US2991040A - Display stand - Google Patents

Description

July 4, 1961 E. M. LEVY DISPLAY STAND Filed on. 19, 1959 INVENTOR. EDWARD M. Law

BY Q 6M 4 Hi-7: 95-

Uni ed S es Patent 2,991,040 DISPLAY STAND Edward M..Levy, 'Evanston, 11]., assignor to Reflector- Hardware Corporation, Melrose Park, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 847,376 1 Claim. (Cl. 248-356) This invention relates to equipment that is especially useful in supporting and presenting merchandise displays and it relates more particularly to a display standard which comprises a part of such equipment.

The owners and managers of most modern retail stores are aware of the fact that the volume of sales of the various individual items in their inventories usually can be increased materially when such items of merchandise are displayed to their greatest advantage. However, because of the' great variety of items handled by retail establishments, many of them, and particularly the smaller ones, have not been able in the past to purchase themany types of special display stands, racks and shelves that have been necessary to present the different kinds 'of merchandise in the most attractive manner. This is particularly true since such stands, racks and shelves have been heretofore of a more or less fixed or permanent nature, and in many instances have been custom built and virtually incapable of modification and ready assembly and disassembly to facilitate movement thereof from one location to another.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a standard which may be used individually as a support for shelves, pegboards, partitions, brackets, etc., in a piece of display equipment or which may be used in conjunction with a plurality of similar standards for supporting shelves and the like; and in which the standard is anchored, in use, between the floor and ceiling of a room, yet is quickly and easily movable from one location to another.

Still another object is that of providing a display standard of the character described which is longitudinally adjustable and, therefore, able to accommodate widely different ceiling heights and which may be adjusted, set up and removed quickly and easily and without the need of special tools and skills.

A further object of the invention is in the provision of a display standard having the characteristics set forth and which is self-anchoring between the floor and ceiling The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in'which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of display equipment embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the display standards comprising a part of the equipment illustrated in FIGURE 1;

1 FIGURE 3 is a further enlarged, broken, vertical sectional viewof the upper end portion of the display standand shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of- FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a broken, vertical sectional view of a portion of the structure shown in FIGURE 3 and illustrates the support pin in detail;

FIGURE 6 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 6- 6 of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged broken vertical sectional view of a portion of a display standard illustrating the manner of connecting the shelf support brackets thereto.

The display standard which comprises the present invention is shown in FIGURE 1 as a component of display equipment that includes three such standards which are used for supporting a plurality of vertically spaced shelves and a hang rod which may be employed for hanging suits, dresses and the like thereon. In FIGURE 1 the horizontally disposed, vertically spaced shelves are denoted with the numeral 10, and in the specific illustration all project laterally from one side of the parallel display standards 11. Extending laterally from the opposite side of the standards 11 is a hang rod 10a supporting a suit 10b thereon.

Each of the display standards 11 includes a lower hollow standard section 1111 that may have various cross sectional configurations, including the generally rectangular or square shape illustrated. Telescopically received within the standard section 11a is an upper standard 12 movable longitudinally with respect thereto. The lower end portion of the section 11a is provided with a base 13 in the form of a square-shaped enlargement which is adapted to engage and be supported by a floor surface, as shown in FIGURE ,1. The upper end of the standard section 12 is provided with alaterally extending plate 14 which may be cylindrical, as shown, and preferably the plate'14has a resilient pad 15 secured to the upper sur-,

face thereof. The pad 15 may be formed of rubber, plastic, or similar material, and protects the ceiling surface engaged thereby from being marred or otherwise dam-aged by the standard. If desired, the ceiling plate 14 may be provided with one or more apertures therethrough for receiving screws to fixedly anchor the plate to a ceiling.

The relative longitudinal position of the standard sections 11a and 12 is readily changed by adjusting the position of a support pin 17 along the length of the standard tively equipped with hooks or projections 22 that substan-v tially abut the outer surface of the standard section 11a when the legs 21 are respectively inserted through the laterally spaced slots 25 provided along the standard section 11a and when the base leg 20 of the pin is in substantial engagement with the opposite surface of the standard section. It will be apparent that the slots 25 are arranged in longitudinally spaced pairs and are defined along opposite sides of the standard section 11w.-

Therefore, the support pin 17 may be located at preselected positions along the length of the section 11a and is constrained in any one of such positions by the engagement of the hooks 22 and base leg 20 with the respective sides of the standard section.

The spring 18 is of helical construction and seats at the lower end thereof on the support pin 17 and more particularly on the spaced legs 21 thereof, and at its upper end the spring 18 seats against a guide plate 26 rigidly secured to the section 12, as by welding 27. The guide plate 26 is preferably of rectangular configuration and is dimensioned so as to be snugly received within the hollow standard section 11a and thereby guides longitudinal movement of the section 12 with respect to the section 11a. If desired, a notch or recess 28 may be provided in the plate 26 along opposite sides thereof as a fabrication convenience.

In the specific structure shown, the upper standard sec tion 12 is cylindrical and to further guide movement thereof within the polygonal standard section 11a, a guide member 30 is included in the structural composition adjacent the upper end of the standard section 11a. The guide member 30 is of inverted, generally U-shaped configuration and has an upper base or bail portion 31 provided centrally with an opening 32 therein which slida'bly passes the upper standard section 12 therethrough. Extending downwardly from the base wall or bail 31 are a pair of spaced legs 34 which are disposed interiorly of the standard section 11 intermediate the walls thereof and upper standard section 12. Preferably the legs 34 are resilient and are biased outwardly so as to frictionally engage the standard section 11a. The base or bail 31 of the guide 30 is also equipped with a pair of laterally extending ears 33 adapted to abut the upper edge of the lower standard section 11a, as shownbest in FIGURE 4, so that downward movement of the guide member relative to the lower standard section is limited by such abutment. It will be apparent that the guide plate 26 and guide member 30 are effective to maintain the upper standard section 12 in longitudinal alignment with the axis of the lower standard section 1 1a not only when the section 12 has a relatively fixed location (disregarding the movement thereof afforded by the helical spring 18), but also during longitudinal movements thereof.

For convenience, FIGURE 7 illustrates the arrangement employed for removably securingthe shelves 10 to the lower standard section 11a and such arrangement includes a bracket 40 adapted to be secured to a shelf by any suitable means and which has at one end thereof a pair of vertically spaced hooks 41 adapted to be respectively inserted into a pair of vertically adjacent slots 25 provided along one wall of the lower standard section 11a. In certain arrangements the bracket 40 may have two pairs of vertically spaced hooks 41 respectively insertable into vertically adjacent pairs of laterally spaced slots 25. Since the shelving, brackets, and manner of securing such brackets to the display standard comprise no part of this invention per se, a further description thereof will not be included. However, reference may be made to my copending patent application, Serial No. 631,214, filed December 28, 1956, for a more detailed description thereof.

In use of the display standard 11, the relative positions of the sections 11a and 12 are adjusted and preselected by locating the support pin 17 at the proper place along the lower support standard 11a. It will be appreciated that the support pin is readily removed from the paired slots 25 by lifting the pin upwardly to clear the hooks 22 thereof and then pulling the pin laterally from the slots. The pin is inserted in another pair of slots by following the reverse of this procedure. It will be evident that such adjusted position of the sections 11a and 12 must provide an over-all length for the standard 11 that is greater than the ceiling height, or more specifically, than the distance between the floor and ceiling of the room in which the display standard is to be used. Next, the resilient pad and its plate 14 are placed against the ceiling directly in line with the point along the floor at which the base 13 of the standard is to be located. The lower standard section 11a is then pushed upwardly against the biasing force of the spring 18 until the base 13 of the lower standard section clears the floor and may be moved freely thereabout. When the base '13 is properly located, the lower standard section is released and the spring 18 then resiliently presses the base 13 against the floor and the pad equipped plate 14 against the ceiling and thereby anchors the display standard in position.

If the display equipment includes more than one of the display standards, each such standard is properly positioned in the same manner and thereafter the shelving, partitions, etc., are respectively secured thereto. However, in certain pieces of display equipment only one standard 11 is employed and after it has been properly anchored between the floor and ceiling, the desired shelvby shifting the location of the support pin 17 along the length of the standard section 11a. If the pin is moved toward the base 13, the spring force will be diminished, and conversely, when the pin is moved toward the upper end of the section 11a, the resulting spring force will be increased.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claim all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

A display standard adapted to be vertically oriented between a floor and ceiling of a room, comprising a first tubular standard section of generally rectangular honzontal cross section, a second standard section in longitudinal telescopic engagement with said first section for longitudinal movement relative thereto, one of said standard sections adjacent the lower end thereof being adapted to engage the floor and the other of said standard sections adjacent the upper end thereof being provided with a laterally extending plate covered with a resilient pad for engagement with the ceiling, guide structure to maintain said second standard section in longitudinal alignment with said first standard section including a rectangular guide plate insertable into said first standard section and laterally arranged on the lower end of said second standard section, a U-shaped guide member receiving said second standard section therein and disposed away from said guide plate, said guide member having resilient arms biased to frictionally engage the walls of said first standard section, said first standard section having laterally separated openings arranged in pairs and disposed in two opposed walls thereof at closely spaced aligned longitudinal intervals therealong, a U-shaped support pin removably mounted in selected opposed pairs of said openings, a pair of legs on said support pin having at the free end thereof laterally offset projections hooked over the edges of one pair of said selected openings in one wall of said first standard section to prevent lateral removal of said pin and a base joining the other end of said pair of legs and abutting an opposite wall of said first standard section from said projections, and a spring in engagement with said support pin and with said guide plate to resiliently bias said standard sections in the longitudinal direction tending to increase the overall length thereof and enforce frictional engagement of the respective standard sections with such floor and ceiling.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,905,596 Lewis Apr. 25, 1933 2,439,049 Lesko Apr. 6, 1948 2,675,256 Cornell Apr. 13, 1954 2,687,874 Newman Aug. 31, 1954 2,704,194 Diamond Mar. 15, 1955 2,746,706 Schneider May 22, 1956 2,772,846 Skar Dec. 4, 1956 2,850,307 Kindl Sept. 2, 1958 2,903,227 Key Sept. 8, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 356,284 Great Britain Sept. 7, 1931 796,701 Great Britain June 18, 1958 903,073 France July 28, 1947

Images