GB2084459A - Adjustable display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The device, which enables goods to be displayed thereon at an angle to an approaching customer, comprises a pair of display panels 28, 30 adapted to support merchandise thereon, a hinge member 32 engageable with corresponding front edges of the said pair of panels whereby they may be moved from a substantially parallel position in relation to each other to a V-shaped position, and bracket securing means for releasably securing rear edges of the said pair of display panels to a point-of-purchase display panel when the said pair of display panels are in an open V- position at a desired angle. The securing means may comprise extension members 34, 36 having a T- shaped formation for cooperation with brackets 38, or three-piece sets comprising brackets 202, V-shaped retaining members 231 and screws 206. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Adjustable display device This invention relates to display devices, and more particularly relates to an adjustable display device adapted to be secured to existing point-ofpurchase display surfaces adapted to be stocked with and display a plurality of articles, thereby increasing display area.

Retail merchandising stores display merchandise along aisles in so-called gondolas, e.g. comprising shelves having back surfaces e.g.

peg boards to which are secured a plurality of hook elements on which the articles to be sold are attached for display and for storage. Such gondolas may be fixed or free-standing, or may be mobile units which may be wheeled to different locations within a store.

The peg boards in such gondolas are flat and disposed perpendicular to the floor area, and parallel to the shopping aisles.

In conventional gondolas a customer passing a display of merchandise would have to turn to face the display in order to obtain an accurate impression of the merchandise. Previous attempts to solve this problem have included the development of display devices having two vertical stanchions each having a display surface disposed at an obtuse angle to a central flat display surface. Such type of construction is illustrated in Figure 13 of the accompanying drawings. Thus as the customer approaches such a device, articles on one of the angled surfaces face the line of approach. However such an improved construction includes a central display panel of large area parallel to the line of customer approach and thus only part of the available area is utilized for angular presentation of displayed articles.

The present invention is directed to an adjustable display device which allows a better visibility of displayed products, which utilizes available space to improved effect, and which presents objects displayed thereon to customers as they perambulate past the device. Furthermore for a given display space a greater variety of displayed goods may be accommodated per unit volume.

Further advantageous characteristics of the display device of the invention are that in its knocked-down condition it is very thin and may thus be transported with a very small volume, but which may be extended and expanded as desired, and it may be portably secured to any convenient gondola by means of detachable securement means. Thus it may be associated with conventional display boards disposed parallel to shopping aisles to increase the presentation area, for instance of extended peg-boards, and particularly of display devices of the configuration set forth in Figure 13 hereof.

The invention provides an adjustable display device for use with a point-of-purchase display panel. which adjustable device comprises a pair of display panels adapted to support merchandise thereon, a hinge member engageable with corresponding front edges of the said pair of display panels whereby they may be moved from a substantially parallel position in relation to each other to a V-shaped position, and bracket securing means for releasably securing rear edges of the said pair of display panels to a point-of-purchase display panel when the said pair of display panels are in an opened V-position at a desired angle.

Preferably the said hinge member comprises a flexible strip member having two longitudinal channels adapted to engage the front edges of the said pair of display panels. The flexible strip member is made of a flexible plastics material, e.g.

a polyethylene or a polypropylene. Thus the pair of display panels are joined together at their forward edges by a front pivot hinge which is "living" hinge and allows the boards to be rotated from a flat condition in which the two panels are substantially parallel to each other to a substantially open condition in which the panels have each rotated e.g. approximately through 900.

In one embodiment the said bracket means comprises strip members each adapted to be secured to a rear edge of one of said pair of display panels, and one or more brackets adapted to engage a said strip means and also adapted to be secured to a point-of-purchase display panel.

In another embodiment the said bracket means comprises a plurality of sets of two bracket components, each set comprising a first bracket component adapted to be retained on a point-ofpurchase display panel, and a second bracket component adapted to be secured to a rear edge of one of the said pair of display panels and engageable in the said first bracket component.

