AU2008205418A1 - A cornice mounting system - Google Patents

Description

13/08 2008 WED 15! 37 FAX +~61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 0l040/154 1 3232AU DIV

ORIGINAL

Complete Specification Applicant: Title: Ankapro Products Pty Ltd A cornice mounting system Address for Service- LESICAR PERRIN, 49 Wright Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to melus: COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15! 37 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 0041/154 00 o 1 o A cornice mounting system The present invention relates to a cornice mounting system and, in particular, to a two-part system involving an anchor member and an outer fascia member which is removably attachable to the eCf anchor member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 00 The interior rooms of homes and buildings are frequently fitted out by lining the ceiling frame and wall frame with plasterboard. Typically, the floors are lined with carpet, floorboard or tiles. In order C to obtain an aesthetically pleasing appearance at the junction of the walls and ceiling, and walls and 00 floors, cornices and skirtings are often used. Similarly, architraves are used to line the perimeter of doors 0 10 and windows, and the like.

c- A cornice typically comprises a curved, elongate member that has one side in abutment with the side wall and the other side in abutment with the ceiling., or in the case of wall-wall cornices, otherwise known as risers, one side is in abutment with one wall and the other side in abutment with an adjoining wall. As those skilled in the art would appreciate, risers are typically narrower than wall-ceiling cornices and are sometimes used to house electrical wiring. Cornices are typically fitted by a skilled tradesman, and are normally glued and nailed to the wall and ceiling to retain it in place. Cornices are usually either made of plaster, timber or plastic.

Plaster and timber cornices are difficult to erect because of their weight and the fact that they must be held in position, or tacked to the walls at their ends, while the adhesive or concrete cures. A further difficulty with plaster and timber cornices is their inability to flex, so where the ceiling or wall may not be exactly straight, gaps appear therebetween and these must be filled, increasing assembly time and cost. Where adjoining walls meet in a corner, it is necessary to accurately cut the corner of the cornice to obtain a neat and tidy finish at the corner, another time consuming task.

Skilled tradesmen are generally capable of achieving a neat and tidy finish, however, if the building settles with age or if there is any movement in the building, because of an earthquake for example, there is a risk that the corner join of the cornice will become separated, leading to unsightly cracks and gaps in the cornice. These cracks and gaps can be difficult and time consuming to fill.

Moreover, the gaps can frequently open up again, even after filling, if settling of the building continues.

This may also be the case at joins between cornice pieces along straight sections of the wall. Timber cornices are less common nowadays because of the increasing scarcity of the recourse and higher costs involved, as well as similar mounting difficulties to those mentioned above.

COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15:38 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 0042/154 00 D 2 O Cornices made of plastics are advantageous in that they are flexible. However, current plastic cornice systems known to the applicant still have problems. Firstly, the entire cornice must be held in place until the adhesive cures, and although plastic is lighter, this can still be quite difficult and time consuming. A solution to this problem has been to have detachable outer fascias, providing for simplified assembly, and a means to disassemble and clean/paint/replace the outer fascia when necessary. However, existing cornice systems which include a means of detaching the outer fascia generally do not provide for a uniform and secure mounting means. This can lead to problems such as gaps extending along the length of the cornice, instability, and in some cases, paint being scraped off the wall and/or ceiling during the Sprocess of attaching and detaching the outer fascia.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned O problems or to provide the public with a useful alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore in one form of the invention there is proposed cornice assembly for lining ajunction between two adjoining surfaces which are separated by an angle of less than 180 degrees, said cornice assembly characterised by: an anchor means adapted to be fixed to at least one of said surfaces adjacent the junction; a receiving means associated with said anchor means, said receiving means extending at a predetermined angle outwardly from said junction; and an outer fascia removably attachable to said receiving means such that when attached, contact edges associated with said outer fascia abut with and bias against each of the adjoining surfaces.

In preference said predetermined angle is approximately half the angle between said adjoining surfaces.

Preferably said anchor means is in the form of an elongate bracket having two walls separated by approximately the same angle as that which separates the two adjoining surfaces, said bracket thereby adapted to fit snugly within said junction.

