EP1479059A1

EP1479059A1 - Method and arrangement for hanging information carriers in front of shelves

Info

Publication number: EP1479059A1
Application number: EP03703572A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ruben Krouwel
Original assignee: HL Display AB
Current assignee: HL Display AB
Priority date: 2002-02-07
Filing date: 2003-01-30
Publication date: 2004-11-24
Also published as: SE0200354D0; WO2003067562A1; AU2003207169A1; SE524107C2; SE0200354L

Abstract

Method of hanging an information carrier in front of the front of a shelf (6), in which a label holder (1) for labels with price and merchandise information is mounted on the shelf front (7). The label holder comprises a rear mounting part (2) and a front, fold-up part (3) with an upwardly open pocket arranged on the rear side for receiving labels. The information carrier (9)is hung on the rear side of the fold-up part (3) of the label holder (1) by being hooked firmly in the upwardly open pocket thereof, so that a lower part of the information carrier, which bears the desired information, for example in the form of an inscription and/or a holder for pieces of paper to be taken away, projects down below the label holder. An upper part of the information carrier (9) projects up into the space between the rear mounting part (2) of the label holder (1) and its fold-up part (3), essentially to a part connecting these parts and made as a hinge, so that, in the folded-down position of ht fold-up part, the upper part of the information carrier is fixed between the fold-up part and the mounting part. The invention also relates to an information carrier for use in applying the method.

Description

METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR HANGING INFORMATION CARRIERS IN FRONT OF SHELVES

Field of the invention The invention relates to a method of hanging an information carrier in front of the front of a shelf, in which a label holder for labels with price and merchandise information being mounted on the shelf front, which label holder comprises a rear mounting part and a front, fold-up part with an upwardly open pocket arranged on the rear side for receiving labels.

The invention also relates to an information carrier adapted so as to be capable of being hung by applying this method.

Background of the invention

In shops, department stores and the like, where merchandise and products are kept and displayed on shelves, inter alia price and merchandise information is usually indicated on labels, which are affixed to the shelf front edge or equivalent.

Apart from this type of label, which is mounted permanently along the shelf front, it is on certain occasions desirable for it to be possible to hang larger information carriers in front of a shelf with a sales promotion message or other information. In other cases, it may be desirable in a similar way for it to be possible to hang a holder with loose information sheets intended to be taken away by the customer or a holder for displaying merchandise.

As the abovementioned type of additional purchasing or product information is often temporary and may be present in the desired places in, for example, a shop at the same time as the ordinary price and merchandise information is to be visible on the shelf front edges, it is necessary for the extra information carriers or the holders for the information sheets or the merchandise to be easy to mount and remove and that they can be mounted so that they do not conceal the ordinary label holder pockets on the shelf front edges, which are to display easily readable labels. Another requirement is that the information carrier is mounted securely in the mounted state so that it does not accidentally come off when touched.

In this description and in the patent claims, information carrier means generally a carrier for various types of display material for merchandise, including holders for presentation of the merchandise itself.

WO 87/003277 describes a label holder system which, in addition to ordinary price information, also allows the display of additional sales promotion price particulars. However, the extra label holders are not securely fixed and can be detached unintentionally by lifting.

The object of the invention

One object of the present invention is to provide a method for hanging an extra information carrier in front of the front of a shelf, on which a label holder for labels with merchandise information is mounted, which method allows the information carrier to be mounted very easily but nevertheless securely and in such a way that they are easy to remove when, for example, they are to be moved to another place.

Another object is to produce an information carrier which can be mounted by applying the method.

The invention is based on the knowledge that there are systems on the market for label holders for labels with price and merchandise information which can also be used for simple hanging of additional information sheets or holders for such sheets or for merchandise.

Such a label holder system is described in our Swedish patent no. 0001295-5 and comprises a holder for labels with price and merchandise information intended to be mounted on a shelf front, which label holder comprises a rear mounting part and a front, fold-up part with an upwardly open pocket arranged on the rear side for receiving labels.

According to the present invention, this pocket is used for hanging information carriers, which can then appear together with the normal merchandise labels without concealing the information on these.

A method of the kind indicated in the first paragraph is in this connection characterized in particular in that the information carrier is hung on the rear side of the fold-up part of the label holder by being hooked firmly in the upwardly open pocket thereof, so that a lower part of the information carrier, which bears the desired information, for example in the form of an inscription and/or a holder for pieces of paper to be taken away, projects down below the label holder, and an upper part thereof projects up into the space between the rear mounting part of the label holder and its fold-up part, essentially to a hinge which connects the mounting part and the fold-up front of the label holder, so that, in the folded-down position of the fold-up front, the upper part of the information carrier is fixed between the fold-up part and the mounting part and cannot be unhooked as long as the front part is folded down.

