GB2033456A - Gasket - Google Patents

Abstract

A gasket for fitting to a door of an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle comprises a first leg 12 and a second leg 14 between which is a hollow contact bulb 16. The gasket is fitted between the inner face of the door panel 36 and an adjoining edge 42 of a lining panel 38. The contact bulb 16 may impinge against an angulation on a jamb member 48. The adjacent edge of the door panel 36 may be provided with a weather gasket 50 sealing against a door frame member 46 outboard of the first gasket, so that the contact bulb 16 and weather gasket 50, together with adjoining regions of the door and frame, define a dead-air space. In another embodiment a pair of doors is shown both of which have on adjoining vertical edges inner gaskets whose contact bulbs interfere with one another to provide an inner seal, and one of the doors has a weather gasket providing an outer seal against the other door, a dead- air space being formed between the interfering contact bulbs and the weather gasket. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to gasket structure The present invention relates to a thermal gasket for fitting to a door of a refrigerated van which may be a rigid vehicle or may be a semi-trailer or trailer vehicle. Such vans are referred to in the industry as reefer vans.

British Patent Specification No. 990,444 describes a door seal construction which is currently in use on semi-trailer vans. The door frame has an inwardly convergent angular jamb surface. The edges of the door are provided with a gasket of complementary profile which has a plurality of spaced fingers extending substantially continuously along each edge and intervening recesses between the fingers. The jamb surface and the gasket co-operate, when the door is closed, to define a series of spaced seals which are separated by dead air spaces defined by the recesses.

Although this previous gasket is technically satisfactory in use, it requires an angular jamb surface to be provided on the door frame, and furthermore different shapes of seal are required for different applications. In particular, the construction and dimensions of a side door and frame may be different from that of a rear door and a small access hatch may have a yet further frame construction differently arranged and dimensioned. It is an object of the invention to provide a single shape of thermal gasket which is sufficiently versatile to be used in a wide variety of applications.

In one aspect the invention provides a gasket of elastomeric material for fitting around a door of an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, said gasket comprising first and second legs disposed at right angles to one another, and between said legs a hollow contact bulb.

In another aspect, the invention provides a door for use with an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, comprising a facing panel having a thermal sealing gasket secured to at least one edge, an insulating skin secured to the inner face of the door panel and having an edge directed normally to the major plane of the door panel and spaced inwardly from an adjoining edge of said door panel, and a weather sealing gasket of elastomeric material having a first leg secured to the edge of the insulating skin, a second leg secured to the inner face of the door panel, and a hollow contact bulb between said legs facing away from the door panel and arranged for sealing against a jamb surface of the door frame, or against a second hollow contact bulb of a second gasket secured to an adjoining edge of an adjacent door, thereby to define a dead-air space between said contact bulb or bulbs and the weather sealing gasket.

An embodiment of the invention is described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view of a thermal gasket in transverse section; Figure 2 is a rear perspective view of a refrigerated semi-trailer van; Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the rear header and part of the roof of the semi-trailer van of in Fig. 2 together with a top edge of a rear door; Figure 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section through the rear doors adjacent the longitudinal centre line of the semi-trailer van shown in Fig. 2; Figure 5 is a fragmentary horizontal section adjacent to a corner post of the van showing part of the side wall, a side edge of a door, and a corner post; and Figure 6 is a fragmentary view of a rear door and part of the floor of the van shown in Fig. 2 taken in longitudinal vertical section.

In Fig. 1, there is shown a thermal gasket which is made of an ethylene-propylene elastomeric copolymer of Shore "A" hardness 65 to 70 degrees, tensile strength 8.3 N/mm2, elongation at break 200% and compression set not more than 25%. The gasket includes first and second legs 12 and 14 respectively of differing length between which is integrally formed a hollow flexible contact bulb 16 whose major dimension is similar to that of the first leg 12. The hollow contact bulb 16 extends beyond the end of the second or minor leg 14 but not beyond the end of the first or major leg 12.

In Fig. 2 there is shown the rear end of a semi-trailer van including an upper cross member of header 18, a lower cross member 20 and left and right corner posts 22 and 24.

Hinged to the corner post are left-hand and right-hand doors 26 and 28, the right-hand door 28 being shown in phantom. The doors have associated locking gear 30 and 32 and are rendered weather tight by means of weather gaskets 34 fixed to peripheral edges of the door panels.

The door structure is more clearly apparent from Fig. 3 and comprises a facing panel 36 to the inner face of which is secured a lining panel 38, the space between the lining panel and the facing panel being filled with polyurethane foam insulation 40. The peripheral edge 42 of lining panel 38 is directed normally to the major plane of the facing panel 36 and is spaced a short distance behind the peripheral edge 44 of the facing panel.

The roof structure of the vehicle includes at its rear end a fabricated steel rear cross member or header 46 and positioned beneath the header a transverse jamb member 48 offset inwardly a short distance.

The first leg 12 of the thermal gasket is secured to the inner face of the door panel 36, and the second leg 14 is secured to the peripheral edge 42 of the lining panel 38. The deformable bulb 16 butts against the transverse jamb member 48 by which it is deformed so as to contact both a lower oblique face of the jamb member and an upper vertical face thereof. Deformation of the bulb 16 by impingement with the angulation between said faces on the jamb member 48 causes the bulb and the jamb to be in contact over an appreciable surface area and therefore assists efficient sealing. The upper transverse edge 44 of the door panel 36 is provided with a weather gasket 50 which seals against the outer face of the rear header 46. As a result, a dead-air space 52 is formed between the weather gasket 50 and the bulb 16 of the thermal gasket.

