US2972165A - Trim strip - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, R, E, MCCLELLAN TRIM STRIP Filed Sept. 8, 1958 mit United States Patent() TRIlVI STRIP Ralph E. McClellan, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The Meilink Steel Safe Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Sept. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 759,751

Claims. (Cl. 16-148) This invention relates to a trim strip for a door, and more particularly it deals with a trim strip adapted to be attached by means of one or more clips to the edge of an article, such as for example a safe door, in order to at least partially conceal parts thereof as well as to enhance or augment the appearance of the safe.

Trim Strips of various kinds have been maunfactured for numerous industries and for many applications, a few of which may include refrigerators, cabinets,.oice equipment, furniture, etc. However, doors of safes or the like having heavy walls have not lent themselves too easily to such decorative treatment, and such attempts have been limited to attachment of plates, escutcheons, etc., by other and more costly means.

Itis an object of this invention to produce an efficient, simple, effective, economic, protective and decorative trim strip for a doorl together with concealed means for attaching it thereon.

It is another object to provide a trim strip which may be supported along one or' its edges by abutment against a hinge plate or leaf fixed to the door.

It is another object to provide a trim strip which may serve to at least partially conceal the hinge plate by which it is supported.

It is still a further object to provide a concealed spring vWire clip means for quickly and removably securing such a trim strip.

It is still a further object to provide a trim strip for a safe door which when attached in accordance with this disclosure may serve also to conceal at least in part the normally wide gap existing in most safes at the periphery of the doors thereof.

In general, this invention comprises in combination, a decorative and crack sealing plate or strip having smooth parallel rearwardly inturned edge portions along its sides; a support plate such as the leaf of a hinge lying at least partially within the said edge portions and abutting one of said edges; a notch in one of the sides of the decorative plate or strip to provide access to the interior thereof by and for the support plate therein; and a wire clip element concealed within the plate or strip and spanning the said notch therein, said clip element being concealed also behind the support plate and adapted to resiliently abut the support plate along an edge opposite to the previously mentioned abutted edge, whereby the plate or Strip may be removably aixed to the support plate.

The particular mode of application or attachment of the decorative plate or strip disclosed herein may be utilized also in the attachment of other devices, including signs, signals, trays, panels, frames, borders, etc.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be understood best by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View of a safe showing the use 2,972,165 Patented Feb. 21, 1961 of decorative trim strips as they may be applied to the hinged sides of the doors of the safe in accordance with this disclosure;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail sectional view taken along the line II-ll on Fig. 1, showing the hinge construction and the manner of mounting the trim strip thereon;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 with a part broken away to more clearly show the resilient wire fastener means for holding the strip in place and the concealed location of said Wire;

Fig. 4 is an elevational detail view in full lines of an unexed resilient wire clip used to maintain support of the trim strip and in dotted lines in its exed or strip holding condition as shown in Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary isometric view similar to Fig. 3, showing one of the hinges of a safe door and the arrangementof the trim strip parts in their usual relationship as assembled on the leaf of said hinge on the door.

Referring first to Fig. l, in the usual manner of manufacture, a safe, or cabinet of similar character, may comprise a main body portion 10 having side walls 11, upper and lower walls 12, a rear wall (not shown) and a base member 13 which may or may not be fitted with wheels 14 to facilitate occasional movement of the safe. A liner 15 (see Fig. 2) within the walls 11, 12 may define an interior storage chamber within the safe, which chamber may ordinarily be closed by means of doors 16 arranged to swing on hinges 18 mounted on the side Walls 11. The doors 16 may be provided with bolt operating handles 2i), and a locking dial 22 for securing the doors of the safe against unauthorized opening.

The hinges 18 may be constructed in the ordinary way with one leaf or hinge plate 18a (see Fig. 2) being welded to an inturned flange or edge 11a of the side wall 11 or corner angle frame member, and similarly another leaf or plate lb may be welded to the faces of the doors 16, the leaf plates 18h being formed with offset portions 18c'to allow the doors 16 to be set at least flush and preferably slightly inwardly from the projected frontal surface of the safe as defined by the outer surface of the flanged wall construction 11a of the safe. These offset portions 18e permit or provide access for positioning a resilient spring wire strip fastening element 25, to be described more fully hereinafter. The hinge plate 1812 also may be formed with a chamfered edge 18d (see Figs. 2 and 5) to assist in afxing the protective and decorative plate or strip 39 thereto.

One of the main features of this invention resides in the manner of treating or adding a decorative element or trim strip 30 to an otherwise ordinary and plain appearing frontal face on a safe 1i), the main parts of which safe may consist of a pair of heavy at steel plate doors 16, carried on equally heavy hinges 18, which may not be even partially concealed except in a relatively expensive manner.

To this end there may be provided a pair of protective and decorative plates or strips 30 of a length substantially equivalent to the height of the doors 16, and which may overlie at least a portion of the hinge leaves or plates 18]; to thus partially conceal these plates and accentuate the vertical line at the edge of the door or doors 16. Furthermore, a safe may in many instances have quite a Wide crack or opening 32 (see Fig. 2) at the meeting line of the door and safe wall or jamb. This crack 32 may be partially concealed by the overhanging edge'33 of the strip element 30, and by so doing the crack 32 may be further sealed against water, smoke or other hazards during use.

