US3576092A

US3576092A - Insert panel support structure

Info

Publication number: US3576092A
Application number: US801394A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ernst Halpern
Original assignee: WILLIAMSBURG STEEL PRODUCTS CO
Current assignee: WILLIAMSBURG STEEL PRODUCTS CO
Priority date: 1969-02-24
Filing date: 1969-02-24
Publication date: 1971-04-27
Anticipated expiration: 1988-04-27

Abstract

An insert panel support structure especially adapted for use in a hollow metal door to frame an opening for an insert panel, such as a glass panel. The channels defining the support structure are longer than the length of the respective sides of the opening and need not be cut to length to preform a support structure of a predetermined size. The channels are so arranged that the end of one channel abuts an overlapping mating channel to frame the opening.

Description

United States Patent 72] Inventor Ernst Halpern Plainview, N.Y. [21] Appl. No. 801,394 [22] Filed Feb. 24, 1969 [45] Patented Apr. 27, 1971 73] Assignee Williamsburg Steel Products, Co. Brooklyn, N.Y.

[5 4] INSERT PANEL SUPPORT STRUCTURE 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs. [52] US. 52/456, 5 2/204, 52/499 [51] Int. Cl E06b 3/54 [50] Field of Search 52/208, 205, 498, 499, 455, 456; 49/171 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,171,445 2/1916 Larson 52/455X 1,872,309 8/1932 Loebel 52/499X 2,747,705 5/1956 Bagnard 52/499X 3,024,837 3/1962 McPhail 160/91 3,131,440 5/1964 Leeser 52/456X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,024,703 2/1958 Germany Primary Examiner-Henry C. Sutherland Assistant Examiner-Sam D. Burke, III Anomey-Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan ABSTRACT: An insert panel support structure especially adapted for use in a hollow metal door to frame an opening for an insert panel, such as a glass panel. The channels defining the support structure are longer than the length of the respective sides of the opening and need not be cut to length to preform a support structure of a predetermined size. The channels are so arranged that the end of one channel abuts an overlapping mating channel to frame the opening.

PATENTEDAPRNIQH 357E092 sum 1 0F 2 I NVEN'I'OR. ERNST HALPERN ATTORNEYS PATENTEUAPRZTIQTI 3,575,092

sum 2 0F 2 ATTORNEYS ll INSERT PANEL sUPron'r STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a support structure for an insert panel which eliminates the need for prefabrication of the support structure. In the fabrication of hollow metal doors, it is known to provide an opening for an insert panel, such as a glass panel, which, in effect, forms a frame for the insert panel. After the hollow metal door is installed in the field, the insert panel is also installed.

Hollow metal doors are built up from component parts which are welded together. Within the door between the skins thereof are located various channel and support members for imparting the necessary rigidity to the door and for separating the skins to provide a door of the desired thickness. If a particular door is to have a frame to accommodate an insert panel, suitable openings are provided in the door skins when the skins are cut to size. In the prior arrangements, it was also necessary to prefabricate a frame of a particular size to form the support structure for the insert panel that will be subsequently installed. The frame or support structure was prefabricated prior to fabrication of the door and carefully positioned about the openings in the skins to become an integral part of the fabricated door.

The need for prefabricated frames introduced added costs because the frames are various sizes had to be fabricated at a frame fabricating location within a plant, transferred to the door assembly location and held in readiness so as not to delay the assembly of the doors and thereafter selected and carefully positioned on the door skins. Since doors are generally ordered for a particular job or building, it was not uncommon to have wide variation in the sizes of insert panels and thus it is generally not practicable to stock support structures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, the need for prefabrication of the support structure is completely eliminated. Channels of various incremental lengths are stored at the door assembly station and it is merely necessary for the assembler to select channels and place them on the skin surrounding the opening through the skin. The length of each channel is not critical so long as it is longer than its adjoining side of the opening. Removable molding members can be provided on the same basis since the overlapping or overextending channel and molding members will be located wholly within the skins of the door. Thus, the external appearance will be the same as the prior art but the prefabrication of the support structures is completely eliminated.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a support structure for an insert panel of improved construction.

