US3118565A

US3118565A - Collapsible cone dispensers

Info

Publication number: US3118565A
Application number: US222503A
Authority: US
Inventors: Chappory Andrew
Original assignee: Nat Biscuit Co
Current assignee: Intercontinental Great Brands LLC
Priority date: 1962-09-10
Filing date: 1962-09-10
Publication date: 1964-01-21
Anticipated expiration: 1981-01-21

Description

Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet l ANDREW CHAPPORY .Z' g- Z AGENT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE coma: DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ff quj INVENTOR.

F E 4 ANDREW CHAPPORY BY ,,J J

AGE NT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

BY ANDREW CHAPPORY IQ- AGENT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VENTOR.

ANDREW CHAPPORY AGENT United States Patent 3,118,565 CGLLAPSIBLE CONE DHSPENSERS Andrew Chappory, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor to National Biscuit Company, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 10, 1952, Ser. No. 222,593 Ciaims. (Cl. 221-92) My invention relates generally to dispensers and to improvements in dispensing devices for storing unfilled ice cream cups and cones. More particularly, my invention relates to an economically manufactured collapsible dispenser formed of wire rod in which a plurality of stacks of nested cups and cones are enclosed in a tubular plastic bag for successive withdrawal at the lower ends of the stacks.

In order to distribute and sell individual pastry cups and cones to retail outlets such as ice cream soda fountains, snack bars, and luncheonettes, the large commercial cone bakery is faced with the general problem of supplying its customers with cone dispensers to store the cups and cones for point-of-sale dispensing. One of the particular problems which causes inconvenience in a large cone bakery is cone storage and shipping of the dispensers to its agents and retail outlets.

The present invention is intended to obviate this problem and other difliculties and, to this end, contemplates an attractive cup and cone dispenser which, when empty, may be easily collapsed into a substantially flat condition for stacking and storing either in the agency warehouse or during shipping thereto. Means are provided, therefore, whereby the component parts may be novelly constructed and assembled in such substantial manner that long periods of heavy use, including frequent collapsing and erecting, will not damage their structure or cause excessive wear in the moving parts.

It is, therefore, one of the main objects of the invention to provide a collapsible device for one-at-a-time dispensing of pastry cones and cups which device is simple in construction, yet possesses great strength and rigidity, is inexpensive to manufacture, and attractive in appearance.

Another important object is to provide a dispenser which may be easily expanded from a flat, collapsed condition to an erect condition whereby great savings in shipping and storage space may be effected.

A further object is to provide a dispenser for ice cream cones and cups which may be easily assembled and erected at the point of sale or usage without the need for pliers, wrenches or other hand tools.

Still another important object is to provide a dispenser which can be utilized in conjunction with nested cups and cones pre-packaged in flexible polyethylene bags whereby the pastry cones and cups may be kept dry and crisp from the lowermost cone in the stack to the uppermost cone.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shown merely by way of example and in preferred form, but obviously many modifications and variations may be made therein and in its mode of application which will still be comprised within its spirit. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of a preferred embodiment of my ice cream cone dispenser;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the dispenser shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in rear elevation show- Edidfih Patented Jan. 21, 1964 ing details of construction as viewed from the line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 1, showing details of construction of the cone support and dispenser;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view in sectional elevation taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. '6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the component parts of my ice cream cone dispenser prior to assembly and erection; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cone-filled plastic bag for use with the collapsible cone dispenser illustrated and described herein.

In the drawings in which like numbers of reference indicate like parts in all the figures, a base plate 1 (FIGS. 6 and 7) of rectangular form is preferably constructed of sheet metal and provided with punched-out holes 2 for withdrawing cones and cuplets when the dispenser is loaded. The four sides of the base plate 1 are formed with flanges 3 in order to provide rigidity and anchorage for attachment, preferably by spot welding, of a pair of metal hinges 4. The base plate 1 is swingably attached by means of the hinges 4 to a back plate 5 of sheet metal, rectangular in shape and having a width extensive with that of the base plate. The holes 2 which serve as cone passages, are preferably four in number and disposed in the four quadrants of the base plate. The diameters of the cone passages may be all of identical size or a variety of hole diameters may be formed in the base plate to adapt the dispenser to various sizes of cones and cuplets. All of the cone passages, however, are substantially larger than the diameter of the cones intended to pass therethrough, and means for one-at-a-time withdrawal is provided by rubber tongues 6. To furnish support for a four-column dispenser, 16 tongues, each substantial-1y rectangular in shape, and preferably of flexible sheet rubber, are individually secured by rivets 7 to the base plate 1. The rubber tongues are disposed about the four quadrants of each hole 2 (as best seen in FIG. 6) in a manner in which a diagonal corner of each tongue 6 projects into the circular opening of the base plate, thus providing maximum resiliency during the cone withdrawal operation.

