Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1 163~ 1 ~
This invention relates to a mullion member and an assembly
and relates particularly to such for use in connection with adja-
cent roller shutter doors in a doorway.
Hitherto in the roller shutter door art, which is also re-
ferred to as the roller curtain door art, where two roller shutter
doors are placed side by side it has been common practice to pro-
vide a removable mullion member between the two roller shutter
doors. A problem with such prior art mullions was that in order to
fasten the mullion member to the floor and to the top of the door
opening it was necessary to provide mounting bracket means which
were held to the mullion member by bolts which pass through the
outer face of the mullion member. The mounting bracket means, in
turn, carried two fastening means which engaged respectively with
the top and the bottom of the door opening. One or both of the
fastening means was releasable so that the mullion could be re-
moved. In the prior art the heads of the bolts are very unsightly
on the front face of the mullion and additionally the fastening
means is not entirely satisfactory.
Accordingly the present invention has been devised with the
object of providing an improved mullion member whereby fastening
can be made without boltheads or the like being visible from the
outside of the door opening and whereby a better releasable con-
nection can be made to the top and bottom of the door opening.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a
mullion member for fitting between a pair of adjacent roller shut-
ter or roller curtain doors in a door opening, the mullion member
being of a suitable length and having opposed channels at opposite
sides each for slidably receiving the edge of the curtain of a res-
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pective roller shutter door, a portion bridgi~g the two channels,and behind the portion on the inside face of the mullion member
flange means extending substantially parallel with the outside
face of the mullion member defining a recess between the flange
means and the portion, in which a plate-like tongue member is
slidably receivable to slide longitudinally of the length of the
mullion member, and whereby means can be fastened to the flange
means to secure the tongue in the recess at one end of the mullion
member.
According to another aspect of the present invention there
may be provided a mullion member assembly for fitting between a
pair of adjacent roller shutter doors in a door opening, the
mullion member assembly comprising two substantially identical
cross section pieces, one piece being for fixing at the door open-
ing so as to extend downwardly from the top of the opening, the
other piece being of a length to fill the space between the bottom
of the one piece and the floor, of the door opening cross-section
of the mullion pieces having opposed channels at opposite sides
each of a size for slidably receiving the edge of a curtain of
a respective roller shutter door, a por-tion bridging the two
channels, and behind the portion, on the inside face of the
mullion member, flange mçans extending substantially parallel
with the outside face of the mullion member defining a recess
between the flange means and the portion, in which a plate-like
tongue member can be slidably received to slide in direction
along the length of the mullion member, means fastened to the
flange means in the other piece slidably securing the tongue in
the recess at the top thereof, locating means extending from the
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bottom of the other piece, all arranged whereby to enable the
other piece to be removably fastened to the one piece and in the
position in the door opening by engaging the locating means at the
bottom of the other piece with fastening means on the floor and
then by sliding the tongue into the corresponding recess in the
one piece.
Most preferably there is a mounting bracket for support-
ing axles of the adjacent roller shutter doors, in the channels,
in the one piece, and retained thereto in desired position by
fastening means fastened to the flange means.
In order that the invention can be more clearly ascertain-
ed a preferred construction will now be described with reference
to the accompanying drawings wherein:-
Figure 1 is a rear view of a door opening fitted withtwo adjacent roller shutter doors with a mullion member assembly
therebetween.
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line
2-2 of Figure 1 showing the detail of the ~ullion member.
Figure 3 is a rear view showing detail of locating and
fastening means at the bottom of the mullion member for holding
it to a floor.
Figure 4 is a side view of the view shown in Figure 3
taken along the line 4-4 therein.
Figure 5 is a close-up detail of the mullion member and
tongue means therein for engaging the one portion, and
Figure 6 is a side cross-sectional view taken along the
lines 6-6 of Figure 5.
Referring firstly to Figure 1 there is shown a door open-
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ing 1 and a mullion member assembly 3 therebetween. Two roller
shuttered doors 5 and 6 bridge the door opening 1. Door frame
means 7 are provided on each side of the opening for slidably
receiving the outer sides of the curtains of the roller shutter
doors 5 and 6. The section of the mullion assembly 3 is shown
in Figure 2 and comprises opposed channels 11 in which the edges
of the curtains of the roller shuttered doors 5 and 6 are receiv-
ed. The mullion member has a portion 13 bridging the two channels
11 and behind said portion 13 on the inside face of the mullion
member are two flange means 15 which define a recess 17 between
said flange means 15 and the bridging portion 13. The recess 17
receives a tongue member 19 so it can slide in a direction along
the length of the mullion member in the recess 17. The tongue 19
will be referred to later. The flange means 15 extends substan-
tially parallel with the outermost face of the mullion member.
