Wall hanger

A wall hanger is disclosed in which a bow tie arrangement having porous end portions is mounted on the back of a picture to be hung on a wall. The bow tie is made to adhere to the back of the picture by the penetration of adhesive through the porous end portions, thereby to give strength to the hanging system. In one embodiment the adhesive is applied through the porous end portion and onto the picture backing, with the adhesive applied separately. In another embodiment, a bow tie type hanger is made of preformed and stretched nylon. In a still further embodiment, the hanger includes two separated pad portions with a flexible member between the pad portions in which the flexible member is offset from the plane of the pads to permit engagement of a hook when the hanger is adhesively attached to the back of a picture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for hanging pictures and 
the like and more particularly to a hanger comprising an elongated member 
such as a tape narrowed, collapsed or twisted on itself at a central 
region or a strand, with the ends of the member adapted to adhere to the 
structure to be mounted. The central portion of this member is made to lie 
in a region midway between the sides of the structure to be mounted on the 
wall and is engaged by a hook or a protrusion from the wall to permit 
hanging. 
In the past there have been several methods of mounting pictures to walls 
involving adhesive members. Most recent of these involves the use of a 
"double sticky back tape." Depending on the tape used, pictures or posters 
mounted in this manner eventually either become disengaged from the wall 
or stick to the wall in such a manner that removal is made extremely 
difficult without damaging the wall or the picture. It will be appreciated 
in this type of adhesive mounting structure, that accurate centering is 
required since adjustment after the structure is mounted is difficult. 
Another common adhesive type picture hanging structure is shown in U.S. 
Pat. No. 2,647,711 issued to J. M. Margulis on Aug. 4, 1953. In this 
method an adhesive strip is provided with an eyelet through which a metal 
hook attached to a further adhesive strip protrudes. The metal eyelet 
provides structural strength against tearing of the tape when the hole in 
the tape is slipped over the hook. It will be appreciated that this type 
of mounting method suffers from the same defect as the first mentioned 
mounting method in that proper centering and balancing is required when 
the adhesive strip is placed on the structure to be mounted. Thus no easy 
means of adjustment is provided once the strip is in place. 
In contrast to these two methods of mounting structures on a wall, the 
subject system involves a member which may be a continuous adhesive tape 
which is either narrowed or twisted on itself at a central region, or a 
strand with adhesive means at either end. This member is elongated and is 
adapted to engage a hook or protrusion on the wall. The elongated portion 
serves much the same function as the traditional wire used in picture 
hanging, in that adjustment of the picture on the wall is accomplished by 
changing the fulcrum by sliding the hook along the elongated portion. 
In contrast to conventional wire techniques, no screws or nails need be 
attached to a picture to support a wire when using the subject adhesive 
hanger. 
Additionally, the manufacture of such a hanging device is extremely simple, 
since it will be appreciated that there need be no metal parts to 
complicate the manufacturing process. 
Although initially it might seem that a member used in this manner would 
come off of the structure to be mounted, it has been found that this 
particular method and apparatus holds heavy structures in place on a wall 
for considerable lengths of time. Although this particular mounting system 
was adapted primarily for mounting picture board of light weight nature to 
a wall, it has been found that due to the availability of strong tear 
resistant tapes and strands, and extremely adherent adhesives, structures 
of considerable weight may be mounted in this manner. 
It has also been found that such a bow tie structure can be fabricated from 
molded nylon in a pull-trusion process by which the elongated central 
portion is as strong as picture wire. In one embodiment, the ends of the 
bow tie are made porous by aperturing so that adhesive between the bow tie 
and the picture to be mounted will harden in the apertures to provide a 
stable mechanical as well as a chemical bond to the nylon. For this 
purpose a separate tube of adhesive may be provided with the bow ties, if 
the bow ties do not themselves carry the adhesive. Porous tapes narrowed 
on themselves in a central region can also be used in place of the nylon 
bow tie. Moreover, with some adhesives the pull-truded nylon bow tie neew 
not be apertured. In other embodiments the bonding surface of the nylon 
bow tie ends may be pretreated as by scoring, roughening or by chemical 
treatment. Additionally, the pull-truded part need not be made of nylon, 
but can be made of any suitable pull-truded material. 
It will be appreciated that if a flat bow tie-like structure is laid on the 
back of a picture and adhesive is applied, then the strand portion will 
lie adjacent the picture backing material making engagement with a picture 
hook difficult as well as subjecting the hanger to undue stress. Thus in a 
still further embodiment the strand or flexible member of the hanger 
intermediate the tab or pad portions is offset from the plane of the pads 
to permit easy picture mounting. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide apparatus for 
hanging a structure on a wall including a member having adhesive means at 
either end for mounting the member on the structure to be supported, the 
central or intermediate region of the member being offset from the ends to 
enable the engagement of a hook or protrusion from the wall. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a bow tie like structure 
with an elongated central portion in which the end portions are porous to 
permit both a mechanical and adhesive bond by the hardened adhesive at the 
bow tie ends, while at the same time permitting penetration of the 
adhesive into the picture backing material. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved picture 
hanging method in which a bow tie like structure is adhered to the back of 
a picture via adhesive applied through porous or apertured end portions of 
the bow tie. 
It is another object of this invention to make a hanger having a generally 
bow tie type configuration out of pull-truded material. 
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method for 
hanging a structure on a wall comprising the steps of taking a continuous 
piece of adhesive tape and twisting it on itself so to form a central 
region and adhering the tape to the structure to be supported on the wall. 
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method for 
mounting a structure to a wall comprising the steps of twisting an 
adhesive tape on itself so as to form a central region, affixing the 
adhesive tape to the structure to be mounted, affixing a mechanical 
protrusion to the wall, and placing the central twisted portion of the 
tape over the protrusion. 
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method and 
apparatus for hanging a structure on a wall including a piece of 
continuous tape narrowed on itself in a central region which is overlaid 
with material for increasing the structural integrity of the central 
region and permitting ease of manufacture. 
Other objects of the invention will be better understood from the 
accompanying specification, drawings, and appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a picture 10 mounted on a mounting 
board 11 which is fixedly attached to a wall shown by the reference 
character 12. The adhesive tape mounting apparatus is shown in dotted 
outline by continuous tape 15. A hook is shown at 16 to be mechanically 
attached to the wall. The structure 11 is supported by the engagement of 
the hook with a central portion 17 of the continuous tape 15 which central 
portion is a portion of the tape twisted on itself. As illustrated in FIG. 
2 in one form the central portion is a helically wound generally 
cylindrical portion which may be made to adhere to itself for strength as 
described hereinafter. The term "adhesive tape" as used herein refers 
generally to pressure-sensitive tapes, water-activated tapes and 
heat-sensitive tapes. In addition, this term includes any tape which 
adheres to the structure to be supported. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, the tape and hook combination is shown with like 
numbers denoting corresponding elements in FIG. 1. From FIG. 2, it will be 
appreciated that in one embodiment the tape has a single adhesive side 
shown by the reference character 20. This adhesive side is the same at 
either end of the central region 17 so as to adhere to the structure to be 
supported. As can be seen from the double ended arrow 21, the hook 16 can 
be moved laterally so as to provide the proper fulcrum for the hanging 
structure thereby facilitating easy alignment for balancing of a picture 
on a wall. 
From FIG. 2 it will be seen that the force of the hook on the tape is shown 
by the arrow 25 to be in an upward direction. This direction is biaxial to 
the length of the continuous tape. It will be appreciated that in many of 
the prior art handles for structures, tape is utilized in which the force 
on the handle is along the axis of the tape and not in a biaxial direction 
as shown in FIG. 2. For the purposes of this description, "biaxial" refers 
to a direction in the plane of the tape perpendicular to the longitudinal 
axis of the tape. Thus a force perpendicular to the plane of the paper on 
which FIG. 2 is drawn would be excluded from the term biaxial. One 
advantage of the subject approach lies in the fact that a biaxial force as 
hereinbefore defined does not cause the tape to rip or tear. Nor does the 
force result in a shear force of such a magnitude so as to cause the tape 
to separate from the structure to be mounted. It will be therefore 
appreciated that a continuous tape twisted on itself in and of itself, 
without mechanical or metal braces is sufficient alone to be used in 
combination with a hook as shown in FIG. 2. 
