This invention generally relates to an inventory display lock, and more particularly to an inventory display lock for use with display hooks that are attached to a peg board for holding and displaying merchandise at a retail establishment.
There are a variety of different types of display hooks that are presently in wide use. One type of display hook is a “scanner hook” of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,360 to Barnes. The scanner hook includes a lower horizontally extending hanger arm for supporting merchandise and an upper parallel arm for supporting a label that includes a price tag which may be “read” by an electronic scanning wand.
Unfortunately, these display hooks by themselves provided little or no theft deterrence to shoplifters. Particularly, shoplifters will steal product by a method know as sweeping. The shoplifter will “sweep” the entire product supported by the lower hanger arm from the display hook in a single motion into a container such as a purse or bag. This method of shoplifting occurs very quickly and results in a significant loss of product. Security display locks have been developed to prevent sweeping by securing or locking the merchandise on the display hook. Such display locks include U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,877 to Church, U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,027 to Eklof et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,622 to Hatch et al. The present invention relates to improvements in display locks as it relates to theft prevention, reliability, adaptability, practicality, ease-of-use, and/or cost effectiveness.
In one aspect, the invention provides a display lock for securing merchandise on a display hook having at least two bars. The display lock comprises, a clasp, a buckle, and a band. The clasp defines a channel sized closely to the outer periphery of one of the bars for a close fitting receipt of the bar. The band projects away from the clasp and defines a detent region extending at least partially along the length of the band. The buckle is connected to the clasp. The buckle defines an aperture adapted to slidably receive the band and a catch engageable with the detent region of the band when the band is received in the aperture.
In another aspect, the invention provides a retail display lock system for displaying merchandise. The retail display lock system comprises a support, a display hook and a display lock. The display hook comprises a rear mount adapted to mount to the support, at least two bars extending forwardly from the rear mount and a stop disposed on at least one of the bars. The display lock comprises a band and a buckle, the band wrapping around at least partially the outer periphery of the at least two bars and engaged with the buckle.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a retail display lock system comprising a retail display support, a display lock and merchandise. The retail display support having the merchandise supported thereon. The display lock comprises a band and a buckle. The band engageable with the buckle. The display lock being interposed among the merchandise and separating the merchandise into a secured portion that is not removable from the retail display support and an unsecured portion removable from the retail display support.
Other aspects, objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
While the invention will be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit it to those embodiments. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
An exemplary embodiment of a display lock 10 in accordance with this invention is shown in
The display hook 20 is generally U-shaped and includes two horizontally extending bars 22, 24. The two bars are typically formed by bending a generally round rod into the U-shape. The top bar 22 is vertically disposed above the bottom bar 24, and the bars 22, 24 are generally parallel. The top bar 22 includes a stop 26 at a front end. In this figure, the stop 26 is a piece of round bar (better illustrated in
The clasp 16 snaps onto one of the bars 22, 24 and attaches the display lock 10 to the display hook 20. Referring to
The combination of the resilient legs 45 and the opening 49 allows the clasp 16 of the display lock 10 to be snapped onto the top bar 22. As the legs 45 are pressed against the top bar 22, the legs 45 begin to spread resiliently allowing the top bar 22 to slide through the opening 49. As the top bar 22 begins to be substantially positioned within the channel 46, the legs 45 begin to bend resiliently back to their original position and partially surround and wrap around the top bar 22. This feature of the clasp 16 allows the display lock 10 to be snapped onto the top bar 22 at substantially any longitudinal position. It is preferable that that the resilient legs 45 of the clasp 16 to be sufficiently stiff and the opening 49 defined therebetween to be sufficiently narrow that significant effort is required to snap the clasp 16 onto the top bar 22. Likewise, and more importantly, this configuration is such that it takes significant effort and is difficult to remove the clasp 16 from the top bar 22. This increases and promotes the security features of the display lock 10, as will be more fully disclosed below.
With reference to
The extension portion 18 is disposed between and integrally connects the clasp 16 and the buckle 14 to define the lock body 13. The extension portion 18 includes two ribs 34 and 36 to increase its rigidity. The two ribs 34 and 36 form a channel 38 therebetween. The ribs 34 and 36 maintain rigidity while reducing material required to manufacture the lock body 13.
With further reference to
As seen in
The snout 88 has slanted sides 106 and a tapered top surface 108. The tapered profile of the snout 88 aids insertion into the aperture 30 of the buckle 14 as well as the beveled entry 53 of aperture 52 defined by raised portion 50. The head 86 of the band 12 is defined by four flared sides 112. The flared sides 112 of the head 86 prevent the band 12 from being pulled completely through the aperture 52 and are configured to mate with the beveled entry 53 of the aperture 52 when the band 12 is inserted therethrough.
In operation, the display lock 10 in the closed position forms a loop, as shown in
The band 12 is inserted through the beveled entry 53 of the aperture 52 of the raised portion 50 as well as through the aperture 30 of the buckle 14. The band 12 is inserted into the aperture 30 of the buckle 14 on the front side 72 of the lock body 13 and extends through the aperture 30 until it exits the buckle 14 at the back side 74 of the lock body 13. As the band 12 is pulled through the buckle 14, the loop gets smaller and is tightened around the outer periphery of the display hook 20. It is a feature of the present embodiment that as the band 12 is selectively tightened around the outer periphery of the display hook 20, the band 12 assists in securing the clasp 16 onto the top bar 22 by partially blocking the opening 49 of the clasp 16, as seen in
The band 12 is releaseably engaged by the prong 32 of the buckle 14 when the display lock 10 is in a closed position. As the band 12 passes through the aperture 30, the detented region 96 of the band 12 passes over the catch 54 of the prong 32. As the detented region 96 passes over the catch 54, successive cam surfaces 100 of successive teeth 98 slidingly contact the cam surface 78 of the catch 54 and resiliently bias the prong 32 downward toward the cavity 76.
The catch shoulder 80 of the catch 54 and the catch shoulder 102 of one of the teeth 98 prevent the band 12 from being pulled in an opposite direction, i.e. in a direction extending from the back side 74 of the lock body 13 to the front side 72 of the lock body 13. As the band 12 is loaded in that direction, the band 12 is prevented from moving because the catch shoulder 102 of the tooth 98 abuts with the catch shoulder 80 of the catch 54. Because these two shoulders 80 and 102 in this embodiment are substantially perpendicular to the direction of travel and parallel to each other, no vertical force is imposed on the prong 32 to bias the prong 32 and allow the tooth 98 to pass by the catch 54. In fact, attempting to remove the band 12 tends to cause the prong 32 and catch 54 to engage even tighter with the band 12, particularly if the catch shoulders 80 and 102 are slanted such that the shoulder of the tooth imposes a vertical force onto the shoulder of the catch.
The band 12 can be released from the buckle 14 by using the key 28. The key 28 is used to bias the prong 32 into cavity 76 and away from the band 12 to disengage the detented region 96. The key 28, as shown in
As best understood with reference to the cross-sectional illustration in
A display system 140 utilizing the previously described display lock is shown in
The display lock 10 is shown in a closed position, such that the band 12 is inserted into aperture 30 of the buckle 14 and engaged by prong 32. The display lock 10 is attached to the top bar 22 of the display hook 20 and is positioned such that it separates the first portion of merchandise 154 from the second portion of merchandise 156. It is a feature of one application of the display system that the display lock 10 prevents the first portion of merchandise 154 from being removed from the display hook 20, while the second portion of merchandise 156 is free to be removed from the display hook 20. Alternatively, the display lock 10 can also be used to lock all of the merchandise on the display hook.
After the second portion of merchandise 156 is completely removed from the display hook 20, the band 12 can be released using the releasing key 28 and the display lock 10 put in its open position. While in the open position, the display lock 10 may be rotated about the top bar 22 such that the band 12 and body 13 are out of the way of the first portion of merchandise 154, as shown in
As explained above, the configuration of the clasp 16 makes it difficult to remove the display lock 10 from the top bar 22. This difficulty of removal increases security of the first portion of merchandise 154 because the display lock 10 prevents that merchandise from being removed from the display hook 20.
All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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