US2785937A - Molding and counter top installation - Google Patents

Description

March 19, 1957 fH. B. MURRAY 2,785,937

NOLDING AND COUNTER Top INSTALLATION Filed Jan. 7, 1954 FIG. I

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INVENTOR ATTORNEY avr-fur MLDING AND CUNTER TOP INSTALLATION Hilton B. Murray, York, Pa. n Application January 7, 1954, Serial No. 402,644 4 Claims. (Cl. 311-103) The present invention relates to moldings for joining in secure, sealed relation a fixture, such'as a shelf or cabinet top, sink drainboard or other structure, to the wall of a room, such as a household kitchen.

The invention also relates to the combination of such a fixture and wall.

An important object of the invention is to provide a combination of fixture, Wall and connecting molding which will be maintained in attractive and presentable joined relationship notwithstanding warping, settling and other influences tending to separate the fixture from the wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide an installation of the class indicated, and a molding member therefor, which can be made at low cost and which can be readily and inexpensively applied and assembled.

The invention will be disclosed ina preferred form of embodiment adapted for use in connection with the top or upper horizontal element of a kitchen cabinet, sink or the like, herein generically designated a counter top which is to be permanently mounted in position against a wall or equivalent vertical surface by `a fitting covering the joint so as to prevent penetration of water between the counter top and the wall and so as to keep the joint covered and closed notwithstanding relative movement of the wall and counter top resulting from settling, warping or other factors.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention which has been tested in actual use and found to be entirely satisfactory, and which is therefore disclosed for the purpose of exemplfying the invention,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a wall and of a cabinet installation showing the wall and cabinet joined by the new molding member;

Fig. 2 is a relatively enlarged cross sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; and y Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the new moldin member.

In the drawing, the reference numeral 1 designates generally a fixture such as a lower kitchen cabinet, a sink drainboard, table top or the like, having a substantially horizontal flat top deck 2, hereinafter called a counter top, which has its rear and/ or side vertical edges 3 butted up against the vertical surface 4 of a wall or equivalent upright member.

The surface 4 is generally backed by a base structure of plaster, wallboard or the like 5 and faced with a covering of some continuous sheet material or layer of ornamental tile 6 like those shown in Fig. l. The counter top 2 is surfaced by any conventional sheet material 7, commonly linoleum or a plastic or other composition material like that which is extensively sold under the trademark Formica Such counter tops have heretofore generally had a backsplash wall integral with or fastened to their rear or side edges, or they have been provided with a small cove molding similarly located and fastened, like the backted States Patent O splash Wall, to both the counter top and the room wall, or to the room wall or the counter top. None of such arrangements has been entirely satisfactory. The backsplash wal lis expensive to make and presents difficulties in installing. The molding is inexpensive, but on relative movement of the counter top and wall it separates from one or the other of those members and opens an objectionable gap.

To overcome these difiiculties the present invention provides the molding member best shown in Fig. 3. This member includes a single integral elongated strip 8 which can be readily extruded or otherwise formed of aluminum or other appropriate metal, or of plastic or other synthetic material.

The strip includes a back plate element consisting of an upper flange 9 and a lower flange 10, integrally united at what may be regarded as their meeting edges, along about the median line of the plate, with the flanges so related that one flat surface of each, which may be regarded as the back surface, are co-planar. Integrally united to the flanges along their integrally connected meeting edges, along the median line of the plate, is a molding body 11, which is considerably thicker than the flanges. This body has a bottom surface 12 extending right angularly forwardly from the top of the lower flange 1li and it has a back wall 13 spaced slightly forwardly from the front surface of the upper flange 9 to cooperate with that surface in forming a slot 14 which is open at its top and is closed at its bottom by the narrow rib 15 which connects the molding body 11 to the flanges 9, 10. The upper and front surfaces of the molding body 11 may be contoured in any desired shape, such for example as the concave shape shown at 16, to produce a cove type of molding as best appears in Figs. 2 and 3, and the free or leading edge of the bottom surface 12 of the body is preferably slightly downturned to provide a lip 12a for making good sharp contact with the counter top surfacing material 7.

The upper flange may be tapered along its top edge by beveling its front surface toward its back surface, so that the upper edge 17 is relatively thin.

Apertures 18 are formed through the lower flange at spaced intervals along its length. The upper flange 9 is best left unperforated.

The strip 8, shaped as has just been explained, is installed by seating the under surface 12 of its molding member 11 snugly down on the surface covering 7 of the counter top 2, with the front surface of the lower flange 10 snugly engaged with the rear or other vertical surface 3 of the counter top which is to be butted up against the wall 5. Fastening elements, such as the nails or the like shown at 19, are driven through the apertures 18, or through the soft, unapertured material of the lower flange 10, and into the material of the counter top 2.

The counter top with the strip 8 thus securely fastened to it, is pushed firmly against the wall 5 so that the two flanges 9 and 1t) have their co-planar back surfaces engaged with the wall surface, as shown in Fig. 2. This fitting operation is done before the wall covering material 6 is applied to the wall. The strip 8 is not fastened to the Wall. However, the cabinet or other fixture of which the counter` top 2 forms a part is secured to the wall in any appropriate manner, as by lag screws, bolts, screws or otherwise. Or, in the alternative, the fixture may be simply fastened to the room floor.