Advantages are to be gained if the rear edges of the pair of display panels are rotatably mounted on a point-of-purchase display panel by the said bracket means.

Depending on the available width of the pointof-purchase display panel, the angle through which the pair of display boards of the display device of the invention is opened may be varied, thus varying as desired the distance from the apex (hinged edge) to the point-of-purchase display.

The present invention is hereinafter further described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a top plan schematic view showing the location of the display device of the invention within a display device of the type illustrated in Figure 13; Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of a display device of the invention; Figure 3 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional fragmentary view of the upper portion of the front pivot hinge, panels and top cap members with portions cut away of the embodiment of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3; Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view showing the details of the attachment of the modified back extrusion member projection to brackets, and the connection of the brackets to the back panel;; Figure 6 is a further enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a further enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along lines 7-7 of Figure 5; Figure 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary, crosssectional view taken along line 8-8 of Figure 1; Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary, exploded view of another embodiment of bracket securing means; Figure 10 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a panel pivotally affixed to the bracket securing means of Figure 9 showing the panel perpendicular to the bracket securing means and also in broken line at an angle to the bracket securing means; Figure 11 is a fragmentary, partial crosssectional view taken along line 11-11 of Figure 10;; Figure 1 2 is a fragmentary, partial crosssectional view taken along line 12-12 of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a representational view of a prior art display means.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals indicate like parts, Figure 1 3 represents a perspective view of a known display means 12 and Figure 1 shows such known display means 1 2 in association with an adjustable display device 10 according to the invention. It is emphasised that display devices according to the invention may be used in any location for the display of merchandise, and that the known display means illustrated is only one example of an environment in which the said display devices may be used. The known display device 1 2 comprises stanchions 14, 1 6 having side walls 20, 22 and a central display panel 18 which may be of adjustable length. The stanchions have front display panels 24, 26 set at an obtuse angle to the said central display panel.The display panels 18, 24, 26 may be removable peg boards conventionally used as display panels.

Such display means while having an advantage of angled display panels 24, 26 which face towards the line of approach of a potential customer, still retains a major display area 1 8 which is at right angles to the customer's path, and unless the customer makes a positive effort to face the display area 18, will miss viewing merchandise displayed thereon. The display means 12 according to the invention comprising a pair of display panels hinged at their forward edges, may readily be utilised more effectively to use an existing display area such as the back display panel 1 8 by being attached thereto, and being adjustable may be opened to the desired degree to cover a predetermined area of such an existing display panel.Thus referring to Figure 1 the width of a display panel of a device according to the invention is designated by B and the width of the existing back display panel by Y, then by the use of the device according to the invention the width of the then available display area is increased from Y to 2B. The perpendicular distance of the front hinge 32 from the existing display panel 1 8 is designated by K, and by adjusting the angle of the display panels of the device according to the invention about the hinge the distance K may be adjusted. Thus the device according to the invention may be adapted for use in all environments.If desired, for a particularly long existing display panel, for example panel 18, a plurality of devices according to the invention may be attached thereto in side-by-side relationship, their adjustability ensuring that all existing display area may be covered.

Referring now to Figure 2, a display device 10 according to the invention is shown in exploded perspective view. The device comprises two peg board panels 28, 30 hinged to each other at their front edges by front pivot hinge flexible extrusion 32. The opposite edge of each of the display panels is secured to back extrusion members 34, 36 which are adapted to be secured to brackets 38 mounted on an existing display panel 18.

