Abstract:
A wall guard for use around wall corners is disclosed in which the wall guard includes a pair of retainers are flexibly mounted to one another. The retainers are coupled to one another by way of an adhesive tape material that extends over the back sides of the retainers. A cover is secured to the pair of retainers for absorbing impacts from passing traffic to thereby protect the corner of the wall against wear and tear.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to door and wall protection structures, and, more particularly, to a corner guard for accommodating a number of different corner configurations. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is often desirable to provide wall and door mounted structures for protecting the door and wall from general wear and tear often associated with high traffic areas. For instance, such structures are commonly used in school, hospital, nursing home, and other such settings where there is a large amount of pedestrian traffic such that the walls and doors experience a relatively high amount of wear and tear as compared to less trafficked areas. Further, such locations commonly involve the movement of relatively large equipment in and out of hallways and doors such that the doors and walls experience further wear and tear in connection with the movement of such equipment. For example, in hospitals, patient beds, gurneys, wheel chairs, mobile imaging equipment and the like are often moved from one place to another and in doing so often unintentionally impacts the walls and doors by which they travel. Accordingly, these locations often employ wall and door guards and other such protection structures to guard against the wear and tear often associated with these uses. 
     One such type of wall guard is a corner guard. Corner guards are employed around the corners of walls to absorb the impact from traffic around the corners. Corners are particularly susceptible to damage from traffic traveling therearound because it is often difficult to navigate corners with large equipment and the like. Accordingly, it is increasingly common for facilities to employ the use of corner guards around corners in high traffic errors to protect the corners of the walls as well as those areas immediately adjacent. One disadvantage of known corner guards is that they are not readily adjustable to accommodate a number of different corner configurations. Thus, makers of such corner guards often have to custom make corner guards to accommodate the particular needs of the facility in which the guards are to be installed. This increases the cost associated with the production and installation of the costs and requires. The process of custom making the corner guards can take several weeks to complete and thus it is impractical to simply produce the corner guards on an as-needed basis. Thus, the makers of the corner guards must store a large number of differently configured corner guards to accommodate the needs of various customers. 
     It is therefore desired to provide a corner guard that does not suffer from the foregoing disadvantages. It is further desired to provide a corner guard that is relatively durable and inexpensive to manufacture. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the invention, a two-piece corner guard is provided. The corner guard of the invention includes a pair of retainer wings coupled to one another by way of a durable tape or other such adhesive or fastener. The tape is provided on the back of each of the retainer wings and is relatively flexible such that the wings may be folded out to accommodate a plurality of different corner angles. A cover is configured to receive the retainers in channels defined along edges thereof to provide a relatively impact absorbent surface about the corner of the wall. In this way, the corner and surrounding wall portions are protected from impacts caused by traffic travelling around the corner. 
     The retainer wings preferably include a distally formed flange portion configured to cooperate with the edges of the cover and to be received in the channel thereof. In this manner, the retainer wings are selectively slidably insertable into the cover. 
     The retainer wings are preferably constructed from a relatively durable material adapted for coupling to a wall surface such as aluminum or another such similar material. The cover is preferably constructed from an impact resistance material such as a plastic or the like. In an embodiment of the invention, the plastic material is vinyl. 
     The retainer wings are preferably adjustable with respect to one another by bending the retainer wings with respect to one another. In this manner, the retainer wings are capable of selective adjustment between approximately 67 and 158 degrees. Accordingly, in construction of the corner guard of the invention, only one size retainer wing need be made to accommodate corners having a variety of configurations. Instead, after construction thereof, the retainer wings are simply bent to accommodate the desired corner angle thereby saving on manufacturing costs and providing a highly configurable corner guard capable of use in a wide number of locations. 
     Numerous other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a partial isometric view of a corner guard of the invention attached to a corner of a wall; 
         FIG. 2  is an isometric view of the corner guard of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a partial exploded view of the corner guard of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross section view of the corner of the wall with the corner guard of  FIG. 1  mounted thereto; and 
         FIG. 5  is a cross section view of the corner guard of  FIG. 1  mounted to the corner of the wall. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the Drawings,  FIGS. 1-5 , a corner guard  10  according to the present invention is illustrated. The corner guard  10  is mounted around a corner  12  of a wall  14 . Corner guard  10  comprises a first retainer wing  16  and a second retainer wing  18  adjustably coupled to one another. The retainer wings  16  and  18  are preferably constructed from a relatively durable but pliable material such as aluminum. Other materials having similar characteristics may be used in practicing the invention as is readily understood. Wings  16  and  18  comprise identical shapes and the description of one of wings  16  and  18  is equally applicable to the other of the wings  16  and  18 . Wings  16  and  18  include a proximal end  20  and a distal end  22  in which the proximal end  20  is to be positioned at or near the corner  12 , and the distal end  22  is to be positioned opposite the corner  12  along one of the adjacent surfaces  14   a ,  14   b  of wall  14 . Distal ends  22  of wings  16  and  18  include a flange  24  integrally formed with wings  16  and  18  and extending horizontally away from the wall  14  to define an area of attachment for a cover  26  as will be described in detail. The remainder of wings  16  and  18  is generally planar and abuts directly against wall  14  to define a flush point of attachment about corner  12 . Wings  16  and  18  further include one or more apertures  28  through the planar surfaces of wings  16  and  18 . Apertures  28  are configured for receiving a fastener  30  such as a self-tapping screw or other similar such fastener  30 . Fasteners  30  are inserted through apertures  28  and into wall  14  for securing the wings  16  and  18  in place. A washer  32  or other spacing member may be provided between the head  34  of fastener  30  and wall  14  for preventing the head  34  of fastener  30  from directly abutting wall  14  so as to distribute the load applied to the corner guard  10  and to prevent the head from embedding into the wall  14  or pulling through the wall  14  as is readily understood. 
     Wings  16  and  18  are coupled to one another by way of an adhesive  36  applied to each of the back surfaces of the wings  16  and  18 . Adhesive  36  is a relatively thin layer of tape adapted to flexible couple wings  16  and  18  to one another. Adhesive  36  may comprise MP-20 pressure sensitive adhesive or a similar such adhesive. Preferably, the adhesive  36  is MACTAC Tape, and in particular, BP2003 MACTAC Tape as is generally known in the art. Adhesive  36  extends from one of wings  16  and  18  to the other of wings  16  and  18  and adheres to the adhesive  36  disposed on the other of the wings  16  and  18 . In this manner, wings  16  and  18  are flexibly coupled to one another 100 such that they may be folded to accommodate a plurality of different angles. Preferably, the wings  16  and  18  are capable of being folded with respect to one another to accommodate wall angles of between 67.5 degrees and 157.5 degrees as demonstrated by arrow  38 . Accordingly, corner guard  10  of the invention is able to accommodate a large number of different corner configurations with little adjustment thereto. In this manner, the cost of production and installation are substantially  105  decreased as compared to prior designs in which the corner guards are custom formed to accommodate a given corner angle. 
     Cover  26  is constructed from vinyl or a similar such material that is substantially durable and is capable of withstanding a significant amount of impact from traffic passing around corner  12 . Corner  26  comprises a unitary structure that is includes a pair of elongate segments  40  and a central segment  42  positioned between the two elongate segments  40 . Central segment  42  is rounded so as to conform to the corner  12  of wall  14  as is readily understood. Each of segments  40  includes a hooked end  44  for coupling to flange  24  of wings  16  and  18 . In this manner, cover  26  is easily secured to wings  16  and  18  for the purpose of creating a substantially durable corner guard  10  according to the invention. 
     A top member  46  is coupled to an upper edge of the retainer wings  16 ,  18  by way of a pair of screws  48 . Top member  46  includes a pair of corresponding holes  50  through which the screws  48  are received to thereby couple the top member  46  to a pair of corresponding retainer holes  52 . Top member cooperates with cover  26  to overhand cover  26  by a predetermined amount to thereby provide a flush appearance between the corner guard  10  and wall  14 . In this manner, the internal structure of corner guard  10  is not visible from the outside thereof, thereby providing an aesthetically pleasing structure while preventing the internal structure from being tampered with or otherwise affected. Top member  46  may include a pair of downwardly extending tabs  54 , which carry holes  50  thereon to facilitate coupling of the top member  46  to the retainers  16 ,  18 . Tabs  54  are sized and shaped to be received between the front sides of the retainers  16 ,  18  and the back side  125  of cover  26  such that the retainers  16 ,  18  are slidingly received within the hooks  44  of the covers as is readily understood. 
     Various alternatives are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.