Device for support of packaged products so that packaged products can be fixably oriented in shipping, in storage or in display

Abstract

A device and method for shipping and display of already packaged goods which provides support for packages, and which allows a uniform orientation of those packages, as well as retaining those assembled packages at a uniform distance from other products. The substrate comprising this device has adhesive or other materials to make packages adhere to the substrate, and also has adhesive materials to make the substrate itself adhere to another surface such as a retail shelf. The packages are placed for shipping or display on one side of the substrate and are held in a fixed position, while the substrate itself is placed on another surface so that the packages may be uniformly stacked or observed. The adhesive, or other material causing adhesion, is stronger on the side allowing adhesion of the device to another surface, and weaker on the other side which holds the packages in a fixed assembly. Thus, when a single package is removed from the device, the device itself remains adhered to the other surface.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the assembly and display of packages in relation to each other and in relation to other nearby products, and to the facilitation of inventory of products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the materials whereby packages are assembled in manufacture, shipping and display, including packages with an irregular shape, such as sacks.

The manufacture of some products, which are not conducive to orderly assembly into neat, groups, involves packaging them in containers for shipment and display and sale. The shipment and display of such packages, such as packages of candy in sacks formed from smooth plastic materials, requires significant labor to keep the arrangement of the packages attractive for customers and to ease inventory. When those packages are placed in larger containers for shipping, the packages form an irregular mass that is difficult to inventory on shipping and receipt, due to the effects of gravity on those packages and their contents. Those packages must be removed from shipping containers and then each must be handled individually to allow retail display, such as placing them in a stack. After customers view or purchase some of the displayed packages, the remaining packages are disarranged and the retailer must expend further labor to rearrange or stack the packages back into a pleasing configuration, and to separate those packages from other products on display on the same shelf. The often smooth surface of packaging allows stacked packages to slide down into irregular groups on the shelf. Inventory is thereby complicated as well. Moreover, on a retail shelf with various products stacked thereupon, those separate stacks begin to merge with each other and lose both a neat appearance and prevent easy inventory of all products present on the shelf. The merging packages also prevent easy view of the interior areas of display shelves to determine how many packages remain available for purchase, and how many must be brought to replenish the supply available for purchase.

It is therefore desirable to provide a means whereby the manufacturer can assemble at the factory, using this device and wrapping materials, then inventory and transport groups of irregular packages that have been assembled into regular, uniform units.

It is also desirable to provide a means whereby the recipient of the shipping cartons can also easily inventory the assemblies of packages'and place them on display.

It is also desirable that the recipient or seller of the packages can easily assemble individual packages on display shelves so that they are pleasing to the eye and easily retained in that configuration after handling by customers, and so that inventory counts can be easily performed.

It is also desirable that the recipient or seller of various products can retain those products in discrete, separate assemblies while they are displayed on a single shelf.

Prior devices include structures for assembly of packaged products, using adhesives to retain the packaged products within the unit. However, neither Gorski (U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,579), Burke (U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,526), nor Pizzolante (U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,125) include adhesive or other attachments on the outside of the unit, to keep the unit stationary, as well as on the inside. Pizzolante also does not describe use of the unit to support irregularly shaped packages or articles. Thus, the functions of the prior devices do not include an ability to affix those devices to shelving or other display surfaces such that customers may select packages without disarranging the placement of those devices. Those devices also do not suggest the use of transparent materials and so do not allow the retailer to retain a clear view into shelving behind the devices and so determine inventory and the time when replenishing of the shelves is necessary. Bustos (U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,987) describes a device using adhesives to permanently secure materials such as decorative sheets to the device, but it does not have adhesive to retain packages to the upper surface of the device, nor adhesive to retain packages to the decorative sheets, nor does it have adhesives to keep the device stationary while customers remove packages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a device whereby packages can be stacked for both shipping and display to end-users such as retail customers, without the frequent need to restack the packages as customers handle them and disturb the orientation of the packages. The present invention also retains the stacks of packages in a fixed orientation to other such stacks or other products on the same shelf, thus creating an aesthetically pleasing display and easing the inventory and replenishment processes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of two planes of the device assembling irregularly shaped packages in a fixed orientation to each other;

