Background art Fittings of the type described above are used to a <BR> <BR> great extent in shops, etc. , in order, for example, to divide shelves into various product compartments or to provide shelves with product trays. The shelves can be provided with mounting strips along both the back and front edges, with the dividers, product trays or other fittings also being designed with gripping parts at both ends, which gripping parts each comprise two gripping claws. A fitting is accordingly installed on the respective strip, the upper part of which can have a T-profile shape, by being pressed downwards so that the claws of the gripping part grip around the T- profile with a spring action.

In order that a fitting of this type, such as a divider, is not able to be moved along the strips too easily by unintentional contact, the claws of the gripping parts must grip relatively strongly around the T-profile, which requires the plastic material to be flexible, so that the claws of the gripping part can spring slightly without the material cracking. This makes specific demands of the plastic material, and previously dividers, for example, of this type have usually been manufactured of polycarbonate. As the gripping part is manufactured in one piece with the

rest of the divider, this requires a relatively large amount of this material, which is relatively expensive.

Cheaper materials, such as for example polystyrene, have not been able to be used because they are too brittle to be able to comprise the claws of the gripping part.

Another disadvantage of known dividers is that, in order to eliminate the risk of unintentional movement of the divider along the strips, the claws must have a relatively strong grip around the mounting strips. This can give rise to cold flowing of the plastic material, which means that the shape of the gripping part adapts itself to the shape of the strip, with reduced friction between them as a consequence. This makes further demands of the plastic material.

Object of the invention A principal object of the present invention is to achieve an attaching device of the type described above, which comprises a gripping device, the function of which does not require any flexibility and which gripping device can therefore be manufactured out of a relatively cheap plastic material.

Underlying the invention is the recognition that this object can be achieved by means of the gripping device on the attaching device being designed with projections which interact with the mounting strip when mounted upon it, without the requirement for the gripping device itself to be flexible, so that both unintentional lifting up of the gripping device from the mounting strip and unintentional movement of the gripping device along the mounting strip are prevented.

For this purpose, a gripping device of the type described in the first paragraph comprises a recess or channel which is open at the bottom and is delimited by two side walls and a part joining these together, which

recess or channel runs essentially at right angles to the longitudinal extent of said fitting and has such a width that it can receive a mounting strip. The gripping device is characterized in accordance with the present invention by the combination of at least one of the side walls of the recess or channel being designed with a projection projecting into the recess or channel, which projection is arranged to interact with a mounting strip arranged on the shelf when the fitting is mounted, in order to make unintentional removal of said fitting from the mounting strip by raising it up from the strip more difficult, and of said at least one side wall having, in addition, a ridge running between said projection and the bottom of the recess or channel, which ridge is arranged to engage with the strip when a fitting is mounted on the mounting strip, which makes unintentional movement of the fitting along the mounting strip more difficult.

A device of this kind can be manufactured of relatively cheap plastic material, such as for example polystyrene, as the gripping device does not need to be flexible, as relative movements between the gripping device and the mounting strip are prevented or made more difficult by said projection.

In a preferred embodiment of the device, each projection is designed with a locking surface facing towards the bottom of the recess or channel, which locking surface is arranged to interact with an engaging surface on the strip when a fitting is mounted on the mounting strip.

The projection provided with a locking surface is suitably designed with a part that is chamfered towards the longitudinal opening edge of the recess or channel.

By this means, the mounting of the fitting on the mounting strip is made easier, which mounting is carried out by pressing the gripping device down over

the mounting strip.

Both side walls of the recess or channel are suitably designed with projections facing towards each other.

In order to make it possible when mounting, for example, a divider on a shelf, for the other end of the divider also to be able to be attached on a mounting strip, while at the same time being able to adjust the divider for use on shelves of different widths, the other end of the divider is suitably provided with a number of essentially rectangular cutouts located at a distance from each other, which cutouts have such a width that they can receive a mounting strip running along the other edge of the shelf.

The divider is preferably provided with break indications between the positions of these cutouts in order to make it possible to adjust the length of the divider to the width of the shelf in question in a simple way.

The device is suitably manufactured in one piece with the fitting by injection moulding of polystyrene.

Additional characteristics of the invention are apparent from the patent claims.

The invention will be described below in greater detail with reference to the embodiments shown as examples in the attached drawings.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a part of a shop shelf with two dividers mounted upon the shelf.

Figure 2 is a side view of a divider shown in Figure 1 with certain parts removed in order to illustrate the engagement of the gripping part with the mounting

strip, with Figure 2A being an enlargement thereof.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the divider according to Figure 2 viewed obliquely from beneath, with Figure 3A being an enlarged view showing the channel between the claws of the gripping part and projections projecting into this channel.