By means of this method, an information carrier can be hung very easily but nevertheless securely, as it will be clamped firmly and fixed in the desired position when the front part of the label holder is folded down. It will not conceal the ordinary merchandise labels either.

In a preferred embodiment, the information carrier is made with a transverse slot of essentially the same width as the label holder on which it is intended to be mounted, and the information carrier is hung on the label holder by virtue of an upper free edge of the rear wall of the pocket on the rear side of the fold-up part of the label holder being inserted into this slot. This means that the information carrier cannot be displaced in the lateral direction in relation to the label holder, which further prevents unintentional removal of the information carrier.

The particularly characteristic features of an information carrier intended to be mounted by means of the method described above emerge from the following patent claims.

The invention will be described in greater detail below with reference to the embodiments shown as examples in the accompanying drawings .

Brief description of the drawings

Pig. 1 shows the profile of a known label holder with a swing-up front part .

Fig. 2 shows the holder according to Fig. 1 with the front part in the folded-up position.

Fig. 3 shows the label holder according to Fig. 1 mounted on a profiled carrier strip affixed to the front of a shelf.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the shelf front with a label holder according to Fig. 3 mounted. Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of an information carrier according to the present invention.

Figs 6 and 7 illustrate how an information carrier according to Fig. 5 can be mounted on a label holder according to Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an information carrier mounted according to Fig. 7.

Figs 9 and 10 correspond to Fig. 8 but show the hanging of other types of information carrier or, respectively, merchandise carrier.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

Figs 1 and 2 show a label holder 1 according to our abovementioned Swedish patent no. 0001295-5, which comprises a rear mounting part 2 and a front, fold-up part 3 with a pocket 4, open upward and to the sides, arranged on the rear side for receiving merchandise labels (not shown) . The fold-up part 3 is made in one piece with the mounting part 2 and is connected to the latter via a part 5 serving as a hinge. The mounting part 2 and the swing-up part 3 have a profile with essentially the same curvature. The pocket 4 on the rear side of the swing-up part of the label holder is intended to receive labels with prices and other information relating to the merchandise on the shelf. Owing to the fact that the swing-up part 3 is transparent, these labels can be read from the front.

Fig. 3 shows the label holder according to Figs 1 and 2 mounted on a shelf 6, which is in this case made from a bent metal sheet with a shelf front edge 7. Arranged on the shelf front edge is a profiled carrier strip 8 which extends over the entire length of the shelf 6 and itself has a front part with the same curvature as the front and rear parts of the label holder. All the profiled strips are suitably made from an extruded PVC material .

It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the profiled carrier strip 8 extends along the front edge 7 of the whole shelf 6, while shorter label holders 1 with swing-up front parts 3 can be positioned in desired places along the shelf front edge by being snapped firmly on the profiled carrier strip 8, as can be seen from Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an information carrier 9, which can be provided with a sales message which it is for the time being desirable to link together with a certain product. In this connection, it is desirable for it to be possible temporarily to affix such an information carrier in front of the front of a shelf, so that it can be read from the front without concealing the ordinary merchandise labels located in a label holder. To this end, the information carrier according to Fig. 5 has a slot 10 with a width essentially corresponding to the length of the pocket 4 formed on the rear side of the swing-up part 3 of a label holder. In profile, the upper part 11 of the information carrier 9 has a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the interacting parts 2, 3 of the label holder. Reference number 12 designates an opening in the information carrier, the purpose of which will be indicated below. The width of the information carrier should be slightly greater than the width of the label holder.

Fig. 6 shows how an information carrier 9 has been hooked firmly in the pocket 4 on the rear side of the swing-up front part 3 of the label holder by the rear wall of the pocket 4 having been guided through the slot 10 of the information carrier 10. Owing to the curved upper portion 11 of the information carrier, the latter will follow the curvature of the front part 3 closely and, when this part is folded down, will be pressed firmly between it and the correspondingly curved rear part 2 of the label holder, as illustrated in Fig. 7. The slot 10 is positioned on the information carrier 9 in such a way that that part 11 of the latter located above the slot extends essentially right up to the hinge portion 5 of the label holder. This means that the information carrier 9 cannot be unhooked from the pocket 4 when the front part 3 of the label holder is located in the folded-down position. Lateral displacement of the information carrier is also prevented owing to the pocket 4 being inserted into the slot 10 which has essentially the same width as the rear wall of the pocket .

As illustrated in Fig. 8, the ordinary information on merchandise labels in the pocket of the label holder on the rear side of the front 3 will still be readable from the front, as the information carrier 9 extends up on the rear side of these labels. On the other hand, the lower part of the information carrier 9 projects below the label holder and can be provided with the desired additional information, for example a temporary purchase offer.

The mounting described above of an information carrier according to the invention can be carried out very easily and rapidly and in any place along a shelf front. After mounting, the information carrier will be securely retained in the desired position, as described above .

