Device for displacing goods on display surfaces

The subject matter of the present invention is a device for mechanical pushing goods exposed on the exposition surfaces of the shelves mainly at self-service stores, the goods packed into unit packages, in particular.

Displaying goods on the shelves at self-service stores is particularly troublesome when the bulk goods exposed are packed into small flat sachets or bags. Such goods are usually delivered to the sales points in carton boxes and kept on the shelves therein. When the cover or top part of such a box is taken away, there is usually a free access to each individual sachet or package. The carton box may conveniently be exposed on the sale desk, it is however not so convenient for exposing the products on the shelves. To be exposed on the shelves the individual sachets or bags should be taken off the carton box and displayed in a manner that allows reaching them by the buyers.

Small sachets containing special type of products, namely the goods such as spices are sometimes placed on the shelves in cartons with openings extending to the side wall, with an intention that the front side of the front sachet can be seen by the buyers. Unfortunately, when the box is half empty the individual sachets tend to slide down so that it hardly can be seen and the buyers may have an impression that the box is empty.

There are known numerous systems for exposing such troublesome goods. They provide for sliding the packed goods sold in individual packages in order to properly expose them and allow easy reaching for them by the buyers.

There are gravity systems involving use of the slope surface along which the individual packages slide down toward the front edge of a shelf, where the slope surface becomes horizontally oriented. Although such a system ensures easy access to the goods, it requires both the side guiding means and the front barrier preventing the goods from falling down. In order to avoid any chaotic piling of the goods the slope surface should not be too steep.

There are also known systems allowing movement of the goods toward a front edge of a horizontal shelf. In such systems the shelf is equipped with a mechanically driven pushing means mounted in the guiding means fastened to the surface of the shelf. There are also known systems in which pushing mechanisms are mounted under a shelf and where the pushing plates extend above the upper surface of the shelf through the slots formed in the shelf itself.

Basic technical limitations of commonly use of the known pushing mechanisms of the type result form the phenomenon of self-locking of the pushing plates in the guiding means, caused by the forces acting on such pushing plates. The effect of the self-locking phenomenon can be reduced or eliminated by proper scaling of the height of the pushing plates and of the length of the elements perpendicular to the pushing plates, that interact with the guiding means. However, when the parts interacting with the guiding means are longer, the exposition surface of the shelf equipped with such a pushing mechanisms is significantly reduced, as the dead area within which no movement of the goods is possible increases to the extent corresponding to the length of the horizontal parts of the pushing means. This is the main reason why the height of the pushing plates is kept within the limits allowing use of the systems with respect to small and light packages only. One of the disadvantages of the systems is a limited use of area adjacent to the rear edge of a shelf since it requires more frequent supplementing the goods exposed on such shelf.

It should be pointed out that it is the main exploitation disadvantage of known system that the stock of the goods displayed on the shelves should be almost constantly supplemented with new items of the goods. Usually, the carton boxes containing individual sachets or bags are manually emptied since the sachets should be properly positioned with respect to the pushing means on the shelves or in a manner suitable for a mechanical or gravity displacement within the exposition area of a shelf.

Another disadvantage of the known systems results from inefficiency of use of the exposition space due to the necessity of maintaining sufficiently big distances between the adjacent shelves in order to enable convenient supplementing of a stock of the goods displayed on each shelf.

It is thus the main object of the present invention to provide a novel system for mechanical displacing of goods exposed, in particular the goods in unit (or consumer) packages, the system free of the a.m. disadvantages of the known solutions, i.e. providing a more efficient use of the exposition space. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a system adjusted for use without unloading individual unit packages form a master package in which the goods are delivered by their manufacturers.

The device according to Claim 1 achieves the aims of the present invention. Various advantageous features of the device are defined in the dependent claims.

A device for automatic displacing of goods or unit packages of bulk goods, displayed on exposition surfaces, the device having mechanically driven pushing arms, according to the present invention is characterized in that at least one pushing arm mechanically driven by a spring is mounted above displayed goods or unit packages of bulk goods.

