FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a jamb and more particularly, but by no means exclusively, to a jamb that permits a hingedly mounted door or window to be opened in an alternative direction should the door or window become obstructed and prevented from being opened in its normal direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Existing jambs for doors and windows are commonly fitted to an opening in a wall and basically consist of two parts: a jamb member for mounting to the wall; and a stop element that is mounted to the jamb member and which protrudes therefrom. When an existing jamb is mounted to a wall the stop element essentially acts as a stop to prevent a hingedly mounted door or window from opening in a particular direction, which is opposite to its normal opening direction.

A situation may arise where it would be highly desirable to be able to open the door or window in the particular direction because for some reason it may not be possible to open the door or window in its normal opening direction. This situation can occur, for example, when a person collapses against a door in an unconscious state and obstructs the door from being opened in its normal opening direction. In this exemplary situation, it is highly desirable to be able to open the door in the particular direction so as to quickly gain access to the person and administer medical assistance. Unfortunately, existing jambs do not enable the door to be readily opened in the particular direction because the stop element is securely fixed in position relative to the jamb member.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a jamb that comprises: a jamb member; a stop element; and a coupling means coupling the stop element to the jamb member, the coupling means being arranged to allow the stop element to be moved, relative to the jamb member, from a first position for stopping a door or a window from being opened in a particular direction to a second position for allowing the door or the window to be opened in the particular direction.

A jamb according to an embodiment of the present invention is similar to existing jambs in that the stop element (when in the first position) prevents the door or the window from being opened in the particular direction. However unlike existing jambs, the jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention effectively enables the stop element to be retracted (that is, moved from the first position to the second position) so that it no longer obstructs the door or the window to thereby allow the door or the window to be opened in the particular direction.

This aspect of the embodiment of the jamb is advantageous in emergency situations where, for example, a person collapses in an unconscious state against the door preventing it from being opened in the normal direction. Retracting the stop element of the jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention enables the door to be quickly and easy opened to gain access to the collapsed person.

The jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention further comprises a locking means for locking the stop element in the first position.

Being able to lock the stop element in the first position is advantageous for security reasons because it provides a means for preventing unauthorised persons from moving the stop element from the first position to the second person in order to open the door or the window.

The locking means of the jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises: a housing; at least one elongate member located in the housing; and a key operated locking mechanism coupled to the elongate member, the key operated locking mechanism being such that it enables an end portion of the elongate member to be retracted into the housing by using a key.

The key operated locking mechanism ensures that only authorised persons possessing the key can retract the elongate member into the housing so as to enable the stop element to be moved from the first position to the second position.

The coupling means of the jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of spaced apart latches that are attached to the jamb member and the stop element, each of the latches comprises a locking mechanism for locking a respective latch to securely hold the stop element in the first position, the locking mechanism being such that it can be unlocked by being pressed so as to allow the stop element to be moved from the first position to the second position.

The jamb member of the jamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a surface that defines a void for receiving the stop element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Notwithstanding any other embodiments that may fall within the scope of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

figure 1 illustrates a typical existing doorjamb;

figure 2 (a) illustrates a jamb in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 2 (b) illustrates a cross-sectional view of the jamb shown in figure 2 (a) ;

figure 2 (c) illustrates another cross-sectional view of the jamb shown in figure 2 (a) ;

figure 2 (d) illustrates another view of the jamb shown in figure 2 (a) ;

figure 2 (e) illustrates a locking mechanism used in conjunction with the jamb of figure 2 (a) ; and

figure 2 (f) provides an alternative view of the locking mechanism shown in figure 2 (e) .

AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

A jamb 100 that is typical of existing doorjambs is shown in figure 1. The jamb 100 basically comprises two parts: a jamb member 102 and a doorstop element 104. The jamb member 102 is elongate and is designed to be mounted to a portion of a wall 106 that defines a door opening 108. The jamb member 102 of the jamb 100 is typically made from a timber material, but other materials such as aluminium

can be used. The doorstop element 104 is also elongate and is securely fixed in a position on the jamb member 102 (usually by way of nails) such that it stands proud of the jamb member 102. The doorstop element 104 is also typically made from timber, but it is also commonly made from other materials such as aluminium. As can be see in figure 1, the doorstop element 104 is designed to obstruct a hingedly ^• mounted door 110 from being opened in a particular direction "B". The door 110 does, however, have a normal opening direction "A", which the doorstop element 104 does not obstruct.

In contrast to the existing jamb 100 shown in figure 1, figure 2 (a) illustrates a jamb 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The jamb 200 illustrated in figure 2 is used as a doorjamb. Like the existing jamb 100 shown in figure 1, the doorjamb 200 of figure 2 (a) comprises a jamb member 202 and a doorstop element 204. However, unlike the existing jamb 100 of figure 1, the doorstop element 204 of the jamb 200 shown in figure 2 (a) is not securely fixed in a position to the jamb member 202. The doorstop element 204 of the jamb 200 of figure 2 (a) is such that it can be moved, relative to the jamb member 202, from a first position to a second position.

To enable the doorstop element 204 to be moved from the first position to the second position, the doorstop element 204 is coupled to the jamb member 202 by a coupling means in the form of a plurality of spaced apart catches 206, which are shown in figure 2 (b) and figure 2 (c) . A cross section of the jamb 200 can also be seen in figures 2 (b) and 3 (c) , which also illustrates the doorstop element 204 in the first position (figure 2 (b) ) and the second position (figure 2 (c) ) . As can be seen in figure 2 (b) , the doorstop element 204 is proud of the jamb member 202 in the first position so as to obstruct the door 208 from moving

in direction "B" . Figure 2 (c) also shows the doorstop element 204 in the second position, in which the doorstop element 204 is not proud of the jamb member 202 to thereby not obstruct the door 208 from being opened in the direction "B" .

The catches 206 are such that in order to move the doorstop element 204 from the first position to the second position a person merely needs to press the catches 206 (which are press operated) to release them so as to move the doorstop element 204 from the first position to the second position by simply pushing the doorstop element 204 toward the jamb member 202. As can be seen in figure 2 (d) , the jamb 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of the catches 206 in a spaced apart arrangement along the length of the jamb 200.

With reference to figure 2 (e) , the jamb 200 comprises a locking means 210 for locking the doorstop element 204 in the first position. The locking means 210 essentially provides a mechanism for ensuring that unauthorised persons are unable to move the doorstop element 204 into the second position so as to open the door. As shown in figure 2 (f) , the locking means 210 comprises a key operated lock 212 and at least one elongate member 214. The key operated lock 212 and the elongate member 214 are located in the doorstop element 204. The elongate members 214 are located in open ended channels (not shown in the figures) that are internal to the doorstop element 204. The key operated lock 212 can be operated by a key to retract the elongate members 214 from a locking position, in which the elongate members 214 protrude from the doorstop element 204, into the doorstop element 204. When retracted into the doorstop element 204 the doorstop element 204 is effectively unlocked from the first position and is capable of being moved to the second position.

Persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that even though the embodiment of present invention has been described in the context of a doorjamb the present invention has application to a window frame. In which case, the doorstop element 25 would be used to stop the windows.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. It should be understood that the invention includes all such variations and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.