GB2069217A - Card holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A card holder, for example for holding title cards for an automatic coin-operated record playing machine, comprises a generally planar body formed as an extruded strip of material (such as aluminium) and having a series of spaced projections 6 on one face, adjacent ones of which define slots 7 to accommodate the cards. A number of like card holders can be mounted one on top of another by interengagement of cooperable projections and recesses 2, 3 formed on the top and bottom edges of the holders; and a number of these banks of card holders can be joined side-by-side via the intermediary of vertical connection strips 20 and rods inserted through apertures 24 of the strips and through part annular projections 9 at the rear of the holders. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A card holder The present invention relates to a card holder and to a method of making it. The card holder is intended particularly, but not exclusively, for mounting and displaying a plurality of cards bearing information relating to respective ones of a number of phonograph records disposed in a record playing machine such as a juke box.

Card holders of this general type are already known. Previous such card holders were made either in pressed or folded steel or injection-moulded from synthetic plastics material. Both of these methods involve substantial production difficulties and considerable expense. Furthermore, the degree of versatility in shape, number of cards and card lay-out permitted by such arrangements is quite limited.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a card holder formed from an extruded strip of material comprising a generally planar body having a series of spaced projections extending from one face thereof, each pair of adjacent projections being adapted to define a slot for accommodating a card.

In an advantageous embodiment of this aspect of the invention, means are provided at one end ofthe body for mounting the holder on a mounting or similar holder and means are provided at the other end of the body for attaching the holder to a similar holder. In this way, an upright bank of interconnected holders can be produced with the uppermost holder of the bank pivotally connected to a mounting point so as to allow pivotal movement of the bank about that point. Several such upright banks can then be placed side-by-side to form a complete card display. To connect these banks together connecting strips are disposed between adjacent banks and connecting rods extend through fixing means formed on the individual card holders of each bank and through apertures formed in the connecting strips. The connecting strips are advantageously of quite narrow width and can easily be curved.The individual card holders of each of the banks can also be angled with respect to one anotherto follow the curved form of the adjacent strip with the result that the whole display is giving a pleasing curved appearance. Such a construction would be extremely difficult, complex and expensive to produce with, for example, an injection moulding tool.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing a card holder including the steps of extruding a strip of material formed with a series of substantially parallel projections on one face of the strip and repeatedly severing given lengths of the extruded strip in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of extrusion.

To build up a display of such card holders, the severed strip portions are then connected to one another in an upright bank with the projections of adjacent strip portions extending substantially parallel to one another and several such banks are then placed side-by-side with connecting strips placed between them.

The material preferred for the card holder of the invention is aluminium although any other suitable material may equally well be used. For example, synthetic plastics material may be used.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a single card holder with a connecting strip for use in joining side-by-side such card holders; Figure 2 is a perspective view to an enlarged scale showing a bottom part of the card holder of Figure 1 engaged with the top part of a like holder; Figure 3 is a perspective view to an enlarged scale of the top part of a modified version of the card holder of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a sectional view (on the line lV-lV of Figure 1) showing side-by-side card holders joined by connecting strips.

Figure 1 shows a single extruded aluminium holder 1. This card holder is formed at its upper end with a T-shaped projection 2 (shown more clearly in Figure 2) and, at its lower end, with a T-shaped recess or slot 3 (also shown more clearly in Figure 2).

The generally planar body of the holder 1 has a convex rear face 4 and a concave front face 5. The concave front face 5 is formed with a series of five parallel projections 6, each of which is formed to define a slot 7 which accommodates the base edge of a card 12 (one of which is shown shown in broken lines in Figure 1).

Thus, each card holder effectively can accommodate five cards. Each card 12 is held in the slot defined between adjacent projections 6.

Several card holders are arranged one above the other in a bank and several banks of such arranged card holders are placed side-by-side with connecting strips 20 therebetween to form a complete card display. The uppermost card holder of each bank is differently formed at its upper end from the other card holders to facilitate the pivotal mounting of the bank. A perspective view of the upper end of this modified form of card holder is shown in Figure 3. As can be seen in this figure, the top end comprises a part annular projection 10. A 60" are of the annulus is cut out to enable a mounting pivot to be inserted.

When so mounted, this card holder and the other card holders connected to it in the same bank can be pivoted in the direction of the arrow 11 about the mounting pivot point.

In each bank, the lower end of each card holder is attached to the card holder directly below it by inserting the T-shaped projection 2 in the T-shaped recess 3. This attachment is shown in detail in Figure 2.

A connecting strip, referenced 20, for connecting adjacent banks of card holders together is shown in Figure 1. Two such strips 20 are shown in crosssection in Figure 4. Each strip 20, which is also extruded from aluminium, is of generally U-shaped cross-section. One side of the base of the U defines a slot 21 and the other side is bevelled at 22. The legs of the U define aligned apertures 23 and 24. The length of each connection strip 20 is substantially that of the height of each bank and each strip will define a number of pairs of apertures 23 and 24 equal to the number of holders in each bank. The spacing of the pairs of apertures will be substantially equal to the height of each card holder. Each card holder is formed near its lower end on its rear convex side with a part annular projection 9.The gap in the annulus subtends an angle of 90 at the centre of the annulus. The internal diameter of the annulus is substantially equal to the diameter of the apertures 23 and 24. When the banks of card holders are placed side-by-side with connection strips 20 between, rods can be inserted through the apertures 23 and 24 in the connection strips and also through the recesses defined by the part annular projections 9 to connect the banks of card holders together. In this way, a complete card display can be very easily built up, the variation in size of the display limited only by the size of the individual card holders.

Insertion and removal of cards into and out of the display is facilitated by the recess 21 and the bevel 22 on the connection strip 20. The recess 21 provides a locating stop for the leading edge of an inserted card 12 and the bevel 22 actually guides insertion of the card 12 (in the direction of arrow 14 in Figure 1) into the slot defined between adjacent projections of the card holder in question. It will of course be understood that in each bank of card holders, the uppermost slot defining projection 6 for the topmost card of all card holders other than the uppermost card holder is in fact the lowermost projection 6 of the card holder directly above.

The assembled banks of card holders as described above may be used with an automatic coin-operated record playing machine such as a juke box. In this case the assembly may be mounted within a glassfronted enclosure forming the upper part of a floor-standing juke box cabinet, or within a glassfronted wall-mounted enclosure located at a position remote from automatic record playing equipment, such wall-mounted enclosure incorporating user controls and being connected electrically to the record playing equipment for remote selection and control purposes. In these fields of use the cards may be thin semi-stiff yet flexible cards formed from cardboard and,or plastics and having details (such as titles) of records printed thereon.

Claims (17)

1. A card holder comprising a body adapted to support a plurality of cards characterised in that the body is formed from a generally planar extruded strip of material having a series of spaced projections extending from one face thereof, each pair of adjacent projections being adapted to define a slot for accommodating a respective said card.

2. A holder according to claim 1, characterised in that mounting means are provided along top and bottom edges of the body for use in mounting such body relative to upper and lower structures.

3. A holder according to claim 2, characterised in that the top and botton mounting means comprise complementary interengageable configurations whereby a plurality of like holders can be mounted one on top of another.

4. A holder according to claim 2, characterised in that the top mounting means comprises a part annular member four engagement with a pivot member.

5. A holder according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that mounting means is provided at the back of the body for use in mounting such body relative to structure alongside same.

6. A holder according to claim 5, characterised in that the rear mounting means comprises a part annular member for engagement with a mounting rod.

7. A holder according to any one of claims 1 to 6, charcterised in that the said body is slightly curved such that said face is concave.

8. A holder according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

9. A plurality of holders according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that they are mounted in a bank one on top of another.

10. A plurality of banks according to claim 9, characterised in that are joined together side-byside.

11. An assembly of banks according to claim 10, characterised in that the banks are joined by upright connecting strips each strip being disposed between adjacent said banks.

12. An assembly according to claim 11, characterised in that each strip is a U-shaped structure.

13. An assembly according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that each strip has apertures therein to receive a mounting rod.

14. An assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterised in that each strip has a card-receiving slot along one side.

15. An assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterised in that each strip has a bevelled edge along one side thereof.

16. A method of forming a card holder comprising a body adapted to support a plurality of cards, characterised in that a strip of material is formed by extrusion with a series of substantially parallel projections on one face of the strip and the strip is repeatedly severed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of extrusion to give separate lengths thereof.

17. An assembly according to any one of claims 10 to 15, having cards therein and mounted in a glass-fronted enclosure of automatic coin-freed record-playing equipment.