Another object of this invention is to provide a support structure for an insert panel which can be fabricated during assembly of the door thereby eliminating the need for prefabrication of same.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved support structure for an insert panel which includes molding members which need not be cut to the size of the insert panel.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hollow metal door having an insert panel and support structure therefor constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded partial perspective view of the construction of the door shown in FIG. 1 in the area of the insert panel support structures;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, at an enlarged scale, taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a hollow metal door constructed to receive multiple insert panels; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, at an enlarged scale, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, door 11 is of built up welded and finished construction and is provided with an insert panel 12 which, most typically, would be a glass panel. Such a door is suitable for use as an office door. Hollow metal doors find uses throughout office buildings and apartments with the type and size of the insert panel depending on the use to which the door is to be put. For example, the insert panel could be in the form of a louvered panel if it is desired that air pass through the door. The instant invention is not limited to any particular type of insert panel.

As is known to those skilled in the art, a hollow metal door has a first skin 13 and a second skin 14 as its major components. The skins are separated by' a plurality of flanges, channels and other structural members welded to the skins to form the finished door, all as is well known to those in the art. Thus, the various structural members which form the door have not been shown.

Skin 13 is formed with an opening: 15 of predetermined size and skin 14 is provided with an opening 16 of predetermined size which, as shown in FIG. 3, is larger than opening 15 in order to permit insertion of the insert panel during on the job installation.

The fabricator of the hollow door is provided with a plurality of

channels

17 and 18 of different lengths and the fabricator selects to place along side each side of opening 15 a channel which is at least as long as the length of the side. It matters not that the length of the channel is longer than the length of the side and the channel need not be out to size. Channel 17 has the cross-sectional configuration shown in FIG. 3. Its outermost leg 19 is placed! in overlying relationship with skin 13 with adjoining center 21 flush with the side forming opening 15 as most clearly shown in FIG. 3. Outermost leg 19 is welded to skin 13 during early stages of door fabrication. Channel 17 is also provided with a base portion 22 which is offset from joining center portion 21 by an amount equal to the difference in spacing between two overlapping sides of

openings

15 and 16 so that base portion 22 lies along the edge of opening 16 when skin 14 is placed thereover. Extending between joining center portion 21 and base portion 22 is a center leg 23. A second outer leg 25 includes a short inset portion 24 and extends from base portion 22. Skin 14 overlies and is welded to outer leg 25 whereby channel 17 is an integral and rigid part of the finished door. Each of

channels

17 and 18 is of identical construction and is fixed to the door skins in the same manner.

During assembly of the door, skin 13 is placed on a horizontal work surface and the various structural members are placed thereon, including

channels

17 and 18. The first channel, channel 17 for example, is placed on skin 13 with joining center portion 21 lying along one side of the opening. One end of the channel is placed flush with one corner of the opening and the other end of the channel extends beyond the opposite comer of the opening as shown in FIG. 2. Next, a channel 18 is placed with joining center portion 21 flush with a side of opening 15 and with one end in abutment with the extending end of channel 117. The opposite end of channel 18 extends beyond the opposite corner.

Additional channels

17 and 18 are added to form the framed opening shown in FIG. 2,

' completely without regard to the precise length of each channel. The four channels are welded in place to skin 13 and,

I during subsequent assembly, to skin 14.

Moldings are provided which are removable to permit installation of the insert panel at the site. Moldings 3-1 and 32 between inset portion 24 and skin 14. Base 35 is located to be coplanar with joining center portion 21 for optimum finished appearance and short leg 33 is spaced from center leg 23 to receive insert panel 12. The remaining

moldings

31 and 32 are constructed as just described.

On'site installation proceeds in the following manner. After the door has been hung, insert panel 12 is placed in the opening defined by base portion 22 in abutment with center leg 23.

