US3455366A - Quick demountable screen for enclosing garage doorways and the like - Google Patents

Description

y 15, 1969 w. A. BOGUMlL 3,455,366

7 QUICK DEMOUNTABLE SCREEN FOR ENCLOSING GARAGE DOORWAYS AND THE LIKE Flled Sept 15, 1966 INVENTOR. WALTER kjyMlL fl Grn 5,

United States Patent US. Cl. 160-368 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A quickly mountable and demountable screen construction for a garage car doorway is provided, characterized by spring clips secured to the doorway casing face at intervals along its perimeter and arranged to removably receive and clamp a flexible member secured to the edge of screen cloth to the casing face.

This invention relates to a quick demountable screen for enclosing garage doorways and the like so that the interior of the garage can be used as a recreational area free from bugs and in which small children can be safely contained.

Especially during the warm weather, the garage of a home provides a desirable recreational area, particularly with the car door or doors open to permit free movement of air through the garage. It is desirable that this area be screened in, however, both as a protection against bugs, sun, heat and strong breezes, and also to contain small children against running out on the highway. It is desirable that such a screen be quickly removable and replaceable so that the garage can be easily placed in its normal service of providing a weatherproof enclosure for an automobile.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a screen which is very inexpensive and at the same time weather resistant, the screen cloth preferably being made of flexible fiberglass.

It is another object to provide such a screen which can be quickly installed by one having little skill, it being a matter of about ten minutes initial installation time for one man.

It is another object to provide a screen which, once a in place can be taken down or replaced by one man in a matter of a minute or so.

It is another object to provide such a screen which can readily be stored by being rolled up or folded over into a compact form.

Another object is to provide such a screen which, if run into by an automobile, will be pulled out of its fasteners without damage to the screen.

In accordance with the present invention there is pro vided a screen construction for a garage car doorway having surrounding casing members on the top and side edges, which comprises a flexible screen cloth having top and side edges arranged against the face of said casing members, a flexible member secured to the top and side edges of the screen cloth to form enlargements, and a series of spring clips, each having a base secured to the casing face, a jaw having a concavity facing said face and an outwardly angled lip at the outboard end of the concavity, whereby said enlargements may be forced between the lips and easing face to open the jaws and allow said enlargements to enter the concavities and be clamped by the jaws against the casing face.

In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 is a fragmentary outside perspective view of a garage having its car door opening covered by a screen embodying the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary hori- 3,455,366 Patented July 15, 1969 "ice zontal section taken generally on line 2 2 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a fragmentary outside or front elevational view of the garage particularly showing one of the quick attach and release spring clips for attaching the screen cloth to the casing of the door opening. FIG. 4 is a further enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3. FIG. '5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the spring clips.

The screen structure forming the subject of the present invention is shown as enclosing the garage car doorway 10 of a garage indicated generally at 11. The framing of the garage around the doorway 10 includes the conventional double studs 12 forming posts at the sides of the garage doorway, and supporting the usual lintel (not shown) which in turn carries the usual horizontal trim exterior strip 13 forming that part of the casing across the top of the garage doorway. The double studs are shown as having vertical casing member in the form of conventional stops 14 and vertical trim strips 15. The garage is shown as having conventional clapboard siding 16. Those exterior trim or casing members 13, 15 provide a vertical exterior face extending transversely of the doorway and to which the screen cloth 18 is releasably fastened.

This screen cloth 18 preferably comprises a single rectangular sheet 19 of screen cloth of suflicient size to have its top edge 20 arranged against the vertical exterior face of the horizontal trim or casing strip 13, its vertical side edges 21 arranged against the exterior vertical faces of the vertical trim or casing stips 15 and its bottom edge 22 substantially in contact with the floor of the garage. The top and side edges 20, 21, and also preferably the bottom edge 22, are each in the form of rolled edges constructed as shown in detail in FIGS. 24 to provide transverse edge enlargements 23.

An important feature of the invention is that each transverse edge enlargement 23 includes a flexible helical metal spring 25 which extends substantially the full length of its edge of the screen cloth 19. Each edge of this screen cloth 19 is carried or wound around its spring 25 with its extremity secured to the body of the screen cloth by stitching 26 or in any other suitable manner. It will therefore be seen that the screen cloth 19 has 9. rolled edging including flexible springs extending substantially the full length of each edge particularly the top and side edges. 7

This transversely enlarged edging 23 is secured to the trim or casing members 13, 15 of the garage doorway 'by means of spring clips indicated generally at 30, the screen cloth being shown as held by four of such clips across its top edge 20 and four of such clips across each of its vertical edges 21. Each of these clips is made of a single strip of spring metal having a flat base 31 provided with a keyhole slot 32, although the slot could be in the form of an ordinary straight sided slot, extending lengthwise of the clip adapted to receive the shank of a screw 33 which screws into its trim strip 13 or 15. The purpose of the opening 32 being in the form of a slot is to permit of adjustable positioning the attached clips 30 by loosening and moving the clips inwardly or outwardly relative to the doorway before tightening the screws.

This clip also includes a round C or channel-shaped jaw 34 projecting from one end of the base 31 and forming a semicircular concavity 35 of sufficient sizeto yielding embrace the rolled edge 23 of the screen cloth. The extremity 36 of this jaw of each clip which is remote from the base 31 is in spaced relation to the plane of the attaching face of the base 31 and is continued in the form of a lip 38 which is arranged at an acute included angle to this plane. It is an important feature of the invention that the outboard extremity 39 of this lip 38 is at a greater distance from this plane than the outside diameter of the transversely enlarged edgings 23 of the screen so that when attached to the casing this lip 38 provides a lead in having a contracting opening 40' between it and the casing strip and leading to the salient 36 of the jaw 39.

