This invention relates to door protection plates, and more particularly to a method of installing a protection plate to a door and a tool for implementing such method.
Rectangular plates, typically of metal such as brass, bronze, stainless steel or aluminum, are commonly affixed to doors to protect vulnerable surfaces of such doors against effects of abuse, particularly in commercial or public buildings. Such protection plates are installed on a door to cover a lower portion of the door's face, generally horizontally from near the door's left vertical edge to near its right vertical edge, and vertically from near the door's bottom edge to a height determined by the plate's purpose. As examples, a so-called “mop plate” may be approximately 6 inches or less in height for protecting the door against cleaning solution damage when cleaning the floor in the vicinity of the door; a so-called “kick plate” is typically approximately 7 to 16 inches in height for protecting the door from damage which may be incurred by forceful contact with agents such as shoes or boots; and a so-called “armor plate” may be approximately 17 to 48 inches in height for extended protection against most other types of abuse including contacts from mobile equipment.
Any of these protection plates may be affixed to the door by screw mounting. In such cases, the rectangular plate will include screw apertures equally spaced approximately 6 inches or less apart, near each edge of the plate. The installer positions such plate on the door's face, using the plate as a template to mark the door's face through the apertures, then removes the plate, drills screw holes at the markings, replaces the plate to the door, inserts screws through the plate apertures and into the screw holes to affix the plate to the door.
Alternatively, the plate may be affixed to the door by adhesive mounting. The back side of the plate may be covered with an adhesive, and the installer places the plate with the adhesive side to the door and urges the plate against the door to affix the plate. The adhesive may be covered with a removable liner, in which case the installer removes the liner to expose the adhesive before the plate is placed to the door.
The adhesive mounting technique may be implemented using a two-sided (or double-sided) adhesive tape, such as manufactured by 3M Corporation and by Avery Dennison Corporation. One or more strips of such tape may be affixed to the back side of the plate, the liner having been removed from one side of the tape; and the liner on the other side of the tape is removed during plate installation to expose the adhesive before placing the plate to the door.
Both the screw mounting and the adhesive mounting techniques are often used for affixing protection plates to doors that are already in place and installed in their buildings. Installation of a protection plate on such doors, with the plate having to be appropriately positioned near the bottom edge of the door, is a cumbersome process requiring the installer to crouch on the floor beside the door while manipulating the plate and its positioning on the door, a feat for which the installer is expected to exhibit agility, balance and coordination skills approaching those of an accomplished contortionist.
To make matters worse, in the case where the adhesive mounting technique is used, once contact is made between the plates's exposed adhesive and the door face, the plate is virtually instantly bonded to the door. Even a slightly skewed affixed plate (i.e., one where the vertical edges of the plate are not parallel to the vertical edges of the door) is detrimentally noticeable. If deemed unacceptable, the plate must be physically removed from the door, a task which usually damages both the plate and the door, so that the door will require refinishing before another attempt is made to affix another plate to the door.
The foregoing difficulties and consequences thereof are significantly alleviated by use of the tool and method of the present invention for installing protection plates to doors.
Briefly described, one aspect of the present invention includes a method of installing a substantially rectangular plate to a door, comprising: providing a substantially rectangular plate having a front surface, a back surface and a bottom edge; providing a tool comprising a substantially rigid frame including a first elongate member and a second elongate member orthogonal to the first member; the second member including an elongate ridge therealong orthogonal to the first member; releasably securing the first member along a side edge of the door with the second member near a bottom edge of the door and the ridge of the second member extending along a face of the door; positioning the plate with the bottom edge of the plate upon the ridge of the second member and the plate's back surface toward the face of the door; affixing the plate to the face of the door while the back surface of the plate is placed to the face of the door; and releasing the first member from its securement and removing the tool from the door. For facilitating the frame's positioning during the securing step, the second member preferably includes a rearwardly angled portion therealong for being positioned under the bottom edge of the door.
After the plate positioning step, a preferred manner of practicing the present invention includes the step of pivoting the plate about its bottom edge positioned upon the ridge of the second member until the back surface of the plate is placed to the face of the door. Although the pivoting step may be utilized for placing the plate's back surface to the face of the door when the plate affixing step is implemented by screw mounting, such pivoting step is of particular utility for facilitating the placing of the plate's back surface to the face of the door when the affixing step is implemented by adhesive mounting. For example, when mounting a plate provided with at least one strip of double-sided adhesive tape affixed to the plate's back surface, each tape strip's removable liner would be removed to expose the adhesive before the plate pivoting step. At the end of the pivoting step, the plate's adhesive-bearing back surface will be placed to the door face while the plate's bottom edge is upon the second member's ridge orthogonal to the first member along the side edge of the door, so that the affixed plate's bottom edge will be orthogonal to the door's side edge and the plate's side edges will be parallel to the door's side edges.
A further aspect of the present invention includes the tool for practicing the above described method, and in particular for positioning a substantially rectangular plate to a door for affixation thereto. Such tool comprises: a substantially rigid frame including a first elongate member and a second elongate member orthogonal to the first member, the first member configured for being positioned along a side edge of the door, the second member including an elongate ridge therealong orthogonal to the first member and configured for extending along a face of the door when the first member is positioned along the side edge of the door; and a securing device cooperating with the frame for releasably securing the first member along the side edge of the door; whereby a bottom edge of the rectangular plate may be positioned along the ridge for facilitating positioning of the plate for affixation to the face of the door.
In the preferred embodiment of the tool, the first and second members are orthogonally joined at a juncture of an end of the first member and an end of the second member; and the second member is configured for positioning its ridge near a bottom edge of the door when the first member is positioned along the door's side edge with the juncture near the door's bottom edge. The second member preferably includes an angled portion configured for extending under the door when the first member is positioned along the door's side edge with the juncture near the door's bottom edge.
The novel features believed to be characteristic of the invention, together with further advantages thereof, will be better understood by the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
Turning to
Examples of such protection plates 10 are represented in
Adhesive mounting for implementing affixing the plate to the door is represented in
The preferred manner of practicing the method for installing the protection plate 10 to the door 14 according to the present invention, may best be described by first describing the tool for implementing such method, a preferred embodiment of such tool 36 being shown in
The tool 36 comprises a substantially rigid frame 38 which includes a first elongate member 40 of right angular cross section 42 orthogonally joined at a juncture 44 to a second elongate member 46 of right angular cross section 48. As best shown in
The second member 46 defining the right angular cross section 48 includes second member rearward leg 54 and upward leg 56 having an elongate ridge 58 therealong orthogonal to the first member 40 (in particular, orthogonal to the first member rearward leg 50). In this preferred embodiment, the second member 46 is configured such that its rearward leg 54 extends under the bottom edge 22 of the door when the first member 40 is positioned along the side edge 18 of the door 12 with the juncture 44 near the door's bottom edge 22. The second member upward leg 56 will extend along the face 14 of the door 12 with the ridge 58 horizontally extending along the face 14 when the first member 40 is vertically positioned against the vertical side edge 18 of the door 12.
The nominal distance of the horizontally disposed ridge 58 above the door's bottom edge 22 is determined by the height of the second member's upward leg 56, which height may vary depending upon the desired vertical positioning of a plate 10 to be affixed to the door 12.
The tool 36 of the present invention preferably includes of a securing device cooperating with the frame 38 for securing the frame 38 in its desired position to the door 12, which securing device is releasable to permit the tool 36 to be removed from the door to which the tool 36 is secured. An example of such releasable securing device includes the clamping structure described with reference to
The first member 40 includes a first bracket holder 59 with a first vertically oriented slot 60 (
Similarly, the first member 40 includes a second bracket holder 73 with a second vertically oriented slot 74 for receiving one leg 76 of a second bracket 78 (
The first member 40 further includes a third bracket holder 88 with a third vertically oriented slot 90 between the other two slots 60 and 74, for receiving one leg 92 of a third bracket 94 (
A preferred manner of using the tool 36, as well as a preferred manner of practicing the method of the present invention, are described with reference to
Such method includes the steps of providing the substantially rectangular plate 10 (block 108 of
The tool 36 is placed to the door 12 with the first elongate member 40 of the frame 38 positioned along the door's side edge 18. Specifically, the first member's rearward leg 50 is positioned along the door's side edge 18 while the first member's sidewise leg 52 is positioned along the door's face 14 (
The first and second brackets 64, 78 are adjusted through the first member's slots 60, 74 and openings 68, 82 such that the inner surfaces of the brackets' second legs 66, 80 contact the door's face 14, and the thumb screws 70, 84 are tightened against the brackets' first legs 62, 76 to maintain such adjustments. Similarly, the third bracket 94 is adjusted through the first member's slot 90 such that the inner surface of this bracket's log 96 contacts the reverse surface 102 of the door 12, and the thumb screw 98 is tightened against the bracket's leg 92 to maintain such adjustment. In such manner the first member 40 is clampedly secured along the door's side edge 18. Such securement may be assisted by coating each bracket's inner contact surface with a non-slip substance. Securement may further be enhanced by upwardly supporting the frame 38, for example by inserting at least one wedge 104 between the floor 106 and the bottom of the frame 38 (
By secured positioning of the tool 36 to the door 12 as described, the ridge 58 along the tool's second member 42 is positioned along the door's face 14 near the door's bottom edge and orthogonal to the door's edge 18.
Continuing with block 114 of
The plate 10 is then affixed to the face 14 of the door 12. If such affixation is to be implemented by screw mounting (block 116 of
If the plate's affixation to the door face 14 is to be implemented by adhesive mounting (block 118 of
After the plate 10 has been affixed to the door face 14, the installer releases the frame's first member 40 from its securement along the door's side edge 18 (block 120 of
It should be realized that the embodiment of the invention as described above considered the door 12 as being hinged along its right side edge 19 (
Thus, there has been described a preferred embodiment of a method of installing a substantially rectangular plate to the face of a door, as well as a preferred embodiment of a tool for use in practicing such method. Other embodiments of the present method and tool, and variations of the embodiments presented herein, may be developed without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, the invention should be limited only by scope of the claims listed below.
This invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/386,415 filed Dec. 1, 2015, incorporated in full herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62386415 | Dec 2015 | US |