Patent Application
20070000101
The present invention pertains to the technical field of garment display devices that are in the shape of at least a portion of a human body such as busts, torsos, legs or arms, or entire human bodies, and more particularly in the sector of garment display devices comprising two hollow parts that are connected to each other by a connecting system.
Many garment display devices for articles of clothing in the shape of at least a portion of a human body are normally comprised of two rigid hollow plastic parts or halves that are connected to each other by fastening means.
Said two parts are obtained by molding or injection. Each of said two parts comprises a perimetric rim. The parts are connected to each other at said rims by means of thin transversal metal rods or pins that are pierced through the rims into the walls of two parts or halves to be connected to each other. Insertion of such thin metal rods or pins may result in the rim portions cracking or breaking as the rods or pins act like nails which for being able to penetrate into the rims and walls must displace wall material causing the adjacent wall material to be compressed. The cracks or breakage leads to the rods or pins not being sufficiently retained and the two hollow parts of the display device being only deficiently connected to each other. Thereby, usefulness of conventional garment display devices becomes reduced.
Due to the fact that the two hollow parts of the display device are normally made of inexpensive plastic material which may deform rather easily, and also due to the said parts are often manufactured with rather large dimensional tolerances, gaps at points where the parts should contact each other when the display device is in a assembled state, may form when the plastic material deforms. Therefore, in this type of display devices, the rims of the two parts facing each other are preferably separated by a small distance with respect to each other. It is desirable that said separation is uniform. This is not achieved by means of the above described conventional connecting means with rods or pins being simply pierced into the rims, as after short use of the device, a lack of the desired uniform separation is very easily produced, such that only some portions of the two parts come to contact each other and other portions become more distanced from each other. This obviously causes an undesired aesthetic appearance.
It is also noteworthy to take into account that known garment conventional display devices have problems related to stability, since the bottom part thereof is usually not totally flat so that when the display device stands on a horizontal surface it is unstable and may rock or even fall over.
It is a first and principal object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problem of conventional systems for connecting the at least two parts which garment display devices are comprised of, by providing a fastening means that allows to avoid the use of pins or rods that pierce into the material of the wall portions of any of said two parts, and to additionally solve the aforementioned problem of non-uniform distance between the at least two parts which garment display devices are comprised of.
It is an object of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, to additionally solve the aforementioned stability problem of conventional garment display devices.
The above mentioned first and principal object of the present invention is achieved by means of a connecting system for connecting at least a first hollow part and a second hollow part of a garment display device being in a shape of at least a portion of a human body, said first part comprising a first perimetric rim portion and said second part comprising a second perimetric rim portion, said rim portions facing each other when the display device is in an assembled state, the connecting system comprising
The above mentioned first and principal object of the invention may also be achieved by a garment display device being in a shape of at least a portion of a human body comprising
The pin element, which may be a per se conventional metal pin or a pin made of rigid plastic material or wood, may be press-fitted or glued into at least one of said first hollow section and said second hollow section. Taking into account that the pin does not need to pierce any material, it may be thicker and more resistant than the piercing pins or rods conventionally used to connect the hollow parts of garment display devices.
The first internal hollow section within said first projection may be entirely comprised within said first projection, or further extend into the wall of the first hollow part that is adjacent to the first rim.
The second opening and the second internal hollow section may be formed entirely within the wall of the second hollow part that is adjacent to the second rim. Alternatively, the second opening and the second internal hollow section may be located in a second projection protruding from said second rim portion of said second hollow part. A further portion of the internal hollow section may also extend into said wall adjacent to the second rim.
The first projection may protrude from a first reinforced area of said first rim portion. Also, second opening and the second internal hollow section or the second projection comprising the second opening and the second internal section, may be comprised a second reinforced area of said second rim portion.
Preferably, the fastening means comprises a plurality of fastening groups, each group comprised of a first projection and of second internal hollow section facing each other by said first opening and said second opening, the fastening groups arranged such that, when the garment display device is in said assembled state, each group is located at a distance from another group, and a plurality of pins each for connecting the first projection to the second projection of each group. The locations of the fastening groups and the amount thereof is selected as to provide sufficient connections of the two hollow parts of the display device.
