WO1994010885A1

WO1994010885A1 - Merchandising rack for bottles

Info

Publication number: WO1994010885A1
Application number: PCT/FI1993/000438
Authority: WO
Inventors: Veijo Aikio
Original assignee: Veijo Aikio
Priority date: 1992-11-11
Filing date: 1993-10-26
Publication date: 1994-05-26
Also published as: SE9501704L; FI925132A0; FI925132A; AU5179193A; NO951850L; NL194194B; SE519174C2; NL9320050A; NL194194C; ATA905993A; DK54995A; NO951850D0; SE9501704D0; DE4395755T1

Abstract

The invention relates to a merchandising rack for bottles, especially for bottles (1) of Ref-PET type, which are within the neck area provided with an essentially horizontal flange portion (2), the merchandising rack comprising means arranged to constitute a supporting surface for the bottles (1) to be positioned on the rack. To ensure the visibility of the bottles, the means arranged to constitute the supporting surface for the bottles (1) consist of elongated rail portions (3) supported at one end and arranged in pairs at a distance from each other essentially corresponding to the thickness of the neck of the bottle (1) so that the bottle is suspended by its flange portion (2) from the rail portions (3) when the neck of the bottle (1) is positioned between a pair of rail portions.

Description

Merchandising rack for bottles

The invention relates to a merchandising rack for bottles, especially for bottles of Ref-PET type, which are within the neck area provided with an es¬ sentially horizontal flange portion, which merchan¬ dising rack comprises elongated means arranged in pairs at a distance from each other essentially cor¬ responding to the thickness of the neck of the bottle so that the bottle is suspended by its flange portion from these means when the neck of the bottle is posi¬ tioned between said means.

Merchandising racks as described above are well-known in the retail field at present. Tradition- ally used merchandising racks are shelf-type solu¬ tions, which means that bottles for sale are posi¬ tioned on a shelf in an upright position. In this si¬ tuation the bottles stand on their bottom on the sur¬ face of the shelf. The solution has been very effici- ent in connection with glass bottles used earlier, because these bottles are of a very solid type, mean¬ ing that they stand very stably in the upright posi¬ tion, and therefore, they do not fall easily either. However, the use of bottles of the so-called Ref-PET type has become general and caused problems expressly with conventional merchandising racks of shelf-type. The problems are associated with the sta¬ bility of the bottles. For strength-technical rea¬ sons, deposit bottles of Ref-PET type shall be manu- factured in a particular shape. The diameter of the bottom of these bottles, i.e. the surface supported on the surface of a shelf, is small compared with the width and height of the bottle. The shape of the bottles depends on the properties of the plastic ma- terial used in the manufacture, i.e. a bottle shall be made into a particular shape, if it is supposed to meet particular strength requirements, for instance. In practice, these problems appear therein that bottles fall easily even by a slight push, which may cause rather great damages. The problem is accentuat¬ ed especially in connection with merchandising racks from which customers, for instance children, take bottles often in a hurry and carelessly. Then it is possible that all bottles on a shelf fall. This is an awkward situation for the customer and causes at least disorder and more work for the personnel. In the worst case, some of the bottles have to be with¬ drawn from the sale as damaged. A further drawback of the shelf solutions is that the bottles on the rear edge of the shelves are not too visible, especially if the shelf is broad. In such a situation, it is even necessary at times to move bottles to the vici¬ nity of the front edge of the shelf. This procedure also increases the work of the store personnel, for instance.

The object of the invention is to provide a merchandising rack, by means of which the drawbacks of the prior art can be eliminated. This has been achieved by means of the merchandising rack according to the invention, which is characterized in that the means arranged to constitute supporting surfaces for the bottles consist of rail portions supported at one end.

The primary advantage of the invention is that the problems caused by the unstability of the bottles are entirely eliminated and at the same time is eli¬ minated the risk of damaged bottles. Another advan¬ tage is the good visibility of the bottles in a sales situation, in which bottles are taken off the rack and new bottles move automatically instead to the vicinity of the customers. A further advantage is the flexibility of the invention, for the invention may be applied as a separate independent rack, on the one hand, and in connection with already existing shelf structures, on the other hand. Still an advantage is that the upper surfaces of the means supporting the bottles may also be used as shelf planes.

In the following, the invention will be ex¬ plained in greater detail by means of preferred embo- diments shown in the attached drawing, in which

Figure 1 shows a bottle of Ref-PET type as a side view,

Figure 2 shows the basic principle of a mer¬ chandising rack according to the invention as a gen- eral side view,

Figure 3 shows the basic principle according to Figure 2 as a general section view according to the arrows III-III in Figure 2,

Figure 4 shows one embodiment of the merchan- dising rack according to the invention as a general side view,

Figure 5 shows the merchandising rack according to Figure 4 as a front view,

Figure 6 shows the merchandising rack according to the figures 4 and 5 as a general view from above,

Figures 7 to 9 show the embodiment of the fig¬ ures 4 to 6 as views from the respective directions in a situation in which there are bottles on the rack, Figures 10 to 12 show another embodiment of the merchandising rack according to the invention as gen¬ eral views from different directions and

Figures 13 and 14 as a general side and front view a situation in which the basic principle of the figures 10 to 12 are applied to practice. Figure 1 shows a bottle of Ref-PET type in principle. The bottle is generally indicated by ref¬ erence numeral 1. An essentially horizontal flange portion arranged within the area of the bottleneck is marked in the figure by reference numeral 2. The bottle 1 is manufactured of a plastic material in a manner known per se.