In installing the screen cloth 19 the spring clips 30 are attached to the exterior casing or trim strips 15 of the doorway in two vertical lines spaced from each other to correspond to the width of the screen cloth 19. A horizontal row of top spring clips 30 is secured to the top casing member or trim strip 13 at a distance from the garage floor corresponding to the height of the screen cloth. If this floor has a pronounced slope these spring clips will be arranged so that the bottom edge 22 of the screen cloth 19 will follow the floor and in so applying the clips 30, the screws are left untightened so that their shanks can be adjusted along the slots 32.

The screen cloth 19 is laid with its lower edge 22 on the floor along the front of the vertical trim strips and it is unrolled, first catching its vertical side rolled edges 23 in the lowermost pair of spring clips 30.

This is done by pressing these rolled edges into the contracting openings 40 between the lips 38 of this pair of clips and then forcing them past the salients 36 so that these rolled edges spring the free ends of these clips away from the vertical trim or casing strips 15 and so that the rolled edges 23 of the screen cloth can enter the concavities 35, whereupon the outboard ends of these spring clips spring back into pressure contact with the side rolled edges 23 of the screen cloth. This is repeated for the successive pairs of spring clips 30, moving upwardly until the top horizontal row is reached when the top rolled edge 23 of the screen cloth is forced into the concavities 35 of this top horizontal row of spring clips 30 in like manner.

If at this time any repositioning of the screen cloth 19' is required, any of the clips 30 can be moved toward or away from the garage car door opening 10 by virtue of the elongated slots 32. After such adjusting of the position of the screen cloth 19 and the various spring clips 30, their screws 33 are tightened so as to secure the bases 31 of these clips to the exterior of the doorway casing.

Should a car be driven into the doorway 10, it will, of course, strike the screen cloth 19. However, all that will happen with be that the rolled edges 23 of the screen cloth will be pulled out of the jaws 34 of the spring clips 30 and since the screen cloth is preferably made of fiber glass and its rolled edges 32 provided with a completely flexible core in the form of the helical metal spring 25, no injury of the screen will take place. Such fortuitous occurrence would not take place if the screen had had rigid members forming its rolled edges 23 or if such rolled edges were not held by the spring jaws 34 of the clips so as to be freely released therefrom. However, the pressure of the spring clips 30 against these rolled edges 23, and their number, is suflicient to withstand small children leaning or falling against them thereby to provide a barrier against their running into the dangers of the roadway.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention achieves the objectives initially set forth.

I claim:

1. A quick demountable screen construction for a 4 garage car doorway (10) and the like having top (13) and side (15) casing members providing a face extending transversely of said doorway, comprising a flexible screen cloth (19) having top (20) and side (21) edges arranged against said face of said top (13) and side (15) casing members, an elongated flexible member (25) secured to and extending substantially the full length of each of said top (20) and side (21) edges and forming transverse enlargements (23) thereof, and a series of spring clips (30) having bases (31) secured to said face of said top (13) and side (15) casing members, said spring clips (30) each being made of a single strip of spring metal and having a jaw (34) forming a continuation of said base (31) to extend toward said doorway (10) and formed to provide a concavity (35) facing toward said face with its outboard extremity (36) spaced from said face less than the thickness of the transverse edge enlargements (23) of said screen cloth (19) and said spring clip also having a lip (38) forming a continuation of said outboard extremity (36) of said jaw (34) and arranged at an acute included angle to said face and providing'an opening (41)) of greater than said transverse edge enlargements (23) of said screen cloth (19), whereby said screen cloth (19) can be installed and removed from said casing members (13, 15) by forcing its transverse edge enlargements (23) into said openings '(40) against said lips (38) to force said lips (38) and outboard extremities (36) of said jaws (34) away from said face and permit said transverse edge enlarge-' merits (23) to enter said concavities (35) to be held by said spring clips (30) in pressure contact with said casing members (13, 1'5).

2. A quick demountable screen as set forth in claim 1 wherein said elongated flexible members forming said transverse edge enlargements (23) of said flexible screen cloth (19) are each in the form of a flexible helical metal spring (25).

3. A quick demountable screen as set forth in claim 2 wherein said flexible helical metal spring (25) is each secured to its edge of said screen cloth (19) by a stretch of said screen cloth embracing said helical metal spring and means (26) securing the extremity of said stretch to the body of said screen cloth (1'9).

4. A quick demountable screen as set forth in claim 1 wherein said base (31) of each spring clip (30) is provided with a slot (32) elongated in the direction toward said doorway (10) and adapted to receive a screw (33) anchored in its casing member (13, 15) whereby said spring clips (30) after being screwed in position can be moved to adjust the position ofsaid screen cloth (19) before the screws (33) are tightened.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 774,462 11/ 1904 Wright. 1,312,130 8/1919 Merrill et a1. 2,643,711 6/1953 Smith -371 X 2,888,070 5/1959 Smith 16088 3,004,592 10/1961 Norton 160-114 DAVID WILLIAMO'WSKY, Primary Examiner P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,455,366 July 15, 1969 Walter A. Bogumil It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 18, "member" should read members line 30, "stips" should read strips Column 4, line 22, after "greater" insert size Signed and sealed this 28th day of April 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

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