Abstract:
The instant invention relates to a novel powerful wall hanger for supporting different objects. Particularly, the invention concerns a hanger that is used in gypsum board and similar walls and that&#39;s provides a stable and safe holder of variable weights.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to a wall hanger for supporting different objects. Particularly, the invention concerns a hanger that is used in gypsum board and similar walls and that provides a stable and safe holder for objects of variable weights.  
       DISCUSSION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The industry of construction has always moved toward the use of low-cost materials that can at the same time present high quality characteristics. Gypsum is one of the materials that fulfills those requirements. It is known that about 90% of the interior surfaces of buildings are covered with gypsum products. Notwithstanding its low costs and high quality characteristics, gypsum products have limited structural strength. This limits the kind of objects that can be hung on gypsum structures. Moreover, the structural composition of gypsum board walls&#39; facilitates the rupture of the walls when fasteners like screws are inserted on it. This happens because this kind of fasteners penetrate just a few inches from the wall&#39;s surface exerting, when an object is hung, all the force in a reduced area near the said surface. The result of this situation is that the weight of the hung object pulls out the fastener, causing damages to the gypsum wall structure. Other types of fasteners like those fixed to the walls with adhesive tabs, do not resolve the problem. Those fasteners do not improve the weight capacity of the wall and have the same problems that conventional fasteners have. In this case, the damage would not be a hole in the gypsum board wall like when using screws but it will be tear-outs of the wall&#39;s surface. Both types of damages affect the esthetical element of the gypsum, which, along with its low cost and high quality, makes it so attractive to contractors, architects and designers.  
         [0003]     Many of the hangers previously disclosed also comprises complicated parts and can only be used in walls of a determinate thickness. See for instance Hogg, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,485,995 and 4,509,713 and Del Pino et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,149, wherein all of the cited patents described a series of complex hangers requiring difficult installation procedures.  
         [0004]     Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a prevalent need for new and improved hanger to be installed on gypsum board and similar walls that can permit to hang heavy objects. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. The present invention overcomes the inability of the prior art to foresee the relative structural weakness of the gypsum board walls that limits the possibility of hanging heavy objects. Furthermore, the invention is designed to fix to a gypsum board walls by going through it and anchoring on the backside of the gypsum board panel. In this way, the weight of heavy objects is best distributed along the entire gypsum board panel, giving more resistance to the wall and to the device and, in consequence, allowing heavy objects to be hung. This hanger helps to diminish potential damages that gypsum board walls may suffer by increasing the surface area that absorbs the perpendicular force that heavy objects may exert on the steel handle. Furthermore, the disclosed device is unique by the simplicity of its elements and by the fast and easy installation process.  
         [0005]     None of the prior art considered above, taken either simply or in combination teaches the use of a hanger as described herein that by anchoring to the gypsum board walls backside permits users to hang heavy objects and that only requires fastening a single hole. In light of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that what is needed in the art is a steel hanger that could give the opportunity of hanging heavy objects on gypsum board or similar walls while overcoming the physical disadvantages of the fragility of the said walls.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The object of the present invention is to provide a hanger that could be used to hang heavy objects on gypsum board or similar walls.  
         [0007]     It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a hanger comprising a flat hard backing plate with an opening in its center that is a receiver of a fastening and having two elongated, stripes located at the front part of the plate and wherein the said two stripes are in parallel positions to the sides of the opening plate so as to permit to attach the hanger to gypsum board or similar walls of different width. The said hanger can be made of different materials that can allow the functioning of each part of the hanger and its particular size depends on the width of the wall wherein the said hanger will be installed. Preferably the backing plate is made of galvanized steel while the fastening is made preferably of steel.  
         [0008]     It is the object of the present invention to provide a hanger comprising of a very simple structure that is very easy to be installed on gypsum board or similar walls.  
         [0009]     Another object of this invention is to provide a hanger that can be installed on gypsum board or similar walls, even after the walls have been assembled, without using any complex installation tools.  
         [0010]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a hanger made of steel, which provides the device with better resistance to absorb the force exerted by heavy objects, avoiding the breakage of the handle and damages to the gypsum board or similar walls.  
         [0011]     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hanger that can be installed in gypsum board or similar walls in such a way that the weight of the hung object is distributed over a greater surface area than the one involved when screws or other complicated hangers are used to hang objects from gypsum board walls. Surprisingly, the instant hanger described herein and its obvious variations permit that objects weighing as much as 150 pounds can be hung on this type of walls.  
         [0012]     The present invention itself, both as to its configuration and its mode of operation will be best understood, and additional objects and advantages thereof will become apparent, by the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.  
         [0013]     When the word “invention” is used in this specification, the word “invention” includes “inventions”, that is, the plural of “invention”. By stating “invention”, the Applicant does not in any way admit that the present application does not include more the one patentable and non-obviously distinct invention and Applicant maintains that the present application may include more than one patentably and non-obviously distinct invention. The Applicant hereby asserts, that the disclosure of the present application may include more than one invention, and, in the event that there is more than one invention, that these inventions may be patentable and non-obvious one with respect to the other.  
