GB2221156A

GB2221156A - Mounting device

Info

Publication number: GB2221156A
Application number: GB8817513A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Martin David Beck
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-07-22
Filing date: 1988-07-22
Publication date: 1990-01-31
Also published as: GB2221156B; GB8817513D0

Abstract

A mounting device M for the display of sheet material 16 on a wall has a tubular body 1 having a slot 8 within which a marginal edge of the sheet 16 is received. The body 1 has an axial screw threaded bore 4 within which is received a screw clamp 11 to abut and retain the sheet material in the recess 8. Extending co-axially from the bore 4 is a smaller diameter bore 6 through which a fixing screw 14 is received (by passage through the bore 4) for securing the mounting device to an upstanding wall prior to the clamp 11 being fitted to the body. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE "A mounting device" TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART The present invention relates to a mounting device and is particularly concerned with such a device for displaying sheet material (primarily flat sheet) such as a glass mirror or a sheet of glass, plastics or other material as may be used for exhibiting a painting, photograph or other art form.

Conventional mounting devices for the display or flat sheet material (or an artwork which the material carries) on a wall are provided by U-shaped clips which are screwed to the wall. An edge of the sheet material is captured in clips located at the base of the sheet while similar clips located at a top of the sheet are displaced downwardly into engagement with that edge so that the sheet is firmly retained on, and with negligible spacing from, the wall.

For such fixings, the clips are normally held on the wall by screws and it will be apparent that the screws for the upper clips must permit those clips to be slidable te move into engagement with the upper edge of the sheet while the frictional contact between the clip and the screw serves to prevent the clip from being dislodged inadvertantly from the sheet. Such known mounting devices add very little to the aesthetic impression presented by the sheet material and it is an object of the present invention to provide an easily manufactured and inexpensive mounting device which serves to display sheet material on a wall simply and securely and in a manner which may be regarded as aesthetically pleasing by the educated eye.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES According to the present invention there is provided a mounting device for the display of sheet material on a wall and comprising a body part having a slot within which a marginal edge of the sheet material is to be received, clamp means screw adjustable in the body part for clamping the sheet material in the slot, and securing means by which the body part is intended to be secured to the wall.

Further according to the present invention there is provided the combination of at least two mounting devices as specified in the immediately preceding paragraph and sheet material displayed by said devices on a wall.

By the present invention it is envisaged that the body part of the mounting device will be firmly and rigidly attached to a wall (conveniently with a screw fixing) following which a marginal edge of the sheet material (which will usually be flat) is located in the slot of the body part and the clamp means adjusted by screwed movement to clamp and retain the sheet material in the slot.

Typically three mounting devices will be provided for retaining the sheet material on an upstanding wall, such devices being positioned at the apices of an isosceles triangle with a horizontal base se that the bottom edge of the sheet material is supported in two horizontally spaced mounting devices while the third mounting device clamps the upper edge of the sheet material to provide a stable mounLing. Hcwever, it will be appreciated that sheet material having a relatively small size may be mounted in two opposed mounting devices while relatively large or heavy sheets can employ four or more mounting devices for display purposes.A particular advantage of the present invention is that since the marginal edge of the sheet material is received in a slot of the body part, the sheet material will be spaced from the wall to which the body part is attached by the part length of the body part between its end which may abut that wall and the slot.

Usually the sheet material will be flat as aforementioned, for example for the purpose of displaying a mirrcr or painting (or other two dimensional artwork), and will be mounted on a flat wall substantially parallel therewith so that the sheet material is spaced from the wall to an extent that provides a prominent display which may be regarded as aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, a part of the mounting device will be exposed cn the facia of the sheet material which is displayed from the wall and that part may present an aesthetically pleasing adjunct or setting for the display. With this latter feature in mind, the device may be manufactured in metal, plastics, wood or other relatively rigid material which may be considered appropriate to set-off the display.

Preferably the body part is generally tubular, conveniently with a circular or polygonal sectioned external profile, while the clamp means comprises a component which is screw adjustable in the axial direction of the tubular body part. The slot will usually be in the form cf a recess which is machined in the tubular body in a plane perpendicular to its longitudinal axis and located so that the screw component can be screwed through the body for an end of that component to enter the slot to abut and clamp the sheet material which the slot receives.

Conveniently the end of the screw component remote from that which abuts the sheet material extends from the tubular body and carries a head which facilitates manual adjustment of the screw component.

Preferably the securing means is intended to comprise a screw, such as a conventional wood screw, which may be screwed into the wall to retain the body of the mounting device. For this purpose the tubular body part may include a screw hole through which the shank of the screw can pass but which retains the screw head. This screw hole is conveniently formed co-axial with and as an extension of the threaded bore for the screw adjustable clamping component but with the screw hole being of a smaller diameter than the threaded bore. With the screw clamping component removed from the tubular body, a wood screw or similar can be passed through the threaded bore with its head trailing so that the shank of the screw emerges from the screw hole to be affixed into the wall.

The screw head is intended to abut an internal shoulder of the tubular body (at the bottom of the threaded bore where the latter communicates with the screw hole) to hold the body part firmly on the wall.

DRAWINGS One embodiment of a mounting device for displaying sheet material will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the device; Figure 2 is an axial section of the device with its clamp means removed; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the device providing a mounting for the display of flat sheet material; Figure 4 shows a typical arrangement of three mounting devices for displaying a rectangular flat sheet of material, and Figure 5 is a side elevation of the display in Figure 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The mounting device M comprises a tubular body 1 of substantially cylindrical profile having substantially flat radially extending end faces 2 and 3. The major part length of the body 1 has a co-axial bore 4 which opens into the end face 3 and which is screw threaded as indicated at 5 (for the whole or a part length of the bore 4 from the face 3). Co-axial with the bore 4 and communicating therewith is a screw hole 6 which opens into the end face 2. The hole 6 has a smaller diameter than that of the bore 4 to form an internal shoulder 7 in the body 1. The cylindrical body 1 has an external slot 8 which is located substantially in the radial plane of the body and is in the form of a recess having opposed flat faces 9 substantially parallel with the end faces 2 and 3.The slot 8 breaks into the bore 4 and may interupt the internal screw thread 5 as shown in Figure 2.

Received in the bore 4 through the end face 3 and in screw engagement wi-th the thread 5 is a screw shank 10 of clamp component 11. The shank 10 extends from a disc shaped head lla which, for aesthetic purposes, may be concentric with and of a similar diameter to that of the body 1. The head lla is convenient for manually rotating the shank 10 within the body so that the end 13 of the shank can enter cr be withdrawn from the slot 8.

In use of the device the screw clamping component 11 is removed from the body 1 (see Figure 2) and a conventional wood screw 14 is passed through the bore 4 so that it emerges from the screw hole 6 and the head 14a of the wood screw abuts the internal shoulder 7. The body 1 can now be attached to a wall 15 by driving the screw 14 into a wall plug in conventional manner so that the end face 2 firmly abuts the wall 15 (as shown in Figure 5) with the body 1 orientated to present the slot 8 in an appropriate direction te receive the sheet material.

A picture frame, comprising two flat rectangular sheets of transparent glass or plastics 16, 17 between which a two dimensional artwork 18 is captured, is mounted with its marginal edge part 19 received in the slot 8.

The clamping component 11 is screwed into the body 1 for its end 13 to abut the sheet 16 and thereby clamp both sheets against a face 9 of the recess 8.

Typically three mounting devices M will be used for displaying and carrying the combination of sheets 16 to 18 on a wall, these mounting devices being located at the apices of an isosceles triangle as shown in Figure 4 with two of the devices supporting and clamping a bottom marginal edge 19 of the sheets and the third device clamping and stabilising a top marginal edge 20 of the sheets. In the arrangement shown in Figure 4 the sheet frame will be positioned as required in the slots 8 of the respective devices 7 by sliding between the upper and lower devices prior to tightening the clamps 11. As will be seen from Figure 5 the mounting devices M hold the sheet material parallel to and spaced from the wall 15 by a distance corresponding to the axial part length of the body 1 between its end face 2 and adjacent face 9 of the slots.

Consequently the combination of sheets 16 to 18 is prominently and firmly displayed on the wall 15 while the devices M can provide mountings which can be aesthetically pleasing to compliment the artwork 18, for example, if manufactured with a metallic bronze, brass, gold or silver finish. Furthermore, the spacing between the wall 15 and the sheet material 17 may be particularly convenient for lighting the artwork 18 through the rear of the sheet material.

Claims

1. A mounting device for the display of sheet material on a wall and comprising a body part.having a slot within which a marginal edge of the sheet material is to be received, clamp means screw adjustable in the body part for clamping the sheet material in the slot, and securing means by which the body part is intended to be secured to the wall.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the body part has a threaded bore which opens to said slot and the clamp means comprises a component which is screw adjustable in said threaded bore for an end of that component to enter the slot for abutting and clamping sheet material which the slot receives.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 in which the slot comprises a recess in the body part located substantially in a plane perpendicular to the threaded bore axis.

4. A device as claimed in either claim 2 or claim 3 in which an end of the screw component remote from the recess projects from the body part and carries a head which facilitates manual adjustment of that component.

5. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the securing means is intended to comprise a screw and the body part includes a screw hole through which the shank of the screw can pass but which retains the head of the screw.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5 when appendant to claim 2 in which the screw hole is a co-axial extension of a threaded bore, said screw hole being of a smaller diameter than the threaded bore to provide a shoulder within the body part against which the screw head can abut.

7. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the body part has a circular or polygonal section external profile.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 when appendant to claim 4 in which the head of the screw component has a sectional external profile corresponding to that of the body part.

9. The combination of at least two mounting devices as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and sheet material displayed by said devices on a wall.

10. A mounting device for the display of sheet material on a wall substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying illustrative drawings.

11. The combination of mounting devices and sheet material displayed thereby substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 3 to 5 of the accompanying illustrative drawings.