EP0041519B1

EP0041519B1 - Fixing means, particularly for fixing mirrors

Info

Publication number: EP0041519B1
Application number: EP80902366A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Matti MÄKINEN
Original assignee: Makisen Kuvastin Oy
Current assignee: Makisen Kuvastin Oy
Priority date: 1979-11-30
Filing date: 1980-11-27
Publication date: 1984-07-04
Also published as: EP0041519A1; FI67479C; AU6576580A; NO152921B; GB2084869B; GB2084869A; SE425140B; FI793752A; JPS56501750A; NO152921C; NO812590L; DE3050068A1; WO1981001503A1; DK335481A; SE8107712L; FI67479B

Abstract

Fixing means, especially for fixing mirrors in connection with mirror combinations, comprises a base (3, 27) to be fixed to a wall, the support parts (11, 19) of which have been adjusted to receive the corner(s) of the mirror(s) and the face part (9, 23) fastened to the base (3, 27). The base (3, 27) and the face part (9, 23) have been equipped with fixing elements (13, 22; 8, 26), by means of which the parts (3, 27; 9, 23) are fastened progressively to each other, so that it is possible to get the height of the aperture on the fixing means to correspond to the particular thickness of the mirrors in the combination. The fixing elements (13, 22; 8, 26) are grooved and they interlock to the depth defined by the thickness of the mirror(s) (1).

Description

The object of the invention is a means for fixing items, especially combinations of mirrors, to a wall. The fixing means consists of a base, on the outer face of which there are supports to receive the item or items to be fixed, and of a face part co-operating with the base, fitted in such a way that it will be fixed on the base when the item or items are fixed to the wall.
A standard fixing means has one disadvantage: it can only be used in fixing mirrors of a certain thickness, for the height of the gap between the base and the face part is constant. Therefore one must use various fixing means, the fixing gaps of which have a height corresponding to the thickness of the plate in question.
A fixing means is known from US-A-3049323 in which a pillar (or base part) is screwed to a wall, a mirror put in place and then a clamping knob (or face part) is screw- threaded onto the pillar until the mirror is held between the pillar and the knob.
The purpose of this invention is to remove the known disadvantages of the present standard technique referred to above and to raise the level of the technique in general. These aims can be achieved by means of the invention, a two-part fixing means, the base of which can be fixed to a wall by means of either screws or nails, the face part being fastened to the base by a stepped quick fixing arrangement so that the height of the fixing gap of the fixing means corresponds to the thickness of the mirrors of the settings in question.
The characteristics of the fixing means according to the invention are described in the appended patent claims.
In the following description some useful applications of the invention have been illustrated in more detail, with reference to the appended drawings, in which

Figure 1 shows a mirror combination put together by means of the fixing means of the invention,
Figure 2 shows a sectional view of the point A-A in Figure 1,
Figure 3 shows the base, viewed from above,
Figure 4 and 5 show different possibilities of fixing the mirrors to the base,
Figure 6 shows the face part of the fixing means, viewed from below,
Figure 7 shows another embodiment of the base of the fixing means, viewed from above, and
Figure 8 shows a perspective view of the face part of the base of the fixing means in Figure 7.

Figure 1 shows a part of a mirror combination that has been put together by means of the fixing means 2 according to the invention. The corners of four mirrors 1 touching the fixing means 2 are fixed by means of the fixing means 2.
According to Figure 2, the base 3 of the fixing means 2 is fixed to a wall 4, for instance, by means of nails 5 and a screw 6, in which case the screw is fitted with an anchor plug 7. It is, of course, possible to fix the base with either nails or a screw only, or, according to the figure, it is possible to fix the base to wall materials of different thickness and quality, such as concrete elements, brick walls, chip and hard board walls, metal sheets, and so on. Thus, it is always possible to choose the most suitable way of fixing the base, according to the wall material. According to Figure 2, the face part 9 has been fixed to the base 3 by means of spigot-like stepped quick fixing, when the mirrors or corresponding surface elements 1 fix in their places. The advantage of the stepped quick fixing is that surface coverings of different thickness can be fixed by the means of the fixing means. Stepped adjustability is in this application acquired by means of grooving in the spigots of the face part, which are inserted in corresponding apertures with similar grooving on the base.
The structure of the base can be seen more exactly in Figure 3. The base consists of a circular base plate 10, on which there are four radial support parts 11 which are quadrangular in cross-section, radially extending from the centre of the base plate and equiangularly spaced. In the centre of the base plate and the support parts there is a throughway aperture 12 for fixing the base to the wall with a screw. In addition, the support parts have grooved apertures 13 and throughway apertures for the nailing of the base. The ends of the support parts 11 form 45° angles 15 symmetrical in relation to the longitudinal axis.

