US1236708A - Easel. - Google Patents

Description

0. D. HARTWELL.

EASEL. APPLICATION FILED MAR-6.1911.

1 %36,?@& Patented Aug. 14 191?.

5 IN VENTOR.

A TTORNE YS.

' WITNESS EASEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14, 191?.

Application filed March 6, 1917. Serial No. 152,714.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OscAR D. HARTWELL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Easels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to easels and particularly to foldable easels, such as may lie fiat against their attached face plates but are bendable into a position to support the latter.

The invention has for its object to provide an easel of specifically improved construction as will appear in the following description and be particularly'pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention, in an embodiment at present preferred, is shown for illustrative purposes m the accompanying drawings, in

Which- Figure 1 is a rear elevational view of the easel showing the parts in folded pos1t1on;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the easel showing the parts moved into supporting position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectlonal View taken on the line 3-3 of Flg. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, show ng the invention as applied to a double wing easel;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the easel.

shown in Fig. 4, with the parts moved into supporting position; and v Fig. 6 is a cross sectlonal view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to these drawings 1n detail and particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, reference 10 indicates the face plate to be supported, which may be of any desirable shape. The easel comprises a substantially rectangular strip or web portion 11 and a substantially triangular wing portion 12. The portions 11 and 12 are formed from a single piece of suitable material, sifich as 1gzarfiibgl'ard,lfp r elxm le thewin 12 ein en a erealvey a p g the doed line 13, Preferably, the ease is scored along line 13 to facilitate bending. The web 11 may be secured to the back of face plate 10 by any suitable means, such as glue, cement, or the like, for example.- The w ng 12 is adapted to be bent along line 13 into substantially normal relation with the web, as shown in Fig. 2, to support the face plate.

' tance from the letter.

In order to hold the wing 12 in supporting position, a holding member is provided. The holding member in its relation to the web and wing is new and comprises the principal feature of my invention. This member comprises a tab 14 which is formed preferably in the shape shown in Fig. 1 by cutting from web.12 except for a line of fold 15. Line 15 is arranged transversely with relation to line 13 and also terminates at a dis- The line of fold 15 is furthermore disposed intermediate the ends of tab 14 so as to form portions 16 and 17, which, when tab 14 is bent along line 15 into substantially normal relation with wing 12 and web 11, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, may be positioned on opposite sides of wing 12. The portion 16 has an edge '18 formed by cutting along the line of fold 13, which edge is adapted to abut the rear face of the web portion 11 when tab 14 is moved into holding position. The edge 18 terminates with a slight inward protuberance or button 19 which as the tab 14 is moved into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is compressed against web 11, and thereby holds tab 14 in its moved position byits frictional engagement with the web. The portion 17 has an edge 20 which is parallel with ed e 18 but is offset therefrom a distance eqn 1 to the thickness of the web, thereby permitting the edge 20 to exactly abut the rear of face plate 10 when the tab is swung to holding position. The two edges 18 and 20 intersect with a short shoulder 21 which is adapted to abut the cut edge 22 (Fig. 2) of web 11 to act as a stop to limit the bending movement of tab 14.

It will thus be seen that, when the tab is moved to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the wing 12 is braced from both sides and is effectively held in supporting position against movement in either direction. Fur-- thermore, the tab 14 is limited in its degree of bending movement by the abutment of shoulder 21 with surface 22 and the tab is furthermore held in position by the fric tional engagement of button 19 with the web 11. The eflicient manner in which tab 14 holds wing 12 in the desired position forms one of the principal results of my invention.

It is frequently necessary, when relatively large face plates ar'eto be supported, toprovide more than one supporting wing, and it is desirable to provide means for holding the additional wing or wings. Commonly, a double wing easel is formed, as shown in Fig. 4, by providing another wing 23 on the web 11 which wing is foldable along a line 2 1 into normal relation with the web. Where the wings 12 and 23 are spaced one from another a sufiicient distance, I may provide in the wing 23 another tab which is a counterpart of the described tab 1a. I prefer, however, to provide means to hold both wings in supporting position at a single operation for convenience in use. Referring to Figs. 4;, 5, and 6, this object is accomplished by forming a tab 14' from wing 12 in a manner similar to that already described except-that an extension 25 is formed on the portion 16. The wing 23 has an opening 26 formed therein which, when wings 12 and 23 are bent into normal relationwith web 11, permits the extension 25 to .pass therethrough. A slot 27 is formed in the latter, which, as best shown in Fig. 6, is arranged to straddle wing 23 and hold it against movement in either direction.