The device may be mounted directly to the bottom part of an adjacent shelf situated above the exposition surface or to a guiding plate fastened to the bottom part of an adjacent shelf situated above the exposition surface. In another embodiment the device may have its own self-supporting structure, preferably in form of a rack.

A pushing arm is conveniently composed of two elements connected by hinge joint, namely the upper element and the lower element.

The upper element of the pushing arm has a) an elongated guiding part oriented horizontally equipped with hooking means engaging guiding rails of a guiding plate or of the self supporting structure of the device or alternatively the individual guiding rails fastened directly to the bottom part of an adjacent shelf situated above the exposition surface; and b) a connecting part essentially perpendicular to the guiding part. The connecting part of the upper element of the pushing arm is connected by a hinge joint with the lower element of the pushing arm.

The lower element has a form adjusted to the shape of the goods or the shape of the packages of the goods to be pushed by the pushing arm, with hinge joint at its upper edge and with the remaining edges free.

The connecting part of the upper element of the pushing arm and its lower element have vertical reinforcing ribs on their rear surfaces. Within the region of the hinge joint the ribs extend beyond the hinge region of the element reinforced by the ribs towards the other element, thus forming means for stopping the lower element of the pushing arm in its movement around the hinge joint axis.

The upper element of the pushing arm is equipped with at least one spring, being fastened at its one end to the connecting part, while at its other end the spring is fastened to the guiding plate or self-supporting structure of the device. In another - simplified, embodiment the other end of the spring is fastened directly to the bottom part of an adjacent shelf situated above the exposition surface.

Driving force of the spring is adjusted to the weight of the goods to be displaced by the device or to the weight of the unit package of the goods.

Guiding rails are preferably in form of structural sections or rods of a material having low friction factor.

Distances between the pushing arms arranged on the same level and between the levels of exposition surfaces are adjusted to the size of master packages and to the number of master packages made available to the buyers.

The guiding rails of the device according to the present invention can form a part of the guiding plate, to which the other end of the driving spring is fastened as well. The guiding plate can in turn be mounted either to the upper shelf of the store exposition rack or to the self-supporting structure of the present device. In either arrangement the guiding plate is always situated above the mechanically displaced goods. In an alternative embodiment of the device according to the present invention the guiding rods and the other end of the driving spring are fastened directly to the self-supporting structure of the device.

In a preferred embodiment the device according to the present invention has its own self supporting structure, preferably in form of a rack in which a number of display levels and distances between them, as well as a number of pushing arms and distances between adjacent individual pushing arms are adjusted to the size of master packages and to the range of goods of different assortments to be exposed on the same rack.

In another preferred embodiment the device according to the present invention has several - at least two, individual sets composed of the pushing arm and elements along which the pushing arm moves under driving force of the spring, each set being mounted to rods parallel to the front and rear edges of the store exposition shelf or self supporting structure in form of a rack. The rods are situated immediately above the goods to be displaced and the individual sets composed of the pushing arm and elements along which the pushing arm moves under driving force of the spring are mounted to the rods in such a way that the distance between the two adjacent sets can be easily changed.

The device according to the present invention in its specially advantageously embodiment is adjusted to simultaneous displaying of a big range of goods of the same kind, such as pet food, spices, herbs, food concentrates and the like packed in unit packages of the same size and weight, preferably in small sachets or else of small objects such as copy-books or envelopes that do not require any unit packages. In this embodiment there are individual pushing arms for displacing separately different assortments of the goods.

The present invention allows displacement of goods packed into the individual unit packages without taking them out of the master packages in which they are delivered to the store. Thus, supplementing the goods on the shelves is much easier and consists of taking away the emptied master package and replacing it with a new one. It is thus not necessary to put separate identification tags or labels on the shelves, since the master packages usually include full identification of goods contained therein. It is possible to order the goods in master packages marked accordingly. The device according to the present invention provides far better arrangement of the goods on the exposition shelves and improves significantly aesthetic aspect of the exposition. The device according to the invention is particularly useful when the master package has the same width as that of individual unit packages contained in the master box, since after simple removal of the cover of the master package there can be directly seen denominations identifying the goods exposed, which typically cover the front side of each the individual unit package.

