US3464545A

US3464545A - Product display and method of assembly thereof

Info

Publication number: US3464545A
Application number: US585100A
Authority: US
Inventors: Irwin Bailey
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-10-07
Filing date: 1966-10-07
Publication date: 1969-09-02
Anticipated expiration: 1986-09-02

Description

Sept. 2, 1969 BAILEY 3,464,545.

PRCDUCT DISPLAY AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY THEREOF Filed Oct. '7, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN wax "1 0R. 1/? WIN BAIL E Y A 7 7' ORA/E Y5:

Sept 1969 l. BAILEY 3' PRODUCT DISPLAY AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY THEREOF Filed Oct. 7, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 sis- FIG. 4

United States Patent 3,464,545 PRODUCT DISPLAY AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY THEREOF Irwin Bailey, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor of one-half to Maurice Hedaya, New York, N.Y. Filed Oct. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 585,100 Int. Cl. B6511 73/00; A47b 7/02 US. Cl. 206-80 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A display for a product wherein a product card has one or more slots and cooperating with each such slot is an elastic loop which is projected through said slot and is engaged about a product positioned under the loop and across the slot. The position of the product therefore prevents the elastic loop from being withdrawn from the slot and in functioning as such the product is held firmly in place against the product card by the elastic loop.

The present invention relates to a product display, and more particularly to improvements in products displayed for sale on cards or the like and in methods of assembling this type of product display.

A product display which is widely used, particularly for jewelry products such as cuff links, collarpins, etc., consists of a product-displaying member such as a card, usually fabricated with a simulated felt surface, having the jewelry products mounted thereon with an elastomeric cord. The prior art method of assembling this type of product display generally entails providing spaced pairs of openings in the product card and an initial step of hand-threading the elastomeric cord through the openings so that length portions thereof extend between each pair of openings, on the display or felt side of the product card, and thereby form loops for holding the products on the product card. In a subsequent and independent operation, these exposed lengths of cord are lifted from the surface of the product card and are looped over the products being displayed on the product card. Although the resulting product display presents products in an attractive and advantageous manner for sale, insofar as the display requires and the assembling thereof entails the foregoing manual operations, it is not particularly adapted for economical mass production and is therefore unnecessarily limited in use.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved product display and method of as sembly thereof overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art. Specifically, and in accordance with article aspects of the present invention, it is an object to provide a product display of the type hereinbefore referred to which has significant structural changes for facilitating the assembly thereof. In this respect, an important aspect of the invention hereof is the recognition that the displayed product can be significantly functional in achieving the resultant product display and the implementation of this in the display article of manufacture according to the present invention.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a method of assembly and a fixture for practicing said method which eliminate tedious and costly manual operations in producing a product display hereof.

An exemplary article of manufacture demonstrating article and method aspects of the present invention includes a product card having an arrangement of generally rectangular slots therein and wherein an elastomeric cord, held at prescribed points in a position on the underside of the card, has select length portions therealong ice located between said points which are projected, in the form of loops, to the display side of the card through each slot. While each loop is in its operative location on the display side of the card, the product is interposed between the loop and card transversely across a slot. The loop thus serves as a holding means to confine the product to the card, aided in part by the interposed position of the product which prevents the loop from being drawn to the underside of the card and losing its effectiveness as a holding means.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of an exemplary article of manufacture hereof, a preferred method of assembly thereof and a presently preferred and illustrative embodiment of a mounting fixture for producing said article of manufacture and practicing said method, said detailed description including the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary article of manufacture according to the present invention, said article including jewelry products held by an elastomeric cord in a mounted position of display on a product card;

FIGS. 2-6 illustrate, in sequence, a preferred method and mounting fixture used in the practice of said method for achieving the article of manufacture of FIG. 1, namely, to wit:

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mounting fixture illustrating the manner of arranging the elastomeric cord on holding members thereof;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view illustrating the product card in an operative position over the mounting fixture for forming length portions of the elastomeric cord into product-holding loops;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view, in section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3, illustrating details in the formation of a product-holding loop;

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view illustrating the placement of a jewelry article in position to be engaged by one of the elastomeric loops; and

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective View of the completed article of manufacture after the product card, with the jewelry thereon, is removed from the mounting fiixture.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a product-displaying article of manufacture 10 of the type which is typically used for merchandising jewelry 12, such as the cuff links 12a-d and collar pins 12e, As is the custom in the merchandising of these jewelry products 12, use is made of a product-mounting base preferably in the specific form of a product card 14, fabricated of cardboard or a similar material and having a simulated felt surface thereon, to serve as a background for presenting the jewelry products 12 in an attractive manner for sale. As is further the custom, the jewelry products 12 are mounted on the card 14 by an elastomeric ribbon, .band or cord-like material 16 which has prescribed length portions therealong projected to the felt or display surface 14a of the card 14 and forming product-engaging loops 16a which, as clearly shown in FIG. 1, are disposed about each of the jewelry products 12 and are effective to hold these products in place on the card 14. In the illustrated embodiment hereof, the opposite ends of the cord 16 are appropriately connected to

pins

18 and 20, of metal or plastic, which are effective to maintain the operative location of the cord ends on the undersurface of the product card 14. Alternatively, a closed loop of elastomeric cord can be used which is elfective to maintain length portions of the cord in operative positions beneath the card 14 while length portions therebetween are available for forming the loops 16a.

