Press molded door with improved reinforcement material and stile structure

Abstract

A press-molded door including a reinforcing structure having a plurality of hollow vertical stiffeners joined by a horizontal web, two of the stiffeners arranged on opposite edges of the reinforcing structure with a groove formed in an edge face thereof, a T-shaped stile arranged in each edge stiffener with a tongue that fits into the groove, and front and back panels arranged on opposite sides of the reinforcing structure.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A press-molded door comprising: 
 a reinforcing structure that is flexible about a vertical axis and substantially rigid about a horizontal axis;    front and back panels arranged on opposite sides of the reinforcing structure; and    at least one stile arranged on an edge of the reinforcing structure.    
     
     
         2 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 1  wherein said reinforcing structure and door panels are simultaneously pressed in the same mold.  
     
     
         3 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 1  wherein said reinforcing structure includes a plurality of convex hollow stiffeners extending vertically on a web.  
     
     
         4 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 1 , further comprising a handle reinforcement secured to a recess in the reinforcing structure.  
     
     
         5 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 4  wherein said handle reinforcement includes a rectangular solid material.  
     
     
         6 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 3  wherein one of said stiffeners is an edge stiffener arranged on the edge of the reinforcing structure and includes a groove for receiving a tongue extending from the stile.  
     
     
         7 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 6  wherein the stile is T-shaped with a top lip formed at each edge of a cap of the T.  
     
     
         8 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 7  wherein at least one of the front and back panels includes an edge lip arranged between the side stiffener and the top lip of the T-shaped stile.  
     
     
         9 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 1  further comprising additional stiles for enclosing all edges of the reinforcing structure.  
     
     
         10 . A press-molded door, comprising: 
 a reinforcing structure having a plurality of hollow vertical stiffeners joined by a horizontal web;    two of the stiffeners arranged on opposite edges of the reinforcing structure;    each of the two edge stiffeners having a groove formed in an edge face thereof;    a T-shaped stile arranged in each edge stiffener, each stile having a tongue that fits into the groove; and    front and back panels arranged on opposite sides of the reinforcing structure.    
     
     
         11 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 10  wherein each panel includes an edge lip that extends under the stile when the tongue is positioned in the groove.  
     
     
         12 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 11  wherein each of the stiles includes a top lip on each edge of a top of the t-shaped stile, said top lips engaging corresponding edge lips on the panels.  
     
     
         13 . The press-molded door recited in  claim 11  wherein said reinforcing  25  structure and door panels are simultaneously pressed in the same mold.