EP1518216B1

EP1518216B1 - Foldable display device and easel

Info

Publication number: EP1518216B1
Application number: EP02742571A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Geoffrey Alan Moss; David Brian Minister
Original assignee: Minister David Brian; Moss Geoffrey Alan
Current assignee: Minister David Brian; Moss Geoffrey Alan
Priority date: 2002-06-17
Filing date: 2002-06-17
Publication date: 2009-09-09
Anticipated expiration: 2022-06-17
Also published as: PT1518216E; DE60233682D1; EP1518216A1; EP1518216B9; ES2331411T3; ATE442640T1; WO2003107306A1

Abstract

An easel (10) is attachable to the rear surface of an image board (12) to form a composite device. The easel maintains the latter in an upstanding position when erected. It is made of a single board material having a designed pattern stamped therein and having all the components which may be unfolded to form the easel. The erected easel has two mutually parallel vertical side panels (19,20) and a plurality of horizontal transverse brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) which may be manually unfolded to support the easel in the erected position or tie members may be provided to retained the side panels and the transverse brace members in the unfolded position. The easel and the image board may be folded along a plurality of transverse lines (28, 29, 30) to a compact package for ease in shipping and storage. The image board and the easel are self-erecting when elastic tie members (68, 69, 70,71, 72, 73, 74, 75) are provided.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an easel for supporting a planar image board in an upstanding manner according to the preamble of claim 1 as well as to a self-erecting display device comprising such an easel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A variety of foldable support structures is known. For example, US 3 508 734 discloses a flat sheet of material, which is formed with parallel longitudinal score lines to provide a front panel and integral wing sections, wherein the wing sections are notched at their corners, and when folded to be essentially parallel, and perpendicular to the front section, are maintained in position by a rubber band hooked into the notches, and resiliently pulling the wings against a spacer or spreader member. In such a way, from a flat, foldable sheet, the structure can be erected by putting the rubber bands in the notches and letting the wings snap together against the spacer member.
Large image display planar boards are used for exhibiting advertisement signs, or for exhibiting life images of movie actors, fashion models, popular musicians, scientific or similar novelty objects for decorative purposes. The large image planar board may be over five feet by two feet in size, and they are commonly made of corrugated board material. In order to support such large image planar board in an upstanding position on a floor, an easel is adapted to its rear surface to form an integral composite device. The easel is commonly also made of corrugated board material which has component parts for forming a rigid support stand. The composite device may be double folded into a collapsed condition for shipping or storage. However, a common drawback in such device is that after it has been double folded into the collapsed condition, it still has a relatively large size. For a life size planar display, the composite device, in the collapsed condition may be over two feet by two feet by two inches in size which would be regarded as an oversize by postal and shipping services, and it is particularly not conducive for shipping through the postal service due to the high postal surcharge imposed on an "oversize" package. The main difficultly with such known display devices is that thick corrugated board material must also be used for making the easel in order to provide the necessary strength for supporting the image board in the upstanding position. Furthermore, the dimensions of the easel must be compatibly large in order to provide the requisite support for the large image corrugated board. Commonly, the easel has one or more vertical support panels having a vertically tapering shape, narrow at the top and tapering to a large bottom base portion. Folding such thick material in more than a double folded manner to a collapsed condition would inherently destroy its strength such that it would lose the necessary strength when it is later unfolded to the erected position from the collapsed condition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a combined planar large image board and easel device which is foldable in a plurality of transverse lines to a compact size. This object is achieved with the features of claim 1, embodiments of which are subject of subclaims 2 to 9.
The composite device of the present invention has an easel attached to rear surface of an image board and operative to support the latter in an upstanding manner on a floor, the easel comprises a planar board having a design pattern of the easel stamped therein. The design pattern has component parts which are unfoldable to form the easel in an erected condition The component parts include two elongated substantially rectangular side panels extending the entire longitudinal length of the planar board A middle body portion extends between the side panels. The middle body portion is attached to the rear surface of the image board. Two parallel vertical scored lines are located between the middle body portion and the side panels such that these side panels are unfoldable along these vertical scored lines to form the right side panel and the left side panel of the easel positioned substantially perpendicular to the image board A plurality of horizontal brace members are formed in the middle body portion and are located between the side panels. Each brace member is unfoldable along a transverse scored line to a substantially horizontal position extending between the side panels. The brace members are cooperative with the side panels to maintain the easel in an erected condition. A plurality of transverse fold lines are formed in the planar board and are located between the brace members whereby the composite device is foldable at these transverse fold lines to a compact collapsed condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Figure 1 is a rear elevation view of the easel design stamped on a planar cardboard material. The easel is attached to the rear surface of an image board.
Figure 2 is a rear perspective elevation view of the composite easel and image board in the erected position.
Figure 3 is a rear elevation view of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a side elevation view of that of Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a rear perspective view of the composite easel and image board in a partially folded condition.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the several views, the easel 10 of the present invention is formed by a designed pattern stamped in an easel board made of cardboard, corrugated board or similar planar board material. The easel 10 is attached to the rear surface 11 of a planar display image board 12. The image board 12 is commonly a large corrugated board having a life size image provided on its front surface. The image board 12 may also have the actual shape of the image. A rectangular board is shown for ease of illustration. The easel design has a generally rectangular shape with two truncated triangular side extensions 13 and 14 formed at its lower portion. The bottom edges 15 and 16 of the side extensions 13 and 14 respectively preferably slope slightly upwardly and outwardly for about 5 degrees relative to the horizontal plane as best shown in Figure 1. A vertical rectangular pattern is formed at the center of the easel design. The pattern is formed by two mutually parallel vertical scored lines 17 and 18 extending throughout its entire longitudinal vertical length, thus forming two generally L- shaped side panels 19 and 20 with the side extensions 13 and 14 respectively located at their lower portion.
The side panels 19 and 20 are not affixed to the rear surface 11 of the image board 10, and they may be folded or flipped outwards relative to the rear surface 11 of the image board 12 at the vertical scored lines 17 and 18 respectively to a position substantially perpendicular to the rear surface of the image board to provide the required vertical supporting side panels of the easel. The easel 10 is divided into three equal length portions, namely a lower portion 21, a lower middle portion 22, an upper middle portion 23 , and an equal or smaller upper portion 24. The upper portion 24 is smaller because the image to be supported by this portion of the easel normally has a smaller size than the main middle portion of the image. A horizontal scored fold line 25 separates the lower portion 21 and the lower middle portion 22; a second horizontal scored fold line 26 separates the lower middle portion 22 and the upper middle portion 23; and a third horizontal scored fold line 27 separates the upper middle portion 23 and the upper portion 24. The horizontal scored fold lines 25, 26, and 27 are aligned with horizontal scored associated fold lines 28, 29 and 30 respectively formed in the image board 12 such that the composite display device comprising both the easel 10 and the image board 12 together may be folded into a collapsed condition along these horizontal scored fold lines and associated fold lines. Double scored fold lines 25 and 27 may be provided to enhance the foldability of the easel.
The rectangular center body portion 31 of the easel 10 is attached to the rear surface of the image board by glue or other conventional means. A horizontal slot 32 extending over the entire width of the center portion 31 is formed along the scored fold line 25; a second horizontal slot 33 extending over the entire width of the center portion 31 is formed along the scored fold line 26; and a third horizontal slot 34 extending over the entire width of the center portion 31 is formed along the scored fold line 27. The horizontal slots 32, 33, and 34 enhance the foldability of the easel along the horizontal scored fold lines due to the reduction of material to be bent.
A generally rectangular shaped horizontal cross brace 35 is formed in the upper middle portion 23 of the center body portion 31. The cross brace 35 has a horizontal scored line 36 such that it can be flipped outwards relative to the center portion 31 at the scored line 36 to form a brace extending in a horizontal position between the vertical side panels 19 and 20 and perpendicular to the rear surface of the image board. A second similar generally rectangular horizontal cross brace 37 is formed in the lower middle portion 22. The cross brace 37 has a horizontal scored line 38 such that it can be flipped outwards relative to the center body portion 31 at the scored line 38 to form a second brace extending in a horizontal position between the vertical side panels 19 and 20 and perpendicular to the rear surface of the image board. Two similar rectangular cross braces 40 and 41 are formed in the lower portion of the center body portion 31. The cross braces 40 and 41 have horizontal scored lines 42 and 43 such that they can be flipped outwards relative to the center body portion 31 to form cross braces extending in a horizontal position between the vertical side panels 19 and 20 and perpendicular to the rear surface of the image board. It can be appreciated by those skilled in the art that although two cross braces are preferably formed in the lower portion 21 to provide a strong base support for the easel, one cross brace may suffice for the purpose.
