US3092258A - Revolving display rack - Google Patents

Description

June 4, 1963 T. M. BLEED 3,092,258

a REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Filed April 26, 1961 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 aoouuo Theodore L- @leed. 4 my? W UH'X-I CA TTORPOELYJ June 4; 1963 T. M. BLEED 3,092,253

REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Filed April 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I heQdQr-e Bleed 3 a, 4 0.41 (9% 36 57 cfl'rrohrozlw June 4, 1963 Filed April 26, 1961 T. M. BLEED 3,092,258

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United States Patent Ofifice 3,092,258 Patented June 4, 1953 3,092,258 REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Theodore M. Bleed, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Commercial Wire Products Company, Rockford, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 105,695 8 Claims. (Cl. 211-163) This invention relates to a rack adapted to stand on the floor or a sales counter and having a series of article supporting panels which are disposed in angularly spaced relation and brought into view by revolving the rack about an upright axis.

The primary object is to provide a rack of the above character in which the display panels are detachable from the rack frame which is collapsible into a relatively flat compact unit to facilitate low cost shipment of the rack to its ultimate point of use.

Another object is to achieve lightness and cheapness of the over-all construction by forming the collapsible frame of the rack as a series of parts adapted to be moved relative to each other into a compact package but rigidly joined by the display panels into a sturdy rotatable unit.

Still another object is to join the frame elements permanently together in a novel manner which permits of assembly at the point of use simply by moving the parts of the frame relative to each other .and inserting the panels by endwise sliding into channels formed on the frame parts and extending longitudinally of the rotational axis of the rack.

A further object is to arrange the parts of the frame and the panels in a novel manner so that both sides of the panels may be used for display purposes.

Still another object is to adapt outer edges of the frame wings for use as handles in revolving the rack.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the improved display rack.

FIG. 2 is a plan View.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective View of part of the rack frame with one of the display panels partially inserted.

FIG. 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 5 with the rack frame collapsed.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are views similar to FIGS. 1 and 4 showing a modified form of the rack.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 181tl of FIG. 8.

In both of the illustrated forms of the improved rack, the display panels comprise rigid rectangular sheets Ill such as so-called Pegboards angularly spaced around and facing outwardly from a frame 11 comprising a series of wings 12 and 12 radiating from and supported by a central hub 13 which is mounted on a base 14 to turn about an upright axis 15. By swinging the wings against each other as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9, the frame 11 maybe collapsed into a compact unit for low cost storage or shipment to the point of ultunate use of the rack. Alternatively, the wings 12 may be swung apart and rigidly joined by the panels 10 into a rigid truss-like structure (FIG. 2) adapted to be journaled on a shaft 16 upstanding from the base 14. Where, as here, the panels are perforated by holes 17, the articles to be displayed may be suspended from books 18 inserted in selected ones of the holes.

Herein the base 14, which may be dismantled and thus packaged compactly, comprises tubes 19 having upper end portions angularly spaced around and detachaoly clamped by cross bolts 20 to the lower end of the shaft 16. Below the shaft, the tubes are bent outwardly and flare downwardly to form legs 19 adapted to rest on the floor and thus support the shaft in an upright position.

In accordance with the present invention, the display panels 10 are utilized to perform the additional function of rigidly joining the wings 12 and 12 during service use of the rack thus enabling these Wings to be formed of wire. Thus, the collapsible frame is light in weight and can be manufactured at low cost without sacrificing overall rigidity and sturdiness in supporting the articles which may be mounted on the diflerent panels with their weights substantially unbalanced relative to the shaft. Preferably but not necessarily, the wings 12 are made rigid with the hub 13 of the collapsible frame and project radially from diametrically opposite sides of the hub. The other wings 12* are fulcrumed on the hub midway between the wings 12 so as to be swingable into substantial parallelism with the latter .and lie closely adjacent the same as shown in FIG. 4 when the panel supporting frame is collapsed.

To minimize manufacturing costs, the frame wings 12 and '12 are essentially of the same construction and, in the present instance, each comprises two pieces 21 and 21' of wires bent into right angular U-shape with the two Us disposed in a common plane and with all four of their legs 23 to 26 disposed parallel to each other, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, and rigidly joined together by bars 27 and 28. As shown in FIG. 4 these bars are disposed on opposite sides of the U and welded or otherwise secured rigidly to the legs at points spaced inwardly from the outer or closed ends of the Us.

'In both forms of the rack shown herein, the central hub 13 is formed by three vertically spaced and relatively fiat rings or washers 13 the lower two of which are spaced along and journaled on the shaft 16 as shown in FIG. 6. Preferably, the inner ends of the legs 23, 24 and 26 of the frame wings 12 he in a common diametrical plane and are welded at 29 against one side of the washers thus being made rigid with the latter and with each other while projecting in opposite directions from the hub of the collapsible frame.

The corresponding legs on the Us of the other frame Wings 12 are connected pivotally to the washers 13 by bending the ends of these legs at right angles as indicated at 39 and projecting these ends through holes punched in the washers and angularly spaced about midway between the rigid wings 12. In spite of this difference in the construction of the ends, these legs are, for simplicity of disclosure, identified by the same references 23, 24 and 26. The legs 26 are disposed below the lower washer (FIGS. 5 and 6) and rest on washers 31 which bear against the upper ends of the tubes 19 which form the legs of the base. The washers 31 thus constitute a shoulder for supporting the rotatable frame of the rack while at the same time supporting the pivoted Wings 12 of the frame. Since the upper and lower Us of each wing are joined rigidly together by the bars 27 and 28, it is unnecessary to join the short legs 25 to any of the washers 13 To face the panels 10 outwardly and thus provide the desired display space, each panel is extended across the angle included between two of the adjacent frame wings 12 and 12 and opposite vertical side edges thereof are secured detachably to the respective wings. Herein, this is accomplished by making the vertical frame bars 27 and 28 in the form of channels opening toward each other and spaced apart, when the wings are disposed in right angular relation (FIGS. 1, 2 and 8), to receive and enclose the edges of the panel as the latter is inserted endwise into and between the flanges of the coacting channels. In the preferred form of rack shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the U- shaped wires forming the Wings-12 and 12 are bent intermediate their ends as indicated at 32 so as to dispose the outer end portions of one wing at right angles to the outer end portion of the adjacent wing. This permits the panel 19 joining such wings to lie against the outer end portion of the other wing as best shown in FIG. 2. For this purpose, the channel bars 27 are located near the outer ends of the wings and the flanges of these bars parallel these Wings.

difierent wings with the free flange of such bars disposed parallel to the flanges of thecoacting bar 27. Each pair of channels 27 and 28 thus defines a vertical guideway slightly wider than the panels 10 and adapted to receive the panel by endwise insertion of one end of the panel followed by downward sliding of the panel as illustrated in FIG. 3. Such movement is limited by suitable stops 33 which support the panels at their lower ends. Herein, the stops 'are formed by curved pieces of wire (see FIGS. 4 and 5) welded to the lower end of the frame wings 12 and 12*.

With all four of the panels inserted and snugly received in the channels 27 and 28 throughout the full lengths of the panels, it will be apparent that the latter form rigid connections joining the adjacent frame wings and uniting the parts of the collapsible wire frame into a rigid and sturdy unit which is supported by the washers 31 and is rotatable about the shaft 16. In the assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one entire side surface of each panel faces outwardly and is available for supporting articles to be displayed. At the same time, about onehalf of the back side of the adjacent panel is exposed thus providing an additional space as best shown in FIG. 1.

