Display device

A display device has a display surface defined by support members which support various types of display modules including a card dispenser which supports a vertical stack of cards in a large capacity holder which is inclined rearwardly and upwardly behind the display surface. Cards are dispensed through a slot in a face plate onto a projecting inclined surface of a tongue which causes the card to flex ensuring that only one card is dispensed at a time. The stack of cards in the holder is urged forwardly by a lightweight pusher mounted on a track in the holder in a nonreturn manner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a display device in the form of a display 
board or stand intended primarily for advertising purposes and to a card 
dispenser for use as a module in such a display device. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
It has been customary for some time for newsagents, supermarkets and 
do-it-yourself (DIY) stores to provide facilities whereby private 
customers and local businesses can advertise their services. In the 
simplest form, the shopkeeper provides a notice board and advertisers pay 
for their advertisement cards to be displayed on the board for an 
appropriate period of time. This method of advertising requires that the 
potential customer should take down details of the advertised goods or 
services in which they are interested. During a shopping expedition, when 
the potential customer is encumbered by bags and children, this is not 
always practical. Therefore, it is clearly desirable to provide some 
facility for the dispensing of leaflets or cards which the potential 
customer can take away. Such displays of leaflets and the like require 
frequent replenishing if customers are not to be disappointed. Moreover, 
if such displays are left in unattended locations, there is a risk that 
the entire stock of cards or leaflets will be removed by one person and 
scattered in the vicinity, resulting in loss of the advertising service 
and damage to the environment. This makes this type of display advertising 
unacceptable to advertisers and the shopkeepers who provide the location 
alike. 
There are therefore two primary technical problems to be solved if a 
commercially attractive display board advertising service is to be 
promoted at retail locations, such as supermarkets and DIY stores, where 
there is a continuous flow of potential local consumers, which advertisers 
wish to target. 
The first of these problems is to permit some permanent record of the 
advertised goods or services to be taken away by the potential customer. 
This allows the advertising to be more effective and also provides 
feedback to the advertiser as to the interest in his product. 
The second problem is to prevent vandalism so that the feedback effect is 
preserved, the local environment does not become littered and the 
advertising effect of the stock of leaflets or cards is maximized. 
In solving these problems, a number of subsidiary technical problems arise 
as will be apparent from the following description. 
Various attempts have been made to solve the technical problems set out 
above. For example, WO-A-8904129 (Glenmead Pty Limited) shows a display 
device to which a number of card dispensers are fixed. These card 
dispensers allow a business card to be extracted by a potential customer 
from a horizontal stack stored in the dispensing apparatus. The 
arrangement described suffers from a number of problems. In particular, 
the stock of cards available for dispensing is limited by the space 
available for each dispenser on the board. Further, it is necessary to 
disassemble the entire board in order to replenish one dispenser. Thirdly, 
the mechanical arrangement by means of which the stack of cards is urged 
upwardly is prone to failure. Fourthly, with this type of display board, 
it is not immediately apparent to a potential customer that he is able to 
abstract a card of the type displayed to take away. A further disadvantage 
of the display board described in this piece of prior art is that it 
presents a complex and untidy shape to the potential customer giving rise 
to problems of keeping the board clean and aesthetically pleasing. Such a 
shape presents opportunities for the vandal to break off parts of the 
display and generally deface it. 
In order to solve the problems outlined, the present invention provides a 
display device which may be assembled from modules including dispensing 
devices as more specifically defined in the appended claims. 
In this specification the term `card` is used to refer to any laminar 
member suitable for dispensing one at a time. A `card` may be a business 
card or voucher or even be a folded leaflet or flat packet. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing for 
the stack of cards to be dispensed is in the form of an inclined holder 
extending rearwardly and upwardly from the face of a display board in 
which it is received. In this way the capacity of the holder can be made 
substantial, enough, say, for up to 500 cards, without requiring an overly 
large surface area of a display board which supports the dispenser. This 
is because the storage capacity of the holder is provided by increasing 
the depth of the board which is not normally a particularly critical 
factor, rather than by increasing the area of the display surface as in 
W0-A-8904129. 
