US3124501A

US3124501A - E wise

Info

Publication number: US3124501A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1964-03-10
Anticipated expiration: 1981-03-10

Description

March 10, 1964 G. E. WISE 3,124,501

FACING WITH MAGNET ATTACHMENT MEANS Filed July 7, 1960 INVENTOR United States Patent Ofiice 3,124,501 Patented Mar. 10, 1964 3,124,5 3 FACING WHTH MAGNET ATTAQHMENT MEANS Glenn E. Wise, 2415 I fifth Place NW Washington 7, 11C. Fiied July 7, 1963, Ser. No. 41,425

2 Claims. (Cl. 161-4) This invention relates to a facing, and, more particularly, to an ornamental facing which is designed for removable attachment to an exterior wall of a major home appliance, for example, a refrigerator or stove, or the like.

For many years, the majority of the larger or major home appliances have been constructed with steel cabinets providedwith white enameled or procelainized exterior finishes. While such finishes, when clean, lend an hygenic appearance to the appliances, their large white surfaces present a somewhat stark image to the eyes. Further, such allwhite appliances are difiicult to integrate into subtle color schemes often used in modern interior decoration.

One object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a useful and ornamental facing which may be used to cover a chosen portion of a major appliance to improve the over-all appearance of the appliance and to render the appliance more harmonious with its surroundings.

Another object of my invention is to provide an ornamental facing which may be economically manufactured, easily installed and detached, and easily maintained in a clean condition.

Other objects will be apparent from the remainder of the specification and from the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings which form a part of this specification:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation showing my facing installed upon the outside of a portion of a refrigerator door;

FIGURE 2 is a partial side elevation of the structure seen in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial plan view of the structure of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a three-dimensional view taken from the back side of my facing, and showing said facing detached from the refrigerator door; and I FIGURE 5 is an exploded view of a typical corner portion of my facing, showing how the various elements are related.

Referring now to the drawings by reference numerals, my novel ornamental facing is designated generally by 1. To illustrate one possible utilization of facing 1, I show it attached, by means to be described, to a porcelainized steel refrigerator designated generally by 2. While I show my facing attached to a refrigerator door, I do not wish to limit myself to such a support since my facing may be attached to a great variety of articles having magnet attracting surfaces, for example, stoves, kitchen cabinets, and the like. Refrigerator 2,, as is conventional, includes a cabinet body, a portion of which is shown at 3,

a door 4, hinged to the cabinet body by hinges 5 and 6,

a seal 7, bonded to the inside of the door and positioned between the door and the cabinet, and a handle 8 fixed to the front of the door 4.

My ornamental facing 1,shown alone in FIGURE 4, and shown mounted on the refrigerator in FIGURES l to 3, includes a thin, flexible panel 9, composed of a sheet of aluminum, or pressed wood, or the like. On the front of panel 9 is painted, or otherwise imposed, an artistic representation such as picture 10, or the front of panel 9 may merely be painted or otherwise coated with a pleasing color, as desired. Attached to the rear side of panel 9, along at least two parallel edges thereof, by means of glue or the like, not shown, are elongated strips of flexible, compressible rubber, or the like. In the specific embodiment shown in the drawings, four of these strips are seen at 11, 12, 13 and 14. Each of these four strips has mitered ends so as to cooperate with a next adjacent strip to form a square corner. If desired, rather than using a plurality of separate strips, I may employ one endless,

, rectangular, gasketdike strip which would be equivalent to the plural strips seen in the drawings. At intervals along the rear side of each of the strips are formed a plurality of identical notches 15 which allow the strips, and the flexible panel 9 to be easily bent to fit the contour of the appliance on which my facing is to be mounted.

Each notch 15 lies lateral to the longitudinal axis of the strip portion in which it is formed, and the notches extend a majority of theway, but not through the strip, as best seen in FIGURE 5. Between each notch 15 remains a hill 16, and in the top of at least some of these hills are formed recesses as at 17. These recesses each are provided to receive a small permanent magnet 18, the magnets being held in the recesses by means of glue, or the like, not shown. The tops of magnets ISmay be made flush with the top of the hills, or they may be made to lie slightly above, or below the top of the hills. If the tops of magnets 18 are made to lie slightly below the tops of hills 16, then the strips 17 must compress slightly before the magnets can engage a surface. In the drawings I show the magnets top faces flush with the tops of hills 16.

