Patent Application
20120152167
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus useful in painting and wallpaper border applications; and more specifically, to a tool for applying paint around trim work and moldings, and a measuring guide for applying a sizing sealer for the application of a wallpaper border.
2. Description of Related Art
Mechanical cutters or markers, known for many decades, are designed to facilitate the speed with which users cut or mark various materials as well as to aid in determining particular widths, depths, or other dimensions of cutting or marking. Most of these implements are normally designed to slide along an edge of a board or the like and have a holder for a blade or marking tool. In most cases, these devices also include means for adjusting the cutting widths. Regarding the art of specifically cutting wallpaper and devices for paper hanging, in general, the art is typified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,044,426 issued to Arthur Gelleff for a device for cutting or trimming wallpaper; U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,124 issued to Norbert Christmann for a hand-tool guide to cut wallpaper neatly and simply; U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,069 issued to Seiji Kohno for cutting uniform vertical edges on wallpaper; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,989 issued to Fredric Renaud for a wallpaper border marking/cutting device which simultaneously travels along a wall and a ceiling with an adjustable blade which has the option of inserting a marking instrument that may be adjusted to a selected distance from the ceiling and which is held in place for smooth parallel marking or cutting so as to enable a user to rapidly glide across a wall or hang wallpaper to mark the wall or cut and remove the top portion of wallpaper to create an even edge for abutment with a separately hung wallpaper border which will meet flush with the wallpaper in the same plane.
In order to complete the wallpaper border application process after the border has been marked or cut to proper height, it is necessary to apply a border which may be accomplished in one of two different procedures. Sizing sealant (liquid adhesive) may be applied to the border area followed by the manual application of a wallpaper border which is available in the form of a roll. Since the lower portion of the wall has already been wallpapered, the sizing sealant application becomes very time consuming to insure that the sizing adhesive does not drip or run onto the freshly applied wallpaper. The prior art has proposed several border applicators to avoid the problem of soiling the freshly applied wallpaper with the sizing adhesive for the border wallpaper. For example, Araujo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,430, proposes a spool disposed at one end of a tray within the sidewalls for dispensing a roll of wallpaper border, a roller at another end of the tray for applying the wallpaper border to the wall, and a wiper blade between the spool and the roller for wiping excess paste and water from the border. The excess paste and water collect in the tray. Edney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,630 discloses an applicator mounted on a shaft and having a reservoir. The wallpaper border is wrapped around a tubular portion of the spindle. The back face of the wallpaper border has a dry adhesive which is activated by water. The roll is soaked in water. A plurality of openings between upper and lower surfaces of the flange portion of the spindle allows excess water or paste to drip from the roll into the reservoir defined by a cup-shaped member.
Renaud, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,867, discloses a device which automatically redirects an unwinding roll of paper border in a transverse direction for horizontal application onto a wall. A liquid paste container is controlled by a flow regulator for controlling the dispensing of liquid paste from the container. A contact guide attaches the container against rectangular cutouts to assure contact pressure between an advancing paper border and the rectangular cutouts and seal off the rectangular cutouts that extend beyond the width of the paper border.
While the foregoing prior art discloses various devices for applying wallpaper border to walls, it does not teach a wallpaper border marking device for the application of the sizing adhesive sealant which is simple, economical, easy to use as well as which provides the following features. The applicator has a ruler surface so that measurements of distance can be readily measured to accommodate different widths of wallpaper border; prevents water from running down walls and running down the arms of a person applying the wallpaper border to the wall; is readily adapted for use by either right-handed or left-handed individuals; is used for installing horizontally oriented strips of wallpaper border; provides for border wallpaper installation both in vertical or horizontal orientation; is readily adapted to be used for applying wallpaper border in either right-to-left or left-to-right direction; and provides a separate paint trim edge that provides many of the same advantageous features.
Accordingly, what is needed is a simple, economical, easy to use tool for guiding the application of a sizing sealant onto a wall for the subsequent addition of a wallpaper border.
The present invention is a lightweight, handheld frame apparatus intended to be used for the application of a sizing sealer for a wallpaper border application. The apparatus further includes an edging tool for applying paint around trim work and moldings. The apparatus includes spaced-apart, equal length, upright column members with a transversely oriented sliding cross-beam member therebetween. Each end of the transverse cross-beam member includes a slide block attached to the cross-beam member. Alternatively, the transverse cross-beam member and slide blocks may be molded as a unitary part. The slide block has a through opening for receiving a respective column member of the spaced-apart upright column members. The fit between the through openings in the slide block and each respective column member is a sliding fit such that the slide blocks at each end of the cross-beam member can conveniently slide along each column member from one end to the opposite end thereof. To facilitate control of the sliding movement of the cross-beam member and slide blocks along the column members, a finger grip bar is attached to one side of the transversely oriented cross-beam member (preferably the side facing the user). The finger grip bar is attached to the cross-beam member with appropriate spacers between the finger grip bar and the cross-beam bar. Any type of convenient fastener including adhesives may be used to mount the finger grip bar and spacers to the cross-beam bar.
Mounted to the top end of each of the upright column member is a knife edge metal guide bar which is adapted to be used as a measurement gauge when the tool is used to measure the width of the wallpaper border to be applied to the wall and further as a trim edge when the apparatus is used to paint door trim, window trim, and assorted wall moldings.
The front edge of the column members have measurement indicia printed thereon. This indicia is facing the holder so that when the width of the wallpaper border is known, the same width is set on the frame apparatus by loosening the wing screws on the slide blocks and adjusting the slide blocks to the same width as the known wallpaper border width. Both slide blocks are locked in place at the known width setting so that the area between the top of the cross-beam member and the knife edge metal guide bar is the area where the sizing sealer is applied to the wall to accommodate the known wallpaper border.
One further feature of the apparatus is that the rear facing side of the sliding cross-beam member that interfaces with the wall upon which the wallpaper border will be applied has a shoulder or undercut in which is mounted a resilient strip material to collect any sizing sealer that may want to drain down the wall. The strip material will prevent any overflow sealer from traveling down the wall onto freshly applied wallpaper or newly applied paint.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new tool for applying sizing sealant to a wall, to which a wallpaper border is to be applied, which is of simple construction and reliable to use.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which prevents water from running down walls and running down the arms of a person applying the wallpaper border to the walls.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which provides for installation of wallpaper border both in a vertical and horizontal orientation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which is readily adapted for use by either right-handed or left-handed persons.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which is readily adapted to be used for applying sizing sealant in either right-to-left or left-to-right direction.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border that has a ruler surface so that measurements of the distance can be readily measured.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which is easy to use, economical to purchase, and simple to manufacture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved sizing sealant applicator measuring apparatus for applying a wallpaper border which, in addition, provides an edging tool for applying paint around trim work and moldings.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in, or apparent from, the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments in the detailed description, the drawings, and the appended claims.
The invention will be better understood and become more apparent by reference to the following description of the embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
With reference to the drawings, a new and improved sizing sealer measuring apparatus to apply a wallpaper border embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention will be described.
Turning to
The front face 22 of each of the column members 20 is provided with indicia in the form of a graduated scale or ruler. Alternatively, a metal ruler 23 may be mounted in a recessed slot 24 on the front face 22 of each of the column members 20. The metal ruler 23 is used to set the horizontal cross-beam member 12 at the width of the wallpaper border to be applied to the wall. For example, if an eight inch border is to be applied to the wall, the horizontal cross-beam member 12 is slid along the column members 20 so that the top surface 24 on each slide block 14, 16 aligns with the eight inch line of each metal ruler 23 of the column member 20. A wing screw 26 is mounted through the front face 28 of each slide block 14, 16 to lock the horizontal cross-beam member 12 to the column members 20 after the correct border width has been set. A blunt nose (not shown) on the front end of the wing screw 26 bears on the ruler surface to lock the horizontal cross-beam member 12 to the column member 20.
To facilitate easy manipulation of the sliding movement of the horizontal cross-beam member 12 and slide blocks 14, 16, along the column members 20, a finger grip bar 30 is attached to the front face 31 of the transversely oriented cross-beam member 12 (preferably the side facing the user). The finger grip bar 30 is mounted to the horizontal cross-beam member 12 with appropriate spacers or riser blocks (not shown) if required between the finger grip bar 30 and the horizontal cross-beam member 12. The attachment member can be a screw at opposing ends of the finger grip bar 30 or alternatively an adhesive can be used to attach the finger grip bar 30 to the riser blocks which in turn is adhesively attached to the horizontal cross-beam member 12.
Mounted to the top end 34 of each of the column members 20 is a metal guide bar 36 that is attached to the two column members 20. The purpose of this metal guide bar 36 is two-fold. First, in order to provide a straight edge for purposes of setting the width of the wallpaper border, the metal guide bar 36 has a snap-on metal reinforcement member 38 mounted thereon. The reinforcement metal guide bar 38 is mounted piggyback to the metal guide bar 36 to provide a sturdy straight edge from which measurements of the border width can be made so as to set the horizontal cross-beam member 12 to the correct border width when applying the sizing sealant to the wall. Second, the metal guide bar 36 as shown in
To enable the metal guide bar 36 to be conveniently used as an edging tool while painting, it was necessary to pivot the metal guide bar 36 from its position when used as a measuring tool, since a painter's hand holding a paint brush would interfere with the cross-beam member 12. Providing a pivot point for the metal guide bar 36 was simply accomplished by lengthening the metal guide bar 36 sufficiently to wrap each end of the metal guide bar 36 around the upper surface of the column member 20 and attach the end of the metal guide bar 36 to the side surface 42 of the column members 20 as shown in
In using the wallpaper border sizing sealant applicator apparatus 10 of the invention, the wallpaper border width is set by loosening the two wing screws 26 so that the cross-beam member 12 can be moved along the column members 20 to set the width of the wallpaper border to be applied to the wall by sliding the cross-beam member 12 to the comparable width on the metal rulers 23 mounted to the column members 20. The wing screws 26 are then tightened to lock the slide blocks 14, 16 to the column members 20. For applying a wallpaper border at the top of a wall near the ceiling, a user grasps the finger grip bar 30 and while standing on a chair or ladder, places the wallpaper border sizing sealant applicator apparatus 10 flat against the wall with the metal guide bar 36 resting against the ceiling. Note that by turning
While the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is apparent that other forms may be adopted by one skilled in the art. In other words, claim elements are not limited to the imperfection of the exact language used, but encompass as well other structures that fulfill the same functional purpose. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other applications are possible with this invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment disclosed. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.