It will be noted that the easel is adapted for low cost of manufacture since it may be formed from a single piece of stock by simple cutting and folding operations. The several cuts necessary for the formation of the easel as well as the lines of scoring 13 and 15 may readilybe accomplished at one operation by a suitable die. An important feature of the construction is that the hold- A ing tab is formed entirely from the wing of with a single sweep of the brush, cover the entire web with glue or the like. The extreme care necessary in applying glue to a web, where out out portions are prevalent, is avoided with the described construction, and consequently the work may be rapidly accomplished.

The easel, structurally, is of advantageous simplicity and is simple to operate. It is necessary merely to bend the wing or wings at right angles to the web and thereafter by bending the tab 14 along line 15, the portions 16 and 17 are swung downwardly and upwardly respectively, into such positions that the wing or wings are effectively braced on both sides and are positively held against movement in either direction. Furthermore,

the proper position of the tab 14 is indicated to the user by the abutment of shoulder 21 with surface 22 and when so positioned, the tab is held in position by the button 19.

The invention has been described in a preferred form for illustrative purposes, but the scope of the invention is defined by the one portion formed as a continuous strip forapplication to a face plate to be held upright, a second portion adapted to be bentat right angles to the first portion for supporting purposes, and a third portion cut from the second portion and adapted to be bent intermediate its ends at right angles to the latterand to the first portion, along a line spaced from the first portion, and in such bent position having one extension to bear against the first portion on one side of the second portion and another extension to bear against the face plate on the other side of the second portion, all for the purpose described.

2. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted for attachment to a face plate, a wing portion normally disposed in the plane of the web portion but adapted to be bent into substantially normal relation with the web to support the latter, and a holding member disposed in the plane of the wing portion and adapted, when the wing is moved to supporting position,to be bent into substantially normal relation with the wing, said member bein connected with the Wing to swing along a e which is intermediate the ends of the said member and terminates at a distance from the web, whereby the member may be so positioned that parts thereof lie on opposite sides of the wing, said member being formed with surfaces adapted to engage the rear face of the web and the rear face of the face plate, respectively, when the member is moved into substantially normal relation with the Wing, whereby the latter may be braced from both sides and movement in either direction prevented.

3. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted for attachment to a face plate, a wing portion disposed in the plane of the web portion and adapted to bebent into substantially normalrelation with the Web to support the latter, and a holding member disposed in the plane of the wing portion and adapted,when the wing is moved to supporting'position, tobe bent nto substantially "normal ,relation with the wing, said'member'being'connected with the wing to bendIfaldng a linewhich'is intermediate the endsof the member and terminates at a distance from the web, whereby the member may be so positioned that parts thereof lie on opposite sides of the wing, said member formed with surfaces adapted to engage the rear face of. the web and the rear face of the face plate, respect'vely, when the member is moved into sub antially normal relation with the wing, whereby the latter may be braced from both sides and movement in appended claims rather than by the foregoeither direction prevented, and means to ing description.

hold said member in position.

4. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted for attachment to a face plate, a wing portion on each side of the web portion disposed in the same plane with the latter but adapted to be bent into substantially normal relation therewith to support the face plate, and a holding member connected with one wing portion to swing along a line which is intermediate its ends and which terminates at a distance from the web portion, and shoulders in the other wing portion to cooperate with the holding member, said member being disposed 1n the plane of its wing portion but adapted to be bent into substantially normal relation therewith to brace the wing portion, whereby the member may be so positioned that parts thereof lie on opposite sides of its wing, said member formed with surfaces adapted to engage the rear of the web and the rear of the face plate respectively, when the member is moved into substantially normal relation with its wing, whereby the latter is braced upon both sides, and an extension on said member having a slot to straddle the other wing member against said shoulders when the latter is bent into supportin position, whereby both wings may be held rom movement in either direction by said holding member.

OSCAR D. HARTWELL.

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