Field of application The present invention relates to a self-centering comb articulation lodged in cavities provided in upper and lower frontal widthwise sides of panels constituting sectional doors which allow the same to mutually penetrate in their rotation phase.

State of the art In the current state of the art there exist sectional doors composed of panels which are articulated one with the other in a subsequent manner and united at their frontal widthwise sides by means of external hinges.

Said panels are furthermore provided with lateral wheels which, in the phases of opening and closing, make the panels slide along two lateral guides attached to the walls of the building in which the sectional door is fixed, but which have the indubitable disadvantage of an excessive bulk since said mobile elements, together with the external supports of the panels, constitute protrusions with respect to the plane of the door and which must be covered with voluminous casings in order to comply with the current machine directives.

Moreover, the adoption of the current external hinge system has the following further drawbacks: the external hinges which unite the various contiguous panels create protrusions with respect to the plane of the sectional door with the serious danger of entanglement of the clothing of persons which by chance are near to the same in the moment in which the door is in the phase of closing or of opening.

In order to overcome said drawbacks there have been made some attempts to eliminate the external hinges with the adoption of aluminium profile elements exposed for the entire length of the frontal upper and lower sides of the panels. At an industrial and operative level said attempt is not employable due to the elevated production costs.

Presentation of the invention A fundamental object of the present invention is that of avoiding the above described drawbacks of the external hinge system currently in use.

In this sense, there has been invented the creation of articulations composed

of two male and female elements fixed by means of screws, rivets, or otherwise in the lower and upper cavities of the frontal widthwise sides of two contiguous panels which form a mobile sectional door and which cavities have shapes such as to allow a perfect containment and alignment of the hinges.

The present invention consists in an articulation constructed with various material (steel, aluminium, plastic) composed of two male and female elements fixed by means of screws, rivets, or otherwise respectively in the lower and upper cavities which are created in the frontal widthwise sides of two contiguous panels forming a mobile sectional door and which have a shape such as to allow a perfect containment and alignment of the hinges. Said articulation is formed by the male and female elements. The latter element is in turn provided with one or more pairs of lateral appendices, with an intermediate part and with two further appendices which constitute the positioning zone of the male element which is characterised by one or more concave appendices divided-in turn-by cavity which allows for the passage of the lateral appendices of the female element.

In the cavity of the male element there are inserted pins attached to an adjustable flange which supports the sliding wheels if the panels in their dynamic phase. As a variation it is possible that said wheels be fitted directly on the pins.

Beyond having the function of making the panels slide during the opening and phase, is penetrated and occupied by the external appendices of the contiguous cavity in a manner such as to avoid the introduction of fingers in the dynamic phase

of the panels. Moreover, the arrangement of the articulation at the inside of the panels, beyond eliminating the external elements up till now utilised for holding them joined, with the consequent limiting of possible entanglement to said external appendices during the movement phase of the panels, also provides for minimised rotation radiuses which limit the variations of the distances of the external appendices of the cavities which accommodate the articulation.

The latter, being internal to the panels, also surely confers an improved aesthetic aspect to the assembly. Moreover, the pins which are inserted in the internal articulation have fitted directly thereon the sliding wheels which eliminate the existing external anchoring appendices currently in use with the external hinge joining system. Furthermore the entire assembly of the panels is held firm by lateral external strips which have a finishing and transversal containment function for the panels due to a pocket which accommodates an element which allows for the rotation of the panels.

Brief description of the drawings Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more clearly apparent in light of the following detailed description of some preferred but not exclusive embodiments of an articulation according to the invention, illustrated for illustrative and non-limiting purposes with the help of the attached drawing sheets in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an articulation screwed in the internal cavities of the frontal or facing contiguous panels and in which the two male and female elements are inserted and self-centred in the phase of closing of the panels ; Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the articulation of Fig. 1 which highlights the phase of support and self-centering of the two male and female elements; Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a pair of articulations of the previous Figures for attachment to a pair of panels of a sectional door; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the articulation of the previous Figures illustrating the angular rotation movement of two contiguous panels in the opening phase of the mobile sectional door; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the articulation of the previous Figures illustrating

the disposition of the articulation in the cavities with the two male and female elements in the closure phase of the panels.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments With reference to the figures 1 to 5 there is illustrated an articulation 1 constructed with various material (steel, aluminium, plastic) composed of two elements : male and female 2 and 3, fixed to the panel by means of screws, rivets, or otherwise in the upper and lower cavities 4 and 5 which are created in the frontal widthwise sides of contiguous panels forming a mobile sectional door and which have a shape such as to allow a perfect containment and alignment of the hinges.

