GB2198637A

GB2198637A - Planar display holder

Info

Publication number: GB2198637A
Application number: GB08729451A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Owen Dale Wood
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-12-18
Filing date: 1987-12-17
Publication date: 1988-06-22
Also published as: GB8729451D0

Abstract

A display holder for planar pictures, printed matter or other articles is provided where the planar picture 3 or the like is sandwiched between a transparent cover sheet 2 and a backing sheet 1 which may also be transparent if required. The cover sheet and backing sheet are held together by virtue of the edges, generally at the corners of a polygonal (usually rectangular) being located in receivers or slots in fittings 4 which are urged inwardly towards each other by reason of a flexible elongate usually endless tension member 5 passing through locating formations provided in the fittings. The display holder is suspended by the tension member and its own mass exerted on the fittings to hold them in engagement with the edges of the cover and the backing sheets. <IMAGE>

Description

PLANAR DISPLAY HOLDER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a planar display holder and, more particularly, a display holder of a type suitable for hanging on a wall to display a picture or any other art form on a planar substrate or any printed matter.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Various different forms of holder arrangements exist for hanging planar works of art on a wall, or indeed, any printed matter, the most common of which is probably the conventional picture frame which is composed of four frame members secured together at right angles to each other to define a rectangular frame. Such a frame supports the periphery of a planar display which must, accordingly, generally be mounted on a mounting board or backing sheet.

Other arrangements include a rigid board adapted for hanging on a wall and to the front surface of which a sheet of glass may be clamped with the planar display between the glass and the board.

The glass can be held to the board by means of corners or beading surrounding the board. Such arrangements generally require considerable time and effort to manufacture and, indeed, also to mount the planar display to the holder arrangement.

It is the object of this invention to provide a planar display holder assembly which is extremely simple and swift to render operative, which does not require any special tools for its assembly, and which may provide a novel and attractive appearance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention there is provided a planar display holder comprising a planar backing sheet and a translucent front cover sheet adapted to carry, in the operative position, a display sheet sandwiched therebetween and having at least spaced peripheral zones on the backing and cover sheet substantially coincident and wherein said zones are received in recesses or slots in support fittings, and an endless flexible elongate tension element engaging in locating formations in each fitting and whereby the display holder assembly can be suspended in a hanging condition from a point intermediate to adjacent fittings.

Further features of the invention provide for the backing and cover sheets to be of identical shape and, preferably, to be of polygonal shape in which case the fittings are preferably associated with the corners thereof; for the fittings to be either tubular whereof the axis is orientated at right angles to the backing and cover sheets or, alternatively, for the fittings to be solid having recesses for receiving the said coincident zones of the backing and cover sheets to hold them together, such fittings conveniently being of injection moulded plastics material; for the locating formations on the fittings to be holes through the fittings and located in the plane of the centre. of the assembly of backing sheet, cover sheet and any display sheets sandwiched therebetween; and for the elongate flexible tension element to be picture wire.

It will be appreciated that the backing sheet and the front cover sheet could both be made of transparent material thereby providing a transparent surround to a display sheet of smaller dimensions located between the backing and cover sheets.

It will be understood that the invention operates by virtue of the fact that the tension in the flexible tension element, whereby the assembly is suspended in use, is transmitted to all the fittings and, as the flexible element surrounds the edge of the sheets, the fittings are urged inwardly towards each other and, accordingly, the recesses or slots are urged into firm engagement with the said coincident zones of the backing and cover sheets.

Prefabricated units comprising say four fittings on an endless flexible element, preferably an adjustable flexible element, can be produced for use on a predetermined range of sizes of backing and cover sheets thereby obviating any necessity for the user to even cut the length of the flexible element. In such a case the effective length of the picture wire could be rendered adjustable by the provision of an adjustment member onto which different extents of excess wire can be wound. Conveniently such adjustment member can comprise a plate having a series of projections extending therefrom onto which the excess length wire can be wound, conveniently in a zigzag path. The adjustment member would form an eyelet by which the whole assembly can be suspended.

The fitting and flexible element could also be provided in kit form optionally together with a backing and cover sheet, and possibly also an adjustment member.

It is to be understood that the fittings themselves, when sold separately from the flexible element and backing or cover sheets, are intended to be embraced within the scope of this invention.

Assembly of a display sheet in a display holder assembly as above described is an extremely simple operation and the display sheet need simply be placed between the backing sheet and cover sheet and the coincident zones thereof are engaged in the recesses or slots to hold them together. The recesses or slots could, if required, be slightly tapered in order to generate a clamping force urging the sheets together as the fittings are urged into position. In either event the fittings are simply located with the recesses or slots accommodating said zones of the backing and cover sheets and the assembly can then be lifted by the flexible element and suspended thereby.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, two different embodiments thereof as well as adjustment member that could be used with either, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawings: Figure 1 - is a front elevation of a display holder assembly according to the invention in the operative position; Figure 2 - is a sectional elevation of the lower right hand corner fitting of the assembly illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 3 - is an isometric view of the same fitting as is illustrated in Figure 2; Figure 4 - is an isometric view of an alterna tive form of fitting according to the invention; and Figure 5 - is an isometric view of the rear of an adjustment fitting for use in conjunction with fittings and tension elevate according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, a planar display holder assembly comprises two identical rectangular sheets of glass 1 and 2 the one 1 of which acts as a backing sheet and the other 2 of which acts as a transparent cover sheet. These two sheets have, sandwiched therebetween, in the operative position,a display sheet 3 which can be of any nature such as paper, cloth or whatever.

