AU702145B3 - A display apparatus - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a display apparatus.

This invention has particular but not exclusive application to a display apparatus for displaying promotional material relating to a range of alternative building elements which may be used in the construction, decoration or renovation of a house, and wherein reference will be made to said application. However the display apparatus may be used to display promotional material relating to a range of merchandise other than building elements.

0 The construction, decoration or renovation of a house may involve the purchase of building elements, such as archways, windows and doors, cornices, picture rails, dado rails, architraves, skirting boards, mouldings, verandah brackets, balusters and the like, which are produced in a 5 variety of designs.

Often building elements referred to above may be purchased from agents appointed by the manufacturers of same including hardware stores. However, because it would be impractical for agents to stock many of the goods referred to 0 above, often the agents use brochures to demonstrate the various designs which are available. Such methods of promoting the goods can be rather costly and are often are dependent upon the availability of a salesman who is able to explain the virtues of the goods and answer the customers questions.

In addition, while brochures may contain a wealth of 1 2 information, they can also be rather confusing, particularly to those who are unfamiliar with the goods or their application.

It is also noted that brochures are typically displayed in racks or stands which fail to capture the attention of consumers.

Furthermore, where there are a number brochures, each relating to a different matter, stored in the same rack or stand, it has been noted that persons often experience difficulties locating the particular brochure of interest to them. This may be because only a small portion of the brochure may be visible and that the portion which is visible may not convey sufficient information about the subject matter to which it relates. Alternatively some one may have 15 placed a different brochure on top of the brochure the person is looking for, or that the brochures of particular interest 4 are located in a different location to where they had been previously stored.

Such haphazard systems of displaying merchandise can contribute to a lack of sales.

The present invention aims to alleviate at least one of the above disadvantages and to provide a display apparatus which will be reliable and efficient in use. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a display apparatus for displaying promotional materials which differ from one another in respect of their subject matter, namely building elements of a particular type which may be used in the construction, decoration or renovation of a structure and including a range of alternative designs of same, said display apparatus including: a representation of the structure, said representation illustrating several different types of building elements, 10 each type of building element having a particular design of which there may be several alternative designs to choose from contained in the relevant promotional material; storage means for storing the promotional materials, said storage means having a plurality of locations each to be used for the storage of promotional material relating to building elements of a particular type, and a different identification means assigned to each type of building element, said identification means being used to distinguish the respective types of building elements in said representation from other types of building elements and for identifying said locations in which there is stored promotional material relating to building elements identified in said representation by the same identification means.

The structure may be a building, such as a house, garage, office or shop.

The representation of the structure may include a two

S.

S S

S

dimensional view of the structure. For example, the representation may include one or more drawings or photographs of the structure.

Alternatively, the representation may include a three dimensional model of the structure. For example, the representation may comprise a model of a house, such as a colonial style house.

In one embodiment the storage means may be a rack which includes a plurality of discrete pockets each adapted to o.

receive and to hold promotional means. Alternatively, the storage means may include a series of pigeonholes or small compartments in which the promotional means may be stored.

The storage means is preferably located adjacent the representation and wherein, for example, the storage means may form part of or may be attached to support means supporting the representation.

The promotional material may include brochures, leaflets or such like. Alternatively, the promotional material may include samples of the building elements or scale replicas.

The identification means may consist of the name of the building elements. Alternatively various alpha and/or numerical characters may be assigned to each of the building elements and the part of the storage means used to store corresponding promotional means. In yet another embodiment, different types of building elements may be assigned particular colours. For example, verandah brackets may be coloured red and window hoods may be coloured green, and wherein the same colours may be used to identify those parts of the storage means which are used to store promotional means relating to said goods.

In order that this invention may be more easily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein: Figure 1 is a pictorial view of a display apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention, and Figure 2 shows a page from a brochure.

Figure 1 illustrates a display apparatus 10 which may be used for displaying promotional materials which differ from one another in respect of their subject matter, namely building elements of a particular type which may be used in the construction, decoration or renovation of a structure and including a range of alternative designs of same.

The display apparatus 10 includes a three dimensional representation or model 11 of a colonial style house which is constructed from a variety of different types of building elements including windows 12, doors 13, verandah brackets 14 and verandah rails The windows 12, doors 13, verandah brackets 14 and the verandah rails 15 are each painted a different colour so as to identify and distinguish building elements of a particular 6 type from other building elements. For example, the window frames are painted brown and the doors are coloured green.

The model 11 is supported on a box like base or plinth 16 which includes four rectangular side walls 17. Each side wall 17 includes four small compartments 20, 21, 22 and 23 which are used to store promotional material.

The compartments, 20, 21, 22 and 23 are distinguished from one another by words used to describe the various types of building elements, namely "windows" 24, "doors" 10 "verandah brackets" 26, and "verandah rails" 27. The words 24, 25, 26 and 27 are also distinguished from one another by their colour and wherein the colour of each word is the same as the colour of the building elements of the model 11 that they describe. For example, the word "windows" is coloured brown whereas the word "doors" is coloured green.

The promotional material includes brochures which contain illustrations of the particular design of the building element shown in the model 11 as well as many alternative designs. Figure 2 shows a page from a brochure which illustrates the many different designs of verandah bracket which the customer may chose from.

In addition, the printing and/or artwork in the brochure may be printed in the same colour which is used to distinguish the building elements which are the subject of the brochure from other types of building elements. For example, the brochure relating to the doors may be printed using a green coloured ink.

In use, persons who are seeking information concerning building elements may use the model to identify the type of building element of particular interest to them.

Having done so, and having noted the colour used to distinguish the building element from other types of building elements, they may match this colour with the coloured words used to distinguish the various compartments from one "another. This will enable the user to quickly locate the brochures containing the information they desire about a particular building element.

It will also be appreciated that the display apparatus will also help persons who are not familiar with the terms used in the building industry to describe particular building 15 elements, such as dado rails, to locate promotional material S"relating to same.

It will of course be realised that the above has been given only by way of illustrative example of the present invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is herein defined in the claims.

Claims (3)

1. A display apparatus for displaying promotional materials which differ from one another in respect of their subject matter, namely building elements of a particular type which may be used in the construction, decoration or renovation of a structure and including a range of alternative designs of same, said display apparatus including: a representation of the structure, said representation illustrating several different types of building elements, 0 each type of building element having a particular design of which there may be several alternative designs to choose from contained in the relevant promotional material; storage means for storing the promotional materials, e said storage means having a plurality of locations each to be o used for the storage of promotional material relating to building elements of a particular type, and a different identification means assigned to each type of building element, said identification means being used to distinguish the respective types of building elements in said representation from other types of building elements and for identifying said locations in which there is stored promotional material relating to building elements identified in said representation by the same identification means.

2. A display apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein 9 different colours are used as said identification means.

3. A display apparatus substantially as herein before described in relation to the drawings. DATED THIS TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1998 FINLAYSON TIMBER HARDWARE PTY LTD I I I* I II I I. I I I I PIZZEYS PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS