D E S C R I P T I O N

"Draught excluder"

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to a draught excluder for the upper or lower edges of revolving doors, particularly suited to the doors of industrial public transport vehicles such as buses, in order to cover the cracks existing between the edges of the door and the ceiling or the floor, as appropriate, and also to overcome obstacles, such as the components of the automatic opening and closing mechanism of the doors, when said doors perform their opening movement.

Background of the invention

There is currently a great variety of draught excluders applicable to the doors of buses, intended to be fixedly attached to the lower edge of said doors in order to guarantee a watertight seal, preventing the passage of water into the interior of the passenger area of the buses, for example during their washing in an automatic vehicle wash.

Conventional draught excluders are constituted of profiles of elastically deformable plastic material, of a closed profile and generally triangular in shape.

The sharper edge of the draught excluders is intended to bend when the door executes its opening movement due to the friction which exists between the aforementioned edge of the draught excluder and the floor or ceiling of the bus, on which the upper or lower edge, respectively, of the door on which the draught excluder is attached slides.

Said draught excluders suffer from certain drawbacks. Among these is the fact that the height of said draught excluders must be considerable if it is desired to endow the same with sufficient flexibility to overcome obstacles during the opening of the doors and at the same time guarantee a watertight seal of the same when in their closed position. Draught excluders of less height are too rigid and do not allow the sliding motion under the lower edge of the door if they are applied to the lower edge of the door, or above the upper edge of the door if they are applied to said upper edge, of the components of the opening mechanism of said doors. Another drawback is related to the assembly of the draught excluders on the leaves of the doors, specifically on the edge of the same. Conventionally, the draught excluders are attached to the door leaf by means of an intermediate plate which, in

accordance with the particular configuration of each door, and the characteristics and position of the components of the opening mechanism which should slide through the crack between the aforementioned door and the floor, must be suitably modified, and in consequence the joining means between the draught excluder and this intermediate plate must also be modified.

Explanation of the invention

The draught excluder which is the object of this invention overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks. Said draught excluder is of the type which is comprised of at least two parts, of which the first part is essentially rigid and is intended to form part of the upper or lower edge of the door or to be affixed to these, equipped with a flat rear section and an outward overhanging front section joined to said rear section; while the second part, joined to the first at one of its ends, is equipped with a flexible, elastic longitudinal articulation strip, by means of which said second part is susceptible to being bent towards the first when the door performs its opening movement, returning to its initial position when the door closes.

Essentially, the draught excluder which is the object of the invention is characterised in that the longitudinal articulation strip is located on the lowermost longitudinal edge of the flat rear section of the first part and in that the second part is equipped with a front section, joined to the longitudinal articulation strip by means of at least one rigid transversal bridge, and which extends towards the first part, said front section being adapted so as to be housed in the hollow formed between the flat rear section and the front overhanging section of the first part of the draught excluder when the second part is folded towards the first. In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, the first and second parts of the draught excluder are independent parts, and the lowermost longitudinal edge of the flat rear section of the first part and the uppermost longitudinal edge of the transversal articulation strip of the second part are removably joined together by means of complementary coupling means. In an embodiment of the invention of particular interest, the complementary coupling means between the first and second parts are comprised of a groove and a rib which may be longitudinally inserted into said groove, one of these being arranged on the internal side of the flat rear section of the aforementioned first part and the other on the innermost longitudinal edge of the articulation strip of the aforementioned second part.

In accordance with another characteristic, the front section of the second

part of the draught excluder features a flexible, elastic intermediate zone and at least one elastically deformable longitudinal external lip.

In accordance with another characteristic, the front overhanging section of the first part of the draught excluder features an elastically deformable flap on its outermost longitudinal edge.

In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, the internal side of the outermost longitudinal edge of the outward overhanging front section of the first part, and the external side of the uppermost longitudinal edge of the front section of the second part feature complementary retaining means adapted to prevent excessive downward movement of said front section with regard to the aforementioned overhanging front section.

Brief description of the drawings

The attached drawings portray, as a non-limitative example, a draught excluder in accordance with the invention. Specifically:

Figure 1 is a portrayal of a cross-section of a draught excluder in its position by default, the position occupied by the draught excluder when the door is closed; and

Figure 2 is a portrayal of the draught excluder in Figure 1 in a position in which its lower part is folded back, turning on the longitudinal articulation strip.

Detailed description of the drawings

Figures 1 and 2 portray a draught excluder 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Said draught excluder 1 is intended to be attached to the lower edge of a door and is comprised of two independent parts, formed by two extruded profiles of plastic material, of which the first part 2 is essentially rigid while the second part 6 features an longitudinal articulation strip 7, by means of which the second part 6 may fold back.

In order to aid understanding of the description of Figures 1 and 2, and due to the fact that the draught excluder 1 is portrayed in accordance with the orientation which it adopts when it is attached specifically to the lower edge of the door, the first part 2 of the draught excluder 1 shall hereinafter be referred to as the upper part 2 of the same, and the second part 6 of the draught excluder 1 shall hereinafter be referred to as the lower part 6 of said draught excluder 1.