The invention can be used for mounting information carriers or equivalent of the desired type, and Fig. 9 shows the invention applied for mounting a holder 12 for leaflets intended to be taken away by the customer. As such a holder with leaflets has a greater weight than a simple information carrier according to Fig. 5, the curvature of the upper portion 13 of the rear wall of the holder can be brought about in an alternative way. In the case of the information carrier 9 according to Fig. 5, the curvature of the portion 11 is suitably brought about by hot bending. In the case of the holder 12 according to Fig. 9, on the other hand, the upper portion 13 can be made entirely plane but be provided with transverse folding lines 14. After the holder 12 has been hooked firmly in the pocket 4 on the rear side of the front part 3 of the label holder and this part has been swung down, the upper portion 13 will automatically adapt to the curvature of the mounting profile 8 owing to the weight of the holder 12.

Fig. 10 shows a corresponding embodiment, where the information carrier 15, the upper part 13 of which is provided with folding lines 14, is made with means 16, for example in the form of hook-shaped slots, in which the desired articles, such as merchandise intended for sale, can be firmly hooked. The information carriers 12 and 15 according to Figs 9 and 10 can also be mounted in any position along a shelf by being hooked firmly on a label holder in the same simple manner as described in connection with the information carrier according to Fig. 5. Access to the merchandise labels in the pocket 4 for any adjustment of their positions is possible via the opening 12 indicated above in the upper part of the information carrier 9. Corresponding openings can also be present in the information carriers 12 and 15.

The invention has been described above in connection with the embodiments shown as examples in the drawings.

As far as the shape and type of information carrier are concerned, these can be varied in a great many respects while retaining the mounting principle described above. In this connection, the detailed embodiment of the mounting pocket or mounting slot used can be varied in various respects. Apart from a slot, other types of hooking means can be used for interaction with the label holder pocket on the rear side of the swing-up front part of the label holder.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. A method of hanging an information carrier in front of the front of a shelf, in which a label holder for labels with price and merchandise information is mounted on the shelf front, which label holder comprises a rear mounting part and a front, fold-up part with an upwardly open pocket arranged on the rear side for receiving labels, and said information carrier is hung on the rear side of the fold-up part of the label holder by being hooked firmly in the upwardly open pocket thereof, so that a lower part of the information carrier, which bears the desired information, for example in the form of an inscription and/or a holder for pieces of paper to be taken away, projects down below the label holder, characterized in that an upper part of the information carrier projects up into the space between the rear mounting part of the label holder and its fold-up part, essentially to a part connecting these parts and made as a hinge, so that, in the folded-down position of the fold-up part, the upper part of the information carrier is fixed between the fold-up part and the mounting part .

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the information carrier is made with a transverse slot of essentially the same width as the label holder on which it is intended to be mounted, and in that the information carrier is hung on the label holder by virtue of an upper free edge of the rear wall of the pocket on the rear side of the fold-up part of the label holder being inserted into said slot .

3. An information carrier adapted so as to be capable of being hung in front of the front of a shelf (6) , on which a label holder (1) for labels with price and merchandise information is mounted, which label holder comprises a rear mounting part (2) and a front, fold-up part (3) with an upwardly open pocket (4) arranged on the rear side for receiving labels, the information carrier (9; 12; 15) being made with hooking means (10) which allow it to be hung on the rear side of the fold- up part (3) of the label holder (1) by being hooked firmly in the upwardly open pocket (4) thereof, and said hooking means (10) being positioned on the information carrier (9; 12; 15) in such a way that a lower part of the latter, which bears the desired projects down below the label holder (1) , characterized in that an upper part of the information carrier (9; 12; 15) projects up into the space between the rear mounting part (2) of the label holder and its fold-up part (3) , essentially to a part (5) connecting these parts and serving as a hinge, so that, in the folded- down position of the fold-up part, the upper part of the information carrier is fixed between the fold-up part and the mounting part.

4. The information carrier as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that it is made with a transverse slot

(10) of essentially the same width as the label holder (1) on which it is intended to be mounted, so that it can be hung on the holder by virtue of an upper free edge of the rear wall of the pocket (4) , open upward and to the sides, on the rear side of the fold-up part (3) of the label holder (1) being inserted into said slot (10) .

5. The information carrier as claimed in claim 3 or 4, characterized in that said upper part (11) thereof has a curvature, suitably brought about by hot bending, which coincides with a curvature of the mounting part and fold-up part (3) of the label holder (1) .

6. The information carrier as claimed in any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that said upper part (13) thereof is made with a number of transverse folding lines (14) which lead to this part shaping itself depending on a curvature of the mounting part (2) and fold-up part (3) of the label holder (1) when it is clamped firmly between these parts.

7. The information carrier as claimed in any one of claims 3-6, characterized in that said upper part (11; 13) thereof is made with an opening (12) which allows access to a label arranged in front of the information carrier (9; 12; 15) in the pocket (4) of the label holder (1) .