JP2908762B2 - Retrofit spacer for folding door - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a folding door spacer used for maintaining a posture of a folding door that slides on a rail and maintaining a distance between doors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 10, for example, when a folding door composed of two doors 40 and 41 foldably connected to each other is slid in the A or B direction in a folded state,
When completely folded (when the doors 40 and 41 are in a substantially parallel state), the upper and lower runners do not slide evenly. Since the center of gravity becomes extremely cantilevered toward the hinge 46 side with respect to 44, the folding door is knocked or the like, so that smooth sliding cannot be performed. For this reason, a spacer 50 having a larger width (width in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rail) than the opening 48 is inserted into the rail 44 and the runners 42, 4 of the doors 40, 41 are inserted.
Positioning between them, the stopper function of the spacer 50 ensures a substantially V-shaped posture that enables smooth sliding.

Here, the procedure for assembling the spacer 50 is as follows. First, the runner 42 of one door 40 is inserted through the end opening of the rail 34, and then the spacer 50 is inserted through the end opening of the rail 44, and then the other is inserted. The runner 43 of the door 41 is similarly inserted, and the spacer 50 is sandwiched between the runners 42 and 43.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since the system is inserted from the end opening of the rail 44, the assembly is performed by the runner 42 and the spacer 5.
0, there is a restriction on the assembling work that the order must be the runner 43. Therefore, the spacer 5
If the operator forgets to insert the 0, for example, the rear door must be removed from the rail 44 to perform the assembly work again, or the rail 44 must be removed and redone depending on the mounting form. It was troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that the worker always has to pay attention to the assembly order.

[0005] As a method of eliminating the above-mentioned restriction on the assembling order, a so-called "retrofitting" system in which a folding door is mounted on a rail and then mounted in the rail to exert a spacer function can be assumed. In this case, for example, on the lower rail side, a basic spacer function can be realized simply by simply positioning a columnar spacer narrower than the opening of the rail between the runners and inserting it into the rail (loading by its own weight). it can. However, in this case, since there is no retaining structure for the rail, there is a concern that the rail may jump out of the rail due to a collision with the runner, or may be removed by human mischief.

[0006] On the other hand, a spacer may not be necessary depending on the usage of the folding door. In particular, when a plurality of folding doors are slid toward a column, wall, or the like of a room, the folding doors cannot be completely folded due to the attachment of the spacer, and the folding doors spread in the horizontal direction. It becomes difficult to store the folding door in a compact state. In such a case, it is desirable to eliminate the stopper function of the spacer without removing the folding door.

Therefore, the present invention can easily attach the folding doors to the rail even after the folding doors are assembled on the rail without having to remove the folding doors, thereby exerting the same functions as the conventional ones. It is an object of the present invention to provide a folding door retrofit spacer that can remove the function of the spacer as it is or can be arbitrarily removed as needed.

[0008]

The present invention focuses on the difference between the width (width) of the inside of the rail and the width of the opening, and makes use of this difference to contradict locking and easy removal in a retrofit configuration. It aims to make the functions coexist under a simple configuration. In other words, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the folding door retrofitting spacer is accommodated in the rail through the narrow opening of the rail and has an elongated shape capable of sliding in the rail, and one end of the spacer main body. Spacers formed on the left and right sides of the folding door and horizontally locked after being inserted from the opening and locked to the rail, wherein the spacer locked to the rail between the runners of the folding door forms the locking portion. The axis is configured to be freely switchable between a horizontal position and a standing position.

According to the present invention, after the folding door is assembled to the rail, the stopper is inserted through the narrow opening of the rail between the runners of the folding door, and the stopper is turned in the horizontal direction by operating the spacer body. When moved, the retaining portion is locked in the rail. Thereafter, when the spacer is rotated in the vertical direction about the retaining portion as an axis, the spacer can be freely switched between the horizontal position and the upright position and is accommodated in the rail. That is, when the spacer is rotated to the horizontal position, the spacer body is accommodated in the rail. In this state, the folding door is in a state where a substantially V-shaped posture is secured by the stopper function of the spacer, and is slid in the rail together with the spacer in this state. On the other hand, when the spacer is rotated to the upright position, the state in which the spacer body is upright in the vertical direction is maintained, and the folding door can be folded to a substantially parallel state.

