The present patent application for industrial invention refers to an industrial manufacturing process for interiors wooden doors, having two or more glass surfaces bordered with transversal strips.

The patent protection must be extended to the door obtained with the method of the invention.

Transversal wooden strips are currently used for the manufacture of the aforementioned models of doors. The strips are applied and fixed to the two uprights of the door frame in order to border each glass window pane that form the entire glass surface of the door.

Apart from having an aesthetic function, the strips act as bearing element for the two glass window panes between which each strip is placed.

In view of the above, one side of the strip must be provided with longitudinal grooves to support and guide the glass window panes, while the other side of the strip must be firmly fixed to the two lateral uprights of the door frame.

According to the construction technique that is currently used to manufacture this type of interiors wooden doors with one or more glass surfaces bordered with horizontal strips, the grooved strips are placed between the two uprights of the door frame and fixed during the assembly of the frame, that is to say when the uprights are fixed to the top and bottom cross-piece.

This construction technique requires very small tolerance values and difficult assembly or poor quality may result if tolerance is not met.

In fact, short strips are not reliable as bearing element and do not permit perfect assembly with the upright, creating anti-aesthetic gaps between the coupled elements. On the other hand, long strips make it difficult to assembly the frame correctly, preventing the correct assembly of the lateral uprights with the top and bottom cross-piece.

The incorrect construction of the strip causes today both structural and

aesthetic problems.

In any case, even if the length of the strip falls within the permitted range, the profile of the strip ends must be carefully designed, since it must perfectly match the upright profile to avoid anti-aesthetic gaps between the strip and the upright.

Another important drawback refers to the glass window panes, since this construction technique requires the use of a cut-to-size glass window pane for every insert bordered with transversal strips.

Therefore, glass window panes with different dimensions must be used if the number of the inserts or the distance between them changes.

This fact forces manufacturers to keep a large stock of cut-to-size glass window panes for every door model, with consequent problems related to space and cost.

Today the glass window panes are transversally introduced through special slots located on one of the lateral uprights of the door wooden frame; once it has been introduced through the slot, the glass window pane travels transversally inside the support guide grooves provided on the two strips between which the glass window pane is placed.

The purpose of the present invention is to develop a new industrial manufacturing process for wooden doors having glass surfaces bordered with transversal strips, capable of eliminating the problem related to strict tolerance values, as illustrated above, as well as the need for preparing and storing a high number of glass window panes with different size.

The process of the invention uses a single glass window pane, which is introduced and fixed to the door wooden frame. Transversal strips are then applied to visually interrupt the surface continuity of the glass window pane, simulating an overlapped series of glass window panes held and bordered with transversal strips.

According to the invention, the bearing strip of traditional doors is divided into two identical strips applied on the opposite sides of the single glass window pane.

In doors obtained with the process of the invention, the transversal strips do

not act as bearing element for the glass window pane.

The strips are fixed to the two lateral uprights provided with housings on the internal side, whose shape and size are such that they can exactly house the ends of the transversal strips.

Compared to the previous technique, the new construction technique allows for reducing warehouse stocks, since it is no longer necessary to stock glass window panes with different sizes for every type of door, being it now possible, thanks to the present invention, to obtain an indefinite number of door models with the same glass window pane, by simply changing the distance and the number of strips.

The uprights, or better to say, the number and distance of the strip housings on the uprights are now the only parameters identifying the different door models that can be obtained.

The strips used in the new method of the invention are longer than the strips used in the old technique in order to introduce them inside their housings. The reason is that strips and uprights are now inserted one into another, and not placed one against the other, as in the traditional technique.

It appears evident that the tolerance value for the length of the strips is now much higher than in the past, thus considerably reducing the percentage of wasted strips.

On the other hand, the insertion of the transversal strips into the uprights ensures excellent grade finish, since the ends of each strip are inserted and hidden in their corresponding housing, thus eliminating the need for the perfect shaping of the strip ends, which is required for perfect assembly according to the traditional technique.

Finally, it must be noted that the door of the invention is more practical if the surface glass breaks accidentally. In such a case, in traditional doors, all glass window panes must be removed and replaced, one after the other; in the new doors according to the invention, repair is faster and easier, since it only affects one glass window pane.

For major clarity the description of the invention continues with reference to the enclosed drawings, which are intended for purposes of illustration and not

in a limiting sense, whereby: - Figures 1 to 4 show the sequence of operating steps according to the new construction technique of the invention; - Figure 5 is an axonometric diagrammatic view showing the insertion between strip and upright.

With reference to Figures 1 to 4, the process of the invention provides for the realisation of a door wooden frame (1) according to the traditional technique, having at least one window (2) covered with a glass window pane (see Fig.

1).

Once the frame (1) has been assembled, a single glass window pane (3) is inserted in the window (2) through suitable slots (F) provided on the uprights (1a) or cross-pieces (1b) of the frame (see Fig. 2).

Once the glass window pane (3) has been inserted in the window (2), transversal strips (4) are mounted and applied in pairs on the glass window pane (3) from opposite sides (see Fig. 3).

With reference to Fig. 5, according to the process of the invention, the uprights (1a) of the frame (1) are provided with grooves (5) on the internal side, whose size and profile are such that they can exactly house the ends of the strips (4), whose length (L) is slightly higher than the distance (d) between the internal borders of the two uprights (1a).

The strips (4) are applied to the frame (1) by inserting the two ends of the strips (4) into the grooves (5), one after the other, moving the strip (4) forward inside one groove (5) and then moving it backwards until the other end engages with the opposite groove (see Fig. 4).

To prevent the strip (4) from moving freely, once it has been positioned correctly, a drop of silicone or any other suitable glue can be used to hold the strip (4) in place on the glass window pane (3).