Liner For Covering Intersecting Surfaces

Abstract

A liner for covering one of two intersecting surfaces. The liner includes a face for attaching to a wall, a return connected to the face, and a spring connected to the return or to the face.

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part [continuation] of application Ser. No. 365,456, filed May 31, 1973, now pending, which in turn is a division of [and] application Ser. No. 191,871, filed Oct. 22, 1971 which issued on Mar. 19, 1974 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,185.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known in the construction art that extruded plastic and aluminum trim can be used on door molding, window frames, sills, and the like. Such extruded trim can be used in "trimming out" any penetration of a wall or any intersecting surfaces within a house or other structure. Most known trim requires a considerable amount of labor and time to install. The trim must be nailed to the intersecting surfaces of window frames and door frames and then must be nailed to the wall surrounding the frame. Nail holes must be puttied, and the trim precisely fitted to conform to the structured frame. If the window sill is not completely "plumb" or square, a much greater amount of time and labor is required to trim the frame.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an article of manufacture for quickly and economically covering or lining a door frame or window frame, or any two intersecting surfaces in general.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an article of manufacture for quickly and economically lining a door frame or window frame which is not plumb or square.

THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a liner for covering one of two intersecting surfaces including a face means having an exposed side and a hidden side, a return means having an exposed side and a hidden side connected to the face means, and a spring means connected to the hidden face of the return means or the face means.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the liner of the present invention attached to a window frame;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the liner embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the liner of FIG. 3 taken along lines 4--4;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an aligning clip;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the aligning clip of FIG. 5 taken along lines 6--6;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the liner embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along lines 8--8;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the liner embodiment shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the liner of FIG. 9 taken along lines 10--10.

Referring now to the drawings, the liner designated generally by the numeral 21 of the present invention can be seen in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. In FIG. 1, liner 21 is attached to a wood frame 36 to form a trim or liner for the window frame 20. As can be seen in the drawings, liner 21 is made from one integrally formed piece of material such as metal, plastic, or the like, although plastic is preferred. Liner 21 has a hidden inside surface 21b and an exposed or outside surface 21a. The surface 21b inside of liner 21 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 has attached thereto spring members 24--24 and a plurality of channel wall members 25. The inside surface 21b faces the wall and window frame and can't be seen after the liner is installed.

Liner 21 includes a liner return portion 23 connected to liner face 22. Liner face 22 forms an angle with the liner return 23 which is slightly greater than 90.degree., as can be seen in FIG. 4. As also shown in FIG. 4, liner face 22 is generally arcuate in cross-section. Liner return 23 is straight, the outer surface 21a being a plane.

The return portion 23 of the liner 21 has the two spaced apart springs 24--24 attached to its inside surface. One or more springs may be used, but two springs are preferred. The springs 24--24 serve to force the return portion 23 of the liner 21 snugly against window frame edge 19 which is a part of the window frame 20.

The inside surface of liner face 22 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart channel walls 25 which have protuberances 26 on their ends. Located at one end of liner face 22 is liner lip 32 which fits snugly against wall covering 37. In FIGS. 5 and 6 is shown an aligning clip designated generally by the numeral 28, which is used to fasten liner 21 to the wood frame 36. Aligning clip 28 includes a clip return portion 29 which fits flush against the end of wall covering 37 and wood frame 36. The outer end of the clip return is provided with a clip lock 31 which is generally trapezoidal in shape. The clip lock 31 is received between two adjacent channel wall members 25--25. The protuberances 26--26 on the bottom of channel walls 25--25 engage the clip lock 31 and holds the liner 21 snugly against the wall covering 37. Aligning clip 28 may also have a transversely extending clip face 30 which spaces the clip lock 31 the proper distance from wall covering 37. Aligning clip 28 is fastened in position by a nail 35, or a screw if desired, as shown in FIG. 1.

As previously mentioned in the explanation of FIGS. 3 and 4, liner face 22 is generally arcuate in cross-section. It is very important that this cross-section be arcuate so that when liner 21 is attached to a window, as shown in FIG. 1, liner face 22 must be depressed downward to engage aligning clip 28. Thus liner face 22 is under stress and fits more snugly against the window frame 36.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a liner composed in general of two elements, face element 49 and return element 50. Face element 49 is also shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and return element 50 is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In FIG. 2, face element 49 and return element 50 can be seen to be attached to wall covering 37 and wood frame 36 to form a trim or liner for the window frame 20. As can be seen in the drawings, both face element 49 and return element 50 are made from one integrally formed piece of material such as metal, plastic, or the like, although plastic is preferred.

