WO2005039362A2

WO2005039362A2 - Product display shelf

Info

Publication number: WO2005039362A2
Application number: PCT/FR2004/002725
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eric Stievenard; Elisabeth Eloy
Original assignee: Parfums Christian Dior
Priority date: 2003-10-23
Filing date: 2004-10-22
Publication date: 2005-05-06
Also published as: DE602004005735T2; HK1098314A1; FR2861272A1; ES2285557T3; EP1677650B1; CN1870921A; EP1677650A2; JP2007508884A; WO2005039362A3; CN100502734C; US20070062891A1; CA2542808A1; DE602004005735D1; FR2861272B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a product display shelf, comprising a supporting cabinet, a drawer (8), slidably mounted in the supporting cabinet (13), said drawer containing a part of the products and an adjustable display unit (3), pivotably mounted on the front end of the drawer, whereby locking means are provided for selectively locking the display unit (3) in relation to the drawer (8) and said display unit (3) is suitable for containing at least one sample of said products.

Description

Console for product presentation.

The present invention relates to consoles for the presentation of products. More particularly, the invention relates to a console for the presentation of products, comprising: a support unit which has a rear face and an at least partially open front face, at least one drawer mounted to slide horizontally in the support unit between a position retracted and an extended position where said drawer is moved towards the front face of the support cabinet, said drawer being adapted to contain at least part of said products and having a front end oriented towards the front face of the support cabinet. It is thus possible to store in the drawer packaged products, which allows easy access to these products if necessary. However, unless you have placed the console yourself, it is difficult to know in which drawer these packaged products are located. In addition, the packaging of a range of products is sometimes very similar, differing only by a few inscriptions, so that we can then be led to search in many drawers for the product we want. The object of the present invention is in particular to overcome these drawbacks. To this end, according to the invention, a console is provided for the presentation of products which, in addition to the attributes mentioned above, is essentially characterized in that it further comprises at least one orientable display which is pivotally mounted, by means of link, at the front end of the drawer around an axis of horizontal pivoting substantially parallel to the front face of the support unit, blocking means being provided for selectively blocking the display unit with respect to the drawer, said display unit being adapted to present at least a sample of said products, the console being arranged so that a anyone standing near the front of the support unit can see the contents of the display. Thanks to these arrangements, samples, representative of the products placed in the drawer, are placed on a display directly connected to the drawer, so that we know where to look for a product corresponding to

1 sample. By articulating the display with the drawer, it is also possible to adapt more easily to the external constraints of arrangement, linked for example to the positioning of the console as a whole. We can also separately package the products in the drawer so that they can be stored in large numbers in the drawer, and present the samples of the display unpackaged so that outside observers can make a faithful representation of the products. In preferred embodiments of the invention, one can optionally also have recourse to one and / or the other of the following arrangements: the display is configured to allow pivoting between a first position where said display is extends substantially horizontally, and a second position where said display extends downward from the drawer; the display has a lower face provided with lighting means; the display unit comprises: a plate having an upper face, and a suitable block _. to present said at least one sample and having a lower face adapted to cooperate with said upper face of the plate to fix said block to said plate; said lower face of the block cooperates detachably with said upper face of the wafer; the block has an upper face provided with cells adapted to receive said samples; the locking means comprise a part of the drawer and a part of the display cooperating by friction; the display and the drawer are articulated by a pin connected to the display and by a front part of the drawer with respect to which the pin is adapted to be able to pivot, the pin comprises, a plurality of housings and the locking means comprise: at least one rod integral in rotation with the drawer and adapted to slide relative to the journal between a locked position and an unlocked position, and at least one tooth integral with the rod adapted to selectively cooperate with one of said housings in the locked position and to be distant from said housing in the unlocked position; - The drawer has, in the vicinity of its front end, a presentation portion adapted to contain at least a sample of said products, the console being arranged so that a person near the front face of the support cabinet can see the presentation portion of the drawer; the drawer further comprises, at the rear of the presentation portion, a storage portion adapted to contain at least a portion of said products. Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear during the following description of one of its embodiments, given by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a side view of a console according to the invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a drawer and a display stand according to the invention, - FIG. 3 represents a section partial of a hinge mechanism of a drawer and a display such as those shown in Figure 2, along the pivot axis, Figure 4 shows the same section of another hinge mechanism in an intermediate position between a locked position and an unlocked position, and Figure 5 is a perspective view of a drawer and a display according to a variant of the invention. Figure 1 shows a console with a support unit 13 placed on the floor. The console has a front face, for example, provided with a transparent element

25 such as a window or a suitable plastic, which can be selectively opened or closed, for example by sliding along a direction orthogonal to the section plane of FIG. 1 to allow access to the interior of the console. The console also has a rear face 13a, for example vertical and rigid. A number of supports 2 are fixed one above the other on the rear face of the console, rigidly. They are, for example, arranged horizontally. These supports 2 are adapted to each receive in a mobile manner a device 1 receiving products 10 (see Figure 2) to store. In particular, the device 1 comprises a drawer 8 which can slide relative to the support 2 towards the front face of the console in an extended position, and- towards the rear face in- a - retracted position. On the front face of each drawer is articulated a display 3 about an axis normal to the plane of Figure 1, substantially parallel to the front and rear faces of the console. It will be noted in particular that the supports 2 can be of different sizes between them, and receive drawers 8 of variable sizes, and with respect to which the respective displays are inclined according to variable orientations. We can thus receive, present and store different types of products in the same console. The displays 3 can be provided on their underside with a lighting element 11, such as a lamp, and the inclination of the upper displays can be adapted so that said lamp 11 generally illuminates the display immediately below. The console may for example have a front face inclined towards its rear face, and the supports 2 may be shorter and shorter as one climbs into the console. The displays can then be more and more inclined as one goes up in the console, the display at the bottom being substantially arranged horizontally. FIG. 2 shows more closely a device 1 for the presentation of products, the drawer being at least partially placed on the support 2. The display 3 includes at least one portion for presenting samples to present the characteristics of the product or products available , clearly visible to a user, in a first direction yi normal to the general plan of the display, and generally inclined to the vertical. The display 3 further comprises a gripping portion 26 that a user can grab and pull to bring the device 1. The drawer 8 includes a storage portion 4 containing one or more copies of the products presented by the presentation portion , arranged for example vertically. These products are visible to the user in a substantially vertical direction y ₂ , mainly when the drawer is pulled towards the front face of the console. The display 3 and the drawer 8 are connected together by the connecting means 5 arranged close to a front end of the drawer. This connection allows an inclination adjustment of the display 3, for example to promote the exposure of the presentation portion to various outside observers, or to adapt to the layout of the console. Examples of these connecting means will be detailed later. In the example of FIG. 2, the display 3 mainly comprises a tablet 23 of parallelepiped shape having an upper face 23a facing an observer. The front face and a front part 23b of the upper face of the tablet 23 can for example also include indications on the nature or properties of the exposed samples. In the embodiment presented, the samples are placed on a block 7, itself of substantially parallelepiped shape and of which a lower face 7a is placed on the upper face 23a of the shelf 23. The block 7 can be fixed to the shelf by a certain number of known techniques, such as: by snap-fastening of lugs (not shown) of the lower face 7a of the block in orifices (also not shown) adapted from the display, by means of magnets integrated in the block 7 and / or the shelf 23, these magnets cooperating with complementary magnets QU of the ferromagnetic elements, -integrated respectively in the shelf 23 and / or the block 7, by combination of these two techniques, or others. The block 7 can thus easily be removably mounted on the shelf 23, which has the effect of being able to use it to present successively different types of products. The upper face 7b of the block 7 may include cells 6, arranged in an orderly manner in rows and columns, and adapted to receive the representative samples of the products 10. Each sample can be exactly a copy of a product presented, or a simple witness presenting an essential characteristic of the various products. Alternatively, the upper face 7b of the block 7 can be planar, and samples can be, for example, colored pellets bonded to said upper face to present, for example, lipstick tubes characterized by said color. Alternatively, the samples are not presented using a block 7, but can be directly placed on the surface of the tablet 23 by any suitable means. The drawer 8 has a lower face 8b resting and sliding on the horizontal support 2 linked to the console. The drawer 8 is adapted to receive the products 10, the representative samples of which are displayed on the display stand 3. The products 10 are optionally packaged and ready to be taken away by an observer outside. If the samples are arranged on the display in an orderly manner, it is possible, for example, to order the products 10 in the dispenser 8 in an identical or similar manner, so that the product corresponding to the sample can be found in minimal time. Nor are the samples necessarily intended to be viewed only by an outside observer, it may for example also be samples of perfumes intended to be smelled by the outside observer. The device 1 can also have lighting means, such as a lamp 11, on the underside 23c of the tablet. The electrical supply of said lighting means 11 can for example be carried out via electrical wires (not shown) extending from the lamp 11 to a rear end of the drawer 8 where they can be connected to a power source . Alternatively, the device may contain a removable battery (not shown) linked to the lamp 11. The display 3 and the drawer 8 are connected by connection means 5 constituting a joint, for example of the pivot type. Such an articulation is "achievable ^" by a wide variety of means. It is possible, for example, to provide, as shown in FIG. 3, for a pin 17 integral with the display 3 to be able to rotate selectively with respect to the drawer 8 in an adapted manner to maintain in position, in a given inclination, the display 3 and the drawer 8 relative to each other when no force is applied to the display, by simple friction of the pin 17 and the drawer 8 at the level of the The connecting means 5 also allow the inclination between the drawer 8 and the display unit 3 to be varied within an inclination range. extends for example between a horizontal position of the display and a position of the display inclined on the order of 10 to 90 degrees downward relative to the drawer. Within this range, the drawer and the display can be arranged in a multiplicity of intermediate relative positions. For purely indicative purposes, an articulation mechanism is presented in FIG. 3. One could nevertheless use, within the framework of the invention, other types of articulations allowing the same movement. A pin 17 is integral with the display 3 and has a cylindrical recess 17a in which one end 30 of the front part 16 of the drawer, of complementary shape, can rotate under the action of a user. When the user exerts no force on the display, the blocking of the parts with respect to each other is ensured by the mere friction of the parts against each other. A variant of the locking means consists in using a locking mechanism as shown in FIG. 4. The pin 17 integral with the display 3 has a cylindrical recess. 17a extending along the pivot axis and an internal face 17b normal to the pivot axis. It further comprises hollow housings 29 formed on its external face. The front part 16 of the drawer 8 also has a through cylindrical recess aligned with that of the journal when the display unit and the drawer are mounted.

