WO2004036584A1

WO2004036584A1 - Detachable housing for data media storage, and system for storing and consulting said media comprising such rack-mounted housings

Info

Publication number: WO2004036584A1
Application number: PCT/FR2002/003554
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bernard Bigot
Original assignee: Topodis
Priority date: 2002-10-17
Filing date: 2002-10-17
Publication date: 2004-04-29
Also published as: AU2002350846A1; EP1554730A1

Abstract

The invention aims at providing easy identification of data media, such as CD's or DVD's, contained in housings and safe storage thereof. Therefor, the invention provides for the storage of discs and other data media in specific housings provided, on one edge, with reversible catching means. According to one embodiment, a detachable parallelepiped storage housing has two main sides (3, 5) articulated on a hinge (13), the housing comprising one edge with thickness substantially less than the dimensions of the main sides. The catching means (15a, 15b) are provided on the side of the edge forming the hinge (13) to enable their reversible articulation on a complementary support. The housing can then pivot about said support or be detached therefrom or, respectively, attached thereto removably, by exerting a force orthogonal to said support. The invention is useful for storing and identifying audio or video discs, photograph holders, postcards, mail to be sorted and the like.

Description

REMOVABLE SUPPORT STORAGE BOX

INFORMATION, AS WELL AS STORAGE AND

CONSULTATION OF THESE MEDIA INCLUDING SUCH BOXES

The invention relates to an extractable box for storing information carriers contained in these boxes. It also relates to a storage and consultation system for these supports comprising such boxes mounted on a suitable rack.

Various systems have been developed for storing and accessing information media such as CD-type audio CDs or DVD-type video disks. For example, it is known to use racks consisting of a plastic material support in which housings are molded to receive, by interlocking, the CD or DVD cases. These racks are generally mounted in a column or in a tower. This solution does not allow a real consultation to identify the information contained, because the faces of the discs are at least partly masked and the information available on the edge of the cases remains insufficient.

Furthermore, flexible bags made of reinforced woven material are also known, in which the discs are stored in transparent pockets. These pockets are fixed parallel to each other on an internal border of the bag. Zipper or equivalent means are provided for closing the bag or the case. There are also known binders or albums in notebook format, in which the discs are stored between a cardboard sheet or sheet of plastic material and a transparent plastic sheet partially fixed on the sheet.

This approach does not give enough assurance about the security of the disks. Indeed, these bags or binders are devoid of protection against shocks or external constraints, due to the lack of rigidity of the packaging.

These solutions do not allow both easy identification of the faces of the cases or disks and their safe storage.

The invention aims to achieve such identification without risk of deterioration. To do this, it is proposed to store the disks or other information carriers in specific boxes provided, on a side, reversible attachment means, that is to say attachment and unhooking (passing from one to the other, the number of times desired).

More specifically, the subject of the invention is an extractable box for storing information carriers, of rectangular shape having two main faces articulated on a hinge. The housing has a slice of thickness substantially less than the dimensions of the main faces, for example less than 5 mm. Hooking means are provided projecting from the edge forming a hinge, to allow their reversible articulation on a complementary support. The housing can then be detached from or, respectively, attached thereto, by the exercise of a force orthogonal to this support.

Any support means capable of cooperating with the reversible attachment means can be used: ribs or grooves, rings of universal filing cabinet, additional attachment means, etc. According to particular embodiments:

- The reversible attachment means are formed on an extension of a main face, so that they appear on the side of the hinge when the housing is closed;

- The hinge is formed of two bands connecting the ends of the sides located opposite the main faces, the extension extending between these bands;

- The hooking means consist of at least two snap openings, each snap opening can be force fitted by temporary deformation on a complementary protruding element;

each latching opening has a generally flared shape, to allow the insertion of the complementary element into this opening, with a substantially circular central portion which cooperates with the complementary protruding element in order to anchor the housing to the rack;

- The attachment means, and preferably the entire housing in one piece for economic reasons, are advantageously made by injection molding of polypropylene, a material which has flexibility and rigidity adapted to the type of attachment provided. The invention also relates to a system for storing and consulting the information carriers contained in the defined boxes. above provided with projecting hooking means. The housings are mounted by their attachment means on a rack comprising complementary attachment elements formed on a base. The attachment means are made of sufficiently flexible material to allow pivoting of the housings without exerting damage on these attachment means. A box can then be opened to access its content without being extracted from the rack by pivoting the adjacent boxes.

The invention thus enables consultation and removal of information carriers by opening the boxes, while they remain anchored to the rack.

According to preferred embodiments:

- The hooking elements are formed by ribs of substantially circular section mounted on parallel rails formed on a parallelepiped base, the ribs, the rails and the base forming a rack that can be mounted on any suitable surface;

- The ribs have dividers regularly distributed along each rib, at least one housing being mounted between two dividers, by snap fastening means on the rails;

- The rails form a curved profile and the number of boxes that can be mounted on the rack does not significantly exceed ten;

- The rails have a linear profile and the number of boxes that can be mounted on the rack is several tens, the boxes being optionally separated by spacers;

the rack is magnetically secured to a metal surface, for example a vertical panel formed on a wall, using strips of magnets integrated into the base of the rack;

- The rack is mechanically secured to a conventional rack for conventional housing to allow storage of the boxes according to the invention and conventional boxes; - the rack is made by injection molding of polystyrene or an alloy based on polystyrene or equivalent.

Advantageously, the invention also applies to the storage, identification and access to information carriers other than audio or video discs: for example for pockets of photographs intended for different customers or to sort, postcards devoted to different themes, or letters to sort according to their nature, etc. Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading which follows and which relates to nonlimiting exemplary embodiments, with reference to the appended figures which represent, respectively: - Figure 1, a top view of an example housing according to the invention in the open position;

- Figures 2a and 2b, top and rear perspective views (upturned housing) of the same housing once closed;

- Figure 3, a perspective view of an exemplary rack of a system according to the invention, capable of receiving a dozen boxes; and

- Figures 4a and 4b, upper and rear perspective views of an exemplary system according to the invention comprising a rack intended to receive four dozen housings.

With reference to the upper view of FIG. 1, the illustrated example of a case 1 according to the invention comprises two main rectangular faces, a front presentation face 3 and a rear support face 5 for accommodating an audio CD disc. The faces are coupled by a hinge 13 formed by two strips 13a and 13b connecting the ends of the opposite sides 3a and 5a of the main faces 3 and 5. Each strip has a fold defining the axis X'X of the hinge.

The case is made of translucent polypropylene and the front face 3 has retaining tabs 7, to hold in place a cardboard board or a small CD presentation booklet. This face 3 is surrounded by a rib 9 forming the edge of the housing once closed (Figure 2). The rear face 5 has a circular and peripheral rib 11 which fits into the groove 9, as well as central pins 12 in order to retain and hold the CD in place. The ribs 9 and 11 are of a height equal to approximately 3.5 mm, so that the casing is of significantly reduced thickness than the conventional casings. The ribs 9 and 11 are offset to be able to fit into one another when the housing is closed, and thus guarantee a high seal.

One of the main faces, for example the rear face 5 in the illustrated embodiment, is extended by a rectangular protuberance 15. This protrusion extends, in the open housing position of FIG. 1, in the space substantially rectangular limited by the sides 3a and 5a and the hinge strips 13a and 13b. Two snap openings 15a and 15b are formed on the protuberance 15, each opening having a flared shape towards its end, generally in a "V" shape. A central portion of each opening is formed by two angular sectors S1 and S2 and constitutes the anchoring of the mounting of the box on a support rack.

Once closed, the housing has the appearance illustrated by Figures 2a and 2b. The attachment protrusion 15 is then presented as an extension of the rear main face 5 of the housing 1, on the side of the hinge portion 13. The polypropylene has sufficient flexibility to allow the temporary spacing of the openings 13a and 13b, so to anchor the box, "in force" but easily, on a suitable rack and to extract it just as easily, as well as the pivoting of the boxes without damage at the level of the openings. This material also has the rigidity necessary to keep the box hanging on the rack. The following figures show racks suitable for mounting the boxes described above, forming examples of storage systems according to the invention.

In FIG. 3, the system comprises a rack 17 capable of receiving a dozen boxes 1. The boxes are mounted on two parallel ribs 19 of substantially circular section, mounted on two rails 21 formed on a parallelepiped base 23 of dimensions 15 cm X 7 cm X 1cm. The ribs 19 have toroidal separators 25 regularly distributed along each rib. Each housing is mounted between two separators, by snap fastening means on the rails 21. The housing can thus be detached from or, respectively, attached thereto in a removable manner, by the exercise of a force orthogonal to the rail.

Each box can pivot on the rails 21 parallel to the longitudinal axis Y'Y of the rack and thus allow easy identification and consultation. In this example, the rails 21 form a curved profile in order to facilitate the consultation of the contents of the housing.

The rack is made by injection molding of polystyrene. It has housings 26 for inserting magnet strips. These bars are flush with the rear face of the base (such as that illustrated in FIG. 4b), in order to hold the rack against a metal surface, for example a cabinet door. Alternatively, cylindrical orifices 27 are provided for fixing the rack by screwing into a wall. It is also possible to provide locations, for example portions of continuous material on the rear face of the rack, to receive hook-and-loop strips. The rack can thus be hung on other complementary hook-and-loop strips fixed to a wall or any other suitable surface. FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate views of the front and rear faces of an exemplary system according to the invention comprising a rack 29 intended to receive at most four tens of boxes 1 (eight boxes being shown in FIG. 4a). This rack has two rails 31 of circular section (FIG. 4a) and of linear profile. These rails are arranged on ribs 33 formed on a base 34, as in the previous example. Separation projections 35 are regularly spaced along each rail 31 in order to separate the boxes 1 two by two, and allow them to pivot. Housing 36 is also provided in the base 34 for fixing the rack by screwing it into a wall or any other support. Other housings 26 (FIG. 4b) allow the integration of bars of magnets to "stick" the rack against a metal wall.

Dividers 37 comprising latching means identical to those of the housings 1 are formed from the same material as the housings and can also pivot once mounted on the rails 31. They are intended to separate the housings into subassemblies according to a criterion or a given theme. There may be locations on the edge of the dividers in order to carry information allowing information on the nature of the criterion or the subject concerned.

These dividers can be easily identified by a format slightly larger than the size of the boxes (as illustrated), and / or by a pigmentation of bright or fluorescent color.

The invention is not limited to the examples described and shown. The attachment means of the boxes can be formed by any coupling coupling male - female: groove, rib, hole and spherical head, clips, rings of conventional filing cabinet, etc.

In addition, the housings can be made by molding from polypropylene or from copolymer alloys such as SAN (styrene - acrylonitrile), EVA (ethylene - vinyl - acetate), SB (styrene - butadiene) or equivalent . The proportion of the components of the alloys is adjusted so that the housings have the necessary and sufficient flexibility to allow a solid anchoring, an easy unhooking and a pivoting without damage of the housings, as described above. The spacers can be made of polypropylene, polystyrene, ABS (butadiene and styrene acrylate) or equivalent.

Claims

1. Extractable box for storing information carriers, of parallelepiped shape having two main faces (3, 5) articulated on a hinge (13), the box having a slice of thickness substantially less than the dimensions of the main faces, characterized in that hooking means (15, 15a, 15b) are provided projecting from the hinge edge (13) to allow their reversible articulation on a complementary support (17, 29).

2. Extractable housing according to claim 1, wherein the reversible attachment means are formed on an extension (15) of one of the main faces (3, 5).

3. Extractable housing according to the preceding claim, in which the hinge (13) is formed by two bands (13a, 13b) connecting the ends of the opposite sides (3a, 5a) of the main faces (3, 5), the extension (15) extending between these bands (13a, 13b).

4. Extractable housing according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the hooking means consist of at least two snap openings (15a, 15b), each snap opening can be force-fitted by temporary deformation. on a complementary protruding element (19, 33).

5. Extractable housing according to the preceding claim, in which each latching opening (15a, 15b) has a generally flared shape with a substantially circular central portion (S1, S2) which is anchored on the complementary protruding element (19 , 33).

6. Extractable housing according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing is injection molded in one piece.

7. Extractable housing according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that at least the attachment means (15) are produced by injection molding of polypropylene.

8. System for storing and consulting the identification supports contained in boxes according to any one of the preceding claims mounted on a rack, characterized in that the rack (17, 29) comprises complementary hooking elements (19 , 33) mounted on rails (21, 31) formed on a base (23, 34), and in that the housings, mounted by its projecting hooking means (15) on the rack, can then pivot around the attachment means in order to allow the opening of a housing without exerting damage on the attachment means because they are made of sufficiently flexible material.

9. Storage system according to the preceding claim, wherein the hooking elements are formed by ribs of substantially circular section (19, 33) mounted on parallel rails (21, 31) formed on a parallelepiped base (23, 34 ).

10. Storage system according to the preceding claim, wherein the ribs (19, 33) have dividers (25, 35) regularly distributed along each rib, at least one housing (1) being mounted between two dividers, by snap-fastening. hooking means (15a, 15b) on the rails (21, 31).

11. Storage system according to the preceding claim, wherein the rails form a curved profile (21) and the number of boxes that can be mounted on the rack (17) does not substantially exceed ten.

12. Storage system according to claim 10, wherein the rails (31) have a linear profile and the number of boxes that can be mounted on the rack (29) is several tens.

13. Storage system according to the preceding claim, wherein the housings are separated by spacers (37).

14. Storage system according to any one of claims 8 to 13, in which the rack (17, 29) is magnetically secured to a metal surface using strips of magnets integrated into the base (23, 34 ) from the rack.

15. Storage system according to any one of claims 8 to 13, in which the rack (17, 29) is secured to a suitable surface by hook-and-loop strips, strips being fixed to locations on the rear face provided for this purpose.

16. Storage system according to any one of claims 8 to 15, in which the rack is mechanically secured to a conventional rack for a conventional case in order to allow the storage of the cases according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and of the cases conventional.

17. Application of the system according to any one of claims 8 to 16, to the storage and identification of supports of information chosen from audio or video discs, photo pockets, postcards and letters to sort.