Clip for holding shelf accessories Technical field The present invention relates to a clip for holding shelf accessories on a shelf, which shelf has a number of through openings that are made in the surface of the shelf and arranged one after the other along the front edge of the surface of the shelf and in the vicinity of the front edge, which clip is elastic and comprises an upper part that is arranged to be placed above the surface of the shelf when in the mounted position, and a loop with two loop ends to each of which a lower leg is connected and is arranged to be inserted through the openings in the shelf and to interact with the underside of the shelf in a mounted position in order to hold a part of a shelf accessory between the surface of the shelf and the upper part of the clip.

The invention also relates to a system for holding accessories on a shelf that is provided with holes intended for this purpose.

Background art In, for example, convenience stores, goods are displayed on shelves. The shelves can be provided with information strips that are arranged at the front edge of the shelves for holding certain information about the goods, such as price and the quantity of goods per pack. It is sometimes desirable to display additional information about a particular product for a certain period of time. This can, for example, relate to a special offer or the introduction of a new product. In such cases, larger notices, flags, coupons and the like are often used, which are attached in the immediate vicinity of the product in order to draw attention to it and to provide information about the product. Such larger notices can often not be attached directly to the information strips. Instead special so-called shelf talkers are used, for example holders for advertisements, flags, coupons or samples.

Such accessories and similar accessories can be attached to the shelf, for example, using adhesive tape, magnets or catches that interact with an information strip that is attached to the shelf.

Another conventional way of attaching such accessories to the shelf, in the vicinity of the product concerned, is to fasten them on using elastic clips.

For this purpose, many standardized shelves are designed with through

openings that are made at the front edge of the surface of the shelf. The openings are arranged in a straight line parallel to the longitudinal direction of the shelf approximately 2-30 mm in from the front edge of the surface of the shelf. The openings can be circular with a diameter of approximately 4- 6 mm or rectangular with a length of 8-12 mm in the longitudinal direction of the shelf and a width of 3-6 mm in the transverse direction of the shelf. The distance between the centre of the openings is normally approximately 25 or 50 mm. The shelves that are provided with such fixing openings are often made of steel, but other materials such as aluminium, wood or plastic are also to be found. The shelves are usually relatively thin, with a thickness of approximately 0.8-1. 0 mm.

According to the prior art, the clips that are used to attach accessories to such shelves provided with openings are designed in such a way that a clip can be inserted into and fixed in an opening. For this purpose, a previously known clip has an elastic upper part that has a particular horizontal extent and is intended to make contact with the upper side of a foot of the accessory in order to press the underside of the foot down and hold it in contact with the surface of the shelf. The lower part of the clip is designed with two curved elastic legs that are attached to the upper part. Close to the upper part of the clip, the legs have an upper part where the legs are arranged close to each other. Below this upper part, the legs extend obliquely downwards in a direction away from each other and then, lower down, extend obliquely downwards again in a direction towards each other.

In this way, the pair of legs have a rhombic form which allows the lower narrow part of the clip to be inserted into the opening first.

When attaching an accessory to a shelf, the lower part of the clip is inserted first into a clip opening in the form of a slot or a hole that has been made in the foot of the accessory. The bottom-most part of the clip is thereafter pressed down into the opening in the shelf. By continuing to press the clip down into the opening, the legs are pressed together so that the widest part of the rhombus can pass through the opening. When the widest part of the pair of legs has passed through the opening, the elasticity of the clip forces the legs apart, whereupon the section of leg in the part of the pair of legs that tapers upwards comes into contact with the lower edge surface of the opening. Due to the elasticity of the clip, which urges the legs apart, a force arises between the edge surface of the opening and the legs,

which force draws down the upper part of the clip in the direction towards the surface of the shelf. The upper part of the clip then comes into contact with the upper side of the foot of the accessory and presses the foot towards the surface of shelf. In order to ensure that the clip has a sufficient spring force, the upper part can be designed with a U-shaped part, with the legs being connected to the free ends of the shanks and with the elasticity of the material at the bottom of the U-shape urging the shanks apart when they are pressed towards each other. It is also possible to design the pair of legs with a three-dimensional helical configuration, with its flat projection having a generally rhombic form.

