US20220033162A1

US20220033162A1 - Protective structure for artwork

Info

Publication number: US20220033162A1
Application number: US16/873,864
Authority: US
Inventors: Susan Maunders Olson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-07-31
Filing date: 2020-07-31
Publication date: 2022-02-03

Abstract

The current invention relates to protective structures for artwork and more particularly, to a structure that protects flat artwork when being moved from one display site to another. The device, or “art crib”, comprises a plurality of interconnected piping material that encases the piece of art and protects it from crushing, denting and other damage. Paintings may be slipped into the crib through the open top and secured with pivoting closures if desired. The crib also can serve as easily identified storage for the decorative pieces that must be moved repeatedly from warehouse to site and back to warehouse again, thus reducing exposure to damage from repeated handling. The crib uniquely combines the virtues of strength, light weight, durability, visibility and adaptability that fill the needs of home stagers, interior designers, gallery owners, most of whom are sole practitioners lacking heavy machinery or teams of movers.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The current invention relates to protective structures for artwork and more particularly, to a structure that protects flat artwork when being moved from one display site to another.
Moving large flat art works, such as framed and unframed paintings, is a perilous activity for the art because they can be chipped, pierced or dented during a move. In some professions, such as real estate staging, artwork is moved to and from many homes during a year. This moving involves frequent and repeated exposure to damage. Moving usually includes transport from a warehouse to a home, back to a warehouse and then out to another house, perhaps twenty times per year. When art is damaged during moving, it must be replaced, which incurs both time and financial loss. Even with the best moving personnel and quality practices, wall art is frequently damaged.
There exists a need for a convenient art protection device that is light, mobile, and leaves the artwork visible during a move.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the typical elements of the invention: a lightweight but strong cage or “crib” to contain flat artwork during transport or storage. The crib is open at the top to allow insertion and extraction of the artwork. The ladder-like connecting structure central to this and other large embodiments lends stability and strength while allowing the contents to be immediately visible.

FIG. 2 shows a painting or other fiat artwork contained in the crib.

FIG. 3 shows an extended version of the crib with two pivoting closures hanging open allowing insertion of the artwork. Closer detail of the closures follows in FIGS. 4 & 5.

FIG. 4 shows a closure device from FIG. 3 again hanging open.

FIG. 5 shows a closure device from FIG. 3 swung up and clipped on the flexible PVC pipe to hold the crib together and keep the artwork from falling out during transport. The PVC slip tee in this case is not glued to the pipe; hence it can rotate.

FIG. 6 shows a crib plus a removable extension designed to create various sizes of crib from the same base to accommodate large or small flat art pieces. The connection is shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows an expanded view of the connection uniting the removable extension with another part of an art crib in order to gain more height and capacity for larger art works. A clevis pin is passed through matching holes drilled through or formed in PVC pipe standards of the crib. A cotter pin secures the clevis pin in the holes.

FIG. 8 shows the addition of sections of insulating foam tubing used to cushion the artwork if desired. Any number of colors may be used by the user to identify size or any other characteristic of the artwork in storage or transit. Other shapes of foam or cushioning material may be added easily as needed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
As stated above, moving large flat art works, such as framed and unframed paintings, is a perilous activity for the art because it can be chipped, pierced or dented during a move. The invention claimed here solves this problem.
Broadly, one embodiment of present invention is a protective art device which provides a light, yet strong, structure around the art with vertical and horizontal pipes. Advantageously, the pipes protect the large expanse of canvas from being damaged by piercing or denting. The edges of canvas and frame are also protected by the structure around them. In one embodiment, the claimed invention is made from polyvinyl chloride or “PVC” pipe and connectors, in a sturdy, yet light, design. PVC pipe insulation, which is a tube of foam rubber, is added to certain parts of the crib to cushion the most vulnerable parts of the canvas. When in the device, the artwork is protected from damage during the moving process and even during warehouse storage, if it is kept in its crib. The crib is especially appropriate to the scale of most practitioners of the staging trade, most of whom operate without heavy machinery and often singlehandedly.
The claimed invention differs from what currently exists. The claimed device is an improved way of protecting flat art during moving, better than a wooden crate of equal strength, because it is lighter and safer to handle. If not moved in a wooden crate, most flat art is moved in the cardboard box it was shipped in when bought. That box, once the protective single use packing material is removed, does not provide adequate protection for canvas, especially when used repeatedly.
Most existing moving crates and boxes are unsuited to flat artwork because they don't protect the vulnerable canvas. They are heavy, opaque, expensive and treacherous. They seldom survive frequent re-use and must be repaired or replaced. The claimed device allows the artwork to be visible, so everyone knows what it is and how to treat it carefully.
Art can be inserted easily into the claimed device and removed from it, saving time and trouble during the staging process. It is easy to know where the art goes because it is visible. The device is light and mobile, while providing superior protection against damage during repeated moving of a piece of flat art. It is made from an inexpensive material, PVC pipe. Beneficially, it can be handled easily by a stager or designer who is moving the art, even making it possible to move large pieces of art without professional movers. The device may be reused indefinitely, saving replacement cost of the art and whatever mechanism is being used to protect it. The result is continued operational cost savings in many areas.
As shown in the embodiments of FIGS. 1-8, the device includes the following components:

- 1. Assorted lengths of schedule 40 PVC pipe (½″ and ¾″ nominal interior diameter)
- 2. 3-way side outlet 90-degree schedule 40 PVC slip fittings (½″ and ¾″ nominal interior diameter)
- 3. Schedule 40 PVC slip tees (½″ and ¾″ nominal interior diameter)
- 4. Assorted lengths of (#1) pipe with ends cut in a crescent profile
- 5. Assorted, lengths of foam insulation tubing (½″ and ¾″ nominal interior diameter)
- 6. PVC solvent and primer.

In one embodiment, the (1) PVC pipes are cut to appropriate lengths and fitted into a flat box shape required. Some joints are fastened (cemented) into commercially available pipe joints (2) and (3) using commercially available PVC solvents. Other joint where structural rigidity is not paramount are made by cutting (4) pipe ends in a crescent profile to be cemented permanently to a perpendicular pipe (4). Crossing spacers are made on three sides of the crib using the crescent-cut sections to support the contents (artwork), while one side is left open to receive the art. (5) Lengths of foam tubing usually used to insulate PVC pipe are used at certain places on the box structure to protect the art.
The (2) 3-way side outlet connectors and (3) slip-tee connectors provide the bulk of the protective structural stability, while the (4) crescent-cut lengths of pipe complete the variable shapes and act as fenders against contact of the art during stacking and transport.
In one embodiment, the device is made by the following steps:

(1) Lengths for top pipes are cut, then inserted and cemented into (2) corner 3-way connectors, which themselves are cemented to one another with short lengths of (1) pipe. The crib structure is assembled and cemented with (1) pipe pieces and (4) crescent-ended cut pieces. The ends of the crib structure are cemented into (3) slip-tee connectors and fitted with the remaining side pipe pieces. The assembly is cemented then into the top and bottom (2) corner 3-way connectors. Outsourcing to specialized machinists could streamline the process.

(1) Pipe, (2) and (3) connectors are necessary as is solvent cement. (4) is necessary for reasons of cost/weight versus strength. (5) 4-way cross connectors are optional. Substitutions of other basic materials are optional, but subject again to cost/weight benefit considerations.
It is to be understood that configurations of spacing and design, particularly of size and aesthetics, may be altered to fit customers' needs. Additionally, suggested in FIG. 8, multiple colors of the device may be available.
As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 7, the device may include a plurality of riser mechanisms with pins for increasing the size of the device.
In one embodiment of use, a person who wants to move a piece of flat art, such as a painting, into a home, business or gallery, or who wants to remove a piece of flat art from somewhere and transport it into a warehouse or storage facility would use the claimed device.
To move the art, the person takes the flat art off the wall where it was hanging, slip it into the claimed device at the open side of the crib, then picks the crib up in any way that is comfortable for him or her, and carries it to the moving van to other transport vehicle. In one embodiment, multiple devices may be stacked in the vehicle on their sides or on top of each other and keep the art safe within them.
At the other end of the move, the claimed device is removed from the vehicle and carried into the warehouse or wherever the art would be stored. The art could be lifted out of the crib and stored or left in the crib and stored until next use. If the art were removed from the device, the crib may be used to safely move another piece of flat art to another home, business, or gallery.
The device is designed to be used repeatedly to protect many pieces of art as they are moved from one installation to another. In the case of homes being staged by real estate staging companies, one home staging job may require more than 50 pieces of large flat wall art. To be able to easily and safely move art in and out of installations is a very significant challenge and it is met by the device.
In alternative embodiments, the device may be made of any suitable pipe material instead of or in combination with PVC.
In summary, the device can be used two ways: either to transport and store each piece of art in an inventory or collection in its own dedicated crib, ready to quickly be identified and moved, or to be one of a collection of ready-to-use cribs to be matched with pieces of art that need to be moved. The same device can endlessly be re-used as needed when the artwork is in place onsite and another site is to be furnished.
The idea of the claimed crib device came from the need real estate stagers have to move large wall art to many homes over the course of a year, but interior designers and architects who are moving art to install in a residence or commercial building more permanently also can use the device. An art gallery owner who needs to transport art from an artist's studio to the gallery, or to the home of a customer who has just purchased it from the gallery, may use the device. Artists working outside who want to transport their work with the paint still wet can use the device. Art conservators who need to transport art to conservation sites can use the device. Students carrying their first paintings to class may use the device. Essentially, anyone who wants to safely transport relatively 2-dimensional art may benefit from the claimed device.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A device, named an art crib, for protecting a relatively two-dimensional piece of art, comprising a structure formed of a plurality of interconnected piping material, typically PVC or similar pipe, that encases and protects the piece of art from crushing, denting and other damage during frequent transport.

2. A primary design of the crib consisting of two rectangles of matching assembled pipes, connected transversely by shorter spacer pipes creating an opening of a plurality of widths. Matching horizontal ladder-like constructions of pipe are fixed centrally to the side pipe members of the rectangles to provide rigidity to the structure as well as physical protection of the contents. They are not connected to each other internally by spacers in order to keep clear the space for insertion of the artwork to be stored.

3. A method for optionally customizing the size of the crib to accommodate any size artwork. Each addition retains the top opening for inserting or removing the art piece to be protected. A base unit of the art crib has the top of four uncapped pipes drilled through their radius. Matching holes are drilled through the bottom of four uncapped pipes of a plurality of extender configurations, whether two simple top pipes or a more reinforced laddered art crib structure. Clevis pins are passed through the matched holes and secured with cotter pins to complete the extension. Removing the cotter pins and clevis pins releases the extender unit for future use.

4. A method for quickly opening and closing the top transverse connectors to completely confine the artwork in the crib. The closure consists of a freely turning PVC tee or other pipe connector (not cemented) swiveling on the top-level pipe of the crib, connected by a short pipe to another tee connector cut lengthwise to clip onto the opposing pipe.

5. A structure which permits of attaching cut sections of pipe insulation tubes along the perimeter for cushioning the contents of the crib. These sections may be of different colors to assist in sorting or categorizing the cribs either by size or by contents.

6. A structure for assisting the single-handed movement of a large, relatively two-dimensional piece of art from one place to another without heavy machinery or a team of movers.

7. A structure that allows artwork to be protected, yet visible, so it can be placed correctly before installation in a home, business or gallery.

8. A structure that allows artwork to be protected, yet visible, so it can be stored, efficiently identified and managed in a warehouse or moving vehicle.

9. A structure which uniquely combines strength, light weight, durability and adaptability for protecting artwork during moving and storage.