Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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INFORMATION DISPLAY UNIT SUPPORT HAVING AT LEAST ONE
= PRESENTATION FACE
TECHNICAL FIELD
The field of the invention is that of information display unit supports for
visual communication or advertising at the point of sale, called APS. The
display
units of the invention are columns which can be automatically folded up and
unfolded with, advantageously, the ability to be transported and stored under
excellent conditions, on the one hand, and to be very quickly installed on
site, on
the other.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
More specifically, the invention relates to an information display unit
support having at least one presentation face, comprising at least one sheet
of a
substantially rigid and foldable material having the said presentation face,
stressing means for bending the presentation face of the sheet and holding
means for keeping the presentation face of the sheet in the bent state, which
holding means oppose the stressing means.
From a folded state, it is sufficient to start to unfold the support so that,
under the action of the stressing means, it unfolds completely automatically.
Of
course, conversely, the support is folded up against the action of the
stressing
means.
Such types of display unit support are described in the documents FR
2760 880 and FR 2 795 217.
In these display unit supports, the presentation face is extended on either
side of the lateral holding faces or strips that elastic return means spring
closer
together in order to force the presentation face to bend until abutment means
oppose the elastic return means in order to keep the presentation face in the
bent state; thus, one of the lateral holding faces, which is narrower than the
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presentation face, can come into abutment in the dihedron formed by the
presentation face and the other of the lateral faces or strips.
These supports of the prior art, whilst they are of practical use, do have
two drawbacks.
Most of the surface of the lateral holding faces or strips is of course
wasted. The format of the sheets from which these supports are formed is
limited. In the case of a support having two presentation faces of large
width,
i.e. 50 cm, the maximum width of a sheet being 120 cm, it is necessary to take
two sheets, that is to say to make two cuts and two printing passes, which is
obviously expensive.
In other words, and purely as an example, it is a problem to produce a
double-sided support 50 cm in width from a single sheet 120 cm in width, while
only 20 cm would therefore remain for the lateral holding strips.
The present invention aims to solve these difficulties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
For this purpose, the invention relates to an information display unit
support of the type defined above, characterized in that the holding means
opposing the stressing means for keeping the presentation face of the sheet
bent in a curved position are designed so that their action is exerted
according
to a discrete distribution along the presentation face of the sheet.
In this way, holding levels are created in the support of the invention,
contrary to the columns of the prior art in which the holding action is
exerted
continuously along the entire presentation face, by lateral faces or strips
having
the same length as the presentation face. Thus a substantial area of the sheet
may be saved.
Preferably, the holding means comprise a plurality of strips
advantageously hinged via one end to the sheet close to a lateral edge of the
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presentation face, having a length of less than the width of the presentation
face
of the sheet, the other end of the strips being designed, under the action of
the
stressing means, to butt against a folded-over border portion of the sheet.
Preferably, the stressing means comprise elastic return means fixed to the
folded-over border portions of the sheet and to the holding means.
In the case of a display unit support having one information presentation
face, the sheet of the presentation face has a width substantially equal to
half
that of a sheet of standard format.
Thanks to this, the production costs are reduced very roughly by a factor
of two.
In the case of a support having two bent presentation faces, two sheets
are provided which have, respectively, the two presentation faces of the same
dimensions, these being cut from one and the same sheet of standard format.
This solution is more advantageous than that of a standard sheet having
two presentation faces of a single piece which would be very difficult to fold
because of the fact that the material of the sheet cannot undergo plastic
flow.
In the latter case, a single series of holding strips, which are in abutment
with the folded-over abutment border of each presentation face and are hinged
to the two respective hinge borders of the two presentation faces, are also
provided as discrete holding strips.
As a variant, the information display unit support may have two bent
presentation faces and a single series of holding strips, which butt against
each
folded-over abutment border of each presentation face and are hinged to the
two respective hinge borders of the folded-over portions of a sheet of
standard
format extending the presentation faces.
The information display unit support of the invention may also, in general,
comprise a plurality of presentation faces, each with a border for the hinging
of
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.holding strips and a border for abutment of the holding strips, the hinge
ends of
the holding strips of a presentation face also being hinged to the abutment
border of an adjacent presentation face.
Thus, the presentation faces are joined together in pairs by the hinge
ends of holding strips.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be more clearly understood with the aid of the following
description of several embodiments of the display unit support, with reference
to
the appended drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a rear view of a first embodiment of a single presentation face of
the support;
FIG. 2 is a view of the sheet in the flat state of a second embodiment of
the support having two presentation faces;
FIG. 3 is a view of a holding strip in the flat state of the support in FIG.
