GB2088334A - Adjustable-sized tray for merchandise - Google Patents

Abstract

A tray for merchandise has at least two parts which slidably interengage so that the width of the tray can be adjusted. Preferably two side sections 22, 24 are slidably adjustable relative to a central section 10 by the cooperation of spigots 18 of the central section 10 with slots 30 formed in the side sections 22, 24. Corner blocks 36 are provided with blind holes 38 for receiving rods for separating and locating adjacent trays in a stack. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tray for merchandise This invention relates to a tray for merchandise, for example to contain a consumer product within an allocated space on a display shelf.

Hitherto, it has been necessary to manufacture a great variety of sizes of such trays so that the correct size of tray can be used for any given product without wastage of shelf space. This involves separate tooling up for each size of tray, making manufacture and subsequent marketing of the trays complex and expensive. Once the trays have been designated for respective products on a shelf, it is difficult if not impossible to interchange them or re-arrange them on the shelf or use them for a different set of products whilst still making full use of shelf space. A further difficulty with these trays may be encountered where products of different height are to be arranged on the same shelf. If the shelf is one of a number positioned one above the other, as in most help-yourself stores, there may be a gap between the goods of lower height on one shelf and the next shelf above them.This gap constitutes valuable shelf space which is not being utilized.

An aim of the present invention is to obviate one or more of these problems.

In one of its aspects, therefore, the present invention is directed to a tray for merchandise having at least two parts which slidably interengage so that the width of the tray can be adjusted. Preferably, the tray has three parts; a centre section and two side sections which slidably interengage with opposite sides of the centre section. This affords the advantage of symmetry in the support surface for the merchandise.

The interengagement between two tray sections may be by spigots on one part extending into or through slots on the other part, or by fingers on one section sliding in locating elements on the other section. One very useful interengagement is by interdigitating fingers extending from the two sections This affords the possibility of having the two upper surfaces of those sections flush with one another.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a tray for merchandising having parts which are adapted to allow several such trays to be stacked one above the other with various different vertical spacings. The parts may be blocks into each of which vertically-extending upper and lower blind holes have been formed or drilled. This allows rods to be inserted into the upper holes of one tray so that another tray can sit over the first supported by the rods which extend into the lower holes of the upper tray. An advantage of this system is that the rods, having a uniform cross-section throughout their length, can be cut to any desired length, for a corresponding vertical spacing between trays, without damaging the ability of the cut length to be inserted into the blind holes.The rods may be made of fibreglass material or metal or injection or extrusion moulded plastics material, with a good strength-todiameter ratio and a good strength-to-weight ratio. The cross-section of the rods and the holes would be the same, and may be circular, square, an L-angled corner section, or a section of some other simple shape.

A tray may be made which has parts allowing difference vertical spacings and which also has an adjustable width.

In a further aspect of this invention, it provides a tray from which extends a support frame having one or more prongs from which goods may be suspended. This allows the same tray to hold one set of goods supported from underneath by the base of the tray, and another set of goods to be positioned directly above the first set by suspension from the prongs.

Ideally the frame is constructed from wire rod.

If the tray has blocks with blind holes as already described for stacking the trays, it can then be used in the stacking mode or fitted with the support frame, or in both of these ways if it is positioned at the top of a stack of trays. In this case, the wire rod of the frame would have the same cross-section as the blind holes.

One tray may be made which embodies all the foregoing aspects of the present invention.

Examples of trays constructed in accordance with the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of one example; Figure 2 is a perspective underneath view of a central section of the tray shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view from one side showing how a side of the tray may be adapted to extend a side wall vertically; Figure 4 is a perspective view showing how a number of trays like that shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be stacked one above the other; Figure 5 is a perspective view from above and one side of another example having a support frame with suspension prongs; Figure 6 is a perspective view of shelves supporting merchandise, demonstrating how trays made in accordance with the present invention can save space;; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a further example of a tray having an adjustable rear section; Figure 8 is a view from above of a different slidable interengagement between a centre section and a side or rear section of a tray, and Figure 8a shows a cross-section through one possible construction for the slidable interengagement of the sections of the tray shown in Figure 8.

An injection moulded central section 10 of the tray shown in Figures 1 and 2, which is made of transparent Perspex (Registered Trade Mark), acrylic or other synthetic plastics material, comprises a horizontal rectangular base plate 12, an elongate front wall 14 and an elongate rear wall 1 6. The front and rear walls are formed as part of the injection moulding along the shorter ends of the base plate 12 respectively. Preferably, the wall extends above the base plate 12 more than it extends below it when the tray is lying flat on a shelf or other support surface. The rear wall 1 6 extends along the whole of the rear edge of the base plate 12 and slightly beyond the ends of that edge, while the front wall 4 stops short of both ends of the front edge of the base plate 12.

Four spigots 1 8 moulded integrally with the base plate 12 extend downwardly therefrom. Two of them are positioned inwardly from one side of the base plate 12, and the other two are positioned inwardly from the other side of the base plate symmetrically in relation to the first two.

Four guide pieces 20 are formed as part of the injection moulding on the lower inside surfaces of the front and rear walls 14 and 1 6 at positions immediately below the four corners of the base plate 12, spaced from the latter by an amount just greater than the thickness of the plastics base plate.

Two injection moulded side sections 22 and 24, which are mirror images of one another, each comprise a side plate 26 and a side wall 28. The side wall 28 is elongate, extending along the whole length of the side plate 26, and slightly beyond the front end thereof. It has a height equal to that of the front and rear walls 14 and 16, and is injection moulded with the side plate 26 along an outer edge thereof.Two elongate through-slots 30 in the side plate 26 extend at right angles to the side wall 28 and are in register with the spigots 1 8. Thus each side section can be snapped onto the central section 10 with the side plates 26 overlapping the base plate 12 so that the upper surfaces of the side plates 26 are in contact with the lower surfaces of the base plate 12, with front and rear ends of the side plates 26 positioned between the ends of the base plate 12 and the guide pieces 20, and with the spigots 1 8 extending through the slots 30 and projecting below the side plates 26. Starlock (Registered Trade Mark) washers 32 pushed onto the projecting ends of the spigots 1 8 prevent disengagement between the slots 30 and the spigots 18.

It will be appreciated from this that the two side sections 22 and 24 can be slid towards one another and away from one another in the direction of the double-headed arrows in Figure 1, thereby to adjust the width of the tray.

The upper side edges 34 of the base plate 12 are chamfered or feathered to provide a smooth transition in the upper surface level from the base plate 1 2 to the side plate 26.

The inner edges of the side plates 26 have elongate L-sectioned strips 35 in-moulded on them. When the tray rests on a surface, the lower edges of the side walls 28, the front and rear walls 14 and 16 and the strips 35 all rest on the surface to give the tray full support.

Each end of each side wall 28 is provided with a block 36 into which are formed or drilled upper and lower blind holes or bores 38 which extend vertically when the tray is in use from upper and lower ends of the blocks respectively. The holes or bores 38 are of circular cross-section although they may alternatively be of square-section, L-angled corner section or a section of some other simple shape. Each block 36 which is at the front end of the tray is formed, as part of the injection moulded side section to which it belongs, on the inner surface of the portion of its side wall 28 which projects beyond the front end of the side plate 26. The fact that the front wall 14 does not extend all the way to the ends of the front edge of the base plate 12 gives room for the front blocks 36 when the side sections are fully pushed in.

The rear blocks 36 are formed at the rear ends of the side walls 28 via a side plate 40. This leaves a gap between each rear block 36 and the rear end of its side wall 28. The gaps accommodate the ends of the rear wall 1 6 when the side sections are fully pushed in. This arrangement affords the advantage of a longer rear wall 1 6 than would be possible with the arrangement used for the front blocks 36.

This tray may be provided with a divider 42 comprising a dividing wall 44, a clip or hook 46 at a rear end of the wall 4 which rests over the rear wall 16, and a pad 48 at the front end of the wall 44 which engages a groove 50 in the base plate 12. Alternatively, the groove may be formed in the inner surface of the front wall 14. The dividing wall may therefore be slid laterally to any desired position on the centre section 1 0.

Instead of the clip 46 and pad 48, the divider 42 may be formed with castellations at its front and rear ends to engage castellations formed along the inner surfaces of the front and rear walls 14 and 1 6 to locate the divider 42 at any position across the centre section 10.

A name plate may be adhered to the front surface of the front wall 14, or a channelled section 51 adapted to receive any selected name plate.

Each side wall 28 and the rear wall 1 6 may be provided with pairs of L-sectioned locating pieces 52 in-moulded adjacent to the upper edge of the wall as shown in Figure 3, to receive lugs 54 integrally moulded with or fixed onto a lower edge of a side or rear wall extension 56. Alternatively, the lugs may be on the side and rear walls and the locating pieces on the extensions.

The versatility of the tray is illustrated in Figures 4 to 6.

Figure 4 shows one tray seated over another by means of rods 58 made of fibreglass or other strong material. Each rod has one end inserted into the upper blind hole of a block 36 on the lower tray, and its other end inserted into the lower blind hole of corresponding block 36 on the upper tray. The rods have the same cross section the whole way along their length and the same cross section as the blind holes in the blocks 36. The rods 58 may therefore be cut to any length and still be used to set one tray above the other. This allows complete adjustability of the vertical spacing between two trays. It also allows a number of trays to be stacked one on top of the other. Figure 4 also shows how extensions 56 can be fitted onto the uppermost tray in the stack although it will be appreciated that extensions may be fitted to any or all trays in any given stack.

Instead of for stacking trays, the rear block 36 may be used to receive lower ends of a wire rod frame 60 as shown in Figure 5. The frame 60 extends upwardly from the tray and is essentially an inverted U-shape with a name or advertising plate 62 across the top of the frame and prongs 64 extending forwardly from the cross-piece of the frame 60. One set of goods may be contained in the tray, and another set suspended from the prongs, thus making use of more available space above the tray. A name plate or a channel section for receiving a name plate may be secured to the forward end of the tray, to extend below its underside, so that the tray is tilted backwards when rested on a table or shelf. This may obviate the need for a front wall on the tray, since the goods on display will be held adequately by a rear wall and side walls.

Figure 6 shows how a variety of products previously arranged on a shelf 64 may be arranged much more compactly as on shelf 66 so that upper regions of the space between the two shelves is not wasted. This is very important to a manufacturer or distributor if he is allocated a limited shelf space in a store. In the particular arrangement shown in Figure 6, a first tray 68 is adjusted to have a relatively narrow width to accommodate a first set of narrow tall packets 70.

The width of the tray can be adjusted precisely so that it is precisely an integral number of packet widths. This ensures no wastage of space laterally of the packets. Another tray 72 is arranged over the first using rods 58 of a length sufficient to leave adequate clearance from the tops of the packets 70 to allow them to be removed by customers, but no more. The tray 72 contains relatively short bottles 74 which fit between the tray 72 and the shelf 64. A third tray 76 is positioned immediately adjacent to tray 68, and is adjusted to have a width slightly wider than tray 68 to accommodate packets 78 which are wider than the packets 70 but shorter. A tray 80 can therefore be fitted over tray 76 with shorter rods, leaving more space between the tray 80 and the shelf 64 to give room for taller cartons 82.

Figure 7 shows an arrangement by which the tray may be adjusted in length by having a slidably adjustable rear section 84. This has a rear plate 86 and rear wall 88. Fingers 90 extend from a front edge of the rear plate 86 and are received by pairs of L-sectioned locating pieces 92 on the underside of the base plate 12. To allow for the possible width adjustment of the tray, the rear section 84 may have two corner sections 94 slidably engaging the rear section 84 by means of fingers 96 and pairs of L-sectioned locating pieces 98.

Another method of slidably engaging side and rear sections of the tray with the central section is illustrated in Figures 8 and 8a. The engagement is by fingers 100 of a side or rear section interdigitating with fingers 1 02 of the centre section. The width of all the fingers are the same or nearly so, so that neither the centre section nor a side or rear section has too large a gap between adjacent fingers, to minimise the risk of merchandise falling through the tray.

Figure 8a shows one possible cross section through the interdigitating fingers. It offers the advantage that the upper surfaces of the side and rear plates are flush with the upper surface of the base plate 12 of the central section. The finger sections are T-shaped with narrowed ends of the cross-portions of one set of fingers received in slots defined at the ends of the cross-portions of the other set of fingers. The engagement allows sliding without permitting upward or downward relative movement.

The tray sections may be formed with longitudinally extending slots or grooves, or holes or recesses of other form, to reduce the quantity of plastics material used, and also to reduce the weight of the tray, without unduly reducing the overall strength of the tray.

The side and rear wall extensions 56 shown in Figure 3 may be made much higher, as much as 12 inches (30.5 cms) high or more. These would be provided with clips at the rear corners to give support to the extensions in their upper regions. A transparent sheet, which may be a little shorter than the extensions, perhaps about 5 inches to 6 inches (12.8 cms to 15.3 cm), may be arranged across the front of the tray to stop goods spilling out thereat, and/or a portion may be arranged to extend across the front of and underneath the tray to tilt the tray rearwardly. A tray with such vertical extensions may then be used for tumbling goods which are small, irregular, or of changeable shape, such as stock cubes, shampoo sachets or bags of peanuts. A number of trays fitted with side and rear extensions for the tumbling mode may be stacked one above the other using rods as already described.

Instead of injection moulded synthetic plastics material, the tray could be made out of sheet metal, especially for heavy products, the sides of the sheet being bent to form side or rear walls.

Screws could be used as spigots. nuts in place of Starlock (Registered Trade Mark) washers, steel tubes instead of corner blocks and steel rods instead of fibreglass rods.

Many alternative constructions will readily occur to the reader skilled in the art, by which the various different advantages of the tray can be obtained. In particular, for the adjustability of its width, it would be possible to have only two sliding interengaging sections instead of two side sections and a centre section. The latter arrangement does afford the advantage, however, that a large central region of the tray can be free from through-holes or changes in level.

Claims (22)

1. A tray for merchandise having at least two parts which slidably interengage so that the width or depth of the tray can be adjusted.

2. A tray according to claim 1 , comprising a centre section and two side sections which slidably interengage with opposite sides of the centre section.

3. A tray according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the parts of the tray slidably interengage by means of interdigitating fingers extending from the engaging parts.

4. A tray according to claim 3, in which the upper surfaces of the interengaging parts are flush with one another.

5. A tray according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the interengaging parts engage one another by means of spigots on one part extending into or through slots or holes in or on the other part.

6. A tray according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the interengaging parts interengage one another by means of fingers on one part sliding in locating elements on the other part.

7. A tray according to any preceding claim, in which there are two parts which slidably interengage so that the depth of the tray can be adjusted as well as the width.

8. A tray for merchandise having parts which are adapted to allow several such trays to be stacked one above the other with various different vertical spacings.

9. A tray according to claim 8, in which the parts so adapted are at corners of the tray.

10. A tray according to claim 8 or 9, in which the parts so adapted are blocks into each of which vertically-extending upper and lower blind holes have been formed or drilled.

11. A tray assembly for merchandise, comprising at least two trays as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 10, and a plurality of rods of equal length, respective ends of which may be inserted into or otherwise attached to one of the trays, allowing the other tray or one of the other trays to be supported on the upper ends of those rods.

12. A tray assembly according to claim 11, in which the lower ends of the rods are inserted into the upper blind holes of the lower or lowermost tray, and the upper end of the rods are inserted into the lower blind holes of the tray above.

13. A tray assembly according to claim 12, in which the rods are of uniform cross-section throughout their length, so that they may be cut to any desired length, for a corresponding vertical spacing between trays, without damaging the ability of the cut length to be inserted at both ends into respective blind holes of the trays.

14. A tray assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 13, in which the rods comprise fibreglass material.

1 5. A tray assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 13, in which the rods comprise metal.

1 6. A tray assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 13. in which the rods comprise injections or extrusion moulded plastics material.

1 7. A tray assembly according to any one of claims 11 to 16, in which the rods are of circular cross-section.

18. A tray assembly for merchandise, comprising a tray, a support frame which may be supported by the tray, and one or more prongs, from which merchandise may be suspended, and which may be attached to the support frame.

1 9. An assembly according to claim 18, in which the frame comprises wire rods.

20. A tray or tray assembly having the features of any two or more of the preceding claims.

21. A tray substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 and 2, with or without the modifications shown in Figure 3, or with reference to Figure 7, or Figures 8 and 8a, of the accompanying drawings.

22. A tray assembly substantially as described herein with reference to any one of Figures 4 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.