FR2934869A1 - CLOSURE PANEL TO BE MOUNTED BETWEEN TWO AMOUNTS AND TO PRESENT AN OCCULTANT SURFACE COMPRISING ONE OR MORE MOBILE OCCULTATION UNITS - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a fence panel intended to be mounted between two uprights and to present between said uprights at least one occulting surface, characterized in that said occulting surface is decomposed into at least two parts: at least one support member ; at least one occulting unit mounted movably on said support member and intended to be driven under the effect of the wind of a first state, corresponding to an occultation position in which said occultation unit occupies a position of stable equilibrium, at a second state in which said occultation unit occupies another position, spaced from said occultation position, in order to allow the passage of air.

Description

Fence panel intended to be mounted between two uprights and to present an occulting surface comprising one or more mobile concealment units. The field of the invention is that of the perimeter protection of sites.

More specifically, the invention relates to a closure panel of the type intended to present between two uprights at least one occulting surface for preserving the site of external looks. In the field of the invention, it is conventional to erect fences consisting of an assembly of panels and amounts such as poles.

The fence panels can be of various types that can be envisaged (rigid or flexible), among which: welded panels; - woven metal fiber panels; welded metal wire panels; - metal wire panels said single twist; - mesh panels;

The panels mentioned above are part of an approach according to which the fence is perforated, and therefore allows to look through the fence. In some cases, however, it is desired to implement a blackout fence, that is to say, a fence made of solid panels which therefore avoid exposing the external view of the site defined by the fence. These blackout panels are generally made of a sheet metal plate (or other materials, such as wood, PVC ...) painted, mounted between two amounts such as poles. The blackout panels may have dimensions of several meters in width over a height of two meters or more. It follows from these dimensions that the blackout panels have a considerable wind load.

Therefore, in certain climatic situations in which the wind reaches a certain strength, the blackout panel is subjected to significant thrust that is transmitted to the poles and the fasteners of the blackout panel on the poles (or uprights).

Also, when the wind reaches a certain strength, it is possible that the thrust exerted by the wind on the blackout panel causes degradations of the fence, for example a buckling of the posts or the breakage of fasteners of the panel on the poles . Of course, it is possible to adapt the posts and the fasteners appropriately, so that they have sufficient mechanical strength in high winds. For this, the designer can take advantage of the choice of materials and / or thicknesses of materials to ensure the desired mechanical strength. However, this would tend to significantly increase the cost of the fence. In addition, the blackout panels are most often painted uniformly. Although they can be offered in different colors, the presentation of the blackout panels in solid color offers only few possibilities in terms of aesthetic variation. The object of the invention is in particular to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. More specifically, the invention aims to provide a fence panel having an occulting surface that limits the risk of degradation due to the force of the wind. Another object of the invention is to provide such a fencing panel which offers great possibilities of aesthetic variation. These objectives, as well as others which will appear later, are achieved thanks to the invention which relates to a fence panel intended to be mounted between two uprights and to present between said uprights at least one occulting surface, characterized in that said occulting surface is broken down into at least two parts: at least one support member; at least one occulting unit mounted movably on said support member and intended to be driven under the effect of the wind of a first state, corresponding to an occultation position in which said occultation unit occupies a position of stable equilibrium, at a second state in which said occultation unit occupies another position, spaced from said occultation position, in order to allow the passage of air. Thus, thanks to the invention, such a fence panel retains the functionality of occultation (that is to say, protection of the site delimited by the fence vis-à-vis external looks), while being less subject to the constraints that are exerted under the effect of the wind compared to solid panels of the prior art. Indeed, in case of sufficient wind, the occultation units are freely movable and are displaced by the wind itself, which temporarily passes through the panel. As will become clearer later, the occultation units are brought into a position of unstable equilibrium under the effect of a sufficient wind. Thus, when the wind ceases to act on the occultation units, the latter return to a position of stable equilibrium, to occupy again an occultation position. According to an advantageous solution, said mobile occultation unit or units are each pivotally mounted on a support member, said mobile occultation unit or units preferably being pivotally mounted around a horizontal axis. It is therefore understood that, according to this embodiment, the occultation units are pivoted under the action of the wind, the latter causing the occultation units to an unstable equilibrium position from which, when the wind stops acting, the occulting units return to their default position under the sole effect of gravity.

Advantageously, the panel comprises a trellis comprising horizontal rods forming said support members. It is thus possible to manufacture a blackout fence panel according to the invention from a lattice (or grid) conventionally manufactured in the framework of meshed mesh fence panels. According to an advantageous solution, said mobile occultation unit or units comprise a plate having at least one pivot member forming a gutter whose cross section is of circular shape, said channel being intended to be mounted on said support member by surrounding it. ci to form a pivot connection. The mounting of the fixing units thus formed can be achieved in a particularly simple (even playful) way as will be explained in more detail later. Of course, it is also possible, according to another conceivable embodiment, to design the support members so that it is they who present the gutter, one end of the occultation units which are housed pivotally in the gutter of the organs supports. According to a first embodiment, said one or more pivoting members form an end of said occultation unit.

