EP0270016B1 - Construction kit for a goods display box - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL AREA

The invention relates to a set of components for a goods presentation compartment, as it is in sales furniture, for. B. is used in self-service shops for presenting a wide variety of goods.

STATE OF THE ART

In order to be successful in sales, particularly in self-service shops, it is necessary to keep all items in stock in the presentation compartments. However, the stock in the compartments should not be too large so that as many articles as possible can be stored. The space for each article should be determined as clearly as possible so that customers can find an article they have bought as quickly as possible.

These goals have been achieved in recent years by providing merchandise display compartments with scanner-compatible article rails and with compartment subdivisions for each individual article. The scanner-capable rails are those in which a label slot into which bar code labels are inserted are covered by the thinnest possible, transparent cover, which makes it possible to read the bar code with a scanner. Each compartment has a bar code label on the article rail, which is assigned to the article in the compartment behind it. To record the inventory, the name of the article is read into a computer by scanning the bar code with the scanner, and the number of copies of this article still available in the compartment is also entered into this using an input device. The calculator calculates then how many copies have to be made available from the warehouse to refill the compartment.

Since goods are designed very differently, differently designed presentation subjects are required. For good goods, e.g. B. Coffee packs, it is sufficient to subdivide the compartments by level compartment dividers. When stacking flat goods, e.g. B. chocolate bars, it is necessary to secure the goods against excessive mutual slipping and thereby against slipping out of the compartment. For bulk goods, e.g. B. loose candies, the compartments must be designed as troughs.

The adaptation to such different types of compartments was accomplished in part by the fact that differently designed compartment separating parts were made available, either completely flat, or those with molded support devices, or those with molded devices for inserting longitudinal plates around troughs. These compartmentalized parts were placed on ridges on the label rails. These webs offer a good attachment option, but they have the disadvantage that they stand above the level that protrudes through the shelf to which the rail is attached. As a result, the rail hinders the removal of goods.

A set of components for a goods presentation compartment of the type mentioned in the introduction can also be found in EP-A 120 099. On the one hand, the component set has a compartment separating part with a front edge and a foot, which has a bottom lower edge, which extends at right angles to the separating part plane, and on the other hand has a component with a groove in the form of an open-topped rail, into which the compartment separating part is inserted with a Edge engages. The fact that this rail with its base is always placed on a shelf from above, also hinders the removal of goods. In addition, it makes it more difficult to see the floor area behind these shelves, especially in the case of higher shelves. The raised rail is also an obstacle for cleaning the shelf.

A scanner-shaped rail with shelf parts that can be snapped on from above is also known from US Pat. No. 3,582,170. This rail is attached to the front end of a shelf. In order to achieve a sufficiently stable seat of the rail, it must be screwed on, for example, which represents a very considerable outlay. This limits the possible use of this rail.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

Starting from this prior art, the invention is based on the object of specifying a component system for a merchandise presentation compartment that is as variable as possible and which can be optimally adapted to the respective purposes. This object is achieved in the known generic component set by the features of the independent claims 1 and 2. The component set according to the invention thus always has a scanner-compatible label rail, in the groove of which the compartment separating part either with its foot directly (claim 1) or indirectly via an interposed axisymmetric front plate (Claim 2) engages. The label rail lies only on the shelf with a fastening leg, so that it cannot represent a trip hazard. Such a rail can can be easily attached to the shelf, especially by gluing. To attach the compartment dividers, simply insert their respective feet into the groove in the rail attached to the shelf. As a result, no parts protrude forward over the shelf level, so that goods can be easily removed or inserted. In addition, the view into the compartment is not hampered by a web standing up on the front of the compartment, which was a disadvantage when using conventional component sets, especially for high-lying compartments, above-average eye level.

