Abstract:
A bracket for holding three doors upright while they are being painted. The bracket attaches to the hinge attachment areas of a new door, and stabilizes the doors in a vertical position as they are painted, varnished, or stained, and as the paint, varnish, or stain dries.

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 
       [0005]    The device is a door stabilizer for holding doors that need to be painted in an upright position for the application of the paint, and holding them upright while the paint dries. The device has a bracket body on which are located at least three hinge interface plates. The hinge interface plates are made to interfit with the hinge attachment location on the side edges of a door. The hinge interface plates are oriented so that the doors will be directed at an angle from each other. If only two doors are to be supported, then the two-hinge interface brackets would be selected which place the two doors at an angle such as 90 degrees or another angle. If three doors were to be supported, then all three of the hinge interface plates would be utilized, and the three doors would be arranged in various configurations that would place the doors at different angles from each other. This could include equal angles of 120 degrees and also include approximately 90-degree angles. 
         [0006]    One form of the bracket can be generally U-shaped, with the three hinge interface plates on the two arms of the “U” and on the plate connecting the two arms. This would place the doors at 90-degree angles from each other. In another configuration, the bracket body would be generally T-shaped with the hinge interface plates located at the extremities of each of the limbs of the “T”. The hinge interface plates could be set at an angle from the limbs of the “T”, such as 90 degrees, 45 degrees or other angles. The T shape can be formed of two generally flat pieces which join together by each of the pieces having an interlocking slot to allow the flat pieces to lock together to form a T shape. 
         [0007]    The bracket body can also be a five-sided body in which three of the sides are occupied by hinge interface plates, and two other sides connect the three interface plates. This is similar to the U shaped bracket, but with additional interconnecting regions. 
         [0008]    Another embodiment of the invention would be generally three sided, with two sides joined along one edge and forming an angle. The third side would be attached at its corners to two of the three corners of the first and second sides. Thus, looking down at the bracket it appears to be a triangle, but looking from the side it is a V-shaped part, formed with two sides and another side attached below or above the “V”. Being below or above the “V” would allow access to the interior of the “V” and the back side of the third plate so that screws could be attached through each side into a door. In each of the hinge interface plates, one or more holes are supplied for attachment of the bracket body to the hinge attachment locations on the side edges of the doors. The bracket body could be attached to any of the hinge attachment locations of the doors such as the lower location, the middle location or the upper location. 
         [0009]    When the doors are attached at the hinge interface plates to the stand, the doors can be painted or sprayed with some other finish, and can be left to dry. This saves the work of building braces, nailing the doors to braces, using sawhorses, turning the doors, or using or building racks or other devices. 
         [0010]    The door holding bracket can also be in the form of an X, formed of two pieces which fit together with interlocking slots on each piece. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a top view of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a top view of an alternate version of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a top view of a U shaped configuration of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a five sided version of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a three sided version of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0016]    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. 
         [0017]    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. 
         [0018]    Several versions of the door stabilizer bracket of the invention are shown to advantage in  FIGS. 1-5 .  FIG. 1  shows a doors stabilizer bracket  10  of the invention with a bracket body  12 , and three hinge interface plates  14 . Each of the hinge interface plates  14  connect to a different door  16  specifically, each of the hinge interface plates  14  interface with a position on the door  16  which has been prepared for attachment of hinges to hold the door onto the door frame. These are designated as hinge attachment locations  18 . 
         [0019]    The door stabilizer bracket  10  of the invention can be made of a number of different materials such as metal and plastic, but a metal such as steel or aluminum is preferred. The door stabilizer brackets can take a number of configurations, as shown by the figures. The hinge interface plates  14  are shaped to fit into standard hinge attachment locations  18  on a standard household door. The hinge interface plates  14  are configured so that when a door is attached to them, the three doors that can be attached are pointed at different angles to allow access to both sides of each of the doors by a painter. When attached to the door stabilizer bracket  10  of the invention, the three doors can be placed in an upright position while they are being painted, and can be left in an upright position as the paint dries. Although the door stabilizer bracket  10  may be utilized to hold three doors, it is also an option for the user to utilize two door stabilizer brackets in order to hold those three doors, or one stabilizer to hold two doors. 
         [0020]      FIG. 2  shows an alternate form of door stabilizer bracket, which is formed generally by a T shaped bracket body. Shown in  FIG. 2  is the door stabilizer bracket  10  of the invention attached to doors  16  using screws  20 . Shown in  FIG. 2  are three hinged interface plates  14 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 3  shows an alternate configuration bracket body  12  of the invention. In this configuration of the door stabilizer bracket  10 , the bracket body  12  is generally U shaped, with hinge interface plates positioned on each of the three sides of the U shaped bracket body  12 . The hinge interfaced plates  14  are shown attached to doors  16  by screws  20 . 
         [0022]    The configuration shown in  FIG. 4  is a five sided bracket, with a five sided bracket body  12 , with three hinge interface plates  14 , attached to the hinge attachment location  18  of three doors  16 , the doors are attached by one screw  20 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 5  shows a version of the door stabilizer bracket  10  which is generally three sided, with a generally triangular shaped body with three hinge interfaced plates  14  which attach to doors  16  by one or more screws  20 . 
         [0024]    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.