1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a display support stand applicable for directly supporting a merchandise, a merchandise containing case, or a planar board having a pictorial representation of a merchandise, and particularly relates to a support stand constructed from a unique design pattern provided on a single cardboard or corrugated board. The stand is easily foldable to a collapsed condition for storage and transportation and is readily erectable from the folded collapsed condition to the erected condition either manually or automatically.
2. Background Art
Display stands are widely employed for displaying merchandise and/or advertising pictorial boards showing the merchandise particularly in retail facilities. Merchandise display stands made of cardboard or corrugated board are cost effective to fabricate and transport, and convenient to use. Such display stands are commonly made from a design pattern provided on a single sheet material such as a cardboard or corrugated board. The pattern is cut or stamped out from the sheet and the pattern is then folded along various pre-arranged fold lines to form the stand in the erected condition. The stand may either have an A-frame with front and back panels sloping upwards from a relatively large rectangular bottom base which maintains the stand to rest stably on the ground when the stand is in the erected condition. Some stands may have a foldable front pedestal for supporting a merchandise show case or by placing the merchandise directly on the pedestal. However, due to the bulkiness of the sheet material and the relatively large dimensions of the design, many such stands are usually difficult and time consuming to assemble. Furthermore, they are considerably difficult to fold to a collapsed condition for storage and transportation and it is also often problematic to unfold them from the folded condition to the erected condition.
Some stands incorporate elastic cords which are stretched to the tension condition when the stand is in the folded condition so that the stand may be erected automatically by mainly allowing the elastic cords to pull the various parts of the folded structure to unfold so as to erect the stand in a self pop-up manner. The incorporation of elastic cords in the stand often renders the stand very awkward and relatively difficult to fold into the folded condition from the erected condition because of the necessity of having to fold the various parts while maintaining the elastic cords connected to these parts in the tensioned condition.
Another problem with the foldable cardboard stand is that the cardboard inherently retains its folded condition after it has been folded for some time such that it becomes difficult to unfold even with the tension force provided by the elastic cords. For this reason, many so called self-erectable stands are not effective in the self-erecting operation. Some foldable cardboard stands are provided with a pivotable brace panel within the stand to force the folded stand to unfold. The brace panel is folded against the front or rear panel within the stand when the latter is in the collapsed and in the folded condition. It can be pivoted to the horizontal position during the erecting operation of the stand to force the front and rear panels to move apart from one another so as to ensure that the stand would effectively unfold from the folded collapsed condition. However, such additional pivotable brace panel are not integrally formed with the stand but is an individual separate part which must be attached at one edge to the inner wall of the front or rear panel of the stand with adhesive during or after the stand has been assembled. Such additional attaching operation with adhesive is labor intensive and time consuming to carry out, and it greatly increases the fabrication time of the stand. Still furthermore, the pivotable brace renders the folding operation of the stand awkward and difficult to carry out since the brace must be first manually folded pivotally to abut the front or rear panel of the stand and then with it held in the folded condition while the stand is being folded.
Another long suffered problem with foldable stand is that the walls of its base lacks rigidity such that they are unable to support the weight of attachments mounted to the stand during use; and particularly the integrity or the side walls of the base will deteriorate quickly after the stand has been repeatedly folded and unfolded several times thus rendering the stand useless. Some stands have attempted to resolve the problem by providing side walls double-folded inward at the lower edges so as increase their rigidity. However, the double-folded side walls require additional fabrication processes and they also render the folding and unfolding operations of the stand very difficult and unwieldy.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a foldable display support stand which is readily erectable and easily foldable into the folded condition and it can be effectively unfolded into the erected condition or folded to the collapsed condition.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a foldable display support stand having an integrally formed pivotable brace.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a foldable stand having a pivotable brace which facilitates not only the unfolding operation but also the folding operation of the stand.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a foldable and automatically erectable merchandise display stand with an automatically erectable pedestal.
The present invention will now be described in more detail according to a preferred but non-limiting embodiment and with reference to the accompanying illustrations; wherein
With reference to the drawings, the display stand 10 of the present invention is formed by providing a geometrical
A first geometric pattern 26 and a second geometric pattern 27 extend outwards respectively from the vertical side edges 24 and 25 of the center panel 12. The geometric pattern 26 and geometric pattern 27 are mirror images of one another. The geometric pattern 26 consists of a generally rectangular left front side panel 28 extending outwards from a vertical common side edge 24 with the center panel 12. The width of the rectangular left front side panel 28 is equal to half the selected depth of the subsequently erected stand and it is equal to the distance between the upper edge 20 of the center panel 12 and the inner end of the opened slot 21. The upper edge 29 of the left front side panel 28 is preferably sloping downwardly towards its left side edge 30. A trapezoidal left rear side panel 31 extends outwards from the common left vertical side edge 30 of the left front side panel 28. The left rear side panel 31 has a generally rectangular lower portion with a lower right side edge common with the left side edge 30 of the left front side panel 28 and an upper extension vertical side edge 32 extending a short distance above the top edge 29 of the left front side panel 28. The upper right side edge 33 of the left rear side panel 31 slopes upwardly and outwardly towards its left vertical side edge 34. The width of the left rear side panel 31 is equal to the width of the left front side panel 28. A horizontal fold line, and preferably a horizontal double fold line 35 is formed in the left rear side panel 31. The distance between the horizontal double fold line 35 and the bottom edge of the left rear side panel 31 is equal to the distance between the top edge 20 and the bottom edge of the center panel 12. A rectangular left rear panel 36 extends outwards from the left vertical side edge 34 of the left rear side panel 31. A transverse fold line 37 is formed in the left rear panel 36 at a location aligned with the double fold line 35 of the left rear side panel 31. The width of the left rear side panel 31 is slightly wider than half the width of the center panel 12.
A trapezoidal panel 38 extends from the lower edge 20 of the left rear panel 36 and its top edge 40 is common to a portion of the lower edge 20 of the left rear panel 36.
A generally trapezoidal shape tab 41 extends downwards from a portion of the left lower edge 42 of the trapezoidal panel 38, and a cut out is formed at its upper right corner immediately adjacent to the trapezoidal panel 38.
The left rear panel 36 and the trapezoidal panel 38 as well as the trapezoidal tab 41 have a common vertical left side edge 44 which forms the left side edge of the geometric pattern 26.
Similarly, the geometric pattern 27 consists of a right front side panel 45 having dimensions and a mirror image of the left front side panel 28. The right front side panel 45 extends rightward from the vertical right side edge 25 of the center panel 12. A right rear side panel 46 extends to the right of the right front side panel 45 and it has dimensions and a mirror image of the left front side panel 31 with a sloping upper left edge 47. A double fold line 48 aligned with the double fold line 35 of the left rear side panel 31. The right rear panel 46 has a common vertical side edge 49 with the right front side panel 45.
A right rear panel 50 having dimensions and a mirror image of the left rear panel 36 extends from the right vertical aide edge 51 of the right rear panel 46. A horizontal transverse fold line 52 aligned with the horizontal fold line 37 is formed in the right rear panel 50.
A trapezoidal panel 53 having dimensions and a mirror image of the trapezoidal panel 38 extends downwards from a portion of the bottom edge 54 of the right rear panel 50, and it is foldable along its top edge 55 relative to the right rear panel 50.
A trapezoidal tab 56 having dimensions and a mirror image of the trapezoidal tab 41 extends from the right bottom edge portion 57 of the trapezoidal panel 53 and a cut out 58 is formed at its upper left corner immediately adjacent to the trapezoidal panel 53.
The right rear panel 50 and the trapezoidal panel 53 as well as the trapezoidal tab 56 have a common vertical right side edge 59 which forms the right edge of the geometric pattern 27.
In assembling the display stand, the left geometric pattern 26 and the right geometric patter 27 are folded rearwards relative to the center panel 12 along the vertical side edges 24 and 25 so that the left front panel 28 and the left rear panel 31 in combination form the left side panel of the stand, while the right front panel 45 and the right rear panel 46 in combination form the right side panel of the stand. The left rear panel 36 and the right rear panel 50 are then folded rearwards with a vertical free edge portion overlapping one another as best shown in
The pedestal panel 19 is then folded backward and downward to rest on the top edges of the left front panel 28 and right front panel 45 with the open slots 21 and 22 at the front edge 23 of the pedestal panel 19 snugly engage with the vertical edge 32 and 49 of the left front panel 31 and right front panel 46 respectively. The pedestal panel 19 is sloping slightly rearwardly and downwards due to resting on the sloping top edges of the left front panel 28 and right front panel 45. The upper front edges of the stand also slope upwardly and rearwardly due to the sloping upper edges of the left rear panel 31 and the right rear panel 46 such that a display item placed on the pedestal may rest safely and securely on the pedestal 19 and the sloping upper edges of the left rear panel 31 and the right rear panel 46.
The stand may be quickly and readily folded to a collapse condition, by pulling the pivotal brace formed by the engagement between the overlapping trapezoidal panels 38 and 53 downward and outward from the bottom end of the stand while folding the pedestal panel upwards to disengage it with the left rear panel 31 and right rear panel 46 with the side panels of the stand folding inwards towards one another along the vertical side edges 30 and 49 until the left rear side panel 31 and the right rear side panel 46 lie juxtaposed to the left rear panel 36 and the right rear panel 50 respectively with the pedestal panel 19 in the raised position and lying over the left rear panel 36 and right rear panel 50 to form the collapsed folded condition as shown in
The stand in the collapsed condition may be unfolded and erected readily and quickly by again unfolding along the fold line 20 and then pushing the pivotal brace inwards forcing the side panels to unfold back to the erected condition with the pivotal brace now positioned horizontally between the front and rear panels of the stand to maintain the latter in the erected condition. The pedestal panel 19 may then be folded downwards until its open slots 21 and 22 engage with the side edges 32 and 49 of the left rear panel 31 and right rear panel 46 to maintain further the stand in the rigid erected condition. Moreover, since the pivotal brace is directly connected to and formed from the lower edges of the side walls of the base, they provide added rigidity to the side walls of the base without requiring the problematic double-folded lower edge construction of the base side walls as in the known stands. Therefore, the pivotal brace not only renders the folding operation but also the unfolding operation to be carried out effectively and readily as well as provided rigidity to the side walls of the base.
An elastic cord 61 may be mounted between the free edge portion of the pedestal panel 19 and the rear panel of the stand as shown in
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