Two openings 44 and 45 are formed in the vertical side panel 19 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 36 of the cross brace 35. Similarly two openings 46 and 47 are formed in the vertical side panel 20 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 36. Similarly, two openings 48 and 49 are formed in the vertical side panel 19 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 38 of the cross brace 37; and two openings 50 and 51 are formed in the vertical side panel 20 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 38. Two openings 52 and 53 are formed in the vertical side panel 19 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 42 of the cross brace 40; and also similarly two openings 54 and 55 are formed in the vertical side panel 20 and located one above and the other below the horizontal scored line 42. Two openings 56 and 57 are formed in the horizontal manner adjacent to the lower edge of the vertical side panel 19; and similarly two openings 58 and 59 are formed in the horizontal manner adjacent to the lower edge of the vertical side panel 20.
Two openings 60 and 61 are formed adjacent to the free edge of the cross brace 35. Similarly two openings 62 and 63 are formed adjacent to the free edge of the cross brace 37; two openings 64 and 65 are formed adjacent to the free edge of the cross brace 40; and two openings 66 and 67 are formed adjacent to the free edge of the cross brace 41. The easel 10 may be erected by first unfolding the vertical side panels 19 and 20 at the vertical scored lines 17 and 18 until they are positioned generally perpendicular to the rear surface 11 of the image board 12. The cross braces 35, 37, 40 and 41 are then flipped outwards to a horizontal position extending between the vertical panels 19 and 20. Elongated tie members 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 75 are then threaded through the openings 44 through 67 to retain the cross braces in the unfolded horizontal position to maintain the easel in the erected condition. The tie members are strings of a predetermined length with a cross abutment bar 76 provided at their two ends such that they may be easily threaded through the various openings in the vertical panels 19 and 20 and the cross braces 35, 37, 40 and 41. After threaded through the openings, the cross abutment bars 76 will position crosswise abutting the openings of the vertical side panels 19 and 20 to retain the easel in the erected condition. The composite easel and image board display device may be folded into a collapse condition by removing the tie members , returning the side panels and cross braces to the flat fold down condition and folding the four portions of the composite display device along the horizontal scored lines.
Elastic tie members may be provided such that the resilient force of the elasticity of the tie members would normally maintain the cross braces and the vertical panels in a securely erected condition. The composite easel and image board display device would lean rearward at the top due to the sloping lower edges 15 and 16 of the vertical panels resting on the floor to provide a more stable upstanding manner. The composite easel and image board display device may be folded to the collapse condition without removing the elastic tie members. This may be achieved by first depressing the middle portion of side panels 19 and 20 in the vicinity of the scored fold line 26 to a fold down position, against the resilient force of the tie members, to lie flat against the rear surface 11 of the image board 10, and while holding them in such depressed fold down position, fold the lower middle portion 22 and upper middle portion 23 towards each other along the scored fold lines 26 and 29 as shown by the arrows 77, 77A, 78 and 79 in Figure 5. The upper portion 24 may then fold towards the upper middle portion 23 along the scored fold lines 27 and 30 as shown by the arrows 80 and 81, and similarly the lower portion 21 may be folded towards the lower middle portion 22 along the scored fold lines 25 and 28 as shown by arrows 82 and 83. The entire composite display device may thus be folded into a compact collapsed condition having an acceptable size for shipping through regular postal or delivery services. The composite display device in the collapsed condition is self erectable by merely holding the top edge of the image board 10 and raising it upwards; the elasticity of the tie members would automatically pull the side panels and the cross braces to flip to the position perpendicular to the rear surface of the image board to place the easel in the erected condition.
Due to the unique construction, the easel of the present invention may be made with any planar board or sheet material and yet it provides a strong support for the image board.

