U.S. patent application number 15/256004 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-11 for flat pusher assembly for package arrangement and display.
The applicant listed for this patent is Charles P. Schwester. Invention is credited to Charles P. Schwester.
Application Number | 20170129651 15/256004 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58668418 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170129651 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schwester; Charles P. |
May 11, 2017 |
FLAT PUSHER ASSEMBLY FOR PACKAGE ARRANGEMENT AND DISPLAY
Abstract
A package display pusher assembly has a vacuum thermoformed
tray, a vacuum thermoformed pusher arm, constructed independently
of the vacuum thermoformed tray and a spring. The spring is coupled
to the vacuum thermoformed tray at one end and the vacuum
thermoformed pusher arm at it other end, configured to bias the
pusher arm towards a point where the spring is coupled to the
vacuum thermoformed tray.
Inventors: |
Schwester; Charles P.;
(Kinnelon, NJ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Schwester; Charles P. |
Kinnelon |
NJ |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
58668418 |
Appl. No.: |
15/256004 |
Filed: |
September 2, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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62213350 |
Sep 2, 2015 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47F 7/28 20130101; A47F
7/0007 20130101; A47F 3/14 20130101; A47F 5/005 20130101; A47F
1/126 20130101; B65D 5/52 20130101; A47F 5/0068 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65D 25/10 20060101
B65D025/10; A47F 7/00 20060101 A47F007/00; A47F 5/00 20060101
A47F005/00; A47F 7/28 20060101 A47F007/28; B65D 1/34 20060101
B65D001/34; A47F 1/12 20060101 A47F001/12 |
Claims
1. A package display pusher assembly comprising: a vacuum
thermoformed tray; a vacuum thermoformed pusher arm, constructed
independently of said vacuum thermoformed tray; and a spring,
wherein said spring is coupled to said vacuum thermoformed tray at
one end and said a vacuum thermoformed pusher arm at it other end,
configured to bias said pusher arm towards a point where said
spring is coupled to said vacuum thermoformed tray.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 62/213,350, filed on Sep. 2,
2015, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Field of the Invention
[0003] This application relates to package displays. More
particularly, this application relates molded pushing devices for
package displays.
[0004] Description of Related Art
[0005] In the area of product displays there are hundreds of
displays for holding small commercial packages on shelves in retail
locations. Such displays are common for small commercial packages
where the product and package combination itself are not
sufficiently sized for individual stacking and organizing on a
shelf. Small retail products such as craft items, seed packages,
small packaged food items/spice packets etc. . . . are often
arranged in a plastic tray, such as an open top walled thermoformed
tray that holds the packages for retail sale.
[0006] However, as users take out the first few items from such
trays, the products become disheveled and unorganized making them
unappealing and, in some cases, less accessible or inaccessible
from the front of the shelf. To address this, in the prior art many
trays and contraptions have been devised that have an arm that
biases the product packages forwards so that as a first item is
removed the remainder are pushed forward for better arrangement and
access for the next customer. These more advanced displays tend to
be more complex and expensive to make.
[0007] For example, some current pusher display arrangements are
made from injection molded rigid plastics that require high cost
tooling to be produced, long lead times to manufacture, and are
otherwise not designed to be recycled or to be environmentally
friendly. These items were designed to be used in a permanent
display format where the display would be replenished during its
multi-year life cycle. Currently, some displays that only intended
for temporary use are using such pusher trays even with their high
cost per unit, inefficiencies in handling and storage, and
potential breakage due to the brittleness of the material.
SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION
[0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a low cost
flat pusher assembly made from thermoformed plastic that is easily
made and shipped and can be inserted into all manners of
correspondingly sized walled tray assemblies.
[0009] The present pusher arrangement is manufactured using the
vacuum forming method. This allows for the use of thin gauge sheets
of plastic to form a hollow three dimensional parts from recycled
plastics such as PET (Polyethylene terephthalate). The use of the
vacuum forming process gives the diversity to develop the present
pusher tray arrangement with minimal tooling costs, very little
size restraints and the ability to be recycled in current municipal
systems. This wide diversity allows for a much broader use of
pusher trays in general.
[0010] To this end the present arrangement provides a package
display pusher assembly having a vacuum thermoformed tray, a vacuum
thermoformed pusher arm, constructed independently of the vacuum
thermoformed tray and a spring. The spring is coupled to the vacuum
thermoformed tray at one end and the vacuum thermoformed pusher arm
at it other end, configured to bias the pusher arm towards a point
where the spring is coupled to the vacuum thermoformed tray.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The present invention can be best understood through the
following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates a pusher assembly tray in accordance with
one embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 2 illustrates a pusher arm in accordance with one
embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 3 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in
accordance with one embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 4 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in
accordance with another embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates several assembled pusher assemblies in
accordance with one embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 6 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in
accordance with another embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 7 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in
accordance with another embodiment;
[0019] FIG. 8 illustrates another view of the pusher assembly of
FIG. 7 in accordance with another embodiment;
[0020] FIG. 9 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly within a
package display, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0021] FIG. 10 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray,
in accordance with one embodiment;
[0022] FIG. 11 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray,
in accordance with another embodiment; and
[0023] FIG. 12 illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray,
in accordance with another embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] As illustrated in FIG. 1, a pusher tray 10 is provided.
Pusher tray 10 can be made from any vacuum formable polymer, such
as PET, or other suitable material. Due to the softer nature of
vacuum forming materials, tray 10 is constructed so that it can
bend without breaking. Moreover, the hollow design of tray 10 acts
as a buffer during shipping (e.g. when trays 10 are stacked) to
reduce product breakage. For example, the hollow vacuum forming
manufacturing process used for tray 10 makes it possible for the
various parts to an assembled pusher assembly (described below) to
nest one inside of the other. This makes it possible to package two
to three times the number of pusher assembly components within the
same container unlike injection molded pusher displays that do not
nest.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, tray 10 has guide grooves 12 and a
spring/rubber-band lock 14 located at the front end of tray 10 in
central cavity 16. FIG. 2 shows a pusher arm 20 with guide lugs 22
that fit into guide grooves 12. As Shown in FIG. 3 tray 10 and
pusher arm 20 are arranged together to form a pusher arrangement 40
by connecting a rubber band 30 to band lock 14 as well as pusher
arm 20 resulting in the fully formed pusher arrangement 40 with a
forward biasing arm 20.
[0026] In another embodiment, FIG. 4 shows the pusher arrangement
40 that uses a coiled/uncoiled metal spring arm 32 in place of
rubber band 30. FIG. 5 shows a plurality of the assembled pusher
arrangements 40 side by side. FIG. 6 shows an alternative
arrangement for pusher assembly 40 that is essentially the same as
FIG. 4 except that tray 10 also has vacuum thermoformed walls 18
for helping to maintain commercial products in the correct
alignment as pusher arm 20 pushes the items forward (via boas
spring 32).
[0027] FIGS. 7 and 8 show an alternative arrangement for assembly
140. Here Tray 110 has the same guide grooves 112 and
spring/rubber-band lock 114 located at the front end of tray 110 in
central cavity 116. As in FIG. 4, assembly 140 has a spring 132. In
this embodiment spring 132 has a cut locking notch 133 ("T" cut
punch in metal spring) that connects with spring lock 114 ("V" cut)
and pusher arm 120, rather than being a hollow body is simply a
flat arm insert 120 with support flange 124 (see FIG. 8). Such an
arrangement can also be used with a tray having side walls (e.g.
FIG. 6)
[0028] FIG. 9 shows another embodiment with pusher assembly 40/140
inserted into a display carton with commercial products therein,
illustrating a typical use. FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are essentially the
same as the arrangement shown in FIG. 6, where tray 10/110 has side
walls 18 (or 118 if such version of assembly 140 is used). However,
in these embodiments, side walls 18/118 and trays 10/110 are
connected into a joint assembly 50/150 (rather than individual
assemblies 140).
[0029] All of the above described embodiments offer a product
package pusher assembly 40/140 that can be durably constructed from
vacuum thermoformed constituent parts (tray 10/110 and pusher arm
20/120). As noted above, the benefit of vacuum forming the
components is that unlike rigid injection molded parts, when
assembled the injection molded parts must be engineered to allow
clearance tolerances when assembling. The vacuum formed parts can
be designed with interference due to the part's ability to flex and
deform to temporarily accommodate mechanical interference.
[0030] Such an innovative design for pusher assemblies can impact
the retail market by integrating a pusher assembly (40/140) with
the shipping carton and allows the product to go directly to the
store shelves without manually restocking every package. Once one
end of the carton is opened the entire carton of product can be
placed onto the shelf and automatically dispensed as customers
remove the lead product. Pusher assembly 40/140 then can advances
the next product into the forward position that was just
vacated.
[0031] In this manner ordinary walled product package displays can
be easily provided with an insertable biased pusher arm (part
20/120 of assembly 40/140) that allow products to be inserted on
top of tray insert 10/110 between either the front of tray 10/110
(i.e. possibly tray wall 18/118) or a front of a product carton
such as shown in FIG. 9.
[0032] It is noted that both thermoformed pieces of pusher arm
20/120 and tray 10/110 can be stamped and thermoformed from a
single sheet of plastic making the device inexpensive to
manufacture. Moreover, the designs for both base 10/110 and pusher
arm 20/120 are stackable for easy and inexpensive shipping and only
require a basic rubber band for completion.
[0033] While only certain features of the invention have been
illustrated and described herein, many modifications,
substitutions, changes or equivalents will now occur to those
skilled in the art. It is therefore, to be understood that this
application is intended to cover all such modifications and changes
that fall within the true spirit of the invention.
* * * * *