In preference said receiving means is integrally formed with said two bracket walls and extends outwardly from the apex formed therebetween.

In preference said outer fascia includes a means of attachment to said receiving means, said attachment means positioned on said outer fascia to ensure contact and abutment of the outer fascia contact edges with each of the adjoining surfaces when the outer fascia is attached.

Preferably said outer fascia includes an elongate body which is substantially convex across its width, whereby the outer fascia contact edges define the longitudinal sides of said elongate body.

COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15:38 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN (043/154 00 3 O Preferably said contact edges are in the form of upstanding lips.

In preference said attachment means is integrally formed with said outer fascia, and are removable engageable with said receiving means by way of a snap fit.

Preferably said two adjoining surfaces are a wall and an adjoining ceiling.

Alternatively said two adjoining surfaces are two adjoining walls.

00 In a still further form of the invention there is proposed a cornice assembly for use at a junction between two substantially perpendicular surfaces such as a wall and a ceiling or two adjoining walls, said 00 cornice assembly characterised by: San anchor bracket adapted to be fixed along said junction, said anchor bracket including a receiving C=l 10 portion which extends outwardly between said perpendicular surfaces at an angle of approximately degrees; and an outer fascia including an attachment portion removably attachable to said receiving portion, said attachment portion being configured to ensure that once attached, contact edges associated with the outer fascia abut with and bias against said perpendicular surfaces.

Preferably said cornice assembly further includes comer fascia members suitable for when one of said perpendicular surfaces includes corners.

In preference each of said corner fascia members includes at least one attachment portion being removably attachable to the anchor member receiving portion.

In preference the length of each anchor bracket is greater than the length of each associated outer fascia, to allow for said corner fascia members to be attached to the anchor bracket at said corners and thereby cover the free ends of the outer fascia.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several implementations of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of the upper portion of an interior wall of a home fitted out with a cornice system in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of a cornice assembly forming part of the cornice system of Figure 1, comprising a cornice anchor member and a cornice outer fascia shown prior to being attached to the anchor member; COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15:38 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN E044/154 00 4 Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of the cornice assembly of Figure 2 with the cornice outer fascia attached to the cornice anchor member; SFigure 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the cornice assembly of Figure 3; Figure 5 illustrates a front perspective view of a cornice outer fascia internal corner member also forming part of the cornice system of Figure 1; 00 Figure 6 illustrates a rear perspective view of the cornice outer fascia internal comer member of SFigure Figure 7 illustrates a front perspective view of a cornice outer fascia external comer member; 00 Figure 8 illustrates a rear perspective view of the cornice outer fascia external corner member of Figure 7; Figure 9 illustrates a perspective view of a riser assembly comprising a riser anchor member and a riser outer fascia; and Figure 10 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the riser assembly of Figure 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings.

Although the description includes exemplary embodiments, other embodiments are possible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts.

The present invention relates to an improved cornice mounting system. Figure 1 illustrates the cornice system 10 of the present invention when applied to internal walls 12 of a room, whilst figures 2-8 illustrate individual components of the cornice system in more detail. Also forming part of the system is a wall-wall corner riser assembly 16 as shown in Figures 9-10.

Figure 1 illustrates the upper portion of three walls 12, and an adjoining ceiling 20 of a room. The adjoining walls form an external corner 22, as well as an internal corner 24 in the room. In brief, the cornice system 10 comprises one or more cornice anchor members 26 adapted to be attached at the junction between each wall 12 and the ceiling 20, and a number of connecting outer fascia members 28, and 32 adapted to be press-fitted to the anchor member 26. Each component is described in more detail below.

COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15!38 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 0045/154 00 o C Referring now to Figures 1-4 in particular, the cornice anchor member 26 is essentially an n extruded section having two perpendicularly offset walls 34 and 36, and a receiving portion 38 extending outwardly therebetween at approximately 45 degrees. The anchor member 26 is adapted to be attached at Ccthejunction between the wall 12 and the ceiling 20 such that anchor member wall 34 abuts with the ceiling 20 and anchor member wall 36 abuts with the wall 12, so that the receiving portion 38 extends at an angle of 45 degrees outwardly from the junction when fixed thereto. The receiving portion 38 00 terminates at its free end into a ball socket 40 which is the receiving means for the outer fascia members which will be described shortly.

