RETAIL PRODUCT CONTAINER DISPLAY SYSTEM
A retail product container display system includes at least one product storage lane. The at least one product storage lane comprising a left hand side rail and a right hand side rail and at least two connectors engaged with receptacles therefor on each of the left hand and right hand side rails. The receptacles are disposed at corresponding longitudinally spaced apart positions along each of the side rails. Each of the side rails comprises a vertical wall and a horizontal floor.
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Priority is claimed from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/856,774 filed on Jul. 22, 2013.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
BACKGROUNDThis disclosure relates generally to the field of retail product display systems. More specifically, the disclosure relates to product displays in which generally cylindrical product containers are stored and displayed for sale.
Retail product displays known in the art include display systems for beverage containers. Such displays may include both bottled beverage containers stored in a substantially vertical orientation and substantially cylindrical cans also stored substantially vertically. Both such types of containers may be stored in, for example, a refrigerated display case. Vertically oriented containers may be stored on a device that separates the product containers into laterally adjacent rows or “lanes”, and urges the product containers forward using a spring loaded pusher or gravity. One such device is sold under the trademark FLEXROLLER, which is a registered trademark of Bruegmann, USA, Inc., 589 Garden Oaks. Blvd, Houston, Tex. 77018.
It is frequently the case that bottle containers are substantially taller than cans. Thus, using side by side devices such as the FLEXROLLER device may result in underutilized space in a refrigerated display case. One device known in the art for using the available vertical space more efficiently displays cylindrical containers such as cans disposed horizontally and uses gravity to urge the stored cans forward to the front of the device. Several of such devices may be vertically stacked to use the space in the refrigerated display case. One such device is sold under the trademark THE CLUB, which is a trademark of RTC Industries, Inc., 2800 Golf Road, Rolling Meadows, Ill. 60008. Other devices may store product containers horizontally and have vertical stacking by having therein a serpentine track to enable vertical separation of rows of the containers. Examples of such devices are sold by Display Technologies, LLC, 111 Marcus Ave, Lake Success N.Y. 11042.
Each of the foregoing example devices is made for a particular height of cylindrical product container (can) and/or is made with a plurality of vertical rows of “lanes.”
SUMMARYA retail product container display system includes at least one product storage lane. The at least one product storage lane comprising a left hand side rail and a right hand side rail and at least two connectors engaged with receptacles therefor on each of the left hand and right hand side rails. The receptacles are disposed at corresponding longitudinally spaced apart positions along each of the side rails. Each of the side rails comprises a vertical wall and a horizontal floor.
Other aspects and advantages will be apparent from the description and claims that follow.
Each of the side rails 10A, 10B may have a corresponding forward end barrier 10D, 10E affixed to the forward end of the side rail. The end barriers 10D, 10E may be formed integrally with the corresponding side rail 10A, 10B or may be formed as separate components that can be affixed to the corresponding side rail using suitably shaped interlocking features (not shown in detail). The end barriers 10D, 10E provide a stop for product containers (
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A retail product container display system according to the present disclosure may be configured to accommodate various size product containers while being assembled from identical parts. A system according to the present disclosure may be configured for any selected vertical space while being assembled from identical parts.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
Claims
1. A retail product container display system, comprising:
- at least one product storage lane, the at least one product storage lane comprising a left hand side rail and a right hand side rail; and
- at least two connectors engaged with receptacles therefor on each of the left hand and right hand side rails, the receptacles disposed at corresponding longitudinally spaced apart positions along each of the side rails; and
- wherein each of the side rails comprises a vertical wall and a horizontal floor.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the at least two connectors comprises, on each side thereof, a deflectable locking tab having a detent bar on a surface thereof, and wherein the receptacles each include a plurality of laterally spaced apart slots configured to engage the detent bar of a respective end of one of the at least two connectors, whereby a width of the at least one product storage lane is adjustable.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the receptacles are disposed on a bottom surface of the horizontal floor of each of the left hand and right hand side rails.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality longitudinally spaced apart channels formed on an outer surface of the side wall of each of the side rails, the channels each configured to receive a vertical support connector therein, whereby a plurality of lanes are vertically stackable.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein the plurality of longitudinally spaced apart channels are arranged to enable vertical assembly of a plurality of lanes, and wherein vertically adjacent lanes are interconnected by a support connector disposed in each selected ones of the spaced apart channels on each of the side rails.
6. The system of claim 4 wherein a longitudinal position of the channels on the left hand side wall is offset from a longitudinal position of the channels on the right hand side wall such that a lateral space between laterally placed adjacent lanes is settable to substantially zero.
7. The system of claim 1 further comprising support feet attachable to a bottom of each of the left hand side rail and the right hand side rail, the support feet providing the at least one lane with a selected tilt.
8. The system of claim 1 further comprising an end barrier disposed at a forward end of at least one of the left hand side rail and the right hand side rail.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the end barrier is integrally formed with the at least one of the left hand side rail and the right hand side rail.
Type: Application
Filed: May 16, 2014
Publication Date: Jan 22, 2015
Applicant: Bruegmann USA, Inc. (Houston, TX)
Inventor: Malte Bruegmann (Houston, TX)
Application Number: 14/279,426
International Classification: A47F 1/12 (20060101);