U.S. patent number 3,848,745 [Application Number 05/386,560] was granted by the patent office on 1974-11-19 for tray unit.
Invention is credited to John W. Smith.
United States Patent |
3,848,745 |
Smith |
November 19, 1974 |
TRAY UNIT
Abstract
A tray unit for vending items of merchandise or the like is
provided with automatic merchandise-advancing means which includes
a roll of extensible sheet material having a memory which renders
it self-winding such that the merchandise items in the tray are
automatically shifted forwardly in the tray whenever the normally
forwardmost one of the items is removed therefrom. The sheet
material is affixed to an elongated roller for self-winding
thereabout with the roller having radial end flanges which engage
the rearwardmost one of the items in the tray whereby the items
therein are biased in the direction of a front rim of the tray
thereby maintaining the items disposed to the forward part of the
tray. A bottom wall of the tray is provided with a pair of
laterally spaced, longitudinal supporting ribs to hold the items
spaced from the bottom wall and to minimize the friction between
the bottom wall and the items as the latter shift forwardly. The
trays are adapted to be used either individually, in stacks, or in
a side-by-side relationship and are easily adaptable for use with
various sizes and shapes of merchandise items.
Inventors: |
Smith; John W. (Kansas City,
MO) |
Family
ID: |
23526110 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/386,560 |
Filed: |
August 8, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/59.3;
312/71 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47F
1/126 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47F
1/00 (20060101); A47F 1/12 (20060101); A47f
001/00 (); B65g 001/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;312/71
;211/43,49R,49S,49D,51 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Nunberg; Casmir A.
Assistant Examiner: Calvert; Andrew M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Schmidt, Johnson, Hovey &
Williams
Claims
Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and
desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:
1. A merchandise vending unit having an automatic merchandise
advancing means, said unit comprising:
a tray having a bottom wall adapted to support a quantity of
individual merchandise items;
said tray having a front rim and being of a size and shape to
retain said items in a longitudinally disposed layer extending
rearwardly from said rim; and
advancing means affixed to said bottom wall and engageable with a
normally rearwardmost one of said items to automatically shift the
remaining ones of said items forwardly in said tray when the
normally forwardmost one of said items is removed therefrom whereby
the next remaining forwardmost item is adjacent said rim,
said advancing means including a roll of extensible sheet material
having a memory to render the same self-winding,
said material including a stretch underlying said items when in a
partially extended condition,
said advancing means presenting a rolled portion of said material
rearwardly of said rearmost item when the advancing means is in
engagement with the said rearmost item,
said material having an end affixed to said bottom wall proximal
said forward rim of said tray whereby said items in the tray are
biased in the direction of said rim by said rolled portion,
said advancing means further including a cylindrically shaped
roller about which said rolled portion of material is wound, said
roller being disposed transversely of said material and in contact
with said rearmost item.
2. A tray unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said material is
affixed to said bottom wall at a plane lower than that of the
bottom of said items.
3. A tray unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller is
provided with a radial flange at each end thereof, said flanges
being in said contact with said rearmost item and said material
being disposed between said flanges and out of contact with said
rearmost item.
4. A merchandise vending unit having an automatic merchandise
advancing means, said unit comprising:
a tray having a bottom wall adapted to support a quantity of
individual merchandise items;
said tray having a front rim and being of a size and shape to
retain said items in a longitudinally disposed layer extending
rearwardly from said rim; and
advancing means affixed to said bottom wall and engageable with a
normally rearwardmost one of said items to automatically shift the
remaining ones of said items forwardly in said tray when the
normally forwardmost one of said items is removed therefrom whereby
the next remaining forwardmost item is adjacent said rim,
said advancing means including a roll of extensible sheet material
having a memory to render the same self-winding,
said bottom wall being provided with a pair of transversely spaced,
longitudinally disposed ribs to support said items in a vertically
spaced relationship relative to said bottom wall.
5. A tray unit as claimed in claim 4, wherein said material is
located between said ribs, the space between said ribs defining a
path along which said material is extended beneath said items.
6. A tray unit as claimed in claim 5, wherein said advancing means
includes an elongated roller about which said material is wrapped,
said roller being disposed transversely of and supported by said
ribs rearwardly of said rearmost item, said roller further having
radial end flanges in contact with said rearmost item.
7. A merchandise vending unit having an automatic merchandise
advancing means, said unit comprising:
a tray having a bottom wall adapted to support a quantity of
individual merchandise items;
said tray having a front rim and being of a size and shape to
retain said items in a longitudinally disposed layer extending
rearwardly from said rim; and
advancing means affixed to said bottom wall and engageable with a
normally rearwardmost one of said items to automatically shift the
remaining ones of said items forwardly in said tray when the
normally forwardmost one of said items is removed therefrom whereby
the next remaining forwardmost item is adjacent said rim;
said advancing means including a roll of extensible sheet material
having a memory to render the same self-winding,
said material including a stretch underlying said items when in a
partially extended condition,
said advancing means presenting a rolled portion of said material
rearwardly of said rearmost item when the advancing means is in
engagement with the said rearmost item,
said material having an end affixed to said bottom wall proximal
said forward rim of said tray whereby said items in the tray are
biased in the direction of said rim by said rolled portion.
said rolled portion being in a raised position relative to said
bottom wall,
said advancing means engaging the rearwardmost item at a point
above the lower, rearmost edge thereof,
said forward rim being of a sufficient height with respect to said
portion to prevent the items from tipping forwardly relative to
said tray in response to the forward bias of said advancing means.