2;
FIG. 4 is a rear view, on a larger scale, of part of the support in FIG. 2, in
the display unit state; and
FIG. 5 is a perspective view, slightly exploded, of the rear of a third
embodiment of the support of the invention in the display unit state.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The display unit support 1 in FIG. 1 is in the form of a vertical column
which is deployed but which may be folded up on itself by turning down on each
other the panels 2 formed in a sheet, here made of paperboard, which
constitute
it, there being in this case four panels adjacent to one another along thick
folding lines 3, here therefore three in number. All the panels 2 are
identical to
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. one another. It is the front faces of the panels 2 which constitute the
information presentation face 11 of the support column.
Each panel 2 is extended laterally, on both sides, respectively by two
borders, one the hinge border 4 and the other the abutment border 5. At their
two longitudinal ends 6, 7, the borders 4, 5 are notched in order to allow the
panels 2 to be folded up one over another. The borders 4, 5, in the deployed
state of the display unit, are folded over towards the rear face 8 of the
panel 2
about portions of the lateral edges 12, 13 of the presentation face 11.
The borders 4, 5 serve respectively as hinge and abutment to a holding
strip 9 which, in the display unit state, makes it possible to force the panel
2, in
co-operation with an elastic member 10, to bend its presentation face 11 and
keeps it in this state thanks to the abutment border 5 which may be presented
as opposing the elastic forcing member 10.
It will straight away be noted that the holding strips 9, although in this
case relatively wide, do not exert their action over the entire height of the
column; this action is exerted according to a discreet distribution over this
height, that is to say along the presentation face of the sheet.
Each holding strip 9 on one side is hinged to the associated hinge border 4
and, on the other side, is pulled by its elastic member 10 into abutment
against
the associated abutment border 5.
Each strip 9 has a length of less than the width of the panel 2 in order
specifically to be able to bend it.
Close to the lateral edge 12, the hinge border 4 is pierced by two slits 14,
15 of the buttonhole type which receive two tabs 16, 17 of the button type,
the
said tabs projecting laterally from a hinge end portion 18 of the holding
strip 9.
A cut-out 20 of oblong shape for retaining the elastic member 10 has been made
on the holding strip 9 closer to the opposed abutment end portion 19 of the
holding strip 9, an associated cutout 21, in the form of a portion of an arc,
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having been formed in the abutment border 5 in order to retain the elastic
member 10 on this border 5 and therefore on the panel 2.
From the unfolded, or deployed, state in FIG. 1, it is possible to fold up
the display unit support by folding the panels 2, with their respective
holding
strips 9, over one another.
For this purpose, the panels 2 are flattened, by bending the elastic
members 10, the abutment portions 19 of the holding strips 9 moving away
from the abutment borders 5, and then the panels 2 are folded over one another
about folding lines 3, alternately on one side and the other, in a concertina
fashion, before keeping the assembly folded up in this way by any suitable
means, for example an elastic member. Deployment takes place even more
simply; by removing the elastic member which hold the support in the folded-up
state, under the action of the elastic forcing members 10 which tend to bring
the
abutment portions 19 of the strips 9 of the abutment borders 5 of the
presentation face 11 closer together and therefore to bend this face 11, the
assembly is able merely to be unfolded, or to be deployed, in order to adopt
the
shape of the column in FIG. 1.
It will be noted that the bending of the lower panel 2, having a bearing
edge 22, which is therefore curved, allows this panel 2, in combination with
the
unnotched lower edges of the lower borders 4, 5, to fulfill a supporting leg
function. However, a true supporting leg such as those described in the prior
documents indicated above, could be envisaged.
The sheet of the display unit support which has just been described, and
which has only a single presentation face 11, has a width approximately equal
to
half that of a sheet of standard format.
The sheet in FIG. 2 is intended to produce an information support having
two presentation faces 111 and 211, with two series of panels 102, 202 on
either side of folding lines 103, 203, as previously. It is a sheet of
standard
format, in which prescored lines are made before they are cut into two sheets
31, 32 along a longitudinal mid-line 30 of the starting sheet.
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About the mid-line 30, notched hinge borders 134, 234 have been
prescored, as in the embodiment example in FIG. 1, which borders will be
folded
about the lateral edges 112 and 212 of the faces 111 and 211. The notches are
obtained by diamond-shaped punching 33.
