WO2008077971A1

WO2008077971A1 - Label holder device with improved visibility, in particular for sale locations

Info

Publication number: WO2008077971A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/064549
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philippe Ecran
Original assignee: Driver
Priority date: 2006-12-26
Filing date: 2007-12-26
Publication date: 2008-07-03
Also published as: FR2910683A1; FR2910683B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a label holder device for attaching a signalling label (60) to an equipment, in particular in a sale location, comprising an attachment portion (10) to be mounted on said equipment, a label holder portion (20) with means for mounting the signalling label (60), an articulated link (40) between the attachment portion and the label holder portion. The invention is characterised in that it further comprises at least one mutual connection means (31a, 21a; 31b, 21b) of the portions (20, 30) of the label holder on either side of the articulated link so as to selectively modify the location from which the label holder portion (20) is connected to the attachment portion (10), and to modify the orientation of the label (60) under the action of gravity on the device.

Description

LABEL HOLDER WITH IMPROVED VISIBILITY, IN PARTICULAR FOR SALE PLACES

The present invention relates generally to equipment and accessories for sales areas, as well as to any product presentation requiring information, such as a selling price, a codification, a size, a weight, etc. The invention relates more particularly to a device for presenting information of the type of descriptive label, in particular for the display of a price.

Nowadays, the prices of products sold in supermarkets are displayed through printed paper labels or through electronic LCD tags. These labels are in the form of a small box generally parallelepiped fixed on the nose before the gondola tablet on which are arranged articles. A label attachment device receives the label housing, and has a fastening portion adapted to the tablet or rail attached to the tablet nose, to a wire or rod (typically in the case of a basket), a tube, etc.

However, a good readability of the label by the consumer requires that its front is essentially perpendicular not to the shelf, but to the direction of the eyes of the consumer in question. This positioning of the label must also take into account the fact that, in order to facilitate access for consumers to products,

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the shelves can be tilted up or down.

Faced with this variety of heights and shelf arrangements, it is customary to use either as many specific fasteners or a fastener that allows a flexible angle of inclination to be established between the support portion of label and attachment part to the tablet or other layout. For example, the document FR-A-2 852 435 describes a display-type information display device adapted to be adapted to the inclination of the shelves to allow an adequate display of the information, comprising: • a part of fastener, adapted to be fixedly mounted on a shelf, a movable part, which allows the mounting of a placard, a hinge between the fastening part and the lateral face of the movable part, the movable part being able to pivot around the hinge adapted to be inclined upwards (or downwards, depending on the arrangement of the hinge in the device). An articulated arm is adapted to hold the mobile part in an inclined position.

This device does not tilt the placard both up and down. Moreover, its rigidity makes the device fragile in relation to shocks that may occur during their use. Document EP-AI 562 164 proposes a device for attaching an electronic tag, especially for the display of prices in a sales area, comprising: D an attachment part, able to be fixedly mounted on a shelf ,

A mobile part, which allows the mounting of a label, D a variable angular wedge between the attachment part and the movable part, for determining a plurality of angular positions between the fixed part and the mobile part receiving the label under the influence of the force of gravity exerted on them. This device allows tilting the labels up, down, or vertically, so that their readability is suitable for the consumer. Moreover, its assembly is not rigid like most information presentation devices known today, which avoids that in case of shock, which is common at sales outlets, there is a break of the device, or parts with which it cooperates.

Nevertheless, the device presented above is complex and expensive to manufacture, being formed of an assembly of different and relatively complex parts each produced by plastic injection.

More generally, these devices with variable position are all produced by plastic injection, which strike their cost price by compared to products made by extrusion, much more economical, but none at the moment is able to meet the aforementioned adjustable inclination problems. The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks of the state of the art, by providing a fixing device for adapting the inclination of the electronic label according to its position relative to the consumer's view, all having a cost of extremely low production, being able to be made by extrusion.

It proposes for this purpose a label holder for attaching a label to a layout including a point of sale, comprising: - a fastening portion adapted to be mounted on said arrangement, a label portion having arrangements for mounting the nameplate, - an articulated connection between the fastening portion and the label portion, characterized in that it further comprises at least one means for interlocking portions of the label holder located on either side of the articulated connection, so as to selectively change the location from which the label portion is connected to the attachment portion, and thereby vary the orientation of the label under the action of gravity on the device. Some preferred but non-limiting aspects of this device are the following: the device further comprises a second articulated connection at a part of the device intended to be situated above said articulated connection. * The device comprises two mutual attachment means adapted to change the location from which the label portion is connected to the attachment portion in two opposite directions.

* The two attachment means comprise respectively two hooks located at an intermediate portion of the device intended to be placed above said articulated connection, and two counter-hooks located at an upper region of the door part. -label. said intermediate portion has the general shape of an anchor.

* The different parts of the device are profiled.

* the device is made by extrusion. the or each articulated connection is constituted by a flexible hinge in one piece.

* The label portion includes a cradle for secure receipt of an electronic tag. Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention will appear better on reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of nonlimiting example and with reference to the appended drawings, in which: : FIG. 1 illustrates a label-carrying device according to a first embodiment of the invention in profile view, in a non-inclined position; FIG. 2 illustrates, still in profile view, the label-carrying device of FIG. 1 in the position of the label inclined upwards, and D in Figure 3 illustrates in profile a variant of the label holder of Figure 1 of the invention, also in the position of the label inclined upwards.

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a label holder 1 comprising the following profiled parts: • a fastening portion 10 adapted to be fixedly mounted on the end of a pin in Conventional T having a main stem 70 to which products can be hung for sale, and a cylindrical transverse end 71 projecting laterally with respect to the main stem and defining an axis A (see illustration in FIGS. 2 and 3) ,

A movable label-holder part 20 which makes it possible to mount a label 60 having a front face or a display face 61 (in this case an electronic label with a liquid crystal display) in a secure manner, that is to say not removable without special tools, and

An intermediate portion 30 connecting the parts 10 and 20 via zones 40 and 50 forming hinges. The portion 20 and the intermediate portion 30 have mutual engaging members, preferably two pairs of such members, a member of a pair being provided on the intermediate portion 30 and the other on the movable portion 20, as will be seen in detail later. The fastening portion 10 has the general shape of a cylinder not closed on itself and whose adjacent edges comprise two hook formations 11, 12, so as to be able to fix said part 10 and secured on the end of the spindle 70, 71. The inner diameter of the cylinder being substantially larger than the outer diameter of the cross portion 71 of the spindle, the rotation between the two is free. The security character of this assembly is obtained by the cooperation of the rod 70 of the spindle with an opening formed in the part 10.

This secure attachment method of a store accessory on the front of a spindle is widely known to those skilled in the art, and can be achieved in a variety of ways. In this regard, reference may be made, for example, to the attachment device described in FR-A-2,872,615.

Each mutual hooking means operating between the parts 30 and 20 consists of a hook and a corresponding counterhook.

Preferably, the intermediate portion 30 has the general shape of an anchor, with an upper region 31 having laterally two hooks 31a, 31b and a descending chord 32. The portion 20 has an upper wall 21 intended to cover the top of the label 60, and at level of the lateral edges of which are formed two respective latches 21a, 21b for selectively cooperating with the hooks 31a, 31b, respectively. Said wall 21, together with a bottom 24 and with a bottom wall 25, forms a cradle for receiving, with a locking known per se, the electronic tag 60.

The hinge 40 is provided between the base of the rod 32 of the intermediate portion 30 and the median region of the upper wall 21.

The hinge 50 is fixed between the attachment region 12 of the portion 10 and the median region of the upper region 31 of the portion 30.

The hinge 40 is relatively short and thick, its main purpose being to allow the rotation of the intermediate portion 30 relative to the wall 21 of the portion 20 so as to implement one or the other means d hooking.

The hinge 50 and relatively long and thin, so as to deform under the weight of the assembly consisting of the parts 20 and 30 and the label 60 (mainly the weight of the label in the case of an electronic tag ).

Preferably, the assembly is produced by extrusion or coextrusion of a thermoplastic material such as, for example, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or polystyrene. The hinges 40, 50 are preferably flexible hinges made with the same material as the parts 10, 20 and 30, then suitably chosen, or with another material having the desired elastic properties, the manufacture is then preferably carried out by coextrusion. In both cases, the cost price is particularly economical because a long section can be produced which is cut into individual label holders.

The hinge 40 allows the movable portion 20 to pivot about an axis parallel to the axis A, passing through the middle of the intermediate portion, so as to tilt up or down. The label holder described above is used as follows. When the assembly is left in the position illustrated in Figure 1, it is freely suspended generally vertically from the end of the pin so that the label 60 is oriented with its front face 61 substantially vertical. This use is suitable for labels intended to be placed substantially at eye level of the consumer.

