Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
F:LELr~ Ol;` T~ . INVENTION
~ I'he present inverltion relates to qlass panel
structures for moulltincJ in window frames, door frames or
the like.
S BACKGROUND OF TEIE INVENTION
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Glass panel structures of the glazed type
include two or more glass panes spaced apart from one
another by a spacer to provide an air space -therebetween
which acts as an insulator against heat and cold. These
glass panes are mounted in a framework which is rigidly
connectèd to the peripheral edges of the glass to form an
unitary glass panel which is fixed, hinged or slidable in
a door frame, window frame or the like. However, should
one, or both, glass panes become defective or broken, the
entire glass panel unit must be scrapped since the frame-
work is so mounted to the glass panes that i-t cannot be
dismantled for use in association with other glass panes.
One eAxample of such conventional structure may be found
described in applicant's Belgium patent No. 861,815
20 issued March 31, 1978, in which a monoblock structure is
disclosed as including a framework consisting of perma-
nently attached metallic members which are sealed to the
Guter marginal edges of the glass panes, and a series of
border elements made of plastics material surrounding the
metallic members.
OBJECT AND STATEMENT OF TEIE INVENTION
-
It is an object of this invention to provide a
glass panel structure for use in a window or door frame,
whether sliding, hinged or fixed, wherein a series of
border elements formed of rigid vinyl plastics material
are peripherally sealed to the outer marginal edges of
the glass panes -to form a self-contained glass pane unit
and wherein at least -the two opposite vertical sides of
the unit consist of metallic members which are interlock-
ingly engaged with its corresponding border element sothat, should the glass pane unit become defective, the
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metallic members can be manually removed and mounted on a
similarly constructed glass pane unit or should the
metallic members themselves become defective, a new set
of members may be installed to the pane unit.
The present invention therefore provides a
glass panel structure for use in a window or door frame
comprising: a hermetically sealed panel consisting of at
least a pair of glass panes arranged in spaced parallel
relationship and of a spacer disposed between the inner
marginal edges of the panes and sealingly connected
thereto to form a self-contained glass pane unit; a
series of border elements, formed of rigid vinyl plastics
material, peripherally extending about the self-contained
glass pane unit, the border elements being firmly attach-
ed to at least one of the glass panes along the outermarginal edge thereof; and a metallic member extending at
least along the two opposite vertical sides of the pane
unit, each metallic member being interlockingly engaged
with a corresponding border element to form a structural
unit with the glass panes, each metallic member being
manually removable from the border element for substi-
tution purposes.
In one preferred form of the invention, the
engagement and disengagement of the metallic members onto
` 25 and from the border elements may be accomplished by a
snap-in engagement between cooperating means on the
engaging faces of the metallic members and of the border
elements.
In another form of the invention, engagement
and disengagement are accomplished by relative longitudi-
nal sliding movements of the metallic members to the
border elements.
Other objects and scope of applicability of the
present invention will become apparent from the detailed
description given hereinafter; it should be understood,
however, that this description, while indicating pre-
~erred embodinlents of the invention, is given by way ofillustration only, since various changes and modifi-
cations within the spirit and scope of the invention will
become apparent to -those skilled in the art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TI~E DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a cross-sec-tional elevation view of
a glass panel structure made in accordance wi-th the
present invention in the form of a hingedly mounted
window or door structure;
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional elevational view
of another embodiment of the present invention in the
form of a sliding window or door; and
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of
another embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
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Generally, the present invention xelates to all
kinds of window or door structures whether they are
hingedly mounted, slidably mounted or fixedly mounted to
a window or door frame; hence, the windows or doors given
in the following description are only illustrative.
Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a glass
panel structure, generally defined as 10, which is the
type of struc-ture which can be hingedly mounted to a
window or door frame 12. The structure of -the window or
door frame 12 not being an esser,tial part of the present
invention, a detailed description will not be given;
however, it can be seen that the glass panel structure 10
is isolated from the frame 12 by means of a series of
weatherstrips 14,16,18 and 20.
The glass panel structure 10 comprises a self-
contained glass pane unit 22 which consists of a pair of
glass panes 24,26 arranged in spaced parallel relation-
ship to one another and of a spacer 28 which is disposed
between the inner marginal edges of -the panes. Spacer 28
is hollow and con-tains a weather desiccant 30 which is in
communication with the air space between panes 24 and 26
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by meclns of a suitable opening such as slit 32. One
method of securing the spacer 28 to the inner maryinal
edges of the glass panes is described in applicant's
Canadian patent No. 833,267 issued February 3, 1970 or in
applicant's Canadian patent No. 939,560 issued January 8,
197~, which method consists in applying a weather sealant
between the two components, such as a high molecular
weight hydrocarbon polymer produced by polymerizing iso-
butylene. This dual pane glass unit 22 is self~contained
in that it does not require an independent surrounding
framework or sash for purpose of retaining and supporting
the panes and giving rigidity to the structure.
A series of border elements peripherally extend
about the self-contained glass pane unit 22. The border
elements are formed of a rigid vinyl plastics material,
such as a polyvinyl chloride known under the trademark
GEON. These border elements are firmly attached to the
glass panes; in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1
and 3, the border elements are shown sealed to the glass
panes whereas the border elements illustrated in Figure 2
are provided with a series of pane-engaging longitudinal
ridge projections on the inner faces of their upstanding
arm portions. Although not shown, a combination of both,
ridge projections and selant, is also possible.
