Means for wall boards

Board for hanging on a wall to enable articles to be easily accessible. The board has a number of pockets (7,8,9) designed with walls used to retain the articles in such a way that they can easily be removed with the thumb or two fingers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a board for hanging on a wall to enable 
medical articles, for instance, to be placed so that they are easily 
visible and accessible, said articles being substantially rectangular or 
quadratic in shape. 
Such boards can be used with advantage for the systematic arrangement of 
first-aid articles which can then be placed on the wall of workshop 
premises, offices, etc. The object of such a board is that in the event of 
an accident, suitable first-aid material is quickly available, as well as 
instructions as to the best way of dressing the injury. To this end, 
therefore, the products should be fully visible on the board and easy to 
remove therefrom, while at the same time being prevented from falling off 
the board. 
First-aid materials for this purpose are usually kept in a wall cabinet 
and/or box but such methods of storage do not permit easy access and 
immediate visibility of the products required. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The above drawbacks and difficulties have now been solved in a surprising 
manner by means of the hanging board proposed according to the invention, 
with the features defined in the claims. 
To facilitate removal of the products from the compartments, therefore, 
according to a preferred embodiment the outer walls converge towards the 
opening of the compartments. 
With the object of improving the retention of the receiving compartment, 
the inner walls of the compartments may also converge in the direction of 
the compartment opening, or they may diverge slightly or be straight. 
The compartment walls are preferably resilient for the receipt of 
relatively rigid products. 
According to an alternatively embodiment, of course, the compartment walls 
may be relatively rigid in order to receive elastic products. 
To facilitate removal of the products from the compartment spaces, the 
compartment walls are provided with notches to provide a grip for thumb or 
fingers. 
According to another embodiment of the invention, the pockets may be in the 
form of separate parts which are secured to plates therefore on the board. 
Alternatively, the compartments can be produced by means of deep drawing 
the board itself. 
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, in order to achieve 
improved retention in the compartment, the walls may be arranged in pairs 
parallel to each other and provided with engagement means, such as studs, 
for engagement with notches in the product to be retained, or vice versa. 
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the invention 
is directed toward a combination of: 
(A) a board for displaying and releasably holding articles such as medical 
articles, said board comprising: 
(1) a generally flat rear sheet having a shape which permits it to be hung 
on a wall; 
(2) a plurality of compartments extending outwardly from a front surface of 
said sheet, each of said compartments being defined by a rear wall lying 
generally parallel to said rear sheet and four planar side walls extending 
from said rear wall in a direction generally perpendicular to the plane of 
said flat rear sheet and defining an open parallelepiped recess; and 
(B) at least one medical article, each said article being located in a 
respective said compartment, each said article having a shape which allows 
it to be snuggly received in its said respective said compartment, the 
rigidity of said side walls of each said compartment being greater than 
the rigidity of its respective said article such that each of said 
articles is elastically deformed by said side walls and is held in its 
said respective compartment by the friction force resulting from the 
compressive forces exerted on said rigid side walls of said respective 
compartment by the said elastically deformed article located therein, the 
depth of each of said articles as measured in a direction perpendicular to 
said rear surface being greater than the depth of its respective said 
compartment such that said articles extend outwardly from their respective 
compartments and can easily be grasped from a position in front of said 
compartment, the side walls of each said article contacting substantially 
the entire surface of said side walls of its respective compartment. 
In accordance with the second embodiment of the invention, the invention 
comprises the combination of: 
(A), an article holder having a generally planar rear wall and four planar 
side walls extending from said rear wall in a direction generally 
perpendicular to the plane of said rear wall so as to define an open 
parallelepiped recess; and 
(B) a medical article located in said recess, said article having a shape 
which allows it to be snuggly received in said recess, the rigidity of 
said side walls being greater than the rigidity of said article such that 
said article is elastically deformed by said side walls and is held in 
said recess by the friction force resulting from the compressive forces 
exerted on said rigid side walls of said recess by said elastically 
deformed article, the depth of said article as measured in a direction 
perpendicular to said rear wall being greater than the depth of said side 
walls such that said article extends outwardly from said recess and can be 
grasped from a position opposite the opening of said parallelepiped 
recess, the side walls of said article contacting substantially the entire 
surface of said side walls of said compartment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The board 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a sheet 3, preferably surrounded by 
frame. The sheet 3, preferably vacuum-moulded in plastic, is provided with 
means 4, 6, to carry various products, a space 5 for instructions in 
first-aid and compartments 7, 8 and 9 to receive the products 10 in 
question. In the example shown, three such compartments have been 
arranged, each defining a space limited by four walls, the outer surfaces 
converging towards the opening in the embodiment shown. Two of these 
walls, namely two opposite walls, are provided with recesses 11 and 12 
located opposite each other and serving as finger grips so that the 
product in the compartment can easily be removed. 
In the case of rigid products the walls should be somewhat resilient and in 
the case of soft products such as bandages, the walls should be relatively 
stiff, the inner surfaces of the walls defining the inner space of the 
compartments according to a suitable embodiment of the invention may also 
be slightly inclined, i.e. converging or slightly diverging towards the 
opening of the compartment. Of course, they may also be straight if so 
desired. 
FIGS. 2 and 3 show an embodiment of the compartments 7, 8 and 9. In this 
case the compartment comprises a bottom 13 with four walls 14, 15, 16 and 
17 projecting from this bottom 13 towards the opening of the compartment. 
One of the short walls, 15, in the rectangular compartment is provided 
with a recess 18 to provide a thumb grip. It should be evident how a 
product pressed into this compartment can be removed without special 
explanation. 
The compartment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 similarly comprises a bottom 19 
having four walls 20, 21, 22 and 23 framing it. In this case the 
compartment is square and its lower wall 23 is provided with the recess 24 
serving as a thumb grip. No detailed explanation of the function should be 
necessary here either. 
The invention is naturally not limited to the embodiments shown and 
described but can be varied in many ways within the scope of the following 
claims. For certain products, for instance, it is sufficient with only two 
opposing walls, in which case no thumb or finger grip is necessary. In 
other cases three walls might be suitable, the top wall being omitted. As 
a modification the walls might even be provided with a projection 25 (FIG. 
2) for snapping into a recess 27 (FIG. 6) in the side of the products, or 
vice versa. However, this modification is probably only suitable for a few 
products. However, the compartments may be formed in the sheet itself or 
as separate parts to be secured to the flat board.