GB2245155A

GB2245155A - Refrigerated service counter

Info

Publication number: GB2245155A
Application number: GB9106091A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Seppo Mannonen
Original assignee: Norpe Oy
Current assignee: Norpe Oy
Priority date: 1990-04-06
Filing date: 1991-03-22
Publication date: 1992-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 2011-03-22
Also published as: DE4110942A1; FI911238A0; FI88863B; SE503572C2; SE9100957D0; DE4110942C2; FI88863C; FI911238A; GB9106091D0; GB2245155B; SE9100957L

Description

Glass rack for refrigerated service counter The present invention relates to a glass rack in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 for a refrigerated counter.

Grocery stores conventionally use two kinds of refrigerated counters: service counters and self-service counters. In service counters the glass rack surrounding the refrigerated well is open on the staff side, while the customer side is lined with a full glass pane. The top of the glass rack forms a counter shelf, on which brochures, decoration and similar objects can be placed. In self-service counters the top of the refrigerated well is not generally covered by a glass panel, but instead, is open. Such a counter is typically placed in the store so as to make it possible for the customers to reach merchandise placed in the well at least from one long side of the well.

Due to increasing personnel costs, the number of staff operating at the service counters should desirably be variable according to the number of customers. Thus, the possibility of using a single refrigerated counter alternatively as a self-service counter and a service counter would be desirable. Today, the following types of convertible glass racks are employed in counters: glass racks with an upward rotatable front glass panel, glass racks with a removable front glass panel and glass racks with detachable upper glass shelving.

A rotatable front glass panel is pivotally mounted to the frame of the glass rack at its upper edge by means of hinges, and the glass rack can be opened so that the customer can reach the products by rotating up the glass panel which is pivotally supported by the hinges. The glass panel is latched to its upper position by means of, e.g., gas suspension springs. A disadvantage of this solution is that while taking products from the refrigerated well, the customer must partially enter underneath the upwardly latched glass panel, which may be felt inconvenient and even dangerous. Further, speaking across the counter through the upwardly tilted glass panel is annoying. The glass panel also reduces the visibility of brochures and decorations placed on top of the glass rack and prevents the customers from reaching the brochures.

Handling and storage of a detachable glass top rack or front panel in store spaces is clumsy. Such items require a large amount of space for storage and are easily broken during transfer or storage. In all cases, the glass rack must be provided with an extra thermally insulating glass panel, because the top edge of the rack front wall must extend above the cold line of the refrigerated well even when the front glass panel is opened or removed. The extra glass panel increases the area to be cleaned, and moreover, the price of the glass rack.

It is an object of the present invention to achieve such an glass rack assembly for refrigerated storage units that is easily and quickly modifiable from a service counter to a self-service counter.

The invention is based on a construction in which the glass rack is provided with a pivotally mounted front glass panel, whose lower edge reaches to the cold line of the refrigerated well, and the glass panel is mounted to the frame of the glass rack with support means so as to make the glass panel pivotable about at least one pivot point so that the lower edge of the front glass panel coincides with the front edge of the glass rack top.

More specifically, the glass rack according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The invention provides outstanding benefits.

A refrigerated counter unit equipped with a glass rack according to the present invention is easily converted from a service counter to a self-service counter even during business hours. The glass rack has a minimum number of glass panels, and since both of the long wall panels of the glass rack can be opened, the rack is easy to keep clean.

A double-pane panel, that is, an extra thermally insulating glass panel is unnecessary, thus contributing to a reduced number of surfaces to be cleaned. In the self-service position the front panel of the glass rack forms a wide and level surface on the glass rack that can be used for the display of decorations, brochures or products for sale. The glass panel does not present a barrier to the customers or sales staff in any of its positions, and it requires no storage space.

The invention is next examined in detail with the help of the attached drawings.

Figure 1 shows in a side view an embodiment of a glass rack according to the present invention with its front glass panel set to the service counter position.

Figure 2 shows the glass rack illustrated in Fig. 1 having its front glass panel set to the self-service position.

Figure 3 shows diagrammatically a second embodiment of the present invention with its front glass panel set to the service position.

Figure 4 shows the glass rack illustrated in Fig. 3 with its front glass panel set to the self-service position.

Figure 5 shows diagrammatically a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 shows diagrammatically a fourth embodiment of the present invention with its front glass panel set to the service position.

Figure 7 shows the glass rack illustrated in Fig. 6 with its front glass panel set to the self-service position.

The refrigerated counter presented in the following description must be understood to comprise an entire refrigerated unit with its refrigeration equipment and wells. The glass rack is a self-contained unit comprising a frame and glass panels that are adapted above the refrigerated well.

The front glass panel of the glass rack in this description refers to the glass panel remaining on the customer side.

The front edge of the glass rack top refers to the line of a straight or bent panorama glass panel at which the front glass panel changes into the top of the glass rack, or alternatively, to a corresponding point in a curved front glass panel.

The contour of the front glass panel in refrigerated glass racks varies. Three basic contours are currently in use.

A straight front glass panel is the simplest structure.

Besides this, so-called panoramic glass panels with single or dual bends as well as smoothly curved glass panels are used. According to the present invention, the front glass panel of the glass rack is rotated about one or several pivot center points over the top of the glass rack so that the lower edge of the front glass panel remains approximately coincident with the front edge of the glass rack top.

The invention can be implemented in multiple different ways.

Such implementations are described in the following with the help of the exemplifying embodiments.

Illustrated in Fig. 1 is a refrigerated counter equipped with a glass rack according to the present invention. The refrigerated service counter comprises a refrigerated well 1 and an evaporator 2 placed to the sales staff side. Above the refrigerated well 1 is situated a glass rack 3...7. To the top of the glass rack is attached a lamp 8, the customer side of the refrigerated well is equipped with a lowered parcel shelf 9, and the sales staff of the rack carries a work level 11. The refrigerated counter is arranged standing on supports 10 and the necessary refrigerating equipment is placed under the refrigerated well 1.

In the described embodiment, the glass rack comprises two glass panels plus the end glass panels. The end glass panels (not shown) enclose the glass rack at its ends, while the sales staff side is left open in the service position of the glass rack. The customer side wall of the refrigerated well 1 is provided with a thermally insulating glass panel 3.

This glass panel 3 delineates the refrigerated well 1 at the customer side, and its upper edge 19 is approximately coincident with the cold line of the refrigerated well 1, that is, with the upper edge of an evaporator 2; further, the glass panel delineates the refrigerated well at the customer side of the refrigerated counter. The front glass panel 4 is a single-bend panoramic glass panel. Its lower edge 20 extends in the service position of the glass rack slightly below the upper edge 19 of the thermally insulating glass panel 3 so that the edges of the glass panels 3, 4 remain slightly overlapping. The upper part of the front glass panel 4 is bent so that the upper part of the front glass panel 4 forms a top 12 of the glass rack at the bend.

To both ends of the front glass panel 4, under that part of glass panel forming the top 12, there is attached a link 6.

The links 6 are joined at their second ends by pivotal joints 13 to support arms 7. The support arms 7 are attached at their second ends to the frame 5 of the glass rack. The end of the support arm 7 and the pivotal joint 13 joining the end of the arm to the link 6 are arranged to coincide with a desiredly placed pivot center point K of the glass panel 4. The position of the glass panel 4 in the selfservice position of the glass panel is drawn with a dashed line. The link 6 is U-shaped. Its first end is parallel with the top part of the front glass panel 4 and attached to the lower side of the glass panel. The second end of the U-bend is attached at its extremity to the pivotal joint 13.

When the glass rack is desired to be converted from a service counter to a self-service counter, the front glass panel 4 is rotated by lifting it at its lower edge 20 up and backward. The glass panel 4 rotates supported by the link 6 about its pivot center point K to a service position in which its straight front part remains horizontal and its lower edge 20 is coincident with the front edge of the top.

Then, the front glass panel 4 form the top of the glass rack and front side of the glass rack remains open. The customers can now easily select desired products from the glass rack.

Furthermore, the wide shelf formed by the front glass panel 4 is easy to use for displaying advertising material and other items.

The glass rack is converted to a service counter by rotating the front glass panel 4 supported by the link 6 about the pivot center point K again back down to its front position.

The shape of the link 6 is designed so that it stays in the self-service position of the glass rack behind the support arm 7 and the frame 5 of the glass rack, thus preventing the link from remaining visible in an annoying way.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate an alternative link assembly. This assembly has two links 14 and 15 whose first ends are attached to the top part 12 of the front glass panel 4 spaced from each other by means pivotal joints 18 and 19.

The second ends of the links 14 and 15 are attached to the frame 5 of the glass rack spaced in a similar fashion from each other by means of pivotal joints 16 and 17. The upper link 15 is an angled link. In the service position of the glass rack the front glass panel 4 is in its lower position and its lower edge 20 is approximately coincident with the edge of the thermally insulating glass panel 3. Then, the first end of the upper link 15 is parallel with the top part 12 of the front glass panel 4, while the second end of the link as well as the second link 14 are parallel with the frame of the glass rack. In this manner the links 14 and 15 merge visually with the frame construction of the glass frame and do not remain visible in a disturbing way.

