In modern grocery stores, goods such as produce are displayed in a display case. The cases include a rack system, which supports the goods. The rack system includes a base that extends from the front to the back of the display case and an upwardly extended back member that attaches to the base and leans against the back wall of the display case. This back wall includes a number of columns of holes. The holes in each column are aligned with holes in the other columns.
Shelves are attached to the back member with clips, which fit into the holes. The shelves are sized to extend from one column of holes to another column of holes. Because the holes in the column of holes are aligned, the attached shelves are parallel to the base. Further the shelves cannot extend at an angle because the clips would not fit within a hole in an adjacent column of holes. In other words, the shelves are designed to fit with aligned holes on the different columns.
The primary purpose of these display cases is to display produce in an appealing fashion. By varying the positions of the shelves as well as the dividers and the like, one can create various designs with the produce that are visually appealing. The potential designs are limited because all of the shelves are basically linear and are parallel to the base.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display rack system having greater flexibility and variation to create unique visual impressions wherein the placement of the shelves can be adjusted for the amount of product to be displayed.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide shelving that is not parallel to the rack base. Preferably the shelving will be curvilinear. When attached to the back, the distance from the base to the shelf changes as it extends across the back of the display rack.
In a preferred embodiment, the shelving unit is a shelving box that includes upper and lower curved shelves connected at either end by sidewalls. Upwardly sloped and downwardly sloped shelves or shelving boxes can be combined together to provide a wave pattern across the display rack.
The objects and advantages of the present invention will be further appreciated in light of the following detailed description and drawings in which:
As shown in
The rack system 12 may also include a number of linear shelves 22 which are parallel to the base 14, and vertical dividers 24 which are perpendicular to the base 14. In addition, the display rack includes a plurality of curved shelves 26 and/or curved box shelves 28.
More particularly, the base 14 has a telescoping frame member 30, which allows the length of the base member to be adjusted to fit different cases and facilitates installation. The base member further includes a produce support platform 32. Generally all components of the rack system are formed from a perforated metal to allow water and water vapor to freely move through the system. The base 14 includes a front-end edge 34 with pins 35 which attach to the front 15 of case 11. The rear edge 36 of base 14 also includes pins 37 which attach to the back wall 16 of case 11.
The back member 18 includes an upper portion 38 and a lower portion 39. The upper portion 38 telescopes within the lower portion 39 allowing for height adjustment. The back member 18 has two to four (four shown) columns 40(a), (b), (c) and (d) of aligned holes. The bottom edge 41 of back member 18 rests on base 14 with prongs 19 fitting within holes 20 in the base member which allows one to adjust the angle 42 between the base 14 and the back member 18. This angle 42 will generally be greater than 80 degrees up to about 90 degrees. As shown in
Linear shelf 22 includes a planar shelf surface 50 and clips 51(a) and (b) which are designed to fix into aligned holes of two of the columns of holes 40a, 40b, 40c, or 40d in back member 18. As shown the holes 40(a) and 40(d) are on the extreme sides of back 18 and columns of holes 40(b) and 40(c) are in the center portion of the back member 18. This allows one to design a shelf that will either extend from column 40(a) to 40(b) with a second shelf extending from 40(c) to 40(d) or a single shelf that goes from 40(a) to 40(d). Another linear shelf 22 can be attached to column 40(a) of the next adjacent back member. These linear shelves 22 further include a back flange 45, which provides structural support to the shelf.
Vertical dividers 24 include a generally planar vertical surface 50 with clips 51(a) and (b). These clips are designed to fit into spaced holes along columns 40a, 40b, 40c, and 40d. These vertical dividers 24 allow the different types of produce to be separated along a shelf 22.
Preferably, the produce display case includes a curvilinear box shelf 28. As shown in
Shelf 54 includes an upper curved surface 58, a lower curved surface 60, an optional conforming back wall 62 and sidewalls 64 and 66. These are held together by rivets 67, welds or other fasteners. Clips 68(a) and (b) extend from the back of shelf 54. The clips are located so that the clip 68(a) will attach to a hole in column 40(a) which is closer to the base member 14 than the hole in column 40(d) in which clip 68(b) is located. As shown by reference lines 70 and 71 (
As shown in
As an alternate to the box shelf 54 or in addition to the box shelf 54, the rack system 12 can include curved shelves 26. Again with the curved shelves, there are upwardly sloped shelves 72 and downwardly sloped shelves 73 (from left to right) based on the reference of the person viewing the produce. These shelves have a curved planar surface 74 with clips 76 and 78 again designed to attach to holes in different columns at different heights relative to the base member 14. Because it is difficult to form a continuous flange on the back of a curved shelf, two tabs are fixed to the back wall of the curved shelves 26. Multiple tabs can be employed as desired to improve strength as shown in
An alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown in
As shown in
This has been a description of the present invention along with the preferred method of practicing the present invention. However, the invention itself should be defined by the appended claims WHEREIN WE CLAIM: