US 12,215,539 B1
Pan garage door section having low-profile stile and hinge and methods of manufacture and use
William Keith Earnest, Louisville, TN (US)
Assigned to GRIDZ LLC, Knoxville, TN (US)
Filed by GRIDZ LLC, Knoxville, TN (US)
Filed on Jun. 5, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/734,737.
Int. Cl. E06B 3/48 (2006.01)
CPC E06B 3/485 (2013.01) [E05Y 2900/106 (2013.01)] 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A pan overhead garage door section, comprising:
a door section face having a longitudinal face top edge and an opposite longitudinal face bottom edge;
a top rail integral with the door section face formed longitudinally therealong, the top rail comprising a top rail body extending rearwardly from the face top edge perpendicular to the door section face and further comprising a top rail leg extending downwardly from the top rail body offset from and parallel to the door section face; and
a bottom rail integral with the door section face formed longitudinally therealong opposite of the top rail, the bottom rail comprising a bottom rail body extending rearwardly from the face bottom edge perpendicular to the door section face and further comprising a bottom rail leg extending upwardly from the bottom rail body offset from and parallel to the door section face,
wherein a perpendicular distance along the door section face between the face top edge and the opposite face bottom edge defines a nominal door section height,
wherein the opposite top and bottom rail legs are formed in a common plane and a perpendicular distance between the door section face and the plane of the top and bottom rail legs defines a nominal door section depth, and
wherein the nominal door section height defined by the door section face and the nominal door section depth defined by the door section face and the opposite top and bottom rails together define a door section full-profile;
the pan overhead garage door section further comprising:
an end stile installed at each end of the door section face spanning between the opposite top and bottom rails, the end stile comprising at least one end stile side wall that is perpendicular to the door section face and an end stile face that is integral with and perpendicular to the at least one end stile side wall offset from and parallel to the door section face, the end stile face being offset from the plane of the top and bottom rail legs toward the door section face entirely between the opposite top and bottom rails; and
a center stile installed at an intermediate location along the door section face spanning between the opposite top and bottom rails, the center stile comprising at least one center stile side wall that is perpendicular to the door section face and a center stile face that is integral with and perpendicular to the at least one center stile side wall offset from and parallel to the door section face, the center stile face being offset from the plane of the top and bottom rail legs toward the door section face entirely between the opposite top and bottom rails,
wherein a maximum perpendicular distance between the door section face and the offset end and center stile faces defines a reduced door section depth between the opposite top and bottom rails, the reduced door section depth being less than seventy-five percent of the nominal door section depth and defining a door section low-profile between the opposite top and bottom rails that is smaller than the door section full-profile, thereby allowing for nested stacking of two pan overhead garage door sections together and accessible storage of door hardware between such nested pan overhead garage door sections.