Figure 4 and the enlargement in 4A show a horizontal section through the divider's gripping part and its engagement with a mounting strip.

Figures 5-7 show a side view, a front view and a perspective view respectively of a second preferred embodiment of a divider.

Figures 8-11 show a divider according to Figure 5 mounted on a mounting strip and viewed from the side, from the front, from above and in perspective, respectively.

Figure 12 is a perspective view of a product tray, with Figure 12A being an enlarged view of a gripping device on the tray.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments In Figure 1, 1 represents a part of a shop shelf, in this case a sheet-metal shelf, with plastic mounting strips 2 arranged along the front and back edges of the shelf. Two dividers 3 are mounted on the T-shaped upper parts of the mounting strips, see also Figures 2 and 2A. Each divider 3 is provided at its front end with a gripping part 4, comprising two side sections 5 designed as claws, which delimit between them a channel that is open at the bottom, which channel runs essentially at right angles to the longitudinal extent of the divider, and which channel has such a width that it can grip over a mounting strip 2 with little or no play. A front part arranged on each divider is

designated by 6, which front part serves as a forward- feed stop for goods that are in the compartment between two dividers. In addition to being designed as a separate part, the front mounting strip 2 can be manufactured in one piece with a shelf edge strip which is arranged along the front edge of the shelf for holding and displaying price labels, for example.

It is often also desirable to be able to attach a divider 3 at its back end to a mounting strip 2 running along the back edge of the shelf. For this purpose, the back end of the divider can also be provided with a corresponding gripping part as at its front end. It is however desirable, for reasons relating to rationalization and cost, to be able to utilize the same dividers on shelves of different widths. The divider cannot, however, be designed with a plurality of separate gripping parts along its rear section in order to fit different widths of shelf. These parts would then obstruct the free passage of goods between the dividers. In addition, such a solution would be unnecessarily expensive.

With the divider illustrated, this problem is solved by the rear section of the divider being provided with rectangular cutouts 7 and with break indications 8 between the cutouts in the form of weaker sections with reduced thickness of material. Experiments have shown that, with a divider that is attached at the front end to a mounting strip 2 in such a way that it is prevented from being set at an angle sideways, an adequate attachment is obtained, even if the rear section is only designed with one rectangular cutout that can be pressed onto a rear mounting strip. This is cheaper to manufacture and also enables the divider to be provided with a large number of such cutouts 7 in order to fit shelves of different widths without obstructing the goods on the shelf. The combination of these cutouts 7 and break indications 8 between the

cutouts means that the divider can be matched very simply to the relevant width of shelf when it is being mounted.

As a divider according to the above must be able to be manufactured from a relatively cheap plastic material, such as polystyrene, it is not possible to rely on any spring action of the claws 5 of the gripping part 4 in order to obtain a good grip around the mounting strip, as this would give rise to the formation of cracks. In order still to make impossible or to make difficult the unintentional removal of the divider from the mounting strip by lifting it up from the strip, the inner surfaces of the claws 5 of the gripping part are provided with projections 10 projecting into the channel 25 between the claws. When the divider is intended to be mounted on a mounting strip with a mounting part essentially in the form of a T-profile, each of these projections 10 has a locking surface 11 facing towards the bottom of the channel, which locking surface is arranged to interact with an engaging surface 12 on the T-shaped part of the mounting strip when the divider is mounted on the mounting strip 2, see Figures 2A and 3A. This means that the greatest width of the T-profile is somewhat larger than the smallest distance between the projections 10 and that the flexibility or give which is required is provided by the mounting strip which is made of plastic. By means of the locking interaction between the surfaces 11 and 12, it is made considerably more difficult to raise up the gripping part from the mounting strip, so that the danger of unintentionally releasing the divider by lifting this up from the mounting strip is essentially eliminated. Alternatively, the projection 10 can be designed with a horizontal edge serving as an engaging edge which, when mounted on a plastic strip, makes an impression or an incision in the strip.

In order to eliminate the risk of unintentional

displacement of the divider along the mounting strip, the side surfaces of the gripping claws 5 facing each other, see Figure 3A, are designed with opposing vertical edges or ridges 9 which run between the locking surface 11 of the respective projection and the bottom of the channel 25. When the divider is pressed down over a mounting strip 2, these ridges will make an impression or incision in the plastic strip 2, see Figures 4 and 4A. Such an engagement between the edges 9 and the mounting strip 2 makes unintentional displacement of the divider along the mounting strip 2 impossible or difficult.

In order to make it easier to mount the divider 3 on a mounting strip 2, the projections 10 are designed with a part 13 that is chamfered towards the longitudinal opening edge of the canal 25. The chamfered part 13 makes it easier to press the divider down onto the mounting strip 2 to the position in which the locking surface 11 interacts with the engaging surface 12 on the mounting strip to lock the gripping part of the divider on the strip. The mounting of the divider on the strip is also made easier by the T-shaped mounting part of the strip being constructed with rounded edge sections in the embodiment illustrated. The edge sections can, however, also be straight which improves still further the divider's grip around the strip.

By designing the opposing side walls of the gripping claws 5 with engaging devices 9 and 11, as illustrated in Figure 3A, a very secure fixing of the divider 3 on a mounting strip 2 is obtained, without the divider's gripping claws needing to be sprung. In many cases, it can be sufficient to design the side wall of only one gripping claw with such engaging devices.

Figures 5-7 show a simpler and preferred embodiment of a divider 14 with an attaching device according to the invention. This divider is designed with a rectangular

cutout 15 at its front end, which cutout forms the gripping part of the divider with channel. The divider has thus no gripping claws projecting in a sideways direction, but instead the engaging edges that are described above and are shown in Figures 2-4 are arranged on the opposing side surfaces of the cutout 15, that is as integrated parts of the material of the divider. As in the previous embodiment, the divider 14 is provided at its front edge with a stop plate 16 and the rear section of the divider is provided with a number of cutouts 17 and weakened parts 18. This makes it possible to fit the divider to the required shelf depth in a simple way and to fix the back end of the divider onto a second mounting strip, if so required.

Figures 8-11 show a divider of the type that is described in association with Figures 5-7, mounted on a mounting strip 2 with T-shaped profile. The engaging edges on the opposing side edges of the cutout 15 at the front end of the divider 14 engage with the mounting strip 2 in a corresponding way to those illustrated in Figures 2A and 4A. Gripping claws projecting sideways from the divider are not utilized, as shown in Figure 10. The front stop plate 16 serves as a lateral support for the divider 14, by the lower edge of the plate making contact with the substrate or the bottom plate of the mounting strip 2, see Figure 11. This prevents the divider 14 from toppling sideways.

The divider 14 can also be constructed in such a way that, when the divider is mounted, the stop plate 16 makes contact with one edge surface of the T-shaped mounting strip 2, see Figures 8 and 10. This prevents the divider 14 being set at an angle sideways.

In addition to dividers, an attaching device according to the invention can also be used for other fittings for shelves. In shops there is often, for example, a

need to place so-called product trays on a shelf, each of which is intended for one type of product. Figure 12 shows such a tray 28, in this case intended for cigarette packets, viewed in perspective from underneath. The tray is constructed with side walls 19, a bottom 20 and a divided front wall 21, to make it easier to remove products, such as cigarette packets.

The tray can be provided with a forward-feed device, not shown, guided in a groove 22.

In order to make it possible to fix at least the front end of the tray 28 on a mounting strip of the type described above running along the front edge of a shelf, the bottom of the tray is provided with ribs 23 and lugs 24 projecting downwards. These form channels 25 between them, in which an upper T-shaped part of a mounting strip can be received when mounting the tray.

As shown more clearly in the enlargement in Figure 12A, each lug 24 is constructed with an essentially vertical engaging edge 9, a part 13 chamfered towards the opening edge of the channel, and an essentially horizontal locking surface 11. These parts correspond to the same parts with identical reference numbers in Figure 3A and, when the tray is mounted on a mounting strip, they engage with this in a corresponding way to that illustrated in Figure 2A and Figure 4A.

Corresponding engaging edges and engaging surfaces can also be designed on the insides of the strips 23 that project downwards.

Mounting a tray constructed in this way on a mounting strip is carried out in the same way as described above relating to the dividers, by the tray being pressed downwards, so that the gripping parts grip over the mounting strip.

In this embodiment, the tray is provided at its back end with a strip 26 that projects downwards and lugs

27, which can receive between them a mounting strip which runs along the back edge of the shelf. These devices can, of course, also be provided with similar engaging edges to those at the front edge of the tray, if so required.

The invention has been described above in association with the embodiments shown in the drawings. These can, however, be varied in several respects within the framework of the patents claims. If, for example, the shape of the mounting strip is changed, the design of the gripping claws and their locking surfaces and engaging edges may need to be changed in a corresponding way, which can be carried out by an expert in the field without invention activity or deviation from the concept behind the invention.