Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – In situ attached-type channel or trim strip – With separate means attaching to substructure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-23
2003-09-30
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3637)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
In situ attached-type channel or trim strip
With separate means attaching to substructure
C052S288100, C052S717050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06625950
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For about twenty-five years, Construction Specialties, Inc. (“CSI”), the assignee of the present invention, has marketed a line of wall protection products under the trademark ACROVYN®. The ACROVYN® line currently includes handrails, bumper guards, crash rails, corner guards and feature rails that are mounted on building walls, particularly in building areas where impacts from objects moving about are likely to occur, and protect the walls from impacts. ACROVYN® wall protection products are widely used in, for example, hospitals and nursing homes where equipment carts, food carts, wheelchairs, litters and other moving things are ubiquitous. Handrails in such settings also provide the needed support for infirm persons moving about. Products similar to those of the ACROVYN® line are available from several sources.
CSI's ACROVYN® wall protection products and similar handrails, bumper guards, crash rails, corner guards and feature rails generally consist of either continuous extruded aluminum or rigid plastic retainers or spaced-apart mounting clips, which are suitably attached to the wall, and covers of an impact-resistant polymeric material in extruded profile form, such as polyvinyl chloride blended with a small amount of an acrylic polymer, which are attached to the retainers or clips. The retainers or clips support the covers on the wall and, in the case of most continuous retainers, provide strength and rigidity; the covers conceal the retainers or clips, provide a good-looking, durable surface, protect walls from impact, are resistant to marring and breaking, are easy to keep clean, and provide architects and designers with an aesthetically versatile system of wall protection devices that comes in many colors, textures and styles. Should the covers be damaged, they can easily be removed from the retainers or clips and replaced. Color coding of wall protectors can provide guidance for occupants, visitors and patients in medical-care and other settings. Handrails, bumper guards, crash rails, corner guards, and feature rails having elongated retainers or clips that support covers of a polymeric material are referred to hereinafter as “wall protectors”; the retainers or clips of wall protectors are referred to as “retainers”; and the covers of polymeric material in thin web-like form mounted on the retainers are referred to as “covers.”
Universally, wherever a length of a horizontal wall protector, such as a crash rail or a handrail, that is spaced apart from the wall has an exposed end, such as at a door or other opening or at the end of a wall, an end return piece is attached to the exposed end of the protector, usually by fastening it to the retainer. Where sections of horizontal wall protectors are mounted on walls forming an outside corner, it is common to use a corner piece to join the ends of the sections. The ends of corner guards and sections of crash rails and feature rails that are mounted directly against the wall usually have end caps, which close the ends of the cover, conceal the end of the retainer, and hold the cover in position on the retainer in the longitudinal direction.
The end return pieces, corner pieces, and end caps of all wall protectors are separate from the covers, are usually solid bodies that are in most cases made by injection-molding of a polymeric material, and are externally shaped to provide a generally rounded transition between the cover of the wall protector and either the wall on which it is mounted or another cover member on another wall. In particular, end return pieces have ends that lie close to the wall surface, finish the ends of rail sections for good appearance, and close up the space between the end of the rail section and the wall so that objects that impact them do not get caught on the end of the section. Generally, they are curved so that they deflect an object that contacts them away from the wall. Corner pieces usually have an external profile that matches that of the rail so that the surface of the corner piece is flush with the surfaces of the covers of the sections joined by the corner piece. In most cases, end return pieces and corner pieces include mounting brackets for fastening them to the retainers of the wall protectors, the retainers, in turn, being configured to accept the mounting brackets. End caps are sometimes attached directly to the wall.
The use of separate end return pieces, corner pieces and end caps in wall protectors means that there is always a visible line at the intersection of the cover with the end return piece, corner piece, or end cap. It is also difficult to provide a good match between the colors and textures of the end return pieces, cover pieces or end caps and the covers, inasmuch as the methods of making the covers differ from the methods of making the end return pieces, cover pieces and end caps. The visible lines and the differences in color and texture detract from the appearance of the wall protector. The requirement for having separate end return pieces, corner pieces, and end caps involves the costs of manufacturing them, the very high costs of maintaining an inventory, and the costs of installing them, all of which, of course, contribute to the total cost of a wall protector system in a building.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide wall protectors that do not require end return pieces, corner pieces, or end caps that are separate from the covers. Another object is to reduce the number of components that have to be produced and stocked for a given style of wall protector. It is also an object of the invention to improve the appearance of wall protectors by eliminating visible lines where end return pieces, corner pieces, or end caps abut covers and also eliminating the color and texture differences resulting from the use of end return pieces, corner pieces, or end caps that are separate from the covers. Still a further object is to simplify the installation of wall protectors.
The foregoing objects are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by a wall protector that includes a retainer adapted to be attached to a building wall and having a cover retainer portion and a cover of an impact resistant thermoplastic polymeric material attached to the cover retainer portion of the retainer. The cover includes at least one substantially straight portion of substantially uniform cross section along its length and having an external face portion overlying the retainer on the opposite side of the retainer from the building wall and a transition portion that is integral with the straight portion and has an end wall that curves smoothly away from the external face portion of the straight portion from a rounded juncture with the external face portion and overlies and conceals the end of the retainer. The integral transition portion may be configured as an end cap or a wall return piece that forms a transition between the straight portion and a wall surface or as a corner piece that joins sections of wall protectors mounted on walls that intersect at a corner.
As used herein, in particular, the term “integral transition portion” means a portion of a cover that: (1) functions as an end cap by making a transition between the straight portion and the surface of a wall on which the wall protector is mounted by closing an opening that would otherwise exist at the end of the straight portion; or (2) functions as an end return piece by making a transition between the straight portion and a wall on which the wall protector is mounted and thus closing a gap that would otherwise be left at the end of the straight portion between the wall and both the cover and the retainer on which the cover is mounted; or (3) functions as a corner piece by making a transition between the straight portion and a section of a wall protector that is mounted on an adjacent, intersecting wall.
The integral transition portion of a cover member provided in accordance with the present invention has several advantages over end caps, end return pieces
Fenstermacher James G.
Shreiner Thomas A.
Wallace Maryann
Wallace Richard C.
Baker & Botts LLP
Construction Specialties, Inc.
Dorsey Dennis L.
Mai Lanna
Wallace Maryann
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