U.S. patent number 3,892,450 [Application Number 05/444,905] was granted by the patent office on 1975-07-01 for combination storage and display rack.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hallmark Cards, Incorporated. Invention is credited to Jess C. Bushyhead, Edward J. Kolster, Harvey L. Kolster.
United States Patent |
3,892,450 |
Kolster , et al. |
July 1, 1975 |
Combination storage and display rack
Abstract
A low cost, multi-purpose fixture for showcasing greeting cards
or the like which includes a series of upright, vertically stacked,
horizontally extending card supporting racks arranged to provide
full view display of each type of card. The display racks are of
uniform, generally J-shaped cross section permitting relatively
inexpensive extrusion fabrication thereof and normally are located
in inclined, covering disposition to adjacent, rearward, open
pockets adapted for storage of replacement supplies of merchandise.
In preferred forms, forward upright sections of the individual
racks are of transparent material to serve as keepers which do not
in any way interfere with full viewing of the displayed articles
and facilitate customer selection thereof without the need for
individual inspection of each article in the fixture. When
restocking of the fixture is required, the separate display racks
can simply be swung open to permit access to the replacement
supplies of merchandise stored in the pockets therebehind. In this
fashion restocking time and costs are drastically reduced, and a
convenient method for determining the need for reordering is
provided by virtue of the fact that a dealer's entire supply of a
given article can be conveniently stored in one section of a single
display fixture.
Inventors: |
Kolster; Edward J. (Lexington,
MO), Bushyhead; Jess C. (Kansas City, MO), Kolster;
Harvey L. (Grain Valley, MO) |
Assignee: |
Hallmark Cards, Incorporated
(Kansas City, MO)
|
Family
ID: |
23766827 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/444,905 |
Filed: |
February 22, 1974 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/117; 312/234;
211/55 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47F
5/0037 (20130101); A47F 7/144 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47F
5/00 (20060101); A47F 7/14 (20060101); A47b
047/00 (); A47b 087/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;312/50,117,118,120,183,234 ;211/55,148 ;40/78 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Nunberg; Casmir A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Schmidt, Johnson, Hovey &
Williams
Claims
Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and
desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:
1. A combination storage and display fixture, comprising:
a back wall;
stationary pocket-defining structure attached to the forward face
of said back wall and presenting a plurality of superposed,
stationary, transversely extending storage pockets;
an elongated, generally transversely J-shaped display rack in
covering disposition to each of said storage pockets, and including
a forward keeper of lesser height than the back wall of said rack
which extends substantially the entire length of the latter for
retaining display merchandise within said rack;
means pivotally mounting each of said racks in said disposition and
permitting pivotal movement thereof with respect to the stationary
storage pocket therebehind in order to allow selective access to
the latter; and
frame structure supporting said back wall and display racks in
inclined, merchandise receiving and displaying disposition.
2. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 1 wherein said display racks include upright backwalls,
forwardly extending bottom walls, and upright keepers of
transparent material along the forward transverse marginal edges
thereof.
3. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 1 wherein means are provided for limiting the forward and
rearward pivotal movement of said racks.
4. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 3 including stop means on the interior face of the sidewalls
of said frame means for limiting the forward pivotal movement of
said respective display racks.
5. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 4 wherein said stop means comprises L-shaped stop members
attached to said sidewalls with inwardly extending legs in
disposition for interrupting the forward pivotal movement of said
respective display racks.
6. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 1 wherein a rearwardly extending, two-section storage
compartment is attached to the lower marginal edge of said
backwall, there being a pivotally mounted display rack in covering
disposition to said storage compartment.
7. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 1 wherein said storage pockets are defined by a series of
vertically spaced, transverse, forwardly extending pocket-defining
supports affixed to the forward face of said backwall.
8. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 7 wherein each of said pocket defining supports include a
forward extension having an integral, transversely extended rounded
portion defining a pivot pin for pivotally mounting said display
racks thereon.
9. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 1 including sidewalls attached to said backwall, each of said
display racks being pivotally mounted at the forward edges thereof
to respective sidewalls at points proximal to the forward marginal
edges of the latter.
10. The combination storage and display fixture as set forth in
claim 9 wherein is provided inwardly extending pivot pins attached
to respective sidewalls for pivotally mounting said display rack
thereon.
Description
This invention relates to a low cost, multi-purpose fixture for
displaying greeting cards, novelties or other similar items which
includes merchandise storage pockets located directly behind
separate, covering, independently pivotally mounted display racks
which are adapted to receive merchandise for sale. More
particularly, it is concerned with a display fixture which includes
vertically staggered, inclined back wall structure defining a
series of vertically stacked, horizontally extending storage
pockets, with separate, integral, transversely extending, extruded
synthetic resin display racks of uniform, generally J-shaped cross
section in covering disposition to the respective pockets for
receiving sale articles and being pivotally openable to permit
access to the storage pockets therebehind.
In the merchandising of greeting cards, small ceramic novelties and
other generally planar items, it has conventionally been a practice
to employ upstanding display fixtures which generally are
relatively bulky in size and that usually include a series of
transversely extending, stepped ledges having upright keeper walls
along the forwardmost edges of the individual ledges. Such fixtures
have also frequently included overhead fluorscent or incandescent
lighting to illuminate the displayed articles, as well as storage
drawers therebelow located to receive replacement supplies of
merchandise. The articles to be displayed are simply placed in the
respective sections of the fixture for customer inspection and
selection. In order to permit display of a maximum number of cards
in a minimum of vertical space, they were usually supported in
overlapping layers with two-thirds of each row, except for the one
at the bottom, being obscured by the row of cards therebelow.
Relatively large storage drawers were necessarily required to
provide replacement stock for the large number of cards on display
and the resulting card display unit was not only of relatively
large size but more importantly was expensive and did not do a
totally effective job of effectively merchandising the cards placed
on display therein.
Although prior display fixtures as described have been successfully
used in the past, steady increases in the costs of merchandising
space have made it mandatory that more efficient product display
units now be made available to retail outlets. Not only must the
display units occupy less overall space, but desirably they should
also make it unnessary for customers to manually inspect the
various displayed articles by individually removing the same from
the fixture for perusal thereof until a final selection is made. As
can be appreciated, this is not only a time consuming process which
inevitably lessens the number of prospective customers which may
have access to a given display, but moreover merchandise losses due
to the frequent handling of the displayed articles by customers is
accentuated.
Futhermore, distributors and shopkeepers have long been aware that
the restocking of conventional display fixtures is a costly and
time consuming procedure. When it was determined that the supply of
a given item was insufficient, it was necessary to pull open the
large, common storage drawers below the fixture, find the
appropriate items (usually by manufacturer's number since the
partially obscured cards in the rack could not be quickly
identified by sight), restock the fixture and close the drawers.
This procedure blocked off floor space, particularly in critical
aisle areas and made it desireable that such restocking be done
during hours when the store area was not open to the public.
Waiting until the store closed to do restocking though presented
problems with personnel to do the job and resulted in instances of
lost sales where displayed articles became depleted but were still
available in the storage areas.
One response to the problems outlined above is illustrated in
co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 3,302,797 wherein a display fixture is
disclosed having a series of independent, pivotally mounted display
pockets for greeting cards, in conjunction with a separate storage
area behind each display pocket for holding a supply of the cards
on display. After selecting a particular card, the customer was
required to pull open a respective shelf member to gain access to a
card of the type chosen and to then reclose the combination shelf
and door assembly. While the fixture illustrated in U.S. Pat. No.
3,302,797 provided an acceptable answer to a number of the problems
that existed theretofore, the cost of the structure in many
instances rendered it uncompetitive with conventional rack type
display units. This stemmed principally from the fact that the
separate, independently openable display pockets had to be
individually fabricated at relatively high cost. Furthermore, the
general complexity of the fixture inherent in the use of separate
display pockets for each individual article increased the cost of
the overall fixture to a level which in many cases was
unacceptable.
Another problem created by this type of fixture stemmed from the
fact that only greeting cards of certain maximum dimensions
corresponding to those of the display pockets could be effectively
showcased therein. Also, it was impractical to display ceramic
novelties or other oddly shaped articles in this type of fixture,
thus limiting its overall utility.
It is therefore the most important object of this invention to
provide a display fixture for articles such as greeting cards or
the like which incorporates full face, unobscured display of the
cards on a relatively narrow package that not only takes up very
little floor space but still retains adequate storage for
replacement stock, yet may be manufactured at a cost which renders
it competitive with older style rack units when the overall
advantages of the fixtures are compared one with the other.
A further important object of the invention is to provide a display
fixture as described wherein economy of manufacture and fabrication
is obtained without sacrifice of functionality by the use of
generally J-shaped article display rack members which are of
uniform cross sectional configuration so that they may be extruded
from synthetic resin material using a relatively inexpensive die.
