SLIDING DOOR WITH SAME SURFACE LEVEL HOUSING FUNCTIONS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sliding door which can be housed to have the same surface level as the wall of a building. SOLUTION: A combination of a frame 13 and the sliding door 18A, which is used for an opening of the building, is further provided with an opening/closing apparatus composed of a revolving moving device 19A and a lateral moving device 20A. The device 19A has an appearing/disappearing function for housing the device 20A and the sliding door to set them flush with the wall 11 when a frame interior 17 is closed to make their surface project on the wall surface when the frame interior is opened. The device 20A has a contractible/expandable track, along which an inner track 44 comes in/out from an outer track 43 as the inner track interlocks with the sliding door when the door projecting on the wall surface moves to open/close the interior of a frame 13, to have a function of guiding and of preventing the shake of the lower end 58 of the sliding door against the wall surface. A toggle mechanism is arranged between both devices to enable the device 19A to revolve speedy. As both devices work, the sliding door and the opening/closing apparatus are housed to make them flush with the wall when the frame interior is closed, while the sliding door and a part of the apparatus is projected from the wall surface when the frame interior opened to allow the sliding door to be moved laterally. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI