Abstract:
A slatwall extrusion and assembly for a wall of a building to support hangers and shelving and the items they carry. Each section of slatwall has a continuous linear rear wall that integrally joins number of spaced boards. Each board has front, rear, top and bottom walls that form a continuous loop around a hollow interior. Each board also has a downwardly extending double-walled lip. The lip is spaced from its adjacent lower board to form an L-shaped slot. The continuous rear wall is firmly secured to the studs or drywall of the wall by self tapping screws or an adhesive coating. The linear rear wall, hoop shaped boards, and double-walled lips combine to form a sturdy, lightweight and inexpensive slatwall extrusion. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is used to achieve even further cost and weight reductions while maintaining the strength of the slatwall extrusion and assembly.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a slatwall extrusion having a continuous rear wall and spaced boards that define slots for receiving and supporting hangers, and an assembly of these slatwall extrusions secured to a wall of a building. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Slatwall is formed by a number of spaced horizontal boards that form uniform slots between adjacent boards. The boards have a lip that forms a slot for removably receive cooperating hangers that press against and grip one board and one lip to support the hanger and resist downward forces such as the weight of an object. The hangers are free to pivot upwardly to release from the slatwall for repositioning or removing the hangers. The hangers support items that hang directly from them or support shelving upon which those items are placed. Slatwall is commonly used in a wide variety of residential, retail and commercial setting to display and store a wide variety of items. 
   Slatwall is commonly extruded from plastics such as rigid PVC. Extruded slatwall sections have been formed to include a number of boards as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,344, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. Unfortunately, there are several problems with conventional plastic extrusions. One problem is the trade off between the physical characteristics and cost of the plastic material used to make the slatwall extrusion. Rigid PVC has a relatively high viscosity due to fillers such as lime stone and clay. This material tends to hold its cross-sectional profile during the heated extrusion process so that it is easy with which to work. Although rigid PVC is relatively strong, it is fairly expensive and rather heavy. Rigid PVC costs about $1.00 a pound and has a specific gravity of about 1.4 to 1.5. As a result, slatwall assemblies made from this material tend to be expensive and cumbersome with which to work. 
   Another problem with conventional slatwall extrusions is that they should be fairly rigidity. The slatwall extrusion should deform as little as possible when loaded, particularly at the top wall and lip supporting the hanger and along its rear surface where the slatwall is secured to the supporting wall. Yet, to reduce the amount of material and cost of the slatwall, channels may be formed along the rear wall. The front surface of the boards typically remain flat to achieve a desired appearance. The size of the channel along the rear of each board is restricted to maintain the strength. If the channel is too deep or too wide, the slatwall may bow or otherwise deform under load and allow one or more hangers to pop out. Cyclically loading and unloading items supported by the hangers and slatwall as items are sold and restocked tends to flex the rear wall of the slatwall where the fasteners secure it to the wall. This can loosen the fasteners and allow them to break free, causing a hanger or shelf to slip and its contents to fall and break. People in the vicinity could be injured by heavy or sharp objects. Should one of the top portions of the slatwall or hangers give way, a cascading effect could result. 
   A further problem with conventional slatwall extrusions is that their extrusion profile is intended for mechanical fasteners to secure the slatwall to a supporting surface. Screws or nails are typically located in the slots at spaced locations. These mechanical fasteners work well when properly driven into the wall studs at properly spaced intervals, but can be problematic when some of the fasteners inadvertently miss their intended stud. Many modern building constructions use metal studs at varying increments that can be difficult to locate. Metal studs also do not readily receive ordinary screws by workers using ordinary tools. Mechanical fasteners such as screws are also less effective and reliable when secured to drywall. The end result is a poorly installed and unsafe slatwall assembly. 
   The present invention is intended to solve these and other problems. 
   BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention pertains to a slatwall extrusion and assembly for a wall of a building to support hangers and shelving and the items they carry. Each section of slatwall has a continuous linear rear wall that integrally joins number of spaced boards. Each board has front, rear, top and bottom walls that form a continuous loop around a hollow interior. Each board also has a downwardly extending double-walled lip. The lip is spaced from its adjacent lower board to form an L-shaped slot. The continuous rear wall is firmly secured to the studs or drywall of the wall by self tapping screws or an adhesive coating. The linear rear wall, hoop shaped boards, and double-walled lips combine to form a sturdy, lightweight and inexpensive slatwall extrusion. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is used to achieve even further cost and weight reductions while maintaining the strength of the slatwall extrusion and assembly. 
