Patent Abstract:
A door bracket for holding stable and upright two or more doors for painting. The door bracket is formed of interconnecting arms which provide an end which is inserted in the door lock passage of the doors. A bracket of two arms can hold 2 to 3 doors upright, and a bracket of three arms can hold 3 or 4 doors upright while they are painted.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     Door holding brackets, and more particularly brackets for holding un-mounted doors upright, so that they can be painted or have finish applied.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention is a device for holding at least two doors in an upright position. Doors which are being prepared for installation in a new house are painted or treated with some other finish before they are installed. The paint is selected by the homeowner and is designed to match the other woodwork in the house. In a new house there can be quite a few doors that need to be painted, and putting them into a position in which they can be painted and left to dry becomes a time-consuming and labor intensive effort. When the doors are painted, they typically have been drilled for a doorknob, and have a hole drilled through the side of the door for the latch of the doorknob and have positions prepared to receive hinges. One way to lay out the doors for painting is to set up a number of saw horses, lay all the doors of the house on the saw horses, and paint one side of the door at a time. When the side that is painted is dried the doors can be flipped over, and the back side painted.  
         [0003]     Another way that is currently used to paint doors for a house is to stand the doors upright and nail a piece of wood into the top of the door, and then nail the other end of the same piece of wood into the top of another door. In this way the two doors are held upright, and they are somewhat stable from falling over. However, this requires that a nail hole be placed in the top of the door, and if the doors are bumped they can easily fall down. If the two doors fall down they not only ruin the surface on the two doors, but they may also fall into other doors and ruin the painted surface on more than just the two doors.  
         [0004]     What is needed is a device for holding unpainted doors upright which provides stability to the doors, and allows both sides of the two doors to be painted. Such a device needs to mount to the doors in a way that secures and stabilizes the doors, and does not require a nail or a screw to be placed in the door which would be seen later.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     These and other goals are accomplished by the door painting bracket of the invention. The device is a door stabilizer for holding doors needing painting in an upright position so they can be painted, and holding them upright while the paint dries. One version of the device is one made of two arms, a first arm and a second arm. The two arms are joined together and can be separable so that the arms can be separated from each other. Each of the arms has an end for insertion into the passage for the door latch of a door. The arms are not attached to the door, but serve to stabilize and hold the doors in an upright position.  
         [0006]     One version of the device used square tubular material with square interconnecting links that join the two arms together. Another version uses three arms, and can be used to stabilize three or four doors in an upright position.  
         [0007]     Another version of the device includes a bracket body, with a first arm and a second arm. Each arm has a hinge plate which is the same footprint as the hinge position on the doors, and fits in the hinge position and is screwed in place. The bracket body can have a third arm, and can thus stabilize three doors in an upright position.  
         [0008]     The purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.  
         [0009]     Still other features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out my invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the device of the invention in use with two doors.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the device in use with two doors.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the first arm and the second arm of the device.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the first and second arm being fitted together.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the first and second arm fully fitted together.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing the first arm, second arm and third arm of the device fitted together.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a plan view of one version of the device showing the first arm, the second arm and the third arm in use with four doors.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the device showing three arms with each arm having a hinge plate.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  is a plan view of the device showing a two arm device with hinge plates attached to two doors. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]     While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.  
         [0020]     In the following description and in the figures, like elements are identified with like reference numerals. The use of “or” indicates a non-exclusive alternative without limitation unless otherwise noted. The use of “including” means “including, but not limited to,” unless otherwise noted.  
         [0021]      FIGS. 1 through 9  show several preferred embodiments of the invention.  FIGS. 3 through 5  show an embodiment of the invention which is made up of a first arm  12  and a second arm  14 . Looking at  FIG. 3 , the door bracket  10  includes a first arm  12  and a second arm  14 . Each of the arms have an interconnecting notch  16 . In this embodiment of the invention the first arm and second arm are made of a square tubular material, which can be metal or plastic. Aluminum tubing works well, and any metal or plastic could also be used.  FIG. 4  shows the first arm  12  and the second arm  14  being joined together with the interconnecting notches  16  of each overlapping each other.  FIG. 5  shows the door bracket  10  fully assembled with the first arm  12  and the second arm  14  fully joined together at their interconnecting notch. In this position, the two arms can only be disengaged by lifting one away from the other.  
         [0022]     The device which is shown assembled in  FIG. 5  is shown in use with doors  18  in  FIG. 1 . In  FIG. 1  the door bracket  10  is inserted into the door latch passage  20  of each of these doors. In this configuration the doors are stabilized for standing upright with no other supports. In this position both sides of the door and all around the outside edge of the door except the bottom edge may be painted or sprayed with some other finish such as stain, sealant, varnish or covering such as varethane.  FIG. 2  is a top view of the same two door arrangement, with the device  10  in place in the door latch passages  20 , and with the doors stabilized for free-standing in a spaced apart positioned. In this position the doors can&#39;t fall down unless the door bracket  10  is broken.  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  shows another version of the door bracket  10  which includes a first arm  12  a second arm  14  and a third arm  24 . These arms can be connected as was shown in  FIGS. 3-5 , by the use of interconnecting notches  16  on each of the doors.  FIG. 7  shows the door bracket  10  of  FIG. 6  attached to four doors  18 . In this position, the doors  18  are stable and will remain free standing unless the door bracket  10  is broken.  
         [0024]      FIG. 8  shows another embodiment of the invention which includes a bracket body  26 . The bracket body  26  is made up of a first arm  12 , a second arm  14 , and in this case, a third arm  24 . At the end of each of the arms is a hinge plate  28 . The hinge plate  28  on each of these arms is configured to fit the hinge plate area and the hinge screw holes of a door.  FIG. 9  is a plan view showing the device with a bracket body  26 , a first arm  12 , a second arm  14 , hinge plates  28  attached to the door hinge position  30  on doors  18 . The door bracket of this configuration can be made from aluminum, steel, plastic, or any suitable material.  
         [0025]     While there is shown and described the present preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that this invention is not limited thereto, but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1