It will be apparent that the adhesive qualities of the tape as well as the 
width of the tape and the material of which the tape is made will 
materially determine the weight of the structure which can be mounted in 
this manner. It is however well within the state of the art to utilize 
tape to support structures of considerable weight. Examples of such tapes 
are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,647,711 issued Aug. 4, 1953 and 3,294,355 
issued Dec. 27, 1966. 
In general, tapes suited for this application fall into three categories: 
pressure-sensitive, water-activated, and heat-sensitive. The 
pressure-sensitive tapes generally use rubber base or acrylic adhesives on 
backing materials such as acetate, cellophane, polyester, vinyl, cloth and 
paper. These tapes may be reinforced as in the case of acetate and 
polyester backing materials by using fiber reinforcing materials such as 
rayon or glass. The water-activated tapes usually use paper or cloth 
backing materials in combination with animal or vegetable glues including 
casein and starch. These tapes are wetted prior to applying the tape to 
the back of a picture. The heat-sensitive tapes are made from the 
thermosetting type resins which need only heat to cure. Heat-sensitive 
tapes are in general made from polyester, epoxy, or phenolic base 
materials in which the tape is ironed on to the picture. In the first type 
of tape mentioned, the pressure-sensitive adhesive adds to the strength of 
the central twisted region once the tape with the adhesive is twisted. In 
the latter two types of tape, the central twisted region may be made to 
adhere to itself prior to use, by applying either water or heat to the 
central region. This adds the strength of the adhesive to the inherent 
strength of the twisted tape. Under most loading conditions, this 
additional strengthening is not necessary. In any case, the tape backing 
and adhesive is chosen to be adequate for the load supported. Obviously, 
adhesive also includes glue and epoxy resins which may be applied to the 
tape just prior to mounting. Further, any combination of the above tape 
backings and adhesives are within the scope of this invention. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, the top view of the subject apparatus is shown in 
which the mounting board 11 is connected to the hook 16 by the tape 15 
formed in the manner described. It will be appreciated that the mounting 
board can be balanced by moving the hook 16 along the central portion 17 
of the tape 15. 
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that there are many types and 
widths of tape which will be suitable depending upon the weight and 
consistency of the structure to be mounted adjacent the wall. The system 
thus far described relies on both mechanical and adhesive properties used 
in combination so as to support the structures of relatively great weight 
as compared to those supportable by hangers having solely adhesive-backed 
coacting members. 
There are however other configurations of the tape which when twisted upon 
itself will provide for even greater mechanical stability of the mounting. 
In one embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the tape 15 is made extremely wide 
except for a central portion 32 having a length denoted by the character 
L. This figure shows the tape prior to being twisted on itself so as to 
form the central region 17 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. In this embodiment there 
is a first width of tape denoted by the symbol W.sub.1 which is the major 
portion of the tape to adhere to the structure to be mounted. The central 
region 32 is to be formed by the narrow portion of the tape 15 designated 
by character W.sub.2. It will be appreciated from this figure that the 
transition between the width W.sub.2 and the width W.sub.1 is continuous 
as shown by the continuous lines 30. The continuity of these lines 
prevents shear forces from tearing the tape once the picture is hung. 
If additional support is required, the tape may be configured as shown in 
FIG. 5. In this case, the tape 15 is provided with two biaxial strips 35 
at right angles to the tape prior to its being twisted on itself. Assuming 
the tape to be of a quality which does not easily tear, the right angles 
between the tabs 35 and the tape body will not be a factor in the failure 
of a system utilizing this type of tape. Again it is the length L of the 
tape which is to be twisted on itself to provide the central region. 
In one further embodiment once the tape is in place on the structure to be 
mounted on the wall, additional tape strips 40 may be placed over the tape 
in a position shown so as to provide increased mechanical stability of the 
mounting system. 
It will, however, be appreciated that the strips 40 need not be used in a 
large variety of cases where the structure to be mounted to the wall is 
relatively light. Such would be in the case in photographic mounting board 
or poster board as it is sometimes called. It is a relatively simple 
packaging matter to provide a package in which the far ends of the tape 
can be detached from the majority of the tape so as to provide for the 
cross pieces 40 as shown in FIG. 6. 
There has therefore been provided an extremely easy and inexpensive method 
and apparatus for mounting structures to a wall or vertically extending 
structure. The major factors which permit such an easy mounting are the 
structural strength of the tape twisted on itself re tearing and also the 
uncommon resistance of the tape to pulling away when a biaxial force as 
described hereinbefore as applied to the tape. Further, the central 
twisted portion of the tape can be made to adhere to itself to provide for 
increase strength. There should also be considered the ease of centering 
and balancing provided by the method and apparatus described which is 
unlike adhesive systems in the prior art. It will be appreciated that tape 
twisted on itself could be dispensed from a roll in much the same way as 
cellophane or adhesive tape is dispensed, with a cutting portion of the 
dispenser serving to separate the individual pieces of tape necessary for 
each mounting application. 
Referring now to FIGS. 7-10 an alternative embodiment is illustrated in 
which the narrowed portion of the tape is overlaid, overwrapped or coated 
with a material which aids in the structural integrity or stability of the 
central portion. This type construction also simplifies manufacture since 
the narrowing of the tape at the central portion can be accomplished at 
the wrapping stage. 
In one embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 7, the already formed hanger 50 is 
provided with a helically wound strand 51 which surrounds a generally 
cylindrical portion 52 formed in any of a variety of ways as will appear 
hereinafter. As can be seen, tape flat portions 53 adjacent central 
cylindrical portion 52 are free of the strand, although the strand ends 
may be embedded therein if desired. 
Strand 51 may be adhesively attached to the central portion, either by 
precoating the strands with a suitable adhesive, or by saturating the 
strands after winding. 
The central cylindrical portion 52 may be formed in a variety of ways. For 
instance, the tape may be twisted on itself as in FIG. 8 to form a central 
core, with strand 51 overlaying the core. Alternatively, as illustrated in 
FIG. 9 the tape may simply be collapsed on itself in its central region 
and overlying material supplied to aid in structural stability and 
integrity as well as maintaining the narrowed central region in a 
generally cylindrical configuration. 
It will be appreciated, that from a generic point of view strand 51 is an 
overlying material. 
In FIG. 10 the central portion 52 is overlaid with either a coating of 
cylindrical member 54 which maintains the structural integrity of the 
central core. Member 54 can be a coating, a cylinder crimped or adhesively 
attached in place, or any member which surrounds the core whether or not 
adhesively attached thereto. 
Thus the embodiments of FIGS. 7-10, in addition to having all the 
advantages of the embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 also permit certain economies 
of manufacture in that the tape can be collapsed or narrowed on itself, 
with or without an outer winding to provide structural integrity to the 
hanger. 
As can be seen, the generic concept is that of an elongated member having 
adhesive means at the ends thereof to provide a hanger which is both easy 
to make and is easy to apply. Moreover, the hanger is easily engaged by a 
picture hook at an intermediate section thereof. 
While the holding properties of the aforementioned hanger have been 
exceptional, even further mechanical stability of the hanger has been 
achieved through the use of porous end structures for the bow-tie like 
hanger. 
When porous open weave tape is used applying adhesive through the tape, 
from either direction has resulted in penetration of the adhesive into the 
tape as well as into the backing material of the picture. This provides an 
exceptional mechanical bond because of the penetration as well as an 
increased chemical bond because of the increased surface area wetted by 
the adhesive. 
The possibility of molding the hangers from a plastic or other similar 
material has been somewhat illusory because of certain bonding problems. 
This is especially true of nylon. However when bow ties are made of nylon 
with apertured end portions satisfactory holding power is achieved when 
the adhesive is allowed to penetrate the bow tie through the apertures. 
Alternatively, the nylon bow tie ends may be either mechanically or 
chemically treated for increasing bond strength. 
Moreover, with the development of the so called pull-trusion process of 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,597 issued to A. R. Bone on May 20, 1969 and 
incorporated by reference herein a flexible thermoplastic filament or 
strand is given improved strength by stretching to reduce its cross 
sectional dimensions and increase its strength by rearranging the 
molecules of the thermoplastic material. It is thought that the increased 
strength comes from the long chain molecules lining up along the axis of 
pull. Materials which may be "pull-truded" include nylon, polypropylene 
and polyethylene. Thus a bow tie like structure can be manufactured in 
which the pull-truded central portion is both flexible and strong enough 
to support articles of considerable weight. For added strength the article 
may be formed with a wire running longitudinally down the center of the 
hanger. 
The method by which the apertured bow tie structure is mounted is 
illustrated in FIG. 11 in which a bow tie structure 60 is applied to the 
back 62 of a picture 64 in one method by first laying the hanger on the 
back of the picture and then applying adhesive through the hanger and onto 
the picture backing material as illustrated by adhesive dots 66. 
Alternatively the adhesive dots may be placed on the picture backing 
material and the hanger then pressed onto the adhesive dots. 
The structure that results is illustrated in FIG. 12 in which adhesive 68 
surrounds apertures 70 in porous member 72. The adhesive also penetrates 
into the picture backing material here illustrated at 74. Thus there is 
double penetration and enhanced mechanical stability. As mentioned, the 
porous member may be an open weave tape or apertured plastic. FIG. 13 is a 
top view illustrating the adhesive dot and porous end member. 
A portion of the elongated central portion of the bow tie like structure is 
illustrated at 76 to be overwrapped with a strand 78 loosely adhered 
thereto. When the picture is in place, picture hook 80 separates the 
strand at its point of contact due to the weight of the picture. This 
prevents a change of the fulcrom of the hung picture which is the major 
cause of off-centering of a picture which is originally properly centered. 
Thus the overwrapping with a strand loosely adherent to the elongated 
central portion of the hanger provides for the maintenance of picture 
centering. 
Referring now to FIG. 14 a number of hooks 92 and an adhesive for the 
hangers may be provided separately, thus permitting practicing of the 
above mounting method at the site of the picture mounting. This provides a 
relatively large quantity of viscous liquid which will penetrate the 
hanger. It will be appreciated that this quantity of liquid adhesive would 
be difficult to provide as a film already on the hanger. 
FIG. 15 illustrates the fact the hanger need not be mounted horizontally, 
but may be mounted at an angle for added strength without loss of the 
ability to center the picture. 
FIG. 16 illustrates a portion of the pull-truded hanger embodiment in which 
apertures 96 are provided in the bow tie end portion 98 which is adhered 
to backing material 100, with a reinforcing wire 102 running 
longitudinally through the hanger. 
Finally, with respect to FIG. 17, a unitary resinous hanger 120 may be 
provided with apertured pad portions 122 lying in one plane and an offset 
flexible member 124, here in the form of a strand, attached between the 
pad portions by riser members 126. As can be seen, the offset is 
illustrated by arrow 128. The strand therefore lies in a plane parallel to 
but offset from the plane in which the pad portions lie. The direction of 
the offset is away from the surface of the pad portions adapted to lie 
against the picture backing material. Were it not for the offset, the 
placing of the hanger on the back of the picture and gluing it to the 
picture would result in both undue stress on the hanger and difficulty in 
having the picture hook engage the strand. 
What has therefore been provided is a novel hanger having a bow tie 
configuration with the ends being apertured or porous to permit adhesive 
to pass therethrough and harden. Additionally a bow tie hanger of 
pull-truded material has been provided whether the ends have been 
apertured or not. Moreover, if the bow tie ends are apertured, a process 
is provided in which adhesive is forced through the apertures to be able 
to take advantage of the holding power of liquid adhesives as well as the 
penetrating property of the liquid adhesive. It will be appreciated that 
the penetration of the backing material is important because the backing 
material may be weak and the penetrating liquid adhesive, when hardened 
provides increased mechanical stability for the backing material. In the 
case of cardboard this prevents delamination and in the case of fiberboard 
this prevents failure due to the fibers coming away. Moreover, an offset 
central portion of the hanger provides ease of hanging and the entire 
hanger can be made as a unitary resinous structure. 
While particular embodiments of the invention have been described it will 
be understood that various modifications may be made which fall within the 
true spirit and scope of the invention claimed.