Vinyl over substrate rail construction
OwnerWilliam McGinness, Maurice Coeninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rail structure for use as a handrail or as part of a fence or guardrail construction. The rail has a rigid channel shaped support member and upper and lower rail caps to enclose the support member with a durable decorative appearance. The upper and lower rail caps are snap fit to the support member and engage with a plurality of flanges extending from the surface of the support member. When utilized in a fence or guardrail construction, a plurality of spindles are received through a series of spaced apart apertures defined in opposing rail caps with the ends of the spindles further received in the support member channel.
Claims20
A rail comprising:
- an elongate rigid support member;
- an upper rail cap removably:
- attached to and enclosing a substantial portion of the support member;
- and a lower rail cap removably attached to and enclosing a remaining portion of the support member;
- a. said support member comprising a cross piece interconnecting opposed extensions, the cross piece and extensions defining a channel, and a plurality of flanges extending outwardly from the extensions;
- b. the upper rail cap comprising an intermediate portion and a plurality of legs extending downwardly from the intermediate portion, shaped flanges extending inwardly of the legs towards a center line of the upper rail cap, the shaped flanges disposed for interlocking engagement with at least one of the support member flanges;
- and
- c. the lower rail cap comprising an inner portion and hook shaped portions extending from the ends of the inner portion and turned inwardly towards a center line of the inner portion, the hook shaped portions disposed for interlocking engagement with said support member flanges.
The rail of claim 9, wherein said cross piece further defines a secondary channel having a width less than that of a primary channel.
A structure comprising a first rail, a second rail opposed to the first rail and a plurality of spindles interposed and spaced apart between the first rail and the second rail, the first rail and the second being generally horizontally disposed and the spindles being generally vertically disposed;
- wherein the first rail and the second rail each have an inwardly facing surface, an elongate rigid support member having vertical extensions interconnected by a cross piece with the extensions and the cross piece defining a primary channel opening towards the inwardly facing surface, a plurality of flanges extend outwardly from the extensions;
- a first rail cap and a second rail cap interlockingly attached to said flanges and substantially enclose the support member.
A method of forming a rail comprising:
- a. forming a support member;
- b. forming a first rail cap;
- c. forming a second rail cap;
- d. snap fitting the first rail cap and the second rail cap to the support member to substantially enclose the support member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.