The invention relates to collapsible screens.

Many different types of screens are in use today in a wide variety of situations. For example dust sheets are used to protect carpets and furniture during painting and decorating in the home; timber screens are used on building sites to protect the passing public from dirt and rubble; cloth screens are used in hospitals to give patients privacy; and there are many other varieties.

The problems with these methods of screening include wastage, in that timber screens tend to be used only once and are then destroyed; inflexibility, in that many are bulky and must be wheeled or carried from one place to another or can only be used in one type of situation; and impracticality, in the case of dust sheets which, when used in a room where building work is being carried out, generally must cover all items in that room making room unusable.

According to the invention there is provided a collapsible screen comprising a pair of elongate support members, a sheet of flexible material and fastenings for releasably attaching the sheet to the support members, ^* characterised in that the support members are telescopically adjustable, have fixing means arranged to fix the support members at a desired length, and have engagement means arranged to engage a supporting structure.

The advantages of such a collapsible screen include increased portability, easier storage, increased flexibility. A screen in accordance with the

invention may be used in a variety of situations and allows a portion of a room or a building site to be screened off.

Conveniently, the support members would extend between floor and ceiling, though lower and upper structural members, might be provided, to constitute the supporting structure. In any event, the edges of the sheet are preferably held between the engagement means and the supporting structure.

Preferably, the support members comprise a central portion and two end portions each end portion being telescopically extensible with respect to the central portion. Preferably, the central portion comprises an outer sleeve in which the end portions are slidable.

The support members may be pneumatically, hydraulically or mechanically extensible to suit the purpose of the screen. These methods would be preferably to manual extension for much larger applications for example on building sites, and serve to increase the number of uses of the screen.

The fixing means are preferably pole clamps, which may include a threaded screw passing through a tapped hole in the outer sleeve which can be tightened against an inner element. Other means of fixing the length of the support members may be employed such as a lever and cam-operated clamp or simply bolts passing through aligned holes in the telescoping members. Alternatively, spring loaded studs and corresponding holes may be used. In the last two systems, some axial resilience is preferably built into the system to accommodated desired lengths between the discreet intervals provided.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, feet

are affixed to the top and bottom ends of each support member, thereby constituting engagement means. This helps to prevent damage or marking of the structures supporting the supports. The feet are preferably resilient and may be made of a rubber-like material. Preferably, the feet have a concave engagement region. Rivets may be provided which are passed through the sheet and into a receiving hole in each foot at least those at the top, thereby clamping the sheet to the feet to ensure that the sheet is properly tensioned.

Alternatively, the engagement means might comprise simple end caps, suckers, purpose-built connectors or clamps.

The support members are preferably circular in cross-section though other section may be employed. Examples include square, rectangular and overlapping or nested sections such as right angles or tongue and groove. Any suitable material may be employed such as aluminium alloy, stainless steel, plastics materials etc. , with low weight and high strength being the desired qualities. They may be provided with a sheath or coating of a suitable protective material.

The sheet may be fastened to the support members by means of ties. These allow the sheet to be entirely separated from the supports to aid storage or ease of transit. More preferably, however, resilient clips are used. These preferably have a C-shaped cross section and are arranged to surround the support members with the sheet clamped between. The clips may be made of any suitable resilient material. They are advantageous in that they do not require the sheet to have cleats and provide greater adjustability in that the degree to which the sheet is wrapped around the

support members can be varied.

The sheet may be made from any suitable flexible sheet material such as plastics, cloth, textile etc. In some applications, a transparent sheet may be required while in other applications an opaque sheet may be preferred. A popular material is a reinforced translucent plastics. A door or window may be provided in the sheet.

A third extensible transverse member may be fixed to and extend between between the pair of supports members. The sheet may be fastened to it along a third edge; this would help to support the third edge of the sheet. C-clips may be provided at each end of the transverse member for fixing it to the support members.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention there may be more than two support members, supporting one or more sheets. In such a case, the screen may be free-standing since it need not simply extend in a straight line. Cross bracing may be provided with such an arrangement.

