Merchandising/Display Element
A merchandising/display element for a merchandising/display system is in the form of a shelf having a rear part and front part, the parts being interengaged with the front part being slidable backwards and forwards relative to the fixed rear part to vary the shelf depth/length. Moreover the width of the shelf is also adjustable by means of slidable wire slides. The adjusted front part can be locked in position by detents thereof engaged by grips, whilst the adjusted wire slides can be locked in position when adjusted by lock bars with detents
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This invention relates to a merchandising/display element intended to form part of a merchandising/display system. Such a system is particularly intended to be visible to consumers in a retail environment and typically the system is in the form of a free-standing unit or a unit provided at a customer check-out counter, i.e. adjacent a till.
Known point of sale stands, for example confectionary stands, have been provided in specific fixed sizes. Thus the stand can only accommodate a certain number of the confectionary items and if the confectionary item proves successful a further stand or a new, larger stand system must be obtained to accommodate more product. Moreover such known systems have generally been limited as to where they can be positioned at the sale counter.
An object of the invention is to provide a merchandising/display element which is more versatile compared to known equivalent elements.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a merchandising/display element, having attachment means for attaching it, in use, to a mount, and adjustment means for adjusting at least one of the width and the depth/length of at least part of the element.
In one embodiment the or each adjusted dimension part of the element is releasably locked in position after adjustment.
Preferably the element is in the form of a shelf, and more preferably at a part thereof which is rearmost, in use, are provided said attachment means. In one embodiment the attachment means comprises a pair of spaced apart quadrant-like flanges having respective aligned rows of openings therein on respective arcs struck about respective centres of respective aligned further openings in the flanges. In use, a screw is passed through the aligned further openings and through respective aligned openings in respective opposite sides of a mounting post or equivalent disposed between the flanges. The post has identical aligned rows of such openings along its length and once the shelf has been set to a selected one of a series of preset angles defined by the holes in the flanges respectively, a further screw is passed through those pair of openings in the flanges which are aligned with the respective openings in respective opposite sides of the post. Conveniently there are three openings in each row of openings in the flanges so that there are three pre-set angular positions possible for the shelf relative to the post.
For widthwise adjustment of the element there is provided at one side thereof a slidable member, preferably in the form of a wire slide. In one embodiment, the wire slide, which forms a widthwise extension to the element when slid out of a front part of the element, is slidably adjustable stepwise by an end thereof being engagable in a selected detent of a multiplicity of detents in a lock bar in said front part of the element. The lock bar is conveniently movable normal to the sliding movement of the slide when the extension of the slide widthwise is to be altered. This normal movement is against spring bias, and is desirably carried out by manipulation of the lock bar by means of a tool or other implement in an opening of the lock bar accessible at an upper surface of the front part of the element.
Conveniently the front part of the element has two such lock bars therein for adjusting two such wire slides at respective opposite sides of the front part. By this means the front part of the shelf can be extended at its opposite sides.
Whilst the same adjustment arrangement could be provided at a rear part of the element, in one embodiment the or each wire slide is not locked by the use of a lock bar, but is merely frictionally retained after sliding adjustment in a direction into or out of the side or respective sides of the rear part. However the lock bar arrangement could be used at both the front and rear parts of the element or at neither, or indeed only at the rear part instead of only at the front part. Preferably the lock bars have respective leaf springs and in one embodiment the leaf spring of one lock bar engages a rear surface of the other lock bar free of detents, and vice versa.
For length/depth adjustment of the element the front part is slidable towards and away from the (fixed) rear part. However in another embodiment there could be relative sliding with neither part fixed. In the preferred embodiment the front part has one or more rear legs which is or are arranged to slide in one or more openings extending forwards from the front of the rear part of the element. At least one flexible guide extends forwards from the rear part to engage with a rear leg. Preferably the or each rear leg is provided with a series of detents along its length, for example at its underside, and a projection on the flexible guide is selectively engagable in a detent as the front part is moved towards or away from the rear part. A manually actuable part of the flexible guide can be operable to flex the guide so as to move the projection out of a detent in order to allow for sliding adjustment of the front part.
