Product dispenser track assembly

• US 20060196840A1
• Filed: 04/04/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marmon Foodservice Technologies Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Raymond Schneider, Richard Jay
• Inventors: Schneider, Raymond, Jay, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,665,618 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 211/59.2
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/12 dispensing from the side of an approximately horizontal stack A47F1/087 takes precedence

Abstract

An improved gravity feed product dispenser track apparatus for products sold in containers having a truncated conical shape, such as a bell shape or an inverted bell shape used for certain popular yogurt products. The dispenser track assembly of the present disclosure aligns the products on a track with a front discharge portion and an exit ramp that tilts the lead product forward or rearward so that the inclined or declined front surface of the container is pivoted to a more vertical state to improve its visibility for customers. A plurality of pull through fingers is disposed near front discharge portion. These fingers maintain a lead container on the track while also allowing a customer to remove a container by pulling it through the opening between the fingers.

Claims

1. A dispenser track assembly adapted to hold a plurality of articles and to individually dispense each article, the dispenser track assembly comprising:

a track for holding a plurality of articles, the track having a rear portion, a front discharge portion, a bottom surface defining a generally flat plane and extending from the rear portion to the front portion and being downwardly sloped toward the front portion, the track being disposed between a first side wall and a second side wall; and

an exit ramp for holding a lead article and for tilting the lead article relative to bottom surface, exit ramp being disposed adjacent front discharge portion.

2. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 wherein the track is for holding a plurality of yogurt containers, each yogurt container having a front surface.

3. The dispenser track assembly of claim 2 wherein each yogurt container having a bell-shape with an inclined front surface.

4. The dispenser track assembly of claim 3 wherein the exit ramp tilts the lead yogurt container forward, whereby the front surface of the yogurt container is pivoted to a substantially vertical state.

5. The dispenser track assembly of claim 2 wherein each yogurt container having an inverted bell-shape with a declined front surface.

6. The dispenser track assembly of claim 5 wherein the exit ramp tilts the lead yogurt container rearward, whereby the front surface of the yogurt container is pivoted to a substantially vertical state.

7. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 wherein the dispenser track assembly comprising a track structure, the track structure having a plurality of tracks disposed between first side wall and second side wall.

8. The dispenser track assembly of claim 7 wherein the front portion of each track being configured to extend farther than the front portion of the track directly above it, such configuration facilities removal of the lead article from each track.

9. The dispenser track assembly of claim 7 wherein the track structure being positioned adjacent a plurality of track structures, each track structure having a plurality of tracks.

10. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 further including a rear restraining element disposed adjacent rear portion for preventing an article on the track from exiting rear portion of track.

11. The dispenser track assembly of claim 10 wherein the rear restraining element being positioned to allow an article to be inserted onto track from rear portion.

12. The dispenser track assembly of claim 11 wherein the rear restraining element being a one-way rear gate.

14. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 further including a fence disposed adjacent front discharge portion of track, fence blocks lead article from falling off front discharge portion of track and fence positioned to allow lead article to be lifted over fence and removed from track.

15. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 further including a plurality of pull through fingers disposed adjacent front discharge portion of track and defining an opening therebetween, the opening being smaller than the diameter of each article, plurality of pull through fingers includes at least one first finger disposed adjacent first side wall and at least one second finger disposed adjacent second side wall, each of the fingers being sufficiently flexible for allowing lead article to be pulled off the track through the opening, whereby at least one first finger and at least one second finger engage lead article and keep it from falling off front discharge portion of track.

16. The dispenser track assembly of claim 15 further including a notch disposed on a proximal portion of exit ramp, notch facilitates a customer being able to grasp lead article.

17. The dispenser track assembly of claim 15 further including a metering mechanism including a first set of flippers pivotally attached to the first side wall adjacent front portion of track and a second set of flippers pivotally attached to the second side wall adjacent front portion of track, metering mechanism maintains the lead article on the exit ramp, metering mechanism replaces lead article with an article adjacent the lead article when the lead article is removed from dispenser track assembly.

18. The dispenser track assembly of claim 1 wherein at least of portion of the track having dips and rises disposed thereon, dips tip articles on the track forward and rises tip articles on the track rearward, dips and rises reduce the possibility of an article contacting an adjacent artilce.

13. The dispenser track assembly of claim 111 wherein the rear restraining element being a barrier, barrier comprising a first part and a retainer bar, first part being pivotably engaged with at least one side wall near rear portion of track, retainer bar extending from first part across the track, barrier being movable from a first position where retainer bar rests adjacent rear portion of track to a second position where at least a portion of retainer bar is elevated from the track, whereby a rearward moving container causes barrier to move towards the second position causing container to remain on track.

19. A dispenser track assembly adapted to hold a plurality of containers and to individually dispense each container, the dispenser track assembly comprising:

a track for holding a plurality of articles, the track having a rear portion, a front discharge portion, the front discharge portion holds a lead container, a bottom surface defining a generally flat plane and extending from the rear portion to the front portion and being downwardly sloped toward the front portion, the track being disposed between a first side wall and a second side wall; and

a plurality of pull through fingers disposed adjacent front discharge portion of track and defining an opening therebetween, the opening being smaller than the diameter of each container, plurality of pull through fingers includes at least one first finger disposed adjacent first side wall and at least one second finger disposed adjacent second side wall, each of the fingers being sufficiently flexible for allowing lead container to be pulled off the track through the opening, whereby at least one first finger and at least one second finger engage lead container and keep it from falling off front discharge portion of track.

20. The dispenser track assembly of claim 19 wherein the dispenser track assembly comprising a track structure, the track structure having a plurality of tracks disposed between first side wall and second side wall and wherein the track structure being positioned adjacent a plurality of track structures, each track structure having a plurality of tracks.

21. The dispenser track assembly of claim 19 further including an exit ramp tilting the lead container relative to bottom surface, exit ramp being disposed adjacent front discharge portion.

22. The dispenser track assembly of claim 19 further including a notch disposed on a proximal portion of exit ramp, notch facilitates a customer being able to grasp lead container.

23. The dispenser track assembly of claim 19 further including a metering mechanism including a first set of flippers pivotally attached to the first side wall adjacent front portion of track and a second set of flippers pivotally attached to the second side wall adjacent front portion of track, metering mechanism maintains the lead article on the front discharge portion, metering mechanism replaces lead container with a container adjacent the lead container when the lead container is removed from dispenser track assembly.

24. The dispenser track assembly of claim 19 wherein at least of portion of the track having dips and rises disposed thereon, dips tip containers on the track forward and rises tip containers on the track rearward, dips and rises reduce the possibility of a container contacting an adjacent container.