U.S. patent number 3,601,432 [Application Number 04/824,933] was granted by the patent office on 1971-08-24 for display fixture frame structure.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Streater Industries. Invention is credited to Earl Christensen, Jay G. Fenwick.
United States Patent |
3,601,432 |
Fenwick , et al. |
August 24, 1971 |
DISPLAY FIXTURE FRAME STRUCTURE
Abstract
The invention relates to a frame assembly having general utility
and specific utility for a display fixture of a type commonly found
in department stores. A horizontal sway brace for the fixture is
connected by means of hooks to vertically extending members
referred to as standards. A pivotally mounted locking device is
provided for locking the hooks in their inserted position.
Inventors: |
Fenwick; Jay G. (N/A, MN),
Christensen; Earl (N/A, MN) |
Assignee: |
Industries; Streater
(MN)
|
Family
ID: |
25242689 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/824,933 |
Filed: |
May 15, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
403/230; 211/182;
211/190; 211/192; 248/243; 403/190; 403/252; 403/319; 248/222.13;
248/220.42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16B
7/22 (20130101); A47F 5/103 (20130101); A47B
57/40 (20130101); A47B 57/408 (20130101); Y10T
403/587 (20150115); F16B 2200/20 (20180801); Y10T
403/46 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
A47B
57/00 (20060101); A47F 5/10 (20060101); A47B
57/40 (20060101); E04G 003/08 (); E04G 007/00 ();
F16B 005/07 (); F16B 007/22 () |
Field of
Search: |
;211/176,177,148,182
;248/243,220.5,157 ;108/144,107 ;5/296
;287/54B,54C,54A,189.36C,189.36 ;292/153,108 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Britts; Ramon S.
Claims
We claim:
1. A structural assembly comprising, a vertically extending tubular
member having vertically aligned and spaced-apart slots, a hook
member having a plate portion with a vertically extending forward
edge, at least two hooks protruding forwardly from said edge and
being vertically spaced so as to register with two of said slots in
said tubular member, said plate portion forming a recess relative
to said forward edge immediately above and inwardly relative to one
of said hooks, a lock member pivotally mounted on said plate
portion and being movable between locked and unlocked positions,
said lock member having a tab portion in the general plane of said
plate portion, said tab portion being disposed in said recess to
assume an unlocked position and being movable from said unlocked
position to a locked position in one of said tubular member slots
above said one of said hooks, and camming surfaces between said tab
portion and said one of said hooks which effects tightening of said
tab portion in its locked position.
Description
The invention relates to a structural frame assembly of a type
having general utility and specific utility as a frame for a
department store display fixture known as a gondola.
Frame structures for certain types of display fixtures are of
modular design and comprise vertically extending posts, referred to
as standards, and a pair of laterally and oppositely extending base
arms for maintaining each standard in a vertical position. The
length of the frame structure for a display fixture of the type to
which the present invention is directed is optionally dependent
upon the number of standards used. Structural members referred to
as sway braces are used to connect a series of standards together
to complete the frame structure.
The sway braces are connected to the standards by means of a type
of hook known in the art as a bed hook. This type of hook has
proved its basic utility over the years by having had wide usage in
a great many different types of installations.
The use of this type of hook for display fixture frames as referred
to above is very advantageous because it provides a resulting
strong frame assembly which can be assembled very simply without
the use of hand tools. Display fixture frames are subjected to
relatively heavy loading, however, and one disadvantage of prior
art bed hook designs is that the clearance tolerances necessary to
permit the easy assembly referred to prevents the resulting frame
from being completely rigid. This disadvantage is overcome or
avoided by providing locking means in accordance with the present
invention which functions to lock the hooks in their hooked
positions with a camming action. The camming action takes up the
clearances by forcing mutually engaging parts together to eliminate
relative movement between the parts and thus provide a resulting
rigid frame structure.
The main object of the invention is to provide a new and improved
frame structure having hooks to facilitate assembling the structure
and locking means for forcing and maintaining the parts connected
by the hooks into a firm and rigid engagement.
A further object is to provide new and improved locking means for
hook-type fasteners of the kind referred to above in which a
camming action or principle is utilized to firmly secure the hooked
parts together to form a strong and rigid frame structure.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent
from the following specification, drawings and appended claims.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a structural or frame
assembly embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1 except that it is an enlarged
lesser overall view with a portion thereof shown exploded;
FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a portion of the structure shown
in FIG. 1 with parts broken away to show the hooking and locking
arrangement of the invention; and
FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4--4 of FIG.
3.
Referring to the drawings, there is shown, with reference to FIGS.
1 and 2, a fragmentary perspective view of a frame assembly of a
type having general utility. The frame assembly also has specific
utility for a particular type display fixture commonly found in
department stores and referred to as a gondola.
The frame assembly has tubular type, vertically extending, slotted
standards 10 and 11. The number of such standards used is optional
and, in the case of a gondola display fixture, depends on the
desired length of the display fixture. On opposite sides of each
standard 10 and 11 are laterally extending base arms 13 to 16 which
hook into slots in the standards in a known manner to provide
lateral vertical support for the standards.
Between each pair of standards, such as between the standards 10
and 11, and between the standard 11 and the next adjacent standard
(not shown) aligned with standards 10 and 11, are structural
members referred to herein as sway braces with sway braces 20 and
21 being illustrated. With reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, each sway
brace, such as the sway brace 20, is elongated and tubular in form
and has a rectangularly shaped cross section.
Depending from opposite ends of each sway brace such as the sway
brace 20 is a hook member 24. The two hook members 24 may be and
are illustrated as being identical to each other. Each hook member
24 comprises a plate 28 having the general shape of a right
triangle. Sway brace 20 has a centrally located, longitudinally
extending seam on the bottom side thereof which is enlarged at each
end thereof to form slots through which the upper ends of the
plates 28 of hook members 24 extend as illustrated. The plates 28
are fixedly attached to the sway brace 20 in the illustrated
positions as by welding.
Vertically extending standards 10 and 11 each has, on opposite
sides thereof, centrally located, longitudinally extending recessed
grooves 32. In the lower portion of each of the grooves 32 are a
pair of vertically aligned and spaced-apart slots 33 and 34.
Each hook member 24 has a vertical forward edge 38 from which
protrudes two hooks 39 and 40, these hooks being vertically spaced
and aligned so as to be registerable with the standard slots 33 and
34. Each of the hooks 39 and 40 has a lesser height than the height
of each of the standard slots 33 and 34. In the assembly operation,
the standards 10 and 11 on the one hand, and the brace 20 on the
other hand, are maintained in vertical and horizontal positions,
respectively, while being joined, the joining being accomplished by
the insertion of the hooks 39 and 40 into the standard slots 33 and
34.
Immediately above the lower hook 40 and recessed rearwardly
relative to the plate edge 38 is a recess 50. The recess 50 is
utilized in connection with locking the hook member in its attached
position as will appear further on.
An elongated locking member 55 is pivotally mounted on each of the
plates 28, as with a rivet 56, at a point vertically above the
recess 50. Locking member 55 has a flat, main body portion 57 which
is in a general plane immediately adjacent the general plane of the
plate 28 of the hook member 24. Locking member 55 also has a tab
portion 58 which has a normally unlocked position in the recess 50
and is connected to the body portion 57 with an orthogonally
arranged strut portion 59. The tab portion 58 is in the same
general plane as the plate 28 of the hook member 24 and a flange
portion 60 is provided to facilitate the actuation of the locking
member 55.
When the hooks 39 and 40 are in their inserted positions, as shown
most clearly in FIG. 3, there remains a space in the slot 34 above
the upper edge 62 of hook 40 into which the tab portion 58 may be
inserted to effect a locking action. This insertion of the tab
portion is accomplished by applying a force to the flange portion
60 so as to cause pivoting of the locking member 53 in a clockwise
direction. Only a limited pivotal movement is possible in that the
tab portion 58 can only be moved to and fro between two closely
spaced positions which is the space at the top of slot 34 in the
standard 10 or 11 and the recess 50 in the plate portion 28 of
member 24.
The upper edge 62 of the hook 40 is slightly inclined to provide a
tightening camming action between the tab portion 58 and the hook
40 as the tab portion is moved into its locking position.
There is thus provided camming surfaces between the upper edge of
hook 40 and the lower edge of tab portion 58. These camming
surfaces function to firmly secure the hooked parts together to
form a strong and rigid frame structure.
* * * * *