GB1598522A

GB1598522A - Clothing display stand

Info

Publication number: GB1598522A
Application number: GB836878A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Fehlbaum and Co
Current assignee: Fehlbaum and Co
Priority date: 1977-04-05
Filing date: 1978-03-02
Publication date: 1981-09-23
Also published as: AT361178B; CH617078A5; ATA151178A; FR2386290A1; FR2386290B1; DE7717903U1

Abstract

Each part (2) of the clothes stand comprises a support part (3) which is telescopically displaceable therein for the selective setting of the vertical position of the bearing devices (38-40) on the clothes stand. To fix the position of the support part (3) relative to the stand part (2), the support part (3) bears at its lower end a clamping block (15) with a blocking roller (14) which can be controlled from the outside of the support part (3) and is intended to produce a frictional locking engagement between the support part and the stand part (3, 2). The blocking roller (14) is guided in a forked control member (10) at the lower end of an actuating rod (7) and is clamped firmly in terms of operation between a sloping clamping surface (18) and an inner surface of the stand part. To release the said blocking engagement, the control member (10) together with the blocking roller is pushed outwards by means of the actuating rod (7), in which case the blocking roller is disengaged from the stand part along the sloping clamping surface (18). <IMAGE>

Description

(54) CLOTHING DISPLAY STAND (71) We, FEHLBAUM & CO., a Swiss body corporate of Goetheanumstrasse 18, CH4143 Dornach, Switzerland, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement-.

The present invention relates to a clothing display stand with a foot part, a column arrangement mounted on this and having at least one stand part, and a supporting part arranged telescopically adjustable within this with a carrying device for taking up articles, whereby the supporting part can be fixed by means of a clamping device at any position relative to and on the stand part.

For the presentation of clothing in shops, often the need to be able to show the articles at a certain height is felt. For this purpose, a number of stands and supporting structures have come onto the market by which normal engaging means with bolts which snap or are inserted into respective openings, or screwing clamping means are used to fix a support which, as opposed to a stand, can be, for example, telescopically pulled out, with members for hanging articles on, at the required height.

Means which snap into position or clamping means of this type protrude due to their construction either above the stand or support part and therefore impair the appearance of the stand or supporting device. Also, changing the height of the extendible support often requires considerable time and strength; often, tools are additionally necessary.

According to the present invention there is provided a clothing display stand with a foot part, a substantially vertical column arrangement mounted thereto and having at least one stand part with a support part telescopically adjustable therein and fixable in relation to the stand part at any position by means of a clamping device, characterised in that the support part is a first square section tube, in which a clamping block with one clamping surface is attached and the stand part is a second square section tube closely surrounding the support part and connected by a lower end thereof to the foot part, that a control member is arranged to partially surround the clamping block and to be movable lengthwise with the support part to guide a clamping part parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support part, said clamping part being clampable between said clamping surface of the clamping block and the inner wall of the stand part to produce a pressure between the support part and the stand part, the control member being moveable by an operating means located at one end of the support part and against the influence of a spring element acting in the longitudinal direction, the spring element exerting a pressure between the control member and the clamping block to cause frictional action between the support part and the stand part when the operating means is in a non-operative mode, movement of the operating means into its operative mode causing the spring's pressure to be overcome and the control member to be brought into a position in which the clamping part becomes unclamped from between said clamping surface and the inner wall of the stand part in order to allow longitudinal adjustability of the support part with respect to the stand part.

Embodiments of the device according to the invention are described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a simple embodiment of a clothing display stand according to the present invention to show the parts externally visible; Figures 2A, 2A1 and 2B show in longitudinal section, two views of the fixing mechanism at 90" to each other, with which an upper support part can be comfortably detachably fixed, relative to the underlying stand part, at any desirable height; Figures 3A, 3B and 3C show views of stand columns made up of several square tubes in partial perspective, with respective plan views of the upper column ends;; Figure 4 shows in perspective, an example of the upper part of a clothing display stand with three square tubes set together as stand column to show the possibility of adjusting various heights of the arms on multi-tubular stands; Figure 5 shows an example of the clothing display stand with two stand parts and column parts separated from each other by a divided foot part and a hanging rail connected to two support parts, and Figure 6 shows in partial view, the top part of a variant of the clothing display stand shown in Figure 5 with two bi-tubular stand columns.