FIG. 2 is an embodiment of the device without packages placed thereupon, and illustrating a plurality of adhesive areas;

FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the device with packages assembled in a fixed orientation to each other, as well as retaining those assembled packages in a fixed orientation in relation to other products on the same shelf;

FIG. 4 is an embodiment of the device wherein the angle of the planes is greater than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees, and with additional supports to retain that angle once packages are assembled thereupon;

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of the device wherein the substrate is a single curved plane, with adhesive on one side to retain assembled packages and on the other side to hold the substrate stationary on a shelf.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the device comprises a substrate shaped as two conjoined planes resembling the letter “L”, and formed of clear thermoplastic 10 labeled with the name of a product manufacturer 11 and the size of the product, and which supports packages on display on a retail shelf 13. FIG. 1. The substrate may have a plurality of adhesive areas on the top side 14, and a plurality of adhesive areas on the, bottom side for attachment to another surface 15. FIG. 2. The broken lines signify adhesive areas on the sides of the substrate not presented toward the viewer. Those adhesive areas can be activated by removal of coverings placed over the adhesive areas 16. The adhesive used would be such that the assembled packages can be releaseably adhered to the device, that is adhered to the extent that when a package is removed the adhesive does not damage the package. The packages can be placed on each device by the manufacturer, and the device with the assembled packages can be placed within a shipping carton. The devices permit easy inventory and orient the packages within the shipping containers, taking the place of heavier and more expensive cardboard containers for the packages. The recipient of the shipping containers can also more easily take inventory of the packages on receipt, counting the number of devices with packages assembled on them, and then can easily have those devices fixably oriented, in relation to other products 17, on display shelves. FIG. 3. The adhesive areas on the device can be serially exposed to a greater or, lesser extent, allowing the device to adhere to the display shelf to the degree necessary. A transparent substrate will not visually distract the customer from the packages, but will retain the packages in a stack which is pleasing to the eye. A transparent substrate will allow the seller to look behind the substrates and count how many other similar substrates and packages remain on the shelf, and thus quickly determine when the shelf should be restocked without disturbing the assembly of the packages.

The adhesive 14 retaining the packages in a fixed assembly, or stack, is less than the adhesive 15 holding the device to the display shelf, such that when an individual package is removed from the device, the device itself remains adhered to the display shelf at a fixed orientation to other unrelated products 17 on the same shelf. That is, the force required to separate the device from the supporting shelf will be greater than the upward force exerted when a package is separated from the adhesive on the upper side of the device. The device with remaining, un-purchased packages will thus remain fixed in place on the retail shelf after a customer detaches a package from the stack on the substrate, and the remaining packages will stay in the same orderly assembly in relation to other products as before a single package was removed from the substrate.

In another embodiment, the substrate is not rigid but is shaped by, and supported by, the packages disposed thereupon and adhering to the substrate.

In another embodiment, the device is not attached to the other surface, such as a retail shelf, by adhesive but by a mechanical means such as extensions from the device of a material that fits within recesses on the other surface.

In another embodiment, the adhesive material is a magnetic material, allowing magnetic adherence to the packages attached to the substrate, and/or magnetic adherence to a metallic shelf on which it is placed.

In another embodiment, the adhesive may be on the outside of the vertical plane of the device, that is, on the side of the vertical plane opposite to that side where the packages are assembled. That adhesive would allow the device to adhere to a vertical surface, while other adhesive areas retain packages on the inside of the device and resting on the horizontal plane of the device.

In another embodiment, the planes of the device may be configured in something other than a 90 degree angle 18, with additional supporting attachments 19 to retain the planes in the desired configuration. FIG. 4. Thus, if the device is placed upon a retail shelf that is not horizontal to the ground, but is angled toward the viewer, the lower plane of the device 20 is affixed to the shelf but the other plane 21 remains vertical in relation to the ground.

