GB2136281A

GB2136281A - A book support

Info

Publication number: GB2136281A
Application number: GB08307622A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Owen Norman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-03-18
Filing date: 1983-03-18
Publication date: 1984-09-19
Also published as: GB8307622D0

Abstract

The book support is for mounting on a bookshelf and comprises a book support member (10) and means (20, 27) for releasably clamping the book support member to the bookshelf. The clamp member (20) is carried by a downwardly depending flange (17) of the book support member (10), which flange (17) fits behind and extends below the bookshelf. This clamp member (20) can be held in engagement with the underside of the bookshelf. The clamp member (27) is L- shaped and has a vertical limb (29) and a horizontal limb (28). The limb (28) can be held in engagement with the underside of the bookshelf adjacent its front edge and the limb (29) can be held in engagement with the front edge of the bookshelf by an elongate member (25) in screwthreaded engagement with the book support member (10). The releasable clamping means are adjustable so that the book support member can be clamped to bookshelves of a range of sizes. <IMAGE>

Description

A book support This invention relates to a book support for mounting on a bookshelf.

In recent years open bookshelves have come into vogue but they have the drawback that they do not have end members to support books vertically on the shelves. This has led to the use of free standing book-ends which are not entirely satisfactory.

According to the invention, there is provided a book support for mounting on a bookshelf, the book support comprising a book support member and means for releasably clamping the book support member to the bookshelf with the book support member upstanding thereon, the releasable clamping means being adjustable so that the book support member can be clamped to bookshelves on a range of sizes.

Preferably, the releasable clamping means comprises a first member connected to the book support member by an elongate threaded member extending forwardly beyond a front edge of the book support member and engaging with a complementarily threaded part integral with or secured to the book support member, whereby said first member can be adjusted so as to engage a front edge of a bookshelf.

Conveniently, the first member is engageable also with the underside of the bookshelf. In this case, the first member may be generally L-shaped having an in use substantially vertical limb provided therein with a substantially vertically extending elongate slot through which extends the elongate member, and an in use substantially horizontally extending limb engageable with the underside of the book shelf by raising the first member relative to the elongate member.

Alternatively, the first member may have a stepped rearwardly facing surface, the steps extending rearwardly and downwardly so that one of the steps can be brought into engagement with a lowermost portion of the front edge and a foremost portion of the underside of a bookshelf.

Alternatively, the first member may carry an adjustable clamp which can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf.

In this case, the adjustable clamp may comprise a second member connected to and movable vertically relative to the first member by a further screw-threaded member, whereby the second member can be brought into engagement with the underside of the book shelf. Alternatively, the adjustable clamp may be a screw-threaded member engaging with a complementary thread on the first member.

Advantageously, the book support member has a flange depending from a lower rear edge, the flange being adapted to fit behind the bookshelf and extend therebelow, and the flange carrying a third member which can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf.

In this case the third member may be of generally inverted L-shape having an in use substantially vertical limb having therein an elongate substantially vertically extending slot through which extends a screw-threaded member which is supported by the depending flange of the book support member, and an in use substantially horizontal limb engageable with the underside of the bookshelf by raising the third member relative to the screw-threaded member.

Preferably, the book support member has laterally extending stabilising arms which in use rest against the upper surface of the bookshelf to resist tilting movement of the bqok support member.

Conveniently, the book support member has a planar bottom edge, a planar rear edge and a convex edge extending between an upper end of the rear edge and aforemost end of the bottom edge.

Desirably, the book support member is of plastics material.

The invention will now be more particularly described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective exploded view, partly broken away, of one embodiment of a book support according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the book support of Figure 1, shown mounted on a bookshelf; Figure 3 is a sectional view of part of the book support of Figures 1 and 2; Figures 4 and 5 are sectional views, similar to Figure 3, showing two modifications to the book support of Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 6 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of another embodiment of a book support according to the invention.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings, the book support shown therein is intended to be mounted on open bookshelves supported on a wall by brackets or supports and having no end members to support books vertically on the shelves. The book support comprises a book support member 10 formed as an integral plastics moulding and comprising a base wall 11, a back wall 12 and a convex wall 13 which extends between the upper end of the back wall 12 and the foremost end of the base wall 11.

