MULTI PIECE CURVED MOLDINGS
The present invention is a multi piece curved molding including at least two curved sections adapted to butt together at an abutting joint. It further includes a flexible hinge for connecting the curved sections together at the joint for operably folding and unfolding the curved sections. Preferably it also includes a wafer for connecting two abutting curved sections at an abutting joint.
This application claims priority from previously filed U.S. Provisional Applications, first application, Application No. 60/647,417 filed Jan. 28, 2005, titled: FOLDABLE MOLDINGS, Applicant: Ed Vaes. Second Application, Application No. 60/594,796 filed May 6, 2005, titled: FOLDABLE MOLDINGS, Applicant: Ed Vaes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to curved moldings and more particularly relates to multi piece curved moldings, collapsible multi piece curved moldings and methods of joining curved molded sections.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION Referring now to
Currently today arched molding sections are generally manufactured in one piece.
The other prior art arch, method of making curved moldings and arches is shown as block arch 510 which is made out of a number of wood blocks 512 which are glued together at glue joints 514. Once the wood blocks have been securely glued together, an arch. is milled out of the wood block section, creating milled arch 516 shown in dashed lines in
The other type of prior art curved molding and/or arched sections which is commercially available is a rubber molding 520 shown in
Historically the difficulty with the one piece curved molding or arch construction shown in FIGS. 41 to 43 is storing and transporting the large cumbersome curved molding arch sections. In particular, breakage and damage does occur frequently in storage or transport which is undesirable. Secondly on installation, these arches have very little to no flex or give to them which makes it difficult to install them particularly if the arch way which has been pre-constructed or roughed in by previous carpenters is not perfectly matched to the arch section that has been milled.
In regard to the laminated arch 502, the laminating lines can be seen which is undesirable in natural wood type constructed curved moldings or arches.
Therefore, there is a need for a curved molding and/or arch system which can be shipped in sections and/or preferably is collapsible and can be shipped in a compact form and then placed into an extended position in which the arch is ready for installation. There is also a need for a method of attaching smaller curved sections together so that the connection of these curved sections can be accomplished at the job site thereby enabling the manufacturer to ship the curved moldings and/or arch section in smaller pieces.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the following drawings in which:
A second embodiment of the present invention is shown as Multi piece curved molding 200. Multi piece curved molding 200 includes the following major components, namely molding 202, curved sections 204, elastic hinge 206. Elastic hinge 206 in
Yet a third embodiment of the present invention, a Multi piece curved molding as shown generally as 300 includes the following major components, namely molding 302, curved sections 304, flexible top hinge 308, flexible bottom hinge 309. Molding 302 has a molding profile 310 and adjacent curved sections 304 abut each other at abutting joints 306.
The third embodiment, Multi piece curved molding 300 is shown in the extended position 350 in
The third embodiment, namely Multi piece curved molding 300 is shown in the completely accordion folded position 356 in
A person skilled in the art will note that difficulty with producing curved moldings as shown in 102, 202 and 302 is the problem with packaging and shipping large curved molding pieces without having them damaged in transit. In order to overcome the transit and damage problem, it is desirable that one is able to fold molding 102, 202 or 302 into a box 360 as depicted in
In order to be able to fold moldings 102, 202 and 302, various solutions have been depicted and described above, including using flexible hinge 108 shown in the first embodiment using the elastic hinges 206 as shown in the second embodiment and/or using top and bottom flexible hinges 308 and 309 as shown in the third embodiment. In this manner by simply pivoting or folding adjacent curved sections 104, 204 or 304 onto each other, one is able to reduce the size of the curve molding for shipping purposes.
The recipient of the package will receive molding 102, 202 or 302 in the folded position 120, outside folded position 220 or accordion folded position 356 and the end user simply needs to unfold the folded curved sections into the extended positions wherein the curved sections abut each other at the abutting joints as depicted in
Flexible hinges allow one to fold adjacent curved sections so that they fold onto each others backside 114 as depicted in
A person skilled in the art will note that there are other variations which are possible, including hinges which in fact have the more traditional hinge pin type hinge arrangement which are generally found on doors, wherein it likely would be necessary to recess the hinge into the back or the bottom surface 114 of the molding in order to ensure that the hinge itself does not get in the way of the installation of the molding 102.
It has been contemplated by the inventors that the flexible hinge 108 and/or the elastic hinge 206 would be extremely thin and not have any material effect upon the installation of the molding 102.
Multi piece curved molding 100 are shown as molding 102 could be used for any application requiring a curved molding including, for cap molding or casing around circular windows having radius of different types.
The fourth, embodiment is used in the same manner as described above for embodiments one, two and three. The major differences between the fourth embodiment with the previously described embodiments is the method of hinging.
In the fourth embodiment flexible hinge 408 includes a left member 464 and a right member 462 which are connected at a hinge portion 460 as preferably shown in
In order to save space and to avoid damage of multi piece curved moldings 400, the multi piece curved moldings 400 are folded as depicted in the various drawings to minimize packaging space and also to minimize damage in transit.
Shown in
Referring now to
Hinged pocket 702 includes pocket side 720, a pocket back 722 and a pocket bottom 724. The adhesive bottom layer 706 is attached to pocket bottom 724 providing for an adhesive bonding between the right member 701 or the left member 703 and curved sections 707. Hinge pocket 702 is dimensioned in such a fashion that flexible hinge 408 and/or multilayered hinge 700 is recessed into the backside 714 of curved section 706. Each curved section 707 has a profile 712, a front side 710 and a back side 714.