Description
This invention relates to a merchandise vending unit of the kind
utilized to display and dispense various items such as small,
consumer-type packaged articles normally found on self-service
shelves or the like.
Modern merchandising practice requires that consumer items, and
particularly those items purchased on impulse, be attractively
arranged on the shelves in such a manner that they be readily
accessible to the customer by always being within each reach of the
buyer and in a position to be easily noticed. Also, the goods or
items should be attractively arranged and not present a scattered
or jumbled appearance necessitating the use of expensive labor to
maintain the products in a pleasing, eye-appealing disposition.
Further, typical display arrangements require the stacking of
numerous layers of cartons or items in several rows thus making it
important that the articles stay in place once they have been so
arranged and are not susceptible to scattering or falling to the
floor or otherwise out of position. In this connection, the natural
tendency is for people to take the forwardmost items and leave
those toward the rear of the shelf or display stand that are not as
readily noticed or as easily picked up.
It is, therefore, a very important object of my invention to
provide a tray unit for displaying and dispensing a quantity of
merchandise items or the like in which the unit is equipped with
means for automatically shifting the items remaining in the tray
forwardly whenever the forwardmost item is removed therefrom.
It is another very important object of the invention to provide a
tray unit in which the merchandise items are not only oriented to
the front of the tray but in which the tray unit maintains the
items in an orderly fashion to thus present a pleasing and
attractive display to the customer.
Yet another important object of my invention is to provide a tray
unit as aforementioned in which a multiplicity of trays may be
placed in stacks or in a side-by-side arrangement, yet still
function for the intended purpose of automatically maintaining the
items in a forward position relative to a shelf or display
stand.
Yet another important object of the invention is to provide a tray
unit in which the automatic product advancing means in the tray
includes a roll of extensible, self-winding sheet material that is
readily adjustable to whatever quantity of items are in the
tray.
Another object of the invention is to provide structures forming a
part of the tray and a part of the advancing means which permit
only limited engagement of the articles with the tray and the
advancing means to thus minimize the frictional forces on the items
as they are shifted by the advancing means.
A still further object of my invention is to provide a low-cost
tray unit with automatic advancing means which is readily adaptable
for use with numerous types of packaged and unpackaged goods and
which may be "pre-loaded" with a quantity of items at the point of
manufacture for shipment, as a unit, to the distributor or
retailer.
In the drawing:
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a tray unit made pursuant to
the present invention and in which a quantity of merchandise items
have been placed;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal, vertical, cross-sectional view of the
unit showing the same only partially "loaded" with merchandise
items and held in the forward part of the unit by an automatic
merchandise advancing means;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the tray unit with the merchandise items
being shown in dotted-line form; and
FIG. 4 is a transverse, vertical, cross-sectional view taken along
line 4--4 of FIG. 1.
A merchandise vending unit broadly identified by the numeral 10, is
provided for the displaying and dispensing of a quantity of
individual merchandise items 12 and is comprised of a tray 14 to
which an advancing means 16 has been affixed in a manner to
automatically shift forwardly those items 12 remaining after the
normally forwardmost item 12 has been removed from the tray 14. It
should be understood that the items 12 may be of the kind
frequently identified as consumer-type items, an example of which
would be packages of prepared food items or drug products such as
antihistamine capsules or other medications and the like, but
certainly need not necessarily be packaged, and could be
individual, non-packaged items. The elongated tray 14 is of a size
and shape to retain the items 12 in a longitudinally disposed layer
and may be constructed of plastic or any other low-cost material
which lends itself to high-speed mass production, such as the
various extrusion or molding processes now known.
The tray 14 has a bottom wall 18 adapted to support the merchandise
items 12 and includes a front rim 20 as well as side rims 22 and a
back rim 24. A pair of transversely spaced, longitudinally
disposed, item-supporting ribs 26 are spaced inwardly from the
sides 22 and extend along the full length of the bottom wall 18
from the front rim 20 to the back rim 24. As will be seen in FIG.
4, the ribs 26 are of a somewhat lesser height than are the side
and back rims 22 and 24 respectively, and the space between the two
ribs 26 defines a path 28 along which the advancing means 16 is
guided.
