Apparatus for suspending goods for display

An apparatus for displaying goods in suspended form includes a fixed carrier support having horizontally and vertically spaced bores, a bearing pin rotatably disposed in each bore and a U-shaped rail bracket extending from said pins with spacer brackets of varying length removably inserted between the legs of said rail bracket.

The invention relates to an apparatus for the sorted or spaced display of 
goods in serial arrangement with rail-like carrier brackets respectively 
carrying yokes, which are similar to outrigger arms, starting out from 
rail-like arrangements and on which the yoke holders are attached. 
Arrangements for supporting goods have already been proposed (German patent 
application No. P 23 57 498.6) and they consist of carrying arrangements 
in the manner of section rails, from which carrier brackets, respectively 
carrying yokes, extend, which are mounted in the carrying arrangement. At 
the free ends of the carrier brackets, respectively carrying yokes, a yoke 
support cam is slid into a part, running parallel, which is equipped on 
both sides with a button-like projection from which the clothes hanger can 
be suspended. In case of swiveling the carrier bracket or carrying yokes 
laterally, these yoke-like supports of several carrying yokes could be 
hooked together mutually, so that the free swivellability will be 
hampered. In selling goods it turns out to be particularly advantageous 
whenever the goods on display are sorted out in a clearly arranged manner. 
Since in the sphere of textile goods there are very many articles which are 
not shown on clothes hangers, it will be desirable to make a supporting 
arrangement for goods of the type mentioned in such a way that articles of 
various types can be suspended on the carrier brackets respectively 
carrying yokes, corresponding to their most effective presentation. At the 
same time it should be possible to be able always to have several packages 
of goods or pieces of goods in serial arrangement on one carrying yoke, 
whereby an attractive presentation will still be assured. Whenever several 
pieces of goods are suspended from one such carrier bracket, it might, 
however, happen that the outrigger-like carrier bracket or carrying yoke, 
which mostly consists of wire, has not enough stability. For this reason, 
it will also be desirable to provide a bracing on the carrier bracket or 
carrying yoke, which, however, can also be used functionally for display 
of the goods. 
By a suitable mounting of the carrier brackets or carrying yokes, it is to 
be guaranteed that they will swing back automatically into their normal 
position, whenever they have been twisted out of their normal position 
during inspection of the goods. For this purpose it will likewise be 
necessary that the carrier bracket or carrying yoke have sufficient 
stability and is also mounted suitably in the carrying arrangement so that 
the automatic return will not be impeded either by bending of the carrier 
brackets, or carrying yokes, nor by an unfavorable bearing stress. This 
normal position of the swivelable carrier brackets or carrying yokes runs 
approximately at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the carrier 
arrangement. 
It had already been mentioned that the carrier brackets or carrying yokes 
are to receive various types of goods in serial arrangement. At the same 
time these may be, for example, packaged goods or strip-shaped textiles, 
shoes on special supports, ties, belts, socks, etc., which, however, are 
to be suspended in the most advantageous way from the carrier bracket or 
carrying yoke. 
This object will be achieved through the invention in an advantageous 
manner by the carrier brackets or carrying yokes being constructed as 
carrying or supporting legs running in parallel, and being equipped with 
bearing and swivelling pins which can be plugged into bearing bores on the 
carrier arrangement and which are oppositely directed on the ends at the 
bearing sides, by the fact that spacers can be plugged on, slid on or 
clamped onto the carrier or supporting legs and by the fact that spacers 
will limit areas distributed over the length of the carrying or supporting 
elements, for the sorted suspension of goods. These spacers comprise 
bridgelike, preferably semi-circularly pulled-in parts, which are joined 
on both sides by sockets and collets running in the direction of the 
carrier and supporting legs. These sockets and collets can be of variable 
or equal length. At the same time provision has also been made that said 
sockets or collets on one side start in the same plane and end in 
different planes on the other side. These spacers can be equipped with 
button-like projections as yoke supports, preferably on both sides of the 
bridge, the outside surfaces of which are developed as repelling surfaces 
always in the direction toward the carrier arrangement, which approach 
each other running in the direction toward the carrier or supporting legs. 
These repelling surfaces of the yoke support may pass over on the side of 
the carrier arrangement into a likewise preferably semicircularly pulled 
in part of the bridge with sockets or collets respectively in the form of 
border grooves. 
At the same time it will be effective to construct the distancer, developed 
as a yoke support, so that it can be slipped onto the carrier and 
supporting legs from behind in such a way, that it will be held positively 
in the forward connecting part of the carrier or supporting legs. Such a 
spacer, developed as a yoke support, can also be developed in two parts, 
whereby the two parts are connected with a foil hinge and running along 
one of the carrier or supporting legs and reaching around the two carrier 
or supporting legs can be clamped or screwed together. 
