NESTABLE ARTICLE HOLDER

Abstract

An article holder includes a base, a pair of opposing side walls spaced apart and diverging away from each other moving forward from the rear of the base, and lower and upper rear walls spaced from each other and substantially co-planar. The base, side walls and rear walls define a storage region for holding articles in a vertical orientation, and provide that one holder may be nested within another like holder.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a nestable article holder for containing articles, such as magazines, documents, folders and like items, in a vertical orientation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prior art holders to contain a plurality of articles, such as documents, magazines, folders or like items, in a vertical orientation are known. The holders usually have substantial depth and height, so that the articles may be stored almost completely within the holders.

Space needed to transport these holders, and also the retail shelf space needed to display and sell the holders, is valuable. Therefore, it is desirable that the holders may be packaged for transport, and also arranged for display in a retail store, to occupy a minimum amount of space.

In the prior art, many holders to contain documents in a vertical orientation are constructed so that the holders may be nested within one another, so as to minimize the space occupied by the holders when the holders are transported or displayed for sale. Oftentimes, however, such holders, due to their construction, cannot be easily nested, or separated from one another when in a nested configuration. Also, some prior art holders have a configuration that causes a user to have difficulty in inserting articles into the holders, such that the articles are maintained in a vertical orientation within a storage region of the holder.

Accordingly, there is a need for a nestable holder that is easily nestable within a like holder and removable from a stack of nested holders, and provides that a user with relative ease may insert articles into a storage region of the holder for storage in a vertical orientation, may view articles stored within the holder and remove articles from the storage region of the holder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a nestable holder for holding articles in a generally vertical orientation. The article holder may include a base having a rear edge, a forward edge and a pair of opposed side edges. A pair of side walls spaced apart and opposed to each other extends upwardly near a respective one of the side edges of the base. In addition, the opposing side walls diverge away from each other moving forward from the rear edge of the base. The holder further may include a lower rear wall extending upwardly near the rear edge of the base and from near lower rear-facing edges of the respective side walls, and an upper rear wall extending from near upper rear-facing edges of the respective sidewalls. A top edge of the upper rear wall and top edges of the respective side walls desirably lie in a same plane, and the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall are spaced from each other more than one-half the distance between the top edge of the upper rear wall and the rear edge of the base. A storage region in the holder is defined above the base, forward of the upper and lower rear walls and between the side walls. The storage region has a greater width at lower front-facing edges of the side walls extending from near the forward edge of the base than at the top edges of the side walls, so as to enable nesting of the holder inside another like holder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of an article holder, in accordance with an aspect of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the article holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the article holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the article holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of three of the holders of FIG. 1 in a nested configuration, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the nested holders of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the nested holders of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is a side view of the nested holders of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a holder for storing articles, such as magazines, documents and the like, in a generally vertical orientation, and where the holder may be nested within a like holder so as to minimize an amount of space occupied by the holders when the holders are arranged in a nested configuration.

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of an article holder 10, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The holder 10 includes a substantially planar base 12 having a horizontal orientation. The holder 10 also includes a substantially planar lower rear wall 14 having a vertical orientation. The lower rear wall 14 extends generally upwardly from and is coupled to a rear edge 16 of the base 12. The rear edge 16 desirably is a straight linear edge. In one embodiment, the lower rear wall 14 and the base 12 are substantially perpendicular to each other.

Further referring to FIGS. 2-4, the holder 10 includes a pair of opposing substantially planar side walls 18. The side walls 18 are spaced apart from each other, and extend generally upwardly from and are coupled to a pair of opposing side edges 20 of the base 12. In addition, the side walls 18 include lower rear facing edges 22. The edges 20 and 22 desirably are straight linear edges. The edges 22 extend generally upwardly from near ends of the edges 20 opposite a front edge 37 of the base 12. The lower rear wall 14 extends between the opposing edges 22 and includes a top edge 24. The top edge 24 is desirably a straight linear edge, and extends between the ends of the opposing edges 22 which are opposite the base 12.

In one embodiment, the side walls 18 and the base 12 are substantially perpendicular to each other.

In addition, the side walls 18 include upper rear facing edges 26, which desirably are straight linear edges. The edges 26 are co-linear with and spaced from the lower rear edges 22. A substantially planar upper rear wall 30 is coupled to, and extends between, the opposing edges 26. The upper rear wall 30 includes a top edge 32 and a bottom edge 34. The edges 32 and 34 desirably are straight linear edges, and extend parallel to each other. The bottom edge 34 extends between the ends of the opposing edges 26 facing the lower rear wall 14, and the top edge 32 extends between ends of the opposing edges 26 opposite the lower rear wall 14. The bottom edge 34 is spaced vertically from the top edge 24, preferably more than one-half of the vertical distance between the top edge 32 and the edge 16. The upper rear wall 30 and the lower rear wall 14 desirably are substantially co-planar, and substantially perpendicular to the base 12.

