Suspension and slide system for sliding panels

Abstract

 A suspension and slide system for sliding panels consisting of a slide track (1) provided on the opposite side to the working side with a C-shaped guide (5) within which longitudinal members can be slidingly housed and fixed in a suitable position to form with said track a slot able to receive hook elements (14,17) to be fixed to the ceiling or others to be fixed to the wall, together with locking elements, said C-shaped guide (5) also receiving elements (22) provided with seats (21) into which profiles (20) projecting inwards from lateral cover elements (18) are snap-inserted, the working side of said track comprising known guides (2) for receiving known carriages (3) connected to the sliding panels (4) by the adjustable insertion of a plate (22) into a slit (24) formed within the body of the panel (4).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a suspension and slide system for sliding panels.

[0002] There is an ever increasing use, as furnishing or partition elements, of sliding panels suspended from guide elements fixed to the wall or ceiling, such that the panels can slide in order to act as enclosures for spaces or mobile walls for defining determined areas in apartments, shops or exhibitions, or for any other purpose.

[0003] These sliding elements either slide while remaining permanently in their original plane or, in those cases in which they consist of slats hinged to each other to form a panel, they slide while rotating about their longitudinal axis to form a sort of bellows opening and closure structure.

[0004] With these constructions, and using currently known means, it is particularly laborious to fix the slide bar to the ceiling or walls and to connect the sliding panels to the carriages housed in the slide track, both because of limited space and because the slide track has to be covered, at least on its exposed faces, by cover elements which hide it from view by forming a false beam of pleasant appearance.

[0005] Various means have so far been devised for suspending the sliding panels from the carriages and for fixing the guide rail to the ceiling or wall, but none of these has proved completely satisfactory because of the difficulties involved in assembling the track on the ceiling or wall and of assembling the decorative track covering elements, which need to be adapted in order to satisfy practical assembly requirements, and once assembled are very difficult to remove when maintenance on the sliding panels and on their slide system is required.

[0006] The object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks by providing a slide system for panels which can be fixed to a ceiling or wall at choice, and of which all the component parts can be easily assembled and disassembled.

[0007] This object is attained according to the invention by a suspension and slide system for sliding panels, characterised by consisting of a slide track provided on the opposite side to the working side with a C-shaped guide within which longitudinal members can be slidingly housed and fixed in a suitable position to form with said track a slot able to receive hook elements to be fixed to the ceiling or others to be fixed to the wall, together with locking elements, said C-shaped guide also receiving elements provided with seats into which profiles projecting inwards from lateral cover elements are snap-inserted, the working side of said track comprising known guides for receiving known carriages connected to the sliding panels by the adjustable insertion of a plate into a slit formed within the body of the panel.

[0008] These and further characteristics will be more apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a partly exploded perspective view of the suspension and slide system with elements for connection to the ceiling;

Figure 2 is a view analogous to the preceding showing a suspension and slide system for connection to a wall;

Figure 3 shows the method for connecting the system in the case of multi-path tracks.

[0009] With reference to said figures the system of the present invention comprises a track indicated overall by 1 and provided on its working side with rail-shaped guides 2 for receiving a carriage indicated overall by 3 and associated with the sliding panels 4. On the opposite side to the working side the track 1 has a C-shaped section, indicated on the drawing by 5, into which various service elements can be slidingly inserted.

[0010] For example, to suspend the track 1, blocks 6 can be applied to the track 1, with counter-blocks inserted into the C-shaped guide, so that the blocks and counter-blocks embrace the edges 7 of the C-shaped guide both internally and externally and can be clamped against a plate inserted into the guide 5 by screws 8 which at the same time connect the blocks 6 of the longitudinal members 9, which hence form a slot with the upper side of the track 1.

[0011] A plate element 10 comprising on opposite sides of its central region sunken parts 11 with their ends turned to form a hook 12 can be fixed to the ceiling by any means, such as an expansion plug, the screw of which passes through the slot 13.

[0012] Between the ceiling and the sunken regions 11 there is therefore a space created into which there can be inserted the end of a C-shaped connection element 14, the lower face 15 of which comprises a hook-turned portion 16 of such a size as to be able to be inserted through the slot formed between the longitudinal member 9 and the track 1 and to accommodate the longitudinal member 9 in the seat formed by its part 15 without it being able to escape because of the hook portion 16.

[0013] Another hook element 17 of the same shape as the element 14 can be inserted from the other side to embrace the region 11 and the slot between the longitudinal member 9 and track 1, to hence complete the fixing of the track 1 to the ceiling, it remaining in position because of its own weight and, later, the weight of the sliding panels to be associated with it, without any possibility of disengagement because of the hook-shaped portions 12 and 16.

[0014] A plurality of longitudinal members 9 can be provided along the entire length of the track 1, together with suspension hooks 10 in either the same or a greater number, according to the particular assembly requirements.

[0015] It will be apparent that using this assembly method the track 1 can be mounted with considerable ease and that the reverse removal operation is very simple.

[0016] The lateral cover elements for the track 1 used in the system according to the invention are lateral cover strips 18, the purpose of which is to hide the track mechanisms. To connect these strips to the track 1, they comprise on their inner face an inwardly projecting profile 19 terminating with an enlarged head 20 which can be inserted into gripping seats 21 arranged on a block indicated overall by 22 and preferably of plastics material such as nylon, which is slid into the guide 5 and can comprise several grippers 21 into which the head 20 of the profile associated with the strips 18 is snap-inserted, to connect the strips 18 to the track 1 in a simple and easily removable manner. As can be seen from Figure 1, the carriage 3 is traditional in shape and comprises two or more pairs of wheels, generally four, associated with a frame 22. According to the invention, this frame simply consists of a plate comprising an inclined slot 23, the plate 22 being inserted into a slit 24 formed within the body of the panels 4 at their top. The panel 4 is traversed by a screw 25 and nut 26, the shank of the screw passing through the slot 23, so that the height of the panel 4 can be adjusted by moving the plate by virtue of the inclined elongate slot 23.

[0017] The ease with which the panel 4 can be mounted on and removed from each suspension carriage 3 is apparent.

[0018] With the described system it is very simple to fix the track 1 to a wall, as shown in Figure 2.

[0019] For this, it is necessary merely to provide an elongate slot 27 in the longitudinal member 9 so that the track can be suspended from a hook, indicated overall by 28, comprising a part to be fixed to the wall by a plug passing through an aperture 29, and bent at a right angle at 30, with the end 31 bent to form a hook, and provided with a hole 32, which can be threaded to receive a screw 33 which when the longitudinal member has been placed on the right-angled part 30 is passed through the slot 27 to securely fix the track 1 to the hook 28. A spacer element 34 can be applied to the side of the track 1 by any means.

[0020] If multi-path tracks are to be used, the system according to the invention comprises the necessary number of tracks 1 placed side by side and joined together as shown in Figure 3, which relates to a three-path system. As can be seen, a plate 35 connects the various tracks together by means of screws 37, which are screwed into a like number of backing plates inserted into the C-shaped guide 5. The three tracks are connected together by tightening the screws. As many plates 37 as are necessary can be used.

[0021] Longitudinal members 9 are required only on the outer tracks, the plates 10a for fixing to the ceiling then being of greater length, equal approximately to the width of the side-by-side tracks. In this case the hooks 17 are used in pairs, one pair for each lateral track.

[0022] If each panel 4 is required to be able to rotate with respect to its carriage 3, that part of the plate 22 connected to the panel 4 and that part connected to the actual carriage are made rotatable relative to each other, or alternatively the panel 4 can be connected to the carriage 3 by any other known means suitable for the purpose. A preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, however modifications can be made thereto but without leaving the scope of the inventive idea.

Claims

1. A suspension and slide system for sliding panels, characterised by consisting of a slide track provided on the opposite side to the working side with a C-shaped guide within which longitudinal members can be slidingly housed and fixed in a suitable position to form with said track a slot able to receive hook elements to be fixed to the ceiling or others to be fixed to the wall, together with locking elements, said C-shaped guide also receiving elements provided with seats into which profiles projecting inwards from lateral cover elements are snap-inserted, the working side of said track comprising known guides for receiving known carriages connected to the sliding panels by the adjustable insertion of a plate into a slit formed within the body of the panel.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said longitudinal members are fixed to the track by pairs of blocks, of which one is inserted into said C-shaped guide and the other lies external thereto, they being clamped together and to said longitudinal member by screws which pass through said longitudinal member and said blocks.

3. A system as claimed in the preceding claims, characterised in that said hook elements consist of a plate to be fixed to the ceiling and comprising two regions sunken below its central part, the sunken regions accommodating one of the sides of hooks of C-shaped section which embrace said plate and the longitudinal members connected to the track, said hooks being introduced one from one side and the other from the opposite side of said track.

4. A system as claimed in the preceding claims, characterised in that said lateral cover elements comprise an inwardly projecting profile with an enlarged head which is snap-inserted into grippers supported by blocks, preferably of plastics material, slid into said C-shaped guide.

5. A system as claimed in the preceding claims, characterised in that each carriage consists of one or more pairs of wheels associated with a plate having an elongate oblique aperture, said plate being insertable at one end into a slit formed in the body of each sliding panel and being fixed to this latter by a transverse screw which passes through said panel and said elongate oblique aperture.

Drawing