Patent Abstract:
A versatile label holder adapted to be stably secured in C-channels of various widths such as are found in Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves without significantly modifying the angle normally presented with each of these shelves. The label holder includes a rearwardly extending leg adapted to be captured by the lower lip of the C-channel, a portion of which is resilient and arcuate, extending first upwardly and then downwardly to provide a spring-like element, the effective length of which can vary depending on the spacing between the lips of the C-channel.

Full Description:
[0001]    This is a complete application claiming benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/438,007 filed Jan. 6, 2003. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    This invention relates to price channels of the kind frequently used at the front of merchandise shelves in supermarkets and the like for attaching pricing labels, or signs pertaining to the merchandise on the shelves.  
           [0004]    Steel merchandise shelves frequently are made with a C-shaped channel along the front edge in which labels or sign holders can be fitted. Where such shelves are formed without a channel, plastic fittings can be added to the shelves to provide such channels. Price channels can generally be used to accommodate snap-in price labels and sign holders or smaller adhesive backed labels.  
           [0005]    When price channels are used, as above, for labeling merchandise on a shelf, no significant problems arise for shelves which are at a convenient viewing height for a customer. For shelves near floor level, and shelves above eye level, however, customers have trouble in reading price channel labels because the labels are generally vertically oriented.  
           [0006]    2. Discussion of the Related Art  
           [0007]    One known form of extruded plastic snap-in label holder is seen in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,632 issued Mar. 7, 1995 (the &#39;632 patent) and illustrated herein in FIGS. 1-3. This prior art label holder  10  provides labeling panel  12  oriented at an angle when the price channel is fitted on a lowermost shelf  18  of a set of supermarket or the like shelves as seen in FIG. 3 so that a label is more readily viewed by a customer.  
           [0008]    The known label holder  10  includes a rearwardly and downwardly extending leg  14  and a projecting barb  16  at the top of the labeling panel  12 . When snapped into an existing C-channel of a metal shelf  18 , the barb  16  engages behind the upper lip  20  of the C-channel, the tip of leg  14  engages behind the lower lip  22 , and the labeling panel  12  is angled upwardly. As seen in the &#39;632 patent, the price channel  10  can be inverted and snapped into a C-channel on an uppermost shelf to angle the labeling panel downwardly to facilitate viewing from below.  
           [0009]    As is well known, label holders of this type are commonly provided with a co-extruded clear plastic front cover  24  providing a means whereby non-adhesive labels can be retained against the labeling panel. The label holder  10  of the &#39;632 patent splits the lower lip  12   b  to enable the channel to hold labels behind the cover and sign holders between the lip  12   b  at the bottom of the labeling panel  12  and the lip  17  at the top thereof.  
           [0010]    More recently, combination label/sign holder have been developed wherein labels can be selectively inserted and removed from the label holder pocket without removing any of the sign holders associated with related products on a merchandising shelf. Such a construction is seen in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,112 issued May 27, 2003 (the &#39;112 patent), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The sign holder portion of the combination label/sign holder of the &#39;112 patent is carried by, and moves with, the cover member of the label holder, avoiding interfering with access to the label holder pocket. This is accomplished by providing the front surface of the cover member of the label holder with a pair of sign holder-receiving lip members which can snappingly receive edge portions of a resilient plastic or metal sign holder such as seen in the &#39;632 patent or commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,793 for the engaging portions of a depending sign holder of the type seen in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,682,698 and 6,163,996, the subject matters of all of which are incorporated herein by reference, or other such commercially available sign holders.  
           [0011]    For simplicity, the term “label holder” as used herein and in the appended claims is intended to include products which may or may not incorporate a sign holder according to the &#39;112 patent.  
           [0012]    Commercially, different merchandisers use sets of product shelves having different integral C-channels along their front edges. The most extensively used shelves of this nature are known in the art as the Lozier shelf, the Madix shelf and the Streater shelf. The C-channels of each of these shelves include the equivalent of an upper, downwardly depending lip and a lower, upwardly extending lip for receipt of upper and lower portions of fit-in accessories such as the label holder of the &#39;632 patent. However, the distance between these lip members, as well as the angle provided by the lip members, are different in each of these types of shelves. While the price channel of the &#39;632 patent can be engaged in the C-channels of each of the Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves, the engagement may be less than secure because of the differences in the spacing between the upper and lower lip members of these shelves, and the relative inflexibility of the rearwardly extending leg  14  which, as seen in FIGS. 1-3 of the &#39;632 patent, extends generally at a right angle from the rear of the labeling panel  12  and arcs downwardly therefrom providing little adjustability to accommodate C-channels of different dimensions. Moreover, when engaged in the C-channels of the different shelf units, the angle of presentation of the label is significantly different from the angle of inclination of a label engaged directly in the C-channels of such shelves. In many instances, this change in the viewing angle makes it more difficult for a customer or the like to read the information on a label carried by the price channel.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    It is an object of this invention to provide a plastic or label holder of the general type described wherein the effective length of one of the C-channel engaging portions, namely the leg extending rearwardly from the back of the labeling panel, is inherently adjustable to accommodate the different dimensions of the Lozier, Madix and Streater merchandising shelves and to enable the label holder portion thereof to follow the angle of the shelf channel and maintain the label holder portion snug against the shelf in a secure manner.  
           [0014]    Another object of this invention is to provide a universal or highly versatile label holder or combination label/sign holder wherein the rear leg does not extend outwardly and downwardly directly from the rear of the labeling panel, but first extends upwardly and then downwardly toward the rear of the labeling panel to provide a spring-like action to the rearwardly extending leg, enabling the same to adjust its effective length to accommodate the different dimensions of the C-channels of various shelf sets and to ensure that the label holder portion follows the intended angle of the C-channel of a particular shelf.  
           [0015]    Yet another object of this invention is to provide a resilient C-channel engaging rear leg on the labeling panel of a label holder, and to incorporate opposing lips on the front surface of the cover member to provide means to carry a sign holder in a manner that does not interfere with the opening of the cover member to replace or remove labels from the pocket formed between the labeling panel and the front cover.  
           [0016]    Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description and claims read in conjunction with the attached drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the prior art and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a prior art label holder of the type seen in the &#39;632 patent;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the prior art label holder of FIG. 1 fitted into a C-channel of a merchandising shelf;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a set of merchandising shelves with a label holder of the type seen in FIG. 1 engaged in the lowermost shelf close to floor level for upwardly-angled viewing of labels carried thereby;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIGS. 4-6 are schematic side elevational views of the prior art label holder of FIG. 1 engaged, respectively, in a Lozier, a Madix and a Streater shelf;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a label holder modified according to the instant inventive concepts and incorporating integral sign holder lips on the cover member as described in the &#39;112 patent; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIGS. 8-10 illustrate the manner in which a label holder or combination label/sign holder according to the instant invention fit within the opposing lips of a C-channel in the Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves, respectively.  
         [0024]    Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0025]    Referring now to FIG. 7, a combination label/sign holder according to a preferred embodiment of this invention is designated generally by the reference numeral  30  and comprises a labeling panel  32  with an upwardly projecting barb  34  and a forwardly projecting locking lip  36  similar to the elements seen in the &#39;632 patent. A co-extruded clear plastic front cover  38  provides a pocket  39  whereby non-adhesive labels (not shown) can be retained against the front surface of the labeling panel  32  in a well known manner. Although the instant inventive concepts do not require the incorporation of a sign holder of the type seen in the &#39;112 patent, upper and lower lips  40 ,  42  may be integrally formed on the cover member  38  to form pockets  44 ,  46 , respectively, for reception of engaging portions of a sign holder in the manner discussed in the &#39;112 patent.  
         [0026]    An upwardly and outwardly extending finger engaging element  48  may be provided to facilitate disengaging the upper portions of the cover member  38  from behind the locking lip  36  when it is desired to open the label holder  30  for replacement or removal of a label (not shown) from the pocket  39 .  
         [0027]    The combination label/sign holder  30  seen in FIG. 7 includes a rearwardly extending leg  50  which is significantly different from the rearwardly extending leg  14  of the prior art price label holder  10 . It will be noted that the upper portions  52  of the leg  50  initially extend upwardly from the rear surface  32   a  of the labeling panel  32  in an arcuate fashion and then turned downwardly to form a leg  54  which is angled inwardly toward the rear surface  32   a  of the labeling panel  32  and which terminates in a lower tip  54   a  adapted to engage in the lower, upwardly opening, lip of a C-channel when the upper tip  34   a  of the barb  34  is engaged in the upper, downwardly opening, lip of the C-channel.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 4-6 show the manner in which the prior art label holder  10  engages respectively in a Lozier shelf  60 , a Madix shelf  70  and a Streater shelf  80 . These figures are to be compared to FIGS. 8-10 showing the manner in which the label/sign holder  30  of FIG. 7 engages in Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves of the same construction.  
         [0029]    As seen in FIG. 8, the distance between the upper lip  62  and the lower lip  64  of the Lozier C-channel  66  is on the order of 1.171 inches, whereas, for the Madix shelf  70 , the distance between the upper lip  72  and the lower lip  74  of the C-channel  76  is 1.111 inches and for the Streater shelf  80 , the distance between the upper lip  82  and the lower lip  84  of the C-channel  86  is 1.197 inches. While, obviously, there are differences among Lozier shelves as well as Madix shelves and Streater shelves based on manufacturing tolerances, these dimensions are given as illustrative. It should be understood that, neither the dimensions of the shelves nor the dimensions of the price channel combination label/sign holder of this invention, are not critical to the instant inventive concepts and can vary significantly without departing therefrom. Of significance, however, is that there is generally a difference in dimensions of the C-channel of these three commercial merchandising shelves.  
         [0030]    As seen in FIGS. 4-6, the prior art label holder  10  has only limited flexibility and may accommodate these relatively small differences in C-channel dimensions. However, this limited resilience in the rearwardly extending leg  14  may result in a relatively unstable engagement in particular C-channels whereby the price channel can be easily dislodged if accidentally engaged. Moreover, as will be clearly seen from FIG. 4-6, the design of the label holder  10 , with particular reference to the rearwardly extending leg  14 , causes the angular presentation of the labeling panel designated “∝” in each figure to be significantly different from the angular presentation ”β” of data of a label shown in dotted lines at  90  that would be carried directly by the C-channel of the respective shelves. This differential angle distorts the intended presentation of the different merchandising shelves which may make it difficult for customers to view information on labels carried by the prior art label holder  10 .  
         [0031]    In contrast, with reference to FIGS. 8-10, it will be seen that the angle of the labeling panel  32  of the label holder  30  is quite similar to the angle “β” of the C-channels  66 ,  76  and  86 , respectively, of the Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves  60 ,  70  and  80 .  
         [0032]    Thus, the labeling panel  32  of the label/sign holder  30  of FIG. 7 closely parallels the C-channel of the various shelves whereas the labeling panel  12  of the prior art label holder  10  is significantly increased by the relative inflexibility of the rearwardly extending leg  14 . In the label/sign holder  30 , the upwardly arcuate portions  52  of the rearwardly extending leg  50  is easily flexed to move the lower tip  54   a  of the leg portion  54  upwardly, as necessary, to accommodate smaller C-channels and thereby provide a secure engagement in C-channels of any of the Lozier, Madix and Streater shelves. This adjustability also permits the labeling panel  52  of the label/sign holder  50  to closely parallel the presentation angle of each of the Lozier, Madix and Streater C-channels thereby avoiding distortion of the label information presented to the customer.  
         [0033]    It will now be seen that there is herein provided a label holder or a combination label/sign holder which is universal in that it can readily accommodate different commercially available merchandising shelves and presents information on labels carried thereby to the consumer at an angle consistent with the intended angle of the different merchandising shelves.  
         [0034]    The foregoing descriptions and drawings should be considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. As noted, the invention may be configured in a variety of shapes and sizes and is not limited by the dimensions of the preferred embodiment. Numerous applications of the present invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is not desired to limit the invention to the preferred embodiments or the exact construction and operation shown and described. Rather, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6