Patent Publication Number: US-11661773-B2

Title: Double bottom slider system and mechanism

Description:
PRIORITY 
     This application claims priority to provisional application 62/664,325 filed on Apr. 30, 2018. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a double bottom slider mechanism located at the bottom portion of a shower door system—specifically for a glass shower door enclosure system. An all glass shower door slider system is presented with a roller track on the bottom and a guide at the top in the center of the two glass doors that translate relative to one another. The concern is that the show doors are never together aligned one in front of the other on one side of the track. This is a concern because the weight of both doors being on one side of the track at the same time could cause the doors to become unstable and tilt or fall over out of the roller track. This concern is addressed by the present mechanism which allows for the inner door to be locked in position when the outer door is free to move and conversely, the outer door to be locked in position when the inner door is free to move. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to disclose a mechanism which operates in the setting of sliding all glass shower door systems to lock one door in place while the other door is free to translate. Specifically, each glass panel has two sets of rollers attached at the bottom of the panel. These rollers ride inside a sliding track located at the bottom of the shower door system. The top of the glass panels rides in a bridge bracket without the aid of rollers. A set of two gears (an inner gear and an outer gear) is located at the center of the opening within which the two glass doors operate above the rollers. These gears are in contact with the edges of each glass panel. The set of two gears are set to work in opposite directions. 
     Specifically, when the inner gear turns counter clockwise, the outer gear turns clockwise. Also, the inner gear is connected to a torque spring. When the inner gear is turned counter clockwise, the tension in the torque spring pushes it back to its original position. So, when the inner glass door is in the closed position and locked by the inner gear of the locking mechanism, the outer gear is in the open position and as such, the outer glass door is free to move from side to side because it is supported by the inner glass door locked in its position. Conversely, when the outer glass door is in the closed position and locked by the outer gear of the locking mechanism, the inner gear is in the open position and as such, the inner glass door is free to move from side to side because it is supported by the outer glass door. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is an isometric view of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is an isometric view of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  3    is a side view cutaway of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  4    is a close-up cross-section view of the lower track of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  5    is a side view of the bottom roller assembly stop 
         FIG.  6    is a cross section along line B-B from  FIG.  5    of the lower track of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  7    is a cross section along line B-B from  FIG.  5    of the lower track of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  8    is a cross section along line B-B from  FIG.  5    of the lower track of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  9    is an assembly view of the operative mechanism of the shower door system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  10    is a top view of the operative mechanism of the shower door system of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
     The present invention will now be described in terms of the presently preferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the drawings. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that may obvious modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. 
     The present invention discloses an all glass shower door system [ 1 ] with a front glass panel [ 3 ] and a rear glass panel [ 2 ].  FIG.  1    and  FIG.  2   . Both the front glass panel [ 3 ] and the rear glass panel [ 2 ] ride on rollers [ 7 ] in a lower track [ 6 ] to allow the doors [ 2 ] and [ 3 ] to translate relative to each other.  FIG.  1   ,  FIG.  3    and  FIG.  4   . The top of the shower door system [ 1 ] has an upper guide [ 4 ] in which the doors [ 2 ] and [ 3 ] ride to support the top portion of the all glass shower doors.  FIG.  1    and  FIG.  2   . 
     When both the front glass panel [ 3 ] and the rear glass panel [ 2 ] are on one side of the shower door system [ 1 ] there is a concern that the upper guide will not provide the support for the doors to remain in the lower track [ 6 ] safely and the weight of both doors [ 2 ] and [ 3 ] together will cause the front glass panel [ 3 ] and the rear glass panel [ 2 ] to want to tilt out. In an effort to address this, the present invention discloses a locking mechanism with two gears [ 5 ] (an inner gear [ 10 ] and an outer gear [ 11 ]) located at the center of the opening within which the two glass doors [ 2 ] and [ 3 ] operate above the rollers [ 7 ].  FIG.  10   . These gears [ 10 ] and [ 11 ] are in contact with the edges of each glass panel [ 2 ] and [ 3 ].  FIGS.  6 ,  7  and  8   . 
     The locking mechanism [ 5 ] consists of an inner gear [ 10 ] attached to a spring [ 8 ] to create a clockwise torque on the inner gear [ 10 ]. The spring [ 8 ] is wrapped around the inner gear [ 10 ] shaft and bearing [ 9 ]. One end of the spring [ 8 ] is fixed to a top cover plate [ 6 ] and the other end is fixed into the inner gear [ 10 ]. The outer gear [ 11 ] is meshed (or paired) with the inner gear [ 10 ] so that the rotational direction of the paired gears is opposite to each other.  FIG.  9    and  FIG.  10   . The entire locking mechanism is captured between top [ 12 ] and bottom [ 12 ′] cover plates by means of spacer elements [ 13 ] affixed on each corner of the cover plates [ 12 ] and [ 12 ′].  FIG.  9   . This locking mechanism assembly [ 5 ] is then placed on top of the lower track [ 6 ] where it can interface with the inner [ 10 ] and outer [ 11 ] glass doors.  FIG.  3    and  FIG.  4   . 
     Both the inner gear [ 10 ] and the outer gear [ 11 ] have a protruding element which is designed to be shaped so that this element of each gear interferes with and is contact with the edge of the inner glass door [ 2 ] and outer glass door [ 3 ], respectively.  FIG.  10   ,  FIG.  7    and  FIG.  8   . So, when the inner glass door [ 2 ] is locked in one direction by the inner gear [ 10 ] locked into position with the spring [ 8 ], the outer glass door [ 3 ] is free to translate because the outer gear [ 11 ] is rotated out the way.  FIG.  6    and  FIG.  7   . When the outer door [ 3 ] is locked in one direction by the outer gear [ 11 ] locked into position with the spring [ 8 ], the inner glass door [ 2 ] is free to translate because the inner gear [ 10 ] is rotated out of the way.  FIG.  8   . 
     The above-described system provides that while either one of the glass doors [ 2 ] or [ 3 ] are free to be in motion, the other glass door is locked in place. This, of course, prevents both glass doors [ 2 ] and [ 3 ] from being aligned together on one side or other of the lower track [ 6 ] and thereby creating an unstabbed alignment. 
     The locking system mechanism can be fabricated form a variety of materials and a variety of material combinations. The preferred embodiment of the present invention operates with plastic gears, shafts and bearing surfaces. Of course, these items can be made of aluminum or stainless steel to provide additional strength and wear resistance while providing corrosion resistance. 
     Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the embodiments just described merely illustrate the principles of the present invention. Many obvious modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.