Abstract:
The support comprises at least one sheet of a substantially rigid and foldable material having the presentation face ( 111 ), an elastic member ( 110 ) for bending the presentation face ( 111 ) of the sheet and strips ( 39 ) for keeping the presentation face ( 111 ) of the sheet in the bent state, which strips ( 39 ) oppose the elastic member ( 110 ). The strips ( 39 ) opposing the elastic member ( 110 ) for keeping the presentation face ( 111 ) of the sheet bent are designed so that the force is exerted at discrete points distributed along the presentation face ( 111 ) of the sheet by a plurality of strips ( 39 ).

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The field of the invention is that of information display unit supports for visual communication or advertising at the point of sale, called APS. The display units of the invention are columns which can be automatically folded up and unfolded with, advantageously, the ability to be transported and stored under excellent conditions, on the one hand, and to be very quickly installed on site, on the other. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART 
   More specifically, the invention relates to an information display unit support having at least one presentation face, comprising at least one sheet of a substantially rigid and foldable material having the said presentation face, stressing means for bending the presentation face of the sheet and holding means for keeping the presentation face of the sheet in the bent state, which holding means oppose the stressing means. 
   From a folded state, it is sufficient to start to unfold the support so that, under the action of the stressing means, it unfolds completely automatically. Of course, conversely, the support is folded up against the action of the stressing means. 
   Such types of display unit support are described in the documents FR 2760 880 and FR 2 795 217. 
   In these display unit supports, the presentation face is extended on either side of the lateral holding faces or strips that elastic return means spring closer together in order to force the presentation face to bend until abutment means oppose the elastic return means in order to keep the presentation face in the bent state; thus, one of the lateral holding faces, which is narrower than the presentation face, can come into abutment in the dihedron formed by the presentation face and the other of the lateral faces or strips. 
   These supports of the prior art, whilst they are of practical use, do have two drawbacks. 
   Most of the surface of the lateral holding faces or strips is of course wasted. The format of the sheets from which these supports are formed is limited. In the case of a support having two presentation faces of large width, i.e. 50 cm, the maximum width of a sheet being 120 cm, it is necessary to take two sheets, that is to say to make two cuts and two printing passes, which is obviously expensive. 
   In other words, and purely as an example, it is a problem to produce a double-sided support 50 cm in width from a single sheet 120 cm in width, while only 20 cm would therefore remain for the lateral holding strips. 
   The present invention aims to solve these difficulties. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   For this purpose, the invention relates to an information display unit support of the type defined above, characterized in that the holding means opposing the stressing means for keeping the presentation face of the sheet bent in a curved position are designed so that their action is exerted according to a discrete distribution along the presentation face of the sheet. 
   In this way, holding levels are created in the support of the invention, contrary to the columns of the prior art in which the holding action is exerted continuously along the entire presentation face, by lateral faces or strips having the same length as the presentation face. Thus a substantial area of the sheet may be saved. 
   Preferably, the holding means comprise a plurality of strips advantageously hinged via one end to the sheet close to a lateral edge of the presentation face, having a length of less than the width of the presentation face of the sheet, the other end of the strips being designed, under the action of the stressing means, to butt against a folded-over border portion of the sheet. 
   Preferably, the stressing means comprise elastic return means fixed to the folded-over border portions of the sheet and to the holding means. 
   In the case of a display unit support having one information presentation face, the sheet of the presentation face has a width substantially equal to half that of a sheet of standard format. 
   Thanks to this, the production costs are reduced very roughly by a factor of two. 
   In the case of a support having two bent presentation faces, two sheets are provided which have, respectively, the two presentation faces of the same dimensions, these being cut from one and the same sheet of standard format. 
   This solution is more advantageous than that of a standard sheet having two presentation faces of a single piece which would be very difficult to fold because of the fact that the material of the sheet cannot undergo plastic flow. 
   In the latter case, a single series of holding strips, which are in abutment with the folded-over abutment border of each presentation face and are hinged to the two respective hinge borders of the two presentation faces, are also provided as discrete holding strips. 
   As a variant, the information display unit support may have two bent presentation faces and a single series of holding strips, which butt against each folded-over abutment border of each presentation face and are hinged to the two respective hinge borders of the folded-over portions of a sheet of standard format extending the presentation faces. 
   The information display unit support of the invention may also, in general, comprise a plurality of presentation faces, each with a border for the hinging of holding strips and a border for abutment of the holding strips, the hinge ends of the holding strips of a presentation face also being hinged to the abutment border of an adjacent presentation face. 
   Thus, the presentation faces are joined together in pairs by the hinge ends of holding strips. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be more clearly understood with the aid of the following description of several embodiments of the display unit support, with reference to the appended drawing in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a rear view of a first embodiment of a single presentation face of the support; 
       FIG. 2  is a view of the sheet in the flat state of a second embodiment of the support having two presentation faces; 
       FIG. 3  is a view of a holding strip in the flat state of the support in  FIG. 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a rear view, on a larger scale, of part of the support in  FIG. 2 , in the display unit state; and 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view, slightly exploded, of the rear of a third embodiment of the support of the invention in the display unit state. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The display unit support  1  in  FIG. 1  is in the form of a vertical column which is deployed but which may be folded up on itself by turning down on each other the panels  2  formed in a sheet, here made of paperboard, which constitute it, there being in this case four panels adjacent to one another along thick folding lines  3 , here therefore three in number. All the panels  2  are identical to one another. It is the front faces of the panels  2  which constitute the information presentation face  11  of the support column. 
   Each panel  2  is extended laterally, on both sides, respectively by two borders, one the hinge border  4  and the other the abutment border  5 . At their two longitudinal ends  6 ,  7 , the borders  4 ,  5  are notched in order to allow the panels  2  to be folded up one over another. The borders  4 ,  5 , in the deployed state of the display unit, are folded over towards the rear face  8  of the panel  2  about portions of the lateral edges  12 ,  13  of the presentation face  11 . 
   The borders  4 ,  5  serve respectively as hinge and abutment to a holding strip  9  which, in the display unit state, makes it possible to force the panel  2 , in co-operation with an elastic member  10 , to bend its presentation face  11  and keeps it in this state thanks to the abutment border  5  which may be presented as opposing the elastic forcing member  10 . 
   It will straight away be noted that the holding strips  9 , although in this case relatively wide, do not exert their action over the entire height of the column; this action is exerted according to a discreet distribution over this height, that is to say along the presentation face of the sheet. 
   Each holding strip  9  on one side is hinged to the associated hinge border  4  and, on the other side, is pulled by its elastic member  10  into abutment against the associated abutment border  5 . 
   Each strip  9  has a length of less than the width of the panel  2  in order specifically to be able to bend it. 
   Close to the lateral edge  12 , the hinge border  4  is pierced by two slits  14 ,  15  of the buttonhole type which receive two tabs  16 ,  17  of the button type, the said tabs projecting laterally from a hinge end portion  18  of the holding strip  9 . A cut-out  20  of oblong shape for retaining the elastic member  10  has been made on the holding strip  9  closer to the opposed abutment end portion  19  of the holding strip  9 , an associated cutout  21 , in the form of a portion of an arc, having been formed in the abutment border  5  in order to retain the elastic member  10  on this border  5  and therefore on the panel  2 . 
   From the unfolded, or deployed, state in  FIG. 1 , it is possible to fold up the display unit support by folding the panels  2 , with their respective holding strips  9 , over one another. 
   For this purpose, the panels  2  are flattened, by bending the elastic members  10 , the abutment portions  19  of the holding strips  9  moving away from the abutment borders  5 , and then the panels  2  are folded over one another about folding lines  3 , alternately on one side and the other, in a concertina fashion, before keeping the assembly folded up in this way by any suitable means, for example an elastic member. Deployment takes place even more simply; by removing the elastic member which hold the support in the folded-up state, under the action of the elastic forcing members  10  which tend to bring the abutment portions  19  of the strips  9  of the abutment borders  5  of the presentation face  11  closer together and therefore to bend this face  11 , the assembly is able merely to be unfolded, or to be deployed, in order to adopt the shape of the column in  FIG. 1 . 
   It will be noted that the bending of the lower panel  2 , having a bearing edge  22 , which is therefore curved, allows this panel  2 , in combination with the unnotched lower edges of the lower borders  4 ,  5 , to fulfil a supporting leg function. However, a true supporting leg such as those described in the prior documents indicated above, could be envisaged. 
   The sheet of the display unit support which has just been described, and which has only a single presentation face  11 , has a width approximately equal to half that of a sheet of standard format. 
   The sheet in  FIG. 2  is intended to produce an information support having two presentation faces  111  and  211 , with two series of panels  102 ,  202  on either side of folding lines  103 ,  203 , as previously. It is a sheet of standard format, in which prescored lines are made before they are cut into two sheets  31 ,  32  along a longitudinal mid-line  30  of the starting sheet. 
   About the mid-line  30 , notched hinge borders  134 ,  234  have been prescored, as in the embodiment example in  FIG. 1 , which borders will be folded about the lateral edges  112  and  212  of the faces  111  and  211 . The notches are obtained by diamond-shaped punching  33 . 
