Abstract:
A display rack for displaying one or more sheets of posterboard or other similar sheet material has vertical columns supporting vertically spaced apart tiers, each tier having a perimeter frame having side rails secured to and supported by the vertical columns and front and rear rails. Corner guards are secured to the perimeter frame at the intersections of the side rails and the front and rear rails and positioned for respectively receiving a corner of the posterboard, each corner guard having a bottom wall, a side wall, an end wall deployed for holding posterboard on the tier. Corner guards at the rear corners have side walls that taper or flare outwardly. Clips adapt the corner guards for retrofitting to display racks.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to my U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/335,561 filed Jan. 8, 2010. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention herein relates to a method and apparatus for protecting posterboard inventory in display racks at the point of sale. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Posterboard is a relatively thick, substantially rigid paperboard sheet product often used to display information. It is typically about 0.10 to 0.20 inches thick and provided in 22″×28″ sheets, although other thicknesses and sizes are also sometimes provided. Posterboard has at least one and preferably two finished surfaces on which indicia or graphic information may be written or applied and presented. The surfaces are either white or colored and may be provided with a different color on the respective opposite sides as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,598. 
         [0004]    Posterboard is offered for sale in wire-form display racks. Such display racks have four vertical wire columns and a series of vertically spaced-apart wire tiers, each tier accepting a plurality of sheets of posterboard. The tiers are also wire forms, typically having a wire perimeter frame secured to the four vertical wire columns, and further having intermediate wire sheet support struts spanning the perimeter frame from back to front. The tiers are angled downwardly from back to front of the display rack, and adjacent sheet support struts are joined by vertical stops at the front of the tier, such that one or more sheets of posterboard are retained on the tier notwithstanding the downward angle of the tier. 
         [0005]    A typical display rack may have ten or more tiers. Some display racks have tiers that are deeper than they are wide, and have the shorter edges of the sheets of posterboard adjacent the vertical stops. Other display racks are wider than they are deep, and have the longer edges of the sheets of posterboard adjacent the vertical stops at the front of the tray. 
         [0006]    Sheets of posterboard are loaded into the trays by stockers at the retail location. The posterboard may be sorted by color, with a different color in each tray, or may be mixed. Of course, if the posterboard has a different color on its respective sides, only one color is visible in the tray. Customers often remove several sheets of posterboard from the tier to select a sheet of posterboard for purchase and replace those sheets of posterboard that are not selected for purchase, and may mix the colors in doing so. 
         [0007]    In the course of loading the posterboard, and in the course of the customer selecting one or more posterboard for purchase and replacing any sheets of posterboard that are not selected, the corners and edges of the sheets of posterboard are often damaged, primarily through contact with the vertical columns of the display rack. The possibility of damage is exacerbated in that customers are aware of the problem and often remove and replace several sheets of posterboard in an effort to find a sheet of posterboard that is undamaged. Retailers have reported that the amount of posterboard that becomes unsaleable as a result of display rack damage is on the order of thirty percent. This situation has existed for years, but has not been overcome. 
         [0008]    Therefore, protection of posterboard in display racks would be a very welcome advance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The principal object of the invention herein is to protect posterboard at the point of sale. 
         [0010]    It is an additional object of the invention herein to protect posterboard at the point of sale in wire form display racks. 
         [0011]    In carrying out the invention herein, three-wall corner guards are secured to a tier of a wire form display rack, and are positioned to respectively receive and protect the corners of one or a stack of sheets of posterboard displayed on the tier. Each corner guard has a bottom wall, a side wall and an end wall and is adapted for mounting on a tier of a wire form display rack. Two corner guards deployed at the rear of the tier are sized, configured and positioned to prevent damaging contact between a rear vertical column of the display rack and corners of a sheet of posterboard being inserted onto the tier of the display rack. Two corner guards deployed at the front of the tier prevent damaging contact between a front vertical column of the display rack and corners of a sheet of posterboard being inserted onto the tier of the display rack. 
         [0012]    In one aspect of the invention, the distal ends of the side walls of the corner guards mounted at the rear of the tier are tapered or flared, to guide the posterboard into the corner guard. 
         [0013]    In other aspects of the invention, the corner guards are releasably attached to the wire form display rack. In a particular aspect of the invention, C-shaped clips of the respective corner guards releasably engage the perimeter frame of a tier of the display rack, and the bottom walls of the respective corner guards overlie a respective side of the perimeter frame to support the corner guard in its desired orientation. The clips may include two spaced-apart C-shaped clips. This permits the corner guards to be retrofitted on existing display racks. The corner guards may also be permanently attached to the display rack. 
         [0014]    In another aspect of the invention, the corner guards at the front of a tier are mounted to position the front edge of a posterboard spaced from vertical wire-form stops of the display rack, to also protect the front edge of the posterboard from contact therewith. 
         [0015]    Other and more specific objects and features of the invention herein will appear in the following detailed description of the invention and claims, taken together with the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view, partially cut away, of corner guards according to the invention secured on a wire-form display rack for displaying posterboard; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a corner guard according to the invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of another corner guard according to the invention herein; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the display rack of  FIG. 1  having corner guards, secured thereon with posterboard supported on the upper tier of the display rack; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is a top view of another corner guard according to the invention. The same reference numerals refer to the same elements throughout the various figures. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]      FIG. 1  shows a wire-form display rack  10  having corner guards  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18  attached thereto. 
         [0022]    The display rack  10  is of the type widely used at retail locations that sell posterboard. It generally comprises four vertical wire columns  20 ,  21 ,  22  and  23  extending upwardly from a base, not shown, that sits on a floor or shelf. The upper ends of columns  20  and  21  are connected by a cross-member  24 , and columns  22  and  23  are connected by a cross-member  26 . The display rack  10  has a series of vertically spaced-apart wire tiers, with tiers  30  and  32  being shown in  FIG. 1 . It will be understood that the display rack  10  has additional tiers that are not shown in  FIG. 1  for simplicity of illustration. 
         [0023]    The tier  30  has a perimeter frame  34  which consists of a front rail  36 , a rear rail  38 , a side rail  40  which is secured to the vertical columns  20  and,  21 , and a side rail  42  which is secured to the vertical columns  22 ,  23 . The tier  30  also includes sheet support struts  44  and  46  and sheet support struts  50  and  52  extending between the front rail  36  and rear rail  38 . Sheet support struts  44  and  46  are connected by a U-shaped vertical stop  48  and support struts  50  and  52  are connected by a vertical panel stop  54 , as an alternative to the U-shaped wire stop  48 . A typical display rack would have either two U-shaped stops or two panel stops, but the display rack  10  is shown with one of each to illustrate the two types of stops. The U-shaped wire stop  48  may leave impressions in the front edge of posterboard placed in the display rack  10 , and a pad may be provided in accordance with one aspect of the invention herein. An additional support strut  56  is centrally located, but has no stop associated with it so that front edges of sheets of posterboard received on the tier are available to be gripped by a prospective purchaser. The tiers  30 ,  32  are angled downwardly from the rear to the front of the display rack  10 , to better display posterboard and to help maintain the posterboard at the front of the display rack  10 . 
