GB2061093A - Sales furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

A display stand has a wall with horizontal slots 14.2 which accommodate movable ledges 15.1 for articles (eg greetings cards) to be displayed. Each ledge has a front rail 15.2, 16 to retain the articles, and rear stop means 15.4 to hold the ledge in the slot. To enable articles of different heights to be accommodated, the individual support ledges can be pulled forward for use, or pushed back to provide larger display spaces. Adjustable dividers 18 are mounted on the front rails 15.2. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sales furniture The invention relates to sates furniture for the staggered, visibile display of flat goods, such as greetings cards, with approximately horizontal support ledges in staggered configuration and approximately vertical front support rails which are fixedly connected to the ledges, the ledges being retained in a rack.

Sales furniture of this kind, which can be constructed as sales racks, sales gondolas or other point-of-sale racks, was hitherto manufactured with a plurality of fixed compartment rows, whose spacing, depth and angle of inclination had to be relatively accurately adapted to the product to be displayed. Individually designed items of sales furniture are necessary for the different sizes of products or if it is necessary to provide fixed insertion means into which the support for the goods for sale can be inserted.

The manufacture of individual items of furniture is exceptionally costly and does not enable the user to vary his range of goods in terms of dimensions.

Known insertion systems are complex to manufacture and require storage of the exchange elements at some other place, where they could be lost. Changes of insertion racking call for a substantial expenditure of time. There is a demand for obtaining the advantages of such known sales furniture and to improve its manufacture and properties of use.

Accordingly, it is the object of the invention to construct sales furniture of the above-mentioned kind so that the compartment rows can be individually adapted to changing and different requirements by simple changing manipulations.

According to the invention, the support ledges extend through slots which are formed in a rear wall or the like, and stop abutments for defining the forward-drawn position of use of the ledges are disposed behind the rear wall orthe like.

The contiguous support means provided for a row of articles, namely the support ledge and the front support rail, can be moved jointly from the position of use into a rearward inoperative position, by pushing the support ledge to the rear through the slot.

Conveniently, the staggering system is arranged so that, owing to its natural inclination, the support element comprising support ledge and front support rail, remains in its rearward inoperative position.

However, separate detents can also be provided to locate it. The individual components are thus captive and remain permanently accommodated in the sales furniture in both positions. By rearward pivoting of a support element, the height of the compartment disposed below it is correspondingly enlarged so that a largervisible surface area is made available for the product which is to be displayed. In this way, large and small cards can be presented in one and the same display, or parts of individual cards, even parts of different size, can be displayed in different rows.

Conveniently, the support elements and the rear wall can be provided with detent means for releasably latching the support elements in their front position of use. This prevents any unintentional change of the compartment size. The detent means can be constructed in different manners, with indentations and protuberances, springs, snap fastenings or the like. In a particularly simple embodiment, longitudinal grooves are provided in the bottom surfaces of the support ledges, in which grooves the front surfaces are situated at a distance from the stop abutments, disposed behind the rear wall, that corresponds to the thickness of the rear wall. In this way, the support element can be simply latched in place by placing the groove upon the rear wall.The stop abutments can be formed by a rear stop strip which is glued to the support ledge and bears above as well as below the slit. The support ledge is glued at a specific angle. Its bottom surface need therefore be provided only with a correspondingly milled small groove of triangular cross section. Special latching means, which are complicated to produce, are thus eliminated. Merely a single grooving operation is required, and this can be performed in one operation with forming the inclined surfaces of the support ledge, using suitable profiling tools which operate simultaneously.

Compartments of different depth are naturally obtained by the embodiment with support elements which can be pivoted away. It is common practice to subdivide broad compartments by dividers, so that the greetings cards, maps or the like, usually standing upright, are neatly separated from each other.

The dividers can be provided with numbers to permit problem-free refilling. Such dividers are known and have also been constructed so as to be slidable on beaded ledges. Interchangeable dividers may be provided. However, it is much simpler, in accordance with a further feature of the invention, to construct the dividers so that their depth is adjustable.

This can be achieved, for example by pivoting elements with joints or studs. Such depth-adjustable dividers, of the kind required for adjustable compartments, can also be employed with compartments of different construction. According to another feature of the invention they are constructed so that an edge bead is provided at the top of the front support rails, on which suitably slotted, and preferably not readily slidable, riders can move, which extend into the compartments and support the depth-adjustable dividers, which are constructed as a section of a circle and have a bead on the curved external circumference, by means of which bead they are retained in a suitably shaped vertical groove of the rider, so as to be slidable but with difficulty.

When the compartment height is changed and the compartment depth is thus changed, such dividers can be vertically adjusted by sliding along the external arc, without the need for removing such dividers from the compartment. The lower end of the arcuate bead of the divider is conveniently provided with a stop abutment, so that the divider cannot be unin tentionally pulled off by children or by customers.

Since the front support rails are usually inserted so as to fit between side walls, the said riders cannot be pushed off to one side. Both dividers and riders are thus captively retained. Conveniently the top end of the arcuate bead is made slightly thicker, so that the dividers cannot be easily pushed out downwardly from the riders. When fitted, they are however fixed in the bottom position by virtue ofthe compartment dimensions. It is not necessary for the top of the dividers to be pointed, instead they can be rounded with a small radius.

Conveniently, the front support rails are made of thin timber, plywood or particle board, glued to the end faces of the support ledges at an angle. It is not easy to form the edge bead, so that it is convenient to provide it as a plug-on strip, moulded from plastics, of which the section of the bottom region is birfurcated with two limbs spaced at the thickness of the front support rail, and said members advantageously having detent beads by means of which they can be anchored in corresponding grooves of the front support rails. The plastics edge bead strips with associated dividers and sliders can also be used in other rack compartments.

One embodiment of the invention will be described hereinbelow by reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sales display stand; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through several compartments of the stand according to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an edge bead rail; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a divider with a rider; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the rail shown in Fig.

3 with a rider and divider according to Fig. 4 in the mounted position; and Fig. 6 is a vertical section, along the lines VI-VI in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4, through the rider and divider.

The display stand 10 shown in Fig. 1 is constructed, for example, as shelving which is accessible from one side of the stand. It has a base 11, and two side walls 12 whose front section 12.1 is cut out in accordance with the pivoting line of a human arm, so that compartments situated near the top are closer to the front than compartments which are situated in the middle. Illumination 12.2 is provided at the top. Linear compartments 13, formed by support elements 15 extend between the side walls 12.

As can be seen by reference to Fig. 2 a rear wall 14 is formed by a plurality of rear wall slats 14.1, spaced from each other, and glued, in freely suspended configuration, between the side walls 12, so that slots 14.2 are formed between said slats. The width of the rearwall slats 14.1 is adapted to the compartment height. Said slats consist, for example, of plywood or other suitable material, such as moulded plastics or even sheet metal. Said slats can be perforate. It is important, however, that the defining edges of the slats are disposed on both sides of the slots 14.2 for supporting purposes. Support ledges 15.1 of the support elements 15 extend through the slots 14.2.

The support ledges 15.1 are cut, for example from particle board, to form strips extending over the entire width of the shelving. Front support rails 15.2 are attached to the front of the ledges 15.1, and stop abutment rails 15.4 are attached to the rear, for example by gluing and/or clipping, at different angles, as can be seen by reference to Fig. 2, to permit optimum utilization in the illustrated form. The front surface 15.8 of the support ledge has a lesser angle of inclination than the rear surface 15.9. The rear stop rail 15.4 projects beyond the support ledge 15.1 to both sides, to an extent which prevents the support bar 15.1 being drawn forwards through the slot 14.2, so that the bottom end 15.51 and the top end 15.52 of the rear rail 15.4 serve as stop abutments for limiting the forward-drawn position of use.A V-groove 15.7 is milled overthe entire length of the underside 15.6 of the support ledge 15.1. The distance A of the front surface of said groove from the stop abutment end 15.51 of the stop rail 15.4 corresponds to the thickness D of the rear wall slat 14.1 so that, as can be seen from the top half of Fig. 2, the support element 15 is latched in the front position of use simply by being placed upon the rear wall slat 14.1. Upward sliding enables the support element 15 to be released from this position and for rearward pivoting.

A plywood or particle-board strip, which extends over the entire width of the shelving, extends upwards to form the front support rail 15.2, and also extends downwardly into the region of the next lower support element 15 to function as a rear support rail 15.3. This strip is glued onto the slightly inclined front surface 15.8. This arrangement is very advantageous because the exhibited goods rest in the corner between the front support rail 15.2 and the support ledge 15.1 if such goods are inclined in the rearward direction. If the exhibited article is inclined forwards for the purpose of leafing through, it will bearupontherearsupportrail 15.3.

In the exemplified embodiment, the front support rail 15.2 is relatively shallow. It can also comprise a single member over the entire height of the compartment boundary. In a particularly suitable embodiment, an upwardly projecting edge bead strip 16 is attached. Its cross section is birfurcated in the manner of a tuning fork and has a front limb 16.1 which is slightly longer than the rear limb 16.2. The rear limb member 16.2 extends as far as the support ledge 15.1; it can have a latching bead, not shown. Such a latching bead is illustrated at 16.3 on the front limb 16.1. It engages with a corresponding groove, recessed slightly into the front support rail 15.2, and thus prevents the edge bead strip 16 being pulled off. The edge bead strip 16 has a relatively broad front'support member 1 so, which functions as a front support strip to define the compartment and whose top end merges into a slightly thicker partially cylindrical edge bead 16.5. The strip 16 is produced by extrusion of a plastics material, preferably transparent or translucent, of suitable elasticity and mechanical strength.

As can be seen especially by reference to Figs. 3 to 6, a rider 17 is mounted upon the edge bead 16.5 and takes the form of a square-section finger with a halfcylindrical front end. It has a horizontal groove 17.2 corresponding to the cross section of the edge bead 16.5. Said rider can be slid, although not too easily, with a sliding fit on the said edge bead. It can be readily mounted on the bead 16.5 from the end but cannot be pulled off. The groove 17.2 is rectilinear.

