Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
S
MERCHANDISE DISPLAY DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE_PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention relates to merchandise
display devices and, more particularly, to a merchandise
display insert adapted to be positioned wi-thin a dlsplay
case or drawer and maintain the organization of display
merchandise.
As is well know~, a variety of consumer goods
are merchandlsed in display cases which typically
comprise a drawer or shelf wherein the display merchan-
dise is stacked in parallel rows within the drawer.
As merchandise is selectively removed from the drawer,
the s-tacks of merchandise often collapse rendering the
merchandise unsightly for display purposes.
Heretofore, lt was typical~practice to requ]re
sales personnel to continuously monitor and housekeep
the display~cases to insure that the merchandise remained
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in an organized fashion. As will be recognized,such
monitoring and housekeeping by~sales personnel detracts
from other more profitable sales duties and thereby
increases the overall cost of the merchandise.
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SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention specifically addresses
~ and alleviates the above-referenced deficiency associated
in the art by providing a merchandise display device
which is adapted to continuously maintain the organized
orientation of merchandise positioned upon a display
surface. More particularly, the present invention
comprises an insert sized to be positioned within a
display case or drawer. ~ One end of the insert is
provided with a generaIly L-shaped base plate sized
to permit a portion~ of the merchandise to be stacked
thereon, while the opposite end includes an anchor member
adapted to be attached to the rear wall or bottom edge
of the drawer shelf.
The anchor member and base plate are inter-
connected by an accordian-like extensible member which
includes plural sprlng steel biasing clips posltioned
at each of its~apexes. The spring clips cause a biasing
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force to be applied to the ~extensible member to~con-
tinuously urge~ the ~base~plate ~tow~ard the ;front wall
of the display drawer. Thus, ~as merchandis~e is selec-
tively removed from the~ area~of the;drawer~in front
of the base plate~, the ~extensible memb~er constantly
pushes the base plate and remalning merchandlse: in: ::
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a forward direction away from the anchor member and
thereby maintains the stack of n,erchandise in an
organized manner.
In the preferred embodiment, the merchandise
display device of the present invention is integrally
formed of a molded plastic material and includes a pair
of spring stops or shoulders formed a-t each of the apexes
of the extensible member. The inclusion of the spring
stops permit the rapid moun-ting of the spring clips
within the device in a single manual motion and maintains
-the same therein without the use of auxiliary re-taining
: means. As such, the merchandise display device o~ the
present invention is well suited for mass production,
rapid assembly fabrica-tion techniques which renders
the resultant device cost effective.
In a flrs-t embodimen-t of -the invention, the
anchor member is formed to be attached to the rear wall
of the display drawer, however, two alternative embodi-
ments of the anchor member permit the same to be attached
to the rear edge of a display surface or merely contact
the rear wall Oe the display shelf.
~LZ'~
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These as well as other features of the present
invention will become more apparent upon reference to
the drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a display
case drawer having display merchandise and the merchan-
dise display device of the present invention disposed
therein;
Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of
the merchandise display device of the present invention;
Figure 3 is an enlarged eleva-tional view
showing the manner in which the spring clips are inserted
and retained w:Lthin the extensible rnember of the present
invention;
Figure 4 is a partial perspec-tive view showing
the second embodirnent of :the anchor of the :present
invention; and
Figure~ 5 ls a par-tlal perspective view of
the third embodiment of the anchor membe~r of the present
invention.
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~Z,f2~S
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring generally to Figures 1 and 2, there
is shown the merchandise display device or inser-t 10
of the present invention which may be placed within
a display case or drawer 12 -to maintain the stacked
orientation of merchandise 14 positioned wlthin -the
drawer 12. Merely by way of example and not limita-tion,
: the particular merchandise 14 depic-ted within the drawer
12 comprises a plurality o~ hosiery packages; however,
those skilled in the art will recognize that various
other merchandise rnay be utilized with -the present
invention.
As best shown in Figure 2, -the display device
10 of the present invention is formed having a generally
L-shaped base plate 20 having a horizontal leg portion
22 adapted to reside beneath a portion of the merchandise
14 and a vertical leg por-tion 24 adapted to provide
a rigid wall~:~or abuttment with one end of the merchan-
dise stack. The opposite end o~ -the device 10 ls pro-
vided wi-th an anchor :member 26 which in its embodiment
as depicted in Figure 2, is f~rmed to extend in a~
generally vertical direction: and includes a bent over
flange or c1ip 28. As shown in Figure 1, the bent over
24~
flange 28 is sized to extend over the edge ~ o the
rear wall of the display drawer 12 so as to de-tachably
mount the device 10 within the drawer 12.
An extensible member 30 extends be-tween the
base plate 20 and anchor member 26 and is preferably
formed in an accordian-like configura-tion composed of
angularly extending interconnected elongate segments.
At each of the apexes 32, the member 50 is provided
with a reduced cross-sectional dimension so as to form
a hinge which permits the member 30 to be extended or
compressed laterally between the base plate 20 ~nd anchor
member 26. In -the preferred etnbodimen-t, the entire
insert 10 is formed of an integrally molded plastic
material which is condusive to low-cost mass production
fabricating techniques.
Referring more particularly to Figure 3, a
pair of stop~s or protrusions 34 are formed on the exten-
sible member~ 30 adjacent each of the apexes 32 which~
are designed to maintain plural generally V-shaped spring
clips 40 therein. In the preferred embodiment, the
spring clips 40 are formed of a thin spring steel
material and are adapted to constantly urge the member
30 into a laterally extended position. As will be no-ted,
from referring to Figure 3, the plural stops 34 are
spaced from the apexes 32 of the member 30 through a
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distance slightly greater than the overall leng-th of
the spriny clips 40 such that th~ spring clips 40 may
be manually inserted into the rnember 30 merely by
pressing the spring clips 40 downward toward the apexes
32.
During this downward insertion rnovement of
the spring clips 40, -the distal ends of the spring clips
40 cam against the stops 34 causing the spring clips
40 to slightly compress inwardly as indicated by the
10phantom arrows in Figure 3. Once the distal ends of
the spring clips 40 pass downward beyond the edges 35
of the stops 34, the dis-tal ends 42 spring outward and
are thereby captured by the s-tops 34. Fur-ther, in view
of the spring clips 40 being constantly urged outward
15and against the stops 34, it will be recognized that
the spring clips 40 are permanently maintained against
: the stops 34 without any auxiliary mounting mears and,
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thereby, continuously bias the :member 30 in an extended
orien-tation.
20With the structure deined, the operation
of the merchandise display insert lO of the present
invention may be described by ~referring to Figure 1.
Initially, the devlce lO i~s posi-tioned within the drawer
12 with -the anchor member 26 being extended over the
25rear edge ~ of the drawer 12. A user ~not shown) must k
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then manually press the base pla-te 20 toward the anchor
26 to overcome the biasing force of the spring clips
40 and cause the member 30 -to be compressed laterally.
The merchandise 14 may then be inserted into
the drawer 12 in a side by side orientation. Preferably
some of the merchandise 14 is positioned upon the hori-
zontal leg portion 22 of the base plate 20 to thereby
cause a weight force to be exerted upon the base plate
and insure that the horizontal leg portion 22 is
continuously biased against the floor of the drawer
lZ. Subsequently, the user may release the base plate
20 wherein the extensible mernber 30 automatically extends
laterally outward under the biasing force of the sprlng
clips 40 to cause the ver-tical leg portion 24 of the
base plate 20 -to contact the merchandise 14 and slightly
compress the merchandise 14 within the drawer 12.
As will be recognized, due to the extensible
member 30 being continuously biased by the multlple
spring clips 40 in an outward direc-tion (as indicated
by the arrow in~ Figure 2) as merchandise 14 is removed
from the drawer 12, the remainlng merchandise is com-
pressed within the drawer and maintained~ in its stacked
organized configuration. By selec-ting the spring force
of the spring c1ips within sui~table tolerances, the
compression forcs exerted by the device 10 may be
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maintained within suitable limits to allow easy removal
and restocking of the merchandise 14 yet be sufficient
to cause a moderate compression o-f the merchandise 1~,
within the drawer.
In Figures 4 and 5, two additional embodiments
of the anchor member 26 of the present invention are
depicted. As shown in Figure ~, the anchor mernber 26B
is formed as a flat plate which is adapted to abutt
the rear wall 31 of the display shelf 12. As will be
recognized, due to the spring clips 40 mounted on the
extensible member 30 constantly biasing the anchor member
26B away from -the base pla-te 20, the anchor member
is continuously maintained -tightly against the wall
31 of the drawer 12.
In Figure 5, an additional embodiment of the
anchor member 26C is depicted which is formed in a manner
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analgous to the embodiment shown in Figure 2 except
that the anchor mernber 26C is formed to extend in a
generally parallel orienta-tion as viewed in Figure 5
20 (i.e. in a plane substantial.ly parallel to the plane
of the horizontal leg portion 22 o~ the base plate 20).
This additional embodiment of the base member 26C is
specifically adapted to permit -the device 10 to be
attached to the lower support surface 52 of a display
: 25 drawer or case 12 when the display case 12 does not
include a rear wall panel.
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Al-though in the preferred embodimen-t certain
part configurations and materials have been defined,
those skilled in the art will recognize that various
modifications can be made to the same without departing
from the spirit of -the present invention and tha-t such
modifications are clearly contemplated herein.
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