Room Divider Device
A room divider device is comprised of foam panels, supporting poles with extenders and hinges, horizontal tracks, and vertical joiners for creating wall to divide the floor space. The supporting poles are assembled with pole sections and extender accommodating height and slope of ceiling. The swivel hinges are allowing the dividers to be built according to variety of existing wall and ceiling configurations. The foam panels are laid down and connected with the interlocking parts of horizontal tracks and vertical joiners. The grooves on the panels fit to the extruded bars inside of tracks and maintain the position of the panels. The swivel hinges provide the options for connecting walls up to three with various angles from sixty to three hundred degrees. Two different sizes of panels are stacked alternately to build stable and strong walls.
The present invention is related to the following provisional patent application:
Application No.: 62/765,894
Filing Date: Sep. 20, 2018
Name Of Applicant: Yoobong Kim, 4434 Palomar Drive, Fallbrook, Calif. 92028
Title Of Invention: Room Divider Device
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the InventionThe present invention is comprised of long and short foam panels, horizontal long and short tracks, clips for joining the tracks, vertical joiners for joining the panels, supporting poles, hinges, and spacers between the hinges. This device is portable, easy to assemble, and disassemble based on available floor space and wall configuration.
Description of Prior ArtOver the years, many different types of room dividers such as hanging curtains, freestanding folding panels, or non-portable room divider modules have been developed. These devices are used for dividing or segmenting the existing floor spaces for the various uses.
Hanging curtain type: This type of device has no structural wall and the curtain can be misplaced unexpectedly. This results unwanted exposure of the contents inside of the curtain. This type of device does not give a true sense of wall for comfort, security, quietness, and privacy. Example of this type of room divider includes US. Pat. No. 201 2001 81 03 (Ashelin et. al.)
Freestanding folding panels: This type of device is easy to fall down to the floor due to lack of or no supporting from floor to ceiling and wasting the floor space due to chevron shape freestanding. Example of this type of room divider includes U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,632 (Goldstein et. al.)
Non-portable room divider module: These types of devices are available primarily for commercial use. In general, these types of devices are too big and costly for residential use. Some of them have too big gaps in between panels are not desirable for privacy concerns. These types of devices are anchored to floor and are not portable due to difficulty of assembling or disassembling. Examples of these types are U.S. Pat. No. 3,111,723 (Bates), U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,645 (Behr), U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,177 (Hinden), U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,435 (Lopatka), US. Pat. No. 20030163967 (Sims), U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,117 (Leiher et. al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,511,006 (Medow), German Pat. No. DE202011052302 (Kestel), and German Pat. No. DE2448424 (Korell).
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn this modern world, urban living is essential for jobs, conveniences, social life, and keeping up with changes. The population grows exponentially in the cities and more companies are to be located and expanded in urban areas for better resources and development in business nature. Availabilities of houses are getting less and less. And they are more expensive based on the simple supply and demand principles. Sharing available spaces are absolutely necessary and that is the trend for modern world today. This present invention is created for sharing the existing floor space, helping people in unaffordable housing situations, and providing comfort and privacy in mind without spending a lot of money.
In first embodiment of the present invention, the device is comprised of interlocking panels and tracks for building strong and stable walls. These interlocking parts make assembling or disassembling without tools and provide portability in urban living environment.
In second embodiment of the present invention, the combinations of different size of panels and tracks with hinges provide the flexibilities for building portable walls based on the available spaces with different shapes of floor space and walls.
In third embodiment of the present invention, the panels are made of lightweight foam materials with various options for portability, affordability, privacy, appealing appearance, and noise reduction.
In fourth embodiment of the present invention, the supporting poles from the floor to ceiling provide stability and safety in use.
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- 20 Long horizontal track
- 24 Short horizontal track
- 30 Vertical joiner
- 40 Hinge
- 46 Spacer
- 50 Clip
- 60 Long panel
- 64 Short panel
- 70 Supporting pole
- 72 Pole section
- 74 Pole base
- 76 Pole extender
- 82 Pole extender coupling nut
- 83 Pole extender bottom anchor bolt
- 85 Pole extender top anchor bolt
- 78 Pole ceiling cap
- 80 Pole riser
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Assembling procedure of the invention for building a wall six feet wide and four and half feet height as follow:
Step 1—Preparing the floor space (see
The increments of the device are eighteen inches vertically and horizontally. The floor for installing the device must be leveled and cleared from any obstructions and the location of the first pole must be identified based on the configuration of the space.
Step 2—Setting up the initial supporting pole (see
Each supporting pole 70 requires one pole base 74, two pole long sections 72, one pole extender 76, one pole ceiling cap 78, pole riser 80 (if needed, depending on the height of ceiling) and twelve hinges 40 and three spacers.
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- A. Assemble the pole base 74 to the pole section 72 by screwing clockwise the male side screw 75 of the pole base 74 into the female side screw 73 of the pole section 72.
- B. Connect one more pole section 72 to the assembly from PARA 65 A.
- C. Slide down four hinges 40 and one spacer 50 over the assembly from PARA 65 B and repeat two more times.
- D. Connect pole extender 76 to the top of assembly from PARA 65 C.
- E. Connect the pole ceiling cap 78 to the assembly from PARA 65 D. This assembly becomes the pole 70.
- F. Place the assembled pole 70 from PARA 65 E on the location determined from PARA 64 Step 1.