Between the walls 11, 12 and 13, there are decorative reinforcing portions 1 4. Integral stabilising arms 1 5 and 1 6 extend laterally from opposite sides of the rear enf of the base wall 11 to resist tilting movement of the book support member 10 when it is mounted on a bookshelf. An integral flange 1 7 depends downwardly from the lower edge of the back wall 1 2 and is adapted to fit behind the bookshelf and extend therebelow as shown in Figure 2. The flange 17 has an internally threaded hoie 1 8 which receives a complementarily screwthreaded end of a headed bolt 19.

A clamp member 20 of inverted L-shaped cross section has an upper horizontal limb 21 and a vertical limb 22 which is provided with an elongate vertically extending slot 23. The threaded end of the bolt 1 9 passes through the slot and engages in the hole 18. By virtue of the elongate slot 23 the clamp member 20 can be raised so that its upper limb 21 can engage against the underside of a bookshelf, as shown in Figure 2, whereupon the clamp member 20 is held in position by tightening the bolt 19.

A block 24 with an internally threaded through bore is made integral with or is secured to the base wall 11 of the book support member 10. An elongate member 25 with a complementary external thread engages in the wall of the block 24. The elongate member 25 extends forwardly beyond the convex wall 13 and has a head 26 at its foremost end. An L-shaped clamp member 27 having a lower horizontal limb 28 and a vertical limb 29 with an elongate vertically extending slot therein is mounted on the elongate member 25, which passes through the slot, between the head 26 and a bush 30 having a threaded bore offset from the longitudinal central axis thereof.When clamping a book support member to a bookshelf 9 (see Fig. 2) the book support member is placed on the bookshelf 9 with the base wall 11 resting on the bookshelf 9, the back wall 12 resting against a wall 8 and the flange 1 7 behind the bookshelf 9.

The clamp member 20 is then fixed by the bolt 19 in a position in which the upper limb 21 thereof engages the underside of the bookshelf 9. The length of the elongate member 25 is then adjusted so that it projects just forwardly of the front edge of the bookshelf and the clamp member 27 is held with its vertical limb 29 in engagement with the front edge of the bookshelf and its horizontal limb 28 in engagement with the underside of the bookshelf. The head 26 is then tightened to hold the clamp member 27 in this position. Several book supports 10 can be mounted on the shelf 9 as desired.

In the modification shown in Figure 4, the clamp member 27 and bus 30 are replaced by a C-shaped clamp member 27a. The elongate member 25a has a fixed head 26a and an unthreaded portion 31 adjacent the head 26a.

This portion 31 extends through an elongate bore in an upper limb 32 of the C-shaped clamp 27a. A lower limb 33 of the clamp member 27a has a screwthreaded vertically extending bore therein which receives a threaded portion of a clamp 34 having a head 35 at its lower end and a pad 36 at its upper end which can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf 9 when a vertical limb 37 of the clamp member 27a is in engagement with the front edge of the bookshelf.

In the modification shown in Figure 5, the clamp member 27 and bush 30 are replaced by a clamp member 27b having an upper horizontal limb 38 and a depending limb 39. The limb 39 is provided on its rear face with a plurality of steps 40 which extend rearwardly and downwardly so that depending upon the thickness of the bookshelf 9 one of these steps 40 can be brought into engagement with a lowermost portion of the front edge and a foremost portion of the underside of a bookshelf by the elongate member 25b which has a fixed head 26b and an unthreaded portion 31 a extending through an elongate bore in the upper limb 38.

Referring now to Figure 6, the book support member 1 0' shown therein is similar to the book support member 10 of the previous embodiments but the flange 1 7 is omitted. Like reference numerals are used to designate like parts of the two book support members 10 and 10'. An elongate member associated with the book support member 10' is designated by the reference numeral 41 and has at one end a threaded portion 42 which engages in the bore in the block 24, at its other end an unthreaded portion 43 and a knurled boss portion 44 therebetween. A releasable clamping assembly 45 comprises two members 46 and 47. The member 46 has an upper horizontally extending limb 48 provided with a through bore 49 which receives the unthreaded portion 43 of the elongate member 41 as a tight push fit.The member 46 also had a downwardly projecting polygonal spigot 50 which is slidably received in a blind bore 51 of matching cross section in the member 47.

The members 46 and 47 can be adjusted relative to each other in a vertical direction by a screwthreaded bolt 52 which extends through the lower wall at the end of the blind bore 51 in the member 47 and engages with a threaded bore 53 in the member 46. The member 47 has a horizontally rearwardly projecting limb 54 which can be brought into engagement with the underside of a bookshelf by tightening the bolt 52 when a portion 55 of the member 46 is in engagement with a front edge of the bookshelf.

In this latter embodiment, the clamping assembly 45 alone clamps the book support member 10' to a bookshelf, although the stabiliser arms 1 5, 16 will resist tilting movement of book support member 10' and in this embodiment these stabiliser arms can be longer than those of the book support member 10 of the embodiments shown in Figures 1-5.

Claims

1. A book support for mounting on a bookshelf, the book support comprising a book support member and means for releasably clamping the book support member to the bookself with the book support member upstanding thereon, the releasable clamping means being adjustable so that the book support member can be clamped to bookshelves of a range of sizes.

2. The book support of claim 1, wherein the releasable clamping means comprises a first member connected to the book support member by an elongate threaded member extending forwardly beyond .a front edge of the book support member and engaging with a complementarily threaded part integral with or secured to the book support member whereby said first member can be adjusted so as to engage a front edge of a book shelf.

3. The book support of claim 2, wherein the first member is engageable also with the underside of the bookshelf

4. The book support of claim 3, wherein the first member is generally L-shaped having an in use substantially vertical limb provided therein with a substantially vertically extending elongate slot through which extends the elongate-member, and an in use substantially horizontally extending limb engageable with the underside of the bookshelf by raising the first member relative to the elongate member.

5. The book support of claim 3, wherein the first member has a stepped rearwardly facing surface, the steps extending rearwardly and downwardly so that one of the steps can be brought into engagement with a lowermost portion of the front edge and a foremost portion of the underside of a bookshelf.

6. The bookshelf support of claim 2, wherein the first member carries an adjustable clamp which can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf

7. The book support of claim 6, wherein the adjustable clamp is a second member connected to and movable vertically relative to the first member by a further screw-threaded member, whereby the second member can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf.

8. The' book support of claim 6, wherein the adjustable clamp is a screw-threaded member engaging with a complementary thread on the first member.

9. The book support of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the book support member has a flange depending from a lower rear edge, the flange being adapted to fit behind the bookshelf and extend therebelow, and the flange carrying a third member which can be brought into engagement with the underside of the bookshelf.

10. The book support of claim 9, wherein the third member is of generally inverted L-shape having an in use substantially vertical limb having therein an elongate substantially vertically extending slot through which extends a screwthreaded member which is supported by the depending flange of the book support member, and an in use substantially horizontal limb engageable with the underside of the bookshelf by raising the third member relative to the screwthreaded member.

11. The book support of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the book support member has laterally extending stabilising arms which in use rest against the upper surface of the bookshelf to resist tilting movement of the book support member.

12. The book support member of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the book support member has a planar bottom edge, a planar rear edge and a convex edge extending between an upper end of the rear edge and a foremost end of the bottom edge.

13. The book support of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the book support member is of plastics material.

14. A book support for mounting on a bookshelf, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, Figures 1,2 and 3, or Figures 1, 2, and 3, as modified by Figure 4 or Figure 5, or Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.