US 4,726,555 AGranted

Vertically and horizontally adjustable easel

OwnerDonald L. Andrewsinventor

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Abstract

A large floor-to-ceiling easel structure includes a horizontal track on which a pair of rollers horizontally move, supporting a horizontally movable first carriage. The first carriage includes a pair of vertical guides in which a vertically movable second carriage with a movable picture support is disposed. The second carriage is connected by a pair of cables passing over respective sets of pulleys of the first carriage to a counterweight platform on which a sufficient number of counterweights are placed to counterbalance the weight of the second carriage, picture support, and a painting canvas supported thereon. An artist then can remain seated in front of a very large painting canvas, and can, with a slight force, move the painting canvas both vertically and horizontally to position any point of the canvas immediately in front of him.

Claims14

Dependent claims

An easel comprising means for allowing an artist to easily move any area of a supported canvas directly in front of the artist, including in combination:

(a) a horizontal track and means for supporting the horizontal track in a fixed location above a support surface;
(b) a first carriage and means for supporting the first carriage on the track and allowing linear horizontal movement of the first carriage to the right of left on the track;
(c) a second carriage and means for suppoting the second carriage on the first carriage and allowing vertical movement of the second carriage upward or downward on the first carriage;
(d) means for linearly guiding vertical movement of the second carriage on the first carriage;
(e) means for supporting the canvas to be presented to the artist in fixed relationship to the second carriage;
(f) means attached to the first and second carriages for counterbalancing the weight of the second carriage, canvas supporting means, and supported canvas;
(g) means for producing a first amount of friction between the vertical movement guiding means and the second carriage that is both (1) sufficiently large to prevent unintended vertical movement of the second carriage and the canvas due to small ordinary forces applied to the canvas while it is being painted and (2) sufficiently small to allow the artist to easily raise or lower the second carriage and the canvas merely by gently urging the second carriage upward or downward;
and
(h) means for producing a second amount of friction between the horizontal track and the first carriage that is both (1) sufficiently large to prevent unintended horizontal movement of the first carriage and the canvas due to small ordinary forces applied to the canvas while it is being painted and (2) sufficiently small to allow the artist to easily move the first carriage, the second carriage, and the canvas to the right or left.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.