GB1586307A

GB1586307A - Skirting board systems

Info

Publication number: GB1586307A
Application number: GB41667/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: SIGO SARL
Current assignee: SIGO SARL
Priority date: 1976-10-11
Filing date: 1977-10-06
Publication date: 1981-03-18
Also published as: LU75973A1; BE854283A; NL7710710A; FR2367169A1; DE2723287B2; CH617541A5; IT1090679B; DE2723287C3; DE2723287A1

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO SKIRTING BOARD SYSTEMS (71) We, SIGO S.a' r.l., a Luxembourg body corporate, of 23, rue Nicolas Welter, Mersch, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, be particularly described in and by the following statement : The present invention relates to improvements to skirting board systems and more particularly to skirtings made of synthetic material.

In their British patent specification No.

1,421,484 the applicants describe a skirting board of synthetic material and more particularly finishing and connecting parts, especially for the internal and external corners, giving the skirting a good finish and an appearance of elegance.

Among the numerous advantages of this skirting mention should be made of the very low cost and the ease with which it can be dismantled and remounted without recourse to special tools, and these advantages have without doubt greatly contributed to the considerable commerical success which this skirting has enjoyed since it was first devised.

It has already been proposed that the known skirting boards should be used for concealing electric, telephone or aerial wires etc; installed behind them, or even for heating or gas pipes. If this additional function of skirting is to be regarded as an advantage in itself, it nevertheless inevitably involves the drawback of considerably increasing the cost of the skirting, since it has to be specially designed to support the wires or pipes passing behind it. Hitherto these skirting boards, known as "electrical skirting" or "heating skirting", according to their function, had a different appearance from ordinary skirting boards, of which the sole purpose is to provide the transition between a floor and a wall, and also required different connecting pieces from those used for ordinary skirting systems.

For reasons of uniformity and appearance, therefore, the same type of skirting has had to be installed all around a room even if only a small part of the latter required an electrical and/or heating skirting, thus increasing the cost of this type of skirting still further. Again, it has hitherto not been possible to design electrical and/or heating skirting boards in such a way that they would offer all the advantages of the conventional type of skirting, particularly as regards the ease with which they can be installed and dismantled.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an electrical and/or heating skirting which will offer practically all the advantages of conventional skirting systems and of which the external appearance will be exactly the same as that of these latter and which can be used in conjunction with their connecting pieces and finishing devices.

According to the present invention there is provided a skirting board system of synthetic material adapted for use with a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No. 1,421,484 which does not provide cable and/or piping support, which system comprises a base plate provided with a set of shelves serving to support cables and/or piping systems, a cover for the entire base plate and means enabling the said cover to be firmly attached to the said base plate and removed therefrom, these means consisting of a device for restraining the cover against vertical movement thereof and a device for restraining the cover against horizontal movement thereof, the said horizontal movement restraining device comprising a male element and a female element, one provided on the base plate and the other on the corresponding side of the cover, one of the shelves being adapted to be engaged and gripped with the cover between a round bar and the external face of a connecting piece of a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No. 1,421,484.

Said horizontal securing elements are preferably adapted to interact and be made integral with the profiles of connecting pieces for skirting board assemblies as claimed in British Patent No. 1,421,484 and the external appearance of the covers in each case is generally arranged to be similar. Further features and characteristics of the present invention will emerge from the detailed description of an embodiment described here under by way of an example and by reference to the one single drawing, which is a schematic diagram of an electrical and/or heating skirting board associated with an ordinary skirting and with a connecting piece such as described in the aforementioned British Patent No.

1,421,484.

illustrated in British patent specification No. 1,421,484. For example, the skirting board 1 comprises, on the surface facing the wall, a strut 3 and a longitudinal channel 4 of C-shaped cross section, designed to fit the round heads of fixing pins 6 inserted in the wall 8. The connecting piece 2, designed to provide a firm and neat connection between the skirting 1 and another skirting 10 is provided on each of its side faces with a round bar 12, designed to engage the channels 4 of the adjacent skirting boards, and also with two profiled parts 14 and 14' designed to grip the strut 3 between them. The connecting piece 2 is thus rendered integral with the skirting 1.

Among the many advantages of the skirting 1 and its accessories mention should be made of its extreme simplicity, which enables their cost to be reduced, as well as of the ease with which they can be installed and dismantled.

The aforementioned patent specification No.

1,421,484 should be referred to for other advantages and special features of this skirting, which is by now well known.

The problem which led to the present invention was that of designing a skirting board system which would provide a covering for wiring and/or piping, i.e. a so-called electrical and/or heating skirting board having exactly the same external appearance as the conventional skirting 1, also offering most of its advantages and suitable for use in conjunction with all the accessories, such as the connecting piece 2, designed for the said conventional skirting board 1 All these special characteristics are to be found in the skirting board 10 shown schematically in the drawing.

A base plate 16 affixed to the wall by means known per se, such as screws or a selfadhesive strip, is provided with a series of longitudinal shelves, 18, 20 and 22 serving to support wires or electric cables and/or water or gas pipes. The diagram shows, by way of example, aerial wires 24 on the shelf 18, electric cables 26 on the shelf 20 and a hot water pipe 28 on the shelf 22. The base plate 16 is also provided with a longitudinal groove 30 designed to accomodate a longitudinal edge 32 provided on the internal face of a cover 34 of the skirting board 10. This cover 34 is likewise provided with a rail 36 designed to fit into a longitudinal channel 38 provided for this purpose on one of the shelves of the base plate 16, e.g. the shelf 22.This channel is preferably formed by a tongue of material, which is slightly flexible, in order to grip the widened head of the rail firmly and secure the cover in position while at the same time enabling these parts to be engaged and dis engaged without difficulty.

The cover 34 of the skirting board 10 ter minates at the bottom, as in the case of the skirting 1, in a slightly flexible tapering tongue 40, preferably curved in the opposite direction to the wall, in order to conform in shape to any uneveness in the floor or in its covering.

The skirting board 10 according to the present invention can be associated with a conventional power socket 42 by means of a simple protective plate 44 fitted to the skirting 10. To instal the power socket 42 all that is necessary is to cut a part out of the upper portion of the cover 34 so that the socket 42 can be affixed to the wall against the upper portion of the base plate 16. A perforation made on a level suitable for the cover will give passage, for example, to an electric cable 16 to be connected to the socket 42. The protective plate 44 can be simply gripped be tween the power socket 42 and the floor without any other securing device.Since the skirting 6, like the conventional skirting 1, is at a slight angle in respect of the wall, the protective plate can be gripped in such a way that it will nowhere project beyond the lower edge of the tongue 40, so that the movement of a vacuum cleaner, for example, will not be obstructed by it.

The way in which the cover 34 is affixed to the base plate 16 is one of the major advantages offered by the skirting to which the present invention relates. The fact is that to install this cover 34 all that is required is to engage it by the edge 32 in the groove 30 and exert a slight pressure in the lower part of the cover in order to engage the rail 36 in the channel 38.

The cover 34 can also be dismantled without difficulty, simply by pulling the lower portion in order to disengage the rail 36, after which the edge 32 is detached from the groove 30.

These operations can be carried out a number of times without damaging the skirting or its securing system and without recourse to any special tools. Despite its simplicity, however, this securing system is sufficiently firm, since the cover is thereby secured both in the verticcal and the horizontal direction.

As in the case of the conventional skirting systems, the fact that the cover 36 can be easily and rapidly dismantled proves an outstanding advantage when the wall is to be papered or the floor provided with a covering.

Both the cover 34 and the base plate 16 with its shelves are made of polyvinyl chloride by an extrusion process.

According to another characteristic of the present invention the thickness of the various parts of the skirting 10 amounts to 1 mm. The fact is that the applicants have found that this thickness constitutes an acceptable compromise between the tendency to increase the thickness in order to ensure sufficient rigidity to support the wires and cables and also sufficient electrical and thermal resistance on the one hand, and the desire to keep the thickness moderate in order to reduce the cost and maintain a certain degree of flexibility, on the other. The skirting according to the present invention does retain a certain amount of flexibility, which improves its conformation to floors and walls, enabling it to accomodate any uneveness occurring therein.On the other hand, this thickness for the skirting is sufficient to enable it to stand up to a temperature of 100" inside the pipe 28 and also to a voltage of 14,000 volts, thus obviating any risk of a short circuit when one of the cables for any reason, suffers damage.

Since the external appearance of the skirting 10 is identically similar to that of the conventional skirting 1, the skirting 10 merely has to be installed in the one position where it is required, while the skirting boards 1, which are less expensive, are used in the remaining places. This choice between the two types of skirting is rendered possible by a further feature of the present invention, i.e.

the fact that all the accessories designed for the conventional skirting 1 can be used in conjunction with one or both types of skirting.

For example, the connecting piece 2 for the internal corner 2 provides a completely satisfactory connection between the skirting 10 and the skirting 1. Again, the rail 36 is so constructed that it can be engaged and gripped between the profiled parts 14 and 141 of the connecting piece 2, while when a conventional skirting 1 is installed the said profiled parts 14 and 141 interact with the strut 3 to secure it in position. One of the shelves, e.g. the shelf 20, moreover is so designed that its outer edge can be engaged, together with the cover 34, between the rod 12 and the wall of the connecting piece 2, whereas in the case of a conventional skirting system 1 the said rod interacts with the channel 4 in order to secure and rigidify the assembly thus formed.

