Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47F—SPECIAL FURNITURE, FITTINGS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR SHOPS, STOREHOUSES, BARS, RESTAURANTS OR THE LIKE; PAYING COUNTERS
  • A47F1/00—Racks for dispensing merchandise; Containers for dispensing merchandise
  • A47F1/04—Racks or containers with arrangements for dispensing articles, e.g. by means of gravity or springs
  • A47F1/12—Racks or containers with arrangements for dispensing articles, e.g. by means of gravity or springs dispensing from the side of an approximately horizontal stack

Definitions

• This invention relates to glides, and more particularly to retail display glides for holding a number of beverage containers.
• glides There are a wide variety of devices for storing, displaying, and dispensing products such as individual beverage containers.
• a broad genus of such devices are known as glides.
• Such glides confine the good to discrete lanes (often designated rows or columns), typically arrayed extending front-to-back in a refrigerator, display case, or shelf unit.
• Many such glides are configured or mounted so that the glide base surface supporting the goods inclines from front to back to allow a back-to-front gravity feed.
• U.S. Pat. No. Des. 275058 discloses one basic glide.
• the glide has a given footprint on the associated shelf or other support surface.
• U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,337 identifies a glide having front and rear portions which slidingly interfit to permit adjustment of the front-to-back length of the glide.
• U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,739 discloses a glide in which a rear portion is disjointably coupled to a front portion to permit size adjustment by the addition or removal thereof.
• U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,025 discloses a stackable glide system wherein outboard lanes may be severed from the glide to narrow it.
• U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,256 discloses a system wherein individual lane-defining members may be secured side-by-side to form a composite glide.
• the assignee of that patent is believed to make one-piece members which define multiple (e.g., three) lanes.
• BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention is directed to a glide apparatus for holding a number or group of items.
• a base has front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface for supporting the items, and a bottom surface.
• At least some of a number of wall members are removably installable on the base, extending front-to-back so as to cooperate with the base to define a number of channels. Each channel is dimensioned for accommodating an associated front-to-back column of the items.
• a front member is installable to the base and to the installed wall members to bound forward extremities of the channels.
• the base may comprise a molded plastic primary base member or piece and at least one molded plastic auxiliary base member or piece, removably assembled side-by-side.
• the front member may comprise a molded plastic primary front member and at least one molded plastic auxiliary front member, removably assembled side-by-side.
• the items may be beverage containers such as plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.
• the front member may be first front member, including a number of wall member-engaging features at substantially a first pitch. The first pitch may define an associated pitch of the channels.
• a second front member may be provided having similar wall member-engaging features spaced at a substantially different second pitch.
• the installed wall members may be removable and reinstallable so as to engage the features of the second front member and define a second group of channels for accommodating a second group of containers having a substantially different diameter than the first group.
• Each auxiliary front member may include one of the wall member-engaging features along a first side thereof.
• the auxiliary front members may front a group of the channels at a different pitch from those front members fronted by the primary front member.
• Each wall member may include top, bottom, front, and rear edges. At least two forward-directed fingers may depend from the bottom edge.
• the wall members may be installable on the base by inserting such fingers downward through associated slots in the base and shifting the wall members forward so that an upper surface of each finger engages the bottom surface of the base.
• each wall member may include a vertically-extending projection engageable via vertical translation to a complementary channel in the front member.
• the front member when installed to the base and to the installed wall members, may have surfaces cooperating with complementary surfaces of the base. This cooperation may prevent a rearward shift of the installed wall members so as to prevent removal of the installed wall members unless the front member is at least partially disinstalled via vertical translation.
• the front member may include a number of apertures, each aperture associated with one of the channels and effective to allow at least partial viewing of a lead item in the associated column of the associated channel.
• the invention is directed to a kit for forming a retail display glide apparatus for holding a number of containers.
• the kit includes a primary base member and a number of auxiliary base members each having a width substantially less than a width of the primary base member and configured to be selectively assembled with the primary base member in a side-by-side configuration to form a glide base. At least some of a number of wall members are selectively installable in the base extending front-to-back so as to cooperate with the base to define a number of channels, each channel for accommodating the associated front-to-back column of the containers. Wall members are so installable alternatively in at least two sets of positions corresponding to two different nominal channel widths. At least two front member assembly kits are respectively associated with the channel widths.
• Each front member assembly kit mcludes a primary front member and a number of auxiliary front members configured to be selectively assembled with the primary front member to form a front member assembly.
• the front member assembly is attachable to the base and to the installed wall members so as to bound forward extremities of the channels.
• each front member assembly along back surfaces of its primary and auxiliary front members, may include a number of concave surface portions respectively aligned with the channels for accommodating the front container in each associated column.
• the primary and auxiliary base members may each be single pieces of molded plastic including a number of pairs of front and back longitudinal slots.
• Each wall member may be a single piece of molded plastic and have a plurality of holes inboard of its edges.
• a pair of front and back forward-projecting fingers may depend from the bottom edge and be insertable through an associated pair of the slots to interlock the wall member to the glide base via a subsequent forward translation of the wall member.
• the wall members may also include a vertically-extending projection along the front edge.
• Each front member assembly may include a number of vertically-extending channels complementary to the vertically-extending projection to interlock the front member assembly with the installed wall members upon a relative vertical translation.
• the invention is directed to a front member for such a glide apparatus.
• FIG. 1 is a view of a glide according to principles of the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a top view of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 3 is a top view of a primary piece of a base of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 is a top view of an auxiliary piece of the base of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 5 is a left side view of the auxiliary piece of FIG. 4.
• FIG. 6 is a right side view of the auxiliary piece of FIG. 4.
• FIG. 7 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the primary base piece of FIG. 3.
• FIG. 8 is a right side view of a wall of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 9 is a front view of a primary piece of a front of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the primary front piece of FIG. 9, taken along line 10-10.
• FIGS. 11, 12, and 13 are top, bottom and right side views of the primary front piece of FIG. 9.
• FIG. 14 is a top view of an auxiliary front piece of the glide of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 15 is a longitudinal sectional view of the glide of FIG. 2 taken along line 15-15.
• FIG. 16 is a view of the glide of FIG. 1 showing front member pieces partially installed.
• FIG. 17 is a left side view of the glide of FIG. 1 showing a leftmost column of beverage containers in a leftmost lane.
• FIG. 18 is a front view of the glide of FIG. 1 showing the lead beverage containers in a plurality of columns of beverage containers.
• FIG. 19 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the primary base piece of FIG. 3.
• FIGS. 20-23 are partial semi-schematic top views of four different front members alternatively installed on a single base.
• FIG. 24 is a top sectional view of a relatively narrow front member piece.
• FIG. 25 is a top sectional view of an alternate front for the glide of FIG. 1.
• DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 shows an assembled glide 20 having a front 20A, a back 20B, a left side 20C, and a right side 20D (left and right are from the perspective of a user facing the glide front).
• the glide defines a plurality of side-by-side lanes from a leftmost lane 200A to a rightmost lane 200H. Each lane has a width and length effective to accommodate an associated front-to-back column of beverage containers.
• the glide comprises the separately- formed combination of a base 22, a front member 24, and a plurality of dividers or wall members (walls) 26.
• Each lane is formed as a generally right channel comprising the adjacent side surfaces of the adjacent walls and the adjacent portion of the upper surface of the base.
• the base 22 includes a primary member 28 and two auxiliary members 30 assembled side-by-side.
• the primary member 28 is substantially wider than the auxiliary members 30, which, in the exemplary embodiment, are identical to each other and are assembled together at the right side of the primary member 28.
• the ability to assemble one or more auxiliary base members to the primary base member allows the glide width to be adjusted to approximately correspond to the available width in the refrigerator or display case.
• FIG. 3 shows the primary base member 28 prior to assembly of the glide.
• the primary base member has front, back, left, and right ends 28A-28D.
• FIG. 4 shows the front, back, left, and right ends 30A-30D of one of the auxiliary base members 30.
• the left end or side 30C includes a pair of vertically-extending dovetail projections 32A and 32B, the faces of which are seen in the left side view of FIG. 5.
• the right sides 28D and 30D of the primary and auxiliary base members bear dovetail channels 34A and 34B (FIG. 6) complementary to the projections 32A and 32B, respectively.
• the primary base member may omit the projections 32A and 32B in an embodiment which allows auxiliary members to only be assembled to one side of the primary member.
• each base member is a single molded plastic piece having left and right sidewalls (35 A and 35B for primary base member 28 in FIG. 7), a plurality of front-to-back rails 36 (the upper surfaces of which support the containers) and a plurality of cross-members 38 spanning between the sidewalls and combining with the sidewalls and rails to form a grid of slot-like ventilation/drainage apertures 40.
• the channels 34A and 34B are formed as openings in the right sidewall of the unitary plastic (e.g., opaque medium impact styrene) molding forming the associated base member.
• Each base member further includes a rear wall 42, (FIG.
• each base member includes a front wall 44 (FIG. 4) shorter than the remainder of the base member (FIG. 5) so that its upper extremity is recessed below the upper surfaces of the rails as described in further detail below.
• each base member may have one or more upward-directed recesses for capturing a lip along the front edge of a shelf to retain the glide on the shelf.
• downward-directed projections may be provided to engage the elements of a wire shelf or engage mating features of other shelving. This can provide a desired front-to-back location of the glide on the shelf.
• the primary base member includes a number of additional longitudinal structural walls 45 at approximately regular transverse intervals and approximately vertically coextensive with the sidewalls 35A and 35B.
• the walls 45 also serve as rails, each wall 45 in place of an associated vertically shorter rail 36 at the particular transverse location.
• a relatively narrow auxiliary base member may have sufficient strength in the absence of such walls 45.
• the base members have an overall length of approximately 26 inches (66 cm), a height at the rail upper surface of approximately 0.6 inches (1.5 cm), a rear wall height of approximately 1.0 inches (2.5 cm), and a rail height of approximately 0.3 inches (0.7 cm).
• the exemplary primary base member width is approximately 21.45 inches (54.5 cm) and the auxiliary base member width is approximately 3.51 inches (8.92 cm).
• FIG. 8 shows features of a wall 26.
• the wall 26 includes front, back, top, and bottom edges 26A-26D and left and right side surfaces.
• the wall features an array of ventilation apertures 50 permitting airflow between the lanes.
• a plurality of projections 52 and 54 depend from the bottom edge. At least some of the projections (e.g., the projections 52) include forward directed fingers 56 having an upper surface 58 spaced apart from and facing the bottom edge 26D.
• the wall includes a vertically-extending dovetail projection 60.
• the wall is of a height sufficient to maintain the containers within their respective lanes. To achieve this, the height is advantageously sufficient so that the top edge 26C is near or above the center of gravity of the containers in the adjacent one or two lanes.
• the wall may have an exemplary height of 5.0 inches (13 cm) which is advantageous for relatively tall containers such as one-liter plastic carbonated beverage bottles and thirty-two-oz. (946 ml) glass juice bottles. This height facilitates a three row high array of one inch diameter ventilation apertures. For twelve-oz. (355 ml) cans, a 3.5 inch (9 cm) high wall with two rows of such apertures is a possibility.
• Each wall is advantageously molded as a single plastic piece (e.g., of opaque or translucent polypropylene).
• the illustrated wall may have an effective height of approximately 3.9 inches (10 cm) at its front, stepping down to approximately 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) at its back in a material-saving compromise.
• the front member 24 includes a primary member 70 and a number of auxiliary members 72 assembled side-by-side.
• each of the members 70 and 72 is formed as a single molded plastic piece (e.g., of transparent polycarbonate).
• the front member includes a plurality of vertically-extending dovetail channels 74 complementary to the projections 60 of the walls 26.
• the front member 24 defines the forward extremities of the lanes, having a slightly sub-semicircular floor portion 76 associated with each lane and having an upper surface substantially coplanar with the upper surface of the base when assembled. This coplanar or flush assembly is facilitated by allowing an aft extremity of the floor portion 76 to be accommodated by the vertical recess at the front wall 44 (FIG 5).
• FIG. 9 shows further details of the front member with respect to its primary piece 70.
• the location of the top of the front member is preferably at a height sufficiently near or above the center of gravity of the beverage containers so that the lead container in the lane will not fall over the front member (especially if the glide is positioned with a rear-to-front decline).
• the aperture 80 is advantageously sized to allow viewing of a substantial portion of any label or graphic on the lead container.
• the inner surface 84 of the wall 78 has a radius of curvature approximately equal to but preferably slightly greater than the maximum radius of the container which the particular front member is designed to accommodate in the associated lane.
• each of the pieces 70 and 72 includes a single vertically-extending, forward-facing, dovetail channel 90 (FIGS. 11, 12 and 14).
• each auxiliary piece 72 includes a single, vertically-extending, rearward-facing, dovetail projection 92 (FIG. 14), complementary to the channels 90.
• the primary and auxiliary base members are assembled to each other by mating the projections 32A and 32B of each such member with the channels 34A and 34B of the member to its left by a relative downward vertical movement of the left member relative to the right.
• the projections 32A and 32B and channels 34A and 34B may be provided with a slight bottom-to-top taper.
• the walls are then advantageously installed. To do this, the necessary number of walls (for the base width and desired lane width) are aligned at the appropriate pitch for the desired lane width and lowered so that their projections 52 and 54 pass into associated ones of the slots 40. When this is done, each wall is then shifted forward to an installed position (FIG.
• each auxiliary base piece has a single aperture 104 while, for structural integrity of its front wall portion, the primary base piece has a number of apertures 104 separated by the walls 45.
• each projection 100 is associated with a pair of projections 102 on either of its sides, there being just one set of three such projections on each auxiliary front member but a plurality on the primary front member.
• each projection 100 along its lower extremity, has a forward directed barb 106 (FIG. 13) for engaging a complementary groove in the aft surface of the associated base piece front wall to serve as a detent holding the front member in its installed position.
• a forward directed barb 106 FIG. 13
• interaction of the projection with the aft surface of the apertures 104 prevents rearward translation of the walls 26 (which are locked to the front member via cooperation of their associated dovetail projections 60 and channels 74) from the installed position. Since the walls can't be shifted to their rear position, they can't be removed until the front member is at least partially removed via upward translation.