A further advantage is that the removal of a card is an intuitive process 
requiring no instructions to be given to the potential consumer. Single 
cards can readily be dispensed through the opening which, preferably, 
includes a slot and adjacent finger opening. The slot is defined between 
the face plate and an inclined tongue projecting forwardly and downwardly 
from the front face of the dispenser. The flexure of the card necessary to 
bring it forward over the tongue ensures that only one card is dispensed 
at a time. This eliminates the need for complex, friction-based mechanisms 
for preventing multiple dispensing as may be necessary when the cards are 
stored in a horizontal stack. Moreover, the thickness of the slot between 
the face plate of the dispenser and the tongue is not overly critical 
making manufacturing of the dispenser simpler. 
When using a vertical stack of cards, gravity can be used as the means to 
urge the cards forward towards a dispensing slot. However since the user 
will apply pressure to the stack to withdraw a card, some mechanism is 
necessary to prevent a pusher behind the stack from moving backwards up 
the track. If the pusher relied on its weight alone, the overall weight of 
the display device would be unacceptably high. Therefore in accordance 
with a preferred embodiment of the invention a lightweight pusher is 
mounted in a non-return mannner in a track in the base of the holder. 
It is important in a dispenser of this type to prevent jamming of the 
mechanism. This is achieved in the dispenser of the present invention by 
the simplicity of its design. Moreover, a latch is preferably provided on 
the pusher which urges the stack of cards in the holder towards the front 
face. 
Preferably, the latch has a ridged surface which interlocks with a 
co-operating ridged surface in a track in a base of the holder so that 
when these surfaces are engaged, the pusher cannot be moved backwards up 
the inclined holder. 
In a preferred embodiment the latch is pivotally mounted relative to the 
pusher so that, when pivoted out of engagement with the co-operating 
surface on the base of the holder, the pusher can readily be slid 
backwards up the holder in order to allow re-stocking of the dispenser. 
In a preferred embodiment of the claimed display device, a display board 
comprises a plurality of horizontally spaced support members between which 
dispensers and other modules may be mounted. The dispensers are preferably 
mounted to the support members by means of a locking member releasable 
from the front of the dispenser by means of a special tool. This has the 
advantage that individual dispensers can be removed from the board for 
replenishment without the need to disturb other dispensers or modules 
fitted to the board. 
Preferably the face plates of the dispensers and other modules are sized so 
that together they tile the complete surface of the display board to 
present an apparently continuous surface to the viewer from which only the 
tongues of the dispensers project. This relatively smooth surface tends to 
discourage vandalism and allows the surface of the board to be cleaned 
readily. 
A further advantage is found in the relatively few moving parts in the 
dispenser none of which are accessible to or require operation by the 
potential consumer. This facilitates reliable and easy operation over long 
periods.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The dispensers 2 to be described in more detail below, are intended to be 
fitted to a display board as one of several types of display module which 
may be assembled together in a board in varying combinations depending on 
the specific requirements of the location where the board is to be sited. 
In FIG. 1, a free-standing display device 10 is shown with display boards 
on two opposite faces. Each of these boards incorporates the dispenser 
modules 2, and other display modules such as plain display advertising 
modules 4, a large notice board module 6, or card supporting tracks 8 for 
displaying non-commercial advertising cards. 
The reader will appreciate that boards may equally well be wall mounted or 
formed in varying configurations as the location and purpose of the 
display device demand. The example shown in FIG. 1 is merely one of many 
possible configurations that may be constructed using the described 
components. 
The key component of the display device to be described is the card 
dispenser module 2, which is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 to 5. 
The dispenser 2 is formed from a two piece plastic moulding. The dispenser 
consists of a face plate 12 behind which a holder 14 extends rearwardly 
and upwardly at angle of approximately 45.degree. to the face plate 12. 
The face plate 12 has an opaque border and a central transparent window 
section through which the face of the card at the front of a stack in the 
dispenser can be seen. A card removing opening is defined in this window 
portion of the face plate. A rear wall 16 of the holder is substantially 
parallel to the face plate 12. A stack of cards (not shown) is inserted in 
the holder 14 and urged towards the face plate 12 by means of a pusher 18. 
Each of the cards is oriented in a vertical plane parallel to the face 
plate and back wall of the holder. One edge of each card is supported on a 
base 20 of the holder. 
A track 22 is defined in the base 20. The track 22 is defined by means of 
two inwardly facing flanges 24, 26 supporting a ridged surface 28 between 
them at a lower level. The flanges 24, 26 therefore define two inwardly 
facing channels along the length of the base. Facing notches 30 are cut 
into the flanges 24, 26 at the rear of the base. Along the length of the 
flanges 24, 26 there are further facing notches 32 which are aligned above 
connecting members 34, which connect the central ridge surface 28 to the 
remainder of the base 20. With this construction, the track channel in 
which the pusher 18 is received can readily be formed in the base in a 
single moulding operation. 
The pusher 18, which is shown in more detail in FIGS. 3 and 4, has a front 
card-supporting surface 40 over which a transparent plastic cover 42 can 
be removably fitted. A card of the type to be received in the holder is 
placed behind the cover 42 on the card receiving surface so that, even if 
the holder is empty, this card is available for display through the 
transparent window portion in the front plate 12 of the dispenser. The 
cover 42 is held in position by four integrally formed clips 44 which 
co-operate with recesses 46 in the cover 42. 
The moulding which comprises the pusher 18 has side webs 58 terminating in 
laterally projecting outer flanges 60 on each side. These flanges 60 are 
sized to be received in outer upwardly open channels 62, defined between 
the base 20 of the holder and the side walls of the holder at either side 
of the track 22. 
The moulding of the pusher 18 also includes two intermediate webb portions 
64 between which a pivotable latch 66 is fitted. The latch 66 has 
projecting lugs 68 on either side which are received in corresponding cut 
outs 70 in the webs 64 to define the pivotal axis of the latch 66. The 
bases of the webs 64 are each provided with laterally projecting members 
72a and 72b, which are adapted to be received in the inwardly facing 
channels of the track 22 defined by means of the flanges 22, 24. In this 
way the pusher 18 can slide up and down the track 22 in the base of the 
holder. The spacing between members 72a and 72b corresponds to the spacing 
between notch 30 at the rear of the holder and the next adjacent notch 32 
so that the pusher can be inserted and lifted out of the track in this 
position. The spacing between adjacent notches 32 in the track is chosen 
so that it varies from the spacing between members 72a and 72b so that it 
is impossible to remove the pusher 18 from the track at any other 
position. This reduces the risk of the pusher being thrown out of the 
track during operation of the dispenser. 
The base of the latch 66 has a ridged surface 80. The ridged surface 80 and 
the ridged surface 28 are formed with similar saw-tooth ridges with 
substantially horizontal and vertical faces. As the pusher slides down the 
track, the latch freely pivots allowing the pusher to move forwards. 
However, if pressure is applied to the front face 40 of the pusher, the 
ridged surfaces 80 and 28 interlock, with respective vertical faces in 
tight engagement, and it is impossible to move the pusher back up the 
track. This prevents a user of the dispenser from jamming its operation. 
Since the pusher cannot be moved backwards up the track, the stack of 
cards is always maintained in its vertical orientation and however few 
remain in the holder, they cannot be made to fall over and lie flat on the 
base of the track by forcing the pusher backwards. 
In order to allow the pusher to be moved backwards up the track when the 
holder is replenished with cards, the latch 66 is pivoted, by means of a 
finger plate 82, towards the front face 40 of the pusher. This moves the 
ridged surface 80 out of engagement with the surface 28 and the pusher can 
then be moved backwards and, if necessary, removed when it reaches the 
back wall 16 of the holder, but at no other position. 
The spacing between the webs 58 forming the side walls of the pusher and 
the intermediate webs 64 is maintained by means of transverse reinforcing 
webs 84 formed in the moulding. 
The face plate 12 of the holder defines the transparent window section 
sized to display the cards and containing the card-removing opening 92 
which is shaped to define a slot 94, along the base of the window, which 
is sufficiently wide to permit the passage of a card from the stack. The 
opening 92 also includes a substantially semi-circular finger opening 
through which the user can insert his forefinger to draw down the 
uppermost card on the stack and extract it through the slot 94. 
A moulding which defines the base of the holder and track extends outwardly 
of the front face of the holder to define an upper surface 96 of a 
projecting tongue 100 defined by the face plate. The surface 96 of the 
tongue is inclined more steeply downwardly from the slot 94 than the base 
of the track as can be seen in FIG. 5. This minimizes the amount by which 
the tongue 100 projects from the face of a display board. 
In use, the potential customer who requires to extract a card from the 
dispenser 2 inserts his index finger through the finger opening and pulls 
down the uppermost card. As the lower edge of the card reaches the slot 
94, it is forced to flex as it moves forwardly over the tongue surface 96. 
Because of this flexion it is only possible to remove one card through the 
slot 94 at once even though the width of the slot may be sufficient for 
several cards to be extracted. 
The edge of the surface 96 is supported on a wall 102 which projects from 
the face plate 12 to define the tongue 100. 
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the display board, which is fitted into the 
structure that makes up a complete display device 10, is essentially a 
framework 130 of horizontally spaced support members 132 secured to a 
vertical support 134 at each end. This framework 130 can readily be 
constructed of various sizes to fit into different types of display 
devices. The spacing between the support members 132 is just less than the 
height of the modules to be fitted to them. Each support member has two 
outwardly open channels 122, 124 positioned one above the other. Each 
channel has two inwardly facing longitudinal ribs 120 formed on the upper 
and lower walls of the channel. The upper surface 126 of each support 
member 132 is inclined at the same angle as the underside of the holder in 
order to provide support for the holder of a dispenser module 2 fitted to 
the framework 130. 
A fixing mechanism for securing modules such as the dispenser 2 to the 
framework 130 of support members 132 is located in the front wall 102 of 
the projecting tongue 100. In the embodiment illustrated, a cylindrical 
support housing 108 extends rearwardly from the front wall 102 in order to 
rotatably support a pin member 110. The front face of the pin member 110 
is provided with a diametrically extending groove 112, which is visible 
from the front of the cylindrical pin receiving housing as shown in FIG. 
2. The front face of the pin may be flush with the surface of the wall 
102, as shown in FIG. 2, or it may be recessed for greater security so 
that a special tool is necessary in order to rotate the pin member by 
means of engagement with the groove 112. 
The remote end of the pin member 110 is bifurcated and headed. The head of 
the pin member is circular in plan with two segments cut away from either 
side. In one orientation of the pin (the locking position) the head locks 
behind transverse ribs 120, in the corresponding channel 122 of the 
support member 132. In an orientation at 90.degree. to that locking 
position, the head member can be withdrawn from the channel 122 in the 
support member, since the cut away segments allow the head to pass the 
ribs 120. 
In use a module is removed from the display board by turning the pin member 
110, so that it can be withdrawn into the cylindrical support and out of 
engagement with the ribs 120 of the channel. When the module has been so 
released, it can be withdrawn forwardly and with a pivoting motion to 
allow the upwardly inclined holder 14 to be extracted from between the 
support members 132. The holder can then be replenished and, if the type 
of cards in the holder is changed, the card behind the transparent cover 
42 in the pusher is also changed. It will be appreciated that a single 
dispenser 2 can be removed and replaced or restocked without disturbing 
the remaining modules in the display. 
It will be noted that the face plate 12 of the adjacent module extends over 
the face of the lower channel 124, so that the support members are 
completely obscured when the board is entirely covered by modules. 
It will be appreciated that modules may be fitted to the display board by 
various alternative types of fixing mechanisms. 
Since all the components of the dispenser 2 as well as the display device 
itself can be formed by plastic moulding, the device may be constructed so 
as to be relatively light in weight, yet robust and requiring low 
maintenance.