To form the loops 16a, select length portions between the points or

cord ends

18 and 20 are projected through rectangular slots 22 in the card 14 (see in particular FIGS. 3-5) thus forming a loop above each slot. Further each loop 16a is maintained on the visible or felt side of the product card 14 by interposing one of the jewelry products 12 beneath it and the card 14. Thus each loop 16a engages the product and holds it in place on the product card 14, and such product, by virtue of its interposed position across a slot 22 and beneath a loop 16a, contributes to the functioning of the article by preventing the loop from being drawn from its operative projected position on the visible side of the product card 14 to the undersurface of the card where it would be totally ineffective to function as a product-holding means.

Particular reference is now made to FIGS. 2-6 which illustrate, in sequence, the use of a mounting fixture, generally designated 24 in FIG. 2, and the practice of a preferred method in conjunction with the mounting fixture 24 for producing a product-displaying article of manufacture 10 as has just been described in connection with FIG. 1. The mounting fixture 24 includes a base 26 having plural identically constructed holding members 28 thereon which are arranged in pairs, such as is exemplified by the pair of holding members 28a and 28b in FIG. 2. The overall arrangement of the holding members 28 on the base 26 will be understood to correspond with the pattern in which the slots 22 are provided in the product card 14. That is, each pair of holding members 28 is at an appropriate location on the base 26 so as to project through a slot 22 when the product card 14 is moved into an operative position on top of the mounting fixture 24.

As is best shown in FIG. 2, the upper end of each holding member 28 is formed as a U-shaped configuration presenting spaced bifurcated arms 280. The first step in the method of mounting jewelry products 12 on a product card 14 consists of threading the elastic cord 16 in the clearance spaces C between the bifurcated arms 28c in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2. In this threaded position of the elastomeric cord 16, all portions thereof, and particularly the select portions thereof between each pair of holding members 28, are in an elevated position relative to the surface of the base 26.

The next step in accordance with the method hereof, is to place the product card 14 over the mounting fixture 24 in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4. During this placement, each pair of holding members 28 will align with a particular slot 22 and downward movement of the product card 14 against the base 26 will, of necessity, result in that pair of the holding members 28' projecting through that slot 22. This, in turn, results in the length portions of the elastomeric cord 16 which are extended between each pair of the holding members 28 being projected to the display surface side of the product card 14 and thereby forming a loop 16a above this surface of the product card, while remaining interconnecting cord lengths 16!) yield to card movement, all as is clearly shown in FIG. 4.

Turning now to FIG. 5, the next contemplated step in the method hereof is to interpose one of the jewelry products, such as the collar pin 12e as shown in this figure, beneath the elastic loop 16a and transversely across the rectangular slot 22. In this position, the collar pin 12e bridges the long edges of the rectangular slot 22 and prevents the projected loop 16a from being withdrawn to the underside of the product card 14 and, additionally, the collar pin lie is held in place against the product card 14 by the urgency in the elastomeric material of construction of the loop 16a.

Once the product to be displayed is properly oriented beneath an elastomeric loop 16a and across a slot 22, the product card 14 is then lifted from its operative position on the mounting fixture 24 to a position clear of this fixture, as is illustrated in FIG. 6. This clearance position disengages the cord 16 from the holding members 28 and permits contraction in the elastomeric cord 16 with the result that each loop 16a draws firmly about the product and maintains it in a proper position on the product card 14.

From the foregoing, it should be readily appreciated that an exemplary display article of manufacture 10 according to the present invention employs elastic cord 16 in the form of loops 16a to maintain products 12 in proper display on a display card 14 or the like, and is particularly characterized in that the product itself is functional in achieving this result insofar as its interposed position between the product card and the loop prevents the loop from being withdrawn to the underside of the card and thereby losing its effectiveness as a holding means.

Although a preferred embodiment of a mounting fixture 24 and a sequence of steps for assembling a product 122 on a product card 14 have been described herein, it will be understood that the invention is not to be limited strictly to the materials described herein. For example, the elastomeric material 16 may take any shape or form, such as a cord, ribbon or the like. In other respects, as Well, a latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features.

What is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture, the combination of at least one product and product-displaying means comprising a product mounting member having an upper display surface and a bottom surface, said member having at least one slot formed therein of a generally rectangular shape including a pair of comparatively long edges in facing relation to each other, a product-holding means in the form of an elastomeric cord-like material secured at prescribed locations in positions beneath said member along said bottom surface and having at least one intermediate portion therealong between said prescribed locations projecting through said one slot and forming a loop above said slot, and said one product mounted for display on said member having a predetermined mounted position thereon oriented transversely across said long edges of said one slot and engaged on one side by the area of said upper display surface adjacent said long edges and on the other side by said elastomeric loop, whereby the urgency of said elastomeric material maintains the position of said product on said member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 618,410 1/ 1899 Goldsmith 206- 1,626,337 4/1927 Haenicke 206-80 1,842,072 1/1932 Collingbourne 206-80 1,877,840 9/ 1932 Frowenfeld 20680 2,021,070 11/1935 Levine .20679 2,226,409 12/1940 Patterson et al. 206-80 FOREIGN PATENTS 415,103 8/1934 Great Britain. 543,036 2/ 1942 Great Britain.

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Primary Examiner