• the projections 100 and 102 are replaced by longitudinally-extending rib-like projections dimensioned to fit within the apertures 104.
• such projections could be placed at an even pitch (e.g., to engage every third aperture 104), with the first projection associated with the leftmost front member and engaging the leftmost aperture.
• a maximal kit When distributed as a kit, a maximal kit would include a primary base member and sufficient auxiliary base members to form a base of the maximum anticipated width.
• the kit would include one or more front member kits, each for a different size container and including a primary front member and sufficient auxiliary front members for the maximum anticipated width.
• the kit would further include sufficient wall members (of one or more heights) as may be warranted by the various front member kits.
• front member pieces dimensioned for such different size containers e.g., a primary front member piece dimensioned for twelve-oz. (355 ml) cans with secondary pieces dimensioned for sixteen-oz. (473 ml) bottles).
• the base members and walls are molded in maximum anticipated lengths which define the maximum glide depth. Where such depth is unavailable in the refrigerator, the glide may be shortened.
• the base member sidewalls and any intermediate structural walls 45 are provided with upward-directed reliefs 110 at a plurality of locations along the length of the base member.
• each wall 26 includes a relief 112 extending vertically along at least one of the wall side surfaces. The user may apply torque at the reliefs 110 and 112 so as to break off one or more rear lengths of the base members and walls at preferential yield zones defined by those reliefs. In such a way, the depth of the glide can be shortened to accommodate the available refrigerator depth.
• the system may be made expandable front-to-back as it is expandable side-to-side.
• the base members may have a rear wall which does not protrude above the surfaces defining the associated lanes.
• the rear wall may include interengagement features such as dovetail projections or channels engageable with complementary features in the front wall of an extension member.
• the extension members may be provided in the same width as the existing base members or in other appropriate widths. For example, one extension member may span multiple of the existing base members. When so extended front-to-back, correspondingly longer dividers 26 may be utilized or auxiliary dividers may be provided to effectively extend the dividers 26.
• FIGS. 20-23 are partial semi-schematic top views of front members associated with four different container diameters all on a single width of base (formed by a primary piece and two auxiliary pieces). All utilize the standard base identified above.
• FIG. 20 shows an embodiment suitable for twelve-oz. (355 ml) soft drink cans having a seven-lane primary front piece and three one-lane auxiliary members.
• FIG. 21 shows a sixteen/twenty-oz.
• FIG. 22 shows a one- liter plastic carbonated beverage bottle embodiment having a six-lane primary member and two one-lane auxiliary members.
• FIG. 23 shows a thirty-two-oz. (946 ml) fruit drink bottle embodiment having a five-lane primary member and two one-lane auxiliary members.
• the primary front member has a width associated with the maximum number of lanes available on the primary base member. The next lane over, fronted by the first auxiliary front member, overlaps the seam or junction between the primary base member and first auxiliary base member.
• one of the additional auxiliary front members overlaps each additional seam/junction between auxiliary base members.
• a narrower primary front member may be used (e.g., a three-lane embodiment for sixteen/twenty-oz. (473/591 ml) plastic carbonated beverage bottles as shown in FIG. 24) allowing multiple front member pieces to be used within the width of the primary base member.
• FIG. 25 shows an alternate front member which may be largely similar to the previously-identified front members. A key difference is that the primary front member is equipped with interengagement features similar to the previously identified auxiliary front members so as to allow auxiliary front members to be added to either side of the primary front member.
• the primary front member can include the same channels 74 and 90 previously described for the primary and auxiliary front members.
• the second side includes a projection 92 similar to that previously noted only for the auxiliary front members.
• one auxiliary front member is thus attached to the right of the primary front member and one is attached to the left of the primary front member.
• an adapter 120 is included having a first vertically extending dovetail channel 122 for engaging the projection 92 at the extreme second side of the assembled front member.
• the adapter includes a second channel 124 dimensioned and positioned to engage the projection 60 of the wall member at the second (left as illustrated) side of the plurality of walls 26.

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• Packages (AREA)
• Photoreceptors In Electrophotography (AREA)
• Liquid Crystal Substances (AREA)
• Support Devices For Sliding Doors (AREA)
• Packaging Of Annular Or Rod-Shaped Articles, Wearing Apparel, Cassettes, Or The Like (AREA)
• Glass Compositions (AREA)
• Lubricants (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

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Family

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Citations (3)

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• 2000
  • 2000-12-08 WO PCT/US2000/033248 patent/WO2001041603A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-12-08 DE DE60029622T patent/DE60029622D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-08 EP EP00982516A patent/EP1239757B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-08 AT AT00982516T patent/ATE333822T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-12-08 AU AU19538/01A patent/AU1953801A/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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