US3539237A - Cosmetic storage and display unit - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent Stanley Acker Spring Valley, New York 760,636

Sept. 18, 1968 Nov. 10, 1970 Cosmetically Yours, Inc. Yonkers, New York a corporation of New York Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee COSMETIC STORAGE AND DISPLAY UNIT 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 312/234, 206/44.l1,206/44.14, 312/280 Int. Cl A4711 81/00 Field of Search 3 12/234,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 712,965 11/1902 Reiner..- 1,625,647 4/1927 Gillan 2,748,972 6/1956 Cummins.... 3,210,865 10/1965 Muntz Primary Examiner-David J. Williamowsky Assistant Examiner-Wayne L. Shedd AttorneyFriedman and Goodman ABSTRACT: A combination counter display and storage unit for cosmetic merchandise wherein the unit has internal storage compartments for additional merchandise and the displayed merchandise is engagingly supported on pivotally mounted compartment covers so that during opening movement thereof, to obtain access to the stored merchandise, there is no spillage of the displayed merchandise from the display surfaces of the covers.

Patented Nov 10, v 1970 Sheet L of 2 INVENTOR STANLEY ACKER BY l Mul1 ATTORNEYS Patnted Nov. 10, 1970 Sheet INVENTOR STANLEY ACKER ATTORNEYS COSMETIC STORAGE AND DISPLAY UNIT The present invention relates to an improved counter display, particularly for cosmetic merchandise, and specifically to an improved combination display and storage unit on which cosmetic merchandise is attractively displayed and without disturbing this merchandise display, is readily serviced and supplemented by the store clerk with merchandise stored within the unit.

There is currently in use numerous wire racks, stands and similar units for attractively displaying cosmetic merchandise. These units supplement the usual sales counter arrangement in which the numerous classifications of cosmetic merchandisc are displayed in compartments formed along the counter top. Less accessible areas, such as possibly shelving arranged below the counter top and within the hollow interior of the counter, is usually reserved for storing additional cosmetic merchandise to replenish that on display. The inaccessibility of these storage areas, however, do not promote and encourage the proper servicing of the displayed merchandise by the store personnel and invariably the point of sales display areas are left empty for a considerable time of merchandise which is plentiful in these storage areas.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cosmetic display and storage unit overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art. Specifically, it is an object to provide a display unit with movable display surfaces or panels and wherein the movement of the panels provides access to stored merchandise within the unit but without resulting in any spillage of merchandise from the panels.

A cosmetic storage and display unit demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes a body having an internal storage compartment and which body, in practice, is positioned with its long dimension oriented transversely of a store counter. Pivotally mounted covers form the upper display surface of the unit and have opening movement which provides the store clerk with access to merchandise stored within the unit. During this pivotal traverse, the displayed merchandise is appropriately engaged to the display surfaces and thus there is no spillage therefrom. In one preferred embodiment, this is achieved by pegs projected through accommodating holes in the merchandise product cards and thus is similar to the means used to hand cosmetic merchandise on wire racks or stands.

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 presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiments in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a storage and display unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the first embodiment, taken in section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, illustrating further structural details and wherein positions of movement of cover or closure panels for the storage compartments are illustrated in full line and phantom line perspective; and

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view ofa second embodiment ofa cosmetic storage and display unit according to the present invention.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a first embodiment of a case or a unit intended specifically for cosmetics and adapted, in practice, to be located at the point of sales where it effectively serves as both a storage container for a reasonable supply of cosmetics and as a display rack for the cosmetics. Specifically, it is contemplated that advantageous use of the unit 10 will consist of placement thereof on a commercial store counter 12 with the unit front wall 10a adjacent the customer aisle space and the unit rear wall 10b adjacent the clerks working area behind the counter 12. Thus, cosmetic merchandise, which has been omitted from the drawings in order not to obscure the structural features of the unit I0, is adapted to be conveniently displayed on the display surfaces of the unit 10 within reach or accessibility of the customer while merchandise storage compartments, situated within the interior of the unit 10, are readily accessible to the store clerk, all as will now be described in detail.

Unit 10, in the illustrated embodiment, includes the front wall 10a and rear wall 10b, as already noted, and also side walls 10c, 10d and bottom wall We which cooperate to define an internal storage compartment of a comparatively large extent, the depth of which is coextensive with the size of the side walls 10c, 10d. In accordance with the present invention, this large-sized compartment is further subdivided into smaller compartments S1, S2 so that the closure members for the openings-of these compartments are ofa more easily manageable size. Thus, the unit 10 includes a transversely oriented divider wall I4 which delineates the internal storage compartment into a smaller front storage compartment SI and a rear storage compartment S2. Additionally, unit 10 may include longitudinally oriented divider walls 16, I8 to permit the storage and segregation of a greater classification of cosmetic merchandise.

Completing the construction of the unit 10 are a pair of covers or closure panels 20 and 22, respectively pivotally mounted to the front wall 10a and divider wall 14 by hinges, individually and collectively designated 24, so as to partake of pivotal movement between closed and open positions with respect to the openings of the storage compartments S1, S2.

More particularly, and as best illustrated in FIG. 2 by the positions of movement of the panels 20, 22 illustrated in full line and phantom line perspective, each panel in its closed position is oriented on a slight incline, or, in other words, sub tends an acute angle with the bottom wall 10c. In this closed position, there are no problems encountered in engaging a typical blister packaged cosmetic, or more particularly the product card thereof having an appropriate opening through which is projected on one of the upstanding pegs 26 provided on the outwardly facing display surfaces of the panels 20, 22. By virtue of this engagement with the cosmetic merchandise, it should be readily appreciated that when the panels 20, 22 are moved from their closed into their open positions with respect to the storage compartment openings, positions in which the panels .20, 22 are substantially vertically oriented, the pegs 26 disposed through the cosmetic cards retain engagement to the merchandise and thereby prevent spillage thereof while the clerk is removing additional merchandise from the storage compartments S1, S2 for placement on the panels 20, 22. It should be also noted that the panels 20, 22 include inverted U-shaped wire dividers, individually and collectively designated 28, which effectively serve as hand-grips for manipulating the panels 20, 22 through opening and closing movements.

In the second embodiment of a combination storage and display unit for cosmetics according to the present invention, illustrated in FIGS. 3, similar features are designated by the same but primed reference numerals. Unit 10 differs from the previously described unit in the use of glass panels or walls 30 to delineate a number of compartments 32 for the cosmetic merchandise, the walls 30 serving as effectively as the pegs 26 to hold the merchandise against spillage during opening move ment of the panel 20'.

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. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

I claim:

1. A cosmetic storage and display unit comprising a body including side, rear, front and bottom walls operatively arranged to define an open storage compartment of trapezoid shape having a depth of a comparatively large extent, at least one upstanding transversely oriented divider wall operatively disposed in said storage compartment so as to delineate first and second storage compartments of depths of corresponding lesser extents, first and second closure panels each having an outwardly facing display surface, respectively pivotally mounted on said openings of said first and second storage compartments for movement between a closed position subtending an acute angle with the bottom wall of said unit and a generally vertically open position, at least one inverted U- shaped divider on each said closure panel effective to serve as

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