The mullion member assembly 3 includes one piece 21 for
fixing at the door opening 1 so as to extend downwardly from the
top of the opening 1. The piece 21 can be of any desired length
provided it has sufficiant length to enable its uppermost end
to be fastened to frame means surrounding the opening 1 such as
by bolts passing into brickwork or the like or alternatively by
being boltèd directly onto the frame 7 which can be brought
around to extend across the top of the opening 1. The other piece
23 of the mullion member assembly 3 is desirably made of a stand-
ard length such as 7'6", which is the usual opening height of a
doorway. The position of the one piece 21 is selected to be
fastened so that the piece 23 can fit neatly thereunder and cen-
trally between the doors6 and 6.
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Referring now to Figures 3 and 4 there is shown a means
whereby the lower end of piece 23 can be fastened to the floor.
A plate member 25 of the width equal to the width between the re-
cess 17 and of a thickness e~ual to the depth of the recess 17 is
screwed to the bottom of the piece 23 so that a portion 27 extends
below the bottom of the piece 23. The plate 25 is screwed to the
piece 23 by screws 29 which pass through the flanges 15 and screw
into the plate 25. A further platle 31 is embedded into the floor
and held thereto by bolts 33 in thle floor. The plate 31 has a
slot 35 therein in which the portion 27 of the plate 25 can be
received.
The tongue 19 which is slidably received in the recess 17
is made from a piece of steel plate of a width equal to the width
between the channels 11 and of a thickness equal to the depth of
the recess 17. The tongue 19 is fastened to a bolt 43 which is
slidably retained to the piece 23 by a retaining member 45 which
has a generally "top hat" sectional shape. The side flanges 47 o~
retaining member 45 locate underneath flanges 15 in the recess 17.
Screws 49 hold the retaining member 45 to the piece 23 by passing
through the ~langes 15 and screw into the flanges 47. The bolt 43
has a handle 51 thereon for enabling manual movement of the tongue
19 up and down the recess 17 within limits defined by stops 53 and
55 provided in the position shown on the bolt 43 in Figures 5 and
6. The tongue 19 is in the extended position so that it extends
past the top 57 of the piece 23. Thus by inspecting Figures 5 and
6 it can be seen that in this position the tongue 19 extends into
the corresponding mating recess 17 in the piece 21 thus holding
piece 23 in place between the two doors 5 and 6. The rearmost
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flanges 61 which define part of the opposed channels 11 are cut,
in the piece 21, at regions 63 and bent rearwardly as shown in
Figure 6 so as to provide for a smooth entry of the curtain of
the doors 5 and 6 into the channels 11.
Thus, to remove the piece 23 from between the doors 5 and
6, the doors 5 and 6 are both raised fully, bolt 43 is moved
downwardly retracting the tongue 19 from the recess 17 in the
piece 21. The piece 23 is then swung either forwardly or back-
wardly and lifted so that the lower tongue 25 is removed from the
slot 35 in the floor.
A mounting bracket 100 for mounting axle supports of the
roller shutter doors 5 and 6 is fastened to the piece 21 at the
required height. Two mounting brackets 100 may be provided one
above the other if the heights of the roller shutter doors 5 and
6 are respectively at different floor heights. In each case the
mounting brackets 100 may be of identical construction. The
mounting brackets 100 comprise a plate member 101 which neatly
slidably fits into the recess 17 so as it can slide longitudinalIy
up and down the length of piece 21. The plate 101 has a right-
angle arm 103 extending therefrom which is suitably braced bywebs 105. The arm 103 has a width which enables it to pass
between the opposed channels 11 and between the flanges lS. It
then sweils outwardly to a greater width at its free end to pro-
vide a sufficient width for mounting of the axles thereto. The
mounting bracket 100 is secured to the piece 21 by bolts 109
which pass through the flanges 15 and are screwed into the plate
101 .
