Hook and hang display system with plug-in bullnose header module

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6767234
  • Patent Number
    6,767,234
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, February 14, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 27, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A display system of having plug-in extended display hooks for hanging products of various widths. A plug-in header module has a bullnose shaped display window for product descriptions and pricing, and extends frontward to the end of the hooks.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




(1) Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a display system having long display hooks extending from a surface and to an associated product information display.




(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosing Under 37 CFR 1.97 and CFR 1.98




The merchandise display art generally uses pegboard to mount extended hooks for hanging packages of varying sizes. Pegboard has a mundane and conventional appearance. The Mounting of associated product and price information is problematical because the hooks extend far out from the mounting surface and obscure it from most viewing angles.




BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The present invention is a display system having plug-in extended display hooks for hanging products of various widths. A plug-in header module has a bullnose shaped display window for product descriptions and pricing, and extends frontward to the end of the hooks. The system is more flexible in horizontal spacing, more attractive in appearance, and provides a more prominent display of the product information headers. The headers and hooks are more secure than conventional pegboard.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING





FIG. 1

is a three-dimensional orthogonal view of the system of the present invention.




FIG.


2


. is a similar view showing the parts exploded for clarity.




FIG.


3


. is an oblique three-dimensional orthogonal view of a snap mount for mounting the hook on the assembly.





FIG. 4

is a bottom plan view thereof.





FIG. 5

is a front elevation thereof.





FIG. 6

is a side elevation thereof.





FIG. 7

is a three-dimensional orthogonal view of the mounting back of the present invention.





FIG. 8

is a front elevation thereof.





FIG. 8A

is a bottom plan view, taken in section through plane A of FIG.


8


.





FIG. 8B

is a bottom plan taken in section through the plane B of FIG.


8


.





FIG. 8C

is a side elevation thereof sectioned through plane C of FIG.


8


.





FIG. 8D

is a side elevation thereof sectioned through plane D of FIG.


8


.





FIG. 8E

is a top plan view thereof.





FIG. 8F

is a side elevation in section similar to

FIG. 8C

but with a hook in place.





FIG. 9

is a bottom plan view thereof.





FIG. 10

is a three-dimensional orthogonal view of a separate header bar for mounting the bull nose frame.





FIG. 11

is a front elevation thereof.





FIG. 11A

is a bottom plan view taken in section through plane A of FIG.


11


.





FIG. 11B

is a side elevation sectioned through plane B of

FIG. 11







FIG. 11C

is a bottom plan view thereof.





FIG. 11D

is a top plan view thereof.





FIG. 12

is a plan view of the bullnose header frame.





FIG. 12A

is a back elevation sectioned through plane A of FIG.


12


.





FIG. 12B

is a side elevation sectioned through plane B of FIG.


12


.





FIG. 12C

is a side elevation sectioned through plane C (the centerline) of FIG.


12


.





FIG. 13

is a side elevation of said frame.





FIG. 14

is a rear elevation of said frame.





FIG. 15

is a detail of the area circled in FIG.


12


B.





FIG. 16

is a three-dimensional orthogonal view of a bullnose clear cover surface designed for sales information display.





FIG. 17

is a front elevation of said bullnose cover.





FIG. 17A

is a side elevation in section through plane A of FIG.


17


.





FIG. 18

is a side elevation thereof.





FIG. 19

is a detail of area


19


in FIG.


16


.





FIG. 20

is a three-dimensional orthogonal view of the cover's back.





FIG. 21

is a front elevation thereof.





FIG. 21A

is a side elevation sectioned through plane A of FIG.


21


.





FIG. 22

is a side elevation thereof.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION





FIG. 1

shows a preferred embodiment of the display hook system of the present invention, generally designated


2


. The system comprises a back


4


, to which other elements are mounted. Three extended hooks


11


,


12


and


13


extend from back


4


, but there are twenty-two holes for accepting various numbers of such hooks in various spacings that may be appropriate to accommodate various package widths.