According to a second conceivable embodiment, said one or more pivoting members extend in said plate, in the vicinity of an edge thereof. According to an advantageous solution, the mobile occultation units also have the following additional characteristics: said at least one pivoting member is made of an elastically deformable material; said one or more pivot members have a folded end flange so as to have a decreasing width of engagement space towards said gutter.

Occultation units thus formed can be mounted on the support members easily and quickly, simply by snapping on the support members. According to a third embodiment, said occultation unit or units take the form of a clamp comprising two tabs connected at their upper end by a recessed head intended to receive said support member. According to a fourth embodiment, said occultation unit or units take the form of a plate pierced with an orifice receiving a ring surrounding said support member. According to a particular embodiment, said occulting surface comprises mobile concealment units and fixed concealment units. In this case, said mobile occultation units are distributed in a high region and in a low region of said panel, said fixed occultation units being distributed in a high intermediate region extending between said high region and said low region. It is thus possible to have fixed occlusion units so that they extend in height at the level of the eyes of a person of average size. Thus, the mechanical stresses exerted on the panel under the effect of the wind are limited thanks to the presence of mobile occultation units, but these are distributed only in regions in height of the panel which are not exposed. naturally with regard to a pedestrian medium (mobile occultation units occupying, under the effect of wind, a position that tends to allow visibility through the panel).

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, said support members are constituted by horizontal rods connected by vertical rods together forming a trellis having a plurality of unit spaces each delimited by two horizontal rods and two vertical rods, a unit of occultation, fixed or mobile, being mounted in each unit space.

Such a design of a blackout fence panel according to the invention offers great possibilities for aesthetic variations. Indeed, it is in this case possible to provide occultation units in a range of different colors, and to compose fence panels by arranging the occultation units of different colors as desired, to form various patterns and varied by the play of colors, such as for example horizontal or vertical stripes or oblique, or different geometric shapes. In addition, in the case where the occultation units are designed to be snap-mounted as mentioned above, it is then possible to offer the owner of the fence the opportunity to compose himself the patterns on the panels of fenced. According to a first variant of this embodiment, said occultation units have the same dimensions in height and in width as said unitary space. According to a second variant of this embodiment, said occultation units have dimensions corresponding, at least in width, to several of said unit spaces. According to a third variant of this embodiment, said occultation units have dimensions corresponding, at least in height, to more than one unit space. In this case, some of said occultation units are advantageously pivotally mounted on one side of said panel from said occultation position while other occultation units are pivotally mounted on the other side of said panel from said occultation position. Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, and two possible variants, given by way of illustrative and non-limiting examples, and attached drawings among which: - Figure 1 is an overall perspective view of a fence panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a detail view of the fence panel shown in Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4 are views of a mobile occultation unit according to a first embodiment, respectively viewed in perspective and side view; - Figures 5 and 6 are views of a mobile occultation unit according to a second embodiment, respectively viewed in perspective and side view; FIGS. 7 to 11 are views of a mobile concealment unit according to a third variant embodiment; FIG. 12 is a view of a mobile concealment unit according to a fourth variant embodiment; FIG. 13 is a view of a mobile concealment unit according to a fifth variant embodiment. As indicated above, the principle of the invention lies in the fact of making a fence panel having an occulting surface with the aid of one or more mobile occulting units so as to allow the passage of air through the panel, the mobility of the occultation unit (s) being driven by the action of the wind. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a fence panel according to the invention is intended to be mounted between two uprights 1, such as poles, and to present an occulting surface constituted, according to the present embodiment, by a plurality of occultation units 2, 5. According to the principle of the invention, certain occultation units are mounted movably between at least two states: a first state corresponding to an occultation position (such as that illustrated by FIG. Figure 1) and wherein the occultation unit (s) occupy a stable equilibrium position under the effect of gravity; - A second state, in which the occultation unit occupies a second position, separated from the first position, which allows the passage of air through the fence panel.

It is recalled that the mobile occultation unit or units are driven from the first state to the second state under the effect of the wind. In addition, the second position can of course vary depending on the strength of the wind. The blackout surface of the fence panel further comprises at least one support member on which are mounted mobile concealment units. According to the present embodiment, the fence panel comprises a lattice constituted by an assembly of horizontal rods 3 and vertical rods 4 (not necessarily rectilinear), the horizontal rods 3 constituting the support members on which the occultation units 2 are mobile mounted pivoting. Of course, it could also be envisaged to mount occultation units movable pivotally on the vertical rods (movable occultation units can in this case be associated with return means in the occultation position).

