Panel connection mechanism

Abstract

To easily achieve required connection strength even with a loose connection type.SOLUTION: The present invention comprises an engaging member 11 which is attached to a frame material 31 on a joining side of one panel 30, and a connecting unit 20 which is attached to the inside of a frame material 31 on the joining side of the other panel 30, and the engaging member 11 is connected to a connecting member 21 of the connecting unit 20 via screws 25, 25 so as to be freely movable relative to the other panel.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a panel connecting mechanism that is particularly useful in forming a required large opening in a movable panel type partition device. [Background technology]

[0002] In a movable panel type partition device for schools, for example, when multiple partition panels are moved to form a large opening, workability can be improved by connecting two panels and moving them together at once rather than moving each panel individually.

[0003] In this case, since the two panels to be connected generally move along a common rail, it is preferable to use a loose connection that allows relative movement between them in order to eliminate the effects of unevenness or steps in the rail and ensure good movement and running performance. However, conventional technology applicable to such a purpose is not necessarily known, and an approximate technology has been proposed in which, for example, a locking member with a hook and an engaging member with a long hole into which the hook of the locking member engages are incorporated into the vertical frame on the joining side of each of the two shutters (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Jpn. Jpn. Published No. 57-17031 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] With such conventional technology, the connecting mechanism using the locking material and engaging material does not have a strong connecting strength, so while it may be suitable for lightweight storm shutters, it is not suitable for use with panels for partition devices, which tend to be large and heavy.

[0006] Therefore, in consideration of the problems of the conventional technology, the object of the present invention is to provide a panel connecting mechanism that can easily achieve the required connecting strength while maintaining a loose connection type by using engaging materials and connecting units that are connected so as to be able to move relative to each other via screws. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The configuration of this invention to achieve this purpose is a connecting mechanism for a pair of panels that move on a common rail, and is equipped with an engaging member that protrudes from the edge surface of the joining side of one of the panels, and a connecting unit that is fitted inside the joining side of the other panel, and the gist of this is that when the panels are brought close together, the engaging member enters an opening in the frame material of the panel on the connecting unit side, and can be connected to the connecting member of the connecting unit via a screw so that it can move freely relative to the other panel.

[0008] The connecting unit can be combined with a connecting material formed into a hat shape, base materials attached above and below the connecting material, and a bracket that houses the connecting material and base material and fixes them to the frame material of the panel on the connecting unit side.

[0009] In addition, the screw screws the pipe piece to the connecting material through an engaging hole in the engaging material, and the engaging hole may be larger in diameter than the outer diameter of the pipe piece by an amount corresponding to the relative movement range of the engaging material and the connecting material, and the screw may be rotatable through an opening in the bracket and an opening in the surface material of the panel above the bracket, and the opening in the bracket and the opening in the surface material of the panel above the bracket may be concealable through a pull tab on the panel. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the configuration of the invention, the panels are brought close to each other, and the engaging member of one panel is connected to the connecting member of the connecting unit of the other panel so as to be relatively movable, so that the required connecting strength can be easily achieved along with a predetermined loose connecting form. The type of the panel may be either a hanging door type that runs along a rail at a high place via a hoist, or a sliding door type that runs along a rail on the floor via a door roller. The required connecting strength can be achieved by using any number of screws, such as one, two, or three or more, to connect the engaging member and the connecting member. In addition, the engaging member is provided so as to protrude from the small end surface of the joining side of one panel, while the connecting unit is formed to have the same expected dimensions as the frame material of the other panel, so that the entirety is stored inside the panel, and there is no risk of damaging the appearance of the panel.

[0011] The connecting unit can be easily assembled into a strong and compact unit by combining the connecting material, base material and brackets, basically by bending and welding the plate material.

[0012] When the pipe piece that is screwed to the connecting material is inserted into the large diameter engaging hole of the engaging material, the relative movement range of the engaging material and the connecting material can be restricted via the gap between the engaging hole.

[0013] The screws connecting the engaging members and connecting members can be rotated, for example, from the front side of the panel through the openings in the bracket and the openings in the surface material of the panel on the bracket, making it easy to connect and release the panels. The openings in the bracket and the openings in the surface material of the panel on the bracket can be concealed in one go and in a neat manner through the pull tab of the panel. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] Overall schematic perspective view [Diagram 2] Perspective view of the installation state [Diagram 3] Exploded perspective view [Figure 4] Operation procedure explanation diagram (1) [Diagram 5] Operation procedure diagram (2) [Figure 6] Operation procedure diagram (3) [Figure 7] Operation procedure diagram (4) [Figure 8] Operation procedure explanation diagram (5) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] The panel connecting mechanism comprises an engaging member 11 protruding from the fore-end surface of one panel 30 at the joining side, and a connecting unit 20 mounted inside the joining side of the other panel 30 (Figs. 1 and 2). In the following explanation, the coordinate axis direction shown in Fig. 2 will be used.

[0017] Each panel 30 is assembled by assembling vertical and horizontal frame materials 31, 32...34 into a rectangular frame, placing a paper honeycomb core material (not shown) inside the frame, and finishing by gluing surface materials 35, 35 to both the front and back sides. The surface materials 35, 35 are appropriately folded to cover almost the entire surface including each small edge of the panel 30. However, the pair of panels 30, 30 are movable partition panels in the hanging door or sliding door type that move left and right on a common rail (not shown).

[0018] The engaging member 11 is attached to the frame material 31 on the joining side of one panel 30 so as to protrude outward through a vertically long opening 35a on the small end surface. The connecting unit 20 is attached to the inside of the frame material 31 on the joining side of the other panel 30, and the engaging member 11 and the connecting unit 20 are arranged to face each other. The small end surface of the other panel 30 and the outer surface of the frame material 31 are respectively formed with vertically long openings 35b and 31a through which the engaging member 11 can enter, and the front surface of the joining side of the panel 30 is formed with a vertically long opening 35c for attaching the pull tab 36 of the panel 30 in correspondence with the connecting unit 20.

[0019] The engaging member 11 is formed by bending a plate material into an L-shape and forming engaging holes 11a, 11a at the tip. The engaging member 11 is fixed in a flag-like shape with screws via a reinforcing base plate 11b to the outer surface side of the inward channel-shaped frame material 31 of one panel 30 (FIGS. 1 and 3(A)).

[0020] The connecting unit 20 is mainly composed of a vertically long hat-shaped connecting member 21, base members 22, 22, and a bracket 23 (FIG. 3). However, FIGS. 3(A) and (B) are respectively an enlarged exploded perspective view of the main part of FIG. 2 and an exploded perspective view of the main part of FIG. 3(A).

[0021] Channel-shaped base members 22, 22 are attached to the upper and lower legs of the connecting member 21, and a reinforcing plate member 21a is attached to the flat portion in the middle. On the other hand, the bracket 23 is formed in an outward channel shape with a prospective dimension equivalent to that of the inward channel frame member 31. The vertical length of the bracket 23 is equivalent to the overall length of the connecting member 21 and the base members 22, 22, and a vertically elongated opening 23a with the same length as the connecting member 21 is formed in the front flange of the bracket 23. The connecting member 21 is stored in the bracket 23 together with the base members 22, 22, and is fixed to the inner surface of the rear flange of the bracket 23 via the base members 22, 22. Each base member 22 stores the legs of the connecting member 21, and has a flange width of about half the prospective dimension of the bracket 23. The bracket 23 stores the base members 22, 22 and the connecting member 21, and is joined by butting the tip edges of the front and rear flanges against the front and rear flanges of the frame member 31.

[0022] The connecting member 21 and the reinforcing plate member 21a are commonly formed with screw holes 21b, 21b at the same intervals as the engagement holes 11a, 11a of the engagement member 11. The base members 22, 22 are formed with screw holes 22a, 22a formed by burring, and the upper and lower legs of the connecting member 21 are each formed with a through hole 21c for accommodating the protruding portion of the screw hole 22a formed by burring. The screw holes 22a, 22a fit the screws 36a, 36a for attaching the pull tab 36 of the panel 30 (FIG. 1).