Claims

An easel (10) for supporting a planar image board (12) in an upstanding manner, the easel (10) comprising:
- a middle body portion (31 ) and

- two substantially rectangular side panels (19, 20) extending over the entire longitudinal length of two opposite vertical sides of the middle body portion (31), wherein the side panels (19, 20) are selectively pivotable relative to the middle body portion (31) to a position substantially perpendicular to the middle body portion (31).

- a plurality of associated horizontal fold lines (25, 26, 27),

- a plurality of cross brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) formed in the middle body portion (31), being located between the associated fold lines (25, 26, 27) and being operative to position selectively in a collapsed position and in an erected position substantially perpendicular to the middle body portion (31), and

- a plurality of elongated elastic tie members (68-75), wherein the easel (10) is erectable to an erected position by a resilient force of the elastic tie members (68-75),
wherein the cross brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) has a free outer edge located distal from the middle body portion (31) when the brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) are in the erected position,
characterized in that
- a pair of openings (60-67) is formed adjacent to the outer edge of each one of the cross brace members (35, 37, 40, 41),

- a plurality of pairs of associated openings (44-58) is formed in the side panels (19, 20), wherein the associated openings (44-58) are located adjacent to the cross brace members (35, 37, 40, 41).

- wherein the plurality of elongated elastic tie members (68-75) has an abutment bar (76) provided at two ends therein,

- wherein the tie members (68-75) are mounted between the side panels (19, 20) and the cross brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) by threading through the openings (60-67) and associated openings (44-59),

- wherein the easel (10) is self erecting to an erected position by a resilient force of the elastic tie members (68-75), and being selectively foldable along the associated fold lines (25, 26, 27) against the resilient force to a collapsed condition.
An easel (10) according to claim 1 wherein the right side panel (20) and left side panel (19) have a substantially triangular bottom portion (13, 14) having a bottom edge (15, 16) therein sloping slightly upwardly and outwardly away from the middle body portion (31).
An easel (10) according to claim 2, wherein the bottom edge (15, 16) slopes at substantially 5 degrees relative to the horizontal plane.
An easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein
- a left mounting opening (60, 62, 64, 66) of the brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) is located left of a mid point of the free edge and a right mounting opening (61, 63, 65, 67) of the brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) is located right of the mid point,

- an upper associated mounting opening (44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54) is located above the neighbouring brace member (35, 37, 40) and a lower associated mounting opening (45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55) is located below the neighbouring brace member (35, 37, 40) when the neighbouring brace member (35, 37, 40, 41) is in the substantially horizontal erected position,

- one of the tie members (69, 71, 73) is operative selectively to thread through the upper associated mounting opening (46, 50, 54) in the right side panel (20), the right mounting opening (61, 63, 65) of a neighbouring brace member (35, 37, 40) and the lower associated mounting opening (47, 51, 55) of the right side panel (20),

- another one of the tie members (68, 70, 72) is operative selectively to thread through the upper associated mounting opening (44, 48, 52) of the left side panel (19), the left mounting opening (60, 62, 64) of the neighbouring brace member (35, 37, 40) and the lower associated mounting opening (45, 49, 53) of the left side panel (19), for retaining the side panels (19, 20) and the brace members (35, 37, 40) in the erected position.
An easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the tie members (68-75) have a predetermined length, and the cross bar members (76) therein being positioned crosswise abutting the associated mounting openings (44-59) after threading for retaining the side panels (19, 20) and the brace members (35, 37, 40, 41) in the erected position.
An easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the tie members (68-75) are elastic bands.
An easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of elongated horizontal openings (32, 33, 34) is formed in the middle body portion (31), wherein the horizontal openings (32, 33, 34) are aligned with the plurality of associated horizontal fold lines (25, 26, 27).
An easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the easel (10) is made of a sheet material chosen from the group of cardboard, corrugated board, and pliable sheet material.
A self erecting display device comprising
- an easel (10) according to one of the preceding claims and

- a large planar image board (12) having a rear surface (11) and being foldable in a plurality of horizontal fold lines (28, 29, 30),
wherein the middle body portion (31) of the easel (10) is attached to the rear surface (11) of the image board (12),
wherein the plurality of associated horizontal fold lines (25, 26, 27) of the easel (10) are aligned with the horizontal fold lines (28, 29, 30) of the image board (12),
wherein the display device is self erecting to an erected position by a resilient force of the elastic tie members (68-75), and being selectively foldable along the fold lines (28, 29, 30) and associated fold lines (25, 26, 27) against the resilient force to a collapsed condition.