US 5,048,698 AGranted

Office accessory mounting rail

AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.

InventorKarl Konrad

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An office accessory mounting and display system is disclosed, comprising plural mounting brackets adaptable for securement to various modular office furniture systems, and an elongated, unitarily formed accessory mounting rail for securement to the mounting brackets. Tabs are provided on the mounting brackets to receive complimentary flanges provided on the rear elongated surface of the mounting rail. The rail includes elongated, upward and downward-facing hooks on which plural office accessories or supplies may be attached and displayed or viewed. The rail further includes a downwardly-facing, inverted-"U"-shaped channel which receives plural rod segments for retaining flat sheet material. When the sheet material is pressed into the U-shaped channel, the rod segments are displaced upward; when the sheet material is released, gravitational force pushes the rods down against the interior of the channel, thereby retaining the sheet material in place by frictional force. The sheet material may be removed by pulling downward on the material with force sufficient to overcome the frictional hold between the rod segments, the sheet material, and the interior of the channel.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An office accessory mounting system for articles of office furniture, the office furniture including support means for securing accessories, the mounting system including:

(a) a rail mounting bracket comprising a rectangular, planar bracket body provided with plural planar outwardly protruding rail engagement tabs, said body further including plural linearly aligned outwardly extending bracket engagement means for securing said body on said support means;
and
(b) accessory mounting means for receiving, mounting and displaying plural office articles, said mounting means comprising an elongated rail formed of plural unitarily secured members including:
(i) front and rear spaced-apart, elongated frame plates and an elongated web plate, said front end rear frame plates each having top and bottom edges and each having interior surfaces joined inwardly of said top and bottom edges by said elongated web plate;
(ii) an elongated, rearwardly facing "C"-shaped hook plate extending from said bottom edge of said rear frame plate, said hook plate having an outwardly facing exterior surface including an elongated shoulder rib;
wherein said web plate and said front and rear frame plates extending downwardly of said web plate define an elongated, downwardly facing "U"-shaped channel, wherein said elongated rail further includes:
(i) an elongated rod movably mounted in said elongated channel;
and
(ii) top and bottom downward-facing elongated hanger means for mounting said rail on said planar outwardly protruding rail engagement tabs of said rail mounting bracket.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.