         [0014]     Further, the purpose of the accompanying abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a front view of the back side of the backing plate.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  shows an inclined cross view of the front part of the hanger.  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  shows a front view of the wall after the hanger has been assembled but before it has been fastened.  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  shows steps to install the steel hanger on gypsum board walls. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]     Turning to the diagrams, the device of the present invention comprises a steel hanger to be installed on gypsum board or similar panels. The preferred embodiment comprises of a hanger comprising a metal plate or backing plate that has two metal sheets or stripes attached to it.  
         [0020]      FIG. 1  shows the front view of the back side of the backing plate  10  that has in its center a hanger opening  11 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  shows a cross view of the preferred embodiment where it can be appreciated how metal stripes  12  are attached to the backing plate. The stripes  12  are not connected to each other and are only connected to the plate  10  in hanger  9 . Considering as a point of reference the plate opening  11 , they are attached to each one of the sides of the said opening  11  in a parallel manner so as to define along with the plate a straight or substantially straight line having in its center the hanger opening  11 . Thus the said stripes  12  are in the order  12 - 11 - 12  with regard to the centered plate opening  11 .  
         [0022]     Metal stripes  12  have a maximum rotation angle of 180° in relation to the metal plate  10  position. The said stripes are not interconnected, thus each sheet has its own rotation. This means that each metal stripe  12  can be rotated to a different degree without affecting the positioning of the other metal stripe  12 .  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows views of the assembled hanger  9  on the wall  13  that has not been yet fastened front different positions: front, cross and back views.  
         [0024]      FIG. 3A  represents a front view of the wall  13  having the hanger  9  assembled. Notice that the extremes or final part of the stripes  12  have been bent against the surface of the wall  13  and in opposite yet parallel directions leaving the said wall compressed between the bended stripes  12  and the backing plate  10 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 3C  shows the back view of the wall  13  already assembled with the hanger  9 . Notice that the plate  10  is held tightly to the wall  13  and that the said plate is pulled toward and sustained by the stripes  12 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 3C  shows a cross section of the wall  13  assembled to hanger  9  but not already fastened. Notice that the hanger opening  11  on the plate  10  is aligned to the space between the bent stripes  12 , so as to an alignment is defined between the space between the stripes  12 , the wall opening  14  and the plate opening  11  in such a way that if a fastener, for instance a screw is engaged in the said direction it will effectively compress the wall between the hanger.  
         [0027]      FIGS. 4A-4F  show a process to install the hanger  9  on wall  13 . Initially, the hanger  9  is inserted in a previously made wall opening  14  that goes from the front side to the backside of the wall  13 . In order to facilitates the insertion, the stripes  12  can be rotated so as to together with hanger plate  10 , the whole hanger  9  looks similar to an arrow that can by push through the wall opening easily by allowing the plate  10  to be the first element of the handle to go through the wall opening  14 . In another words the stripes  12  are aligned to a 0° angle from the metal plate  10  and then the said metal plate is inserted in the wall opening.  
         [0028]     Subsequently, once the metal plate  10  is completely inserted through wall  13  as shown in  FIG. 3C  the steel plate  10  is going to be aligned parallel to the wall  13  by pulling the stripes  12  toward the user. The user shall pull toward him or her, the stripes  12  until the metal plate  10  gets tightly press against the backside of the wall  13 .  
         [0029]     When the plate  10  is tensed to the back of the surface of the wall  13  the length of the metal stripes  12  are cut off as is showed in  FIG. 3B . The size of the extremes of the said stripes is decided base upon the width of the wall. Then, as demonstrated on  FIG. 4   d , the extremes of the stripes  12  are going to be bent against the front side of the wall  13  keeping the metal plate  10  is in tight contact against the backside of the wall  13 . Notice that the wall opening  14  as well as to the space between the stripes  12  are aligned or substantially aligned in such a way that a fastening means, for instance a screw, can be inserted via the said aligned pass to compress the wall  10  and allow the hanging of the object.  
         [0030]     Indeed, in the last part of the process, a heavy object or a base to which it will be positioned can be fastened to the hanger by rotating a screw or similar fastener  15  through the space between the stripes  12  via the wall opening  14  and through the plate opening  11 .  
         [0031]     Important factors in determining the size of the hanger are the size of the object to be hung as well as the thick of the wall wherein the object would be hung. The said hanger can be installed in different directions relative o he angle formed between the wall and ground floor. Surprisingly, this device permits to hang objects weighing as much as 150 pounds.  
         [0032]     Alternatively and among other possible variations of the process, the said stripes  12  as shown in  FIG. 4C  can be inserted through a previous opening on the surface of the object to be hung, such as object  20  and then the said stripes  12  can be bent against the surface of the said object, followed by fastening through the surface of the object being hung, see for instance  FIG. 4F .  
         [0033]     The invention is not limited to the precise configuration described above. While the invention has been described as having a preferred design, it is understood that many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention after considering this specification together with the accompanying drawings. Accordingly, all such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by this invention as defined in the following claims and their legal equivalents. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses, if any, are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures.  
         [0034]     All of the patents, patent applications, and publications recited herein, and in the Declaration attached hereto, if any, are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein. All, or substantially all, the components disclosed in such patents may be used in the embodiments of the present invention, as well as equivalents thereof.  
         [0035]     The details in the patents, patent applications, and publications incorporated by reference herein may be considered to be incorporable at applicant&#39;s option, into the claims during prosecution as further limitations in the claims to patentable distinguish any amended claims from any applied prior art.