Finally, it should be emphasized that the present invention applies not only to skirting systems but also to cornices and to all types of beading for ornamental, protective or supporting purposes etc.

All the accessoreis proposed by British patent specification No. 1,421,484 can thus be used in conjunction either with an ordinary skirting system 1 or with a skirting sytem 10 in accordance with the present invention, so that it is not necessary to provide two different types of each such accessory.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A skirting board system of synthetic material adapted for use with a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No.

1,421,484 which does not provide cable and/or piping support, which system comprises a base plate provided with a set of shelves serving to support cables and/or piping systems, a cover for the entire base plate and means enabling the said cover to be firmly attached to the said base plate and removed therefrom, these means consisting of a device for restraining the cover against vertical movement thereof and a device for restraining the cover against horizontal movement thereof, the said horizontal movement restraining device comprising a male element and a female element, one provided on the base plate and the other on the corresponding side of the cover, one of the shelves being adapted to be engaged and gripped with the cover between a round bar and the external face of a connecting piece of a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No.

1,421,484.

2. A skirting board system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the male element consists of a rail with a widened head on the wall-side face of the cover, while the female element consists of a longitudinal channel defined by a shelf of the base plate and a bent flexible tongue integral with the said base plate, the opening of the said channel being narrower than the rail head.

3. A skirting board system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the vertical securing device consists of a longitudinal edge provided on the wall-side face of the cover and designed to penetrate a longitudinal groove provided on the baseplate.

4. A skirting board system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, further comprising a protective plate which can be gripped, in the position where passage is given to an electric wire through the cover, between a power socket, fed by the said wire, and the floor of the room.

5. A skirting board system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, said skirting board being made of a polyvinyl chloride of a thickness of imam.

6. A skirting board system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. - - --

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. sufficient electrical and thermal resistance on the one hand, and the desire to keep the thickness moderate in order to reduce the cost and maintain a certain degree of flexibility, on the other. The skirting according to the present invention does retain a certain amount of flexibility, which improves its conformation to floors and walls, enabling it to accomodate any uneveness occurring therein. On the other hand, this thickness for the skirting is sufficient to enable it to stand up to a temperature of 100" inside the pipe 28 and also to a voltage of 14,000 volts, thus obviating any risk of a short circuit when one of the cables for any reason, suffers damage. Since the external appearance of the skirting 10 is identically similar to that of the conventional skirting 1, the skirting 10 merely has to be installed in the one position where it is required, while the skirting boards 1, which are less expensive, are used in the remaining places. This choice between the two types of skirting is rendered possible by a further feature of the present invention, i.e. the fact that all the accessories designed for the conventional skirting 1 can be used in conjunction with one or both types of skirting. For example, the connecting piece 2 for the internal corner 2 provides a completely satisfactory connection between the skirting 10 and the skirting 1. Again, the rail 36 is so constructed that it can be engaged and gripped between the profiled parts 14 and 141 of the connecting piece 2, while when a conventional skirting 1 is installed the said profiled parts 14 and 141 interact with the strut 3 to secure it in position. One of the shelves, e.g. the shelf 20, moreover is so designed that its outer edge can be engaged, together with the cover 34, between the rod 12 and the wall of the connecting piece 2, whereas in the case of a conventional skirting system 1 the said rod interacts with the channel 4 in order to secure and rigidify the assembly thus formed. Finally, it should be emphasized that the present invention applies not only to skirting systems but also to cornices and to all types of beading for ornamental, protective or supporting purposes etc. All the accessoreis proposed by British patent specification No. 1,421,484 can thus be used in conjunction either with an ordinary skirting system 1 or with a skirting sytem 10 in accordance with the present invention, so that it is not necessary to provide two different types of each such accessory. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A skirting board system of synthetic material adapted for use with a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No. 1,421,484 which does not provide cable and/or piping support, which system comprises a base plate provided with a set of shelves serving to support cables and/or piping systems, a cover for the entire base plate and means enabling the said cover to be firmly attached to the said base plate and removed therefrom, these means consisting of a device for restraining the cover against vertical movement thereof and a device for restraining the cover against horizontal movement thereof, the said horizontal movement restraining device comprising a male element and a female element, one provided on the base plate and the other on the corresponding side of the cover, one of the shelves being adapted to be engaged and gripped with the cover between a round bar and the external face of a connecting piece of a skirting board assembly as claimed in British Patent No.

1,421,484.