Such a contrivance, developed according to the invention, for the sorted 
display of goods offers the possibility that goods can be suspended in 
serial arrangement along the carrier bracket or carrying yoke as a result 
of plugging on or clamping on of variable spacers. At the same time, by 
use of the proper spacers, larger or smaller areas can be defined, whereby 
for example, in case of delimitation of very small areas along the carrier 
bracket or carrying yoke a multiplicity of clothes hangers can be hung one 
behind the other. Whenever larger areas are defined by the spacers, for 
example, ties or cloths can be put through these areas which are then 
hanging side by side along the carrying yoke. Such a carrying yoke, 
according to the invention, will not only become very stable as a result 
of the spacers, but it also offers the possibility of a very flexible and 
optimum adaptation to the goods provided in each instance for display. 
According to a further development of the invention, provision has been 
made for the lower carrying and supporting leg to be longer than the upper 
one, for the bearing and swivelling pins attached at the rear end of the 
carrying and supporting legs, to be plugged into bearing holes on the 
carrying arrangement, which holes are mutually displaced in a vertical 
direction, for the rotational axes of the lower bearing and swivelling pin 
to be displaced farther back than those of the corresponding bearing and 
swivelling pin, as a result of which the carrier bracket respectively 
carrying yoke always returns automatically into the medium lowest 
swivelling position (rest position) each time in case of a lateral 
swivelling movement. For such a mounting, a carrying arrangement in the 
form of a U-rail is advantageous which has staggered bearing bores on 
opposite legs, whereby the oppositely aligned bearing and swivelling pins 
point away from one another. Provision has also been made for the carrying 
apparatus to consist of a square pipe which is provided with the staggered 
bearing bores on the lower and on the upper surface. The use of two tubes 
sections running in parallel can also be particularly advantageous whereby 
the staggered bearing bores are disposed in opposite surfaces. For as 
perfect as possible a mounting and in order to guarantee a safe mounting 
of the carrier bracket and carrying yoke in the carrying arrangement, 
provision has furthermore been made that the bearing and swivelling pins 
are developed bulged or spherical and the bearing bores cylindrical.

In FIG. 1 a carrier device 1 is shown in the form of a horizontally 
extending U-rail from which a carrier bracket 2 made up of an upper 
supporting leg 3 and a lower supporting leg 4 is mounted to extend 
horizontally. This carrier bracket consists of a wire material, which is 
bent such that the two supporting legs run parallel to one another. 
Spacers 6 are pushed onto the carrier bracket, which will be explained in 
more detail subsequently. These spacers are unsymmetric in design, so that 
either longer or shorter areas for hanging up of goods are delimited, 
depending on the direction in which they are applied to the carrier 
bracket. In FIG. 1, a longer area 8 is shown, whereas in FIG. 2 a shorter 
area 9 is recognizable, which develops merely by a different application 
of the spacers. In FIG. 3 a partial view of a carrier bracket is shown, in 
case of which symmetric spacers 10 are used, which are provided for the 
delimitation of perforated areas 11 in which clothes hangers can be 
suspended, hanging obliquely in relation to the carrier bracket. 
In FIG. 4 a carrier bracket 2 is shown, which is mounted in a square pipe 
as a carrying device 12. The carrier bracket carries a yoke support 13 at 
its front end in which clothes hangers can be hung, hanging parallel to 
the carrier bracket. This yoke support is shown in top view in FIG. 6 and 
comprises button-like projections 14, attached at both sides of the 
bridge, which are provided with grooves 15 for suspension of the clothes 
hangers. The outside surfaces 16 of the button-like (knob-like) 
projections extend in the direction of the carrier device and approach the 
two supporting legs 3' and 4' of the carrier bracket. In the area of the 
end of the yoke support 13, pointing toward the carrier device 12, an 
additional bridge 18' has been provided, the outside surfaces 16 passing 
over into it. The yoke support 13 can be pushed on from the rear end of 
the carrier bracket and it comprises the supporting legs with collets 18, 
which can be clearly seen in FIGS. 6a and 6b. These FIGS. 6a and 6b show 
the yoke support in cut, namely in the area of the knob-like projections 
and of the rear end. 
