GB2333952A - Book hanger - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable book hanger 51 comprises a flat member having an elongate part 53 for insertion into a book 52 to support the spine and hooks 55,57 at each end which respectively support the base of the book and allow the hanger to be suspended, eg from a rod 56. The rod may support several books and may be mounted on a free standing frame as shown or a wall. The hanger is preferably symmetrical or the hook 57 may be replaced by a stud or notch.

Description

Hanger This invention relates to means of support and display for books.

By 'book' is meant printed or written material with several pages which are bound or otherwise held together by means of a spine. This definition includes magazines and the like.

By 'spine' is meant means of holding pages together along their length. This includes binding by means of glue or sewing, as well as a simple fold in the paper, possibly reinforced by means of staples.

Traditionally, books are displayed on racks, in which they are supported from below by a shelf or the like. However, such structures are generally bulky and not easily portable. Therefore, there exists the need to display books, and particularly to make the covers clearly visible, without complicated and bulky apparatus.

According to the invention, there is provided support and display of books by means of a hanger comprising a means of wholly internal support for the spine (hereafter a 'spine support'), having at its lower end means to support the book from below to prevent the book from sliding off said spine support (hereafter a 'base support'), and having at its upper end means to attach the hanger to a supporting structure (hereafter an 'attachment').

The advantages shown by the present invention over the prior art are that it is lightweight, easily portable, highly adaptable and cheap to manufacture.

The hanger may be made of various materials, provided such materials are resilient enough to support the weight of the book and can be compressed or otherwise to a suitable thinness such that the hanger will rest in the book without undue disturbance to the pages. Examples of suitable materials include cardboard, plastic, plywood and steel. Preferably the hanger is made from plastic, more preferably polypropylene plastic.

The spine support must be capable of abutting the inside edge of the book spine sufficiently to provide adequate support, and preferably all along the length of the spine. Support for the spine must be provided completely from within the book. For this reason the edge of the spine support in contact with the spine must be generally straight, and preferably completely straight. However, a 'toothed' edge design could also be envisaged to be effective. The spine support itself should be thin so that it rests in the book without undue disturbance to the spine or pages. Examples of suitable spine supports include a frame, a sheet or a blade. Preferably the spine support takes the form of a blade.

The attachment may take various forms; for example, a stud, a notch, a hook, or a hole.

Preferably the attachment is constructed so as to allow the hanger and the book rested thereon to freely rotate from the supporting structure, the pivot point being the point of attachment thereto, and reach an equilibrium position wherein the centre of gravity of the book rests vertically below the pivot point.

The base support at the lower end of the spine support must be of sufficient width (ie it must extend sufficiently far in a direction lateral to the spine support edge) to prevent the book from sliding off the hanger. Preferably it should support the whole base of the spine. It must be capable of being horizontal or inclined upwards therefrom when the hanger and book come to rest in the equilibrium position described above.

The supporting structure to which the hanger is attached may be, for example, a substantially horizontal rail or rod, or a 'toothed' rack. It may be a free-standing structure or may be, for example, wall-mounted.

In use, the hanger is attached to a supporting structure, for example one of those mentioned above, where preferably it is allowed to swing freely. The book is rested on the hanger so that the inside of the spine abuts the edge of the spine support and the base of the spine rests on the base support. If the hanger is free to rotate, the spine support and book rotate away from the vertical, and therefore the base support away from the horizontal, so that the weight of the book is countered by the contact force from the spine and base supports. The cover is clearly viewable.

In one embodiment of the invention, the spine support and base support define a right angle; for extra support, the base support takes the form of a hook by having an end portion upstanding. The hanger is attached to the supporting structure by means of a stud.

In another embodiment of the invention, the attachment takes the form of a notch in the opposite edge of the hanger from that serving as the spine support. The hanger rests on the supporting structure by means of the notch therein.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the base support and the attachment both take the form of hooks, which extend from that edge of the hanger which defines the spine support. The advantage of such an arrangement appears to be that the hanger lies substantially wholly behind the pivot point, so that substantially all of the hanger is in tension. This places less torsional strain on the hanger.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the hanger has an axis of symmetry perpendicular to its main axis and the base support and the attachment take the form of identical hooks. This has the added advantage in that the hanger will be reversible, ie it may be turned around so the base support becomes the attachment and vice versa.

