HANGERS, PACKAGE ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS OF READYING PACKAGES FOR DISPLAY
A hanger may include a body for supporting a package from a rod. A support portion may extend from the body and may define a gap to receive the rod. The body may define a slot for receiving the tab and may include a first major face that fully encloses the slot. The body may also include a living hinge defining a fold axis. The living hinge may extend across the first major face on opposite sides of the slot and extend inline with the slot. In some examples, the support portion defines a J-hook. In some examples, the hanger is incorporated into a package assembly including a package configured to house a product and including a tab, wherein the tab extends through the slot to support the package from the rod with the hanger.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/069,967 filed on Mar. 18, 2008, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/072,693 filed on Apr. 1, 2008. The complete disclosures of all of the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety and for all purposes.
BACKGROUNDHangers, package assemblies, and methods of readying packages for display are used to package, ship, and display products. Hangers are used to suspend packages from rods or other support members. Package assemblies are used to house products in a package that can be displayed, such as from display rods at retail stores. Further, package assemblies find application in the shipment of packages from one location to another. Methods of packaging a product are used to package a product for shipment and/or for display.
The following patents provide examples of devices and methods relevant to hangers, package assemblies, and methods of readying packages for display, and they are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes: U.S. Pat. No. 2,403,834, U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,946, U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,725, U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,742, U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,385, U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,418, U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,859, U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,930, U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,102, U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,865, U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,722, U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,655, U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,004, U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,957, U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,284, U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,378, U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,351, U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,528, U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,118, U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,087, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,760, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,833, U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,357, U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,024, U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,979, U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,629, U.S. Pat. No. D278291, U.S. Pat. No. D342613, U.S. Pat. No. D447877, U.S. Pat. No. D480566, and U.S. Pat. No. D517917, U.S. Pat. No. D533362, EP454521, GB2032512, and JP2001002123.
SUMMARYA hanger may include a body for supporting a package from a rod. A support portion may extend from the body and may define a gap to receive the rod. The body may define a slot for receiving the tab and may include a first major face that fully encloses the slot. The body may also include a living hinge defining a fold axis. The living hinge may extend across the first major face on opposite sides of the slot and extend inline with the slot. In some examples, the support portion includes a J-hook. In some examples, the hanger is incorporated into a package assembly including a package configured to house a product and including a tab, wherein the tab extends through the slot to support the package from the rod with the hanger.
Hangers, product display assemblies, and methods of readying a package for display as disclosed in the present disclosure will become better understood through review of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings and the claims. The detailed description, drawings, and claims provide merely examples of the various inventions described herein. Those skilled in the art will understand that the disclosed examples may be varied, modified, and altered without departing from the scope of the inventions as defined in the claims, and all equivalents to which they are entitled. Many variations are contemplated for different applications and design considerations; however, for the sake of brevity, each and every contemplated variation is not individually described in the following detailed description.
Throughout the following detailed description, a variety of examples of hangers, product display assemblies, and methods of readying a package for display are provided. Related reference numbers (e.g., 12, 112, 212) are used for related features in each example. Related features may be identical, similar, or dissimilar in different examples. For the sake of brevity, related features are not redundantly explained in each example. Instead, the use of related numbers shall cue the reader that the feature with a related number may be similar to the related feature in an example explained previously. Features specific to a given example are described in that particular example. The reader should understand that a given feature need not be the same or similar to the specific portrayal of a related feature in any given figure or example.
With reference to
Package 12 may define a cavity 14 for housing a product and an opening 16 that provides access to cavity 14. In the example shown in
As shown in
Package 12 may include a tab 24 for securing lid 22 in a closed position that covers opening 16. As shown in
Tab 24 may be sized larger than lid slot 26 and, accordingly, may be formed of a material that can be readily bent or folded. Bending or folding tab 24 may allow a user to manipulate tab 24 into lid slot 26.
For example, tab 24 may bend or fold relative to a face 27 of package 12 at the tab's point of attachment to face 27. Additionally or alternatively, portions of tab 24 may bend or fold relative to other portions of tab 24. For instance, tab 24 may bend to insert it through lid slot 26 when lid slot 26 has a given dimension that is smaller than the same dimension of tab 24.
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With continued reference to
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Hanger slot 48 may be configured to selectively receive tab 24 to secure hanger 11 to package 12. In some examples, length D1 of hanger slot 48 is less than length D6 of tab 24 at shoulders 30, which functions to restrict removing tab 24 from hanger slot 48. In such examples, tab 24 can be rotated relative to hanger slot 48 and a shoulder 30 can be inserted first to fit tab 24 through hanger slot 48. Additionally or alternatively, tab 24 may be bent or folded to fit tab 24 through hanger slot 48.
In some examples, length D1 of hanger slot 48 is less than length D6 of tab 24 that it receives. Hanger slot 48 having a length D1 less than length D6 of tab 24 may restrict removal of tab 24, such as when translating tab 24 through slot 48 is attempted. The lengths of tab 24 and slot 48 may be complementarily configured such that tab 24 must be rotated relative to slot 48 in the plane of tab 24 to pass tab 24 through slot 48. Restricting removal of tab 24 from slot 48 may be useful to reduce inadvertent removal of tab 24 from slot 48, while also allowing tab 24 to be intentionally removed when desired.
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Shifting attention to
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Body 140, shown in
Body length D4 extends across body 140 (from left to right in
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In the example shown in
Positioning fold axis 155 to be in line with hanger slot 148 may improve the folding characteristics of body 140 by reducing the amount of body material that must be folded. As is well known in the art, rigid and semi-rigid materials, such as plastic members, tend to resist being folded. The absence of material defined by hanger slot 148 tends to reduce the amount of body material that must be folded and thus tends to reduce the effort required to fold body 140. Further, as shown above in
Moreover, the folding characteristics of body 140 may be enhanced by having length D1 of hanger slot 48 longer than the length of fold axis 155 (hanger slot length D1 is greater than half the body length D4). The longer the length of hanger slot 48 the less the amount of body material that must be folded in examples where fold axis 155 is in line with hanger slot 148. Accordingly, having a longer length of hanger slot 48 relative to the length of fold axis 155 may reduce the effort required to fold body 140.
Support portion 142 of hanger 111 may extend from the body 140 and define a gap 158 configured to receive a rod 144. In the example shown in
An alternative example of a hanger 211 is shown in
Support portion 242, however, differs from support portion 142 of hanger 111 shown in
Shifting focus to
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As further detailed in
Pivoting a lid of a package into a closed position 304 may restrict access to the contents of the package. That is, in the closed position, the lid may cover an opening providing access to an inner cavity of the package. To access the contents of the package, as shown in
Inserting the tab into the lid slot 306 may include manipulating the tab 316 in a similar manner to manipulating the tab 310 when inserting the tab into the hanger slot 302. Manipulating the tab 316 may include bending or folding the tab or rotating the tab to pass through the lid slot. In some examples, manipulating the tab 316 to pass the tab through the lid slot is different than manipulating the tab 310 to pass the tab through the hanger slot. However, it should be noted that manipulating the tab 310, 316 may not be required to insert the tab into the hanger slot 310 or into the lid slot 318.
As further detailed in
Folding the body of the hanger 308 may including folding the body about the hanger slot. For example, the fold line may be disposed through the hanger slot to facilitate folding the hanger 308 about the hanger slot. Folding the hanger 308 about the hanger slot 308 may reduce the effort required to fold the hanger 308. Reduced effort to fold the hanger may result from the hanger slot providing an absence of body material to resist folding.
Folding the body of the hanger 308 may help increase the packing efficiency of the package by causing the hanger to more closely conform to the shape of the package. For example, the package may be in the shape of a polyhedron and folding the body of the hanger 308 could cause it to conform to two flat faces of the polyhedron. Folding the body of the hanger 308 may also help protect the hanger from becoming damaged during shipping.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYThe hangers, product display assemblies, and methods of readying a package for display described herein are applicable to the packaging, shipping marketing, and retail shopping industries.
The hangers, product display assemblies, and methods of readying a package for display described above may be alternatively described as follows:
A hanger for hanging a package having a tab from a rod, comprising a body for supporting the package, the body defining a slot through the body for receiving the tab and including a major face that fully encloses the slot, and a living hinge defining a fold axis for folding the body, the living hinge extending across the major face on opposite sides of the slot and extending inline with the slot, and a support portion extending from the body and defining a gap configured to receive the rod.
A product display assembly for displaying a product comprising a package defining a cavity for housing the product and an opening providing access to the cavity, the package including a lid that is disposed adjacent to the opening and that pivots between an open position where the cavity is accessible and a closed position where the cavity is inaccessible, the lid defining a lid slot, a tab extending from a side of the package adjacent to the opening, the tab being configured to extend through the lid slot when the lid is in the closed position to selectively secure the lid in the closed position, and a hanger configured to suspend the package from a rod and including a body that defines a hanger slot configured to selectively receive the tab to secure the package to the hanger for supporting package from the rod, and a support portion extending from the body and including a gap configured to receive the rod.
A method of readying a package for display on a rod with a hanger, the package including a tab and a lid that pivots between an open position and a closed position, the lid including a lid slot configured to receive the tab when the lid is in the closed position to selectively secure the lid in the closed position, the hanger including a body and a support portion, the body defining a body slot and including a living hinge defining a fold axis for folding the body, the support portion extending from the body and including a gap configured to receive the rod from which to hang the package, the method comprising the steps of: inserting the tab of the package into the hanger slot to link the hanger and the package together, pivoting the lid into the closed position, inserting the tab into the lid slot to secure the lid in the closed position, and folding the body of the hanger along the fold axis to lie flush with the lid for shipping.
