WO2004093034A1

WO2004093034A1 - Holder for information carrier

Info

Publication number: WO2004093034A1
Application number: PCT/SE2004/000592
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jan Anders TÖRNLUND; Tomas Andersson
Original assignee: Hl Display Ab
Priority date: 2003-04-17
Filing date: 2004-04-16
Publication date: 2004-10-28
Also published as: SE0301153D0; GB2414723B; GB0518781D0; SE0301153L; GB2414723A; SE523361C2

Abstract

Holder for an information carrier, which holder comprises a pocket (1) for receiving the information carrier and holding means (7) for holding the holder in an elongated label holder strip (20), which is attached to a shelf and which comprises an upwardly open label holder pocket (21) having a front (23) and a rear (22) wall and being arranged in front of the shelf. The holding means comprises a tongue (8), which is arranged to extend into the label holder pocket and to be retained therein while bearing against the insides of the label holder pocket's rear and front walls. In order to achieve secure holding of the holder in the label holder pocket, the tongue is provided with a friction increasing material (12) which is arranged to increase the friction between the tongue ant the inside of the label holder pocket.

Description

HOLDER FOR INFORMATION CARRIER

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a holder for an information carrier, comprising a pocket for receiving the information carrier and fastening means for fastening the holder in an elongated label holder moulding, which is fixed to a shelf and which presents a label holder pocket which is opened upwards and arranged in front of the shelf and which has a front and a rear wall, wherein the fastening means comprises a tongue which is arranged to extend into the label holder pocket and to be retained therein while bearing against the inside of the front and rear walls of the label holder pocket.

Background of the invention

In general stores, for example, goods are often displayed on shelves. In order to provide the customers with information about the goods, such as price and volume or weight per package etc, information labels concerning the goods are often placed on the front edge of the shelf, in front of the goods in question. In order to attach such informa- tion labels at the front edge of the shelf it is common to use a label holder moulding, sometimes called datastrip. The label holder moulding consists of an elongated extruded profile element of e.g. PVC. The profile element comprises an upwards opened label holder pocket which is formed by a rear wall arranged closer to the shelf and a front wall arranged parallel with and in proximity to the rear wall. The rear and front walls are mutually connected at their lower ends. By folding the front wall forward, away from the rear wall, it is possible to insert a label into the pocket. When the front wall flexes back to its initial position, the label is retained in the label holder pocket by bearing against the inside of the front and rear pockets. At the outside of the rear wall, means for attaching the label holder pocket to the edge of the shelf is arranged. These means may e.g. consist of an elongated snap-in profile, which extends along the entire length of the label holder pocket and which is intended to be snap-fitted at a base profile, which is fixed at the front edge of the shelf, e.g. by means of double-sided adhesive tape. In a mounted position, the label holder moulding and the base profile extend along one or several shelf sections in the longitudinal direction of the shelf. It is hereby possible to position information labels at arbitrary positions in front of the respective goods along the length of the shelf. It is desirable to design the label holder moulding with such a height that it does not protrude unnecessarily below the shelf and thereby covers goods which are placed on an underlying shelf. This limits the height of the labels which are attached to the shelf by means of the label holder moulding.

Except this kind of labels which are permanently attached to the shelf it is sometimes desirable to attach larger information carriers with e.g. printed image or text matter in front of a certain merchandise. Here, by information carrier is meant some kind of sheet material or the like on which text, images or other graphics is printed, written, drawn or applied in any other way. Such larger information carriers contain e.g. information concerning campaign offers and it is often desirable to be able to attach these temporarily at different positions along the shelf, without risking that they conceal labels already put in place . For achieving this there exist, according to the known art, holders for such information carriers, which holders comprise a pocket for receiving the information carrier and means for attaching the holder to a label holder pocket of the type described above. This means consists according to the known art of an elongated tongue, which is arranged at the backside of the pocket and designed to be inserted down into the label holder pocket which is fixed to the shelf.

A problem at these known holders for information carriers is that they cannot be retained in the label holder pocket in a secure manner. It may often happen that the holders are displaced along the label holder moulding by mistake, e.g. by a passing shopping trolley or a playing child who pulls his or her hands along the edge of the shelf. This may cause the information carriers to be positioned in front of not intended merchandise, whereby the information message does not reach the intended receiver or causes confusion. It is even worse that the holders easily come loose from the label holder pocket, for example when a customer stretches in beneath the shelf for picking a merchandise from an underlying shelf. Hereby the imforma- tion message is of course completely lost until someone of the staff observes what has happened and puts the information carrier back at its correct position.

All together the defective holding of additional information carriers at the correct position of a shelf entails inter alia; disorder in the shop, additional costs for controlling and replacing holders which have come loose or been displaced and reduced sales due to the fact that the information messages do not reach the intended receivers . Brief description of the invention

An object of the present invention is therefore to achieve a holder for an information carrier, which in a secure manner may be retained at the label holder of a shelf without risking to be removed by mistake from the position at which it is attached and which nevertheless is easy to mount at and to dismount from the shelf .

This object is obtained with a holder of the type des- cribed in the first paragraph of this discription, which holder presents the special technical features set out in claim 1.

Owing to the fact that the tongue, which is inserted in the label holder pocket for retaining the holder, comprises a friction-increasing material, the holder is prevented from removal or displacement from its original position if not the label holder pocket is first folded forward in a direction away from the rear wall for reducing the frictional force between the inside of the label holder pocket and the friction-increasing material. It is thus required that the label holder pocket first is opened before the holder may be displaced or removed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention are set out in the dependant claims.

Detailed description of an embodiment

Below, a preferred embodiment of the invention is des- cribed as an example and with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view obliquely from the front of a holder for an information carrier according to the inven- tion and Fig. la is a detail in enlarged scale thereof. Fig. 2 is a perspective view obliquely from the front of the holder shown in Fig. 1, when being inserted in a label holder moulding and Fig. 2a is a detail in enlarged scale thereof .

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the holder shown in Fig. 1, when in mounted position at the label holder moulding and Fig. 3a is a detail in enlarged scale thereof.

In this description reference will be made to different directions, such as up, down, forward, backward etc. These directions are not to be understood as limiting but do only refer to what is shown in the drawings.

The holder for an information carrier shown in Figs 1 and la comprises an information carrier pocket 1 (below called pocket) for receiving an information carrier (not shown) . The information carrier may consist of a sheet material, such as a paper sheet or the like on which an advertising message or the like is printed or applied in any other manner. The pocket 1 comprises a rear wall 2 and a front wall. Both walls 2, 3 extend essentially parallel with and in proximity to each other, such that the insides of at least their upper portions normally bear against each other. At their lower ends the two walls 2, 3 are connected by means of a bridge 4. The upper ends or edges of the walls 2, 3 are not connected, whereby the pocket is opened upwards and sidewards. The pocket 1 is formed of an elastic material, such that the walls 2, 3 may resiliently be moved away from each other, whereby the opening between the walls is widened for insertion and removal of the information carrier.

The rear wall 2 presents, at its upper end, a flange 5, which extends essentially perpendicularly backwards from the upper end, along the entire length of the pocket 1. The flange 5 is connected with a hinged bridge 6 having thinner material . The hinged bridge 6 is connected to a profile moulding 7 opposite to the flange 5, which profile moulding constitutes means for retaining the holder at a label holder pocket 20 (Figs 2, 3), which pocket is fastened to the front edge of a shelf (not shown) in a known manner.

The profile moulding 7 extends parallel with the pocket 1, along the entire length of the pocket and comprises a tongue 8, which is arranged essentially parallel with the pocket 1. The tongue 8 is at its upper end 9 connected with an elastic clip member 10. The clip member 10 comp- rises a curved section 10a which is connected with the upper end 9 of the tongue 8, a contact portion 10b and a grip portion 10c. At the upper side of the curved portion 10a of the clip member 10, the profile moulding 7 is connected with the hinged bridge 6. The thin material thickness of the hinged bridge 6 permits the hinged bridge to function as a hinge, such that the entire pocket 1 may be folded upwards in front of the shelf at which is is fixed, in order to permit easy access to merchandises placed on an underlying shelf. A fixing flange 11 further protrudes obliquely backwards and upwards from the upper end 9 of the tongue 8.

The pocket 1, the bridge 6 and the profile moulding 7 are produced in one piece by injection moulding or extrusion of PVC.

According to the invention, the tongue 8 comprises a friction-increasing material 12. This material may consist of e.g. softened PVC or Hytrel^®. In the preferred embodi- ment shown, the friction-increasing material is arranged as a tape or run along the lower portion of the entire front side of the tongue by co-extrusion with the profile moulding 7 , the bridge 6 and the pocket 1.

Figs 2 och 2a show how the holder is inserted into the label holder moulding 20. The label holder moulding 20, which is known per se, comprises an upwards open label holder pocket 21 and means (not shown) for fixing the label holder moulding at a shelf, e.g. by means of a base profile which is attached to the front edge of the shelf. The label holder pocket 21 presents a rear wall 22 and a front wall 23 which walls are mutually connected at their lower edges by means of a hinge 24. The hinge 24 is designed for achieving that the front wall 23 is folded forwards from the back wall 22 when one pushes on the hinge 24. The back wall 22 is, at its upper edge, connected with a peak-like protrusion which protrudes forward above the front wall 23.

As shown in Figs 2 and 2a, the holder according to the invention is attached to the label holder moulding by first separating the upper end of the front wall 23 of the label holder pocket from the rear wall 22. Thereafter, the tongue 8 is slipped down into the opening which is formed between the rear 22 and front 23 wall of the label holder pocket. When the grip portion 10c and the contact portion 10b of the clip member 10 make contact with the front wall 23, the clip member 10 is forced to be resiliently separated from the tongue 8, whereby the front wall 23 may be received between the tongue 8 and the contact portion 10b. When the tongue 8 is completely inserted, along its entire length, in the label holder pocket 21, the inside of the curved portion 10a of the clip member 10 bears against the upper edge of the front wall of the label holder pocket. At the same time the fixing flange 11 has snapped in under the peak-like protrusion 25 on the back wall 22 of the label holder pocket .

The resilience of the front 23 and back 22 walls of the label holder pocket 21 and of the hinge 24 forces the front wall 23 towards the back wall 22, whereby the tongue 8 is clamped with a comparatively weak force between the front 23 and rear 22 wall. Owing to the friction- increasing material, which is arranged on the tongue, this comparatively weak clamping force is however sufficient for achieving a sufficiently large friction force between the tongue 8 and the front wall 23, such that the tongue 8 does not unintentionally slip out of its position. The clamping force which the clip member 10, by means of the elastic curved portion 10a and the bearing portion 10b, exerts on the front wall 23, just above the friction- increasing material 12, further strengthens the frictional force which arises between the tongue 8 and two walls 22, 23 of the label holder pocket 21. The engagement between the fixing flange 11 and the peak-like protrusion 25 constitutes a further safeguard against unintentional removal of the holder from the label holder moulding.

An exemplifying embodiment of the invention has been described above. The invention is not limited thereto but may be varied within the limits of the attached claims.

The friction-increasing material may e.g. consist of a separate band which may be fastened to the tongue e.g. by means of double-sided adhesive tape. The friction- increasing material may also constitute a material which is melted or sprayed onto the tongue after manufacturing the rest of the holder.

Claims

1. Holder for an information carrier comprising an information carrier pocket (1) for receiving the information carrier and fastening means for fastening the holder in an elongated label holder moulding (20) , which is fixed to a shelf and which presents a label holder pocket (21) which is opened upwards and arranged in front of the shelf and which has a front (23) and a back (22) wall, wherein the fastening means comprises a tongue (8) which is arranged to extend into the label holder pocket and to be retained therein while bearing against the inside of the front and back wall of the label holder pocket, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that tongue comprises a friction-increasing material (12) which is arranged to increase the friction between the tongue and the inside of the label holder pocket.

2. Holder according to claim 1, wherein the tongue comprises a first base material which essentially forms the tongue (8) and a layer of a friction-increasing material (12) .

3. Holder according to any of claims 1-2, wherein the friction-increasing material (12) is arranged as a run which extends parallel with the tongue and the longitudinal direction of the shelf on one or both sides of the tongue (8) .

4. Holder according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the friction material is arranged at the front side of the tongue (8), in proximity to or at its lower edge.

5. Holder according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the fastening means also includes an elastic clip member (10) which is fixed to the upper end (9) of the tongue (8) and arranged to protrude forward past the upper edge of the front wall (23) of the label holder pocket (21) and downwards for bearing resiliently against the outside of the front wall of the label holder pocket in order to clamp the front wall of the label holder pocket between the clip member and the tongue.

6. Holder according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the fastening means comprises a fixing flange (11) which protrudes backwards from the upper edge of the tongue (8) and which is arranged to bear against a peak-like pro- trusion (25) which protrudes forward from the back wall

(22) of the label holder, above the front wall (23) of the label holder pocket (21) .

7. Holder according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the fastening means are formed as an elongated profile moulding (7) .

8. Holder acccording to any of claims 1-7, wherein the information carrier pocket (1) is connected to the fastening means (7) by a hinge (6) which permits the holder pocket to be folded upwards in front of the shelf.

9. Holder according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the fastening means (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) are formed by co-extrusion of a base material and a friction-increasing material .

10. Holder according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the holder is formed in one piece by co-extrusion of a base material and a friction-increasing material.