Where such additional display space is not required, the channels 27 and 28 may be spaced equidistantly from the center axis as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, each channel being formed by flanges which are disposed at acute included angles the same as in the case of the channels 28 in the preferred construction as shown in FIG. 4. As before and for simplicity of disclosure, the legs of the Wings 12 and 12 are indicated by the same numerals as the corresponding legs in FIG. 1 even though such legs are straight and not bent as at 32 in FIG. 1. All of the channels, on the wings 1'2 and 12? are of the same crosssection as the channels 28 in FIG. 1 and therefore bear this numeral. With the connecting channel bars thus constructed, the four panels will be arranged in the form of a square in the final assembly of the display rack and spaced equidistantly from the center axis 15 as shown in FIG. 8. In this construction, the rigidity of the rack may be increased if desired by extending the shaft 16 upwardly into the hole in the upper washer 13 as shown in FIG. 8 and by reinforcing the wings 12 and 12* by wires 36 paralleling the shaft 16 and disposed between the shaft and the channel bars 27, 28, these bars being welded to the horizontal legs of the U-shaped frame wires 21.

In another of its aspects, the invention contemplates using the upright closed ends of at least one of the U- shaped wires of each frame wing as a handle which may be grasped conveniently by a prospective customer and used to turn the rack and thereby bring articles on the other panels into view. For this purpose, the wings 12 and 12 are made wider than the panels 10 so that the closed ends of the Us will be spaced outwardly beyond the outeredge of the panels, thus leaving spacesinto which the customer may insert his fingers to grasp the handle.

For delivering the rack at minimum cost to its ultimate point of use, it is shipped with the wire frame collapsed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9 and the base 14 is knocked down by removal of the bolts 20. Such collapsing of the frame is accomplished simply by swinging the Wings 12 toward and substantially into parallelism with respect g The other connecting bars 28 are spaced inwardly and located at the bends *32 of the 45 to the wings 12 which, in the present instance, remain at all times fixed to the hub 13. In this collapsed condition, all of the parts of the wings are permanently joined together so that at the point of ultimate use, it is only necessary to attach the base legs 19 to the shaft 16, swing the wings 12" away from the wings 12, and finally insert the panels 10 and slide the same downwardly to the bottoms of their respective guideways. The wings 12 and 12 thus become locked together into a rigid unit which is journaled on the shaft 16 in widely spaced bearings and thus adapted to revolve about the upright axis and also to sustain the weight of the articles attached to the diiferent panels. At the same time, all of the parts of the rack frame are formed from wire or tubing. The

over-all weight. of the rack and its cost of manufacture are thus held at a minimum while at the same time providing the sturdy construction required for properly displaying many different kinds of articles.

I claim as my invention:

1. A revolving display rack having, in combination, a pair .of generally rectangular open wire frames disposed in upright crossed relation to provide four wings projecting outwardly but movable relative to each other so as to be collapsible into a relatively flat package, an upright shaft rotatably supporting said frames for turning about an axis substantially coincident with the line of crossing of the frames, said Wings being bent intermediate their vertical edges to dispose the inner marginal portions of the wings substantially radially and the outer marginal portions of adjacent wings substantially perpendicular to each other, four pairs of parallel channels with the channels of each pair secured to the angularly spaced faces of the adjacent ones of said wings with the grooves of the two channels opening toward each other in a common plane and with one bar of each pair disposed at the bend in its supporting wing, and four rigid display panels with opposite edges of each panel seated in the grooves of one pair of said channels and joining the ad jacent frame wings rigidly together.

2. A revolving display rack having, in combination, a base, a hub journaled on said base to turn about an upright axis, a plurality of generally rectangular wings each comprising a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal arms radiating outwardly from said hub, means coupling the inner ends of said arms to said hub for relative movement of said wings between a collapsed position and an expanded position in which the wings are angularly spaced apart around said axis, said wings when in said collapsed position forming a relatively flat package with adjacent ones of the wings lying face to face and adjacent each other, each of said wings including two upright bars paralleling and spaced outwardly from said axis and extending across and rigidly secured to the arms of the wing on opposite faces thereof so as to form with said arms a rigid open frame, a rigid rectangular display panel between each pair of adjacent wings spaced outwardly from said axis with the upright margins of the panel lying against the barson the adjacent faces of such wings in said angularly expanded position, and means securing the edges of said panels to said bars tolock the wings and panels together and form said hub, said wings and said panels into a rigid assembly rotatable about said axis with each panel presenting a display surface facing outwardly.

3. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which said panel securing means comprises flanges integral with said bars and bent around the adjacent edges of said panels to form channels in which opposite edges of each panel are seated.

4. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which the inner end of at least one set of said horizontal arms is secured rigidly to said hub while an adjacent one of said wings is pivoted on said hub to swing about an axis spaced angularly around the hub from the fixed wing and swingable about such axis toward a collapsed position adjacent the fixed wing.

5. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which there are four of said Wings and the inner ends of horizontal arms of two of the wings are secured rigidly to said hub with such wings projecting from diametrically opposite sides of the hub, the inner ends of the other of said wings being pivoted on said hub to swing about axes disposed substantially equidistantly between the fixed wings.

6. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which two of the vertically spaced arms of at least certain of said wings are the legs of a piece of a U with the closed end thereof spaced outwardly beyond said upright bars and constitutes a handle for facilitating turning of the rack about the hub axis.

7. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which there are four of said Wings each bent intermediate its vertical side edges to dispose the outer edge portion of one wing perpendicular to the outer edge portion of the adjacent wing and said two bars on one side of each of said wings are disposed at the bends ofi said wings while the other bars are near the outer edges of the wings.

8. A revolving display rack adapted for collapse into a relatively flat package for shipment, said rack having, in combination, a base, a hub journaled on said base to turn about an upright axis, four generally rectangular and fiat upright display panels spaced outwardly from and angularly spaced around said axis with one vertical edge of each panel disposed perpendicular to and substantially abutting the adjacent panel intermediate the edges of the latter to form therewith a T, and means detachably coupling two edges of each of said panels to said hub whereby to lock the four panels rigidly together, each of said panels having holes extending therethrough and distributed over areas thereof for attachment of article support devices over such areas of one side of each panel and over the outer edge portion of the opposite side of the panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 695,964 Taggart Mar. 25, 1902 1,569,365 Goldberg Jan. 12, 1926 1,801,453 Patterson Apr. 21, 1931 2,194,238 Weaver Mar. 19, 1940 2,621,429 Teich Dec. 16, 1952 2,868,386 Seyforth Jan. 13, 1959 2,923,417 Sonksen Feb. 2, 1960 2,950,155 Schick Aug. 23, 1960

Claims (1)

1. A REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK HAVING, IN COMBINATION, A PAIR OF GENERALLY RECTANGULAR OPEN WIRE FRAMES DISPOSED IN UPRIGHT CROSSED RELATION TO PROVIDE FOUR WINGS PROJECTING OUTWARDLY BUT MOVABLE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER SO AS TO BE COLLAPSIBLE INTO A RELATIVELY FLAT PACKAGE, AN UPRIGHT SHAFT ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID FRAMES FOR TURNING ABOUT AN AXIS SUBSTANTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH THE LINE OF CROSSING OF THE FRAMES, SAID WINGS BEING BENT INTERMEDIATE THEIR VERTICAL EDGES TO DISPOSE THE INNER MARGINAL PORTIONS OF THE WINGS SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY AND THE OUTER MARGINAL PORTIONS OF ADJACENT WINGS SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO EACH OTHER, FOUR PAIRS OF PARALLEL CHANNELS WITH THE CHANNELS OF EACH PAIR SECURED TO THE ANGULARLY SPACED FACES OF THE ADJACENT ONES OF SAID WINGS WITH THE GROOVES OF THE TWO CHANNELS OPENING TOWARD EACH OTHER IN A COMMON PLANE AND WITH ONE BAR OF EACH PAIR DISPOSED AT THE BEND IN ITS SUPPORTING WING, AND FOUR RIGID DISPLAY PANELS WITH OPPOSITE EDGES OF EACH PANEL SEATED IN THE GROOVES OF ONE PAIR OF SAID CHANNELS AND JOINING THE ADJACENT FRAME WINGS RIGIDLY TOGETHER.

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