Merchandise displays

[57] ABSTRACT

Multiple merchandise display trays are interlocked front-toback and side-by-side. The front-to-back assembly utilizes integral interlocking formations of the trays. Barbed spring clips maintain the side-by-side assembly. Brackets at the rear of the back trays support the assembly on slotted uprights, and the brackets provide a latitude of adjustment to accommodate the positions of the uprights to the size of the tray assembly. Brackets can also be used to support the rear trays on standard apertured board.

Claims, 13 Drawing Figures

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PATENTED way 9 197?

3.661,271

SHEET 1 OF 3

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PATENTEDmay 9 1972

3,661,271

SHEET 2 OF 3

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PATENTEDw 91972

3,661,271

SHEET 3 OF 3

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FIG. 8 FIG. 9

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MERCHANDISE DISPLAYS

This invention relates to merchandise displays and more particularly to assemblies of modular merchandise displaying trays.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of interchangeable merchandise displaying trays that have frontand-rear interlocking formations for holding assembled trays together. Additional objects reside in extending the usefulness of such trays by utilizing the rear formation of the back tray in front-to-back assembled trays for providing cantilever support for the assembled trays, and in providing an adjustable support bracket for that purpose; and in providing tray partitions that key together an interlocked front-to-back pair of trays.

The nature of the invention and further objects and novel features will be recognized in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention and a modification thereof which are described below and shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial front elevation of a novel merchandise display involving features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a lateral elevation of the merchandise display of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section viewed from the plane 2A—2A in FIG. 2, but drawn to larger scale;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the merchandise display of FIGS. 1 and 2, drawn to larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section of the novel display structure as viewed from the plane 4—4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. S is a component of the display structure in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-section of the novel display structure viewed from the plane 6—6 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-section of a portion of the display structure in FIG. 1, drawn to larger scale than FIG. 1 but to smaller scale than FIGS. 3-6, portions of FIG. 7 being broken away at 7A and 7B and shown as viewed from the vertical planes 7A—7A and 7B—7B in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary rear view of a tray and a supporting bracket forming part of the display structure of FIG. 1 but drawn to the scale of FIGS. 3-6;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section of the display structure of FIGS. 1-8 as viewed from the plane 9—9 in FIG. 8 but including a vertical support missing from FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary horizontal cross-section of the apparatus of FIG. 1 as viewed from the plane 10—10 in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary rear view of a merchandise display tray as in FIGS. 1-10, including a modified form of tray-supporting bracket; and

FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-section of a novel merchandise display including the tray-supporting bracket of FIG. 11, as viewed from the plane 12—12 in FIG. 11.

Referring now to the drawings, a novel merchandise display is shown, including steel-channel uprights 10 and 12 for supporting two groups of trays at different levels, one group of six trays 14a-14f and another group of nine trays 14g-14&lt;j. The trays 14 are advantageously made of molded plastic. Various brackets are provided for fastening plural trays together in groups, side-by-side and front-to-rear.

As best shown in FIGS. 7-10, each tray 14 includes an integral hanger 16 (designated by the arrow in FIG. 8) at each end of its rear panel 18. At the back of each tray at the rear of each level of trays, there is a supporting bracket 20 of metal. The bracket is horizontally slidable against the rear wall 16a of hanger 16, in the downward-opening recess between wall 16α and panel 18. Bracket 20 includes a panel 20α having two arms 20i>. These arms include off-sets 20c opposite to the front wall of upright 12 (FIG. 10). Hooks 20d enter slots 22 in the uprights, these slots being distributed in pairs at regular intervals along the uprights. The upper off-set 20c moves along slot 16b in hanger wall 16α.

The upper edge of panel 20α of the bracket bears against the junction of rear wall 16α of the hanger and rear panel 18 of the tray. At the end of hanger wall 16α adjacent to the end wall of the tray, there is a strengthening wall 16c integral with rear wall 16α of the hanger and panel 18 of the tray. End wall 16c of the hanger slopes slightly downward and outward toward its adjacent end of the tray, for a purpose explained below.

Brackets 20 hold rear walls 16α of the hangers against the adjacent uprights 10 and 12, hooks 20d entering slots 22. End walls 16c of the hangers at the ends of each tray assembly provide the strength for carrying the weight of the tray assembly as a cantilever load (FIG. 7).

Brackets 20 are slidable between the retracted position illustrated in FIG. 10 and the endwise projected position in FIG. 8. This slide mounting of the bracket has the advantage that two sets Of trays can abut each other directly in front of upright 12 as shown in FIG. 10 and at the right in group 1, and at the opposite end of each assembled group of trays the hooks 20d can project to some extent as shown in FIG. 8 and at the left in FIG. 1 to accommodate a latitude of variation in the spacing between uprights 10 and 12.

Plural trays 14 are assembled front-to-back at each level in FIGS. 1 and 2. As best shown in FIG. 7, hanger 16 serves not only as a hanger and a bearing support for the rear tray 14g of an assembled group of trays, but other hangers 16 also serve for locking each front-to-back pair of trays together. Panel 24 at the front of one tray bears against the rear wall 18 of the front tray in each front-to-back joined pair of trays. Back and front panels 18 and 24 of each tray are in parallel planes. End wall 16c of each hanger on the front tray of a joined pair has a slot 16d which receives an edge portion 24α of the front panel 24 of the supporting tray to its rear, as best shown in FIG. 4 and at section 7A, FIG. 7. Further and as best shown in FIG. 3 and at section 7B of FIG. 7, the front wall 24 of the rear tray in each front-to-back joined pair of trays has an upper edge 24c. This edge 24c is received at the inside angle where hanger wall 16α joins rear panel 18 of the front tray of the joined pair. In this way, hangers 16 at the ends of back panel 18 of one tray (there being two such hangers) hook onto the front panel 24 of another tray. This interlocking construction enables any tray to be used anywhere in an assembled group of trays. Hanger 16 and rear panel 18 of a front tray of any front-toback joined pair of trays acts as a holding means that interlocks with complements! holding means 24c, 24e at the front panel of the other tray of that joined pair.

Each tray has an opening 26 generally designated by an arrow in FIG. 3. There is one such opening at each end of the front panel 18 of each tray for admitting the hanger 16 at the rear of another tray. Edge 24α of the front panel 24 of each tray forms the bottom edge of each slot 26α. End wall 16c of a hanger 16 is received in this slot. The inside comer formed by hanger wall 16a and panel 18 of one tray rests on edge 24c of another tray. The portion of endwall 16c of the hanger below edge 24α prevents upward tilting movement of any front tray of a joined pair about its supporting edges 24c.

The trays are relatively long, and it is desirable to provide walls for dividing them into multiples of a minimum modular length. A partition or divider (FIG. 5) designated by the arrow and numeral 28 is useful for this purpose. The trays have numerous regularly spaced sets of slots 30α, 30b and 30c (FIG. 3) for receiving tabs 28α, 28b and 28c, respectively, of divider 28. Slots 30α are formed in the rear panel 18 of each tray, and slots 30b and 30c are formed at opposite sides of a stiffening rib 32 extending along the bottom 34 of each tray as an integral part of the tray. When two trays are assembled as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, rear wall 18 of the front tray of the pair rests against front wall 24 of the back tray of the pair. With the trays assembled properly, the upper ends of slots 30α are at least as far from bottom 34 of the front tray (FIG. 4) as the space between edge 24d of the rear tray and bottom 34 of the front tray. Edge 24d (FIGS. 3 and 4) is spaced from bottom 34d by the distance between edges 28d and 28e of the divider, i.e., the length of tab 28α. Thus, when tab 28α is inserted into a slot 30α of a front tray (FIG. 4), edge 28d abuts edge 24d of the front panel 24 of the back tray. Then, when tabs 28/> and

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28c enter slots 306 and 30c, tab 28α of the divider locks the front tray against sliding upward relative to the rear tray. This completes the locking assembly of a front-to-back pair of trays since, as was related above, hanger 16 and rear panel 18 of the front tray fit the formation in the region of opening 26 in front 5 panel 24 of the rear tray in a manner that prevents all other movement.

