Abstract:
A presentation display for use in displaying products, samples, premiums or the like comprises a center panel, a left tray, and a right tray wherein the center panel is hingedly attached to the left tray on one side and hingedly attached to the center panel on an opposite side such that the display can easily pivot between an open and closed position, whereby the closed position eliminates all non-product space and increases shipping efficiency to 100%. The presentation display is made from three pieces of paperboard or like flexible material and has a compact shipping or storage position that folds out to a larger open or presentation position.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority benefit of a U.S. Provisional Application, Ser. No. 60/923,209 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 13, 2007, and entitled “Folding shelf display”. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    Not Applicable 
       REFERENCE TO APPENDIX 
       [0003]    Not Applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
       [0004]    The present invention relates generally to retail shelf displays. It further relates to a highly shipping efficient, pre-packed with product and promotional messaging, retail shelf display structure that easily and quickly installs on the retail shelf right from the shipping container. 
         [0005]    Many marketers are challenged with the need to create pre-packed displays that are easy to set up and meet stringent size constraints set by retails stores. Wal-Mart has named and made the PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick) tray a standard in the industry ( FIGS. 21 &amp; 22 ). These trays are usually 20, 24, 30, 36 and 48 inches in length, usually 10 to 14 inches in width and approximately 10 to 14 inches tall. These trays are found on store shelves and on promotional and seasonal display racks. The PDQ tray has become popular with most retailers because it is shelf-ready, and a store associate needs only to take the PDQ tray display out of the shipping container and place it on the shelf without having to handle the products contained within the tray. Many of these PDQ displays contain “Ad Panels” inside of the trays. An “Ad Panel” is a paperboard insert placed within the tray which contains promotional or informational messaging. Upon close examination you find that behind the “Ad Panels” is empty space. Depending on the display, the space take up by the “Ad Panel” may be between 10%-50% of the available space in the display. There are many reasons marketers use “Ad Panels” in their tray displays. Many products require information prior to purchase, marketers use this space to entice consumers with promotional or sales messages to help sell through the products presented in a PDQ tray. Another, less obvious, reason is that retailers insist that all the displays are uniform in size, so if your display does not require as much space as you are allotted on the shelf, often your only choice is to create a large “Ad Panel” to make up the extra space in your tray display. 
         [0006]    Even though many displays will need an “Ad Panel” to help market the products, there is more and more pressure on vendors to deliver their products to retailers more efficiently than ever before. Wal-Mart in 2007 introduced a waste reduction effort that requires the cooperation of all vendors to become accountable for reducing waste in their packaging and displays. This sets the tone for the future, where all vendors will be looking for ways to reduce packaging and display production waste as well as ways in which they can ship products more efficiently to the retainers, reducing the amount of trucks needed to deliver the order, which reduces the amount of fuel needed to accomplish the same, and which in turn reduces the amount of CO2 emissions. Wal-Mart&#39;s stated goal is to reduce emissions by 667,000 metric tons per year within five years. To do this they are instituting a waste reduction score card system for vendors that will rate each display shipped to Wal-Mart according to how well it scores across seven environmental and waste reduction measurements. Two such measurements are cube utilization and transport. That means the more efficient your shipment is, the better your score. Shipping less “air” and stacking more displays per pallet becomes very desirable, as this will enable you to ship more displays in less trucks requiring less fuel thereby releasing less CO2 emissions into the environment. 
       Description of the Prior Art 
       [0007]    The traditional PDQ display shown in  FIGS. 21 &amp; 22  is the style of display used by most marketers today. The traditional single tray solution is well designed to hold products, and when necessary an “Ad Panel” may be added to complete the presentation. Unfortunately, because of its structure it is not a very efficient display to ship when there is an “Ad Panel” because of the empty space behind the “Ad Panel” that travels as part of the display. 
         [0008]    Alliance Display, a division of Rock Tenn Corp. makes the Max PDQ which is a display designed to hold light products. It is a largely flat tray design measuring the length of traditional PDQ trays, with side wings that are folded during shipping yet set up in such a way as to hold up the tray at an angle when the display is set up, making it look substantially larger, that how its ships. The drawback is that this tray display is not designed to hold heavy products, or full trays, and as such is used primarily for displays that hold minimal amount of products. 
         [0009]    Another display, the ECO-PDQ is a product of Henschel-Steinau and also offers a solution that ships small and sets up larger. This structure is a box within a box concept. It is designed with an outer sleeve that acts as a header, and inner tray that slides out to display the products being marketed. Unfortunately this structure has the limitation that tray may be placed on the shelf without the inner tray ever being pulled out by the store associate, or the outer sleeve may be pulled completely off and discarded. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0010]    Against the foregoing background, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a shelf display that has a compact shipping or storage position and expands to a larger open position featuring a center panel (“Ad Panel”) which may be used for promotional or information messaging. 
         [0011]    It is another object of the invention to provide a universal display structure that always has two trays connected by a center panel. The difference in the displays would be in the size of the center panel, the sizes of the trays, the length, width and height of the display, the amount of weight that display would hold, however, all in all the basic construction of the display would be made from three parts including two trays and an interlocking center panel. This familiar construction would be easy to repurpose, easy to design, manufacture, assemble and pack-out. 
         [0012]    It is another object of the invention to make it appealing for use where licensed images are used as there are many opportunities to create clever die cuts, and many places to place graphics to decorate the display. 
         [0013]    It is another object of the invention, to reduce the number of dies required to produce the display. This display requires two dies, and in some instances a single die using a single sheet of material may be used to create the complete display. This is done by making a single tray with center panel slots on both sides so that the same tray may serve as a right or left tray, and producing the center panel and even a tray insert (if required) on the same die. 
         [0014]    It is further the intent of the inventor to provide a display that may be easily modified to maintain the same overall display while having different sized trays and center panels. This is accomplished by adjusting the lengths of the trays and the length of the center panel so as not to alter the overall length of the display and to allow the trays, when folded, to be next to each other in a compact way for shipping and storage purposes. 
         [0015]    Yet another object of the inventor is to make the calculation to determine the placement of the center panel and the length of the center panel easy. 
         [0016]    It is yet still another object of the invention, to provide a display that is considered a one piece display requiring no assembly of parts at store level, for easy portability and set up. 
         [0017]    It is another object of the invention, to provide a display that may be completely assembled and easily stored in a substantially flat profile for future shipment. 
         [0018]    It is yet another object of the invention to provide a display with an “open” look and feel with a wide viewing angle. 
         [0019]    It is yet another object of the current invention to provide a display that may have interesting shapes other than a linear or straight display, simply by modifying the center panel in such a way that when the center panel is locked into the trays the set up tray may be fixed in various angled and interesting positions. 
         [0020]    It is yet another object of the invention to allow for hooks instead of shelves to hold the product in place such as hanging from a wall or rack. 
         [0021]    It is yet another object of the invention to use the same basic construction when created without shelves to form a “dual container gravity feed display”. 
         [0022]    It is another object of the invention to make the invention from paperboard, plastic or any other suitable material. 
         [0023]    To the accomplishments of the foregoing objects and the advantages of the present invention in brief summary comprises a flexible paperboard, plastic or other suitable flexible material that can be die-cut and folded, and attached, by glue, tuck flaps or other suitable fastening means, so that when the structure is set up, it features two trays or containers, separated by a center panel, that may be used to display “selling” or “informational” messages. The structure of the left and right trays is such that the trays may be rotated in such a way that they will nest nearly in front of or behind the center panel (Ad Panel”) for compact shipping or storage purposes, eliminating the “air” usually found behind traditional “Ad Panel” inserts. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]    The foregoing and still other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the detailed explanation of the preferred embodiments of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0025]      FIG. 1A &amp; 1B  is a plan view of the Folding Shelf Display comprising a universal tray, center panel and tray insert; 
           [0026]      FIG. 2  is a perspective flat view of the universal tray or shelf. The same structure may be used as a right or left tray; 
           [0027]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a partially assembled universal tray; 
           [0028]      FIG. 4A  is a perspective view of the universal tray mostly assembled; 
           [0029]      FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of the center panel; 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the universal tray with the center panel partially inserted; 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  is a perspective top view where the center panel is fully attached to the left tray, and partially attached to the right tray; 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing the Folding Shelf Display in a folded state ideal for storage or shipping; 
           [0033]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view showing the Folding Shelf Display transforming from a folded state to an open state for presentation; 
           [0034]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view showing the Folding Shelf Display fully transformed into an open state for presentation; 
           [0035]      FIG. 10  is a top view showing the Folding “Shelf Display fully transformed into an open state for presentation; 
           [0036]      FIG. 11  is a top view showing the Folding Shelf Display fully folded with trays folded in front of the center panel; 
           [0037]      FIG. 12  is a top view showing the Folding Shelf Display fully folded with the trays folded in back of the center panel; 
           [0038]      FIG. 13  is a copy view of the Folding Shelf Display with the center panel attached nearer to the front of the display; 
           [0039]      FIG. 14  is a top view of  FIG. 13  with the trays folded in front of the center panel for shipping or storage; 
           [0040]      FIG. 15  is a top view of the invention with the center panel attached towards the rear of the display; 
           [0041]      FIG. 16  is a top view of  FIG. 15  with the trays folded in back of the center panel for shipping or storage; 
           [0042]      FIG. 17  is a top view of  FIG. 18  with the trays folded in front of the center panel for shipping or storage; 
           [0043]      FIG. 18  is a top view of Folding Shelf Display that is the same length as one shown in  FIG. 19  except it has longer trays and a substantially narrower center panel; 
           [0044]      FIG. 19  is a top view of Folding Shelf Display that is the same length as one shown in  FIG. 18  except it has shorter trays and a substantially wider center panel; 
           [0045]      FIG. 20  is a top view of  FIG. 19  with the trays folded in front of the center panel for shipping or storage; 
           [0046]      FIG. 21  is a perspective front view of a traditional PDQ tray display with an ad panel located essentially in the center of the display; 
           [0047]      FIG. 22  is a perspective front view of a traditional PDQ tray display with an ad panel located essentially on the side of the display; and 
           [0048]      FIG. 23  is a perspective front view of fully formed Folding Shelf Display where the trays are replaced by box structures with openings for product access. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0049]    Referring to the drawings and, in particular to  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9  thereof the Folding Shelf Display  10  of the present invention is provided in various positions and referred to generally by left tray  12 , right tray  14 , and center panel  200 . Left tray  12 , right tray  14 , and center panel  200  are preferably made from paperboard and die cut and scored in such a way that they may be folded to form the display structure  10  that has a folded position for shipping and storage ( FIG. 7 ) and an open position for presentation ( FIG. 9 ). 
         [0050]    Trays  12  and  14  can hold product for retail display, while the center panel  200  serves as an “Ad Panel” containing promotional or educational information about the products being displayed. The display  10  is made in such a way that the empty space  127  (see  FIG. 13 ) found behind the center panel  200  which is prominently visible during the open position shown in  FIGS. 9 &amp; 13 , is eliminated during shipping or storage as shown in  FIGS. 7 &amp; 14  making the display  10  more efficient to store or ship and yet the center panel  200  opens to prominently feature a message when the display is in an open or presentation state. It is further the intent of the inventor to make this display from paperboard, plastic or any other suitable material that is flexible and easy to work with using conventional converting equipment. 
         [0051]      FIGS. 1A &amp; 1B  shows a single universal tray  100 , center panel  200  and shelf insert  300 . Note panel  301  of shelf insert  300  intersects panel  111  of universal tray  100 . This layout is accomplished in order to conserve resources and use a smaller sheet of paperboard in the process of manufacturing. The cutout  301  from panel  111  will not affect the functionality of the tray. 
         [0052]    In the preferred embodiment the universal tray  100  can be made into either a left tray  12  or a right  14  tray. Each tray  100  is constructed of paperboard and starts flat as shown in  FIG. 2  and then are folded as shown in  FIGS. 3 &amp; 4 .  FIG. 2  shows a universal tray  100  that may serve as either the left  12  or right tray  14 . In order to lock in the center panel  200  to the left tray  12 , slots  115  and  117  are needed to receive center panel tabs  202  &amp;  207  respectively. In order to lock the center panel  200  into the right tray  14 , slots  114  and  116  are needed to receive center panel tabs  204  &amp;  206  respectively. By having one universal tray  100  with both sets of slots  114 ,  115 ,  116  &amp;  117 , then one only needs two identical copies of the exact same tray  100  plus the center panel  200  to complete one full display  10 . This will require less production, less set up time and will yield less waste. 
         [0053]    The inventor contemplates however that there may be advantages in certain instances to have a separate right tray  14  with only slots  116  and  114  and a separate left tray  12  with only slots  115  and  117 , such as those instances when each tray will contain different graphics. This can also be manufactured from a single die as long as both surfaces of the paperboard were similar because the die cut for the left tray  12  is the same as the die cut for the right tray  14 , if you flip one over. That is, the die cut of the left tray  12  with only one pair of slots  115 ,  117  is the mirror image of the die cut of the right tray  14  with slots  114 ,  116 . 
         [0054]      FIG. 4A  shows left tray  12  mostly assembled and ready to accept center panel  200  into slot  115 . To insert the center panel  200  into slot  115 , fold tab  201  on center panel to the front or to the back of tab  202  on score  208 , slide the tab  202  into the slot  115 , and once inside slot  115  tab  201  will unfold and will prevent the center panel  200  from disengaging from left tray  12 . Panel  101  is then folded down and locked inside the tray trapping tab  202  between panels  105  and  101 . 
         [0055]      FIG. 6  shows the center panel  200  being inserted into slot  114  of right tray  14 . Tab  203  is shown in the up and locked position and tab  204  is well inside the right tray  14 . Tabs  203  and  204  are pushed flat against panel  107  and panel  103  is lowered and locked inside right tray  14  holding the center panel  200  securely in place. Once tabs  202  and  204  of center panel  200  are inserted into both left  12  and right trays  14  respectively, center panel flap  207  is inserted into slot  117  of the left tray  12  and flap  206  is inserted into slot  116  of right tray  14 . The flaps slide into the trays  12  &amp;  14  until they are in a locked position making the trays  12  &amp;  14  and the center panel  200  aligned facing forward as shown in  FIG. 9 . It is important to note that although in the preferred embodiment the method of attachment of the center panel  200  to trays  12  &amp;  14  are by way of a tab structure, that glue, tape, snaps, hook and loop and other well known means of attachment may also be used. 
         [0056]    Assuming the depth or height of the display  10  is equal; the following will demonstrate the dramatic difference in overall size of the open and closed positions of the Folding Shelf Display.  FIG. 10  shows the front length  124  of the left tray  12 , and the front length  126  of the right tray  14  and the length of the center panel  200  to be equal to each other and also equal to the width  122  of the left tray  12  and the width  121  of right tray  14 . It obvious from  FIG. 10  that the total space that the display takes up when it is in the open position is dramatically greater than when the trays  12  &amp;  14  are folded behind the center panel  200  as shown in  FIG. 12  or in front of center panel  200  as shown in  FIG. 11 . In this example the folded display in  FIG. 11  requires approximately one third less space than the open display shown in  FIG. 10 . The reasons for this is that the space  130  in back of the center panel  200  and the space  131  in front of center panel  200  are eliminated when the trays are rotated from the open or display position shown in  FIG. 10  to the closed or shipping/storage position shown in  FIGS. 11 &amp; 12 . In  FIG. 11 , the fronts  124  and  126  are adjacent to each other, or the backs  125  and  120  are adjacent to each other as shown in  FIG. 12 . When the backs  120  and  125  are adjacent to each other a cutout  20  &amp;  22  may be made in panels  102  &amp;  106  to serve as a handle (see  FIG. 1A ) for picking up and moving the display. 
         [0057]    The inventor contemplates that the length X of center panel  200  needs to be slightly larger than the sum of the lengths  140  and  141  ( FIG. 13 ), (wherein X=2 times Y where Y is the distance from the hinge points  30  &amp;  32  to the corner edges of the trays  34  &amp;  36  that will fold towards each other in the closed position). When the trays  12  &amp;  14  fold in front of the center panel  200  as in  FIG. 14 , or larger than the lengths  142  and  143  ( FIG. 15 ) when the trays fold to the rear of the center panel  200  as shown in  FIG. 16 . If the sum of lengths  140  and  141  or  142  and  143  are larger than that of the center panel, the trays will not fold or nest nearly behind or in front of the center panel  200 , and if they are much shorter than the length of the center panel then there will be a gap between trays  12  and  14  leaving the display unstable during shipping, and requiring a separate stabilizing insert (not shown). So it is critical for the invention to work properly that the dimension of the trays  12  &amp;  14  follow the formula X=2 times Y or that X is slightly greater than 2 times Y to accommodate material thicknesses. The object is that there is no space between the trays  12  &amp;  14  in the closed/shipping storage position. X is the width of center panel  200  and Y is the distance from the hinge point  30  &amp;  32  to the corner edges  34  &amp;  36 . 