The side walls 18 diverge away from each other extending in a forward direction from the opposing edges 22 and 26 to opposing lower front edges 36 of the side walls 18. The lower front edges 36, which are desirably straight linear edges, extend generally upwardly from near the forward edge 37 of the base 12. The forward edge 37 and the rear edge 16 are parallel to each other and lie in a same plane as the base 12. The front edges 36 are substantially perpendicular to the edges 16 and 37.

The side walls 18 also include opposing top edges 38, which desirably are straight linear edges. The edges 38 extend forward from the ends of the edges 26 opposite the rear wall 14. The edges 38 and the edge 32 of the upper rear wall 30 desirably lie in a same plane, and the plane in which the edges 32 and 38 lie desirably is parallel to the plane of the base 12. In addition, the side walls 18 include front facing edges 40, which desirably are straight linear edges. The edges 40 extend from near the top edges 38 to near the lower edges 36. The edges 36 and 38 are substantially perpendicularly to each other, and the front edges 40 extend at about a forty-five degree angle with respect to each of the edges 38 and 36. Further, the side walls 18 include rear edge portions 42 extending generally upwardly from near the ends of the edges 22 opposite the base 12 to near the ends of the edges 26 facing the lower rear wall 14.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, an article storage region 50 is formed in the space above the base 12, forward of the rear walls 14 and 30 and between the side walls 18. The opposing front edges 36 of the side walls 18 at the forward edge 37 of the base 12 define an opening 52 through which articles may be inserted into and removed from the storage region 50. In addition, the opposing edges 40 define an opening 54 through which articles may be inserted into and removed from the storage region 50. Further, the opposing edges 38 and the edge 32 define an opening 56 through which articles may be inserted into and removed from the storage region 50. Also, the edges 34 and 24 of the rear walls 30 and 14, respectively, and the rear edge portions 43 of the side walls 18 define an opening 58 through which articles may be inserted into and removed from the storage region 50. The plurality of openings of the holder 10 provides a user with a variety of alternatives to insert articles into the storage region 50 for storage in a generally vertical orientation, and also to remove articles from the storage region 50.

In one aspect of the invention, the rear edge portions 42 of the side walls 18 may include lower rear edges 60 which extend forward from near the ends of the edges 22 opposite the base 12 and the opposing ends of the edge 24. The edges 60, 22 and 24 desirably are straight linear edges. Also, the edges 60 and 24 desirably lie in a same plane which is substantially parallel to the plane of the base 12. In one embodiment, the length of the edges 60 is a small fraction of the vertical distance between the rear edge 22 and front edge 36, and preferably is not more than about 2 inches when the vertical distance between the edges 22 and 60 is about 8 inches.

The combination of the upper and rear walls 30 and 14 advantageously may provide support to an article that is to be inserted within the storage region 50 at two vertical positions, such that the article may be easily positioned and maintained in a generally vertical orientation within the storage region 50.

In addition, the vertical distance between the edges 60 and the edge 20 of the base 12 desirably may be less than the length of the edge 26. Consequently, the upper rear wall 30 may have a larger surface area than the lower rear wall 14, thereby providing increased support to vertically oriented documents stored in the region 50 than that provided by the lower rear wall 14. The increased support provided by the upper rear wall of the holder is advantageous, because a user typically applies greater force to an upper portion of a holder when inserting documents into the holder than to a lower portion of the holder. For example, when documents stored in the storage region of the holder occupy substantially all of the storage region, and the user desires to insert another document into the storage region, the user typically applies more force to an upper vertical region of the holder than to a lower vertical rear region of the holder to insert the additional document into the storage region with the other documents already stored in the storage region. In addition, the relatively large surface area of the upper rear wall 30 provides a structural support for the two sides walls 18.

In addition, the rear edge portions 43 of the side walls 18 may include edges 43A extending forward and generally downwardly toward the base 12 from near the end of the edge 26 facing the rear wall 14, and edges 43B extending forward and generally upwardly from near the end of the edge 60 facing the front edge 37 of the base 12. The edges 43A and 43B, which are desirably straight linear edges, intersect at a point that is located further from a plane within which the upper wall 30 extends than the end of the edges 60 opposite such plane.