In this manner a kit can be shipped which can be partially unfolded and partially connected together with wafers and flexible hinges and/or multi layered hinges.
It should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.
Claims
1. A collapsible multi piece curved molding comprising; at least two curved sections adapted to butt together at an abutting joint to form a contiguous curved molding;
- and a means for hinging together the curved sections such that the curved sections are operably foldable between a folded position and an extended position.
2. The collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 1 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge joined to the curved sections proximate abutting ends for joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
3. The collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 1 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge including a left member, a right member and a hinge portion, such that the left member adapted to be received in one hinge pocket and the right member adapted to be received in a second hinge pocket defined in the abutting curved sections, wherein the flexible hinge for joining abutting curved sections at the abutting joint.
4. The collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 3 wherein the hinge including a one piece rigid plastic construction having a left member, a right member and a hinge portion such that the left member adapted to be received in one hinge pocket and the right member adapted to be received in a second hinge pocket defined in the abutting curved section.
5. The collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the hinge including a multi layered hinge wherein the left and right members including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible foam intermediate layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the hinge pocket thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
6. The multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 1 wherein the connecting means including at least one elastic hinge joined to the curved sections proximate the abutting ends wherein the elastic hinge for operably folding and unfolding the curved sections selectively into an inside folded position or an outside folded position or an extended position.
7. A multi piece curved molding comprising at least two curved sections adapted to butt together at a joint to form a contiguous curved molding; and a means for connecting together the curved sections.
8. The multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 7 wherein the connecting means including at least one planar wafer, such that portions of the wafer are joined to each of the curved sections proximate abutting ends, the wafer for operably joining the curved sections such that they abut together at the abutting joint.
9. The multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 8 wherein substantially one half of the wafer is received within a recessed wafer pocket of one curved section and the other half of the wafer is received in a recessed wafer pocket of the abutting curved section thereby operably joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
10. The multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 8 or 9 wherein the wafer including a one piece rigid plastic construction.
11. The multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 8 and 9 wherein the wafer including a multi layered wafer including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible intermediate foam layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the wafer pocket thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
12. A partially collapsible multi piece curved molding comprising; at least three curved sections adapted to butt together at abutting joints to form a contiguous curved molding; a means for hinging together at least two curved sections such that the curved sections are operably foldable between a folded position and an extended position; a means for connecting together at least two of the curved sections.
13. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 12 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge joined to the curved sections proximate abutting ends for joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
14. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 13 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge including a left member, a right member and a hinge portion, such that the left member adapted to be received in one hinge pocket and the right member adapted to be received in a second hinge pocket defined in the abutting curved section, wherein the flexible hinge for joining abutting curved sections at the abutting joint.
15. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 12 further including a connecting means for connecting together curved sections, the connecting means including at least one planar wafer, such that the wafer being joined to each of the curved sections proximate abutting ends, the wafer for operably joining the curved sections such that they abut together at the abutting joint.
16. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 15 wherein substantially one half of the wafer is received within a recessed wafer pocket of one curved section and the other half of the wafer is received in a recessed wafer pocket of the abutting curved section thereby operably joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
17. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 16 wherein the hinge including a multi layered hinge wherein the left and right members including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible foam intermediate layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the hinge pocket thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
18. The partially collapsible multi piece curved molding claimed in claim 17 wherein the wafer including a multi layered wafer including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible intermediate foam layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the wafer pocket thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
19. A kit including parts for assembling a multi piece curved molding, the kit including; a plurality of curved sections adapted to butt together at abutting joints to form a contiguous curved section; and a means for hinging together the curved sections such that the curved sections are operably foldable between a folded position and an extended position.
20. A kit including parts for assembling a multi piece curved molding, the kit including; a plurality of curved sections adapted to butt together at abutting joints to form a contiguous curved section; and means for connecting together the curved sections proximate abutting ends.
21. The kit claimed in claim 20 further including a means for hinging together the curved sections such that the curved sections are operably foldable between a folded position and an extended position.
22. The kit claimed in claim 21 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge joined to the curved sections proximate abutting ends for joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
23. The kit claimed in claim 21 wherein the hinging means including at least one flexible hinge including a left member, a right member and a hinge portion, such that the left member adapted to be received in one hinge pocket and the right member adapted to be received in a second hinge pocket defined in the abutting curved section, wherein the flexible hinge for joining abutting curved sections at the abutting joint.
24. The kit claimed in claim 23 wherein the hinge including a multi layered hinge wherein the left and right members including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible foam intermediate layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the hinge pocket thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
25. The kit claimed in claim 20 wherein the connecting means including at least one planar wafer, such that portions of the wafer are joined to each of the curved sections proximate abutting ends, the wafer for operably joining the curved sections such that they abut together at the abutting joint.
26. The kit claimed in claim 25 wherein substantially one half of the wafer is received within a recessed wafer pocket of one curved section and the other half of the wafer is received in a recessed wafer pocket of the abutting curved section thereby operably joining the curved sections at the abutting joint.
27. The kit claimed in claim 26 wherein the wafer including a multi layered wafer including a rigid plastic top layer, a flexible intermediate foam layer and an adhesive bottom layer such that the adhesive layer makes contact with the wafer pocket bottom thereby adhesively connecting the hinge to the curved section.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 23, 2006
Publication Date: Oct 11, 2007
Inventor: Ed Vaes (Hamilton)
Application Number: 11/307,081
International Classification: E04B 2/00 (20060101);