METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR EASY ATTACHMENT OF REMOVABLE FRAMES, ESPECIALLY SKIRTING BOARDS, BY MEANS OF MAGNETISM

Abstract

 The invention relates to a mounting system and methods for attaching frames in general and skirting boards in particular, which are based on the use of magnetism.
In contrast to known fastening techniques using components that require precise positioning, this invention greatly simplifies frame mounting by reducing the requirements for precise horizontal and vertical positioning of the fasteners. Through the use of magnetism, the invention also makes it possible to easily remove and put back or replace a frame, mounted according to the method described, by hand without the risk of damaging the frame, the surfaces, or other components of the mounting system.

Description

Technical domain

[0001] The invention is applicable within the construction and do-it-yourself sectors and is particularly suitable for fixing decorative and protective skirting boards in buildings.

Background

[0002] Technological developments have made small and strong permanent magnets widely available. Such magnets appear to be extremely suitable for mounting all kinds of objects, with the special feature that for such attachment no mechanical connection between the objects has to be made; a magnetic connection is sufficient. Magnetic connections have the big advantage that they are not final; a magnetically mounted object can be moved and taken off without special tools.

Summary

[0003] This invention concerns a simplification of the fixing of frames in general and, in particular, of skirting boards used for finishing the transition between a floor and wall, as well as under (kitchen) cabinets in residential houses and other buildings. This simplification is based on the use of magnetism for the fixing, combined with the special construction of the frames. The invention also considerably simplifies the temporary removal of frames mounted in the manner described.

Problem description

[0004] Skirting boards are traditionally used as decoration, both to finish the transition from floors to walls by hiding any seams, and to prevent damage. Other reasons include hiding the unfinished space under kitchen cabinets and cables.
In known techniques, such skirting boards are held in place by wall-mounted, whether or not springy, clamps or hooks, by screws or nails through the skirting, with Velcro tape as described in publication US4845910A, with double-sided adhesive tape or with glue. The use of screws and nails in particular is usually undesirable from an aesthetic point of view and makes it virtually impossible to remove a skirting board without damaging it. Prior art that use a form of clamps or hooks for horizontal mounting of a skirting board require that these clamps have an equal vertical distance from the floor to prevent the skirting board from not connecting properly to the floor along its entire length. This is difficult to achieve, especially with longer skirting boards, due to the difficulty of installing multiple clamps at exactly the same distance from the floor, especially if the floor is not completely flat. When attaching the skirting board to the clamps, the risk of damaging both the skirting board and bending the clamps is real, especially if these clamps have not been positioned accurately.

[0005] In general, skirting boards that have been mounted according to prior art cannot be easily removed and reattached, which may be necessary, for example, for painting the wall, replacing floor covering or to place or remove cables behind the skirting board, without the risk of damaging the skirting board or the clamps. Techniques as described in publications JP13391791A and RU2000106975A partially solve the problem of vertical positioning and also offer the possibility to remove skirting boards quite easily, but achieve this by increasing the complexity of the mounting by using methods that require great horizontal accuracy when placing the fasteners on both the wall and skirting board, as shown in FIG 12 and FIG 13.
These fasteners must be mounted directly opposite each other over the entire length of the skirting board to be mounted. The main drawback of these known techniques, however, is that the fastening components are not visible during the mounting of the skirting board because they are located behind the skirting board. This makes it difficult to slide the skirting board onto all mounting points at the same time. The risk of damage to the skirting board and wall during both mounting and removal is present, because the mounting method requires that the skirting board is pushed tightly along the wall onto the mounting points. Removing a mounted skirting board is also difficult, because it is troublesome to get a grip on the bottom of the skirting board to be able to slide it vertically up along the wall.

Solution

[0006] This invention solves the problems with prior art described above by using magnetism to be able to fix skirting boards having a specially shaped slot onto a wall, without placing high demands on the horizontal and vertical placement of the fastening materials. The described method also ensures that a skirting board mounted according to this invention can be removed and replaced by hand as often as necessary without the risk of damage to the skirting board or bending of fasteners.

[0007] The following description of the invention refers to FIG 1 through 11. The internal references list indicates in which image(s) a numbered element is present.

[0008] The invention consists of a skirting board 1 with a specially shaped slot 2 in the back side into which plates of magnetizable metal 3 can be slid, a chamfered section 9 under the said special slot 2, and magnets with countersunk screw holes 4 and matching screws 5 for mounting on a wall or other surface 7.

[0009] The width and thickness of the metal plates 3 correspond to the width and depth of the slot 2 in the skirting board, respectively. The corners of the plates 3 are rounded, so that they can easily be pushed manually to any desired position in slot 2 of skirting board 1.