Now with reference to FIG. 2, when a hook 31a or 31b (here 31b) is hooked in its homologous counter-hook 21a or 21b (here 21b), this leads to keeping the intermediate portion 30 with respect to the support portion 20 in a position such that the anchoring region of the hinge 50 on said part 30 has shifted towards the front of the label 60. It will be noted that this operation is carried out manually, without tools, by simple rotation between the parts 30 and 20 until the hooking is achieved by crossing. As a result, thanks to the freedom of movement ensured by said hinge, the assembly takes the position illustrated in FIG. that the center of gravity of the label tends to move to the region of the plumb of the hinge 50, while the attachment portion tends to swing in the opposite direction. As a result, the front face of the label 60 is turned upward, facilitating reading when the label is in the lower region of a rack.

Conversely, and in a manner that is not illustrated, if the hook 31a and its counter-hook 21a are hooked up, the opposite phenomenon occurs, and the front face of the label tends to turn downwards. to improve the readability of the label when placed in the upper region of a rack. It should be noted here that the hooks 31a, 31b and counter-hooks 21a, 21b are formed and dimensioned so as to ensure a solid attachment, so that neither the weight of the support portion 20 provided with the label 60, nor even an impact, are not sufficient to separate the snap. However, it is advantageously provided that an operator can separate the attachment by exerting an appropriate effort, especially when the device must be placed at a different height in a rack, to perform the ad hoc reorientation of the label 60.

It will be noted here that, in all cases, the assembly is freely suspended at the end of the spindle, so that the risk of deterioration in the event of impact is very limited, said assembly is erased of itself by pivoting when it is subject to impact. According to an alternative embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, the hinge 50 is removed, the portion 30 being removed by being replaced by a portion 13 of the same shape, but rigidly connected with the portion 10 via a connecting zone 14 and preferably d one piece.

Without the implementation of the attachment means, this device adopts substantially the same arrangement as in Figure 1. The situation corresponding to the case where the hooking is performed at the hook 31b and the counter-hook 21b is illustrated on the FIG. 3. It is observed that here again, the front face 61 of the label 60 tends to turn upwards, the center of gravity of the rigid assembly consisting of the label holder and its label tending to be placed below the fulcrum of the attachment portion 10 on the transverse portion 71 of the spindle.

If we hang together the hook 31a and its counter-hook 21a, it is the opposite effect is obtained.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below and shown in the drawings, but the skilled person will be able to make many variations and modifications.

In particular, the label holder device according to the invention may comprise a fastening part adapted to all kinds of arrangements (spindle end, shelf front fitted with a rail or not, basket, etc.). It should be noted in this regard that the hinge 50 can be omitted especially as soon as the fastener is a simple suspension on the arrangement in question, as opposed to a rigid attachment. In addition, two pairs of hooking members (three-position device) or a single pair (two-position device) can be provided interchangeably.

Moreover, as already indicated, the nature of the label can be quite any, provided it has a display face whose visibility is desired to improve.

Similarly, the method of fixing the label in its support portion 20 may be arbitrary.

Claims

1. Label holder for attaching a label (60) to a layout including a point of sale, comprising:

- a fastening portion (10) adapted to be mounted on said arrangement,

- a label portion (20) having arrangements for mounting the identification label (60), an articulated connection (40) between the fastening portion and the label portion, characterized in that it comprises in addition, at least one means (31a, 21a; 31b, 21b) for engaging portions (30, 20) of the label holder on either side of the articulated connection, so as to selectively change the location from which the label portion (20) is connected to the attachment portion (10), and thereby vary the orientation of the label (60) under the action of gravity on the device.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a second articulated connection (50) at a portion (10, 30) of the device intended to be located above said articulated connection (40). ).

3. Device according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that it comprises two mutual engaging means (31a, 21a, 31b, 21b) adapted to modify the location from which the label portion is connected to the attachment portion in two opposite directions.

4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the two hooking means respectively comprise two hooks (31a, 31b) located at an intermediate portion (30) of the device intended to be placed above said link. articulated (40), and two counter-hooks (21a, 21b) located at an upper region of the label portion (20).

5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that said intermediate portion (30) has the general shape of an anchor.

6. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that its different parts are profiled.

7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that it is made by extrusion.

8. Device according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the or each articulated connection (40; 40, 50) is constituted by a flexible hinge in one piece.

9. Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the label portion includes a cradle (21, 24, 25) for securely receiving an electronic tag (60).