US2838860A - End cover member - Google Patents

Description

June 17, 1958 J. N. FINNERTY ETAL END COVER MEMBER Filed June 24, 1957 INVENTORSZ JOSEPH NORRIS. FINNERTY WILLIAM E VOLKERT,JR.

ATT YS.

United States Patent END COVER MEMBER Joseph Norris Finnerty, Norwood, and William F. Volkert, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to Proctor & Schwartz, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 24, 1957, Serial No. 667,532 4 Claims. (CI. 40-40) The present invention relates to an end cover member for the open-ended grooved members normally mounted on supermarket shelving and the like to receive tickets indicating the price of the articles on the shelf.

The conventional super-market shelving" includes grooved members which project outwardly from the shelving to receive price tickets and the like. When the super-market is crowded, customers may brush against the exposed end of the grooved member, catching their clothing and often tearing it. When a customer complains, the customer relations policy of the super-market normally requires that the customer be reimbursed for the damage to his clothing. In some locations this happens with such frequency that the payments amount to a considerable sum of money over the year. It is impractical to mount the grooved members in recesses in the shelving or to burnish the ends to prevent them from causing damage.

With the foregoing in mind, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an end member which is mounted on the grooved member at the end thereof to provide a protective guard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an end member of the stated character which is readily demountable and remountable when changing price tickets and the like in the grooved member.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved member and blank therefor which is of simple manufacture, and is fully effective in operation and use.

All of the objects of the present invention and the various features and details of the construction and operation thereof are more fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an end member made in accordance with the present invention detached from the grooved member of the shelving;

Fig. 2 is a view showing the end member located in position in the grooved member of the shelving;

Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of the end member;

Fig. 4 is a view in slide elevation of the end member showing in broken lines the position that it assumes when properly engaged in the grooved member of the shelving; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the end member is formed. 7

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the conventional supermarket shelvin-g comprises the shelf proper 10 having a grooved facing piece 11 thereon. The facing piece comprises an exposed concave backing 12 having at its upper and lower side edges respectively, reversely turned lips 13 and14 spaced outwardly from the backing element 12 to define therewith opposite open ended grooves 15 and 16. Price tickets or other indicia elements 17 are adapted to be slidably received between the grooves and normally bear against the buttoms of said grooves and assume a rearwardly concave or rearwardly bowed configuration as 2,838,860 Patented June 17, 1958 Nice shown in'Figs. 1 and 2. The face piece 11 at its ends is open for the reception of the indicia elements 17, and frequently are rough. In any event, the ends of the piece 11 provide a hazard for attaching clothing and the like when customers brush against them. 7

In accordance with the present invention and end cover element is provided to engage in the grooves 15 and 16 and bear against the end of the shelving element 11. H'erewithin the element 21, which is preferably formed of a resiliently flexible material such as plastic or the like, comprises a body portion 22 having a transverse dimension greater than the spacing between the bottoms of the grooves 15 .and 16 but less than the length of the backing element between the bottoms of the grooves. The body portion is adapted to be inserted between the grooves 15 and 16 and will therefore flex and assume the bowed form shown in Fig. 2. The flexure of the body portion insures a firm frictional engagement of the body portion with the bottoms of the grooves 15 and 16 to prevent inadvertent displacement of the member 21. Intentional displacement, on the other hand, is easily achieved against the frictional engagement of the body portion 22 in the grooves.

The body portion 22 terminates at one end in areduced neck portion 23 which mounts at its remote end an outturned leg portion 24. The leg port on 24 is disposed at approximately 105 to the neck portion along a fold line indicated at 25 in Fig. 5. The fold line 25 tends to maintain the body portion rigid and flat for the full extent of the fold line, but the marginal portions of the body portion 22 which extend beyond the fold line by reason of the reduced neck portion 23 afford sufficient flexure of the body portion to fit within the grooves 15 and 16. As shown in Fig. 2, the leg portion 24 projects outwardly beyond the face of the body portion 22 and extends laterally beyond the side edges of the neck 23 whereby the leg port-ion effectively covers the ends of the reversely turned lips 13 and 14.

To provide a finished appearance to the element 21, the leg portion 24 at its outer extremity is provided with a cover portion 26 extending rearwardly generally parallel to the leg portion beyond the neck portion 23 to engage against the end edge of the shelving 10, as shown in Fig. 2. Thus the cover portion 26 covers the backing piece 12 of the element 11. The cover element 26 is joined to the leg portion 24 by a pair of closely spaced parallel fold lines 27, 28. To insure proper folding on the lines 27 and 28, and to provide a decorative effect, the end cover member 21 is notched as indicated at 29 and 30 at the opposite ends of the fold lines 27 and 28.

As pointed out above, the leg member projects at an angle of approximately 105 to the body member 22. Thus, for reason of the parallel relation between the cover portion 26 and the leg portion 24 the cover portion projects behind the body portion 22 at an angle of approximately thereto. When the cover member 21 is assembled to the shelving, the body portion 22 is inserted to a sufficient depth that the leg portion 24 bears against the free edges of the lips 13 and 14. The cover portion, by reason of its engagement with the end edge of the shelf 10 is flexed outwardly about the fold line 25 causing the leg and cover portions 24 and 26 to assume the perpendicular position to the body portion 22 which is shown in broken lines at 24' and 26 in Fig. 4.

The end cover element is simply formed from a onepiece blank. As shown in Fig. 5, the blank is cut out or otherwise formed with elements corresponding to the elements 22, 24 and 26. The blank is then folded along the lines 25, 27 and 28 to the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and the device is ready for assembly to the shelving.

In the foregoing specification and drawings, the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated a and. described, but'various. changes and modifications are possible to provide varied ornamental effects and to accommodate shelving having slightly different characteristics. The cover member is therefore susceptible of modification within the scope of the followingclaims:

We claim;

1. An elongated blank for an end cover member formed of resilient fiexible sheet material comprising a bodyrportion of generally rectangular outline terminating at, one end in-a reduced neck portion having a transverse fold line at the remote edge thereof, a leg portion extending beyond said fold line and projecting transversely outward beyond said neck portion and the periphery of said body portion and terminating at its remote edge in a double transverse fold line parallel to the fold line intermediate said neck and legportions, and an end cover-portion extending beyondsaid legpor-tion having a transverse di- I mension corresponding substantially to the transverse dimension of said leg portion and having a longitudinal dimension greater than the longitudinal dimension of said portion.

2. A blank according to claim 1 including notches at the opposite ends of said double fold line to further demarcate the leg and end cover portions of said blank.

3. For the open end of super-market shelving and the like having an exposed concave backing element tenninating at opposite side edges in reversely-turned lips spaced outwardly from said element to define therewith apposite open-ended grooves for slidably mounting there-.

between the opposite side edges of indicia elements, an end cover member of resiliently flexible sheet material comprising a body portion having a transverse dimension greater than the spacing intermediate the bottoms of said mounting grooves whereby upon insertion of said body portion into said grooves said body portion is transversely bowed, said body portion, terminating at one end in a reduced neck portion to afford fiexure of said body portion inot said bowed configuration, an out-turned leg portion at the remote end of said reduced neck portion adapted upon'insertion of said body portion into said grooves to seat against the open end of said shelving, and cover the reversely-turned lips thereof, and a cover portion disposed parallel tosaid leg portion and connected thereto at the outer extremity thereof, said cover portion extending rearwardly beyond said neck portion to cover backing of the shelving.

4. An end cover member according to claim 3 wherein said leg portion is-normally disposed at an obtuse angle to said neck portion and is operable to be flexed and disposed perpendicular thereto upon engagement of said cover portion with the backing as the member is seated against the open end thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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