GB2399075A - Display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A display apparatus (10) for displaying stacked products comprises: a front panel (20) having a first height; a rear panel (30) having a second height greater than the first height; and two side panels (40), each side panel (40) connecting the front and rear panels (20,30). The height of each side panel (40) varies from a third height adjacent the front panel (20), preferably equal to the first height, to a fourth height adjacent the rear panel (30), the fourth height being substantially greater than the third height. The apparatus preferably has a base in the form of a pallet and a frame for mounting a sample of the product may be provided. The panels (20,30,40) are preferably provided by a blank formed from two sections of corrugated board.

Description

1 Display Apparatus 3 The present invention relates to display apparatus.

4 In particular, but not exclusively, the invention relates to display apparatus for displaying products 6 stacked on a pallet.

8 Many different types of products are supplied by 9 manufacturers to retailers as stacked products. The products are often stacked on a pallet. One example 11 of such products is laminate or real wood flooring.

12 Many retailers retain the products on the pallet 13 when displaying the products to consumers. This 14 saves the costs and labour associated with re stacking the products on a display stand. This is 16 particularly common in certain types of retail 17 outlets such as DIY stores or carpet or flooring 13 stores.

Displaying the stacked products in such a way is not 21 aesthetically pleasing. Also, without a display 22 stand, consumers can be deprived of important À À À Àe À À . . . À À * t 1 information required to make a purchasing decision.

2 This information may be price, characteristics, 3 source of manufacture, a sample of the product, and 4 many other types of information. Any single display panels attached to a vertical or top surface of the 6 stacked products can quickly become damaged or 7 misplaced as consumers remove individual products 8 for purchase. Large panels provided around the 9 vertical surfaces of the product also inhibit easy removal of individual products. Consumers may find 11 it necessary to lift a layer of the product to place 12 hands underneath for removing the product. This 13 causes inconvenience and increases the likelihood of 14 injury to a consumer.

16 According to a first aspect of the present 17 invention, there is provided a display apparatus for 18 displaying stacked products, comprising: 19 a front panel having a first height; a rear panel having a second height greater 21 than the first height; and 22 two side panels, each side panel connecting the 23 front and rear panels, wherein: 24 the height of each side panel varies from a third height adjacent the front panel to a fourth 26 height adjacent the rear panel, the fourth height 27 being substantially greater than the third height.

29 Preferably the third height is substantially equal to the first height.

', .. ... . * , * 1 Preferably the display apparatus further comprises a 2 base for supporting the stacked products.

3 Preferably the base is a pallet. Preferably the 4 first height is substantially the height from the floor to the top of the base.

7 Preferably information is displayed on one or more 8 of the exterior surfaces of the front, rear or side 9 panels. Preferably the second height is substantially greater than the third height.

11 Preferably information is displayed on a top portion 12 of the interior surface of the rear panel. The 13 display apparatus may further comprise a mounting 14 frame for supporting a sample of the product.

Preferably the mounting frame is provided at the top 16 portion. Preferably the mounting frame is formed 17 from plastic or metal. Preferably the mounting 18 frame is fastened to the top portion using an 19 adhesive. Alternatively the mounting frame is formed using slits and folds formed in the top 21 portion.

23 Preferably the height of each side panel varies 24 linearly from the first to the third height.

26 Preferably the display apparatus is formed from a 27 plurality of folded sections. Preferably the folded 28 sections are fastened in a conventional manner to 29 form the display apparatus. Preferably the folded sections are fastened using staples. Alternatively, 31 or in addition, the folded sections may be fastened 32 using an adhesive. Preferably one or more sections . se; ......

1 are provided with a protrusion to be received in a 2 slot provided in another section. Preferably the 3 protrusion is mushroom shaped.

Preferably one or more of the panels are formed from 6 corrugated board. Alternatively, or in addition, one 7 or more of the panels may be formed from a plastic 8 and/or wood. The or each panel may be formed from a 9 single wall, double wall or triple wall board.

Preferably the fluting of the corrugated board is 11 adapted to provide sufficient strength 12 characteristics. The material of the or each panel 13 may be selected to provide lateral restraint of the 14 stacked products. The type of fluting may be adapted to a specific product to be displayed.

17 According to a second aspect of the present 18 invention, there is provided a method for displaying 19 stacked products comprising: providing a front panel having a first height 21 in front of the stacked products; 22 providing a rear panel having a second height 23 greater than the first height behind the stacked 24 products; and providing two side panels which connect the 26 front and rear panels and, together with the front 27 and rear panels, at least partially enclose the 28 stacked products, wherein: 29 the height of each side panel varies from a third height adjacent the front panel to a fourth 31 height adjacent the rear panel, the fourth height 32 being substantially greater than the third height.

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À À À e À À À.. . À À Àa À C À À À À À . . . . . 1 Preferably the method includes providing a base for 2 supporting the stacked products. Preferably the 3 base is a pallet.

Preferably the method includes folding a plurality 6 of sections to form the display apparatus.

7 Preferably the method includes fastening the folded 8 sections in a conventional manner.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be 11 described, by way of example only, with reference to 12 the accompanying drawings, in which: 14 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a display apparatus provided around a number of stacked products; 17 Fig. 2 is a side view of the display apparatus of 18 Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front view of the display apparatus of 21 Fig. 1; 23 Fig. 4 is another perspective view of the display 24 apparatus of Fig. 1; 26 Fig. 5 is a side view of a mounting frame which may 27 be fastened to a top portion of the display 2 8 apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a plan view of a disassembled blank used 31 to construct the display apparatus of Fig. 1; . ... ...

À À À À À À À . . À À . . . . . ..

À . . À À À - 1 Fig. 7 shows a number of edge views of the blank of 2 Fig. 6; and 4 Fig. 8 shows a number of schematic edge views of the blank of Fig. 6.

7 Referring to Figures 1 to 4, there is shown a 8 display apparatus 10 for displaying a number of 9 stacked products 100. The display apparatus 10 comprises a front panel 20, a rear panel 30, and two 11 side panels 40. Each side panel 40 connects the 12 front 20 and rear 30 panels.

14 The front panel 20 has a first height, and the rear panel 30 has a second height which is greater than 16 the first height. The height of each side panel 40 17 varies from a third height adjacent the front panel 18 20 to a fourth height adjacent the rear panel 30.

19 The fourth height is substantially greater than the third height. The third height is equal to the 21 first height.

23 The display apparatus 10 includes a base for 24 supporting the stacked products 100. The base is typically a pallet (not shown). For one typical 26 pallet size, the pallet has a length of 1280 27 millimetres and a breadth of 830 millimetres. The 28 length and breadth of the display apparatus 10 are 29 adapted to be slightly greater than the pallet dimensions for enclosing each vertical side of the 31 pallet. It is to be appreciated that the display 32 apparatus 10 may be adapted to suit other pallet À À Àe Àe. bee À À À ..

À À ÀÀ À À À ÀÀ À À À À À À À Àe À À . . 1 sizes or the particular dimensions of a particular 2 product to be displayed.

4 The first height of the front panel 20 may be substantially the height from the floor, on which 6 the pallet is located, to the top of the pallet.

7 Therefore, even the bottom layer of products may be 8 easily accessed. With the varying height of the 9 side panels 40, the present invention offers front, rear and side panels for displaying information 11 while still allowing easy access to the stacked 12 products.

14 Information may be displayed on the front panel 20.

Also, the greater height of the rear panel 30 16 provides a top portion 32 of the interior surface of 17 the rear panel 30 on which information may be 18 displayed.

The height of each side panel 40 may vary linearly 21 from the first to the third height. Therefore, each 22 side panel 40 has a straight upper edge 42.

23 Alternatively, the upper edge 42 may be profiled in 24 any manner. This may be for aesthetic purposes, or may be used to denote each layer of product 100.

27 Figure 5 shows a mounting frame 60 which may be 28 bonded to the top portion 32 of the rear panel 30.

29 The mounting frame 60 is formed from plastic but may be formed from a metal. Alternatively the mounting 31 frame 60 may be formed using slits and folds formed À e.eÀ. tee À . . À À ..

À À ÀÀ À À À À À À À À À . . 1 in the top portion 32. The mounting frame 60 holds 2 a sample 102 of the product 100 being displayed.

4 Figure 6 shows a disassembled blank 12 used to construct the display apparatus 10. The blank 12 6 comprises two sections 14, 16 so that the blank is 7 of a more manageable size during the printing 8 process and also to aid in packaging and 9 transportation.

11 Each section includes a number of fold lines 50 12 about which the section may be folded to form a 13 right angle between adjacent portions. Each fold 14 line 50 may be pre-creased, or may be perforated, to aid in folding. One of the blank sections 16 also 16 includes a fold line 52 for folding adjacent 17 portions 52 such that the portions are in contact 18 with each other. This helps form a stronger top 19 portion 32. One of the adjacent portions includes two mushroom shaped protrusions 54 which, when the 21 adjacent portions are folded, may be received in 22 corresponding slots 56. Portions of the folded 23 blank may also be fastened using any conventional 24 manner, such as using staples or adhesives.