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A stop 110 for the roller shutter doors 5 and 6 is pro-
vided on the piece 21. The stop 110 has buffers 111 at each side
thereof which extend past the sides of the piece 21 so as to lo-
cate with lugs 113 which are an integral part of the bottom of
the roller shutter doors 5 and 6. The stop 110 is fitted to the
piece 21 by an angle bracket 115 with a downturned rear portion
117. A bracket 115 connects with a plate 120 which in turn is
of a size to be slidably received in the recess 17 in the same
manner as the supporting bracket 100 and the tongue 19. The
plate 120 is in turn fastened to the piece 21 by bolts 121 which
pass through the flanges 15 and screw into the plate 120.
It will be appreciated that the front face 130 of the
mullion member assembly 3 can have decorative grooves or pro-
trudences moulded thereon. Desirably the pieces 21 and 23 are
made from an extruded aluminium section.
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S UPPLEMENTAR~ :DI:S CLOS URE
A modification of the tongue 19' is shown in Figures 7
and 8.
The modified tongue 19' is slidably received in the re~
cess 17 and is made from a p~ece of metal such as aluminium or
steel plate of a ~dth equal to t:he width ~etween the channels
11 and o~ a thickness su~stantially equal to the depth of the
recess 17 so that it can slide therein along the length of the
mull~on.
The tongue 19' has a stepped upper portion 31 of a width
just narrower than the width between the sides o flanges 15 and
it has a hand gripping portion 33 at its lower end. The portion
33 is made by ~ending a planar ~lank of the tongue 19' so that
it extends at right angles from the plane of the major part of
the tongue 1~'.
The tongue 19' also has a cut-out 35 at one side thereof.
The cut-out 35 ;~s marg~nally longer in length than the intended
distance that the tongue 19~ is to extend past the end of the
piece 23 and of a depth sufficient to hold a compression spring
37 therein. The compress~on spr~ng 37 bears against the upper
end o~ the cut-out 35 at one end and against a retaining screw 39
screw thre~ded into the recess 17 t~rough one side of the channels
11 ~see Figs~ 2, 7 and 8) of piece 23. Thus the spring 37 acts
by its bias t~ push the tongue 19 t outwaxdly from the end of the
piece 23. The dimensioning of the cut-out 35 and the overall
length of the sprin~ 37, when compressed and the diameter of the
gru~ screw 39 are such that wh.en the tongue 19' is fully retracted,
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1163~4
the shoulders 41 of the stepped port;:on 31 are flush with the
top of the piece 23 thus leaving the stepped portion 31 exposed.
Th.erefoxe, when in this positon the portion 31 is in the recesses
17 of piece 21 and can fie removed therefrom by merely swinging
piece 23 away from piece 21, If t~e tongue 19' is released by an
operator th.bn it will extend to the position shown in Figures 7
and 8 by the act~on of thb spring 37 and thus it will secure the
piece 23 to piece 21 as the tongue 19' will then be positively
located behind the flanges 15 o~ portion 21. .
~o ~t will be apprec.~ated that the mullion member
described herei`n provides an easy "on site' installation as in
the construction proposed here~n, if the door opening height is
not precisel~ the` same as the mullion piece 23 (~ 7'6" -),
then that piece 23 can be s~mply cut to the required length -
preferably at the bottom ~ and the plate member 25 refitted. This
does not require special tool~ or sk~lls by the installer.
Similarly, the exact locatin~ position of the mounting
brackets 100 may be correctly positioned, on-site, so that the
axles of each of the roller shutter doors are correctly positioned
in height reIative to the floor and then the plate member 101
fastened at the correct position by the screws 109 passing through
suita~le holes which may then ~e drilled on-site in the flange 15.
Further the stops 110 can ~e suitably positioned on-site
by sliding the plate means 120 along the recess 17 to the required
position and then the plate means 120 fastened to the flanges 15
by the screw~ 121 paSS~ng throuqh sui~able holes which may then be
drilled ~n-s~te in the 1anges 15~
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Thus the height' adiustments of various components of the
assembly can be made'on-site with.'~ust a drill and without the
use of special tools or weIding equipment.
~ n each'case'the components of thQ assembly which are
slidably received ~n the recess :17 are pre-screw threaded to
recei've'th.e'respecti~e fastening screws wh~ch pass through the
flanges 15,
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