The invention relates to the field of product display trays widely used in large stores and supermarkets to present packaged products in orderly front-to-back columns.
Trays for the display of packaged merchandise are well known and widely used. An example of such trays is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,155, illustrating a tray formed mostly of wire and having width-adjustable side wires for the lateral confinement of packages. A spring-operated pusher is positioned behind a column of packages and continually urges them forward. When a customer removes a package from the front of the tray, the entire column of packages is automatically moved forward by the pusher in order to keep a package at all time in a frontmost position, where it can easily be seen and removed by a subsequent customer.
While wire-sided trays, such as represented in the above-mentioned '155 patent are simple and inexpensive, and very efficient for the display of hard packages, such as boxes, cans, bottles and the like, they can be less than ideal for certain soft packages, such as bags, which can project laterally through the wide open side areas of their side wire confinements. For soft packages, it is often desirable to provide trays with panel side walls. An example of such a tray is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,210,367. The tray illustrated in the '367 patent has width adjustable side wall panels that are formed of flat metal, typically steel, which can fully confine the lower portions of soft packages. Trays with metal side walls may sometimes be required, as where the side walls provide cantilever support for the trays. In other cases, as where the trays are supported on store shelves, trays with panel side walls are less desirable, unless required for the display of soft packages, because they are more costly and also reduce the visibility of the displayed products. Accordingly, there is a need for product display trays of the types above described, which can be provided with the preferred open wire side confinement while at the same time being easily and quickly converted to panel-sided trays, if necessary, or desirable for the display of soft packages.
The invention relates to a simple and inexpensive side wall panel attachment for wire-sided trays, which enables such trays to be quickly converted to panel-sided trays when desired for the display of soft packages. The invention is directed to an advantageous form of extruded plastic side wall panel which can be quickly and easily attached to the side wires of an existing wire-sided tray to quickly convert it to a panel-sided tray. The side wall extrusion incorporates an integral clip, engagable with a horizontally extending side wire to provide a quick, snap-on assembly. Openings in lower portion of the extruded panel engage with lower portions of the wire side guide to stabilize the panel in a vertical orientation aligned with the wire side guide of the tray.
As quickly and easily as the side panels may be installed, they may just as easily and quickly be removed if they are no longer needed for the particular packages being displayed. Each panel is just a single piece, so they may be easily stored for efficient use and re-use.
The side wall panel attachment of the invention can be provided in different wall heights; a low panel, the top of which is just slightly above the level of the horizontal side wire provided on the tray; and a high panel that extends to a height almost double that of the low panel. The design of the panels is such that the extrusion dies necessary to produce them can be designed and constructed at low cost.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed specification of preferred embodiments of the invention and to the accompanying drawings described below.
Referring to the drawings, and initially to
Typically, the disclosed trays are provided with a spring-urged pusher device 28, which is mounted on the longitudinal base wires 21 and constantly urges the displayed products toward the front of the tray.
The tray 20 has a wire side 23 which is comprised of front and back vertical wires 24, 25 connected at their tops by an elongated, horizontally extending side wire 26. The vertical wires 24, 25 are joined at their lower ends with horizontal, inwardly extending mounting wires 27, which are frictionally received in transversely extending recesses (not shown) provided in the base members 22. The mounting wires 27 typically are approximately as long as the base members and, when fully inserted therein, as shown in the drawings, result in a tray of minimum width. For wider products, the mounting wires 27 are pulled outward on one or both sides of the tray as necessary to accommodate a wider product.