   One advantage of the present slatwall extrusion invention is its strength and resistance to deformation. The continuous linear rear wall and hoop shaped boards provide a structurally strong slatwall geometry having an excellent weight to load ratio, or ratio of weight per linear foot of slatwall to maximum allowable load of the slatwall. The top walls of the boards support the weight of the items and transmit the load to the continuous rear wall. The continuous hoop construction helps prevent the top walls from unduly deforming under load so that the hangers remain engaged with the lip of the immediately adjacent upper board. In addition, the double-wall lip construction provides added strength to resist deformation and keep the hangers in their slots under load. The continuous rear wall further increases the strength of the slatwall by uniformly engaging, laying flush against and being uniformly buttressed by the drywall layer of the wall, which helps prevent the rear wall from buckling or twisting when the top walls and lips of the slatwall are under load. The continuous rear wall is also uniformly anchored to the wall by uniformly spaced screws or a uniformly applied adhesive coating. The continuous flush engagement and uniform securement helps further resist deformation of the continuous rear wall, which gives the boards a solid rear base layer from which to extend. The slatwall construction is particularly suited for cyclically loading and unloading without excessive loosening its screw fasteners that secure it to the wall. These factors combine to produce a stronger and safer slatwall construction capable of supporting significant loads. 
   Another advantage of the present slatwall extrusion invention is its lightweight construction and inexpensive cost. The hollow interior of each board significantly reduces the volume of plastic material per linear foot of slatwall section, which reduces the weight and cost of the slatwall section. In addition, the slatwall sections can be extruded using a HIPS material. While rigid PVC costs about $1.00 a pound and has a specific gravity of about 1.4 to 1.5, the HIPS material costs about $0.50 a pound and has a specific gravity of about 1.04. The HIPS material provides an additional fifty percent savings in material costs and a thirty percent reduction in weight. 
   A further advantage of the present slatwall extrusion invention is its extrusion profile allows either mechanical fasteners or adhesives to secure it to a supporting wall. The continuous flat rear surface lays flush against a wall so that adhesives can be easily applied in a generally continuous manner over its rear surface to achieve more uniform securement to the wall. Self tapping screws also easily pass through the material so that it can be anchored at uniformly spaced horizontal and vertical locations along its slots to secure it to the wall. The ability to use both mechanical fasteners and adhesives enables the slatwall to be securely attached to wall studs or directly to the outer drywall layer of a wall when the studs are difficult to find or are difficult to penetrate with self tapping screws and ordinary tools. 
   A still further advantage of the present slatwall extrusion is its manufacturability. The HIPS material has a relatively low viscosity when heated and is generally considered to be too difficult with which to work for hollow core extrusion processes. However, it has been found that sizing equipment can used to achieve the desired multi-loop board extrusion profile along with a flat continuous rear wall construction. With proper skill an operator can use a conventional vacuum sizing system to form the slatwall sections. The use of HIPS material dramatically reduces the cost of slatwall extrusions, with the savings being passed on to the customer. 
   Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon making reference to the specification, claims and drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the slatwall assembly invention mounted to a wall to support conventional slatwall hangers and shelving. 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a slatwall section with two hollow boards and a continuous rear wall. 
       FIG. 3  is a side view of several slatwall sections lying flat against the wooden studs of a wall and secured to the studs with self tapping screw fasteners. 
       FIG. 4  is a side view of several slatwall sections laying uniformly flat against the drywall layer of a wall and secured directly to the drywall with an adhesive coating. 
       FIG. 5  is a side view of an embodiment of the slatwall with three boards and modified connector ends that overlap with an adjacent slatwall section when installed. 
       FIG. 6  is a side view of an embodiment of the slatwall with four boards. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, the drawings show and the specification describes in detail preferred embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that the drawings and specification are to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention. They are not intended to limit the broad aspects of the invention to the embodiments illustrated. 