CThe anchor member 26 is fixed to the wall and ceiling by either nails or suitable adhesive, and 00 10 includes recesses 42, 44 and 46 so that adhesive can be applied more suitably. If nailing the anchor o member to the wall olr ceiling, nails can easily be driven through the anchor member. The receiving Cl portion 38 preferably runs the full length of the anchor member 26, but of course, this is not a requirement and although not illustrated there may well be spaced apart receiving portions along the length of the anchor member 26.

The length of each anchor member 26 should be approximately within 50 mm of the length of each wall it is associated with, for reasons which will become apparent further below. For example, a wall of 4000 mm would require an anchor member length of approximately 3950 mm. But in an alternate configuration, rather than there being a single elongate anchor member lining an entire wall-ceiling junction, there may be a plurality of spaced apart anchor members.

The primaty outer fascia 28 is that which is adapted to extend substantially along the length of the wall-ceiling junction, and comprises a concave section 48 having lips 50 and 52 which extend the length of the concave section 48. Extending from the underside of the trough of the concave section 48, is an attachment portion 54 which terminates into a ball 56 at its free end, adapted to engage the socket 40 of the anchor member receiving portion 38. The ball 56 and socket 40 are dimensioned such that the outer fascia 28 may be snap-fit into position. As can be seen perhaps most clearly in Figure 3, each lip 50 and 52 extends slightly beyond respective walls 34 and 36 when the outer fascia 28 is attached to the anchor member 26. This ensures that during attachment, the outer fascia 28 flexes slightly so that the lips 50 and 52 bias against the wall and ceiling, resulting in a cornice that is free of gaps.

The configuration of the cornice anchor member 26 allows for a uniform and stable mounting means for the cornice outer fascia 28. The attachment portion which extends outwardly at approximately degrees provides for an even bias for the lips 50 and 52 against both the ceiling and wall. There is no sliding motion involved which means during the attachment process, paint will not be removed from the ceiling or wall, and the plasterboard will not be scratched.

COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15:39 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 0046/154 00 O 6 0The length of the primary outer fascia 28 should be less than the length of its associated anchor toD member 26 so as to allow for anchorage of the corner fascia members 30 and 32 (shown in Figures 5-8), but long enough for their ends to be covered by them as shown in Figure 1. Figures 5-6 illustrate an internal corner outer fascia 30 whilst Figures 7-8 illustrate an external corner outer fascia 32. The corner fascia members 30 and 32, and the mechanism by which they attach to the anchor member 26, are the same as that described above in connection with the primary outer fascia attachment, and so will not be 00 described again.

n Those skilled in the art would realise though that the difference between the corner members and 32 and the elongate fascia members 28 is in their overall size, which is stepped up so that they are 00 10 able to cover the ends of the primary outer fascia members 28 when attached to the same anchor member 026. A further difference is that the attachment portion does not extend the entire length of the cort-ner members 30 and 32, it is simply in the form of an attachment portion projections on each internal side of the comrner fascia. Like parts between the corner fascias and the primary fascia are referred to in the drawings using like numbers, including the concave section 48, the lips 50 and 52, and attachment portion 54.

It is to be understood that the corner fascia members are not necessarily required and that a mitred outer fascia (not shown) could be used instead. Further, the decorative nature of the cornice outer fascia members 28, 30 and 32 as illustrated and described is by way of example only, and alternately shaped and decorated outer fascias could equally well be attached to the anchor member 26.

Those skilled in the art would realise the benefit of the above cornice system. The system allows for a cornice fascia to be painted/finished prior to installation. This is advantageous given the difficulties involved in painting cornices a different colour to the wall or ceiling once the cornice is already mounted.