Moreover, such racks lend themselves to pivotal mounting on the
fixture housing so that they may be placed over storage pockets
making up a part of the fixture housing whereby the rack members
not only support the cards in full face disposition for complete
viewing thereof by customers, but also serve to hide the storage
compartment without interfering with ready access thereto when
necessary to replenish the stock available to a purchaser.
Another object of the invention is to provide a combination display
and storage fixture of the type described wherein positive
retention of a number of cards of each display rack member is
assured without blocking the customer's ability to see the entire
face of the outermost of group of cards stacked one behind the
other on the display support by virtue of the use of upstanding
transparent keeper walls forming the forward upright segment of the
separate display racks. Thus, not only is customer selection of the
displayed merchandise facilitated, but losses due to excessive
customer handling and inspection of the displayed items are
drastically reduced.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a fixture as
described which requires a minimum of floor space and permits the
use of separate, plate like spacer means adapted to be secured to
the transparent keeper segment of the respective display racks
transversely thereof to provide individual merchandise pockets for
respective sale articles to thereby facilitate restocking of the
fixture, give desirable display flexibility thereto, and minimize
the need for continual straightening of the displayed articles. The
spacer means are preferably of the snap-on variety in order to
facilitate the display of greeting cards of varying dimensions
along with other oddly shaped solid articles.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a display
fixture of the characteristics previously delineated wherein means
is provided on the front of each article supporting rack permitting
mounting of an identifying indicia thereon as for example, the type
of cards displayed immediately above thus permitting different
types of cards to be mounted as a single unit and allowing the
retailer to vary the display at will for seasonal promotions and
any other changes he might decide to make.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of combination display and storage
rack embodying the preferred design and functional characteristics
of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side view in vertical section of the fixture shown in
FIG. 1, with the pivoting movement of one of the spearate display
racks being illustrated in phantom;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary view in vertical section of the
embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIG. 2 wherein the
pivotally movable display rack is swingably attached along the
forward transverse edge of the support therefor;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, front elevational view showing a pivotally
movable display rack of the invention prior to installation thereof
on an inwardly extending pivot pin attached to the sidewall of the
overall frame of the fixture, with the normal attached disposition
of the rack being shown by phantom lines; and
FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical cross sectional view
showing a pivotally movable display rack in its article display
position which also serves to cover the associated storage pocket
aligned therewith;
A display fixture in accordance with the present invention shown in
perspective in FIG. 1 and is designated generally by the numeral
10. Broadly, fixture 10 comprises an upright frame structure
including a pair of spaced, upstanding slotted standards 12 and 14
having a pair of forwardly extending beams 15 adjacent thereto, the
latter being joined by forward transverse beam 16. The base section
of the fixture 10 is completed by provision of forwardly tapered
side plates 17 which are attached to respective standards 12 and 14
by inserting hook structures on the rearmost vertical edges of the
side plates into complemental slots therefor on the spaced
standards. This skeletal frame structure can be positioned adjacent
a wall or can form a merchandising "island" in an aisle area, in
which case only a single set of standards need be employed with the
remaining base components connected as described to the opposed,
slotted faces thereof. When in a desired position, a storage
compartment 18 (which may be in the form of an open top,
two-section bin having spaced sidewalls 23 and pivotally openable
forward doors 20.
The display section of fixture 10 comprises an inclined backwall 22
having a pair of rearwardly extending sidewalls 24 and 26 connected
thereto. For convenience and economy of manufacture, backwall 22
may be fabricated from a single large section of sheet metal which
has a series of rearwardly projecting hooks 28 permenantly attached
to the rear marginal edges thereof. Hooks 28 are adapted to be
inserted within complemental slots in the respective standards 12
and 14, as depicted in FIG. 2. Thus when it is desired to install
the back and sidewall section of fixture 10, this integral unit may
be positioned simply by inserting hooks 28 into slots provided
therefor in standards 12 and 14. In this regard, the lower marginal
edges of sidewalls 24 and 26 are preferably supported by the
uppermost peripheral edges of sidewalls 23 of storage compartment
18. In order to prevent forward rotational movement of backwall 22,
an elongated retainer 30 is provided which is attached to the
underside of the lowermost base segment 32 which is positioned
between the respective sidewalls 24 and 26 and aids in the support
of backwall 22. Retainer 30 is adapted to engage and seat on an
elongated wooden beam 34 which extends the entire width of fixture
10 between the sidewalls 23 of compartment 18. In the well known
manner, retainer 30 prevents forward pivotal movement of backwall
22 when installed on the frame assembly.
