Openwork screen assembly

Claim 2

An open work screen assembly for use in a building construction, formed of interconnected elongate member with spaces therebetween, comprising: an outer rectangle formed by two pairs of parallel, spaced, outer elongate members, and an inner rectangle smaller than said outer rectangle inside and spaced from said outer rectangle, formed of four serially adjacent inner elongate members, each of said four elongate members having opposite free ends including a first free end meeting the next inner elongate member at a position between its opposite free ends to form a T-shape, and a second free end opposite said first free end meeting a side of the outer rectangle between its ends, the inner rectangle being thereby surrounded by four intermediate rectangles, the first end of each inner elongate member making a hinged connection with the next inner elongate member, said inner elongate member including at last one projecting hinge tab on said first end thereof projecting generally longitudinally of said inner elongate member, the next inner elongate member having at least one slot extending generally transversely to the direction of elongation of said next inner elongate member, each slot being defined by edges on said next inner elongate member substantially surrounding the slot, said at least one hinge tab being retained in said at least one slot so as to define said hinge connection, said edges surrounding the tab, said four inner elongate members being formed so as to be serially hingedly connectable to each other at said hinged connections in a collapsed condition with all four inner elongate members generally parallel to each other such that the inner rectangle is openable by pivoting said inner elongate members relative to one another about the hinged connections.

Claim 3

An open work screen assembly for use in a building construction, formed of interconnected elongate members with spaces therebetween, comprising: an outer rectangle formed by two pairs of parallel, spaced, outer elongate members, and an inner rectangle smaller than said outer rectangle inside and spaced from said outer rectangle, formed of four serially adjacent inner elongate members, each of said four elongate members having opposite free ends including a first free end meeting the next inner elongate member at a position between its opposite free ends to form a T-shape, and a second free end opposite said first free end meeting a side of the outer rectangle between its ends, the inner rectangle being thereby surrounded by four intermediate rectangles, the first end of each inner elongate member making a hinged connection with the next inner elongate member, said inner elongate member including at least one projecting hinge tab on said first end thereof projecting generally longitudinally of said inner elongate member, the next inner elongate member having at least one slot extending generally transversely to the direction of elongation of said next elongate member, each slot being defined by edges on said next elongate member completely surrounding the slot, said at least one hinge tab being retained in said at least one slot so as to define said hinge connection, said edges surrounding the tab, said four inner elongate members being formed so as to be serially hingedly connectable to each other at said hinged connections in a collapsed condition with all four inner elongate members generally parallel to each other such that the inner rectangle is openable by pivoting said inner elongate members relative to one another about the hinged connections, each inner elongate member being pivotable between a first angular orientation in which the inner elongate member is parallel to the next inner elongate member and a second angular orientation in which the inner elongate member extend perpendicularly to said next inner elongate member, said inner elongate member having a first side which faces said next inner elongate member when said inner elongate member is in said first angular orientation and a second side opposite said first side, said tabs and said slots each extending from respective top ends to respective bottom ends in planes extending perpendicularly to the plane of said outer rectangle, said tabs each having a bent-out sprag, directed generally toward the second end of the inner elongate member, located intermediate the top and bottom of the inner elongate member at said first side, for engaging said next inner elongate member to retain the hinge tab in the slot.

Claim 4

An open work screen assembly for use in a building construction, formed of interconnected elongate members with spaces therebetween, comprising: an outer rectangle formed by two pairs of parallel, spaced, outer elongate members, and an inner rectangle smaller than said outer rectangle inside and spaced from said outer rectangle, formed of four serially adjacent inner elongate members, each of said four elongate members having opposite free ends including a first free end meeting the next inner elongate member at a position between its opposite free ends to form a T-shape, and a second free end opposite said first free end meeting a side of the outer rectangle between its ends, the inner rectangle being thereby surrounded by four intermediate rectangles, the first end of each inner elongate member making a hinged connection with the next inner elongate member, said inner elongate member including at least one projecting hinge tab on said first end thereof projecting generally longitudinally of said inner elongate member, the next inner elongate member having at least one slot extending generally transversely to the direction of elongation of said next elongate member, each slot being defined by edges on said next elongate member completely surrounding the slot, said at least one hinge tab being retained in said at least one slot so as to define said hinge connection, said edges surrounding the tab, said four inner elongate members being formed so as to be serially hingedly connectable to each other at said hinged connections in a collapsed condition with all four inner elongate members generally parallel to each other such that the inner rectangle is openable by pivoting said inner elongate members relative to one another about the hinged connections, each inner elongate member being pivotable between a first angular orientation in which the inner elongate member is parallel to the next inner elongate member and a second angular orientation in which the inner elongate member extend perpendicularly to said next inner elongate member, said inner elongate member having a first side which faces said next inner elongate member when said inner elongate member is in said first angular orientation and a second side opposite said first side, said tabs and said slots each extending from respective top ends to respective bottom ends in planes extending perpendicularly to the plane of said outer rectangle, said tabs each having a bent-out sprag, directed generally toward the second end of the inner elongate member, located intermediate the top and bottom of the inner elongate member at said first side, for engaging said next inner elongate member to retain the hinge tab in the slot.

Claim 5

The assembly of claim 1, 1 or 2, in which the inner elongate members are constructed so that they can be collapsed with all four inner elongate members substantially parallel, two opposite inner elongate members being aligned and the other two opposite inner elongate members being on either side of the aligned inner elongated members and overlapping each of them.

Claim 6

The assembly of claim 1, 1 or 2 wherein said first end of the inner elongate member makes a hinged connection with substantially the mid-point of the next inner elongate member, thereby forming an inner square surrounded by intermediate rectangles having a width substantially equal to the side length of the inner square and a length substantially double the side length of the inner square.

Claim 7

An open work screen assembly for use in a building construction, formed of interconnected elongate members with spaces therebetween, comprising: an outer rectangle formed by two pairs of parallel, spaced, outer elongate members, and an inner rectangle smaller than said outer ractangle inside and spaced from said outer rectangle, formed of four serially adjacent inner elongate members, each of said four elongate membes havign a U-shaped cross section, and opposite free ends, including a first free end meeting the next inner elongate member at a position between its opposite free ends to form a T-shape, and a second free end opposite said first free end meeting a side of the outer rectangle between its ends the inner rectangle being thereby surrounded by four intermediate rectangles, the first end of each inner elongate member making a hinged connection with the next inner elongate member on a first side of the U of the U-shape cross section, a second side of the U opposing the first side and the next inner elongate member together comprising a detent releasably retaining the inner elongate members in position with said four inner elongate members forming said inner rectangle, said four inner elongate members being formed so as to be serially hingedly connectable to each other at said hinged connections in a collapsed condition with all four inner elongate members generally parallel to each other such that the inner rectangle is openable by pivoting said inner elongate members relative to one another about the hinged connections.

Claim 8

An open work screen assembly for use in a building construction, formed of interconnected elongate members with spaces therebetween, comprising: an outer rectangle formed by two pairs of parallel, spaced, outer elongate members, and an inner rectangle smaller than said outer ractangle inside and spaced from said outer rectangle, formed of four serially adjacent inner elongate members, each of said four elongate membes havign a U-shaped cross section, and opposite free ends, including a first free end meeting the next inner elongate member at a position between its opposite free ends to form a T-shape, and a second free end opposite said first free end meeting a side of the outer rectangle between its ends the inner rectangle being thereby surrounded by four intermediate rectangles, the first end of each inner elongate member making a hinged connection with the next inner elongate member on a first side of the U of the U-shape cross section, a second side of the U opposing the first side and the next inner elongate member together comprising a detent releasably retaining the inner elongate members in position with said four inner elongate members forming said inner rectangle, said four inner elongate members being formed so as to be serially hingedly connectable to each other at said hinged connections in a collapsed condition with all four inner elongate members generally parallel to each other such that the inner rectangle is openable by pivoting said inner elongate members relative to one another about the hinged connections.

Claim 9

The assembly of claim 5, wherein said detent comprises a projecting locking tab on the second side of the U, and a respective slot in a side of the U of the next inner elongate member said tab removably projecting into the respective slot, said tab including a detent projection which releasably blocks the removal of the locking tab from the respective slot.

Claim 10

The assembly of claim 6, wherein the detent projection is a bent-out sprag on the locking tab, the sprag facing generally towards the said second end of the elongate member.

Claim 11

The assembly of claim 6, wherein the slot is much wider than the thickness of the material of the locking tab, the locking tab having at least one bent-out camming tab which engages the side of the slot nearer the hinged connection and thrusts the lcoking tab against the side of the slot remote from the hinged connection.

Claim 12

The assembly of claim 8, wherein there are two camming tabs, at the top and bottom of the locking tabs, the camming tabs being of triangular shape.

Claim 13

The assembly of claim 8 or 9, wherein the rear end of the camming tab is nearer the other end of the elongated member than the root of the locking tab.

Claim 14

The assembly of any one of claim 6 to 8, wherein at least the terminal part of the locking tab is inclined inwards towards the other side of the U.