US 3,868,021 · Granted 1975-02-25
The Sliding Shelf Divider That Lets Stores Rearrange Displays in Seconds
Imagine you're organizing your bedroom shelves and want to split them into sections without drilling holes everywhere. This patent covers a clever L-shaped clip with a curved bump that slides along the shelf and locks a divider panel in place wherever you want it—no tools needed.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a slotted L-shaped holder with a bifurcated cam-shaped protrusion that grips a dividing panel, paired with a clamping strip mounted to the shelf. What's protected here is the specific design that lets this holder move freely along the shelf length while locking the panel securely in any position without permanent attachment points.
Why it matters
Retail stores need to reorganize shelves constantly to highlight different products or adjust inventory displays. Before this design, dividers required pre-drilled holes or permanent fixtures that limited flexibility. This patent solves that problem by letting workers reposition panels instantly—a small but valuable innovation for store layouts that change seasonally or weekly.
Real-world use
When you walk into a department store or bookshelf display and see a divider neatly separating different product sections, that divider is likely held by a system similar to this one, letting the store shift it to a new spot whenever inventory changes.
Original USPTO abstract
An improved panel support for use in partitioning display shelves which is positionable at any location along the length of the shelf without the necessity of having a supporting structure at the front edge of the shelf comprising a slotted L-shaped holder employing a bifurcated cam-shaped protrusion which is grasped by a correspondingly profiled clamping strip mounted on the shelf along which the holder may be moved.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 3,868,021
- Filing date
- 1973-10-09
- Grant date
- 1975-02-25
- Assignee
- Wilhelm Heinrich
- Inventor(s)
- HEINRICH; WILHELM
- CPC class
- E05D15/0682
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