Further, s!hould a cornice need to be disassembled for any reason, such as for renovating or re-painting, the cornice fascia members can be easily removed and then replaced. Should a section be damaged, the fascia members may easily be detached for repair or replacement. If a user wishes to install a new cornice profile, then this is also possible. The cornice system as described could also be useful in hiding electrical wiring used in the house.

Illustrated in Figures 9-10 is a riser assembly 16 adapted for the vertical junction between adjoining walls. The riser assembly 16 works on the same mounting principle as that of the cornice system 10 and so will not be described in any great detail. The difference between the riser assembly 16 and the wall-ceiling cornice assembly, is that there are no lips associated with the outer fascia 106 of the riser assembly, and the overall cross-sectional size of the assembly 16 is smaller. The concave section 108 of the riser assembly 16 is typically narrower than the concave section 48 of the cornice fascia so that even when the riser assembly is used, the join between walls still appears relatively abrupt. The main COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15!39 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN 2047/154 00 D 7 O purpose for the riser assembly 16 is to allow for cables to be carried from the skirting cavity upwards c-, through to the cornice.

The system of the present invention could also include a cable cavity (not shown) in the form of a e picture rail lining the wall above the floor, which connects two riser assemblies. A similar anchor means to that which is described above could line the wall approximately two metres above the ground, and an outer fascia (not shown) could be extruded to any desired shape.

00 Although not shown, where the riser assembly is being used, the cornice corner outer fascias 1and 32 may also include means to cover the upper and lower ends of the riser assembly 106. For example, the portion of the corner fascia adjacent the wall-wall junction could include an aperture of a shape which .00 corresponds with the shape of the riser fascia.

0 The cornice system of the present invention thus provides a system for fitting out a home with wall-wall, and wall-ceiling lining, with benefits prior to installation, and post-installation.

Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

In any claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13

Claims (8)

1. 4. A cornice assembly as characterised in claim 3 wherein said receiving means is integrally formed with said two bracket walls and extends outwardly from the apex formed therebetween. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of the above claims wherein said outer fascia includes a means of attachment to said receiving means, said attachment means positioned on said outer fascia to ensure contact and abutment of the outer fascia contact edges with each of the adjoining surfaces when the outer fascia is attached.
2. 6. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of the above claims wherein said outer fascia includes an elongate body which is substantially convex across its width, whereby the outer fascia contact edges define the longitudinal sides of said elongate body.
3. 7. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of the above claims wherein said contact edges are in the form of upstanding lips.
4. 8. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of claims 5-7 wherein said attachment means is integrally formed with said outer fascia, and are removable engageable with said receiving means by way of a snap fit.
5. 9. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of the above claims wherein said two adjoining surfaces are a wall and an adjoining ceiling. COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13 13/08 2008 WED 15:39 FAX +61 8 8211 9433 LESICAR PERRIN E049/154 0 o 10. A cornice assembly as characterised in any one of the above claims wherein said two adjoining Csurfaces are two adjoining walls. ;Z 11. A cornice assembly for use at ajunction between two substantially perpendicular surfaces such as C¢ a wall and a ceiling or two adjoining walls, said cornice assembly characterised by: an anchor bracket adapted to be fixed along said junction, said anchor bracket including a receiving portion which extends outwardly between said perpendicular surfaces at an angle of 00 approximately 45 degrees; and an outer fascia including an attachment portion removably attachable to said receiving portion, o said attachment portion being configured to ensure that once attached, contact edges associated 0 10 with the outer fascia abut with and bias against said perpendicular surfaces. 00 O 12. A cornice assembly as characterised in claim 11 wherein said cornice assembly further includes corner fascia members suitable for when one of said perpendicular surfaces includes corners.
6. 13. A cornice assembly as characterised in claim 11 or claim 12 wherein each of said corner fascia members includes at least one attachment portion being removably attachable to the anchor member receiving portion.
7. 14. A cornice assembly as characterised in claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the length of each anchor bracket is greater than the length of each associated outer fascia, to allow for said corner fascia members to be attached to the anchor bracket at said corners and thereby cover the free ends of the outer fascia.
8. 15. A cornice assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. COMS ID No: ARCS-202057 Received by IP Australia: Time 16:28 Date 2008-08-13