A honeycomb door seal for resiliently sealing a door to a surrounding structure has a semi-rigid base and a plurality of flexible enclosures. A central enclosure, capable of abutting a door, has an outer surface which is connected to a back side member of the seal through a plurality of ribs. A plurality of ribs generally form a common junction at the back side of the structure with each rib extending forwardly at an acute angle with respect to the door contact surface, i.e., the plane of the door. The remaining enclosures are arranged and shaped to provide good recovery and resiliency of the door seal. The seal can be made out of a flexible polymer such as a thermoplastic elastomer or a thermoplastic olefin.
An assembly for enclosing an opening to a compartment in an exterior wall of a recreational vehicle is provided. A door that covers the opening to the compartment is insulated for maintaining an interior of the compartment at a temperature substantially similar to an interior of the recreational vehicle. An improved liquid sealing assembly is affixed between an interface between the door and the opening. The liquid sealing assembly includes a first elongated projection that extends along a top edge and side edges of the opening and a second complementary projection that extends along a top edge and side edges of the door. The projections induce liquid to flow along the lengths thereof to inhibit liquid from entering the compartment.
An assembly for enclosing an opening to a compartment in an exterior wall of a recreational vehicle is provided. A door that covers the opening to the compartment is insulated for maintaining an interior of the compartment at a temperature substantially similar to an interior of the recreational vehicle. An improved liquid sealing assembly is affixed between an interface between the door and the opening. The liquid sealing assembly includes a first elongated projection that extends along a top edge and side edges of the opening and a second complementary projection that extends along a top edge and side edges of the door. The projections induce liquid to flow along the lengths thereof to inhibit liquid from entering the compartment.
Sealing structure for providing a seal between the perimeter of a door and a surrounding structure such as a door frame. The sealing structure is preferably formed as a tri-part extrudate and is particularly useful in providing a seal for a structure (e.g., a refrigerator, freezer, walk-in freezer, etc.) where it is desirable to obtain a hermetic and/or thermal seal.
An expansion joint sealing element, consisting of an arrow-shaped elastomer strip (1), defined by a triangular head (2) and a rear insertion section (3) with an angled end (4), while its lateral walls (5) are externally corrugated (6), an arrangement that is repeated on the external surface of the base (7) and on the lateral sections of the head (2), which, along with the insertion section (3), have various internal, longitudinal hollow sections defined by various interior walls (8), forming an insufflation chamber (9), so that one end of the strip (1) is closed off, while the other is fitted with a cover (10) and a valve (11), the latter being used to inject air so that the walls of the elastomer strip press against the adhesive applied to its lateral walls, where ridges considerably increase the area of adhesion and prevent the strip from moving while said adhesive cures.
Method and apparatuses are disclosed for testing various characteristics of an elastomeric weatherstrip such as seal load, stress relaxation, and the recovery rate. One embodiment of the invention is an apparatus including a member defining a surface for exerting a force to deflect a portion of the weatherstrip a selected distance. The surface is oriented to be parallel to an edge defined by the portion along the weatherstrip's longitudinal axis in order to ensure that the exerted force is evenly distributed. The apparatus further includes an adjustable support for positioning the weatherstrip with respect to the surface and for bringing the edge into contact with the surface sufficiently to cause the portion to deflect the selected distance. The apparatus also includes a device for measuring the force exerted during deflection on the surface by the portion of the weatherstrip. Another embodiment of the invention includes a device for continually monitoring the force exerted on the surface by the portion over an extended period of deflection. The force measuring device can include a plurality of force measuring devices for independently measuring horizontal and vertical components of the exerted force. The methods of the invention include steps of exerting a force on the portion of the weatherstrip in order to deflect the portion a selected distance and measuring the reactive force exerted by the deflected portion. In another embodiment, the method includes the step of continually monitoring the measured force to determine the rate at which the portion relaxes over a period of time. Another embodiment of the method of the invention includes the steps of removing the deflective force from the portion of the weatherstrip and measuring the position of the weatherstrip at specified intervals to determine the rate at which a portion of the weatherstrip returns to its undeflected position.