It is further provided with a chamber 27, of non-cylindrical section, for example square. The mechanism also comprises a cylindrical pusher 21 provided with teeth 14 arranged at regular angular intervals on the internal face 21a of the pusher 21, and of complementary shape to the housings of the external face of the pin 17, and housed therein in the locked position. The pusher. 21 is mounted on _. a rod 15 adapted to slide in the cylindrical recess 17a. The rod is also integral with a collar 22. This rod carries a compression spring 20, a first end of which is in contact with the collar 22 and a second end in contact with the internal face 17b of the journal. The rod has an enlarged end 19 of complementary section of the chamber 27 of the front face 16 of the drawer. By these provisions, only a translational movement of the rod 15 is authorized relative to the drawer. To unlock the mechanism, the pusher 21 is moved to the left of FIG. 4 by an operator against the stress of the spring 20, and the teeth 14 are released from the corresponding housings of the journal. The pin 17 and the display can then rotate freely relative to the front face 16 of the drawer for example under the action of the operator. Once the desired orientation has been reached, the articulation can be locked again by releasing the pusher 21 which is returned to the locked position by the spring 20. FIG. 5 represents a second embodiment of the device 1, incorporating most of the characteristics described here. -above. In this second embodiment, the drawer 8 includes a storage portion 4, as previously described, and may also include a second presentation portion 12, of a type similar to the first presentation portion previously described.

Claims

1. Console for the presentation of products, comprising: - a support unit (13) which has a rear face and a front face at least partially open, at least one drawer (8) mounted sliding horizontally in the support unit (13 ) between a retracted position and an extension position where said drawer is moved towards the front face of the support cabinet, said drawer being adapted to contain at least a portion of said products and having a front end oriented towards the front face of the cabinet. support, characterized in that it further comprises at least one orientable display (3) which is pivotally mounted, by connection means (5), at the front end of the drawer around a substantially parallel horizontal pivot axis on the front face of the support unit, blocking means being provided for selectively blocking the display unit (3) relative to the drawer (8), said display unit (3) being adapted to present the minus a sample of said "products, ^{" the} console being arranged so that a person standing near the front face of the support cabinet can see the contents of the display.

2. Console according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to allow pivoting between a first position where said display extends substantially horizontally, and a second position where said display extends down from the drawer (8 ).

3. Console according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the display unit (3) has a lower face provided with lighting means (11).

4. Console according to any one of claims previous, in which the display (3) comprises: a plate (23) having an upper face (23a), and - a block (7) adapted to present said at least one sample and having a lower face (7a) suitable for cooperate with said upper face (23a) of plate (23) to fix said block to said plate.

5. Console according to claim 4, wherein said lower face (7a) of the block (7) cooperates detachably with said upper face (23a) of the plate (23).

6. Console according to claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the block (7) has an upper face (7b) provided with cells (6) adapted to receive said samples.

7. Console according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking means comprise a part (16,30) of the drawer and a part (17) of the display cooperating by friction.

8. Console according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the display unit (3) and the drawer

(8) are articulated by a pin (17) linked to the display (3) and by a front part (16) of the drawer (8) with respect to which the pin (17) is adapted to be able to pivot, in which the pin ( 17) comprises a plurality of housings (29) and in which the locking means comprise: at least one rod (15) integral in rotation with the drawer (8) and adapted to slide relative to the journal between a locked position and an unlocked position and at least one tooth (14) integral with the rod and adapted to selectively cooperate with one of said housings in the locked position and be distant from said housing in the unlocked position.

9. Console according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the drawer (8) comprises, in the vicinity of its front end, a presentation portion (12) adapted to contain at least one sample (6) of said products, the console being arranged so that a person located near the front face of the support cabinet can see the presentation portion (12) of the drawer (8).

10. Console according to claim 9, wherein the drawer further comprises, at the rear of the presentation portion, a storage portion adapted to contain at least a portion of said products.