As may be seen in Figures 1 and 2, the upper part 2, adapted to be attached to the lower edge of a door, features a flat rear section 3 and an outward overhanging front section 4, joined to the rear section 3 by its upper edge 5, forming

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an acute angle with the latter. For its attachment to the door, in the example of Figures 1 and 2, the upper part 2 features on its front section 4 a longitudinal groove 19, intended to receive the lodging action of a complementary rib, not portrayed, arranged on the leaf of the door and insertable through one of the open longitudinal ends of said groove 19.

The lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 is joined to the upper part 2 under the latter and features a flexible, elastic longitudinal articulation strip 7, by which said lower part is susceptible to bend upwards when the door performs its opening movement (Figure 2), returning to its initial position when the door closes. Both the upper part 2 and the lower part 6 are removably joined together by means of complementary joining means 17 arranged on the lower part or lowermost longitudinal edge 3a of the flat rear section 3 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 and on the upper end or uppermost longitudinal edge 7a of the longitudinal articulation strip 7 of the lower part 6 of said draught excluder 1. In the example portrayed, the complementary joining means 17 are comprised of a groove 12 and a rib 13 subject to being lodged longitudinally into said groove, one of these being arranged on the internal side of the flat rear section 3 of the aforementioned upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 , and the other on the outermost longitudinal edge 7a, which is its upper end, in accordance with the orientation of the draught excluder in Figures 1 and 2, of the longitudinal articulation strip 7 of the lower part 6 of the aforementioned draught excluder 1 . All in all, the transversal articulation strip 7 is juxtaposed to the lower part 3a of the flat rear section 3 of the upper part 2.

On the other hand, the lower part 6 features a front section 8 equipped with two elastically deformable longitudinal external lips 15 and 15', intended to sweep the floor during the opening movement of the door. Said front section 8 is joined to the longitudinal articulation strip 7 by means of two transversal rigid bridges 9 and 10, and its upper area 8a is intended to be housed in the hollow 1 1 delimited between the flat rear section 3 and the overhanging front section 4 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 , when the lower part is folded upwards (see Figure 2). To this end, and in order to further increase the turning movement of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 and therefore to separate the lower lips 15 and 15' further from the floor, the front section 8 of said lower part 6 is equipped with a flexible, elastic intermediate zone 14. Due to this characteristic, the turning movement of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 is not limited by the buffering on the uppermost longitudinal edge 8b of the front section 8 against the internal side of the rear section 3 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 , but it allows said

uppermost longitudinal edge 8b to slide, resting against the internal side of the rear section 3 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 , as far as the upper edge 5 of the draught excluder 1. When this happens, as may be seen in Figure 2, the lowest section of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 is at approximately the same level as the lowermost longitudinal edge 3a, that is to say, the lowest part of the flat rear section 3 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1. In this situation, in spite of the fact that the turning movement of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 may continue, the distance between the draught excluder and the floor would not increase, as this is limited by the rigid lowermost longitudinal edge 3a of the rear section 3 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1.

It may also be seen that the outward overhanging front section 4 of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder 1 features on its outermost longitudinal edge 4a an elastically deformable flap 16 intended to rest against the central strip of the front section 8 of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 when said lower part 6 adopts both its closed position and its most retracted position.

In order to prevent the turning movement of the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 from the rest position portrayed in Figure 1 and in the opposite direction to that of its folding, portrayed in Figure 2, the internal side of the outermost longitudinal edge 4a of the front outward overhanging section 4 of the upper part 2, and the external side of the uppermost longitudinal edge 8b of the front section 8 of the lower part 6 feature corresponding complementary retaining means 18 which prevent the excessive downward movement of said front section 8 with regard to the overhanging front section 4. In the example of Figures 1 and 2, the complementary means 18 are comprised, on the upper part 2 of the draught excluder, of a longitudinal rib, and on the lower part 6 of the draught excluder 1 , specifically on the uppermost longitudinal edge 8b of the front section 8, an extension shaped like a hook, intended to catch on the rib of the upper part 2 of the draught excluder.

Likewise, in order to prevent the folding of the front section 8 in the opposite direction to that portrayed in Figure 2, said front section 8 features a rigid longitudinal lip 21 , next to the flexible intermediate zone 14 of said central section 8 which prevents, by means of buffering against the rigid transversal bridge 10, the front section 8 from folding into the interior of the hollow 1 1 when the draught excluder 1 is in its resting position or, in other words, with the door closed.

It should be highlighted that the width of the second part of the draught excluder 1 , which is the lower part in the example of Figures 1 and 2, is not greater than the width of the first part of the draught excluder 1 , which is the upper part in

Figures 1 and 2. By means of this characteristic, the doors may open to their maximum, avoiding that by buffering of the second part 2 of the draught excluder 1 against the lateral pillars of the door, the door leaves do not approach said pillars to their maximum extent. As may be seen in Figures 1 and 2, the outermost longitudinal edge 4a of the overhanging front section 4 of the first part 2 of the draught excluder also features a longitudinal, elastically deformable lip 20, oriented towards the profile of the door and which delimits, in conjunction with the front section 4, a hollow space intended to house, with a tight watertight fit, the lower edge of a pane of glass of the door leaf.