Patent Application
20080244939
The present invention relates to a collar which extends over the hook and wires of a hanging basket used in merchandising live plants.
There exists numerous hanger collars which have been used in a variety of applications for advertising or protective purposes in connection with hangers, such as garment hangers. U.S. Pat. No. 2,880,928 is illustrative of a cylindrical collar which fits over the hook of a hanger and provides protection for the collared area of an item placed on the hanger. Similarly, collars have been placed on a variety of containers, such as milk containers, for advertising and providing, information as to the nature of the contents. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,829,915 and 2,214,436 are illustrative of such collars.
When merchandising five plants, frequently they are placed in hanging baskets, which are suspended on a hook with wires extending to the rim of the pot containing the live flowers. With such merchandising, plant stakes can be inserted directly into the soil, however, they frequently can be easily removed or obscured by the foliage of the plant itself and, therefore, do not provide an ideal medium for the communication of information to the customer. Also, plant locking tags can be inserted into slots in the plant pot itself, as shown, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 7,076,900. A hanger tag also has been employed for use with hanging baskets, U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,233 is representative of such a tag.
Another manner by which the plants can be identified and care instructions can be communicated to the consumer is through the use of a banging basket collar. One such hanging collar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D 501,514, issued to the Assignee of the present invention. Although such a collar provides a convenient location for the display of information regarding the plant on which it is placed, it requires additional steps for its application, namely, the folding of the collar into flat panels. Hanging baskets typically use either three or four wires for their suspension from a hook. Thus, folded collars, in order to conform to the different number of suspension wires must have either three panels or other structure to allow the collar to nest on the suspension wires. Accordingly, it would he desirable to provide an improved hanging basket collar which eliminates both the necessity of additional folding steps for application of the collar to a basket and the need for two different designs depending upon the number of suspension wires. Also, it is desirable to provide a collar which provides plant information carried thereon in an eye-catching manner.
This invention satisfies this need by providing a display collar comprising a curved body and a pop-out display panel coupled to a body by hinges integral with the body, with the hinges aligned on an axis orthogonal to the radius of curvature of the body. In a preferred embodiment, the collar is a hanging basket collar which includes at least one pop-out panel with plant identification indicia for display when the continuous collar is placed around the wires of a hanging basket. In one embodiment of the invention, the pop-out panel is formed by two facing semicircular die cuts in a polymeric material which define a generally circular pop-out panel coupled at the top and bottom by integral hinges to the polymeric material, such that, when the collar is formed, the disk-shaped pop-out panel remains flat and extends in a plane spaced outwardly from the conical surface of the collar. In another embodiment of the invention, a plurality of such pop-out panels are provided and, in a most preferred embodiment, two opposed pop-out panels are provided. The collar body and pop-out panels carry printed indicia, such as photographs of the plant, plant care instructions, pricing information, and the like, for use by the consumer in making a purchasing decision and for subsequent plant care assistance.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig, 5 is a top plan view of the collar shown in
Referring initially to
A hanging basket collar 20 of the present invention is installed over hook 14 and supported on wires 12, as best seen in
The collar is formed from a planar panel of material 22, as best seen in
Tab 42 is relatively short and wide to improve the locking of the collar edges 45 and 47 together. Tab 42 includes opposed tabs 41 and 43 spaced from the edge 45 of body 22 a distance sufficient to interlock the tab 42 within slot 40 adjacent the opposite edge 47 of body 22. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, slot 40 had a width of about 1.20 inches while the distance between tabs 41 and 43 was 1.3 inches. The resilient tab 42 deflects sufficiently for the insertion of the tab 42 into slot 40, but, once inserted, the collar remains firmly locked in the conical shape shown in
Printed indicia 50, such as illustrated in phantom lines on panel 30 in
The collar may include a single pop-out panel or multiple pop-out panels, such as the two opposed ones shown in the figures. Also, smaller multiple panels may be employed, although one to three and most preferably two pop-out panels provide the greatest attraction to the information contained in these panels. The geometry of the pop out panels also may be varied by making them oval, square, rectangular, triangular, or the like, as long as they are integrally hinged to the conical body of the collar. Also, the pop-out display provided by this invention may be used with a body other than a conical shape, as long as the body is curvilinear when assembled for use and the pop-out panel(s) is hinged along an axis orthogonal to the radius of curvature of the body. By providing a pop-out panel which has a surface plane which extends outwardly front the plane of the curved collar, the information presented thereon is eye-catching and conveniently located for access.
It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that these and other modifications to the collar of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