Perpendicular to it is a substantially vertical divider groove 17.3 which also has an edge bead cross section, but this must be of slightly arcuate configuration or must have corresponding clearance, to receive a divider 18, which is constructed as a circular section, situated in the divider groove 17.3. The top boundary surface 18.4 of the divider is rounded with a small radius r but the bottom region forms an acute angle. An edge bead 18.3 is formed on the arcuate part 18.2. It is not essential for the arcuate part to be circular but it must allow sliding. The upper region 18.7 is conveniently slightly thicker than the rest so that the divider can be inserted only with difficulty and can then be withdrawn again only with difficulty, so that it will not slip down.At the bottom end, a stop abutment 18.6 in the angle is formed by a thickned surface portion, so that the divider 18 cannot be pulled out upwards from the divider groove 17.3. The divider 18 has a straight rear edge 18.5. Its side surface 18.1 is plane, and conveniently supports numbers, as illustrated on the top divider in Fig. 2 with the number "30". This enables the compartments to be clearly designated.

Edge bead strips and dividers of this kind can also be mounted in differently constructed racks or shelving and can also be subsequently mounted.

To install the shelving or rack, the support elements, which are advantageously previously glued together, are inserted row by row when the wall strips and side walls are assembled. The user thus obtains a complete set of shelving or racks. When all the support elements 15 have been pulled to the front, they bear by means of their grooves 15.7 on the edges 14.3 ofthe rearwall slats 14.1, thus pro- ducing compartments with visible surfaces of a height SH1 corresponding to the width of the slats 14.1. If the user requires a smaller number of compartments in the shelving or rack, in order to make available larger visible surfaces, he need only slightly raise the element 15 of an appropriate level and push it rearwardly into its slot 14.2.As shown in the middle of Fig. 2, said elements bears, by means of its edge bead 16.5 and the bottom end of the rear support rail 15.3, on the rear wall slat 14.1. The visible height SH2 will then be doubled. In the same way, two support elements 15, one above the other, can also be pivoted back. As can be seen by refer trice to Fig. 2 and by reference to the profile of Fig. 1, the rear wall slats are arranged with a slight inclination to form inclined staggered compartments in which postcards, other cards, greetings cards, maps, journals or the like can be displayed. For subdivision, the dividers 18 are inserted from below into the riders 17 and these are slid laterally onto the edge bead strips 16.When the compartments are in the normal position, as shown at the top of Fig. 2, the dividers 18 are set approximately in the middle position with the edge 18.5 parallel to the rear support rail 15.3. A number of dividers, corresponding to the width of the desired compartments, can be mounted. If one element is pivoted back, as shown in the middle of Fig. 2, it is merely necessary for the divider 18to be pulled slightly upwards in its rider 17 in order to bridge the thus enlarged space, as can be seen at the bottom of Fig. 2.

In this way, the arcuate shape of a part member of a circular section with guiding in a bead groove results in a simple captive dividing element which can be simply produced and is easily usable. It permits any desired adjustments laterally and along its depth.

Instead of the edge bead strips 16, which can be mounted on the front support rails 15.2, it is possible for identically constructed plastics strips to be mounted directly on the support ledges 15.1. The entire support elements 15 can also be assembled from a plurality of plastics components or can be constructed as an integrally formed extruded plastics section with suitably changed wall thicknesses adapted to the plastics forming process.

Claims (9)

1. Display means for the staggered and visible display of flat goods, comprising approximately horizontal support ledges in staggered configuration and approximately vertically upright front support rails fixedly joined to respective said ledges, and a rack in which the support ledges are mounted, the support ledges extending through slots formed in a rear wall or the like of the rack and stop abutments being provided for defining the forward use positions of the ledges, the stop abutments being disposed behind the rear wall orthe like.

2. Display means according to claim 1, characterised in that the support ledges and the rear wall are provided with latching means for releasably latching the ledges in the front position of use.

3. Display means according to claim 2, characterised in that the latching means comprise longitudinal grooves in the bottom surfaces of the support ledges, of which grooves the front surface are situated at a distance from the stop abutments, disposed behind the rear wall, that corresponds to the thickness of the rear wall.

4. Display means according to any of the preceding claims, including at least one divider disposed on the front support rails for defining compartments, the dividers being adjustable in depth.

5. Display means more particularly according to claims 1 and 4, characterised in that edge beads are formed at the tops of the front support rails, and riders, which are suitably slotted and are preferably not readily slidable, are adapted to move on said edge beads and extend into the compartments and support the depth-adjustable dividers which are of circular section shape and are provided on the curved external circumference with a bead by means of which they are retained in a not-readily-slidable manner in a suitably shaped vertical bead groove of the riders.

6. Display means according to claim 5, characterised in that a stop abutment is formed in the bottom end region of the arcuate bead of the divider.

7. Display means according to claim 5 or 6, characterised in that the top region of the divider of circular section shape is rounded with a small radius.

8. Display means according to claim 5, 6 or 7, characterised in that the ege bead is formed on a mounting strip of plastics material in which the bottom region has a birfurcated section with two members situated at the distance of the front support ledge and advantageously having latching beads.

9. Display means substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.