FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a sliding door system.

Any reference herein to a "door" must be interpreted sufficiently broadly to include a reference to a window, a room divider, patio enclosure, or the like.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a sliding door system including: a sliding door including a door frame having a top rail, a bottom rail and opposing first and second vertical stiles extending between the top and bottom rails, the top rail including an upper guide assembly; a lower guide track which is mounted to a floor surface, in use, for guiding displacement of the sliding door, the lower guide track comprising an elongate track body defining an internal passage extending longitudinally along a length of the lower guide track and a longitudinally-extending slot at an upper end of the track body which opens into the internal passage; an upper guide track configured to displaceably engage the upper guide assembly so as to allow the sliding door to be displaced horizontally between the lower and upper tracks, the sliding door system being characterised in that the sliding door system further includes a lower guide assembly including a guide pin having an elongate shank and an enlarged head at a lower end of the shank, and a support formation within which the shank of the guide pin is slidably received so as to permit vertical displacement of the guide pin, the support formation being mounted to the door frame, with the shank of the guide pin extending through the slot of the lower guide track and the head of the guide pin being captured and slidably received within the internal passage of the lower guide track so as to allow for sliding displacement of the door along the lower guide track, the shank of the guide pin extending through the slot, a width of the enlarged head being larger than a width of the slot thereby preventing the head from passing through the slot. In use, the lower guide track is mounted to a floor surface so as to follow a contour of the floor surface which in many instances may not be level. Vertical displacement of the guide pin of the lower guide assembly relative to the door frame provides for uniform level guided sliding displacement of the sliding door along the lower guide track, in circumstances wherein the lower guide track is not level.

The support formation of the lower guide assembly may be in the form of a sleeve defining an internal passage within which the shank of the guide pin is slidably received. The sleeve may define a longitudinal axis extending along a length of the passage, the sleeve being mounted to the door frame in a vertical orientation. The upper guide assembly may include rollers which are displaceable along the upper guide track. More specifically, the sliding door may be suspended from the upper guide track by the upper guide assembly. The sliding door system may comprise a number of hingedly interconnected sliding doors which are displaceable between an extended position wherein the sliding doors are arranged co-planar with one another and a stacked position wherein major sides of the sliding doors are arranged adjacent one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features of the invention are described hereinafter by way of a non-limiting example of the invention, with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a sliding door system in accordance with the invention in a configuration wherein the sliding doors are arranged in an extended co-planar arrangement;

Figure 1 A shows enlarged fragmentary detail A of Figure 1 ;

Figure 2 shows a front side view of the sliding door system of Figure 1 ; Figure 2A shows enlarged fragmentary detail B of Figure 2;

Figure 3 shows an end view of the sliding door system of Figure 1 as seen along direction indicator arrow III of Figure 2; Figure 3A shows enlarged fragmentary detail C of Figure 3; Figure 4 shows a three-dimensional view of the sliding door system of Figure 1 in a configuration wherein the sliding doors thereof are in a compact stacked arrangement;

Figure 4A shows enlarged fragmentary detail D of Figure 4;

Figure 5 shows a three-dimensional view of one of the sliding doors of the sliding door system of Figure 1 , as seen from a lower end thereof;

Figure 5A shows enlarged fragmentary detail E of Figure 5; and

Figure 6 shows a three-dimensional view of an upper guide assembly of the sliding door system of Figure 1 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the drawings, a sliding door system in accordance with the invention, is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The sliding door system 10 comprises a number of louvred shutter doors 12 which are hingedly interconnected to one another so as to be displaceable between an extended position (as shown in Figure 1 ) wherein the sliding doors are arranged co-planar with one another and a stacked position (as shown in Figure 4) wherein major sides of the sliding doors are arranged adjacent one another. The sliding door system 10 further includes a lower guide track 14 which is mounted to a floor surface 16; an upper guide track 18 which is mounted to a structure such as the top of a door reveal forming part of a building structure within which the sliding door system is mounted; and a lower guide assembly designated generally by the reference numeral 20 mounted to selected sliding doors. Each sliding door 12 includes an extruded aluminium door frame comprising a top rail 22 a bottom rail 24, opposing first and second vertical stiles 26 and 28 and a mid rail 30. A number of louvres 32 are hingedly mounted between the stiles 26 and 28. The sliding doors are suspended from the upper guide track by upper guide assemblies designated generally by the reference numeral 34. Each upper guide assembly 34 includes two pairs of roller wheels 36 which run along tracks defined by the upper guide track 18. An upper guide assembly 34 is connected to each sliding door to which a lower guide assembly 20 is connected. More specifically, each of the selected sliding doors is rotatably connected to a particular one of the upper guide assemblies 34 by means of a mounting pin 38 allowing pivoting of the sliding doors between their extended and stacked conditions while at the same time permitting horizontal displacement of the sliding doors along the upper guide track. The lower guide track 14 is in the form of an aluminium extruded unit which is located within a groove defined therefor within a floor 40 defining the floor surface 16. The lower guide track comprises an elongate track body 42 defining an internal passage 44 extending longitudinally along a length of the lower guide track and a longitudinally extending slot 46 which opens into the internal passage 44. A width of the slot 46 is less than a width of the internal passage 44.

Each lower guide assembly 20 includes a guide pin 48 and a support formation in the form of a sleeve 50 which is fixedly mounted to the stile 28 of a sliding door 12 (in Figures 1 -4A, a cover plate 28.1 forming part of the stile has been removed in order to show the configuration of the lower guide assembly 20). The guide pin 48 has an elongate shank portion 52 and an enlarged head portion 54 at a lower end of the shank portion. The sleeve defines an internal passage within which the shank of the guide pin is slidably received. More specifically, the sleeve 50 defines a longitudinal axis P along the length of the internal passage and is fixedly mounted to the stile 28 in a vertical orientation. The shank portion 52 of the guide pin is freely vertically displaceable within the sleeve, with the enlarged head 54 of the guide pin being captured and slidably received within the internal passage 44 of the lower guide track so as to allow for sliding displacement of the door along the lower guide track. The shank of the guide pin extends through the slot, with a width of the enlarged head 44 being larger than a width of the slot 46 thereby preventing the head from passing through the slot.

The lower guide assembly permits uniform level guided sliding displacement of the sliding doors 12 along the lower guide track 42 notwithstanding variations in the level of the lower guide track caused by the floor surface not being level. With reference to Figure 2 of the drawings, it can be seen that the lower guide track 14 follows the floor surface 16 which is not level such that the spacing between the bottom rails of the sliding doors 12 and the floor surface are not uniform. As such, sliding displacement of the guide pins 48 relative to the sleeves 50 of the lower guide assemblies provide for level guided displacement of the sliding doors relative to the floor surface in circumstances wherein the floor surface is not level. Depending on the extent of the variation in the spacing between the lower guide track and lower sides of the bottom rails of the sliding doors, the Applicant envisages that the lengths of the shanks of the guide pins can be increased or decreased accordingly to provide for more or less variation in the spacing between the bottom rails of the sliding doors and the lower guide track.

The Applicant envisages that the sliding door system in accordance with the invention, will be suitable for use with both sliding doors and windows and also with internal room dividers, patio enclosures, and the like. More specifically, the Applicant envisages that the sliding door system will be particularly suitable for use with shutters.