Figure 4 shows how the base is used when no ventilation gap between the edges of the mirrors 1 is wanted, but the edges of the mirrors rest against each other. In this case the corners of the mirrors are bevelled corresponding the angle 15 on the ends of the support parts 11, and thus the bevelled ends 14 of the mirrors rest against the side surfaces of the said angles.
Figure 5 shows another possibility of fixing the mirrors to the base.
Figure 6 shows the structure of the face part from below. It is made of circular plate with a cross-section as in Figure 2, for example, with four grooved spigots 8 placed symmetrically in relation to the centre. The spigots 8 are placed so that they fit the apertures 13 on the support parts of the base, when the face part is attached to the base. The height of the spigots 8 is approximately the same as the height of the base and the support part together.
Figure 7 shows a variation of the base plate 27 of the fixing means which can be used for fixing one corner of the mirror. On the sides of a base plate shaped like a quarter of a circle 18 there are support parts 19 quadrangular in cross-section, with throughway apertures 20 for nailing. On the corner of the base there is a throughway aperture 21 for fixing with a screw. The ends of the support parts are bevelled and grooved, forming a dovetail. The face 23 (Figure 8) consists of a face plate 24, the side surfaces of which are perpendicular to each other, with recesses 25, the length of which is the same as that of the support parts 19 of the base. The ends 26 of the recesses are bevelled and grooved corresponding to the grooving of the ends 22 of the support parts. Thus the corner of the mirror can be fixed by pressing the recesses of the face against the support parts 19, which makes the groovings in both parts fix the parts firmly together. The grooving is made in steps, which makes it possible to fix surfaces of various thickness by means of the fixing means described above.

The fixing means offers various possibilities especially for mirror combinations, but the fixing means can be used as well for fixing other wall surface coverings. The embodiments of the invention can vary within the limits of the enclosed patent claims.

Claims

1. Means for fixing one or more items (1), especially combinations of mirrors, to a wall (4) comprising:

a base (3) to be fixed to the wall with the plane of the base parallel thereto, the base having on its outer face four radially-extending equiangularly-spaced support members (11), two adjacent support members being adapted to receive a corner of the or one item, and a face part (9) for fixing to the base with the plane of the face part parallel to that of the base, to sandwich and thereby fix the item or items therebetween,

the base (3) being provided with apertures (13) perpendicular to the plate of the base and having circumferential grooves therein,

the face part (9) being provided with spigots (8) perpendicular to the plane of the face part and having circumferential grooves thereon,

the spigots (8) being pushed into the apertures (13) to lock the face part (9) to the base (3) while leaving a gap which can be varied to correspond to the thickness of the item or items.

2. Means for fixing an item (1), especially a mirror, to a wall, comprising:

a base (27) to be fixed to the wall with the plane of the base parallel thereto, the base having on its outer face two support members (19) perpendicular to each other and adapted to receive a corner of the item, and

a face part (24) for fixing to the base with the plane of the face part parallel to that of the base to sandwich and thereby fix the item therebetween,

the base support members (19) being dovetails whose diagonal end surfaces are transversely grooved,

the face part (24) having corresponding dovetail recesses (25) whose diagonal end surfaces are transversely grooved,

the dovetails being pushed into the dovetail recesses to lock the face part to the base while leaving a gap which can be varied to correspond to the thickness of the item.