(Members 34, 36 and brackets 38 form a modified embodiment of bracket securing means.) Top and bottom edges are framed by top and bottom cap members 40, 42, the top cap member 40 carrying headers 44, 46 and header inserts 48, 50.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a crosssectional view of the front pivot hinge extrusion 32 of Figure 2 defined by a front wall portion 52 with forwardly extending fingers 54, 56 defining a channel 58. Extending rearwardly from the edges of the front wall portion are flexible hinge portions 60, 62 terminating in rearwardly extending gripping channels 64, 66. The whole unit is composed of flexible plastics materials, e.g.

polyethylene or polypropylene, or materials of similar properties. The gripping channels 64, 66 are designed to receive the forward vertical edge portions 68, 70 of the display panels 28, 30. The channel 58 may receive any desirable matter, such as media advertising, or possible reflective or decorative strips, as desired. Because of the flexible nature of the material from which the extrusion is made, the hinge portions 60, 62 are of the "living" hinge type. Thus no matter how much the hinges are flexed (within practical limits), they will not break. Furthermore, the material is sufficiently flexible so that the unit can be transported with the two panels 28, 30 abutting each other, or at least lying in parallel configuration and the units may then be rotated away from their parallel of configuration to almost coplanar alignment. If desired the hinge arrangement may be of conventional (non-flexible) design, but which however is not as effective in practice as the design illustrated.

Referring again to Figure 2, the bottom edges 72, 74 of the panels 28, 30 are received within gripping channels 76, 78 of the bottom cap member 42. The forward hinge extrusion 80 of the cap member is similar to the extrusion 32, except that the bottom contains a stop member portion 82, preventing downward movement of materials out of the channel 58 of Figure 4.

The top cap member 40, has gripping channels 84, 86 (Figure 3) designed to engage the top edges 88, 90 of the panels 28,30 in the same fashion. The top channel has a pivot extrusion at 92 which is also similar in cross-sectional configuration to the extrusion 32, except that it has an upper stop portion 94, also to prevent upward removal of materials from the channel.

Extending upwardly from the top cap members are walls 96, 98 containing snap lock members 100 (Figure 8). These members engage a shoulder 102 of header 46 (see also Figure 2) to maintain it in position on top of the unit. An insert member 50 of the header may contain any desired advertising or informative material.

In a preferred embodiment illustrated in Figures 9 to 12 there are secured to the back edges 104, 106 of the display panels 28, 30 (Figure 2) sets of three-piece bracket securing means. The three-piece sets are simple to fabricate and use, and comprise a bracket 202, a U-shaped retaining member 231 and a screw 206.

The bracket 202 is rectangular in shape and contains two apertures defined by right and left vertical side bars 208, 210, top and bottom bars 212, 214 and a central dividing bar 216 thus defining two rectangular apertures. Extending backwardly and upwardly from the bars 208, 210 are fingers 222, 224.

The U-shaped retaining member 204 is defined by right and left retaining portions 226, 228 joined by a bridging portion 230 together defining a U-shaped channel 231. The distance between the inner walls of the portions 226,228 is sufficient to enclose the back edge portion 106 of a display panel and the dividing bar 21 6 of bracket 202, as shown in Figures 11 and 12, and have internal dimples (shown more clearly in Figure 9).

The portions 226, 228 have aligned, threaded apertures 232, 234, adapted to receive screw 206 which comprises a milled head portion and a threaded shank.

As shown in Figure 9, the central bar 216 of bracket 204 is received within the U-shaped channel 231 of member 203, the rear edge 106 of a display panel subsequently being placed within the side portions 226,228 of U-shaped member 231 up to the dimples 235, the screw being inserted in either of the threaded bores 232,234.

The fingers 222, 224 of bracket 202 are inserted in the holes in the back display peg board panel 1 8 with the bottom bar 214 acting as a stop against the panel 1 8. By this means the display panels 28, 30 of the display device of the invention are pivotably mounted on the panel 1 8 and may be moved to a position as shown in the arrow in Figure 10.

In another embodiment of bracket arrangement illustrated in Figures 6 to 8, the back edges 104, 106 of the panels 28, 30 are gripped by back extrusion members 34, 36. The extrusion member 34 which is a mirror-symmetrical construction of member 36, consists of a forward gripping channel portion 108 (Figure 6) receiving the edge 106. Portion 108 is then joined by flexible portion 110 to an attachment portion 112 from which projects rearwardly a T-shaped projection member 114 which includes a leg 116 and arms 118.