   Residential and commercial buildings generally have walls  4  with spaced, vertically aligned, wooden or metal studs  5  that form a vertical plain to which an attractive outer layer is fastened such as a layer of drywall  6  with a flat outer surface. The present invention relates to a slatwall assembly  10  generally shown in  FIG. 1 , and the individual slatwall sections  20  that form the assembly as generally shown in  FIG. 2 . The planar assembly  10  has an attractive uniform appearance from top  12  to bottom  13  and side  14  to side  15 . The assembly  10  is formed by a number of elongated slatwall sections  20  mounted in a vertically planar and lengthwise abutting series, one beneath the other, with each section  20  horizontally parallel to its adjacent section or sections. The assembly  10  is secured directly to the aligned sides of the studs  5  as in  FIG. 3 , or directly over the outer surface of the drywall  6  as in  FIG. 4 . The assembly  10  and each of its sections  20  are parallel to the vertical plain of the wall  4 , and are flush against and rigidly secured to its studs  5  or drywall layer  6 . Conventional slatwall hangers  7  and shelving  8  are mounted to and supported by the assembly  10 . Each hanger  7  and shelf unit  8  has a mounting bracket  9  with an elongated, substantially linear or flat, lower portion  9   a  and an inwardly offset, upper portion  9   b  for securing it to the slatwall  10 . 
   Each slatwall section  20  is made of plastic and has a one-piece or unibody construction  21  with top and bottom ends  22  and  23  and opposed sides  24  and  25 . The extruded sections  20  have a generally uniform profile across their entire extent. The sections  20  are preferably extruded from high impact polystyrene (HIPS), although rigid PVC and other extrudable plastic materials could be used, provided they produce a sufficiently strong and durable slatwall construction. Conventional extrusion equipment is used to extrude the sections  20 . When HIPS material is used, a conventional vacuum sizing system is incorporated such as that manufactured by CPC Tooling Technologies of Columbus, Ohio. Each slatwall section  20  includes two boards  30  such as upper and lower board  31   a  and  31   b  in  FIGS. 1–4 , but can include additional middle boards  31   c  as in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . The boards  30  are parallel to each other as well as to the top and bottom ends  22  and  23  of its section  20 . It should be understood that the embodiments having three boards  31   a–c  per slatwall section  20 , the middle board  31   c  is the upper board of its adjacent lower board  31   b  and the lower board of its adjacent upper board  31   a . A similar analogy applies for embodiments having four or more boards  31   a–c.    
   Each like-shaped board  30  has a generally rectangular shape when viewed from the front as in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , or from its side as in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . Each board  30  is about a ½ inch or 0.565 inches thick from front to back, and extends horizontally from one side  23  of the section  20  to the other  24 . Each board  30  has a height of about 2⅝ inches or 2.625 inches and is spaced from its adjacent boards a vertical distance of about ⅜ inch or 0.375 inches, so that the total height of one board and space set is about three inches. The boards  30  are parallel and uniformly spaced apart when viewed from the front. 
   Each board includes a front wall  32 , a rear wall  33 , a top wall  34  and a bottom wall  35 . The walls  32 – 35  of the boards  30  have a uniform thickness of about 1/16 inch or 0.065 inches for typical uses, but can vary depending on the desired board strength. The front and rear walls  32  and  33  are generally flat, in parallel registry and spaced about a half inch apart by the perpendicular top wall  34  and the bottom wall  35 . The top wall forms a generally flat and continuous platform from its front end to its rear end. The bottom wall  35  has an arcuate shape formed by a lower portion  37  with a length of about ¼ inch or 0.29 inches, a rear facing portion  38  with a length of about ½ inch or 0.50 inches, and an upper portion  39  with a length of about ¼ inch or 0.22 inches. The lower and upper portion  37  and  39  are generally flat, in offset parallel registry, and spaced apart by the perpendicular rearward portion  38 . The rearward portion  38  is generally flat, and is in parallel registry with and spaced from the front wall  32  by the perpendicular lower portion  37 . The walls  32 – 35  are integrally joined at their ends to form a continuous wall or loop having a somewhat rectangular shape. The corners joining the top, front and bottom walls  32 ,  34  and  35 , as well as bottom wall portions  38  and  39  are rounded to a radius of about ⅛ inch or 0.145 inches. The radius between bottom wall portions  37  and  38  is relatively small or about 1/16 inch or 0.085 inches to help keep the offset portion  9   b  of the hanger bracket  9  engaged with the lip  40 . 
