Hanger

Abstract: A hanger for supporting an article to be displayed is provided. The hanger comprises a clip having two parts (14, 16) relatively hinged along a line of reduced thickness (12) to enable the clip to be closed from an open position. The parts (14, 16) provide a collar (23) for supporting the article to be displayed and securing means (24, 26) which irreversibly engage to keep the clip in the closed position. The securing means comprise barbed elements (24A, 26A) and catch elements (24B, 26B), with the barbed elements being connected to the part (16) by thin regions (28) which rupture on opening the clip to release the article, whereby to render the clip tamper evident. The clip also has means (32) for enabling its suspension.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to a hanger for supporting an article to be displayed. Background to the Invention Conventionally, many articles to be displayed for sale in shops and stores are shrink-wrapped on to a backing card slotted to enable the card to be suspended from a hook or rail. An aim of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive hanger which can be used in place of shrink wrapping techniques. The Invention According to the invention, there is provided a hanger for supporting an article to be displayed, comprising a clip having two parts relatively hinged to enable the clip to be closed from an open position, cooperating formations on the two parts which irreversibly engage to support the article when the clip is closed, and fracture means which ruptures to release the article from the clip, the clip also having means for enabling its suspension. Preferably on rupturing the fracture means the clip hinges to the open position to release the article, whereby to render the clip tamper evident. The cooperating formations preferably include a collar for supporting the article to be displayed and securing means which irreversibly engage on closing the clip. In use the collar typically surrounds a part of the article to be supported, such as the feed pipe of a water handling device, e.g. a car washing brush or a garden sprinkler. The securing means may comprise a barbed element and a catch element, the barbed element being urged into irreversible engagement with the catch element on closing the clip. Desirably at least part of the catch element is resiliently deformable to allow the catch element to irreversibly engage the barbed element on closing the clip. The fracture means may comprise a narrow region attaching the barbed element to one part of the clip, so that on rupture of the narrow region the barbed element is freed from said one clip part. Preferably on rupture of the narrow region the freed barbed element is retained with respect to the other part of the clip. This is of particular advantage when the clip is opened to release an article in the presence of small children. The interengageable barbed element and catch element may form one pair of two such pairs of elements disposed at spaced locations so as to prevent unauthorised removal of the article from the closed clip. In particular this prevents the possibility of the clip being prised open on one side only but sufficiently to release the article. The clip may conveniently comprise a substantially flat member having a line of reduced thickness which defines a hinge and divides the member into two hinged parts, upstanding projections from the two parts of the member constituting the cooperating formations. For legitimately releasing the product after purchase, one or other part of the clip is preferably provided with a ring pull, whereby to cause the fracture means to rupture when the ring pull is grasped. The ring pull, when provided, is preferably a half-ring formed on the end of one or other of the parts remote from the hinge. The two parts of the clip may each be formed with slots, for example Euroslots, which align when the clip is closed to provide the means of suspending the clip. The two parts of the clip may also be provided with aligning apertures for attachment of a swing tag, for example a price or information tag. The clip is preferably also intended to support a pre-apertured display card behind the article to be supported. For this purpose, the two parts of the clip preferably comprise a front part and a back part, both parts being relatively flat except for the cooperating formations, which respectively project forwardly from the front part and the back part. A suitably pre-apertured display card can then be located over the forwardly facing projections on the back part, coplanar with the flat back part excepting for the thickness of the back part, with the article to be displayed being supported by the cooperating formations in front of the display card, when the clip is closed. The ring pull, when provided, is preferably integrally formed with the back part, so that in use it is concealed behind the display card. The clip is preferably formed as a unitary moulding of plastics material, most preferably a recyclable plastics material. For different articles a wide variety of embodiments of the clip can be envisaged, in which the cooperating formations support the product to be displayed either tightly or loosely. Advantageously the article may be provided with a narrow neck around which the cooperating formations locate to retain the article captive with respect to the clip. Description of Embodiment An exemplary embodiment of hanger in accordance with the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a plastics moulding from which the hanger is formed; Figure 2 is a rear view of a plastics moulding from which the hanger is formed; Figure 3 is a side view of the moulding; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view on the line IV-IV of Figure 1; Figure 5 shows the closed hanger in top view; Figure 6 shows the closed hanger in front view; Figure 7 shows the closed hanger in side view; Figure 8 shows the closed hanger in rear view; Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view showing detail of cooperating formations which form parts of the hanger; Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view showing how the cooperating formations are retained after opening the closed hanger; Figure 11 shows in side view the method of use of the hanger to support an article to be displayed; and Figure 12 shows the hanger, when in use to support the article, from the front. Referring first to Figures 1 to 4, the hanger takes the form of a clip integrally moulded of recyclable plastics material. The integral moulding comprises a principally flat member 10, having a line of reduced thickness 12 which defines a hinge and divides the member into two parts 14, 16 hinged together along the line 12. The clip is provided with integral strengthening ribs 17A, 17B, 17C and 17D which act to improve the rigidity and robustness of the clip. In the flat unfolded condition shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4, integrally moulded formations generally referenced 18 project forwardly from the part 14, hereinafter termed the front part, and formations generally referenced 20 project rearwardly from the part 16, hereinafter termed the back part. When the clip is folded closed the formations 20 project forwardly into cooperation with the formations 18. The clip is shown in the fully closed condition in Figures 5 to 9. The aforesaid formations include semi-cylindrical formations 22, 22A, which in the fully closed condition of the clip cooperate to form a collar 23 (Figures 5 and 9) for surrounding and holding part of an article to be supported. On respective sides of the semi-cylindrical formations 22, 22A, securing means 24, 26, are provided which irreversibly cooperate to keep the clip in the closed article supporting condition. The securing means are integrally moulded with the clip and the manner in which the securing means 24, 26, irreversibly cooperate to render the clip tamper evident is best seen in Figures 9 and 10. The securing means on the back part 16 comprise barbed ribs 24A, 26A with angled heads, and the securing means on the front part 14 comprise catch elements (24B, 26B) which include resiliently deformable lips projecting into respective retaining slots formed in the part 14. On respective sides of the formations 20, the part 16 has apertures 29 (Figure 9). Each rib 24A or 26A projects from the corresponding aperture 29, with the base of the rib being connected to opposite marginal edges of the aperture 29 through a transition region where the plastics material of the clip is sufficiently thin to constitute a region 28 of weakening. When closing the clip, and urging each barbed rih 24A, 26A into engagement with a corresponding catch element, the angled head of the barbed rib 24A, 26A enters the corresponding retaining slot and pushes against the complementarily angled lip of the catch element 24B, 26B. The lip flexes away from its rest position and thus allows the head fully to enter the retaining slot. Once the head has passed beyond the lip and is no longer exerting a force on the lip, the lip flexes back to its rest position. The head is now hooked over the lip and is thus irremovably retained within the retaining slot by a bounding wall of the slot and the flexible lip. It is thus not possible to open the fully closed clip by unlatching the barbed ribs from the lips, and opening of the fully closed clip can only take place by rupturing the thin weakened regions 28. On rupture, as shown in Figure 10, the barbed ribs 24A, 26A are retained within the retaining slots. Three other features of the clip are apparent both from the moulded clip blank of Figures 1 to 4 and the fully closed clip of Figures 5 to 9. First, it will be understood that the clip constitutes a hanger for an article to be displayed in a shop or store. In use, the clip is closed so that an article is held captive with respect to the clip by the collar 23 surrounding a part of the article. Illegal removal of the article from the hanger is thus substantially prevented while the article is displayed for purchase, but if an attempt is made to prise the clip open and thus release the article, the clip will break at the weakened regions 28 to make the illegal tampering readily evident. Once the article has been legally purchased, the purchaser will wish to detach the article from the clip, and to assist in this the clip is provided with a ring pull 30 in the form of a half-ring integrally moulded with the back part 16 of the clip, at the end remote from the hinge 12. Pulling on the ring 30 in the rearward direction, whilst holding the article, will break open the clip to enable its separation from the article. The retention of the barbed ribs 24A, 26A by the catch elements 24B, 26B when the clip is broken open ensures that the small barbed elements are not freely discarded, which is of particular advantage in a home environment where young children may be present. Second, the front and back parts 14 and 16 of the clip are provided with aligning slots 32, for example Euroslots, which enable the article supporting hanger to be suspended from a hook or rail for display purposes. Third, the front and back parts 14 and 16 are provided with aligning apertures 34 for enabling one or more swing tags, for example price tags and/or product information tags, to be secured to the clip. Additionally to the provision for swing tags, however, the clip is also capable of supporting a backing card behind the displayed article. Thus, reference is now made to Figures 11 and 12. In Figure 11, which shows the method of use of the clip, a suitably pre-apertured display card 36 is located over the formations 20 on the back part 16 of the partially folded but open clip. The display card 36 thus lies substantially in the same plane as the back part 16, so that when the clip is latched fully closed, as shown in Figure 12, the article is supported in front of the display card 36. The illustrated article is a car washing brush 38, which is gripped around the water feed pipe by the collar 23. With this particular article, the water feed pipe provides a narrow neck 40 embraced by the collar 23 so as to retain the car washing brush 38 captive with respect to the clip and card 36. In general, it is of advantage to provide any article to be displayed with a narrow neck as this allows support of the article to be achieved by the collar 23 locating around the neck, without the collar necessarily having to grip the article. Clearly any of a variety of articles could be supported in like manner by the clip, with the formations 22, 22A modified as appropriate. Thus, it is by no means essential for these formations 22, 22A to form a collar which grips the article. A variety of formations can be envisaged which, either tightly or loosely, are suited to support any of a number of possible articles which are to be displayed. The use of a display card 36 is not essential, but the presence of this card 36 has the advantage of concealing the ring pull when the article is properly displayed facing forwardly and of providing a surface carrying product information. Various modifications of the above described and illustrated embodiment are possible within the scope of the invention hereinbefore defined. For example, the suspension slots in the clip could be replaced by an integrally moulded loop adjacent the hinge which itself may be modified to take the form of two spaced hinges each intended to fold through about 90 degrees, whereby the first and second parts of the clip are separated by a bridging piece between such hinges. It has already been mentioned that the formations for supporting the article can take various forms according to the nature of the article to be displayed, but additionally many different kinds of securing means can be employed for latching the clip closed irreversibly, including also the possibility of combining together the article supporting capability with the latching capability.

Claims: A hanger for supporting an article to be displayed, comprising a clip having two parts (14, 16) relatively hinged to enable the clip to be closed from an open position, cooperating formations (18, 20) on the two parts which irreversibly engage to support the article when the clip is closed, and fracture means (28) which ruptures to release the article from the clip, the clip also having means (32) for enabling its suspension. A hanger according to claim 1, wherein on rupturing the fracture means (28) the clip hinges to the open position to release the article, whereby to render the clip tamper evident. A hanger according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cooperating formations include a collar (23) for supporting the article to be displayed and securing means (24, 26) which irreversibly engage on closing the clip. A hanger according to claim 3, wherein the securing means comprises a barbed element (24A, 26A) and a catch element (24B, 26B) the barbed element being urged into irreversible engagement with the catch element on closing the clip. A hanger according to claim 4, wherein at least part of the catch element (24B, 26B) is resiliently deformable to allow the catch element to irreversibly engage the barbed element (24A, 26A) on closing the clip. A hanger according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the fracture means comprises a narrow region (28) attaching the barbed element (24A, 26A) to one part of the clip, so that on rupture of the narrow region the barbed element is freed from said one clip part. A hanger according to claim 6, wherein on rupture of the narrow region (28) the freed barbed element is retained with respect to the other part of the clip. A hanger according to any of claims 4 to 7, wherein the interengageable barbed element and catch element form one pair of two such pairs (24A, 24B, 26A, 26B) of elements disposed at spaced locations so as to prevent unauthorised removal of the article from the closed clip. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the clip comprises a substantially flat member having a line of reduced thickness (12) which defines a hinge and divides the member into two hinged parts (14, 16), upstanding projections (18, 20) from the two parts of the member constituting the cooperating formations. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims, wherein one or other part of the clip is provided with a ring pull (30), whereby to cause the fracture means (28) to rupture when the ring pull is grasped. A hanger according to claim 10, wherein the ring pull (30) is a half-ring formed on the end of one or other of the parts remote from the hinge. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the two parts (14, 16) are each formed with slots (32) which align when the clip is closed to provide the means of suspending the clip. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the two parts (14, 16) of the clip are provided with aligning apertures (34) for attachment of swing tag. A hanger according to any of claims 9 to 13, wherein the two parts of the clip comprise a front part (14) and a back part (16), both parts being relatively flat except for the cooperating formations (18, 20), which respectively project forwardly from the front part and the back part, such that a suitably pre-apertured display card (36) can be located over the forwardly facing projections (20) on the hack part, coplanar with the flat back part excepting for the thickness of the back part, with the article (38) to be displayed being supported by the cooperating formations in front of the display card, when the clip is closed. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the clip is formed as a unitary moulding of plastics material. A hanger according to claim 15, wherein the plastics material is a recyclable plastics material. A hanger according to any of the preceding claims when in use with an article (38) to be displayed. A hanger according to claim 17, wherein the article (38) is provided with a narrow neck (40) around which the cooperating formations locate to retain the article captive with respect to the clip.

Inventors: HILL MICHAEL, YOUNG MATTHEW, HILL, MICHAEL, YOUNG, MATTHEW
Applicants: HOZELOCK LTD, HOZELOCK LIMITED
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B65D73
IPC codes: B65D73