Supports – Mirror or picture type – Bracket
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-07
2003-06-03
Chan, Korie (Department: 3632)
Supports
Mirror or picture type
Bracket
C248S477000, C248S495000, C248S496000, C248S498000, C248S466000, C248S475100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06572067
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improved adjustable picture hanging hook and, more particularly, to a picture hanging hook capable of allowing the vertical and/or horizontal position of an item to be hung thereon to be adjusted without having to re-mount the picture hanging hook.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A variety of picture hangers have been previously designed and sold for the purpose of hanging picture frames and other items on walls and other vertical surfaces. Standard picture hangers typically are formed pieces of metal mounted to a wall by one or more nails and that include some sort of hook on which a picture frame is supported. Typically, wire extending across the rear side of a picture frame is supported by the picture hanger's hook.
One common problem associated with such standard picture hangers is the difficult task of positioning the picture hanger on the wall at an appropriate location such that the picture to be mounted thereon is located at the exact, desired location. A picture hanger is mounted to a wall usually by a nail. Mounting a picture hanger too high or too low, or too far to the right, or too far to the left, of the desired location, even by a fraction of an inch, in turn leads to the undesirable task of remounting the picture hanger itself, this time at a different location on the wall. Such remounting is wasteful, time consuming and results in the creation of unnecessary holes in the wall. These additional, unnecessary holes are aesthetically undesirable, may result in reduced wall strength, and ultimately need to be repaired. Still further, an already mounted picture frame may later need to be remounted as a result of shifting of walls which often occurs after a newly constructed structure has settled.
In addition to standard picture hangers, a variety of hangers have been designed that attempt to overcome the above-mentioned problem of standard hangers. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,330,525, 4,611,780, and 5,605,313 disclose just a few examples of hangers designed to provide multiple positions on which a picture frame may be mounted. However, while such prior art designs attempt to simplify mounting, none provide the user with both ease of use and a range of mounting positions to enable for quick and efficient mounting of a picture frame or other item to be hung.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook (sometimes called picture hanger or, simply, hanger herein) that is easy to use and manufacture and, at the same time, overcomes the above-mentioned problem associated with standard picture books.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook that enables for the easy modification of the picture hanging position in the vertical and/or horizontal directions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a picture hanging hook that, once mounted to the wall, alleviates both the need to re-mount the picture hanging hook and alleviates any need to lengthen or shorten the wire which is attached to the frame.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an assembly for hanging picture frames and other objects to a vertical support includes a base adapted to be mounted to the vertical support, a wheel supported by the base and rotatable relative to the base, and a hook rotatably coupled to the wheel. The hook is adapted to rotate upon rotation of the wheel relative to the base, and the hook includes a hooked portion that can receive the item to be mounted thereon.
As an aspect of the invention, the hooked portion remains properly oriented to receive the item to be mounted thereon independent of the position of the wheel relative to the base.
As another aspect of the invention, the hook is disposed off-center to the front surface of the wheel.
As a further aspect of the invention, the base includes a bottom surface on which is provided a plurality of locking grooves. The wheel is disposed on a front surface of the base and includes a set of teeth disposed around the wheel's perimeter, and one of the teeth disposed on the bottom of the wheel is received by one of the locking grooves in the base.
As yet another aspect, the wheel can be raised so that none of the wheel's teeth are disposed in any of the base's locking grooves, and the wheel is longitudinally movable relative to the base when the wheel is in the raised position and the wheel can not longitudinally move relative to the base when lowered.
As a feature, the base includes an aperture that extends along the base and a stem extends from the center of the rear surface of the wheel. A holding disk is fixed to the stem, the stem extends through the aperture in the base and the holding disk is disposed behind the base. The holding disk has a diameter greater than a largest height of the aperture in the base so that the holding disk prevents the wheel from being fully separated from the base.
As another feature, the locking grooves include alternating teeth and recesses disposed along the entire bottom surface of the base, and the recesses receive the teeth disposed around the wheel.
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Howitt Robert
Kamenstein Peter
Opramolla Joseph P.
Chan Korie
Cowan Liebowitz & Latman P.C.
Kamenstein Peter
Montague Mark
Weinhold Ingrid
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