The advancing means 16 includes a roll of extensible sheet material
17 having a memory to render it self-winding and in roll form when
in its natural state. An end 30 of the material 17 is passed
through a transverse slot 32 disposed in the bottom wall 18 and
located between the ribs 26 for attachment to the underside of the
wall 18 near the front of the tray 14 as defined by the rim 20. A
raised section 34 of the wall 18 between the slot 32 and the rim 20
receives an underlying, transversely disposed piece of double-faced
tape 36 to which the end 30 of the material 17 is attached. It is
to be understood that while this particular form of attachment of
material 17 to the tray 14 has been shown, that other methods of
attaching the end 30 to the wall 18 may be employed. As will be
best seen in referring to FIG. 2, the material 17 is extended
rearwardly through the slot 32 such that it is disposed on the
topside of the bottom wall 18 and when extended, presents a stretch
38 disposed along the path 28 and underlying the items 12 that are
supported on the ribs 26. Further, it will be noted that the
stretch 38 terminates in a roller portion 40 which is in a raised
position relative to the bottom wall 18 and is wound about an
elongated, cylindrically-shaped roller 41. The roller 41 is
comprised of a central core body 44 that is supported by the ribs
26, and radial end flanges 46 which engage the rearwardmost item 12
at a point above the lower rearmost edge thereof. The material 17
is affixed to the core body 44 intermediate the end flanges 46 with
the latter being of a sufficient width that the body 44 is spaced a
great enough distance from rearwardmost item 12 that no contact is
made between the item 12 and the rolled portion 40 of the stretch
38.
At the time the unit 10 is to be utilized for the displaying and
dispensing of a quantity of items 12, the material 17 is caused to
be extended rearwardly from the slot 32 in order that the items 12
may be placed on the ribs 26 between the rolled portion 40 and the
front rim 20, the extent to which the material is extended being,
of course, determined by the number of items 12 to be placed in the
tray 14 and limited only by its maximum capacity as shown in FIG.
1. It is to be here noted that the material 17 is of a sufficient
length that a rolled portion 40 remains, even though the tray has
received its maximum number of items 12. Thus, as shown, the rolled
portion 40 is wound about the core body 44, and the flanges 46 are
in engagement with the rear vertical face 42 of the rearwardmost
item 12 such that all of the items 12 are "clamped" between the
roller 41 and the front rim 20 with the self-winding characteristic
of the material 17 causing the items to be biased in the direction
of the rim 20.
Reference to FIGS. 2 and 4 will most clearly illustrate the
positioning of the stretch 38 in the path 28 beneath the items 12
as well as illustrate the minimal points of contact of the items 12
with the bottom wall 18 and the roller 41 as exemplified by the
ribs 26 and flanges 46 respectively. By supporting and engaging the
items 12 in this manner the frictional forces between the items 12
and the floor or bottom wall 18 of the tray 14 and the advancing
means 16 is reduced to a minimum, thereby requiring less force on
the part of the material 17 to shift the items forwardly each time
one is removed.
When the unit 10, with its items 12 so loaded, is placed in use, it
is but a simple matter for the customer to lift out that item 12
nearest the rim 20 at which time the force exerted by the natural
tendency of the material 16 to self-wind about the roller 41 causes
the remaining items 12 to shift forwardly in the direction of the
rim 20 such that the next remaining forwardmost item 12 is disposed
adjacent the rim 20. As can be seen when comparing FIGS. 1 and 2,
as the items 12 are removed, the progressive self-winding of the
material 17 about the core body 44 of the roller 41 takes up the
excess length of the stretch 38 as the distance between the rear
face 42 of the rearwardmost item 12 and the fixed end 30 of the
material 17 decreases.
Based on the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the
unit 10 provides a low-cost, convenient merchandising device which
is particularly well-suited for the promotion of consumer-type
items with a minimum of effort or labor on the part of salesclerks
or others in charge of maintaining a display or an adequate supply
of items in the best possible position for consumer pickup. The
items are always automatically maintained in their forwardmost
positions on the shelf, display rack or the like and in full view
for the consumer. This is significant, particularly in those
instances where there may be overhanging shelves which would
otherwise restrict the view of the consumer, making it difficult
for him to determine if the item was available or to even see the
item if it were not near the front of the shelf. The use of this
unit insures that the item is always moved to the front and is not
dependent on some attendant to repeatedly move the supply forwardly
on the shelf as the items are sold.
Also, it is contemplated that the units 10 could be "pre-loaded" at
the point of packaging of the individual items 12, the unit 10
being so assembled that the items 12 stay in the trays 14 during
shipment so that, at the point of sale, the units with their items
therein need merely be unpacked from their shipping cartons and
placed on the shelf for immediate access by the consumer. In this
connection it is also to be mentioned that a plurality or
multiplicity of units 10 could be placed in stacks or in
side-by-side relationship to present a larger display and a larger
quantity of items 10. Not to be overlooked is the further advantage
of the ease with which an orderly display may be maintained. The
front, side, and back rims 20, 22 and 24 respectively, contain the
items and preclude their being scattered about the shelf.
* * * * *