Card cartridge display system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field Of The Invention

0001The present invention relates to a storage and display system and more particularly to a card cartridge storage and display system of improved design which provides effective display and high density storage of greeting cards.

Description Of The Prior Art

0002In merchandising greeting cards and similar products, retailers have found it desirable to attractively display a sample of each type of greeting card, effectively store a large number of cards in a relatively small space, and easily dispense them.

0003Retailers have used various racks to store and display card-type articles. Some prior art racks include a frame which supports a display panel at an inclined position. The display panel has grooves formed into its face for containing the bottom portion of cards inserted into the grooves. These racks do not provide a cover for the display panel; thus, dust collects on the cards and reduces their appeal to the potential purchaser. Since the grooves on the display panel's face provide the only space for storage, the device cannot accommodate large quantities of cards. Additionally, the device takes up a large space because it requires a large area to display each type of card on a relatively flat surface. Finally, this device does not adequately display the greeting cards because the portion of the card inserted into the groove is not visible. To see the entire card, a purchaser must remove it from its groove. In doing this, he or she may soil the card.

0004Other prior art devices include a display rack for displaying the various types of greeting cards and a storage chest which supports the display rack and contains additional copies of the cards displayed. Although this device increases storage capacity it does not keep the cards displayed from collecting dust. It also does not afford easy and convenient access to the greeting cards. A purchaser, after looking at the cards on the display rack and finding the one he or she would like to purchase, must locate a duplicate in the storage chest.

0005Still other prior art devices such as the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,239,307 issued December 16, 1980 to Schweizer use a bin-type, card file construction. The Schweizer device comprises a stand and a multi-segmented cover formed by a number of consecutively arranged segments. These segments combine to define compartments for containing card-like objects. The Schweizer device reduces the effects of environmental influences such as dust and provides for convenient viewing of the objects contained within it. However, it does not greatly increase storage capacity.

0006The card cartridge display system of the present invention avoids the shortcomings of the prior art storage and display devices. It is simple and durable in construction and attractive in appearance. It provides storage for large quantities of greeting cards in a relatively small space, i.e., increases storage density, yet it exposes the greeting cards to purchaser viewing and affords easy and convenient access for removing and replacing the cards. The system also allows effective confinement of reorder and identification cards along with the greeting cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

0007Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved card cartridge display system which is easy to use and inexpensive to manufacture.

0008It is another object of the present.invention to provide a card cartridge display system which is simple and durable in construction and attractive in appearance.

0009It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a card cartridge display system which allows storage and display of a large number of greeting cards in a relatively small space.

0010It is still another object of this invention to provide a card cartridge display system which affords easy and convenient access to the greeting cards contained in the system and which allows effective confinement of reorder and identification cards along with the greeting cards.

0011Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and amended claims, and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.

0012The applicant has achieved the foregoing objects of the present invention through the provision of a card cartridge display system for storing and displaying greeting cards. The card cartridge display system includes a base member such as a storage chest or a structural framework which supports a number of cartridge carriers in an upwardly stepped arrangement with the first, bottom carriers located at the front end of the base member next to a user of the system.

0013The carriers are elongated trough-like structures which contain large numbers of cartridges arranged in the carriers in face-to-face order from the front of the carrier to the back. Each carrier consists of a bottom support member and front and rear inclined wall sections. The card cartridges are flat box-like enclosures with open tops. They contain greeting cards or other card-like objects for viewing by a potential purchaser. When used to store and display greeting cards, the cartridges may also contain reorder cards and identification cards with captions that describe the type of cards contained within the cartridges. The card cartridges have open tops through which one may insert the cards and remove them. These cartridges include one or more pins at their bottom end which fit into appropriately sized grooves formed on the bottom support member of each carrier to tiltably arrange the cartridges in the carriers. This pin and groove arrangement constitutes a cooperating means by which a purchaser may tilt a cartridge towards the back of the carrier to view the greeting cards contained within it.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE

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0014For a more complete understanding of this invention one should now refer to the preferred embodiment, illustrated in greater detail in the accompanying drawings and described below by way of examples of the invention. In the drawings: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view of the preferred embodiment of a card cartridge display system embodying the present invention.</li><li>Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the greeting card cartridge used in the display system of this invention.</li><li>Fig. 3 is a plan view of a bin module of the display system of the present invention without any card cartridges in it.</li><li>Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in Fig. 3 with the addition of the greeting card cartridges in place in the guide grooves.</li><li>Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the divider which separates one row of card cartridges from another.</li><li>Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the card cartridge display system of the present invention.</li></ul>

0015It should be understood that'the drawings are not necessarily to scale and that the embodiments are sometimes illustrated by graphic symbols, phantom lines, diagrammatic representations and fragmentary views. In certain instances, details which are not necessary for the understanding of the present invention or which render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted.

0016While the invention will be described in connection with two preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments but rather covers all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE

DRAWINGS AND THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

0017Turning now to the drawings, Figs. 1-5 show the first preferred embodiment of the card cartridge system of the present invention at 11. The display system generally comprises a base member 13 supporting trough-like carriers 15 which support and contain card cartridges 17.

