The present invention relates to assemblies for displaying graphics such as paintings, photographs, documents, diplomas and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to those assemblies which are removably mounted on a wall and are commonly referred to as "picture frames".
Although several varieties of picture frames are presently available, each type has substantial inconveniences. One common problem area resides in the means for mounting the picture frame to a wall.
A picture frame is generally mounted on a wall by suspending the picture frame from a member protruding from the wall, for example, from a nail or a hook. For this purpose a length of string or wire may be fastened at opposite sides of the picture frame such that the wire or string extends along the back of the picture frame. With this arrangement, the picture frame is suspended from the nail or hook by placing the wire or string over the nail or hook. In order to have the picture frame mounted in a level fashion, it is necessary for a person to slide the picture frame back and forth along the wire or string until the center of gravity of the picture frame is ascertained. Of course, a picture frame so mounted is easily knocked off center by a careless person and may come to rest on the floor after being dislodged, causing aggravation to a picture frame owner and damage to the picture frame itself.
Another common means for suspending a picture frame from a nail or a hook is to affix a bracket provided with a hole to the back of the picture. In use, the nail or hook is passed through the bracket hole, thus suspending the picture from slightly outwardly from the wall. Unlike the string or wire arrangement type of picture frame mount, the perforate bracket arrangement provides for suspending a picture frame in an easily retained fixed position. However, the initial mounting of a picture frame in this manner is generally quite difficult. This is because the aligning of the hole in the bracket with the hook or nail, prior to mounting the picture frame by sliding the hole over the hook or nail, can only be accomplished by a person placing his or her head against the wall so as to see behind the frame, simultaneously holding the frame, and gradually moving the frame provided with the mounting bracket toward the hook or nail in the wall. In actuality, therefore, with a picture frame of any substantial size it is preferable that the hanging of a picture frame provided with a mounting bracket be performed by two persons.
Another shortcoming of picture frames of the prior art is the means provided for enclosing a graphic within a picture frame. Typically, a removable closure back panel, being somewhat smaller in over-all perimeter than the frame itself, holds a graphic against a transparent front panel, such as a pane of glass, mounted within the frame. The graphic is retained and displayed in a fixed, desired position within the picture frame by the frictional inter-reaction between the surfaces of the graphic and the surfaces of the glass pane and the closure back panel. The closure back panel is retained in its graphic-holding position by a plurality of clasps provided around, and protruding from, the interior periphery of the frame back.
It is frequently the case that the graphic secured in the above-described manner eventually slips between the glass pane and closure back panel because of insufficient frictional inter-reaction between the surfaces in engagement. As a result, gravity may cause the graphic to slip downwardly from its preset position within the picture frame to an undesired position. Moreover, to fixedly insert a graphic within the picture frame entails the task of bending over each of the numerous bendable clasps retaining the closure back panel, which frequently break upon bending, or to install a plurality of clips.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved graphic display assembly, or picture frame, in which a graphic may be rapidly and securely installed and which may thereafter be easily mounted in a balanced and stable fashion to a wall.