Patent Application
20180184816
The present disclosure relates to a small item overstock storage system, and more specifically to a bleacher storage system which can engage with a gondola shelf to provide tiered storage options to standard shelving.
Retail shelving systems are found in almost every store and supermarket. In most types of shelving, the shelving bays are held together by vertical, back panels which hold the individual shelves. In many cases, the vertical panels are plain, meaning just a flat surface, but perforated vertical panels are available which can allow pegboard hooks for hanging products. When the shelves are too full of products to store additional items, surplus items are often placed on the top shelf, and are referred to as “topstock.” With small or pegged items, however, topstock storage systems fail to allow customers or associates in the store aisle to gauge how much product is available on the top shelf.
A tiered storage system which sits atop a gondola shelf, comprising: a support structure having gondola shelf connectors, the gondola shelf connectors configured to removeably attach the support structure to the gondola shelf; and two or more tiers mounted on the support structure, each tier including a horizontal plane and a vertical plane, the horizontal plane being substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane.
A gondola storage system comprising: a vertical plane of a gondola shelf system; a horizontal shelf connected to the vertical plane; and a tiered shelf attachment, the tiered shelf attachment removeably attached to the horizontal shelf, the tiered shelf attachment comprising: a support structure having gondola shelf connectors, the gondola shelf connectors configured to removeably attach the support structure to the horizontal shelf; two or more tiers mounted on the support structure, each tier including a horizontal segment and a vertical segment, the horizontal segment being substantially perpendicular to the vertical segment; and a side support piece which connects the two or more tiers to the support structure.
A tiered storage system, comprising: a structure having connectors which connect to a gondola shelf to hold the structure in place on the gondola shelf, the connectors configured to removeably attach the structure to the gondola shelf; and two or more tiers mounted on the structure, each tier having a horizontal plane and a vertical plane, the horizontal plane being substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane.
Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosed principles. The features and advantages of the disclosure can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of the principles set forth herein.
Current shelving systems do not provide for optimal storage of surplus small or pegged products. For example, for most products, any surplus items can be stored on the top shelf as topstock. However, with small items any surplus must first be boxed, then stored on the top shelf. Excess pegged items (those items which hang on pegs mounted to the shelving) must similarly be boxed, then stored on the top shelf. Such storage mechanisms do not allow a customer or store associate in the aisle to identify how many excess items may be stored in the boxes on the top shelf.
By contrast, the tiered overstock storage system of this disclosure can attach to a gondola shelf and provide a vertical element to the storage of items, thereby allowing improved viewing of stored products. Particularly with topstock storage, the tiered overstock storage system disclosed herein allows store associates and customers in an aisle to view items being stored in the tiered overstock storage unit, and thereby have an improved gauge the overall stock. Each tier of the storage system is made of a horizontal element and a vertical element which are substantially perpendicular to one another. In some configurations, the vertical element of each tier can extend vertically up above the horizontal element of the next higher tier. In other configurations, the vertical element of a lower tier will end at the horizontal element of the higher tier, forming a staircase/bleacher configuration. “Substantially” can be interpreted to be within 15° of the desired angle, and preferably within 5°.
The tiered storage system can have a first vertical plane at the lowest tier, next to the aisle (i.e., on the opposite side of the gondola shelf to which the tiered storage system is engaged from the vertical plane supporting the gondola shelf). The first vertical plane can help to form a catch for elements being stored in the tiered storage system. On the sides of the tired storage system can be side support structures. These side support structures can engage with an overall support structure, thereby allowing the overall tiered storage system to adequately support the tiers. The vertical plane of the top tier can be higher than the vertical plane of the next/lower tier, or can be the same height as the vertical plane of the next/lower tier.
The tiered storage system can be made using any available material. One exemplary material is wire, with each tier being formed using a grid, or weave, of the wire. Another exemplary material is polycarbonate, such as Lexan™. Other exemplary materials include steel, cold-rolled steel, stainless steel, and plastics.
On each tier can be smaller organizational tools incorporated into the tiered storage system. For example, on any given tier one or more dividers may be inserted to help organize or contain items. As another example, tiers may be configured to have pegs for the storage of pegged items. For example, if a tiered storage system were being configured to hold excess products which are normally hanging from a peg, the vertical plane associated with a given tier could have a peg attached to it, such that the excess products being stored may be stored on the peg of the tier. The dividers, pegs, or other organizational tools do not need to be evenly, or symmetrically, distributed across the tiered storage system. For example, half of an implemented tiered storage system can be for pegged items which use pegs, whereas the other half of the implemented tiered storage system can be non-pegged items. In other configurations, pegs can be present with dividers or other organization items.
The heights and depths of the respective tiers can be consistent between tiers, or can vary. For example, the first two tiers of a three tier storage system can have a first height, with the third tier having a greater height. Such a system could, for example, provide someone standing in the aisle with an improve view of items being stored on the third tier. In other configurations, each tier can have distinct widths of the horizontal planes. The widths or heights of the horizontal and vertical planes can be predetermined to fit the specific products which will be stored in them.
The support structure can engage with the horizontal shelf of the gondola storage system using “Christmas Tree” buttons, clamps, or any other mechanism. In one configuration, the four corners of the support structure each have a connector hole through which a Christmas tree button can be inserted. In other configurations, there can be more or less connector locations, as required by specific needs of the support structure. Such connectors allow the tiered storage system to engage with the horizontal shelf of the gondola storage system, such that the tiered storage system is removably secure to the horizontal shelf. The tiered storage system can take up a width of an entire vertical plane of a gondola shelving unit, or can be a smaller size to accommodate specific circumstances and needs. For example, one configuration could see a tiered storage system as disclosed herein which only takes up half of a normal shelf.
Having discussed the overall concepts of embodiments of the invention, the disclosure now turns to the specific configurations and embodiments illustrated in
The material used to construct the tiered storage system as illustrated in
The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. For example, while many of the examples given herein are associated with surplus products stored as topstock, the tiered storage system disclosed herein can be used in other locations than the top shelf of a gondola storage shelf. Various modifications and changes may be made to the principles described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62440634 | Dec 2016 | US |
