Modular display rack
The display rack of the present invention includes a main frame, at least two shelf receiving portions, a plurality of shelves and at least one basket, peg hook basket or reel assembly. The main frame has a back portion and side portions. Each shelf receiving portion is attached to the main frame and has a plurality of generally vertically spaced apart shelf receiving apertures formed therein. Each shelf has spaced apart shelf fingers adapted to be received in the shelf receiving apertures. The plurality of shelves is chosen from the group consisting of shelf basket racks and shelf reel racks. In another aspect of the invention there is provided a web basket for use in association with hanging products. The web basket includes a hook portion, a basket portion and a means for attaching the basket to a shelf. The basket portion is spaced below the hook portion.
This patent application relates to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/680,486 filed on May 13, 2005 entitled Modular Display Rack which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to display racks and in particular modular display racks for use in association with reeled products, hanging products and other hardware products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIt is well known that in retail establishments there is an ongoing challenge to display a variety of different products in a system that is easy to use and will accommodate a wide variety of products. Prior art display racks tend to be designed for use with products of similar sizes. As well, the prior art display racks tend to be for use with only one type of shelving.
An example of a prior art display rack is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,037 issued Dec. 30, 2003 to Ahn. This patent shows a modular display rack which includes a triple ladder type configuration with each ladder having a support base pivotally attached thereto. A variety of different type of brackets and shelves may be attached between the ladders. However, the type of brackets and shelves used is limited to those that can be attached between the ladders. U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,484 issued May 4, 2004 to Sparkowski is another example of multi-position display racks. This display rack has adjustable shelves but the width of each shelf is determined by the spacing between the upright supports. Therefore although it provides some adjustability there are severe limitations in the type of adjustments that are available. Many of the existing prior art racks are essentially single purpose racks that have a specific application. An example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,355 issued Jul. 6, 2004 to Zidek. This rack includes a base with an upright that supports a crosspiece. One or more shelves are attached to the crosspiece. This support is limited to a specific purpose and type of shelf and cannot be easily adjusted for use with a variety of types of shelves and for use with a variety of products.
Accordingly it would be advantageous to provide a display rack that can be used with products of a variety of different sizes. Further it would be advantageous to provide a display rack that could be used with products in boxes as well as on reels. In addition it would be useful to provide a display rack that could also be used with products that are in packages but hangs on hooks. Still further it would advantageous if such a display was modular and thus the size could change as needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention is directed to a modular display rack for use in association with products. The display rack includes a main frame, at least two shelf receiving portions, a plurality of shelves and/or at least one basket, peg hook basket and/or reel assembly. The main frame has a back portion and side portions. Each shelf receiving portion is attached to the main frame and has a plurality of generally vertically spaced apart shelf receiving apertures formed therein. Each shelf has spaced apart shelf fingers adapted to be received in the shelf receiving apertures. The plurality of shelves are chosen from the group consisting of shelf basket racks and shelf reel racks.
In another aspect of the invention there is provided a web basket for use in association with hanging products. The web basket includes a hook portion, a basket portion and a means for attaching the basket to a shelf. The basket portion is spaced below the hook portion.
Further features of the invention will be described or will become apparent in the course of the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
Referring to FIGS. 3 to 6, the main frame 12 includes a back portion 18 and side portions 20. The width of the each portion may vary depending on the needs of the retail establishment. Further the number of sections that are used may vary depending on the particular use. Each back portion 18 has a left back support 22 and a right back support 24. In addition, if required there is also a middle back support 26. The left and right back supports 22 and 24 each include one elongate shelf receiving portion 28 and the middle back support 26 has two shelf receiving portions 28. Shelf receiving portions 28 are generally vertical and have a plurality of spaced apart shelf apertures 30. The back portion 18 and side portions 20 are made from generally square tubular hollow members. Legs 34 that extend downwardly from the back and side portions, 18 and 20. The legs 34 have slightly smaller dimensions than those of the back and side portions so that they can snugly fit into the square tubular hollow sections and allow for stacking as shown in
Preferably, the main frame 12 will be in 4 foot linear segments and can increase in height by factors of two feet. Specifically the tall sections 38 are 4 feet tall and the short sections 36 are 2 feet tall.
Referring to
Referring to
A plurality of different and interchangeable shelf racks and baskets and reels are attachable to the main frame 12. Shelf basket rack is shown generally at 50 in
Large 66, medium 64 and small 62 baskets are shown in
Referring to FIGS. 15 to 18, peg hook basket 68 is an open wire basket which includes a hook portion 90 and a basket portion 92. Hook potion 90 is spaced above the basket portion 92 and is for use with hanging products. Hook portion 90 has a front lip 94 to reduce the likelihood of the product sliding off. Signage 96 may be attached to the front of the basket portion 92. Peg hook baskets 68 are attached to the shelf basket rack 50 with a back hook 98 and a front stopper 100.
Right 76 and left reel 78 assemblies are shown in
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the plurality of shelf apertures 30 have a predetermined spacing therebetween. The support fingers 54 have the same spacing therebetween. Thus the positioning of the shelf may vary along the shelf receiving portion as determined by the user. Similarly the plurality of basket apertures 60 have predetermined spacing therebetween and the spacing between the basket fingers 88 is a multiple of the spacing between the basket apertures 60. Thus a wide variety of sizes of baskets may be used.
There are a number of advantages of the display rack 10 of the present invention. Specifically, the shelf basket rack 50 and the shallow 70 and deep 72 shelf reel racks may be hooked into the main frame 12 at any height. The shelf basket racks 50 are angled to allow product to gravity feed to the front of the shelf. Peg hook baskets 68 allow the hung pegged product to be gravity fed. Product is neatly held in line by lower basket portion 92 and minimizes the chance of the hung product from being pushed out of line. Shelf basket face plate 86 is generally vertical for ease of reading. The header portion 14 keeps signage tight to the rack for ease of shopping. Sliding face plate 108 with grommet 110 keeps ends of reeled product neat. Individual left 78 and right 76 bulk reel holders allow reels to be changed individually since there is no common axle for two or more reels. The display rack 10 of the present invention will fit in warehouse store format (i.e. Home Depot) and gondola store format (i.e. Fred Meyer).
As used herein, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” are to be construed as being inclusive and opened rather than exclusive. Specifically, when used in this specification including the claims, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” and variations thereof mean that the specified features, steps or components are included. The terms are not to be interpreted to exclude the presence of other features, steps or components.
It will be appreciated that the above description is related to the invention by way of example only. Many variations on the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art and such obvious variations are within the scope of the invention as described herein whether or not expressly described.
Claims
1. A modular display rack for use in association with products comprises:
- a main frame having a back portion and side portions;
- at least two shelf receiving portions having a plurality of generally vertically spaced apart shelf receiving apertures formed therein, each shelf receiving portion being attached to the main frame;
- a plurality of shelves having spaced apart shelf fingers adapted to be received in the shelf receiving apertures and wherein the plurality of shelves are chosen from a group consisting of shelf basket racks and shelf reel racks; and
- a plurality of at least one device chosen from a group consisting of baskets, peg hook baskets and reel assemblies.
2. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the shelves include at least one shelf basket rack and at least one shelf reel rack and the modular display rack comprises a plurality of baskets, a plurality of peg hook baskets and a plurality of reel assemblies.
3. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 2 wherein the shelf basket rack includes a pair of shelf side portions with a front rail and a back rail extending therebetween.
4. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 3 wherein the back rail has a plurality of spaced apart basket apertures and wherein each basket has at least a pair of basket fingers adapted to be engaged in the basket apertures.
5. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 4 wherein the spaced apart basket apertures have a predetermined spacing and the spacing of the basket fingers is a multiple of the predetermined spacing between the basket apertures.
6. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 5 wherein the plurality of baskets are chosen from a group consisting of large, medium and small baskets.
7. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 6 wherein each basket includes a face plate for receiving signage.
8. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 3 wherein each peg hook basket has a back hook adapted to hook onto the back rail of the shelf basket rack and a front stopper adapted to engage the front rail of the shelf basket rack.
9. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 8 wherein the peg hook basket has a hook portion spaced above a basket portion.
10. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 9 wherein the basket portion further includes a face plate.
11. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 1 further including a header module attachable to the top of the main frame.
12. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 11 further including a foot module attachable to the bottom of the main frame.
13. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 2 wherein the shelf reel rack includes a pair of shelf side portions with a reel rail extending therebetween and each reel assembly includes a right reel and a left reel assembly, each attachable to the reel rail.
14. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 13 wherein each reel assembly includes a hook portion, a shaft portion and a stopper portion whereby the hook portion is hooked over the reel rail and the shaft portion is positioned in a bulk reel.
15. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 14 further including a reel signage portion attachable to the main frame.
16. A modular display rack as claimed in claim 15 wherein the reel signage portion includes a plurality of sliding face plates and a plurality of grommets.
17. An open web basket for use in association with hanging products comprising:
- a hook portion;
- a basket portion spaced below the hook portion; and
- a means for attaching the basket to a shelf.
18. An open web basket as claimed in claim 17 further including a face plate attached to the basket portion.
19. An open web basket as claimed in claim 18 wherein the attaching means includes a back hook attachable to a back rail of the shelf and a front stopper engagable with a front rail of the shelf.
20. A reel assembly for use with a display rack having a reel rail and for hanging reeled product comprising:
- a right reel assembly attachable to the reel rail,
- a left reel assembly attachable to the reel rail, and
- wherein the right reel assembly and the left reel assembly is rotatably attachable to the reeled product on each side thereof.
21. A reel assembly as claimed in claim 20 wherein each reel assembly includes a hook portion, a shaft portion and a stopper portion whereby the hook portion is hooked over the reel rail and the shaft portion is positioned in the reeled product.
22. A reel assembly as claimed in claim 21 further including a reel signage portion attachable to the display rack.
23. A reel assembly as claimed in claim 22 wherein the reel signage portion includes a plurality of sliding face plates and a plurality of grommets.
Type: Application
Filed: May 15, 2006
Publication Date: Dec 7, 2006
Inventors: Michael Smits (Toronto, CA), Lance Perrin (Proton Station, CA)
Application Number: 11/433,828
International Classification: A47B 47/00 (20060101);