The front side of the movable lower element of the pushing arm of the device according to the present invention may be additionally employed as a promotion or information area. The front side of the element becomes visible after the last unit package is taken away by the buyer from the master package. Thus, once it becomes noticeable it can convey a signal to the shop clerks that the new master package full of individual unit packages should be placed on the exposition shelf.

Due to the above advantageous features the present device - especially the embodiment comprising the self-supporting structure, is very useful also for proper displaying of the goods on the sale or cashier desks. In general, however it is mainly intended for the shelves self-service stores.

The present invention will be further described in details with reference to the enclosed drawing, wherein <dl id="dl0001"><dt>Fig. 1</dt><dd>presents the device according to the present invention in its first embodiment in a perspective view from the back; the device comprises the guiding plate with the guiding rails and the four pushing arms mounted to the rails; each pushing arm is furnished with the driving spring;</dd><dt>Fig. 2</dt><dd>illustrates a construction of one individual pushing arm of four such arms shown in Fig. 1;</dd><dt>Fig. 3</dt><dd>illustrates the practical use of the device shown in Fig. 1 for displacing the individual unit packages within the master package, without taking them out of the latter;</dd><dt>Fig. 4</dt><dd>presents an example of the self-supporting structure of the device according to the present invention;</dd><dt>Fig. 5</dt><dd>presents further embodiment of the device according to the present invention with the self supporting structure intended for eight master packages displayed on the two levels, with individual pushing arms mounted to their respective guiding rails and with four empty master packages displayed thereon (individual unit packages not shown);</dd><dt>Fig. 6</dt><dd>presents another embodiment of the device according to the present invention comprising the self supporting structure with the pushing arm guiding means in form of rods, the structure being intended also for eight master packages displayed on the two levels, with individual pushing arms mounted to their respective guiding rods and with four empty master packages displayed thereon (individual unit packages not shown);</dd><dt>Fig. 7</dt><dd>presents still further embodiment of the device according to the present invention comprising the self supporting structure with the guiding rails mounted to the rods parallel to the front and rear edges of the supporting structure in such a way that the positions of individual pushing arms and the distances between two adjacent pushing arms can be individually adjusted to the user's needs, the structure being intended also for eight master packages displayed on the two levels, with individual pushing arms mounted to their respective guiding rails and with four empty master packages displayed thereon (individual unit packages not shown).</dd></dl>

In the enclosed drawing (Fig. 1) the device according to the present invention consist of guiding plate <u>1</u> equipped with the guiding rails <u>2</u> connected with the pushing arms <u>3</u> each of which consists of two elements <u>4</u> and <u>5</u> connected with each other by a hinge joint and equipped with driving springs <u>6</u> each of which is fastened at its one end to the guiding plate <u>1</u> and at its other end to the upper element <u>4</u> of the pushing arm <u>3</u>.

Pushing arm <u>3</u> (Fig. 2) consists of the upper element <u>4</u> comprising a) an elongated horizontal guiding part with hooking means <u>7</u> being engaged to the guiding rails <u>2</u> and b) an connecting part <u>8</u> extending perpendicularly to the elongated guiding part and connected through the hint joint to the lower element <u>5</u> having its free end shaped as desired, typically in form of a flat plate. The pushing arm <u>3</u> has reinforcing ribs <u>9</u>, <u>9'</u> at the rear surfaces of connecting part <u>8</u> and the lower element <u>5</u>, respectively. Within the region of the hinge joint <u>10</u> the ribs <u>9</u>, <u>9'</u> extend beyond the hinge joint <u>10</u> and form stoppers limiting the movement of the lower element <u>5</u> of the pushing arm <u>3</u> around the axis of the hinge joint <u>10</u>. In the upper section of the connecting part <u>8</u> - between the reinforcing ribs <u>9</u> there are mounted driving springs <u>6</u>, the ends <u>6'</u> of which - fastened to the guiding plate <u>1</u>, are deflected and provided with the catching holes.

