Display card

3,462,012

Aug. 19, 1969

B. FINEMAN ET AL DISPLAY CARD Filed March 13, 1968

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INVENTORS.

BERNARD FINEMAN ISADORE FINEMAN BY

ATTORNEYS

United Slates Patent Office Patented Aug. 19, 1969

3,462,012

DISPLAY CARD

Bernard Fineman. 7038 Woodbine Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19151, and Isadore Fineman, 1469 Wistar Drive, Wyncote, Pa. 19095

Filed Mar. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 712,639

Int. CI. B65d 73/00; A44b 7/00

U.S. CI. 206—78 6 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A display card having a commodity secured thereon. An overlay is provided for the display card and is secured thereon. The overlay includes printing having the name of the vendor of the commodity or the vendor’s trademark. The overlay is configured to the same size and shape as the base display card.

This invention relates to a display card, and more particularly, to a display card having an overlay secured thereon containing the private label of a vendor.

It is now a common practice to vend many small commodities such as film, electrical parts, hardware and toys on display cards which can be suspended from hooks or rods. The hooks or rods are in turn secured on rotatable, floor-mounted turntables, pegboards or from large display cases. The display cards usually have the commodity visibly displayed in what has come to be known as a blister or a bubble. The blister or bubble is a transparent plastic film which is secured against a backing card and encloses or retains the commodity, which will be in full view to the consumer.

It has been found that a storage problem for the packager of the commodities has resulted when the packager sells the commodity on the display card to vendors who require a private label. Thus, the packager of the commodity will normally place his own company name and trademark on the display card. However, many ultimate vendors of the commodity require that their private name or trademark appear on the display package, rather than of the manufacturer or packager of the commodity. In the past, the manufacturer or packager has had to prepare and store a large volume of display packages having the commodity secured thereon for each of his customers that vend the commodity under their private labels. This can create a serious cost problem in view of the large inventory which must be kept and the fact that storage space must be found for the large inventory.

The device of this invention overcomes the problems of the prior art display packages in that only a minimum inventory of completed packages containing the commodities need be kept, in view of the fact that an overlay containing a private label is provided for securement to the manufacturer’s own display card.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel display card.

It is another object of this invention to provide a display card having an overlay comprising a private label.

These and other objects of this invention are accomplished by providing a display card comprising a backing panel, a commodity secured to said panel, and an overlay secured to Said panel, said overlay having indicia thereon identifying the vendor of the commodity.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of the display card of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the overlay used in the display card of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3—3 of FIG. 1, and shows the condition of the display card with _r the overlay secured in place;

° FIG. 4 is a partial exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the display card of this invention; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the ₁₀ line 5—5 of FIG. 4 and showing the overlay secured in place on the display card.

Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, a display card embodying the present 15 invention is generally shown at 10 in FIG. 1. Device 10 basically comprises a backing panel 12, a transparent retainer 14 securing a commodity 16 in place and an overlay panel 18.

Backing panel 12 is rectangular in shape, but can be of 20 any shape generally used as a backing for a display card. Conveniently, the backing panel is formed from a stiff paperboard. The backing panel includes indicia 20 which lists such items as the manufacturer of the commodity, the manufacturer’s trademark, and descriptive language 25 identifying the commodity being sold. By way of example, device 10 is shown for vending an electric switch 16. The display card is also provided with an elongated slot 22 which is used for hanging the card from a hook or elongated bar.

Retainer 14 can be of the blister or bubble type which is conventionally used for securing a commodity on a display card. By way of example, the retainer can be formed from cellulose acetate and by the method disclosed and claimed in our prior Patent No. 3,326,372.

The transparent retainer is secured on panel 12 by any of the means known to the art such as adhesive, staples or by heat sealing the retainer to a heat seal coating applied to the face of panel 12.

To the extent described above, display card 10 is the 40 same as that generally used for the display merchandising of commodities. Under normal practice, where a manufacturer or packager provides display cards for a large number of vendors who require their private trademark or the name of their company on the display card, the 45 manufacturer or packager will stock individual completed display cards for each of his customers which will carry their own names or labels. This permits immediate delivery of the display cards when this is necessary. However, this also causes an inventory problem, both from 50 the standpoint of cost and storage space. Under the present invention, these aforementioned problems are substantially eliminated. Thus, the manufacturer or packager will continue to make display cards substantially the same as that described above. The indicia 20 placed on the dis55 play cards will be for the manufacturer’s own company and/or trademark or for the company name and/or trademark of the manufacturer’s largest customer. Thus, there will be a ready supply of the largest selling items. However, when a customer who requires a private label de60 sires to purchase a number of display cards, the overlay 18 will be provided. As seen in FIG. 1, the overlay 18 carries indicia 24 which indicate the company name and trademark of the ultimate vendor of the display package. Overlay 18 conforms in size and shape to the upper por65 tion of panel 12 carrying the indicia 20. Additionally, a slot 26 is provided which will align with slot 22 when the edges of overlay 18 are aligned with the edges of the upper portion of backing panel 12.

As seen in FIG. 2, overlay 18 is provided with an ad70 hesive strip 28 having a releasable covering 30. Adhesive strip 28 is pressure sensitive adhesive, and can be applied from a strip of double faced adhesive, which is well

3,462,012 known in the adhesive art. Covering 30 has an adhesive coating to permit its ready removal from the pressure sensitive adhesive 28.

The overlay 18 is applied to the backing panel 12 by removing strip 30, aligning the edges of the overlay with the edges of the upper portion of panel 12, and pressing the overlay and backing panel together. The assembled overlay and backing panel are shown in cross-section in FIG. 3. As seen therein, the slots 22 and 26 are aligned in the assembled condition. Thus, the display card with the overlay will give the appearance of a unitary display card, and it can be suspended from any of the hardware normally used with display cards in the normal manner.

Having the overlay permits the manufacturer to stock a supply of overlays for each of his private label customers without having to stock complete display packages for each customer. Additionally, the vendor can easily attach his private label through the use of a double faced adhesive tape merely by applying strips of the adhesive tape in the manner shown in FIG. 2.

A modified embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. 4. Backing panel 32 is generally of the same size and shape as backing panel 12, and will have a commodity secured thereon in the same manner as backing panel 12. However, panel 32 is provided with a pair of Ilshaped slots 34. In normal usage the slots will not be readily apparent and the upper portion of panel 32 will appear to be continuous with the exception of hanging slot 22. Overlay 36 is the same size and shape as the upper portion of panel 32, and includes a slot 26 which is alignable with slot 22. Overlay 36 additionally includes a pair of inwardly extending cuts 38 at each side thereof. Each pair of cuts 38 forms a tab 40.

Overlay 36 is used in much the same manner as overlay 18. However, the method of securement of the overlay in place differs. Thus, in order to secure overlay 36 in place, tabs 42 formed by slots 34 are pressed inwardly toward the rear of panel 32. Tabs 40 are then inserted in the slots 34 whereby the overlay 36 will be held securely in place. The securement of the overlay is shown in crosssection in FIG. 5.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will generally have the same color or design on the upper portion of backing panel 32 and overlay 36. Thus, when the overlay is secured in the manner shown, a continuous appearance will still result for the upper portion of the backing panel.

Although two specific methods have been shown for securing the overlay in place, other securement means can be used for providing a private label on a display pack4 age. Thus, the entire rear face of the overlay could be adhesive coated. However, the strip adhesive shown in FIG. 2 is preferred for ease of manufacture and for purposes of economy.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate our invention, that others may, by applying current or future knowledge, adopt the same for use under various conditions of service.