[0010] According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect,
In the configuration described above, the retaining portion is formed in a pair of rollers.

According to the present invention, the folding door retrofit spacer can freely rotate in the rails in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect.
In the configuration described in the second or third aspect, a substantially Y-shaped extraction portion that expands in the depth direction of the rail is formed at the other end of the spacer body, and the extraction portion does not protrude outward from the rail. It has a degree of expansion that contacts the edge.

[0013] According to the present invention, in the folding door retrofit spacer, the spacer body is pulled out of the rail without using a tool or the like. In addition, the drawn portion comes into contact with the edge of the opening of the rail, and the accommodation position of the spacer in the rail is maintained.

Further, in the invention according to the fourth aspect, in the configuration according to the first to third aspects, the spacer main body is allowed to be pushed into the rail on the side surface of the spacer main body, and is pushed out of the rail after the housing. A movable claw for preventing detachment is provided.

According to the present invention, the folding door retrofit spacer accommodates the spacer body in the upper rail by the locking function of the movable claw.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. This embodiment shows a retrofitting spacer for folding doors that is suitable for attachment to a lower rail. The folding spacer 1 for folding doors is already
This is for accommodating in the rail 10 when the folding door 30 is assembled via the runners 31 and 32 therein, and as shown in FIG. The spacer main body 2 is roughly composed of a resin spacer main body 2 and a retaining portion 4 formed at one end of the spacer main body 2. At the other end of the spacer main body 2, a Y-shaped expanding portion 6 is formed. Have been.

The spacer body 2 is formed to have a size capable of sliding in the rail, and the length S of one side thereof is, as shown in FIG. 2, an opening of the rail 10 (lower rail) having a substantially C-shaped cross section. 12 is set slightly smaller than the width D _{1 of} the opening 12.
From inside the rail 10.

The retaining portions 4 are provided in the form of a pair of rollers on both left and right sides of one end of the spacer body 2, and can be integrally formed of the same material as the spacer body 2.
Under such a configuration, the width D of the opening 12 with respect to the rail 10
_{It has a} vertical width (width in the depth direction of the rail) H smaller than 1 and a horizontal width (width in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rail) that is larger than the width D ₁ and smaller than the width D ₂ in the rail 10 together with the spacer body 2. ) W is set. The vertical width H of the retaining portion 4 is set slightly larger than one side of the spacer body 2 and slightly protrudes from the tip end and both side surfaces of the spacer body 2. Also, this retaining portion 4
A chamfered portion 16a is formed at four corners around a boundary portion between the spacer body 2 and the spacer body 2, and a neck portion 16 that allows the spacer body 2 to rotate horizontally on the rail 10 is formed.

The drawing portion 6 can be formed so that the spacer body 2 has a Y-shape as shown in FIG. Here, when the withdrawn portion 6 is not formed, FIG.
As shown in (1), the run-out width of the spacer body 2 in the rail 10 is in the range of arrow N and may dive below the lower surface of the opening 12. Therefore, it is preferable to set the degree of expansion so that the uppermost portion of the extraction piece 6a is slightly retracted from the opening 12 and abuts on the edge 12a of the opening 12.

Next, the operation of the folding door retrofit spacer 1 will be described. As shown, the folding door 30 is connected to the runner 3.
After being assembled to the rail 10 via the runners 1 and 32, the vertical width H of the retaining portion 4 is made to correspond to the opening 12 of the rail 10 located between the runners 31 and 32. 4 is inserted into the rail 10. When the spacer body 2 is horizontally rotated 90 ° in the direction of the arrow R (or the opposite direction) in a state where the retaining portion 4 is in the rail 10, the retaining portion 4 also rotates, as shown in FIG. The width W corresponds to the opening 12 in the rail 10. Thus, the folding door retrofit spacer 1 is prevented from being pulled out in the upward direction, that is, is locked in the rail 10.

