Abstract:
A medal mounting apparatus comprises a mounting plate and a backing plate. The mounting plate has at least one hole through the plate. The hole is adapted to allow a medal to be secured to the plate by a tie or stitch through the plate. The backing plate is adapted to be secured to a garment and to be releasably secured to the mounting plate such that when secured, the backing plate is spaced from the mounting plate to create a cavity between the mounting plate and the backing plate.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a medal mounting apparatus particularly for the court mounting of medals for award recipients of honours conferred in recognition of achievement or meritorious service. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Medals are awarded for a wide range of achievements and service. Recipients can indude members of the public, emergency services, government public servants and military personnel. Awards typically comprise a metal medal hung from a colour prescribed ribbon. Often for awards that have be conferred to a recipient more than once, medal bars can be attached above the medal on the ribbon in order to visually display the additional honour. 
         [0003]    Award recipients will often be required to wear their medals in formal and informal ceremonial activities such as state dinners, commemorations, emergency services and military parades. In order for recipients to present their awards in an order befitting the honour they are appropriately mounted for wearing. The two methods of mounting medals are swing mounted and court mounted. The present invention relates to the later of the methods, court mounting. 
         [0004]    Mounting is typically. carried out by stitching and/or adhering the ribbon of each medal to a flat backboard commonly of a cardboard or canvas material, such that the ribbons and medals are fixed in place. Vinyl or material is regularly glued to the rear of the backboard to cover ribbon and medal stitching. 
         [0005]    As medals tarnish easily, they need to be cleaned thoroughly to stop deterioration and pitting, which is difficult when the medals are court mounted as described above. Further, as more medals are awarded they must be added to the court mount. Cleaning of the medals or the addition of new medals typically requires removing the medals from the back board, cleaning the medals and then remounting the medals on a new back board with new lengths of ribbon. This can typically be a very expensive process with the additional ribbon or cleaning requirements, in most cases having to be conducted by jewellers or medal mounting specialists. These costs can quickly escalate even further if the labour intensive procedure to remount the medals is required. 
       OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of the above disadvantages, or to provide a useful alternative. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In a first aspect, the present invention provides a medal mounting apparatus comprising:
       a mounting plate having at least one hole through the plate, the hole adapted to allow a medal to be secured to the plate by a tie or stitch through the plate; and   a backing plate adapted to be secured to a garment;   wherein the backing plate is adapted to be releasably secured to the mounting plate is such that when secured, the backing plate is spaced from the mounting plate to create a cavity between the mounting plate and the backing plate.       
 
         [0011]    In a preferred embodiment, the medal mounting apparatus further comprises a spacing flange arrangement on at least one of the backing plate and the mounting plate, the spacing flange arrangement adapted to space the backing plate from the mounting plate. 
         [0012]    Preferably, the backing plate is releasably securable to the mounting plate via the spacing flange arrangement. Further preferably, the spacing flange arrangement is provided on the mounting plate and includes a pair of upper flanges adjacent to an upper end of the mounting plate and a pair of lower flanges adjacent to a lower end of the mounting plate. More preferably, the backing plate includes a pair of recessed tabs adjacent to an upper end of the backing plate and an upwardly projecting flap adjacent to a lower end of the backing plate and wherein the recessed tabs are adapted to engage the upper flanges and the flap is adapted to engage the lower flanges when the backing plate is slidably engaged with the mounting plate. 
         [0013]    The medal mounting apparatus preferably further comprises a customised medal ribbon, the medal ribbon having a hook secured at one end and wherein the backing plate has a slot adapted to receive the hook. Further preferably, the hook is attached to the medal ribbon by a length of elastic material such that the medal ribbon can be held in tension by stretching the elastic material in order to mount the hook in the slot. 
         [0014]    In a preferred embodiment, the backing plate is provided with a pin for attaching the medal mounting apparatus to a garment. 
         [0015]    Preferably, the at least one hole in the mounting plate includes a plurality of holes arranged towards the lower end of the mounting plate, the holes being arranged to allow one or more stitches to pass through the mounting plate to secure the medal at the lower end of the mounting plate. 
         [0016]    The medal mounting apparatus preferably further comprises at least one pair of medal bar mounting holes, the holes of each pair of medal bar mounting holes being arranged towards the upper end of the mounting plate. 
         [0017]    The mounting plate may be sized to mount a single medal or alternatively, the mounting plate may be sized to mount multiple medals side by side. 
         [0018]    Preferably, the backing plate is adapted to have details relating to the medal recorded on an outer surface of the backing plate. 
         [0019]    In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of mounting a medal on a medal mounting apparatus, the method comprising:
       providing a mounting plate and a backing plate releasably securable to the mounting   plate, the mounting plate having a front face, a rear face and at least one hole extending through the plate;   threading the medal ribbon through a connector piece associated with the medal;   wrapping a medal ribbon on the mounting plate so that the medal ribbon extends from a front face of the mounting plate around a lower end of the mounting plate, up the rear face and over an upper end of the mounting plate, partway down the front face, through the connector piece, back up the front face, over the upper end of the mounting plate and down the rear face;   securing the medal to the mounting plate by stitching through the at least one hole in the mounting plate;   securing the backing plate to the mounting plate.       
 
