Supports: racks – Special article – Stacked articles
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-02
2002-11-12
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Special article
Stacked articles
C211S074000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06478167
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention is related to the container dispensing industry and, more particularly, to the field of positioning and displaying containers and associated methods.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Manufacturers of beverages or any product sold in a substantially cylindrical container spend considerable time in positioning a label on the container to advertise their product. The label positioned on the container is very important because it aids the consumer in making a decision as to which container to purchase. It is believed, for example, that many consumers are more likely to purchase a beverage in a container that they can readily identify. If the consumer cannot identify the beverage because the label is not visible or easily recognizable, then the consumer is less likely to purchase the beverage.
A current problem with container dispensing systems, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,094 by spamer et al. titled “Composite Organizer Shelf,” however, is that when a container is loaded into such a container rack and travels forward to the dispensing area, the container rotates and the label is not properly positioned so as to face potential customers viewing the container in the forward dispensing area. This problem is made more complex when there is a plurality of containers positioned in the container dispensing rack.
Accordingly, beverage producers or manufacturers in the container dispensing industry currently address the problem of rotation of containers in display racks by hiring persons or using current personnel to go to convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores and anywhere else that container display racks are used and manually turn the containers so that the labels positioned on the containers can be readily viewed by a potential or actual customer in the forward dispensing area. Retailers often do not manually rotate the containers because the retailer does not have the same vested interest in selling a particular brand or manufacturer.
Problems with this manual label positioning solution, for example, include that it is timely, very expensive and presents only a temporary solution. The cost of hiring persons or using current personnel to go from store to store to simply position labels on containers positioned in a display rack are very high as well as time consuming. The persons who manually turn the containers also often only turn the first row of containers so that labels face in a forward direction towards the forward dispensing area. When a container positioned behind the forward most container advances to the forward dispensing area the container will rotate and the label again will not be positioned in a forward direction. Another problem with this proposed solution is that a person who rotates the container will not be able to align the labels precisely to result in a uniform position of the labels affixed to the container.
Examples of devices developed to prevent rotation of a single container when positioned in a rectangular box can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,006,461 by McGinnis titled “Packaged Bottle with Rotation Preventing Insert Member,” and U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,224 by Bryant titled “Bottle Holder.” These devices, however, only prevent rotation of a single bottle in a single rectangular box to thereby allow the label on the bottle to show through a viewing area of the box such as when the box is positioned on a shelf. These devices likewise do not address or recognize problems associated with display racks for a plurality of containers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, the present invention advantageously provides a container display rack system and methods to prevent rotation of arcuate shaped portions of a container positioned in a container display rack array system. This system advantageously allows for labels affixed to containers to remain in a forwardly viewable direction while positioned in the container display rack array. This is very important for container manufacturers because it provides a customer with a way of identifying the manufacturer's product. The containers are advantageously serially aligned within each container rack. Container racks can also advantageously be positioned in a side-by-side relationship so as to provide a plurality of serially aligned columns of containers positioned in the container display rack array.
There are several advantages to utilizing this type of container rotation preventing system. For example, the system provides the container dispensing industry with a fast economical way to insure that the labels affixed to containers face in a forwardly direction to be readily viewed by customers positioned in a forward dispensing area. The system eliminates the need for manual rotation of containers positioned in a conventional container display rack which have rotated so as not to be serially aligned in the container rack. The rotation prevention technique utilized in this system and methods also advantageously cuts down on loading time. A person hired to load containers into a conventional display rack is responsible for inserting the containers into the display rack and then rotating the forward most containers to insure that the labels positioned on the forward row of containers face in a forward direction to be readily viewable by customers in the forward dispensing area. A person hired to load containers into a container rotation preventing system can simply load the containers into the container display rack and since the containers will not rotate as they travel to the forward dispensing area, e.g., by gravity force, the person loading the containers will not need to take extra time to rotate the containers to face in a forward position towards the viewing area.
The container rotation prevention technique also advantageously includes kits which can be ordered from the manufacturer to attach to conventional container display racks. Individual container display rack adaptors can readily be inserted into a conventional container display rack to prevent rotation of containers positioned in the container display rack. This makes the transformation from a conventional container display rack system to the system that prevents rotation very inexpensive. The container rack adaptors also advantageously allow for only certain racks in an array to be adapted to use the rotation prevention technique and others to use the conventional container dispensing technique, depending on the needs of the owner.
The container rotation prevention technique still further advantageously includes another embodiment of a rack insert positioned to overly the container rotation preventing track stops to allow for conventional containers to be used in the new container rack. This insert allows for any type of container to be used with the container rotation prevention system depending on the needs of the owner.
Another advantageous embodiment of the container rotation prevention technique is removable container track stops. The track stops positioned on a common container track may be removed by the owner of the display rack to allow for containers which do not include container rotation stop members to readily travel along the container track to the forward dispensing area.
The impact of the label on the consumer is a very important marketing edge for the container manufacturers. A label will more likely affect the decision of a consumer viewing such label from the forward dispensing area only if the label is readily viewable to the consumer. If the consumer cannot view the label due to the problem of container rotation, the marketing edge is lost. The container display rack system optimizes the time and efforts of marketing a product.
A container display rack array system according to the present invention preferably includes a rack having a forwardly extending dispensing area and a common container track along which a container travels forward to the forwardly extending dispensing area. The track preferably includes at least one container rotation track stop for stopping rotation of the
Allen Dyer Doppelt Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.A.
Novosad Jennifer E.
Stodola Daniel P.
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