GB2216701A - Display card - Google Patents

Abstract

A display card 1 for jewellery or other small items is formed from a first flat piece 2 and a second raised piece 3, the first piece having at least two opposed tongues arranged to engage at least two slits 4, 5 in the second piece. Jewellery or other items may be mounted on one or more holes or slots 6, 7 provided in the second piece. <IMAGE>

Description

Display Card This invention elates to display cards, particularly but not exclusively to display cards for use with jewellery and the like.

Display cards are a particularly useful and convenient way of displaying jewellery and other small retail articles. In particular these are used for display of earrings and the like and consist of a single flat card shaped so as to hook over an arm of a display case and pierced with two holes or slots from which each earring is suspended. This is achieved depending on the type of earring either by simply passing the hook of each earring through a hole, or by passing the spike of each earring through a hole, and attaching the butterfly on the reverse side on the display card or by pushing the clip of a clip earring through a slot in the card.In each case it was found that the protruding parts of the earring on the reverse side of a card had a tendency to tangle or foul with the earring displayed on the front side of an adjacent card, when stacked in close proximity on an arm of a display card. In order to overcome this problem, plastic cards formed with a raised blister protruding from the front side of the display card have been proposed. Earrings are suspended in the customary manner from holes punched in the blister, so that the parts of the earring previously protruding from the rear of the card are now accomodated in the hollow of the blister, removing the danger of tangling.

However, these single piece plastic cards suffer from a number of disadvantages, particularly with regard to manufacturing and transporting. In order to form the blister in the plastic card, a conventional vacuum press technique is used, which raises problems when it is desired to print decoration or identification on the cards. Either the printing is done after the blister is formed, which leads to difficulties in handling and printing on a non-flat card, or before the blister is formed. In the latter case, problems can be caused due to the distorting effect caused by the vacuum moulding technique used on plastic cards, which neccesitate the use of a special printing technique being used. Either method is thus inconvenient and raises production costs.

Viewed from one aspect, the invention provides a display card for jewellery or other small articles, assembled from two pieces which provide a substantially flat portion and a substantially raised portion, such pieces comprising a first, substantially flat piece, having first interlocking formations and a second piece, having complementary interlocking formations arranged to interengage with said interlocking formations of said first piece so as to form said substantially raised portion of said display card.

The present invention therefore avoids the problems in handling and printing associated with the single piece display cards, as the flat piece of the display card may be printed and handled separately prior to assembly with the second piece. Furthermore, the mechanical fixing of the second piece to the first piece has the advantage of both ease of assembly and stability unlike other methods of attachment by adhesives or the like.

Preferably said first piece comprises an aperture and at least two opposed tongues protruding into said aperture, and said second piece comprises at least two slits arranged respectively to engage said at least two tongues.

The number of tongues (and slits) may be varied.

However, a preferred arrangement leading to an easily manufactured, stable construction consists of two mutually opposed tongues formed on a substantially flat piece, which engage with corresponding slits in a cupped piece.

Furthermore the tongues may be notched at their base which enhances the engagement of the pieces.

Preferably said second piece is preformed so as to have a substantially cupped shape. However, it is envisaged that said second piece may be formed substantially flat and may be bent when engaged to said first piece to form said raised portion.

Preferably, in one embodiment the second piece is formed with one or more holes or slots to mount items such as earrings. These holes or slots may be conveniently formed at the same time as interlockieg slits by a punch press means, and the items may be mounted prior to the engagement of the second piece with the first piece for ease of assembly.

In an alternative embodiment, for use in display of items such as stud earrings, the second piece may be formed of transparent material, the items for display being mounted on one or more holes or slots formed in the protruding tongues of the first piece. This embodiment may be advantageously used where it is desirable to seal or protect the displayed items. A backing plate may also be added to the reverse of the first piece.

Whilst the "card" may be formed from any suitable material such as, for example, paper card, advantageously the pieces thereof may be formed from a plastic material, and may be shaped and punched by a punch press means.

This leads to a greater flexibility of the pieces and a corresponding ease in assembly.

Viewed from a further aspect the invention also provides a method for displaying items of jewellery, such as earrings, comprising the steps of: providing a first, substantially flat, piece having an aperture and at least two tongues protruding into said aperture; providing a second, generally cupped piece adapted for engagement with said aperture and including at least two slits arranged respectively to engage said at least two tongues and including also one or more holes or slots; suspending the items of jewellery from said one or more holes or slots in said second piece; inserting said second piece through said aperture; and engaging the tongues in the respective slits, so as to display said items of jewellery from a display card formed from the engagement of the second piece with the first piece.

The items of jewelery may be suspended from the holes or slots in the second piece either before or after the pieces are assembled together; in some cases it may be preferable to so suspend the jewellery first to improve ease of handling in this respect.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled display card; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the flat piece of the display card; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the underside of the cupped section; and Fig. 4 is a side view of the side of the cupped section.

Fig. 1 shows in perspective the assembled display card 1 consisting of a flat piece 2 and a raised or cupped piece 3. wither or both pieces may be formed from plastic or cardboard. The pieces of jewellery or the like are suspended from holes 6, 7 in the curved piece 3, and the whole display card is mounted on a display rack (not shown) on the cut away mounting section 10 of flat piece 2. The flat piece 2 may be cut or shaped to hold Kimball price and identification tags or the like, and may also be decorated or printed prior to assembly.

Flat piece 2 is shown in more detail in Fig. 2, including the details of tongues 8, 9. Flat piece 2. is punched out of a single piece of card or plastic of dimensions approximately 43 mm x 100 mm x 0.12 mm, and includes the cut-away mounting section 10, and 'I'-shaped aperture 11 which defines tongues 8 and 9. Tongues 8 and 9 may be preferably truncated as shown, or may reach a point, or indeed may be any convenient shape for use in assembly with the curved section 3, described below. At the widest point | X t each tongue is approximately 2.4 mm wide, and approximately 2 mm less wide that the width y of the apeture 11. Each tongue is preferably formed with notches 12, 13.

The cupped piece 3 of the display card assembly is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4. Cupped piece 3 includes a curved part 16, two sides 17, 18, a lip 15, two holes 6, 7 and two slits 4,5 in the sides 17, 18. Preferably it is made from a single piece of plastic using a curved punch, shaped so as to define the surface as described and so as to pierce the plastic to form holes 6, 7 and slits 4, 5.

To assemble the display card 1, the curved surface 16 of the cupped piece 3 is pushed through the reverse of the flat piece 2 to protrude at the front of the display card, while tongues 8 and 9 are manouvered to engage with slits 4 and 5 respectively.

Jewellery and the like may now be mounted on holes 6 and 7 for display.

The lengths of the slits 4, 5 are chosen to be slightly longer (about 3 mm) than the width of the tongues 8, 9 at their widest point x in order to ease engagement. Preferably the slits 4, 5 extend to the corners of the sides 17, 18 to minimise the risk of tearing as the tongues 8, 9 are inserted.

Although this embodiment has described an arrangement where the tongues 8, 9 and slits 4, 5 are formed on the sides of the aperture 11 and cupped piece 3, the interlocking tongues and slits may alternatively be formed at the top and bottom of the aperture and cupped piece.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the cupped piece may be formed of a transparent material, without the mounting holes 6, 7, wherein the items of jewellery may be mounted on the tongues 8, 9, now visible through the transparent material.

Claims (11)

Claims:

1. A display card for jewellery or other small articles, assembled from two pieces which provide a substantially flat portion and a substantially raised portion, such pieces comprising a first, substantially flat piece, having first interlocking formations and a second piece, having complementary interlocking formations arranged to interengage with said interlocking formations of said first piece so as to form said substantially raised portion of said display card.

2. A display card as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first piece comprises an aperture and at least two opposed tongues protruding into said aperture, and said second piece comprises at least two slits arranged respectively to engage said at least two tongues.

3. A display card as claimed in claim 2 comprising two opposed tongues and two slits arranged to engage said two tongues.

4. A display card as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein said tongues are notched at their base.

5. A display card as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein said second piece is preformed to have a substantially cupped shape.

6. A display card as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein said second piece is formed with one or more holes or slits to receive the items for display.

7. A display card as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5 wherein said second piece is formed of trans parent material, the items for display being mounted on one or more holes or slots formed in the protruding tongues of the first piece.

8. A display card as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said first and second pieces are formed from a plastic material.

9. A display card substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A method for displaying items of jewellery, such as earrings, comprising the steps of: providing a first, substantially flat, piece having an aperture and at least two tongues protruding into said aperture; providing a second, generally cupped piece adapted for engagement with said aperture and including at least two slits arranged respectively to engage said at least two tongues and including also one or more holes or slots; suspending the items of jewellery from said one or more holes or slots in said second piece; inserting said second piece through said aperture; and engaging the tongues in the respective slits, so as to display said items of jewellery from a display card formed from the engagement of the second piece with the first piece.

11. A method of displaying items of jewellery substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.