Spring-loaded holders

Abstract

Several different types of spring-loaded holders. The first type is a cam-based holder which can activate a cam action for holding a stack of art sheets. The second type is a toggle holder which can be toggled between a closed position for holding a stack of art sheets and an open position for loading and unloading said art sheets. Such holders can be installed in a picture frame for holding a stack of art sheets of varied thicknesses. These holders can be further modified and used in a variety of holding boards including fun boards, bulletin boards and poster boards. A one-piece injection molded stretcher with grid will increase the strength of the stretcher and allow thinner stretcher to be used. It is proposed that a framed art ensemble be sold in a retail store. Each ensemble comprises a frame with the present holders and a plurality of matching art sheets of standard sizes.

Description

[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10 / 618,287, filed Jul. 11, 2003, and a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10 / 677,017, filed Oct. 1, 2003. Claim Priority: U.S. Provisional Application No. ______, filed Mar. 2, 2006.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates in general to holding and displaying sheet arts, and more specifically, to holding devices such as picture frames and sheet holding boards for holding and displaying the sheet arts. Here the sheet arts may include art sheets, photographs, printer outputs, and any sheet materials that are to be displayed. [0003] Picture frames, or simply termed frames in the present discussion, can be divided into two different types of frames depending on its commercial transaction. The first type of frame is a photo frame or commonly still termed as picture frame. It is usually sold as a unit by itself without the sheet art. The buyer generally uses such frame for framing a personal photo. Bu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a picture frame that can hold various types of art sheets and can also display and store expired calendar books. The frame has holders that can securely hold art sheets of different thicknesses and can easily be adjusted to different depths. The holders can be used with different types of boards and are easy to operate. The frame is user-friendly and allows for easy customization of the display. The technical effects of the invention include improved flexibility, ease of use, and a synergetic effect in mind of the consumer."

Problems solved by technology

Most photo frames can only hold one or two photos, and is not flexible enough to hold a large number of photo sheets.

The retainers used in these photo frames such as turn buttons are passive retaining means and is not strong enough to hold without shifting a photo which is smaller than the internal size of the frame.

This will likely result in some damage to the photo or the mat board.

But in many cases the art frame will cost more than the art sheet it intends to display and protect.

But it may cost several times of that to obtain an art frame to properly frame such a print.

Art sheet reproduction by good commercial grade but low cost mass printing may last even longer.

This is done even the main cost in a framed art is the art frame itself.

But this is very difficult in the present practice.

Such retainers are generally not reusable and must be removed for mounting any new art sheets.

Removing old retainers and installing new retainers will normally need special equipments and most users are not equipped or trained for such practice.

The use of a kraft paper glued to the back of the frame will further intimidate any attempt to reuse the art frames.

As a picture frame is adapted for displaying more than one art sheet assembly, the storage of the unused art sheet assemblies including its mat boards will become a problem.

Since most wall mounted art sheets are large in size and it is difficult to find alternate space to store these unused art sheet assemblies for later use.

If this problem is not resolved the user is unlikely to reuse the same frame for other art sheet display.

There is no viable and generally accepted way to display such calendars once it become expired.

It is a waste of resource considering that most calendars carry elegant calendar pictures worthy of at least occasional display.

But their use has not been popular in the market place.

Some of such boards use a spring clip which is hard to operate and not visually pleasing for display.

Many bulletin boards use pin or glue which are not secure way for holding sheets to be displayed.

The selection of art sheets in each retail store is often very limited.

This may take a buyer quite some search effort to find one desired art sheet.

It is not an easy job to search through art sheets in stock because the very action of flipping can be tiring by going through just 20 or 30 such envelopes.

The basic problem of going through large number of art sheets by flipping through each art sheet or envelope without knowing beforehand what art sheet it will be encountered is a very inefficient method.

Since most art sheets encountered are probably not of interest to the searcher which will result in large wasted flipping effort.

But one main problem with these search methods is that one can not touch and feel the actual art sheet before buying it.

Due to limited space allocated for the display of preframed arts, the selection in each retail store is also very limited.

It is not an easy job to hop all local stores to find one desired preframed art.

Out of frustration many customers often settle on second best selection but regret on this decision six months after the initial purchase.

Since most such preframed arts are not reusable for other art sheets these unwanted preframed arts may eventually rest somewhere in attics or basement storage.

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