In prior-art devices of this kind intended for glazing a balcony, a plurality of vertical glass panes are mounted in the guide rails. The glass panes are jux- taposed and laterally displaceable. In a predetermined displacement position at one end of the guide rails, each glass pane is pivotable between its closed position and its open position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple locking mechanism, which is intended for a glass pane that is part of such a device for glazing a balcony and which in a safe manner locks the glass pane in the displacement position in which it is pivotable, thus pre- venting displacement of the glass pane, when the latter is located in an open position.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by means of a locking mechanism, which is of the kind stated by way of introduction and which is characterised in that the locking mechanism has a first locking pin, which is connected to one of the upper and the lower edge of the glass pane and which is located in the adjacent guide rail, said first locking pin being displaceable with the glass pane along this guide rail and placed in

such manner on the glass pane that its axis coincides with the pivot axis of the glass pane, that the locking mechanism further has a hole, which is formed in said adjacent guide rail and which has the same diameter as the locking pin and is placed in such manner that its axis coincides with the pivot axis of the glass pane when the glass pane is located in said pre- determined displacement position, and that the locking pin is associated with two mutually cooperating ramp means, of which one is connected to the glass pane and displaceable with the glass pane and non- rotatably connected to the glass pane to be turned in the pivoting thereof, and of which the other is non-rotatably arranged, the ramp means being arranged in such manner that, when the glass pane is pivoted in said predetermined dis- placement position from a closed position to an open po- sition and the ramp means are thus turned relative to each other, the ramp means insert the locking pin in the hole, thereby to prevent displacement of the glass pane when the latter is located in an open position.

Said other ramp means is preferably also connected to the glass pane and displaceable therewith.

In a preferred embodiment, said one of the upper and lower edge of the glass pane is the upper edge thereof and the locking mechanism further has a second locking pin, which is connected to the lower edge of the glass pane vertically opposite to the first locking pin and which is located in the lower guide rail and displaceable with the glass pane along this guide rail, and a hole, which is formed in the lower guide rail vertically oppo- site to the hole in the upper guide rail and which has the same diameter as the second locking pin, the two holes being located above the respective locking pins and the ramp means being arranged in such manner that, when the glass pane is pivoted in its said predetermined displacement position from a closed position to an open

position and the ramp means are thus turned relative to each other, the ramp means lift the glass pane such a distance that the locking pins are inserted in the hole in the respective guide rail to prevent displacement of the glass pane when the latter is located in an open position.

The first locking pin is suitably designed as a wheel-like, horizontal disc, one of the two ramp means being formed on the underside of the disc. The first locking pin is preferably non-rotatably connected to the glass pane.

Below, a preferred embodiment of a locking mechanism according to the invention will be described in more de- tail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figs 1-4 schematically show a device for glazing a balcony in four different positions of a ventilation door panel and a glass pane.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the line V-V in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along the line VI-VI in Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view along the line VII-VII in Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view along the line VIII-VIII in Fig. 4.

The device for glazing a balcony, which is schemati- cally shown in Figs 1-4, has a frame 1, which consists of an upper and a lower, horizontal guide rail 2 and 3, re- spectively, and two vertical frame parts 4 and 5 and which covers a balcony side. In the shown embodiment, the frame 1 supports three juxtaposed glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c, which are displaceably mounted in the frame 1. It goes without saying that the number of glass panes may vary.

The glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c are supported on the lower rail 3 by means of support wheels 7a, 7b and 7c, respectively, which are arranged at the lower edge of the

respective glass panes. The support wheels 7a, 7b and 7c run on a rib 8, which is formed in the lower rail 3 and which extends along the lower rail.

Each glass pane 6a, 6b and 6c has at its upper edge a guide wheel 9a, 9b and 9c, respectively, which is placed vertically opposite to the support wheel and which is guided in the upper rail 2. As appears in particular from Fig. 1, the distance of the pairs of wheels 7a-9a, 7b-9b and 7c-9c from the left side edge of the respective glass panes 6a, 6b, 6c is shortest at the right glass pane 6a and longest at the left glass pane 6c.

Each glass pane 6a, 6b and 6c has an additional pair of wheels of the same kind, which is arranged in the vicinity of the right side edge of the glass pane. These additional pairs of wheels are not shown in the drawings for the sake of clarity. It should be noted that the dis- tance of these additional pairs of wheels from the left side edge of the respective glass panes 6a, 6b, 6c is the same as the distance of the pairs of wheels 7a-9a, 7b-9b and 7c-9c from this side edge.