The clothing display stand shown in Figure 1 has a foot part 1, a square-tube stand part 2 joined to it and a support part generally marked 3 also in the form of a square-tube which is located, telescopically, in the stand part 2 and on the top end of which a continuous rail 4 is arranged as a hanging bar for clothes' hangers and such like. End tongues 5 hinder objects from falling off of the hanging rail 4. Protruding from the hanging rail 4, centered on the longitudinal axis of the support part 3, is an operating button 6, the function of which is described according to Figures 2A and 2B.

In the longitudinal cross section of Figures 2A, 2A1 and 2B, 2 indicates the top end of the square-tube stand part and 3 the support part with a schematically shown hanging rail. The operating button 6 is connected to an operating bar 7, the lower end of which is provided with a thread section 8. A counter nut 9 and a guide fork 10 are mounted on this thread section, the counter nut being fastened against the base 11 of the guide fork 10. The fork 10 is located in the inner part of the support 3 and is provided with two guide plates 12 formed onto the base 11, in each lower section of said guide plates is a slit 13 open at one side and in which a locking roller 14 is rotatably located.

In the region of the lower end of the support part 3, between the guide plates 12 of the guide fork 10 clamping block 15 is arranged within the tube against an opening 16 in a side wall of the part 3 and which is held firmly inside the tube. The clamping block 15 comprises a side control recess 17, the upward wall 18 of which tilts outwards slightly towards the adjacent inner wall 19 on the stand part 2.

Between said walls 18 and 19, the locking roller 14 is located, horizontally rotatable in the slit 13 and moveable towards the inner wall 19 of the stand part because the opening 16 of the support part 3 in the region of the clamping recess 17 extends at least over a width equalling at least the length of the locking roller 14 and a vertical length equalling the height of the clamping recess 17.

A pressure spring 20 is so arranged between the base 11 on the fork 10 (guided by a protruding part of the thread section 8) and a spring guide 21 on the clamping block 15, that the spring 20 forces the guide fork 10 upwardly away from the clamping block 15. Through this, the locking roller 14 is pressed along the slanted wall 18 outwardly against the inner wall 19 of the stand part 2 so that friction results between the stand part 2 and the support part 3, fixing both parts in respect of one another. This frictional action is reinforced with increased loading of the support part 3 by objects laid on or hung from it so that a practically immoveable connection of these parts, even with relatively high loading, results.

If one now presses (preferably when the support part 3 is unloaded) the operating button 6 downwardly in the direction of arrow C, the locking roller 14, arranged in the respective slits 13 of the guide plates 12 and thereby horizontally moveable, is released by the operating rod 7 and the fork 10 out of its locked position and can thereby move downwardly along the angled wall 18 of the clamping block. The friction action between the stand part 2 and the support part 3 is thereby terminated and these two parts can be displaced in relation to each other.This situation is shown in Figure 2A1. However, as soon as the downward pressure on the operating button 6 is removed, the fork 10 moves upwardly again under the influence of the spring 20, whereby the locking roller 14 again lies between the angled wall 18 of the clamping block and the inner wall 19 of the stand part and thereby re-establishes the friction between stand-and support part. If during the time the locking roller 14 was in its released position, the stand- and support parts have been moved telescopically relatively one to the other, they are now fixed in such a new position with respect to one another.

Hence it follows that a comfortably operable and effectively releasable clamp-connection can be produced between the stand part 2 and the support part 3, which clamp-connection can be obtained in practically any position, limited only by the length relationships between the two parts 2 and 3. Release of the connection is provided by simply pressing the operating button 6, and refixing the parts 2, 3 by releasing the button when the required length between the respectively telescopically moveable parts 2 and 3 has been reached.

The means shown in Figure 1 as a bar hanging rail 4 to hang up clothes hangers and such like can also be formed as a one-armed lever, as can be seen later from the description of Figure 4. This possibility allows mounting of clothing display stands of the type embodying the invention with more than one square tube as stand part 2 and correspondingly more than one support part 3 which can additionally, with corresponding forms of the clothing display stand, be adjusted at various heights independantly of one another. Columns of more than one square tube as a stand part are shown in Figures 3A-C, whereby Figure 3A shows in perspective and cross section, a column made of two square tubes 24, 25, sideby-side and joined together. It is understood that a two-tube column can also be formed by joining the tubes along two opposite edges and with the tube side surfaces at 900 to each other. A three-tube column is shown in Figure 3B, by which the respective connection is provided along edges of adjacent square tubes 27, 28 and 29 which touch each other to form a triangle therebetween. Of course a three-tube column can also be made in a row-arrangement, analogous to Figure 3A. Finally, Figure 3C shows a column of four square tubes 30-33 formed into a square arrangement, although, of course, an open arrangement in the sense of Figure 3B, or a row-arrangement in the sense of Figure 3A can be formed as a four-tube column.

Figure 4 shows a three-tube column 34 mounted according to Figure 3B with three independantly extendible height-adjustable support parts 35, 36, 37, each of which is provided with an arm 38, 39,40. Over the top of each support part 3537, an operating button 6 protrudes, pressing down of which releases the engagement between the respective support part and its corresponding stand tube.

In Figures 5 and 6, clothing display stands are shown, by which stand parts 42.1, 42.2 or 43.1,43.2, with correspondingly formed feet 41', 41" and 41"' (only visible in Figure 5), have support parts 44.1, 44.2 or 45.1, -45.4 respectively telescopically arranged therein.

The adjustable support parts 44.1,44.2 or 45.1,45.2 and 45.3, 45.4 arranged in pairs relative to the respective stand part 42.1, 42.2 or 43.1, 43.2 are joined in the case of Figure 5 by a hanging arm 46, while, in the case of Figure 6, it is the extension arrangements 46.1,46.2 which are each made up of one arm 46.1', 46.2' and a connection bar 46.1", 46.2". The height adjustment of the carrying arrangements made up of said support parts 44.1,44.2, 45.1-45.4 and their connection members 46, 46.1 and 46.2 follows in that after simultaneous pressing down of the operating buttons 6.1 and 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 or 6.5 and 6.6, the corresponding carrying arrangements are brought to a new height by parallel adjustment.

The hanging display arrangements as shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and 6 are only to be considered as examples. It is understood that in the range of the invention, arrangements formed for various uses can be built up on a support part. Also, as regards the clamping device shown in Figures 2A, 3B, there are further possibilities, especially as regards the clamping block 15 and the locking roller 14. Embodiments of the present invention can provide a clothing display stand of the type referred to above, by which the fixing means between the stand and the supports are not visible from the outside and the operating elements for the height-adjustment are so arranged that they do not impair the appearance of the stand.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A clothing display stand with a foot part, a substantially vertical column arrangement mounted thereto and having at least one stand part with a support part telescopically adjustable therein and fixable in relation to the stand part at any position by means of a clamping device, characterised in that the sup port part is a first square section tube, in which a clamping block with one clamping surface is attached and the stand part is a second square section tube closely surrounding the support part and connected by a lower end thereof to the foot part, that a control member is arranged to partially surround the clamping block and to be moveable lengthwise within the support part to guide a clamping part parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support part, said clamping part being clampable between said clamping surface of the clamping block and the inner wall of the stand part to produce a pressure between the support part and the stand part, the control member being moveable by an operating means located at one end of the support part - and against the influence of a spring element acting in the longitudinal direction, the spring element exerting a pressure between the control member and the clamping block to cause frictional action between the support part and the stand part when the operating means is in a non-operative mode, movement of the operating means into its operative mode causing the spring's pressure to be overcome and the control member to be brought into a position in which the clamping part becomes unclamped from between said clamping surface and the inner wall of the stand part in order to allow longitudinal adjustability of the support part with respect to the stand part.

2. A clothing display stand as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the clamping block extends through an opening in the side wall of the support part and has a narrow side on which is located a control recess with a wall part slanting upwards and outwards to act as the clamping surface.

3. A clothing display stand as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the control member is a U-shaped element having a base plate and two guide plates attached thereto, each plate comprising a slit recess extending sideways into the guide plate for mobile accommodation of the clamping part.

4. A clothing display stand as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the clamping part is a locking roller rotatably located in the control member.