Header module


16


comprises a pair of plugs


17


and


18


which fit into sockets


21


and


22


. Snap tabs


23


and


24


are spring biased to snap into frame sockets


21


and


22


. As in

FIG. 2

, tabs


23


-


24


have pins


25


-


6


which spring up into slots


27


and


28


which receive pins


25


-


6


and lock header module


16


in place on back


4


. A bullnosed shaped header


30


is provided to provide product information and a secondary header


32


may protrude therefrom.




Hooks


11


,


12


and


13


are preferably molded, or may be press fit, onto hook snaps


41


-


43


. Hook snaps


41


-


43


snap by means of a ball such as


51


shown in

FIG. 3

into a plurality of hook sockets


61


-


84


designed to receive said hooks snaps


41


-


43


.





FIG. 4

shows a bottom plan view of this snap showing the go shaft of a hook such as


11


molded into the snaps


41


.

FIG. 5

shows a front view of snap ball


51


showing how gaps


85


and


86


between ball


51


and pedestal


87


allow snap


51


to compress on insertion into a socket such as


61


(

FIG. 2

) on back


4


as shown in FIG.


2


. Ridge


53


(

FIG. 3

) provides a slightly deformable friction surface to provide a tight fit between snap


41


and its hook socket.




Orientation tab


88


facilitates proper orientation of the hooks on insertion.





FIG. 8F

shows how the hook's snap


41


fits into a socket such as


61


. In order to achieve a proper fit, tab


88


, shown also in

FIG. 3

must be oriented downward to properly fit into slot


89


shown also in

FIGS. 7 and 9

. Ridges


53


provide a snug friction fit and, since they are slightly flexible, deform slightly to apply pressure to the side walls


90


of socket


61


. Ball


51


deforms slightly as it passes past ridge


91


which forms a circular collar, and then the ball head springs out and passes the collar to effect a snap fitting with the socket. A positive a click is heard and now a larger amount of force will be required to remove the ball


51


and the snap mount


41


from the socket


61


.





FIGS. 7

,


8


and


9


provide more detail of back


4


showing the shapes of the socket


61


-


84


.

FIGS. 8A

,


8


B and


9


are bottom plan views


8


A and


8


B being in section.

FIG. 8E

is a top plan view.




Slots


27


,


28


in

FIG. 8E

are for receiving pins


25


-


26


atop tabs


23


-


4


as on bayonet plug


117


shown in

FIGS. 12B and 15

. When the plug-in module


16


, shown in

FIG. 12

, is inserted by its plugs


18


and


17


into sockets


21


and


22


, tabs


23


-


4


bias pins


25


-


26


into slots


27


and


28


so that the bullnose frame


16


bayonet-clips into place on back


4


. To release module


16


from Back


4


, press release buttons


123


-


124


to depress tabs


23


-


24


and thereby lower and disengage pins


110


from slots


27


-


28


. Fogs,


12


-


14


.





FIG. 10

is a three dimensional view of a different embodiment of a back panel


200


. This accepts the bullnose header frame without providing sockets for the extended hooks which were shown in

FIGS. 1 and 2

. This header might be placed over a conventional peg board or any other hook or shelf set up where an extended header frame is useful.

FIG. 10

shows back panel


200


.

FIG. 11

is a front view thereof. Sockets


221


and


222


are similar to sockets


21


and


22


in

FIGS. 1 and 2

.

FIG. 11A

, sectioned from below through plane A of

FIG. 11

, shows the pin receiving slots


227


-


228


, which are shown in the top view of FIG.


11


D.

FIG. 11B

is taken in section through socket


221


.

FIG. 11C

is the bottom plan view thereof.





FIGS. 16-19

show the bullnose clear cover


30


which comprises a front cover portion


229


detailed in

FIGS. 17 through 19

, which mates to a back cover


230


detailed in

FIGS. 20-22

. Back cover


230


snaps behind front cover


229


and pins


231


,


232


protrude from the ends of the back cover


230


. These pins snap into holes such as


240


shown in

FIG. 12C

on the bullnose frame. Header information on card stock can then be slipped between the front


229


and back covers


230


that form bullnose


30


. Ridge


250


and groove


252


(

FIG. 18

) snap into groove


260


and Ridge (

FIG. 22

) to mate front


229


to back


230


to form bullnose


30


.




It can be seen that the aforementioned system provides a flexible configuration for various displays in a more attractive, easily cleaned, easily maintained hook display system.



Claims
  • 1. A display system, for displaying products, said display system including:a back; a plurality of hook sockets on said back; a plurality of plug-in display hooks, each hook maintainable to any socket of the plurality, said hooks for hanging the products of various product widths by spacing the hooking as the product widths require, among the sockets; each said hook having a front end distal from the sockets said back having a header socket; a header module adapted to plug into the header socket; said plug-in header module having a display window for product descriptions and pricing; and said plug-in header module extending frontward to the front ends of the hooks, for displaying the display window, visually unobstructed by the products; the hook snap has a ball, and said ball snap into one of the a hook sockets which are cooperatively designed to receive said hook snaps; the hook snap also has a pedestal; there is a gap between the ball and the pedestal; the socket has within a compression member, for squeezing the ball as the ball is inserted into the socket, which ball thereafter snaps open, locating the gap at the compression member, and thereby holding the hook snap securely in the hook socket, with the pedestal providing firm contact with inner walls to the hook socket thereby strongly supporting the hook.
  • 2. A display system, according to claim 1, in which:a ridge provides a slightly deformable friction surface to provide a tight fit between the hook snap pedestal snap and the inner walls of the hook socket.
  • 3. A display system, according to claim 2, in which:an orientation tab on the pedestal cooperates with a correspondingly shaped slot on one of the inner walls to facilitate proper orientation of the hooks on insertion.
  • 4. A display system, for displaying products, in which said display products protrude forward to a display plane, said display system including:a back; said back having a header socket; a header module adapted to plug into the header socket; said plug-in header module having a display window for product descriptions and pricing; and said plug-in header module extending frontward to the display plane, for displaying the display window visually unobstructed by the product; the header module includes a pair of the plugs which fit into a pair of the header sockets; snap tabs on the planes are spring biased to snap into the header sockets; the snap tabs each have a pin; the header sockets each have slots; the pins spring up into the slots, which receive the pins and lock the header module in place on the back; a secondary header protrudes from the header, in which, on the header: a bullnose clear cover has a front cover portion; the front cover portion mates to a back cover; back cover snaps behind the front cover; two cover pins protrude form the ends of the back cover; the cover pins snap into two frame holes on a frame of the header; said covers then define a location into which header information on card stock can then be slipped between the front cover and the back cover.
  • 5. A display system, for displaying products, said display system including:a back; a plurality of hook sockets on said back; a plurality of plug-in display hooks, each hook mountable to any socket of the plurality, said hooks for hanging the products of various product widths by spacing the hooks, as the product widths require, among the sockets; each said hook having a front end distal from the sockets, said back having a header socket; a header module adapted to plug into the header socket; said plug-in header module having a display window for product descriptions and pricing; and said plug-in header module extending frontward on the front ends of the hooks, for displaying the display window, visually unobstructed by the products; in which, on the header: a bullnose clear cover has a front cover portion; the front cover portion mates to the back cover; back cover snaps behind the front cover; two cover pins protrude from the end of the back cover; the cover pins snap into two frame holes on a frame of the header; said covers then define a location into which header information on card stock can then be slipped between the front cover and the back cover.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) from provisional application No. 60/268,511 filed Feb. 14, 2001.

US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
3760952 White Sep 1973 A
4606466 Fredrickson Aug 1986 A
5255801 Berger Oct 1993 A
5588537 Hagopian Dec 1996 A
5662375 Adams et al. Sep 1997 A
6003685 Malin Dec 1999 A
Provisional Applications (1)
Number Date Country
60/268511 Feb 2001 US