Device for displaying and dispensing a plurality of products

• US 6,378,727 B1
• Filed: 01/08/2001
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: BOURJOIS
• Original Assignee: BOURJOIS
• Inventors: Guillemain, Véronique, Dupuis, Michel
• Primary Examiner(s): Noland, Kenneth W.
• Application Number:
  US09/673,639
• Time in Patent Office: 477 Days
• Field of Search: 221/92, 221/69, 221/131, 221/130, 221/289, 211/59.3, 211/43, 211/51
• US Class Current: 221/92
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/126 the pushing device being urged by spring means

Abstract

The invention relates to a display (20) comprising a package pusher (44) operated by a coiled spring (56, 103) and slidable within a slot (64) to push packages (36) forward to the front of a shelf (22), the pusher being laterally movable to accommodate various sized packages at various lateral positions along the shelf. The pusher is a part of a feed structure having ends engaging vertical grooves (26, 30) in upstanding walls (24, 28) fore and aft of the shelf and forming a part of a dispensing tray. The tray may be formed of laterally connected modules. Lateral displacement of the package pusher to accommodate various sized packages and positioning thereof may be accommodated by the provision of laterally spaced slots (101) within a shelf (22) having a forward wall to catch the forward-most package.

Claims

1. Device for displaying and dispensing a plurality of products of the same format, in particular in the field of cosmetics or parapharmaceuticals, comprising:

a front panel (2, 52, 52′

) pierced by at least one opening (3, 53) shaped so as to be able to be crossed by a product (1, 51)

a housing element (4, 4′

, 54, 54′

) connected to the front panel in front of each opening and shaped so as to be able to house and hold the lower part of a product;

a guide element (5, 5′

, 55, 55′

) lying perpendicular to the front panel and connected to the front panel behind each opening and shaped so as to hold, with clearance, the products from below, from above and on the sides;

a pusher (6, 6′

, 56, 56″

) engaged with clearance in the guide element and shaped so as to be able to be held by this element from below, from above and on the sides;

an elastic means (7, 7′

, 57′

) forcing the pusher towards the opening.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing element comprises a lateral wall made from a more or less transparent material.

3. Device according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the housing element is connected to the front panel by its base wall.

4. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that this device comprises several identical openings, and housing elements and guide elements in numbers equal to that of those openings.

5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that each opening has a section similar, clearances apart, to the format of the product considered.

6. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that this guide element (5, 55) is made in at least one transparent material.

7. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that this guide element has more or less the same internal section as the opening to which it is connected.

8. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the pusher has a front surface formed from portions having different inclinations chosen as a function of the format of the product such that the product which is located in the housing element is more or less parallel to the front panel.

9. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that, in the case in which the product has a shape which broadens upwards from a narrow zone, the front surface of the pusher has a portion inclined upwards and rearwards.

10. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic means is subjected to tensile stress.

11. Device according to claim 10, characterized in that the elastic means comprises at least one spring sheet wound in a spiral engaged in the piston, which runs alongside the guide element and one end of which is fixed at the opening.

12. Device according to claim 10, characterized in that this elastic means comprises a spring sheet the rear end of which is linked to a removable element (95) which can be, if required, hooked either on to the pusher or a rear portion of the guide element.

13. Device according to claim 12, characterized in that this spring sheet is engaged in a block normally resting on the rear of one portion of the pusher, including an extension (96) capable of co-operating with a rear projection (90) of the guide element.

14. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that this elastic means comprises two spring sheets (7′

, 87) wound in a spiral.

15. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the pusher is provided with ribs (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28) intended to be guided by the guide element.

16. Display unit comprising a plurality of devices according to claim 1, some at least of these devices having front panels of the same dimensions.