   Each board  30  forms a double-walled lip  40  that extends down about a half inch along its lower end. The lip  40  has an inner wall  41  formed by the rear portion  38  of the bottom wall  35 , and an outer wall  42  formed by the lower end of the front wall  32 . These two walls  41  and  42  are integrally joined and spaced apart by the lower portion  37  of the bottom wall  35 . The walls  41  and  42  are parallel and spaced apart about ¼ inch or 0.29 inches. The spaced double-wall construction of the lip  40  provides a strong, rigid structure. The inner wall  38 ,  41  of the lip  40  is parallel to and spaced from the rear wall  33  about ¼ inch or 0.22 inches to receive and securely hold the bracket  9  of the hanger  7  or shelf  8 . 
   A continuous rear wall  60  with front and rear surfaces  61  and  62  extends between the top and bottom ends  21  and  22  and side walls  23  and  24  of each slatwall section  20 . The front and rear surfaces  61  and  62  form generally parallel plains. Similar to board walls  32 – 35 , the continuous rear wall  60  has a uniform thickness of about 1/16 inch or 0.065 inches for typical uses, but this thickness can vary depending on the desired strength. The rear wall  60  includes alternating board segments  63  and spacer segments  65 . The rear wall  33  of each board  30  is formed by one of the board segments  63 . Each board segment  63  has a length of about two inches or 1.995 inches. One central spacer segment  65   a  is between each board segment  63 . Each central spacer segment  65   a  has a vertical length of about ⅞ inch or 0.875 inches and uniformly spaces apart its adjacent boards  30 . Joining spacer segments  65   b  are formed between the boards of adjacent sections  20  as discussed below. 
   Each slatwall section  20  has lower and upper connectors  66  and  67  that are preferably formed by or an extension of the rear wall  60 . The upper connector  67  extends vertically up along the upper end  22  and has a length of about ⅞ inch or 0.861 inches. The lower connector  66  extends vertically down along the lower end  23  and has a length of about ⅛ inch or 0.185 inches. The connectors  66  and  67  extend from one side  24  to the other  25 . When installed, the lower connector end  66  of one section  20  continuously abuts the upper connector  67  of an adjacent lower board as best shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The upper connector  67  has a main portion  68  and an offset portion  69 . The main portion  68  has a length of about ⅝ inch or 0.682 inches. The offset portion  69  has a length of about ⅛ or 0.179 inches, and is offset about 1/16 inch or 0.75 inches from the main portion  68  to form a slot for matingly receiving and overlap the lower connector  66  of its adjacent upper board. The abutting ends of the connectors  66  and  67  are parallel. The lower connector  66  and the main portion  68  of the upper connector  67  combine to form the joining spacer segment  65   b  that has a length of about ⅞ inch or 0.867 inch and is substantially equal in length to the central spacer segment  65   a . The adjacent boards  31   a  and  31   b  of separate abutting sections  20  are also spaced a uniform ⅜ inch or 0.375 inches apart by spacer segments  65   b , which is the same or substantially the same as the spacing of the adjacent boards of the same section. The length of the lower and upper connectors  66  and  67  can be altered without departing from the board aspects of the invention provided they combine to equal one spacer segment. For example,  FIG. 5  shows a section  20  with connectors  66  and  67  of equal length. Each connector  66  and  67  has a length equal to the length of one spacer segment  65 . The upper connector  67  of one section  20  completely overlaps the lower connector  66  of an adjacent upper section when they are joined together. This complete or substantially complete overlap of the connectors  66  and  67  enables each screw to be driven through and join the adjacent sections  20  to produce a slatwall assembly  10  that is more securely attached to the wall  4 . 