A fitting 4 is provided for each of the four corners and the four fittings are threaded onto an endless elongate flexible element 5 which is conveniently a length of picture wire the ends of which have been joined together. The fittings are, in this embodiment of the invention, of a tubular shape and of circular shape in cross-section. However, any other crosssectional shape may equally well be employed.

Each of the fittings is adapted to have its axis extending at right angles to the plane of the backing and cover sheets and has a slot 6 cut in its sidewall to receive a corner of the sandwiched backing and cover sheets as shown most clearly in Figure 3.

The flexible element 5 passes through holes 7 provided in the wall of each fitting so that the zone 8 of the flexible element within the fitting extends at 45"C across the corner of the backing and cover sheets and just clear thereof. This is most clearly shown in Figure 2.

It will be understood that, with a correctly dimensioned flexible element 5, the flexible element can be hooked over a nail or other supporting member 9 in order to hang the display holder assembly. Obviously, an adjustment member reeling type may be provided, so that the length of the flexible element may be altered in order to correctly position the display holder. Such a adjustment member is described below. The nail 9 is to be located midway between two adjacent fittings 4 as illustrated in Figure 1.

Accordingly, with the fittings and sheets in the above described positions, the tension on the flexible element caused by the weight of the assembly is transmitted along the element and into an inwardly directed force on the fittings which maintains then in engagement with the backing and cover sheets to hold them firmly together.

It will be understood that, with a prefabricated fitting and elongate element assembly, all that is required in order to assemble the display holder is for the display sheet to be located between the backing and cover sheets and the four fittings to be located with their slots over the corners of the two sheets in the sandwiched position. The assembly can then be lifted by the elongate element which results in the fittings being held firmly in engagement on the corners of the sheets.

It will be understood that numerous different arrangements are possible within the scope of this invention without departing from the scope hereof. In particular, the fittings could assume any shape or configuration and, in particular, need not be tubular and also need not be of circular shape in cross-section. Simply by way of example there is illustrated in Figure 4 a rectangular fitting 10 made of injection moulded plastics material and having a recess 11 moulded therein. The hole 12 for the flexible element can be drilled into the unit afterwards or, alternatively, a groove 13 shown in dotted lines could be moulded into the outer edges 14 of the fitting to receive the flexible element. Preferably, in such a case, the flexible element should clip into the groove arrangement.

As indicated above, in order to render an endless flexible tension element adjustable effective in length, an adjustment member may be provided.

One form of such member is illustrated in figure 5 in which case a metal plate 15 is lie-cut to provide an eye 16 for looking over a rack or picture book to support the assembly in use. The plate has . a laterally extending array of projections 17 extending their arrays so that a flexible tension element 18 can be wound, in zig-zag or other tortuous path, as indicated by numeral 19 around the projections to effectively decrease the length of the element.

The invention therefore provides an extremely simple yet highly effective display holder arrangement for displaying sheetlike objects.

Claims

1. A planar display holder comprising a planar backing sheet and a translucent front cover sheet adopted to carry, in the operative position, a display sheet sandwiched there between and having at least spaced peripheral zones on the. backing and cover sheet substantially coincident and wherein said zones are received in recesses or slots in support fittings, and an endless flexible elongate tension element engaging in locating formations in each fitting and whereby the display holder assembly can be suspended in a hanging condition from a point intermediate adjacent fittings.

2. A display holder as claimed in claim 1 in which the backing and cover sheets are of identical shape.

3. A display holder as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2 in which the backing and cover sheets are of polygonal shape.

4. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 in which the fittings are associated with the corners of the backing and cover sheets.

5. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the fittings are tubular whereof the axis is orientated at right angles to the backing and cover sheets.

6. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the fittings are solid having recesses for receiving the said coincident zones of the backing and cover sheets to hold them together.

7. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 in which the locating formations on the fittings are holes through the fittings and located in the plane of the centre of the assembly of the backing sheet, cover sheet and any display sheets sandwiched therebetween.

8. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 in which the backing sheet and front 'cover sheet are both made of transparent material.

9. A display holder as claimed in claims 1 to 8 in which the recesses or slots are slightly tapered in order to operatively urge the sheets together as the fittings are moved into position.

10. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 9 in which an adjustment member is provided comprising a plate having an array of projections extending therefrom around which the flexible element may be wound in a tortuous path.

11. A display holder as claimed in .claim 10 in which the adjustment member is provided with a ledge whereby the display holder assembly can be supported.

12. A display holder substantially is herein described and exemplified with reference to figures 1 to 3 or figure 4, or figure 5 in combination with figures 1 to 3 or 4 of the accompanying drawings.

13. An assembly of a plurality of fittings and a flexible elongate tension member adopted to form, together with a backing and a cover sheet, a display holder as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

14. An assembly as claimed in claim 13 wherever supplied in kit form.

15. Fittings particularly adopted for use in a display folder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

16. An adjustment member particularly adopted for use in a display holder as claimed in either of claims 10 or 11 or as claimed in claim 12 with reference to figure 5 of the accompanying drawings.