ES3031689T3 - Railing equipped with a device for adjusting the height of the railing panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a handrail (100), comprising: - at least one panel (1), - a rail (3), configured to be fixed to the floor and having a housing (31) for the panel (1) when installed, - means (9) for fixing the panel (1) to the rail (3), characterized in that it further comprises a height adjustment device (7) for the panel (1), said device comprising: - a shoe (71), having: * an outer surface adjusted at least in sections to a bottom and vertical walls of the housing (31), so as to form a guide in vertical translation with the walls of the housing (31) of the rail (3) by pressing the outer surface on the vertical walls of the housing (31), * a support surface (11) for the panel (1) when installed, * a lateral hole (13), vertical and offset transversely with respect to the support surface (11) for the panel (1), passing through the shoe (71) and having a thread (17), * a screw (15), configured to be inserted into and pass through the side hole (13), and to cooperate with the thread (17) of the side hole (13). (Automatic translation with Google Translate, without legal value)

Description

DESCRIPTION

Handrail equipped with a handrail panel height adjustment device

Technical field

The present invention relates to the construction of railings with panels such as glass. In particular, the invention relates to the positioning of such a railing panel during the assembly of the railing. Railings, handrails, or balustrades are furnishings that are as practical as they are aesthetically pleasing. Panel railings are specifically known, which use a succession of vertical panels for their construction. Glass panels, generally tempered, stacked, and/or laminated, are primarily used.

Prior art

Structures that use a rail into which the lower edge of the panels is inserted are known. Fastening elements, such as wedges and shims, are inserted between the panels and the rails to secure the panel. Thus, the railing is largely transparent and can be easily integrated into an already decorated façade.

The panels that make up the railings are of considerable size and weight, and the different elements that make up the railing are delivered in kits, which a professional then installs on-site.

The attachment of these panels to the rail is also subject to a great deal of stress. Indeed, the panels should move little or not at all when subjected to stress at their free end, for example, due to wind or a person leaning on the railing.

Specifically, the deflection of the free end of the panels must generally remain below a limiting value for a given horizontal force per linear unit of railing. The exact values depend on local regulations.

In Europe, for example, a force of 100 kg per meter of railing is applied for fifteen minutes to the free end of the panels. This free end must then have a maximum displacement of less than 35 mm, and once relaxed, a final deviation from the initial position of less than 3 mm.

The rail, where the tensions exerted on the panel are concentrated, is therefore an element that fixes it to the support formed by the floor and provides a mechanical connection to the panel.

Adjusting the vertical position of the panels, both in height and horizontality, is important for the aesthetics of the railing. To maintain the continuity and horizontality of the railing panels, installers often use shims of variable height, placed under the panels.

These shims are then adjusted by replacing the shim with a different size, or by adjusting the shim's dimensions. The panel must then be lifted off the rail to access the shims.

The panels generally weigh several tens of kilograms per meter of railing. Vertical adjustment of the panel's position is also complicated and laborious. Furthermore, removing and handling the panels increases the risk of damaging one of the panels, which are generally made of fragile materials, such as glass or carved stone.

Therefore, a means of adjusting the height of the railing panels is necessary, in particular, without compromising the strength of the mechanical connection to the floor. This adjustment method must be simple and easy to use, and, specifically, minimize the need to manipulate the panels themselves.

Document EP2479357 describes a device for adjusting the height of a panel using a shoe and a screw.

Documents US2017/037653, US2018/002949 and FR3017909 describe means for fixing panels to a prior art rail.

However, these systems leave much to be desired.

Exposition of the invention

In order to respond to this need, the invention proposes a railing, which includes:

- at least one panel,

- a rail, configured to be fixed to a support and having a housing for the panel once installed, - means for fixing the panel to the rail,

- also including a device for adjusting the height of the panel, said device including

- a shoe, which presents:

* an outer surface fitted, at least in sections, to a bottom and vertical walls of the housing, so as to form a vertical translational guide with the walls of the rail housing by means of the outer surface resting on the vertical walls of the housing,

* a support surface for the panel once installed,

* a lateral hole, vertically and transversely offset with respect to the support surface of the panel, which passes through the footing and has a thread,

* a screw, configured to be inserted and pass through the side hole and to cooperate with the threading of the side hole.

By turning the screw, the railing installer moves the footing vertically, which guides its movement along the rail. The screw, due to the offset nature of the side hole, is accessible without removing the panel, simplifying height adjustment.

The footing can be made of plastic, possibly injection-moulded. In some applications, the footing can also be made of metal, or even a combination of several materials. The screw can be standard. The height adjustment device is therefore simple and inexpensive to manufacture and can be added to well-known and widely used railing assembly kits.

The height adjustment device may also include a nut, inserted into a horizontal slot and carrying the thread of the side hole.

Advantageously, the nut is made of metal. The threading is then more robust, and machining the shoe is further simplified.

If the base of the housing is rounded, the screw advantageously has a conical tip. This conical tip is then secured to the rail, strengthening the hold of the shoe and, therefore, the panel.

If the bottom of the rail is flat, the screw advantageously has a flat tip. This flat tip creates considerable friction, which strengthens the hold of the shoe and, therefore, the panel.

The rail may have a step on a vertical wall, and the shoe may have a projection, forming an upper stop that limits the upward stroke of the shoe.

The shoe may have, on the side opposite the side hole, an arm, the free end of which carries a finger, which, when the shoe supports the panel, rests against a substantially vertical wall of the housing. This arm and the finger support the shoe when it is subjected to the vertical forces of the screw and the weight of the panel. The shoe may include a stud on the side opposite the hole in the form of a vertical flange.

The shoe may include a stud crossed by the hole, with a horizontal protuberance, oriented towards the intended position of the panel and forming a support surface for the shoe on the panel.

This footing is particularly suitable for asymmetrical railings, with one side facing, for example, the void and therefore difficult to access.

The shoe may also include a lower recess, for example, in the support surface of the panel, forming a passage for a diode strip for illumination from the bottom of the panel.

The shoe can be made of plastic, possibly loaded, specifically, by injection.

Alternatively, the shoe can be made of metal, specifically aluminum.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Other features and advantages of the fixing according to the invention will become apparent upon reading the detailed description of the figures below, among which figures:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railing segment,

- Figure 2 is a perspective view from another angle of the railing segment,

- Figure 3 is a sectional view of the railing segment at the height of a panel fixing system, - Figure 4 is a sectional view of the railing segment at the height of a height adjustment device according to the invention,

- Figure 5 is a perspective view of the height adjustment device,

- Figure 6 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the height adjustment device, - Figure 7 is a perspective view of a handrail according to another embodiment,

- Figure 8 is a perspective view of the height adjustment device of the handrail in Figure 7.

The embodiments shown are provided as illustrative and non-limiting examples. Other embodiments may be derived directly from these through minor modifications.

Detailed description of the invention

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a segment of a railing 100. The railing 100 includes a panel 1, specifically made of glass, and in this case composed of two tempered glass panels stacked with a layer of plastic laminate between them. Alternatively, the panel 1 may be a panel of stone, laminated glass, tempered glass, or even simply metal.

Panel 1 is arranged vertically and forms the railing barrier when installed. Gravity, or at least the direction of the panel, provides a vertical axis, the length of the panel corresponds to a longitudinal direction of the railing 100, and the third direction, corresponding to the panel thickness, is considered transverse.

The lower edge of panel 1 is embedded in a lower rail 3. Rail 3 is made of a metal profile, specifically extruded. Rail 3 is made of aluminum, for example, and is fixed to the support, in this case the floor, for example by means of holes and masonry screws (not shown).

Joints 5, in particular flanged joints, are arranged between the upper edge of the rail 3 and the panel 1. These joints 5 hook or snap onto the upper edge of the rail 3, for example, and their flanges bear against the panel 1. These joints 5 form an aesthetic surface, ensuring the continuity of the visible outer surface, and also limit the penetration and accumulation of dust and moisture between the rail 3 and the panel 1.

The railing 100 of Figure 1 is cut longitudinally from a height adjustment device 7 of the panel 1 according to the invention.

In Figure 2, the railing segment 100 is seen in a three-quarter view from above, with the joints 5 removed for better visibility of the elements located on the rail 3.

The railing 100 has fixing means 9 of the panel 1 to the rail 3. The fixing means 9 represented in figure 2 are, for example, those described in document FR3096704, in the name of the applicant.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section at the height of the fixing means 9.

These fixing means 9 include wedges 91 and a cradle 93. The panel 1 rests on the cradle 93, the wedges 91 being arranged transversely on both sides of the panel 1, facing each other. The screws 95 or other tightening means, when tightened, bring the wedges 91 closer to the cradle 93. In doing so, a transverse pinching force is exerted on the panel 1 due to the upwardly splayed shape of the rail 3 and the wedges 91.

Other fixing means 9 are also possible: clamps, guides, etc., as are known in the state of the art.

Both the fixing means 9 and the height adjustment device 7 are arranged and contained in a housing 31 of the rail 3, into which the lower part of the panel 1 is also inserted.

The fixing means 9 and the height adjustment device 7 are displaced longitudinally, and both fit with the panel 1.

The height adjustment device 7 is best seen in Figure 4, which shows the handrail in cross-sectional view, at the longitudinal level of the height adjustment device 7.

