CA1166005A - Assembly for mounting a picture to be displayed - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A picture frame with a rabbeted inner periphery, forming an abutment for a stack including a glass pane, a decorative insert and a backing plate, has an inner peripheral groove in a plane paralleling the rabbet and another groove transverse to that plane close to the outer edge of the rear face of each of its members.
One or more clips of elastic material (metal or plastic) engage each frame member from the rear, each clip having a channel profile with mutually perpendicular lips snap-fitted into the inner and outer grooves and further having at least one dovetailed transverse mortise open toward the interior and the rear of the frame. Each clip is engaged by at least one elbow of similar elastic material with two arms adjoining each other at an acute angle, either of these arms fitting tightly into a corresponding mortise while the other arm bears resiliently upon the rear surface of the stack resting against the rabbet. The clips may be straight bars, slid-ably fitted onto individual frame members, or angle pieces engaging the corners of the frame.

Description

~ 1 ~6~V~

ASSEMBLY FOR MOUNTING A PICTU~E
TO BE DISPLA~ED

SPECIFICATION

Field o~ the Invention __ _ My pr~sent invention relates to an assemb~y for the mounting and framing o a flat carrier o~ rectangular outline bear-ing a message to be displayed. The term "messagell is intended to encompass a variety of decorative or ino~ative representa~ions il~cludin~ writings, drawings, paintings and photographs.

0 B~ckground of the Invention The conventional ~ay of holdir,~ ~ pi.cture or the like in a .~urrotmding frame involves t~e use of retaining elements which a.~e nailed, glued or otherwise secured to the inner frame periphery i~ order to engage a rear surface of a st~ck usually formed by a L5 glass pane and a backing plate between which the plcture is s~nd-wiched~ this stack resting against a perLpheral rabbet ormed by the frame members. The removal o~ these retaining elements o~ any purpose, e.~. for ch~nging the display or fo~ replacing a broken , ~lass pane,.tends to damage the frame or at least to weaken th2 'O . hold of these elements upon their subsequent re-emplacement.

Obiects of the Invention T~e general ob ject of my present invention) therefore, is to provide an assembly of th~ type referred ~o whose retaining elemen~s can be readily removed and restored without any structural ~5 impairment of the elements themselves or of the associated frame~

1 1 fi 6~ 0 5 A more particular object is to provide mean~ ~n such an assembly for accommodating message carriers of di~ferent thic~-nesses.

Summary of th_ Invention I realiæe these objects, in accordance with my present in~ention, by providing a ~our-sided rame whose r~bbeted lnner periph_ry forms a planar abutment for a rectangular me~sage carrler, the frame being provided on at least two opposite sides with two mutually perpendicular grooves. One groove extends along the inner perlphery o~ the rame, parallel to and rearwardly o~ the abutment plane, while the other groove is transverse to that plane and ex-te~-ls on a rear frame face parallel to itB inner periphery. The f_am~ is engaged on the aforemention2d sides by a plurali~y o~ clips of elastic material ~metal or plastic) which overlie part o~ its J re~r face and have a channel profile with mutually perpendicula~
firs~ and second clips respectively entering the inner periphe~al ~roove and the transverse groove of the corre~ponding fra~e side J
each clip furth~r having at least one t~ansverse mor~ise with under~-cut (preferably beveled) edges whlch is open to the interior and to the rear of the frame. Each clip is en~aged by at le~st one det~ch-aole elbow of preferably the same elastic material having ~wo anms adjoining each other at an acute angle, one arm being frictionally fitted from behind into a mortise of the clip while the other arm resiliently bears upon the rear surface of the message carrierS
i Advantageously, pursuant to a more particular ~eature o~
my invention, the two arms o~ each elbow are of different lengths but identical cross-section so that either of them can be inserted into a mortise of an associated clip7. depending on the thic~ness of ' ~ ~ 6~005 the carrier to be retained.
Such a cllp may be in ~he shape o~ a 8traigh~ bar which can be slid along a frame side into any desired position. ~t lea5t some o~ the clips of a mounting assembly according to my invention may, however, be designed as angle me~bers ~th two mutually ortho-gonal legs engaging the rame at its corners~

- . Brief Description of the Drawin, The above and other fea~ures o~ ~y inve~ion will' now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in ~~) whlch:
FIG. 1 is a p~rspective view of an elbow for a mounting as~e~bly according to my invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a straight clip used in SllCn an aSS-?iTlbly;
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG~ 2 but shor.~ing an angled clip to be used at a corner of an associated frame;
F'IG. 4 is a cross-sectional vlcw of a ~rame member en-gag~d by a clip o~ the type sho~ in FIG. 2~. tnis view also lllus tratlng part of a ~tack retained by the ~lbow of FIG. l;
) FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG~ 4, showing ~he elbow in~
verted to retain a stack o~ greater thickness; and FIG. h is a r~ar view of a frame provided with straight and angled clips of ~he type shown in FIGS~ 2 and 3 Specific Description j FIG. 1 illustrates an elbow-shaped retainin~ element 1 provided with a shorter arm 2 and a longer arm 3 adjoining each other at an acute angle, e.g. o~ 45to 60 as more clearly shown .

