Retail display unit

• US 7,083,054 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2000
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Marmon Foodservice Technologies Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Display Technologies, Inc. (Rhode Island)
• Inventors: Squitieri, Anthony C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Novosad, Jennifer E.
• Application Number:
  US10/149,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20020179553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,062 Days
• Field of Search: 211/59.2, 211/74, 211/184, 211/59.3, 211/59.4, 211/175, 312/42, 312/45, 312/61, 312/71, 312/72, D64/08, D64/67, D64/73, D65/15
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 5/005 Partitions therefore horizontally adjustable A47B57/58; constructional details of drawers A47B88/90

Abstract

A glide (20) includes a base (22), a front member, and a number of walls (26) extending front-to-back. Both the base and the front member are advantageously formed as a number of pieces secured side-by-side to provide expandability. The front member may be secured to the walls via dovetail interaction and different front members may be provided for different wall spacings.

Claims

1. A retail display glide apparatus for holding a plurality of items, comprising:

a base having front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface for supporting the items, and a bottom surface;

a plurality of wall members, at least some thereof removably installable on the base extending front to back so as to cooperate with the base to define a plurality of channels, each channel dimensioned for accommodating an associated front to back column of the items; and

a front member installable to the base and to installed ones of the wall members to bound forward extremities of the channels wherein;

the front edge of each wall member includes a vertically-extending projection, engagable via vertical translation to a complementary channel in the front member; and

the front member, when installed to the base and to the installed wall members, has surfaces cooperating with complementary surfaces of the base to prevent a shift of the installed wall members so as to prevent removal of the installed wall members unless the front member is at least partially disinstalled via vertical translation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the plurality of items and wherein the plurality of items is a plurality of beverage containers selected from the group consisting of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

the base comprises a molded plastic primary base member and at least one molded plastic auxiliary base member removably assembled side by side, the primary base member being wider than each at least one auxiliary base member; and

the front member comprises a molded plastic primary front member and at least one molded plastic auxiliary front member removably assembled side by side, the primary front member being wider than each at least one auxiliary front member.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in combination with the plurality of items and wherein the plurality of items is a plurality of beverage containers selected from the group consisting of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shift is a rearward shift.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in combination with the plurality of items and wherein the plurality of items is a plurality of beverage containers selected from the group consisting of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base comprises:

right and left side walls;

a plurality of front-to-back rails; and

a plurality of cross-members spanning between the sidewalls;

wherein the cross-members, side walls and rails combine to form a grid of slots, the slots receive the installable wall members and are positioned on the base so as to permit the wall members to be installed in one or more of a plurality of pitches.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the side walls and the rails have a width of about 0.095 inch, the slots have a width of about 0.100 inch and a width from a first slot of the grid of slots to an adjacent second slot of the grid of slots is about 0.195 inch.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of pitches are a multiple of the slot to slot width of about 0.195 inch.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base includes a grid of slots, the slots receive the installable wall members and are positioned on the base so as to permit the wall members to be installed in one or more of a plurality of pitches.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a width from a first slot of the grid of slots to an adjacent second slot of the grid of slots is about 0.195 inch and, wherein the plurality of pitches are a multiple of the slot to slot width.

12. A retail display glide apparatus for holding a plurality of items, comprising:

a base having front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface for supporting the items, and a bottom surface;

a plurality of wall members, at least some thereof removably installable on the base extending front-to-back so as to cooperate with the base to define a plurality of channels, each channel having a width dimensioned for accommodating an associated front-to-back column of the items; and

a front member installable to the base and to installed ones of the wall members to bound forward extremities of the channels, wherein;

the front member is a first front member and includes a plurality of wall member engaging features at substantially a first pitch, the first pitch defining an associated first width of the plurality of channels;

the apparatus further comprises a second front member having wall member engaging features similar to the wall member engaging features of the first front member but spaced at a second pitch, the second pitch defining an associated second width of channels substantially different from the first width; and

the installed wall members are installed on the base so as to engage the wall member engaging features of the second front member and define a second plurality of channels.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 in combination with the plurality of items and wherein the plurality of items is a plurality of beverage containers selected from the group consisting of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the base includes a grid of slots, the slots receive the installable wall members and are positioned on the base so as to permit the wall members to be installed in at least one of the first and second pitches.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein a width from a first slot of the grid of slots to an adjacent second slot of the grid of slots is about 0.195 inch and, wherein the first and the second pitches are a multiple of the slot to slot width.

