Enabling assembly

Disclosed is an enabling assembly which may be used for a variety of purposes, including walls, room partitions, signs, arched supports, game boards and puzzles, the assembly including a plurality of interlocking pillow elements surrounded by a frame and mounting a plurality of facing elements in a manner enabling the facing elements, if not fixed, to be shifted so as to change the patterns thereon, the facing elements each having a connecting shaft disposed in the interstices between the pillow elements, the facing elements and connecting shafts being movable to momentarily separate the pillow elements so as to enable the facing elements to shift from one interstice to another interstice selectively. The frame includes parking slots where unused facing elements may be stored, or in the alternative, where one or more facing elements may be parked to provide room to move the remaining facing elements.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a framed assembly comprising a closely packed 
array of similar pillows, sleeves or collars contained within a frame to 
provide a unit having a surface (or surfaces when double-sided) containing 
tracks along, across, through, around and between which suitably shaped 
discs, tiles, pieces or hangers (all utilizing sticks, pins or struts) may 
be moved from any interstice or junction in the assembly to any other 
interstice or junction without being removed or detached from the frame 
assembly. The assembly may also be sheathed using removable sheathing 
components. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Supports for the mounting of tiles and the like are known. U.S. Pat. No. 
2,135,118 issued to Andrew H. Stewart discloses an arrangement wherein the 
tiles are provided with knobs which may be detachably inserted into 
openings in a wall or the like. There is no provision in Stewart of tracks 
whereby the tiles may be moved without detaching them from the frame 
assembly. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,549 issued to Lionel Haworth and 
Ralph John Shire discloses an arrangement wherein tiles having feet are 
mounted on a supporting frame by passing the stems thereof through 
pre-formed holes in the supporting frame. There is no provision in Haworth 
et al. for moving the tiles without detaching them from the supporting 
frame. 
It is also known to slidably mount tiles on a wall surface whereby the 
mosaic pattern may be changed as desired. U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,254 issued 
to Angelo Cuttica discloses a cabinet having at least one wall with tiles 
mounted slidably thereon by means of tongue-and-groove connections. One of 
the tiles is removably mounted by means of screws and carries a handle. 
When it is desired to change the pattern, the handle tile is removed, 
creating a space permitting the remaining tiles to slide into different 
positions. 
It is also known to enclose a plurality of tubes or the like within a frame 
in a honeycomb fashion. Reissue U.S. Pat. No. Re. 24,558 issued to Andrew 
Tyree, U.S. Pat. No. 1,296,359 issued to Daniel Webster Brown, U.S. Pat. 
No. 1,708,462 issued to Walter Bodman and U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,330 issued 
to J. Rosenhagen are representative examples of such honeycomb 
arrangements. In each disclosure, adhesive materials are used to retain 
the tubes or the like in position within the frame. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,429 issued to Alvin Edward Moore discloses a wall 
wherein the honeycomb arrangement is formed of cans. U.S. Pat. No. 
4,743,578 issued to Peter Davidson discloses that the tubes or the like 
forming a honeycomb arrangement may be closed at each end and may be 
retained within a frame in interlocking fashion, permitting the honeycomb 
to form an arch. Other disclosures of an arched or domed configuration are 
found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,175 issued to Erik W. Huettemann and U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,756,943 issued to Wolfram Koletzko. U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,456 
issued to Hanson discloses that the tubes or the like forming a honeycomb 
arrangement may be deformable. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a framed assembly comprising a 
frame enclosing a plurality of elements interlocked in such a way as to 
permit tiles to move slidably between interstices so as to change a 
pattern thereon. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a framed assembly which is 
economical to manufacture and easy to use. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a framed assembly which 
has a variety of uses, including walls, partitions, signs, self-supporting 
arches, domed roofs, and puzzles. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a framed assembly wherein 
the enclosed elements are formed as resilient or elastic pillows, sleeves 
or collars, each provided with an ogee or S-shaped profile so as to 
interlock with adjacent pillows, sleeves or collars while being 
sufficiently resilient to allow projections from suitably configured tiles 
to slide therebetween, the tiles having designs or indicia thereon. 
The foregoing objects are achieved by providing a peripheral frame tightly 
enclosing a plurality of pillows, sleeves or collars therein, the pillows, 
sleeves or collars being formed of any of a number of resilient plastic 
materials such as nylon and provided with interlocking S-shaped profiles, 
the resiliency permitting tiles to slide between interstices, or in the 
alternative, permitting the tiles or sheathing to be mounted on the framed 
assembly by removably inserting mounting projections into the interstices. 
The pillows, sleeves and collars may be hollow with thin walls of 
approximately 10-30 gauge thickness. The hollow sleeves or collars, for 
example, may be used in forming signs, to allow air to pass therethrough. 
The peripheral frame may be provided with slots or be grooved, so as to 
allow selected tiles to be parked, thereby providing a space whereby the 
remaining tiles may be moved to change the design on the wall, sign or the 
like. The slots or grooves may also be used to store spare tiles, bearing 
for example alphanumeric characters for changeable signs or for games. 
Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent 
from the following detailed description and the appended claims, reference 
being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the 
specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding 
parts of the several views.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Before explaining in detail the present invention, it is to be understood 
that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of 
construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying 
drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being 
practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that 
the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of 
description and not limitation. 
Turning first to FIG. 8, enabling assembly 10 is shown as comprising a 
plurality of pillow elements 12 tightly held together by a composite frame 
14 which surrounds the perimeter of the pillow elements 12. As shown, 
frame 14 may comprise an upper enclosure or retaining frame 88 and a 
mating bottom interlocking frame 90. Pillows 12' under the lip 96 of frame 
88 are smaller in height than pillows 12, the top surface of pillows 12 
being coplanar with the top surface of lip 96. In FIG. 9, an interlocking 
frame 92 is used alone without an enclosure or retaining frame. Frame 14 
contains parking slots 16 around the perimeter. Facing means in the form 
of face tiles 18, which may be either single faced (FIG. 4) or double 
faced (FIGS. 1 and 2) have a shaft 20 usually located in the interstices 
34 between the pillow elements 12, and may be slidably moved from one 
interstice 34 to another or into a parking slot 16 either for storage 
purposes or to provide a space allowing other tiles to be moved. The tiles 
18 may be variously colored, have mosaic designs thereon, or carry 
alphanumeric characters 22 (as shown in FIG. 10). 
Pillow elements 12 are formed from resilient plastics such as nylon, and 
have a low coefficient of friction. Pillow elements 12 may have a variety 
of configurations as shown, by way of example only, in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 
3D, 6, 7A and 7B. In FIG. 3A, pillow element 24 is shown to be hollow but 
solid-ended. In FIG. 3B, pillow element 26 is shown to be tubular, and may 
be used alone (as shown in FIG. 9) or as a resilient sleeve encasing 
another element (not shown). Similarly FIG. 3C shows short pillow element 
28 as a collar which partially may resiliently encase another element (not 
shown). In FIG. 3D, pillow element 94 is hollow and is provided with a 
screw cap or inflater 96 whereby pillow element 94 can be charged with 
water or pressurized with gas in the event that weight or pressure is 
required to stabilize or strengthen the assembly of which it forms a part. 
In FIG. 7A, pillow elements 54 have a triangular configuration, while in 
FIG. 7B, pillow elements 46 are shown to be cylindrical in configuration. 
Also shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B are representative interstices 30 and 32 
formed between cooperating pillow elements such as pillow elements 54 and 
46, respectively, forming a space for shaped tile shafts 20' and 20". In 
FIG. 7A, shaft 20' is hexagonal in cross section while in FIG. 7B, shaft 
20" is triangular in cross section. 