26 The blank 12, and therefore the display apparatus 27 10, is formed from corrugated board. A number of 28 types of corrugated board may be used. Figure 7 (a) 29 to (c) show single wall, double wall and triple wall board respectively.

À e À..e.e À À À ÀÀÀ À À À..

À À ÀÀÀ À À . . . . ..

À À . . 1 The type of fluting of the corrugated board is 2 selected to provide sufficient strength 3 characteristics. Figure 8 (a) to (d) shows type 4 'A', 'B', 'C', and 'E' fluting respectively. Also, a combination of two or more types of fluting may be 6 used, as shown in Figure 8 ( e). The type of fluting 7 may be adapted to the specific product to be 8 displayed.

The display apparatus 10 is generally supplied to 11 the retailer along with the pallet of stacked 12 products 100 in the form of the blank 12. It is a 13 relatively simple task for the retailer to form the 14 display apparatus 10 from the blank 12 by folding along the fold lines 50, 52. If the fold lines are 16 not already perforated or pre-creased, the fold 17 lines may be marked in a suitable manner. The 18 sections of the blank 12 are folded, the protrusions 19 54 located in the corresponding slots 56 and then particular sections fastened to each other.

21 Instructions for the correct assembly may be 22 provided. The assembled display apparatus 10 may 23 then be placed around the stacked products 100.

Information may be displayed on each of the exterior 26 surfaces of the display apparatus 10. Information 27 may also be displayed on the interior surface of the 28 top portion 32. At any given layer of products 100, 29 the consumer is provided with easy access to the products 100. A side portion of an individual 31 product 100 may be gripped for removing the products 32 100 from the display apparatus 10.

À À seeÀce ecc À À C À À À c e À ÀÀÀ À À À C À À ÀC À À . . . 1 Various modifications and improvements can be made 2 without departing from the scope of the present 3 invention. e

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Claims (1)

1 Claims 3 1. A display apparatus for displaying stacked 4 products,

comprising: a front panel having a first height; 6 a rear panel having a second height greater 7 than the first height; and 8 two side panels, each side panel connecting the 9 front and rear panels, wherein: the height of each side panel varies from a 11 third height adjacent the front panel to a fourth 12 height adjacent the rear panel, the fourth height 13 being substantially greater than the third height.

2. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, 16 wherein the third height is substantially equal to 17 the first height.

19 3. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, further comprising a base for supporting the stacked 21 products.

23 4. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, 24 wherein the base is a pallet.

26 5. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 or 4, 27 wherein the first height is substantially the height 28 from the floor to the top of the base.

6. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 31 claim, wherein information is displayed on one or 1 more of the exterior surfaces of the front, rear or 2 side panels.

4 7. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the second height is substantially 6 greater than the third height.

8 8. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 9 claim, wherein information is displayed on a top portion of the interior surface of the rear panel.

12 9. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 13 claim, further comprising a mounting frame for 14 supporting a sample of the product.

16 10. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 17 claim, wherein the height of each side panel varies 18 linearly from the first to the third height.

11. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 21 claim, wherein the display apparatus is formed from 22 a plurality of folded sections.

24 12. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the folded sections are fastened using one 26 or both of staples and an adhesive.

28 13. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 29 claim, wherein one or more sections are provided with a protrusion to be received in a slot provided 31 in another section.

1 14. A display apparatus as claimed in any preceding 2 claim, wherein one or more of the panels are formed 3 from corrugated board.

15. A method for displaying stacked products 6 comprising: 7 providing a front panel having a first height 8 in front of the stacked products; 9 providing a rear panel having a second height greater than the first height behind the stacked 11 products; and 12 providing two side panels which connect the 13 front and rear panels and, together with the front 14 and rear panels, at least partially enclose the stacked products, wherein: 16 the height of each side panel varies from a 17 third height adjacent the front panel to a fourth 18 height adjacent the rear panel, the fourth height 19 being substantially greater than the third height.

21 16. A method as claimed in Claim 15, including 22 providing a base for supporting the stacked 23 products.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 15 or 16, 26 including folding a plurality of sections to form 27 the display apparatus.

29 18. A display apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the 31 accompanying drawings.

1 19. A method substantially as hereinbefore 2 described and illustrated in the accompanying 3 drawings.