Spring driven method and apparatus for in-carton display and fronting of merchandise items
A spring alignment mechanism utilizes a guide inserted into the rear of a retail-ready display carton. The guide is inserted below merchandise items, so that a spring-driven rear pull member engages the rear-most merchandise item. The pull member travels on the guide so that as items are removed from the carton, remaining items are pulled forward in the display carton. This system facilitates the use of retail-ready packaging, so that cartons of merchandise items may be placed on a shelf without removing the individual items.
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/623,397 filed Jan. 16, 2007, which is related to Provisional Application No. 60/758,398 filed Jan. 13, 2006 for “Carton with spring pusher” and Provisional Application No. 60/774,943 filed Feb. 21, 2006 for “QSTIK™”—a system for auto fronting items in a store”, No. 60/761,857 filed Jan. 25, 2006 for “QSTIK” inventory and display control”, and Provisional Application No. 60/839,317 filed Aug. 23, 2006, and claims priority from those provisional applications.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONThe invention relates to the in-carton display of products such as those packaged in bottles, jars, cans, pouches, envelopes, and boxes, and more particularly to devices and methods in which products displayed in a carton can easily be moved forward by a spring driven device for improved visual exposure and effortless selection by consumers.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONRetail stores relying on the consumers to serve themselves have recognized the importance of displaying products near the front edge of display cartons so that the products can be readily seen by consumers and easily reached by the customers. Customers typically remove products from the front of a carton, and products remaining toward the rear of the carton may be difficult to see or to reach. This problem is aggravated by the increasing use of in-carton displays where sales may be lost if products are not visible from the front of the carton. In order to compensate for the difficulty in seeing products at the rear of a display carton or seeing those products that have fallen over to the bottom of a carton, manufactures have adopted the use of relatively short cartons, where each carton may be only a fraction of the shelf depth.
As more products are merchandised directly from cartons, there is a need for product alignment devices which provide automatic alignment of items in a display carton. It is desirable to provide effective display in a single long carton, rather than several shorter cartons. The longer cartons reduce packaging costs and retail labor.
Suppliers are using small shipper boxes to try to keep pouched products from falling into the box and disappearing from the customer's eye. The small boxes are an inefficient solution, because they require repetitive printing, and they are often lost on the shelf behind other boxes creating poor sales and inventory problems. The small boxes can not keep the product well fronted past the first few pouches.
Grocery and discount stores are cutting costs by requiring suppliers to display their products in the same shipper boxes in which the product arrived at the store, and it is desirable to provide a solution that permits effective shipment and display.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe current invention relates to a device, system and method for displaying and automatically re-aligning products in a display carton. The current invention includes various embodiments of the QSTIK™ system for in-box merchandising and fronting. The system and methods typically use a spring to drive pull members along a guide to automatically front items in a display carton. In some embodiments, the guide is inserted into a carton at a retail location. In other embodiments, the guide is secured to a display shelf, and the carton is inserted onto the guide. The guide is typically inserted into the rear of a carton in a manner that a pull member engages the rearmost item container in the carton and pushes a row of items forward as an item is removed from the front of the carton by a customer.
In one embodiment of the current invention, a carton of multiple merchandise item containers, such as product pouches, bottles, cans, or boxes, is automatically aligned with a spring alignment mechanism which provides a pressure to pull or push remaining item containers forward in the display carton as items are removed by customers.
In another embodiment, a standard shipping or display carton is modified to permit removal of a portion of the carton rear in order to insert the alignment device. In one embodiment, the carton is modified to provide product support rails to elevate the items off of the bottom of the carton.
In one embodiment, a support means such as cardboard rails are provided with the carton so that the rails hold the items in an elevated position relative to the carton bottom. A spring alignment device is positioned in the space between the rails- below the product items and above the carton bottom.
Spring alignment mechanism
In one embodiment of the current invention, multiple merchandise item containers, such as product pouches, are shipped to a retailer in a carton. The carton is intended to be used for merchandise display, so that the retailer is not required to remove the merchandise items from the carton, such as to place the merchandise items on a display shelf The retailer inserts a spring alignment mechanism into the carton, so that the spring alignment mechanism provides a pressure to pull remaining merchandise items forward in the display carton as merchandise items are removed from the carton by customers.
In this manner, the spring acts on a rear pull member to pull remaining items forward as items are removed from the display carton. This application permits the use of a longer carton than what might typically be used in a grocery application. One reason that relatively short cartons are used in many applications is to prevent a situation where items removed were out of view of a potential customer. By pulling items forward packaging cost maybe reduced by permitting units to be shipped and displayed in a carton which corresponds to the shelf depth.
In other embodiments, the spring alignment mechanism device may be positioned in the carton at the time that the carton is shipped, so that the device is active at the time that the carton is opened for display.
Spring alignment device
Guide
Rear pull member
Spring alignment mechanism inserted into carton of items
Advantages of the alignment device include improved ease of installation, an approach that can be used with most items in a supermarket, reduced labor costs from the elimination of item handling, and shelf space savings.
Retail ready carton
In this specification, the term “retail ready carton” refers to cartons containing merchandise items, where the cartons are designed to be placed on a display shelf without removing the items. In general, retail ready cartons typically include graphics to advertise the merchandise items, and include perforations to remove the carton top and the upper portion of the carton front. In this embodiment, the retail ready carton also includes a rear slot or opening, or a method of creating a rear slot or opening. In some examples, a pre-formed rear slot or opening is provided. In other examples, a perforated section is provided so that the perforated section can be removed or partially removed.
Rear carton opening
In this embodiment, a rear slot or opening is provided in the rear of the carton. Examples of a rear slot or opening include providing a carton without a rear wall; providing a carton with foldable rear flaps where the folded flaps leave a rear opening; providing a perforation on a portion of a rear wall where the perforated section is completely removed; and providing a perforation on a portion of a rear wall where the perforated section is partially removed and folded down, folded up, or folded to one side of the the perforated section.
Carton bottom
In this embodiment, the carton has a substantially closed bottom. In this specification, the term “substantially closed” includes cartons which have folded bottom flaps and cartons that have side flaps, top flaps, or end flaps.
In the case of folded bottom flaps, the inside bottom portion of the carton may include a paper or cardboard insert; folded major flaps that meet; folded major flaps that have a longitudinal gap which is typically 0.5 inches wide or narrower; or minor flaps that are folded over major flaps, where the major flaps meet or have a longitudinal gap.
In the case of cartons that have side flaps, top flaps, or end flaps, the bottom of the carton is typically solid.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTSpring alignment mechanism inserted on spacer insert
Spring alignment mechanism attached to display shelf
Carton restraint
In various examples, the carton may be restrained from being pushed forward by the alignment device. Examples of carton restraint methods include tape or adhesive on the bottom portion of the carton, magnetic tape on the bottom portion of the carton, and mechanical stops such as pins or tabs inserted into the shelf
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTCarton with rear slot and stop for alignment device
Spring alignment mechanism with metal guide
Pull member stop
In this example, a stop may be provided on the guide so that the base of the rear pull member is restrained short of the front of the guide. The stop creates a space that may be used for re-inserting a merchandise item into the front of the carton. The stop is typically a bump on the guide which is created by a dab of glue or a mechanical dimple or tab.
Front spring anchor
In this example, the front anchor for the spring is a V-shape, which keeps the spring centered and facilitates a chisel effect as the front of the guide is slid under merchandise items. In this example, the thin metal guide may be slid under blow molded bottles and other containers with rounded edges without elevating the items.
These embodiments are examples of the invention and it is evident that those skilled in the art can make variations without departing from the inventive concepts, and the invention should be limited solely by the spirit and scope of the claims.
Claims
1-8. (canceled)
9. A spring driven alignment system comprising
- a carton comprising a row of merchandise items, a substantially closed bottom, a front, a rear with a rear slot or opening, a first side, and a second side;
- an elongated guide inserted at least partially through the rear slot or opening under the row of merchandise items and supported on the bottom of the carton, the guide comprising a front end, a rear end; and
- a pull plate;
- a spring comprising a first end secured to the guide in proximity to the front end of the guide, and a coiled portion positioned between the pull plate and the rear end of the guide, such that coiled portion drives the pull plate to engage the rearmost item in the carton and force the rearmost item toward the front of the carton.
10-21. (canceled)
22. The spring driven alignment system of claim 9 wherein the carton rear slot or opening is formed by removing a perforated section of a carton rear wall.
23. The spring driven alignment system of claim 9 wherein the carton rear slot or opening is formed by partially removing a perforated section of a carton rear wall.
24. The spring driven alignment system of claim 9 wherein the carton rear slot or opening is formed by providing a gap between folded rear carton flaps.
25. A retail ready carton for use with a spring driven alignment device, the carton comprising
- a row of merchandise items;
- a substantially closed bottom;
- a front;
- a rear with a rear slot, the rear slot configured to accept an elongated guide inserted through the rear slot under the row of merchandise items and supported on the bottom of the carton, and a spring-driven pull plate;
- a first side; and
- a second side.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 17, 2011
Publication Date: Feb 14, 2013
Inventor: James Garth Close (Burnet, TX)
Application Number: 13/275,199
International Classification: A47F 1/12 (20060101); B65D 85/00 (20060101);