US3289994A

US3289994A - Display supports

Info

Publication number: US3289994A
Application number: US550252A
Authority: US
Inventors: Burmeister Henry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-05-16
Filing date: 1966-05-16
Publication date: 1966-12-06
Anticipated expiration: 1983-12-06

Description

Dec. 1966 H. BURMEISTER 3,289,994

DISPLAY SUPPORTS Filed May 16, 1966 =4 14 2/ I I 26 9 4 v Mi I F/ 7 f I INVENTOR. m HENRY BURME/STER n 'fi MaiA,

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,289,994 DISPLAY SUPPORTS Henry Burmeister, 5915 Boulevard E., West New York, NJ. Filed May 16, 1966, Ser. No. 550,252 4 (Ilaiins. (Cl. 248-225) This invention relates to display supports of the type where a hanger may be selectively engaged in two spaced holes in an upright panel having multiple rows and columns of such holes all of which are both vertically and horizontally equidistant. Such supports usually have hook-like members provided with elongated shanks from which merchandise is suspended for display.

A common disadvantage of such supports or hangers is that in lifting one out of the panel at least the hook must be raised so high that the hanger next above the one being removed, or at least the merchandise suspended therefrom, is disturbed by providing an obstacle in the path along which the lower hanger must be moved. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved display support whereby any support may readily be lifted from the panel without disturbing any other support on the panel.

A further object of the invention is the provision of new and useful improvements in display support of the kind mentioned, whereby their practicability and utility are enhanced and their cost of manufacture is reduced.

The above as well as additional objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts on the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration so that it is neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the details shown or described except as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a typical panel provided with a multiple of holes for securement of hangers or supports thereto; this view is reduced relative to the remaining figures of the drawing.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the display support of the present invention in one form thereof.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a panel similar to that of FIG. 1, showing two supports embodying the present invention attached thereto, one above the other, and illustrating in phantom how the hook member may be removed from the lower support without disturbing the hook member of the upper support; this view is part ly in section.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the panel board wholly in section and a modified construction whereby a shelf bracket is provided, which also possesses the characteristic that it may be lifted out of the panel without disturbing a hook hanger such as shown in the other vieWS, which may be positioned above it, or even a second shelf bracket.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the support in each case is formed of two separable parts, that is, a base member adapted to be attached to the panel and a hanger member removably mounted in the base member.

In FIGS. 1-4 the base member is shown to be a unitary structure stamped out of a flat sheet of metal in a Single operation. This member consists of an upright body portion 11 having a tongue 12, cut out of the upper portion of the flat metal pattern and deformed outward at right angles to the body 11. A lip 13 of the same dimensions as the tongue 12 is deformed outward by bending the lower end of the pattern also at right angles to the body 11. The two strips remaining in the upper 3,289,994 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 portion of the pattern after the tongue 12 has been cut out, are deformed in a rearward and upward direction to provide L-shaped fingers adapted to be inserted in the usual manner into two horizontally adjacent holes 14 of an upright panel 15 in the usual and well known manner; these fingers are shown at 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, the body 11 has a depth and width such that, when it is attached to the panel it occupies an area of the panel approximately equal to that defined by four holes 14.

A square hole 17 is provided through the lip 13 of an area very closely equal to the cross-sectional area of the vertical rear end of a hook member 19, shown at 20; this hook member has a square cross-section throughout its length. Directly above the hole a rectangular hole 18 is provided in the tongue 12. The two

holes

17 and 18 both have the same width and their front edges lie in a common vertical plane, but the upper hole 18 has a greater length, that is, in a direction toward the fingers 16, by a small amount, as is seen in FIGS. 2-4.

It is from the hook member 19, when its end 20 registers in both

holes

18 and 17, as shown, that the merchandise is suspended. It is apparent that the weight of the hook member urges the upper end of the portion 20 thereof into contact with the front edge of the top hoIe 18. If both

holes

17 and 18 had the same dimensions, in order to lift the member 19 clear of the base member 10 it would be necessary to raise the member 19 a distance above the tongue 12 equal to the length of the end portion 20. Ordinarily, as is obvious in FIG. 4, this would be impeded by the next above support, thus disturbing the latter. If the attempt were made to lift the entire support including the base 10 and the book 19 as a unit, turning the same counter-clockwise, FIG. 4, would obviously cause the hook 19 to encounter the hook directly above it.

By providing the upper hole 18 with a rearward elongation, as described, the hook 19 may be readily removed from' the base 10 by raising it only a small distance sufficient to clear the lower extremity of the end 20 from the lip 13 and then tilting it clockwise, as indicated in two successive positions of the hook shown in phantom, at 19a and 1912. In the latter position the hook is clear of the upper tongue 12 and may be moved outward from the panel without disturbing the hook above it.

In the modification shown in FIG. 5, wherein parts of the support which are identical to those previously described bear the same reference numeral followed by the sufiix a, the base 21 has its body portion 22 substantially elongated. The tongue 23, however, differs from the tongue 12 in that the square hole 24 therethrough has the same dimensions as the hole 17a. The hook member 25, which is otherwise equivalent to the member 19, is shown extending outward at right angles to the vertical rear end portion 26 which is substantially shorter than the equivalent portion 20 of FIGS. 3 and 4. Additionally, an inclined brace 26a has one end deformed into parallelity with the member 25 and welded thereto at 27, while its other end is deformed, as shown at 28, into alignment with the end 26 of member 25. Although not specifically so shown, both members 25 and 26a are also square in cross-section, complementary to the square holes 17:: and 24. Since this construction, wherein one bracket of a shelf support is provided, has each vertical rear end supporting the bracket by registering in its corresponding hole, it need be lifted only a short distance into the position shown in phantom, to withdraw it forward and hence without disturbing the bracket or support immediately above it, not shown.

