GB2213307A - Earring display - Google Patents

Abstract

An earring display system is provided in which one earring of a pair is hung, as it would be in use, from a lobe portion of a display card that roughly mimics in outline a human ear lobe. A row of such display cards are mounted along a rail or rails of a display stand, in slant grooves that maintain the cards in parallel planes that are set at an angle, other than a right angle, to the direction of the row, so that each earring can be seen to best advantage without the view of it being obscured by the others. To the same end, the display is arranged so that the lobe portions of different display cards are at different heights. <IMAGE>

Description

Earring Display System This invention relates to a display system for earrings on retail sale.

Earrings are normally displayed in pairs mounted in the same plane on cards or display pads, in such a way that the head or body of the earring is facing the potential customer.

However, that part of the earring which, when the earring is being worn, lies within or behind the ear lobe, is out of sight of the customer. There have, during recent years, been a number of innovations in earring design entailing new fixing methods. These make it desirable that the customer should see the back of the earring, to determine the fixing method employed, as well as te front.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved display system According to the invention, earring display cards are employed that comprise lobe pcrticns, very roughly mimicking in outline an ear lobe, from which earrings can be suspended to be seen in substantially the manner in which they appear in use.

The invention preferably includes a display stand arranged to receive a succession of such display cards in a horizontal row and occupying parallel vertical planes all at an angle (other than a right angle) to the horizontal direction of the row. Preferably also, the display cards are of different heights and fit into different places along the row.

The word 'card' is not intended to mean that the display card is necessarily made of card; any other appropriate material can be employed, such as wood or plastics material.

Arrangements according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in elevation of a display card according to the invention, Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan view showing a succession of display cards mounted in a display stand, Figure 3 shows, in elevation, a modified form of display card, and Figure 4 shows, in plan, how the modified cards of Figure 3 are mounted in a display stand.

Figure 1 shows a display card 10 which has a generally rectangular shape plus a lateral extension 11 at or near the top of the card. The lateral extension is formed with a depending portion 12, spaced from the remainder of the card alongside, that is very roughly in the shape of an ear lobe in outline. A hole 13 is provided through the lobe portion 12 at a position appropriate to receive for display one of a pair of earrings, as indicated at 14.

A series of display cards, of the form shown in Figure 1, are provided in different sizes by varying the height dimension "A".

For mounting these cards in a display, a display stand is provided consisting of a back-board to which are secured upper and lower rails with aligned pairs of grooves formed in them to receive the upper and lower edges of the display cards. The arrangement is such that the vertical distance between the bottoms c' the grooves oS a pair cf grooves increases from pair to pair, so that eac size of display card fits into a particular position along the display stand. This can be coneved b providing divergent upper and lower rails, or simply by making the upper or tne lover or both grooves of successive pairs of grooves deeper.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan of te display which shows that, as a special feature of the particular arranged ment described, the grooves 15 in the display rails 16 are slanted in the horizontal plane so that when te display cards 10 are mounted they lie in successive parallel vertical planes all at a chosen angle (other than a right angle) to the horizontal direction of length of the display stand.

It will be observed that only the rectangular portion of each display card is received in the grooves 15, the extension 11 of the card projecting out from the rails 16 so that the lobe portion 12, and hence the earring it carries, hangs out clear of the stand The increasing height of the display cards enables earrings of different sizes and shapes to be displayed in the best manner by choosing an appropriate size of card for each.

In an alternative arrangement, instead of providing display cards of different heights, the display cards are all the same and the variation in vertical height is achieved solely by having different levels for the mounting positions of the cards on the display stand. Figure 3 shows such a display card in which the main body 17 of the card is again generally rectangular, but the longer dimension of the rectangle is now horizontal instead of vertical, and the lobe 12 depends below the main body 17 at one end while a mounting tongue 18 extends down from the main body at a position near its other end. As shown in Figure 4, the tongue 18 is received in a vertical hole 19 in the display stand rail 20, to locate the display card, and the bottom marginal portion 21 of the main body of the display card is received in a slant groove 22 in the rail to maintain it at the correct orientation.

Some other advantages of such a display system are: 1) it allows the customer to see the back as well as the front of an earring; 2) it displays the earring to the customer suspended as it would appear in actual use; 3) it allows the display, in any given area, of a greater number of earring lines than is possible by conventional methods; 4) it allows two separate displays to be set up in different places, typically one in a shop window and the other inside the shop, each using one earring only of a pair, thus halving the value of earrings required for dual displays; 5) because each earring line is displayed on its own individual card, the rearranging of a display to accommodate new lines or to remove discontinued lines is greatly simplified.

However, the invention is not restricted to use of the particular forms of display stand described nor indeed to the display of only one earring of each pair, it being within the scope of the invention to employ display cards with pairs of lobe portions to carry both earrings.

Claims (7)

1. An earring display card comprising a lobe portion, very roughly mimicking in outline an ear lobe, from which earrings can be suspended to be seen in substantially the manner in which they appear in use.

2. An earring display system, comprising a plurality of display cards according to Claim 1, and a display stand arranged to receive the display cards in a horizontal row and occupying parallel vertical planes.

3. A display system according to Claim 2, wherein the parallel vertical planes are all at an angle (other than a right angle) to the horizontal direction of the row.

4. A display system according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, arranged such that the lobe portions of the display cards are at different heights along the row.

5. A display system according to Claim 4, wherein the display cards are of different heights to achieve the variation in height of the lobe portions in the display.

6. A display system according to Claim 4, wherein the display cards are the same as one another and the mountings of the individual cards on the display stand are adapted to achieve the variation in height of the lobe portions in the display.

7. A display system according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the display stand comprises one or more rails with slots or grooves at intervals along the rails to receive at least edge portions of the display cards and thereby