Door hanging aid

A collapsible frame is used as a door hanging aid and provides for two articulating U shaped channel members respectively hinged at proximate ends, one to the other together with one of the arms, which moves into a vertical orthogonal position relative to the other arm, which rests on the floor and the vertical arms support two lateral inclined members which stabilizes the unit in a vertical position. The vertical arm also has means to vary the effective width of the vertical channel of that arm so as to accommodate various thicknesses of doors and secure the door therein.

This invention relates to a jig, particularly suitable as an aid for 
altering a door. Specifically, the invention relates to a jig which 
constrains the door prior to it being mounted on hinges and framed, so 
that a carpenter might plane the sides and cut or plane the ends of the 
door, and mount hinges thereon in a convenient fashion and thereafter, 
hang the door in a frame which has been set to accomodate the door. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the prior art, there is no convenient device which can be picked up and 
taken from .place to place and from job to job which stabilizes a door 
adequately so that the sides of the door may be planed or that can be used 
as a convenient support structure so that the ends of the door may be 
planed. 
According to the prior art, the carpenter makes up several sawhorses and 
uses these, or other structures or jigs made out of wood so as to hold the 
door appropriately so that it can be trimmed to size. Once used, the 
wooden jigs are just thrown away and at another site, a new set of jigs is 
prepared. 
The aforesaid is time consuming and wasteful. 
I have conceived of a simple jig, preferably made from extruded aluminum or 
the like, which collapses and is conveniently carried from place to place, 
but may be open to stabilize a door into a vertical position so that the 
sides of the door may be conveniently trimmed as by planing or cutting, 
and the hinge seats routed or cut and slotted so as to accomodate the 
hinges, for example, common butt hinges which require recesses to be cut 
and sized to accomodate the hinge. The ends of the doors may be cut or 
planed in an alternative application of the hinge since the upper member 
of the hinge is used as a rest pad to hold one end of the door at an 
elevated fashion from the other end of the door so that it may be 
conveniently trimmed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, a door D is held, according to the invention, by a 
collapsible door hanging aid 10. When in its open position (seen in FIG. 2 
without the door). 
The door hanging aid 10 consists of two arms 11 and 12, each composed of 
the extruded U shaped channel member 13 with flanges at the distal ends of 
the U shape, the lower arm 12 having as well, extruded aluminum U shaped 
support sides 14 which are attached as by welding, not shown, to the 
underside of the lateral flange portion of the U shaped extruded members 
13. The arms 11 and 12 are interconnected through a pair of hinges H and a 
lock hinge LH, which when pushed in the direction of the arrow shown in 
FIG. 2, "locks" the vertical arm 11 into a near orthogonal position 
preferably at 8.degree. relative to the horizontal arm 12. 
The vertical arm 13, in order to provide and accomodate and to secure 
various thicknesses of doors the same is provided with a movable clamp bar 
25 having a rectangular and horizontally oriented upper and lower slots 26 
and 27 through which extends a bolt 28 and wing nut 29. By turning down 
the wing nut 29 on the reverse side of the upright arm 11, the clamping 
bar 25 is secured against the bottom or top edge of the door, as seen in 
FIG. 1, and stabilizes the door between the channel arms 11 and 12. 
In order to provide lateral stability and to hold the door aid 10 and door 
D in its upright position for trimming, as seen in FIG. 1, a pair of 
foldable lateral support arms 30 pivot from a bolt 31 extending through 
the proximate end of the arm 30 and the flange portion of the vertical arm 
11, as seen in the figures, and the same can be bound tight by a wing nut 
32. 
The distal end of each arm 30 terminates at an incline flat piece or foot 
33 into which is fashioned a rubber or resilient gommet or rubber pad 34. 
The pad 34 provides a resilient and enhanced friction bearing surface for 
each of the arms. Similarly, strategically located along the bottom margin 
of each U shaped member 14, are a plurality of spatially disposed pads 34, 
as more particularly seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. These pads, particularly if 
they are resilient, protect the finished door should the door have to be 
removed and retrimmed, which is common when either the door or frame is 
warped or, because of renovations. 
The arm 30' next adjacent the stop bar 25, is provided with two bolt 
accomodating notches 29' so as to allow that arm 30' to collapse into the 
phantom position shown in FIG. 3 and 4 and to seat around the thumb screw 
bolts 29. 
When the door end is to be trimmed, it can be placed on a top pad 40 so 
that the door inclines from one end toward the other, as shown in phantom 
in FIG. 1, and the end of the door whether top or bottom, sawed or planed 
as may be required.