If the component with groove is the axisymmetric front plate, the groove runs along the axis of symmetry. The dimension of the front plate is adapted to the dimension of the front edge of the compartment separating part, the front edge being provided for engaging in the groove. This front plate makes it possible to produce different compartment shapes in a simple manner. If only the front panel is placed on the compartment partition, the front panel forms a front stop for supporting goods, e.g. B. of stacked chocolate bars. A trough can be formed with the aid of such a front plate by attaching an angle piece to the front plate and then inserting a longitudinal plate into the slot between the angle piece and the front plate, which closes the presentation compartment to the front. The front plate advantageously already has webs on which the angle piece can be attached. It is an additional advantage if at least one of the webs runs over the entire length of the front panel in order to stiffen it. If this web connects tightly to the groove along the axis of symmetry, it also serves to support the front panel stably against the compartment separating part. A stable holding is also favored by the fact that the lower edge of the plate is aligned with the lower edge of the foot of the compartment separating part when the front plate is attached to the front edge of the compartment separating part. The lower edge of the plate also engages in the groove in the label rail.

In the event that the front plate is only to serve as a front stop on one side of a compartment separating part, the unnecessary part can be broken off, for which purpose the front plate has a predetermined breaking line on both sides of its groove.

From the above it can be seen that the component sets according to the invention make it possible, due to the various components with a groove, to structure presentation compartments, as they are divided in connection with scanner-compatible label rails, clearly and easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Fig. 1

Partial perspective view of a goods presentation compartment with shelf, scanner-compatible label rail with groove, compartment dividers with foot and a front plate on a compartment dividing part;

Fig. 2

Cross section through the front part of the shelf of the compartment according to FIG 1 with attached label rail.

3 to 5

a side view, a front view and a plan view of a compartment separating part;

6 to 8

a front view, a plan view and a side view of a front panel;

Fig. 9

a side view of an elbow, to scale to the side view of the front panel of FIG 8, which angle piece is included in plan view in Fig. 7. and

Fig. 10

a schematic plan view of a sequence of product presentation compartments for different goods.

EXAMPLES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The perspective partial view according to FIG. 1 shows a shelf 11 with a label rail 13 attached along its longitudinal edge 12 and two compartment separating parts 14 placed on the shelf 11, whereby three goods presentation compartments 15.1, 15.2, 15.3 are formed. A front plate 17 is attached to the front edge 16 of a compartment separating part 14.

The cross section of the label rail 13 can be seen from FIG. 2. The rail has a fastening leg 18 and a label leg 19. These two legs are mutually such that when the fastening leg 18 is placed on the shelf 11, the label leg 19 protrudes obliquely downwards.

A rail groove 20 is formed in that end region of the fastening leg 18 which faces the label leg 19. The label leg 19 is formed in two layers, with a rear support plate 21 and a front cover plate 22, which two plates are connected to one another at their lower end along a weld seam 23. The cover plate 22 is as thin and clear as possible, but at the same time as elastic as possible, so that a bar code label 24 (see FIG. 1) can be clamped comfortably and yet firmly between the support plate 21 and the cover plate 22, the lines on the Label 24 but still readable by a scanner. The structure of the label leg 19 corresponds to that in this regard Structure of a conventional label leg on a scannable label rail.

The fastening leg 18 of the label rail 13 is glued to the top of the shelf 11. The shelf has on its longitudinal edge 12 a recess 25 in which the wall of the rail groove 20 lies. Due to the adhesive fastening and the engagement of the groove wall in the recess 25, the label rail 13 is supported twice against the shelf 11. A third support is created in that, near the lower edge of the support plate 21, a clamping leg 26 attaches to the rear thereof and presses with its free end against the shelf 11 from below.

The label rail 13 can also be fastened to shelves 11 which have a groove along the longitudinal edge 12. The rail groove 20 then engages in this shelf groove. The particular advantage of the label rail 13 is that it does not require such a conventional shelf with groove, but that it can be attached to a shelf that only has the recess 25, or even on a shelf without any recess. In this case, the back of the groove wall lies directly on the long side of the shelf. The label rail 13 fulfills a double function in all cases, namely that it is scanner-capable and that it has a rail groove 20 for inserting compartment dividing components, which will be discussed in more detail below.

Details of the compartment separating part 14 according to the preferred exemplary embodiment can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 5. The compartment dividing part 14 is designed as a substantially rectangular plate, but the front upper edge is severely broken out so that the compartment dividing part, when used in full height, does not obscure the view into the front region of the adjacent presentation compartment. The compartment separating part 14 has two predetermined breaking lines 27.14.1 in parallel to the separating part lower edge 28 and a predetermined breaking line 27.14.2 parallel to its front edge 16. The front edge 16, the rear edge 30 and that part of the compartment separating part 14 which, after breaking along the predetermined breaking line 27.14.2 parallel to the front edge 16, forms the new rear edge, are each provided with a thickening 31. 16, 31.30 and 31.14. The thickening 31, 16 on the front edge 16 serves to ensure secure cohesion with the attached front plate 17. The thickening 31.30 on the rear edge 30 and the thickening 31.14 on the predetermined breaking line rear edge serve, if necessary, to hold plates which are constructed in a manner corresponding to the front plate 17. Such is necessary when a presentation compartment is not closed at the rear by a solid wall, but is open, and when a front stop is to be created there or a longitudinal plate is to be inserted in order to create a closed product trough. The rear edge 30 can also engage between the walls of a double-walled compartment dividing part, between which walls the compartment dividing part can be pushed back and forth with its rear region, in order to be able to bridge the depth of a compartment bottom in an adjustable manner.

In the lower area of the front edge 16 a foot 32 attaches, which extends as far as below the separating part lower edge 28 and has a lower foot edge 33, which extends at right angles to the plane of the compartment separating part 14. The lower foot edge 33 has a thickening 31.33 at its lower end. The foot 32 and the bottom edge 33 of the foot are dimensioned such that they fit straight into the rail groove 20 and then, when the foot engages completely in the groove, the bottom edge 28 of the separating part lies precisely on the shelf 11. Preferably, the clamping of the foot 32 in the rail groove 20 is just so strong that the foot can still be moved in the groove and the compartment separating part 14 can thereby be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the shelf 11.

The construction of the preferred embodiment of the front panel 17 will now be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. The front plate 17 is essentially rectangular, but has a triangular recess 34 in its lower region, the shape of which is adapted to the shape of the foot 32 so that the foot 32 has space in the recess 34, as shown in FIG 1 is recognizable. Two predetermined breaking lines 27.17.1 run parallel to the lower edge 35 of the panel, with the aid of which the front panel 17 can only be adjusted to different heights by breaking off along the predetermined breaking lines.

A plate groove 36 runs along the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the front plate 17, the base of which is thickened to match the thickening 31.16 on the front edge 16 of the compartment separating part 14. As a result, the front plate 17 holds firmly on the compartment dividing part 14 when the two parts are plugged together along the front edge 16 on the compartment dividing part and along the plate groove 36. The firm cohesion is promoted by two further measures, namely that the plate lower edge 35 engages in the rail groove 20 with an existing thickening 31.35 in the plugged-in state, and the other in that the plate groove 36 closes tightly thereafter On both sides of the same, a continuous web 37 stands at right angles from the rear of the front panel 17. These two webs 37 lie in the attached state of the front panel close to the front area of the compartment separating part 14 and thus secure the front panel 17 against tilting around the front edge 16. At the same time, the continuous webs 37 have a reinforcing action against bending forces transverse to the longitudinal direction of the front panel 17.

A third function of the continuous webs 37 is that they, together with a subsequent holding web 38, which is only present in the lower region of the front plate 17, serve to hold an angle piece 39 in a clamped manner. As can be seen from the plan view of the angle piece 39 shown in FIG. 7 and the associated side view of FIG. 9, the angle piece 39 has a first leg 40, which is held clampingly on the front plate 17, and a second leg 41 which is perpendicular to the first leg 40. Because of this structure, when the angle piece 39 is held by a continuous web 37 and a holding web 38, the second leg 41 of the angle piece is formed 39 and the rear surface of the front plate 17 parallel to each other, whereby a guide slot 42 is formed, into which a longitudinal plate 43 can be inserted, as shown in Fig. 10.