In another embodiment, the device may be comprised of a substrate that is a curved plane 22, such that a cross-section of the plane describes an arc, which arc has a chord not coextensive with the plane. FIG. 5. The curve may resemble the letter “C” with adhesive on the outside bottom of the curve 15, holding the substrate stationary on a shelf. On the interior of the curve, other adhesive 14 would retain an assembly of packages, placed there in an orderly and neat stack.

In another embodiment, the substrate may be shaped as an “L” with the portion most distant from the vertical plane having a curve up from the horizontal plane. Such a curve would provide added support for the packages stacked thereupon, and more easily retain them in a fixed orientation.

In another embodiment, the device may be shaped as an inverted “T”, so that the packages may be assembled upon opposite sides of the vertical plane of the device in two or more stacks, while allowing the device and packages to adhere to a display shelf.

In another embodiment, the conjoined planes of the device may be attached to each other in a movable fashion, such as with a hinge, so that the angle of the planes of the substrate, in relation to each other, can be varied to conform to the orientation, in relation to the ground, of the surface upon which the device is placed. Thus, the vertical plane of the device may be placed in a vertical orientation regardless of the angle of the shelf upon which it is placed.

In another embodiment, the device is provided to sellers of packages, such that they may be placed on display shelves or other surfaces, and packages can be placed upon the substrates by persons other than the manufacturer or shipper. In this embodiment, a grocer may provide the substrates for all irregularly shaped packages sold, regardless of whether the manufacturer seeks to help the seller orient the packages for final display. A plurality of adhesive surfaces may be serially exposed as needed by the seller, perhaps by removal of a material such as waxed paper from certain areas, so that the amount of adhesion can be increased or decreased, or replenished, as needed

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishing its attendant advantages.

Claims

1- A device for retaining packages comprising: a substrate comprised of at least two conjoined planes situated at a less than 180 degree and a greater than 1 degree angle to each other; adhesive materials disposed on opposite sides of the substrate; to one side of which, substrate a plurality of packages can be releaseably adhered; the substrate itself having adhesive materials that attach that substrate to other surfaces; whereupon packages may be uniformly assembled in relation to each other and to other products.

2- The device of claim 1 wherein the device can adhere to other surfaces by mechanical means.

3- The device of claim 1 wherein the adhesive means on opposite sides of the substrate are comprised of a plurality of areas of adhesive materials.

4- The device of claim wherein the substrate is comprised of a transparent material.

5- The device of claim 1 wherein the adhesive means on opposite sides of the substrate are comprised of a plurality of areas in which the adhesive is disposed, which areas may be exposed serially so that the total adhesive area may be increased or decreased.

6- The device of claim 1 wherein the substrate is comprised of a non-rigid material, such that the substrate is supported and shaped by the packages retained thereupon.

7- The device of claim 1 wherein the, substrate is labeled with identification of the product contained in the packages adhered to the substrate.

8- The device of claim 1 wherein the vertical plane of the device meets the horizontal plane in the middle of the horizontal plane of the device.

9- The device of claim 1 wherein the angle of the planes of the substrate is greater than 90 degrees.

10- A device for assembling packages comprising: a substrate comprised of at least two transparent and conjoined rigid planes situated at a less than 180 degree and a greater than 1 degree angle to each other; adhesive materials disposed on opposite sides of the substrate, which areas may be serially exposed so that the total area exerting adhesion may be increased or decreased; to one side of which device a plurality of packages can be releaseably adhered; labeled with the identification of the package manufacturer; the device itself having adhesive materials that attach the device to another surface; whereupon packages may be uniformly assembled in relation to each other and to other products.

11- The device of claim 10 wherein the substrate can be attached to another surface by a mechanical means.

12- A device comprised of a substrate formed as a single curvilinear plane such that a cross-section of said plane describes an arc, which arc has a chord not coextensive with the plane; adhesive materials disposed on opposite sides of the substrate; to one side of which substrate a plurality of packages can be releaseably adhered; the substrate itself having adhesive materials that attach that substrate to other surfaces; whereupon packages may be uniformly assembled in relation to each other and to other products.