GB2412779A

GB2412779A - Article retaining device

Info

Publication number: GB2412779A
Application number: GB0407678A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Desmond Stephen Beckford
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-04-03
Filing date: 2004-04-03
Publication date: 2005-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 2024-04-03
Also published as: GB0407678D0; GB2412779B

Abstract

An article retaining device such as a board 10 arranged to facilitate the storage of articles 28 such as toys and tools. The articles 28 are attached to the board 10 using fastening means 26, such as a strap. The fastening means 26 are attached around the article 28 and then pressed against a surface covering of the board 10. As the surface covering and fastening means 26 are made from complementary materials, such as hook-and-loop fastener material, magnetic materials, or an appropriate combination of metallic and magnetic materials, the surface covering can retain articles 28 held within the fastening means 26. In this way articles 28 may be stored whilst remaining easy to locate and access.

Description

24 1 2779

ARTICLE RETAINING DEVICE

This invention relates to boards and a method of attaching an article to a board. The invention is applicable to use within children's bedrooms, playrooms or nurseries. s

It is generally accepted in today's world that space is at a premium and many schemes have been presented in order to provide storage. In particular, storage is a problem in children's rooms, where toys are commonly left strewn around on the floor for people to trip over.

Boxes are commonly used to provide storage for toys or other articles which are only used periodically. However, if many boxes are used for the storage of such articles then, unless great care is taken in labelling up the boxes, it may take a lot of time to hunt through multiple boxes for the article of choice. This searching may also generate a large amount of mess with articles having to be taken out of the boxes and then put back again.

By storing articles in a box they also become hidden from the user. Once the article is out of sight it may then become forgotten, only to be used again weeks, months, or even years later when the article is "rediscovered". In the case of a child's toys this may significantly reduce the life span of the toy's usefulness. This is because once the toy has been re discovered it is highly likely that the child has moved on to wanting another toy. Alternatively they may have outgrown the toy.

Boxes may also take up valuable floor space encroaching on the space available for people to live in. Many people also find that it is not aesthetically pleasing to have boxes stacked up in a room. Also, once the child has grown up, or there is no more need for the storage, there may be a large number of toy boxes which are redundant and merely take up space.

One solution to these problems is to use shelves. These make use of a room's wall space, thereby providing storage space without excessively encroaching on people's living area.

However, these are not without their own problems. For example, shelves project out from a wall and it is easy for a person to knock themselves on a shelf or its corner.

People also commonly stack things more than one deep on shelves, so it may not only be difficult to spot where the article is quickly, but also there may be the risk that extra, unwanted, articles may be pulled off the shelf whilst removing the article. This can be a particular problem for children who, being too small to reach the shelf properly, may drag things from the shelf onto themselves.

Small, light articles, such as pieces of paper, may be kept out of the way using traditional notice boards, magnetic boards or removable and reusable adhesive boards such as those supplied by Gripping Stuff!tR). However these boards tend only to be suitable for small light articles.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided article retaining apparatus comprising, a board, having a first surface covering arranged over a major face of the board, the apparatus being arranged to allow articles to be removably retained using complementary fastening means. This provides the advantage that articles attached to the board remain on display, easily accessible for use whenever they are wanted, yet are stored in a safe and tidy manner.

Preferably the article retaining apparatus further comprises a second surface covering on the other major face adapted to be written or drawn on or onto which articles may be pinned. In this way when the board is no longer required for storage it may be reversed and used for another function.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, and with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a first major face of a board; Figure 2 illustrates a second major face of the board; Figure 3 illustrates a cross-section through the board; Figure 4a illustrates a door mountable board in cross-section; Figure 4b illustrates a front view of a door mountable board; and Figures 5 and 6 illustrate alternative board designs.

With reference to Figure 1, the first embodiment of the article retaining apparatus comprises a generally planar wall-mountable board 10. The board 10 has a first major face having a surface covering 12 suitable for temporarily gripping or retaining a complementary strap 26 fastened around an article 28 such as a toy. In this way the surface covering 12 acts to hold the article 28 against the board. The surface covering 12 may, for example, consist of hook rm) and-loop fastener material, which may be Velcroor Display Loop Nylon. The surface covering 12 is adapted to retain a strap 26 made of complementary hook-and-loop fastener material. Preferably, the surface covering 12 consists of the "loop" part of the hook-and-loop fastener material, and the outer surface of the strap 26 presents the complementary "hook" material, although these two materials may be interchanged.

The surface covering 12 may alternatively be magnetic, to retain a magnetic strap 26 fastened around an article 28 and thereby hold the article 28 to the board. The magnetic board, the magnetic strap 26, or both may be covered in a protective outer layer such as plastic. To provide adequate flexibility to the straps 26 the magnetic material used to form them may be a magnetic gauze or ribbon. Alternatively, the surface covering and strap may be made from an appropriate combination of a suitable metal and magnetic material. For example, the surface covering 12 may be metallic, and the strap 26 magnetic, or the strap 26 may be metallic and the surface covering 12 magnetic.

Thus, the board 10 acts to support a number of relatively heavy articles 28 such as toys. In addition to this, the toys remain in a child's view and may be readily removed from or returned to the board. Hence, the board 10 aids the child in maintaining a tidy room whilst allowing the child to view their toys and get the most use possible out of them. The board has the additional advantage that this surface may be used for other functions such as education using letters, words or numbers that have an appropriate hook-and-loop, magnetic or metallic backing to help teach a child in an interactive way.

In a further embodiment the board 10 may have a second usable surface, as illustrated in Figure 2. This surface is covered in a second surface covering 18 that fulfils an alternative function to that of the first surface covering 12. For example, the second surface covering 18 may be a blackboard or a dry wipe surface suitable for writing on. Alternatively, the second surface covering 18 may perform the function of a "conventional" notice board and consist of Hessian, reprocessed newspaper (e.g. Sundeala (RTM)), wood or corkboard. The second surface may optionally be magnetic. The board 10 may optionally be surrounded by a frame 16. The frame 16 may be made of any suitable material such as wood or plastic. In this way, when the child no longer wishes to use the board to store toys the board does not become redundant but may be reversed and used to fulfil another function.

Figure 3 illustrates a possible cross-section through the board 10 at the line labelled lil in Figure 2. Here the board 10 is constructed by attaching the surface coverings 12,18 to a substrate 20. The substrate 20 may be made from any suitable material capable of providing enough strength to support articles 28 without undergoing deformation. The substrate 20 may, for example, be wood or Shipboard. Alternatively, if the material forming either surface covering 12,18 is sufficiently rigid such that the weight of the articles 28 to be retained by the first surface covering 12 can be supported without the board 10 deforming, then the first surface covering 12 may be applied directly to the second surface covering 18.

This eliminates the need for the substrate 20.

The surface coverings 12,18 are attached to the substrate 20, or each other, using a suitable adhesive. This adhesive may be applied to the surface materials 12,18 or the substrate 20 before applying the surface coverings 12,18 to the substrate 20. Alternatively the surface coverings 12,18, or the substrate 20, may have a self-adhesive surface.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate one possible method of attachment of the board 10 to a wall or other suitable surface. In these figures holes 14 for mounting the board are shown penetrating through the board's frame 16, surfaces 12,18 and substrate 20. The holes 14 allow screws for attaching the board 10 to the wall surface to pass through the board 10 without damage to the board 10. This allows the easy mounting of the board 10 on a wall or other suitable support. The holes also allow the board 10 to be easily rotated to change the side that is exposed if it is decided to change from using the first surface 12 to the second surface 18 or vice versa. This is not the only method for attaching the board 10 to a wall, any other suitable means may be used.

The board 10 is not only suitable for attachment to a wall. Additionally it may also be attached to a door 22 as illustrated in Figure 4. In Figure 4 door brackets 24 are shown as suspending the board 10 from a door 22 without damaging the door 22. One or more door brackets 24 may be attached to the board 10 by passing bolts through the holes 14 and fastening the bracket and board together using nuts and bolts. Other means by which the board may be attached to brackets or mounted on a wall, door or other surface, will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Hook-and-loop straps 26 may be used to removably attach the articles 28 to the first surface covering 12. One side of the strap 26 is made from the "hook" part of the hook-and-loop fastener material and the reverse side is made from the "loop" part of the hook-and-loop fastener material. Therefore, the strap 26 may be extended around the article 28 and fastened by pressing the overlapping ends of the strap 26 together so that the article 28 is held firmly by the strap 26.

Other suitable means for fastening the strap 26 around the article 28 may also be used. For example, the strap 26 may also be fastened around the article 28 using a clasp. Here the end of the strap 26 is threaded through the clasp. The strap's length is fixed by depressing a lever. The end of the strap 26 is released by raising the same lever.

The side comprising the hook-and-loop fastener material complementary to the first surface covering 12 of the board 10 projects away from the article 28 to be retained by the board 10.

Preferably, the hook material projects away from the article 28. The strap 26 may then be attached to the first surface covering 12 by pressing the strap 26 against the first surface covering 12. This results in the article 28 being retained by the board 10. The article 28 may be removed either by detaching the strap 26 from the first surface covering 12 covering the board 10, or by releasing the article 28 from the strap 26.

The straps 26 may alternatively be magnetic, if the first surface of the board comprises an appropriate complementary material. Such straps may comprise a magnetic gauze material contained within a plastic or fabric protective outer coating. The strap 26 fastens around the article 28 using suitable strap fastening means such as a clasp. The straps 26 hold the article 28 up against the board 10 using magnetism.

The board 10 may be used to retain many different types of articles 28 depending on the user. One example is that the board 10 may be used in a child's bedroom to hold toys, although it could also be used for other domestic or commercial applications, such as supporting tools in an engineer's workshop. The board 10 may also take the shape of various designs. For example, it may be a plain shape such as a rectangle or a circle, although it could take a more elaborate shape such as those of a balloon, train, teddy bear or house. One or more receptacles 30 for holding the retaining straps 26 may also be made integral to the board 10, for example the teddy bear's feet or train wheels as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 respectively. These receptacles 30 may be pocket in which the straps 26 may be placed when they are not being used. l

Claims

1. Article retaining apparatus comprising, a board, having a first surface covering arranged over a major face of the board, the apparatus being arranged to allow articles to be removably retained using complementary fastening means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising a second surface covering on the other major face adapted to be written or drawn on or onto which articles may be pinned.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claims 1 or 2 wherein the first surface covering is hook-and loop fastener material.

4. Apparatus as claimed in Claims 1 or 2 wherein the first surface covering is magnetic.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claims 2, 3 or 4 wherein the second surface covering is one of blackboard, a dry wipe surface, reprocessed newspaper, Hessian, wood or corkboard

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for storing the fastening means when not in use.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the board is wallmountable.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the board is door mountable.

9. Fastening means for removably attaching articles to article retaining apparatus having a complementary surface covering.

10. A method for attaching an article to a board substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in any combination of the accompanying drawings.

10. Fastening means as claimed in Claim 9 wherein the fastening means comprise straps.

11. A method for attaching an article to a board, comprising the steps of: attaching a fastening means to an article; and attaching the fastening means to a face of the board covered in a material adapted to retain the fastening means and thereby support the article on the board.

12. A board substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in any combination of the accompanying drawings.

13. A method for attaching an article to a board substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in any combination of the accompanying drawings.

1. An article retaining board comprising: a first surface covering arranged over a major face of the board, the first surface covering being a hook-and-loop fastener material; and a second surface covering on the other major face of the board, adapted to be written or drawn on, or onto which articles may be pinned; the board being arranged to allow articles to be removably retained on the first surface covering using complementary fastening means.

2. A board as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the second surface covering is one of blackboard, a dry wipe surface, a magnetic material, reprocessed newspaper, hessian, wood or corkboard.

3. A board as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, further comprising means for storing the fastening means when not in use.

4. A board as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a substrate between the first surface covering and the second surface covering.

5. A board as claimed in any preceding claim, being wall-mountable.

6. A board as claimed in any preceding claim, being door mountable.

7. A board as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the fastening means comprise straps adapted to attach to the first surface covering.

8. A method for attaching an article to a board, comprising the steps of: attaching a fastening means to an article; and attaching the fastening means to a face of a board as claimed in any preceding claim, such that the article is supported on the board.

9. A board substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in any combination of the accompanying drawings.