Article dispensing – Dispenser delivering to stationary article support for... – With article motion retarding baffle at inlet to support
Reexamination Certificate
1997-09-04
2001-02-20
Ellis, Christoher P. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
Dispenser delivering to stationary article support for...
With article motion retarding baffle at inlet to support
C221S191000, C221S165000, C221S308000, C211S074000, C211S059200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189734
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a merchandising display unit for bottles, and in particular, a merchandising display unit having interchangeable bottle dispensing components which accommodate bottles of different heights.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Refrigerated display cases for beverage containers, and the like, generally include vertically aligned rows of racks, commonly called glide racks, upon which the beverage containers are loaded. The beverage containers may be cans or bottles of any size and the width of the glide rack rows are adjusted accordingly to accommodate each particular container. The glide rack includes a plurality of rows extending from the front of the glide rack to the rear thereof. Each row may then be loaded with rows of beverage containers extending from the front of the display case to the rear of the display case. Each glide rack is disposed within the refrigerated display case at an angle of approximately five to twelve degrees. Thus, when the lead beverage container is removed from the row by a customer, the next beverage container will move forward to occupy the forwardmost position, and the remainder of the row of beverage containers will follow. In this manner, there is always a beverage container at the front of each row of the glide rack ready to be dispensed to a customer.
The smooth sliding surface of the glide rack soon wears off, however, thus creating more friction as the beverage containers slide thereon such the plastic sliding surface of the glide rack becomes more roughened. This in turn creates more problems as the beverage containers may fall over, tip, rotate, occasionally open and spill. The repeated sliding along the roughened sliding surface and the beverage containers tipping and spilling creates a worn and unusable glide rack within only three to four months of use. Therefore, it has generally been necessary to completely replace the entire glide rack once it reached this point of wear and tear, resulting in costly and repeated expenditures.
To avoid the drawbacks of conventional glide racks, another alternative for merchandising bottles for display and purchase is an overhead support system, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,221 to Suttles and U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,485 to Clement. In these types of systems, an overhead support track having a pair of rails is used to receive the neck flange of the bottle to be displayed. The bottles are inserted from the rear and slide forward under gravity feed due to the angle of the support track.
In some of these prior art configurations, the front end of the track is sloped upwardly so as to retard the forward motion of the bottles and to present the lead bottle to the customer. As a result, the bottom of the lead bottle is kicked out in a forward direction due to the force from the bottles therebehind, thereby presenting an unorganized merchandising display of the bottles. In addition, these types prior art systems require the customer to grasp the bottle by the bottom area and pull upwards in order to remove the bottle neck from the prior art track that holds it. This makes it more difficult for the customer to remove a bottle from the display. Further, should the customer change his mind about his beverage selection, it is extremely difficult to reinsert the bottle into the track from the front thereof.
In another prior art configuration, a fixed stirrup-like structure at the forward end of the track catches and supports the lead bottle, which no longer is supported by the track. This system cannot readily accommodate bottles of different heights. Further, due to the assembly of the display units of the prior art, should a single track need to be replaced, it is necessary to disassemble an entire shelf in order to do so.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a merchandising display system for bottles that is quickly and easily installed. The system of the present invention also provides easily interchangeable components tailored to bottles of different height and/or diameter, thus yielding greater flexibility for the use of the system. In addition, the system of the present invention offers increased visibility of the bottled product to be displayed for sale, both the bottle label and any distinctive shaping of the bottle itself, and enables the product to be loaded from either the front or the rear.
These and other objects are achieved by providing a gravity feed merchandise dispensing device of the type comprising at least one track, each track capable of supporting in tandem a row of similar bottles of the type having an annular flange on the neck of the bottle, and each track having a front end, a rear end and a pair of rails spaced apart to receive between them the necks of suitably sized bottles such that the underside of each bottle neck flange engages the rails whereby the bottles are suspended by their flanges for movement relative to the track. A lead bottle support is suspended from the track and sized to support the bottom of the lead bottle of the row with the neck of the lead bottle adjacent the front end of the track but disengaged from the rails. Each track normally is inclined downwardly toward the front end so as to permit the suspended bottles to gravity-feed one after the other to the front end of the track each time the lead bottle in the row is unloaded from the lead bottle support. The lead bottle support is removably suspended on the track and is interchangeable with other lead bottle supports, some of different height and/or diameter.
Preferably, the front end of each of the rails slants downwardly relative to the rail to form a transition ramp for bottle neck flanges as the bottles move from the track to the lead bottle support during dispensing, or as the bottles move from the lead bottle support to the track when the track is being loaded from the front.
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Apps William P.
Becker Frank
Hwang Philip C.
Koefelda Jerry
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
Ellis Christoher P.
Mackey Patrick
Rehrig Pacific Company
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