Wall mounted frame for posters and other printed material

A wall mountable frame comprises a rectangular pan-shaped frame including a main rectangular vertical rear wall having forwardly extending magnet-attracting marginal walls defining with said main wall a rectangular sign or poster receiving recess. Screw head-receiving holes are provided in said main vertical wall for receiving the heads of wall mounting anchoring screws which will be fully recessed in said holes, the defining walls of said holes being formed by rearwardly projection portions of said main vertical wall. Magnet bars are insertable along the inner margins of the marginal walls of the frame to hold the margins of sheet material upon said rear wall. Spacers are preferably in the form of double adhesive coated synthetic plastic foam strips are positioned behind said frame to extend along the margins of the rear wall of the frame. The strips space the hole-forming projecting portions of the rear wall from the mounting wall surface of the frame. The strips have a peelable outer layer to cover the outer adhesive layer thereof. The strips are compressed by the tightening of the screws when screws are the frame anchoring means, and can be used as the sole anchoring means of the frame when the peelable outer layer is removed therefrom.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the mounting of signs, posters and other printed 
material on vertical wall surfaces, and more particularly, to a wall 
mountable frame assembly for mounting signs, posters, and other printed 
sheet material on a variety of different kinds of vertical wall surfaces. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Various types of frame constructions have been provided for holding 
posters, signs, etc. upon flat vertical wall surfaces. These frames were 
secured to vertical wall surfaces by screws or bolts or by double-sided 
adhesive tape applied to the rear surfaces of the frames. The screws or 
bolts passed through the corners of the main vertical wall of the frames. 
Some of these frames had poster pass-through slots in the top or a side 
margin thereof into which the poster or sign was passed before the frame 
was mounted. Once the frame was mounted on the wall, it was sometimes not 
possible to remove the poster or sign from the frames without the frame 
being removed from the wall because of lack of clearances to do so. In 
some cases, the frames were designed to permit insertion and removal of a 
poster or sign through the opening in the front of the frame. Since the 
opening had to be made slightly larger than the size of the poster or sign 
which was to fit into it and it is usually desirable that the margins of 
the frame cover the margins of the poster or sign, such frames sometimes 
were designed to have pivoted sections which in their opened position 
fully opened the front of the frame to receive the poster or sign. The 
pivoted sections were then returned to their closed positions to cover the 
margins of the poster or sign. This design was obviously a very costly and 
cumbersome one. 
In frames where anchoring screws were used to anchor the rear wall of the 
frame, the screw heads often projected from the wall. Since the poster or 
sign could not be placed over these screws, a poster-carrying backboard 
insert was sometimes used to carry the sheet material forming the poster 
or sign and the insert and sheet material carried thereby was then placed 
into the frame. If one wanted the sign or poster to be magnetically held 
on the backboard by magnet-carrying areas on the back thereof, the 
backboard would have to be a magnet attracting metal plate, which added to 
the weight of the frame. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides a unique, inexpensive, improved wall mounted 
frame for posters and other flexible sheet materials of any size no larger 
than the rectangular opening in the front of the frame, where the poster 
can be quickly and easily inserted into the front opening of the frame 
without the need for hinged frame sections. 
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the frame is a rectangular 
pan-shaped frame having a magnet-attracting main rear vertical wall and 
magnet-attracting peripheral side walls. Magnet mounting bars are provided 
which fit into and along the margins of the frame opening where they are 
retained in place by contact with the magnet-attracting peripheral walls 
of the pan-shaped frame. The magnet mounting bars cover and hold in place 
the margins of any poster, sign or glare-reducing panel of about the size 
of the frame opening. The magnet mounting bars are preferably provided 
with a coloration which blends in with the peripheral side walls of the 
pan-shaped frame, so that the thickness of the frame margins appears to 
include the width or thickness of the magnet mounting bars and the 
peripheral side walls of the pan-shaped frame. (While prior to the concept 
of the present invention, I have commercially used magnetic mounting bars 
to hold in place glare-eliminating panels in bank sign pedestal supported 
sign frames, these bars have not been used to hold in place posters or 
signs in a wall mounted frame as just described.) If smaller printed sheet 
materials are to be displayed, spots of magnetic tape are applied to the 
rear thereof, so that this printed material will adhere to the main 
vertical wall of the frame. 
