Hanging rail assembly

An elongated hanging rail assembly of the type including a rail of selected length adapted to be mounted substantially horizontally in use, said rail having spaced front and rear downwardly converging substantially rigid walls defining a longitudinal recess with an open mouth at the bottom of said rail and a wedging assembly disposed in said recess between said walls so as to grip sheet material inserted into the mouth of said recess from below;

• characterized in that the wedging assembly comprises a series of alternating wedging pieces having oversized central apertures, spacer members interposed between said wedging pieces having central apertures smaller than the oversized aperture, and a longitudinal connecting rod passing loosely through the oversize apertures in the wedging pieces and through said spacer members therebetween whereby the wedging assembly has said wedging pieces spaced from one another along the connecting rod to a predetermined maximum overall length related to the length of the connecting rod and being urged by gravity towards their lowermost gripping positions;
• and
• further characterized in that a manual release handle is secured to the connecting rod, clear of said wedging pieces, and is so made and arranged as to extend downwards and loosely through the open mouth from the recess and usable for manual lifting of the connecting rod and wedging pieces thereon from below said mouth for releasing the gripped sheet material.