Showcase assembly unit for showcase structure

• US 6,409,026 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2001
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sekisui Plastics Company Limited (Sekisui Kasei Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Kid Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Watanabe, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Gibson, Jr., Robert W.
• Application Number:
  US09/793,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20010017284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 483 Days
• Field of Search: 211/59.2, 211/151, 312/71, 193/35.R, 193/35.C
• 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

A showcase assembly unit for a showcase structure is disclosed, which includes a roller support frame and a plurality of parallel sets of rollers mounted on the roller support frame, wherein the rollers in each set of rollers are mounted rotatably and arranged one after another from the rear end toward the front end of the roller support frame. A plurality of individual articles, such as canned foods or drinks, may be placed across two or more parallel sets of rollers and are capable of moving one by one from the rear end toward the front end of the roller support frame. In the showcase assembly unit for the showcase structure according to the present invention, each roller has a specific width that is smaller than a dimension of the bottom of a particular article across the roller, and each of the rollers in each set is axially offset relative to a corresponding one of the rollers in each adjacent set.

Claims

1. A showcase assembly unit for a showcase structure, comprising:

a roller support frame having a rear end and a front end; and

parallel sets of rollers mounted on said roller support frame, wherein each of the rollers of each of said parallel sets

(i) is rotatably mounted to said roller support frame and arranged one after another from the rear end of said roller support frame to the front end of said roller support frame,

(ii) is axially offset relative to a corresponding roller of an immediately adjacent one of said parallel sets in a direction from the rear end of said roller support frame to the front end of said roller support frame, and

(iii) has a width that is less than a bottom dimension of a commercial article that is to be supported by the rollers such that when a plurality of the commercial articles are supported by the rollers the commercial articles extend across at least two of said parallel sets and can be moved one by one along the rollers from the rear end of said roller support frame to the front end of said roller support frame, and

wherein said roller support frame includes a lower bearing segment and an upper bearing segment mounted on said lower bearing segment, said lower bearing segment having a flat upper surface for supporting a rotary shaft of each of the rollers of each of said parallel sets such that the rotary shafts can be maintained co-planar with one another, and said upper bearing segment having recesses in a lower side that faces said flat upper surface for receiving therein the rotary shafts.

2. The showcase assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein each of the rollers of each of said parallel sets is axially offset relative to a corresponding roller of an immediately adjacent one of said parallel sets in the direction from the rear end of said roller support frame to the front end of said roller support frame by a distance that is equal to from one half to one fourth of the interval between axes of two immediately adjacent rollers of any of said parallel sets as measured in the direction from the rear end of said roller support frame to the front end of said roller support frame.

3. The showcase assembly unit according to claim 2, wherein said recesses in the lower side of said upper bearing segment each has a depth that is at least equal to a diameter of the rotary shafts, and also has a curved bottom to conform to an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shafts.

4. The showcase assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein said recesses in the lower side of said upper bearing segment each has a depth that is at least equal to a diameter of the rotary shafts, and also has a curved bottom to conform to an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shafts.