The height adjustment device 7 is also shown in perspective outside the rail 3 in Figure 5.

The height adjustment device 7 includes a shoe 71. The shoe 71 is specifically made of plastic, such as polyethylene, particularly high or very high density (HDPE). It can be manufactured by molding and packaged and sold with the railing construction kit 100.

Depending on the expected weight of the panels 3, specifically when they are thick and heavy, the shoe 71 can be made of other materials: metal and, specifically, aluminum, resin or composite material, etc. Specifically, the shoe 71 can be made of various materials, with support parts made of metal or a more resistant material, and deformation parts made of flexible plastic to allow insertion into the rail 1.

The shoe 71 has an outer surface adjusted in sections to the bottom and to the vertical walls of the housing 31 of the rail 1, so that it forms a vertical translation guide with said vertical walls of the housing 31 of the rail 1 by means of the outer surface resting on the vertical walls of the housing 31, specifically on both sides of the shoe 71, allowing translational guidance during vertical movements.

In the embodiment of Figure 4, the shoe 71 is generally U-shaped, corresponding to the rounded bottom of the housing 31 of the rail 1. The bottom of the U is delimited in this case by a support surface 11 for the panel 1. This support surface 11 is flat, and the panel 1 rests on its edge once installed.

The vertical arm of the U-shaped shoe 71 on the left of Figure 4 forms a projection including a lateral hole 13, vertically and transversely offset with respect to the support surface 11 of the panel 1. A screw 15 passes through the hole 13 and cooperates with the internal threading of the hole 13.

Specifically, the total length of screw 15 is greater than the length of hole 13.

The vertical arm of the U-shaped shoe 71 on the left of Figure 4 forms a projection including a lateral hole 13, vertically and transversely offset with respect to the support surface 11 of the panel 1. A screw 15 passes through the hole 13 and cooperates with the internal threading of the hole 13.

According to the particular embodiment of figures 1 to 5, the thread is carried by a metal nut 17, inserted into a horizontal slot of the shoe 71. In this case, the nut 17 is parallelepiped and fits into the slot 19. The nut has a thread that complements the thread of the screw 15.

The vertical arm of the U of the shoe 71 on the right in figure 4, on the side opposite the hole 13, carries at its free end a finger 21 that points transversely towards the outside of the shoe 71. The finger 21, when the shoe 71 carries the panel 1, rests against a vertical wall of the housing 31 of the rail 3.

By providing support in this way, the finger 21 and the arm form a power take-off, which reinforces the hold of the panel 1. This shape allows material to be removed, which lightens the shoe 71 and reduces its cost, while increasing its deformability for better insertion.

Screw 15 is made specifically of a material such as chrome steel, specifically harder than the material of rail 3, in this case aluminum.

The screw 15 has a conical tip, entering, when the panel 1 is raised and resting against the shoe 71, into force with the rail 3, fixing itself in the softer material of the rail 3. In this way, any inclination or translation is avoided, or at least greater efforts will be required to move the panel 1.

The rail 3 has a step 23, and the shoe has a stop projection 25, forming an upper stop that limits the upward stroke of the shoe 71 by pressure on the stop projection 25. Therefore, the total stroke of the shoe 71 is delimited by the bottom of the housing 31 downwards, and by the step 23 upwards.

The shoe 71 also has a lower recess 27, made in the form of a recess in the outer surface of the bottom of the U. The lower recess 27 increases the compressive deformability of the shoe 71, and forms a longitudinal passage for a band of light emitting diodes, for illumination from the bottom of the panel 1.

The deformability of the shoe 71 allows it to be introduced from above, overcoming the step 23. However, if said shoe 71 is made of a material that is not very elastically deformable, it can always be introduced through the open side of the housings 31 of the rails 1.

The height adjustment device 7 according to the invention is compact and easy to install. The height is adjusted by turning screw 15, which is accessible from the transverse side of panel 1, until it protrudes from hole 13 in the lower part, which will cause shoe 71, and therefore panel 1, to rise and rest on it. In this way, panel 1 can remain in place on rail 3, and it is not necessary to move it each time it is adjusted.

By placing two height adjusting devices 7 at each longitudinal end of a panel 1, it is then possible to simply adjust the total height of the panel 1 by acting simultaneously on both height adjusting devices 7, as well as the orientation in the plane of the panel 1 by acting on only one of the two height adjusting devices 7.

Figure 6 shows an alternative version of the height adjustment device 7.

In this embodiment, the lower recess 27 is arranged at the bottom of the U formed by the shoe 71, at the level of the support surface 11, said support surface 11 being separated into two by the lower recess 27.