When there is a plurality of fastening groups, the reinforced areas may be provided for each of the fastening groups or only for some of the fastening groups at certain locations such as for example locations exposed to especially intense stress or where especially strong fastening is required.
As apparent from the above, the present invention allows securing the hollow parts of a garment display device to each other avoiding the problems of cracks or breakage that occur in garment display devices comprising conventional connecting means.
In the above mentioned second preferred embodiment, the bottom surfaces of the hollow parts of the garment display device are totally flat. As the hollow parts are firmly connected to each other at predetermined positions, also the bottom surfaces of the hollow parts are rigidly connected to each other and no relative movement between the parts may occur. Also, in view of the fact that the hollow parts the display device is comprised of are securely fastened to each other, deformation of the material of the hollow does not result in a deformation of the bottom portion thereof, because the uniform separation of the hollow parts of the display device allows to compensate deformation of said material. This allows the entire bottom surface of the garment display device to be flat so that standing stability of the display device is substantially improved when compared to conventional garment display devices.
For the purpose of providing a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, embodiments of the invention will hereafter be described with reference to a set of drawings in which
The reference numerals appearing in these figures denote the following elements
1 garment display device
1
a first part of the display device
1
b second part of the display device
2
a first perimetric rim portion
2
b second perimetric rim portion
3 gap
4 fastening means
4
a first projection
4
b second projection
5
a first opening
5
b second opening
6
a first internal hollow section
6
b second internal hollow section
7 pin element
8
a first reinforced area
8
b second reinforced area
9 bottom portion of the display device
9
a bottom portion of first part of the display device
9
b bottom portion of second part of the display device
According to the first embodiment shown in
The projections 4a,4b are respectively located in reinforced areas 8a,8b that may be formed by thickened portions of the first and the second rim portions 2a,2b, and positioned such that they face each other. Thereby a first opening 5a extending into a first internal hollow section 6a in the first projection 4a and further into the first reinforced area 8a, faces a second opening 5b extending into a second internal hollow section 6b in the second projection 4b and in the second reinforced area 8b, so that openings 5a,5b and the internal hollow sections 6a,6b form a passage into which pin element 7 may be fitted.
Pin element 7 is first inserted by one of its ends into one of the respective hollow sections (for example 6a) and then inserted into the opposed hollow section (for example 6b). Then, by simply pressing together the first and the second hollow parts 1a,1b, the free ends of projections 4a,4b come to contact each other, the pin element 7 will become fully inserted and press-fitted within the internal hollow sections 6a,6b so that the hollow parts 1a,1b become connected to each other.
In the second embodiment shown in
Pin element 7 is first inserted by one of its ends into one of the respective hollow sections (for example 6a) and then inserted into the opposed hollow section (for example 6b). Then, by simply pressing together the first and the second hollow parts 1a,1b, the free end of projection 4a and the part of the second rim portion 2b facing the first projection 4a come to contact each other, the pin element 7 will become fully inserted and press-fitted within the internal hollow sections 6a,6b so that the hollow parts 1a,1b become connected to each other.
According to the third embodiment shown in
Pin element 7 is first inserted by one of its ends into one of the respective hollow sections (for example 6a) and then inserted into the opposed hollow section (for example 6b). Then, by simply pressing together the first and the second hollow parts 1a,1b, the free ends of projections 4a,4b come to contact each other, the pin element 7 will become fully inserted and press-fitted within the internal hollow sections 6a,6b so that the hollow parts 1a,1b become connected to each other.
As apparent, any of the above described embodiments allows simple and secure connection without the need of piercing any pins or rods into the rims of hollow parts 1a, 1b. Further, due to the presence of a plurality of at least the first projections 4a having the same lengths and, eventually of the second projections 4b, the distance between the first and second perimetric rim portions may be easily and durably maintained.