[0010] At a somewhat regular horizontal spacing, the magnets are screwed onto the (wall) surface against which the plinth is to be mounted. The metal plates are slid to a position in the skirting board such that the centre of each plate is approximately opposite a magnet. When the required magnets and metal plates are mounted, the skirting board can be placed against the wall without exerting pressure. The bottom of the skirting board rests on the floor 8. Due to the magnetic attraction between the magnets and the metal plates, the skirting board remains firmly attached, but can still be moved and removed if necessary. To remove the skirting board, it is sufficient to pull it horizontally from the wall, starting at one end. However, skirting boards with a smooth profile offer little grip for easy manual removal. To make it possible to manually remove smooth skirting boards, the skirting board has a chamfered back. Pressing the bottom of the skirting board by hand will cause the skirting board to tilt slightly, releasing the top from the wall and providing support for removal; FIG 10 illustrates this method.

[0011] This method cannot be used for installation under kitchen cupboards, but it is sufficient to provide the skirting board with a metal plate having a small tab at one end, as depicted in FIG 11, in order to be able to remove the skirting board. Because the cupboard protrudes relative to the skirting board, such a tab is not visible from a normal working height.

[0012] Although it is preferable to distribute the magnets evenly over the length of the skirting board, the horizontal distance between the magnets is freely selectable because the metal plates can be slid into the skirting board in any desired position.
The length of the metal plates is also freely selectable, but it has a relationship with the strength of the skirting board material; the weaker this material, the longer the metal plates need to be to distribute the magnetic force over the edge of the slot. If necessary, the entire slot of a skirting board can be provided with a single long metal strip.

[0013] Ideally all magnets 4 will be mounted, with respect to the floor, at the height of the vertical centre 12 of the slot 2. In FIG 4, three magnets are shown with different vertical positions: the right one is ideally located in the middle of a metal plate 3, the other two are mounted lower and higher respectively. This does not pose any problems for the mounting of skirting board 1. Because the width of the special slot 2 in the skirting board 1 is larger than the cross-section of the magnets 4, vertical clearance 6 is created, so that the exact position of magnets 4 on the wall is not critical. In addition, this space also makes it easy to move the skirting board vertically, for example in a situation where the thickness of the floor covering under the skirting board changes after the skirting board has been installed. FIG 4 visualizes the effect of the clearance created in this way.

[0014] Using this invention, skirting boards can also be attached in situations where a wall is not available over the full length of the skirting board, for example under kitchen cupboards.

[0015] In such cases, the special slots 2 of the skirting board 1 are applied vertically as outlined in FIG 5 and these slots are closed at the bottom so that the metal plates 3 cannot fall out of the slots. Optionally, in order to prevent bending of a long skirting board, the fixing can be supplemented with a horizontal slot, for example near the top of the skirting board, if the possibility of placing one or more magnets on the cupboard is present. FIG 6 and FIG 7 show an example of this application.

[0016] In situations where it is undesirable that the special slot is visible on the sides of a skirting board, the special slot can be created with a bevelled opening on one or both sides according to the example in FIG 5, so that metal plates can still be inserted. An example of a situation to which this applies, the attachment of a picture frame, is shown in FIG 8.

[0017] The only requirement that the invention makes on the material from which a skirting board is made is that it is strong enough to handle the magnetic forces between the metal plates and the magnets, both in the mounted state and in particular when removing a skirting board.

[0018] Existing wooden frames can also be remounted according to this invention, for example if the old method of fixing is not sufficient. The special slot can easily be made with a milling cutter, provided that sufficient skirting board material having adequate strength is available. If the skirting board material is not strong enough to withstand the magnetic force, the slot can be simplified to a U-shape and the metal plates 3 can be fixed in the slot 11 by small screws 10 as shown in FIG 9. All advantages of the invention are retained in this variant.

[0019] The invention does not set restrictions on the maximum dimensions of a skirting board. The theoretical minimum length of a skirting board that can be mounted with this method is equal to the diameter of a magnet, which will not occur in practice.

[0020] Finally, it is noted that the shape of the magnets is preferably round, but that other shapes, for example rectangular, will not be excluded. However, round magnets with a centred and countersunk screw hole have the great advantage that the orientation is always optimal.

Description of the drawings

[0021] 

FIG 1 is a side view of a skirting board mounted horizontally against a wall. The various elements in this drawing are:

1. A skirting board;

2. A specially shaped slot in the skirting board;

3. A metal plate;

4. A round magnet;

5. A countersunk screw for securing the magnet to the wall;

6. The vertical clearance for positioning magnets and for the vertical position of the skirting board in relation to the floor;

7. A wall shown for illustrative purposes only and not part of the invention;

8. A floor shown for illustrative purposes only and not part of the invention;

9. A partially chamfered rear side.

FIG 2 shows in perspective a skirting board 1 to be mounted provided with a chamfered back side and with two metal plates 3 in the specially shaped slot 2, and a wall 7 with two round magnets 4 fixed to this wall by means of screws 5. A floor 8 has been depicted as well for completeness.

FIG 3 is identical in content to FIG 2 but emphasizes the horizontal movement when fixing a skirting board 1, as well as the relationship between the position of the magnets 4 and the metal plates 3.

