vFeb. 24, 1942,.
2,274,165
0. L. RITZAU ‘
DISPLAY RACK
Filed Nov. 14, i959
K
INVENTOR
C/a/"ence L ?i/Zau '
BY
7%”
A TORNE
Patented Feb. 24,‘ 1942
2,274,165
. . ‘UNITED; STATES PATENTTOFFICE
2,274,165
DISPLAY RACK_
Clarence L. Ritzau, Redwood City, Calif.
Application November 14, 1939, Serial No. 304,306
1 Claim. (Cl. 211-49)
My invention relates to means for assisting in
While the display rack of my invention can
the storing and display of articles for vending,
and is concerned especially with a display rack
which facilitates the storage and display of com
modities in packaged form or loaf form, such
as bread, although, of course, not being limited
thereto.
be utilized in conjunction with the display of
various articles, it is preferably utilized in con
junction with the display of material such as
loaves of bread which is somewhat yielding or‘
resilient in character. For this purpose I pro
.
vide a rack including a base, generally desig
nated 6, including two members 1 and 8 which
are horizontally ?at rectangles in cross-section
supplying adequate support for the loaves of 10 and which are in frictional sliding engagement
bread but also with con?ning them as much as
one within the other to form a telescoping base.
possible, due to the absence of available space
Since the member 8 is somewhat smaller than
ordinarily, and further in providing some display
the member 1, it can be completely nested or
means so that the bread can be readily observed
telescoped for minimum length or can be drawn
» yet will be maintained in neat order despite the 15 out from the vmember 1 to form a materially
diminishing amount on display as sales proceed.
longer base member. This extensibility is im
It is therefore an object of my invention to
portant in accommodating the display rack to
provide a display rack which is especially ap
the display of commodities of different size or
plicable to the support and con?nement of mate
in displaying a different number of bread loaves,
rial such as loaves of bread.
.
for example. The transverse or lateral flattening
Another object of my invention is to provide
of the base members is effective to distribute the
The problem of displaying bread in an ordi
nary retail store is one involved not only with
a display rack which can readily be accommo
dated to‘ display various quantities of a com
modity.
load over a relatively wide area so that the base
is stable and is not readily overturned when
placed upon a supporting surface.
_ Another object of my invention is‘ to provide 25
To the base member ‘I there is a?ixed an up~>
a display rack which can itself readily be stored
right 9, preferably of tubular form, secured per
in a very small space when not in use.
manently to the member ‘I and projecting there
Another object of my invention is to provide
from at substantially a right angle. In a similar
a variable display rack which will maintain a
fashion there is an upright ll mounted on and
given size once it has been set or adjusted to 30 permanently secured to the base member 8, so
that size.
>
that the uprights 9 and II are parallel. Tele
The foregoing and other objects are attained
in the embodiment of the invention illustrated
in the drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the display rack
of my invention disclosed in its expanded condi
tion for the display of a relatively large numbe
of loaves of bread;
-
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the display rack in
use as shown in Fig. 1;
'
Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my display rack
shown in use with a smaller number of loaves of
bread;
'
-
'
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the display rack as
illustrated in Fig. 3; and
Fig. 5 is an isometric perspective of the dis
play rack of my invention.
In its preferred form, the display rack of my
invention includes a number of L-shaped pieces
scopically or frictionally slidable with respect
to the member 9 and disposable therein is a
corner piece l2, preferably of tubing, which has
a snug fit within the upright 9 and is also capable _
of slidably engaging and forming a bridge mem
ber with a piece l3 of L-shape which has both
of its branches telescopically engaging the pieces
H and I2.
40
In the use of the structure, for shipment and
storage purposes the base 6 and the bridge
formed of the members I 2 and [3 are readily
disassembled to leave four pieces, generally of
L-shape, which can be somewhat nested or
For use, these
pieces are assembled as illustrated in Fig. 5 and
are contracted to encompass the smallest
45 stacked in a very small space.
opening, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein nine loaves
of bread, for example, are supported in compact
I having legs arranged for mutual frictional en-. 50 order. If it is then necessary to accommodate
gagement to complete the enclosure of a rec
more material, the telescoping bottom pieces ‘I
tangular frame, there being a relatively wide
and 8 are extended, the bridge members l2 and
base for stability of support and uprights and a
I3 are likewise extended in parallelism thereto,
‘bridge member, all of telescoping character, to
while the uprights 9 and II are also extended to
afford an adequate con?ning enclosure.
65 increase the height, so that when extended a
2
" ’ ’
T‘ '
2,274,165
maximum amount the structure will accommo
date sixteen loaves of bread, for example, as
shown in Fig. 1.
To assure that the frame assembly and the
displayed material are all quite ?rmly held, it
is preferable, after introducing the bread into
the display rack, to constrict the members into
close abutment with the bread. This yields
slightly and the holding pressure is effective to
I claim:
A display rack adapted to encompass a plu
rality of loves of bread comprising a pair of
telescoping horizontal base members of substan
tially the same transverse section and having a
flat lower face of predetermined width so that
said members serve as a stable supporting base,
and vertically and horizontally telescoping mem
bers of substantially less than said predeter
cock or cam the .various telescoping members 10 mined width upstanding at points spaced from
the ends of said pair of base members and with
each upon the other slightly to increase the fric
said base members forming a vertically self-sup
tion, so that when the frame is once set it does
not readily change size except by manual al-,
teration.
_ porting variable sized enclosing frame.
CLARENCE L. RITZAU.