As will be appreciated, the wire sides 23 are light weight, inexpensive and fully functional for the display of products in containers which are formed of a rigid material or are otherwise able to retain their shape. For some products, however, such as products sold in bags, for example, the extensive open area of the wire sides can allow portions of the soft packages to project laterally outward of the confining planes defined by the vertical wires 24, 25 and the elongated horizontal wires 26. In such cases, packages in one tray may engage with packages in an adjacent tray, or with the hardware of an adjacent tray, causing problems. The present invention enables those issues to be quickly resolved by the attachment of a flat side panel 29 to the wire side 23 to provide for physical confinement of soft packaging. As reflected in
At its upper edge, the side panel 29 is formed with a wire-gripping section 31 of arcuate, outwardly convex contour, which extends the full length of the side panel and is configured to receive one side of the horizontal side wire 26. A portion 32 of the side panel extends vertically upward for a short distance (e.g., 0.25 inch) above the wire-gripping section 31 and connects with a wire-clip section 33 which extends downwardly on the inside of the panel extension 32. At its lower end, the wire-clip section joins with an arcuate wire-gripping portion 34 of inwardly convex contour, positioned opposite the wire-gripping section 31. The lower edge of the wire-gripping portion 34 is provided with a short guide flange 35, which extends downward and inward. As will be more fully described, the side wall 29 can be quickly attached to the horizontal side wire 26 by positioning the panel 30 between the vertical wires 24, 25 and on the outside of the wire 26, such that the inside surface of the panel is in contact with the side wire 26 and the wire gripping elements 31, 31 lie above the wire 26. By pulling downward on the side wall 29, the guide flange 35 opens the wire-clip section 33 enabling the horizontal wire 26 to be resiliently gripped along its full length between the arcuate gripping elements 31, 33. Desirably, the gripping elements are symmetrically contoured so that the plane of the panel 30 is close to the centerline of the horizontal wire 26, when the side wall 29 in mounted on the wire.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the side wall 29 is provided with means spaced below the wire-gripping elements 31, 34 to engage the front and back vertical wires 24, 25 and/or the mounting wires 27 in order to stabilize the side wall 29 in a vertical orientation. As reflected particularly in
In a representative but non-limiting embodiment of the invention the side wall 29 may be extruded of material such as PVC. It may have an overall height of about 3.14 inches and a thickness of about 0.055 inch. The lower or second portion 38 of the panel base may be disposed an angle of about 60° to the vertical, and about 55° with respect to the upper or first portion 37 of the panel base.
At the projecting front and back end extremities of the panel base 36, openings 40, 41 are provided for the reception of the horizontal mounting wires 27 and the front and back vertical wires 24, 25. In the extruded production of the side wall 29, as it exits from the extruder and is cooled and solidified, the openings 40, 41 are formed by suitable punch operation, preferably at right angles to the plane of the side wall 29. When installing the side wall 29 on a wire side 23, the mounting wires 27 at the front and back are first inserted into the openings 40, 41, in an outside-in direction. The insertion continues until the vertical wires 24, 25 are in the openings and the wire gripping elements 31, 34 are above the horizontal side wire 26. At this point the top of the side wall 29 is pressed downward, to force the gripping elements 31, 34 over the wire 26, firmly attaching the side wall 29 to the wire. As reflected in
With reference to
Referring now to
Attachment of the high side wall 129 to the side wire 26 is performed in the same manner as for the low side wall 29. The wire side 23 is detached from its tray, allowing the mounting wires 27 to be inserted into the panel base openings 140, 141. Before inserting the mounting wires 27, the side wall panels 130, 130a are positioned on the outer side of the horizontal wire 26 and between the vertical wires 24, 25. Thus, as the mounting wires 27, and then the vertical wires 24, 25, enter the openings, the horizontal wire 26 can be aligned with the space between the wire gripping elements 131, 134 and can be pressed into engagement therewith. To remove the side wall panel 129 and restore the tray to its original form, the wire side is first detached from the front and back tray bases 22. The wire gripping elements 131, 134, are spread apart at one end to enable the wire 26 to be removed from the clip, and the wire sections 24, 25 and 27 are withdrawn from the panel base openings 140, 141. The mounting elements 27 are then reinserted in the base members 22, restoring the tray to its original configuration.
The invention provides a uniquely simplified, convenient and inexpensive way to convert a wire-sided tray to a panel-sided tray where necessary or desirable to accommodate soft packages that may not be well confined by wire-sided trays. The conversion is accomplished by the clip-on attachment of an extruded plastic panel to the elongated horizontal wire of an existing wire-sided tray, in conjunction with means for retaining the plastic panel in a vertical orientation. In the illustrated form of the invention the panel is retained in a vertical orientation by engagement of lower portions of the panel with existing elements of the wire side guide. Just as easily as a wire-sided tray may be converted to a panel-sided tray, the tray may be re-converted to wire-only confinement where such might be preferred. The entire process of conversion and/or re-conversion is quickly accomplished, requires no tools nor any special skills.
It should be understood, however, that the embodiments of the invention herein illustrated and described are intended to be representative of the invention and not in any way in limitation thereof, as certain changes may be made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims in order to determine the full scope of the invention.
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