The invention will now be further described by means of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the invention shall not be taken as limited to that in the drawings.

Figure la illustrates a hanger 11 where the edge acting as the spine support 12 is straight, the spine support 12 and base support 13 define a right angle; the base support further consists of an upwardly extending portion 14 so as to form a hook. Embedded in the hanger 11 is a stud 15, by which the hanger is suspended from a rod (not shown).

Figure ib is a side view of Figure la, showing of the hanger 11 with a stud 15 embedded therein. The back portion of the stud 15 rests on a rod (not shown).

Figure 2 illustrates a hanger 21 wherein the attachment consists of a notch 22 which forms a hook-like structure. The base support 23 also has an upwardly extending portion 24 so as to form a hook.

Figure 3 illustrates a hanger 31 wherein the edges defining the spine support 32 and base support 33 define a right angle, although the angle defined is chamfered. The base support has an end portion 34 upstanding so as to form a hook. The attachment 35, which also takes the form of a hook, extends from the same side of the hanger as that from which the base support extends.

Figure 4 illustrates a symmetrical hanger 41 in which the axis of symmetry 42 runs perpendicular to the length of the hanger. Both ends 43 and 44 take the form of hooks, wherein the inside edges are rounded. As the device is symmetrical either end could form the base support, with the other functioning as the attachment.

Figure 5a illustrates a hanger 51, similar to that in Figure 4, in use. The inner spine (not explicitly shown) of the book 52 abuts the edge defining the spine support 53, and the base of the spine 54 abuts the base support which takes the shape of a hook 55 by having an end portion upstanding. The hanger 51 is suspended from a rod 56 by means of an attachment which also takes the form of a hook 57. The rod 56 is itself supported by a stand 58. The system is depicted at equilibrium where the centre of gravity 59 of the book rests vertically below the pivot point 56.

Figure 5b is a side view of Figure 5a, illustrating a set of books 52 suspended from a rod 56 by means of hangers 51, wherein the base supports take the form of hooks 55.

The rod 56 is curved downwards towards the centre so the hangers 51 will not fall off it.

Figure 6a illustrates books 61 suspended on hangers 62; these are themselves suspended from a rod 63, curved downwards towards the centre so the hangers will not fall off it.

The rail 63 is mounted on a wall 64 by means of attachments such as 65.

Figure 6b is a front view of Figure 6a, illustrating a book 61 suspended from a hanger 62 which itself is suspended from a rail 63.

Figure 7a illustrates a book 71 suspended on a hanger 72. The hanger 72 is suspended from a stud 73 which is fixed to a wall 74. In this case the stud 73 only supports one hanger.

Figure 7b is a front view of Figure 7a, illustrating a book 71 suspended from a hanger 72 which itself is suspended from a stud 73.

Claims (15)

1. CLAIMS 1. A hanger for books comprising a wholly internal spine support, a base support and a means of attachment to a supporting structure.
2. 2. A hanger according to Claim 1, wherein said means of attachment allows said hanger to pivot to an equilibrium position where the centre of gravity of the book rests vertically below the pivot point.
3. 3. A hanger according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the edge defining the spine support is generally straight.
4. 4. A hanger according to any of the previous claims, wherein the base support has an end portion upstanding so as to form a hook.
5. 5. A hanger according to any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the attachment comprises a hook.
6. 6. A hanger according to any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the attachment comprises a stud.
7. 7. A hanger according to any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the attachment comprises a notch.
8. 8. A hanger according to any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein both the attachment and the base support take the form of hooks.
9. 9. A hanger according to any of the previous claims which is generally symmetrical.
10. 10. A system for supporting books comprising a supporting structure and one or more hangers according to any of the previous claims.
11. 11. A system for supporting books according to Claim 10, wherein said supporting structure supports one hanger only.
12. 12. A system for supporting books according to Claim 10, wherein said supporting structure supports more than one hanger.
13. 13. A system for supporting books according to Claim 10, wherein said supporting structure comprises a rod or rail.
14. 14. A system for supporting books according to Claim 13, wherein said rod or rail is part of a freely standing structure.
15. 15. A system for supporting books according to Claim 13, wherein said rod or rail is mountable on a wall.