US 4,467,927 · Granted 1984-08-28
The Smart Display Tray That Holds More While Using Less Plastic
This patent describes a plastic tray designed to sit on top of display stand poles and hold products safely without getting in the way. The clever bit: it's reinforced with hidden ribs and flanges underneath, so manufacturers can cut out material and use less plastic while keeping it just as strong.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a molded plastic tray with a flat rectangular top surface for displaying products, reinforced around its edges with a vertical flange, and featuring hollow corner posts that slide onto stand poles. What's protected is the specific combination of the open support surface, the integral corner post sleeves, the grid of reinforcing ribs on the underside, and the arrangement of parallel reinforcing strips on opposite sides—all as a single molded unit.
Why it matters
This patent solves a real manufacturing problem in retail display design. By designing the tray so its support surface stays completely clear of internal bracing, manufacturers could display products without obstruction while still keeping the tray strong through hidden reinforcement. The dual-height corner post design also made the tray work with multiple pole sizes, increasing its versatility and market appeal in the retail fixtures industry.
Real-world use
You'd see this tray in stores holding folded shirts, electronics, or products on tiered display stands in department stores and retail shops.
Original USPTO abstract
An improved molded tray for a display stand is shaped to provide a rectangular planar product-support member, whose support area is free of structural invasion by other parts of the tray. The planar product-support member is reinforced by an integral, transverse, peripheral reinforcing flange that extends vertically along the periphery of the support member. Integral, tubular corner post-receiving means are provided adjacent each corner of the support member and tangent to the peripheral flange. Reinforcing strips extend parallel to and outwardly of the reinforcing flange at two opposed sides of the tray, and are integral with the tubular post-receiving means. A horizontal top wall joins the upper edges of the peripheral flange and each parallel reinforcing strip. The underside of the planar support member is reinforced by a grid of orthogonal ribs, and the support member is apertured, between the reinforcing ribs to reduce the amount of plastic used in forming the tray. The corner post-receiving means provides an upper, reduced height, stud concentric with a sleeve for cooperation with a tubular post, and a lower, extended length stud, concentric with a short sleeve for cooperation with a tubular post. The lower extended stud length provides versatile usage.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,467,927
- Filing date
- 1982-08-12
- Grant date
- 1984-08-28
- Assignee
- Walter Nathan
- Inventor(s)
- NATHAN; WALTER
- CPC class
- A47B87/0223
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