GB2200045A

GB2200045A - Resilient edging strip for a display panel

Info

Publication number: GB2200045A
Application number: GB08629957A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Derek Davis
Original assignee: GRAPHIC FORMING Ltd
Current assignee: GRAPHIC FORMING Ltd
Priority date: 1986-12-16
Filing date: 1986-12-16
Publication date: 1988-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 2006-12-16
Also published as: EP0352379B1; GB2200045B; ES2040860T3; EP0352379A1; GB8629957D0; DE3880830D1; DE3880830T2

Abstract

An edging strip for a display panel (10) comprises a U-shaped rail (11) having two side walls (13, 14) joined by a web (15). The side walls are adapted to embrace and grip an edge of the display panel and at least one of the side walls has an inner wall portion (16) adjacent the web and an outer wall portion (17) joined to the inner wall portion. The inner wall portion of the side wall is joined to the outer wall portion by a flexible web (19) so that the outer wall portion can be rotated away from the opposite wall through an angle of approximately 90 DEG relative to the inner wall portion, to enable sheet material (12) to be attached to and removed from the panel. <IMAGE>

Description

RESILIENT EDGING STRIP AND DISPLAY PANEL The present invention relates to a resilient edging strip for a display panel which is designed to enable flexible sheet material to be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the panel.

It is well known to display advertising material on panels at a point of sale location, for instance indoors in a shop, or out of doors, at a garage or filling station. In many cases it is desirable to change the nature of the advertising material at frequent intervals. If this entails replacing the complete display panel, it can involve considerable cost, particularly if the display panel is for use out of doors and is designed to withstand weather conditions. It is therefore desirable to provide a durable, permanent display panel onto which sheets of replaceable advertising material can be quickly and easily attached and removed.Hitherto, this has been done by using an adhesive which involves problems in both securely attaching the sheet material and enabling it to be removed relatively easily or by fastening members or studs which may not be secure and which again involve considerable labour in both attaching and removing the sheet material.

In order to overcome some of these problems it has been proposed in U.K. Patent No. 2010673 of Segerstad to provide a strip assembly comprising a main strip adapted to grip the edge of a display panel and two flap strips which are pivotally hinged to the main strip. The main strip and the flap strips have cooperating locking elements enabling the flap strips to be locked in a position in which they can clamp a sheet of display material against the panel. We have found that this known type of strip assembly has a limited application because it can only accommodate a relatively small range of panel thicknesses. It is also necessary to form the terminal portions of the flap strips from a different and more resilient material than the main part of the flap strips in order to achieve the required gripping characteristics. This makes the manufacture of the components relatively costly.A further disadvantage is that the flap strips can only accommodate the sheet material and cannot in addition clamp a protective sheet of glass or transparent plastics on the panel.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an edging strip for a display panel which is unitary in its structure and therefore economic to manufacture and assemble, which can be used with a wide range of panel thickness and which enables flexible sheet material and a protective sheet or plastics or the like to be quickly and easily attached to or removed from the panel.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an edging strip for a display panel comprising a U-shaped rail having two side walls joined by a web and adapted to receive and grip an edge of a display panel, at least one of the side walls having an inner wall portion adjacent the web and an outer wall portion joined to the inner wall portion, characterised in that the inner wall portion is joined to the outer wall portion by a flexible web of material whereby the outer wall portion can be rotated away from the opposite wall through an angle of approximately 900.

The present invention also provides a display panel having edging strips as defined in the preceding paragraph, attached to at least two opposite edges of the panel whereby the outer wall portions of the edging strips can be rotated from a position in which they are clamped against the surface of the panel through approximately 900 away from the panel to enable sheet material to be attached to and removed from the panel.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of part of a display panel and edging strip according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a section through the edging strip shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a section through the display panel and edging strip of Figure 1 showing the edging strip in the closed position on one side of the panel and in the open position on the other side of the panel; Figure 4 is a section through a modification of the edging strip of Figures 1 to 3, Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3 but showing the edging strip of Figure 4 in the closed position; and Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the edging strip in the open position.

In Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings, a display panel is indicated generally at 10 and an edging strip for the display panel 10 is indicated generally at 11. The display panel 10 may be formed from any suitable material such as fibre board or plastics so as to be relatively rigid in order to act as a support for flexible sheet material such as a poster 12 which may carry, by way of example, advertising material or sales information.

The edging strip 11 is generally U-shaped so as to comprise two similar side walls 13 and 14 joined by a substantially solid base portion 15. Each wall 13 and 14 comprises an inner wall portion 16 and 16A, respectively, and an outer wall portion 17 and 18, respectively. The inner wall portions 16 and 16A are joined to the outer wall portions 17 and 18 by flexible webs 19 and 20, respectively, which are formed from a different and more resilient material than the remainder of the wall portions which are relatively rigid.

Each outer wall portion 17 and 18 is formed with a projecting element in the form of a rib 21 and 22, respectively, the ribs being positioned adjacent the flexible webs 19 and 20 and inclined inwardly and rearwardly towards the base 15. The inner wall portions 16 and 16A are formed with inwardly projecting flanges 23 and 24, respectively, the free ends of which are made from a softer and more resilient material to form pads 25 and 26, respectively, adapted to resiliently grip the opposite sides of the panel 10.

Adjacent the base 15 of the strip, each inner wall portion is formed with an inwardly projecting abutment 27 and 28, respectively, the abutments being adapted to locate and position the periphery of the panel 10. The base 15 is also formed with slots 29 and 30 to enable the strip 11 to be quickly and easily attached back to back to a similar strip or hung from a wall or rail.

The inner wall portions 16 and 16A and the outer wall portions 17 and 18 are inclined inwardly towards one another in a direction away from the base 15 and the outer wall portions 17 and 18 are formed with runners 31 and 32, respectively, at their free ends which are adapted to clamp posters or three dimensional display material 12 and 12a against the opposite sides of the panel 10.

In order to mount the strip 11 on the panel 10, the outer wall portions 31 and 32 are prized apart to enable the edge of the panel 10 to be inserted between the walls. As the edge of the panel is inserted between the walls, it slides past the ribs 21 and 22 and the flanges 23 and 24 so as to locate between the abutments 27 and 28. In this position, the panel has forced the ribs 21 and 22 apart which has the effect of rotating the outer ends of the outer wall portions 17 and 18 inwardly so that the rails 31 and 32 are clamped firmly against the opposite sides of the panel. At the same time, as the panel enters the strip, the flanges 23 and 24 are bent inwardly and downwardly towards the base 15 so as to provide a clamping action onthe panel 10 adjacent its periphery.

If the outer wall portion 17 is now prized away from the panel 10 into the portion shown on the righthand side of Figure 3, it rotates about the flexible web 19, through the position shown in broken line in Figure and into the full line open position. As this rotation occurs, the inner wall portion 15 is forced outwardly and a snap action is achieved as a result of the interaction of the relatively rigid rib 21 and flexible hinge 19.

When the outer wall portion 17 is in the open position, a poster 12 can be laid against the panel 10 and the outer wall portion 17 then rotated back through 900 so as to clamp the poster 12 against the face of the panel 10. Again a snap action is achieved by the interaction of the rib 21 and flexible hinge 19.

The display panel 10 will preferably have an edging strip attached along each side of the panel so that the panel is completely trimmed and finished by the edging strips. Posters can then be attached to one or both sides of the panel by flipping the outer wall portions of each strip away from the panel, laying the poster in place and then manually flipping each outer wall portion of the strips back against the face of the panel.

If it is necessary or desirable to protect the posters or other flexible sheet material on the panel 10, a protective sheet of glass or clear plastic can be inserted on top of the poster and clamped in position by the outer wall portion 17.

The edging strip 11 is formed as a single unitary plastics moulding which makes it economic to manufacture and to assemble. Preferably, the flexible hinges 19 and 20 are formed from a relatively soft polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene and the remainder of the edging strip formed from a more rigid polyvinyl chloride.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, which is shown in Figures 4 to 6, an edging strip is indicated generally at 40 which is similar in all respects to the edging strip 11 except that it has two side walls, one side wall 41 being identical to the side wall 13 of the edging strip 11 and the other side wall 42 being substantially flat. In use, the side wall 41 is adapted to clamp the panel 10 flat against the side wall 42 but, in all other respects, the side wall 41 is operated in exactly the same way as the side wall 13 to clamp a poster 12 against the panel 10.

Claims

1. An edging strip for a display panel comprising a U-shaped rail having two side walls joined by a web and adapted to receive and grip an edge of a display panel, at least one of the side walls having an inner wall portion adjacent the web and an outer wall portion joined to the inner wall portion, characterised in that the inner wall portion is joined to the outer wall portion by a flexible web of material whereby the outer wall portion can be rotated away from the opposite wall through an angle of approximately 900 relative to the inner wall portion.

2. An edging strip as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the outer wall portion is normally inclined inwardly towards the opposite wall.

3. An edging strip as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the outer wall portion has a projecting element adjacent the flexible web extending inwardly towards the opposite wall, the projecting element being adapted to bias a display panel towards the opposite wall.

4. An edging strip as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that the projecting element comprises a rib extending along the length of the wall and inclined towards the web.

5. An edging strip as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the inner wall portion has a resilient flange extending inwardly towards the opposite wall, the flange being adapted to bias a display panel towards the opposite wall.

6. An edging strip as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the two side walls are similar.

7. An edging strip for a display panel as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the strip is formed as a one piece unitary plastics moulding.

8. A display panel having edging strips each as claimed in any preceding claim attached to at least two opposite edges of the panel whereby the outer wall portions of the edging strips can be rotated from a position in which they are clamped against a surface of the panel through approximately 900 away from the panel to enable sheet material to be attached to and removed from the panel.

9. An edging strip for a display panel substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A display panel substantially as. described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing.