Connectable Acrylic Stand

Abstract

A modular acrylic stand that can be connected at least vertically. [Solution] Acrylic stands AS-1 and AS-2 consist of a base plate BP having an appropriate planar shape including a rectangle, and a rectangular character plate CP on which an appropriate character is displayed and is connected to the base plate BP in a concave-concave relationship. The character plate CP has convex parts 1 to 4 on its lower and upper edges, including a gap 3 at the top and bottom that connects to the base plate BP, and the base plate BP has slit-shaped connecting holes 5 into which the upper and lower convex parts 1 to 4 of the character plate CP can be fitted.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a connecting type acrylic stand (a character ornament consisting of a base plate cut from an acrylic plate with a thickness of, for example, 3 mm and a display plate of an acrylic plate displaying a character connected in a standing posture to this base plate), which can be connected in the vertical direction, or the horizontal direction, or both of these directions.

Background Art

[0002] An acrylic stand is composed of, for example, a single base plate cut from an acrylic plate with a thickness of 3 mm into an appropriate shape such as a circle or a square by laser processing when viewed from a plane, and a single character plate erected on this base plate by a male-female coupling relationship such as unevenness. Note that the thickness of the acrylic plate used in the present invention is an example and is not limited to that with a thickness of 3 mm.

[0003] Conventional acrylic stands, as shown in Patent Documents 1 to 4, were just arranged side by side on a table, counter, or sideboard, etc. with one acrylic stand assembled from a base plate and a character plate standing independently, so there was a lack of a bit of interest.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Patent Document 4

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] This invention aims to provide a connectable type of acrylic stand that allows multiple acrylic stands to be connected at least vertically, unlike known acrylic stands which consist of a single base plate and a character plate attached thereto, making each stand independent. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention, made to solve the above problems, is an acrylic stand comprising a base plate of an appropriate planar shape and a character plate on which an appropriate character is displayed and erected on the base plate in a concave-concave relationship, wherein the character plate has upper and lower convex portions on its lower and upper edges which are connected to the base plate, and the base plate has slit-shaped connecting holes into which the upper and lower convex portions of the character plate can be fitted.

[0007] In the above configuration, the lower convex portion of the character plate is formed of two convex pieces with a gap between them that is the same size as the left-right width (left-right width and up-down width) as the upper convex portion.

[0008] The two convex pieces of the lower convex portion are preferably positioned symmetrically on the lower edge of the character plate. However, they do not necessarily have to be positioned symmetrically.

[0009] The upper convex portion formed on the upper edge of the character plate is formed with a width and height such that it can be fitted into and joined to the gap formed by the two convex pieces formed on the lower edge of the character plate (the width from left to right and the width from right to left and the width from right to right of the upper convex portion, specifically the width that allows the upper convex portion to be tightly and loosely fitted into the gap between the two convex pieces).

[0010] In this invention, the base plate has a horizontally elongated slit-shaped coupling hole into which the lower convex portion of the character plate described above is tightly and loosely fitted.

[0011] In terms of the size of the connection holes in the base plate (width to width and height to height), the height to height is such that the thickness of the character plate can be tightly and loosely fitted, and the width to width is the same as the width between the two convex pieces formed on the lower edge of the character plate with a gap in between.

[0012] The character plate has the aforementioned upper and lower convex portions on its upper and lower edges, while the base plate that connects the lower edge of the character plate to erect it has horizontally elongated slit-shaped connecting holes that can accommodate the upper and lower convex portions of the character plate. By fitting the lower convex portion of the lower edge into the connecting holes of the base plate, the character plate is erected and one acrylic stand is formed. Another acrylic stand with the same configuration as this one can be connected in a two-tiered arrangement by fitting the connecting holes of its base plate into the upper convex portion of the first acrylic stand.

[0013] Incidentally, for the third tier and above, the acrylic stands can also be stacked by fitting the connecting holes on the base plate of the upper acrylic stand into the connecting holes on the lower acrylic stand (the convex upper part of the character plate) as described above.

[0014] As described above, if multiple acrylic stands joined vertically are connected horizontally (left to right) on their respective base plates in a concave-concave-concave relationship, the vertically joined acrylic stands can be configured to also be joined horizontally (left to right). [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] This invention allows acrylic stands to be placed on a table or other surface by connecting them vertically, thus providing a more interesting acrylic stand assembly compared to a single independent acrylic stand. The connected acrylic stands can also be separated and used as individual acrylic stands.