Turning to Fig. 4, no weather gasket is fitted to the vertical edge of the left-hand door 26 but a weather gasket 58 is fitted to the vertical edge of the right-hand door 28. To the vertical edge 42a of the lining panel 38a is fastened a major leg 12a of a vertical run of thermal gasket generally indicated by the reference numeral 60a. The minor leg 14a is secured to the inner face of the door panel 28.

The lining panel 38b fixed to the left-hand door has a similar edge 42b to which is secured a major leg 12b of a second vertical run of thermal gasket generally denoted by reference numeral BOb. The minor leg 14b of the thermal gasket 60b is secured to the inner face of the door panel 26.

When the two doors are closed, an outer rib on the weather gasket 58 seals against an outer face of the door panel 26, and an inner rib on the weather gasket seals against the vertical edge of the door panel 26. Because the minor legs 14a, 14b of the thermal gaskets terminate approximately in alignment with the vertical edges of the respective doors 26, 28, the bulbs 16a and 16b interfere with one another and mutual deformation produces an extensive area of contact defining, together with the weather gasket 58 and adjoining inner portions of the doors, a dead-air space 62.

In Fig. 5, a side wall 64 of the vehicle is secured to a corner post 24 which incorporates door hinges 68. The inner face of corner post 24 incorporates a channel-shaped recess 70 which, when the door is closed, is intruded by the vertical side edge 72 of the door 28. Inwardly of the recess 70 is a door jamb structure 74 including a transversely directed leg 76 and a longitudinally directed leg 78. Between the vertical edge 72 of the door and the recess 70, and secure within the recess 70, is a rubber sealing gasket 80 which forms a weather tight seal between the outer edge 72 of the door and the base of the channel 70. Between the edge 42a of the lining panel 38a and the inner face of the door panel 28 is secured a thermal gasket whose bulb 16a is impinged against the angulation between the faces 76 and 78 of the door jamb 74.In consequence, a deadair space is formed between the bulb 16 and the door edge gasket 80.

Turning to Fig. 6, the base frame of the vehicle includes a fabricated steel cross member 84 and positioned above and inwardly offset from the cross member a jamb member 86 including an inwardly directed oblique face 88 and a vertical face 90. The door panel 28 has on its lower transverse edge a weather seal 58 whose outer rib seals against the outer face of the cross member 84 and whose inner rib seals against an angulation on the cross member 84. The door 28 has, as previously noted, a lining panel 38a along whose lower transverse edge is secured a thermal gasket. The bulb 16a of the thermal gasket impinges against the angulation between faces 88 and 90 on the jamb member and is deformed thereby so that the bulb 16 contact the jamb member over an appreciable area. A dead-air space is thereby created between the bulb 16a and the weather gasket 58.

It will be apparent that various modifications may be made to the embodiment described herein within departing from the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. A gasket of elastomeric material for fitting around a door of an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, said gasket comprising first and second legs disposed at right angles to one another, and between said legs a hollow contact bulb.

2. A gasket as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said first and second legs are of unequal length, and the bulb extends beyond the edge of the minor leg but not beyond the edge of the major leg.

3. A thermal gasket of elastomeric material for fitting around a door of a refrigerated goods vehicle, substantially as hereinbe fore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

4. A door for use with an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, comprising a facing panel having a weather sealing gasket secured to at least one edge, an insulating skin secured to the inner face of the door panel and having an edge directed normally to the major plane of the door and spaced inwardly behind the edge of the door panel, a weather sealing gasket of elastomeric material having a first leg secured to the edge of the insulating skin, a second leg secured to the inner face of the door panel and a hollow contact bulb between said legs facing away from the door panel and arranged for sealing against a jamb surface of a door frame, or against a second hollow contact bulb of a second gasket secured to an adjoining edge of an adjacent door, thereby to define a dead-air space between said contact bulb or bulbs and the weather sealing gasket.

5. A door as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the first and second legs of the gasket are of unequal length.

6. A door as claimed in Claim, 5 wherein on an inner vertical edge the major leg of the gasket is secured to the peripheral edge of the insulating skin and the minor edge is secured to the door panel, the contact bulb extending beyond the inner edge of the door panel for interference with a contact bulb of an adjoining edge of another door of complimentary structure.

7. A door as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the contact bulb impinges against an angulation on the door jamb.

8. A pair of doors for a refrigerated goods vehicle, wherein the adjoining edges are provided with thermal gaskets and weather gaskets, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A door for use with an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, wherein a top edge is fitted with weather and thermal gaskets substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A door for use with an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, wherein a vertical side edge is provided with a thermal gasket arranged to co-operate with a corner post and jamb member on the goods vehicle, the thermal gasket and the adjoining regions of the door and goods vehicle being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A door for use with an insulated or refrigerated goods vehicle, wherein the lower transverse edge is provided with a weather gasket and a thermal gasket, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 6 of the accompanying drawings.