US2901307A - Display stand for wearing apparel - Google Patents

Description

Aug 25, 1959 N. MOORE DISPLAY STAND FOR WEARING APPAREL Filed Sept. 10, 1957 INVENTOR.

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AT TORNEYS United States Pat DISPLAY STAND FOR WEARING APPAREL Norman Moore, Jackson Heights, N.Y., assignor to S. Klein Department Stores, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application September 10, 1957, Serial No. 683,042 1 Claim. 01. 31z 14o.s

This invention relates to stands for displaying merchandise in stores, and more especially for displaying articles of clothing that come in different sizes.

It is becoming increasingly popular for stores to place merchandise on display stands from which customers can make their own choice and take the items to a sales: person or cashier. The display stands are tables or counters with low walls and with division strips separating the space into a number of different shallow bins or sections for items of different size.

One of the principal difficulties encountered in such self-service merchandising is the mixing of the different sizes. A customer will take a blouse from the bin or section having small sizes, inspect the article and then throw it back on the display stand, but in another bin or sectionhaving items of larger size.

This mixing of sizes is harmful to the goodwill of the store because another customer will go to the section of the stand having her size and select an item which she likes, and then discover it is not the right size. After a number of such experiences people tend to avoid the store, especially when shopping in a hurry, because they have the feeling that they cannot find what they want in that store.

It is expensive to have store personnel constantly sorting articles on multi-section display stands, and various expcdients have been used to reduce mixing of sizes.

One such expedient has been the locating of relatively high partitions between the different sections or bins in which the merchandise is displayed. This has not been successful because partitions high enough to have any appreciable effect on the mixing of different sizes are impractical because of the unattractive appearance which they give to the display stand and the obstructing of the customers Vision of the different items on display. The locating of the diiferent sizes on different display stands, which are widely separated from one another, is also not practical for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that customers attracted to a particular stand reject the idea of buying the item if they do not find their size at that particular stand.

It is an object of this invention to provide a display stand having shallow bins or sections in which items. of different sizes are displayed, and to provide a relation of bins or sections which prevent or greatly reduce the mixing of sizes when customers are handling the different items before making a choice. The invention provides tables having shallow bins on the top of each table with some separation of the tables from one another so that there is a chasm between each bin and the next bin; but the chasms are relatively narrow and there are connections across their outer ends which join the different bins into a unitary assembly.

It has been found that if there is a physical separation between the adjacent bins, even though a narrow separation, the presence of a chasm between the walls of the adjacent bins has the elfect of causing people to usually 2 return an item to the same bin from which they took it. The bins may be full of merchandise, that is, there may be no wall extending above the general level of the merchandise, and yet these chasms are more effective than high partition walls previously tested to prevent mixing of sizes.

The different bins or sections of the display stand of this invention are located close enough together so as to give the customers the feeling that they are a part of a single display unit so that if the first items picked up are too small, the customer will realize immediately that the other bins include the same kind of items in different sizes. The impression of a unitary display is further increased by having some physical connection between the different bins and this physical connection is preferably located near the front of each chasm so that customers cannot enter into the chasms between the bins.

Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a display stand made up of a cluster of tables, each of which has low side walls for holding merchandise thereon, and with the tables separated from. one another by chasms between them, but connected in such a way as to provide a unitary display stand for a group of items, different sizes of which are located on different tables.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which life reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a display stand made in accordance with this invention; and

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the display stand as shown in Figure 1, but with the parts shown on a reduced scale.

Figure 1 shows a display stand 10 consisting of four tables 11, 12, 13 and 14. The table 11 has a. top 16 and four legs 17 extending downwardly from the top for supporting the table from the floor. The legs 17 are shown divering from one another as they extend downwardly, but they may be made parallel or in various other relations, and these legs 17 are merely representative of means for supporting the table top 16 at a convenient height above the floor.

There are relatively low side walls 21 extending upwardly above the level of the table top 16. These side walls 21 and the table top 16 form a shallow bin or display stand section into which items of a particular size are placed. In the preferred construction the side walls 21 also extend some distance downwardly below the level of the table top 16, the construction shown in Figure 1 being a composite construction in which the lower parts of each side wall is offset inwardly; but it will be understood that the outside surface of the side wall can be flush for its entire height. All of the other tables 12, 13 and 14 are of similar construction to that described for table 11 and thus form similar bins or sections of the display stand.

Although the display stand can be made with different numbers of tables, the cluster of four tables shown in Figure l is a particularly effective stand; and in this cluster the tables 11 and 12 may be considered as one row of tables and the tables 13 and 14 as another row.

The tables are separated from one another so that there is a chasm between the confronting outside surfaces of the side walls of adjacent tables. No very wide separation is necessary in order to achieve the object of this invention. It has been found that a chasm nine inches wide is sufiicient to produce a remarkable reduction in the amount of mixing which takes place between the diiferent tables. Apparently there is some psychological factor involved in having the open chasms between the bins to cause customers to retain an association between a particular item being inspected and the bin from which it was taken; and the sizes are thus i-lsually returned to their properbins.- 4 p The amount ofi separation is apparently not so important as the conspicuousness of the chasms. In order to be conspicuous the separation should be at least inches and there appears to: be no net gain in ever making the separation more than twelve inches. Nine inches is a good average, but the conspicuousness does depend to some extent upon how much the level of the top walls 21 is below the eye level of the customer- In ordinary installations display stands are. always substantially the same height and for this reason nine inches can be taken as a separation distance for the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In order to maintain the impression that all of the merchandise in the bins of all four tables 11-14 is part of a single display, it is desirable to have some connecting means extending between the different tables, and in the construction illustrated there are bars 25 extending across the forward ends of the chasms between the tables. These bars 25 are preferably located near the front end of each chasm for two reasons. One is that the location makes the connecting of the tables into a unitary display more evident; and another is that the bars prevent customers from walking into the chasms between the tables.

It would be objectionable to permit customers to enter the chasms because the chasms are made narrow in order to reduce the floor space required for the display, and customers getting. into the chasms would sometimes displace the tables. A greater objection, however, is that customers standing in the chasms when the display stand was busy would obstruct the view of the other display bins and thus defeat the purpose of having a unitary display stand.

In order not to detract from the chasm eifect, and at the same time make the connections evident for purposes of identifying the dilferent tables as a unitary display, the obstructions or bars 25 are located at some distance below the top of each side Wall 21. In practice it has been found effective to use pipes as the bars 25. It has also been found effective to locate these bars below the level of the table tops 16. One inch chrome plated pipes have been used as the bars 25 but this is given merely by way of illustration.

At the inner end of each of the chasms there is a platform 28 supported from the different tables 11-14 and this platform provides a convenient support for an advertising sign 32 referring to the merchandise in the bins on all of the tables. In the illustrated construction there is also a sign 34 associated with each bin for indicating the size of the merchandise in that bin. Each of these signs 34 is supported by an upright standard 36 having a lower end which fits into anopening 38 in each table top 16. i

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used in difierent combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

A sales display stand for merchandise that is made in diiferent sizes, said stand comprising a plurality of tables, each of which has a top and side walls extending upwardly above the top and forming with the table top a shallow bin for merchandise, the difierent tables being spaced from one another to leave chasms-between the outside faces of the confronting side walls of adjacent tables, an obstruction bar extending between adjacent tables and across one end of the chasm in position to prevent customers from entering the chasm, "a holder connected to at least one of the tables for supporting a display which advertises the merchandise, and in which the tables include a cluster of four tables in two rows of two tables each with the two contiguous sides of each table along the out side edge of the cluster and with the tables of each-row separated from the corresponding tables of the other row in a manner similar to that in which the tables of each row are spaced from each other, and in which the cluster of tables has a center platform at the inner ends of all of the chasms for supporting an advertising display referring to the items on all of the tables of the cluster.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,219,715 Eiseman Mar. 20, 1917 1,276,655 Housholder Aug. 20, 1918 1,308,441 Myers July 1, 1919 1,688,003 Darby Oct. 16, 1928 1,688,456 Dolph 'Oct. 23, 1928 1,688,521 Burg Oct. 13, 1928 2,101,573 Cramer et aI. Dec. 7, 1937 2,412,219 Hunter Dec. 10, 1946 2,783,107 Gacht Feb. 26, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,063,758 France May 6', 1954

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