Display Unit

This invention relates to display devices for primary packages such as bottled soft drinks and related or associated products and is for use in displaying such objects in retail outlets.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,648 issued Feb. 9, 1982 and owned by the assignee of this invention discloses and claims a display stand having a base and a back extending upwardly therefrom together with a plurality of shelves supported by the back and arranged in vertically spaced relation one above another.

According to this invention in one form, a display stand including a base and a back extending upwardly therefrom together with a plurality of vertically spaced shelves secured to the back is secured along one side thereof to a wing unit which includes a wing base and a wing back extending upwardly from the base together with a divider wall extending upwardly from the wing base together with a header unit overlying the display stand and the wing unit and including an outer generally U-shaped peripheral structure parts of which are of translucent material and parts of which constitute sign boards, the prongs of the U-shaped header unit being secured to upper parts of the back of the display stand and of the wing back which are remote from each other.

In the drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display unit formed according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view from above of the structure shown in FIG. 1 with certain parts removed;

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of a header unit formed according to this invention;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are partial views of the structure shown in FIG. 3 with parts removed or broken away for simplicity;

FIG. 7 is a view from the rear of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a view of the structure shown in FIG. 1 from the near side thereof which shows the wing unit and the header as viewed from the side;

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of certain structural components of the wing unit; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view of the upper front corner of the divider wall which is secured to the near side of the wing unit as the wing unit is observed in FIG. 9.

With reference to FIG. 1 the numeral 1 generally designates a display stand of conventional construction and the numeral 2 generally designates a wing unit disposed along one side of the display stand identified by the reference numeral 1. Header structure which overlies both the display stand 1 and the wing unit 2 is designated generally by the numeral 3.

The display stand 1 comprises a base 4 and a back 5 extending upwardly from the base 4 together with a plurality of shelves 6, 7 and 8 which are secured to portions of the back 5. Bottles "B" are shown displayed on shelves 7 and 8 and packages "P" are shown mounted on base 4.

The wing unit 2 includes a wing base 9 and a wing back 10 extending upwardly from the wing base 9 together with a divider wall 11 which extends upwardly from wing base 9 and forms a part of wing unit 2. Display stand 1 and wing unit 2 are secured together.

As is apparent particularly from FIG. 2, display stand 1 includes a pair of vertically disposed uprights 12 and 13 which form portions of the back wall 5 and which are provided with apertures for disjointably receiving parts of the shelves such as 6, 7 and 8. Wing unit 2 includes a pair of spaced vertically disposed uprights 14 and 15 which form parts of the wing back of wing unit 2 and which include apertures for disjointably receiving portions of shelves 16, 17 and 18.

The pegboard 10a which forms a part of the back 10 and which is secured to uprights 14 and 15 includes a plurality of holes 10b as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 7. These holes 10b receive removable pegs such as are indicated 10d in FIG. 1 and serve as disjointable hangers on which various items such as the packet 16a shown in phantom lines may be secured. Divider wall 11 is secured along its front edge to upright 19 and at its rear edge to upright 19d. Uprights 19 and 19d are of similar construction. The entire wall is interposed between upright 13 of display stand 1 and upright 14 of wing unit 2 as is apparent from FIG. 2. As is best shown in FIG. 10 upright 19 is specially configured and serves to receive the pegboard 11a between the channel flange 19a and the inwardly projecting flange 19b. The board 11b is secured by suitable means to the flange element 19c. Interposed between the rows of peg holes 10b are horizontally disposed strips 10c which are preferably formed of suitable reflecting plastic material whereby the appearance of displayed items is substantially improved. Pegs 10d may be mounted in any desired hole 10b for supporting displayed items against divider wall 11.

As is best shown in FIG. 9 the wing base 9 includes a pair of transversely spaced side supports 20 and 21 which are of special configuration as shown in FIG. 9. A front kick plate 22 is provided with inturned end portions 23 and 24 having openings such as 25 which cooperate with complementary openings such as 26 and suitable fasteners to secure the kick plate 22 in position at the front of the wing unit. A base board 27 is mounted atop the side supports 20 and 21 with its back corner 28 disposed adjacent the upright 14 and with its back corner 29 disposed adjacent the upright 15.