In order to secure the unit to the back display panel 18, there are provided a plurality of brackets 38. As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the bracket consists of fingers 1 20 which are perpendicularly angled and from which depends a base 122. The base carries an elongate right finger 123 and a short and left finger 124 defining a bracket channel 126. This unit may be stamped out so as to leave an opening 128.

As shown in Figure 2, the unit is assembled as shown in the exploded portion with the panels being slid into the appropriate gripping channels and headers and header inserts placed if desired on the upper portion. The brackets are placed in appropriate position on any available or desired flat back panel display. The back extrusion members are then lifted upwardly and the arms 11 8 of the member 114 are slid within the channel formed by the fingers 123, 124, thus securing the display device of the invention to the back panel 1 8. Downward vertical movement is interrupted by any desired stop means (not shown) such as the floor or gondola base. Figure 5 illustrates the engaged position of all the members to a bracket.

An advantage of the invention is that the hooks used within the apertures of the peg board tend to be shorter than the normal hooks that would be used on the display panel 18 of Figure 13. This is in keeping with modern merchandising practices in which stores are tending to stock a smaller inventory of each individual item, but are stocking more different types of individual items. Thus the portable display device of the invention lends itself very easily to accommodating the increased requirements of store inventories and product lines.

The portable display device of the invention can be transported flat as a knock-down pack and then constructed and attached at the desired opened angle to an existing display surface.

Claims (14)

1. An adjustable display device for use with a point-of-purchase display panel, characterised in that the said adjustable device comprises a pair of display panels (28, 30) adapted to support merchandise thereon, a hinge member (32) engageable with corresponding front edges of the said pair of display panels whereby they may be moved from a substantially parallel position in relation to each other to a V-shaped position, and bracket securing means for releasably securing rear edges of the said pair of display panels to a point-of-purchase display panel when the said pair of display panels are in an opened V-position at a desired angle.

2. A display device according to Claim 1, wherein the said hinge member comprises a flexible strip member having two longitudinal channels adapted to engage the front edges of the said pair of display panels.

3. A display device according to Claim 2, wherein the said flexible strip member is made of a flexible plastics material.

4. A display device according to Claim 3, wherein the said flexible plastics material is a polyethylene or polypropylene.

5. A display device according to any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the said bracket means comprises strip members (34) each adapted to engage a rear edge of one of said pair of display panels, and one or more brackets (38) adapted to engage a said strip means and also adapted to be secured to a point-of-purchase display panel.

6. A display device according to Claim 4, wherein the said bracket(s) are adapted to secure a T-shaped end (114) of the said strip member.

7. A display device according to-any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the said bracket means comprises a plurality of sets of two bracket components, each set comprising a first bracket component adapted to be retained on a point-of-purchase display panel, and a second bracket component adapted to be secured to a rear edge of one of the said pair of display panels and engageable in the said first bracket component.

8. A display device according to Claim 7, wherein the said first bracket component comprises a component (202) containing two apertures, and the said second bracket component is a U-shaped component (231) each arm of the U-configuration being adapted to pass through a said aperture and to engage a rear edge of one of the said pair of display panels.

9. A display device according to any of Claims 4 to 8, wherein the rear edges of the said pair of display panels are rotatably mounted on a pointof-purchase display panel by the said bracket means.

10. A display device according to any of Claims 1 to 9, comprising two V-shaped cap members (40, 42), each arm of a said cap member being adapted to engage a side edge of a said display panel'joining the said front and rear edges thereof.

11. A display device according to Claim 10, wherein the said V-shaped cap members contain a flexible hinge portion at their apex.

12. A display device according to Claim 10 or Claim 11, wherein one of the said V-shaped members is provided with header units (44, 46).

1 3. A display device according to any of Claims 1 to 12, wherein the said display panels are peg boards.

14. A display device according to any of Claims 1 to 13, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A knock-down pack for an adjustable display device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 14.