GLAZING SYSTEM

The invention relates to a glazing system for implementation of a turnable glazing for covering openings formed in a structure, particularly the balcony or a corresponding coating in a building, wherein the glazing comprises at least two movable transparent panes, usually of glass, placed one after the other and arranged to be tarned and locked at a desired angle towards the plane of the glazing. Most common openings of the above-mentioned kind are open wall openings in balconies.

In solutions of prior art, a tumable glazing is provided e.g. by various arrangements with guide bars, slide members and hinge pivots. Finnish Patent No. 84645 discloses a glazing method consisting of guide arrangements which comprise elongated upper and lower guide bars with profiled form and are fixed to the horizontal edges of a balcony opening. A pivoting and guiding mechanism is arranged substantially inside the upper guide, each pivoting and guiding element comprising three slide members, preferably wheels, for allowing the horizontal movement of the pivoting and guiding element supported by the upper guide, and a vertical hinge pivot rotatable around its longitudinal axis for turning the pane. Further, the pivoting and guiding mechanism is provided with a locking arrangement for locking the pane in a desired position. At the lower edge of the hinge pivot, an installation moulding is provided, having a fixing groove where the pane is further fixed e.g. with a rivet or the like penetrating through the pane and the installation moulding. The installation moulding has an elongated cross-section, whereby the hinge pivot and the pane are placed at its ends in alignment in the vertical direction, slightly apart from each other. Furthermore, the glazing system comprises an arrangement of the above-described type in connection with the lower guide, however with the difference that the slide member arrangement does not comprise wheels but only a member guiding the movement of the pane. The installation moulding is slightly different from that provided in connection with the upper guide, primarily due to sealing arrangements.

The solution described above is functional as such, but it is rather complicated. The three slide members each require a slide plane for their own profile form, which in turn increases the cross-sectional size of the profile structure. Large guide arrangements affect not only the appearance of the glazing but also the illuminance of the balcony by reducing the light opening formed of free glass surface. A decisive factor is also the shape of the installation mouldings. Said complication will also increase the risk of damaging the system. The glazing system will require two different installation mouldings.

The purpose of this invention is to present a glazing system for allowing a decisive improvement in the size of the light opening and for increasing the illuminance of the balcony by reducing the total cross-sectional size of the upper guide, lower guide and the installation mouldings. For achieving these aims, the glazing system of the invention is primarily characterized in what is presented in the characterizing part of the claim 1. The invention features primarily a novel shape of an installation moulding, whereby the position of the hinge pivot and the pane fixing groove in relation to each other is changed with regard to the prior art so that they are placed at least partly in parallel.

The solutions according to the invention and particularly related to the installation moulding provide also other advantages in addition to the enlarged light opening. For the pivoting and guiding element provided in the upper guide, only one slide means will be required, and a fully identical installation moulding can be used at both the upper and lower edges of the pane. Moreover, considerable advantages will be provided with regard to the appearance of the balcony glazing, because in addition to the fact that the means required for installing the panes are smaller in the glazing system according to the invention than previously, also the means for fixing the pane to the installation moulding are left out of sight, at least inside of the balcony. Protection of the hinge pivot e.g. from rain can be arranged more effectively than in the solutions of prior art.

In the following specification, the invention will be described in detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which

Fig. 1

is a cross-sectional view of the glazing system according to the invention, and

Fig. 2

is a cross-sectional view of a detail of the glazing system.

The glazing system of the invention comprises:

• a glazing formed of panes 3 (e.g. sheets of glass or plastic material),
• a guide arrangement J, which in the advantageous embodiment shown in Fig. 1 comprises an elongated upper guide 1 fixed at the upper edge of the balcony opening and being substantially parallel to the upper edge, and an elongated lower guide 2 fixed at the lower edge or e.g. at the protective wall of the balcony and being substantially parallel to the lower edge or the protective wall, wherein the protective wall is usually a balcony railing manufactured of concrete, metal or a corresponding material,
• a pivoting and guiding mechanism formed of pivoting and guiding elements S placed substantially inside the guide arrangement J in a manner that its upper part is in connection with the upper guide 1 and its lower part is in connection with the lower guide 2, and
• installation mouldings 4 which are usually placed at the horizontal upper and lower edges of the pane 3 and with which the panes 3 are connected to the pivoting and guiding mechanism S and which, like the upper and lower guides 1, 2, are profile pieces manufactured advantageously e.g. of aluminium by extrusion.

The pivoting and guiding element S consists of a form piece manufactured e.g. of plastic and forming the shield of the pivoting and guiding element and being provided with slide means 5 for moving the pivoting and guiding element S supported by slide planes arranged in the profile structure of the upper and lower guide, as well as of a downwards directed hinge pivot 6, advantageously penetrating the form piece, placed substantially vertically and arranged to rotate around its vertical axis. Said members of the pivoting and guiding element S are known as such, together with the locking arrangement (not shown) provided in the pivoting and guiding mechanism, whereby the panes 3 are locked into a desired position towards the plane of the glazing. As to the structure of these members, reference is made to the prior art, e.g. FI-84645.