An important feature of the present invention
is that metallic members are provided in covering engage-
ment with at least some of the border elements, the
latter thus acting as an intermediate joining member
between the glass panes and the metal; each metallic
member thus forms a structural unit with the glass panes
resulting in a sturdy assembly. In its simplest form, a
window unit could only be made with the opposite vertical
sides being covered with such metallic members; in other
words, in some cases, the horizontal borders of a window
unit would be formed of plastic extrusions only. How-
ever, in most preferred forms, all four borders of the
gl.ass unit w~ L .incLucie p.~astic borcler elements covered
with metalli.c members.
't'he borcier elements and their associated
metallic members are so shaped so as to engage one
another -to provide a solid interlock when in engagement
with one another; on the other hand they must also be so
shaped as to facilitate manual. remova] from one another
when it is wished to disengage them by reason of a broken
glass pane unit or of a defective metallic member. The
following description gives various forms of inter-
engagement between border el.ements and metallic members.
In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 the
border element is I.-shaped with one upstanding portion 36
extending longi-tudinally along the outer marginal edge of
glass pane 24 and a second horizontal portion 38 extend-
ing longitudinally adjacent the peripheral edges of glass
panes 24,26. The border element 34 is sealingly joined
to the unit 22 by means of an impervious sealant 3g such
as a polysulphide polymer, which i.s laid between the
outer marginal edge of glass pane 24 and the border
element portions 36,38. Portion 38 has two longitudinal
projections 40 and 42 in alignment with the peripheral
edges of the glass panes.
Extending over and engaged with the border
element 34 i.s a metallic membe:r 44 which includes -two
sections 46 48 which are separated :Erom one another by
means of an insulating material 50 such as a solid
urethane. Section 46 of the metallic member has an
upstanding side portion with a flanged extremity 52 which
fits in a correspondingly-shaped groove formed in the
upper part of the border element portion 36. Border
element 34 being made of plastic material, engagement and
disengagement of the metallic member to and from the
border element can be effected by a snap-in or snap-out
pivotal movement of the metallic member 44 relative to
the glass pane unit 22. The other section 48 of the
metallic membel^ has a tongue 54 which fits in a corre-
spondingly-shaped groove of a flexible gasket 56 which is
applied agains-t the outer margina] edge of glass pane 26.
One sui-table material for gasket 56 is neoprene.
In -this particular embodiment, should the glass
pane uni-t 22 OL the border elements 34 become damaged,
defective or broken, the other components may still be
used by manually pivoting outwardly the metallic member
from -the border element whereby tongue 52 may be disen-
gaged from the groove of the border element.
Referring to Fig. 2, there is shown another
embodiment of the present invention, in the case of a
sliding door or window 60 mounted in an appropriate
surrounding frame 62. Only one sliding window is shown;
however, it is well known that there are usually two or
more of these units 60 mounted in such a Erame. The
glass panel structure includes a self-contained unit 64
with glass panes 66,68 and spacer 70 of identical con-
struction to the glass panel unit 22 shown in Fig. 1. A
series of border elements 72 peripherally extending about
the outer marginal edges of glass panes 66,68. The
border elements 72 are made of the same material as
border elements 34 of Fig. l; however, in the present
example, each element is U-shaped with two upstanding
side portions 74,76 interconnected by means oE web
portion 78. The inner faces of the upstanding arm
portions of the border elements are provided with a
series of parallel longitudinal ridge projections which
serve to grasp the marginal edges of the glass panes
66,68. In covering arrangement over the border elements
72 is a series of metallic members 82, again formed of
two sections 84,86 interconnected by means of a rigid
insulating material 88 similar to material 50 of Fig. l.
Each metallic member has two upstanding portions 90,92 in
engagement with the outer face of side portions 74,76 of
the border elements. In this embodiment, the inner faces
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of the metallic members and the outer faces of the border
eleMents have coopera-tive loncJitudinal ridges and grooves
which tightly engage one another. Hence, in this embodi-
ment, the engagemen-t and disengagement of a metallic
member to and from its associated border element is
effected by a lengthwise sliding movement of the metallic
member relative to the border element.
Referring to Fig. 3, there is shown another
embodiment of the present invention which in this case
could be the two ~amb portions of the sliding window or
door of Figure 2. Border elements 100 are sealingly
attached to a glass pane unit 101, similar to units 22
and 64 of Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. In this case, the
border elements 100 have a U-shape with a web portion 102
15 and two side portions 104,106, the side portions being
sealed to the outer marginal edges of the glass panes by
means of a sealant 108 similar to sealant 39 of Fig. 1.
In covering engagement with the border elements 100 are
metallic members 110 which are formed of two sections
20 116,118 interconnected by means of an insulating material
120, similar to elements 50 and 88 of Figs. 1 and 2,
respectively. In this embodiment, the insulated metallic
sections 116,118 have, at each extremity thereof,
inwardly turned flanges 122,124 which are respectively
engagedly received in correspondingly shaped grooves
extending in the upper portions 126,128 of each border
element.
In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3, the
removal of a metallic member from its border element is
similar to that in Fig. 2, i.e. by a lengthwise sliding
movement.
It will be evident that there are many con-
figurations which can be given to metallic member or to
its means of engagement to the border element sealingly
attached to the glass panes unit. It is therefore wished
to have it unders-tood, that the present invention should
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not be limited in interpretation except by the terms of
the following claims.
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