Patent Application
20240306827
The present invention relates to a screen system, and more particularly to a physical barrier such as a privacy screen or door that is adjustably mounted to an article of furniture.
While open collaboration remains a vital part of the office environment, there is also a need to provide work spaces with a degree of privacy and physical separation between users, and to dynamically adapt open style work spaces in such a way that they can provide a degree of privacy and physical separation when desired. Freestanding screens or wall panels have long been used for dividing large, open floor spaces into smaller work spaces, and privacy screens can provide a degree of privacy and separation to an individual workstation, table, desk, and/or work surface. Privacy screens generally provide a physical, visible barrier to selected areas above a work surface, while modesty screens generally provide a visible barrier to an area below the work surface. Each of these screen type systems are typically mounted to a desk or article of furniture in a manner that requires disassembly or removal of a series of fasteners or other attachments in order to reconfigure the positioning of the screen.
The present invention provides an easily installable and adjustable screen system for use in a wide variety of work settings. The screen system may be configured for use with an article of furniture, such as a privacy screen for a work surface, or a door for a bookcase or credenza.
The screen system generally includes a screen and a rail. The screen may have a degree of flexibility in the direction of the screen thickness to enable the screen to be adjusted along a curved rail. The screen includes a plurality of attachment hooks projecting from the interior surface, and the plurality of attachment hooks are spaced apart along the screen length. The rail is configured to be affixed to the article of furniture, and the rail has at least one of an upper rail edge and a lower rail edge. In one embodiment, the attachment hooks engage the rail to support the screen on the rail, and the attachment hooks are slidable along the rail to enable adjustment of the position of the screen along the rail in the direction of the screen length.
In one embodiment, the screen defines a plurality of openings extending through the screen thickness. The openings are spaced apart along the screen length, and the attachment hooks are formed separately from the screen, and each attachment hook is inserted through a corresponding one of the openings. Each attachment hook may include a base, and a hook projecting from the base, and at least one dimension of the base may greater than at least one dimension of the corresponding opening such that the base is prevented from being inserted completely through the opening and the base retains the attachment hook in the corresponding opening. At least one of the attachment hooks may include a pair of the hooks extending from the base, the pair of hooks and the base forming a C-shape, and one of the pair of hooks may engage the upper rail edge and the other of the pair of hooks may engage the lower rail edge.
In one embodiment, the rail is mounted to a worksurface, and the screen is a privacy screen. The rail may extend around the corner of a worksurface, with the privacy screen slidably mounted to the rail between the lateral ends of the rail, and with the hook portion of each attachment hook engaging at least one of the upper rail edge and the lower rail edge as the screen is slid along the rail, wherein the position of the privacy screen is selectively adjustable toward one of the lateral ends of the rail by sliding the privacy screen along the rail with the hooks remaining engaged with, and sliding along, the upper rail edge or the lower rail edge, wherein the flexibility of the screen enables sliding of the screen along the rail around the corner of the work surface.
In one embodiment, both the screen and the attachment hooks are formed from a PET material. In another embodiment, the plurality of openings are positioned closer to one of the upper edge and the lower edge of the screen, such that the screen can be attached to the rail in a first orientation to be used as a privacy screen, or in a second orientation to be used as a modesty panel. The rail may include an attachment portion for attaching the rail to the perimeter edge of a worksurface or other article of furniture, and in one embodiment, the rail includes an inner rail portion and an outer rail portion, such that the screen can engage and slide along the outer rail portion while the inner rail portion can receive and support accessories such as trays and cup holders without interference from the sliding screen.
In another embodiment, the screen can function as a cover or a door for an internal cavity for an article of furniture such as a bookcase, credenza, cabinet or the like. The article of furniture may include a perimeter edge, and the rail may be attached to the perimeter edge or adjacent to the perimeter edge. The perimeter edge may define an opening for an internal cavity of the article of furniture, and the screen may be movable along the rail between a first position in which the screen covers the opening to the internal cavity and a second position in which the screen does not cover at least a portion of the opening to provide access to the internal cavity. The perimeter edge may include an upper portion and a lower portion, and the rail may include an upper rail portion extending along the upper portion of the perimeter edge, and a lower rail portion extending along the lower portion of the perimeter edge. The attachment hooks may include an upper series of attachment hooks engaging the upper rail portion and a lower series of attachment hooks engaging the lower rail portion. In one embodiment, the upper rail portion has an upper rail edge, and the lower rail portion has a lower rail edge. The upper series of attachment hooks engage the upper rail edge of the upper rail portion, and the lower series of attachment hooks engage the lower rail edge of the lower rail portion.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the disclosure will be more fully understood and appreciated by reference to the description of the current embodiment and the drawings.
Before the embodiments of the disclosure are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the details of operation or to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosure may be implemented in various other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in alternative ways not expressly disclosed herein. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including” and “comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof. Further, enumeration may be used in the description of various embodiments. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the use of enumeration should not be construed as limiting the invention to any specific order or number of components. Nor should the use of enumeration be construed as excluding from the scope of the disclosure any additional steps or components that might be combined with or into the enumerated steps or components.
