Patent Application
20220033162
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.
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
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) 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
As shown in the embodiment of
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.