Each glass pane 6a, 6b and 6c has at its upper edge a guide means 10a, 10b and 10c, respectively, which is arranged in the vicinity of the right side edge of the glass pane and guided in the upper rail 2, and at its lower edge a guide wheel lla, llb and llc, respectively, which is placed vertically opposite to this guide means and which is guided in the lower rail 3. The axes of the pairs of guide means and of guide wheels l0a-lla, lOb-llb and lOc-llc form a vertical pivot axis for each glass pane 6a, 6b and 6c, respectively, about which axis the glass pane is pivotable between a closed position, in which it extends along the rails 2 and 3 and which is shown for all glass panes in Fig. 1, and an open posi- tion, which is pivoted through about 90° in relation to the closed position and which is shown for the right glass pane 6a in Fig. 4.

This pivoting is made possible by a recess 12 being formed in the side of the upper rail 2 and a recess 13 being formed in the side of the lower rail 3 vertically opposite to the recess 12 to allow passage for the pairs of wheels 7a-9a, 7b-9b and 7c-9c, respectively, of the respective glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c. Since each of the glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c is provided with an additional pair of wheels of this kind, a corresponding upper and lower recess (not shown) intended for this pair of wheels is, of course, formed in the side of the rails 2 and 3.

A ventilation door panel 14 made of glass is arranged in the frame 1 adjacent to the right frame part 4. The door panel 14 has a considerably smaller width than the glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c, which in the shown embodiment are equally wide. In the shown embodiment, the width of the door panel 14 is about one fifth of the width of the glass pane. The door panel 14 has an upper and a lower bearing 15 and 16, respectively, by means of which it is pivotably mounted in the frame 1 and which define a pivot axis for the door panel 14 in the vicinity of the right frame part 4. The door panel 14 is pivotable between a closed position, in which it extends along the rails 2 and 3 and, together with the glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c when the latter are also located in a closed position, covers the entire width of the frame 1 (see Fig. 1), and an open position, which is pivoted through about 90° in relation to the closed position (see Figs 2-4).

When the glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c and the door panel 14 are all located in a closed position and thus "fill up"the frame 1 (Fig. 1), the glass panes cannot be displaced. The door panel 14 thus functions as a dis- placement lock, which prevents displacement of the glass panes to the right. In the displacement position of the glass panes 6a, 6b and 6c, which is shown in Fig. 1, the support wheel 7a and the guide wheel 9a of the right glass pane 6a are located in a position to the left of the recesses 12 and 13. The additional wheels of the

right glass pane 6a, which correspond to the wheels 7a and 9a, are in this displacement position of the glass pane also located in a position to the left of the corre- sponding recesses. This means that not only the middle and the left glass pane 6b and 6c, respectively, but also the right glass pane 6a in this position are fixed in the rails 2 and 3 in respect of both displacement and pi- voting.

Below follows a step-by-step description of the manner in which the frame 1 which is completely"filled" in the position shown in Fig. 1 is"opened"to a substan- tially completely uncovered position.

The ventilation door panel 14 is pivoted from its closed position, shown in Fig. 1, to an open position (Fig. 2). The right glass pane 6a is now displaced to the right to a position (Fig. 3), in which its right side edge is located near the door panel 14 and its support wheel 7a and its guide wheel 9a are located opposite to the recess 12 and 13, respectively, its additional wheels which correspond to the wheels 7a and 9a also being located opposite to the respective corresponding recess. From this position, the right glass pane 6a is pivoted to an open position (Fig. 4).

The middle glass pane 6b is subsequently displaced to the right to a position, in which its right side edge is located near the right glass pane 6a and its support wheel 7b and its guide wheel 9b are located opposite to the recess 12 and 13, respectively, its additional wheels, which correspond to the wheels 7b and 9b, also being located opposite to the respective corresponding recess. From this position, the middle glass pane 6b is pivoted to an open position. The left glass pane 6c is then displaced to the right to a position, in which its right side edge is located near the middle glass pane 6b and its support wheel 7c and its guide wheel 9c are located opposite to the recess 12 and 13, respectively, its additional wheels, which correspond to the wheels 7c

and 9c, also being located opposite to the respective corresponding recess. From this position, the left glass pane is pivoted to an open position, the frame 1 being essentially completely uncovered.

The right glass pane 6a and its support wheel 7a, guide wheel 9a, guide means l0a and guide wheel lla as well as its locking mechanism for locking the glass pane 6a will now be described in more detail with reference to Figs 5-8. The other two glass panes 6b and 6c are con- structed in the same manner as the right glass pane 6a, which means that the description below is applicable to them too.

The glass pane 6a has an upper frame part 17 and a lower frame part 18, in which it is fixed.

The support wheel 7a, which has a horizontal axis and which at the displacement of the glass pane 6a rolls on the rib 8, which is formed in the lower rail 3, is rotatably mounted in a yoke 19, which is screwed onto the underside of the lower frame part 18.

The guide wheel 9a, which has a vertical axis and whose diameter equals the width of a first guide groove 20 formed in the upper rail 2, is rotatably mounted on the upper side of the frame part 17 by means of a verti- cal bolt 21, which extends from above through the guide wheel 9a, a spacing sleeve 22, the upper wall of the frame part 17 and a locking washer 23. A nut 24 is screwed onto the bolt 21.

The guide wheel lla, which has a vertical axis, has a lower cylindrical portion and an upper portion with a truncated conical shape. The diameter of the guide wheel lla in the cylindrical portion equals the width of a guide groove 25 formed in the lower rail 3. The guide wheel lla is rotatably mounted on the underside of the frame part 18 by means of a vertical bolt 26, which ex- tends from the underside through the guide wheel lla, a spacing sleeve 27, the lower wall of the frame part 18

and a locking washer 28. A nut 29 is screwed onto the bolt 26.

The guide means l0a consists of two separate parts, namely an upper part 30 and a lower part 31.

The upper part 30 is designed like a guide wheel with a vertical axis, but it cannot rotate about this axis during the displacement of the glass pane 6a. The upper part 30 is non-rotatably connected to the frame part 17 and thus to the glass pane 6a by means of a ver- tical bolt 32, which is hexagonal in cross-section and which at its upper end is fixed to the upper part 30.

The bolt 32 extends from above through the lower part 31, the upper wall of the frame part 17 and a locking washer 33. A nut 34 is screwed onto the bolt 32.

The bolt 32 extends rotatably through the lower part 31. The lower part 31 is kept at a distance from the frame part 17 by means of locking rings (not shown), which are arranged on the bolt 32. The lower part 31 has the form of a rectangular plate, whose width equals the width of a second guide groove 35 which is formed in the upper rail 2. The lower part 31 is thus non-rotatably arranged in the upper rail 2.

The upper part 30, which resembles a guide wheel, has at its underside an integral upper ramp means 36, which consists of two downward protruding projections, which are placed diametrically opposite to each other at the circumference of the upper part 30. The lower part 31 has at its upper side a lower ramp means 37, which cooperates with the upper ramp means 36 and which consists of two recesses provided with ramp surfaces, which recesses, when the glass pane 6a is located in a closed position, are located vertically opposite to the projections forming the upper ramp means 36 and accommo- date the projections in the manner shown in Fig. 6.

The upper rail 2 has a rib 38 fixed therein, which extends a distance along the upper rail 2 in the vicinity of its right end. The rib 38 has a series of successively

arranged, downwards open recesses or holes 39, the number of which equals the number of glass panes. Each glass pane 6a, 6b and 6c is associated with a hole 39, which is located vertically opposite to the guide means 10a, lOb and lOc, respectively, of the glass pane, when the glass pane is located in the displacement position in which it can be pivoted to an open position. The hole 39 has the same diameter as the upper part 30 of the guide means lOa (lOb,lOc).

A corresponding hole 40 is formed in the lower rail 3 vertically opposite to each recess or hole 39 in the rib 38. The diameter of the hole 40 is substantially the same as the diameter of the centre portion of the trun- cated conical portion of the guide wheel lla (llb, llc) (see Fig. 8).

When the glass pane 6a has been displaced to the displacement position shown in Fig. 3, in which it can be pivoted to an open position, and is pivoted in this posi- tion, the upper part 30 of the guide means lOa and thus the upper ramp means 36 are turned relative to the lower ramp means 37, the ramp means 36 and 37 pressing the upper part 30 upwards, in such manner that it is inserted in the hole 39. The glass pane 6a is then lifted a dis- tance, which in turn results in the insertion of the truncated conical portion of the guide wheel lla in the hole 40. The upper part 30 of the guide means lOa and the guide wheel lla prevent, when inserted in the hole 39 and 40, respectively, a displacement of the glass pane 6a, when the latter is located in an open position. When the glass pane 6a is pivoted back to a closed position, the upper part 30 and the guide wheel lla are extracted from their holes 39 and 40, respectively, and release the glass pane 6a for displacement along the rails 2 and 3.

The guide means lOa with the two parts 30 and 31 and the ramp means 36 and 37 as well as the guide wheel lla thus form a simple and automatic locking mechanism, in which the upper part 30 and the guide wheel lla function as locking pins, said locking mechanism preventing a dis- placement of the glass pane 6a when located in an open position.