This invention generally relates to the field of label holders for merchandise displays, and in particular, to label holders for mounting onto a shelf.
The present invention is related to price channel label holders that can be extruded of plastic with a clear front panel that forms, in combination with a back panel or the front face of a shelf, a cavity for retaining paper labels therebetween. These label holders have removed the need for adhesive backed labels or labels of flexible plastics as well as highly-durable labels because paper labels can be placed within the pocket and are protected by the clear front panel.
These label holders can either snap to a shelf or be attached with an adhesive strip. These label holders have greatly reduced the cost in producing labels because the labels are less susceptible to damage and can be made from lower quality material.
However, on occasion, retail products go on sale or there may be a need to point out a unique or new feature of a product, which requires a new temporary label or a product description sign. This new information may only be displayed for a short period of time making it impractical to place it behind the front panel. Alternatively, the additional information may be displayed on a sign having dimensions that are to large to fit within the main cavity provided by the label holder. Previous label holders have attempted to solve this problem by providing a secondary label clip for holding the additional labels, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,266,906 and 6,708,436 to Nagel. Unfortunately, these label holders require a second softer material for gripping the additional label. This softer material must be co-extruded with the rest of the clip causing the extrusion process to be complex and requiring an additional extrusion screw head.
Thus, there is a need in the art for providing a label holder that functions as a standard label holder as well as more easily and more reliably holds additional labels or signs, while being more easily and efficiently manufactured.
The invention is directed towards a label holder with an integral secondary sign retainer clip that more reliably secures signs with a plastic extrusion by coiling the extruded extension of the clip inside of itself. The label holder includes a front panel formed of a plastic material. The label holder further includes a clip integrally connected along a top portion of the front panel. The clip includes a top portion extending forward of the front panel and a generally U-shaped bottom portion. The generally U-shaped bottom portion having an outer leg portion and an inner leg portion joined at a bottommost boundary of the clip. The inner leg portion extending upwardly and spaced between the outer leg portion and the front panel. The label holder further includes a sign entrance gap formed between the U-shaped bottom portion and the front panel to guide insertion of a sign. The label holder includes a shelf mount structure connected to the front panel adapted to secure the label holder to a shelf.
Another aspect or feature of the present invention is that such a secondary sign retainer clip of a label holder can consist of the same plastic material throughout, such that extrusion and manufacture of the label holder stays relatively simple. The label holder includes a front panel of a plastic material. The front panel has a front surface. The label holder further includes a clip integrally connected to the front panel by a first integral hinge. The clip is pivotable relative to the front panel through the first integral hinge. The clip includes a second integral hinge disposed between the first integral hinge and a leg portion extending upwardly from the second integral hinge. The leg portion includes a gripping surface that faces the front panel. The clip and front panel consist of a single material of a constant hardness characteristic.
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.
Referring now to the figures,
Also shown in
The label holder 30 further includes a secondary sign clip 44 for holding a secondary sign 46. The secondary sign 46 may be any label, placard, sign, index card, flyer or other paper-like means for displaying information. The sign clip 44 pinches the secondary sign 46 between the front surface 48 of the front panel 32 and a terminating leg portion 50 of the sign clip 44. As such, the sign clip 44 secures the secondary sign 46 in a location forward of the front panel 32. This position makes attaching and removing the secondary sign 46 quick and easy. Additionally, this position makes the secondary sign 46 stand out from the rest of the display drawing consumer's attention.
With reference to
The sign clip 44 is movable between a normal state (see
The first integral hinge 56 is connected to the top of the front panel 32 and extends forwardly therefrom to form a generally U-shaped top portion of the clip. In the illustrated embodiment, the sign clip 44 also includes a second integral hinge 60 between the first integral hinge 56 and the terminating leg portion 50. This bottom hinge 60 forms a generally U-shaped lower portion of the clip. The terminating leg portion 50 extends vertically upward from the second integral hinge 60 and terminates in a free end. As such, the second integral hinge 60 forms the bottommost portion of the sign clip 44.
As is shown in
As shown in
With reference to
In this embodiment the entire label holder 30 can be extruded by a single screw head into a unitary body of entirely the same material having the same characteristics and properties. In this embodiment, the entire label holder 30 would be preferably made from a translucent material such that labels 38 secured in cavity 40 may be displayed. In an alternative embodiment, the back panel 34 and shelf mount 68 are extruded from a first material and the front panel 32 and the sign clip 44 are extruded from a second material. This embodiment requires the use of two extension screw heads for extruding, one screw head for each material. In this embodiment, the first and second materials are co-extruded and the two bodies are connected at intersection 80. This embodiment is beneficial when it is desired to have the back panel 34 colored while keeping the front panel 32 and sign clip 44 translucent.
During extrusion, the label holder exits the extrusion die with the leg portion 50 spaced away from the front surface 48 of the front panel 32. However, as indicated previously, in an embodiment, the gripping surface of the leg portion 50 is proximate the front panel 32 and in a preferred embodiment the leg portion 50 may touch and be urged against the front surface 48 of the front panel 32 in the normal state. After exiting the extrusion die, the extruded label holder is passed through a calibration die that presses the sign clip 44 toward the front panel 48 to appropriately position the leg portion 50 relative to the front panel 32. Specifically, the clip 44 is urged towards and/or against the front panel 32 closing the gap therebetween.
A further benefit of the sign clip 44 is that the sign clip 44 simplifies replacing the label 38 stored in the cavity 40. The sign clip 44 provides a handle for a user to grasp and pull to more easily spread the front panel 32 from the back panel 34 while removing an old label or adding a new label.
Referring now to
It is preferable that the height of the sign clip 44 is such that the sign clip 44 does not significantly block or obscure sight of a significant portion of the front panel 32 thereby allowing sufficient visibility of labels 38 inserted into the cavity 40. It is preferable that the height of the sign clip 44 from the top integral hinge 56 to the bottom integral hinge 60 be approximately between about ⅛″ and about ⅜″.
Furthermore, as the thickness of the sign clip 44, particularly the thickness of the first and second integral hinges 56 and 60, affects the gripping strength of the sign clip 44, the sign clip 44 can be configured to hold heavier and/or slicker signs 46 by increasing the thickness of the sign clip 44. In a preferred embodiment, the sign clip 44 and the front panel 32 have a substantially uniform thickness, and the thickness being between about 1/100″ to about 3/100″. The distance that the leg portion 50 is biased away from the front surface 48 also affects the amount of gripping force for a given clip thickness. Thus, if the sign clip 44 is only going to be biased a very small distance, i.e. when holding a very thin secondary sign 46, the clip thickness can be increased to increase the gripping force provided by the smaller biased distance from the front surface 48.
An alternative embodiment of a label holder 86 is illustrated in
The label holder 86 includes different shelf mount structure and is mounted to the shelf structure 104 by adhesive means 106. The adhesive means 106 can be any adhesive means that are sufficiently strong to secure the label holder 86 to the front face 108 of the shelf structure 104. This could be in the form of a liquid adhesive that is spread onto the front face 108 of the shelf structure 104 that secures the label holder 86 to the shelf structure when it sets and/or cures. Alternatively, the adhesive means could be in the form of double sided roll-type adhesive such as what is referred to as double-sided tape.
An alternative embodiment of a label holder 116 according to the teachings of the present invention is illustrated in
The label holder 116 further includes a protective flange 131 that is integral with and extends forwardly from the back panel 122 over the front panel 120 and a portion of the sign clip 118. The protective flange 131 helps prevent labels 126 from being erroneously removed from the cavity 124. The sign clip 118 greatly assists a user in inserting and removing the label 126 from the cavity 124 by making it easier to grip and to separate the front panel 120 from the back panel 122. The protective flange 131 could take other shapes or forms such as being just a forward projecting rib.
One type of shelf structure 132 that the label holder 116 may be mounted to includes a top surface 134, a flat angled front panel 136 and a lower support flange 138 and is illustrated in
The label holder 116 further includes a flat bottom surface 140 extending rearwardly from the back panel 122. The flat bottom surface 140 is part of a shelf mount 142. The shelf mount 142 also includes a forwardly-facing, spring clip 144 connected to a rearward end 146 with an opening at an end of spring clip 144 that provides resilient clamping onto the shelf structure 132 by two clamp points identified by reference numbers 148 and 150. The area between the back panel 122, bottom surface 140 and spring clip 144 forms a gripping channel including the clamp points 148 and 150, as is best illustrated in
The embodiment requires the front and back panels 120, 122 to flex from a relaxed state (
Referring to
A further alternative embodiment of a label holder 160 in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is illustrated in
The label holder 160 includes a similar shelf mount 169 and similarly mounts to the same shelf structure 132 as the embodiment illustrated in
The rib 174 performs several beneficial functions. First, the rib 174 engages the front panel 136 of the shelf structure 132 prior to the rest of the front panel 166. In fact, as shown in
As the transition from the relaxed state to the biased state occurs, the flexure of the front panel 166 from a curved panel (
When the label 168 is disposed within the cavity 172, the rib 174 acts as a “lid” and/or “stop” to inhibit and/or prevent the label from being unintentionally removed from the cavity 172. Even so, because the front panel 166 is flexible, if the label 168 needs to be removed, the front panel 166 can simply be biased away from the front panel 136 until the rib 174 and the front panel 136 disengage and form an opening of the cavity 172. The label 168 can then be easily slid and/or pulled upwardly and out of the cavity 172 for removal, replacement, cleaning, repositioning, and the like. Furthermore, the sign clip 162 for holding the sign 164 may function as a handle and allow the user to more easily separate the front panel 166 of the label holder 160 from the shelf structure 132.
As the previous paragraphs demonstrate, the present invention performs several beneficial functions. The sign clip provides an additional means for holding label or signs for providing additional or temporary information about displayed product. The sign clip may act as a handle for biasing the front panel of the label holder in a forward direction such that removal of labels displayed behind and protected by the front panel of the label holder is made easier. A further aspect of the present invention is that the components of the label holder may be extruded from like material reducing the number of extrusion screw heads required during manufacture.
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.