GB2352317A - A display holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A display holder 10 comprising a transparent plastics body having a substantially flat front part (12, Figure 3), through which a display is viewed, at least one back part (14), preferably hinged thereto, and which overlies said front part in a closed condition, and integral resilient detent means (17,18) operable to keep the two parts in the closed condition, the back part having attachment means 21 formed integrally therewith for attachment of the holder 10 to a support e.g a post.

Description

2352317 A Display Holder

Field

This invention relates to display holders of the type used for displaying advertisements, public notices, warning signs or similar.

Background of the Invention.

Public notices are typically displayed on street furniture such as telegraph poles, lamp stands, traf f ic sign posts etc. and are typically nailed or pinned in place, or tied in place by wires or cord. If its desired to protect the display from the weather it may some times be placed in a transparent plastic bag,.. as is frequently used with planning notices, or may be formed into a clear plastics laminate.

More permanent displays are known in which the display is held in a transparent fronted display case mounted in a fixed location.

Oblect of the Invention The present invention provides a cheap weather proof display holder which is attachable to a support and in one preferred embodiment includes the means for attachment to street furniture, and in the other embodiment is attachable to an already erected support, the holder being either for one-off use or being re- usable for a small number of times.

2 Statement of Invention

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a display holder comprising a transparent plastics body having a substantially flat front part, through which the display is viewed, at least one back part which overlies the front part in a closed condition, and integral resilient detent means operable to keep the two parts in the closed condition, the back part having attachment means formed integrally therewith for attachment of the holder to a support.

Preferably the display holder comprises a one piece transparent plastics body with at least one back part integrally hinged to the front part and which is pivotable to overlie the front part in a closed condition.

Preferably the body is formed from a single sheet of plastics material by thermoforming techniques, in particular vacuum moulding or forming.

-20 The plastics material my comprise any suitable transparent plastic for example, a polyester such as polyethylene terapthallate (PET), an acrylic such as polymethylmethacrylate, a polycarbonate, unplasticised PVC.

The preferred material is PET having a thickness of between 0.010-0.025 inches ( 0.4 to 1.0 mm).

The attachment means are resiliently biased to clamp onto 3 a support such as a post, and the attachment means may be resiliently deformable and may also be permanently deformable allowing the body to be adapted for use with different supports. The deformable portions may be moulded with integral fold lines to make deformation predictable.

Preferably, the front part includes an integral hollow peripheral frame of a substantially "U" shaped crosssection, said back part including cooperating portions, preferably on a like-shaped integral frame, which are engageable in the hollow front part frame.

The back part may comprise a single portion which is foldable over the front part or may include two back portions integrally hinged to opposite sides of the front part and which are foldable over the front part to overlap with each other and mutually interlock in the closed condition.

2-0 The back part may be formed with strengthening ribs and or depressions as is well known.

The display holder may also include said support, which preferably comprises a substantially flat base which has projections thereon which are engageable with the attachment means on the back part. The support may be fixed with its flat base attached by suitable means to, for example a wall, with its projections extending outwardly 4 for engagement with the attachment means. Alternatively, the flat base may be foldable to form a free standing support, preferably a prismoid, with outwardly extending projections for engagement with said attachment means.

In one preferred embodiment the attachment means may comprise at least one pair of concentric arcuate ribs formed on the back part, gap between the ribs clipping onto at least one co-operating projection on the support. The ribs are preferably arranged in an annular array allowing for a number of different orientations of the body relative to the support.

Description of Drawings

The invention will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig.1 is a back view of the display holder of Fig.1, Fig 2 is a section on the line II-II of Fig.l.

-20 Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line III-III of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is an isometric view of a portion of the back part of the holder of Fig.1, Fig. 5 is a back view of a body of a second holder also according to the present invention, Fig. 6 is a cross-section on the line Vl-Vl of Fig.5, Fig.7 is a view of a stand forming the display holder with the body of Fig. 5, Fig.8 is a back view of the assembled second holder, Fig. 9 shows an alternative formation of the stand of Fig.7 for use with horizontal surfaces, Fig. 10 shows alternative orientations of the body relative to the stand, Figs. 11 & 12 show yet another alternative form of attachment device.