5. A clothing display stand as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the spring el ment is a pressure spring one end of which acts on the control member and the other end of which acts on a spring guide section of the clamping block.

6. A clothing display stand as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the operating means comprises an operating button protruding beyond the support part and connected to one end of an operating bar, the other end of which is connected to the control member.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. provided along edges of adjacent square tubes 27, 28 and 29 which touch each other to form a triangle therebetween. Of course a three-tube column can also be made in a row-arrangement, analogous to Figure 3A. Finally, Figure 3C shows a column of four square tubes 30-33 formed into a square arrangement, although, of course, an open arrangement in the sense of Figure 3B, or a row-arrangement in the sense of Figure 3A can be formed as a four-tube column. Figure 4 shows a three-tube column 34 mounted according to Figure 3B with three independantly extendible height-adjustable support parts 35, 36, 37, each of which is provided with an arm 38, 39,40. Over the top of each support part 3537, an operating button 6 protrudes, pressing down of which releases the engagement between the respective support part and its corresponding stand tube. In Figures 5 and 6, clothing display stands are shown, by which stand parts 42.1, 42.2 or 43.1,43.2, with correspondingly formed feet 41', 41" and 41"' (only visible in Figure 5), have support parts 44.1, 44.2 or 45.1, -45.4 respectively telescopically arranged therein. The adjustable support parts 44.1,44.2 or 45.1,45.2 and 45.3, 45.4 arranged in pairs relative to the respective stand part 42.1, 42.2 or 43.1, 43.2 are joined in the case of Figure 5 by a hanging arm 46, while, in the case of Figure 6, it is the extension arrangements 46.1,46.2 which are each made up of one arm 46.1', 46.2' and a connection bar 46.1", 46.2". The height adjustment of the carrying arrangements made up of said support parts 44.1,44.2, 45.1-45.4 and their connection members 46, 46.1 and 46.2 follows in that after simultaneous pressing down of the operating buttons 6.1 and 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 or 6.5 and 6.6, the corresponding carrying arrangements are brought to a new height by parallel adjustment. The hanging display arrangements as shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and 6 are only to be considered as examples. It is understood that in the range of the invention, arrangements formed for various uses can be built up on a support part. Also, as regards the clamping device shown in Figures 2A, 3B, there are further possibilities, especially as regards the clamping block 15 and the locking roller 14. Embodiments of the present invention can provide a clothing display stand of the type referred to above, by which the fixing means between the stand and the supports are not visible from the outside and the operating elements for the height-adjustment are so arranged that they do not impair the appearance of the stand. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A clothing display stand with a foot part, a substantially vertical column arrangement mounted thereto and having at least one stand part with a support part telescopically adjustable therein and fixable in relation to the stand part at any position by means of a clamping device, characterised in that the sup port part is a first square section tube, in which a clamping block with one clamping surface is attached and the stand part is a second square section tube closely surrounding the support part and connected by a lower end thereof to the foot part, that a control member is arranged to partially surround the clamping block and to be moveable lengthwise within the support part to guide a clamping part parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support part, said clamping part being clampable between said clamping surface of the clamping block and the inner wall of the stand part to produce a pressure between the support part and the stand part, the control member being moveable by an operating means located at one end of the support part - and against the influence of a spring element acting in the longitudinal direction, the spring element exerting a pressure between the control member and the clamping block to cause frictional action between the support part and the stand part when the operating means is in a non-operative mode, movement of the operating means into its operative mode causing the spring's pressure to be overcome and the control member to be brought into a position in which the clamping part becomes unclamped from between said clamping surface and the inner wall of the stand part in order to allow longitudinal adjustability of the support part with respect to the stand part.

7. A clothing display stand as claimed in

Claim 1, characterized in that a device to carry objects is fixed onto the upper end of the support part and is a rail.

8. A clothing display stand as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a plurality of stand parts together form a column arrangement, characterized in that the column arrangement is built by direct connection of edges or surface sections of adjacent members of said plurality of stand parts.

9. A clothing display stand as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 7, comprising a plurality of stand parts located at a distance one from another characterized in that said stand parts are provided with a foot part comprising a transverse connection between the stand parts.

10. A clothing stand substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.