Hinge slits 114, 214 have been made along the lateral hinge edges 112,
212 in the hinge borders in order to hinge the holding strips 39. The hinge
slits
correspond to the buttonholes 14, 15 in the single-face embodiment in FIG. 1.
Notched abutment borders 135 and 235 have been prescored on the
lateral sides away from the hinge borders 134, 234, which abutment borders
will
be folded over about the lateral edges 113 and 213 of the faces 111 and 211.
Two cuts 321 and 322 in the form of a portion of an arc have been made
starting
from the edge 36 of the abutment borders 135 and 235, in order to retain the
elastic holding members 110 (FIG. 4).
Holdings strips 39 (FIG. 3) of this second embodiment differ substantially
from the previous ones. Firstly, they are much narrower, secondly, their hinge
end 118 and abutment end 119 include retractable elements able to be inserted
into the hinge slits 114, 214. Finally, their abutment end 119 fulfils,
somewhat
more suitably, the function of abutment opposing the forcing function of the
elastic members 110.
Thus, the hinge end 118 of each holding strip 39 has a retaining bar 40,
perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the assembly and offering two
internal retaining shoulders which are formed with the adjacent edges 41, 42
of
the strip, engaging with external retaining shoulders, formed with the same
edges of the strip and transverse edges of two small fins 43, 44 which can be
folded down over the strip about this same edge 41, 42 in order to lock the
strip
and above all to grasp, between the bar 40 and the fins 43, 44, the two hinge
borders 134, 234 of the two presentation faces 111, 112 (FIG. 4), after the
fins
have passed into the folded-down position through the corresponding hinge
slits
114, 214 of the two sheets and after subsequent deployment of the fins.
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The abutment end 119 of each holding strip 39 has, folded down about
the longitudinal edges 41, 42, two small flaps 45, 46 for passage and
retention
of the associated elastic member 110, the latter being retained between the
front portions 47 and the rear portions 48 and slipped under the rear portions
47
and over the rear portions 48 (FIG. 4).
Before the abutment end 119, the strip 39 has a cut 49 in the form of a
circular arc in order to retain the elastic member 110 against the strip.
Because the elastic member 110 lies between the strip 39 and the front
parts 47 of the flaps 45, 46, the end 119 of the strip has a certain thickness
offering a good means of abutment to the edge 36 of the folded-down abutment
borders 135, 235 of the two presentation faces 111, 112.
The support in FIGS. 2-4 may be mounted quite easily. After having
inserted the holding strips 39, in the manner indicated above, into the hinge
slits
114, 214 and thus pinched together the hinge borders 134, 234, the two sheets
31, 32, thus hinged to each other, are folded down on each other and then,
having attached each elastic member 110 to its associated holding strip 39,
via
the cut 49, it is attached to the two abutment borders 135, 235 superposed on
one another, via the cuts 321, 322, thereby drawing the strip 39 towards the
borders until the end 119 butts against the edges 36 of the borders, the faces
111 and 112 then both being bent into a curved position because of the shorter
length of the holding strips 39 than the width of the faces 111, 112.
The information support in FIG. 5 is quite similar to that in FIGS. 2-4 in
the sense that it has, in particular, two individual presentation faces 311,
312
intended to be bent by the action of elastic forcing members, which are not
shown but fulfill the same function as the elastic members 110, holding strips
339, in this case strictly identical to the holding strips 39, which are also
hinged
to two adjacent hinge borders 334, 434, which are also identical to the
previous
borders 134, 234, and two adjacent abutments borders 335, 435 which are
again identical to the borders 135, 235.
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The support in FIG. 5 differs, on the one hand, by the fact that the two
individual information presentation faces 311, 312, of conventional width,
belong
to two sheets of standard format 301, 401 respectively, each comprising a
first
portion corresponding to the presentation face and a second portion 302, 402
which extends the presentation face and, on the other hand, by the fact that
the
second portions 302, 402 form a third presentation face 313, called a combined
presentation face, joining the individual faces 311, 312 and held in a
stressed
state by the action of a second series of stressing wires 310, at each of the
levels of the folding panels 502, 602, fixed at three points, two points a, b
on
the two intersecting edges 303, 403 and one point c on the holding strip 339.
The wires 310 may be made of plastic. Instead of wires, strips may be
employed.
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