         [0026]    In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises:
       securing the medal ribbon to the front face of the mounting plate prior to wrapping the medal ribbon around the mounting plate.       
 
         [0028]    Preferably, the method further comprises:
       attaching an end of the medal ribbon to the backing plate after wrapping the medal ribbon around the backing plate and prior to securing the backing plate to the mounting plate.       
 
         [0030]    The method may further comprise:
       mounting medal bars on the mounting plate using medal bar mounting holes formed in the mounting plate.       
 
         [0032]    Optionally, the method further comprises:
       mounting multiple medals on the mounting plate either side by side or partially overlapping one another by repeating the method of the second aspect for each medal.       
 
         [0034]    Preferably, the method further comprises:
       inscribing or otherwise printing details relating to the medal on an outer surface of the backing plate.       
 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0036]    A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of specific example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0037]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a medal mounting apparatus; 
           [0038]      FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view of the medal mounting apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0039]      FIG. 3  is a front view of a medal mounted on the medal mounting apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0040]      FIG. 4  is a partial view of a medal ribbon of the medal mounting apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0041]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a medal mounting apparatus. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0042]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a medal mounting apparatus  10  for mounting a medal to meet court mounting requirements is depicted. The medal mounting apparatus  10  comprises a mounting plate  12  and a backing plate  14  releasably mountable to the mounting plate  12 . 
         [0043]    The mounting plate  12  has a generally rectangular front face  15 , an opposing rear face  16 , an upper end  18  and a lower end  20 . The mounting plate  12  has pair of opposing, rearwardly depending upper flanges  22  adjacent to the upper end  18  and a pair of opposing, rearwardly depending lower flanges  24  adjacent to the lower end  20 . The mounting plate  12  is provided with a series of bar mounting holes  25  formed along the lateral edges of the mounting plate  12  toward the upper end  18  and a series of medal mounting holes  26  formed centrally in the mounting plate  12  toward the lower end  20 . 
         [0044]    The backing plate  14  is also generally rectangular with an upper end  28  and a lower end  30 . The backing plate  14  comprises pair of recessed tabs  32  at the upper end  28  and an upwardly projecting flap  34  extending from a lower edge  36  at the lower end  30 . The lower edge  36  is provided with a centrally formed slot  38 . The backing plate  14  is also provided with a pin  40  for attaching the medal mounting apparatus  10  to a uniform or other article of clothing. 
         [0045]    The backing plate  14  is designed to be slidably mounted on the mounting plate  12  by sliding the backing plate  14  upwardly adjacent to the rear face  16  of the mounting plate  12 , such that the recessed tabs  32  slide under the upper flanges  22  and the upwardly projecting flap  34  slides under the lower flanges  24 . This secures the backing plate  14  to the mounting plate  12  and creates a cavity  35  or hollow space between the mounting plate  12  and the backing plate  14 . 
         [0046]    The medal mounting apparatus  10  also provides the facility for recording the medal recipient&#39;s details on the outer surface of the backing plate  14 . Details, such as the reason why, when and how the medal was awarded, can be recorded. These details can be inscribed in, printed on or otherwise adhered to the outer surface of the backing plate  14 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 3  depicts a medal  50  court mounted on the medal mounting apparatus  10 . The medal  50  includes a connector piece  52  through which a medal ribbon  54  is looped. A medal bar  56  is secured on the medal mounting apparatus  10  by way of pins  58  and the medal  50  is held in place by way of a stitch  60 . 
         [0048]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , the medal ribbon  54  is provided at one end with a hook  62  attached to the medal ribbon  54  by way of an elastic tab  64 . 
         [0049]    The process of mounting the medal  50  with the medal mounting apparatus will now be described. 
