US2428731A - Weather stripping - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 7, 1947. ABRAMS WEATHER STRIPPING Filed 001;. 21, 1943 Patented. Oct. '7, 1947 j Yumrso srA'res PATENT OFFICE George Abrams, GreatNeck, N. Y.

Application October 21, 1943, Serial No. 507,159

. 1" Doors, each consisting of a single monolithic panel of tempered glass, are now found in many buildings. Such doors are highly ornamental and are frequentlyemployed at the outer entrances to buildings, such as apartment houses, hotels,

stores and the like. The ornamental quality of such doors resides largely in th fact that they do not have any frames or moldings. The quality of the tempered glass is such that it is not feasible to have any work done on such doors, such as attaching molding or the like by screws or bolts, after such doors are installed. Moreover, the customary molding that may be attached to such doors, whether for weather stripping or for any other purpose will mar its ornamental quality. Thus weather stripping such doors presents a peculiar problem which has not hitherto been solved.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide such doors, whether single acting or double acting, with moldings serving as astragals or weather strips, which will not mar the ornamental appearance of the door and which may be installed by an inexpert person without risking injury to the door.

The present invention, therefore, provides such molding or weather strips made of an infrangible and transparent material. The materials found particularly suitable for this purpose are any of the well-known resinous or plastic materials, such as vinyl resins or others, which may be extruded to any desired shape and which produce transparent products of any desired shape.

The present invention also provides such weather strips or weather strip carriers in such form that they may be readily installed on the vertical edge of the door without the use of any screws or bolts or any other attaching means and may be just as readily removed in the spring and stored for installation in the fall.

Single acting and double acting doors present ciifierent problems. It is the object of the present invention to provide removable astragals, or weather strips for single acting doors of the type described, which are made entirely of such transparent plastic material, These provide a strip of such plastic across each of the vertical gaps of the door, the strip being rigid and resilient, so that it yields sufllciently to the weight of the door, or to the springs or other devices employed to maintain the door in the normal closed Dosition, substantially to seal the gap against the passage of air currents.

For double acting doors the present invention also provides a molding made of transparent 1 Claim. (CI. 20-69) plastic for ready mounting on the vertical edges of the door, and'this molding is constructed to carry a strip of flexible and resilient material to close the gap at such edge. The sealing strip is in this case made of any suitable flexible material, such as any suitable fabric, as textile, or a rubberized fabric or a strip of rubber.

In the case of both the single acting and double acting monolithic tempered glass doors the molding comprises a channel shaped strip of plastic whose side walls are rigid and are sumciently resilient so that when forced over the edge of the door it will grip the door and remain in position. For the single acting door the sealing strip is integral with the channel and of the same material. For the double acting door, the channel is provided on the outer face of one wall with a smaller channel and a strip of suitable flexible material is inserted and retained in the smaller channel.

While the structures employed with the monolithic tempered glass doors may also be employed with wood or bronze doors, it is sometimes desirable to reduce the cost of the weather stripping for such door. In such installations, therefore, the present invention provides a structure which may be attached to one face of the door by screws or the like and includes the small channel which carries the sealing strip of flexible material.

In some installations the monolithic panels are accurately and closely spaced. In such cases the sealing strip may be unnecessary and the removable channel of plastic, which is rigid and resilient and has no sealing strip, is mounted on the 'edge of the door. The base of the channel then substantially fills the gap between the doors.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates the present invention as applied to single acting monolithic glass doors;

Fig. 2 shows the weather stripping employed in the single acting door shown in Fig. 1:

Fig. 3 illustrates the present invention as applied to double acting monolithic glass doors;

Fig. 4 shows the weather stripping employed in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of weather strip- D Figs. '7 and 8 show the present invention as applied to wood and bronze doors.

Fig. 2 of the drawings shows in perspective a full size reproduction of the weather strip, gen- 3 erally indicated by reference character It in Fig. 1.- This weather stripping is made of any suitable synthetic resin such as vinyl resin or other suitable thermoplastic material. Such materials are particularly adaptable for the production of this structure by extrusion, and the product obtained is preferably transparent, although if desired, it may be produced in any suitable color.

It will be observed that the thickness of the walls is approximately one-sixteenth of an inch. These walls are nevertheless rigid and are also resilient to the degree necessary as will be understood from the following description. The form shown in Fig. 2 is particularly applicable to single acting double doom as shown in Fig. 1, which comprises the open-faced channel ii having a base wall I2 and side walls l3 and i4." One of the sidewalls, and as shown in the drawings the side wall I4, is provided with an outwardly extending portion l5 which projects rearwardly and away from the base 12. The two side walls 13 and ll incline toward each other so that the distance between the free edges of the side walls is substantially smaller than the width of the base wall l2. The protruding extension 15 is preferably slightly curved toward the base 12 as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

As a result of the rigidity and resilience of the side walls l3 and 14, a suitable length of the weather strip shown in Fig. 2 can be readily forced over an edge of the monolithic 'glass door l8 or I1.

The distance between the inner faces of the side walls l3 and I4 where they join the base wall 12 is substantially equal to the thickness of the glass doors l5 and 11. When the channel II is forced onto the edge of the door the walls 13 and I are slightly flexed at their bases and because of the rigidity and the resilience of these walls, they 'flrmly grip the door and remain firmly thereon without any other attaching means. The slight curvature of the flange or extension 15 serves to assure engagement of this extension with the adjacent face of the cooperating door so as to provide an eflfective seal of the air gap between the doors when they are closed. If the doors are in perfect alinement with each other, the resilience of the strip [5 permits it to be flattened as shown in Fig. 1, so that there is contact between the door I 1 and the strip l5 over a substantial portion of its inner face. If however as sometimes happens, the alinement is not accurate, the inward curvature of the strip l5 will always provide contact between at least the free edge of the extension 15 and the monolithic panel, thereby providing aneffective seal of the air gap between the doors.

It will be observed that for the purpose of providing an effective seal against the air gap between the facing edges of the doors, only one such .strip mounted on the edge of one door is slimcient. For thepurpose of providing a seal of the air gap between the hinged edge of each door and the adjacent jambQsuitable lengths of the strip shown in Fig. 2 are mounted on the edges of these doors as shown at 18 and 19.

The weather strips shown in Fig. 2 are produced' by extrusion of any suitable length to the desired dimensions for cooperation with glass doors of known thickness. When an installation is to be made the strips are merely cut in length to the height of the door and are installed as shown in Fig. l and described hereinabove. The walls of the strip being only about one-sixteenth of an inch thick and being preferably colorless and transparent, they do not-in any way mar the appearance 01 the door and the longitudinal flanges or extensions I 5 serve to provide an effective seal of the air gaps. When the winter is over the strips, if desired, may be readil removed and I stored for re-installation the following season.

Fig. 4 shows a perspective full size view of the present'invention as applied to a double swinging door. The channel 20 is designed and constructed in the same manner as the channel ll shown in Fig. 2. The side walls incline toward each other so that the rigidity and resilience of these side walls permits that the same be mounted on the double acting doors 2! and 22 as shownin Fig. 3. In this form of the invention the integral flange or extension is eliminated and theextruded channel of thermoplastic material is provided on one side wall with a narrow channel 23. This channel is formed by the wall 24 which is integral with the side wall 25 of the channel 20, being molded therewith by the extrusion process and being attached thereto by the connecting base 26. The channel 23 receives a strip 21 of any suitable flexible material such as a textile fabric, or a strip of rubber, or the like. The strip 21 extends beyond the channel 23 and serves as a closure for the air gap when this structure is installed as shown in Fig. 3. The channel 23 need not be much more than one-sixteenth of an inch in width and the depth extends only a portion of the width of'the side wall 25 and may approximate in depth only one-half of the width of the side wall 25. The inner faces of the auxiliary channel 23, while approximately parallel to each other, are so directed that the free edge of the flexible strip 21 is directed inwardly toward the base of the channel 20. The strip 21 may if desired be held in position by means of rivets or cut nails 28.

It will now be understood that when the weather strip shown in Fig. 4 is mounted on a pair of double acting doors as shown in Fig. 3 the flexible strips 21 serve to seal the air gaps in the door. Normally the flexible strips 21 would occupy the positions shown in full lines in Fig. 3. At times however the doors may beoperated in such a way as to leave the flexible strip 21 in its flexed position as illustrated by dotted lines '29 in Fig. 3. In this position it also serves to seal the air gap. g Except for the flexible strip 21 and the rivets or cut nails 23, the; structure shown in Fig. 4 is manufactured as an integral unit by extrusion.

The strip 21 is thereafter'inserted in the auxiliary channel 23 and held in position by means of the 56 nails or rivets 28. If desired the structure shown v in Fig. 4 may also be employed on single acting doors shown in Fig. 1, but it is preferred to provide such doors with the weather strip shown in Fig. 2. to Fig. 6 shows a channel strip of 'transparent thermoplastic resin or the like which is not provided with any lip or extension or any projecting strip. As in the other channel strips the side walls are inclined toward each other and a suitable length of this channel strip maybe mounted on the edge of any glass door. This form may serve as an effective sealing of some air gaps where the doors are so mounted that the-.adiacent edges are accurately and closely spaced.

The mere thickness of the base of this/channel may then serve to provide a satisfactory closure for the gap without interfering with the operation of the'door.

The structures thus far described are particu larly designed for monolithic glass doors, but it is obvious that they may also be employed on other types of doors such as wood or bronze. For use with wood or bronze doors the structure shown in Fig. 4 is modified by eliminating the main channel 20, thereby obtaining the structure shown in Fig. '1 which includes the strip 3| channeled along one edge thereof to receive the flexible strip 32. The channel 33 which is formed by the walls 34 and 35 is so directed that the flexible strip 32 extends angularly with relation to the door 36 and to the strip 3|. The rear or single wall portion of the strip 3| is attached to the door 36 by means of screws 31 or the like. The flexible strip 32 is held within the channel 33 by means of rivets or cut nails 38.

Fig. 8 shows substantially the structure oi Fig. '7 except that it is provided with a lip 40 which extends over the edge of the door and is employed for mounting the entire strip by means of screws or the like II. The forms shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are made of the same thermoplastic resinous material or the like and are extruded in the form shown, the flexible strips being subsequently in- J serted in the channels 33 and secured therein.

Having thus described the several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that my invention is not limited thereto and that modifications thereof falling within the scope of the appended claim will become apparent to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

Weather stripping comprising an extruded elongated channel of plastic material, said channel having base and side walls of high resilience and rigidity, the side walls being inclined toward each other, whereby the channel may be mounted GEORGE ABRAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,259,117 McCormick Mar. 11-2, 1918 1,495,727 Cookingham May 2'7, 1924 2,095,669 Funkel Oct. 12. 1937 1,545,694 Potter July 14, 1925 2,294,792 Miller Sept. 1, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 35,722 France Nov. 8, 1929 638,737 France Feb. 2'7, 1928 43,938 Norway Apr. 19, 1927 581,038 Germany July 20, 1933 821,238 France -1 1937 231,739 Great Britain Apr. 9, 1925 OTHER REFERENCES "Bakelite Review," January, 1943, issue, page 5.

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