In a further aspect, referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the side walls 18 may include openings 70 spaced from the edges of the side walls 18. At least one of the openings 70 may have a parallelogram-shape and include shorter and longer pairs of opposing sides 72, 74. In one embodiment, parallelogram-shaped openings 70A are defined by rib portions 79 of the side walls 18, and are disposed between the edge 43B and the edge 36 of the side walls 18. The openings 70A have their shorter sides 72 parallel to the edges 40 and 43A and their longer sides 74 parallel to the edges 43B, so as to create a desired aesthetic appearance of the holder 50 having only straight linear edges while also providing for weight reduction of the holder, material cost savings, and the ability for a user to view articles stored contents within the storage region 50.

In a further embodiment, openings 70B in the side walls 18 are defined between the edges 26, 38 43A and 40 and rib portions 81 of the side walls 18. The opening 70B have a side 78 which is a straight linear edge and is co-linear with the edge 43B. The opening 70B further includes opposing sides 80 that are parallel to the edge 43 and extend from near the ends of the side 78, a side 82 that is parallel to the edge 26 and extends from near the end of the side 80 opposite the side 78, and a side 84 that is parallel to the edge 38 and extends from near an end of the side 82 facing the edge 38 to near an end of the side 80 opposite the side 78. Similar to the openings 70A, the sides of the opening 70B desirably are straight linear sides and each is parallel to an edge of the side wall 18 so as to contribute to a pleasing aesthetic appearance, in addition to providing for weight reduction, material cost savings and ease of viewing of articles within storage region, as described above.

Referring to FIGS. 5-8, the holder 10 may be nested within other like holders 10 to obtain a nested configuration, where one holder is horizontally forward of the holder in which it is nested. The divergence of the side walls 18 moving forward from the rear edge 16 to the front edge 37 of the base 12 provides that the storage region 50 becomes wider moving forward toward each of the openings 52, 54, 56. The opening 52 desirably is substantially rectangular in shape and lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the base 12. The holder, thus, has a planar area for inserting and removing articles at the opening 52 defined by the opposing edges 36 and the front edge 37 of the base 12.

The angle of divergence of the side walls 18 is suitably selected to provide for nesting of the holders 10. Referring to FIG. 6, the thickness of the side walls 18 and the angle of divergence of the side walls 18 may be selected such that the openings 70 of a first holder, which is nested in a second holder, at least partially overlies respective openings 70 in the side walls of the second holder, thereby creating a desired aesthetic appearance when the holders are arranged in a nested configuration.

It is to be understood that any number of holders 10 may be nested within one another, to create a substantially horizontal stack of holders. In addition, the walls of the holder 10 desirably are formed from a flexible material, such as plastic, to ease separation of one holder from another holder in which the one holder is nested.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An article holder comprising:

a base having a rear edge, a forward edge and a pair of opposed side edges;

a pair of side walls spaced apart and opposed to each other, wherein each of the side walls extends upwardly near a respective one of the side edges of the base, wherein the opposing side walls diverge away from each other moving forward from the rear edge of the base;

a lower rear wall extending upwardly near the rear edge of the base and from near lower rear-facing edges of the respective side walls;

an upper rear wall extending from near upper rear-facing edges of the respective sidewalls, wherein a top edge of the upper rear wall and top edges of the respective side walls lie in substantially a same plane, wherein the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall are spaced from each other more than one-half the distance between the top edge of the upper rear wall and the rear edge of the base; and

a storage region defined above the base, forward of the upper and lower rear walls and between the sides wall having a width greater at lower front-facing edges of the side walls extending from near the forward edge of the base than at the top edges of the side walls, so as to enable nesting of the holder inside another like holder.

2. The article holder of claim 1, where the side walls include lower rear edges extending forward from near an upper edge of the lower rear wall.

3. The article holder of claim 2, wherein each of the side walls includes a first rear edge portion extending downwardly and forward from near a bottom edge of the upper rear wall and a second rear edge portion extending upwardly and forward from near the lower rear edge of the side wall, wherein the first and second rear edge portions are joined forward of the upper and lower rear walls.

4. The article holder of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower rear walls are substantially perpendicular to the base.

5. The article holder of claim 1, wherein the upper and the lower rear walls are substantially co-planar.

6. The article holder of claim 1, wherein the lower front-facing edges of the side walls are substantially perpendicular to the top edges of the side walls.

7. The article holder of claim 6, wherein the side walls include respective upper front-facing edges extending from the top edges of the side walls to the lower front-facing edges of the side walls.