Said articulation 1 is formed by the male and female elements 2 and 3 of which the element 3 is provided with one or more pairs of lateral appendices 6 and with an intermediate part 7 which represents, together with the elements or cutouts 7a, the positioning zone of the appendices 8 of the element 2, which are divided in turn by a cavity 9 which allows for the passage of the wings 6 of the element 3.

Pins 10 are inserted in said articulation in the hollow appendices 8 of the element 2. The pin 10 is attached to the extremity of an adjustable flange 11 which supports the sliding wheels 12.

As a variation, it is possible that the wheels be fitted directly on the pins 10.

Beyond having the function of making the panels slide during the opening and closing phases of the sectional door, said wheels eliminate further anchoring appendices towards the outside with the external hinge joining system of the panels presently in use.

The joining articulation formed by the two elements, male and female 2 and 3, is fixed by screws, rivets, or otherwise in two cavities which are created in the upper and lower frontal widthwise sides 4 and 5 of the contiguous and mutually facing panels and whose shapes are such as to allow a perfect containment and alignment of the hinges.

Said alignment is obtained due to the fact that the element 2 with the support points 13 and 14 adhere to the sides 15 and 16, arranged at an angle, of the cavity 4. The element 3 is in turn fixed with its base to the side 18 and, along the side 17 with its appendix 6.

The sides 20 and 21 of the element 2 together with the sides 13 and 14

guarantee the conservation of a cavity in which the penetration of the appendix 22 of the panels in the cavity 4 is possible.

Said penetration, provided due to the internal central position of the articulation 1, allows a penetration and overlapping of the external appendices 22 and 23 of the mutually facing cavities such as to be able to not allow the introduction of fingers from both of the sides during the actuation phase of the panels. This is possible since the arrangement of the articulation at the inside the cavities provides reduced rotation radiuses which limit the variations of the relative distances of the appendices 22 and 23 and of the appendices 24 and 25.

The entire assembly of the panels is furthermore held firm with lateral external strips 26 which have a finishing and transversal containment function for the panels due to the pocket 27 capable of accommodating the element 28 which allows for only the rotation of the panels.

Said articulation 1 is formed by the male and female elements 2 and 3 of which the element 3 is provided with one or more pairs of lateral appendices 6 and with an intermediate part 7 which represents, together with the elements 7a, the positioning zone of the appendices 8 of the male element 2, which are divided in turn, by a cavity 9 which allows for the passage of the wings of the appendices 6 of the female element 3.

The fact that said articulation is placed inside the panels avoids those safety problems due to the possible entanglement of clothing of persons which by chance are in proximity to the sectional door during the phase of opening and closing of the same, beyond rendering the assembly aesthetically cleaner.

Moreover said articulations, inserted in the lower and upper cavities of the two contiguous panels, in addition to supporting the wheels fitted thereon, have the further advantage of reducing the lateral bulk by eliminating the positions of the external support of the door-wheels.

The particular conformation of the cavities 4 and 5, in addition to allowing for a perfect containment and alignment of the hinges, provides a strengthening of the support and fixing zones of the two male and female elements 2,3 with the consequent limiting of the phenomenon of drawing out of the polyurethane inside the panel towards the exterior of the same.

Another advantage provided by the invention of said articulations is the

utilisation of the external sides of the upper and lower cavities of the frontal widthwise sides of the contiguous panels which form the sectional door in order to entirely eliminate the problem of the variation of the distance between the appendices of the external sides of the contiguous cavities of the panels.

In fact the external sides of the cavities are designed in a manner such that the external side of the cavity of the lower frontal widthwise panel, in the phase of opening, penetrates in the cavity of the upper frontal widthwise panel with a rotation movement such that the external sides of the two facing cavities mutually overlap for the entire angle of external rotation and mutually skimming and keeping constant between themselves the minimum determined distance from the internal position of the articulation which does not allow for the introduction of fingers into the fissures, with an evident further security advantage of the system.

