FR2827491A1 - Panel for use as, e.g. calendar, has hanger in form of filament pinched between eyelets or rivets in upper edge - Google Patents

Abstract

The panel (1) has two holes in its upper edge and a hanger in the form of a filament (4) with its ends pinched against the panel by eyelets or rivets (3) in the holes. The filament is longer than the distance between the two holes to provide a loop. The panel and hanger are made with a piercing tool, a rivet or eyelet feeder, a filament dispenser, cutter and positioner, and a tool for crimping the rivets or eyelets to fasten the filament in place. Independent claims are included for: (1) Apparatus for manufacturing a panel; and (2) A process for manufacturing a panel.

Description

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 Panel, such as in particular a calendar, provided with hanging means, corresponding device and manufacturing method.

 The field of the invention is that of hanging light objects. More specifically, the invention relates to a device for hanging a panel, such as in particular a calendar, to a wall or any vertical surface.

 In this area, many solutions have been proposed.

 In particular, a technique is known which consists in simply making a single hole, centered relative to one of the edges of the calendar, allowing the calendar to be hung on a nail, a hook or the like.

 Such a hole, left uncut, has a "low end" appearance due to a more or less correct finish.

 Another disadvantage lies in the location of the hole: being unique, it must be centered to ensure a substantially horizontal position of the calendar when it is hung. However, this centered position can in some cases be a constraint in relation to the inscriptions carried on the calendar.

 Furthermore, depending on the quality of the material with which the calendar is made, it can be seen that the hole used for the hanging deteriorates as the hooks / stalls take place.

 To strengthen such a hole and improve its appearance, one solution is to add a metal eyelet inside the hole.

 The drawback of the location of the hole persists, however.

 Another common solution is to make two holes, generally reinforced with eyelets, through which a cord is passed and then tied.

 In addition to the somewhat obsolete presentation of this solution, it has the drawback of requiring a succession of tedious operations, in particular with regard to tying the cord, which implies relatively slow production.

 Another solution described in the patent published under the number FR-2 661 467 has been proposed.

 According to this technique, the attachment system is intended to cooperate with

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 two holes in the calendar and consists of a plastic element comprising a wire carrying at each of its ends a head having a peripheral groove. Each head can thus be snapped into the calendar holes, by mounting slightly by force.

 The problem with this solution lies in particular in the fact that the slightly force fitting of the heads in the holes can locally deteriorate the calendar, resulting in an impression of an imperfect finish of the product.

 Furthermore, such an attachment system is obtained by molding, and a priori only allows to offer a monochrome product.

 This product is therefore not suitable for personalization, possibly revealing several colors representative of a brand or making up a company logo.

 Yet another technique is known which consists in attaching an overlap on an edge of the calendar, an adhesive jumper, most often made of PVC, having a tab, possibly articulated, provided with a hole through which the attachment to a wall or other support. is realised.

 Such a jumper presents the risk of being torn off during handling and / or when crating finished products.

 In addition, the material used for this type of solution, in particular PVC, can deteriorate, or even break, after a certain number of folds of the fastening tab.

 Furthermore, in terms of presentation, the rider according to this technique generally has dimensions which may prove to be disproportionate for small calendar formats.

 The invention therefore aims to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.

 More specifically, the invention aims to provide a system for hanging a light panel, which allows to obtain a better finish than the solutions of the prior art.

 The invention also aims to provide such a system

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 attachment which has satisfactory mechanical strength and wear resistance, even after multiple uses.

 The invention also aims to provide such a hanging system which can act as a visual communication support.

 Another objective of the invention is to propose such a fastening system which is simple in design and easy to implement.

 Yet another objective of the invention is to propose a device and a manufacturing method which make it possible to manufacture at high rates a fastening system according to the invention, while ensuring a satisfactory quality of finish.

 These objectives, as well as others which will appear subsequently, are achieved using a panel, such as in particular a calendar, intended to be hung on a support by means of attachment.

 According to the invention, said attachment means include: - at least one orifice provided near an edge of said panel and provided with a rivet or an eyelet; - At least one hooking wire at least one end of which is wedged between said panel and said rivet or said eyelet.

 Unlike the prior art, the invention thus makes it possible to obtain both a satisfactory finish in all circumstances and a reinforcement means ensuring that the attachment device holds up well over time.

 The hooking device will have a further improved finish by the fact that the ends of the wire can easily be concealed between the rivets or the eyelets and the panel.

 In addition, the rivets or the eyelets, via their crushed end, exert sufficient force on each end of the wire so that it can withstand the weight of the hanging panel on the one hand, the various manipulations that it is brought to undergo on the other hand.

 The panel can be of any material insofar as it can be perforated, and in particular in printed or laminated cardboard, PVC, etc.

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 According to an advantageous solution, said panel comprises two orifices.

 This eliminates the constraint of the centered positioning of the orifice, in the case where it is unique.

 According to the inscriptions on the panel, the location of the two orifices can be varied, while of course maintaining the objective of the substantially horizontal position of the panel once hung. The two orifices can for example be made at the edge of the panel with a spacing between them which can vary between 50 and 120 mm.

 According to a preferred solution, said attachment wire extends between said two orifices.

 This solution turns out to be simple to implement. However, it is possible to envisage two separate wires, the ends of the same wire being wedged against the panel by the same rivet or eyelet, to form a hooking loop. Such an arrangement moreover corresponds to the case of an embodiment of the invention with a single orifice.

 Preferably, said hooking wire has a length greater than the distance separating said two orifices.

 In this way, the wire naturally has a curvature which facilitates the attachment of the panel to the support.

 According to an advantageous variant of the invention, a covering part is attached to at least one end of said rivet or of said eyelet.

 Such a covering piece can be attached to one side of a rivet, while it can be attached to each side of an eyelet.

 We thus have surfaces (even reduced) that can serve as a support for personalized visual communication. Such covering pieces may indeed take on different colors representative of a brand or making up a company logo. Inscriptions can also be worn, by engraving or printing, on the head of the rivets, on certain eyelets and / or on these covering pieces.

 These can also be used simply as finishing elements

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 for purely aesthetic purposes.

 Advantageously, said wire is a polyethylene monofilament.

 Such a wire indeed has a quite satisfactory mechanical resistance. In addition, it has interesting properties, in particular of rigidity, to be distributed, cut, guided and set up within the framework of an automated manufacturing process.

 This polyethylene wire also has the advantage of being able to be obtained in different colors, thus contributing to the visual communication sought for the whole.

 The invention also relates to a device for manufacturing a panel as described above, comprising: - means for drilling said panel; means for supplying at least one rivet or at least one eyelet facing said one or more orifices made; - means for distributing said attachment wire; - Means for cutting said hooking wire to a predetermined length; - Means for positioning the ends of said cut hooking wire, facing said one or more orifices produced; - Means for crushing at least one end of said rivet or of said eyelet against said panel.

 The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a panel according to the invention, using a device as described above, comprising the following steps: - drilling at least one orifice in said panel; - Cutting said hanging wire to a predetermined length; - Positioning of said ends of said hooking wire opposite said one or more orifices made; crushing of said rivet or of said eyelet against said panel so that at least one end of said hooking wire is pinched

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 between said rivet or said eyelet and said panel.

- la figure 4 illustre un dispositif de fabrication d'un panneau selon l'invention ; la figure 5 illustre les moyens de mise en place du fil d'accrochage du dispositif de fabrication d'un panneau selon l'invention. Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of illustrative and nonlimiting example, and of the drawings among which: - Figure 1 provides a view of a panel according to the invention according to section AA of Figure 3; - Figure 2 provides a detailed view of a panel / rivet / attachment wire connection according to the invention, the rivet being provided with a covering part; - Figure 3 provides a front view of a panel provided with attachment means according to the invention;

- Figure 4 illustrates a device for manufacturing a panel according to the invention; FIG. 5 illustrates the means for positioning the attachment wire of the device for manufacturing a panel according to the invention.

 With reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, a calendar comprising a cardboard panel 1 is intended to be hung on a support by means of attachment means including two orifices 2 each provided with a rivet 3, and an attachment wire 4 of which each end is wedged between a rivet 3 and panel 1 of the calendar.

 Note that according to the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, the two holes 2 are aligned with respect to the upper edge of the panel, in the vicinity thereof.

 Other embodiments are however possible without departing from the scope of the invention, in particular by providing a single orifice (the ends of the hooking wire being wedged by the same rivet to form a hooking loop), a pair of orifices on several of the edges of the panel, or even an odd number of orifices connected step by step by a hooking wire.

 We also note that the rivets can be replaced in another

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 embodiment by eyelets.

 As can be clearly seen in FIG. 3, the hooking wire 4 has a length greater than the distance separating the two orifices 2, giving it a curvature which extends beyond the upper edge of the panel 1 in order to facilitate its hanging on a support.

 The hooking wire could however, in another embodiment, have substantially the same length as the distance separating the two orifices without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to the present embodiment of the invention and with reference to FIG. 2, the rivet 3 has the following functions: - to embellish and strengthen the orifice 2, - to wedge, and therefore maintain, one end of the wire hooking
4 against panel 1.

 Indeed, the rigid connection between the rivet 3 and the panel 1 is obtained, as will be described later, by crushing the ends of the rivet 3 against the panel 1. The wire 4, placed appropriately during manufacture , is therefore securely held at each of its ends.

 A covering part 5 can, according to a variant of the invention, be attached to one end of the rivet 3 (or to one or both ends, in the case of an eyelet).

 The device for manufacturing a panel comprising hooking means according to the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

 It will be noted that the description which follows provides for the installation of rivets (which can be indifferently nickel-plated, brass-plated, with varnished head ...). The general operation and the means used to manufacture a panel according to the invention comprising eyelets would be quite similar.

 As shown, the manufacturing device comprises: - a cleat conveyor 21 which conveys the panel 1 in the direction of the station for laying the rivets 3;

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 - drilling means 22, driven in a back and forth movement; - Hoppers 23 for distributing rivets 3, the hoppers communicating with supply means 231 for the rivets 3 opposite the orifices 2 produced by the drilling means 22 in the panel 1; - A distribution coil 31 of the hooking wire 4, the wire 4 being unwound from the coil 31 using motorized drive rollers 311; - a cutting knife 32 provided with a back-and-forth movement for cutting the wire 4; a guide tunnel 33 for the wire 4, coupled to a jack, forming means for positioning the wire 4 opposite the orifices II made in the panel 1; punches 24 driven back and forth to cooperate with crimping dies 25 in order to crush the rivets 3 against the panel 1.

 It will be noted that the punches 24 can be designed to carry out both the drilling of the panel and the laying of the rivets 3.

 Such a device incorporates all appropriate position and end-of-travel sensors known to those skilled in the art to allow production to be automated.

 Using the device which has just been described, the panel 1 is transferred by the cleat conveyor 21 between the drilling means 22 which produce the orifices 2 and the station for laying the rivets 3.

 At the same time, the wire 4 is unwound from the spool 31 by the drive rollers 311 over a predetermined length (using, for example, optical sensors) while being inserted in the guide tunnel 33.

 The panel being centered between the punches 24 by the cleat conveyor, the jack 34 moves the guide tunnel 33 so that the ends of the wire 4 are placed opposite and near the orifices 2 of the panel 1.

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 The rivets 3 being brought from the hoppers 23 by the supply means 231 under the punches 24, the latter are actuated in order to crimp the rivets 3 on the panel, the ends of the wire 4 then being pinched between the rivets 3 and panel 1.

 A tensile test is then carried out on the hanging wire. At the end of this test, the panels having exhibited a satisfactory resistance are packaged.

 The invention which has just been described can be applied to the production of a calendar as has just been mentioned, but also to light advertising panels, as well as to illustrations, reproductions or photographs, and in general to any product. relatively light, printed or not, capable of being made visible on a vertical support.

Claims (8)

 CLAIMS 1. Panel (1) such as in particular a calendar intended to be hung on a support by means of attachment means, characterized in that said attachment means include: - at least one orifice (2) provided near an edge of said panel (1) and provided with a rivet (3) or an eyelet; - At least one hooking wire (4) at least one end of which is wedged between said panel (1) and said rivet (3) or said eyelet. 2. Panel (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises two orifices (2). 3. Panel (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that said hooking wire (4) extends between said two orifices (2). 4. Panel (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that said hooking wire (4) has a length greater than the distance separating said two orifices (2). 5. Panel (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a covering part (5) is attached to at least one end of said rivet (3) or of said eyelet. 6. Panel (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said wire (4) is a polyethylene monofilament. 7. Device for manufacturing a panel according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises: - drilling means (22) of said panel (1); - Feed means (231) of at least one rivet (3) or at least one eyelet facing said one or more orifices (2) produced; - distribution means (31) of said hooking wire (4); - Cutting means (32) of said hooking wire (4) to a predetermined length; - positioning means (33, 34) of the ends of said wire <Desc / Clms Page number 11>  hooking (4) cut, facing said one or more orifices (2) made; crushing means (24,25) of at least one end of said rivet (3) or of said eyelet against said panel. 8. A method of manufacturing a panel according to any one of claims 1 to 6, using a device according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: - drilling at least a hole (2) in said panel (1); - Cutting said hanging wire (4) to a predetermined length; - Positioning of said ends of said attachment wire (4) facing said one or more orifices (2); - crushing of said rivet (3) or of said eyelet against said panel (1) so that at least one end of said hooking wire (4) is pinched between said rivet (3) or said eyelet and said panel (1) .