It is believed that the disclosure set forth above encompasses multiple distinct inventions with independent utility. While each of these inventions has been disclosed in a particular form, the specific embodiments thereof as disclosed and illustrated herein are not to be considered in a limiting sense as numerous variations are possible. The subject matter of the inventions includes all novel and non-obvious combinations and subcombinations of the various elements, features, functions and/or properties disclosed herein, and equivalents of them. Where the disclosure or subsequently filed claims recite “a” or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof, it is within the scope of the present inventions that such disclosure or claims may be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
Applicants reserve the right to submit claims directed to other combinations and subcombinations that are directed to one or more of the disclosed inventions and are believed to be novel and non-obvious. Inventions embodied in other combinations and subcombinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties may be claimed through amendment of these claims or presentation of new claims in this or a related application. Such amended or new claims, whether they are directed to a different invention or directed to the same invention, whether different, broader, narrower or equal in scope to the original claims, are also regarded as included within the subject matter of the inventions of the present disclosure.
Claims
1. A hanger for hanging a package having a tab from a rod, comprising:
- a body for supporting the package, the body defining a slot extending through the body for receiving the tab and including: a major face that fully encloses the slot, and a living hinge defining a fold axis for folding the body, the living hinge extending across the major face on opposite sides of the slot and extending inline with the slot; and
- a support portion extending from the body and defining a gap configured to receive the rod.
2. The hanger of claim 1, wherein the support portion defines a J-hook.
3. The hanger of claim 1, wherein the support portion includes a planar member that defines the gap.
4. The hanger of claim 1, wherein the living hinge defines a channel extending along the major face of the body.
5. The hanger of claim 1, wherein the body extends a first distance between the support portion and the slot and extends a second distance beyond the slot opposite from the support portion, the second distance being at least four times the length of the first distance.
6. The hanger of claim 1, wherein the living hinge is configured to allow the body to fold between a hanging position in which there is no fold and a stowed position in which there is a fold of approximately 90 degrees about the fold axis.
7. The hanger of claim 1 wherein a major dimension of the body and a major dimension of the slot extend in substantially the same direction.
8. A product display assembly for displaying a product comprising:
- a package defining a cavity for housing the product and an opening providing access to the cavity, the package including: a lid that is disposed adjacent to the opening and that pivots between an open position where the opening is accessible and a closed position where the opening is inaccessible, the lid defining a lid slot; and a tab extending from a side of the package adjacent to the opening, the tab being configured to extend through the lid slot when the lid is in the closed position to selectively secure the lid in the closed position; and
- a hanger configured to suspend the package from a rod and including: a body that defines a hanger slot configured to selectively receive the tab to secure the package to the hanger for supporting the package from the rod, and a support portion extending from the body and defining a gap configured to receive the rod.
9. The product display assembly of claim 8, wherein the support portion defines a J-hook.
10. The product display assembly of claim 8, wherein the support portion includes a planar member and the gap is defined by the planar member.
11. The product display assembly of claim 8, wherein the body of the hanger includes a living hinge defining a fold axis for folding the body.
12. The product display assembly of claim 11, wherein the living hinge extends across the body inline with the hanger slot.
13. The product display assembly of claim 11, wherein the living hinge defines a channel extending along a major face of the body.
14. The product display assembly of claim 8, wherein the tab includes a shoulder portion that is positioned proximate the hanger slot when the tab is inserted through the hanger slot, the shoulder portion having a maximum dimension and the hanger slot having a hanger slot length that is less than the maximum dimension of the shoulder portion of the tab to restrict the tab from passing through the hanger slot by translation alone.
15. A method of readying a package for display on a rod with a hanger, the package including a tab and a lid that pivots between an open position and a closed position, the lid including a lid slot configured to receive the tab when the lid is in the closed position to selectively secure the lid in the closed position, the hanger including a body and a support portion, the body defining a body slot and including a living hinge defining a fold axis for folding the body, the support portion extending from the body and including a gap configured to receive the rod from which to hang the package, the method comprising the steps of:
- inserting the tab of the package into the hanger slot to link the hanger and the package together;
- pivoting the lid into the closed position;
- inserting the tab into the lid slot to secure the lid in the closed position; and
- folding the body of the hanger along the fold axis to lie flush with the lid for shipping.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the fold line is inline with the hanger slot and folding the hanger to lie flush with the lid for shipping includes folding the hanger about the hanger slot.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein:
- the tab includes a shoulder portion that is positioned proximate the hanger slot when the tab is inserted through the hanger slot;
- a maximum dimension of the hanger slot is less than the maximum dimension of the shoulder portion to inhibit removal of the tab from the hanger slot by translation; and
- inserting the tab into the hanger slot includes rotating the tab as the tab is moved through the hanger slot to fit the tab through the hanger slot.
International Classification: B65D 25/22 (20060101);