The subject disclosure relates to display systems for items to be displayed for sale, either displayed at the point of sale or displayed as intended for order from the point of sale, or displayed for ordering from another location or interface. The system is a system to allow of convenient and efficient installation and with a pleasing look for customers at the point of sale.
A first representative embodiment of the disclosure is provided. The embodiment includes a system to support a member extending from a wall. The system includes, a wall with one or more apertures disposed therethrough and a bracket configured to be disposed within an aperture of the one or more apertures, the bracket comprising a front portion and a rear portion. A member comprising a tang and a portion that extends from the tang, wherein the tang is configured to extend within and be supported by the bracket is provided. The member may be for example, a shelf, a sign, a mirror, or the like. The bracket comprises a body with a hole disposed through a front surface of the front portion of the body, the hole receives the tang therein, the hole being formed with a length and a width just larger than a respective length and a respective width of the tang, wherein the body comprises a plurality of surfaces including opposite upper and lower surfaces, and opposite left and right surfaces that collectively define the hole, wherein at least one of the upper surface, the lower surface, the left surface, and the right surface comprises a portion biased inwardly toward the opposite surface of the plurality of walls, wherein the biased portion extends inwardly past an inner surface of the respective wall of the plurality of walls that includes the biased portion. The body further comprises a plurality of fingers extend from the plurality of walls, the plurality of fingers each biased in a direction away from the hole.
Advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the disclosure that have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the disclosed subject matter is capable of other and different embodiments, and its details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
Turning now to
As best shown in
The plurality of apertures 24 may be disposed in a geometric pattern such as arranged into a plurality of rows and columns, or in other embodiments, the plurality of apertures may be arranged into an arbitrary pattern, which is designed to position the objects into a visually pleasing arrangement and/or an arrangement that is intended to display and support the objects into a certain functional or optimal manner. As discussed elsewhere herein, in embodiments, where the objects are supported by more than one tang, the apertures 24 are arranged onto the wall to support that object in a desired orientation and position upon the wall 20. As shown in
In some embodiments, the aperture 24 extends through the wall 20 from the front surface 21 to the rear surface 22. The aperture 24 may be different cross-sections, including a uniform cross-section along its length as well as a cross-section that varies along its length. One of ordinary skill in the art after a thorough review of this specification and figures will readily understand that the size and/or geometry of the aperture 24 will be driven by the geometry of the bracket 40, discussed below, as well as driven by the size another other components of the tang that will be received within the bracket 40 and the aperture 24. In some embodiments, all of the apertures 24 within a panel 20 will be the same size and geometry, while in embodiments, apertures within the same panel may have differing sizes and/or geometries based upon the objects intended for support at different positions upon the panel 20.
In the embodiments depicted within
As best shown in
The bracket 40 may include a body 40z and includes a front portion 41 and a rear portion 42. The bracket 40 includes an aperture (or hole) 45 that extends through all or a portion of the bracket 40 and extends from a front surface 41a of the front portion 41. The aperture 45 is configured to receive a tang (e.g. 11a, 12a, 13a) of an object to be supported. The aperture 45 may extend through the entire bracket 40 while in other embodiments, the aperture 45 may blindly extend through the bracket 40 but not extend to an end surface of the rear portion 42. The aperture 45 defines a top surface 46, a bottom surface 47, a left surface 49, and a right surface 48. The aperture may have the same cross-sectional geometry and a size just larger than the cross-sectional geometry and size as the tang intended for receipt within the aperture 45 such that the tang can be easily slid into the aperture 45, with the aperture 45 supporting the tang to eliminate possible relative movement between the tang and the bracket 40 when the tang is fully inserted therein. In some embodiments the aperture 45 may be rectangular, while in other embodiments the aperture may be other geometries, such as with planer top and bottom surfaces 46, 47 but curved end surfaces 49, 48.
In some embodiments, the bracket 40 may be formed from a unitary member, while in other embodiments the bracket 40 may be formed from two pieces (40a, 40b) that are fixed together such as with a press fit connection, with pins and holes (holes 70 depicted in
The bracket 40 may include an arm 50 that extends from a portion of the bracket that defines the top surface 46 of the aperture 45 and is biased inwardly within a space defined by the aperture toward the bottom surface 47 (direction Z,
In some embodiments, the arm 50 extends from the body 40a at a position that is spaced from the front portion 41 of the body, such that the tang from the object that is slid into the aperture 45 slides within the aperture 45 for a distance before contacting the arm 50 extending into the aperture 45.
The bracket 40 may further include one or more fingers 54, 55 that extend from the body 40z and are biased in a direction away from the aperture 45, such as in an upward direction Y (
The bracket 40 may include a flange 43 disposed upon the front portion 41 of the bracket 40 and in some embodiments the flange is flush with the front surface of the bracket 40. The flange extends radially outward from the surface forming the rear portion 42 of the body and extends a distance to allow the flange 43 when the bracket 40 is installed within the aperture 24 to contact the front surface 21 of the panel 20, such that no void of the aperture 24 is exposed when viewing the front surface 21 of the panel 20.
One of ordinary skill in the art with a review of this specification and figures will understand that when the bracket 40 is installed within an aperture (
The fingers 54, 55 are sufficiently flexibly disposed upon the body 40z such that the fingers 54, 55 may be pushed inwardly into the aperture 45 as the bracket 40 approaches the aperture 24 upon the panel 20 to allow the body 40z to slide into and through the aperture. The fingers 54, 55 may include a ramped or chamfered surface 54d, 55d that are positioned to be aligned with the upper and lower edges of the aperture 24 upon the panel, and the engagement between the chamfered surfaces 54d, 55d and the edges (and the force applied to the bracket 40 to push the bracket 40 in the aperture 24) causes the fingers to be pushed inwardly due to a vertical component of the force upon the fingers 54, 55 from the edges of the aperture. The inward motion of the fingers causes the upstanding portions 54c, 55c to clear within the aperture 24, and therefore the bracket 40 can be pushed through the aperture 24. When the upstanding portions 54c, 55c clear the aperture, they extend outwardly due to the biasing force inherent in the fingers such that the upstanding portions are aligned with the rear surface 22 of the panel 20 as discussed above. The bracket 40 can be removed from the panel 20 once installed by compressing the two fingers 54, 55 together (such as with a user's fingers or with pliers) to compress the fingers into the aperture 45 until the fingers clear the edges of the aperture 24 in the panel with the rear wall—which allows the bracket 40 to be pulled out of the panel in a leftward direction in the view of
As discussed above, the object to be supported by the panel 20 (such as a shelf, a mirror, as sign or the like) may include a tang that extends from the object along a plane and is configured to extend within the aperture 45 within the bracket 40, as best shown in
In some embodiments, as depicted in
In some embodiments, alternative brackets may be formed that do not include an aperture that extends through the front surface at the front portion 41 of the bracket, but instead the flange forms a planar surface across the entire front surface. This type of bracket may be used as a filler for apertures 24 in the panel where no objects are intended to be inserted and are not otherwise visually covered by other components of the system 10. This alternative bracket will provide an aesthetically pleasing component to cover the aperture in the panel 24 that might otherwise be visible upon the panel 20. This alternative bracket may include the fingers 54, 55 discussed above with respect to bracket 40 to allow the bracket to be removably attached to the panel 20.
While the preferred embodiments of the disclosed have been described, it should be understood that the invention is not so limited and modifications may be made without departing from the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims, and all devices that come within the meaning of the claims, either literally or by equivalence, are intended to be embraced therein.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 16/808,670, filed on Mar. 4, 2020, the entirety of which is hereby fully incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16808670 | Mar 2020 | US |
Child | 17582155 | US |