Both modifications shown in FIGS. 1-4 and FIG. 5 are simple and inexpensive to manufacture as they may both G be produced in a single automatic machine operation out of a blank pattern, as is obvious.

Although the term rectangular in the foregoing description has been applied only to the hole 18 in the tongue 12, thereby using the term in what may be considered its colloquial sense to distinguish it from the term square, in its more specific sense a square is also rectangular, or a limited form of a rectangle. It is in the latter sense that the term rectangular is used in the appended claims.

Also in the foregoing emphasis has been placed on the removability of the

hangers

19 and 25, 26 without disturbing the hangers or merchandise supported above them. It is of course obvious that the hangers may also be put back into their support bases without disturbing the merchandise or hangers positioned above them.

I claim:

1. A support adapted to be mounted on an upright panel having a multiplicity of equidistantly horizontally and vertically spaced rows and columns of holes therethrough, said support consisting of a base and a separable forwardly extending hanger member, said base comprising a flat vertical body adapted to lie flush against the front surface of said panel, said body having L-shaped fingers extending rearwardly and upwardly from opposite sides of the top edge thereof, said body having a tongue extending forwardly from said top edge thereof between said fingers at right angles to said body, said body having a lip extending forwardly from the bottom edge thereof at right angles thereto, said tongue and said lip having substantially the same dimensions and being mutually in vertical alignment, said tongue and said lip each having a rectangular hole therethrough, at least the forward edges and the side edges of said rectangular holes lying in common vertical planes, at least said rectangular hole in said lip being square in outline, said hanger member having depending vertical means at the rear end thereof, said means being square in cross-section complementary to said square hole in said lip and registering releasably in said rectangular holes, the portions of said fingers which extend rearward as aforesaid having a length sub stantially equal to the thickness of said panel, said fingers being spaced apart a distance equal to the horizontal distance between two holes in the panel, said fingers being insertible in said last-named two holes with said rearwardly extending portions thereof positioned in the holes and the upwardly extending portions thereof engaging the back Wall of the panel.

2. A support according to claim 1, said rectangular hole in said tongue having a length inward from said forward edge slightly greater than the equivalent length of said rectangular hole in said lip.

3. A support according to claim 2, said hanger member comprising a hook having an elongated shank, said vertical depending means comprising a downwardly extending deformation of said shank.

4. A support according to claim 1, said hanger member comprising an elongated shank and a downwardly and rearwardly extending brace lying in the vertical plane of the shank and having the forward end thereof secured to the underside of the shank, said vertical depending means comprising in part a downwardly extending deformation on said shank registering releasably in said hole in said tongue and in part a downwardly extending deformation on said brace registering releasably in said hole in said lip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,797,817 7/1957 Shugarman 21 196 2,842,264 7/ 1958 Larson 206-65 2,926,877 3/1960 Levy 248-223 3,250,235 5/1966 McDonnell l0852 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A SUPPORT ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON AN UPRIGHT PANEL HAVING A MULTIPLICITY OF EQUIDISTANTLY HORIZONTALLY AND VERTICALLY SPACED ROWS AND COLUMNS OF HOLES THERETHROUGH, SAID SUPPORT CONSISTING OF A BASE AND A SEPARABLE FORWARDLY EXTENDING HANGER MEMBER, SAID BASE COMPRISING A FLAT VERTICAL BODY ADAPTED TO LIE FLUSH AGAINST THE FRONT SURFACE OF SAID PANEL, SIAD BODY HAVING L-SHAPED FINGERS EXTENDING REARWARDLY AND UPWARDLY FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE TOP EDGE THEREOF, SAID BODY HAVIN G A TONGUE EXTENDING FOWARDLY FROM SAID TOP EDGE THEREOF BETWEEN SAID FINGERS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID BODY, SAID BODY HAVING A LIP EXTENDING FORWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM EDGE THEREOF AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO, SAID TONGUE AND SAID LIP HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME DIMENSIONS AND BEING MUTUALLY IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT, SAID TONGUE AND SAID LIP EACH HAVING A RECTANGULAR HOLE THERETHROUGH, AT LEAST THE FORWARD EDGES AND THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID RECTANGULAR HOLES LYING IN COMMON VERTICAL PLANES, AT LEAST SAID RECTANGULAR HOLE IN SAID LIP BEING SQUARE IN OUTLINE, SAID HANGLER MEMBER HAVING DEPENDING VERTICAL MEANS AT THE REAR END THEREOF, SAID MEANS BEING SQUARE IN OUTLINE, SAID HANGER MEMBER HAVSAID SQUARE HOLE IN SAID LIP AND REGISTERING RELEASABLY IN SAID RECTANGULAR HOLES, THE PORTIONS OF SAID FINGERS WHICH EXTEND REARWARD AFORESAID HAVING A LENGHT SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE THICKNESS OF SAID PANEL, SAID FINGERS BEING SPACED APART A DISTANCE EQUAL TO THE HORIZONTAL DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO HOLES IN THE PANEL, SAID FINGERS BEING INSERTIBLE IN SAID LAST-NAMED TWO HOLES WITH SAID REARWARDLY EXTENDING PORTIONS THEREOF POSITIONED IN THE HOLES AND THE UPWARDLY EXTENDING PORTIONS TH EREOF ENGAGING THE BACK WALL OF THE PANEL.