When the spacer body 2 is tilted (released from the spacer body 2) as shown in FIG. 4 from this locked state, the spacer body 4 is vertically rotated by its own weight with the retaining portion 4 as an axis, and the runner 31 is rotated. , 32 are accommodated in the rail 10 in a horizontal position. At this time, since the extraction piece 6a of the extraction section 6 comes into contact with the edge 12a of the opening 12, the spacer body 2 is always positioned at the center of the rail 10. When the folding door 30 is to be folded in this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the runners 31 and 32 cannot approach a distance shorter than the interval of the length of the spacer body 2, so that the folding door 30 is substantially V-shaped. Posture is secured.
If the folding door is slid in the X direction in this state, the folding door retrofit spacer 1 will slide along with the runners 31 and 32.

When rotating the spacer body 2 from the horizontal position to the upright position, it is sufficient to perform the above procedure in reverse order.
That is, for example, when the tip of the index finger is slightly hooked on the tip of the pull-out piece 6a and the spacer body 2 is pulled up, the spacer body 2 rotates in the opposite direction about the retaining portion 4 as an axis, and the spacer body 2 is moved between the runners 31 and 32. It will be in the standing position. In this state, as shown in FIG.
Although there is no difference that the folding door retrofit spacer 1 is located between the folding doors 30, the folding door 30 can bring the two doors 30a and 30b close to a substantially parallel state. In addition, the retrofitting spacer 1 for the folding door becomes unnecessary, and when removing the same, the procedure may be performed in the same manner as in the case of mounting, and the locking state of the retaining portion 4 is further released from the standing state of the spacer body 2. And remove it.

After the folding door 30 is assembled to the rail 10 as described above, the narrow opening 12 of the rail 10 can be arbitrarily and easily formed.
Can be accommodated between the runners 31 and 32, and can be made not to be detached from the rail 10 as in the prior art inserted from the end opening of the rail. Further, the spacer body 2 can be easily and freely switched between the horizontal position and the upright position. Therefore, the retaining portion 4
While maintaining the state of being locked in the rail 10,
In the case where 0 is slid, as shown in FIG. 1, the spacer main body 2 is set to a horizontal position and the folding door 30 is set to a substantially V-shaped posture, so that the sliding can be smoothly performed. In the case of storing the doors together, as shown in FIG. 7, compact storage in which the folding door 30 is in a substantially parallel state with the spacer body 2 in the upright position can be realized.

Further, since the pull-out portion 6 is provided, the spacer body 2 can be easily pulled out without using a tool even when a finger enters the opening 12 of the rail 10 only slightly. Further, the withdrawal portion 6 is provided at the edge 12 a of the opening 12.
And the spacer body 2 is always positioned at the center of the rail 10, so that the pulling-out operation can be facilitated. Also, as shown in FIG.
0a, the bottom surface 10a
A gap C is formed between the spacer body 2 and the spacer body 2. Therefore, the contact area with the bottom surface 10a is extremely small, and the friction and sliding noise when the folding door 30 slides can be reduced. Since the pull-out portion 6 is symmetrical, the above-described effect can be obtained even if the spacer body 2 is rotated and stored in any direction.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the above embodiment, application to the lower rail is shown. However, in the case of application to the upper rail, the spacer body 2 is rotated by its own weight and hangs even if the retaining portion 4 is locked in the rail. Since the horizontal position cannot be maintained, it cannot be applied as it is. As shown in FIG. 8, elastic claws 24 as movable claws can be formed on the left and right sides of the spacer body 2 on the folding door retrofit spacer 11. The elastic claw 24 in the present embodiment is formed integrally with the spacer body 2 and has a substantially rectangular cross section. The spread width of the elastic claws 24 on both sides is
Is set to be larger than the width D ₃ (FIG. 9) of the opening 26 of FIG. Other configurations are the same as those of the above embodiment.