An adjustable screen system 10 that can be selectively positioned and adjusted for providing a visibility barrier, panel, door, or other slidable covering is disclosed herein. In embodiments shown in
Throughout this description, directional terms, such as “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “inner,” “inwardly,” “outer” and “outwardly,” may be used to assist in describing the structure based on the orientation of the embodiments shown in the illustrations. The use of directional terms should not be interpreted to limit the structure to any specific orientation(s).
Referring to
The screen system 10 generally includes a screen 30 and a rail 70. In the embodiments of
The main body 32 can be configured to provide structure in the height direction (generally the vertical direction) and to bend or flex in the thickness direction (generally the horizontal direction) so that the screen 30 is able to follow corners or to otherwise conform to a curved portion, corner portion, or otherwise non-planar portion of a rail 70 and a work surface perimeter 16. The main body 32 can include a pattern of parallel vertical hinges, or flex lines 41, which may be lines of reduced thickness 41 of the main body 32 that enable the screen to flex. As shown, the flex lines 41 are evenly spaced apart along the length of the screen 30. In another embodiment, the flex lines 41 may be spaced in a different pattern. The spacing between the flex lines 41 may control the degree of flexibility in the screen 30, with a smaller distance between flex lines 41 creating a more flexible screen 30 or section of the screen 30, and with a greater distance between the flex lines 41 creating a less flexible section of the screen 30.
Referring to
As shown, the openings 56 uniform in their size and positioning, and are positioned in a single line along the length of the screen 30 adjacent to the bottom edge 44 of the screen 30. In another embodiment, the openings 56 may be varied in their size, shape and positioning, with some openings being larger than other openings, and at different positions along the height of the screen. In one embodiment, the openings 56 may include a first series of openings that extend adjacent to the lower edge 44 of the screen, and a second series of openings that extend adjacent to the top edge 42, for embodiments where the screen 30 is adapted to engage upper and lower rails.
The screen 30 further includes attachment hooks 58 for slidably attaching the screen 30 to the rail 70. Referring to
The screen 30 includes at least one hook 94 extending outwardly from the front surface 86 of the base 68. With reference to
The size and shape of the attachment hooks 58 may be predetermined to correspond to the size of the rail 70 (with the rail 70 described in more detail below). In one embodiment, the spacing between the hooks 94a, 94b is directly related to the size of the rail 70. More particularly, the first leg 96a of the first hook 94a is spaced from the first leg 96b of the second hook 94b by about the distance between the upper and lower rail edges 73, 75 as described in more detail below. In addition, the length of the first legs 96a, 96b and the distance between the first legs 96a, 96b and the front surface 86 of the base 68 relates to the size of the rail 70. More particularly, the distance between the first legs 96a, 96b, and the front surface of the rail 70 within the hill region 90 is about the same as the thickness of the rail 70 (i.e., the distance between the interior face 72 and the exterior face 74 of the rail 70 as described in more detail below. The attachment hooks 58 may each be formed as a unitary piece, and may be made from a variety of materials, similar to that of the main body 32 of the screen 30. In one embodiment, the attachment hooks 58 are made from the same PET material as the main body 32 of the screen 30, such that the attachment hooks 58 match the material of the main body 32.
The size and shape of the attachment hooks 58 may also be predetermined to correspond to the size and shape of the openings 56 in the screen 30. For example, the attachment hooks 58 and the screen openings 56 are designed such that each of the attachment hooks 58 can be inserted into one of the openings 56 by inserting the hooks 94 through the opening 56 until the hooks 94 project outwardly from the interior surface 46 of the main body 32 with a portion of the attachment hook 58 preventing the attachment hook 58 from being pulled completely through the opening 56. In the illustrated embodiment, this is accomplished by sizing the height of the attachment hook 58 between the upper and lower ends 80, 82 greater than the slot height of the opening 56 between the upper end 60 and the lower end 62. As a result, the retention tabs 100a, 100b, engage the exterior surface 48 of the screen 30 when the attachment hook 58 is inserted through the opening 56 to prevent the attachment hook 58 from being removed through the interior surface 46 of the screen 30.