Up to now said drawback had been in part overcome with the idea, object of a patent, of contiguous panels whose surface areas had convexity and concavity such as to delimit the fissure zones of the angle of rotation of the panels themselves, but not to eliminate the problem of the entanglement due to the external hinges and supports.

The figure 1 illustrates the articulation 1, screwed in the internal cavities of the frontal or facing contiguous panels 4 and 5 and in which the two male and female elements 2 and 3 are inserted and self-centred in the phase of closing of the panels.

The figure 2 highlights the phase of support and self-centering of the two male and female elements 2 and 3 separated and accommodated respectively in the cavities 4 and 5. In particular, it is shown that: the element 3 is provided with one or more pairs of lateral appendices 6, with an intermediate part 7 and with the elements 7a which represent the positioning zone of the appendix 8 of the male element 2. The positioning zones 8 of the element 2 are divided by a cavity 9 which allows the passage of the lateral appendices 6 of the element 3 which, once positioned become self-centred, and, thanks to a lateral movement of the panels, are inserted with the appendix 8 of the mail element 2 of the articulation.

The figure 3 illustrates a side view of a closed sectional door formed by two panels and in which there are shown the cavities 4 and 5 where there are arranged the elements, male 2 and female 3, unattached. Also shown is the lateral finishing and containment strip 26 with the pocket 27 containing the element 28 which

hinders the lateral translation of the panels.

There is also shown the pin 10 for insertion in the cavity of the appendix 8 of the male element 2 and attached to the flange 11 which supports the sliding wheels 12; The figure 4 illustrates the angular rotation movement of two contiguous panels in the opening phase of the mobile sectional door in which it is highlighted the penetration of the appendix 22 of the external side of the panel, in the cavity 4 which houses the connected comb articulation 1. In said figure there is shown the particular conformation of the cavity with the angles 15 and 16 which, in addition to allowing a perfect containment and alignment of the male element 2 with respect to the female element 3 supported on the side 18 of the cavity 5, allows a uniform distribution of the spaces and of the weights by means of the strengthening of the supporting zones of the articulation 1 with the consequent limiting of the drawing out of the polyurethane towards the exterior of the panels.

The figure 5 illustrates the disposition of the articulation in the cavities 4 and 5 with the two male and female elements 2 and 3 in the closure phase of the panels.

In particular the male element 2 is inserted in the cavity 4 with the supporting points 13 and 14 adhering to the angular sides 15 and 16 of the cavity 4 and therefore in the end to obtain a perfect containment and alignment of the elements 2 and 3 which compose the articulation 1.

The female element 3, in turn is fixed with its base to the side 18 of the cavity 5, and, supported along the side 17 with the appendices 6.

The two self-centering and aligned elements are joined with a transversal movement which fits the appendices of the element 8 of the male 2 inside the appendices 6 of the female 3. Moreover the sides 20 and 21 of the element 2, together with the sides 13 and 14 of the cavity 4 guarantee an internal space to the cavity itself in which the penetration and overlapping of the external appendix 22 of the cavity 5 in the inside of the cavity 4 is possible. Said cavity, provided thanks to the central internal position of the articulation 1, permits a penetration of the elements 22 and 23 of the facing cavities 5 and 4 such as to be able to not allow the introduction of fingers on the part of both of the sides in the actuation phase of the panels. Said movement is shown in the figure 4 which illustrates the internal movement of the articulation and of the external appendices of the cavities in the

opening phase.

The internal arrangement of the articulation 1 also provides a minimum radius of rotation which limits the variations of the relative distances of the appendices 22 and 23 and 25 and 24 respectively of the cavity 5 and 4. Beyond the above- described exemplifying embodiment, variations are possible which remain however within the scope of the present invention. It is observed moreover that the present invention in addition to increasing the security of the mobile sectional doors, renders the sectional door more beautiful aesthetically, and increases the space available at the inside of the sectional door and it is moreover of a notable constructive simplicity and therefore fairly economical for being able to be utilised industrially.