A detail of some interest concerns the locking of end wall 16c of each hanger in its slot 26α. When hanger 16 is fully inserted in its opening 26, corner 24e of the front panel of a tray (formed by slot 26α ) bears against the inside surface of hanger wall 16c. At the opposite end of the tray, there is this same relationship. Thus, while the thickness of wall 16c does not fill slot 26α (a difficult condition to deal with in production due to manufacturing tolerances), nevertheless a tight endwise locking of one tray in the other is achieved. The tray is made of a material that is sufficiently yielding to insure this fit of the trays despite various dimension variations.

Referring once again to FIG. 1, it will be observed that bracket arms 206 at the left of the display assembly project beyond the ends of the trays, in this way accommodating a latitude of variation in the positioning of upright 10. At the right, the trays abut each other in front of upright 12 so as to present a neat, continuous appearance. The supporting brackets 20 accommodate both conditions, where the trays are adjacent to the upright and where the trays are directly in front of and against the upright. Slot 166 accommodates upper off-set arm portion 20c in the retracted position of the bracket (FIG. 10). The continuous appearance of abutting trays is possible both when the abutment is centered in front of upright 12 and when the abutment is off-set from the center of the upright.

In review, it is seen that hangers 16 provide secure support for any given tray, either on brackets 20 or on portions of 35 panels 24, as may be required. Hangers 16 also engage end portions 36 of the tray engaged thereby. Thus hangers 16 establish interlocking engagement that prevents endwise relative sliding movement between a front-to-back pair of trays, and the hangers also restrain the front tray of a joined pair of 40 trays against moving downward bodily and against tilting upward. Partitions 28 serve the purpose of subdividing the trays into modular merchandise display spaces, and the partitions also key the trays together against relative sliding in the direction for disassembling a joined pair of trays. ⁴⁵

Any one tray may have two supporting brackets 20, if two uprights are provided at its ends. However, fewer uprights are needed if the merchandise is light in weight. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 2A, fasteners such as barbed spring clips 37 may be used to join together the abutting end walls 36 of two side-by-side ⁵⁰trays 14α and 14c, for example, and for joining trays 146 and 14d in side-by-side assembly. The use of the described trays is extremely flexible. They can be carried individually on uprights, or in front-to-back and side-to-side pairs, or in rows &lt;- of three or more front-to-back interlocked trays. While ⁵⁵uprights are shown for carrying two tiers or levels of trays, assembled groups of trays at three or more tiers or levels can be provided in the same manner. Moreover, a single sloping group of assembled trays can be used as a merchandise display ₆₀on a sales counter, by using a suitably short pair of rear supporting uprights.

One or more levels of merchandise display trays can also be used with a rear support of apertured board. In common practice, apertured board is used in stores with metal rods for 65 hanging merchandise. The use of the trays of FIGS. 1-7 with a apertured board rear support is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

As seen in FIGS. 11 and 12, the bracket for supporting a tray 14 on apertured board includes a support rod 40 having upright part 40α against the apertured board 42 and angled 70 part 406 against the bottom wall of a tray. A modified 11shaped rod 44 has a bight 44α and off-set end parts 446. Bight 44α is welded to rod 40. Off-set end parts 446 are adapted to be inserted endwise into holes in the apertured board. Ushaped rod 44 supports rod 40 against both downward and 75 outward displacement. A stiffening strut 46 is welded to rod parts 40α and 406.

A pair of such apertured board tray brackets will support a tray assembly and merchandise displayed by the trays. Bottom 32 of the tray has a channel to receive rod part 406, the channel being defined by a pair of ribs 32α. An off-set part 326 of the tray bottom (FIGS. 3 and 12) restrains the tray against accidentally being knocked upward and off its supporting rods 40ά.

The foregoing represents exemplary forms of construction illustrating various features of the invention. However, those skilled in the art will be able readily to introduce variations and to devise varied applications of the novel features; and therefore the invention should be construed broadly in accordance with its full spirit and scope.