DECORATIVE DISPLAY UNIT AND MANUFACTURE THEREOF

This invention relates to display units for retail counters, especially in the butchery, fishmongery, or possibly bakery trades.

It is commonplace to provide, for example upon the display counter of a butchers shop or butchery section of a supermarket, decoration and separation bars. Trays containing the cuts of meat are individually surrounded by such bars which possess, along their top surfaces, a series of moulded sprigs or sprays of artificial leaves or flowers such as parsley, sage, roses, plum blossom, and the liKe. Typically, in the prior art, as shown e.g. in US-A-3671367 the bar is an injection-moulded channel, trapezoidal in cross-section with the larger face downwards for stability, and possessing a series of holes into each of which is pressed the stem of the sprig of artificial vegetation for retention e.g. by a non-return configuration on the stem which in accommodated within the essentially hollow bar. If necessary, such bars can have dovetail end configurations so as to be built up into any desired length.

This known type of article possesses certain disadvantages. Thus, the bar has to be relatively broad,especially at the base,to preserve its position against casual impact as the counter is used. This means that the trays can only be packed as closely as the width of the bars permits, and that the bars themselves are an obtrusively visible part of the total display. Moreover, for hygiene purposes it is necessary to clean the bars and the sprigs of vegetation. In order to ensure that the artificial vegetation, with its numerous small nooks and crannies, is adequately hygienic, it is customary to boil the vegetation. It is not however easy to detach the artificial vegetation against the effect of its non-return stem portion, and indeed breakage tends to take place if this is attempted. Thus, it is not unknown for the whole assembly to be boiled. However, this can warp or otherwise detrimentally affect the relatively rigid polymer of the extruded bar.

The present invention sets out to provide such decorative and separating units which take up less display space while preserving their operational stability, and which permit of ready cleaning at desired intervals.

In one aspect the invention consists in an elongate separating member for carrying along its length a plurality of sprigs of artificial vegetation so that the elongate member can be used as a decorative separation between display items upon a sales counter (such as for example in a butchers or fishmongers or bakers shop) comprising (a) a holder unit in the form of a horizontal elongate base to which a U-shaped channel is attached mouth upwards and (b) a carrier unit in the form of an elongate bar capable of being received within said channel and perforated to receive stem portions of said sprigs of artificial vegetation; characterised in that the said bar is slidably received within the channel.

The holder base is preferably connected to the mid point of the generally U-shaped channel by a vertical web, the overall structure thus achieved preferably being integral and made by an extrusion process.

The U-shape of the channel preferably comprises two parallel upper side wall portions and two inclined lower side wall portions directed towards such a web, for reasons discussed in more detail below.

Preferably a retention lip extends along within the channel of the U near the top of each vertical wall portion.

The height of the holder portion can be several times the overall width of the base. In the example described below the height is somewhat less than the overall width of the base. Normally it will be of a height more than half this width.

The carrier portion will of course possess a cross-section generally so as to fit within the holder portion. It is preferably a bar which has been injection moulded to possess a plurality of vertical holes at spaced intervals. Most preferably the cross-section of the bar, at least in part, is itself trapezoidal with its cross section tapering downwards, that is to say,being wider at the upper part of the bar than the bottom. In this way with channel walls as described for the preferred embodiment of the holder above, the upper edges of the bar can rest against the inner surfaces of upper vertical portions of the walls, and the lower edges of the bar can rest against upper surfaces of the lower inclined portions.

If necessary the bar, while possessing a trapezoidal portion as defined above, can possess an uppermost integral portion of slightly lesser width so as to define a groove or recess along either edge. This can then fit beneath the inwardly turned lip of the holder.

Sprigs of artificial vegetation are assembled one into each hole along this bar. In a preferred form of assembly, the stem of the sprigs are thrust through the holes so as to protrude from the bar at the underside and then jointly melted against, for example, a hot plate so that on resolidifying they form a retentive stud at the bottom of the bar. It will be appreciated that if such a bar is slid into the channel holder then the re-solidified stud is accommodated at the base of the U-shaped channel and does not interfere with smooth assembly or sliding of the final article.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a transverse cross section through one example of a separating and decorative member in accordance with the invention.

The member shown in Figure 1 comprises essentially three units namely a holder unit 1, a carrier unit 2, and sprigs of artificial vegetation as at 3, only one of which is shown but a succession of which are present and held at intervals within holes in the carrier 2.

The hollow unit 1 possesses a base 4, a vertical web 5, and a chanel 6 generally U-shaped in cross-section. The channel possesses vertical side walls 7, inclined lower wall portions 8, and an inwardly formed lip 9 near the upper inner edge of the channel.

The carrier bar cross-section comprises, as an integral structure, a trapezoidal portion 10 and an upper portion 11. The trapezoidal portion defines two upper bar edges 12 which fit snugly at the inner faces of the vertical wall portions 7, and two lower edges !3 which fit equally readily at the inner faces of the inclined walls 8. The upper part of the carrier bar is of lesser width, and thereby defines two grooves or recesses 14 so as to fit generally beneath the lips 9.

Each sprig of vegetation 3 has a number of moulded leaves or flowers as generally indicated at 15 and a stem 16. The stem, for assembly, is thrust through a relevent bore 17 in the bar. It is held permanently in place thereatter by melting and resolidifying of its free end to form a retentive stud 18. In practice, a plurality of such sprigs are assembled with their stems through the relevant holes, and melted jointly against hot plate so that the whole bar and its artificial vegetation are jointly formed as a sub unit.

The holder member 1 is preferably formed by extrusion. for example of PVC so as to be relatively rigid and shape-retaining. The carrier bar 2 on the other hand, is preferably formed as a injection moulded unit e.g. of low density polyethylene, with the necessary through-holes moulded in situ. The artificial vegetation 3, as commonly known, can be made of low density polyethylene suitably configured and dyed to resemble any desired type of decorative vegetation. There may be anything from ten to forty such sprigs of vegetation along a standard bar of 25 to 30cm in length.

Advantages of the present invention can be seen by consideration of the drawings. Firstly, the bar 2 is held firmly in the holder 1 but is quite capable of relative sliding movement since only the corners of the trapezoidal shape engage the holder walls . Thus, the carrier bar 2 and its attached artificial vegetation 3 can be slid out and boiled for hygiene purposes, while the holder 1 can be washed or treated in a different and less damaging fashion.

A second advantage is the relatively narrow configuration of the channel. This means that the trays can be placed next to the channel on each side, e.g. as at 19, 20 overlapping if necessary with the base of the holder. Thus, there is no visible separating bar as such and more display space is provided within the given area.

A third advantage of the assembly is that the studs at the bottom of each assembled stem, are readily accommodated within the channel at the base of the U-shaped section. As indicated, the upper trapezoidal edges typically have a slight vertical clearance with the lips 10 so that and minor discrepancies can be accommodated while still providing the uniform and attractive completed assembly.

The invention as defined above resides in the combination of the holder and the carrier bars. Nonetheless, either of these members can represent separate vendible articles of commerce and as such can be considered as aspects of the invention. Moreover, the total assembly of the holder, carrier bar, and artificial vegetation, constitutes another aspect of the invention, since the vegetation and the carrier bar can be permanently assembled together for joint sliding assembly and disassembly in the holder as required.