1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to office furniture, and in particular to an accessory track for mounting accessory office furniture components to a permanent wall or to panels of a partition system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an office environment, tracks are used to mount accessory components, such as work surfaces, cabinets, shelves, filing units, etc., to either a permanent wall or to the walls of an office partition system. One known track is formed as a single piece extrusion having a channel which is relatively wide in a vertical dimension. Brackets or other mounting hardware are used to mount an accessory component to the track, with the brackets or hardware separate from both the track and the accessory component.
Although the foregoing tracks have proven useful, improvements to the same are desired.
The present disclosure provides a two-piece track assembly that may be used in an office environment for mounting accessory components, such as work surfaces, cabinets, shelves, filing units, etc., to either a permanent building wall or to the framework of a movable office wall or office partition system. The track assembly includes a base mountable to the wall or framework via a plurality of fasteners. A track mounts to the base to cover the fasteners used to mount the base. The track also includes a relatively thinly-profiled slot into which a corresponding, relatively thinly-profiled mounting flange of an accessory component is received to mount and support the accessory component upon the track assembly. Optionally, a decorative or functional tile may be mounted to a wall or partition between a pair of track assemblies spaced vertically from one another.
In one form thereof, the present disclosure provides a track assembly, comprising: a first component mountable to a substrate, the first component comprising: an exterior face; an upper portion including upper engagement structure; and a lower portion including lower engagement structure; and a second component mountable to the first component, the second component comprising: a body having a front body portion and a rear body portion; the front body portion including a slot having a first, horizontal slot section extending into the body from a front face of the front body portion and a second, angled slot section extending into the body from the first slot section; and the rear body portion including an upper arm and a lower arm, the upper and lower arms respectively engageable with the upper and lower engagement structures of the first component.
In another form thereof, the present disclosure provides, in combination, an accessory component comprising a mounting flange including a first, horizontal flange portion and a second, angled flange portion extending from the first flange portion; and a track assembly, comprising: a first component mountable to a vertical substrate, the first component comprising: an exterior face; an upper portion including an upper engagement structure; and a lower portion including a lower engagement structure; and a second component mountable to the first component, the second component comprising: a body having a front body portion and a rear body portion; the front body portion including a slot having a first, horizontal slot section extending into the body from a front face of the front body portion and a second, angled slot section extending into the body from the first slot section, the slot sized to receive the mounting flange; and the rear body portion including an upper arm and a lower arm, the first component mounted to the second component when the upper arm and the lower arm are engaged with the upper and lower engagement structures of the first component, respectively.
In yet another form thereof, the present disclosure provides a method of mounting a track assembly to a vertical substrate of an office system, comprising the steps of: providing a track assembly comprising a first component and a second component; mounting the first component to the vertical substrate; and pivotally mounting the second component to the first component.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following descriptions of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner.
Accessory components, such as work surfaces, cabinets, shelves, filing units, etc. are often used in office environments. The present disclosure describes a two-piece track assembly that may be used in an office environment for modular mounting of such accessory components to either a permanent building wall or to the framework of a movable office wall or office partition system. The track assembly of the present disclosure includes a base mountable to the wall or framework via a plurality of fasteners, and a track mountable to the base such that the fasteners used to mount the base are covered.
The track also includes a relatively thinly-profiled slot sized to receive a corresponding, relatively thinly-profiled mounting flange of an accessory component (as described herein). When so received, the flange and slot cooperate to mount and support the accessory component upon the track assembly. Optionally, the track assemblies may be mounted as vertically spaced pairs adapted to receive a decorative or functional tile therebetween, such that the tile covers the adjacent wall or partition.
Referring now to
Two-piece track assembly 10 includes a first component, shown as base 14, and a second component, shown as track 16. As illustrated in
Turning now to
As shown in
Turning back to
Front body portion 34 of track 16 includes a pair of vertical walls 62 and 64 that extend in opposite directions from slot 56 and cooperate to define front face 50 of track 16. More particularly, each vertical wall 62 and 64 extends from a respective one of the first and second inner horizontal walls 52 and 54, which in turn project forwardly from the plurality of inner angled walls as described above. Front body portion 34 of track 16 additionally includes a pair of outer angled walls 66 and 68 that are angled with respect to substrate 12 and respectively extend rearward from vertical walls 62 and 64. Upper and lower extensions 70 and 72 each extend rearward from a respective one of the pair of the outer angled walls 66 and 68 toward substrate 12. As described below, extensions 70 and 72 may form a pair of tile-receiving horizontal flanges capable of supporting tiles T (
As illustrated
Upper portion 18 of base 14 includes an upper protrusion 86 (
Turning again to
Lower portion 20 of base 14 further includes lower protrusion 98 (
Referring to
The manner and method of mounting track 16 to base 14 is shown in
Referring back to
When track 16 is in a position of near-final engagement with respect to base 14, as shown in
Track 16 is fully mounted to base 14 when lower horizontal arm 40 is fully engaged with lower portion 20 of base 14. More particularly, second vertical flange 96 of lower horizontal arm 40 of track 16 is received in snap-fit engagement within lower intermediate notch 88 of lower portion 20 of base 14, and lower protrusion 98 of lower portion 20 of base 14 is received within notch 100 of lower horizontal arm 40 of track 16.
Thus, track 16 is pivotally mountable to base 14 such that upper arm 38 of track 16 pivots about upper portion 18 of base 14 until lower arm 40 of track 16 attaches to lower portion 20 of base 14 in a snap-fit connection. When track 16 is mounted to base 14, front face 50 of track 16 substantially covers front face 22 of base 14 and thereby hides fasteners 28 from view.
Turning now to
Referring to
While this invention has been described as having exemplary designs, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit under Title 35, U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/479,022, entitled TWO PIECE TRACK ASSEMBLY, filed on Apr. 26, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
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