To support the cone dispensing frame, there is provided a pair of spaced horizontal support rods 8 and 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2) formed of heavy steel wire secured to the back plate 5 by spot welding. Each of the outer extremities of the support rods 8-10 is formed with a hook-shaped loop 11 (see FIG. 6), which serve as pivotal mountings for left and right hand

swingable side frames

12 and 13, respectively. Each of the

frames

12, 13 comprises an identical rectangular loop 14 of extra-heavy gauge steel wire rod, the terminals of which are brazed together. Each of the

side frames

12 and 13 is made rigid by a center rod 15 of light gauge steel Wire which is spot welded medially to the top and bottom rods of each rectangular loop 14. Additional strengthening of the side frames is provided by spaced

horizontal cross pieces

16 and 17 of light gauge steel wire, spot-welded to the center rod 15 and extending across to the left and right hand upright of the rectangular loop 14.

Connecting the

side frames

12 and 13, there is provided a top cross bar 20 (see FIG. 3) of heavy gauge Wire rod forming the top edge of a back frame 21. The top cross bar 2%) of the back frame is looped about the upright rods 14 of each side frame 12-13 forming a pivotal mounting thereon.

To support the top cross bar 20 of the back frame there is provided a back center rod 22 of heavy gauge wire rod spot welded at its lower extremity (FIG. 7) to the horizontal support rods 8-10 of the back plate 5. The

center rod 22 extends upwardly to the top cross bar to which it is spot welded. Horizontal bracing is provided by two spaced cross pieces 2324 of lighter gauge wire rods, spot welded to the center rod 22. and forming a loop at the left and right hand extremities around the upright rods 14 of each

side frame

12 and 13. The loops formed by the lower cross piece 23 are disposed below the side frame cross pieces 16 (FIG. 2) and the loops formed by the upper cross pieces 24 are disposed above the side frame cross pieces 17 in order to prevent .vertical shifting of the side frames upwardly or downwardly. The wire loops thus formed provide hinges for the

side frames

12 and 13 permitting them to swing from a collapsed position, as in FIG. 8, to an expended condition with the side frames perpendicular to the back frame as in FIG. 2.

7 To enclose the dispenser once it has been loaded with cones and/or cuplets, there is provided a wire gate 25 which comprises a suitable length of heavy gauge wire rod formed into a U-shaped frame 26. Each of the wire rod terminals at the open side of the frame 26 is looped about the upright rod 14 of the right hand side frame 13, forming hinges 28 (FIG. 6) for swinging the gate 25. Cross bracing for strengthening the gate 25 is provided by spaced

cross pieces

30 and 31, each of which is spot welded to the center rod 27 (see FIG. 1). The left hand terminals of the cross pieces are spot welded to the rod 26 of the gate frame, and at their right hand terminals a loop is formed about the upright rod 14 of the right hand side frame 13 to provide additional hinge support. A gate clip 32 of resilient sheet metal (FIGS. 1 and 2) is brazed to the left hand upright rod 26 of the gate to secure it, when closed, to the left hand side frame 12.

At the front of the dispenser (as best seen in FIG. 1) there is provided a top and

bottom link bar

33 and 34, respectively, for linking the left and

right hand frames

12 and 13. Both of the link bars are looped at their opposite terminals about the uprights 14 to form a hinge. In order to prevent the link bars from sliding vertically on the uprights 14, an upper pair of J-shaped hooks 35, formed from short pieces of wire rod, and a similar lower pair 36, are secured by spot welding to the rods 14 of the

side frames

12 and 13.

The dispenser structure, as above described, thus comprises four panel frames hinged to each other along their longitudinal sides, forming a closed parallelogram when only partially expanded. The dispenser may be expanded from a collapsed, substantially fiat condition (see FIG. 8) to a fully rectangular structure, having a comformation as shown in FIG. 6.

The base plate 1, when swung upwardly on its hinges 4 into the expanded dispenser structure is adapted to fit snugly within the panel frames and thus serves to lock the swingable frames about it in said rectangular conformation. To lock the base plate securely, there is provided a, U-shaped clip 37 of resilient metal spot-welded to the front flange 3 thereof. A rectangular shape bottom plate 38, formed of sheet metal and provided with a resilient locking lip 40 is secured by hinges 41 (see FIG. 5) to the back plate 5. Whenever the dispenser is not being used for a substantial period of time, the bottom plate 38 may be swung upwardly and locked beneath the base plate to retain the freshness and crisp condition of the cones.

After the cone dispenser has been assembled, it may be mounted on a support stand 42 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which, in its unassembled form, comprises a heavy metal rod bent to form a rectangular base 43 (FIG. 8) the terminals of which are upwardly bent to form a double prong 44. To keep the terminals from spreading apart, there is provided a metal lug 45 consisting of a short piece of wire rod spot welded across the two rods at the base of the prongs 44. For attaching the cone dispenser to the rectangular base 43 there is provided a bracket holder 46 of sheet metal spot-welded to the rear of the back Procedure for Assembling To erect the dispenser from its collapsed condition as in FIG. 8 to its fully assembled condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the support stand 42 is first assembled by placing the open end of the tubular upright 50 over the double prongs 44 of the rectangular base 43, inserting the prongs upward until the end of the tube rests on the lug 4-5. The collapsed panels of the dispenser cage are then expanded to a substantially rectangular position and the hinged base plate 1 is swung horizontally into registration with the lower end of the cage in which it will lock the panels rigidly in rectangular conformation. The bottom plate 33 is then swung upward to close the bottom of the cage during the cone loading operation. The dispenser cage is then mounted on the stand 43 by inserting the bracket 47 of the tubular upright 54 into the bracket holder 46. The Wire gate 25 may then be swung open and the cone-filled bag 51 containing 4 stacks of cones 53 may then be inserted into the cage. The excess material of the bag is folded back sufiiciently to clear the bottom row of cones for dispensing, holding the bag tight at the bottom to avoid spilling the cones, and placing the open end of the bag over the rubber tongues 6 of the base 1.

The wire gate 25 may then be closed and the bottom plate 38 may be swung open slowly to allow the cones to drop into dispensing position. The polyethylene bag 51 protects the cones against dirt and dampness; there is no exposure of the cones to air, and no breakage in the handling of the cones. The separator 52 divides the conefilled bag 51 into four stacks, the cones or cups of which usually have nesting rings to prevent sticking of the cones together. The nesting rings also cooperate with the rubber tongues 6, each quadrant group of tongues being adapted to frictionally engage and support a stack of cones, or to be moved out of the path of the cones to permit one-at-atime removal of a cone from the dispenser.

By the above described invention, a lightweight collapsible dispenser has been provided for the storage and point-of-sale dispensing of unfilled pastry cones and cups. It is characterized by its exceptional strength and rigidity when in its erected form and by its relative compactness when in its collapsed state. It is contemplated that various relative changes may be made in the general design and structural details of the dispenser shown in the drawings but with the provision that such changes may come within the scope of the appended claims; and while the invention has been set forth with particular reference to pastry cones and cups, it is, of course, adaptable for use with other products to which it readily lends itself and the environment in which it was described is not to be considered as a limitation if its scope.

What is claimed is:

l. A collapsible cone dispenser for unfilled pastry cones and cups comprising:

a pair of generally rectangular relatively rigid perforated frame members of substantially like configuration which define the sides of said dispenser;

a generally rectangular relatively rigid back frame of configuration substantially like said side frame members;

means pivotally connecting the longitudinal sides of said back frame to each of said adjacent side frame members;

link means pivotally connecting the free longitudinal sides of said side frames forming a wire frame structure expandable from a first collapsed condition to a generally rectangular conformation;

and cone dispensing means swingably attached to the lowermost end of one of said frame members to support nested cone stacks thereon and provide one-ata-time release of cones from said stacks.

2. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said cone dispensing means is adapted to maintain the rectangular conformation of said wire frame structure.

3. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said cone dispensing means comprises a rectangular plate pivotally attached to said back frame and swinga-ble thereon to a position disposed generally perpendicular relative to the respective planes of said back frame and said side frame members.

4. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said cone dispensing means comprises a freely pivotally supported rectangular plate having a flanged rim latchable within the lower end of said expanded wire frame structure to lock the same in rectangular conformation.

5. A collapsible cone dispensed according to claim 2, including vertical support means comprising a bracket member attachable to the back frame of said dispenser, said member being engageable with a wall bracket or with a counter stand to support the dispenser in its cone dispensing position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,633,983 Dawson et a1. June 28, 1927 2,019,877 Thomas Nov. 5, 1935 2,339,383 Davidson Jan. 18, 1944 2,359,337 Turek Oct. 3, 1944 2,529,267 Sloane Nov. 7, 1950 3,043,440 Berlin July 10, 1962

Claims

1. A COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSER FOR UNFILLED PASTRY CONES AND CUPS COMPRISING: A PAIR OF GENERALLY RECTANGULAR RELATIVELY RIGID PERFORATED FRAME MEMBERS OF SUBSTANTIALLY LIKE CONFIGURATION WHICH DEFINE THE SIDES OF SAID DISPENSER; A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR RELATIVELY RIGID BACK FRAME OF CONFIGURATION SUBSTANTIALLY LIKE SAID SIDE FRAME MEMBERS; MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE LONGITUDINAL SIDES OF SAID BACK FRAME TO EACH OF SAID ADJACENT SIDE FRAME MEMBERS; LINK MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE FREE LONGITUDINAL SIDES OF SAID SIDE FRAMES FORMING A WIRE FRAME STRUCTURE EXPANDABLE FROM A FIRST COLLAPSED CONDITION TO A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR CONFORMATION; AND CONE DISPENSING MEANS SWINGABLY ATTACHED TO THE LOWERMOST END OF ONE OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS TO SUPPORT NESTED CONE STACKS THEREON AND PROVIDE ONE-ATA-TIME RELEASE OF CONES FROM SAID STACKS.