The known clip described above has a number of disadvantages. If only one clip is used for attaching an accessory to a shelf, the accessory can easily rotate around an axis that is at right angles to the surface of the shelf and can thereby come out of position or come loose from the shelf, for example if a passer-by knocks against the accessory. As both legs of the clip are inserted through one and the same opening in the shelf, no significant counteracting moment is achieved by the fastening, to prevent the accessory rotating or coming out of its intended position if a turning force is applied to the accessory. In addition, the fixing of an accessory with only one such clip only achieves a relatively weak opposing fixing force, if a force is applied to the accessory in the longitudinal direction of the shelf at a distance above the surface of the shelf. Such a lateral force on the accessory can therefore result in the accessory tipping over and thereby coming loose from the shelf.

Therefore, in practice, two clips of the previously known type are always used for fastening an accessory to a shelf. The fact that two clips per accessory are required means that more loose components must be used which, among other things, results in greater expense as more components must be manufactured and handled. An even more serious problem is, however, that the fixing and removal work is relatively complicated, time- consuming and inconvenient. The actual fixing operation must be carried out twice for each accessory. In addition, each fixing operation is relatively difficult and inconvenient, as the clip is small and at the same time a relatively large force is required in order to press the clip into the hole in the shelf. The large force required is a result of the fact that the clip must be made relatively stiff in order to provide a sufficiently strong fixing of the

accessory, as a result of the fixing principal where both legs are inserted into the same hole.

An additional problem with the known clip is that, when it is used on shelves with rectangular holes, it must be orientated so that the legs of the clip make contact with the long sides of the hole. If the clip is allowed to rotate so that the pair of legs are instead parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hole, the engagement between the clip and the shelf ceases, whereupon the accessory comes loose. In the mounted position, however, due to the elasticity of the clip, the pair of legs are urged to rotate to this parallel position. The clip must therefore be prevented from rotating when it is in the inserted position. This is achieved in practice by making the clip openings, in the form of holes or slots that are made in the foot of the accessory, elongated. These elongated clip openings in the foot are designed to be so narrow that the upper part of the pair of legs is not able to rotate in the foot when the legs are close together. As the foot of the accessory is normally made of plastic and as the wide part of the pair of legs must be pressed through the slot or the hole in the foot each time the clip is inserted into the opening in the shelf or is removed, this results in wear on the foot of the accessory around the clip opening. This wear results in the width of the clip opening increasing each time the clip is passed through the clip opening. After a certain period of use, the width of the clip opening has increased so much that it is no longer able to prevent the clip from rotating when it is mounted in the shelf. This problem concerning wear on the foot of the accessory is particularly serious if the pair of legs of the clip are designed with a helical configuration, so that the pair of legs must be rotated in the clip opening in the foot when the clip is inserted or removed. It has been found in practice that the foot of the accessory becomes worn out in this way after only approximately 10-15 insertions and removals of the clip. As the foot is normally designed as an integral part of the accessory, this means that the whole accessory must be thrown away after only a relatively short period of use.

An additional problem with the previously known clip described above, is that the clip itself cannot achieve any significant force to prevent the accessory tipping forward or backward. As the engagement of the two clips with the shelf is arranged in a line which is parallel with the front edge of the shelf, there is no counter moment to a forward-or backward-directed

force that is applied to the accessory. Forces in these directions are counteracted instead by an opposing moment that arises on account of the contact of the foot of the accessory against the surface of the shelf. By designing the extent of the foot in a backward direction, from the clip opening towards the back edge of the shelf, so that it has a particular length, a sufficiently long moment arm can be achieved to prevent the accessory tipping if a moderate backward-directed force is applied to the accessory. As the openings in the shelf are normally arranged as close as 2-30 mm to the front edge of the shelf, it is, however, not possible to achieve a sufficiently large moment arm to counteract forces that are applied on the accessory in a forward direction, by giving the foot of the accessory a sufficiently large extent forward from the clip opening. A serious problem in fixing shelf accessories by means of the previously known clips is thus that the accessory can very easily tip forward and come loose from the shelf.

An additional problem with the known clips described above is that the many small and relatively complicated curved upper parts of the clips which are visible on the shelf when in the mounted position give the shelf a cluttered and unattractive appearance.

