OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention refers to a new procedure for the manufacture of doors, specifically
for the manufacture of wooden doors, of the type structured using a rectangular perimeter
frame, coinciding with the perimeter of the door, to which two sheets of wood are
attached which enclose the hollow interior of the door.
[0002] The object of the invention is to allow the interior of the door to be filled with
polyurethane foam, to improve both the consistency and the insulation of the door,
and more specifically to obtain a perfect adhesion of the aforementioned foam to the
wooden structure.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
[0003] Although solid wooden doors exist, their high cost means that very frequent use is
also made of hollow wooden doors, made of a perimeter frame, with reinforcement or
thickening at the level where the lock is installed, with this frame allowing the
insertion of one or more cross-pieces and the door being completed in all cases with
a pair of thin wooden panels, generally of a thickness between 1 and 3 millimetres,
which constitute the visible faces of the door and which are interconnected by means
of the aforementioned frame, and, when installed, the intermediate cross-pieces.
[0004] The aforementioned wooden panels tend to become deformed, which is why use is generally
made of cellular cardboard structures, which fill the hollow interior of the door
and which act as connecting links affecting the whole surface of the exterior wooden
panels, preventing them from moving, and to which they are generally fixed using adhesive.
[0005] This solution is complicated and unsatisfactory, and it is much more practical to
fill the hollow interior of the door with polyurethane foam, as for example is done
in hollow metal panel doors.
[0006] Until now it has not been possible to use polyurethane foam in hollow wooden doors,
due to the fact that there is practically no adhesion between the polyurethane and
the wood, which means that the core of foam only acts as a means of contention against
forces which tend to deform the wooden panels of the door inwards, but allows the
free deformation of the same outwards, with frequent formation of "pockets", which
have a very negative repercussion on the aesthetics of the door, and make them practically
unacceptable.
[0007] This problem of lack of adhesion, which not only occurs between the polyurethane
foam and the panels or sheets of wood which correspond to the largest faces of the
door, but also with regard to the battens which configure the perimeter of the same
and which connect the aforementioned panels, is due to the fact that, during the machining
of all the wooden elements, a large quantity of dust is generated. A considerable
part of this dust remains incrusted on the surface of the wooden pieces, and when
the foam is applied it adheres to the dust and this dust then constitutes a barrier
between foam and wood, which prevents direct, solid fixing between these elements,
which would be necessary for the door to have the required mechanical consistency.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The procedure which the invention proposes allows the manufacture of hollow wooden
doors, filled with polyurethane foam, in optimum conditions of adherence of this foam
to the wood.
[0009] For this to occur, and more specifically, the aforementioned procedure consists of
introducing the constituent parts of the door, prior to assembly of the same, into
a vacuum chamber at a pressure sufficiently low to allow the absorption of the residual
dust which might have remained integrated in these wooden pieces.
[0010] Once the aforementioned pieces have been duly cleaned by the effect of the vacuum,
they are assembled to obtain the door, into which is injected the polyurethane foam,
by any suitable conventional means, achieving perfect adhesion of the foam to each
and every one of the wooden pieces, with optimum solidity or structural rigidity for
the door and its whole.
[0011] Logically, a door obtained with the invention procedure is a door with a wooden perimeter
frame, to which are suitably fixed two panels or sheets, also made of wood or synthetic
laminate, forming a flat, enclosed prismatic-rectangular receptacle, the interior
of which is wholly occupied by polyurethane foam.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS
[0012] To complement the description being made, and in order to assist with a greater understanding
of the characteristics of the invention, in accordance with a preferred example of
practical embodiment of the same, included as an integral part of the aforementioned
description is a set of diagrams in which, with illustrative and non-restrictive character,
the following has been represented:
Figure 1. ― Shows, according to a schematic representation in perspective, the basic
elements of a conventional, hollow wooden door, duly broken down into its parts.
Figure 2. ― Shows a cross-sectional detail of the door in the previous figure, duly
finished after the application of the invention procedure.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0013] In view of the described figures, and particularly figure 1, it can be observed that
the invention procedure is applicable to wooden doors formed of a framework consisting
of a perimeter surround or frame based on vertical posts (1) and horizontal crosspieces
(2), optionally assisted by intermediate crosspieces, not represented in the aforementioned
figure (1), generally with a substantial reinforcing block (3) at the level where
the lock is to be installed and to house the latter, with this framework (1-2) complemented
with a pair of panels or sheets of wood, wood fibre or synthetic laminates (4-4'),
of reduced thickness, interconnected via the framework itself (1-2) and forming the
largest visible faces of the door.
[0014] In accordance with this structuring, the invention procedure consists of subjecting
both the framework (1-2) and the panels or sheets (4-4'), inside a vacuum source,
to a pressure sufficiently low for all the residual dust which might impregnate these
pieces of wood to be separated from the same, with the latter remaining perfectly
clean, and in conditions where, after the assembly and fixing of the panels (4-4')
onto the framework (1-2), as shown in figure 2, the hollow interior of the door can
be filled with a mass of polyurethane foam (5). This foam fills the hollow interior
completely, adhering perfectly to the internal surfaces of the repeatedly aforementioned
wooden pieces, acting moreover as a connecting join between them, giving the door
as a whole a great structural solidity, with no appreciable increase in its weight,
as well as the insulation properties, both thermal and acoustic, inherent in the material
which constitutes its core, i.e. the polyurethane foam.
1. Procedure for manufacture of doors, specifically hollow wooden doors, of the type
constituted by means of a framework which configures a perimeter frame to which are
attached two panels or sheets, also of wood, wood fibre or synthetic laminates, forming
the visible faces of the door. The procedure is characterised because it consists of introducing the aforementioned wooden framework (1-2), either
in pieces or after assembly, together with the wooden panels or sheets (4-4') which
constitute the main faces of the door, inside a vacuum chamber where these pieces
of wood are subjected to a pressure sufficiently low to produce in the same the complete
removal of the residual wood dust which initially impregnated their surfaces. After
this vacuum cleaning phase, the wooden structure of the door is definitively assembled
and the hollow interior of the same filled with a mass (5) of polyurethane foam which
adheres closely to the corresponding surfaces of the framework (1-2) and the panels
or sheets (4-4').
2. A door obtained with the procedure in the first claim, characterised because it incorporates a framework which takes the form of a rectangular frame based
on a pair of vertical posts (1) and a pair of horizontal crosspieces (2), with one
of the vertical posts having a reinforcement (3) for insertion of a lock, and the
aforementioned framework (1-2) complemented with a pair of wooden sheets or panels
(4-4'), of reduced thickness, which are joined to each other with interposition of
the aforementioned surround or framework configuring a completely enclosed chamber
occupied by a mass of polyurethane foam (5) closely fixed to the internal surfaces
of the framework (1-2) and the panels or sheets (4-4').