When the spacer body 2 is inserted in the opening 26 when the spacer body 2 is inserted into the opening 26, the elastic claw 24 comes into contact with the opening 26. When the spacer body 2 is pushed in, the elastic claw 24 is elastically deformed. Then, the insertion is allowed by being guided by the guide surface 24a. When the spacer body 2 is accommodated in the rail 25, the elastic claw 24 returns and is locked in the rail 25 as shown in FIG. As a result, the spacer body 2 does not fall out of the rail 25 and can be held in a horizontal position. On the other hand, when rotating the spacer body 2 to the standing position, when the pull-out portion 6 is operated and pulled downward, the elastic claws 24 are elastically deformed and the guide surfaces 24 are deformed.
b is allowed to be pulled out. by this,
Despite the presence of the elastic claws 24, the spacer body 2 can be freely switched between the horizontal position and the upright position.

By changing the length of the rail of the spacer body 2 in the longitudinal direction, the angle of the V-shaped posture of the folding door or the distance between the doors can be changed. In addition, the retaining portion 4 is formed as a pair of rollers that are integrally formed with the spacer main body 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the respective portions may be assembled after being formed, or one end of the spacer main body 2 may be formed as a roller. Various configurations can be adopted as long as the configuration has the same effect as the above embodiment. Similarly, the drawing part 6 is not limited to this, and may have a substantially T-shape or the like.

Further, the elastic claw 2 according to another embodiment
4 can be formed as long as the same effect as described above can be obtained, for example, two pairs can be formed in opposite directions vertically on both sides of the spacer body 2 so that the rotation direction of the spacer body 2 is not restricted. Not limited to this.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the folding door retrofit spacer can be arbitrarily and easily housed in the rail from the narrow opening of the rail after the folding door is assembled, and the rail can be removed from the rail as in the prior art. It can be prevented from leaving. Therefore, since there is no restriction on the order of assembling the rails, the work efficiency can be improved, and the worker does not have to pay attention to the assembling procedure.

Further, the spacer body can be easily and freely switched between the horizontal position and the upright position. Therefore,
When the folding door is slid, it is possible to smoothly slide while ensuring a substantially V-shaped posture of the folding door, and when storing a plurality of folding doors close to a wall or the like, the folding door is in a substantially parallel state. Can be stored,
The folding door can be set to a suitable posture according to the use condition while the retaining portion is locked in the rail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a retrofit spacer for a folding door according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state of a spacer body at a horizontal position.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a state in which a retaining portion is vertically inserted into a lower rail.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a state in which a spacer main body is horizontally rotated to lock a retaining portion with respect to a rail;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the spacer main body is accommodated in the rail from a state where the spacer body is locked to the rail.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a retrofit spacer for a folding door.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a deflection width of a spacer body in a rail.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state of the spacer main body at a standing position.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a folding door retrofit spacer according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a housed state in a rail according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an example of application to a conventional folding door.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,11 Retrofit spacer for folding door 2 Spacer body 4 Retainer 6 Pull-out part 10,25 Rail 12,26 Rail opening 12a Edge of rail opening 24 Elastic claw (movable claw part) H Vertical width W Width

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A spacer main body having an elongated shape which is accommodated in a rail through a narrow opening of the rail and slidable in the rail, and is formed at one end of the spacer main body at the right and left ends and is inserted from the opening. A spacer comprising a retaining portion which is horizontally rotated and is locked to the rail, wherein the spacer which is locked to the rail between the runners of the folding door can be switched between the horizontal position and the upright position around the retaining portion as an axis. A retrofit spacer for Orido constructed in 2. The folding door retrofit spacer according to claim 1, wherein the retaining portion is formed as a pair of rollers. 3. A retrofit spacer for a folding door according to claim 1, wherein a substantially Y-shaped extraction portion is formed at the other end of the spacer body so as to expand in the depth direction of the rail, and the extraction portion is provided outside the rail. A retrofit spacer for folding doors having a degree of expansion that abuts against the edge of the opening without protruding in the direction. 4. The spacer for a folding door according to claim 1, wherein the side wall of the spacer body allows the spacer body to be pushed and housed in the rail and prevents the spacer body from being detached outside the rail after being housed. Retrofit spacer for folding doors with claw portions.