Adjustable gasket assembly

Abstract

An elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame for supporting a glass infill in that window frame, the elongated sealing assembly comprising an elongated extruded flexible panel having an elongated first edge, an elongated second edge, an elongated first side, an elongated second side, an elongated bituminous strip extending adjacent a second edge on the first side of the flexible panel, an elongated bituminous strip extending along a first edge on the first side of the flexible panel, an elongated dart flange extending perpendicularly outwardly from the first side of the flexible panel adjacent the elongated bituminous strip thereat, and an elongated, thickness-adjustable assembly coextruded with the elongated extruded flexible panel to permit in-field accommodation with adjacent yet spaced apart gaskets with respect to the support of a glass infill in the window frame.

Claims

1. An elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame, enabling the balanced, even support of a glass infill against that window frame by a gasketed pressure plate, the elongated sealing assembly comprising: an elongated extruded flexible panel having an elongated first edge, an elongated second edge, an elongated first side, an elongated second side, an elongated second bituminous strip extending adjacent a second edge on the first side of the flexible panel, a first elongated bituminous strip extending along a first edge on the first side of the flexible panel, an elongated dart flange extending perpendicularly outwardly from the first side of the flexible panel adjacent the first elongated bituminous strip thereat, and an elongated, thickness-adjustable peel-off thickness strip assembly coextruded with the elongated extruded flexible panel, to permit in-field thickness-accommodation with a parallel, adjacent, spaced apart gasket to enable even support of a glass infill secured to the window frame by the pressure plate.

2. The elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame for enabling the balanced even support of a glass infill in that window frame as recited in claim 1, wherein the thickness adjustable peel-off thickness strip assembly extends off of the second side of the elongated panel.

3. The elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame for enabling the balanced, even support of a glass infill in that window frame as recited in claim 1, wherein the thickness strips are defined by an elongated slit arranged between one another.

4. The elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame for enabling the balanced, even support of a glass infill in that window frame as recited in claim 2, wherein each elongated slit arranged between adjacent thickness strips are of differing depth.

5. The elongated sealing assembly arranged to extend across a rectilinear rough opening in a wall of the building and a window frame for enabling the balanced, even support of a glass infill in that window frame as recited in claim 3, wherein the differing depth of the elongated slits are reduced towards the second side of the extruded flexible panel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The objects and advantages of the present invention will now become more apparent when viewed in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the edge of a rough window opening of a wall of a commercial building, and an adjacent portion of an aluminum frame and window therewith;

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an elongated sealing assembly constructed according to the principles of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the elongated sealing assembly shown in FIG. 2; and

(5) FIG. 4 is an enlarged end view of a sealing assembly showing the relationship of the elongated dart flange, a series of elongated peel-off thickness strips and the relationship of the sealing assembly to an adjacent, later attached pressure plate flange.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(6) Referring now to the drawings in detail and particularly to FIG. 1 there is shown the present invention comprising insertable gap-crossing membranes or transition sealing assemblies 10 utilized for sealing an entire peripheral gap or space 12 between a window frame 14 and the rough opening 16 of a wall 18 in a commercial building “B”. That empty perimeter space 12 is a design code requirement utilized to accommodate building settlement, movement through wind torque and seismic events. The sealing assembly 10, shown perspectively in FIG. 2, comprises an extruded, elongated, generally rectilinearly shaped flexible polymer body 20 comprised of silicone, EPDM rubber gasket or other flexible polymer which extends between the building's air vapor barrier 22 already in place on the exterior side 24 of the interior portion 26 of the building wall 18, and an elongated attachment configuration 28 arranged within the aluminum window frame 14 which surrounds the inner wall 30 of the rough opening 16 of the building “B”, spanning the peripheral gap “G” therebetween.

(7) The attachment configuration 28 embodied in the aluminum window frame 14 comprises an elongated dart-receiving channel or reglet 32, either on or immediately adjacent the spaced apart sidewall of the rough window opening 30. The sealing assembly 10 which may be comprised of extruded air vapor impermeable flexible material or other flexible foam air fin material has an elongated dart flange 34, shown in FIG. 1, and more clearly in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, spaced apart from a first elongated edge 36, thereof and directed perpendicularly away from a first side 38 thereof, as best seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. An elongated bituminous asphalt strip 40 is disposed on the first side 38 of the sealing assembly 10 between the elongated dart flange 34 and the elongated first edge thereof 36, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A second, elongated bituminous asphalt strip 42 is disposed on the first side 38 of the sealing assembly 10 adjacent an elongated second edge thereof 44.

(8) An elongated thickness-adjusting layer assembly 46, comprised of elongated peel-off thickness-strips 50, is disposed on a second side 52 of the elongated sealing assembly 10 directly opposite the elongated dart flange 34 coextruded with and extending from the first side 38 of the sealing assembly 10, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.

(9) The assembly of a commercial type building may be generally and simply characterized by steps such as building the interior wall 18 of that building structure “B”; wrapping the interior wall 18 on the exterior side thereof, with an air vapor barrier 24, as represented in FIG. 1; installing a window frame 14 within the rough opening 16 of a window location; installing the sealing assembly 10 between the exterior side 25 of the air vapor barrier 24 on the interior wall 18 and the reglet or the elongated dart flange receiving channels 32 on the outer face 54 of the window frame 14; attaching a glass panel infill 56 against the exterior face 54 of the aluminum window frame 14 with an elongated, parallel, dart flange bearing gasket 58 of in-field, indeterminate thickness extending within a second reglet 60 and the glass 56; attaching a pressure plate 64 against the outer side 52 of the sealing assembly and the outer side 62 of the glass infill 56, the glass infill 56 having an elongated dart flange bearing gasket 66 there with, wherein the pressure plate 64 is screwed to an elongated co-extruded flange 70 on the main window frame; an elongated snap cap 80 snapped against and attached as a cover to the pressure plate 64, as may be evidenced in FIG. 1, and finally a backer rod 72 and sealant 73 are applied to the space between the exterior masonry 76 and to the side edge of the pressure plate 64, as may be seen in FIG. 1, thus completing the basic assembly and sealing of the peripheral gap “G” between the window frame 14 and the perimeter of the rough opening 16 in the wall of the building “B”, the sealing assembly's 10 thickness being “adjusted” by removal of one or more pieces of elongated strip 50, as needed, to make the glass-securing pressure plate 64 evenly applied and properly aligned with respect to the window frame 14, thus avoiding any potential for wind induced misalignment chatter or worse.

(10) A further embodiment of the peel-off thickness-strips 50 are defined by a parallel array of elongated slits 74 which are of decreasing depth “D” with respect to the backside 76 of the thickness-adjusting layer assembly 46, as represented in FIG. 4. The change in depth “D” going from outermost strip 50A to 50E makes the removal of the outermost strip 50A easier and less likely to pull off too many strips 50 when making on-the-fly, “in-field” gasket thickness accommodations between the sealing assembly 10 and its neighboring elongated gasket 58 which is contemporaneously applied during window installation, as may be appreciated upon viewing FIG. 1. That is, D1>D2>D3 etc. to help prevent accidental tearing off of too many strips 50. Unevenness between the thickness of the sealing assembly 10 at the peel-off strip location and the thickness of the elongated gasket 58 would otherwise cause the pressure plate 64 and possible the glass 56 to rattle, loosen or otherwise become a problem and not otherwise properly seal that glass 56.