[0023] The procedure for connecting the panels 30, 30 using the engaging member 11 and the connecting unit 20 is as shown in Figures 4 to 8, for example. However, Figures 4(A) and (B) are respectively an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of Figure 1 and a cross-sectional view corresponding to the arrowed view of line XX in Figure 4(A), and the same is true for Figures 5 to 8. Note that in Figure 4(A), the openings 35a, 35b provided on the small-edge surface of each panel 30 and the opening 35c provided on the front surface of the panel 30 on the connecting unit 20 side are omitted, and in Figure 4(B), the surface materials 35, 35 are omitted, and the same is true for Figures 5 to 8.

[0024] When connecting the panels 30, 30, first, one panel 30 is brought close to the other panel 30 (in the direction of the arrows in Figs. 2 and 4(A)), and the engaging member 11 is inserted into the openings 35b, 31a of the other panel 30. The engaging member 11 enters the front side of the connecting member 21 and the reinforcing plate material 21a in the connecting unit 20 (dotted line in Fig. 4(A)), so the panels 30, 30 are stopped at an appropriate position where the engaging holes 11a, 11a of the engaging member 11 are located in front of the screw holes 21b, 21b of the connecting member 21 and the plate material 21a (double-dotted line in Fig. 4(B), Fig. 5(A)).

[0025] Next, the pipe pieces 24, 24 are screwed onto the connecting material 21 and the plate material 21a via the screws 25, 25 (Figs. 5 and 6). At this time, each screw 25, together with the pipe piece 24, can be passed through the engagement hole 11a of the engaging material 11 via the opening 35c on the front surface of the other panel 30 and the opening 23a of the bracket 23, and screwed into the screw hole 21b of the connecting material 21 and the plate material 21a. That is, each screw 25 can be rotated via the openings 23a, 35c. The diameter D of the engagement hole 11a is set to D>d with respect to the outer diameter d of the pipe piece 24 (Fig. 6(B)), and the panels 30, 30 can be connected to each other so as to be movable relative to each other by a relative movement range δ=Dd via the screws 25, 25, the engaging material 11, and the connecting material 21.

[0026] Next, the opening 23a of the bracket 23 and the opening 35c on the front side of the panel 30 are concealed via the pull tab 36 (Figs. 1 and 7). The pull tab 36 can be attached by screwing mounting screws 36a, 36a into burred screw holes 22a, 22a on the base materials 22, 22 via mounting holes 36b, 36b formed by burring at the bottom (Figs. 7 and 8).

[0027] When disconnecting the panels 30, 30, the above connecting steps can be reversed.

[0028] In the above description, the engaging members 11 and the connecting units 20 are interposed between the mating portions of three or more panels 30, 30 . . . to connect any number of panels 30. [Industrial Applicability]

[0029] This invention uses a loose connection type that allows relative movement between the components, yet can easily achieve the required connection strength, and can be widely and suitably applied to movable partition devices for any purpose, including schools, when forming large openings, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] δ…Relative movement range d…Outer diameter 11...Engagement material 11a...Engagement hole 20…Connected unit 21...Connecting material 22...Base material 23…Bracket 23a…Aperture 24…Pipe piece 25…Screw 30…Panel 31…Frame material 31a...Aperture 35…Surface material 35c…Aperture 36…Pull handle Patent applicant: Komatsu Wall Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims

1. A connecting mechanism for a pair of panels that move on a common rail, comprising an engaging member protruding from the edge surface of the joining side of one panel and a connecting unit fitted inside the joining side of the other panel, wherein when the panels are brought close together, the engaging member enters an opening in the frame material of the panel on the joining unit side and can be connected to the connecting member of the connecting unit via a screw so as to be freely movable relative to the other panel.

2. The panel connecting mechanism described in claim 1, characterized in that the connecting unit combines the connecting material formed in a hat shape, base materials attached to the top and bottom of the connecting material, and a bracket that houses the connecting material and base material and fixes them to the frame material of the panel on the connecting unit side.

3. 3. A panel connecting mechanism as described in claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the screw screws the pipe piece to the connecting material through an engaging hole of the engaging material, and the engaging hole has a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the pipe piece by an amount corresponding to the relative movement range of the engaging material and the connecting material.

4. 4. The panel connecting mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the screw is rotatable through an opening provided in the bracket and an opening provided in a surface material of the panel above the bracket.

5. 5. The panel connecting mechanism according to claim 4, wherein the opening provided in said bracket and the opening provided in the surface material of the panel above said bracket can be concealed via a pull tab of the panel.

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