16. A retail display glide apparatus for holding a plurality of items, comprising:

a base having front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface for supporting the items, and a bottom surface and comprising a molded plastic primary base member and at least one molded plastic auxiliary base member removably assembled side-by-side;

a plurality of wall members, at least some thereof removably installable on the base extending front-to-back so as to cooperate with the base to define a plurality of channels, each channel dimensioned for accommodating an associated front-to-back column of the items; and

a front member installable to the base and to installed ones of the wall members to bound forward extremities of the channels and comprising a molded plastic primary front member and at least one molded plastic auxiliary front member removably assembled side-by-side; and

wherein;

the primary front member includes a plurality of wall member engaging features at substantially a first pitch, the first pitch defining an associated nominal width of a first subplurality of the plurality of channels;

each of the at least one auxiliary front member includes one wall member engaging feature along a first side of such auxiliary front member; and

each of the at least one auxiliary front member fronts a channel of a second subplurality of the plurality of channels, the second subplurality at a second pitch, the second pitch defining an associated nominal width of the second subplurality substantially different from the first pitch.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 in combination with the plurality of items and wherein the plurality of items is a plurality of beverage containers selected from the group consisting of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the front member includes a plurality of apertures, each aperture associated with one of the channels and allowing at least partial viewing of a lead item in the associated column of the associated channel.

19. A kit for forming a retail display glide apparatus for holding a plurality of containers, comprising:

a primary base member having front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface, and a bottom surface;

a plurality of auxiliary base members each having front, back, left, and right ends, an upper surface and a bottom surface, having a width substantially less than a width of the primary base member and configured to be selectively assembled with the primary base member in side by side configuration to form a glide base;

a plurality of wall members, at least some thereof being selectively installable on the base extending front to back so as to cooperate with the base to define a plurality of channels, each channel for accommodating an associated front to back column of the containers, the plurality wall members being so installable alternatively in at least two sets of positions corresponding to two different nominal channel widths; and

at least two front member assembly kits respectively associated with the at least two channel widths, each comprising;

a primary front member having front and back surfaces and top, bottom, left, and right edges; and

a plurality of auxiliary front members, each having front and back surfaces and top, bottom, left, and right edges and configured to be selectively assembled with the primary front member to form a front member assembly, the front member assembly attachable to the base and to installed ones of the wall members so as to bound forward extremities of the channels.

20. The kit of claim 19 wherein each front member assembly, along the back surfaces of its primary and auxiliary front members includes a plurality of concave surface portions respectively aligned with the plurality of channels for accommodating the front container in each associated column.

21. The kit of claim 19 wherein:

the primary base member and auxiliary base members are each single pieces of molded plastic each including a plurality of pairs of front and back longitudinal slots;

each wall member is a single piece of molded plastic and includes top, bottom, front, and back edges with a plurality of holes inboard of said edges, a pair of front and back forward projecting fingers depending from the bottom edge and insertable through an associated pair of the front and back slots to interlock the wall member to the glide base via a subsequent forward translation of the wall member, and a vertically extending projection along the front edge; and

each front member assembly includes a plurality of vertically extending channels complementary to the vertically extending projections to interlock such front member assembly with the installed wall members upon a relative vertical translation.

22. The kit of claim 19, wherein the primary base member and the plurality of auxiliary base members each include a grid of slots, the slots receive the installable wall members and are positioned on the base so as to permit the wall members to be installed in the two different nominal channel widths.

23. The kit of claim 22, wherein a width from a first slot of the grid of slots to an adjacent second slot of the grid of slots is about 0.195 inch and, wherein the two different nominal channel widths are a multiple of the slot to slot width.