0018The base member 13 may be a storage chest or any other suitable support capable of maintaining the carriers 15 at a suitable elevation above the floor surface of an establishment so that potential purchasers may conveniently view the greeting cards or other card-like objects displayed by the system. As shown in Fig. 1, the base member 13 includes a main body portion 19 having a stepped top with steps 21 and 23 for supporting the carriers 15. Each step has the appropriate dimensions to serve as a base for one carrier 15. The base member 13 also includes a rear panel 25 to provide structural support and a backing for the system.

0019The carriers 15, shown in Figs. 1 and 3-5 and disposed on top of the steps 21 and 23, are elongated, trough-like structures which support and contain a large number of cartridges, as described below. This system 11 has two carriers 15, but it may have more depending on the display and storage requirements of the establishment using it. The carriers are arranged one behind and above the other in an upwardly stepped configuration with the first bottom carrier located at the front end of the base member next to a potential purchaser of the greeting cards. The carriers 15 may simply rest on the base member 13 with their dead weight in addition to the dead weight of the cartridges they contain keeping them in place; or appropriate connecting means such as nut and bolt or rivet connections may secure the carriers to the base member 13.

0020Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the carriers 15 of the present invention each comprise a bottom support member 27 for supporting the cartridges 17 and inclined rear wall section 29 and front wall section 31 for containing the cartridges in the carrier 15 in an essentially upright position.

0021The bottom support member 27 includes a first lower section 33 made of wood or a similar material which provides structural integrity to the carrier and a number of corrugated panels 35 which tiltably arrange the cartridges in the carrier. Fig. 3 shows a carrier with seven corrugated panels 35, each panel designed to accommodate a row of cartridges placed in face-to-face order in the carrier. U-shaped members 37, one for each side of each panel 35, secure the panels 35 in place on the lower section 33 and serve as dividers for each row of cartridges.

0022The grooves 39 of the corrugated panels 35 are rounded and spaced an equal distance apart; they receive the cartridges 17; and they serve as pivots for the cartridges 17 so that the cartridges can tilt back and forth about their respective grooves and allow a potential purchaser of the greeting cards to inspect each cartridge. Figs. 3 and 4 show a carrier with seven panels and panels with ten grooves. However, the carriers may have any suitable number of panels and the panels may have any suitable number of grooves.

0023The front wall section 31 slopes forward slightly and the rear wall section 29 slopes slightly backward so that they form an angle greater than 90 degrees with the bottom support member. This increases the angle between the last cartridge of the group tilted forward and the first cartridge of the group tilted backward for easier inspection of the cartridges. The rear wall section 29 is a flat plate-like member made of wood or any material with sufficient structural integrity to support the group of cartridges 17 which rest on it when the user tilts them backward. The front wall section 31 is also a flat plate-like member made of any suitable, transparent material to allow the user an unobstructed view of the cartridges and the greeting cards that they contain, yet one with sufficient strength to support the cartridges which rest on it when the user tilts them forward.

0024The card cartridge 17 used in the display system 11 and shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is a flat box-like enclosure integrally molded in one piece from a transparent material s,:ch as plastic which allows visual inspection of the greeting cards contained within the enclosure. It includes side portions 41 and 43; a bottom portion 45; a front portion comprising complemental sections 47a and 47b, each having the shape of an inverted "J"; and a back portion comprising sections 49a, 49b and 49c. These thin wall portions (as shown in Fig. 2) form the enclosure and serve to contain a predetermined number of greeting cards (not shown) within the enclosure. By increasing the depth or front-to-back dimension of the cartridge, the cartridge can accommodate a greater number of cards. In the display system of the present invention each cartridge contains a predetermined number of copies of a greeting card with the same design, a design different from the designs of the greeting cards of the other cartridges. The cartridge may also hold reorder cards for the type of greeting cards it contains, making it much less likely that the retailer would somehow lose the reorder card. In addition, the cartridge may contain an identification card with a caption describing the type of cards disposed in the cartridge. One such identification card could be a card that is larger than the greeting cards and, when placed in the cartridge behind the greeting cards, includes an exposed surface with a caption printed on it which provides the requisite description, e.g., "Mother's Day", "Birthday", or the like.

0025The card cartridge 17 also includes two cross- shaped pins 51 sized to fit into grooves 39. The cartridge may have only one pin or more than two. In any event, the pins 51 cooperate with the grooves 39 to tiltably arrange the cartridges in the carriers 15. Thus, the pins 51 pivot within the grooves 39 as the pin's cartridge tilts back and forth.

0026Lig. 6 illustrates a second embodiment of the card cartridge display system of the present invention at 111. This system is also a two carrier system with the base member 113 comprising vertical rails 115, secured to a wall, and cantilever structural members 117 and 119, secured to the vertical rails 115 and supporting carriers 121. Other than these differences in the structure of the base member, the carriers 121 and cartridges 123 of this system are similar to those described above with respect to the first embodiment.

0027While the above description only shows two embodiments of the invention, one will understand, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since one may make modifications, and other embodiments of the principles of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, particularly upon considering the foregoing teachings. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate that one may use a box-like carrier, enclosed on all sides and open at the top. Additionally, one may shape the bottom of each cartridge to have it come to a point and use this point as a pivot on a flat surface or in a groove of different configuration than the one described above. It is therefore contemplated by the appended claims to cover any such modification and other embodiments as incorporate those features which constitute the essential features of this invention within the true spirit and scope of the following claims: