AU741333B3 - Label retention improvement - Google Patents

Description

47756DIVPP(1) JGC

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT

ORIGINAL

CAROLYN JEAN BROWN Actual Inventor: :*.00e GRAHAM MAXWELL BROWN Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: LABEL RETENTION IMPROVEMENT DIVISIONAL APPLICATION DETAILS: This is a Divisional of Australian Patent Application no.18481/00 dated 23rd February 2000 and in the name of Carolyn Jean Brown The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: This invention relates to label retention improvements and in particular relates to an arrangement for holding a label, a label, and a method of effecting retention of a label.

The problem to which this invention is directed relates to difficulties associated with holding a label with other devices such as a plant pot.

In the commercial growing of plants in pots, it is very important to be able to identify the plant within a pot and this is conventionally achieved by attaching a label to the pot.

i Problems with existing systems however are that they may not be applicable to 10 some forms of pots for instance those made by a form of pressure or vacuum forming and in any event, there is a constant need to provide the public with useful alternatives to ensure competitive economies are maintained within the industry.

l In one form of this invention, a label retaining arrangement which includes a trough extending along part of an upper perimeter of a container the trough having internal 15 surfaces defining a front, a rear, two opposing sides and a bottom, an uppermost open mouth and a slot or slit through the bottom and extending along at least some of the length of the trough.

go.o• i :00: By way of definition a trough is an elongate open receptacle or vessel. Typically it will have four side walls, a bottom wall and an open mouth. However, the walls need not be separate and distinct. As such the trough of the present invention includes constructs having a front, a back, two opposite sides and a bottom. The parts may be clearly delimited or one part may blend into another.

In preference such a label retaining arrangement is able to be incorporated within articles such as plant pots made by vacuum or pressure forming of plastic sheets techniques.

In preference the label retaining arrangement with its trough is positioned with respect to a container so that the trough is close to an outside surface of a wall of a container.

In preference the position of the slot or slit extending along a bottom of the trough is closer to an inside wall of the trough than an outside wall of the trough.

In preference the shape of the slot or slit is such that it will follow a straight line or in other words define a plane.

In preference the sides of the surface defining the slot or slit are in adjoining relationship 3 so that they are therefore as close as possible together to have the effect thereby of holding between them as appropriate, the parts of the label.

In preference the trough is comprised of a plastics material which is resilient.

In a further form of this invention this can be said to reside in a label retaining arrangement where there is a slit, the two edges defining the slit being either in touching contact throughout their length and such that these will be slightly separated when an insertion end of a label is pushed in the vicinity of the touching contact of the slit.

In a further form of the invention, this can reside in an assembly in which a label 10 retaining arrangement with any one or more of the above features includes a label where the label is comprised of a substantially planar member formed of a deformable material and having a lowermost perimeter shape such that the shape :o will pass through the slit or slot defined by the trough, and having a portion of the end following other than a planar alignment with respect to an adjacent part of the label and such as to then be offset or otherwise changed to an alignment of the slot or slit through which the portion is to pass whereby to interlock the label with respect to the label retaining arrangement.

In a further form, the invention can be said to reside in a method of attaching a label to a label retention arrangement which comprises the steps of forming a label from 20 a planar sheet, a perimeter shape of the label including an insertion end which has, at least on one side, a position which will be deformed so as to be offset with respect to an adjacent planar alignment of the label, the label retaining arrangement including a trough with a slot or slit extending at least part way along a lower part of the trough, the method including the steps of inserting the label with the insertion end from the upper open end of the trough shape and aligned so that the planar alignment of the label is generally aligned with an elongate direction of the trough, and such that the insertion end will therefore be guided to enter and with pressure pass through the slot or slit extending along the trough and such that the insertion end will then be pushed through the slot or slit to an extent that an otherwise offset side or wing of the insertion end is straightened when passing through the slot or slit but thereafter returns to an offset position whereby to lock the label from removal thereafter from the label retaining arrangement.

An advantage of the arrangement and method having the above characteristics is 4 that the trough shape can be formed from a wall having a constant thickness and it therefore provides for a label retaining arrangement which is able to be incorporated within articles such as plant pots made by vacuum or pressure forming of plastic sheets techniques.

In preference, a label includes a further characteristic in that the label has above the insertion end, a shoulder or shoulders which are positioned so as to interengage with portions of the label retaining arrangement above the slot or slit so as to limit the extent of insertion of the label through the slot or slit.

One of the problems with any label retaining arrangement is that the arrangement 10 should be able to hold a label in an alignment that is at least substantially vertical so .ooo.i S: that information on the label can be most easily visible.

to go In preference then, the label retaining arrangement with its trough is positioned so *.that the trough is close to an outside surface of a wall of a container.

In preference, with respect to the immediately preceding feature the position of the .lO.li slot or slit extending along a bottom of the trough is closer to an inside wall of the trough than an outside wall of the trough.

0S 0*o to. This feature then assists in keeping the label close to an inside wall and therefore 00 more tightly restrained in its approximately vertical position.

In preference, the shape of the slot or slit is such that it will follow a straight line or in other words define a plane.

In preference, the sides of the wall defining the slot or slit are in adjoining relationship so that they are therefore as close as possible together to have the effect thereby of holding between them as appropriate, the parts of the label.

The label retaining arrangement in preference is comprised of a plastics material which is resilient. If a slit is formed, the two edges defining the slit remain either in touching contact throughout their length or such that these will be slightly separated when an insertion end of a label is pushed in the vicinity of the touching contact of the slit.

With the above arrangement having the slot or slit closely adjacent a side wall of a container, then this will hold the insertion end of the label relatively close to the side wall and there will then be limited freedom for the label to pivot about a gripping point which is the location at which the edges of the slot or slit engage the label.

In this way, the extent of freedom of the label to divert from a vertical alignment is controllable and is a function of the design process made possible by the features of this invention.

A better understanding of the invention will now be provided by a description of the preferred embodiment which shall be described with the assistance of drawings wherein: S. 10 FIG 1 is a perspective view of a label being inserted through a label retaining o arrangement in accordance with the first embodiment; FIG 2 is a view of the label retaining arrangements in accordance with the first embodiment separate from the label; FIG 3 is a perspective view of a combination pot with a label retaining arrangement in accordance with the first embodiment at each upper edge of each of the four sides of the collective pots; FIG 4 is a side view of a label fully inserted through the label retaining arrangement as in Figure 3 with the label retaining arrangements also being shown alongside in cross section in accordance with the first embodiment; FIG 5 is a side cross sectional view of a label within a label retaining arrangement as in each of the preceding drawings in accordance with the first embodiment. showing the extent to which the label can change in vertical position when in the arrangements shown; and FIG 6 is a side elevation of a label according to a second embodiment as it is located within a trough of a pot.

Referring in detail to the drawings and particularly Figures 1 through to 5 there is a label retaining arrangement 1 which is formed so as to provide a trough 2 which is defined by side walls 3 and 4 and ends at 5 and 6. The location of the trough 2 is along part of a perimeter of a plant pot 25 which is shown as a rectangular pot for holding of plants with in this case four separate holding chambers 26 and the trough 2 has for each side 27 of the pot 25 a location midway between the ends of each of the four generally straight sides so that a label 8 will be able to be attached to this perimeter of the pot 25 variously in each side 27.

Each trough 2 has a shape which then provides an elongated cavity with an uppermost open mouth and inwardly sloping sides defined by the side walls 3 and 4 and there is extending along a bottom of which cavity shape is a slit 7 which extends substantially the length of the trough 2.

(In an alternative embodiment this is a slot which is different from a slit in so far that 10 the edges defining the sides are separated and not in touching contact.) The pot 25 with the trough 2 in this case is then formed by being pressure formed from heat softened sheet plastics material by a method often described as vacuum .•forming.

A label 8 has an insertion end 9 which is adapted by reason of tapered front 15 perimeter edges at 10 and 11 to protrude through the slit 7 so that there is effected a small divergence of the wall 4 of the trough 2, to assist passage of the end 9 of •the label fully there through to the stage where the edges of the slit at 12 and 13 reach inset slot areas at 14 and As the wings 16 and 17 pass through the slit 7 to a position immediately below the 20 slit the wings 16 and 17 will resiliently change alignment from an initial offset alignment, through a straighter alignment as they pass through the slit 7 to a position so that the abutting edges 18 and 18a which provides an abrupt interlocking shape will then spring back to a straighter alignment and thereby intercept a bottom of the trough 2 if there is an attempt to remove this and this will then resist removal of the label 8 thereby. The method then includes the steps of inserting a label 8 into the trough 2 so as to effect a resilient deformation of at least a part of the label 8 to allow for such insertion of an end of the label through the slit 7 or slot and then continuing such insertion to an extent that the resilient deformed wings are past the slot or slit and spring to an interlocking position.

This same arrangement is repeated on both sides with the abutting 18 and 18a.

In order to assist a positive location of the label with respect to the trough shape, there is also provided a peripheral edge shape above the insertion portion 9 of the label 8 which matches and therefore interlocks generally with the ends of the trough at 6 and 7 by reason of sloping edges at 20 and 21.

Further, because of the slope of the edges 20 and 21 these correspond in angle with the slope of the side edges of the trough 2. This means that the label 8 is therefore able to nest within the trough 2 with its edges 20 and 21 wedging into the corresponding edges of the trough. This has the effect of holding the label when in position, somewhat closely so that it will remain more upright both in a forward to rearward direction as well as in a side to side direction.

10 Also, the edge of a label having this wedging shape corresponding to the shape of the trough, allows for the edge to also press into the curved shape of the edge of the trough so that it will thereby be held even more rigidly.

This effect is achieved by an appropriate shaping of the portion of the label 8 above an inwardly directed slot. In a broader concept, this conceives that the label 15 shall wedge itself into the shape of the trough or in another way of describing this, it will have a corresponding shape with the inwardly sloping ends of the trough so as to effect a nesting with some wedging effect. In practice, the side of the label is inclined at an angle to the elongate direction of the label with an angle that can be varied but may lie within the range of 40 degrees to 80 degrees. This can be selected to accord with a type of material chosen which can be any of conventional plastics and the shape of the end sides of the trough.

0 In order to achieve the interlocking effect, the label 8 is formed from a material which will generally be a plastics material formulated however and of a thickness and shape such that it will be able to be deformed from an initial planar shape so as to follow this slightly curved shape and therefore subsequent to insertion through the slit 7, resiliently revert to a deformed position whereby to provide the interlocking effect.

Such an arrangement is in contradiction to the case where the interlocking effect is provided by a label retaining arrangement which provides of itself the flexibility and resiliency and pressure to deform the label from an initial planar position.

The present proposal has therefore a material that can in the first instance have a preliminary deformed setting or shape and which will then subsequently retain this 8 even though momentarily having to be restored to a planar position while passing through the slit 7.

The shape of the slit is such that it will follow a straight line or define a plane so that when the label or especially the insertion end of this at 9 is passed through the slit, while there will be slight distortion of the sides of the trough 8, this will only be generally to an extent that the slit will be separated enough to allow for the thickness of the material of the label 8.

It is of course possible to remove the label by manually realigning the wings back to a planar alignment and then pull the label back through the trough.

S. 10 This will not normally happen unless a mistake has been made and the wrong label has been used or something similar.

One of the advantages of the arrangement described is that the label can be retained in a relatively simple way in an alignment which will be held substantially vertical.

This is best shown in Fig 5 where a degree of freedom is shown between the full line and the outline of the two label positions where it will be seen that the bottom insertion end 9 of the label will impinge against the side wall of the pot 22 at 23 and any freedom in the reverse direction is achieved by limits of the shape bearing against the edge 24 and otherwise being held as in a pivot position between the 20 edges 12 and 13 of the slit 7.

Now referring to Figure 6 there is shown a trough 30 which is the same as in Figure 1 with however, a label 31 which has a different shoulder arrangement to the label 8 of the first embodiment.

In this further embodiment a shoulder arrangement 32 instead of having sloping edges has its respective sides having three steps 33, 34 and 35 which provide three outermost corners 36, 37 and 38 which jointly define a line which together are positioned to engage against a sloping edge 39 of the trough 30. This, then is a variant to the interactive shape of the label and shows a further possible arrangement.

The invention provides for significant improvements to the art.

Claims (3)

1. A label retaining arrangement which includes a trough extending along part of an upper perimeter of a container the trough having internal surfaces defining a front, a rear, two opposing sides and a bottom, an uppermost open mouth and a slot or slit through the bottom and extending along at least some of the length of the trough.

2. A label retaining arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the internal surface of the trough is shaped to direct a label inserted into the trough into the slot or slit located within the trough.

3. A label retaining arrangement as defined in claim 1 substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying illustrations. Dated this 5th day of:October 2001 CAROLYN JEAN BROWN By her Patent Attorneys, COLLISON CO. *oo ooo•*