The RoFrame

Abstract

The artist initiates the creative process: the viewer completes it. My invention facilitates both. Although there are numerous products that assist visual artists in the creative process with an easel that rotates, The RoFrame (TRF) can be used both in the creation of the art and, equally importantly, in the displaying of it on the walls of a gallery, business, or family home.

Description

PRIOR ART—CROSS REFERENCES

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/177,465 filed Mar. 16, 2015 with confirmation number 8249.

TRF manufacture uses off-the-shelf parts (steel turntables, extruded aluminum channels, bent aluminum plates, aluminum spacers, and aluminum interlocking hangers), a variety of hard ware (hex nuts and bolts, PEMs, hex standoffs, flat socket cap screws, socket set screws) and miscellaneous materials (felt pad, rubber tips) to construct two parts: rotaries and arms.

The rotaries are medium or small in size and can accommodate four arms that are large, medium or small in size to allow an artist to mount TRF on a canvas as small as 22 inches in length and/or width up to one as large as 60 inches. Plans are currently being developed to extend the range up to 96″ in length and/or width.

The TRF is mounted on the stretcher bars of the backside of a canvas, or onto the backside of a frame of a framed artwork, and the assembly is slid easily into a wall-mounted aluminum plate. When in place, the painting can be easily turned with the side handles so that the canvas or frame is not touched by the viewer.

FIELD

Visual arts, devices for creation (easels) and displaying on walls (frames)

There are ample devices for the creation of a painting or two-dimensional piece of art, as simple as the three legged easels and as elaborate as the rotating ones. The latter, rotatable easels offer distinct advantages to the artist in the process of creation:

• • 1) to allow ease of access to all parts of the canvas.
  • 2) to let the artist view the emerging painting sideways or upside down for the purposes of assessing symmetry, compositional balance, etc.
  • 3) to allow the artist the ability to use gravity in any direction to manipulate the liquid media

But the problem inherent in all of these devices is that once the creative process has concluded, the rotatable easels can only be used as a temporary display or demonstration tool. What if the gallery owner or art buyer wants the option of permanently hanging a painting on the wall and being able to turn it while viewing it? Turning a painting, especially an abstract one, offers many advantages:

• • 1) to allow a potential buyer or an owner to witness how, with every turn, the mood and/or meaning of a piece changes. In a sense one has, not a single painting, but several, as each turn presents a different set of relationships (of color/value/shape/texture) to discover and regard.
  • 2) to provide to viewers an insight into the artist's creative process. Art is made by a combination of deliberate acts, but also by an equally important amount of unconscious influence. Often that unconscious influence can only be seen by turning a painting in a different way than it was originally seen.
  • 3) to allow an artist to sell a painting with The RoFrame attached and give the buyer the option of displaying it any way he or she wishes, without having to attach four wires on the back to facilitate this.

There is currently nothing available to an artist for both creation of art on a rotating device and for conveniently, attractively and economically displaying it in a rotatable way on a wall afterward.

The reader is referred to the following patents or patent applications for a rotatable easel

• • 1. “360 Degree Rotatable Easel” (U.S. application Ser. No. 14/197,103)
  • 2. Patent for “Adjustable Easel for supporting a work of art” (2008) awarded to Harold Schiff
  • 3. “Adjustable Easel” (U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,892) (1977)
  • 4. “Multi-position presentation easel (U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,952 B2) (2005)
  • 5. “Paint easel and display rack assembly” (U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,705 B2) (2004)
  • 6. “Easel, especially for canvas frames (stretchers), for use in painting (U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,433 B1) (2002)
  • 7. “Rotatable easel” (U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,328 B1) 2004
  • 8. “Easel” (U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,398 A) (1975)

All of the above have different rotational apparatuses and/or clamping mechanisms than The RoFrame. All of them can function for the creation of the art, but, as the name implies, they are easels primarily.

Any adaptation for use in displaying art would neither be a functional one nor an aesthetic one as they all look like easels, not like a picture framed on the wall.

On the other hand, if having an easel will be advantageous to an artist during the creative process, most easels can be easily adapted to accept The RoFrame so that it can be used on an easel, instead of the wall, for creating a piece of artwork.

As for display devices that rotate, there seem to be only four:

• • 1. “Rotating picture frame display” (U.S. Pat. No. D719,746) (2014)
  • 2. “Levitating picture frame” (U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,329) (1997)
  • 3. “Rotatable picture frame” (U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,657) (1994)
  • 4. “Combined picture frame and support therefor” (U.S. Pat. No. D271,265) (1983)

None of the above are meant for wall mounting, and all are for small photographs or images.

THE ROFRAME: DRAWINGS

Figures: The RoFrame Parts, Assembly, and Description:

FIG. 1: Medium-Sized Rotary

• • A. Hanging Plate Assembly (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Flat Socket Cap Screw (¼″−20×½″ long)
    • b. Interlocking Hanger (6″×1 13/16″)
    • c. Aluminum female-threaded hex standoff, countersunk (½″ hex, 1″ long, ¼″−20 screw size)
    • d. Aluminum Plate (4″×4″× 1/16″ thick)
    • e. Galvanized Steel Turntable 9.12″ diameter
    • f. Pem
  • B. Rotary Stabilizing posts (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Rubber Tip (not shown)
    • b. Aluminum female-threaded hex standoff, not countersunk (½″ hex, 1″ long, ¼″−20 screw size)
    • c. Aluminum Plate (4″×4″× 1/16″ thick)
    • d. Galvanized Steel Turntable 9.12″ diameter
    • e. Pem
  • C. Bolt Assembly for attaching arms (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Nylon ins. Locknut 10-32 Std. Zinc
    • b. Aluminum Plate (7½″×7½″×⅛″ thick with central hole 5¾″ diameter)
    • c. Galvanized Steel Turntable 9.12″ diameter
    • d. Pem
  • D. Bolt Assembly for attaching arms (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Nylon ins. Locknut 10-32 Std. Zinc
    • b. Aluminum Plate (7½″×7½″×⅛″ thick with central hole 5¾″ diameter)
    • c. Pem
  • E. Interlocking Hanger
    • a. Rotary Hanging Plate (6″33 1+ 13/16″)
    • b. Wall Plate (18″×1 13/16″ with #10 screw holes drilled every 2″)
  • F. Aluminum Plate (4″×4″× 1/16″)
  • G. Aluminum Plate (7.5″×7.5″×⅛″ thick with central hole 5¾″ diameter)
  • H. Galvanized Steel Turntable 9.12″ diameter

FIG. 2: Small-sized Rotary

• • A. Hanging Plate Assembly Side 1 (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Pem
    • b. Interlocking Hanger (6″×1 13/16)
    • c. Turntable (6″ square, galvanized steel)
    • d. Hex nut
  • B. Hanging Plate Assembly Side 2 (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Hex nut
    • b. Turntable (6″ square, galvanized steel)
    • c. Interlocking Hanger (6″×1 13/16)
    • d. Pem
  • C. Bolt Assembly for Attaching Arms (Side 1) (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Pem
    • b. Turntable (6″ square, galvanized steel)
    • c. Aluminum Plate (6″×6″×⅛″ thick)
    • d. Nylon ins. Locknut
  • D. Bolt Assembly for Attaching Arms (Side 2) (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Nylon ins. Locknut
    • b. Aluminum Plate (6″×6″×⅛″ thick)
    • c. Turntable (6″ square, galvanized steel)
    • d. Pem
  • E. Interlocking Hanger
    • a. Rotary Hanging Plate (6″×1 13/16″)
    • b. Wall Plate (14″×1 13/16″ with #10 screw holes drilled every 2″)

FIG. 3: Arms (Type 1: for the Medium-sized Rotary)

• • A. Side Handle Assembly (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Hex nut
    • b. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
    • c. Aluminum Spacer (1 3/16×⅞″×⅜″ thick)
    • d. Aluminum Side Handle (Bent piece 2.5″×4″×⅛″ thick)
    • e. Flat Socket Cap Screw (¼−20×⅜″)
  • B. Arm Stabilizer/ Wall Contact
    • a. Adhesive Felt Pad (¾″ diameter) (not shown)
    • b. Hex bolt (½″)
    • c. Hex nut
    • d. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
  • C. Arm Lengthening Adjustment
    • a. Socket set Screw
    • b. Hex nut
    • c. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
    • d. Mating Hold-Down Track for Slide Insert
  • D. Mating Hold-down Track for Slide Insert with holes (and intact channel side walls)

FIG. 3: Arms (Type 2: for the Small-sized Rotary)

• • A. Side Handle Assembly (order from above plain of paper to deep below it)
    • a. Hex nut
    • b. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
    • c. Aluminum Spacer (1 3/16×⅞″×¼″ thick)
    • d. Aluminum Side Handle (Bent piece 2.5″×4″×⅛″ thick)
    • e. Flat Socket Cap Screw (¼−20×⅜″)
  • B. Arm Stabilizer/Wall Contact
    • a. Adhesive Felt Pad (¾″ diameter) (not shown)
    • b. Flat Socket Cap Screw ⅜″
    • c. Hex nut
    • d. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
  • C. Arm Lengthening Adjustment
    • a. Socket Set Screw
    • b. Hex Nut
    • c. Anodized Slide Insert for Standard ¼″ Hardware
    • d. Mating Hold-Down Track for Slide Insert
  • D. Mating Hold-down Track for Slide Insert with holes (with channel side walls removed from proximal 2 15/16″)

FIG. 4: Medium-sized Rotary and Arms Assembled

FIG. 5: Small-sized Rotary and Arms Assembled

FIG. 6: The RoFrame Attached to the Back Side of a Canvas (Photograph)

Claims

1. The RoFrame is a rotational device which can be used both in the creation of art and in the displaying of art on a wall so that it can be rotated by a person when being viewed.

2. The RoFrame has a unique turning mechanism compared to other rotatable devices for the creation of art.

3. The RoFrame has a low profiled wall-mounting mechanism which makes it an aesthetically appealing way to display art work on the wall of a home or business and to invite viewer interaction with the artwork.