GB2363974A

GB2363974A - Retractably mounted sloping shelf for articles

Info

Publication number: GB2363974A
Application number: GB0015547A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Timothy Jonathon Platt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-06-27
Filing date: 2000-06-27
Publication date: 2002-01-16
Anticipated expiration: 2020-06-27
Also published as: GB2363974A8; GB2363974B; GB0015547D0

Abstract

Shelf 1 is mountable within and retractable from a housing (having a side wall 20 and front opening 30) for the storage of articles 40 (glasses, retail items etc.) and comprises a sloped platform 2 (which supports articles and urges them forwards), upstanding fences (6, Fig 3; to withhold articles) and guide means comprising inverted L-shaped runners 10 (mounted on opposing sides of platform 2), allowing shelf 1 to be slidably withdrawn along rollers 16. Guide means 10, 16 may be mounted at an inclination or positioned substantially horizontal (figs 5 and 7). When in a stowed/mounted position the shelf is secured by a releasable locking means (fig 1 elements 8 and 22). Platform 2 is also provided with a catch 12, engagable with a stop 19 (mounted on the housing) to prevent the retraction of the shelf from the housing when fully withdrawn and which, when released, allows the shelf to be completely removed.

Description

-1 2363974 TITLE Shelf For Articles

DESCRIPTION

Field of Invention

The invention relates to a shelf for the storage and display of articles More particularly, the invention relates to a shelf that enables quick and simple stock rotation and replenishment and at the same time ensures that a predetermined range of the articles are easily accessible to the user or customer permitting the user or customer to make their selection of the articles.

Background Art

Shelving is commonly used as a means of visibly storing many types of commodities It plays a particularly important function in retail outlets where the retailer wants to store its products in an ordered and controllable manner but must also ensure that the products are visible to, and easily accessible by, its customers.

The most frequently used form of shelving incorporates a plurality of horizontal shelves supported at either side by a vertical upright Stock is placed onto the shelves and customers are permitted access to the stock from the front of the shelves Human nature as it is, the stock placed at the front of any one shelf will almost certainly be selected by customers in preference to the stock at the back of the shelf because it is easier to access As the shelf empties, it becomes more difficult for the customer to access the stock as it becomes located at a progressively deeper position on the shelf Furthermore, as it is simply not always possible to position all shelves at eye-level, when the stock becomes depleted on non-eye- level shelves, the stock thus becomes progressively less visible, and thereby less appealing, to the customer This causes significant problems for the retailer who wants to fully display its products at all times Additionally, the retailer needs to rotate stock such that older stock is disposed of before newer stock Accordingly, in replenishing conventional shelving units, the retailer must routinely remove the older stock from the depths of the shelves, load newer stock into the depths of the shelves and replace the older stock at the front of the shelves This is a time-consuming exercise which is generally referred to as "facingup".

Other examples of environments in which shelving is extensively used are bars and pubs.

These premises are normally provided with a counter over which the publican serves his customers Glasses are usually stacked on horizontal shelves below this counter As in the previous example, these shelves are generally depleted from the front and accordingly it becomes progressively more awkward for the bar person to gain access to glasses positioned towards the rear of the shelf.

Accordingly, it is an objective of the present to reduce the aforementioned problems associated with conventional shelving units.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a shelf mountable within a housing for the storage of articles.

The shelf comprises a sloped platform for supporting the articles and urging the articles to a lower front edge thereof, a fence upstanding from the sloped platform in the vicinity of the lower edge thereof for preventing the articles from sliding off the sloped platform, and guide means disposed between the shelf and the housing enabling the sloped platform to be slidably withdrawn through a first opening in the housing, the housing being provided with a display opening at the front thereof to enable easy access to the articles abutting the upstanding fence.

Preferably, the guide means includes two first guides mounted on opposing sides of the sloped platform, each of the first guides engaging with a second guide mounted on a neighbouring wall of the housing.

The first guides may be mounted on and in parallel to the inclined side edges of the sloped platform to engage with the second guides which are similarly inclined on side walls of the housing In this instance, the first opening and the display opening of the housing are one and the same It would be beneficial to provide damping means to regulate the speed at which the shelf is withdrawn from the housing.

Alternatively, the first guides may be mounted along the lower front edge and along an elevated rear edge of the sloped platform to engage with the second guides mounted on the front and a rear wall of the housing respectively In this example, the first opening would have to be provided in a side wall of the housing.

A side barrier may be provided on each of the inclined side edges of the sloped platform to prevent the articles from falling thereover.

If side barriers are provided, they may be extended downwards from the sloped platform such that their bases are substantially horizontal Here, the first guides can be horizontally mounted on the side barriers to engage with horizontally aligned second guides mounted on the side walls of the housing Again, the first opening and the display opening of the housing are one and the same.

The first guides may be inverted L-shaped rollers to engage with second guides comprising one or more rollers.

Alternatively, the first guides may be channelled runners and the second guides are brackets.

In this embodiment, the guide means would further comprise a plurality of ball bearings disposed between each channelled runner and its associated bracket.

In each of these embodiments, the first guides and the second guides can be interchanged.

Preferably, a releasable locking means is provided for securing the shelf to the housing when the shelf is in a stowed position within the housing.

Advantageously, the sloped platform could be provided with a catch which engages with a stop mounted on the housing so as to prevent the shelf from being retracted any further once it is in its fully withdrawn position It would also be beneficial if the engagement between the catch and the stop was releasable so as to allow for the complete removal of the shelf from the housing.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a bar shelf for storing glasses in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the bar shelf of Fig 1; Figure 3 is side view taken along the line A-A in Fig 1 of the bar shelf in a stowed position within its housing; Figure 4 is a side view taken along the line A-A in Fig 1 of the bar shelf in a fully withdrawn position; Figure 5 is a side view of a bar shelf in a stowed position in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is a side view of the bar shelf of Fig 5 in a fully withdrawn position; Figure 7 is a side view of a bar shelf in a stowed position in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is a side view of the bar shelf of Fig 7 in a fully withdrawn position; Figure 9 is a side view of a bar shelf in a stowed position in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 10 is a cross-section of an alternative guide means for use in conjunction with any of the preceding embodiments.

Specific Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Figs 1 to 4 illustrate the components of a bar shelf 1 in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention The shelf 1 is retractably contained within a housing having two vertical side walls 20 and an front opening 30 The shelf 1 has a platform 2 which is sloped at an angle a.

to the horizontal Glasses 40 may be loaded and stored on the sloped platform 2 as shown in Figs 4 and 3 respectively The sloped platform 2 is provided with side barriers 4 to prevent any of the glasses 40 loaded thereon from falling off either of the inclined edges of the platform 2 Similarly, to prevent the loaded glasses 40 from sliding off the lower front edge 3 of the platform 2, a series of upstanding fences 6 is provided thereon As the glasses 40 are continually urged towards the lower front edge 3 of the sloped platform 2 by the action of gravity, the glasses 40 are unlikely to drop over the elevated rear edge of the platform 2 and accordingly there is no reason to provide a bar to glass 40 movement at that edge A handle 7 is provided on the lower front edge 3 of the platform 2 to enable the user to withdraw and insert the shelf 1 from and into its housing At one side of the lower front edge 3 of the platform 2, a slidable bolt 8 is mounted to extend sideways therefrom so as to engage a corresponding keeper 22 provided on the neighbouring side wall 20 of the housing.

As best illustrated in Fig 2, an inverted L-shaped runner 10 is affixed, by conventional means such as self-tapping screws, to each of the inclined side edges of the sloped platform 4 This runner 10 engages with the top of a plurality of rollers 16 mounted onto the corresponding side wall 20 of the housing (not shown) by pins 18 The rollers 16 are positioned along a straight line which is at the same angle a of inclination as that of the slope platform 2 At an elevated end, the runner 10 is provided with a catch 12 for engagement with a stop 19 mounted in the side wall 20 of the housing.

Use of the shelf 1 as described above is illustrated in Figs 3 and 4 Fig 3 shows the shelf 1 in its stowed position within the housing In this position, the bolt 8 engages with the keeper 22 on the side wall 20 to prevent relative movement between the shelf 1 and its housing The bar person has easy unrestricted access to a first row of glasses 40 positioned against the fences 6 from the front opening 30 of the housing On removal of one of these glasses 40, the glass positioned immediately behind the removed glass will slide under its own weight into that position on the front row vacated by the removed glass Accordingly, assuming that there is a sufficient stock of glasses loaded on the shelf 1, a constant supply of glasses is presented for use by the bar person against the fences 6 at the front of the shelf 1 Hence, there is no longer a need to look deep within the housing to find a glass 40.

To restock glasses 40 onto the shelf 1, the bolt 8 is withdrawn from the keeper 22 on the side wall 20 of the housing The shelf 1 is then permitted to move in a direction B under its own weight by the action of the runners 10 on the rollers 16 Preferably some form of damping (not shown) is provided to regulate the speed at which the shelf 1 moves In the fully withdrawn position, as shown in Fig 4, the catches 12 on the runners 10 engage with the corresponding stops 19 mounted on the side walls 20, thereby ensuring that further withdrawal is prohibited Accordingly, the bar person can easily restock the shelf 1 with glasses 40 without hindrance from the housing Preferably, the engagement between the catches 12 and the corresponding stops 19 is releasable to allow the user to completely remove the shelf 1 from the its housing This would be particularly helpful when the shelf needs cleaning.

Once the shelf 1 has been restocked, it can be moved back into the stowed position, Fig 3, where it is again secured to the housing by the bolt 8.

The angle a at which the sloped platform 2 is inclined to the horizontal is dependent, amongst other things, on the friction between the sloped platform 2 and the glasses 40 In this example, it has been found that an angle a of between 15 and 300 is sufficient to ensure that the glasses slide sequentially into abutment with the fences 6 when the surface of the sloped platform 2 is Formica Tm An added advantage of using Formicam in this particular application is that its surface is not completely smooth and therefore when warm glasses are loaded onto the platform 2 and these are permitted to cool down, no suction is developed between the glasses and the platform 2 Otherwise, such suction would undoubtedly hamper the movement of the glasses along the platform 2 In other applications or with different materials, a different angle on inclination a may be more appropriate It is envisaged that stainless steel would be a preferred material if the shelving is to be used as storage within refrigerators and freezers.

Figs 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention For ease of reference, the same reference numerals will be used to indicate the parts of this embodiment that correspond to those of the previous embodiment The major difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is the arrangement of the runners 10 ' and the corresponding rollers 16 '.

Whereas previously the runners 10 and rollers 16 where aligned with the sloped platform 2 at an angle a, in this embodiment the runners 10 ' are mounted are substantially in horizontal alignment at the base of downwardly extended side barriers 4 ' to engage with similarly aligned rollers 16 ' mounted on the side walls 20 of the housing In this arrangement the shelf 1 ' cannot move in a direction C under its own weight because the rollers 16 ' are positioned so as to completely cancel the reaction force exerted thereon by the weight of the shelf 1 ' and glasses 40 Hence, the bolt 8 is no longer required and in order to withdraw the shelf 1 ' from its housing, the bar person must manually pull the shelf 1 ' along direction C by the handle 7 provided Again when the shelf 1 ' is in its fully withdrawn position, the catches 12 ' at one end of the runners 10 ' engage with the corresponding stops 19 ' mounted on the side walls 20, thereby ensuring that further withdrawal is prohibited A problem with this embodiment is that the front opening 30 ' in the housing must be of a greater height than that of the previous embodiment so that it can accommodate the increased height of the extended side barriers 4 '.

Figs 7 and 8 show a third embodiment of the present invention Again, for ease of reference, the same reference numerals will be used to indicate the parts of this embodiment that correspond to those of the previous embodiments In this embodiment, rather than withdrawing the shelf 1 " from an opening 30 in the front of the housing, the shelf 1 ' is withdrawn from a side opening 24 in one of the side walls 20 of the housing The housing in still provided with a front opening 30 to allow access to the front row of glasses which abut the fences 6 However, the runners 10 " are mounted horizontally along the lower front edge 3 and the elevated rear edge of the sloped platform 2 respectively, for engagement with rollers 16 " mounted on the front and rear walls of the housing respectively so as to permit the shelf to slide horizontally through the opening 24 in the side wall 20 Fig 7 shows the shelf 1 " in its stowed position within the housing and Fig 8 shows the shelf 1 " fully retracted from the housing This embodiment is particularly useful when access to the front of the housing is restricted but there is sufficient space at the side of the housing for withdrawing the shelf from the housing.

A specific advantage of the second and third embodiments over the first embodiment is that the stowing of the shelf within the housing is a less energetic operation In the first embodiment, the shelf automatically moves to its fully withdrawn position under the combined weight of itself and the glasses loaded thereon because the runners and corresponding rollers are inclined at an angle a to the horizontal However, whenever the user wishes to stow the shelf back into the housing, it must be pushed back up the inclined path against the combined weight of the shelf 1 and the glasses 40 loaded thereon and then locked into position In the second and third embodiments the horizontal rollers provide a reaction on the horizontal runners that serves to cancel the force of the combined weight of the shelf and the glasses loaded thereon Accordingly, on the energy required to withdraw the shelf equals that required to stow the shelf which corresponds to that required to overcome the friction between the runners and the rollers.

An alternative locking means to the bolt and keeper of Fig 3 is shown in Fig 9 In this embodiment, the runners 10 are each provided with a downwardly extending saw-tooth locking projection 14, having a slanted side and a flat side, which engages with a locking pin 23 mounted each of neighbouring side walls 20 of the housing to maintain the shelf 1 at its stowed position within the housing To disengage this locking means, the user lifts the lower front edge 3 of the sloped platform 2 up slightly using the handle 7 provided, whereupon the shelf 1 can move in direction B Once the shelf has moved a small amount in that direction B, the user can release the handle and the shelf will move under its own weight to its fully withdrawn position On pushing the shelf back into its stowed position, the locking pin 23 firstly engages with the slanted side of the saw-tooth locking projection 14, then on further movement moves past a bottom point of the projection 14 to finally engage with the flat side of the projection 14 thereby releasably securing the shelf 1 in its stowed position within the housing.

Figure 10 shows a cross-section of an alternative guide means to the rollers and runners previously described A channelled runner 50 is mounted in place of the inverted L-shaped runner 10 at each side of the shelf 1 A corresponding bracket 52 is mounted on the corresponding wall 20 of the housing A plurality of ball bearings 54 is disposed between the channelled runner 50 and the associated bracket 52 enabling slidable engagement therebetween As in the previous embodiment, a stop and a catch can be provided to ensure that during normal operation the shelf cannot be retracted any further from the housing once it is in its fully withdrawn position Again, it is preferable that the engagement between the stop and the catch is releasable to enable the user to completely remove the shelf from the housing.

Although the invention has been described with specific reference to a glass shelf for use in bars, the shelf can also be used beneficially in retail premises When so used, replenishment of stock becomes an easier task because older stock already on the shelf is continually biased towards the front of the shelf, automatically leaving the rear of the shelf free to receive new stock Furthermore, as the stock is biased towards the front of the shelf, it is clearly visible to and accessible for the customer.

Claims

1 A shelf mountable within a housing for the storage of articles, the shelf comprising:

a sloped platform for supporting the articles and urging the articles to a lower front edge thereof; a fence upstanding from the sloped platform in the vicinity of the lower front edge thereof for preventing the articles from sliding off the sloped platform; and guide means disposed between the shelf and the housing, wherein the guide means enables the sloped platform to be slidably withdrawn through a first opening in the housing, the housing being provided with a display opening at the front thereof to enable easy access to the articles abutting the upstanding fence.

2 A shelf according to claim 1, wherein the guide means comprises two first guides mounted on opposing sides of the sloped platform, each of said first guides engaging with a second guide mounted on a neighbouring wall of the housing.

3 A shelf according to claim 2, wherein the first guides are mounted on and are parallel to the inclined side edges of the sloped platform to engage with the second guides which are similarly inclined on side walls of the housing, the first and the display openings of the housing being one and the same.

4 A shelf according to claim 3 further comprising damping means to regulate the speed at which the shelf is withdrawn from the housing.

A shelf according to claim 2, wherein the first guides are mounted along the lower front edge and along an elevated rear edge of the sloped platform to engage second guides mounted on the front and on a rear wall of the housing respectively, the first opening being provided in a side wall of the housing.

6 A shelf according to any preceding claim, wherein the sloped platform further comprises a side barrier on each of its inclined side edges extending upwards to prevent the articles from falling thereover.

7 A shelf according to claim 6 when appended to claim 2, wherein the side barriers extend downwards from the sloped platform such that their bases are substantially horizontal, the first guides being horizontally mounted on the side barriers to engage with horizontally aligned second guides on neighbouring side walls of the housing, and the first and the display openings of the housing being one and the same.

8 A shelf according to any of claims 2 to 7, wherein each of the first guides is an inverted L-shaped runner and each of the second guides comprises one or more rollers.

9 A shelf according to any of claims 2 to 7, wherein the first guides are channelled runners and the second guides are brackets, the guide means further comprising a plurality of ball bearings disposed between each channelled runner and its associated bracket.

A shelf according to any of claims 2 to 9, wherein the first guides and the second guides are interchangeable.

11 A shelf according to any preceding claim further comprising a releasable locking means for securing the shelf to the housing when the shelf is in a stowed position within the housing.

12 A shelf according to any preceding claim, wherein the sloped platform is provided with a catch for engagement with a stop mounted on the housing to prevent the shelf from being retracted any further once it is in its fully withdrawn position.

13 A shelf according to claim 12 further comprising a release means to release the engagement between the catch and the stop so that the shelf can be completely removed from the housing.

14 A shelf substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to figures 1 to 4, figures 5 and 6, figures 7 and 8, figure 9 or figure 10.