Abstract:
A picture frame with a smooth and flush back side is presented in this application, where the intended art piece will be held in place by a foam padding, and a back panel will be placed into a concave rectangular area, pressing the foam padding and art piece snugly in place, with the resulting back side surface being a nice and smooth surface.

Description:
CLAIM FOR FOREIGN PRIORITY 
       [0001]    The present invention claims the foreign priority of a Chinese application, number 201020540198.X, having priority date of Sep. 25, 2010. 
       FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to an improved design and construction of picture frame. 
         [0003]    Picture frames available on the market today generally have structural features that only show the “nice” looking side on the front. There is no design feature about the back side of a picture frame. 
         [0004]    Mostly commonly found picture frames today come with a simple back panel assembly mechanism, where a big gaping square hole (after putting in the intended art piece) is filled in by a panel piece, and some number of fold-in (metal) tabs are then pushed in (folded in) to keep the panel and art work in place. 
         [0005]    The result of such crude back side picture frame is that there is some inherent danger to human handling, due to the uneven surface of the back panel assembly and the existence of the fold-in tabs. 
         [0006]    Also, the back side does not have a nice and smooth surface feature and is unappealing. Wall surfaces tend to have more scratches and scrapes by the use of these traditional type of picture frame with the back side described above. 
         [0007]    Present invention provides for a new type of back panel assembly mechanism that is both visually appealing and smooth and easy to handle. 
       OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Present invention provides picture frame structure, where the intended art piece is held in place by a foam padding, covered with a back panel that is flush with the outside raised ring of the back side of the picture frame, resulting in a visually appealing back side of a picture frame that is safe to handle and less likely to scratch and scrape wall surfaces. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
           [0010]    A brief description of the drawings is as follows: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  shows the front side view of a picture frame made pursuant to the teaching of present application. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  shows the back side view of a picture frame, with string and back panel fully assembled, made pursuant to the teaching of present application. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  shows the side profile view of a picture frame of present application, with viewing angle indicated by the A-A bracket line (noted in  FIG. 2 ), in a 90-degree rotated manner. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  shows the back side view of a picture frame, without foam padding and back panel in place. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  shows the image of a single frame strip  4 , with the raised step  42  on the outside edge and inside step  41  on the inside edge, pursuant to the teaching of present application. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  shows the profile view of a single frame strip  4 , with viewing angle indicated by the B-B bracket line (noted in  FIG. 5 ) showing the raised step  42  and the inside step  41 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0017]    The picture frame  1  of present invention is made up of four (4) frame strips  4 , joined together at 90-degree angle with respect to any of two neighboring frame strips, and forming the main frame shape. 
         [0018]    A back panel  3  and a form padding  5  work together to wedge the intended art piece  2  in place, when the back panel  3  is affixed to the back side of said picture frame  1 . 
         [0019]    Reference  FIG. 1 . 
         [0020]    On each of the frame strip  4 , an inside step  41  is formed and an outside raised step  42  is formed, as shown in  FIGS. 5 &amp; 6 . As such, when four frame strips  4  are joined together (90-degree between any two frame strips  4 ), a rectangular raised ring  10  is formed by the raised steps  42  on the outside edge of the frame strip  4 . 
         [0021]    The rectangular concave area formed by joining the inside step  41 , see  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 6 , is for placing the art piece  2  into the picture frame  1 . 
         [0022]    Foam padding  5  will be sized to fit the same rectangular concave area formed by the multiple inside steps  41 , when four frame strips  4  are joined. A back panel  3  is then placed over said foam padding  5 , and forming a flush fit within the area defined by the rectangular raised ring  10 . 
         [0023]    Note that in actual implementation, the height of the inside step  41  can have several pre-set figures, such as 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 up to 1 cm, with corresponding foam padding having varying thickness of 1 cm, 0.9, 0.8 down to 0.3 cm, so that the art piece  2  can run as thin a single sheet of paper, or with added thickness with the addition of mattings of various thickness, resulting in the placement of foam padding  5  on to the art piece  2  to form a generally flat rectangular surface inside the rectangular raised ring  10 , for receiving the back panel  3 . 
         [0024]    Note also that the art piece  2  envisioned herein can further have a transparent layer on the outside (user-viewing side) made up of materials such as glass, think plastic film, plexiglass, or other transparent protective layer. The combined thickness, with the added transparent layer, should be taken into consideration for purpose of adding on the different foam padding  5  thickness, and to have an ultimate generally flat surface after the back pane  31  is put in. 
         [0025]    Note also that the nature of foam padding  5  is that it will be puffed up a little in the flat concave area surrounded by the raised steps  41 , due to the inherent cushiness feature of foam material. As such, when placing the back panel  3  on to the foam padding  5 , the art piece  2  and the foam padding  5  will have a nice snuggly fit into the picture frame  1 . 
         [0026]    When joining the four frame strip  4 , flat staples  51  can be used to quickly connect two adjoining strips  4  together. Alternatively, common wood glue can also be used to join all four frame strips. 
         [0027]    When placing the back panel  3  on the back side of picture frame  1 , similar type of flat staples  52  can be used to quickly set the back panel  3  in place, against the back side of foam padding  5 , and presenting a nice and flush back surface of the picture frame  1 , as taught by present application. 
         [0028]    Two holes  32  are formed on back panel  3 , having a string  9  going through the holes, for purpose of hanging assembled picture frame  1 . Due to the cushy nature of foam padding  5 , knots  90  will be pressed against the surface of foam padding  5  when the back panel  3  is placed upon it and form a nice and flush assembled back side of a picture frame, with a string  9  ready for hanging. 
         [0029]    The thickness of back panel  3  will be substantially the same height as that of raised step  42  (forming the raised ring  10  when the  4  sides are joined). 
         [0030]    Consequently, the back side of a fully assembled pictured pursuant to the teaching of present application will be nice and smooth and visually pleasing.