The guiding plate <u>1</u> of the device according to the present invention is situated above the goods packed into individual unit packages <u>11</u> to be shifted or displaced within the exposition surface, preferably within the master packages <u>12</u> displayed on the exposition surface of the store sale desk or a self-service store shelf. In the preferred embodiments illustrated by Figs. 3, 4 and 5 in the drawings, the guiding plates <u>1</u> are placed on the self-supporting structure <u>13</u> wherein distances between the exposition levels and between adjacent pushing arms <u>3</u> are adjusted to the size of master packages <u>12</u>. The self-supporting structures <u>13</u> are intended for eight master packages displayed on the two levels. When the pushing arm <u>3</u> is folded by moving its lower element <u>5</u> around the axis of the hinge joint <u>10</u> it is possible to slide the bottom part of a master package <u>12</u> into the space extending below the guiding place <u>1</u>, and simultaneously placing the unfolded pushing arm <u>3</u> between the rear wall of the master package <u>12</u> and the last rear individual unit package <u>11</u>. When the master package <u>12</u> is being pushed to reach the rear edge of the self supporting structure <u>13</u> or a store shelf (not shown in the drawings) the driving spring <u>6</u> is pulled and unrolled resulting in shifting the pushing arm <u>3</u> to its limit rear position. Under the force exerted by driving spring <u>6</u> the pushing arm <u>3</u> moves forward when any individual unit package <u>11</u> is picked-up and taken away from the master package <u>12</u> by the buyers, thus displacing the individual unit packages remaining within the master package <u>12</u> towards the point where the other end <u>6'</u> of the driving spring <u>6</u> is fastened.

Although in the enclosed drawings (Fig. 3-5) the guiding plate <u>1</u> is always mounted to the self supporting structure <u>13</u>, the plate <u>1</u> can be mounted to the existing shelves of the exposition racks available in the stores or other sale points without any loss of functionality of the present device.

In another embodiment illustrated by Fig. 6, the device according to the present invention has the guiding means in form of the rods <u>14</u>. Individual construction elements of the device according to the present invention can be clearly seen, thus the principles of operating the device according to the present invention can be better explained.

According to further embodiment of the present invention, the position of the pushing arm <u>3</u> in relation to the exposition shelf or a self supporting structure <u>13</u> can be freely adjusted to the individual user's needs (Fig. 7) due to the possibility of sliding the guiding rails <u>2</u> or guiding rods <u>14</u> with pushing arms <u>3</u> mounted thereon along the rods <u>15</u> situated in parallel to the front and rear edges of the store shelf or self supporting structure <u>13</u>. When the rods <u>15</u> are attached to the store shelf the individual sets of pushing arm <u>3</u> and guiding rails <u>2</u> or guiding rods <u>14</u>, mounted to the rods <u>15</u> can be freely shifted to the position exactly above the master package <u>12</u> placed on the lower shelf of the same store rack and filled with individual unit packages <u>11</u> to be displaced by the pushing arm <u>3</u>, while the remaining part of the lower shelf can be used in traditional manner. After display of goods on the lower shelf is changed the position of pushing arm <u>3</u> can be again adjusted to the new needs, i.e. to the new location of the master package <u>12</u> exposed on the lower shelf.

In the drawings the front side of the lower element <u>5</u> of the pushing arm <u>3</u> has a form of a flat plate adapted for pushing flat objects to be displaced by a pushing arm <u>3</u>. When the pushing arm <u>3</u> is to be used for displacement of the objects shaped differently, also the lower part <u>5</u> of the pushing arm <u>3</u> can be shaped differently to match the shape of the objects such as for example small jars with spices or with baby food, etc.

Although in the preferred embodiments of the present invention the guiding rails or rods are made of plastic materials, within the scope of the present invention there are also the guiding rails or rods made of other materials characterized by low friction factors.