US3564739A

US3564739A - One-piece label-holder

Info

Publication number: US3564739A
Application number: US770571A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bernard Marc Claudius Gauche
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: ORGAREX SA A FRENCH Co
Priority date: 1967-10-31
Filing date: 1968-10-25
Publication date: 1971-02-23
Anticipated expiration: 1988-02-23
Also published as: FR1552026A; DE1805919A1

Abstract

A ONE-PIECE LABEL-HOLDER OBTAINED BY MOULDING, WHICH INCLUDES A TRANSPARENT PANE FOR RECEIVING THE LABEL UNDER ITS INSIDE FACE AND WHICH IS FORMED WITH WINDOWS IN OPPOSITE MARGINAL AREAS AND WITH UPSTANDING BORDERS ON ITS INSIDE FACE THAT COMPRISE A PORTION EXTENDING ALONG THE OUTER EDGES OF SAID WINDOWS AND ANOTHER ANGLED PORTION AT THE TOP OF THE PANE, THE BORDRS COMPRISING BENEATH THE WINDOWS, STRIP-FORMING EXTENSIONS FOR RETAINING THE LABEL AT THE REAR.

Description

Feb. 23, 1971 c GAUCHE 3,564,739

ONE-PIECE LABEL-HOLDER Filed Oct. 25, .1968

United States Patent ONE-PIECE LABEL-HOLDER Bernard Marc Claudius Gauche, 9 Hameau des Artistes (11 Avenue Junot), Paris, France Filed Oct. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 770,571 Claims priority, application France, Oct. 31, 1967, 126,501 Int. Cl. G09f 3/18 U.S. Cl. 40-16.4 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one-piece label-holder obtained by moulding, which includes a transparent pane for receiving the label under its inside face and which is formed with windows in opposite marginal areas and with upstanding borders on its inside face that comprise a portion extending along the outer edges of said windows and another angled portion at the top of the pane, the borders comprising beneath the windows, strip-forming extensions for retaining the label at the rear.

Label-holders intended for retaining identification labels on files or similar objects consist as a rule of two parts: a desk-like portion which can be clamped, fastened, riveted with eyelets, or otherwise secured to the file, and a desk cover portion positioned in the location receiving the label and usually consisting of a transparent element which is secured elastically or threaded over guiding and retaining members.

Also known are label-holders consisting of two portions welded or riveted together and forming a U-section channel for receiving the label.

Likewise known are one-piece label-holders, customarily obtained by the extrusion technique but which can equally be moulded, notably by injection, with a pistontype mould, and which also provide a label-receiving channel of U-section.

Presently known designs are usually costly to produce, chiefly because of the complexity of the manufacturing and fitting phases, yet do not ensure reliable securing of the identification labels.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these disadvantages and to accordingly provide a onepiece label-holder capable of holding at least one label, regardless of the position in which the label-holder is placed, it being impossible to extract the label from its lodging otherwise than by a specific operation. Such a label-holder can readily be obtained by moulding, using plain moulds without a piston, and it may comprise either means for securing it to a file or a folder by elastic clamping or by gluing, or means for receiving definitive securing elements such as rivets or eyelets.

A label-holder according to this invention includes a transparent element or pane, which may be substantially flat or of lens-forming convex shape, the lower part of which embodies a portion for union with a member for securing the label-holder to a file, card, or the like. The pane or transparent element is formed in opposite marginal areas thereof with windows extending therealong and behind which are embodied borders that form a retaining channel, and, by virtue of angled portions thereon, means for retaining the edges of the label by an elastic clamping effect.

Thus the label can be inserted elastically behind the pane, with or without a pinching effect, by being thrust in a direction parallel to said marginal borders, after which it can no longer escape from said retaining angled portions otherwise than by a specific spreading and extraction operation.

Patented Feb. 23, 1971 In one specific form of embodiment, the means for retaining the label-holder to a folder or file is an elastic clip of which one arm is formed as a stirrup having its uprights secured to the foot portions of said marginal areas, and of which the other is subdivided into associated teeth and attached by the roots of these teeth to the rear part of a surface forming a base for the pane.

A label-holder as hereinbefore described can readily be produced by the moulding technique, using a plain mould without a piston, since the label retaining ribs are located opposite the windows and the teeth of the clip members are formed internally of the arms and base of the opposite stirrup.

The description which follows with reference to the accompanying nonlimitative exemplary drawing will give a clear understanding of how the invention can be carried into practice. In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a front view of a label-holder according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a section taken through the line IIII of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken through the line IIIIII of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a section taken through the line IV-IV of FIG. 2.

In the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, the one-piece label-holder moulding includes a substantially rectangular pane 1 made of transparent material, near the smaller sides of which are formed two windows 2 and 3 bordering said two smaller sides and themselves shaped as very long rectangles.

The pane 1 is joined at an acute angle to a base 4, and the inside of the corner formed thus serves as a rest for the label placed fiat beneath the pane 1.

