US1731131A - Enameled-plate cover structure - Google Patents

Description

Patented Oct. 8, 1929 EQE PATENT WILLIAM A. HALL, OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA ENAMELlED-PLATE COVER STRUCTURE.

Application filed March 5, 1928. Serial No. 259,328

This invention relates to an improvement in enameled plate cover structures such as are employed in the manufacture of tables and kitchen cabinets.

In its more specific aspect, the invention comprises a skeleton frame, an enameled plate of conventional design, and a compressible cushion member adapted to be positioned intermediate the skeleton frame and the enameled plate.

It is an object of the invention to provide an enameled plate cover structure which will be comparatively rigid, one in which the enameled plate cannot buckle or spring, and

which will be noiseless in use.

Many attempts have been made to produce enameled plate cover structures in which the enameledplate will not buckle when pressure is applied to the plate. It has been proposed to wedge the skeleton frame within the downwardly turned flangesof the enameled plate, it being claimed for such method that the enameled plate is thus stretched and any buckling tendency destroyed.

In actual operation this method fails utterly since when an attempt is made to place the metal of the plate under suflicient tension to prevent buckling, the enameled surface is checked and cracked, particularly along the edges of the plate where the wedging pressure is of necessity applied; Furthermore the plate cannot be placed under sufficient tension to prevent the same from springing when pressure is applied centrally of the plate.

It is, therefore, a further object of the pres ent invention to overcome these defects in the prior art structures by the provision of means for positively preventing buckling of the enameled plate and for causing the en- 4 ameled plate to have a firm and noiseless contact with the supporting frame structure throughout its entire area.

Other and more detailed objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the assembled structure, showing the particular form of enameled plate employed;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1, showing the enameled plate slightly separated from the frame structure;

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the skeleton frame structure Fig. 5 is a reverse plan view of the enameled plate, showing the compressible cushion member in place therein.

iieferring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the enameled metal plate, which is provided with the hollow channel 2 extending around the periphery thereof and having the straight downwardly extending flange 3. This enameled plate 1 is secured to the skeleton supporting frame structure by means of screws 4. The skeleton frame is formed from two side members 5, the end members 6, and the cross bars 7. The side bars 5 are longitudinally grooved along their inner edges as shown at 8, and receive in the groove 8 the mort-ised ends 9 of the end members 6 and cross bars 7 as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1-. It is to be particularly noted that the sidemembers 5 and the end members 6 are each provided along the outer edge of the upper surface thereof with the upwardly projecting portion 10, which is of a width and thickness just adequate tofill the hollow channel 2 of the plate 1, (see Figures 2 and The side members 5 and the end members 6 are of suflicient width to provide substantial bearing surfaces 11 for the plate 1 interiorly of the hollow channel 2. It will thus be seen that when the plate 1 is mounted on the frame and pressure applied to the edge of the plate, the same is brought into solid contactwith the surfaces 10 and 11' of the side and end bars. The provision of the upwardly projecting portions 10 is of particular importance in the combination.

The provision of these upwardly projecting portions 10 is important since in the absence of such portions, pressure along the edge of the enameled plate is not positively resisted but is dissipated in a tendency to buckle the plate. By employing the upwardly projecting portions 10 in combination with the bearing surfaces 11, the entire periphery of the enamled plate has a firm non-yielding contact with the skeleton frame.

The end members 6 are also provided along their inner sides with the ledges 12 (see Figure 2). The upper surfaces of the ledges 12 are somewhat below the plane of the bearing surfaces 11 while the upper surfaces of the cross bars 7 are in substantially the same plane as the bearing surfaces 11. A relatively'compressible cushion and sound deadening member 13 of any suitable material possessing these qualities is adapted to have its ends received and supported in the ledges 12. The central portion of the cushion member 13 passes over the upper surfaces of the cross bars 7. This cushion member 13 is of such width that it does not project over the bearing surfaces 11 of the side members 5.

Since the upper surfaces of the ledges 12 are lower than the surface bearings 11 and since the upper surfaces of the cross bars 7 are in substantially the same plane as the sur faces 11, it will be apparent that the central portion of the compressible cushion member 13 normally lies in a plane above the ends thereof. Due to the compressible character of the member 13, the plate 1 when brought into position with respect to the skeleton frame has any buckling tendency thereof taken up by the member 13.

The member 13, it will be noted, is tightly compressed between the central portion of the enameled plate 1 and the cross bars 7 of the skeleton frame, thus preventing the plate 1 from buckling when pressure is applied centrally of the plate. Furthermore, the metallic sound of the enameled plate is deadencd so that the structure is rendered substantially noiseless in use.

When the structure is to be assembled, the member 13 has its ends placed in the recesses which provide the ledges 12 and the plate 1 is then forced down over the frame into po sition, thus compressing the member 13 and compensating for the buckling tendency of the plate. If desired, the member 13 instead of being first affixed to the frame, may be properly positioned on the lower surface of the plate 1 and affixed thereto by suitable adhesive, as shown in Figure 5. When the plate 1 is placed over the frame, and compressed down thereon, it will be noted that the hollow channel 2 is brought into firm contact with the projecting portions 10 of the frame members 5 and 6, see Figure 3, while the bearing surfaces 11 prevent the application of pressure along the edges of the plate 1 from imparting a buckling strain on the central portion of the plate. The cushion member 13 compensates for the buckling tendency naturally in the place 1, prevents buckling under pressure, and eliminates the noise so objectionable in enameled plate cover structures.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a novel structure which can be economically produced and which eliminates the objectionable buckling of the enameled plate, which has heretofore materially shortened the period of usefulness of enameled plate cover structures.

What I claim as my invention is: V

1. An enameled plate cover structure comprising an enameled plate, a skeleton frame having bearing surfaces for said plate in two parallel planes, a cushion member of less area than said plate adapted to rest on said frame, the central portion of the cushion member normally lying in a third plane parallel to said two planes.

2. An enameled plate covered structure comprising an enameled plate having a hollow peripheral channel, a frame having side and end members, said side and end members each having an upward projection of such dimensions as to be received in said hollow channel, said side and end members also being provided with bearing surfaces for contact with said plate interiorly of said hollow channel, cross bars carried by said frame and a compressible cushion member adapted to be disposed between said cross bars and said plate to compensate for any buckling tendency of the plate.

3. An enameled plate covered structure comprising an enameled plate and skeleton" entire lower area of said plate interiorly of said channel, a portion of said cushion member being compressed between a part of said substructure and said enameled plate.

. WILLIAM A. HALL.

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