   Hinge slits  114 ,  214  have been made along the lateral hinge edges  112 ,  212  in the hinge borders in order to hinge the holding strips  39 . The hinge slits correspond to the buttonholes  14 ,  15  in the single-face embodiment in  FIG. 1 . 
   Notched abutment borders  135  and  235  have been prescored on the lateral sides away from the hinge borders  134 ,  234 , which abutment borders will be folded over about the lateral edges  113  and  213  of the faces  111  and  211 . Two cuts  321  and  322  in the form of a portion of an arc have been made starting from the edge  36  of the abutment borders  135  and  235 , in order to retain the elastic holding members  110  ( FIG. 4 ). 
   Holdings strips  39  ( FIG. 3 ) of this second embodiment differ substantially from the previous ones. Firstly, they are much narrower, secondly, their hinge end  118  and abutment end  119  include retractable elements able to be inserted into the hinge slits  114 ,  214 . Finally, their abutment end  119  fulfils, somewhat more suitably, the function of abutment opposing the forcing function of the elastic members  110 . 
   Thus, the hinge end  118  of each holding strip  39  has a retaining bar  40 , perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the assembly and offering two internal retaining shoulders which are formed with the adjacent edges  41 ,  42  of the strip, engaging with external retaining shoulders, formed with the same edges of the strip and transverse edges of two small fins  43 ,  44  which can be folded down over the strip about this same edge  41 ,  42  in order to lock the strip and above all to grasp, between the bar  40  and the fins  43 ,  44 , the two hinge borders  134 ,  234  of the two presentation faces  111 ,  112  ( FIG. 4 ), after the fins have passed into the folded-down position through the corresponding hinge slits  114 ,  214  of the two sheets and after subsequent deployment of the fins. 
   The abutment end  119  of each holding strip  39  has, folded down about the longitudinal edges  41 ,  42 , two small flaps  45 ,  46  for passage and retention of the associated elastic member  110 , the latter being retained between the front portions  47  and the rear portions  48  and slipped under the rear portions  47  and over the rear portions  48  ( FIG. 4 ). 
   Before the abutment end  119 , the strip  39  has a cut  49  in the form of a circular arc in order to retain the elastic member  110  against the strip. 
   Because the elastic member  110  lies between the strip  39  and the front parts  47  of the flaps  45 ,  46 , the end  119  of the strip has a certain thickness offering a good means of abutment to the edge  36  of the folded-own abutment borders  135 ,  235  of the two presentation faces  111 ,  112 . 
   The support in  FIGS. 2–4  may be mounted quite easily. After having inserted the holding strips  39 , in the manner indicated above, into the hinge slits  114 ,  214  and thus pinched together the hinge borders  134 ,  234 , the two sheets  31 ,  32 , thus hinged to each other, are folded down on each other and then, having attached each elastic member  110  to its associated holding strip  39 , via the cut  49 , it is attached to the two abutment borders  135 ,  235  superposed on one another, via the cuts  321 ,  322 , thereby drawing the strip  39  towards the borders until the end  119  butts against the edges  36  of the borders, the faces  111  and  112  then both being bent into a curved position because of the shorter length of the holding strips  39  than the width of the faces  111 ,  112 . 
   The information support in  FIG. 5  is quite similar to that in  FIGS. 2–4  in the sense that it has, in particular, two individual presentation faces  311 ,  312  intended to be bent by the action of elastic forcing members, which are not shown but fulfil the same function as the elastic members  110 , holding strips  339 , in this case strictly identical to the holding strips  39 , which are also hinged to two adjacent hinge borders  334 ,  434 , which are also identical to the previous borders  134 ,  234 , and two adjacent abutments borders  335 ,  435  which are again identical to the borders  135 ,  235 . 
   The support in  FIG. 5  differs, on the one hand, by the fact that the two individual information presentation faces  311 ,  312 , of conventional width, belong to two sheets of standard format  301 ,  401  respectively, each comprising a first portion corresponding to the presentation face and a second portion  302 ,  402  which extends the presentation face and, on the other hand, by the fact that the second portions  302 ,  402  form a third presentation face  313 , called a combined presentation face, joining the individual faces  311 ,  312  and held in a stressed state by the action of a second series of stressing wires  310 , at each of the levels of the folding panels  502 ,  602 , fixed at three points, two points a, b on the two intersecting edges  303 ,  403  and one point c on the holding strip  339 . 
   The wires  310  may be made of plastic. Instead of wires, strips may be employed.