US2095564A - Display device - Google Patents

Description

J. P. GLEASON DISPLAY DEVICE Filed April 20, 1955 INVENTOB JOHN P'GLEASON BY M, J

ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 12, 1937 PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY DEVICE John P. Gleason, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor of one-half to Harold E. Pearson and John L. Pearson, both of El Monte, Calif.

, Application April 20, 1935, Serial No. 17,507

8 Claims.

This invention relates to display devices, and is particularly, but not necessarily, designed as a holder for a suitable non-perishable substance, the color and general appearance of which is green like parsley and otherwise characterized to enable it to be used instead of fresh parsley or other natural greens for garnishing or decorating meats and other articles of food while displaying same, preferably, but not necessarily,

1 from within show cases.

A feature of novelty resides in the form and construction of an artificial leaf of thin sheet rubber which, when mounted upon a support and associated as intended with the meat, will be far more decorative than was heretofore possible with the use of fresh greens.

Another object is to provide a device of the character specified which will be moistureproof and inherently of a nature that will enable it to be sterilized as and whendesired and the device easily maintained in a sanitary condition.

A still further object is to provide a device as set forth which is simple, inexpensive and highly attractive and ornamental when displayed and which will not tarnish the meat which it touches.

A further important feature resides in the novel form of a holder for a parsley simulating material which can be manipulated to effect changes in the configuration of the device, whereby an almost inexhaustible number of fancy and attractive designs can be made and the device quickly converted from one thereof to another, as and when desired, and without changing the structural formation of the device or adding any accessories thereto.

A still further object is to provide a display.

device consisting of a small number of parts of non-metallic material and including a linearly extending support which can bebent into most any desired geometrical shape to suit the artistic temperament of the decorator.

, Another object is to provide a device the form of which will produce a decorative area of large lateral dimension, the same characterized by lacy r rhythmically arranged display surfaces which lend admirably to the attractiveness of the device. A further object is to provide a display device in which the parsley simulating elements em- 0 ployed can be cheaply manufactured from small rectangular pieces of thin sheet rubber and readily rolled into the intended form and fabricated into the completed article. 7

Other objects and advantages of the invention 55 will be apparent from the following description,

considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a view in transverse section through the device showing same applied;

Figure 2 is a perspective View of the holder or support with portions of the decorative material removed;

Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the leaf simulating blanks;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the blank showing same coiled or twisted into the finished leaf forming element;

Figure 5 is a transverse section through a slightly modified form of the device;

Figure 6 is a schematic group View illustrating a variety of shapes into which the device can be bent.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of the holder or support.

In carrying the invention into practice, use is made of a holder It consisting preferably of a single linearly extending strip of rubber or other well-known bendable material of any desired configuration in cross section, but preferably of an angular shape in which the opposite side walls converge downwardly, thus providing the strip with a broad top surface H and a base surface it of less width than said surface ll. Formed in the strip are vertical, diagonally disposed, elongated recesses l3. Said recesses are arranged in a longitudinal series from one end of the strip to the other end thereof and, as illustrated, they are disposed in close overlapping relationship to each other. The recesses open onto the'top surface ll of thestrip and are preferablytapered so that their end walls converge inwardly and downwardly.

In Figure 3 is shown a leaf-simulating element it of thin sheet rubber, preferably of a suitable shade of green. The element is formed to provide a substantially rectangular blank, the edges of which are cut in simulation of leaves, of which three are shown in the present embodiment of the invention, each having its body portion slit and suitably serrated in simulation of an additional leaf. When fabricating the device, as many of the blanks it can be employed as desired, and

each thereof can be spirally twisted from adjacent to the corner C, so that the blank when thus fully twisted will be provided with a lower slightly tapered stem l5 and an upper lacy and. fluffy display portion it in which the serrated leaf-like parts will gracefully flare and bend relatively to each other. After the blank has been twisted as just stated the free end thereof can be firmly cemented against the shank. The recesses i3 may be of any suitable length depending upon the number of leaf simulating elements desired to be inserted therein. In practice, a length calculated to receive three of the elements has proved entirely satisfactory. The leaf-simulating elements may be made in different sizes, but are preferably cut from a blank which measures about one and a half or two inches along each of its sides. In the present embodiment of the invention, I use as stated three of said elements for each recess IS, the stems it of the elements being inserted in said recess and securely confined between the walls thereof either entirely by frictional engagement therewith or by cementing same in said recesses, it being of course understood that they should be secured very firmly in place in such recesses, so that they cannot be accidentally displaced or separated from the holder It in the ordinary handling thereof.

By diagonally extending the recesses 13 across the broad upper surface H of the strip Iii, the elements M which extend from one recess overlap the elements of the next adjacent recesses, so that the lace-like or fluffy display portions gracefully overlap one another or run together as a more or less solid mass of appreciable fullness or depth from one end of the strip ill to the other end thereof.

The strip it is formed with horizontal openings i'i through which the pins ill of a base member l9 can be removably extended and the strip held in a display position within a showcase as shown in Figure l. A base member, such as disclosed, need not be used, and at the option of the decorator the strip can be placed in any desired position relatively to the article of food to be decorated or garnished. As the strip i8 is formed of rubber or other Well-known freely bendable material, it may be curved into a circle to extend around a roast or object, or it may be bent into sinuous form and held in this form by banking spaced apart objects against the opposite sides of the strip. In the form of the irivention shown in Figure 5, however, a core 29 in the form of ductile metal is embodied in the strip whereby to retain the strip in any one of the shapes shown in Figure 6.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure '7 of the drawing, the member li a is in all respects the same as the member ill first above described, except that instead of the diagonal. slots therein disclosed, the member is formed with longitudinal grooves we, in which the stem portions of the leaf-simulating elements can be inserted and secured in position by cement.

Many modifications and changes in details will occur to those skilled in the art without depart ing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

as defined in the claims, and I, therefore, desire to have the foregoing description and the illustrations used in connection therewith regarded in the illustrative sense rather than in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is: V

1. In a device of the class described, a member having a display surface characterized by individual blanks of sheet material formed in simulation of leaves and each said sheet being rolled spirally and provided with a stem secured to said member.

2. In a device of the class described, a member having a display surface characterized by substantially similar sheets of rubber cut in simulation of leaves and each wound spirally to provide a fluffy upper structure and 2. depending stem, the latter secured to said member.

3. In a device of the class described, a member having a display surface characterized by individual thin blanks of sheet rubber, the sheets each formed with angularly related serrated edges in simulation of leaves and each said sheet being rolled spirally from one corner thereof to provide an upper fiuffy and lace-like structure and a lower stem, the latter secured to said member.

4. In a device of the class described, a substantially rectangular piece of thin sheet material, having its edge formed in simulation of leaves and said sheet rolled spirally from one corner thereof to provide an upper fluffy structure and a lower stem portion.

5. In a device of the class described, a substantially rectangular piece of thin sheet material formed to provide portions in simulation of leaves, and each leaf simulating portion being cut and serrated within its body structure to provide an additional leaf simulating portion, and said sheet being rolled spirally from one of its corners so that said leaf simulating portions combine to provide a fluffy upper structure having a stem at its lower end.

6. A display device comprising leaf simulating means, and a holder from wlL'ch said means is displayed; said leaf simulating means comprising a plurality of substantially identical square pieces of non-metallic sheet material, each formed along at least three of its edges to provide a corresponding number of portions simulating the leaves of a plant and each of said pieces being rolled to present a fluffy massed appearance of said portions and to provide a stern which is received and held by the holder.

7. A display device comprising a sheet of nonmetallic material bounded by substantially rectilinear angularly related sides certain of which are formed along their edges to provide a corresponding number of portions simulating the leaves of a plant; said sheet being rolled into generally conical form to present at one end a fluffy massed appearance of said portions and to provide a stemv at the other end; and means coacting with the stem to' hold the rolled sheet.

8. A display device comprising a sheet of nonmetallic material bounded by substantially rectilinear angularly related sides certain of which are formed along their edges to provide a corresponding number of portions simulating the leaves of a plant; said sheet being rolled into generally conical form to present at one end a fluffy massed appearance of said portions and to provide a stem at the other end; means co-acting with the stem to hold, the rolled sheet; at least certain of said portions being slit, and the edges of each slit being formed to simulate additional leaves of the plant when the sheet is rolled as aforestated. v

JOHN P. GLEASON.

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