Adjustable feet for the wing unit are provided and include threaded element 31 and 31a which threadedly engage a lower surface of support 21 together with threaded feet 32 and 32a which threadedly engage a lower surface of support 21. Adjustment of the feet 31, 31a, 32 and 32a is effected in an obvious manner.

The display stand 1 and the wing unit 2 are secured together by means of cross bar 33 which is secured to uprights 14 and 15 by suitable means such as bolts 34 and 35 as best shown in FIG. 9. Cross bar 33 is similarly secured to uprights 12 and 13 as shown in FIG. 2. Upright 13 is secured to upright 14 by means of L-shaped brackets 36 and 37, these brackets being secured to upright 13 by any suitable means such as by the bolt 38 and also being secured to the upright 14 in a similar manner as indicated schematically in the exploded view designated as FIG. 9. In addition, bracket 39 is similarly secured to support 21 and to the horizontal support 13a to which the upright 13 is secured in any suitable known manner.

The header structure as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 includes a front plate 40 having upper flange 40a and lower flange 40b together with side plate 41 having upper flange 41a and lower flange 41b. Front plate 40 and side plate 41 are interconnected by means of diagonal corner brackets 42 and 43. Corner bracket 42 is provided with end tabs 42a and 42b while corner bracket 43 is provided with end tabs 43a and 43b. Tabs 42a are inserted into apertures 41c in side plate 41 while end tabs 42b are inserted into apertures 40c. Tabs 43a are inserted into apertures 41d while tabs 43b are inserted into apertures 40d. Once these tabs 42 and 43 are inserted into their associated apertures they are bent into overlapping contact with the outer surface of front plate 40 and side plate 41.

As best shown in FIG. 5, rounded corner strip 44 is secured by fasteners 45 to the upper flange 40a of front plate 40 and by fastening devices 47 to the upper flange 41a of side plate 41.

In like fashion rounded corner strip 49 is similarly secured to the lower flange 41b of side plate 41 and to lower flange 40b of front plate 40.

As is best seen in FIG. 6, a longitudinal medial slot 52 is formed in side plate 41 while a similar longitudinal medial slot 53 is formed in an end portion of front plate 40. These slots 52 and 53 receive the end portions of rounded translucent plastic strip 54. This rounded strip 54 is held in place by pins 55 and 56 which extend through aligned openings such as 57 and 58 formed respectively in corner brackets 42 and 43 as is best shown in FIG. 6. It is apparent that these pins 55 and 56 extend through corresponding openings formed in corner translucent strip 54 as is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In order to enhance the appearance of the corner portions of the peripheral header, a flexible translucent sheet of plastic material designated by the numeral 57 is provided and includes a medial longitudinal slot 57e as is best shown in FIG. 4. Longitudinal slit 57e receives the rounded strip of translucent plastic material 54 when the strip 57 is manipulated into its final position as shown in FIG. 3. The front end of strip 57 is provided with apertures 57a and 57b. These apertures receive projecting tabs 58a and 58b of front sign 58. Tabs 58a and 58b extend through openings 40e and 40f formed in front plate 40 so as to clamp the adjacent end of sheet 57 between front plate 40 and sign 58.

In like fashion the holes 57c and 57d of strip 57 receive tabs 59a and 59b of sign 59. Tabs 59a enter holes 41e and 41f formed in side plate 41 so that the left hand end of sheet 57 is clamped firmly in position between sign 59 and side plate 41.

In order to insure that strip 57 is held snugly against front plate 40 and side plate 41 double faced tape 46 may be provided as shown in FIG. 5.

In order to improve the appearance of rounded corner strips 44 and 49 a trim strip 62 as best shown in FIG. 3 may be provided and is channel shaped so as to envelop the outer edge of the corner strips 44 and 49, one trim strip 62 being shown in its partially installed position.

