US3458946A - Display unit - Google Patents

Description

5; 1969 T. c. LASSWELL I 3,458,946

DISPLAY UNIT Filed Nov. 5, 1966 FIG.4

INVENTOR TULL c. LASSWELL [M [1. ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,458,946 DISPLAY UNIT Tull C. Lasswell, Clarkston, Mich. (230 Pawnee Path, Lake Orion, Mich. 48035) Filed Nov. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 591,890 Int. Cl. G09f 3/18; A47f /00 U.S. Cl. 40-19.5 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to a display unit which can be removably attached to any suitable supporting urface such as glass, wood, steel, tile and the like, and which is provided with hangers in the form of pockets, clips hooks and the like.

The hangers, clips or hooks are adapted to support merchandise such as, for example, razor blades, lighter flints, finger nails, nail clippers, phonograph needles and the like for proper display thereof, and the display unit has preferably an adequate advertising message printed on its visible face. The display unit may be easily removed from the supporting surface without harming such surface, when no longer in use.

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a display unit provided with means for supporting merchandise to be displayed and having a space on which is printed an adequate advertising message.

Another object of the invention is to provide a display unit of the character indicated which can be conveniently affixed to any supporting surface.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing such a display unit at a substantially low cost.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when the following description of a few examples of structural embodiments thereof, together with a description of a preferred method of manufacturing the same are considered with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric front view of an example of a display unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric rear view of the example of a display unit of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view showing the display unit of FIG- URES 1 and 2 in position on a supporting surface with goods being displayed by being attached to the hangers thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic sectional view of the display unit of FIGURES 1-2 attached to a supporting surface.

FIGURE 5 is an isometric view of a modification of the display unit of FIGURES l-4;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded diagrammatic view of another embodiment of display units according to the invention in the process of being manufactured;

FIGURE 6a is a modification of a portion of the embodiment of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 7 is a view of the display units of FIGURE 6 at a consecutive step in the manufacturing process;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along line 8-8 of FIGURE 7;

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FIGURE 9 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view along line 9-9 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9, but showing a display unit attached to a supporting surface; and

FIGURE 11 is an isometric view of a further modification of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, an embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGURES 1-2, wherein a display unit is made of a sheet of stiff paper, canvas, card- 'board, plastic, or the like, defining a substantially thin flat body portion 12 provided with an appropriate advertising message 14 on one side 16 thereof, and having a coating 18, of any convenient commercially available pressure sensitive on the other face or side 20 of the flat body portion 12. The coating 18 of pressure sensitive adhesive is normally protected by a peelable covering sheet 22, sometimes called release paper, which may be easily manually peeled olf in the manner shown at 24 so as to expose the adhesive coated face 20 of the body portion 12. In the example of the embodiment of FIGURES 1-2, the display unit flat body portion 12 is provided with slit-like apertures, as shown at 26, or alternately hole-like apertures (not shown), permitting portion 30 of a substantially V-shaped wire clip, hook, or hanger 28 to project therethrough at an angle relatively to the plane of the side 16 of the display unit flat body portion 12. A portion of the wire clip, hook or hanger 28 is normally disposed between the peelable covering sheet 22 and the coated face 20 of the display unit body portion 12, as shown at 32. In this manner, when the peelable covering sheet 22 is manually removed from the pressure sensitive adhesive coated face 20 the adhesive coating 18 is exposed and the display unit 10 may be attached to any convenient surface 34, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, made of metal, wood, glass, tile, or the like, by manually pressing against the surface. In this manner, any merchandise which it is desired to display to the public may be attached to the hooks, or hangers 28, as best shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 represents a modification of the invention wherein the clips, hooks or hangers are made of a plastic tab 38, having a portion 40 angled such as to project through the slit 26 in the fiat body portion 12 of the display unit, another portion 42 of the plastic tab 38 being normally sandwiched between the adhesive coated face of the body portion 12 and the peelable covering sheet 22 such that when the covering sheet 22 is peeled off and the display unit is applied against a supporting surface, the portion 42 of the clips or hooks is sandwiched between the supporting surface and the adhesive coated face of the unit body portion 12.

As shown in FIGURE 2, even the adhesive coated face 18 of the display unit body portion 12 may be provided with an adequate advertising message 15 such that, when the display unit is attached to a glass or other transparent supporting surface, the advertising message may be visible from both sides of the display unit.

A preferred mode of making such a display unit is to use a flat body portion 12 made of transparent material having an adhesive coated face 18. Face 16 of the flat body portion 12 is printed with a mirror image of the advertising message which, consequently, can be read in the normal manner when observed from face 18 through the transparent material of the flat body portion 12. Face 16 is then coated with an opaque layer which is in turn printed with a normal advertising message 14.

FIGURES 6-11 represent a further modification, of the invention, FIGURES 6-7 particularly representing a schematic illustration of a method of manufacturing the same in mass production. A continuous strip 44 of stiff paper, plastic, canvas or cardboard is coated on one side thereof 20 with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 18 by means of any conventional coating machine. The outer face 12 of strip 44 has an advertising message 14 repeated at regular intervals thereon. A continuous strip of zig-zag wire 28 is disposed in engagement with the coated face 20 of strip 44, and a continuous strip 46 of material which is capable of protecting the pressure adhesive coating While being adapted to be peeled therefrom is applied against the coated face 20 of strip 44 such that a continuous sandwich-like strip is formed which is sheared or cut off, as shown at line 48 in FIGURE 7, so as to form a plurality of separate individual display units 10. In order to form clips, hooks or hangers for merchandise to be displayed by being supported by the display unit, a sharp knife or razor blade may be used to cut out the material of the body portion 12 of the display unit along the contour of the bent upper half portion 30 of the zig-zag wire 28, and such bent upper half portion 30 may be manually bent relatively to the lower half portion 32 so as to form an angled projecting clip or hanger as shown at 50, the lower portion 32 of the zig-zag wire 28 remaining sandwiched between the coated face 20 of the display unit body portion 12 and the peelable covering sheet 22. It is evident that hooks 50 may be thus formed also after the peelable cover sheet 22 has been removed and the display board has been applied on a supporting surface 34, as shown in FIGURE 10.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the formation of the clips or hangers 50 where so desired, the continuous stiff paper, canvas, plastic or cardboard strip 44 may be precut along the outline of the bent upper half portion 30 of the zig-zag wire 28, such that what is only required from the user of the display board is to manually bend the upper half portion 30 of the zig-zag wire so as to form clips, hooks or hangers 50 at the appropriate position, either before or after the peelable cover sheet 22 is removed and the display unit is adhered to a supporting surface 34.

It is evident that the shape of the zig-zag wire 28 as illustrated is given for illustrative purpose only and that the zig-zag wire 28 may have any other convenient shape such as, for example, being a continuous strip of wire shaped as shown at 28' in FIGURE 6a.

As shown in FIGURE 11, the display unit according to the invention may be provided with pocket-like support means 31 adapted to hold packaged merchandise 37, instead of being provided with hangers in the form of clips, hooks or the like, although clips or hooks and pocket-like support means may be included in one display unit.

It is obvious that the invention has also utility for holding any object provided with support means engageable with a clip or hook such as paintings, framed photographs and the like.

Having thus described the invention by means of several illustrative structural examples thereof and by means of a preferred method for manufacturing the same, modifications and changes wherein will become apparent to those skilled in the art, what is claimed as novel and sought to be protected by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A display unit comprising a flat body portion coated on one face with pressure sensitive adhesive for attaching to a supporting surface, a peelable covering sheet normally protecting said pressure sensitive adhesive and a plurality of support elements each having a portion adapted to project from the other face of said flat body portion for supporting an object, wherein each of said support elements is a metal wire hook and a plurality of said metal wire hooks is formed of a continuous zig-zag bent wire having every other bent portion adapted to be bent over when in use so as to project from said other side of said flat body portion, every alternate bent portion 4 being arranged to remain between said fiat body portion and said covering sheet.

2. The display unit of claim 1 having an advertising message printed on said other face of said body portion.

3. The display unit of claim 1 having advertising messages visible on both faces of said body portion.

4. The display unit of claim 1 wherein each of said support elements is a pocket-like member adapted to receive and support an object.

5. The method of manufacturing display units, each of which comprises a flat body portion coated on one side with pressure sensitive adhesive for attaching to a Supporting surface, a peelable covering sheet normally protecting said pressure sensitive adhesive and a plurality of hook elements each having a portion disposed between said fiat body portion and said covering sheet and a portion adapted to project on the other side of said fiat body portion through an aperture in said fiat body portion, said method comprising: coating one side of a continuous strip of the material forming said flat body portion with said adhesive, disposing a continuous zig-zag bent wire longitudinally along said side coated with adhesive, applying said peelable covering sheet from a continuous strip on said side coated with adhesive and cutting to length to form individual display units.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising precutting on said body portion a plurality of cut-out slits corresponding to the contour of every alternate bent portion of said zig-zag bent wire adapted to be bent over when in use so as to project on the other side of said strong paper.

7. A display unit comprising a flat body member coated on one face with pressure sensitive adhesive for attaching to a supporting surface, a peelable covering sheet normally protecting said pressure sensitive adhesive and a plurality of substantially thin hook elements each having a first portion disposed between said flat body member and said covering sheet and an integral second portion adapted to project from the other face of said flat body member through an aperture in said flat body member for defining an angled substantially straight hanger for removably supporting an article.

8. The display unit of claim 7 wherein each of said hook elements is a substantially rigid plastic tab.

9. The display unit of claim 7 wherein each of said hook elements is a wire hook.

10. The display unit of claim 9 wherein said hook elements are formed of a continuous zig-zag bent wire having every other bent portion adapted to be bent over when in use so as to project from said other side of said flat body portion, every alternate bent portion being arranged to remain between said flat body portion and said covering sheet.

11. The display unit of claim 7 having an advertising message printed on said other face of said body portion.

12. The display unit of claim 7 having an advertising message printed so as to be visible on both faces of said body portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,999,633 4/1935 Greenhood. 2,765,998 10/1956 Engert. 2,797,509 7/1957 Golden 40l0 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,460,738 10/1966 France.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner WENCESLAO J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 211-59, 86; 248205

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