A transversely extending, cavity-defining section 36 is welded or
otherwise permenantly affixed to the lowermost edge of backwall 22.
Section 36 is disposed at an obtuse angle with respect to backwall
22 and is partitioned into two separate storage compartments 38 and
40 for purposes to be made clear hereinafter. The section is
suspended from backwall 22 and includes a depending support wall 37
which terminates in transversely extending foot portion 39, the
latter being secured to the upper face of the lowermost base
segment 32 as depicted in FIG. 2.
A series of spaced, transverse, forwardly extending stepped support
members 42 are affixed to the forward face of backwall 22 in order
to divide the latter into discrete sections. Each support 42
includes an upstanding portion 43 serving as a stop ledge for the
display rack immediately therebelow, as will be described
hereinafter. Lowermost support 42 is attached to an upturned lip of
backwall 22 to define a storage pocket 47. The intermediate
supports 42 are provided with upstanding ledge-defining means 48
spaced from backwall 22 to thereby present individual storage
pockets 50 and 52. Thus, a series of discrete, vertically spaced
storage pockets are provided for fixture 10, the purpose of which
will be discussed in detail hereinafter.
A number of preferably extruded, synthetic resin display racks 54
of uniform, generally J-shaped cross-section are provided for
receiving articles to be displayed and located in covering
relationship to respective storage pockets 47, 50 and 52, as well
as to cavity-defining section 36 and the uppermost section of
fixture 10, thus enhancing the overall appearance of the fixture.
In particular, the separate, transversely extending racks 54 (which
are preferably formed of opaque or translucent synthetic resin
material) include upright backwall portions 56 which extend
substantially the entire height of the respective storage pockets
to cover the same, with integral, normally inclined base sections
58 of sufficient width to receive a plurality of the articles to be
sold, if the latter comprise greeting cards or the like. The
forwardmost upstanding keeper walls 60 of racks 54 are
advantageously composed of transparent synthetic resin material
which allows complete viewing of articles displayed in the
individual racks. As depicted, uppermost rack 54 is attached to the
upper marginal edge of backwall 22 by means of integral, transverse
clip 57 forming a part of backwall portion 56 thereof.
Referring specifically to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the upright
transparent keeper walls 60 are frictionally or adhesively
connected to the forward edges of bases 58 which are configured to
present wall receiving slots 62 for this purpose. Slots 62 are in
part defined by short, upstanding sections 64 having transverse,
opposed ears 66 on the external face thereof. The ears 66 of
sections 64 define opposed grooves 68 which serve to removably hold
indicia bearing plates or cards which identify the particular type
of product (and optionally the price thereof) supported thereabove
in the rack.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in detail in
FIG. 3, the forward transverse edge of the respective supports 42
is rounded to define a self-contained, arcuate pivot pin 74 which
is adapted to be received in the arcuate groove presented by jaw
sections 72 provided in the underside of the forward marginal end
of respective racks 54. In this fashion, pivotal connection of the
racks 54 to the supportive frame is provided which permits pivotal
opening of the display racks 54 to allow selective access to
associated storage pockets located behind each of the same, save
for uppermost rack 54 which is clipped onto backwall 22 as
described and thus does not require pivotal mounting.
The individual display racks 54 can also be pivotally mounted
within the overall frame of the fixture by respective pairs of
opposed, inwardly extending pivot pins 70 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) which
are attached to sidewalls 24 and 26 respectively at points proximal
to the forward marginal edges thereof. For this purpose the
underside of each base 58 includes a transverse arcuate jaw section
72 along the forward marginal end thereof which is adapted to
receive the opposed pivot pins 70 to allow pivotal movement of the
entire display rack 54 pivotally supported thereon. As with the
embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the upright transparent keeper wall 60
of each rack 54 which pivots with the latter is of a height to
assure retantion of the articles within the racks 54 during such
swinging movement.
Preferably, the racks 54 each include a plurality of separate,
removable, clip-on article spacers 76 which serve to separate the
longitudinal lenghts of each rack 54 into a series of discrete
article receiving pockets. In this regard, spacers 76 include
generally planar wall segments 78 which extend between backwalls 56
of racks 54 and the upstanding tansparent keeper walls 60 thereof.
A frictional snap-fit connection between the spacers 76 and keeper
walls 60 is assured by means of resilient, downwardly extending
connection tongues 80 which are integral with the planar walls 78.
As can be appreciated, spacers 78 are shiftable to any desired
position along the separate keeper walls 52 and can be easily
removed and repositioned as the need arises.
In the construction of the fixture 10, upright standards 12 and 14
are first set up along with forwardly extending beams 15 and
transverse beam 16, and side plates 17. Compartment 18 is then
placed on the respective lower beams between sideplates 17. This
presents an upright skeletal frame assembly which can be positioned
as desired in a given merchandising area. The overall backwall 22
with rearwardly extending sidewalls 24 and 26 is then attached to
spaced standards 12 and 14 by inserting hooks 28 attached thereto
into the complemental slots provided in the standards. Installation
is completed by positioning retainer 30 over beam 34 to preclude
forward pivotal movement of backwall 22 and to securely affix the
latter in fixture 10 in a desired inclined orientation.
The separate pivotally movable display racks 54 are next positioned
within the fixture by snapping the arcuate jaw segments 72 thereof
onto pivot pins 70 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, or preferrably over
rounded sections 74 of FIG. 3. (In this regard lowermost base
section 32 (see FIG. 2) is likewise provided with a transverse
rounded section 74a to permit mounting of lowermost rack 54.) In
this manner, it is possible to swing the pivotal display racks 54
about the pivot axes defined by these elements in both a forward
and rearward direction. Installation of the display racks is
completed by snapping clip 57 of uppermost rack 54 over the top
marginal edge of backwall 22, as described above, to produce a
stationary upper rack with no storage pocket therebehind. Any
desired number of space elements 76 can then be attached to the
upright transparent keeper walls 60 of the separate display racks
54, in order to present a series of article receiving pockets
throughout fixture 10.
Each of the movable display racks 54 can then be swung forwardly as
needed to give access to the storage pocket therebehind. Forward
pivotal movement of the racks is limited by provision of generally
L-shaped brackets 82 affixed to the inside of walls 24 and 26.
Brackets 82 include inwardly extending segments 84 which are
positioned to stop racks 54 during pivotal movement thereof.
Rearward movement of these racks is limited by abutment of the
upper marginal edges of backwalls 56 thereof with the stepped
portion 43 provided in the support 42 immediately thereabove.
In the use of the fixture in accordance with the present invention,
the shopkeeper first stocks the individual display racks 54 with
any desired merchandise such as greeting cards, and places his
reserve or replacement supply thereof in the storage pocket
immediately below. In the case of the lower display rack 54 as
shown in FIG. 2, one section of the two-compartment,
cavity-defining section 36 can be utilized for such secondary
storage, while the remaining section thereof can hold secondary
supplies for the rack immediately thereabove. In the case of
greeting cards, a plurality of cards and associated envelopes are
placed in a compartment of a respective rack 54 for selection by
prospective customer.
When a particular item on rack 54 is sold out or depleted, the
shopkeeper has only to swing the display rack therebelow forwardly
as shown in phantom in FIG. 2 in order to remove the needed
articles from the storage pocket therebehind. In this manner the
stocking clerk has an unimpeded view of the rack to be stocked,
since the latter is not disturbed during such work. In this
fashion, restocking time and the consequent costs thereof are
significantly reduced because the shopkeeper can quickly restock a
given item without the need of stooping and tediously examining the
contents of a large, common storage drawer. Moreover, reordering of
a given item or items is likewise facilitated because the
shopkeeper can tell at a glance if his supplies need replenishment
simply by opening the respective display racks 54 and inspecting
the contents of the associated storage pockets therebehind.
Another additional advantage obtained through the use of fixtures
in accordance with the invention stems from the fact that customer
inspection and selection of the displayed articles is facilitated,
thereby permitting greater flow of customer traffic which leads to
greater sales. In particular, by virtue of the transparent keeper
walls 60, it is possible for the customer to visually inspect the
greeting cards or the like within the fixture without the need of
manually removing the same therefrom for close perusal. Therefore,
the customer can tell at a glance the overall design of a given
greeting card or the nature of a specific article, and thereby can
make his selection in reduced time. Furthermore, because the
displayed articles are handled much less frequently, losses
associated with article soilage attributable to frequent handling
of the merchandise is reduced.
Also by virtue of the described construction, it is possible to
produce a display rack requiring substantially less floor space
than normally needed, while nevertheless being capable of holding
substantially the same or greater amounts of sale merchandise as
conventional fixtures. This not only is pleasing aesthetically, but
is of considerable importance to the small shopkeeper or in
situations where space is at a premium.
* * * * *