The manufacture and shape of a bottle belong to normal technique known per se by one skilled in the art, due to which these matters are not described in more detail in this connection. From Figure 1 appears clearly that the part of the bottle bottom which is supported e.g. on a shelf plane when the bottle stands on the shelf plane is narrow compared with the width and height of the bottle. These facts lead to problems with stability, i.e. the bottle falls easily under the influence of a lateral force, as described above. The invention relates expressly to bottles of Ref-PET type. The object of the invention is a merchandising rack comprising means arranged to constitute a sup¬ porting surface for bottles 1 positioned on the rack. The basic principle of the invention is shown in Fig¬ ures 2 and 3. An essential feature of the invention is that the means arranged to constitute the supporting sur¬ faces of the bottles consist of elongated rail por¬ tions 3 supported at one end and arranged in pairs at a distance from each other essentially corresponding to the thickness of the neck of the bottle 1, so that the bottle 1 is suspended by its flange portion 2 from the rail portions 3 when the neck of the bottle 1 is positioned between a pair of said rail portions. The length of the rail portions 3 and the number of the pairs of rail portions in the lateral direction are selected according to the number of the bottles 1 to be positioned on the rack. Consequently, the bottles of the invention hang by their flange por¬ tions 2. An especially advantageous feature has been found to be that the rail portions 3 are arranged in an inclined position so that the free ends of the rail portions 3 are lower than the fixed ends. This arrangement appears especially clearly from Figure 2. The advantage of the inclined position is that when the first bottle 1, the first left hand bottle 1 in Figure 2, is taken off the other bottles 1 slide for¬ ward supported on the rail portions 3 so that the next bottle in the row comes in place of the bottle taken off, etc. The free end of the rail portions 3 is provided with a projection 4 upwards, which pre¬ vents the bottles from sliding too far on the rail portions. The projection 4 may be made for instance by bending the rail portions 3, as shown in Figure 2. The rail portions 3 may be shaped to a comb-like ele¬ ment, the rear part of which is arranged to be fas¬ tened to a bearing structure. Such a structure is shown in Figure 2.

The above basic idea of the invention may be applied to solutions of different kinds, as will be described in the following.

Figures 4 to 9 show one preferred embodiment of the merchandising rack according to the invention. In this embodiment the rail portions 3 are fastened to a bearing structure 5 constituting a structure movable on wheels 6. The figures 4 to 6 show an empty mer¬ chandising rack and the figures 7 to 9, respectively, the same merchandising rack when a maximum number of bottles 1 are positioned thereon. One special feature of the embodiment according to the figures 4 to 9 may still be mentioned, which is a possibility of stacking empty merchandising racks according to the above figures one after an¬ other, as is usual with push carts, due to which less storage space is required. In such a stacking situa¬ tion, the rail portions 3 are positioned tightly one after another so that the lower surfaces of the rail portions of a previous rack come to the vicinity of the upper surfaces of the rail portions of the fol- lowing rack etc. Then the bearing structures 5 are also positioned partly within each other, naturally.

Figures 10 to 14 show another preferred embodi¬ ment of the invention. In this embodiment the rail portions 3 are arranged to be fastened to a shelf structure 7 in place of a normal shelf. In this embo¬ diment the rail portions 3 are formed in such a way that they may be fastened to the bearing portions of a normal shelf system known per se in place of ori¬ ginal shelves. The above embodiments are not intended to re¬ strict the invention in any way, but the invention may be applied quite freely within the scope of the claims. It is thus clear that the merchandising rack according to the invention or its parts do not need to be absolutely similar to those shown in the fig¬ ures, but solutions of another kind are also pos¬ sible. For instance, wheels are not essential details of the movable embodiment etc. The length of the rail portions and the number of the pairs of rail portions in the lateral and vertical direction are naturally selected according to each particular need, e.g. ac¬ cording to the number of bottles, the width of an existing shelf system, etc. The invention is of course not restricted to any special product, but the invention may be used in connection with any product. The only condition is that the product is packed in a bottle, the neck of which is provided with an essen¬ tially horizontal flange portion, by means of which the bottle may be supported on the rail portions.

Claims

Claims:

1. A merchandising rack for bottles, especially for bottles (1) of Ref-PET type, which are within the neck area provided with an essentially horizontal flange portion (2), which merchandising rack com¬ prises elongated means arranged in pairs at a dis¬ tance from each other essentially corresponding to the thickness of the neck of the bottle ( 1 ) so that the bottle is suspended by its flange portion (2) from these means when the neck of the bottle (1) is positioned between said means, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the means arranged to constitute supporting surfaces for the bottles ( 1 ) consist of rail portions (3) supported at one end.

2. A merchandising rack according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the length of the rail portions (3) and the number of the pairs of rail portions in the lateral direction are selected ac- cording to the number of the bottles ( 1 ) to be posi¬ tioned on the rack.

3. A merchandising rack according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rail por¬ tions (3) are arranged in an inclined position so that the free ends of the rail portions (3) are lower than the fixed ends.

4. A merchandising rack according to any of the foregoing claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rail portions (3) are formed to a comb-like ele- ment, the rear part of which is arranged to be fas¬ tened to a bearing structure ( 5, 7) .

5. A merchandising rack according to any of the foregoing claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rail portions (3) are arranged to be fastened to a bearing structure (5) constituting a movable device.

6. A merchandising rack according to any of the foregoing claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rail portions (3) are arranged to be fastened to a shelf structure (7) in place of a normal shelf.