporting element  8  is positioned in the groove  20  of the lower sectional element  18 . The lower sectional element  18  rests on the front edge surface  9  of the balcony slab  1  by way of a strip seal  23 . 
     The frame device at the upper balcony is supported in corresponding manner by the upper supporting elements  8 , the lower sectional element  18 ′ resting on the front edge surface  4  of the roof slab  2  by way of a strip seal  23 ′. 
     The upper sectional element  17  of the frame device abuts from the underside against the horizontal leg  3   a  of the holder elements  3  and is fastened thereto by means of a bolted joint  24 , which extends through an elongated hole (not shown) in each leg  3   a.  This allows some adjustment of the distance of the upper sectional element  17  from the respective edge surfaces  4 ,  5  of the roof slab  2 . 
     When a balcony is built-in, the supporting elements  8  and the holder elements  3  are first fastened to the balcony slab  1  and the roof slab  2  in the manner described above. After that, the frame device is positioned on the lower supporting elements  8  in such a manner that their ridged parts  13  are received in the groove  20  in the lower sectional element  18 . Subsequently, the upper sectional element  17  is fastened to the holder elements  3  by means of the bolted joints  24 . It is possible to compensate for any dimensional tolerances in the vertical and the lateral directions thanks to the fact that the position of the holder elements  3  and the supporting elements  8  can be adjusted in the vertical direction and that of the bolted joints  14  and  24  in the lateral direction. 
     The upper horizontal sectional element  17  has a downwardly facing supporting surface  25 , to which a plurality of leaf springs  26  are fastened at a distance from each other along the sectional element  17 . The leaf springs  26  extend at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the sectional element  17  and are fastened to the supporting surface  25  at their outer end, for instance, by means of screws (not shown). Each leaf spring  26  forms together with the supporting surface  25  a pocket  27  which is open inwardly towards the balcony (to the right in  FIGS. 2-4 ). 
     A cover strip  28 , which is substantially L-shaped in cross-section and which extends parallel to the sectional element  17  and has a horizontal leg  28   a  and a vertical leg  28   b,  is inserted into the pocket  27  with its horizontal leg  28   a.  When storing, transporting and mounting the frame device, the cover strip  28  is in a maximally retracted position ( FIGS. 2 and 3 ) in the pocket  27 . From this position, the cover strip  28  is extractable to an arbitrarily extracted position ( FIG. 4 ). 
     When the frame device is mounted on the balcony, which, as mentioned above, is performed with the cover strip  28  in a retracted position, a gap S forms between the roof slab  2  and the upper horizontal sectional element  17 . Through this gap S, substantially in the direction of the arrow P, at least parts of the holder elements  3  and the supporting elements  8  fastened to the roof slab  2  and parts of the bolted joints  14  and  24  are visible from the balcony. By extracting the cover strip  28  to a suitable position ( FIG. 4 ), after the mounting operation, it is possible to give the transition area between the roof slab  2  and the upper horizontal sectional element  17  of the frame device an aesthetically more pleasing appearance in a very simple and rapid manner.