At the upper and lower edge of each pane 3, an installation moulding 4 is fixed, comprising a fixing groove 7 or the like, a housing 8 or the like, and a fixing arrangement 9 for the pivoting and guiding element S. According to the advantageous embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the edge of the pane 3 is placed in the fixing groove 7, whereby the outer surface 7a of the fixing groove 7, the pane 3 and also the inner surface 7b of the fixing groove 7 are penetrated at holes 3a formed in the pane 3 by a rivet 11 or the like and also by a support sleeve 12. As shown in Fig. 2, the head 11b of the rivet 11 or the like, which is placed inside the balcony and the glazing, remains concealed inside a housing 8 preferably having a substantially triangular cross-section and formed in the structure of the installation moulding 4. It is obvious that the housing 8 can have another construction as that shown in the figure, such as a wall covering the head of the rivet or the like, whereby the housing is partly open to allow access to the head of the rivet or the like. The housing 8 is placed underneath the fixing arrangement 9.

In the direction of the main plane of the pane 3, the length of the fixing groove 7 or the like exceeds the length of the fixing arrangement of the hinge pivot 6, whereby the housing 8 or the like is arranged as an extension of the fixing arrangement 9 in the direction of the main plane of the pane 3. Seen in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the installation moulding 4, the housing 8 or the like has a substantially closed triangular shape, whereby the wall 8a of the housing 8 or the like, facing the centre of the pane 3, is arranged to be inclined so that the opening of the glazing system expands towards the inside. The pane 3 is fixed to the fixing groove by rivet joints, whereby the inside heads 11b of the rivets 11 are placed inside the housing 8 or the like, and the outside heads 11a of the rivets are placed on the outside of the fixing groove 7a.

Further, the installation moulding 4 comprises a groove-like fixing arrangement 9 for the hinge pivot, provided with arresting flanges or projective parts 9a, arranged in the profile structure of the installation moulding, placed on the open end of the fixing arrangement 9, and directed against each other, which are inserted in corresponding grooves 6a near the free end of the hinge pivot 6 for supporting the installation moulding 4 to the hinge pivot 6. As shown in the figures, the fixing arrangement 9 of the hinge pivot 6 and the fixing groove 7 are placed parallelly in the horizontal plane, whereby the pane 3 is placed in the vertical direction substantially on one side of the pivoting and guiding element S and preferably outside the pivoting and guiding element S with regard to the opening of the balcony, whereby the common centre of gravity of the upper pivoting and guiding element S and the pane 3 is substantially outside the vertical line of the hinge pivot 6.

As shown in Fig. 1, the slide means 5, preferably a wheel, placed inside the upper guide 1 is arranged only on the outer side of the pivoting and guiding element S near the hypothetical extension of the vertical line of the glazing, i.e. the panes 3, preferably in a manner that the point of support of the slide means 5 on the corresponding slide plane of the profile structure is substantially on the same vertical line with the point of gravity of the pane 3. Consequently, the pane 3 is suspended substantially freely in the vertical direction by the slide means 5, and no moments turning the pane 3 in the horizontal direction can be present. For stiffening the position of the pane 3, the pivoting and guiding element S is provided with a guiding arrangement O which, in the advantageous embodiment shown in the figure, comprises a fork-like guiding device 13, placed on the upper surface of the pivoting and guiding element S and directed upwards. A guiding slide plane 14 belonging to the profile structure of the upper guide 1 is arranged in the guiding device 13, extending in a flange-like manner downwards between the fork parts of the guiding device 13. It is obvious that the guiding arrangement O can be implemented also otherwise; for example, it can be placed on the side of the pivoting and guiding element, or it may comprise two guiding slide planes 14 and a pin-like guiding device 13 therebetween.

The pivoting and guiding element S placed in the lower guide 2 differs from that placed in the upper guide 1 advantageously in that the slide means are not made up of a wheel but advantageously e.g. of the outer surfaces of a form piece forming the shell of the pivoting and guiding element S, which are provided with slide surfaces partly contacting them and being part of the inner surfaces of the profile structure forming the lower guide 2. Also the actual guiding arrangement O is missing, and it is replaced by said contact between the form piece and the slide surfaces. This is advantageous, because the weight of the pane 3 is not directed to the fixing arrangement underneath the pane, which is intended primarily to guide the movement and turning of the pane as well as to support the structure e.g. against the pressure effect of wind. In an advantageous manner, sealings 15 are arranged between the installation mouldings 4 and the guide arrangement J on the outside of the glazing system.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment presented above, but it can be modified within the framework of the inventive idea presented in the appended claims.