GB2159909A - Coupling device - Google Patents

Abstract

A coupling device for securing adjacent boards (3) to construct a display case is moulded from a plastics material such that a pair of plate members (11, 12) are spaced from each other to define a groove (23) for receiving a corner of a board (3). The plate members (11, 12) are interconnected by means of a triangular prismatic projecting portion (13). Along the longitudinal direction of the projecting portions (13) a bore (131) or a spigot is alternatively provided, and a complemental connecting member (2) is provided for mating with the spigots or the bores (131) of at least two of the projecting portions (13) of two adjacent coupling devices, so as to interconnect the latter. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Coupling Device This invention relates to a coupling device and particularly concerns a coupling device for use in a display case having a plurality of boards coupled to one another to define compartments for show articles placed therein.

The display cases are usually used to show the public articles to be sold. It is desired that the compartments of the display case can be varied in number or size in dependence on the circumstances of use. Therefore, a collapsible display case has previously been suggested. An assembly case is already known comprising a metal skeleton having vertical and horizontal members forming frames to which plates can be secured to provide supporting surfaces for the articles. However, the assembling of such skeleton from vertical and horizontal members is usually by means of threaded portions on corresponding parts of the members. The provision of such threads requires extra labour which accounts for additional cost.

This prior-art arrangement is further disadvantageous because of the difficulty in collapsing and assembling, inherent in the construction.

It is an object of this invention to provide a low cost coupling device which can be used in coupling several boards at predetermined angles with respect to each other so as to form a display case having a plurality of compartments.

According to this invention there is provided a coupling device for use in a display case having a plurality of boards coupled to one another to define compartments, said coupling device comprising a body member having a connecting side and a bounding portion having a groove for receiving a board, at least one projecting portion extending outwards from said connecting side, the or each said projecting portion having a polygonal shaped cross-section one of whose sides is contiguous with said connecting side and means for connecting the or each said projecting portion to the or one of the projecting portions of another identical coupling device when said projecting portions of the two devices are in face-to-face contact.

Embodiments of this invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an arrangement of coupling devices embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a top view of one of the coupling devices shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side view of the coupling device shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perpsective view of twelve of the coupling devices shown in Fig. 2 and in the assembled state, with two connectors shown separately; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a display case having vertical and horizontal boards interconnected by means of the coupling device shown in Fig. 2; and Figs. 6 to 10 are exploded perspective views of two adjoining coupling devices interconnected by use of respective mutually different connecting members also different from that shown in Fig. 1; It should be noted that like parts are designated with the same reference numerals throughout the description.

Referring now to the drawings, a modular coupling device 1 includes a flat body member comprising an upper plate 11 and a lower plate 12 both made into a shape of a sector. The plates 11 and 12 are connected to each other by means of a pair of triangular prismatic projecting portions 13 attached to the two adjacent straight sides of the plates which sides have a right angle therebetween, so that, between the upper plate 11 and lower plate 12 a right angled groove 23 is defined which can receive a corner of a rectangular board to be connected to other boards in forming a display case.

In Fig. 1 there is shown two coupling devices 1, 1 to be coupled such that the pair of plates 11, 12 of the vertical coupling device is perpendiculartothat of the horizontal pair so that the boards secured thereby are also perpendicular with respect to each other.

The triangular prismatic projecting portion 13 is formed with an isosceles right-angled triangular cross-section. The surface corresponding to the hypotenuse of the isosceles right-angled triangle, namely, opposite the right angle, is contiguous with the two associated sides of the plates 11, 12. The prismatic projecting portions (13) are each offset at one end from the junction of the respective straight side and the curved side of each of the plates. At their other ends the portions 13 extend to meet at an edge.

In this embodiment, a blind bore 131 is provided in the triangular prismatic projecting portion 13, extending longitudinally of the portion 13 for a distance suitable for accepting a spigot 21 of a connecting member 2 which will be described below.

The upper plate 11 and lower plate 12 provide a pair of mutually confronting clamping surfaces for gripping a rectangular board 3 secured therebetween. In order to improve the clamping effect, the confronting surfaces can be formed with parallel ridges and the board 3 can be frictionally fitted between the clamping surfaces.

In the preferred embodiments, the upper plate 11 is provided with a hole 102 and the board 3 is to be secured to the plates by means of a hole 31 made in the corner of the board. With such an arrangement, when a board has one corner inserted in the groove 23 so that its hole 31 is in line with the hole 102 of the upper plate 11, the two members can be further secured by inserting a pin 103 through the holes 102,31.