As stated, the screen system 10 also includes the rail 70, which is configured to attach the screen system to an article of furniture. The rail 70 may be a thin, elongated member that defines an interior face 72, an exterior face 74, an upper rail edge 73 and a lower rail edge 75. The rail 70 defines a rail height between the upper rail edge 73 and the lower rail edge 75. The interior face 72 is adjacent the work surface 14 and the exterior face 74 is opposite the interior face 72. In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiments shown in
In one embodiment, the rail 70 is designed to extend around a corner 17 of the work surface 14. In the embodiment of
The screen 30 slidably attaches to the rail 70, 70′, 70″ by the engagement of one or more of the attachment hooks 58 with the rail 70. More particularly, the hooks 94 of the attachment hooks 58 engage one of the upper 73 or lower 75 rail edges to attach the screen 30 to the rail 70. In the embodiment shown in
The position of the privacy screen 30 can be adjusted to provide a visibility barrier for a desired area of the work surface 14. Moreover, the privacy screen 30 may be designed to follow the perimeter 16 of the work surface 14, including around corners and curves. As stated above, the main body 32 is flexible in the horizontal direction (i.e., the direction generally parallel to the upper surface of the worksurface), where shape of the main body 32 enables the flex lines 41 to move and flex relative to one another, thus conforming to a curved perimeter 16, as well as any planar or straight perimeter. In the illustrated examples, the work surface 14 and perimeter 16 have a rectangular shape with square or rounded corners 17, 17′. As the privacy screen 30 follows the rail 70, 70′, 70″ above or around the corner or rounded portion of the perimeter 16, flex lines 41 flex. While the exemplary work surface 14 includes convex portions of the perimeter 16, the privacy screen 30 could also conform to concave portions and other planar and non-planar work surface 14 perimeters 16.
The privacy screen 30 can provide privacy and/or modesty for the user by acting as a visibility barrier. “Privacy,” as used herein, refers to a visibility barrier above the work surface 14, while “modesty” refers to a visibility barrier below the work surface 14. According to an embodiment, the privacy screen 30 may be mounted to the rail 70 in an upright orientation or an inverted orientation (see
Also as illustrated, the screen system 10 may include multiple screens 30, which may be arranged in any desired combination and orientation. The screens 30 can be mounted to the rail 70, or to separate rails. The screen system 10 with multiple privacy screens 30 can also be arranged to include a gap between rails 70 and privacy screens 30, forming additional separation between workstations as desired by the user or installer.
To install and position the screen system 10, the rail 70 is affixed to the work surface 14 at the perimeter 16 of the work surface 14 and extends around as much of the perimeter 16 of the work surface 14 is desired. According to the illustrated embodiments, the rail 70 is installed such that it is completely above the work surface 14, whereas the rails 70′, 70″ are installed in an outboard arrangement. A leading edge of the screen 30 (either the left or right edge 38, 40 of the main body 32) is slid onto the rail 70 by inserting the rail 70 into attachment hooks 58 as noted above. Once the screen(s) 30 is mounted to the rail 70, the screen 30 may be slid into position and orientation as desired to change and adjust the visibility barrier provided by the screen body 32. Adjustment of the position of the screen body 32 between upright and vertical orientations can be made as many times as desired to switch the privacy screen 30 between providing primarily privacy, modesty, or both privacy and modesty. It should be appreciated that such repositioning can occur by removing and reinstalling the main body 32 onto the rail 70, and that the system 10 can be assembled on a newly manufactured work surface 14 or article of furniture, or alternatively retrofitted onto an existing work surface 14 to provide a degree of privacy and physical separation between users of an existing work surface 14 or “benching” style work surface arrangement.
As described herein, the privacy screen system 10 can provide the desired degree of privacy, including the position along a perimeter of the work surface 14 for which the privacy screen 30 provides a physical and visibility barrier, as well as providing a visibility barrier above and/or below the work surface 14. The privacy screen 30 may be positioned to provide a more private, personal work space that may be desirable for individual work and for adding a barrier between users, or may be positioned to provide a more open work space to better facilitate group collaboration and communication as is sometimes desired in an office environment.
Alternative applications of the screen system 300 are shown in
The screen system 300 includes a rail 370 attached along at least a portion of the perimeter edge 316. With reference to
In the embodiment of
Other embodiments of the screen 30, 330 are contemplated wherein the screen can be positioned along a rail to function as an enclosure or door that can cover and uncover a variety of articles of furniture, such as bookcases, credenzas, and other cabinets of varying shapes and sizes with variations in track shapes and sizes. Attachment hooks 58, 358 having one or more of the hooks 94 can be used as desired for the particular application.
The above description is that of current embodiments of the disclosure herein. Various alterations and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and broader aspects of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents. This disclosure is presented for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as an exhaustive description of all embodiments of the disclosure or to limit the scope of the claims to the specific elements illustrated or described in connection with these embodiments. For example, and without limitation, any individual element(s) of the described disclosure may be replaced by alternative elements that provide substantially similar functionality or otherwise provide adequate operation. This includes, for example, presently known alternative elements, such as those that might be currently known to one skilled in the art, and alternative elements that may be developed in the future, such as those that one skilled in the art might, upon development, recognize as an alternative. Further, the disclosed embodiments include a plurality of features that are described in concert and that might cooperatively provide a collection of benefits. The present invention is not limited to only those embodiments that include all of these features or that provide all of the stated benefits, except to the extent otherwise expressly set forth in the issued claims. Any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an,” “the” or “said,” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular.