         [0024]    The corner guards  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18  are respectively mounted at the corners of the perimeter frame  34  of tier  30 . With reference to  FIG. 2 , corner guard  12  is illustrated. It has a bottom wall  60 , a side wall  62  upstanding from the bottom wall, and an end wall  64 . In the embodiment shown, the end wall  64  is connected to both the bottom wall  60  and sidewall  62 , but it may be connected to only one of them. Two spaced-apart C-shaped clips  66  and  68  are secured to one of the bottom wall or side wall, or to the intersection thereof in the embodiment shown. The C-shaped clips  66 ,  68  are flexible, and as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , snap over and embrace the side rail of  40  perimeter frame  34  to attach the corner guard  12  thereto. When so attached, the bottom wall  60  of the corner guard  12  overlies the front rail  36  to orient the corner guard  12  on the perimeter frame  34 ; namely, with the bottom wall  60  aligned with the support wires  44 ,  46 , etc. With continued reference to  FIG. 1 , clip  68  is attached to side rail  42  at the intersection with front rail  36 , which positions the end wall  64  of the corner guard  12  in alignment with the U-shaped stop  48 . The clip  68  may also position the end wall  64  spaced slightly upwardly and rearwardly on the tier  30  from U-shaped stop  48 , so that the front edge of a sheet of posterboard does not touch the U-shaped stop  48 . 
         [0025]    With reference to  FIG. 3 , corner guard  14  is similar to corner guard  12  having a bottom wall  70 , side wall  72  and end wall  74 ; however, the sidewall  72  preferably tapers outwardly to distal end  73 . The corner guard  14  also has C-shaped clips  76  and  78  for attaching the corner guard  14  to side rail  40  at the rear of tier  30 , with the bottom wall  60  overlying the rear rail  38  of the perimeter frame  34 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . The end wall  74  is positioned at the rear of the tier  30 . It will be noted that the side wall  72  of the corner guard  14  extends forwardly from the vertical column  21 , i.e., the distal end  73  is disposed closer to the front rail  36 . 
         [0026]    Corner guard  16  may have a mirror image configuration with respect to corner guard  12 , which adapts it for mounting on side rail  42  with its bottom wall  74  overlying the front rail  36  of the perimeter frame  34  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The corner guard  18  has a mirror image configuration with respect to the corner guard  14 , which adapts it for mounting to side rail  42  at the rear of tier  30 , as also shown in  FIG. 1 . It has bottom wall  80 , side wall  82  which tapers outwardly to distal end  83  and end wall  84 . 
         [0027]    With respect to corner guards  14  and  18 , because the sidewalls  72  and  82  taper outwardly to distal ends  73  and  82 , there is additional width between the distal ends  73 ,  83  of sidewalls  72  and  82  for receiving and guiding the corners of a posterboard into the corner guards  14  and  18 . Although this configuration is not required on the corner guards  12  and  16  at the front of the display rack  10 , it may be used so that the same molds may be used to make the front and rear corner guards. 
         [0028]    The corner guards  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18  and the C-shaped clips secured thereto are preferably formed of a polymer. The clips are preferably separately formed and attached to the remainder of the corner guards by sonic welding, heat welding or the like. The clips permit the corner guards  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18  to be retrofitted to existing display racks  10 . Alternatively, the display rack  10  can include corner guards of the configurations shown on initial construction. Such corner guards would not need attaching clips, but could be secured by other means at the time of manufacture. As one example, the corner guards could be metal and welded to the perimeter frame of the tiers, could be attached by adhesives, or could be attached by integral studs engaging openings in the perimeter frame. 
         [0029]    As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the corner guards position one or more sheets of posterboard  80  on a tier of the display rack  10 , and protect the corners of the posterboard from damage. The rear corners of the poster board are protected from damaging contact with the vertical columns  20 - 24 , and especially the rear vertical columns  21  and  23 . The front corners are protected from damage from incidental contact with other objects or structures in the store environment, and the front edges of the sheets of posterboard are protected from indentations caused by contact with U-shaped stop  48 . 
         [0030]    With reference to  FIG. 5 , another corner guard  90  is illustrated. It has a bottom wall  92 , side wall  94  and end wall  96 , and is characterized by the sidewall  94  flaring outwardly adjacent its distal end  95 . This configuration provides additional spacing for guiding a posterboard into the corner guard  90  when deployed at the rear of a tier of a display rack. 
         [0031]    Accordingly, corner guards have been described for use on the display rack admirably achieve the object of the invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.