As plastic technologies improve building components previously made of natural products, such as wood, are now constructed of synthetic materials. In particular doors for home and business construction have been made of thin skins which are compression molded, complete with embossed wood grain patterns on their surfaces. Typically these skins are mounted on a frame which separates and supports the skins in a spaced apart relationship and the hollow space between the skins is then filled with a foam material, such as a polyurethane foam.
Patents relating to these types of door structures, include U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,493, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,512, U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,789, U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,540, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,030 all issued to Thorn, along with U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,835 issued to Mrocca and U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,059 issued to Croon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,540 is typical of such door structures using a frame on which compression molded skins are assembled to form a door assembly. By contrast the current invention does not use a frame, but rather interlocks the skins with a plurality of ribs and grooves that interlock the skins together in a rigid relationship when the hollow space between is filled with foam material. The assembly forms a durable door assembly which can be constructed economically.
Also it is contemplated that the preformed insert be used at the bottom of the door assembly which can be trimmed to the proper size along with providing additional strength to the resulting assembly.
Further it is also part of the invention to use edge projection from the skins that form the outer panel of the door assembly which interlock with one another. Another feature is the use of edge molding which can be used to cover the foam core when the door assembly has been trimmed to fit a door jamb.