US2897620A - Prefabricated surfaces - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 4, 1959 A. J. FITZGERALD 2,397,620

' PREFABRICATED SURFACES Original Filed Aug. 9, 1950 INVENTOR ALBERT J. FITZGERALD, BY M HIS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent "ice 2,897,620 PREFABRICATED SURFACES Albert J. Fitzgerald, Syracuse, N.Y., assiguor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Original application August 9, 1950, Serial No. 178,515,

new Patent No. 2,742,116, dated April 17, 1956. Divided and this application September 26, 1955, Serial No. 536,552

2 Claims. (Cl. 4134) This application is a divisional application of application Serial No. 178,515, filed August 9, 1950, issued April 17, 1956, as US. Patent No. 2,742,116, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

This invention relates to prefabricated surfaces, and walls, and particularly to surfaces and walls intended for use where appearance is an important consideration.

An object of my invention is to provide a prefabricated wall, or surface, which may be made up of easily formed, or easily procurable parts of standard size and shape.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a surface made up of parts which may be standard to surfaces of widely different dimensions.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a surface having the characteristic that its dominant color may be changed by the ready insertion or removal of parts.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.

My invention itself, however, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a partly exploded view of a form of the invention using a zig-zag member for securing the elements together; Fig. 2 is a rear view of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively front and rear views of a further modification of the invention.

Prefabricated surfaces incorporating my invention may be applied to many applications, such as the sidewalls of pullman cars, trucks, vehicles, diiferent articles of household furnishings such as, for example, table lamps, end tables, cabinets of various sorts, and to many other applications.

It may be desirable, in some applications, to utilize a surface in which a dominant color may be changed from season to season, or even from day to day, and, as will presently be seen, the surface constructed in accord with my invention readily lends itself to such application.

Fig. 1 shows the simple construction embodied in this invention made up of channel members 14 and 15 in which the sidewalls are straight but inter-fit by overlap-- ping each other in the manner shown. A zig-zag member 16 of resilient material such as stainless steel is provided which may be fitted into channel 15 to hold the sidewalls of adjacent channel members 14 firmly against the inner surface of the channels 15.

As thus constructed it will be seen that the surface is made up of parts having only three different shapes, all of which preferably may be of some suitable sheet metal such as brass, or stainless steel readily formed into the desired shapes. Of course, a suitable plastic, glass, rubber, or other materials, may be used in the parts 14, 15 and 16.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of a surface made up in this way showing the member 16 in channels 15. The appearance illustrated in Fig. 1 may in some situations be desirable, in which case, the surface there illustrated may be the front of the structure.

Fig. 3 shows a surface made up in exactly the same way 2,897,620 Patented Aug. 4, 1959 but in which the sidewalls of the two channels are defiected inward toward each other at a desired angle better to hold the spring member 16 in place and better to secure the different members together. If desired, a suitable decorative fabric 17, which may be of silk or other suitable material, may be inserted between the walls of the channel members and stretched across the bottom of the channel 14 to add a desired color, or other pleasing effect to the surface produced. Of course, any of the members 14 and 15 may be enameled or otherwise given a suitable color. The bottom of channel members 14 may be perforated as shown at 18 in Fig. 4 to permit passage of sound, as where the grill is used in front of the loudspeaker in a radio cabinet. The fabric may show through these holes.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of a surface made up in accordance with Fig. 3 showing the member 16 in place and showing the bottom of the channel 14 removed in part to show the fabric 17 stretched across its inner surface and extending between the sidewalls of the different channels.

It will be observed that, in all of the forms of the invention illustrated, all of the parts employed may be easily formed and usually are readily procurable in desired lengths and sizes. Thus panels of desired size may be readily made up. Such panels offer highly desirable versatility as to the appearance produced and may be highly useful in, and about, stores, flower shops, and other areas where appearance and color of surroundings are important.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention many modifications may be made and I contemplate by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as may come within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A decorative panel comprising alternate first and second sets of longitudinally extending channel members each including a bottom portion and integral planar side portions outstanding from the opposite side edges of the bottom portion, the side portions of adjacent channel members being interlocked in mutually overlapping relation and forming thereby the sole means of connection of said channel members, the bottom portions of each of one set of channel members being adapted to be perforated, the overlapping portions of the channel side portions being adapted to clamp therebetween' marginal portions of sheet ornamental material backing the bottom portions of said one set of channel members and viewable through the perforations thereof, and a longitudinally extending resilient member of undulatory form compressed between and outwardly urging at longitudinally spaced points confronting adjacent channel side portions to press the overlapping side portions together, said resilient members being slidably removable in a direction normal to the channel bottom portions and without longitudinal movement relative to said channels to permit ready disassembly of said panel.

2. A decorative panel as defined in claim 1 in which the free edges of the side portions are spaced apart less than the width of the bottom portions of the respective channel members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 315,447 Steinway Apr. 7, 1885 603,597 Kittelsen et al. May 3, 1898 2,243,322 Van Uum May 27, 1941 2,430,654 Voege Nov. 11, 1947 2,742,116 Fitzgerald Apr. 17, 1956

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