Placard Holding Display Assembly

Abstract

A display assembly includes a vertical panel having horizontal guides between which removable display placards are held and a base which holds the panel in an upright position during normal wind conditions. The base has side walls constructed from a resilient material, such as a thermoplastic material. When the panel is subjected to abnormal winds, the base side walls are distorted from their normal shape and the panel is allowed to tip over in the direction of the prevailing winds. This tipping of the panel reduces the assembly's resistance to wind, and hence, its vulnerability to wind damage. When the wind decreases to a normal level, the side walls spring back to their normal shape and the panel is returned to the upright position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a display assembly, and more particularly, to a display assembly for holding removable display placards.

Display assemblies holding removable display placards are widely used for point-of-purchase advertising. Such display assemblies are frequently used outdoors, such as by service stations to advertise gasoline prices, new products, etc., and are therefore subjected to prevailing winds. The generally vertical display placards offer considerable resistance to the wind thereby making the display assembly vulnerable to damage by high winds, e.g. being bent completely over or badly distorted. In order to overcome this problem, one prior art approach has been to attach the display placard to a frame assembly in a manner so that they are free to "swing in the breeze." Typically, the display placard is either mounted at its upper end in a holding fixture which is swingably attached to an outer frame assembly or includes several segments, each of which is swingably attached to an outer frame assembly. U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 96,914, filed on Dec. 10, 1970 by the applicant and assigned to present assignee, discloses another approach for overcoming this problem. That application discloses a self-righting placard holding assembly which is counterbalanced in a manner to maintain the placard in a upright position during normal wind conditions but allows the placard to tip over in the direction of the prevailing wind.

Although display assemblies arranged in any of these manners are quite acceptable, the multiplicity of parts and types of materials required for the fabrication thereof add to their overall cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive placard holding display assembly which is capable of withstanding severe wind conditions.

The display assembly of this invention includes a normally vertical panel holding one or more display placards mounted on a base. The base is constructed from a resilient material and arranged in a normal shape, preferably having bowed sidewalls, to maintain the panel in an upright position during normal wind conditions. When the wind exceeds a predetermined normal level, the base flexes or distorts from its normal shape, e.g. one sidewall becomes more bowed and the other tends to straighten out, and allows the panel to tip over from the vertical in the direction of the prevailing wind. As the wind decreases to a normal level, the base springs back towards its normal shape and the panel is returned to the upright position. This tipping of the panel during strong winds substantially eliminates the vulnerability of the display assembly to wind damage.

The panel and base can be fabricated as an integral unit or can be made as separate parts and assembled at the point of usage. The panel and base are preferably constructed from a lightweight, inexpensive plastic material so they can be fabricated by inexpensive molding techniques.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective, partially exploded, view of a display assembly embodying the present invention shown mounted atop a gas pump.

FIG. 2 is an end elevation view of the display assembly of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Display assembly 10 includes a vertical panel 12 and a base 14. Panel 12 has a plurality of horizontal, channel-shaped guides 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30. Removable display placards 32, 34, 36, and 38 are held between guides 16 and 18, 20 and 22, 24 and 26 and 28 and 30, respectively. Guides 22 and 30 form a bottom portion 40 of panel 12. Edge members 41,41, which snap on over the ends of the guides, prevent the display placards from slipping out of the guides during use. If desired, one of the edge members can be permanently installed to panel 12, such as being made an integral part thereof, with the other one being removably attached to panel 12 for installation and removal of the display placards, such as being a snap on as shown, hinged to the panel, etc.

Panel 12 is constructed from a lightweight material, preferably from a plastic material so that it can be fabricated by conventional molding techniques. The guides can be formed as an integral part of the panel as shown or can be separate components which are mounted to the panel by conventional means, such as with rivets, nuts and bolts, etc. Any number of guides can be provided depending upon the number of placards desired to be displayed. For instance, if only a single placard is to be displayed on each side of panel 12, guides 18, 20, 26 and 28 would be deleted. Also, the guides, particularly those mounted intermediate the top and bottom of panel 12, can be removably mounted to the panel, such as by bolts or snap-in fasteners extending through aperatures provided in the body of the guides and the panel at appropriate locations, so that the number and size of the display placards can be varied. In lieu of the guides, the display placards can be mounted to the panel by conventional fastening means.

Base 14 has a generally U-shaped, upper section 44 arranged to receive and hold bottom portion 40 of panel 12 and a pair of bowed sidewalls 46,48 extending outwardly and downwardly from upper portion 44 to form a generally triangular cross-section. L-shaped side members 50,50 and bottom member 51 of upper section 44 are arranged so that bottom portion 42 of panel 12 fits snuggly into the guideway provided therebetween. Flanges 52,52, provided on the upper edge of side members 50,50 engage the top edge of guides 22,30 to minimize the upward movement of panel 12. With this arrangement, the display assembly can be easily shipped in an unassembled condition and assembled at the point of use by simply slipping the bottom portion of the panel into the guideway of the upper portion of the base. If desired, the panel and base can be fabricated as a single, integral unit.

Each sidewall is provided with a foot 54 extending horizontally and inwardly therefrom for supporting the display assembly on another structure, such as atop a gas pump 56. Display assembly 10 can be held in place by any convenient means, such as a strip of contact adhesive material 58 mounted to the bottom surface of each foot 54 as shown, a weighted member positioned on top of each foot, clamps, and the like.

