Combined product hanger and label support

Abstract

A combined product hanger and label support, especially for banana bunches or the like, comprising a label support essentially constituted by a planar plate member having opposed edges, at one of which there protrudes a hanger or suspension hook and at the other of which there protrudes from the plane of the label support expandable resilient arms intended to engage with the products to be hung. Means cooperate with the suspension hook to prevent undesirable release of the suspension hook from the carrying support engaged thereby. Such means can be for instance in the form of a projecting nose member which reduces the effective opening through which passes the carrier support so that the same can only be inserted into the engaged position with the hanger by forcing such therethrough.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of combined hanger and label support for articles or products, particularly for bunches of bananas.

The prior art is familiar with different constructions of hanger devices for products, especially for bunches of bananas, wherein a label support is provided at one side with suspension means, for instance an eyelet or a hook for suspending the support at a nail, rod, wire or the like of a sales display stand, and at the other side with hook portions intended to engage with the articles or products to be displayed for sale. Different requirements are imposed upon such holders. They should be inexpensive, preferably formed of one piece from plastic, simple and should be capable of being positively connected with the goods and positively remain connected with the goods as well as with the suspension device at which the combined hanger and label support with the therewith attached products are hung.

While it has been found that the prior art is not without numerous proposals of product hangers attempting to satisfy the various requirements, up to the present there has not been found to exist any such hanger with is capable of satisfactorily and reliably fulfilling each of the aforementioned requirements. It has been found that oftentimes after the articles are suspended by means of such type hanger at the display stand or the like they tend to detach from the suspension element, for instance the hanger rod, particularly during jarring or transport of the display stand. Consequently, the articles drop off of the supporting element or rod and become damaged as well as of course rendering unattractive the display arrangement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Hence it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved construction of combined hanger and label support which effectively and reliably fulfills the existing need in the art and is not associated with the aforementiond drawbacks and limitations of the prior art constructions.

Another and more specific object of the present invention aims at the provision of a new and improved construction of combined hanger and label support which is equipped with means for counteracting any tendency of the combined hanger and label support to drop off of the supporting element at the display area.

Now in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, there is provided a product hanger and label support, especially for banana bunches, comprising a label support constituted by an essentially flat plate member having a suspension hook protruding from one edge and from the opposite edge resilient expandable arms for engaging with the product to be suspended. The suspension hook provides an opening for receiving a suspension element at which the product hanger and label support together with the product is suspended. According to important aspects of the invention there are provided means cooperating with the suspension hook for reducing the effective size of the opening through which passes the suspension element when the hanger and its therewith attached product is suspended such that the suspension element can only be forced through such opening due to the resilient characteristics of the hanger, particularly the suspension hook. In this way there is ensured that once the hanger with the product engaged thereby is suspended at the suspension element it cannot unintentionally drop off therefrom. The means cooperating with the suspension hook can be for instance in the form of a protruding nose member extending in the direction of the suspension hook for reducing the suspension element "threading" opening between the free end of the suspension hook and the confronting edge of the plate member of the label support.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of combined product hanger and label support according to the invention:

FIG. 2 is an end view of the combined hanger and label support depicted in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a front view, similar to the showing of FIG. 1, of a further embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Describing now the drawing the illustrated exemplary embodiment of combination product hanger and label support as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 is advantageously formed of one piece from plastic and will be seen to embody a relatively large surface flat label support or carrier 1 formed from a plate member which may have any desired shape, advantageously possessing a substantially rectangular or square configuration. One of the flat faces of the label support serves for adhesively securing thereto any suitable product marker, typically labels which for instance are dispensed from an automatic balance or weighing device as the same are conventionally employed in commercial establishments, such as supermarkets or other retail food stores.

To facilitate stacking of the combined hanger and label supports, in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 the plate-like label carrier or support 1 is provided with a pair of spaced projections 2 which protrude from one face of the label support 1. These projections or protuberances 2 may possess a substantially truncated cone-like cross-sectional configuration although other cross-sectional shapes are possible. In any event, the projections 2 of one label support can engage with the similar projections of the next situated label support, typically the next overlying label support 1 when a plurality of such combined hanger and label supports are placed in stack formation, for instance in a suitable dispenser. In this way the stacking of these label supports is facilitated and they are retained in their stacked position until the topmost label support of the stack is engaged and lifted by a suitable gripper element for removal from the stack.