The wall covering material 6 is then applied to the Wall. Its lower margin is seated in the slot 14 and its upper portions are disposed in covering relation to the upper flange 9 and to the wall 5 above the upper flange, as shown in Fig. 2. The tapered upper margin of the upper flange eliminates any abrupt change in the surface plane of the covering 6 at or adjacent to the upper edge of the upper flange 9.

Cement, caulking or the like may if desired be interposed between the bottom edge 12 of the molding member 11 and the top surface of the counter top covering 7. However, I have found that such material is not necessary to accomplish effective sealing of the molding member to the counter top.

It will be appreciated that the fastening elements 19 securely hold the entire strip 8 in its original position relative to the counter top, regardless of any movement of the counter top away from the Wall 5, whether outwardly in a horizontal direction or downwardly. Such movements, as has been explained, frequently occur as the result of warping, shrinking and other changes in the wood, settlement of the building, and for other reasons. Such movements have no effect in opening any gap in the present installation. Downward movements of the counter top simply lower the seat of the slot 14 below the bottoni edge of the tile or other wall surfacing 6, but the upper lip of the slot remains in covering relation to the margin of the surfacing. Outward movements of the counter top carry the molding member with the top and pull the upper flange 9 and the seated lower margin of the surfacing 6 outwardly with the counter top. The sole effect is a more or less slight bending of the lower zone of the tile or the like 6 from the Wall 5', which is entirely unnoticeable.

The details of the illustrated embodiment of the invention may be varied within the .spirit of the invention and the scope of the broader of the appended claims. Thus, for example, it is by no means necessary to preform the apertures 18 in the lower ange 10 if, as is preferred, the molding member be made of a material, such as a relatively soft aluminum alloy, which is readily pierced wherever desired in the nailing operation during installation. In order broadly to cover the fastenable feature of the lower ange whether pre-formed with apertures or made of unapertured and unperforated material through which nails or the like can be driven, certain of the appended claims define the ange as being penetrable by fastening elements. Again, it is not essential to the broad spirit of the invention that the molding body 11 be formed with the downturned lip 12a. The invention can be embodied in a body having a fully flat under surface 12. In addition to these illustrative modifications, other changes can be made from the disclosed embodiment, as will be understood.

I claim:

1. A unitary, one-piece molding member for joining a substantially horizontal counter top or the like to a vertical Wall surfaced by a covering layer, said molding member comprising an elongated strip portion including relatively thin upper and lower vertical flanges integrally connected to each other and having co planar .back surfaces adapted to be engaged with the wall, said lower ange having a front surface adapted to be engaged with and secured to the vertical surface of the counter top and being penetrable by fastening elements for effecting such securement, and a solid, relatively thick molding body portion extending horizontally along said strip portion, the lower portion of the body portion being integrally and rigidly connected directly at its rear to said flanges along their line of integral connection with cach other, said body portion having a bottom surface adapted to be engaged with the upper surface of the counter top and having its upper portion, above said integral connection to the anges of the strip portion, spaced from the front surface of the upper flange to provide therewith a vertical slot forming a pocket open at the top for receiving and holding the lower margin of the coveiing layer of the wall and closed at the bottom by said integral connection to form a watertight seal between said wall surface covering layer and said counter top or the like.

2. A molding member as claimed in claim 1, in which the upper and front edges of the relatively thick molding body portion are connected by a concavely curved surface whereby said body portion forms a cove molding element. i v

3. A molding member as claimed in claim 1, in which thefront surface of the upper portion of the upper vertical flange is tapered toward the backsurface thereof.

4. In a counter top installation, the combination of a counter top having a substantially horizontal upper surface and a vertical edge surface, a wall having a surface covering, and a unitary, one-piece molding member joining said` top to said wall comprising an elongated strip portion including upper and lower vertical flanges integrally connected to each other and having co-planar back surfaces engaged with the wall, said lower ange having a front surface engaged with the vertical edge surface of the counter top, fastening means extending through said lower vange securingl the front surface thereof to the vertical edge surface of the counter top, a molding body portion of said member extending horizontally along said strip portion, the lower portion of the body portion being integrally and rigidly connected directlyat its rear to said anges along their line of integral connection with each other, said body portion having a bottom surface engaged with the upper surface of the counter top and having its upper portion, above said integral connection to the flanges of the strip portion, spaced from the front surface of the upper flange, thereby providing a vertical slot forming a pocket open at the top between said body portion and upper flange and closed at the bottom by said integral connection, and a surface covering for the wall having its lower margin extending into and held in said slot and being sealed from the counter top by said integral connection forming the bottom of said pocket.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,143,034 Sakier Jan. 10, 1939 2,158,467 Madsen May 16, 1939 2,348,658 Slaughter May 9, 1944 2,570,850 Pearson Oct. 9, 1951

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