[0016] In the present invention, when a laminated form connected in the vertical direction or a vertically connected acrylic stand in a laminated form is formed such that the base plates provided on each acrylic stand can be joined in a concavo-convex relationship in the horizontal direction (left-right direction), the vertically connected acrylic stands are also connected in the horizontal direction to form an upper-lower, left-right connected acrylic stand, which further enhances the interest.

Brief Explanation of Drawings

[0017] [Figure 1] Exploded (before assembly) perspective view of one acrylic stand forming the first example of the connected acrylic stand of the present invention. [Figure 2] Front view for explaining the connection relationship between the upper and lower character plates in the two-stage connected acrylic stand of the first example. [Figure 3] Perspective view of the two-stage connected acrylic stand of the present invention in the first example. [Figure 4] Exploded (before assembly) perspective view of one acrylic stand forming the second example of the acrylic stand of the present invention. [Figure 5] Front view for explaining the correspondence between the upper and lower character plates and the base plate in the two-stage connected acrylic stand of the second example. [Figure 6] Perspective view of the two-stage connected acrylic stand in the second example. [Figure 7] Perspective view for explaining the horizontal connection of the base plate in the acrylic stand of the present invention. [Figure 8] Perspective view for explaining the form of connecting the base plates in an annular shape. [Figure 9] Plan view of the base plate and the character plate constituting the acrylic stand of the third example of the present invention. [Figure 10] Perspective view of the base plate and the character plate in FIG. 9 assembled into the acrylic stand of the third example. [Figure 11](a) is a perspective view of a cube assembled by connecting two acrylic stands from Figure 10 and two base plates or character plates from Figure 9, and (b) is a perspective view of a connected cube assembled by connecting multiple acrylic stands from Figure 10 and base plates or character plates from Figure 9 to each other. [Figure 12] An exploded perspective view of an example of a known acrylic stand. [Figure 13] Figure 12 shows a perspective view of the acrylic stand assembled from its parts (base plate and character plate). [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0018] Prior to describing embodiments of the present invention, typical examples of known acrylic stands will be explained with reference to Figures 12 and 13.

[0019] The known acrylic stand AS shown in Figures 12 and 13 consists, as an example, of a character plate CP that is roughly rectangular when viewed from the front, and a base plate BP that is rectangular in plan view and supports the character plate CP in an upright position.

[0020] Both the character plate (CP) and the base plate (BP) are formed by laser cutting a 3mm thick transparent acrylic sheet, for example. The size and shape of these plates (CP and BP) are arbitrary and vary widely. Furthermore, the thickness of the acrylic sheet is not limited to 3mm.

[0021] Character Plates (CP) feature characters such as anime protagonists, as well as various other things like people, animals, plants, minerals, landscapes, and buildings, displayed on the plate surface through printing, engraving, or other methods.

[0022] In the conventional acrylic stand AS shown in Figures 12 and 13, a relatively wide, downward-facing convex portion Cp-1 is formed on the lower edge of the character plate CP for connection with the base plate BP, while a horizontal slit-shaped connecting hole Bp-1 is formed approximately in the center of the base plate BP, allowing the convex portion Cp-1 to be tightly and loosely fitted. By fitting the convex portion Cp-1 of the character plate CP into the connecting hole Bp-1 of the base plate BP, the acrylic stand AS shown in Figure 13 is constructed.

[0023] To facilitate understanding, an embodiment of this invention will be explained first with reference to Figures 1 to 6, using a known acrylic stand AS as shown in Figures 12 and 13, with the improvements made according to this invention added to the character plate CP.

[0024] In the character plate CP of Figure 1, two downward-facing convex pieces 1 and 2, which are modified versions of the convex portion Cp-1 of Figure 12, are formed on the lower edge with a gap 3 between them.

[0025] On the other hand, in the character plate CP shown in Figure 1, an upward-facing convex portion 4 is formed on the upper edge.

[0026] The character plate CP in Figure 1 has two convex pieces 1 and 2 with a gap 3 between them at the bottom edge, and the vertical width h and horizontal width w of the upward-facing convex portion 4 at the top edge have the relationship shown in Figure 2.

[0027] That is, the left-right width w of the two convex pieces 1 and 2 and the left-right width w2 of the gap 3 between the convex pieces 1 and 2 are the same (w1=w2). On the other hand, the left-right width w3 of the upward convex part 4 on the upper edge is the same as the left-right width (w1=w2) (w3=w1=w2), and furthermore, the height h of the downward convex pieces 1 and 2 (= the same as the depth of the gap 3) is the same as the height h2 of the upward convex part 4.

[0028] In Figure 1, the base plate BP has a slit-shaped lateral connecting hole 5 formed therein, which has the same left-right width (w4) as the outer width (w1+w2+w1) of the two downward-facing convex pieces 1 and 2, including the gap 3.

[0029] When the base plate BP and character plate CP in Figure 1 are assembled by fitting the two convex pieces 1 and 2 of the character plate CP, including the gap 3, into the connecting hole 5 of the base plate BP, the convex pieces 1 and 2 and the gap 3 between them are arranged inside the base plate BP.

[0030] Therefore, when another acrylic stand AS-2, which has the same configuration as acrylic stand AS-1, is placed above one acrylic stand AS-1, the convex part 4 on top of the lower acrylic stand AS-1 fits perfectly into the gap 3 located in the connecting hole 5 of the base plate BP of the upper acrylic stand AS-2, thus forming the linked acrylic stand Cas according to the present invention, which is stacked in two layers, upper and lower, as shown in Figure 3.

[0031] The vertically connected acrylic stand Cas of this invention can also be constructed with a different joining structure than the example in Figures 1 to 3, as shown in the parts configurations in Figures 4 to 6, which will be explained below.

[0032] In the alternative vertical connection configuration shown in Figures 4 to 6, the connection holes 5 of the base plate BP are the same as in Figures 1 to 3, but the shapes of the upper and lower convex portions 11 and 12 formed on the upper and lower edges of the character plate CP are different.

[0033] That is, in the examples of Figures 4 to 6, the downward-facing convex portion 11 and the upward-facing convex portion 12 formed on the upper and lower edges of the character plate CP are separated by a gap 3 in the example of Figures 1 to 3. The upper and lower convex portions 11 and 12 are formed on the two convex pieces 1 and 2, which have the same left-right width w5 as the outer left-right width w4 (2 × w1 + w2 = w4).

[0034] Furthermore, the vertical width of the convex portions 11 and 12 is formed to be half (1 / 2h) of the thickness h of the base plate BP (depth h of the connecting hole 5). Therefore, the downward-facing convex portion 11 of one acrylic stand AS-1 is joined with an insertion amount of 1 / 2h relative to the depth h of the joining hole 5.

[0035] As described above, two acrylic stands AS-3 and AS-4, each with a character plate CP attached to a base plate BP and erected, are joined together. When the upper acrylic stand AS-4 is placed on top of the lower acrylic stand AS-3, the convex portion 12 on top of the lower acrylic stand AS-3 fits into the joining hole 5 of the base plate BP of the upper acrylic stand AS-4, and the two acrylic stands AS-3 and AS-4 are stacked and joined vertically, forming the connected acrylic stand Cas shown in Figure 6.

[0036] The above description presented two examples of linked acrylic stand Cas, where acrylic stand AS (AS-1 to AS-4) are stacked and connected vertically. However, in this invention, the vertically connected acrylic stand Cas can also be connected horizontally.

[0037] Acrylic stands Cas connected vertically can be connected horizontally to each other by a connection mechanism that allows them to be joined or connected using interlocking grooves formed on the left and right sides of the base plate BP.

[0038] Figure 7 shows four horizontally elongated, roughly rectangular base plates BP-1 to BP-4, each with a concave portion 13 on the left and right sides, and a convex portion 14 that can be joined or connected to the concave portion 13 by fitting or the like, forming a connecting portion. Three base plates BP-1 to BP-3 are joined together in a horizontal row. Character plates CP are assumed to be attached to each of these base plates BP-1 to BP-4, although these are not shown in the figure.

[0039] Figure 8 shows an example where the connecting portions formed by the concave portion 15 and convex portion 16 on the left and right sides of six base plates BP-5 to BP-10 are joined at the connecting portions of the concave portion 15 and convex portion 16 of adjacent base plates BP-5 to BP-10, and the entire arrangement of the six joined base plates BP-5 to BP-10 is formed to form an annular shape. BP-11 is also a base plate.

[0040] As an application type of the linked acrylic stand of the present invention described above, there are also examples of linked acrylic stands shown in Figures 9 to 11, which will be described below.

[0041] In the applied type acrylic stand shown in Figures 9 to 11, the base plate BP and the character plate CP are both formed from square or rectangular acrylic plates of the same size, and each of the four sides of plates BP and CP is provided with connecting recesses 31 and connecting protrusions 41 of the same size and shape on the top and bottom edges and the left and right edges, respectively.

[0042] In Figures 9 and 10, the recesses 31 for joining the base plate BP and the character plate CP are provided with a shape (shape and size) that allows them to be tightly joined to the corresponding protrusions 41 in a male-female (male-female) coupling relationship. Furthermore, in order to achieve the exact same coupling relationship as the recesses 31, all the protrusions 41 on the base plate BP and the character plate CP are provided with a shape that allows them to be tightly joined to the recesses 31.

[0043] The base plate BP and character plate CP, illustrated in Figure 9, have the recesses 31 and protrusions 41 formed on the outer circumference of all four sides. By fitting the protrusion 41 on the upper side of the horizontally placed base plate BP into the recess 31 on the lower side of the vertically positioned character plate CP, an acrylic stand AS-5 (hereinafter also referred to as the first acrylic stand) exhibiting an L-shape in side view, as shown in Figure 10, can be constructed.

[0044] In Figure 10, the first acrylic stand AS-5 appears L-shaped when viewed from the side, with the base plate BP and character plate CP forming an L-shape. However, on the three outer edges excluding the joint between the two plates BP and CP, identical recesses 31 and protrusions 41 are symmetrically positioned. Therefore, if another acrylic stand (not shown), which combines a second base plate and a second character plate with the same configuration as the plates constituting the first acrylic stand AS-5, is connected to the first acrylic stand AS-5 at the second base plate BP and to the corresponding recesses 31 and protrusions 41 on the upper edge of the character plate CP of the first acrylic stand AS-5, a connected acrylic stand that appears square-shaped when viewed from the side (not shown) can be constructed.

[0045] Next, with respect to the first acrylic stand AS-5 as shown in Figure 10, if a separate acrylic stand (not shown) for connecting, consisting of a second base plate and a second character plate identical to the base plate BP and character plate CP that constitute the first acrylic stand, is connected to the corresponding recess 31 and protrusion 41 in a horizontal position (L-shaped when viewed from above), a connected acrylic stand (not shown) can be constructed that is horizontally U-shaped and forms part of a box.

[0046] In Figures 4 and 10, the base plate BP and character plate CP have identical recesses 31 and protrusions 41 formed on their outer circumference. Therefore, by laser cutting an acrylic sheet, two types of plates with the same shape (base plate BP including the second base plate and character plate CP including the second character plate) can be formed. Thus, if six plates of the same shape are prepared, when the six plates are arranged in a cube shape, all corresponding recesses 31 and protrusions 41 can be fitted together to form a connected acrylic stand in which the six plates are joined in a cube shape (the cube-shaped acrylic stand on the left in Figure 11(a)).

[0047] Although a detailed explanation is omitted here, the base plate BP and character plate CP shown in Figure 9 are equipped with recesses 31 and protrusions 41 on all four sides in the same arrangement. Therefore, by using multiple plates BP and CP, it is possible to form a connected acrylic stand in a configuration different from the connected configuration described above.

[0048] In this invention, instead of the square base plate BP and character plate CP described above, there are rectangular base plate BP and rectangular character plate CP (not shown) which are both made of rectangular acrylic plates of the same size, and, as with the square plates, have connecting recesses and protrusions of the same size and shape formed on the top and bottom edges and the left and right edges. Incidentally, rectangular base plates BP and rectangular character plates CP are formed to be twice the size (length) in the horizontal direction (left-right direction) of the square base plate BP and square character plate CP shown in Figure 9. Furthermore, it is preferable that the rectangular base plate BP and rectangular character plate CP are rectangles whose horizontal or vertical dimensions are integer multiples of the square base plate BP and square character plate CP, respectively, so that they can be used in combination with the square base plate BP and square character plate CP to assemble into a connectable acrylic stand.

[0049] The rectangular base plate BP and rectangular character plate CP described above can be combined with the first acrylic stand, which is assembled in an L-shape in side view, to form a connected acrylic stand that is square in side view. This is the same as the connected configuration using the square base plate BP and square character plate CP shown in Figures 9 and 10.

[0050] When two rectangular acrylic stands, one made of a rectangular base plate BP and the other of a rectangular character plate CP, are joined together, a rectangular acrylic stand with a square shape in side view is formed. However, by joining a square base plate BP or a square character plate CP, as shown in Figure 9, to the square opening of the rectangular acrylic stand with a square shape in side view, a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped acrylic stand can be constructed.

[0051] When the rectangular base plate BP and the rectangular character plate CP are assembled into the shape of the first acrylic stand made of a rectangular plate in the shape of an L in side view as shown in Figure 10 (not shown), the acrylic stand AS-5 assembled from the square base plate BP and the square character plate CP shown in Figure 10 can be connected to the acrylic stand made of a rectangular plate assembled from the rectangular base plate BP and the rectangular character plate CP (not shown) in the shape of a square in side view.

[0052] As described above, this invention allows for the creation of vertically connected acrylic stands, and enables the horizontal connection of vertically connected acrylic stands, as well as the ability to attach a base plate or character plate to an L-shaped acrylic stand to form a cubic or rectangular prism-shaped connected acrylic stand. This makes it possible to freely develop novel display forms and diverse exhibition formats using acrylic stands that were not possible with conventional products. [Explanation of symbols]

[0053] Cas The linked acrylic stand of this invention AS-1~AS-5 Acrylic stand used in this invention CP Character Plate BP base plate 1,2 Convex piece on the lower edge of character plate CP 3. The gap between the convex pieces 1 and 2 4. Convex portion on the upper edge of the character plate CP 31 Recess for joining 41 Convex part for connection

Claims

1. An acrylic stand comprising a base plate of an appropriate shape including a rectangle when viewed from above, and a character plate that is rectangular when viewed from the front and displays an appropriate character which is connected to the base plate in a concave-concave relationship, wherein the character plate has upper and lower convex portions on its lower and upper edges which are connected to the base plate, and the base plate has slit-shaped connecting holes or notched recess portions into which the upper and lower convex portions of the character plate can be fitted.

2. The connecting acrylic stand according to claim 1, wherein the lower convex portion of the character plate is formed by two convex pieces separated by a concave gap the same size as the left-right width of the upper convex portion.

3. The connecting acrylic stand according to claim 1, wherein the two convex pieces are provided on the lower edge of the character plate in a symmetrical positional relationship.

4. The connecting acrylic stand according to claim 1, wherein the upper convex portion formed on the upper edge of the character plate is formed to a width that allows it to fit into and connect with the concave gap formed by the two convex pieces formed on the lower edge of the character plate.

5. The connecting acrylic stand according to claim 1, wherein the base plate has a horizontally elongated slit-shaped connecting hole into which the lower convex portion of the character plate is tightly and loosely fitted.

6. The connecting acrylic stand according to claim 1, wherein the size of the connecting hole in the base plate (width left to right and height up to left) is such that the height up to left is such that the thickness of the character plate can be tightly and loosely fitted, and the width left to right is the same as the width left to right of the two convex pieces formed on the lower edge of the character plate with a gap in between.

7. A connectable acrylic stand according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the left and right sides of the base plate are formed with connecting parts that can be joined or connected in a concave-concave relationship in order to connect the connectable acrylic stands to each other in the left-right direction at the left and right sides of the base plate.

8. An acrylic stand comprising a rectangular base plate including a square or rectangle and a rectangular character plate of the same shape, wherein each of the four sides of the base plate and character plate is provided with connecting protrusions and connecting recesses on each side, and the first acrylic stand is assembled by connecting the connecting protrusions of the character plate, which is in the same shape as the base plate and is in the vertical position, to the connecting recesses of the base plate, which is in the horizontal position; and a connecting type acrylic stand comprising at least two second base plates and second character plates, each having the same configuration as the base plate and character plate that constitute the first acrylic stand, wherein at least one other acrylic stand is connected to the first acrylic stand, which is assembled by connecting the second base plates and second character plates.

9. The first acrylic stand is constructed by joining a rectangular base plate and a rectangular character plate, the second base plate and the second character plate are rectangular or square, and the acrylic stand comprises multiple rectangular second base plates and rectangular second character plates, and multiple square second base plates and square second character plates, and the acrylic stand selectively connects to the first acrylic stand at least one other acrylic stand assembled by joining the rectangular or square second base plate and the rectangular or square second character plate.

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