Continuing, it will be seen that at the lowermost edge of the plate-like label support 1 there are integrally formed thereat the resilient arms 4 and 5 which collectively form two hook portions which are separated at the root regions thereof by a slot 6 at the label support 1. Hook portion 4 is bent in the usual manner to form a substantially U-like hook and serves as the carrier for the products to be suspended. The hook portion 5 is in the form of a relatively extended member and laterally bears against the free end of the hook portion 4. The hook portion 5 therefore encloses the opening of the hook portion 4. The free end of the hook portion 5 extends downwardly past the free end of the hook portion 4, so that between the downwardly protruding lower free end region of the hook portion 5 and the adjoining upwardly directed free end of the hook portion 4 there is formed a substantially V-shaped gap or space. Both of the hook portions 4 and 5 depend downwardly approximately through the same distance from the lower edge of the label support 1. Application of the label support, for instance to a banana stalk, is readily facilitated by the illustrated construction of the hook portions because both hook portions 4, 5 possess at their free resiliently expandable ends portions which separately protrude from one another. Therefore, it is easy to press one of these portions laterally against the banana stalk which is to be engaged and thus to resiliently spread both of the hook portions 4 and 5 out of the common plane. Then the spread hook portions can be pushed over the product and the hanger released, whereby the hook portions or hooks 4, 5 close. It is also possible for application of the label support to the product to initially apply the unspread hook portions against the banana stalk to be engaged in such a manner that the banana stalk penetrates into the V-shaped gap between the hook portions, then the label support is rotated through 90.degree. in order to spread apart the hook portions and then the banana stalk is introduced between the spread hook portions in the aforedescribed manner.

After the product has been connected with the hook portions 4 and 5 of the label support 1 the latter is typically arranged, that is to say hung or suspended at a suspension element, for instance a display rack. To this end there is provided at the opposite edge of the label support 1 an upstanding suspension hook 3 likewise possessing a substantially U-shaped configuration. This suspension hook 3 encloses an opening for receiving a suspension element, such as a rod shown in cross-section in FIG. 3 by reference numeral 12. In this regard the manner in which the suspension hook 3 engages the support or suspension rod 12 can be equated with a standard clothes hanger where the hook thereof engages with a rod of a clothing rack for example. However, it has been found that oftentimes the suspension hook 3 undesirably becomes detached from the supporting or suspension element 12, with a result that the combined hanger and lable support together with the product held between the hooks 4 and 5 drop and oftentimes damage the product, apart from rendering untidy the display area. Hence, according to a significant aspect of the invention there is provided for the combined hanger and label support means, here in the form of a projection or nose member 10 which extends in the direction of the resilient suspension hook 3. This protruding nose member 10 together with the free end of the suspension hook or hook member 3 delimits an opening a having a dimension such that the supporting element can only be "threaded" through such opening with the application of a certain amount of force so as to resiliently urge the hook member 3 away from the nose member to permit the supporting element 12 to then be engaged by the hook member 3 in the manner shown in FIG. 3. In this way, it should be apparent that the combined hanger and label support must be forced somewhat onto the supporting element or rod 12 and therefore cannot unintentionally drop-off therefrom since detachment of the label support 1 from the supporting element 12 requires a conscious opening of the suspension hook 3 to again unthread the supporting element from the suspension hook 3. if it is assumed that the suspension element 12 is in the form of a rod then the dimension a of the opening between the nose member 2 and the free end of the hook member 3 is slightly less than the diameter of such supporting rod and the space b encompassed by the U-shaped portion of the suspension hook 3 and serving to receive such supporting rod 12.

There are of course possible different modifications of combined hanger and label support from the exemplary embodiment under discussion. For instance, in FIG. 3 there is depicted an exemplary embodiment of combined hanger and label support in which the extended hook portion 5 possesses a nose 7 which partially overlies the arcuate-shaped hook portion 4. Also in this case the hook portion 5 which extends past the free end of the hook portion 4 facilitates application of the combined hanger and label support to the stalk of a banana or other product intended to be suspended by the combined hanger and label support, whereas the nose 7 improves the product engaging action of the hook members 4, 5. Further, it will be recognized that in the embodiment of FIG. 3 instead of the protuberances 2 discussed above with respect to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 here there are provided the transverse reinforcement ribs 8, which likewise form protuberances, but the same do not engage into the hollow spaces of the neighboring protuberances in the manner of the arrangement of FIG. 1. Still, during stacking of the label supports 1 these protruding ribs bear against the underside of the next situated label support, and facilitate sucessively removing one label support after the other from the bottom of the stack of such label supports. Also in this case there is provided the nose member 10 which cooperates with the suspension hook 3 in the manner discussed above.

While there is shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

Accordingly, what is claimed is:

1. A combined hanger and label support comprising:

a label support member formed by an essentially flat plate member having opposed edges;

expandable resilient arm members for engaging the product to be suspended, said members protruding from the plane of the label support member at the region of one of the opposed edges;

a suspension hook extending from the opposite edge of the label support member for engagement with a suspension element to thereby suspend the combined hanger and label support, said suspension hook having a free end;

a nose member protruding from the plane of the label support member adjacent the free end of said suspension hook, said nose member and the free end of said suspension hook delimiting an opening for receiving therebetween said suspension element, said opening being smaller in size than the suspension element so that the suspension element can only be forcefully inserted through said opening for engagement by the suspension hook to thereby prevent unintentional release of the combined hanger and label support from the suspension hook; and

projection means protruding generally perpendicularly from the plane of said label support member for facilitating stacking of a plurality of such combined hanger and label supports, the projection means of one of said label support members being engageable with the projection means of an overlying label support member when a plurality of combined hanger and label supports are placed in a stack-like array.

2. The combined hanger and label support according to claim 1, wherein said projection means comprises a pair of spaced substantially truncated cone-like projections.