Yet another problem that arises with the use of the previously known clips is that the foot of the accessory must be manufactured with great accuracy concerning the distance between the clip openings. As, in the mounted position, the pair of legs of the clip do not have any significant flexibility in the longitudinal direction of the shelf and as the clip openings must be narrow in the same direction, as described above, the clip openings must be located directly above the positions on the shelf where the pair of legs is to come into engagement with the shelf. When the clip is used with shelves with small circular holes, this means that the clip openings must have precisely the same spacing as the holes in the shelf, or a multiple thereof. If the spacing is not the same, the foot of the accessory cannot be used with the shelf. As the manufacturing accuracy of both the accessories and the shelves varies, this means in practice that a large number of accessories must be rejected.

An additional problem that is associated with the problem mentioned above is that an unwanted play arises in the longitudinal direction of the shelf

when fixing accessories on a shelf with rectangular openings. Only if the distance between the clip openings matches precisely the distance between the short sides of corresponding openings in the shelf that face away from each other or towards each other, can a fixing be achieved without play.

DE 9102776 U1 describes, in addition, a clip for fastening a latticework partition to a tabletop which is provided with holes for the purpose. The clip described therein consists of a U-shaped loop, both shanks of which have elastic projections projecting obliquely outwards towards the free end of the shanks. The fastening of the latticework partition is achieved by the bottom of the clamp being placed around a lower horizontal wire of the latticework partition and the two shanks being inserted into separate holes in the tabletop. When the clip is fully inserted in the holes, the flexible projections spring out in a direction away from each other and lock the clip mechanically by contact with the underside of the tabletop. In this way, the clip achieves a rigid fixing of the latticework partition to the tabletop. The latticework partition can be released again from the tabletop by pressing the projections together using pliers that are inserted under the tabletop and at the same time pulling the clip out in an upwards direction from the upper side of the table.

The fixing that is achieved by the clip described in DE 9102776 has a number of disadvantages. The removal of the latticework partition is relatively complicated as pliers must be inserted under the tabletop while, at the same time, the clip must be pulled upwards from the upper side of the table. A user must thus use both hands and a tool in order to release the clip.

The rigid fixing also results in another problem in that the latticework partition does not come loose even if large forces are applied to it above the surface of the table. The latticework partition therefore runs the risk of being broken off or deformed if, for example, a shopping trolley or the like knocks against it.

An additional problem with the clip described in DE 9102776 U1 is that it can only be used for combinations of latticework partitions and table thicknesses that match closely the distance between the bottom of the

semicircular part of the clip and the free ends of the projections. It is thus not possible to use the clip to fasten one and the same latticework partition to table tops of different thicknesses or vice versa.

Disclosure of invention An object of the present invention is therefore to achieve a clip for holding shelf accessories onto a shelf that has holes designed for the purpose, by means of which clip a good elastic hold is achieved by using only one clip for each accessory.

Another object is to provide such a clip that enables simple fixing and removal of the accessory without the use of tools and using only one hand from the top side of the surface of the shelf.

Yet another object is to provide such a clip that provides a good fixing of the accessory and at the same time enables the clip and the accessory to come loose from the shelf instead of being deformed or damaged if too large a force is accidentally applied to the accessory above the shelf.

Yet another object is to provide such a clip that achieves good elastic fixing of the accessory even if both the thickness of the fixed part of the accessory and the thickness of the shelf vary within wide limits.

Another object is to achieve such a clip by means of which the accessory is prevented from rotating around an axis that is at right angles to the surface of the shelf when it is mounted using only one clip.

Yet another object is to provide such a clip by means of which wear on the foot of the accessory is greatly reduced.

Another object is to achieve such a clip that is simple to insert and to remove and that, in addition, makes easier the work of fixing the accessory by reducing the number of clips required.

Yet another object is to provide such a clip that achieves a sufficiently large opposing force to prevent the accessory tipping if it is subjected to a force in the longitudinal direction of the shelf at a distance up from surface of the shelf.

An additional object is to achieve such a clip that is simple and relatively cheap to manufacture and that is aesthetically pleasing.

These and other objects are achieved by a clip of the type described in the first paragraph of this description, which clip has the special technical features that are stated in the following claim 1.

With the elastic fixing of the accessory, that is achieved as a result of the special technical features according to the present invention, simple removal of an accessory is made possible by quite simply taking hold of the accessory or the clip above the shelf and thereafter twisting and pulling the clip out of the openings in the shelf. At the same time as the design of the clip achieves a sufficiently robust fixing of an accessory, the elasticity of the rear parts of the legs enables, in addition, the clip and the accessory to come loose from the shelf, instead of being broken off or deformed, if too great a force is accidentally applied to the accessory above the shelf. The design of the clip according to the invention also achieves a good elastic fixing even if both the thickness of the fixed part of the accessory and the thickness of the shelf vary within wide limits.

The two legs of the clip are also arranged at a considerable distance from each other, as a result of which it is possible to insert the legs through two different fixing openings on a shelf of standard type. By this means, a considerable moment arm is achieved between the legs of the clip, which moment arm effectively prevents the accessory rotating on the shelf if it is subjected to a turning force. As a result of the stability thereby achieved, it is possible to use only one clip for fixing each accessory. This, in turn, makes the fixing of accessories to the shelf and removal of accessories from the shelf considerably easier. At the same time, it makes the manufacture and handling of the means of fixing accessories economical and results in an aesthetically pleasing fixing. The moment arm between the legs means, in addition, that the clip itself is prevented from rotating when it is in a mounted position. As a result of this, there is no wear on the foot of the accessory caused by the clip. The life of the foot and the whole accessory is thus increased considerably, which in turn also, of course, results in a cost benefit for the user.

Additional objects and characteristics of the clip according to the invention are apparent from the following depending claims 2-12.

In order to make possible fixing of an accessory even if the spacing between the clip openings does not conform with the spacing between the openings in the shelf, the upper part of the clip can comprise an elastic loop to the ends of which the legs are attached. By this means, the clip openings in the foot of the accessory can be designed as openings or slots that are elongated in the longitudinal direction of the shelf that enable the clip to adapt elasticly to the actual dimensions of the openings in the shelf in the longitudinal direction of the shelf. By means of this embodiment, a tensioned engagement is also achieved in the longitudinal direction of the shelf between the legs and the respective edge surfaces of the openings in the shelf. Such a tensioned engagement eliminates play in the longitudinal direction, while at the same time it centres the accessory between the openings and helps to attach the clip and the accessory to the shelf.

According to an embodiment, the legs are designed with elongated rear parts which, in a mounted position, extend from vertical front parts, in a backward direction towards the rear edge of the shelf. The rear parts are elastic and designed to make contact against the underside of the shelf, when an accessory is arranged between the loop and the surface of the shelf. These elongated rear parts constitute moment arms that achieve an opposing retaining force if the accessory is subjected to a forward-directed force that tries to tip the accessory forward. This means that there is no danger of the accessory tipping forward, even if the openings in the shelf are arranged very close to the front edge of the shelf. The elongated elastic rear parts also enable the clip to be used with shelves and feet on accessories that are of varying thicknesses.

By designing the front part of the legs, that extend down from the loop through the foot of the accessory and the openings in the shelf, in such a way that the distance between them increases in a downward direction, a downward-directed force is achieved on the loop. The loop and the accessory are thus pressed down towards the shelf, which helps to prevent the accessory tipping over if it is subjected to horizontal forces.

The rear free ends of the rear parts can be angled downward in order to form a sliding surface against the underside of shelf when the clip is inserted into and removed from its engagement with the shelf. In this way, mounting and removal of the clip and the accessory are made easier.

Another object of the invention is to achieve a system for fixing shelf accessories on a shelf that is provided with fixing openings. The system according to the invention is defined in claim 13.

Detailed description of an embodiment In the following, exemplifying embodiments of the clip and the system according to the invention are described with reference to the figures, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a part of a system and a clip according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the system and the clip shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a clip according to the invention.

Figure 4 is a side view of the clip shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view from the front of a second embodiment of the clip according to the invention.

In this description, terms are used for directions, orientations and relative positions, such as forward, horizontal and below. These terms are in relation to a horizontal shelf, the front edge of which is the edge that faces the user in normal use. When such terms relate to freestanding parts away from the shelf, they mean, unless otherwise indicated, the relationships that apply when these parts are placed on the shelf in the way intended. The terms are used only for greater clarification, and are not be regarded as limiting the scope of the invention.

The system according to the invention illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a shelf 1 and a clip 2. An accessory in the form of a shelf talker

3 is attached to the shelf by means of the system. The shelf talker consists of an integrated injection-moulded plastic component and comprises a holder 4 and a foot 5. The holder 4 is intended to hold a sheet of paper (not shown) with product information or the like. For this purpose, the holder has a number of fingers 4a between which the sheet of paper can be held.

When the sheet of paper is held by the shelf talker 3, it extends forward at right angles past the front edge of the shelf, so that it is easily visible to persons walking in, for example, the aisle of a shop parallel to the longitudinal direction of shelf. The foot 5 of the shelf talker 3 has a flat underside 7 that makes contact with the surface of the shelf 8. The extent of the foot 5 in the longitudinal direction of the shelf is approximately 80 mm and in the transverse direction of the shelf is approximately 30 mm. The thickness of the foot is approximately 5 mm. The holder 4 extends upwards from a central part of the foot 5. Around the lower part of the holder, the foot 5 has an essentially semicircular raised part 10. A cut-out 10 is arranged centrally in the foot, which cut-out is open towards the front. Two clip openings 11 in form of elongated slots pass right through the foot 5 and extend essentially in the longitudinal direction of the shelf 1. The ends of the clip openings that face each other open out into the central cut-out 10.

The extent of the clip openings 11 differs slightly from the longitudinal direction of the shelf, in that they are curved with a relatively large radius of curvature with the centre of the curvature located behind the foot.

The shelf 2 is constructed of bended steel plate with a thickness of 1 mm.

Along the whole front edge of the shelf there is a channel 6 that serves to stiffen the shelf and can also be used to hold information labels (not shown). There are a number of through openings 12 in the vicinity of the front edge of the shelf. The openings 12 are arranged one after the other in a straight line that extends parallel to the front edge of the shelf. The openings are 10 mm long in the longitudinal direction of the shelf and 5 mm wide in the transverse direction of the shelf. The distance between the front edge of the surface of the shelf 8 and the front long side of the openings 12 is 3 mm. The distance between the centres of the openings is 25 mm.

A first embodiment of the clip according to the invention is described in the following, with reference to Figures 3 and 4. The clip 2 is constructed of bended steel strip with a rectangular cross-section with the dimensions 2.5 x 1.3 mm. The steel strip consists of stainless spring steel. All the parts of

the clip are thus elastic. The clip 2 consists of three main parts; a loop 21 and two legs 22. The loop 21 is in the shape of an arc covering an angle that is slightly less than 180°. In the mounted position, the loop 21 extends essentially parallel to the surface of the shelf 8 and has two loop ends 23.

In the unstressed state, the distance between the loop ends 23 is 60 mm.

From each loop end 23, a front part 24 of the leg 22 extends downwards, essentially at right angles to the plane of the loop 21. As the arc covered by the loop 21 is not fully 180°, the respective front parts of the legs 22 do not lie parallel but intersect at an obtuse angle in front of the clip. To put it another way; the front sides of the two front parts 24 face slightly away from each other. In addition, the two front parts 24 are so shaped that their lower ends 25 lie at a greater distance from each other than the distance between the upper ends of the front parts, that is than the distance between the points of connection of the front parts to the ends 23 of the loop. In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, this is achieved by the two front parts 24 consisting of an upper straight part 24a and a lower straight part 24b that are connected by a curved part 24c, with the curved parts 24c of the respective front parts 24 extending obliquely downwards away from each other.

The lower ends 25 of the front parts 24 form links with the respective rear parts 26 of the legs 22. The rear parts 26 each comprise elongated straight parts 26a that extend from the front parts in a direction obliquely backward, upward and slightly towards each other. The straight parts 26a thus form an acute angle with the respective front parts 24. The rear parts 26 terminate at their free ends in short end parts 26b which are angled downward from the respective straight parts 26a. The two legs 22 have thus a general S-shape, with the angle between the front part 24 and the straight part 26a of the rear part going in the opposite direction to the angle between the straight part 26a and the end part 26b.

When mounting the shelf talker 3 on the shelf 1, the clip 2 is first mounted on the shelf talker. This can be carried out on-site at the shelf, but it can also be carried out when manufacturing the shelf talker 3, so that this is supplied with the clip 2 already mounted. The shelf talker 3 with the clip 2 is mounted on the shelf by first angling the shelf talker and the clip backward so that the free end parts 26b can be inserted into the appropriate openings

12 in the shelf 1. In the example shown, the legs 22 are inserted into two openings that have an intermediate opening between them. Thereafter the shelf talker is angled back up towards the vertical direction, while at the same time it is inserted obliquely in a downward and backward direction.

During this movement, the elongated straight parts 26a of the legs, which are angled towards each other in the backward direction, come into contact with the short sides of the respective shelf openings 12 that face away from each other. Continued insertion of the legs therefore presses together the legs 22 and the loop 21 so there is a tensioning of the clip in the longitudinal direction of the shelf. When the full length of the straight parts 26a has been inserted through the openings 12, the shelf talker is angled up to the vertical position while, at the same time, it is pressed in a downward direction towards the shelf so that the underside 5 of the foot comes into contact with the surface of the shelf 8. During this final movement, the free end parts 26b of the legs come into contact with the underside of the shelf and slide along this without any significant friction, due to the end parts being angled downward. When the end parts 26b slide in a backward direction along the underside of the shelf, there is a tensioning of the legs 22 around an axis that is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the shelf. At the same time, the outer side surfaces of the front parts 24 of the legs slide over the short sides of the openings 12 that face away from each other. When the parts 24c of the front parts that are curved away from each other reach the edges of the openings, a force arises between the short sides of the openings 12 and these curved surfaces 24c due to the tensioning of the loop 21 in the longitudinal direction of the shelf.

This force draws down the loop 21 and hence the foot 5 of the shelf talker, so that the underside of this comes fully into contact with the surface of the shelf 8. At the same time, the lower parts 24b and a part of the curved parts 24c of the front parts 24 of the legs project inward under the shelf.

The clip arranged in this way is thus tensioned in two different directions.

The loop 21 is tensioned in the longitudinal direction of the shelf. This tensioning brings about a fixing force that presses in a downward direction on the front parts of the clip and the foot. This force holds the foot fast against the surface of the shelf and prevents the shelf talker tipping in the longitudinal direction of the shelf or tipping backwards. The tensioning of the loop 21 also causes an automatic centring of the shelf talker over the openings 12 in which the clip is inserted, while at the same time it

eliminates longitudinal play between the shelf talker and the shelf. In addition to the tensioning of the loop, the legs 22 are also tensioned around a moment axis that is parallel to the longitudinal direction of shelf. Together with the moment arm formed by the elongated straight parts of legs, this moment tensioning prevents the shelf talker tipping forward. This is particularly advantageous for shelves where the openings are arranged close to the front edge of the shelf with the result that the foot of the shelf talker cannot be given a sufficient extent in a forward direction to achieve a counter moment to forces that try to tip the shelf talker forward.

In addition, due to the legs having been inserted into two different openings, the clip according to the invention mechanically prevents the shelf talker or the clip rotating around an axis that is at right angles to the surface of the shelf.

The embodiment of the clip according to the invention shown in Figure 5 differs from the embodiment described above only in that the clip is constructed of round wire and in that the front parts of the legs consist of straight parts 27 that are angled away from each other. Also with such a design, a downward-directed force is achieved when these inclined parts 27 are in tensioned engagement with the short sides of the openings in which the legs of the clip have been inserted that face away from each other.

Two exemplifying embodiments of the invention have been described above. The invention can, however, be varied within the framework of the following patent claims. For example, the accessories can consist of coupon holders, holders for samples of goods or other holders, and can also consist of many other types of accessories that need to be attached to a shelf in such a way that they can be removed. In addition, the two embodiments can be combined, so that, for example, a clip constructed of round wire can have front leg parts with straight parts inclined obliquely away from each other in a downward direction. In a corresponding way, clips of steel strip can have front leg parts with two straight parts that are connected by intermediate parts that are curved away from each other.