         [0058]    The following is an example of the calculation required to determine the position and length of the center panel when the tray dimensions change from one size to another (in this example for illustration purposes we are using absolute dimensions and not allowing for paper and folding tolerances, that if accounted for would slightly alter the dimension).  FIG. 19  shows a folding shelf display  10  with an overall length in the open position of 30 inches where the center panel is approximately 10 inches and the length of each tray  124  and  126  are 10 inches. The width  150  of the tray is also 10 inches. The center panel is located approximately midway along the width  150  or approximately 5 inches in from the front or the rear of the display.  FIG. 18  has increased the each tray length to 12.5 inches for an overall increase of 5 inches in combined tray lengths. To ensure that the overall length of the display stays at 30 inches, since the tray lengths have been increased by 5 inches the center panel length needs to be reduced by the same 5 inches so the overall length of the display will stay at 30 inches. If the center panel is reduced by 5 inches and remains in the same position along width  150 , then even though the overall length will be 30 inches, the trays will not be able to rotate to rest neatly behind or in from of the center panel  200 . In order to have the trays nest in the desired way, the hinge points  30  &amp;  32  comprised of the slots  115  and  114  will need to move either 2.5 inches towards the front of the display or 2.5 inches towards the rear of the display. If the slots are moved towards the front of the display then the trays  12  &amp;  14  will rotate and nest in front of the center panel as shown in  FIG. 17 , if the slots are moved towards the rear of the display then the trays  12  &amp;  14  will rotate and nearly nest behind the center panel  FIG. 16 . In most instances it is preferred that the center panel is closer to the front of the display as so that the information contained within the center panel  200  is easily visible. The further back to the center panel sits along the width  150  the harder it is to see from the front of the display. 
         [0059]    Retailers prefer standard sized displays, so many displays are often designed to keep the overall length of the display, in the open position, the same length although the amount of product in the display may require smaller or larger trays. Using the Folding Shelf Display structure  10 , one may vary the size of the individual trays  12  &amp;  14 , without changing the overall length of the display  10  as previously discussed.  FIG. 18  and  FIG. 19  show displays of equal length L yet the trays  124  and  126  of  FIG. 19  are considerably shorter in length than the trays  124  and  126  depicted in  FIG. 18 . The difference is made up in the length X of the center panel  200 .  FIG. 19  shows a substantially longer center panel  200  than  FIG. 18 . By moving the position of slots  114  and  115  along the length of  150  one may vary the length X of the center panel  200 . Such that when the trays  12  &amp;  14  are rotated as previously discussed they will rest in a nested way as shown in  FIG. 17  and  FIG. 20 . Although the display  10  is most ideal when the trays  12  &amp;  14  are substantially equal in size, it is the intent of the inventor to allow the trays  12  &amp;  14  to be of different lengths to accommodate different size or volume of products. Additional and separate tray insert/shelf  300  may be placed inside the tray(s)  12  &amp;  14  to better arrange the products being displayed. 
         [0060]    The Folding Shelf Display  10  is most like traditional displays when both trays  12  &amp;  14  and the center panel  200  are in the open position and in a straight line, however, it is the intent of the inventor to vary the size and shape of the center panel in such a way that when the trays  12  &amp;  14  may be in a locked position and the overall display can take on more unusual and interesting shapes, such as an “L” or “corner” shape, or a “stadium” or “panorama” shape. 
         [0061]    Referring now to  FIG. 23  another embodiment is shown. The trays  12  &amp;  14  have been replaced with fully formed containers  40  &amp;  42  with openings  44  &amp;  46  for products access. T