Business card display holder

• US 5,727,696 A
• Filed: 08/27/1996
• Issued: 03/17/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Southern Imperial Incorporated (FFR DSI Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Southern Imperial Incorporated (FFR DSI Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Valiulis, Stanley C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Gerald A.
• Application Number:
  US08/703,492
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 211/50, 211/51, 211/43, 40/737, D 6/314, D 6/449, D19/90, 312/190
• US Class Current: 211/51
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/126 the pushing device being urged by spring means
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 7/141 for stacking vertically, e.g. newspaper holders
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 1/14 in the form of legs

Abstract

A display holder, which conveniently presents a supply of business cards for individual distribution, is formed of a unitary extrusion of transparent semi-rigid thermoplastic material. The extrusion defines a channel having open sides and an open top, and a bottom for supporting the business cards. A resilient finger, also extruded with the channel, is attached to the back and has a card-supporting edge sprung toward the front which forms a display face. The finger is attached to the back with a connection sufficiently resilient to allow insertion of a full stack of business cards in the holder, while retaining sufficient flexibility to continue to bias the cards against the face of the holder, even when the supply of cards is depleted to as few as one.

Claims

1. A display holder for presenting a supply of business cards for individual distribution comprising a unitary member of transparent semi-rigid thermoplastic material formed in business card-sized lengths, the member in cross-section defining a channel having an open top, a display face, a supporting bottom, and a back;

the lengths having open sides, the display face being rectangular and about the size of a business card;

the channel including a unitary elongate finger connected to the channel back near its top, having a free edge extending toward the channel bottom and resiliently sprung toward the display face;

the elongate finger being sufficiently flexible to be deflected toward the channel back to allow insertion of a stack of business cards into the channel for support on the channel bottom and protection by the display face while the finger biases the stack of business cards against the display face; and

the elongate finger having sufficient resilience to continue to bias the cards against the display face as cards are removed from the stack until the stack is depleted to as few as one card.

2. The display holder as set forth in claim 1 wherein the unitary member of transparent semi-rigid thermoplastic material is a unitary extrusion, and the lengths are segmented sections of said extrusion.

3. The display holder as set forth in claim 2 in which the channel bottom is of sufficient width to accommodate a stack of at least fifty cards, and the elongate finger has sufficient resilience to allow insertion of a stack of fifty cards, while retaining sufficient flexibility to bias only a single card against the display face.

4. The display holder as set forth in claim 2 wherein the display face has a length extending along the extrusion length of between three and four inches, a height, perpendicular to the length, of about two inches, and the channel has a width of about 1/2 inch or more.

5. The display holder as set forth in claim 2 further including a finger notch at the top of the display face for facilitating removal from the stack of single business cards.

6. The display holder as set forth in claim 2 further including a resilient attachment means extruded with and extending from the channel back, the attachment means having a depending leg outside the channel biased toward the channel back for gripping engagement with a surface from which the display holder is to be suspended.

7. The display holder as set forth in claim 2 further including foot means extruded with and attached near the bottom of the channel, the foot means extending forwardly and rearwardly of the channel, and terminating in a horizontal plane, to provide a base of sufficient width for supporting the display holder on a horizontal surface.

8. A method for making business card display holders adapted to support the top business card in a stack of business cards ranging from one to many business cards against a face of the display holder, while assuring that the top business card is supported against the face of the display holder, the method of comprising the steps of extruding in a single operation a three-sided channel having a display face, bottom and back, with an integral resilient finger attached to the back, extruding a hinge connecting the resilient finger to the back of the channel to provide the finger with sufficient resiliency to support a single card against the face or many cards in a stack without fatigue over many cycles, and cutting the so-formed extrusion into a plurality of individual business cards sized display units.

9. The method of claim 8 further including the step of extruding a supporting structure, along with the channel.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9 wherein the step of extruding a supporting structure includes extruding a pair of legs attached to the lower part of the channel and extending forwardly and rearwardly of the channel by a sufficient distance to support the display holder on a horizontal surface.

11. The method as set forth in claim 9 wherein the step of extruding a supporting structure includes extruding a resilient attachment means attached to the top of the channel back and having a depending leg outside the channel biased toward the channel back for gripping engagement with a surface from which the display holder is to be suspended.

12. The method as set forth in claim 8 wherein the step of extruding a hinge includes extruding such hinge to provide a guide surface for deflecting the hinge when a new or supplemental stack of cards is inserted into the channel.