U.S. patent number 3,899,844 [Application Number 05/399,457] was granted by the patent office on 1975-08-19 for joint member and rail with clips for picture framing.
Invention is credited to Ben Munn.
United States Patent |
3,899,844 |
Munn |
August 19, 1975 |
Joint member and rail with clips for picture framing
Abstract
Framing for mounted pictures wherein mitered rails are secured
in tight abutted engagement at the corners by means of a joint
member that forcefully slides into optimum working position wherein
it positively locks with the abutted rails, the cross sectional
configuration of the rails being provided with opposed channels
cooperating with both the aforesaid joint member and with unique
clips that secure picture mountings, thick and thin, tightly
engaged within the site opening of the assembled framing.
Inventors: |
Munn; Ben (West Hollywood,
CA) |
Family
ID: |
23579576 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/399,457 |
Filed: |
September 21, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
40/794;
40/782 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47G
1/0605 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47G
1/06 (20060101); G09f 001/12 () |
Field of
Search: |
;40/152,156,152.1
;52/502,753D,758H ;49/466 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Michell; Robert W.
Assistant Examiner: Contreras; Wenceslao J.
Claims
Having described my invention, I claim:
1. The combination of picture framing rails and a picture mounting
clip therefor: said rail comprising, an elongated body of uniform
cross section with a decorative front and outside contour, a
rearwardly disposed face at the inside to engageably receive a
picture mounting, and an inside recess rearward of said face, said
recess being defined by spaced and opposed front and back channels;
a picture mounting of nominal thickness to engage upon said
rearwardly disposed face; and said mounting clip comprising a
continuous strip of spring material yieldingly separating a pair of
mounting means and each of a tongue releasably engageable in one of
said front and back channels respectively, one mounting means being
offset by its tongue to releasably engage a thick picture mounting
and reversly the other mounting means being offset by its tongue to
releasably engage a thin picture mounting thereby engaging with a
thick or thin picture mounting to secure it to the said rearwardly
disposed face.
2. The combination of angularly abuted mitered rails and
cooperative joint member and picture mounting clip for picture
framing: said rail comprising, an elongated body of uniform cross
section with a decorative front and outside contour, a rearwardly
disposed face at the inside to engageably receive a picture
mounting, and an inside recess rearward of said face, said recess
being defined by space and opposed front and back channels; said
joint member comprising, a flat and continuous reinforcement body
with angularly related legs entered into the inside recess of the
abuted rails respectively, opposite marginal edges of said legs
being slideably engaged in the opposed front and back channels and
lock means comprised of a pair of sharpened fingers set apart to
forcibly enter the front and back channels of and to bite into the
rail body thereby securing the legs in said recesses respectively;
a picture mounting of nominal thickness to engage upon said
rearwardly disposed face; and said mounting clip comprising a
spring member yieldingly separating a pair of mounting means and
each with a tongue releasably engageable in one of said front and
back channels respectively, said foremost mounting means being
engageable with the picture mounting to secure it to the said
rearwardly disposed face.
3. The mitered rail and joint member and clip as set forth in claim
2 wherein the mounting clip is made of a continuous strip of spring
material with one mounting means thereof offset by its tongue to
releasably engage a thick picture mounting, and reversly with the
other mounting means thereof offset by its tongue to releasably
engage a thin picture mounting.
Description
BACKGROUND
Picture frames require the precise assembling of right angularly
related members and the uniform reception therein of the picture
mounting. Equipment is available for mitering the corners of the
framing, and picture mountings are ordinarily held in place thereto
by fasteners or blocking and the like. Extruded cross sections are
commercially available and it is a general object of this invention
to provide a picture frame rail, joint member and clip, all of
which are cooperatively combined to produce a precision picture
framing. The rail is advantageously formed as by extrusion of
decorative materials, such as aluminum or brass. The joint member
is unique in its cooperative engagement with the said rail to
anchor right angularly related rail members in tight mitered
engagement. And the clip is unique in its cooperative engagement
with the said rail to receive and hold a picture mounting with
uniform conformity to the framing that is established.
Heretofore, difficulty has been experienced in joining together the
mitered corners of picture frames. Most often the picture frame is
structurally weak, being made up of rails having minimized cross
section, and consequently little material to fasten into. As a
result, frames are likely to separate and/or come apart at the
corners, and the fasteners are likely to loosen and/or split out.
It is an object, therefore, to provide a rail and joint member
combination which securely maintains a tight interengagement at
each corner of a picture frame or the like. With the present
invention, the rail member is of uniform continuing cross section
advantageously formed as by the process of extrusion or the like.
The rail is readily extended in the decorative cross section
desired, and includes channels for the cooperative reception of the
joint member and mounting clip.
The common use of nails and screws for the securement of mitered
rail members has resulted in weaknesses and separation at the
corners of picture frames, and it is an object of this invention to
provide a joint member which obviates weakness at the abutment of
mitered rails by forcefully inserting a reinforcement that anchors
itself in optimum position to each of the rails respectively. With
the present invention, the anchor means involves friction means
that bite into the rails to positively lock therewith when in
working position.
Picture mountings are ordinarily tacked into, taped, or in some
like manner held within the picture frame, and it is another object
of this invention to provide clips that are cooperative with rail
features provided also to cooperate with the joint member
hereinabove referred to, said clip functioning to secure a picture
mounting in tight engagement within the frame. Further, it is an
object to provide a versatile clip that accommodates both thick and
thin picture mountings, reference being made to thick mountings
such as canvas stretched onto wooden frames and the like, and to
thin mountings such as paper mounted onto hard board and the like.
In each instance, the thick and/or thin dimension is nominal and is
adjusted to by the clip hereinafter described.