Each of the edges of the plates or strips 3i) may be formed with a rolled or otherwise turned in edge to 3 present a soft smooth feel and appearance when installed on the safe doors 16. One of the ilanged edges 34 may -be adapted to tit along and' back under the chamfered edges 18d of the hinge plate 18h and thereby to be maintained in aligned position. The other or opposite edge of the strip 3%) may be formed with a double offset anged edge 36, the rst offset portion 37 thereof being of a size to accommodate snugly the ends of the resilient fastener 25 when it is ed in place. The second oifset portion 3d of the iianged edge 36 may be of such proportion as to permit the body portion of the strip 36 to lie substantially parallel with the plane of the door i6 and at the same time to lie over the hinge plate or leaf 18h and at least partially conceal it from View. The flanged edge 36 including portions 37 and 33 also may be -parallel to and of equal depth or spacing away from the body por* tion of the strip 36 as the flanged edge 34.

In order to fit the trim strip neatly over the hinge plate 18h, a pair of notches 39 may be cut into the edge of the strip 39, so that as the anged edge 34 is hooked under the chamfered edges 18d of the hinge plates 181; and the other ilangcd edge 38 may be set against the face of the door i6 with the notches 39 straddling the respective hinge plates or leaves 13b to facilitate the predetermined ultimate positioning of the trim plates or strips on the door.

While the protective and decorative plate or strip 30 is in the position described above, the fastener element 25 may be inserted into the space formed by the oifset portion 3'." of the hanged edge 35, which portion 37, forms a channel to maintain the ends i3 of the resilient fastener in a maximum force exerting position to pull the flange 34 of the strip 3i) in its hooked position (see Fig, under the beveled hinge portion 18d by bearing or pushing against the oset portion 13e of the leaf 181) which portion extends through or from the notch 39 of the strip Bil.

rthe fastener element 25 (see Fig. 4) may be formed of a resilient spring wire material and may have a preformed arcuate portion 13, at the middle or central portion thereof with offset bends 41 and 42, ending in wings or fingers 43. This element is of sucient length to span the notch 39 in the protective and decorative plate or strip Sii. The lengths of the leg portions 44 between the bends il and 42 and of the arcuate portion lil may be predetermined and Varied to accommodate yvarious sizes and combinations of hinges and decorative or protective strips used in various sizes of safes and doors.

Thus, when a door of the safe 1t) is open and the trim strip 3f: is tit over the hinges 1S as shown in Fig. l, the resilient fastener elements may then have their Ilingers i3 inserted in channel 37 across the notches 39 and then snapped behind offsets 18C of the hinge leaves isb to invisibly and removably hold the strip in the position as shown in Fig. 5.

The decorative plates or strips may be fabricated of stainless steel, aluminum, sheet steel, or other materials and may be painted, polished, chromium plated or otherwise finished to a predetermined quality or style. The spring wire fasteners may also be of a number of materials and may be of a different form than that disclosed herein, the main and evident purpose being to provide a concealed fastening means for the trim pieces substantially as described.

While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specic apparatus, it is clearly to be understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is: Y

1. The combination of a trim element for a panel, a hinge plate for said panel, said element having parallel inturned side edge portions with a notch formed transversely through one of said edge portions to permit said element to tit said hinge plate, a bevelled edge along one side of said hinge plate adapted to permit one of the inturned side edge portions of said element to be hooked thereunder, and a resilient fastening element interposed between another side of the hinge plate and bridging said notch between the other inturned side edge portion of said trim element to hold said one inturned side edge portion hooked under said bevelled. edge to hold said element on said plate.

2. 'The combination of a decorative element for ay door, a plurality of aligned hinge plates forV the door, said element having parallel inturned side edge portions with notches formed transversely through one of said edge portions to permit said element to it said hinge plates, a bevelled edge along one side of said hinge plates adapted to permit one of the inturned side edge portions of said element to be hooked thereunder, and a plurality of resilient fasteners interposed between another side of the hinge plates and bridging said notches between the other inturned side edge of said decorative element to hold said one inturned edge portion hooked in said bevelled edge whereby said decorative element may be secured along the edge of the door to substantially conceal said plates.

3. A strip for covering at least a portion of a protruding oifset hinge leaf on a door comprising: a pair of parallel rearwardly and inwardly turned flanged edges, one 'of said edges engaging the outer edgeY of said leaf, said strip having a notch opposite said leaf engaging edge to tit around said oiset of said leaf, and a resilient means bridging said notch behind said offset and fitting into the other iianged edge of said strip Vfor holding said' one edge into engagement with said outer edge of said leaf and said other edge under said offset whereby said strip is held in place over said portion of said hinge leaf.

4. A strip and hinge leaf according to claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises a wire having a bowed central portion for engaging said hinge leaf at said offset and ends which engage said other anged edgeon opposite sides of said notch.

5. Astrip and hinge leaf according to claim 3 wherein said outer edge of said leaf is bevelled and said one hanged edge hooks into said bevel.

References Cited in the le of this patent i UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,084,624 Place June 22, 1937 2,200,253 Atwood May 14, 1940 Y2,269,677 Manofsky s Ian. 13, 1942 2,671,137 Zang Mar. 2, 1954

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