GB2222523A

GB2222523A - Resilient panel edging strip

Info

Publication number: GB2222523A
Application number: GB8821164A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Timothy Derek Davis
Original assignee: GRAPHIC FORMING Ltd
Current assignee: GRAPHIC FORMING Ltd
Priority date: 1988-09-09
Filing date: 1988-09-09
Publication date: 1990-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2008-09-09
Also published as: GB2222523B; GB8821164D0

Abstract

A one piece strip for a panel (10) comprises a channel-shaped rail (11) having two side walls (13, 14) joined by a base (15). The side walls are adapted to receive and grip an edge of the panel. At least one of the side walls is inclined inwardly from the base towards the other side wall and has an inturned lip (16) at its outer end. A flap (17) has a hook (18) at one end which is interengaged with the inturned lip (16) so that the flap is rotatable between the closed position and an open position. The side wall is joined to the flap by a flexible web (23) which allows for rotation of the flap between the open and closed positions. <IMAGE>

Description

RESILIENT PANEL EDGING STRIP The present invention relates to a resilient edging strip for a panel which is designed so that it can be quickly and easily attached to the edge of the panel in a secure manner and which in one embodiment of the invention enables flexible sheet material to be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the panel for display purposes.

It is well known to display advertising material on panels at a point of sale location, for instance indoors in a shop, or out of doors at a garage or filling station. In many cases it is desirable to change the nature of the advertising material at frequent intervals. If this entails replacing the complete display panel, it can involve considerable cost, particularly if the display panel is for use out of doors and is designed to withstand weather conditions. It is therefore desirable to provide a durable, permanent display panel onto which sheets of replaceable advertising material can be quickly and easily attached and removed.Hitherto, this has been done by using an adhesive which involves problems in both securely attaching the sheet material and enabling it to be removed relatively easily, or by fasteners or studs which may not be secure and which again involve considerable labour in both attaching and removing the sheet material.

In order to overcome some of these problems it has been proposed in U.K. Patent No. 2010673 of Segerstad to provide a strip assembly comprising a main strip adapted to grip the edge of a display panel and two flap strips which are pivotally hinged to the main strip. The main strip and the flap strips have co-operating locking elements enabling the flap strips to be locked in a position in which they can clamp a sheet of display material against the panel. We have found that this known type of strip assembly has a limited application because it can only accommodate a relatively small range of panel thicknesses. It is also necessary to form the terminal portions of the flap strips from a different and more resilient material than the main part of the flap strips in order to achieve the required gripping characteristics. This makes the manufacture of the components relatively costly.A further disadvantage is that the flap strips can only accommodate the sheet material and cannot in addition clamp a protective sheet of glass or transparent plastics on the panel. We have also found that the manufacture and assembly of this type of edging strip, which comprises three separate components is time consuming and therefore costly.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an edging strip for a display panel which is unitary in its structure and therefore economic to manufacture and assemble, which can be used with a wide range of panel thickness and which enables flexible sheet material and a protective sheet of plastics or the like to be quickly and easily attached to or removed from the panel.

The edging strip of the present invention is not limited to use as an edging stirp for a display panel. It may be used to provide a protective edging for glass panels, such as the panels used in a double glazing window system. It may also be conveniently used as an edging strip for pictures, mirrors or the like.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a one piece edging strip for a panel, the edging strip being generally channel shaped so as to comprise a base and two side walls which are adapted to grip an edge of the panel, at least one of the side walls being inclined from the base inwardly towards the other side wall and a flap interengaged with the other side wall so that the flap is rotatable between a closed position in which it is clamped against an adjacent face of the panel and an open position in which it is spaced therefrom, characterised in that the said one side wall is joined to the flap by a flexible web of resilient material which allows for rotation of the flap between the open and closed positions.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a panel and an edging strip according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the edging strip shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section through the panel and the edging strip of Figure 1 showing the flap of the edging strip in the open position, and Figure 4 is a section similar to Figure 4 but showing the flap in the closed position clamping a sheet of display material against the panel.

In the drawings, a display panel is indicated generally at 10 and an edging strip for the display panel 10 is indicated generally at 11. The panel 10 may be formed from any suitable material such as fibre board or plastics so as to be sufficiently rigid to act as a support for a flexible sheet such as a poster 12 which may carry, by way of example, advertising or sales information.

The edging strip 11 is generally channel shaped so as to comprise two similar side walls 13 and 14 joined by a substantially rigid base 15. The side wall 13 is substantially flat and the side wall 14 is inclined inwardly from the base towards the side wall 13, terminating at its outer end in an inwardly turned lip 16.

The side wall 14 is substantially shorter than the side wall 13 and is engaged with a rotatable flap 17. The flap 17 has a hook 18 which is interengaged with the lip 16 so as to enable the flap to be rotated between the open position shown in Figure 3 and the closed position shown in Figure 4. The flap 17 has two flat locating surfaces 19 and 20 arranged at right angles to one another, and a free end 20. The surfaces 19 and 20 define a dihedral corner 22 and serve to index the flap in the open and closed positions respectively. The flap 17 is joined integrally to the side wall 14 by a flexible web 23 of resilient material which overlies the inturned lip 16 and hook 18 so as to allow for rotation of the flap between the open and closed positions.

The wall 13 is formed with a lengthwise extending rib 24 and the side wall 14 with a lengthwise extending flange 25, the purpose of the rib 24 and flange 25 being to receive and locate a rightangle insert 26 having a retaining lug 27 to enable a secure mitred corner to be formed between two adjacent edging strips.

In use, the edging strip 11 is applied to an edge of the panel 10 by sliding the panel between the side wall 13 and the flap 18. As the panel is inserted into the strip, the side wall 14 and flap 18 are forced away from the side wall 13 so that, when assembled, the side wall 14 clamps the flap 18 firmly against the adjacent face of the panel. The flap 17 can then be snap engaged from the open position shown in Figure 3 in which the flap extends at right angles from the face of the panel and the flat locating surface 20 is engaged against the panel surface, into the closed position in which the flat locating surface 19 and the outer free end of the flap 17 bear against the adjacent face of the panel and are clamped in position by the side wall 14.

When the flap 17 is in the open position, the poster 12 can be placed on the panel and the flap then rotated manually so that it snap engages down onto the poster to clamp the poster against the surface of the panel. As the flap 17 is rotated downwardly towards the panel, the flap rotates about the corner 22 formed between the locating surfaces 19 and 20 and slides rearwardly towards the base 15 until it snaps into the closed position under the pressure applied by the side wall 14.

In order to remove the poster 12, the free end 21 of the flap 17 is lifted manually away from the panel until it snaps upwardly into the fully open position shown in Figure 3. The poster can then be freely removed from the panel.

The display panel 10 will preferably have an edging strip attached along each side of the panel so that the panel is completely trimmed and finished by the edging strip. In order to form a mitred joint at each corner of the panel the insert 26 is located in the adjacent ends of the edging strips with the retaining lugs engaged with the rib 24 and the flange 25 of each edging strip to secure the edging strips together. In order to attach a poster to the panel, it is then necessary to snap the flaps of each of the four strips away from the panel before laying the poster in place.

If it is necessary or desirable to protect the sheet material on the panel 10, a protective sheet of glass or clear plastics can be inserted on top of the poster and clamped in position by the edging strips.

The edging strip 11 is formed as a single unitary plastics moulding which makes it economic to manufacture and to assemble on the panel.

Preferably the flexible web 23 is formed from a relatively soft polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene and the remainder of the strip formed from a more rigid polyvinyl chloride.

It will be appreciated that the side wall 13 of the edging strip may be formed in the same manner as the side wall 14 and provided with an inwardly turned lip 16 and associated end flap 17 so that, when attached to a panel, posters can be attached to and removed from both sides of the panel.

By providing the flexible web 23 which overlies the inturned lip 16 and hook 18 of the flap 17, the edging strip comprises a unitary component which can be quickly and easily assembled on to a panel. It is thus both economic to manufacture, economic to transport and easy to assemble.

The edging strip 11 is not limited to use as an edging strip for a display panel. It may also be used with great advantage as an edging strip for glass panels, pictures, mirrors and other similar panels.

Claims

1. A one piece edging strip for a panel, the edging strip being generally channel shaped so as to comprise a base and two side walls adapted to grip an edge of the panel, at least one of the side walls being inclined inwardly from the base towards the other side wall and a flap interengaged with the other side wall so that the flap is rotatable between a closed position in which it is clamped against an adjacent face of the panel and an open in which it is spaced therefrom, characterised in that the said one side wall is joined to the flap by a flexible web of resilient material which allows for rotation of the flap between the open and the closed positions.

2. An edging strip as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the other side wall has an inturned lip at its outer end and the flap has a hook which is interengaged with the lip.

3. An edging strip as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the flap is shaped concavely towards the said other side wall.

4. An edging strip as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the flap is formed with two right right angled locating surfaces adapted to index the flap in the open and closed positions respectively.

5. An edging strip as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the flexible web of resilient material is made from a substantially more resilient material than the remainder of the edging strip.

6. An assembly comprising a panel for displaying material and an edging strip as claimed in any preceding claim attached to each edge of the panel, characterised in that each edging strip grips an edge of the panel with the edge of the panel located between the side walls of the strip and the flap of each strip is rotatable between a closed position in which it is clamped against an adjacent face of the panel and an open position in which it is spaced therefrom.

7. A one piece edging strip for a panel, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. An assembly of a panel and edging strips substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.