- G. Plumb the assembled pole 70 and tightened by rotating the coupling nut 82 counterclockwise.
For the high ceiling, the pole riser 80 can be inserted in between the pole extender 76 and the pole ceiling cap 78.
Step 3—Laying down horizontal tracks for first layer (see
Place the horizontal long track 20 along the line of future wall to be built next to the assembled pole 70 and continue connecting another horizontal long track 20 by using the clip 50. If desired, more horizontal long track 20 or horizontal short tracks 24 can be connected depending on the length of wall to be built. In order to build six feet width wall, two horizontal long tracks 20 are required or for four and half feet width wall, one horizontal short track 24 and one horizontal long track 20 are required. It is recommended that additional poles 70 should be placed every six feet. Next, turn four hinges 40 from the bottom assembled first pole 70 so that the female interlocks 42 facing to the direction of the horizontal long tracks 20 and the rest of hinges 40 facing the opposite direction of the horizontal tracks 20 laid on the floor.
Step 4—Installing panels and vertical joiners for the first level (see
Slide down the male interlock 68 of the first long panel 60 through the female side interlocks 42 of all four hinges 40. The long panel 60 should be pushed all the way down to the baseboard 28 of the horizontal long track 20. All grooves 66 on both sides of long panel 60 should be lined up with the extruded vertical bars 26 inside wall of the horizontal long track 20. Next, slide down the female interlock 32 of the vertical joiner 30 through the male interlock 68 of the long panel 60 below. In a similar manner, another long panel 60 is installed next to the vertical joiner 30.
Step 5—Installing bottom section of the second supporting pole (see
At this point, considering the number of walls up to three connections: capital letter L shape, capital letter T shape, and Straight. For this illustration, only one straight wall will be built without connecting additional walls.
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- A. Create bottom section of second pole by assembling pole base 74 and one pole section 72.
- B. Place the assembled bottom section of pole from PARA 69 A next to the end of second horizontal long track 20 on the floor.
- C. Slide down four hinges 40 through the assembled bottom section of pole and engage the female interlock 42 of all four hinges 40 with the male interlock 68 of long panel 60.
- D. Slide down one spacer 46 on the top of the hinges 40.
Step 6—The procedure to build second layer is identical to the procedure as the first layer built except using three panels (short panel 64, long panel 60, and short panel 64 in order) instead of two long panels 60 (see
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- A. Turn the second set of four hinges 40 (above the first set of bottom four hinges 40) aligning with the bottom four hinges 40 and lay down two horizontal long tracks 20 on the top of the first layer panels 60 (see
FIG. 30 ). - B. Join two horizontal long tracks 20 with two clips 50 for front and back of the tracks 20 (see
FIG. 31 ). - C. Install short panel 64, vertical joiner 30, long panel 60, vertical joiner 30, and short panel 64 in order (see
FIG. 31 ). - D. Slide down four hinges 40 and one spacer 46 on the top of the second pole 72 (see
FIG. 32 ).
- A. Turn the second set of four hinges 40 (above the first set of bottom four hinges 40) aligning with the bottom four hinges 40 and lay down two horizontal long tracks 20 on the top of the first layer panels 60 (see
Step 7—The procedure to build third level is identical to the procedure as the first layer built with two long panels 60 (see
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- A. Lay down two horizontal long tracks 20 on the top of the second layer (see
FIG. 33 ). - B. Join two horizontal long tracks 20 with the clip 50 and then turn the last four hinges on the first pole lined up with tracks 20 (see
FIG. 34 ). - C. Slid down the long panel 60, vertical joiner 30, and long panel 60 in order on the tracks below (see
FIG. 35 ).
- A. Lay down two horizontal long tracks 20 on the top of the second layer (see
Step 8—Finishing the wall (see
At the end of wall, screw down the second pole section 72 on the top of the first pole section 72. Next, slid down four hinges 40, and then one more spacer 46 on the top (see
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- A. Lay down the last two horizontal long tracks 20 joining with clip 50 on the top of third layer panels (see
FIG. 36 andFIG. 37 ). - B. Set the pole extender 76 as shortest length by turning the pole extender coupling nut 82 clockwise (
FIG. 38 ) and connect pole ceiling cap 78 (seeFIG. 39 ). - C. Measure the distance from the top of the pole section 72 to ceiling and the distance should be less than one and half feet. If the distance is more than one and half feet, add the pole riser 80 to the pole extender 76.
- D. Connect the top assembled pole section from PARA 72 B and C to top of pole section 72 (see
FIG. 40 ). - E. The entire pole must be plumbed and tighten the pole by turning pole extender nut 82 counterclockwise (see
FIG. 40 ).
- A. Lay down the last two horizontal long tracks 20 joining with clip 50 on the top of third layer panels (see
Versatility; Choices of colors and decorative faces (raised or caved) of panels are the features of this invention. And also adding openings or doors are also the feature of this invention.
The specificities contained in this invention should not be construed as limiting the scope of this invention. For example, the design of the panels including shapes, sizes, colors, and decorations is not limited to the description used above. The invention is designed for adding doors and openings at any locations if desired.
Claims
1. The hinge of this invention provides flexibility to build wall sections any angles in between sixty degree and three hundred degree.
2. The invention is portable and reusable due to the foam wall panels and the interlocking feature for easy assembling and disassembling.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 15, 2019
Publication Date: Feb 18, 2021
Inventor: Yoobong Kim (Fallbrook, CA)
Application Number: 16/542,161