Detailed description of the Invention

With reference to Figs 1-4, there is shown a display holder 10 having a substantially rectangular body 11 which is formed from a one-piece thermoforming, preferably by vacuum forming or assisted vacuum forming, using a sheet of transparent thermoplastics material such as a polyester e.g. PET, or polycarbonate. The rectangular body preferably has dimensions such that it accommodates a display on A4 size sheet of paper, although it can be tailored for any -20 desired size display.

The body 11 comprises a substantially flat front part 12 which is formed with a "U"-shaped cross-section peripheral frame 13 which is open to the rear of the body. The display sits within the frame 13. A back part 14 comprises two back portions 14A & 14B which are connected by integral hinges 15 to the outer longer sides of the frame 13. In the closed condition as shown in Figs 1-4, the back portions 6 14A & 14B are folded around the hinges 15 to overlie the front part 12 with the distal portions 16A & 16B of the back portions overlapping.

The back portions 14A & 14B are held in a closed condition by cooperating detent portions, preferably in the form of a "U"-shaped crosssection frame portions 17 that can resiliently snap into the back of the front part frame 13. Further interlocking detents 18 can be provided in the overlapping portions 16A & 16B of the two back parts.

The detents 18 can be any suitable inter-engaging shapes for example, oval shaped detents are shown in Figs.1-3, and rectangular detents in Fig. 4. oval apertures 20 in the upper and lower portions of the overlapping portions 16A & 16B allow for the use if ties for either additional securing of the back portions 14A & 14B together, or for additional securing of the holder to posts etc.

The back part 14 is strengthened by means of integral ribs 19 and/or depressions as is well known, and is also formed with integral attachment means 21 for securing the holder 10 to a stand for example a circular cross-section post. There are two vertically spaced apart attachment means 21 only one of which will be described in detail. Each attachment means 21 Pomprises a pair of aligned curved arms 22 formed one on each back portion 14A & 14B, and which extend towards each other, the end of the arms being spaced 7 apart by a gap 23, as is best seen in Fig.2. and forming a hollow 28 which may receive a support post.

The insides of the curved arms 22 are provided at their lower ends with three spaced apart inclined buttresses 23 which in use provide abutment surfaces for a support post (not shown) and which extend from the respective overlapping portion 16A or 16B to merge with a respective arm 22. The buttresses also provide a resilient tension against separation of the arms 22 when a post is pushed into the hollow 28. Extending upwardly from each buttress 23 on the inner side of each arm is a prismoid shaped rib 24 which has angled flat side faces 25, and angled flat end faces 26. The creases or lines between the faces 25, 26 together with moulded crease lines 27 formed internally of the ribs 24 provide a readily deformable collapsible structure which can crumple when pushed by a force at P having the effect of widening the gap 23 making the holder adaptable for use with a number of different diameter posts.

In use the two sets of attachment means are arranged to engage a vertical post in the gap 23 between the ends of each pair of arms 21. The arms 22 may be resiliently moved apart allowing the post to clipped into the hollow 28 which forms a detent within the embrace of the curved arms. If the post is of a larger diameter relative to the gap 23 it may be necessary to collapse the ribs 24 by pressing on the 8 intersection point of the fold lines on the end faces 25. This will allow larger size posts to be accommodated within the hollow of the arms.

In a variation of this embodiment, the back part may be formed as a single portion which is hinged to one side only of the front part.

A further embodiment of the Invention is shown in Figs. 5 to 8 in which the display holder comprises a body 110 and a support 111. The body 110 may be substantially as previously described with the back part 114 hinged to the front part 112. Alternatively the back part 114 may be separate moulding that is attached to the front part 112 through the respective peripheral frames 13 & 17.

The attachment means on the back part 114 comprise four sets 121, preferably pairs, of spaced apartarcuate concentric ribs 122, 123 having a gap 124 therebetween. The sets 121 of ribs are arranged at 90 degrees to each other.

A raised boss 125 in centre provides reinforcement and stiffening.

The support 112 shown in Fig. 7, is substantially flat so that it can be fixed to a further support such as a wall, or flat surface on a post, and has a reverse side which in use lies adjacent the wall and a front side having a number of projections 114 thereon. The projections 114 are 9 arranged on an arc of the same diameter as the arcuate gap 124 and in use are engageable in the arcuate gap 124 between a pair of concentric ribs 122, 123.

The support 112 has the form of a number of, preferably four, triangular segments 115 of a sector of a polygon. The segments are moulded with radial fold lines 116 between the adjacent segments 115 and at least one segment 115 is formed with preferably two projections 114 thereon. One of the outer segments 115 has an aperture 118 therein.

The support can be used in a flat condition as is shown in Fig. 8 in which the body 111 is mounted to the support 112 after the support 112 has been f ixed to a wall or post apex downwards.

Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 9, the support 112 may be used on a horizontal flat surface, in which case it is folded along the radial fold lines 116 into a free standing three-sided prismoid. The aperture 118 of one outer segment engages a projection 114 on the other outer segment over which it is f olded. The two projections 114 on one segment are engageable in the gap 124 between set of ribs on the body 111.

The body 111 may be orientated as required by selected engagement of a particular set of ribs and by selection of the atta chment points along the arcuate gap.

With reference to Figs. 11 & 12, there is shown yet another embodiment of attachment device 321 which comprises three off-set arms 322, similar to the arms 22, and which are integrally formed with the two hinged back portions 314A & 314B. The post 320 is located between the opposing arms and resilience in the front part 312 assists in providing some of the clamping load exerted by the arms 321 on the post 320.

Claims (18)

Claims

1. A display holder comprising a transparent plastics body having a substantially flat front part, through which the display is viewed, at least one back part which overlies the front part in a closed condition, and integral resilient detent means operable to keep the two parts in the closed condition, the back part having attachment means formed integrally therewith for attachment of the holder,to a support.

2. A display holder as claimed in Claim 1 comprising a one piece transparent plastics body having at least one back part integrally hinged to the front part and which is pivotable to overlie the front part in a closed condition.

3. A display holder as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the body is formed from a single sheet of plastics material by thermoforming.

4. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the attachment means are resiliently biased to clamp onto a respective support.

5. A holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the attachment means include readily permanently deformable portions making the means adaptable for use with a range of 12 supports.

6. A display holder as claimed in Claim 5f wherein the permanently deformable portions have moulded-in creases or fold lines to facilitate deformation and make the site of deformation predictable.

7. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the attachment means comprise a plurality of spaced apart attachment devices.

8. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the front part includes an integral hollow peripheral frame of a substantially "U" shaped crosssection, said back part including co-operating portions which are engageable in the hollow frame.

9. A display holder as claimed in Claim 8, wherein said co- operating portions of the back part also comprise a hollow peripheral frame of a substantially "U" shaped crosssection which is engageable in the front frame.

10. A display holder as claimed in Claim 2 or any one of Claims 3 to 9 when dependant upon Claim 2, wherein the back part comprises two back portions integrally hinged to opposite sides of the front part and which are foldable over the front part to overlap and mutually interlock in 13 the closed condition.

11. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 10, wherein the back part is formed with integral strengthening and /or decorative boss, ribs and/or depressions

12. A display holder as claimed Claim 2 when dependant upon any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the attachment means comprise at least one pair of concentric arcuate ribs formed on the back part, the ribs clipping onto a cooperating support.

13. A display holder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 and further including said support which may in turn be supported by another support.

14. A display as claimed Claim 13 wherein said support comprises a substantially flat base which has projections -20 thereon which are engageable with the attachment means on the back part.

15. A display as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the flat base may be affixed to a support surface with the projections extending outwardly for engagement with the attachment means.

16. A display holder as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the 14 f lat base is f oldable to f orm a f ree standing prismoid with outwardly extending projections for engagement with said attachment means.

17. A display holder as claimed in any one of Claim 13 to 16 when dependant upon Claim 12, wherein said concentric arcuate ribs form an annular array permitting a variety of different orientations of the body relative to the support.

18. A display holder substantially as described herein and as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, or Figs 5 to 9, or Figs. 11 & 12 of the accompanying drawings.