GB1603439A

GB1603439A - Label and holder assembly

Info

Publication number: GB1603439A
Application number: GB2592178A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Kenney G G
Current assignee: Kenney G G
Priority date: 1978-05-31
Filing date: 1978-05-31
Publication date: 1981-11-25

Description

(54) A LABEL AND HOLDER ASSEMBLY (71) We, GEORGE HERBERT WOODWARD KENNEY, and GRAHAM GEORGE KENNEY, both of 7 Tymperley Court, Princes Way, Wimbledon, London SW19 6QS, both of British Nationality, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement :- This invention relates to price labels, and the like, particularly for the marking of goods on the shelves of stores and supermarkets.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved assembly of label and holder therefor, the main advantage of which is the possibility of making up the label with different textual and numerical contents, and the changing of the content of the label, in a particularly simple manner.

According to the present invention there is provided in combination: (i) a panel member of resilient sheet material, including at least a zone which is transparent to permit viewing through it of a ticket secured to the rear of that zone, and (ii) a holder including spaced abutments, the panel member having at least one tab which can be bent with respect to adjacent portions of the panel, the tab and a parallel edge of the panel, or the tab and the parallel edge of another such tab, being spaced when unconstrained by more than the spacing of the abutments of the holder, whereby upon bending of the panel to reduce the spacing of the parallel edges to less than that of the abutments, placing the edges between the abutments, and then releasing the panel, the edges may become engaged each with a respective abutment so as to retain the panel in engagement with the holder.

The or each tab may be defined in the sheet material of the panel by providing a line of division, and advantageously a longitudinal line parallel to a longitudinal edge of the panel or to another similar line of division of another tab and a transverse cut at each end of the longitudinal line.

By way of example the holder may be a so-called shelf strip for attachment to the front edge of a shelf of a goods stand or wall fitment, e. g. with double-sided adhesive tape, or by screws or other fasteners.

In a preferred arrangement, the holder is shaped, intermediate the abutments thereof, to conform to the shaping which is adopted by the adjacent face of that portion of the panel which is presented opposite the holder when panel is engaged on the holder, the rear face of the panel fitting closely against the holder to avoid entry of dust and dirt, and reduce the possibility of unauthorised manual interference with the label.

The abutments of the holder may be continuous lip means arrange parallel along opposed edges of the holder, and in a preferred form the holder is a one-piece element of sheet or extruded material having a central body which is convexly curved towards the front of the holder and which has a forwardly inturned lip along the top and bottom edges.

The or each zone of the panel is transparent, and the panel may include more than one such zone. Preferably, that portion of the panel which includes said zone or zones forms or is included in that portion of the panel which becomes positioned opposite to the holder when in use, and the remainder of the panel above and/or below the holder may have permanent colouring and/or printing on it.

The ticket means may be of self-adhesive material e. g. of soft polished polyvinyl- chloride which is limp and easily handled and which can be made to adhere, of its own accord, to almost any smooth glossy surface simply by being pressed thereon.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, some embodiments of label and associated holder in accordance with the invention are hereinafter particularly described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a first kind of panel member; Fig. 2 is a rear perspective elevation of the panel member of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the panel member of Fig. I engaged in a holder, the holder being shown in section; Fig. 4 is a rear perspective view of a second kind of panel member; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the panel member of Fig. 4 engaged in a holder, the holder being shown in section.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the panel member 1 is a sheet of transparent resiliently bendable material, such as polystyrene, polypropylene or polyvinylchloride having at least its rear face polished and which is painted or covered with a material making it sub stantia'ly non-transparent over the whole of its area with the exception of the window zones 2,3,4 and 5. At the rear of each transparent window zone there is attached a respective ticket element 6 of larger dimensions so as to overlap, bearing printed subject matter appropriate to the window zone.

Each ticket element is attached on the rear face preferably by the inherent adhesiveness of the thin sheet plastics material of which the ticket is made, but the ticket could be coated with adhesive and may initially carry a strippable release backing, e. g. siliconised paper or other sheet material.

The window zones are confined to an upper area of the panel. In the lower area of the panel, above the window zones there is formed a longitudinal cut 7 which extends parallel to the lower edge 8 of the panel and which stops short of the end edges 9,10 of the panel. The longitudinal cut 7 is extended by two further transverse cuts 11,12 which pass downwardly at right-angles to the cut 7 for a short distance. The cuts 7,11 and 12 define, in the material of the panel, a tab 13 which can be deformed with respect to the adjacent area of the panel by bending manually, as seen in Fig. 2. The tab 13 may be considered to bend generally about a notional line 14 within the panel material.

The lower edge portion bounded by the edge 8 can also be manually deformed, away from the remainder of the panel, in the same direction as the tab 13, as seen in Fig. 2.

This manual deformation could in practice take place over the whole of the lower portion of the panel lying between the free edge of tab 13 and the bottom edge 8, so that the whole of that lower portion is bent into a curve, rather than resulting in a specific lower tab 15 as seen in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 3, the panel member 1 is seen in position engaged with a holder 15 which is an elongated extruded one-piece channel of high-impact polystyrene having a central body 16, and an inturned abutment lip 17 at the upper edge and an inturned abutment lip 18 at the lower edge.

The central body 16 is convexedly curved.

The panel is fitted into engagement with the holder by manual bending of the lower portion of the panel, by grasping the edge of tab 13 and the lower edge 8 between finger and thumb, forcing the edges towards each other until they are separated by a distance less than the spacing of the lips 17, 18, placing the panel against the central body 16, and then releasing the panel to permit it to spring back by its own resilience until the tab 13 is engaged under the lip 17, and the lower edge 8 of the panel is engaged into the lip 18. In this condition, the rear face of the lower windowed portion of the panel, and thus also the tickets, are presented firmly against the curved central body 16 of the holder, and there is no room for entry of dust. Further, unauthorised manual interference with the price label is discouraged.

The panel can readily be removed again, when required, by simply pulling it out forwardly by grasping the upstanding nonwindowed upper portion. The tickets 2,3,4 and 5 can be changed as required, and the panel then re-engaged with the holder.

Referring now to Fig. 4, there is shown a second kind of panel 9 which is similar in construction to that described in relation to Figs. I to 3, but with the exceptions that the panel has a second longitudinal cut 20, and associated transverse end cuts 21, 22 which bound a second tab 23 which can be bent, away from the remainder of the panel, about a notional bending line 24. Again, in practice, the whole of the panel between the free edges of the tabs could form a continuous curve. Referring now to Fig. 5 there is shown a holder 16, similar to that of Fig. 3, again having an upper lip 17 and a lower lip 18.

For engagement of the panel with the holder, the two tab portions 13a and 23 are bent out manually to the rear of the panel, as seen in Fig. 4, and the free longitudinal edges of the two tabs are gripped between the fingers and thumb and are forced towards each other until they are spaced by a distance less than the separation of the two lips 17a and 18a.

The two tabs are then released, and the inherent resilience of the panel material causes it to tend to spring back almost to its p ! ane condition, causing the upper tab 13a to become engaged under the upper lip 17a, and the lower tab 23 to become engaged over the lower lip 18a. The convex shaping of the central body 16a of the holder is made to correspond to that curvature which is adopted by the lower portion of the panel between the free edges of the two tabs, so that again there is no space left for entry of dirt, and unauthorised tampering is hindered. The remainder of the panel, above and below that central zone which is directly engaged with the holder remains either substantially plane, or slightly curved as illustrated, and can serve for other printed material, of a permanent or replaceable nature.

In the embodiments shown, the holder is convex at the front face, but it could alternatively be plane, or concave.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS : 1. A label and holder assembly comprising, in combination :- (i) a panel member of resilient sheet material including at least a zone which is transparent to permit viewing through it of a ticket secured to the rear of that zone, and (ii) a holder including spaced abutments, the panel member having at least one tab which can be bent with respect to adjacent portions of the panel, the tab and a parallel edge of the panel, or the tab and the parallel edge of another such tab, being spaced when unconstrained by more than the spacing of the abutments of the hoIder, whereby upon bending of the panel to reduce the spacing of the parallel edges to less than that of the abutments, placing the edges between the abutments, and then releasing the panel, the edges may become engaged each with a respect abutment so as to retain the panel in engagement with the holder.
2. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the or each tab is defined in the sheet material of the panel by providing a line of division.
3. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the line of division is a longitudinal line parallel to a longitudinal edge of the panel or to another similar line of division of another tab, and a transverse cut at each end of the longitudinal line.
4. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the holder is shaped, intermediate the abutments thereof, to conform to the shaping which is adopted by the adjacent face of that portion of the panel which is presented opposite the holder when the panel is engaged in the holder, the rear face of the panel fitting closely against the holder.
5. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in any one of claims I to 4, wherein the abutments of the holder are continuous lip means arranged parallel along opposed edges of the holder.
6. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in claim 5, wherein the holder is a one-piece element of sheet or extruded material having a central body which is convexedly curved towards the front of the holder and which has a forwardly inturned lip along the top and bottom edges.
7. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the panel includes more than one zone.
8. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein that portion of the panel which includes said zone or zones forms or is included in that portion of the panel which becomes positioned opposite to the holder when in use.
9. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ticket means is of self-adhesive flexible sheet material.
10. A label and holder assembly, as claimed in claim 9, wherein the ticket means is of soft polished polyvinylchloride sheeting.
11. A label and holder assembly substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 to 3, or Figs. 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.