Picture Frame Support

A stand for a frame that provides a peripheral flange extending about a picture or display therein. The stand provides cliplike members cooperating with supporting legs for the stand for frictionally engaging a portion of the peripheral flange of the frame for supporting the same in a substantially vertically inclined position for viewing.

The stand is preferably manufactured as a one-piece molded unit formed from a suitable plastic material. Thus, it is light-weight but provides the required rigidity and strength for its intended use.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing the preferred form of construction, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the stand and picture frame;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detailed sectional view taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the stand;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the picture frame stand;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the picture frame stand; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the stand.

The stand of this invention is adapted to be used with a picture frame 10 that provides a transparent viewing face 11 surrounded by a peripheral flange 12. Within the frame 10 is a backing 13 which not only holds the picture or display 14 against the viewing face 11 of the frame 10, but also substantially fills the area defined by the peripheral flange 12, such as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown the stand 15. This stand 15 consists of a base support 16, which is substantially triangular in cross section so as to present horizontal bottom edge surfaces 17 as well as an inclined upper face 18. From the base support 16 there is provided a pair of forwardly projecting leg members 19 and 20 formed from continuous opposite side walls 21 and 22 of the base support 16. Each of the forwardly projecting leg members 19 and 20 provides substantially flat frame-supporting surfaces 23 and 24, which are a continuation of the inclined upper face 18 of the base support 16. The inner side edges 25 and 26 of the leg members 19 and 20 terminate into a rear wall 27, which has a portion 28 projecting above the inclined upper face 18 of the base support 16. This raised portion 28 of the wall 27 supports forwardly projecting locking tabs 29 and 30, which are adapted to extend in a substantially parallel direction with respect to the flat frame-supporting surfaces 23 and 24 of each of the leg members 19 and 20.

In use and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottom peripheral flange 12 of the frame 10 is placed upon the substantially flat frame-supporting surfaces 23 and 24 of the leg members 19 and 20 and is slid rearwardly and downwardly thereon until it passes beneath the locking tabs 29 and 30. As shown in FIG. 2, these locking tabs 29 and 30 will then cooperate with the leg members 19 and 20 to frictionally hold the picture frame 10 in a vertically inclined viewing position, as shown.

By this construction, the frame may be readily removed from the stand for cleaning or replacement as necessary, without destruction of any of the structural components of either the frame or the stand, and, thus, both are adapted for reuse for their intended purpose.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.