The first leg 40 of the angle piece 39 can be glued to the webs 37 and 38 on the front plate 17. However, it is particularly advantageous to flute the facing surfaces of the continuous web 37 and the holding web 38 as well as the surfaces on the first leg 40 of the angle piece 39 in order to thereby achieve a particularly secure clamping fit of the angle piece 39 on the front plate 17. Then the user is free at any time to use the front plate 17 once with an angle piece 39 and another time without the same.

On the front plate 17, in addition to the already mentioned predetermined breaking lines parallel to the lower edge 35 of the plate, there are also rectangular predetermined breaking lines 27.17.2, which thus run parallel to the plate groove 36, in such a way that breaking off along these predetermined breaking lines is as close as possible to one of the holding webs 38 takes place, but in such a way that the corresponding holding bridge still remains. This configuration makes it possible to adapt the front panel 17 to a use in which it only has to assume the front stop function on one side of the compartment separating part 14. This will now be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 10.

In the plan view of several presentation compartments 15.4, 15.5 and 15.6 according to FIG. 10, the label rail 13 that is actually present has been omitted for the sake of clarity. The front boundary line 44 in FIG. 10 corresponds to the position of the rail groove 20.

In the left presentation compartment 15.4, well-standing goods 45 are stacked, e.g. B. Coffee packs. Accordingly, it is not necessary to provide a front panel as a front stop on the front of this compartment. Accordingly, no front panel is placed on the far left compartment separating part 14.

In the middle compartment 15.5 slightly slipping goods 46, z. B. stacked in the form of chocolate bars. This product 46 requires front stops, which is why a front plate 17 is placed on the front of each of the two delimiting compartment dividers 14, namely the second and third compartment dividers from the left. The left front panel protrudes somewhat into the front area of the left presentation compartment 15.4, but has hardly any disturbing effect there, since this front panel has broken off to the left along the left vertical predetermined breaking line.

Bulk goods 47 are accommodated in the right presentation compartment 15.6, e.g. B. individual candies. In order to prevent them from slipping out of the presentation compartment, this is closed at the front by a longitudinal plate 43, which is formed between guide slots 42 on the front panels on the left and right of the right presentation compartment 15.6 by attaching an angle piece 39. An equally secure hold of the longitudinal plate 43 to the front and rear is achieved when the second leg 41 of the angle piece 39 is as long as the distance from a longitudinal edge running to the axis of symmetry of the front plate 17 from the next pair of webs 37, 38.

In the previous it was assumed that the front edge 16 of the compartment separating part 14 runs essentially at right angles to the lower edge of the compartment separating part. However, it is entirely possible, for example for design reasons, to have the front edge 16 run obliquely to the rear. The rail groove 20 can then have a corresponding inclination. Another possibility is that the foot 32 is still rectangular runs to the lower edge of the compartment separating part 14 and accordingly there is a kink between the foot and the front edge 16. In such an embodiment, a corresponding bend is also to be provided on the front plate 17 parallel to the lower edge 35 of the plate, at a height such that when the front plate 17 is inserted into the rail groove 20, the bend extends approximately at the height of the upper edge of the groove. For design reasons, it may be appropriate to make further changes in the shape of the compartment separating part 14 and the front plate 17, for example, to no longer design the front plate 17 exactly at a right angle, but, for example, to taper upwards.

It is pointed out that compartment dividers with foot and front panels of the type described can also be used if an article rail with groove is dispensed with, but instead a shelf with groove is used. In this case, e.g. B. a scanner-capable article rail can be used, which has only a thin leg for fastening, which is inserted into the groove on the shelf and is held there by the feet used compartment separating parts. In this case, too, the advantages of great variation in the compartment design are achieved, which is made possible in particular by using the special front plate with the vertical predetermined breaking lines and the possibility of fastening an elbow.

On the other hand, it is not absolutely necessary to use a front plate of the specified type together with a scanner-compatible article rail. Already a scanner-compatible article rail with groove ensures that scanner-compatible product presentation compartments can be constructed simply and easily in that the rail is fastened along the front edge of a shelf and fastening elements of the compartment separating parts are clamped into the groove on the rail.