FIG. 5 and FIG. 5a illustrate an unsymmetric spacer, which consists of a 
bridge 20, joined on both sides by sockets 21. The bridge consists of a 
part, pulled-in on both sides semicircularly, which passes over into the 
sockets 21. These sockets are of different lengths, whereby, however, they 
start on one side in the same plane and end on the other side in different 
planes (FIG. 5). As becomes clear from FIG. 5a, the sockets are slotted in 
longitudinal direction, whereby the opening or slot 23 is shifted in the 
lower socket or collet by 90.degree. as compared to the slot 23 in the 
upper socket or collet. As a result of this arrangement of the slots 23, 
the spacer can be pushed with the lower socket 21 onto the supporting leg 
4 of the carrying yoke and can be engaged by lateral swivelling with the 
upper supporting leg 3. 
From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a spacer may be made in two 
parts with one edge joined by a hinge which may be a resilient plastic or 
metal foil. In assembling such a spacer, two parts can be clamped together 
or screwed together to facilitate assembly of the arrangement. 
This construction of the spacers as in FIG. 5, offers the advantage that, 
depending on the kind of arrangement, as becomes clear from FIGS. 1 and 2, 
variably sized areas 8 and 9 can be delimited for the sorted hanging of 
goods by simply mounting a spacer 6 in a inverted fashion or in the same 
manner as its adjacent spacer. 
Whenever the extended part of the socket or collet is cut off on the 
underside of the spacer as in FIG. 5, a symmetric spacer can be fashioned, 
such as used in FIG. 3. It is obvious that the length of the longer socket 
or collet can be determined arbitrarily in regard to its length, in order 
to produce areas of suspension of corresponding size. 
FIG. 1 illustrates a U-shaped wire arrangement, in case of which the 
bearing bores 29 run perpendicularly, but are shifted in horizontal 
direction by the distance C. Correspondingly the lower and upper 
supporting legs of the carrier bracket 2 terminate in different planes, 
which are shifted by the distance C. The bearing and swivelling pins 30 on 
the end of the supporting legs, in case of the embodiment as in FIG. 1, 
are oppositely aligned and point away from each other. In case of the 
embodiment as in FIG. 4, the bearing and swivelling pins 31 are likewise 
aligned oppositely, but they point against each other, so that the carrier 
bracket can be inserted into a square column or pipe, in case of which the 
bearing bores, shifted by the distance C are attached on the upper side 
and the underside of the square pipe. 
With the provision of the offset rotational axes of the two bearing pins 
for each carrier bracket 2, when the supporting legs extend horizontally 
from the carrier device 1, and the carrier bracket is swivelled laterally 
from a central position, the carrier bracket will always return under the 
influence of gravity to its central or middle lowest position. 
FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a carrier arrangement, which 
consists of two sectionally oblong shaped bars or pipes 32. The bearing 
bores 29' are placed in the opposing surfaces of the profile pipes, 
whereby the bearing bores in the upper pipe are disposed at a greater 
distance than in the lower pipe. The difference of the distance amounts to 
2 C. In this way carrier bracket legs 3 and 4 can be inserted into the 
carrier device from both sides, so that the goods are hung and displayed 
on both sides of the carrying bars 32. 
For the construction of the bearings, the bearing and swivelling pins 30 
and 31 have been developed slightly spherical or cone-shaped and the 
bearing bores 29 and 29' consist of cylindrical apertures, which can 
possibly be slightly enlarged on the side opposite the supporting legs, so 
that the plugged in bearing or swivelling pins have a safe hold and a good 
guidance. 
FIG. 8 illustrates a spacer, developed as a yoke support 40 which can be 
pushed onto the carrier bracket 2 from in front. This yoke support 40 
consists of a shell-shaped part 41, adapted to the design of the front 
part of the wire bracket 2, which part on its front side is provided with 
a slot 42. On the inside of the part 41 and parallel to the inside edge of 
the bent carrier bracket 2 there runs an elevation 43 which becomes 
apparent in FIG. 8b, and which upon pushing on of the yoke support slips 
away over the carrier bracket 2 and engages behind that. The slot 42 
causes an elasticity in this part of the yoke support, so that the latter 
can be pushed without hindrance onto the carrier bracket 2. Pipe like 
bridges 44 run on both sides of the shell-like part 41 to the outside, 
which pass over at their outside end into a U-shaped bent repelling strip 
45. This U-shaped repelling or baffle strip 45 is penetrated by the 
shell-shaped part 41 in the area of the yoke and it will prevent the yoke 
supports from hooking into one another upon lateral swivelling of the 
carrier brackets. The clothes hanger that is to be hung onto the yoke 
support is hung over the bridge 44, so that always the clothes hangers can 
be hung on every yoke support.