Bearing sections for the covering with marble plates, panels and the like of walls both uninterrupted and interrupted by doors, windows and the like

Claim 1

An anchoring system for holding wall coverings, such as marble plates, panels and the like, in place on building walls, the wall coverings being formed as a plurality of relatively flat panels; said anchoring system comprising: at least one relatively flat wall panel, a series of substantially parallel vertical bearing sections extending vertically along the wall to be covered, said vertical bearing sections having rear, middle and front portions, the rear portion of each of said vertical bearing sections being anchored to the wall; a series of substantially parallel horizontal bearing sections extending horizontally along the wall to be covered, said horizontal bearing sections having rear and front portions, the rear portion of each horizontal bearing section being attached by attachment means to the front portion of a plurality of vertical bearing sections such that a rectangular grid is formed by the bearing sections, said horizontal bearing sections being spaced one from the other a distance corresponding to the vertical height of the wall panels to be secured, the front portion of each of the horizontal bearing sections including engaging means to engage the edges of the wall panels to hold them in place; the attachment means for attaching the respective vertical and horizontal bearing sections together comprising connecting block means disposed between the vertical and horizontal bearing sections, fastener means engaged through apertures in both the horizontal bearing sections and the connecting block means to fasten the connecting block means and the horizontal bearing sections together, first abutment means disposed on said connection block means, second abutment means disposed on the respective forward portions of said vertical bearing sections, said second abutment means being adapted to engage said first abutment means and thereby fasten the connecting block means to the vertical bearing section; and a connection section including sealing means for sealingly connecting wall panels to a door or like frame, said sealing means including a first and second resilient seal, said connection section including an integral connecting piece having a substantially smooth flat outer surface portion for partially filling the space between the panels and a door frame, said connecting piece further including three spaced projections extending inwardly in a direction substantially perpendicular to said outer surface, a first forward projection of said connecting piece including groove means for holding the first resilient seal in contact with respective wall panels, a second middle projection of said connecting piece including abutment means for engaging in a groove on the front portion of a respective vertical bearing section, and a third rearward projection including abutment means for engaging a groove on the middle portion of the said respective vertical bearing section, the second and third projections being operable to secure the connecting piece to the respective vertical bearing secton, said second resilient seal being positioned between said connecting piece and said door frame.