When a diode strip or other lighting device is inserted into the lower recess 27, this diode strip is placed against the lower edge of the panel 1, without interrupting this contact, unlike the embodiment of Figure 5.

In the embodiments discussed in relation to the previous figures, the arrangement of the rail 3 and the panel 1 is relatively symmetrical: the panel 1 is, transversely, in the center of the housing 31 of the rail 1, and an opening is present on each side of the panel 1, allowing access with a tool, for example, such as a screwdriver, on both sides in an indifferent manner. The fixing elements 9 of the panel 1 exert symmetrical forces, with a substantially symmetrical arrangement.

However, it's also common to install 100 railings at the end of a tile or in front of a void. These 100 railings no longer need to be accessible from both sides, so their design is highly asymmetrical.

An asymmetrical handrail 100 of this type is shown in Figure 7. The associated height adjustment device 7 is shown separately in Figure 8.

Specifically, panel 1 of railing 100 in Figure 6 is eccentric to the right of Figure 6 in housing 31 of rail 1. In particular, the separation between panel 1 and the vertical wall of rail 3 on the right in Figure 6 is minimal, and corresponds to the thickness of gasket 5, which is compressed by panel 1 against said vertical wall.

Specifically, the fixing means 9 (not shown) then include a single wedge 91, arranged facing the inaccessible side, therefore on the left in Figure 7, which presses the panel 1 against the vertical wall of the rail 3. The shoe 71 is generally U-shaped, with a flat bottom, corresponding to the flat bottom of the housing 31 of the rail 3, a left upright 73 through which the hole 13 passes, and a right upright of reduced size, specifically limited to a single vertical flange 75.

The vertical flange 75 is arranged, when the railing 100 is mounted, between the vertical wall of the housing 31 of the rail 3 and the panel 1, on the empty side and which is supposed to be inaccessible (on the right in Figure 6).

The upright 73 through which the hole 13 passes has a horizontal protuberance 77, oriented towards the expected position of the panel 1. The horizontal protuberance 77 forms a support surface for the shoe 71 on the panel 1, which helps to hold the panel 1 against the vertical wall of the rail 3 by compression and tightening. The width of this horizontal protuberance 77 can be adapted to the panel 1 and its thickness, thus reinforcing the hold of said panel 1.

Also in this case, the screw 15 has a conical tip that is inserted into the flat bottom of the housing 31 of the rail 3. In this way, a longitudinal translation effect by rolling on the screw 15 is avoided when said screw 15 is turned to adjust the height of the panel 1.

This minimizes the space and openings for water and dust infiltration and accumulation on the vacuum side, and all handling elements (wedges, screws, etc.) are located on the accessible side. This simplified operation is achieved.

Claims (10)

1. Railing, including: - at least one panel (1), - a rail (3), configured to be fixed to a support and having a housing (31) for the panel (1) once installed, - means for fixing (9) the panel (1) to the rail (3), also including a height adjustment device (7) of the panel (1), said device including - a shoe (71), which has: a support surface (11) for the panel (1) once installed; a side hole (13), vertically and transversely offset with respect to the support surface (11) of the panel (1), passing through the shoe (71) and having a thread (17); a screw (15), configured to be inserted and pass through the side hole (13) and to cooperate with the thread (17) of the side hole (13); characterized in that the shoe (71) also has: an outer surface adjusted, at least in sections, to a bottom and vertical walls of the housing (31), so that it forms a guide in vertical translation with the walls of the housing (31) of the rail (3) by means of the support of said outer surface on the vertical walls of the housing (31). 2. Railing according to claim 1, characterized in that the height adjustment device (7) comprises a nut (17), inserted in a horizontal slot (19), which carries the threading of the side hole (13). 3. Railing according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the screw (15) has a conical tip. 4. Railing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rail (3) has a step (23) on a vertical wall, and the shoe (71) has a projection, forming an upper stop that limits the upward stroke of the shoe (71). 5. Railing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shoe (71) has, on the side opposite the lateral hole (13), an arm, which carries a finger (21) at its free end, which, when the shoe (71) carries the panel (1), rests against a substantially vertical wall of the housing of the housing (31). 6. Railing according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the shoe (71) includes a post on the side opposite the hole (13) in the form of a vertical rim (75). 7. Railing according to claim 6, characterized in that the shoe (71) includes a post (73) through which the hole (13) passes, which has a horizontal protuberance (77) whose thickness is adapted to the thickness of the panel (1), oriented towards the intended position of the panel (1) and which forms a support surface for the shoe (71) on the panel (1). 8. Railing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shoe includes a lower recess (27) in the support surface (11) for the panel. 9. Railing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shoe (71) is made of plastic. 10. Railing according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the shoe (71) is made of aluminum.