         [0050]    Firstly, the hook  62  is attached to one end of the medal ribbon  54  by stitching the elastic tab  64  to the end of the medal ribbon  54 . After being fed through the connector piece  52 , the other end of the medal ribbon  54  is then secured to the front face  15  of the mounting plate  12  by double-sided tape, other adhesive or by stitching through the bar mounting holes  25 , such that the medal ribbon  54  extends down the front face  15  of the mounting plate  12 . This portion of the medal ribbon  54  can be seen behind the medal  50  in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0051]    The medal ribbon  54  is then wrapped around the lower end  20  of the mounting plate  12 , runs up the rear face  16  and is wrapped over the upper end  18  of the mounting plate  12 . 
         [0052]    Then the medal ribbon  54  extends partway down the front face  15  of the mounting plate  12  and after looping through the connector piece  52 , is drawn upwardly and wrapped over the upper end  18  of the mounting plate  12 . This portion of the medal ribbon  54  can be seen above the connector piece  52  in  FIG. 3 . At this stage, the medal  50  can be stitched in place by a stitch  60  passing over the connector piece  52  and through one or more of the medal mounting holes  26 . 
         [0053]    The medal ribbon  54  then runs down the rear face  16  of the mounting plate  12  and terminates in the elastic tab  64  and hook  62 , with the hook  62  facing rearwardly. The backing plate  14  is then mounted by arranging the hook  62  in the slot  38  and sliding the backing plate  14  upwardly adjacent to the rear face  16  of the mounting plate  12 , such that the recessed tabs  32  slide under the upper flanges  22  and the upwardly projecting flap  34  slides under the lower flanges  24 . This secures the backing plate  14  to the mounting plate  12  and the medal ribbon  54  is held under tension by the elastic tab  64 . 
         [0054]    The result is a very neat and simple court mounting of the medal  50  on the medal mounting apparatus  10 . The medal  50  is held securely in place by the stitch  60  and the medal ribbon  54  is maintained tightly in position by the tension in the elastic tab  64 . The process of mounting the medal  50  as described above is very simple and can be easily reversed and repeated many times over, without destroying or damaging the medal ribbon  54  or mounting plate  12 . 
         [0055]    Depicted in  FIG. 5 , is a mounting plate  112  for a medal mounting apparatus for mounting five or more medals. The mounting plate  112  indudes multiple sets of bar mounting holes  125  and medal mounting holes  126  to allow medals and medal bars to be mounted in a variety of positions depending on the number of medals being mounted. 
         [0056]    The medal mounting apparatus can be provided in a range of different widths in order to allow the mounting of multiple medals. The apparatus is typically provided in single, double, triple, quad and fivefold width variations, with a single width corresponding to the width of a standard medal ribbon, which for Australian medals is 32 mm. Each variation is typically a multiple of this standard width. 
         [0057]    The mounting of medals on the different variations of the medal mounting apparatus follows essentially the same process as described above. The backing plate for each variation will vary in length and may have multiple slots for receiving the hooks of multiple medals. Alternatively, the hooks of additional medals can be reversed so that they attach to the base of the mounting plate instead of to the backing plate. 
         [0058]    The medal mounting apparatus may also be used for vertical mounting by way of an elongate slot being provided along the centre of the mounting plate. 
         [0059]    The medal mounting apparatus greatly facilitates the medal mounting process, making it much simpler and requiring much less stitching of the medal ribbons. As the medal ribbon does not need to be stitched in place, the medal and medal ribbon can be easily removed from the medal mounting apparatus without damage to the medal ribbon or medal. This allows the ribbon to be reused when the medal is remounted. The medal mounting apparatus itself can also be re-used. 
         [0060]    Cleaning of tarnished medals is also greatly. facilitated as the medal can easily be removed for cleaning and remounted without damage to the medal ribbon or medal mounting apparatus. 
         [0061]    As the process to mount a medal does not require a great deal of skill or labour, professional medal mounting is not necessary and court mounting quality can be achieved without engaging a professional. 
         [0062]    Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.