A front plate 17 which can be plugged onto a compartment separating part 14 with plate groove 36, with vertical predetermined breaking lines 27.17.2 and webs 37, 38 for clamping an angle piece 39 can also be used together with a conventional compartment separating part, which is not inserted into a rail with one foot, but with a groove in a web is attached to a label rail. Accordingly, in such a case the fornt plate 17 is not provided in the lower region with a thickening which can be inserted into the label rail, but rather with a groove in the lower edge into which the said web engages on the label rail. But it is also possible to design the front panel in the lower area so that it is not connected to the label rail at all, but is only plugged together with the front edge of the compartment separating part. In these cases, too, the decisive advantages of the front plate according to the invention are achieved, namely simple manufacture of front stops on both sides or optionally after only one side of a compartment separating part and simple manufacture of product troughs by inserting angle pieces into clamping areas, as is the case with the pairs of bars in the embodiment shown 37, 38 are given.

Claims (8)

1. Set of components for a goods presentation shelf unit (15.1-15.6), having

   - a shelf divider (14) with a front edge (16) and a foot (32), which has as the lowermost limitation a foot lower edge (33), which extends at right angles to the plane of the divider, and

   - a component (13) with a groove, into which the shelf divider engages with an edge,
   characterised in that

   - the foot adjoins in the lower region of the front edge and extends below the divider lower edge (28),

   - the component with groove is a scannable label rail (13), which has a fastening leg (18), for fastening the rail on the shelf (11) of the presentation shelf unit (15.1 to 15.6), the groove (20) in the fastening leg running in the longitudinal direction of the rail, and

   - the edge of the shelf divider (14), which is provided for engaging in the groove, is the foot lower edge (33).
2. Set of components for a goods presentation shelf unit (15.1-15.6), having

   - a shelf divider (14) with a front edge (16) and a foot (32), which has as the lowermost limitation a foot lower edge (33), which extends at right angles to the plane of the divider, and

   - a component (17) with a groove, into which the shelf divider engages with an edge,
   characterised in that

   - the component with groove is an axially symmetrical front plate (17), in which the groove (36) runs along the axis of symmetry,

   - the edge on the shelf divider (14), which is provided for engaging in the groove, is the front edge (16), for which purpose the groove is adapted in its dimensions to the dimensions of the front edge,

   - the plate lower edge (35) of the front plate (17) is designed with at least one foot, which extends below the divider lower edge (28) of the shelf divider (14),

   - a scannable label rail (13) has a fastening leg (18), with which it can be fastened on the shelf (11), a groove (20) in the fastening leg (18) running in the longitudinal direction of the rail (13), and

   - the lower edge (35) of the foot of the front plate (17) is able to engage in the groove (20) of the label rail (13).
3. Set components according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the front edge (16) of the shelf divider (14) runs essentially at right angles to the lower edge (28) of the shelf divider.
4. Set of components according to Claim 2 or 3, characterised in that on the front plate (17) there is a predetermined breaking line (27.17.2) to both sides of the groove (36).
5. Set of components according to Claim 2 or 3, characterised in that on the front plate (17) there are two pairs of lugs (37, 38), which protrude from the plate on the side of the groove (36), one pair in each case running parallel to respectively one side of the groove.
6. Set of components according to Claims 4 and 5, characterised in that each pair of lugs (37, 38) runs between the groove (36) and a predetermined breaking line (27.17.2).
7. Set of components according to one of Claims 4 or 5, characterised by an angle piece (39), the first leg (40) of which is designed for the engagement between the lugs (37, 38) of one of the pairs of lugs and the second leg (41) of which is arranged with respect to the first leg in such a way that, in the state in which the angle piece and the front plate (17) are fitted together, the second leg runs parallel to the plane of the plate.
8. Set of components according to Claim 7, characterised in that the second leg (41) is essentially of a length corresponding to the distance of a longitudinal edge of the front plate (17) running towards the axis of symmetry from the next pair of lugs (37, 38).

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