When the front glass panel 4 is desired to be converted to the self-service position, the pivoting joints 18, 19 which join each link 14, 15 to the glass panel 4 move along a circular path determined by the links. The end of the upper link 15 attached to the top part 12 of the front glass panel 4 makes simultaneously an angle with the glass panel 4. The front glass panel 4 rotates in a similar manner as described in the exemplifying example above so that the front edge 20 of the glass panel 4 becomes parallel with the edge of the glass rack top and the straight front part of the glass panel 4 forms the top of the glass rack. The glass rack is converted back to a service counter by rotating the front glass panel 4 supported by the links 14, 15 in a reversed manner down to its front position.

The above described embodiments are compatible with curved, straight and panoramic glass panels. When using a curved glass panel, the links can be replaced by a guide rail and slide elements compatible with the guide rail such as, e.g., slide shoes or wheels. In this construction the pivot center point K is the center point of curvature of the guide rail that conventionally is the same as the center point of curvature of the curved glass panel. The guide rails can be mounted on frame of the glass rack, while the slide elements are mounted to the glass panel or vice versa. In this embodiment the front glass panel is rotated to the selfservice position and back to the service position in a similar manner as described for the exemplifying embodiment above by rotation about the pivot center point.The positions of the glass panel are the same in both alternative positions as in the exemplifying embodiments described above with small differences related to the different shape of the glass panel.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 5 is appropriate for glass racks having a straight front glass panel. In such a glass rack the front glass panel is divided in a similar manner as in the above described exemplifying embodiments in a thermally insulating glass panel 3 and a front glass panel 21.

In this construction the front glass panel 21 does not bend to a top level of the glass rack, but instead, the rack has separate glass pane as the top glass panel 23. The front glass panel 21 is pivotally mounted at its upper edge by means of a conventional hinge 22 to the frame 5 of the glass rack and the top glass panel 23 is correspondingly mounted at its rear edge to the frame by means of a hinge 24. When the glass rack is desired to be converted to a self-service glass rack, the top glass panel 23 which is pivotally mounted by the hinge 24 can be rotated away from above the top of the rack backward to a horizontal position. The front glass panel 21 is then rotated backward to a horizontal position above the top of the glass rack. In this embodiment the top glass panel 23 remains in the self-service position of the glass rack to a horizontal position under the front glass panel 21.Alternatively, the top glass panel can be hingedly mounted so that it is rotated in the self-service position of the glass rack over the frame 5 of the glass rack.

Illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 is an embodiment of the invention which is appropriate for several different types of glass panels 4. The construction of the refrigerated service counter shown in Fig. 6 and 7 is slightly different from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but this difference is insignificant to the concept of the invention.

In this glass rack construction the link assembly comprises two link elements 25 and 30'and a gas suspension spring 24.

The fixed link element 25 is mounted nonpivotally to the top glass panel 12 of the glass rack. To the end of said link element 25 with the help of a pivotal joint 26 is attached a pivoting link 27. At a point close to that end opposite to the end joined to the nonpivotal link element 25, the pivoting link 27 is attached to the frame 5 of the glass rack with the help of a pivotal joint 30. To the protruding end of said link 27 with the help of a pivotal joint 31 is attached a gas suspension spring 29. The opposite end of the gas suspension spring 29 is attached to the frame 5 of the glass rack with the help of a pivotal joint 28 which is placed close to a lamp 8 in the upper part of the glass rack.

In order to set a glass rack of the above described type from the service position of the glass rack to the selfservice position of the rack, the front glass panel 4 is lifted upward, whereby the pivoting link 27 is rotated supported by the joint 30 so as to move away from the frame 5 and as to compress the gas suspension spring 29. When the pivoting link 27 reaches an approximately horizontal position, the stroke of the gas suspension spring 29 ends and the motion of the link 27 is stopped. The front glass panel 4 is next rotated about the pivotal joint 26 to a horizontal position so as to form the top of the glass rack.

In this embodiment the front glass panel rotates about two pivot center points, and these pivot center points are the pivotal joint 30 with which the pivoting link 27 is attached to the frame 5 and the pivotal joint 26 which joins the links 25, 27.

The above described embodiment can have the gas suspension spring 26 attached to the pivoting link 27 in several different ways; for instance, so that one end of the gas suspension spring 29 is attached to the frame 5 of the glass rack under the joint 30, whereby the gas suspension spring 29 operates as a tensioning spring when the panel is rotated to the self-service position of the glass rack.

In addition to the exemplifying embodiments described above, the invention can be implemented in alternative embodiments.

For instance, the thermally insulating glass panel 3 and the front glass panel 4, 21 need not overlap when the front glass panel 4 is rotated in the service position of the glass rack, but instead, the edges 19 and 20 of the glass panels 3 and 4 can abut tightly. In some alternative implementations it may be advantageous to have the front glass panel 4 in its service position of the glass rack to cover the entire front panel of the glass rack. Then, it is necessary to have, however, a fixed or removable separate thermally insulating glass panel 3. In order to ease the rotation of the front glass panel 4, the assembly can be complemented with one or more gas suspension springs.

A statically cooled refrigerated service counter has been used in this patent application as the exemplifying case.

The described glass rack can, of course, be used in conjunctions with other types of cooled service counters such as, e.g., fan-cooled service counters. In fan-cooled service counters the cold line is determined by the upper edge of cooling air duct outlet.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A convertible glass rack of a refrigerated counter for a refrigerated counter comprising: - a refrigerated well (1) having adapted to it an evaporator (2), whose upper edge determines the cold line of the well (1), or alternatively, a cooling air duct, whereby the cold line is determined by the upper edge of the duct outlet, and - a glass rack adapted above the refrigerated well (1), said rack comprising a frame (5) and at least two end glass panels and a front glass panel (4), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that - the lower edge (20) of the front glass panel (4) extends in the first position, or the service position of the glass rack, in front of the glass rack at least to the cold line of the refrigerated well (1), and in the second position, or the self service position of the glass rack, to the front edge of the glass rack top so that the downward pointing surface of the front glass panel (4) is essentially coincident with the highest level of the frame (5) of the glass rack, and - the front glass panel (4) is adapted to the frame (5) by means of transfer elements (6, 7, 13; 14...19; 22, 24) which on the other and are attached to the front glass panel (4) and on the other hand to the frame (5) of the glass rack, and said elements determine the transfer path along which the front glass panel (4) is transferrable from the first position of the panel to the second position of the panel and v.v. by rotation about at least one pivot center point (K).

2. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a thermally insulating glass panel (3) whose lower edge is adapted to coincide with the front edge of the refrigerated well (1) and whose upper edge (19) extends upward at least to the cold line of the refrigerated well (1).

3. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transfer elements (6, 7, 13) comprise a -support arm (7), whose first end is attached to the frame (5) of the glass rack and whose second end is attached to the pivot center point (K), and a link (6), whose first end is attached to the lower surface of the front glass panel (4) and whose second end is attached by means of a pivotal joint (13) to the end of the support arm (6) coinciding with the pivot center point (K). (Figs. 1 and 2)

4.A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transfer elements (14...19) comprise two links (14, 15), whose first ends are attached to the front glass panel (4) of the glass rack by means of pivotal joints (18, 19) displaced from each other and whose second ends are attached by means of pivotal joints (16, 17) at two pivot center points displaced from each other to the frame (5) of the glass rack. (Figs. 3 and 4)

5. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transfer elements comprise at least one guide rail, whose shape conforms to the desired transfer path of the front glass panel and whose center point of curvature is coincident with the pivot center point about which the front glass panel (4) is desiredly rotatable, and slide elements adapted to move along said guide rails.

6. A glass rack according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the thermally insulating glass panel (3) and the front glass panel (4) overlap at least partially in their first position of the service counter.

7. A glass rack according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the upper edge (19) of the thermally insulating glass panel (3) and the lower edge (20) of the front glass panel (4) abut in their first position of the service counter.

8. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the front glass panel comprises a front glass panel (21) proper, said panel being attached to the frame (5) of the glass rack at the front edge of the glass rack top by means of a hinge (22), and a top glass panel (23), which is attached to the frame (5) of the glass rack at the rear edge of the glass rack top by means of a hinge (24). (Fig. 5)

9. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by - at least one pivoting link (27) attached to the frame (5) of the glass rack by means of a pivoting joint element (30) which is adapted between the span of the ends of said link, and - at least one pivotal joint (26) with which said pivoting link (27) is attached to a top part (12) of the front glass panel (4).

10. A glass rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by at least one gas suspension spring (29) whose first end is attached to said pivoting link (27) and second end to the frame (5) of the glass rack.