DRAWINGS
The various objects and features of this invention will be fully
understood from the following detailed description of the typical
preferred form and application thereof, throughout which
description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical embodiment wherein a picture mounting
is installed in the frame assembled of the elements hereinafter
described.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed perspective view of a fragment of
the frame taken at one corner thereof.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed sectional view taken as indicated by
line 3--3 on FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing an alternate use of the
clip shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 5--5 on FIG.
2.
FIG. 6 is a view taken as indicated by line 6--6 on FIG. 5, showing
the joint member which characterizes the reinforced mitered joint
of the present invention.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a typical embodiment is shown
of an assembled picture frame F and picture mounting M installed
therein. The picture mounting M is nominally thick as shown by the
detail of FIG. 3, and it involves a frame 10 of wood or the like
wherein the rail members are of flattened rectangular cross
section. The frame 10 is suitably joined at the four corners
thereof and the canvas 11 on which the painting is executed is
stretched over the frame and fastened at its margins. Alternately
and as shown by the detail in FIG. 4, the picture mounting M' is
nominally thin and it involves a panel 13 over or upon which the
picture is applied, being of rectangular form with opposite
parallel edge portions.
The rail member R as provided for coordination with both a joint
member A and clip B and is best illustrated in FIG. 2 is comprised
of an extruded section of material such as aluminum or the like.
The assembled frame is to have substantial depth and accordingly
the rail member R is of suitable depth between the front face 20
and back face 21, and between which the outside face 22 extends.
The site opening 15 is defined by the inside face 23 that returns
to rearwardly disposed face 24 adapted to be engaged by the front
face of the picture mounting or a like associated face thereof. As
shown, the rail member R is of a simple rectangular solid outer
appearance, it being understood that the angularity, contour and
complexity of configuration can vary as circumstances require. In
the form illustrated the front and back walls 20 and 21 are
parallel with each other and with the face 24, while the outside
and inside faces 22 and 23 are also parallel with each other. It is
a rail member of this general configuration which can be extruded
in elongated form of unlimited length to be cut angularly at its
opposite ends and abuted by mitered joinder.
The joint members A and clips B are each adapted to cooperate with
and combine with the one cross sectional configuration of the rail
member R and which is accordingly characterized by opposed channels
25 and 26 at the inside of said rail member R. In practice, there
is a recess 27 between front and back walls 28 and 29 which form
the bottoms of the two channels respectively, the recess opening
inwardly and coextensively with member R to open at its cut and/or
truncated mitered ends. In accordance with this invention, the
channels 25 and 26 are spaced a distance substantially greater than
the thick nominal dimension of the picture mounting M and the front
channel 25 is spaced rearwardly from face 24 a distance
substantially greater than the thin nominal dimension of picture
mounting M'. The channels are defined by the walls 28 and 29, the
recess wall 30 extending therebetween, and by opposed lips 31 and
32 disposed parallel with wall 30 respectively. The lips 31 and 32
are minimal.
In accordance with this invention, I have provided the joint member
A which involves angularly related legs 35, opposite arms 40 and
anchor fingers 45. In carrying out this invention, the rail members
are made of a softer material, while the joint members A are made
of relatively harder material such as spring steel or the like.
Spring steel is available in strip or ribbon form easily fabricated
by shearing and bending, and to this end the features 35, 40, and
45 are established integrally as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6. In the
usual rectangular frames, other geometrical forms are not to be
excluded, the two legs 35 are right angularly related and extend
from each other at a corner bend 36, the inner and outer faces of
the material being substantially less than the channel spacing 25
and 26. Each leg is divided at its extended end portion into a pair
of arms 40 at opposite sides of its center line, formed as by means
of a center slot 41 and opposite matches 42. The anchor fingers 45
project laterally from each arm 40 and terminate at sharpened
points 46, faced rearwardly and set outward (see FIG. 6) of the
opposite edges 37 of the legs 35. As shown, the anchor arms are
acutely tapered in their divergent rearward projection as defined
by the undercutting matches 42, the outward set being established
by deforming the arms 40 to spread them outwardly as indicated by
the double headed arrow in FIG. 6.
From the foregoing it will be seen that each leg is inserted into
the opposed open ended channels 25 and 26 and adapted to be
forcibly entered therein. The two legs and associated arms and
fingers thereof, can be simultaneously inserted and entered into
the mitered and correspondingly related rail members R, and the
penetration of either leg into its complimentary rail member cannot
exceed the optimum depth of penetration. The mitered termination of
the channels 25 and 26 stops the angularly related leg in the
optimum position, whereupon retraction is prevented by the
sharpened fingers which dig or bite into the channel walls 28 and
29.
In accordance with this invention, I have provided the clip B which
is used in plurality as circumstances require. As shown, the clip B
involves a strip or ribbon of spring material such as steel having
opposite supports 50 and 51 for engagement with thick and thin
picture mounts M and M', individually. The clip comprises a center
spring member 52 that yieldingly spreads the supports 50 and 51,
the member 52 projecting inwardly for manual access behind the
picture mountings, As shown, the support 50 has a tongue 55
engageable in channel 25 and with a right angle bend set inwardly
from face 24 a distance to accommodate the thickness of picture
mounting M, in which case the tongue of support 51 yieldingly
engages in channel 26. The support 51 has a tongue 56 engageable in
channel 25 and with an enlarged loop forming the spring member 52
set inwardly from face 24 a distance to accommodate the thickness
of picture mounting M' in which case the tongue of spring 50
yieldingly engages in channel 26. Thus, the clip B is reversable to
accommodate thick or thin picture mountings. Note that the supports
50 and 51 are separated so as to be manually depressed for
installation and/or disengagement as indicated.
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