The invention also extends to a method of erecting a collapsible screen which comprises the steps of fastening an edge portion of the sheet to each of the support members, locating the support members at positions spaced from each other by the length of the sheet fastened between them, extending the support members so that the engagement means about supporting surfaces and operating the fixing means in the extended positions to clamp the support members in position, thereby tensioning the sheet to form as substantially planar screen.

The invention may be carried into practice in

various ways and one will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of an erected screen according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged exploded diagram of the left hand end of the screen of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detail of connection clip in position; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged exploded view of the top of a support member.

Referring to Figure 1 an extensible screen 11 comprises three telescopic poles 12, 13, 14 and a generally rectangular sheet 15 of screening material.

The screening material is a clear reinforced plastics though any suitable material may be used, for example, a cloth dust sheet may be used for building work. The poles 12, 13, 14 are of aluminium alloy and have a protective plastics coating.

The poles are spread apart and the sheet 15 is connected to the end poles 12, 14 by means of clips 16. Each pole has a bottom foot 17 and a top foot 18. The bottom feet 17 engage the floor and the top feet 18 clamp the sheet 15 against a ceiling.

As can be seen in Figure 2 each pole eg. 12 comprises an outer hollow sleeve 19 and an extensible arm 21 which is inserted in to each end. The arms 21 are free to slide smoothly within the sleeve 19. Pole clamps 22 are provided at each end of the sleeve 19 to enable the arms 21 to be locked in a particular position. The pole clamps 22 take the form of a thumb screw 23 passing through a tapped collar 24 and a hole in the sleeve 19 to enlarge the respective arm 21. The

feet 17, 18 are of rubber and prevent damage by the poles 12, 13, 14 to the structure(s) against which they abut. They also prevent the arms 21 from sliding all the way into the sleeve 19 when undamped. The bottom feet 17 have a flat edge 25 on one side to allow the foot 17 to abut a vertical wall and allow the pole to lie close to the wall. Referring to Figure 3, the sheet 15 is attached to the end poles eg. 12 by means of the clips 16. Each clip 16 is part-cylindrical and made from a resilient plastics material. It is arranged to clip onto pole 12 trapping a portion of the sheet between itself and the pole 12.

As shown in Figure 4, each top foot 18 has a hole 26 to receive rivet 27. The rivet is arranged to pass through the sheet 15 to hold the sheet in position relative to the top foot 17 before the ceiling is engaged.

To erect the screen 11, the poles 12, 13, 14 are first assembled and the feet 17, 18 located. The rivets 27 are pushed through the sheet at suitable positions and then into their respective holes 26. The poles 12, 13, 14 are adjusted in length so that the feet 17, 18 engage the floor and ceiling respectively, and the thumb screws 23 are tightened. The sheet 15 is then made taught laterally, with any excess wound around the end poles 12, 14, and the clips 16 are placed around the poles, clamping the sheet material. When the screen 10 is collapsed it is easily portable in its separate component parts. One particular embodiment provides a screen 4.0 m long and 3.1 metres high.

Figure 1 shows three poles 12, 13, 14 and one sheet 15 forming a double screen. In a similar way

several screens may be used together to form much longer screens either in a straight line with angles other than 180° between adjacent screens. Alternatively a single sheet 15 may be used with a number of poles.

IN an alternative embodiment of the invention, sheets may be used which do not extend the full height of the poles. In this way part screens may be provided. In another embodiment of the invention only one telescopic arm may be provided, or one or more multiply extending arms.

In yet another embodiment, there may be a horizontal hanging rail which extends between the upper ends of two poles. The rail is similar to the poles 12, 13, 14 in having a pair of telescopic arms extensible from a sleeve and pole clamps. Instead of feet, however, there are c-clips which are of a size suitable to clip onto the arms 21 of the poles. The sheet 15 may be tied to the rail to support the upper edge.

It is envisaged that the invention may employ non- rectangular sheets whereby the poles would be positioned other than vertically. Alternatively the poles could be used to extend horizontally between two structures.