FIG 4 shows by dotted line 12 the ideal position of the magnets 4 with respect to the metal plates 3 in the special slot 2. By making the special slot and the metal plates in skirting board 1 wider than the diameter of the magnets, tolerance 6 originates for differences between the vertical positions of the magnets.

FIG 5 shows an application in which a skirting board 1 is provided with three special slots 2. Two of these slots are closed at the bottom and positioned vertically. The third slot is a horizontal slot that does not extend to the sides of the skirting board as is the case in FIG 2, FIG 3 and FIG 5, but is so-called "blind", which means that this slot is not visible from the sides of the skirting board. This horizontal slot has at least one bevelled side, such that a metal plate 3 can be pushed into the slot 2.

FIG 6 shows an example of a kitchen cupboard which is, by means of magnets 4 and countersunk fixing screws, prepared for mounting a skirting board 5 as shown in FIG 5.

FIG 7 shows an example of the cupboard as shown in FIG 6 with mounted skirting board 1 as shown in FIG 5. Through the use of the mounted magnets 4 and metal plates 3 in the special slots 2, the mounted skirting board can, if necessary, easily be removed manually and reattached.

FIG 8 shows an application example where the back of a photo frame 1 is provided with a "blind" slot 2 and metal plate 3. The added cross section A-A shows the position of the slot and the metal plate in the photo frame.

FIG 9 shows an alternative metal plate fastening method in situations where not enough frame material of sufficient strength is present. The metal plates 3 are fixed by means of screws 10 in the simplified slot 11.

FIG 10 indicates how to manually remove a skirting board 1 by pressing against the bottom of the skirting board.

FIG 11 shows a close-up of a metal plate with a small tab for easy removal of a skirting board with vertical slots.

FIG 12 is a copy of images from publication JPH04360957A, added only to illustrate the prior art.

FIG 13 is a copy of images from publication RU2190738C2, added only to illustrate the prior art.

FIG 14 is a copy of images from publication US4845910A, added only to illustrate the prior art.

Industrial applicability

[0022] The invention does not require new techniques or production methods to produce the frames, metal plates and magnets. Depending on the material, the special slot can be easily made with a milling cutter during the manufacture of frames, or, for example when using extrusion technology, be part of the frame profile to be produced.

[0023] The metal plates can easily be made of thin plate material. Also, as an alternative to such simple metal plates, magnetic strips are available for applications of this invention whereby additional magnetic force is desired.

[0024] Round and rectangular magnets of sufficient magnetic strength and with countersunk screw holes are available as standard product in various sizes and magnetic strengths, so that very thin as well as thick skirting boards can be mounted using the methods described.

[0025] The invention does not impose any requirements on a frame other than the special slot and, depending on the profile, a chamfered back to facilitate removal. This limited set of requirements implies that existing skirting board designs with other properties, such as a bottom side with flexible material for optimal connection to the floor, can be enhanced by adding the features of this invention to the existing design without their properties getting lost.

[0026] Due to the simple assembly, which does not require expensive tools, and the low cost of the mounting components, the invention is not only suitable for professional applications, but also very suitable for do-it-yourselfers. Frames with the special slot can be supplied as a product; sets with, for example, 10 pieces of metal plates and magnets can also be supplied as a product.

References

Internal

[0027] 

1. Skirting board or frame: FIG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10;

2. Special slot: FIG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9;

3. Metal plate: FIG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10;

4. Magnet: FIG 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10;

5. Fixing screw for magnet: FIG 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9;

6. Vertical tolerance when mounting magnets: FIG 1, 4;

7. Wall: FIG 1, 2, 3, 9 and 10;

8. Floor: FIG 1, 2, 3, 9 and 10;

9. Chamfered rear for disassembly: FIG 1, 2, 3 and 10;

10. Screw for fixing metal plate: FIG 9;

11. U-shaped slot: FIG 9;

12. Ideal vertical mounting position of magnets: FIG 4.

External

[0028] 

REF 1. JP13391791A (Skirting board, TSUKAMOTO KAZUO; YASUOKA HIROTO) 1991-06-05, Drawings;

REF 2. RU2000106975A (Skirting board, VAS KIN I A) 2000-03-21, Drawings;

REF 3. US4845910A (Baseboard molding strip and method of installing same, Dennis B. Hanson, Wendell T. DeLoach) 1989-07-11, Drawings. https://mijnzakelijk.belastingdienst.nl/GTService/inloggen.htm

Claims

1. A mounting system consisting of a frame characterized by a specially shaped slot on the back side, a set of magnets with a countersunk screw hole with matching screws and a set of plates of magnetizable or magnetized metal.

2. A method of fixing frames, shaped according to claim 1, that uses magnetism to easily mount such frames at the desired spot, whereby it is also possible to manually remove and put back a frame mounted in this manner without risk of damaging the frame, the surface on or against which it is attached, or any other component of the mounting system according to claim 1.

3. A method for simplifying the mounting of frames according to claim 1 by reducing the requirements for accurate positioning of mounting components when applying the mounting method according to claim 2.

4. A method of manually removing a frame according to claim 1 that is mounted according to claim 2.

Drawing