Pillow elements 12 are interlocked by means of ogee or "S" curves 40 formed 
in the body of elements 12 on the sides thereof as shown, for example, in 
FIGS. 2, 4, 5, 9 and 11. The surrounding frame such as frame 14, which may 
have a corresponding ogee or "S" curve 41, retains elements 12 
sufficiently packed together to prevent the elements 12 from falling out 
of the frame 14 by the interlocking of curves 40, yet the resiliency of 
elements 12 allows shaft 20 to pass between elements 12 when moved from 
one interstice to another, as shown in FIG. 2. 
In FIG. 5, the ogee pattern is achieved by inverting every other pillow 12 
such that the ogee or S curves can interfit in interlocking fashion. 
In FIG. 4, a second embodiment using single-sided tiles 18 is shown. Tiles 
18 are provided at one end of shaft 20. On the other end of shaft 20 is 
formed a flat knob 42 or, in the alternative, a "match head" shaped knob 
42' for the purpose of retaining tiles 18 in position when shaft 20 is 
inserted in the interstices 34 between pillow elements 12. Pillow elements 
12 are supported on projections 44 extending from a base support 36. 
Surrounding the perimeter of pillow elements 12 in FIG. 4 is a frame, not 
shown but similar to frame 14 shown in FIG. 7, thereby to retain pillow 
elements 12 in a tightly packed arrangement while allowing shafts 20 and 
the attached tiles 18 to be shifted from one interstice 34 to another. 
FIG. 6 shows a number of different possible configurations of pillow 12, 
including but not limited to a circle 46, square 48, hexagon 50, pentagon 
52, triangle 54, diamond 56 and rectangle 58. 
FIGS. 10-14, inclusive, suggest possible uses for the inventive enabling 
assembly. In FIG. 10, there is shown a sign 64 suitably mounted on a wall 
66, formed of a frame 14 enclosing pillow elements 26 holding tiles 18 
having alphanumeric characters 22 thereon, whereby a message is conveyed 
to a reader. The tiles 18 may be rearranged or interchanged with other 
tiles 18 to change the message. Opening or through passage 68 in each 
pillow 26 permits air to pass through the sign 64, thereby allowing for 
greater stability and less wind damage to the sign 64. 
In FIG. 11, enabling assembly 10 is formed as a supporting arch with such 
things as a light 70 and/or a flowerpot 72 attached to hooks 60 of tiles 
18 by a cord 74 or the like. Wall portions 76 may be substituted for frame 
14' in this arrangement, but the unit would be generally pre-assembled in 
a frame 14'. 
In FIG. 12, an enabling assembly formed of frame 38 and pillow elements 12 
is used for support of facing materials such as sheathing 78, the 
sheathing 78 being provided with shaped projections 80 designed to be 
inserted into interstices 34 and to be held thereby. Projections 80 may 
end in a "match head" shaped knob 62 if desired. 
FIG. 13 shows enabling assembly 10 used as a room divider 82. By using 
tiles such as tiles 18 decorated with a variety of colors and/or shapes 
and/or designs or sheathing 78 the patterns on both sides of divider 82 
may be changed whenever desired. 
In FIG. 14, enabling assemblies 10 may be used to form a temporary building 
84 having by way of example only, a curved roof 86 which may be 
weatherproofed using elastic sheathing. 
Other uses can include children's games and puzzles wherein the object is 
to shift tiles and the like from one location to another, for example, to 
change the design or visual appearance of a surface or both surface in the 
case of a double-sided unit. 
The enabling assembly allows for portable units comprising many linked and 
movable pieces without risk of loss or severe disarrangement, the units 
being virtually unlimited in size and shape. Damaged or inappropriate 
parts can be changed very readily. Pieces are readily demountable and 
portable in crates, cartons or bags. The assembly can form a load-bearing 
structure when correctly shaped, framed, mounted, charged with fluid or 
pressurized. Pillow elements may be divisible for stacking. 
While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the invention 
herein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, 
it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, 
variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair 
meaning of the subjoined claims.