GB2130780A - Fastening display sheets to display panels - Google Patents

Abstract

A display panel 12 for carrying a sheet of material to be displayed, comprises a support surface 30 bounded by one or more fastening elements 22, 24, 26 and 28 wherein the or each fastening element comprises a fixed fastener part 70 which is attached to, or integral with, the display panel and a releasable fastener part 72 which snap-engages the fixed fastener part, characterised in that the releasable fastener part includes a flange 88 which is adapted to overlie and clamp the periphery of a sheet of material positioned on the support surface 30. The panels 12 may be made of hollow plastics and held together by annular slip-on connectors 56, 57. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Means for fastening articles to a support for display This invention relates to a display panel for carrying flat sheets of material such as posters or photographs for display purposes.

Known forms of display panels require the articles to be displayed to be adhesively attached thereto, for example by means of sticky pads.

Removal of an article attached in this way can be difficult and can lead to the article itself being damaged. Other forms of display panels are known which require separate fixing accessories.

These greatly increase manufacturing costs and complicate the attachment and removal of the sheet from the panel.

It is also known to provide grooves in a support frame into which an article such as a card or sheet can be slidably positioned. However, insertion of a display card lengthwise into a groove is difficult and time consuming and furthermore can lead to knurling the edges of the display card.

According to the present invention we provide a display panel for carrying a sheet of material to be displayed, comprising a support surface bounded by one or more fastening elements wherein the or each fastening element comprises a fixed fastener which is permanently attached to or integral with the display panel and a releasable fastener which is engageable with the fixed fastener releasably to lock the fasteners together, characterised in that the releasable fastener includes a flange which is adapted to overlie the periphery of a sheet of material positioned on the support surface of the display panel and clamp the sheet adjacent the surface when the releasable fastener is engaged with the fixed fastener.

A display panel according to the present invention has the advantage that an article to be displayed can quickly and easily be attached to the panel simply by placing the article against the support surface and engaging the or each releasable fastener with the corresponding fixed fastener. The article can just as easily be removed by disconnecting the fastening elements without any risk of damaging the article itself.

Preferably, the fixed fastener is formed with a channel facing upwardly from the support surface and the releasable fastener is formed with a rib adapted to snap-engage with the channel.

The display panel may comprise a plurality of fastening elements spaced around the periphery of the support surface. Another possibility is to provide a fixed fastener which extends continuously around the periphery of the support surface and a plurality of releasable fasteners for engagement therewith. The particular arrangement used will depend on the shape and intended use of the display support and various modifications are possible.

Preferably the support surface is planar. In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the planar support surface is rectangular and a separate fastening element is provided along each side of the panel.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a display stand comprising a plurality of display panels according to the present invention as previously described wherein the panels are arranged in vertical planes and connected at the top and bottom by two circular bosses so as to extend radially outwardly from the two bosses.

Preferably, each corner of each display panel is formed with two perpendicular ribs, each rib being slidably engageable into a channel of a boss, whereby each panel can be selectively mounted on a boss in either a vertical or a horizontal orientation.

A particular embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of an array of display panels according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a front view of an enlarged portion of a corner of one of the display panels shown in Figure 1 supporting an article for display; Figure 3 is a partial cross section taken along the line Ill-Ill of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a partial cross section taken along the line IV-lV of Figure 3; Figure 5 is an enlarged side view of a modified fastening element viewed along a partially cutaway edge of the panel; Figure 6 is a plan view of an alternative form of connecting boss which may be used in connection with the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, a display stand indicated generally at 10, comprises an array of rectangular styrene display panels. Each of the display panels 12, 14, 1 6, 1 8, 20 is identical and only one will be described. The panel 12 comprises fastening elements 22, 24, 26 and 28. The features of the panel are shown in greater detail in Figures 2-4.

The panel 12 is vacuum-formed from two layers of styrene 1 3 and 1 5 and, on each side, has a flat support surface 30 surrounded by a raised border 32 which extends around the entire periphery of the panel 12 except for the four corner regions. A central region 34 of the panel comprises the opposed support surfaces 30 on each side of the panel 12 and is approximately one third the thickness of the border 32 thereby providing ledges 36 and 38 which extend around the support surface 30 on each side of the panel 12. A plurality of indentations 40, 42 and 44 are formed in the central region 34 by vacuumbonding opposed faces thereof together to improve the structural rigidity of the panel 12. A relatively thin indentations 46 is formed adjacent and parallel to each of the ridges 36, 38 to increase the structural rigidity of the panel 12 along the edges thereof.

Each corner of the panel 12 is identical and comprises and L-shaped region 48 in which the two styrene layers 1 3 and 1 5 are bonded together except for two perpendicular partially cylindrical protrusions 50 and 52. An end portion 53 of each protrusion 50, 52 is rounded adjacent the corner of the panel and end portions 54 of the protrusions 50, 52 remote from the corner are contiguous with the border 32.

The borders 32 each comprise a rebate 35 adjacent the corner region 48 aligned with end portions of the fasteners 22 and 24.

The panels 12-20 forming the display stand 10 are connected using a plurality of annular connecting bosses 56, 57. Each boss 56, 57 is made of injection-moulded plastics material and comprises eight spaced peripheral cylindrical bores 58 each aligned with a slot 60. A corner portion 48 of the panel 12 can slidably be inserted into a boss 56, 57 so that one of the protrusions 50,52 is located in a bore 58 of the boss 56. The bosses 56, 57 can thus be used removably to connect adjacent vertical or horizontal edges respectively of neighbouring panels.

Selectively using perpendicularly oriented bosses 56, 57 enables the display stand 10 to be extended both vertically and horizontally. To attach an extra display panel, a boss is slidably attached to a corner region of an appropriate panel in the display and a corner portion of the extra panel is then slidably attached to the boss.

Alternatively, the extra panel can be held in the desired position and a boss can be slidably attached to both the extra panel and a neighbouring panel in the display stand simultaneously.

The bosses 56 at the base of the array 10 are mounted on stands 62. Each of the stands 62 have an upstanding spigot 64 which is configured as a push fit in a central bore 66 in a connector 56.

Figure 6 shows a connector 59 which possesses essentially the same features as the connectors 56, 57 described above but differs in that its contours are generally more rounded.

Each of the fastening elements 22-28 on the panel 12 are identical and only one will be described. The fastening element 22 comprises two elongate fasteners 70 and 72. The fastener 70 is a generally L-shaped plastics extrusion having flanges 74 and 76 which are adhesively bonded to the ledge 38 and the support surface 30 respectively with an end of the fastener abutting the rebate 35. Contiguous with the flange 76 is an upstanding projection 78 which extends along the length of the fastener 70 to provide a channel 80 therein. The projection 78 has a lip 82 extending therealong to define a neck 84 in the channel 80.

The fastener element 72 is a polyvinyl chloride strip which is generally V-shape in cross section.

The fastener 72 comprises two angled flanges 86 and 88. The flange 86 is in the form of a rib and terminates in a thickend bead portion 87 which defines a shoulder 90. The bead portion 87 is designed as a push fit past the neck 84 into the channel 80 of the fastener 70 so that the shoulder 90 locates underneath the lip 82. A lug 91 contiguous with the flange 86 overlies the top of the flange 74 when the fasteners 70 and 72 are connected.

The flange 88 is angled towards the support surface 30 of the panel 12 and is configured to abut a display board 92 placed against the support surface 30 thereby releasably to clamp the display board 92 against the panel 12.

Figure 5 shows a modified form of fastening element 94 comprising fasteners 96 and 98. The fastener 96 is adhesively fixed to a panel surface 100 (shown diagrammatically) and is generally Lshaped comprising two flanges 102 and 104. The flange 104 is relativeiy short compared with the flange 74 of the fastener 70 shown in Figure 3 and terminates below the uppermost part 101 of the panel surface 100. The flange 102 is tapered as it extends away from the flange 1 04 and terminates before the indentation 46 which is not indicated in the panel surface 100 but is illustrated in the panel 12 shown in Figure 3. The portion 106 of the fastener 96 adjoining the flanges 102 and 104 is arcuate thereby providing a cavity 108 between the fastener 96 and the panel surface 100.The fastener 96 also comprises an upstanding projection 110 which is configured similarly to the upstanding projection 78 of the fastener 70 shown in Figure 3 and will not be redescribed.

The fastener 98 comprises a downwardly extending rib 112 contiguous with an arcuate flange 114 having two pointed ends 116 and 11 8.

The flange 114 is bent downwardly towards the panel surface 100 so that the end 118 lies approximately level with the top of the upstanding projection 110 of the fastener 96. The end 116 of the flange 114 of the fastener 98 is bent downwardly towards the panel surface 100 and overlies the top of the flange 104 of the fastener 96 when the fasteners 96 and 98 are connected.

The rib 112 is shaped similarly to the flange 86 of the fastener 72 shown in Figure 3 and wiil not be redescribed. The way in which the fasteners 96 and 98 snap-fit together is also the same as previously described with respect to the fasteners 70 and 72 shown in Figure 3.

In use, the display stand 10 is assembled by slidably connecting corner portions 48 of the panels to the connectors 56, 57 as previously described to produce the desired panel arrangement. A display board 92 is releasably attached to a panel by disengaging the fasteners 70 and 72, placing the display board 92 against the support surface 30 of a panel so that edges of the display board overlie the flange 76 of the fastener 70.

The bead portion 87 of the flange 86 of the fastener 72 is then snap-fitted into the channel 80 of the fastener 70 thereby causing the flange 88 of the fastener 72 to abut the display board 92 to clamp it in position against the support surface 30. The fasteners comprising the retaining means 24, 26 and 28 are similarly used to clamp the remaining edges of the display board 92 against the support surface 30 of the panel 12. The display board 92 can be easily removed by disengaging the pairs of fasteners 70 and 72 comprising the retaining means 22-28 and lifting the display board 92 away from the panel 12.

It will be understood that the present invention is not restricted to the particular retaining means described above. The engageable fasteners may be slidabiy engageable or may be capable both of slidable and snap-engagement. Furthermore, it is envisaged to provide an arrangement whereby one or both of a pair of engageable fasteners is resiliently flexible to enable different thicknesses of display boards to be accommodated.

In the particular embodiment described above, a fastener comprising a channel is adhered to each panel. However, a fastener comprising a flange may be attached to a panel for engagement in a separable fastener comprising a channel. As previously mentioned, one of each pair of fasteners may be integrally moulded with a panel.

A panel according to the present invention is not restricted to having discrete pairs of fasteners but may comprise various configurations or engageable fasteners.

For illuminated display arrangements, electrical connections v an be provided between panels by threading electrical connections through the vacancies inside each vacuum-formed panel and providing socket connections as appropriate.

A panel according to the present invention may be of any desired outline shape and may furthermore comprise a support surface which forms a curved surface.

Claims (18)

1. A display panel for carrying a sheet of material to be displayed, comprising a support surface bounded by one or more fastening elements wherein the or each fastening element comprises a fixed fastener which is permanently attached to or integral with the display panel and a releasable fastener which is engageable with the fixed fastener releasably to lock the fasteners together, characterised, in that the releasable fastener includes a flange which is adapted to overlie the periphery of a sheet of material positioned on the support surface of the display panel and clamp the sheet adjacent the surface when the releasable fastener is engaged with the fixed fastener.

2. A display panel as claimed in claim 1 wherein the fixed fastener is formed with a channel facing upwardly from the support surface and the releasable fastener is formed with a rib adapted to snap-engage with the channel.

3. A display panel as claimed in claim 2 wherein the fixed fastener comprises a lip defining a neck in the channel and the rib of the releasable fastening element is provided with a shoulder configured to abut the underside of the lip when the fasteners are engaged.

4. A display panel as claimed in any preceding claim comprising a plurality of fastening elements spaced around the periphery of the support surface.

5. A display panel as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the fixed fastener extends continuously around the periphery of the support surface and a plurality of releasable fasteners are provided for engagement therewith.

6. A display panel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the support surface is planar.

7. A display panel as claimed in claim 6 wherein the planar surface is rectangular and a separate fastening element is provided along each side of the panel.

8. A display panel as claimed in any preceding claim made of vacuum-formed styrene.

9. A display panel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the fixed fastener comprises a separate plastics channel member bonded to the panel.

10. A display panel as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 in which the fixed fastener is integrally moulded with the panel.

11. A display panel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the releasable fastener is made from polyvinyl chloride.

12. A display stand comprising a plurality of display panels as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the panels are arranged in vertical planes and connected at the top and bottom by two circular boses so as to extend radially outwardly from the two bosses.

1 3. A display stand as claimed in claim 12 wherein each boss has a plurality of radially arranged elements each of which is adapted to interengage with a corner portion of a display panel.

14. A display stand as claimed in claim 13 wherein each corner of each display panel is formed with two perpendicular ribs, each rib being slidably engageable into a channel of a boss, whereby each panel can be selectively mounted on a boss in either a vertical or a horizontal orientation.

15. A display stand as claimed in any of claims 12 to 1 4 wherein each of the bottom-most bosses is mounted on a support pillar.

1 6. A display stand as claimed in claim 1 5 wherein the upper boss carries a support pillar for a similar display.

17. A display panel substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A display stand substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.