Moldings

31 and 32 are supplied with the door and a first molding is slid into position with one edge at a corner of opening 16 and the other edge extending beyond the opposite corner of the opening. Such other edge would be inserted first and the molding maneuvered into position. One screw 36 only need be provided since the overlapping arrangement to be hereafter described will automatically lock the moldings into place. Screw 36 is passed through the molding and secured in a tapped aperture 37 in'base portion 22. Note that molding 31 can easily slide along base portion 22 of the channel which it overlaps without interference with the abutting channel since the abutting channel terminates in abutment with the surface of joining center portion 21 thereby leaving adequate space between the end of the abutting channel and base portion 22 to receive the molding. Consecutive moldings are installed in the same manner until the complete frame shown in FIG. 2 is formed whereby insert panel 12 is held in place.

Normally, the side of the door from which moldings 31 and 32 are installed will be the inside so that access to screws 36 cannot be had from the outside and thus the outside of the door becomes the side that can be locked.

The interlocking arrangement of

moldings

31 and 32 necessitating only a single screw 36 with eachmolding forms an added advantage. Each

channel

17 and 18 can be formed with a tapped aperture 37 located at a predetermined distance from one end. Each

molding

31 and 32 is formed with a clearance bore the same predetermined distance from one end. Regardless of the size of the opening and the lengths of the channels and moldings, the clearance bore 38 in a molding will automatically be correctly aligned with the tapped aperture 37 in a mating channel.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, door 41 is adapted to receive four insert panels 42. The arrangement of the channels and moldings will be the same for each opening and, where the insert panels are adjacent, moldings and channels will be back-to-back. In other words, adjacent edges of the openings for insert panels 42 will include back-to-back channels 17 secured to first skin as and second skin 44 and the moldings 31 will be secured to the channels by means of screws 36 in the manner heretofore described.

Many modifications of the molding and channel configurations are possible. The principal purpose of the invention is to utilize channels and moldings -which eliminate the necessity of prefabrication and especially prefabrication of the channels into a frame for the insert panel. The door fabricator is capable of forming a support structure for the insert panel from the channels and moldings on hand at his station, regardless of the size of the opening specified for any particular door.

it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are

efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained limiting sense.

lclaim:

1. In a door having first and second spaced skins and at least one multisided opening through each skin, said openings overlying one another to define a through passage, the combination comprising a plurality of channel members secured between said skins, one channel member being provided for each side of one of said openings, each channel member having a first end located at one corner of said one opening and a second end extending at least beyond an opposite corner of said one opening along a side of said opening, said first end of each channel member being in abutment with a side of one other channel member, the second end of each channel member extending between said spaced skins beyond the abutting first end of another channel member for framing said one opening by means of channel members having lengths longer than the length of the sides of said one opening, a plurality of molding members, the number of molding members being equal to the number of channel members, and fastening means releasably securing each molding member in overlying relationship with a cooperating one of said channel members, each of said molding members having at least one leg and each of said channel members having at least one leg, said one leg of each channel member being spaced from said one leg of its overlying molding member to define a slot for receiving and supporting an insert panel.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said molding members has a first end located at one corner of the other of said openings and a second end extending at least beyond an opposite corner of said other opening along a side thereof, said first end of each molding member being in abutment with a side of one other molding member, the second end of each molding member extending between said spaced skins beyond the abutting first end of another molding member for framing said other opening by means of molding members having lengths longer than the length of the sides of said other opening.

3. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein said one opening is of smaller dimension than the other opening, said channel members each including a center portion extending perpendicularly to the plane of said one opening and being substantially flush with the side thereof.

4. The combination claimed in claim 3 wherein each of said channel members includes a base portion extending to the plane of the other opening and being substantially flush with the side thereof.

5. The combination claimed in claim 4 wherein each of said molding members includes a base portion extending perpendicularly to the plane of said other opening and being substantially coplanar with the center portion of the channel member to which it is releasably secured.

6. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein each channel member has two spaced outer legs with each leg secured to a respective one of said skins adjacent said openings, each leg of a channel member having extending therefrom a base portion substantially flush with the side of the opening from which it extends.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6 wherein one of said outer legs includes an offset adjacent its respective base portion for receiving between said offset and the skin to which said leg is affixed a portion of said overlying molding member.

8. The combination claimed in claim 7 wherein said molding members are formed as U-shaped members having legs and a base portion, the portion of said molding member received in said offset portion being one of said legs, the outer edge of the other of said legs being in abutment with a surface of said channel member.