The shape of the plates 11, 12 is not restricted to that of a sector as can be seen from Figs. 4, 8, 9 and 10 where, in other embodiments, triangular, square of L-shaped plates can be used to form the required body member with, in each case, a right angle between the sides carrying the portions 13 (although a different angle less than 180 may be provided) so as to match the angle of the corner of the rectangular board. It is also to be noted that in Fig. 9, in the case where L-shaped plates are adopted, two holes 102, 102 can be provided on the two mutually perpendicular limbs.

The interconnecting of modules each comprising the coupling device 1 can be effected by various means. As shown in Fig. 1 where the two units are asembled to form a corner, the connecting means used is a triangular member 2 having two spigots 21 arranged for insertion into the corresponding blind bores 131 of the two respective adjacent coupling devices 1,1.

If it is the case that several compartments arranged in the width, depth and height directions should be constructed by the boards when coupled with one another, the coupling devices securing the boards positioned around a point such as point A in Fig. 5 are connected by a connecting means as shown in Fig. 4, which includes a square portion 4 having four spigots 41 insertable into the bores 131 on four adjacent coupling devices.

There are at most eleven positions of such a coupling device 1 for coupling with another coupling device 1. As best seen in Figs. 4 and 5, each modular device is in abutment with the adjacent modules by means offace-to-face contact between the inclined surfaces of the triangular prismatic projecting portions 13. In Fig. 4, the three sides of a coupling device can be respectively designated as X, Y, Z axes according to their relative directions.

The coupling device with its two plates is positioned in a plane which can be referred to as the X, Y plane.

The eleven neighbouring positions then correspond to the (X, -Y), (-X, Y), (-X,-Y), (Y, Z), (Y, -Z), (-Y, Z), (-Y, -Z), (X, Z) (X, -Z), (-X, Z), (-X, -Z) planes.

As can be understood from Fig. 4, when twelve such modular coupling devices are coupled about a point A, three square (four spigot) connecting means 4, 41 are required to complete the connection therebetween.

The male-female connecting arrangement can be provided in various ways as by a reversal of the positions of the bore and spigot, as shown in Fig. 6 where a pair of spigots 14 is provided on the offset end of the portion 13 and a triangular connecting member 5 is correspondingly provided with bores 52 for receiving the spigots 14. Alternatively, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7, a pair of screws 17 can be substituted for the pair of spigots 14, the slot 131 (and possibly also the bores 52) being threaded to engage with the screws 17.

It will be appreciated that for various purposes different forms of coupling device can be used with a v0::ation in the angle between the connecting sides each carrying one or more of the portions 13 (only one such connecting side and portion 13 may be provided). Also the cross-sectional shape of the portion(s) 13 may comprise a different form of triangle or some other form of polygon but such as to provide at least one flat face for face-to-face contact with a similar connecting portion having a flat face enabling the associated connecting devices to be coupled in a desired configuration. Clearly the body member need not comprise a pair of plates but needs to have a boundary portion having a groove for receiving a board in addition to the connecting side. The components of the coupling device may be moulded from a plastics material.

Claims (7)

1. A coupling device for use in a display case having a plurality of boards coupled to one another to define compartments, said coupling device comprising a body member having a connecting side and a bounding portion having a groove for receiving a board, at least one projecting portion extending outwards from said connecting side, the or each said projecting portion having a polygonal shaped cross-section one of whose sides is contiguous with said connecting side and means for connecting the or each said projecting portion to the or one of the projecting portions of another identical coupling device when said projecting portions of the two devices are in face-to-face contact.

2. A coupling device for use in a display case having a plurality of rectangular boards coupled to one another to define compartments, said coupling device comprising a flat member having two adjacent connecting sides forming a right angle, a boundary portion opposite the right angle having a groove for receiving a board, two projecting portions extending outwards from said connecting sides respectively, each of said projecting portions having an isosceles right-angled triangle shaped cross-section with the hypotenuse contiguous with the respective one of said connecting sides and means for connecting each said projecting portion to one of the projecting portions of another identical coupling device when said projecting portions are in side by side adjacent relationship.

3. A coupling device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the projecting portions each have an end offset back from a junction between the respective connecting side and said bounding portion of said flat member, said projecting portions extending to meet at a junction of said connecting sides.

4. A coupling device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said bounding portion comprises a curved or straight or L-shaped portion.

5. A coupling device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said connecting means comprises means for providing a male-female connection extending longitudinally of each of the projecting portions.

6. A coupling device according to claim 5 wherein each said projecting portion is provided with a blind bore extending longitudinally from an end of the projecting portion nearer said boundary portion.

7. A coupling device for use in a display case having a plurality of boards coupled to one another to define compartments, said coupling device being substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 alone or in conjunction with Fig. 4 or Fig.

5 or as modified by any one of Figs. to 10 of the accompanying drawings.