Cored insulated door

Claim 1

In an insulated sheet metal slab door formed of a rectangular shaped wood frame comprising a pair of vertical stiles joined together at their upper and lower edges by horizontal rails, with the opposite vertical exposed edges of the stiles each having a central vertical groove extending the full height thereof, and each of the opposite vertical faces of the frame covered by a thick sheet of metal, which sheets overlap and are adhesively secured to the faces of the stiles and rails, and with the opposite edge portions of each of the sheets bent approximately perpendicular to the planes of the sheets to form edge flanges overlapping their adjacent stile exposed edges up to the groove, the improvement comprising: each of the free edges of said flanges being bent approximately perpendicularly thereto and inwardly relative to their respective stiles to form a flange edge portion arranged approximately parallel to the plane of the sheets and loosely inserted within its adjacent stile groove, with the grooves having side walls which are roughly parallel to said flange edge portion and with the grooves being of sufficient width so that the adjacent flanges edge protions are horizontally spaced apart from each other a considerable distance, and each flange edge portion is also spaced a considerable distance away from its adjacent groove side wall; and with the grooves being of sufficient depth so that said edge portions terminate at a considerable distance away from the bottoms of their respective grooves; and with the space between each pair of flange edge portions being substantially filled with a heat insulating plastic material which is positively bonded to the opposing faces of said pairs of flange edge portions for the full height of the stile and substantially the full depth of said flange edge portions, with the flange edge portions being otherwise free of and spaced away, by open spaces, from the side walls and bottoms of the grooves; and upper and lower end cap strips secured to and enclosing said horizontal rails and said vertical stiles; and plastic material bonded to the opposing sheet metal faces, filling the space between the sheets and within the frame; whereby a rigid structural slab unit is formed of the two sheets of metal secured together, along their vertical flange edge portions, and adhesively secured to the frame, and wherein the plastic material forms a heat insulating joint between the adjacent vertical edges of the sheet and also seals the vertical edges of the slab including the stiles and the grooves therein against moisture penetration.