Other embodiments may also be envisaged with regard to the displacement trajectory of the mobile occultation units, for example by implementing means allowing translation (linear or curvilinear) of the mobile concealment units. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the mobile concealment units take the form of a plate 20 having one or more pivoting members constituted by a channel 21 whose cross section is circular in shape. This channel 21 is intended to be mounted on one of the horizontal rods 3 of the lattice of the panel so as to surround the rod to form a pivot connection.

Preferably, the inside diameter of the trough 21 is adjusted to the outside diameter of the horizontal rods 3 cylindrical. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the mobile concealment unit 2 is a part cut from a PVC profile obtained by extrusion.

According to this embodiment, the trough 21, forming the pivoting member of the occultation unit, is formed at the upper end of the plate 20. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. movable occultation unit 2 is a piece of elastically deformable material obtained by molding, forming or any other method. According to this embodiment, two gutters 21, forming pivoting members, extend in the plate 20, in the vicinity of the upper edge thereof. To do this, two windows 23 are formed in the plate 20, the gutters 21 extending from the upper edge 230 of the corresponding window 23. According to one or other of the embodiments which have just been described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 and to FIGS. 5 and 6, the gutters 21 have an end portion consisting of a folded end rim 22 to present an engagement space of decreasing width towards the gutters. In other words, the free end of the folded flange 22 has a distance d1 separating this free end from the plane of the plate 20, while the end 22 of the folded flange extending through the channel 21 has a distance d2 separating this end of the plane of the plate 20, the distance d2 being less than the distance d 1. In addition, the distance d2 is also smaller than the outer diameter of the support members, in this case constituted by the horizontal rods 3 of the trellis of the panel. In addition, the gutters 21 are made of an elastically deformable material, so as to obtain a kind of articulation formed at the junction between the gutter 21 and the plate 20.

Thus, the mobile concealment units can be mounted on the horizontal rods snap. Indeed, to set up a movable occultation unit 2 on the panel trellis, it is sufficient to present it with respect to one of the horizontal rods 3 of the trellis so as to support the folded edge 22 on the corresponding horizontal rod . By exerting a downward force on the folded flange 22 against the horizontal rod, the decreasing width of the engagement space between the folded flange and the plane of the plate 20 tends to move the folded flange 22 away from the plane of the plate 20 , until the distance d2 is sufficient to allow the passage of the horizontal rod 3 in the groove 21 in which the horizontal rod 3 then takes place. Once the horizontal rod is housed in the channel, the elastically deformable material of the channel 21 allows it to resume its original shape and, therefore, allows the distance d2 to resume its original dimension so that the mobile occultation unit 2 is maintained on the corresponding horizontal rod 3. Note that, according to the embodiment just described, the occultation units can be positioned and repositioned at will. In other words, the occultation units are removably mounted.

However, it is conceivable to propose a fence panel according to the invention in an assembled version, in which the occultation units are not removable from their support. Furthermore, a fence panel according to the invention may comprise both mobile occultation units and fixed occlusion units. In this case, and according to the embodiment described in FIG. 1, the mobile concealment units 2 are distributed in a high region H of the panel, as well as in a low region B of the panel, while the occultation units fixed are distributed in an intermediate region in height I extending between the high region H and the low region B.

In addition, the height and the height position of the region I is intended to extend to the eyes of a person of average size, so that the fixed occlusion units of the region I preserve the enclosed site of the outside gaze of a pedestrian passing in front of the panel, this even in case of wind.

It is noted that the fixed occlusion units can be fixed on the horizontal rods of the fence panel by means of a snap-in system provided at their lower end and at their upper end, this snap-in system being able for example to be similar to that described above with reference to mobile occlusion units.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the fence panel according to the invention comprises a lattice constituted by a plurality of horizontal rods 3 constituting the support members and a plurality of vertical rods connecting the horizontal rods. Such a lattice thus has a plurality of unit spaces each delimited by two horizontal rods and two vertical rods. According to a preferred solution, each unit space is occupied by a fixed or mobile occultation unit, the occultation units having the same height and width dimensions as the corresponding unit space. It is recalled that such a design of the fence panel according to the invention makes it possible to compose the occulting surface of the fence panel according to the wishes of the owner of the fence, from an aesthetic point of view. Indeed, occultation units of different colors can be used to create different patterns on the surface of the panel. Of course, the dimensions and the number of unit spaces, as well as the dimensions and the number of occultation units, can vary as much as necessary. Figures 7 to 11 illustrate a third embodiment of the occultation units in which the width of the occultation units is provided to cover several unit spaces of the trellis. More precisely, the width of the occultation units corresponds to a multiple of the width of the unit spaces. As illustrated by these figures, the occulting unit 2 comprises a plate 20 having a curved profile (this appearing clearly on the fugure 9) having, at its upper part, a channel 21 intended to cooperate with a support member ( such as a horizontal rod of a trellis) to allow the occultation unit to pivot. According to the present embodiment, the trough 21 is constituted by a series of sections 210, a slot 211 extending between two sections. In its lower part, the occultation unit has a series of slots 212, aligned with the slots 211 of the upper part. Thus, such an occultation unit extends, in width, over several unit spaces of a trellis, each section 210 extending between two vertical rods of the trellis, the slots 211, 212 being placed in correspondence with the position of vertical rods which are inserted into these slots in a stable equilibrium position of the occultation unit. According to a fourth variant embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12, the concealment unit 2 takes the form of a clamp comprising two tabs 24 connected at their upper end by a recessed head 25 intended to be mounted to overlap on a support member such as a horizontal rod 3 of a trellis. In this way, the head 25 thus receives the support member and allows a swinging of the occulting unit relative to the support member under the effect of a sufficient wind. According to a fifth variant embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, the occultation unit 2 takes the form of a plate 20 (which may have various shapes, possibly decorative such as those of tree leaves) pierced with an orifice inside which is placed a ring 201. This ring is mounted on the support member, such as a horizontal rod 3 of a trellis, so as to surround it and allows a rocking of the unit d occultation relative to the support member under the effect of a sufficient wind.

It should be noted that the occultation units may, according to yet another conceivable variant, have a dimension in height such that the occultation units extend, in height, over several unit spaces of a trellis. In this case, the occultation units come, in a position of stable equilibrium, in abutment against at least one horizontal rod of the trellis (below the rod forming the support member of the corresponding concealment unit). An occultation unit can therefore rotate in only one direction under the effect of a sufficient wind. According to this principle, it is possible to alternate the arrangement of the occultation units, with a provision that can vary according to the needs and / or wishes, so that some occultation units can pivot on one side of the panel while others can rotate on the other side of the panel. For example, it is possible to take into account the direction of the prevailing winds while allowing the occultation units to pivot under the effect of a sufficient wind blowing in a direction other than that of the prevailing winds.

Claims (18)

REVENDICATIONS1. Fence panel intended to be mounted between two uprights and to present between said uprights at least one occulting surface, characterized in that said occulting surface is decomposed into at least two parts: at least one support member; at least one occulting unit mounted movably on said support member and intended to be driven under the effect of the wind of a first state, corresponding to an occultation position in which said occultation unit occupies a position of stable equilibrium, at a second state in which said occultation unit occupies another position, spaced from said occultation position, in order to allow the passage of air. 2. Fence panel according to claim 1, characterized in that said one or more mobile occultation units are each pivotally mounted on a support member. 3. Fence panel according to claim 2, characterized in that said one or more movable occultation units are pivotally mounted around a horizontal axis. 4. Fence panel according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a lattice comprising horizontal rods forming said support members. 25 5. Closing panel according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said one or more mobile occultation units comprise a plate having at least one pivot member forming a gutter whose cross section is circular in shape, said channel being intended to be mounted on said support member by surrounding it to form a pivot connection. 15 6. fence panel according to claim 5, characterized in that said one or more pivoting members form an end of said occultation unit. 7. fence panel according to claim 5, characterized in that said one or more pivoting members extend in said plate, in the vicinity of an edge thereof. 8. fence panel according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that said one or more pivot members are made of an elastically deformable material. 9. fence panel according to claim 8, characterized in that said one or more pivot members have a folded end rim so as to have a decreasing width of engagement space towards said gutter. 10. Closing panel according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said occultation unit or units take the form of a clamp comprising two lugs connected at their upper end by a recessed head for receiving said support member. 11. Closing panel according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said occultation unit (s) take the form of a plate pierced with an orifice receiving a ring surrounding said support member. 12. Closing panel according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that said occulting surface comprises movable occultation units and fixed occlusion units. 13. Closing panel according to claim 12, characterized in that said movable occultation units are distributed in an upper region and in a lower region of said panel, said fixed occultation units being distributed in an intermediate region in height. extending between said high region and said low region. 14. Closing panel according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that said support members are constituted by horizontal rings connected by vertical rods together forming a lattice having a plurality of unit spaces each delimited by two horizontal rods and two vertical rods, a concealment unit, fixed or mobile, being mounted in each unit space. 15. Closing panel according to claim 14, characterized in that said occultation units have the same dimensions in height and width as said unit space. 16. Closing panel according to claim 14, characterized in that said occultation units have dimensions corresponding, at least in width, to several of said unit spaces. 17. Fence panel according to claim 14, characterized in that said occultation units have dimensions corresponding, at least in height, to more than one unit space. 18. Fence panel according to claim 17, characterized in that some of said occultation units are pivotally mounted on one side of said panel from said occultation position while other occulting units are pivotally mounted to the other side of said panel from said occultation position.