Base 14 is constructed from a resilient material and sidewalls 46,48 are configured so that they are capable of being distorted in a manner to allow panel 12 to tip over in the direction of the prevailing wind and yet spring back to their normal shape when the wind decreases to a normal level to return the panel to an upright position. Although the sidewalls are preferred bowed inwardly as shown in FIG. 1, any other configuration which allows a sufficient distortion of the sidewalls to permit the panel to tip over, so as to substantially reduce its resistance to the wind, can be used. For example, each sidewall can be provided with two sections which are connected together along one longitudinal edge at an obtuse angle with the connection therebetween being a molded hinge section.

As shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1, the tipping moment imposed on panel 12 by a high wind causes downwind sidewall 48 to become more bowed while the upwind sidewall 46 tends to straighten out to allow panel 12 to tip over. As the wind returns to a normal predetermined level, sidewalls 46,48 spring back towards their normal shape and panel 12 is returned towards its normal upright position. Sidewalls 46,48 are preferably constructed of thermoplastic material, such as butyrates and polyvinyl chloride material, because of the light weight and inexpensiveness of these materials and the ease at which they formed into the desired bowed shape by conventional molding techniques.

The wind velocity level at which panel 12 tips over is dependent upon several factors. Of course, the tipping moment imposed on the panel at any particular wind velocity is dependent upon the height and width of the panel. The force level at which the base allows the panel to tip over is controlled primarily by the type of material of which the base is constructed and the thickness, shape and height of the sidewalls. The amount of force required to tip the panel over is increased as the rigidity of the material and sidewall thickness is increased and is decreased as the height and amount of bow is increased. For any particular application, these parameters are adjusted to obtain the desired tip over characteristics. The display placards and the panel can be fabricated from a flexible material with an appropriate thickness so that they are also capable of bending to some degree when subjected to high winds. This provides an even further capability for the display assembly to withstand severe wind conditions.

From the above description, it can be seen that the invention provides an extremely simple arrangement for a display assembly which can be used in severe wind conditions without damage. Also, the display assembly of this invention requires a minimum number of components and permits the use of lightweight, inexpensive materials. The inert characteristic of most plastic materials, which can be used, permit the display assembly to be used for extended periods of time in adverse weather conditions without maintenance, while still retaining its aesthetic appeal.

Claims

I claim:

1. A display assembly comprising

a normally vertical sign panel having a bottom portion;

a base having a top portion supporting said panel bottom portion and including a pair of laterally spaced feet positioned on the opposite sides of said panel and resilient side sections extending between each of said feet and said top portion and having a normally generally curved shape, said base side sections retaining said normal shape and maintaining said panel in a vertical position, when wind forces acting on said panel are below a predetermined level, said base side sections distorting from said normal shape with the one on the down wind side of said panel tending to become more curved and the one on the upwind side of said panel tending to straighten to thereby permit said panel to tip over from the vertical in the direction of the wind, when said wind forces exceed the predetermined level, and said base side sections returning to said normal shape to return said panel to a vertical position, when said wind forces fall below said predetermined level, said base top portion and said base side sections are elongated and extend substantially along the entire length of said panel.

2. The display assembly according to claim 1 wherein said base side section are bowed towards each other.

3. The display assembly according to claim 1 wherein said panel includes a plurality of horizontal, vertically spaced, oppositely directed, channel-shaped guides adapted to hold a display placard therebetween.

4. The display assembly according to claim 3 wherein said panel includes retainer means located at the vertical edges of said panel for preventing said placards, after installation, from sliding horizontally out of said guides.

5. The display assembly according to claim 1 wherein said base and panel are of a one-piece construction.

6. The display device according to claim 1 wherein said base and said panel are separate components and said base top portion includes a generally U-shaped guideway for snugly receiving said panel bottom portion.

7. The display assembly according to claim 1 including means for connecting said assembly to a mounting surface.

8. The display assembly according to claim 7 wherein

said connecting means comprises a strip of adhesive material located on the bottom of said feet.

9. A display assembly comprising

a normally vertical sign panel including a bottom portion extending substantially along the length thereof and a plurality of horizontal, vertically spaced, oppositely directed, channel-shaped guides adapted to hold a display placard therebetween;

an elongated base having a top portion supporting said panel bottom portion and extending substantially along the length of said base bottom portion and including a pair of laterally spaced feet positioned on the opposite sides of the said panel and elongated resilient side sections extending between each of said feet and said base top portion, being normally bowed towards each other, and extending substantially along the length of said top portion, said base side sections retaining said normal bow and thereby maintaining said panel in a vertical position, when the wind forces acting on said panel are below a predetermined level, said base side sections distorting from said normal bow with the one on the down wind side of said panel tending to become more bowed and the one on the upwind of said side panel tending to straighten and thereby permitting said panel to tip over from the vertical in the direction of the wind, when said wind forces exceed said predetermined level, and said base side sections returning to said normal bow and thereby returning said panel to a vertical position, when said wind forces fall below said predetermined level.

10. The display assembly according to claim 9 wherein said base and said panel are of a one-piece construction.

11. The display assembly according to claim 9 wherein said base and said panel are separate components and said base top portion includes a generally U-guideway for snugly receiving said panel bottom portion.

12. A display assembly according to claim 11 including a strip of adhesive material located on the bottom of said seat.