Supports – Brackets – Specially mounted or attached
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-10
2004-09-21
Braun, Leslie A. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Brackets
Specially mounted or attached
C248S300000, C248S558000, C248S909000, C248S316700, C248S222130, C040S661030, C040S658000, C211S119003
Reexamination Certificate
active
06793185
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a support for a sign.
In a manner known per se, signs can be paper signs or electronic signs whose use is widespread at present in stores, particularly in supermarkets.
An electronic sign is present in the form of a housing, generally rectangular parallelepipedal, fairly flat, on the front surface of which is disposed a display element, for example a liquid crystal display screen. The display is controlled by a microprocessor, for example remotely controlled by the central computer of the store.
There is known from the international application published under No. WO 98/58360, such an electronic sign and a rail permitting the position of the latter on the front edge of shelves of display units on which are disposed products offered for sale.
The sign and the rail comprise means ensuring emplacement of the sign by snapping into the rail which are such that although it is easy to emplace the sign in the rail, it is impossible to move said sign along the rail or to remove it from said rail without a suitable tool.
Known supports are usually of a width suitable for their positioning on the edge of the most usual shelves, which is to say shelves whose edge has a thickness of the order of 3 to 4 centimeters.
Such a sign support is for example described in international application published under No. WO 93/19448 filed by HL Display. This support is comprised by a rear portion adapted to be fixed to a shelf and a front portion adapted to receive at least one sign, said front and rear portions being connected by a flexible hinge. A tongue connected to one of the front and rear portions by another flexible hinge and carrying at least one snap-in means, and supplemental means carried by the back of the front portion or by the front surface of the rear portion, permit adjusting the inclination of the front portion relative to the rear portion. Such an adjustment permits rendering more easy the reading of signs positioned on shelves at a great or small height, especially when the sign is an electronic sign because the display screens are not easily readable unless disposed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of reading.
The support disclosed in international application of HL Display nevertheless has several drawbacks. First of all, it is expensive to produce because it requires the use of a complex procedure to permit the formation of the two flexible hinges and means for adjusting the inclination. Moreover, if it permits inclining the sign upwardly so as to facilitate the reading of signs positioned in front of shelves located at a low height, the support does not permit inclining the sign downwardly to facilitate reading of the signs disposed at a greater height.
Moreover, because the adjustment means of the inclination are located between the front and rear portions, and hence hidden by the front portion, the snap-in operation or the snap-in means of the tongue in the supplemental means is carried out blind and hence is inconvenient. Finally, it can happen that a client withdrawing a product from a shelf knocks the bottom of the back of the front portion of the sign support installed on the shelf immediately above and causes the snap-in means to unsnap from the tongue relative to the supplemental means, thereby destroying the adjustment of the inclination which can be re-established only by manual intervention.
There exists at present a tendency to use shelves whose edge is much less thick, for example shelves of bent sheet metal, whose edge has a thickness of 25 mm, or glass plates on which are to be positioned supports of suitable sizes.
Such shelves with a narrow edge have the advantage of permitting an increase in the height available between shelves to offer for sale products of the greatest height without changing the interval of vertical spacing of the shelves, or permitting, at the same heights for the products offered for sale, a decrease in the vertical interval of spacing of the shelves and adding at least one supplemental upper shelf. In the second case, the need to have available shelf supports which, when they are installed on upper shelves, permit inclining the signs downwardly to facilitate reading, is even greater. Moreover, with shelves with a narrow edge, the sign supports project more downwardly below the shelves. As a result, the risks that the front portion of the sign support will be knocked from behind when a client withdraws a product from a shelf, and hence the risk of destruction of the adjustment of the inclination of the sign or of the signs carried by the knocked support, are greater.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a sign support for products presented on shelves with a narrow edge, which will be simple to make, and hence less costly, with the help of which the sign can be presented at different inclinations both upward and downward, and with which, in the case of knocking from behind the front portion of the sign support, said front portion will then automatically return to the vertical or inclined upwardly or downwardly position which it initially had.
To this end, the invention provides a sign support comprising a rear portion adapted to be fixed to a shelf with a narrow edge and a front part adapted to receive a sign and connected to the rear part by a flexible hinge located in an upper region of said front and rear parts, and means for adjusting the inclination of the front part relative to the rear part, characterized in that said adjustment means comprise a first abutment element, which is connected in a single piece with a first breakable connection to one of said front and rear parts and which defines with the latter a trough whose free edge constitutes a first abutment against or with which said front portion bears by gravity on the rear portion to define a first position, substantially vertical, of the front portion relative to the rear portion, said first abutment element being adapted to be removed by sectioning or rupturing of the first breakable connection to define a second position of the front portion in which the latter bears by gravity against the rear portion while adopting a downwardly inclination.
The support according to the invention is further remarkable in that:
the rear portion comprises a vertical tongue adapted to be positioned in front of the edge of the shelf and the first abutment element is connected by the first breakable connection to the lower end of the vertical tongue of the rear portion,
the first abutment element in the form of a trough has, on the side of the free edge of the trough, a substantially horizontal edge against or with which said front portion bears to define said first position,
said edge is connected to said trough by a second breakable connection and can be removed by sectioning or rupture of said second breakable connection to define a third position, intermediate between said first and second positions, of said front portion,
said adjustment means comprise moreover a second abutment element comprising two branches forming an angle between them, of which one of the branches is adapted to be inserted and resiliently gripped in the trough formed by the first abutment element, and whose other branch has a length such that it is adapted to extend beyond the free edge of the trough, in the direction of the other of said front and rear portions, and to constitute a second abutment to define a fourth position of the front portion in which the latter bears by gravity on the rear portion, against or with the second abutment, while adopting an upward inclination,
the two branches of the second abutment element make an angle such that said other branch extends substantially perpendicularly to the other of said front and rear portions when said front portion is in the fourth position,
the branches of the second abutment element are of different lengths, such that it is possible to give to said front portion two orientations, upward, by insertion of one or the other branch of t
Braun Leslie A.
Morrison Naschica S.
Store Electronic Systems - Electronic Shelf Label
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
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