The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 02, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1999
Paul L. Flum, Ladue, MO (US);
Christopher C. Bidwell, Dunwoody, GA (US);
Lionel D. Gillespie, Atlanta, GA (US);
Paul Flum Ideas, Inc., St. Louis, MO (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for changing the appearance of a display merchandiser so as to resemble the appearance of a particular object, the method and apparatus including providing a plurality of sheet-like members which are attachable to selected portions of the display merchandiser in a particular manner such that, when the sheet-like members are attached to the display merchandiser, such sheet-like members interact with the merchandiser and with each other to form a three-dimensional representation of the particular object. Each sheet-like member is shaped and dimensioned to represent the appearance of a portion of the particular object, some of the sheet-like members being attachable to at least some of the elongated support members associated with the display merchandiser and at least one of the sheet-like members being attachable to the uppermost shelf member of such merchandiser. In one embodiment of the present invention, some of the sheet-like members are foldable and assemblable around various elongated support members so as to substantially encircle the same, whereas in another embodiment at least some of the sheet-like members are adhesively attachable directly to the elongated support members. The present sheet-like members can be formed in a wide variety of different shapes and configurations to simulate the appearance of a wide variety of different objects such as a bottle, a spaceship, animal or cartoon characters, or any other envisioned representation and such sheet-like members can be constructed for use with a wide variety of differently shaped display merchandisers.