Patent Publication Number: US-2010126091-A1

Title: Rail for stretched cloth false wall

Description:
The present invention concerns a rail for a false partition and in particular a false ceiling, with tensioned fabric, and in particular for false ceilings in which the fabric is connected to the rail by means of laces. 
     False ceilings conventionally comprise one or more fastening rails that are fixed to each of the walls of a room, at a short distance therefrom, and an elastic fabric, for example made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is deformed by tension so that its edges, provided with attachment means, can be fixed to the rails by these attachment means. 
     One of the main difficulties encountered in the technique of fitting such false ceilings is that this fabric, in order to offer a nice appearance, must be highly tensioned on the rails. However, false ceilings are generally disposed in rooms with relatively large surface areas, which makes it necessary to exert high tension forces on each of the sides of the fabric. 
     For this purpose, connecting the fabric to the rails by means of laces that are passed through orifices produced in the fabric and are connected to the rail by means of hooks disposed in piercings in the rail is known. 
     Such a false ceiling, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , comprises a rail  1  connected to a polyvinyl chloride fabric  2 , tensioned by means of elastic laces  3 . 
     The rail  1  is in a U shape with a base wing  9  and two parallel wings  10 ,  11 . The two wings  10 ,  11  are perpendicular to the base wing  9 . The bottom wing  10  is provided with piercings  7 . The rail  1  is fixed to a partition  12  of the room by means of screws, not shown, screwed into threaded holes  8  disposed on the base wing  9  of the rail  1 . 
     The elastic laces  3  are connected on the one hand to the rail  1 , by means of S-shaped hooks  4 , and on the other hand to the fabric  2 , by means of orifices  5  formed on a peripheral edge  6  of the fabric  2 . The hooks  2  thus support the lace  3  at one of their ends and are disposed at their other end in the piercings  7  in the rail  1 . 
     The drawbacks relating to the use of such a rail  1  can be seen. The presence of the hooks  4  close to the orifices  8  makes it difficult to fix the rail  1  to the partition  12 . Fixing the hooks  4  in the orifices  7  is also lengthy and difficult. Moreover, it is necessary to pierce numerous orifices  7  in the rail  1 , which also requires a great deal of time. In addition, if it is wished to use a given spacing of the orifices  7 , according to the surface to be equipped, it is necessary either to have available a set of rails  1  with different spacings, or to pierce orifices  7  as required, which is fairly constraining. 
     A device for fitting a false ceiling is also known, described in patent application FR 2 861 769, consisting of a fabric tensioned by its periphery on rails secured to the walls of a room, comprising force-return hook pulleys that can be secured to the rails and can have a link pass through them, one end of which comprises means of fixing to the fabric and the other end of which provides the holding of a downstream force-return element, a second link forming a loop passing through the said downstream force-return elements and comprising means of coiling it, so as to reduce its length and thus bring the rails closer to the attachment points on the fabric. This device does not make it possible to immobilise the pulleys along the rails at chosen positions. The present invention proposes a rail for remedying these drawbacks. 
     The subject matter of the invention is thus a rail for a false partition and in particular a false ceiling, with tensioned fabric, of the type comprising one or more zones for fixing to a partition, and being intended to be connected to the fabric by means of one or more laces. The rail according to the invention comprises a runner accepting elements receiving laces, each lace reception element being, by means of a support, firstly mounted for sliding and secondly able to be immobilised with respect to said runner. The present invention solves the problems of positioning and immobilisation of the lace reception elements along the runner of the rail and therefore makes it possible to have points for tensioning the fabric at chosen intervals and to adapt their position as required in particular to the shape of the room and of the partition. 
     The rail can be fixed to any type of partition, such as a wall or ceiling. 
     In order to lock the lace reception element, the support advantageously has a threaded hole passing through it, in which the lace reception element is screwed. 
     It can be envisaged that only some lace reception elements are connected to such a support. Preferably, all the lace reception elements are connected to such a support. 
     In order to facilitate the fixing of the rail to the partition, the rail advantageously comprises a first wing intended to be fixed to a partition, and a second wing comprising the runner. 
     According to a variant, the first wing also comprises a runner. It is in this way possible to adapt the reception of the lace to the configuration of the room. It is thus possible to envisage that, by passing from a first rail to a second rail, the lace is first of all received on the first wing of the first rail and then on the second wing of the second rail. 
     According to another embodiment, the first and second wings are joined in a single wing. This wing therefore comprises the runner while providing the fixing of the rail to the partition. 
     Preferably, the two wings are made in one piece. 
     The lace reception element may be any element comprising an orifice, thus allowing passage of the lace and securing thereof to the rail. It is in particular possible to use any curved piece of the hook type, or an eye. The use of a hook makes it possible to receive the lace easily. 
     Another subject matter of the invention is a false partition and in particular a false ceiling of the type comprising a tensioned fabric connected to a rail described above by means of one or more laces. 
     The laces can be chosen from all types of lace, and preferably from elastic laces. It is possible in particular to use elastic laces of the Sandow® type. 
     To receive the laces, the fabric is advantageously provided with orifices intended to receive the laces. 
    
    
     
       Other aims, characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from a reading of the following description, given solely by way of example, and made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1 , already described, illustrates part of a false ceiling comprising a fabric tensioned by means of a lace fixed to a rail according to the prior art, 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a rail according to the invention, 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a rail according to a variant of the invention, 
         FIG. 4  illustrates part of a false ceiling comprising a fabric tensioned by means of a lace fixed to a rail according to a first embodiment of the invention, and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates part of a false ceiling comprising a fabric tensioned by means of a lace fixed to a rail according to a second embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     The rail  27  according to the invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , comprises a first ring  13  intended to be fixed to a partition by means of fixing zones, that is to say threaded holes  15 . The rail  27  also comprises a second wing  14 , perpendicular to the first wing  13 . The second wing  14  comprises a runner  16  able to slidably accept a support  18  through which a threaded hole  19  passes. The first wing  13  and second wing  14  are made in one piece. The eyes  17  are slidably mounted by partial screwing in the support  18  by means of a threaded zone  21  able to be screwed into the threaded hole  19  in the support  18 . The eyes  17  are provided with an orifice  200  intended to accept laces. 
     The runner  16  is in the shape of a U provided with a bottom wing  20 , and two parallel lateral wings  21 ,  22  perpendicular to the bottom wing  20 . The runner  16  is also provided with two rims  23 ,  24  disposed at the top of the lateral wings  21 ,  22 , and which are parallel to the bottom wing  20 . The form of the runner  16  thus delimits a recess  25  able to slidably guide the support  18  and consequently the eye  17  partially screwed in the support  18 . 
     The support  18  can be of square or rectangular cross section, its width and height being chosen so that the support  18  can slide in the recess  25 . 
     Each eye  17  is locked simply by complete screwing of the eye  17  in the support  18 . The locking is then effected when the threaded zone  21  of the eye  17  comes into contact with the bottom wing  20  of the runner  16 . It is thus possible to position each eye  17  quickly and simply at the required place on the rail  27  by sliding the eye  17  in the runner  16 , and then by locking, completely screwing the eye  17  in the support  18 . 
     According to the variant illustrated in  FIG. 3 , where the elements identical to those in  FIG. 2  bear the same reference signs, the first wing  13  of the rail  27  also comprises a runner  30 . The runner  30  is identical to the runner  16  of the second wing  14  and is disposed above three threads  15 . The runner  30  is in the shape of U provided with a bottom wing  31 , two parallel lateral wings  32 ,  33 , perpendicular to the bottom wing  31 . The runner  30  is also provided with two rims  34 ,  35  disposed at the top of the lateral wings  32 ,  33 , and which are parallel to the bottom wing  31 . The shape of the runner  30  thus delimits a recess  36  able to slidably guide a lace reception element identical to the one described in  FIG. 2 . 
     According to this variant of the invention, the rail  27  is thus provided with two runners  16 ,  30 . This arrangement makes it possible to obtain original or more appropriate configurations, allowing lace reception on one or other of the two runners  16 ,  30 . 
     The false ceiling illustrated in  FIG. 4 , on which the elements identical to those in  FIG. 2  bear the same reference signs, comprises a tensioned fabric  2  made from polyvinyl chloride provided with orifices  5  formed on a peripheral edge  6  of the fabric  2 . The fabric  2  is connected to the previously described rail  27  by means of elastic laces  3 . The rail  27  is fixed to a wall  12  by virtue of screws  26 . The elastic laces  3  tension the fabric by passing alternately through an orifice  5  in the fabric  2  and then through the orifice  200  of an eye  17  locked in the runner  16  of the rail  27 . 
     In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the first wing and the second wing are joined in a single wing  28 . As shown, the wing  28  is merged with the bottom wing  20  of the runner  16  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The wing  28  can however also be identical to the wing  14 , also illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The rail  27  is fixed to the wall  12  by means of the screws  26  disposed in fixing zones of the wing  28 , which are threaded holes, not shown. 
     The rail  27  according to the invention thus makes it possible to arrange the eyes  17  in an optimal fashion, according to the spacing of the orifices  5  in the fabric  2 . They also make it possible to avoid the numerous piercings provided in the rail  1  of the prior art.