~~` I :~ 6~;0(15 in FIGS. 4 and 5. ~ach arm has a trapezoidal cross-sec~:ioTI ~7ith two beve le d e dge s 4 and 5 O
FIG. 2 shows a clip 11 in the -forr~ of a bar with a channel proEile defined by two orthogonally adjoining sidewalls ~, 7 which ~erminate at their free edges in two lips 9 and 8 respectively per-pendicular thereto. The heigh~ o lip 9 as measured from ~he ad-~aining sidewall is less than that of lip 8; as illustrated, lip 9 i~ less than hal as high as the sidewall 7 parallel there~o. This sidewall is ~ormed with a dovetail-shaped mortlse lO ~hose cro~s-ct~on has the same trapezoidal shape as arms 2 and 3 of elbow 1 ~I5. 1~; thus9 either of these arms can be inserted with a ti8ht fr~ctional ~it into mortise 10 from a rear end thereo, `i.e~ from its upper end as viewed in FIG. 2.
In FIG. 3 I have shown an alternate clip 12 consisting o i two mutually ortho~onal legs 12' and 12" each having the s~me chanIIel pro~ile as the straight clip 11 o~ FIG. 2, with lips 8', 9' and a mortise 10' in the case of leg 12' and lips 8", 9" and a mortise lO'' in the case of le~ 12". The elhow 1 and the cllps 11 12, o FIGS. 2 and 3 may be made rom sheet metal or resinuous ) mat~rial of suitable elasticlty, FIG. 4 illustrated part o a mountin~ assembly including a member 25 of a frame 1~, (FIG. ~) with a projecting ledg2 19 which forms ~ peripheral rabbet around the fra~-ne opening. As particularly shown for member 25, each frame member has an inner peripheral groove 20 which is parallel to its ledge 19 and, in the illustrated embodiment, is bounded by a forward wall flush with the rear sur~ace of that ledOe. Ano~her groove 21, perpendicular to ledge 19, ~x-tends close to an outer edge of the frame member on a rear ~ace thereor which is partly overlain by a clip 11 such as the one shown IJ6600~
in FIG. 2. Lip 8 oE clip ll pene~rateq :Lnto groove 20 while ~ip 9 engages in the shallower groove 21 -in~o which it is inserted with a snap fit, thanks to the resiliency of ~he clip, The ~rooves 20 and 21 extend over the entire length of the four frame members 25 - 28 shown in FIG. 6. Each clip ll rictionally grips the associated rame member and can be slid therealong into any desired position .
A carrier of a message to be displayed in the ~rame 18, partly illustrated in FIG. 4, comprises a stack formed from.a glass paI~e ~2, a shee~ 23 wi~h a painted or otherwise decorated front fac~ ~lol~er surace in FIG. 4), and a backing plate 24 of r21ative:L~
ri~id material. An elbow ll, fitted with its shorter leg 2 (F-~G~ l) int~ the mortise 10 (FIG. 2) of c~ip 11, bears with its longer leg 3 up~n the rear surface of the stack 22-24 so as to hold same in fin.~ contact r~ith ledge l9. As illustrated in FIG. ~, each of the four rame memhers 25 - 28 is engag2d by a respective clip lla - lld whic~l in thi.s instance has two parallel mortises holding a pair of elbows l. FIG. ~ further shows the frame 18 en~aged at its corners by respective angled clips 12a - 12d similar to the one shown in . i FIC. 3. In some instances, ho~ever, it may be su~i~ien~ to use only clips ila, llc on the major ~rame sides 25, 27 or clips llb, lld on the minor ~ra~e sides 2~, 28. Conversely~ the presence of the fo~lr corner clips 12a - 12d may eliminate the need fox any sli.ding clip. Generally, of course,.. clips 11 and 12 can be used in i any desired combination.
.As indicated in FI~. 5, the elbow l engaging the clip ll may be inve~ted so that its lon~er arm 3 fits into the mort~se lO
(FIG. 2), its shorter arm 2 then bearing on the rear surface of a somewhat heavier stack which in this instance includes a relatively fifin(l~

thick decorative body 23 ', possibly a laminate or a woodcut7 in lieu of the sheet 23 shown in FIG, 4. Thus, the assembly according ~o my il~vention can be readily adapted to di~ferent message carriers that are to be mounted within the opening of frame 18.

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Claims (6)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An assembly for mounting a flat carrier of rectangular outline bearing a message to be displayed, comprising:
a four-sided frame with a rabbeted inner periphery forming a planar abutment for a front surface of said carrier, said frame being provided on at least two opposite sides with an inner peri-pheral groove extending parallel to and rearwardly of the plane of said abutment and with a transverse groove extending on a rear face of said frame parallel to said inner periphery;
a plurality of clips of elastic material engaging said frame on said opposite sides, each of said clips overlying part of said rear face and having a channel profile with mutually perpendi-cular first and second lips respectively entering said inner peri-pheral groove and said transverse groove of the corresponding frame side, each of said clips being further provided with at least one transverse mortise with undercut edges open to the interior and to the rear of the frame; and a plurality of detachable elbows of elastic material respectively engaging said clips, each of said elbows having two arms adjoining each other at an acute angle, one of said arms being frictionally fitted from behind into a mortise of the respective clip while the other arm resiliently bears upon a rear surface of said carrier.

2. An assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said arms are of different lengths but identical cross-section, complementary to that of the mortise, for selective insertion into said mortise.

3. An assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the cross--sections of said mortise and said arms are trapezoidal.

4. An assembly as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said second lip is of lesser height than said first lip.

5. An assembly as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein at least some of said clips form straight bars slidable along res-pective frame sides.

6. An assembly as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein at least some of said clips are angle members with two mutually ortho-gonal legs and are in engagement with respective corners of said frame.