The magnets form the means for attaching the facing to its support. I prefer to employ magnetic means, rather than adhesive or other obviously serviceable attaching. means, so that the facing can easily be dismounted for cleaning of the facing and the appliance. Obviously, the support upon which my facing is mounted for use must be of a material, such as steel, to which a magnet is attracted.

T o employ my facing, a user merely holds it so that its rear side is closely adjacent a magnet-attracting surface, as for example, door 4 of steel refrigerator 2. The magnets, and thus the entire facing, are then attracted to the surface and the notches 15 allow the strips'and panel 9 to flex so as to conform to the contour of the doors surface. T 0 remove the facing from the refrigerator, if it is necessary only to overcome the magnets attraction to the door, either by pulling the facing outwardly from the door, or by sliding the facing laterally off of the door.

Having now set forth the structure and mode of utilization of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An ornamental facing adapted to be supported by a magnet-attracting surface comprising: a flexible normally planar panel having substantially parallel opposite faces and including a border portion coextensive with the margin-forming edge portions thereof; magnet means having portions adapted to engage said surface, said magnet means comprising a plurality of spaced magnets located along substantially the entire border portion of said panel adjacent one of said faces; and means attaching said magnet means to said one of said faces, said attaching means including elongated flexible strip means having notch means therein to increase the flexibility thereof, said strip having one side engaged with said one of said panel faces and an opposite side adapted to face said surface when said facing issupported thereon, said notch means including a plurality of spaced notches having tops which open toward said opposite side of said stripand bottoms which are located closer to said panel than said tops, each of said notches being located substantially transversely to the length of that portion of said strip in which each notch is formed, and each notch top comprising spaced opposed notch Walls which intersect with and interrupt the continuity of said opposite side of said strip, said panel being sufficiently flexible that said panel is capable of flexing from its normally planar condition to assume substantial parallelism with said surface when supported thereon in the event that said surface exhibits a contour other than flat.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said opposed notch walls converge toward the bottoms of the notches of which said opposed Walls are a part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Leppke et al. Apr. 12, 1927 Elmendorf Dec. 14, 1943 Brennan Nov. 17, 1953 Janos Oct. 1, 1957 Moskowitz Oct. 25, 1960

Claims

1. AN ORNAMENTAL FACING ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED BY A MAGNET-ATTRACTING SURFACE COMPRISING: A FLEXIBLE NORMALLY PLANAR PANEL HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL OPPOSITE FACES AND INCLUDING A BORDER PORTION COEXTENSIVE WITH THE MARGIN-FORMING EDGE PORTIONS THEREOF; MAGNET MEANS HAVING PORTIONS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID SURFACE, SAID MAGNET MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SPACED MAGNETS LOCATED ALONG SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRE BORDER PORTION OF SAID PANEL ADJACENT ONE OF SAID FACES; AND MEANS ATTACHING SAID MAGNET MEANS TO SAID ONE OF SAID FACES, AND ATTACHING MEANS INCLUDING ELONGATED FLEXIBLE STRIP MEANS HAVING NOTCH MEANS THEREIN TO INCREASE THE FLEXIBILITY THEREOF, SAID STRIP HAVING ONE SIDE ENGAGED WITH SAID ONE OF SAID PANEL FACES AND AN OPPOSITE SIDE ADAPTED TO FACE SAID SURFACE WHEN SAID FACING IS SUPPORTED THEREON, SAID NOTCH MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SPACED NOTCHES HAVING TOPS WHICH OPEN TOWARD SAID OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID STTIP AND BOTTOMS WHICH ARE LOCATED CLOSER TO SAID PANEL THAN SAID TOPS, EACH OF SAID NOTCHES BEING LOCATED SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSVERSELY TO THE LENGTH OF THAT PORTION OF SAID STRIP IN WHICH EACH NOTCH IS FORMED, AND EACH NOTCH TOP COMPRISING SPACED OPPOSED NOTCH WALLS WHICH INTERSECT WITH AN INTERRUPT THE CONTINUITY OF SAID OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID STRIP, SAID PANEL BEING SUFFICIENTLY FLEXIBLE THAT SAID PANEL IS CAPABLE OF FLEXING FROM ITS NORMALLY PLANAR CONDITION TO ASSUME SUBSTANTIAL PARALLELISM WITH SAID SURFACE WHEN SUPPORTED THEREON IN THE EVENT THAT SAID SURFACE EXHIBITS A CONTOUR OTHER THAN FLAT.