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the main rear vertical 
wall of the frame is provided with unique screw head-receiving chamfered 
holes, struck from the thin rear vertical wall of the frame when it is 
made of sheet metal. The defining walls of these holes project rearwardly 
from the main vertical wall of the frame. 
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, unique spacing means to 
be described fill the spaces between at least the margins of the rear wall 
of the frame and the frame mounting wall surface, to space these 
rearwardly projecting hole-defining walls from the mounting wall surface 
and fill unsightly gaps along the edges of the frame. 
In a less preferred, first conceived form of the invention, this spacing 
means was a rectangular spacer board of the same size as the outer 
dimensions of the frame and made of a non-metallic, light-in-weight 
material, like masonite. The spacer board had holes which fully receive 
the chamfered-hole forming projections. Anchoring screws passing through 
the chamfered holes in the corners of the main vertical rear wall of the 
frame anchored the frame and the spacer board to all varieties of vertical 
wall surfaces, without any gaps appearing between the frame and the 
mounting wall surface involved. 
In the later developed and improved form of my wall mounted frame, the 
spacer means are double-backed adhesive cushion-forming strips placed 
along the margins of the rear wall of the frame. These strips are much 
thicker than the extent to which the chamfered hole-forming projections 
extend beyond the rear surface of the frame. The outer adhesive layer of 
these strips are covered by a removable paper layer which is removed to 
expose the adhesive layer if the strips are to anchor the frame to a 
mounting wall surface. When screws are passed through the chamfered holes 
of the rear wall of the frame to anchor the frame to a wall, the 
cushion-forming strips are compressed slightly to aid in anchoring the 
screws. In all cases, these strips cover or fill the space between the 
margins of the frame and the mounting wall. The manufacturer and user need 
not bother with spacer boards, and the user has a choice of using either 
adhesive strips or screws to mount this all-purpose frame. 
The above and other features of the invention will become apparent upon 
making reference to the specification to follow, the claims and the 
drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY FORMS OF THE INVENTION SHOWN IN THE DRAWINGS 
Refer now to FIG. 1, which shows a less preferred form of the invention 
first conceived for supporting large signs or posters 11, such as 
22".times.28" signs or posters. It includes a pan-shaped frame 4 made of 
steel or other suitable magnet-attracting metal. The frame illustrated was 
made from a single stamped piece of sheet metal. It has a main rectangular 
vertical wall 4a with margins terminating in forwardly projecting top and 
bottom marginal walls or flanges 4b--4b and left and right marginal side 
walls or flanges 4c--4c. These marginal walls define a rectangular recess 
of slightly greater size than the largest poster or sign 11 to be received 
in the frame. The poster or sign is usually made of cardboard. The 
marginal walls 4b--4b and 4c--4c are preferably formed by reverse bent 
portions 4b-1 and 4b-2 (see FIG. 3) of the basic sheet metal from which 
the pan-shaped frame 4 is made. The frame 4 includes unique chamfered 
holes 4d adjacent each corner of the main vertical wall 4a, the holes 
being formed by deformation of the metal forming this wall rearwardly as 
by punching or otherwise forcing the metal from the plane of the main 
vertical wall 4a. The rearwardly extending wall projections 4d' which form 
the holes 4d are best shown in FIG. 3. The frame is anchored by mounting 
screws 6 in a manner to be described. 
The frame receives a glare-reducing panel 13 which, together with the 
poster or sign 11, is held in place within the recess of the frame 4 by 
top and bottom magnet mounting bars 7--7 and left and right magnet bars 
7'--7'. These bars have a unique construction to be described. They are 
placed against the inner faces of the marginal walls 4b--4b and 4c--4c 
respectively, so as to hold the peripheral portions of the glare-reducing 
panel 13 and the sign or poster 11 contiguous to the main vertical wall 4a 
of the frame 4. The heads 6a of the screws 6 are fully recessed within the 
chamfered holes 4d so that the heads do not bear against the poster or 
sign 11. 
To maintain the frame 4 in a perfectly vertical position and to eliminate 
any unsightly gaps between the rear face of the frame wall 4a and the wall 
surface 15 upon which the frame 4 is mounted, a spacer board 12 of 
masonite or other similar material of the same size as the frame 4 is 
provided. The spacer board has openings 12a between the board and the 
frame. These openings are aligned with chamfered holes 4d of the frame 4 
to fully receive the rearwardly projecting hole-defining walls 4d', so 
that the rear surface of the main vertical wall 4a of the frame 4 and the 
front surface of the spacer board 12 are flush against each other. The 
threaded shanks of the screw 6 may be anchored to the wall surface 15 in 
any suitable conventional way. It is apparent that the mounting wall 
surface 15 can be any suitable vertical surface which is prepared for 
receiving the threaded shanks of the screws 6. 
The magnet bars 7--7 and 7'--7' are constructed to maximize the magnetic 
efficiency of the magnetic material forming part thereof. They are 
preferably of a color which blends with the color chosen for the frame 4, 
so that the bars and the marginal walls 4b and 4c appear as one wide 
margin for the frame. The bars 7--7 and 7'--7' have cores 7a--7a and 
7a'--7a' of generally rectangular cross section anchored in channel-shaped 
members 7b--7b and 7b'--7b'. When the bars are positioned in the frame 4, 
the open ends of the channel-shaped members face outwardly toward the 
marginal walls 4b--4b and 4c--4c of the frame 4 to present an attractive 
smooth outer surface which, as indicated, matches the color and appearance 
of these marginal walls. 
The frame shown in FIGS. 1-3 has great flexibility for supporting signs, 
posters, etc. of all sizes equal to or smaller than the full sized poster 
or sign 11 shown therein. Thus, because the main vertical wall 4a is made 
of a magnet-attracting material, as are the marginal walls 4b--4b and 
4c--4c, smaller pieces of printed sheet material like 18, 20, and 22 as 
shown in FIG. 5 (which shows a modified frame 4' to be described) may be 
magnetically held to the main wall 4a by such means as magnet strips or 
tabs 21 or a magnet-forming backing layer 21' placed on the smaller pieces 
of sheet material. As shown in FIG. 5, in this and most other applications 
of the invention, the sheets of material involved, like 18, 20, and 22, 
are preferably overlaid with a glare-reducing panel 13', in turn, held in 
place by the magnet bars 7"--7" and 7'"--7'" like those shown in FIGS. 
1-3. 
The most preferred form of the invention, the spacer board 12 is not used. 
As shown in FIGS. 4 through 8, the modified frame 4'has on the back 
thereof peripheral cushion-forming mounting strips 24 which are aligned 
and extend along the entire length of the margins of the rear vertical 
wall 4a'of the pan-shaped frame. These cushion-forming mounting strips are 
much thicker than the extent to which the chamfered hole-forming walls 
4d'project from the rear face of the main vertical rear wall 4a'of the 
mounting frame 4' (see FIG. 7), so that they space the walls 4d'of the 
chamfered holes from the wall on which the frame is to be mounted. These 
mounting strips 24 can support the entire frame 4' and its contents on a 
vertical wall surface by virtue of the adhesive holding properties of the 
strips 24. To aid in holding the frame on the wall 15, additional strips 
like 24a may be added to the central portion of the frame wall 4a'. When 
screws are used to anchor the frame as shown in FIG. 8, the 
cushion-forming mounting strips 24 are compressed by the tightening of the 
screws. In all cases, the strips fill in the gaps which otherwise would be 
present between the mounting wall 15 and the rear wall 4a' of frame wall 
4a'. 
As best shown in FIG. 7, each strip 24 has a main body portion 24a of 
polyurethane foam or similar material, an inner adhesive inner layer 24b 
which adheres the strips 24 to the frame wall 4a', and an outer adhesive 
layer 24c covered by a replaceable cover layer 24d which is removed to 
expose the adhesive layer 24c if the frame is to be secured to the wall 15 
by the strips 24 rather than by screws. 
Refer now to FIGS. 9 and 10 which illustrates a further modified frame 4". 
As there shown, the upper portion of the frame is large enough to receive 
a 22.times.28" sign or poster or bank information strips, as shown, and a 
lower portion which folds a removable brochure carrying rack 30. The 
information strips 26 have a magnetic material backing 26, which 
magnetically secures each of the strips 26 to the front surface of the 
main vertical wall 4a" of the frame 4". The left and right magnet mounting 
bars 7"--7" extend the full height of the front opening of the frame to 
cover the end margins of the information strips 26 and frame the rack 30. 
The top magnet mounting bar 7'" covers the upper margin of the uppermost 
strip 26. A bottom magnet mounting bar 7'" extends along the bottom margin 
of the frame opening. The bottom margin of the bottommost strip 26 is 
covered by a removable border-forming bar 28 best shown in FIG. 10. This 
border-forming bar 28 as illustrated has a main body portion 28a to the 
rear of which is attached a narrower magnet strip 28b which makes contact 
with the front surface of the frame vertical rear wall 4a'. The bar 28 
thus defines recesses 28a"--28a" to receive a margin of a strip 26 so that 
the margins of the strip are attractively covered by the border-forming 
bar 28. 
The bar 28 is shown spaced from the bottom of the frame to leave space for 
reception of the brochure-carrying rack 30. This rack 30 has an L-shaped 
magnet-attracting metal frame 31 formed by vertical rear wall 31a and a 
bottom wall 31b terminating in a lip 31c. A panel is placed in a slot 
defined between the lip 31c and the front legs 36a of T-shaped partition 
forming members 36. Each member 36 have a rear flange 36b having a 
magnet-forming strip 36c on the back thereof to adhere each member at a 
desirable location to the rack frame rear wall 31a. The space between the 
frame rear wall 31a and panel 32 is thus divided into spaces into which 
informational brochures 34 are placed. The rear wall 31a of the rack has a 
layer of suitable magnetic-forming material which will adhere the rack to 
the front surface of the vertical rear wall 4a of the frame 4'. The rack 
30 preferably just fits into the space of the frame defined between the 
border-forming bar 28, and the left, right and bottom magnet mounting bars 
7"--7" and 7'". 
It is thus apparent that the mounting frame 4, has extreme flexibility in 
the manner in which it can be mounted upon a vertical wall surface. If it 
is preferred to mount the frame 4' without the use of screws, then the 
removable cover layer 24d of the strips 24 are removed to expose the 
adhesive layers 24c of these strips. The adhesive is a pressure sensitive 
one so that by pressing the frame against the vertical wall, the frame 
will be adhesively secured to the wall. When screws are used to anchor the 
frame the cover layers 24d are left in place. The screw heads are recessed 
within the chamfered holes so that printed sheet material involved fits 
neatly against the vertical back wall 4a' of the frame. The magnet 
mounting bars and the border-forming bar allow a variety of choices of the 
use of the frame. The frame has a very neat appearance when mounted on a 
wall. All gaps between the rear wall of the frame and the mounting wall 
surface are filled by the cushion-forming mounting strips 24 of the 
invention shown in FIGS. 4 through 10 or by a spacer board 12 in the form 
of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. 
The present invention has thus provided an extremely flexible, easy to 
assemble, securely mounted sign system for both relatively large posters 
or signs and smaller sheets of printed material. 
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred 
embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various 
changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements 
thereof without departing form the broader aspects of the invention. Also, 
it is intended that broad claims not specifying details of a particular 
embodiment disclosed herein as the best mode contemplated for carrying out 
the invention should not be limited to such details. Furthermore, while, 
generally, specific claimed details of the invention constitute important 
specific aspects of the invention in appropriate instances even the 
specific claims involved should be construed in light of the doctrine of 
equivalents.