Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CONTAINER FOR USE BY TRAVELLING SALES PERSON
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to bags, suitcases or other
similar containers for use by travelling sales persons in
transporting goods from one retail outlet to another.
One particular difficulty which travelling sales persons
experience when visiting retail outlets for the purpose of
selling their goods, especially large items such as
garments, textiles, carpets or shoes, is that at each
retail outlet they must unpack the contents of the bag or
suitcase, lay out the goods on a counter or other surface
for display purposes, and subsequently repack the goods.
Unpacking and repacking is time consuming and laborious.
Furthermore, it is often inconvenient to occupy a counter
or other surface, as the retailer may want to make use of
the limited counter space to sell his goods to customers.
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An object of the present invention is to overcome the
above difficulties and to provide the sales person with a
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means for displaying sales goQds more quickly and conveniently
and to better effect.
In a broad aspect, the present invention relates to a container,
for example a bag or suitcase, for use by a travelling sales
person in transporting goods from one retail outlet to another
provided with a display stand movable between a collapsed state
within the bag for transportation purposes and an erect state
projecting from the bag for display purposes, in which the
display stand is a garment display stand comprising a base, a
multisectional vertical column, locking means biassed into a
locking position for securing each of the sections of the
vertical column to a next section when the vertical column is
brought from a collapsed contracted state to an erect extended
state, and a horizontal rail mounted centrally at the top of the
column, and the vertical column is telescopic between an erect
extended state and a collapsed contracted state whereby the
display stand may be brough~ into the erect extended state by an ,
operator by a single-handed continuous movement.
The container according to the invention eliminates the need for
time consuming packing and unpacking of goods and thus enables
the sales person to make more visits on each working day.
Furthermore, the container allows goods to be displayed without t
using counter space in the retail outlet.
Advantageously, the collapsible/erectable display stand is a
garment display stand comprising a base, a vertical column, and
a horizontal rail mounted at the top of the column, and the
vertical column is telescopic between an erect extended state and
a collapsed contracted state.
The use of a garment display stand of the above type allows the
sales person to display garments to the retailer in a manner
similar to the manner in which the
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retailer would in turn display the garments to customers.
Furthermore, the garment display stand of the above type
occupies very little of the internal volume of the bag.
~dvantageously, the horizontal rail is telescopic from a
contracted state in which, with the vertical column also
contracted, the display stand fits entirely into the bag, to
an extended state in which, with the vertical column also
extended, the horizontal display rail projects beyond the
dimensions of the bag increasing the effective size of the
display stand.
As a result of the telescopic nature of the horizontal rail,
for transportation purposes the garments may be densely packed
one against the other all along the length of the contracted
horizontal rail so as to fill the bag with garments, and for
display purposes the garments may be spaced apart along the
extended rail to allow individual garments to be viewed.
A locking means of the kind mentioned allows the sales person
to quickly erect the display stand by simply pulling the
horizontal rail upwards, thereby enabling the sales person to
rapidly attract and retain the attention of retailers.
Advantageously, the locking means is releasable to allow
contraction of the multisectional vertical column.
Advantageously, the locking means comprises a plurality of
spring loaded plungers one of which is fixed on the lowermost
of any pair of interengaging sections of the vertical column
and the walls of the sections of the vertical column are
provided with a plurality of apertures, each aperture being
adapted to receive and engage with the plunger of the locking
means to retain the telescopic vertical column at one of a
number of preselected heights on extension of the said
vertical column.
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Advantageously, the bag consists of flexible walls and a three
dimensional open frame for supporting the walls when the
container is to be used in the transportation or display mode,
the open frame being capable of being collapsed or
disassembled into two dimensions, and the display stand may
also be capable of collapsing further beyond the stora~e mode
or of being disassembled into two dimensions.
The container can then be conveniently stored when not in use
by collapsing or disassembling the open frame and the display
stand into two dimensions and storing these in the bag, the
walls of which also collapse when not supported by the open
frame.
Advantageously, wheeled elements are provided on the bag to
enable the bag to be wheeled by a user.
In a broad aspect, therefore, the present invention
relates to a container, for example a bag or suitcase, for use
by a travelling sales person in transporting goods from one
retail outlet to another provided with a display stand,
secured thereto, said display stand being movable between a
collapsed state within the bag for transportation purposes and
an erect state projecting from the bag for displa~ purposes,
in which the display stand is a garment display stand
comprising a base, a multisectional vertical column, locking
means biassed into a locking position for securing each of the
sections of the vertical column to a next section when the
vertical column is brought from a collapsed contracted state
to an erect extended state r and a horizontal rail mounted
centrally at the top of the column, and the vertical column
is telescopic between an erect extended state and a collapsed
contracted state whereby the display stand may be brought into
the erect extended state by an operator by a single-handed
continuous movement.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described more particularly with
reference to the accompanying drawings which show, by way
of example only, one embodiment of container according to
the invention, comprising a bag and display stand. In the
drawings:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bag in the
transportation mode, that is to say closed and
with the garment display stand (shown in
dashed lines) in the collapsed state entirely
within the bag;
Figure 2 is a similar view of the bag in the display
mode, that is to say open and with the garment
display stand in the erect state projecting up
from the bag;
Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the garment
display stand, showing how it may be
disassembled for storage when it is not being
used for transportation or display;
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the bag in the
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transportation mode; and
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation on a much larger
scale of a detail of the telescopic mechanism.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to the drawings, the container comprises a
bag 1 and a garment display stand comprising a base 2, a
vertical support column 3 which is telescopic/ and a
horizontal display rail 4 which is also telescopic.
Figure 1 shows the container in the transportation mode.
The vertical support column 3 is in the contracted state.
The horizontal display rail 4 is also in the contracted
state. The garments have been omitted from the drawings
for clarity, but in the transportation mode the garments
are mounted on garment hangers (also omitted) suspended
from the horizontal display rail 4, and the garments are
densely packed one against the other. The flap 5 of the
bag 1 is folded over and is closed by means of a zip
fastener 6. The bag 1 may be carried by the sales person
by means of handles 7. Alternatively, the bag 1 may be
pulled from place to place by the sales person by means of
strap 8, with the bag rolling on castors 9. The bag 1 is
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of a suitable size to fit into the trunk of a car.
Figure 2 shows the container in the display mode. At a
retail outlet the sales person simply unzips the ~lap 5
and moves it to the open position, and then pulls the
horizontal display rail 4 upwardly thus extending the
vertical support column 3. The garments are now on view
to the retailer. In order to allow the retailer to view
an individual garment, the sales person may extend the
horizontal display rail 4 telescopically from the
contracted state shown in Figure 2 to an extended state
thereby allowing more space on the rail. In particular,
when the retailer wishes to view a particular garment, the
garments on each side of that garment may be pushed away
along the rail 4 so as to allow better viewing. When
viewing has been completed the sales person first pushes
all the garments back together onto the central section of
the telescopic horizontal display rail 4, then telescopes
the horizontal rail ~ to its contracted state, and then
operates the securing mechanisms lOa, lOb and lOc in
sequence to allow the vertical column 3 to telescope to
its contracted state within the bag 1, and finally folds
over the flap 5 and secures it in the closed position by
means of the zip fastener 6.
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Figure 3 shows the display stand disassembled when it is
not required for transportation or display purposes. It
will be seen that the display stand can be disassembled
into three smaller sub-assemblies, namely the base 2, the
vertical support column 3 and the horizontal display rail
4 and uppermost telescopic section of the column 3, each
of which sub-assemblies is generally planar. The sub-
assemblies can be placed in the bag 1. The bag 1 can also
be collapsed to a flat state. Collapsing of the bag 1 is
effected by removing and collapsing the internal frame 11.
Figure 1 shows some but not all of the elements of the
frame 11. The disassembled display stand and tha
collapsed internal frame 11 can then be put in the bag 1.
The securing mechanisms lOa, lOb, lOc will now be
described with reference to Figure 5. Each securing
mechanism comprises a spring loaded plunger 12 near the
top of one telescopic section and a complementary socket
near the bottom of the next section. When a particular
telescopic section is pulled upwards the socket at the
bottom thereof comes into register with the plunger 12 at
the top of the following telescopic section, and the
plunger 12 engages in the socket preventing fur~her
relative movement. The telescopic section may be lowered
again by withdrawing the plunger 12 against the spring
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bias. In this way the vertical column 3 may be extended
or contracted in a stepwise manner.
Certain constructional details of the bag 1 and display
stand will now be described. The base 2 of the display
stand has a seat 14 for receiving and locating the lower
end of the vertical column 3. The seat 14 is recessed
thereby preventing the vertical column 3 rotating and thus
unscrewing from the base 2. The base 2 comprises four
feet 15 each of which is provided with a downwardly facing
socket 16 for receiving the screw threaded shank of a
castor 9. The shank of each castor 9 extends upwardly
through a castor protection plate 17 (see Figure 3)
immediately above the castor, through an eye in the single
continuous strip of material which forms the two handles
8, through an eye in the material of the bag 1 and into
the socket 16. The bag 1 is provided on the inside end
faces with pockets (not shown) for receiving sales
literature.
In an alternative construction the base of the display
stand may comprise a rectangular board (not shown~.
The construction according to the invention may also be
used by a traveller to transport the traveller's personal
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clothing. For example a business traveller may use the
container to transport business suits and shirts~
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