The corner of the header which is disposed between the front plate 40 and the side plate 61 is identical in construction to the corner structure which is interposed between front plate 40 and side plate 41.

The header structure is mounted atop the display unit by means of the plate 61a which forms a part of side plate 61 by securing that plate to upright 15. This is accomplished by suitable fasteners inserted through the apertures 61b and 61c formed in plate 61a and through appropriate apertures formed in the back side of upright 15. At the other extremity of the header, a plate 41g is secured to the rear surface of upright 12 in a manner such as is described in connection with plate 61a. Of course the upright 19 is disposed underneath the front part of the header adjacent the right hand edge of sign 58 and affords substantial support for the header.

In order to enhance the appearance of displayed items, a light diffuser panel 65 is mounted within the header and above display stand 1 while a light diffuser panel 66 is mounted within the header above the wing stand 2. The front edge of diffuser 65 is supported by lower flanges 41b of the side plate 41 and lower flange 40b of front plate 40 while the rear edge of diffuser panel 65 is supported by the cross bar 33. The front edge of diffuser panel 66 is supported by lower flange 40b of front plate 40 and the side edge of diffuser 66 is supported by lower flange 61d of side plate 61. The rear edge of diffuser 66 is supported by plate 68 which is secured to uprights 14 and 15 as best shown in FIG. 9 by means of end tabs 68a and 68b. Tab 68a enters an appropriate one of the four apertures in upright 15 designated by the numeral 15a while tab 68b is received within similar apertures formed along the inner surface of upright 14. Of course plate 68 may be lowered or raised so as to accommodate various height requirements for the diffuser panel 66 as may be required in particular instances.

In order to accommodate variations in height requirements for the upright 15 relative to the uprights 12 and 13 of the display stand, an auxiliary extension bracket 70 is provided. This bracket as is best shown in FIG. 9 is secured in an appropriate manner by fastening to apertures 15b formed along the inner surface of upright 15 so that the effective height of upright 15 may be increased by varying amounts as ma be required. Bracket 70 is secured to upright 15 by suitable fastening means 71 and 72 which cooperate with bracket 70 and upright 15 as indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 9.

Preferably the translucent plates 65 and 66 should be of corrugated construction and formed of polypropylene. These diffuser plates, plastic sheet 57, corner rounded strip 54, together with the mirrors formed on divider wall 19 and on wing back 2 identified by the numeral 10c greatly enhance the light level in the region where the displayed items are located particularly if the light level above the display unit is bright.

The unit according to this invention is well suited for use by a vendor of items such as might be packaged in the bottles B or in packages P and whose trademark may appear on other items such as containers C shown in phantom lines and mounted on base 20 of the wing unit 2 or such as carrying bags generally designated by the letter 18a in FIG. 1 and disposed on shelf 18 and shown in phantom lines or by the pamphlets designated 16a and shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1 and suspended by pegs 10d which are removable and are disposed in a hole such as 10b in peg board 10a. Of course the shelves 16, 17 and 18 can be removed or used in FIG. 1 because these shelves are disjointably mounted at the rear portions thereof to the uprights 14 and 15.

The invention may be practiced according to the unit shown in FIG. 1. In addition, if desired, a wing unit similar to wing unit 2 may be secured to the opposite side of display stand 1 with appropriate changes in design of the wing unit 2. Furthermore, the unit may be used as an end aisle display as shown in FIG. 1 or if desired a unit such as is shown in FIG. 1 can be placed back to back with another similar unit to form an island display if floor space is adequate for such application of the invention.

A display unit formed according to this invention is well suited for all channels of distribution such as food stores, mass merchandisers and department stores. It is especially well suited for use by a vendor who wishes to display a number of different but related products which may have the vendor's trademark applied thereto and of course the sign boards provided according to this invention afford an opportunity for display of the vendor's trademark.