Patent Application
20190241010
Various types of wall hangings are known in the prior art. Most are comprised of a common body, typically planar in extent, having a continuous anterior surface upon which an image or other design is rendered. However such construction form a single structure presents increased costs when shipping the wall hanging to an end user due to the relative size and expanse of the wall hanging.
Componentized wall hangings that are devised to be assembled upon receipt of delivery for installation, having multiple parts whereby the anterior surface is composed when assembled whole, present additional problems when applying the image to the anterior surface since the independent parts may be movable relative one another and the printer head, operating thereover, may strike against any uneven surface when crossing between the independent parts. Problems of maintaining the levelness likewise arises, especially since it is hard to uphold a vacuum beneath separable parts. This is especially the case when printing large images or designs wherein the workpiece must be held fast and true, since the weight of the parts involved often corrupt the congruence of the anterior surface and render printing difficult or impossible.
Attempts to solve this issue in the present state of the art are less than satisfactory. Printing upon a single workpiece's anterior surface, and then cutting into component parts for shipping and reassembly after delivery, corrupts the congruence of the image as at least the width of the kerf of the saw blade is lost. The image is subsequently disjointed when the parts are reassembled. Printing on individual components in serial operations presents a congruent image upon assembly of the finished product, however it increases production time and therefore cost.
What is needed is a componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon which enables rapid, single-run printing to the anterior surface without effecting printer head strikes thereaginst, while enabling disassembly of the finished product for compact, efficient shipping and reassembly upon receipt of delivery for expedient installation. Thus large and expansive wall hangings on a variety of substrates (such as, in a preferred embodiment herein contemplated, for example wood) are creatable and shippable to an end user with relative efficiency and ease.
The present invention relates to a componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon whereby large and expansive wall hangings are producible and shippable with relative cost efficiency for delivery to an end user. Wall hangings composed of bulky material, such as for example, wood, are thereby producible and distributable to consumers for reassembly upon receipt.
The present invention has been devised to enable printing upon an anterior surface of a wall hanging, said anterior surface comprised of a plurality of slat members secured adjacently together into a plurality of rows and maintained to present the anterior surface as a congruent plane by action of, in a first embodiment, a plurality of transverse strut members secured upon a posterior surface across each of the plurality of rows and, in a second embodiment, by action of a plurality of frame sections devised to bound the plurality of slat members perimetrically therebetween.
A single print run is thereby enabled to print a large image or design upon the anterior surface. Disassembly is expediently effected by removal of the plurality of transverse strut members in the first embodiment, or removal of the plurality of frame sections in the second embodiment. Each of the plurality of slat members is thence stackable together alongside the plurality of transverse strut members or frame sections, as case may be, and shippable as a compacted package. Upon receipt of delivery, the end user is enabled to expediently reassemble the wall hanging for installation with simple hand tools alone, such as, for example, a screwdriver or an Allen key.
The general purpose of the componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon, described subsequently in greater detail, is to enable efficient production of large and expansive wall hangings having images or designs produced by a single print run upon an anterior surface, comprised of wood or other substrate, maintained congruent to prevent printer head strikes. Further, the present invention devises an efficient means of shipment and expedient reassembly for installation with minimal tools required, irrespective of the size and expanse of the assembled whole.
The terms “image” and “design”, as used herein throughout, are taken to include any image or design that presents an aesthetic concern to a viewer and may include, for example, works of art, lettering, colors, shapes, geometries, or other images and/or designs. The term “wall hanging” is interpreted generally to include generally planar bodies installable to a wall surface as decorations or art.
The present componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon, therefore, includes a plurality of slat members devised for securement adjacently disposed in edge-to-edge contact in a contiguous plurality of rows. Each of the plurality of slat members is machined to present an even, planar anterior surface congruently maintained when each of said plurality of slat members is secured together adjacently. Each of the plurality of slat members may secure together by action of interlocking edges, such as tongue and groove interconnection, or other edge-to-edge interconnectability, whereby the anterior surface is maintained congruently between and across each of the plurality of slat members without appreciable deviation from a common plane.
Congruence of the anterior surface when the plurality of slat members is assembled is important to enable printing upon the anterior surface. Deviations between each of the plurality of slat members can effect striking of the printer head, scuffle printing, and waste resources effecting time and cost. A congruent anterior surface must not only be presented to the printer head during printing, but must be maintained throughout printing even in large industrial printing operations.
To maintain congruence of the anterior surface and prevent the plurality of slat members from folding, bending, or otherwise reorienting out of a congruent plane relative one another, a plurality of transverse strut members is devised in a first embodiment to secure upon a posterior surface of the plurality of slat members and fasten across the plurality of rows. The plurality of transverse strut members maintain each of the plurality of slat members tautly connected in edge-to-edge engagement whereby pressure applied to the anterior surface during printing does not dislodge or disrupt the planar congruence of the anterior surface maintained by the plurality of slat members. Printer head strikes are thus preventable. Further, the transverse strut members are configured to enable suspension of the wall hanging from a wall fastener whereby, once assembled together subsequent delivery to an end user, the end user is readily and expediently able to hang the wall hanging from at least one wall fastener ensured that the wall hanging is centered and level for prompt display.
Large and expansive wall hangings are thus contemplated for production by a single print run without impeding action of the printer head moving across an anterior surface composed of a plurality of slat members. Substrates of bulky materials are thus contemplated as the workpiece upon which the image or design may be printed. Substrates such as wood, for example, lend particular aesthetics to the wall hanging and impart texture to the image or design printed thereupon. Shipping of the wall hanging is nonetheless enabled cost efficiently, even where substrates such as wood are used, because the wall hanging is dissasemblable for compact packaging.
A plurality of countersunk threaded inserts is disposed interior to the posterior surface of each of the plurality of slat members. A plurality of corresponding holes are sunk through each of the transverse strut members. Reassembly of the wall hanging is thus executable by simply fastening each of the transverse strut members in place by securing fasteners through the transverse strut members into each of the corresponding countersunk threaded inserts. The plurality of transverse strut members are thereby positionable automatically by the action of fastening through the prescored holes and the plurality of slat members are maintained in correct alignment. The threaded inserts ensure integrity of threadable engagement with threaded fasteners even with repeated use and reuse.
When displayed in portrait orientation, or when each of the plurality of slat members is oriented vertically when installed for view, at least one of the plurality of transverse strut members may include at least one depending point whereon the wall hanging is suspendable upon a wall fastening. The at least one depending point is positioned correctly to ensure level hanging of the wall hanging.
When the wall hanging is to be displayed in landscape orientation, or when each of the plurality of slat members is otherwise disposed horizontally when installed for view, at least one of the plurality of strut members is installable upon the posterior surface of one of the plurality of slat members at a plurality of further inserts positioned to secure the transverse strut member longitudinally oriented whereby at least one depending point disposed thereupon is likewise engageable with at least one wall fastener for level hanging of the wall hanging at installation.
In an alternate embodiment herein contemplated the plurality of slat members are secured together, not by means of the plurality of strut members, but by action of a plurality of frame sections disposed to bound the wall hanging and secure each of the plurality of slat members perimetrically. Each of the plurality of frame sections, therefore, includes an inset bead devised to contact the outermost edge of the wall hanging. A posterior contact portion is disposed right-angularly thereupon and devised to engage against the posterior surface for fastening thereto, into each of a plurality of countersunk threaded inserts. Each of the plurality of frame sections is attachable endwise to two other of the plurality of frame sections at a forty-five degree (45°) cut disposed endwise thereupon. The plurality of frame sections is devised to secure set back from the anterior surface a definite distance, such as one-sixteenth ( 1/16th) of an inch whereby the printer head is enabled to pass over each frame section without contacting said frame section to enable printing upon the anterior surface in a single print run.
After printing is completed, the wall hanging is disassemblable for shipping in like manner as the previous embodiment discussed above. The plurality of slat members and frame sections are packable relatively compactly and prepared for shipping. Upon receipt of delivery, the end user expediently reassembles the wall hanging in like manner as discussed above, by securing each of a plurality of fasteners through the frame sections and into the posterior surface of the plurality of slat members. In this embodiment, the plurality of frame sections may be manufactured of a material different than the plurality of slat members to provide a frame bounding the image or design with contrasting aesthetic (such as, for example, a metal frame bounding a wooden anterior surface).
At least one depending point may be disposed upon the topmost frame section posterior contact portion. Alternately, at least one of the plurality of slat members may include a plurality of keyhole slots disposed upon the posterior surface thereof. For engagement with each of a corresponding plurality of wall fasteners. Alternately, at least one transverse strut member may be included with at least one depending point thereupon for expedient hanging of the wall hanging subsequent assembly.
Thus has been broadly outlined the more important features of the present componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon so that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
Objects of the present componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon, along with various novel features that characterize the invention are particularly pointed out in the claims forming a part of this disclosure. For better understanding of the componentized assemblable wall hanging and method of enabling printing thereupon, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, refer to the accompanying drawings and description.
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular
Referring to
The present componentized assemblable wall hanging 10 has been devised to enable printing of large images onto an expansive anterior surface of a wall hanging in a single print run while enabling disassembly after printing for shipping of the wall hanging to an end user whereby the wall hanging is reassemblable for installation upon a wall surface. Thus large, complex wall hangings of size and mass are printable and shippable relatively economically.
The present componentized assemblable wall hanging 10, therefore, includes a plurality of slat members 20 adjacently connectable by edge-to-edge engagement whereby a flat anterior surface 30 and a posterior surface 40 are maintained. For example, see
As shown in
Each of the countersunk threaded fasteners 44 enables repeated assembly and disassembly of the apparatus without loss of threaded engagement interior to the threaded inserts 42 with repeated use and reuse whereby the componentized assemblable wall hanging 10 may be assembled and disassembled frequently without each of the plurality of fasteners 44 losing coherence engaged interiorly within each of the plurality of threaded inserts 42, as may otherwise occur where fasteners are used directly engaged into a substrate through erosion of the threaded channel.
It should be noted that in a preferred embodiment illustrated herein, when installed, the heads of the plurality of fasteners 44 are maintained sunk beneath the exterior surface of the transverse strut members 50 to enable flush contact with a wall surface to which the assembled componentized assmeblable wall hanging 10 is subsequently installed.
Thus each of the plurality of slat members 20 is maintainable in taut serried contact, edge-to-edge in rows, to present a congruent anterior surface 30 capable of receiving application of a printer head 100 thereto without the printer head 100 effecting a strike due to uneven, incongruent surface deviations as may otherwise occur. For example, see
As shown in
However, when displayed in landscape orientation, or otherwise with each of the plurality of slat members disposed horizontally, at least one of the plurality of slat members 20 includes further threaded inserts 46 disposed longitudinally along the posterior surface 40 for connecting at least one transverse strut member 50 in longitudinal position along the posterior surface 40 of said at least one of the plurality of slat members 20. See
In an alternate embodiment herein contemplated and illustrated in
Each of the plurality of frame sections 60 engages together at forty-five degrees (45°) diagonal cuts 66 disposed at each end of each of said plurality of frame sections 60 whereby the plurality of frame sections 60 nest together to form a perimetric border tautly framing the content of the image or design 70 disposed upon the anterior surface 30.
Importantly, when installed, each of the plurality of frame sections 60 is disposed to secure to the posterior surface 40 set back a definite distance h from the anterior surface 30, whereby the printer head 100 moving across the anterior surface 30 during application of the image or design 70 thereto remains unimpeded when crossing off and onto the anterior surface 30. See specifically
Installation of this embodiment of the present componentized assemblable wall hanging is shown in
Thus the plurality of frame sections 60 maintains each of the plurality of slat members 20 in taut serried, edge-to-edge contact to present a congruent anterior surface 30 capable of receiving application of a printer head 100 thereto without said printer head 100 effecting a strike due to any substantially uneven, incongruent surface deviations as would otherwise occur when printing on an anterior surface 30 comprised of independent, longitudinal slat members 20 adjacently connected. After printing is completed, the componentized asseblable wall hanging 10 is disassemblable for compact shipping. Upon delivery, the componentized assemblable wall hanging 10 is thence reassemblable for installation upon a wall surface with minimal tools required (such as a screw driver or Allen key, for example).
Large installations are thereby printable, shippable, and installable at relative efficiency.
In the preferred embodiment herein disclosed, each of the plurality of slat members 20 is comprised of wood, and preferably sustainably sourced or reclaimed wood. A large image is thus printable to a large, wooden wall hanging, whereby aesthetic pleasure may be derived in the home, business, or interior or exterior space, as desired.
A method of printing an image upon an anterior surface of a shippable wall hanging is further contemplated herein and illustrated as
Each of the plurality of slat members is secured tautly together by securement of each of a plurality of transverse strut members disposed transversely upon the posterior surface across each of the plurality of rows. The anterior surface is thus maintained taut and flush for receipt of a printer head. The anterior surface is maintained planar without substantial deviations or deformities due to the transverse strut members engaging the plurality of slat members together at scored, countersunk threaded inserts disposed in appropriate position to receivingly engage a corresponding fastener disposed to fasten each of the transverse strut members in requisite position whereby the print head is not stricken during printing of the image to the anterior surface.
Once printing is completed, each of the transverse strut members is removed from the posterior surface and each of the plurality of slat members is disconnected for compact and convenient shipping. Each of the plurality of slat members and transverse strut members is stacked into a compact volume for shipping and sent to the consumer for re-assembly and installation upon a wall, as desired.
Thus each of the plurality of slat members is produced with edges machined for edge-to-edge securement into the plurality of rows. The plurality of threaded inserts is sunk into pre-scored positions upon the posterior surface of the plurality of slat members.
Corresponding transverse strut members; or in the alternative, frame sections; are likewise produced, each with holes devised to position overtop one of the countersunk threaded inserts disposed in the posterior surface whereby appropriate position of each of the plurality of transverse strut and in the alternative, frame sections, members is maintained.
Printing is thus effective upon the anterior surface maintained taut and congruent by action of the plurality of strut members and in the alternative frame sections. Where transverse strut members are preferred, at least one of the transverse strut members may be produced with at least one depending point machined therein, said at least one depending point devised to enable level hanging of the wall hanging once assembled and installed to a wall fastener, or other means of suspending the wall hanging, for view.
Where frame sections are preferred, each of the plurality of frame sections is produced with an inset bead disposed a definite height from a right-angularly disposed posterior contact portion. The height of the inset bead is devised to maintain each frame section set back from the anterior surface to avoid impeding passage of the printer head thereover. At least one of the frame sections may also include at least one depending point machined therein to likewise enable level hanging expediently after reassembly for installation or, alternatively, at least one of the plurality of slat members may include a plurality of keyhole slots disposed upon the posterior surface for engagement with a corresponding plurality of wall fasteners.
Once printing is completed, the plurality of slat members are disassembled and packaged for shipping. Upon receipt at delivery, the wall hanging is reassemblable with minimal tools required.
