Storage and display device for storing and displaying a plurality of longitudinal hand held implements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10638822-B2
Application number	US-201716096427-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2017
Priority date	Apr 25, 2016
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

A storage and presentation device for storing and presenting a plurality of longitudinal hand held implements, the storage and presentation device presenting a plurality of supports, each support being configured to support one longitudinal hand held implement, all of the supports being mounted to be rotatable about a common axis extending substantially perpendicularly to the longitudinal directions of the longitudinal hand held implements when they are supported by the supports. The storage and presentation device presenting a storage position in which the angle between all of the supports about the axial direction is less than 2°, and a presentation position in which, for all of the supports, the angle between two adjacent supports about the axial direction is greater than or equal to 5°.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A storage and presentation device comprising:
a first cover, a second cover, and a plurality of supports;
the first cover, the second cover and the plurality of supports all being pivotally mounted on a rod, the rod extending along and defining a common axis;
the plurality of supports extending perpendicularly to the common axis and being configured to support a plurality of writing instruments;
the first and second covers forming a box, and being rotatably mounted relative to each other about the common axis, the box being closed in a storage position, and open in a presentation position, at least one of the first and second covers forming a base while in the presentation position;
the first and second covers including hinge knuckles, the rod being engaged with two of the hinge knuckles by snap-fastening whereby the rod is prevented from moving axially.

2. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supports includes a first end support and a last end support with a number of other supports therebetween, the first end support including at least a first end lug and the last end support including at least a second end lug, the first end lug extending axially towards an adjacent one of the number of other supports and the second end lug extending axially towards another adjacent one of the number of other supports, the number of other supports including a primary lug and a secondary lug, the primary lug extending axially away from the secondary lug, each lug of the first end lug, the second end lug, the primary lug and the secondary lug of the plurality of supports being in abutment with a corresponding lug of the first end lug, the second end lug, the primary lug and the secondary lug of one of the plurality of supports that is adjacent thereto and being offset in azimuth relative thereto when in the storage position, the azimuth direction being defined by the rotation direction of each support of the plurality of supports so that moving each support of the plurality of supports through a predetermined angular stroke in a first rotation direction couples each support of the plurality of supports with another of the plurality of supports that is adjacent thereto in the first rotation direction by co-operational abutment between corresponding lugs of the first end lug, the second end lug, the primary lug and the secondary lug.

3. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supports are identical, each of the plurality of supports having a pair of lugs, each lug of each of the pair of lugs extending axially away from the other lug of the pair of lugs, while being offset relative to each other in the azimuth direction.

4. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of supports is pivotally mounted on the rod.

5. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supports includes a first end support and a last end support with a number of other supports therebetween; the first end support and the last end support each include a lug; the lug of the first end support being in abutment with one of the first or second covers, while the lug of the last end support being in abutment with the other of the first or second covers; whereby opening the box carries the plurality of supports in rotation and passes each of the plurality of supports in succession from the storage position to the presentation position.

6. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second covers are fitted with complementary locking mechanisms for locking the first and second covers together in the storage position.

7. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of supports forms a sleeve configured to receive and hold one end of one of the writing instruments.

8. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein an axial angle between each of the plurality of supports in the storage position is less than 2°, and the axial angle between the plurality of supports in the presentation position is greater than or equal to 5°.

9. The storage and presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the writing instruments includes a cap and a body, each of the plurality of supports being configured to co-operate with the cap of a respective writing instrument in such a manner that a force needed for extracting each one of the caps from the respective support is greater than a force needed for extracting the body of one of the writing instruments from its respective cap.

Assignees

• SOCIéTé BIC

Inventors

• Fagu Ludovic
• Vadenne Franck
• Michenaud Etienne
• Lange Didier

Classifications

• A45C11/34 Primary

  Pencil boxes; Pencil etuis or the like · CPC title

• B25H3/025

  by rotation about a common axis · CPC title

• B43M99/006

  with more than one penholder · CPC title

• A45C2200/15

  Articles convertible into a stand, e.g. for displaying purposes · CPC title