According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a merchandising/display unit comprising at least one merchandising/display element of said first aspect of the invention.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, in which:
A merchandising/display element of the invention is shown in the drawings as being in the form of a shelf 10 comprising a rear part 11 and a front part 12 which, as will be described hereinafter, are inter-engaged so that the front part can be slid backwards and forwards relative to the fixed rear part so as to vary the depth/length of the shelf in order to accommodate additional merchandise, in use. Preferably both the rear part and the front part are of plastics material and are formed by injection moulding. The respective surfaces of the rear part and the front part which are indeed to be uppermost, in use, are generally flat and in the same plane, the generally flat surface of the rear part 11 being indicated by the numeral 13 and the generally flat upper surface of the front part 12 being denoted by the numeral 14. Various injection moulding openings are shown in the surfaces 13 and 14 in the drawings, and whilst these do not interfere with merchandise carried by the shelf, in that such merchandise is normally in a carton or box, these openings can be covered, if required, by suitable sheets of material. However as will be described, various ones of the openings shown, for example in
From
To adjust the width of the rear part of the shelf 10 there are fitted in the interior of the rear part 11 a pair of slidable components in the form of two wire slides 21, 22 respectively, the slides being arranged to slide towards and away from the remainder of the rear part 11 at respective opposite sides thereof. Preferably each slide is made of 6 mm powder-coated mild steel wire, but it will be understood that other sizes and other materials could be used. As shown best in
As can be seen, for example, from
Finally with regard to the rear part 11, it can be seen best from
Turning now to the front part 12 in detail, it can be seen from
For adjusting the width of the front part 12 of the shelf 10, a similar arrangement is used that for the rear part 11, namely slidable components in the form of wire slides identical to the slides 21, 22. As shown best in
However instead of the wire slides 32, 33 being merely ‘frictionally’ retained in an adjusted position, the front part 12 is provided with a pair of lock bars 34, 35 respectively which are retained in the front part 12 against lateral movement. As can be seen best from
Accordingly whilst the wire slides 21, 22 can be relatively freely slid into and away from the rear part 11, the slides 32, 33 are locked in their respective adjusted positions relative to the front part 12 and can only be moved into the front part 12 or away from it when the locking between the hook parts 25′a and a respective associated detent is released. Thus whilst the adjustment of each slide 21, 22 is in effect stepless, the adjustment of the slides 32, 33 is stepped according to the arrangement of the row of detents 42, 43. To release a hook 25′a from a detent 42, 43, it is necessary to move the lock bar providing the detent in a direction away from the hook, and in the embodiment described and illustrated in
The wire slides 32, 33 are provided with respective end caps 47, 48 and, in this embodiment, attached to said end caps are respective side panels 49, 50. Like the lock bars 34, 35, the end cap is preferably formed of plastics material, for example by injection moulding, each end cap being formed in two parts 51, 52 respectively, the parts being secured together by screws 53. The two parts 51, 52 of each end cap sandwich between them part of the U-shaped end of the respective wire slides 32, 33 as shown best in
The other function of the end caps is to retain at a front surface 58 of the front part 12 an indicator strip 59 which is preferably of extruded plastics material and which can, for example, be provided with information about the merchandised product, for example it can serve as a price indicator strip. This strip 59 can be cut to length so as to extend across the whole of the width of the shelf when this is adjusted accordingly and the respective opposite ends of the strip are received in respective mounting grooves at respective interior end surfaces of the end cap parts 51, the shape of the front surface 58 being in correspondence with the general C-shape of the indicator strip so that the strip is disposed, in use, as shown in, for example,
Whilst
Finally
It will be understood that many variations to the embodiments described are possible, and for example the wire slides could be locked in place by a further clip for added tamper-proofing. When combined with various accessories, e.g. expanding wire baskets and mounting accessories, the shelves as a display/merchandising unit can be ceiling mounted, pole mounted, counter mounted, act as a power wing on another shelving system or be free standing. Although, as described, the movement of the front part of a shelf towards or away from the rear part is stepped, by means of the detents 31, it will be understood that in an alternative arrangement the adjustment could be stepless with suitable locking means provided if required/necessary. Moreover it may be possible to provide a series of adjustable shelf parts so that the length/depth of a shelf could be extended consecutively rather than by the movement of a single front part relative to the rear part. In other words a further ‘front part’ could be slidable towards and away from the front part 12 in the same manner using legs and guides. As shown in
Claims
1. A merchandising/display element, having attachment means for attaching it, in use, to a mount, and adjustment means for adjusting at least one of the width and the depth/length of at least part of the element.
2. The element of claim 1, wherein the or each adjusted dimension part of the element is releasably locked in position after adjustment.
3. The element of claim 1, in the form of a shelf.
4. The element of claim 3, wherein at a part thereof which is rearmost, in use, are provided said attachment means.
5. The element of claim 4, wherein the attachment means comprises a pair of spaced apart quadrant-like flanges having respective aligned rows of openings therein on respective arcs struck about respective centers of respective aligned further openings in the flanges.
6. The element of claim 5, wherein, in use, a screw is passed through the aligned further openings and through respective aligned openings in respective opposite sides of a mounting post or equivalent disposed between the flanges.
7. The element of claim 6, wherein the post has identical aligned rows of such openings along its length and once the shelf has been set to a selected one of a series of pre-set angles defined by the holes in the flanges respectively, a further screw is passed through those pair of openings in the flanges which are aligned with the respective openings in respective opposite sides of the post.
8. The element of claim 7, wherein there are three openings in each row of openings in the flanges so that there are three pro-set angular positions possible for the shelf relative to the post.
9. The element of claim 1, wherein for widthwise adjustment of the element there is provided at one side thereof a slidable member.
10. The element of claim 9, wherein the slidable member is in the form of a wire slide.
11. The element of claim 10, in which the wire slide, which forms a widthwise extension to the element when slid out of a front part of the element, is slidably adjustable stepwise by an end thereof being engageable in a selected detent of a multiplicity of detents in a lock bar in said front part of the element.
12. The element of claim 1 wherein the lock bar is conveniently movable normal to the sliding movement of the slide when the extension of the slide widthwise is to be altered.
13. The element of claim 12, wherein said movement normal to the siding movement of the slide is against spring bias.
14. The element of claim 12, wherein said movement of the lock bar is carried out by manipulation thereof by an implement in an opening of the lock bar accessible at an upper surface of the front part of the element.
15. The element of claim 11, wherein the front part of the element has two of said lock bars therein for adjusting two of said wire slides at respective opposite sides of the front part.
16. The element of claim 10, in which the wire slide, which forms a widthwise extension to the element when slid out of a rear part of the element, is slidably adjustable stepwise by an end thereof being engagable in a selected detent of a multiplicity of detents in a lock bar in said rear part of the element.
17. The element of claim 10, in which the wire slide, which forms a widthwise extension to the element when slid out of a rear part of the element, is frictionally retained in position after sliding adjustment in a direction into or out of a side of the rear part.
18. The element of claim 10, in which the wire slide, which forms a widthwise extension to the element when slid out of a front part of the element, is frictionally retained in position after sliding adjustment in a direction into or out of a side of the front part.
19. The element of claim 11, wherein the or each lock bar has a leaf spring.
20. The element of claim 15, wherein the lock bars have respective leaf springs, and the leaf spring of one lock bar engages a rear surface of the other lock bar free of detents, and vice versa.
21. The element of claim 1, wherein for length/depth adjustment of the element there can be relative slidable movement between front and rear parts of the element.
22. The element of claim 21, wherein the front part has one or more rear legs arranged to slide in one or more openings extending forwards from the front of the rear part of the element.
23. The element of claim 22, wherein at least one flexible guide extends forwards from the rear part to engage with a rear leg of the front part.
24. The element of claim 23, wherein the or each rear leg is provided with a series of detents along its length, and a projection on the or each flexible guide is selectively engageable in a detent as the front and rear parts are relatively adjusted towards or away from one another.
25. The element of claim 24, wherein a manually actuable part of the or each flexible guide can be operable to flex the guide so as to move the projection out of a detent in order to allow for relative sliding adjustment movement between the front and rear parts.
26. The element of claim 24, wherein the or each rear leg is provided with a series of detents at its underside.
27. A merchandising/display unit comprising at least one merchandising/display element as claimed in claim 1.
Type: Application
Filed: May 12, 2006
Publication Date: Oct 2, 2008
Applicant: CADBURY SCHWEPPES PLC (London)
Inventors: Max Mathew Davidson (Durban), Paul Charles Miller (Durban), Paul David Humphreys (Durban), Brett Mornay Horn (Durban), Derek Victor Keith Woodhouse (Durban)
Application Number: 11/914,290