   A slot  70  is formed between each set of two adjacent boards  30  and the corresponding spacer segment  65  between these boards. A central slot  70   a  is formed between two boards  31   a–c  and central spacer section  65   a  of a single section  20 . An adjoining slot  70   b  is formed between the boards  31   a  and  31   b  and joining spacer segment  65   b  of two adjacent sections  20 . Each like-shaped slot  70  has merging outer and inner portions  72  and  74  as best shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The outer portion  72  is located immediately above the top wall  34  of the lower board  30  and is relatively narrow or horizontally flat with a height of about ⅜ inch or 0.375 inches. The narrow outer portion  72  forms an opening between the front walls  32  of the adjacent boards  30  and extends back toward the rear wall  33 . The inner portion  74  is located immediately in front of the rear wall  33  and is relatively wide or vertically tall with a height of about ⅞ inch or 0.875 inches. The narrow and vertical portions  72  and  74  give the slot an L-shaped appearance when viewed from the side. Each slot  70  has the same L-shape, and is uniform along its length from one side  14  of the assembly  10  to the other  15 . The narrow or flat outer portion  72  is formed by sizing the spacer segments  65  and  65   a  longer than the walls  41  and  42  of the lip  40 , so that the lower portion  37  or  43  of the bottom wall  35  or lip  40  is spaced a desired distance from the top wall  34  of the lower board  30 . The wide or tall inner portion  74  is formed by offsetting the bottom wall  35  up proximal the rear wall  35  to create the lip  40 . The narrow outer portion  72  combines with the height of the lip  40  to form the taller inner portion  74 . 
   The assembly  10  is installed by mounting the slatwall sections  20  to the wall  4  one at a time. The assembly is mounted directly against the studs  5  or over the drywall  6 . Each section  20  is secured to the wall  4  with self-tapping screws  80  or an adhesive coating  85 . The lowest section  20  of the assembly  10  is secured first. This section  20  should be properly leveled to ensure its upper longitudinal end  22  is horizontally level before the section is secured in place. This section  20  should also be positioned a desired distance from the ceiling so that a full section can be located along the ceiling. The second or next upper adjacent section is then aligned in abutting engagement with the first section so that its lower end  23  rests on the upper end  22  of the first or lower adjacent section. The lower connector  66  is received by or mates with the offset portion  69  of the upper connector  67  of the lower adjacent section to self align the upper adjacent section  20  before it is secured in place. Each of the other remaining sections  20  is similarly aligned and secured. Trim pieces (not shown) are used to cap the top  12  and sides  14  and  15  of the assembly  10 , and aesthetically join the sides  24  and  25  of horizontally abutting sections  20 . 
   When screws  80  are used to secure the sections  20 , the screws should extend into each of the vertical studs  5  that are uniformly spaced at intervals of about 16 inches. The screws  80  are preferably Phillips pan head screws, #10×1½ inch. The screws  80  are located along the horizontal length of the upper connector or leg  67  that completely or partially forms the upper spacer segment  65   a . The screws pass through the connector  67  so that one screw joins the section  20  to each underlying stud  5 . Screws  80  are similarly located along the center slot  70  of each section  20  so that one screw enters each underlying stud. A load supported by the top wall  34  of one board  30  passes up the rear wall  60  of that section, through the screws  80  and to the studs  5  of the wall  4 . Mounted with proper hangers  7  and bracket hardware  9 , each slatwall section  20  should support a downward load of twenty-five pounds at an effective distance of one foot from the front walls  32  of the slatwall section  20  without adversely deforming the slatwall sections. Heavier objects should be mounted directly over the screws for additional strength. The screws can be secured into the drywall  6  via conventional drywall anchors (not shown), but such a mounting will likely reduce the load carrying capacity of the assembly  10 . 
   When an adhesive coating  85  is used to secure the slatwall sections  20  to the drywall layer  6 , the coating is applied evenly between the rear surface of the continuous rear wall  60  of each section  20  and the outer surface of the drywall. A load supported by the top wall  34  of one of the boards  30  of that section  20  passes via the rear wall  60 , adhesive coating  85  and drywall  6  to the studs  5  of the wall  4 . The adhesive is preferably a construction grade adhesive appropriate for bonding plastic to materials such as drywall or plywood, and preferably contains active ingredients of resin acids, rosin acids, esters with glycerol, such as the Liquid Nails adhesive made by Macco of Cleveland Ohio. Mounted with proper hangers  7  and bracket hardware  9 , each slatwall section  20  should support a downward load of twenty-five pounds at an effective distance of one foot from the front walls  32  of the slatwall section  20  without adversely deforming the slatwall sections. 
   While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the broad aspects of the invention.