Return 50 is shown in detail in FIGS. 7 and 8 and also in FIG. 2. Return 50 can be seen to have a hidden inside surface 61b and an exposed or outside surface 61a. Surface 61b inside of return 50 has attached thereto a spring member 44 and a lower face element 40. Lower face element 40 has two clips 41 attached thereto for engagement of protuberances 45a and 46a of element 49, and is connected to return leg 43.

Face element 49 has a hidden inside surface 62b and an exposed outside surface 62a. The inside surface 62b shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 has attached thereto a support 46 having protuberance 46a attached thereto. Face element 49 includes a return portion 45 connected to face 42. Face 42 forms an angle with liner return 45 which is slightly less than 90.degree.. Return portion 45 has a protuberance 45a connected thereto. Both support 46 and return 45 are biased toward each other so that when they are connected to return 50 they must be spread apart to engage protuberances 45a and 46a of return 50. It is important that the distances between protuberances 46a and 45a be slightly greater than the distance between protuberances 41--41 of return 50 so that return portion 45 and support 46 must be spread outward to fasten face element 49 to return element 50. As seen in FIG. 10, the arrows indicate the direction in which support 46 and return portion 45 must be moving to attach face element 49 to return element 50.

Aligning clip 28 and return 50 may be connected to wood frame 36 or wall covering 37 by nailing, gluing, or any other method well known in the art. Liner 21 can then be attached to clip 28 by merely snapping the liner into place over the clip. Face element 49 is connected to return 50 by spreading support 46 and return 40 in the manner indicated by the arrows in FIG. 10 and forcing face element 49 against return 50.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A liner for covering a portion of each of two intersecting surfaces comprising:

a. face means for abutting one of said surfaces, projection means on one end of said face means extending therefrom for contacting said one of said surfaces, separate means on said face means extending therefrom and spaced apart from said projection means for engaging a fastening means attached to said one of said surfaces;

b. return means connected to said face means, said return means for covering at least a part of the other of said surfaces, spring means connected to said return means for urging said return means into engagement with said other of said surfaces; and,

c. holding means for retaining said face means and said return means in position adjacent said intersecting surfaces, and connecting means on said holding means for connecting said separate means on said face means.

2. The liner of claim 1 wherein said liner has an inside surface which is substantially free of contact with the portion of said intersecting surfaces to be covered by said liner.

3. The liner of claim 1 wherein said face means is connected to said return means at an angle greater than 90.degree..

4. The liner of claim 1 wherein said face means has a plurality of spaced apart channel walls attached to the inside surface of said face means.

5. The liner of claim 4 wherein said channel walls have protuberances located on the ends thereof.

6. The liner of claim 1 wherein said spring means comprises a flat strip integrally connected at one end to the inside surface of said return means.

7. The liner of claim 1, wherein said face means has an arcuate cross-section.

8. The liner of claim 1, wherein said face means comprises a stiffly flexible material in thin cross-section.

9. The liner of claim 1, wherein when said projection means extending from said face means is in engagement with said one of said intersecting surfaces, the engagement results in a slight distortion of said face means resulting from the force applied by said holding means and an opposing force resulting from the engagement of said projection means on said one of said surfaces.

10. The liner of claim 1, wherein said face means and said return means are two separate components.

11. The liner of claim 1, wherein said holding means is integrally formed on said return means.

12. A liner for covering a portion of each of two intersecting surfaces, said liner comprising at least two separate components:

a. face means for abutting one of said surfaces, projection means on one end of said face means extending therefrom for contacting said one of said surfaces, separate means on said face means extending therefrom and spaced apart from said projection means for engaging a fastening means attached to said one of said surfaces;

b. return means connected to said face means, said return means for covering at least a part of the other of said surfaces, spring means connected to said return means for urging said return means into engagement with said other of said surfaces; and,

c. holding means for retaining said face means and said return means in position adjacent said intersecting surfaces, and connecting means on said holding means for connecting said separate means on said face means.

13. The liner of claim 12 wherein said return means and said face means have an inside surface which is substantially free of contact with the portion of said intersecting surfaces covered by said liner.

14. The liner of claim 12 wherein said face means has support means and return means attached to the inside surface of said face means.

15. The liner of claim 10 wherein said support means and return means have protuberances located on the ends thereof.

16. The liner of claim 12 wherein said face means has an outer lip connected thereto which abuts said one surface and is generally parallel to said return means.

17. The liner of claim 12 wherein said return means comprises lower face element means, clip means connected to said lower face element means and return leg means connected to said lower face element means.

18. The liner of claim 12 wherein said support means and saidd return means of said face means are biased toward each other, the distance therebetween being less than the distance between said clip means on said return means.