Externally of windows 2 and 3 and beneath the pane are borders 5 of which the portions facing the windows 2 form strips 6, and each such strip forms an edge 7 facing one side of the associated window. The side of strip 6 which faces window 2 joins at an acute angle with the border 5 and the upper portion of each strip provides an insertion ramp 8 which forms a very obtuse angle with said edge 7.

These lateral catch-forming borders 5 each embody, at the top of the inside face of pane 1, an angled portion forming a claw 9 for retaining the upper edge of the label which, upon being inserted, penetrates beneath this claw and is retained thereby by an elastic clamping effect.

It is thus easily possible to shape, in a plain mould not employing a piston, the strips, the associated edges, the lateral catches and the top claws.

It will easily be appreciated that a label of the desired size can be inserted beneath the pane 1 very rapidly but that it can be withdrawn only by a special distorting operation, with withdrawal of the label by gripping with a fingernail between the opposite ends of claws 9, by exerting a pull by moving away the inside face of pane 1, and by a withdrawing action with a sliding motion roughly parallel to the plane of the pane. The label is normally retained between the base and the claws and between the lateral catches 5. It may be squeezed between the edges 7 and the corresponding borders of windows 2.

Such a label-holder can be associated with any convenient means for retaining it on the edge of a file, a folder or a card. In the specific form of embodiment depicted, such means consists of a clip, but could alternatively consist for instance of a plain border with holes therein for the passage of rivets, or of eyelets, or of any other convenient retaining device.

In the form of embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, the edges of the pane joining with the base, beneath the windows 2, are integral with the ends of the arms of a stirrup 10 which is formed with a lower flange 11 substantially parallel to base 4. Within the internal opening of stirrup 10 are provided multiple gripping members 12 each terminating in a lip 13, facing which are indents 14 formed in flange 11. The roots of the teeth 12 are rigid with the rear portion of base 4 and form an acute angle with the plane thereof, whereas the general plane of the stirrup forms an equally acute angle with said base and an obtuse angle with the pane 1.

The embodiment hereinbefore disclosed can likewise be produced in a plain mould without a piston, as can also the pane and its associated structure.

A label-holder of the kind described can be fitted to the edge of a file or a folder by a simple operation consisting in pressing the inside face of the flange 11 against one of the faces of said border, then elastically deforming the stirrup by a pressure in order to slip the lips 13 behind the other face of the file, and then sliding the clip spread apart thus transversely to said edge until it meets the undersurface of the base 4 while allowing the elastic effect to reclose the clip once more after fitting has been effected, while the lips 13, which may be made to pass through associated openings in the edge of the file, folder, card or the like, whereby to provide a firm securing effect preventing accidental ripping off of the label-holder or any transverse shifting thereof.

It goes Without saying that many changes and substitutions of parts may be made to the form of the embodiment hereinbefore described without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, where labels of small length are used, or even multiple labels, retention behind the pane of the associated label-holder could be better ensured by one or more members similar to the claws 9 or possibly to the strips 6, behind windows of matching shape positioned uniformly and preferably between two ends. Further, instead of being inserted perpendicularly to the longer edge of the pane, the label could be inserted perpendicularly to the shorter edge thereof, while the securing clip could alternatively appear on a smaller side of the pane, with or without a base 4.

What I claim is:

1. A one-piece label-holder comprising a transparent pane portion for receiving beneath the inside surface thereof at least one label, a plurality of windows in said pane portion at least in opposite marginal areas thereof, upstanding borders on the inside face of said label-receiving pane portion at said marginal areas, which borders each have a first portion extending along an outer edge of one of said windows and a second portion forming an angle with said first portion and constituting a labelarresting catch, and strips respectively associated with a first corresponding border portion and extending beneath a companion window.

2. A label-holder as claimed in claim 1 comprising a base portion, said pane portion being joined at an acute angle to said base portion, said base portion serving as a common supporting base for the edge of a label and for the edge of a file for receiving the label-holder.

3. A label-holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said strip-s is formed, at one end facing an opposite edge of said pane, with a sloping face opposite the inside face of said pane.

4. A label-holder as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said strips is formed with a label-gripping acute-angled edge facing an internal edge of the associated window.

5. A label-holder as claimed in claim 1 comprising catches provided intermediate the spaced ends of said second border portions.

6. A label-holder as claimed in claim 1 comprising a clip for securing the label-holder including a stirrupshaped first arm having stirrup ends rigid with said pane portion, and a second arm positioned within said stirrup with the ends of said first and second arms converging towards each other.

7. A label-holder as claimed in claim 6, wherein said clip further comprising a second clip arm formed by at least one member terminating in a lip facing an indent provided in the stirrup base.

8. A label-holder as claimed in claim 2 comprising a label-holder securing clip having a first stirrup-shaped arm attached by its ends to an edge of said base and a second clip arm rigid with the opposite edge of said base.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,526,950 10/1950 Jones 40-l6.4 2,743,011 4/1956 Woofter 40-107UX 2,910,985 11/1959 Epstein 4016.4

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner