AND METHOD

The present invention relates to a supporting de- vice for supporting at least one object, such as for presentation purposes, a presentation device and/or for stocking purposes. The present invention also relates to a presentation display. The present invention further relates to a method. The present invention further relates to a hinge member.

It is known to display objects or to stock them on a stocking system suitable for the purpose. In the example of displaying pairs of glasses at an optician use is generally made of a matrix of stocking positions in a display system. Such systems provide the advantage that a plurality of pairs of glasses can be shown in orderly manner to potential customers. Such systems are however limited in the presentation options they offer.

Is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a solution with other options. The present invention provides for this purpose a supporting device for supporting at least one object such as a pair of glasses, such as for presentation purposes, a presentation device and/or for stocking purposes, the supporting device com- prising:

- a mounting member for mounting the device on a base or a wall,

- a front support member for supporting an object on the side of the support member directed during use to- ward the front during presentation and/or stocking of the object,

- a rear support member for supporting at least one further part of the object on the rear side, - coupling means for mutually coupling the mounting member and the support member, wherein:

- the coupling provided by the support member is suitable for providing a stable support of the object by means of the front support member.

An advantage of a support member according to present invention is a high accessibility of the support member for the object to be placed thereon. The support member can further be given a very elegant design, wherein the mounting member and the front support member can take a very thin form. The emphasis can hereby be laid on the object to be displayed.

In a first preferred embodiment the coupling means in the support member comprise hinge means for pivoting the front support member relative to the mounting member. An advantage of such a preferred embodiment is that the orientation of the object is variable, whereby it is for instance possible to take into account the height of the object relative to the eye height of a person viewing the object. It is for instance possible here to orient an object placed in a low position at a more upward directed angle than in the case of an object placed in a high position. In the case of for instance a pair of glasses the impression can hereby be given at any height that the pair of glasses is 'looking at' the viewing person.

In a further preferred embodiment the coupling means comprise setting means for setting an angle between the front support member and the mounting member. Such setting means make it possible to fix the coupling angle.

The supporting device more preferably comprises a stepwise blocking mechanism for blocking the hinge means in predetermined positions. It hereby becomes possible in relatively simple manner to adjust the same angular set- tings for a large number of supporting devices. An orderly appearance of a large number of such supporting devices can hereby be obtained in simple manner or set by means of simple operations.

For this purpose the blocking mechanism is preferably freely movable between at least a number of the predetermined positions. Depending on the basic orientation of the mounting member, it is advantageous for at least a number of predetermined positions to be available in a de- termined angular range.

In a further preferred embodiment the blocking mechanism comprises a ring provided with teeth which are arranged on the inner side or the outer side of the ring. The blocking mechanism here more preferably comprises a barrier member provided with at least one blocking member, wherein the blocking member is arranged under bias for engagement in the teeth of the ring.

Components of the coupling means in the supporting device are more preferably manufactured from plastic by means of injection moulding. This can achieve in advantageous manner that the barrier member is strong and durable, and that a strong fixation is also obtained relative to the teeth of the ring.

The supporting device more preferably comprises a buffer member, preferably comprising a soft material for buffered placing of the object thereon. The convenience of use is hereby greatly increased since the placing of an object need not be carried out very precisely. A further advantage of such a soft material is that damage to the object is prevented.

The supporting device more preferably comprises friction means for holding the object stable by means of friction. This measure also enhances the convenience of use during placing of the object.

For the purpose of enabling a desirable viewing angle the angle between the front support member and the mounting member can more preferably be adjusted with a step size of 2° to 15°, preferably 4 to 12°, preferably 4 to 10°, preferably 5 to , preferably 6 to 7°, preferably 7°. It hereby becomes possible to provide the optimal setting angle for each height, wherein the front support member can more preferably be disposed in a rough arrangement at an angle of substantially 90°, substantially 180° and substantially 270° relative to the mounting member.

In for instance a matrix of a glasses display at an optician a number of arrays of pairs of glasses are shown arranged one above another. The present invention provides the option of arranging each array at an angle such that the pairs of glasses of each array appear to be looking at the average customer. This is made possible by selecting a fixed setting angle suitable for this purpose. An advantage of the rough arrangement is that the supporting device can be used on a horizontal base, a vertical wall or under a horizontal base.

In a further preferred embodiment the supporting device comprises a throughfeed member enabling feed therethrough of an elongate rear support member suitable for a number of supporting devices. It hereby becomes possible in simple manner to provide rear support members for all supporting devices placed adjacently of each other. A further advantage of such an embodiment is that, simply by placing one long rear support member, all supporting devices will have the same orientation. A highly uniform visual effect is hereby obtained in simple manner. In a further preferred embodiment the mounting member in the supporting device comprises mounting means for mounting thereof on a wall, basic support, such as a shelf, or other surface by means of a pin and hole assem- bly. This is effected by means of a substantially pin and hole connection, wherein the pin is preferably connected to the wall and the hole is arranged in the mounting member. Such a preferred embodiment has the advantage that the mounting of the supporting device can be carried out in very time-saving manner. A fitter can place a large number of supporting devices in a limited time. The placing can also be carried out without high technical skills being required.

The mounting member more preferably comprises an opening for receiving the pin, the opening preferably having a cross-sectional form differing from the cross- sectional form of the pin, and at least parts of the wall of the opening more preferably enter into a clamping connection with the pin when the pin is inserted into the opening, wherein the pin preferably comprises an integrated screw head such as a hexagonal recess, and wherein the pin is more preferably provided with a flange. Using this preferred embodiment a clamping connection can be effected in simple manner by placing the opening in the mounting member round the pin by means of clamping. A transverse connection between supporting devices placed adjacently of each other then provides further strength and alignment of supporting devices placed adjacently of each other.

The opening, which has a substantially oval or laterally flattened round cross-sectional form, is more preferably provided on the inner side with protrusions such as studs or ridges. Further strengthening of the clamping connection is provided using these measures. A further aspect of the present invention relates to a presentation display comprising a number of supporting devices according to one or more of the foregoing claims, as well as a connecting member for mutually con- necting the supporting devices, wherein the connecting member can also function as rear support member. Such a display provides advantages as described in the foregoing with reference to previous preferred embodiments.

The presentation display according to the present invention preferably comprises a basic support for supporting a number of the supporting devices. Such a basic support can for instance be embodied as a horizontal shelf attached to a wall or in a cabinet. The use of such a basic support provides the further advantage that a large number of different materials can be applied, depending on the location of use of the presentation display.

Alternatively, it is possible for a wall to be applied as basic support.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a method for showing objects, such as a pair of glasses, by means of a device and/or display according to one or more of the foregoing claims, comprising steps for:

- providing and/or applying such a device,

- placing at least one object on the device for presentation thereof to customers.

Such a method provides advantages as described in the foregoing with reference to previous preferred embodiments.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a hinge member for pivoting two elements relative to each other. An advantage of such a hinge member is that a large number of elements pivotable by means of such a hinge member can be set in simple manner to the same angle .

Further advantages, features and details of the present invention will be described in greater detail hereinbelow on the basis of one or more preferred embodiments, with reference to the accompanying figures.

Fig. 1 shows three side views of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention in three practical positions of use.

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the position of use in figure IB.

Fig. 3A-C show three perspective views of a detail of the embodiment.

Fig. 4A-D show 4 perspective views of a detail of the preferred embodiment.

Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of the position of use in figures 1A and C.

Fig. 6 shows a view of the base of the mounting member according to the preferred embodiment.

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a threaded pin according to a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

A first preferred embodiment {Fig. 1} according to the present invention relates to a glasses presentation element 1 suitable for presenting pairs of glasses in for instance a presentation display. The glasses presentation element substantially comprises a mounting element 2 for mounting the glasses presentation element on a wall or shelf, and a front support member 3, or nose bridge sup- port 3, for supporting the front side of the pair of glasses. In this latter case it is possible to arrange the glasses presentation element on both the upper side and the underside of the shelf. This provides the advantage that a shelf has a dual use. A resulting advantage is that the shelves have less of an impact on the overall appearance of the presentation display.

A hinge element 5 is arranged between mounting el- ement 2 and nose bridge support 3. This hinge element is described in greater detail with reference to figures 3 and 4. The nose bridge support 3 comprises a rubber nose pad 11 on the upper side. Owing to this rubber nose pad a pair of glasses can be easily placed, wherein the friction of the rubber provides a better and faster grip on the nose bridge of the glasses. Nose pad 11 is preferably provided with ribbing in order to further increase the grip on the nose bridge. A relatively great angle relative to the force of gravity hereby further becomes allowable without the glasses shifting.

Fig. 3A shows the hinge side of the nose bridge support. This hinge side comprises a hinge cavity 36 with three barrier protrusions 35 arranged therein for blocking the barrier member 20 to be placed round the protrusions. The placed barrier member is shown in Fig. 3B. Fig. 3C shows how the ring 24 provided with teeth is arranged relative to barrier member 20. A protrusion 34 is also shown here.

As can be seen in Fig. 4A, protrusion 34 serves to block ring 24 in the opening 22 arranged along the edge of hinge cavity 19 of mounting element 2. Figures 4B and 4C show respectively the placing of ring 24 and barrier member 20.

Barrier member 20 comprises a stable inner ring 26. Extending from this inner ring 26 are coupling walls 27 for coupling the inner ring to spring elements 28.

Spring elements 28 serve as carriers of teeth 29. These teeth 29 serve to engage on teeth 25 of ring 24. The con- struction of barrier member 20 imparts a high resilience to teeth 29 so that the barrier member will only be able to rotate inside ring 24 when a force greater than a threshold value is exerted. It hereby becomes possible to realize a stable positioning of the nose bridge support during removal and placing of the glasses. When the nose bridge support must however be set to a chosen angle, the angular setting of the nose bridge support can then be changed by exerting a force which is significantly greater than the force exerted during removal and placing of the glasses .

Fig. 6 shows a view of the mounting side of mounting member 2. This mounting side has an end surface 45. Arranged in this end surface is a mounting opening 41 for placing a mounting pin 51 (Fig. 7) therein, or at least the mounting part 52 thereof. This opening has a form other than a round cross-section, i.e. a substantially oval cross-section formed by two substantially round parts and two substantially straight parts 42.

In order to further improve the clamping action of the inner side of the opening round mounting part 52, two ridges 43 are arranged in the round parts of the wall. As shown in figure 2, a rubber element 45 is situated between mounting part 2 and the placing surface for the purpose of compensating mounting variations between the mounting part and the placing surface. The two openings 44 are present in end surface 45 in order to fix this rubber element 45.

Fig. 7 shows the threaded pin in greater detail. A screw head 53, in this case a hexagonal recess, is inte- grated into mounting part 52. Situated on the other side of mounting part 52 is a flange 53 which serves as stop. A screw thread 54 is located on the other side of the flange. This screw thread 54 serves for screwing threaded pin 51 into a pre-drilled opening. The flange has the additional functionality of contributing toward the alignment of the threaded pin during screwing in thereof.

Such a hinge with such a ring 24 and such a barrier member 20 can also be applied within the concept of the present invention in hinge connections other than in an embodiment as described above. This hinge can be applied in any application where a setting or an angular setting can be changed with a significantly greater force than is exerted on the pivotable elements during normal use.

The present invention is described in the foregoing on the basis of several preferred embodiments. Different aspects of different embodiments are deemed described in combination with each other, wherein all combinations which can be made by a skilled person in the field on the basis of this document are deemed included. These preferred embodiments are not limitative for the scope of protection of this document. The rights sought are defined in the appended claims.