US 4,506,790 A · Merchandise support

Abstract

A merchandise support, of the sort often used in supermarkets for displaying and vending merchandise in supermarkets in vertical relationship, may be constructed entirely from cardboard, boxboard, or other sheet material which may be cut and fabricated similar to the procedure used in making a folding box. A base comprises a vertical back panel having opposed side panels folded forward therefrom to create a three-dimensional support. A shelf support, which is ultimately positioned to become part of the base, comprises a three-dimensional box-like vertical shelf support insert which comprises front and rear panels. The front panel is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced normally horizontal slots in which individual shelves are positioned. A bottom panel extends forwardly and is positioned inside the base. Each shelf comprises a flat panel which is cut to form a rear folding flap inserted in a respective slot, and small tabs which are bent out of place and extend downwardly whereby the shelf is held in place. Each shelf rests on the merchandise such as plastic bottles of soft drink, detergent, bleach or the like which is positioned on the shelf below.

Claims29

Dependent claims

In a merchandise support which may be constructed from corrugated material:

a normally vertical shelf support for supporting a plurality of shelves and a plurality of normally horizontal vertically spaced shelf slots on said vertical support, said slots being of a length across the width of said support to accommodate at least part of one end of the shelf inserted therethrough,
a plurality of movable merchandise support shelves for selective assembly on said support in a respective selected slot therein, each of said shelves being movable along a fold line at said slot from a substantially horizontal position upwardly to a raised position to expose merchandise and comprising a shelf bottom, front and rear ends and a movable shelf retaining member on the rear end of the said shelf inserted through said slot to extend behind said support, each shelf being supported by the merchandise, such as bottles, therebelow and the lowermost merchandise being supported on the floor whereby as the merchandise is removed completely from each shelf that shelf may be inclined upwardly and thereby moved to expose the merchandise on the shelf therebelow which merchandise is resting on the merchandise beneath it so that the support for the shelves is by means of the merchandise resting on the floor or ground surface.

In a merchandise support:

a three-dimensional housing comprising a back panel and spaced side panels having an opening therebetween, said housing evolving by folding said side panels from a flat panel,
a shelf support means comprising a front panel and there being a means for supporting said shelf support means in a normally upright position inside said housing,
a plurality of vertically spaced, normally horizontal, shelf slots extending substantially across the width of said front panel for a distance to accommodate the width of a respective shelf,
and a plurality of shelves on said shelf support means, each of said shelves comprising a front edge, side edges and a back edge, each shelf being movable from a normally approximately horizontal load-bearing position resting on top of the merchandise below to an upwardly inclined position exposing the merchandise on the shelf therebelow, whereby the support for each shelf is from the merchandise beneath the shelf which merchandise in turn is supported by the merchandise below on the next successive shelf and so on to the merchandise which is supported on the floor or ground surface, whereby upon removal of the merchandise from the uppermost shelf said shelf may move upwardly to expose the merchandise therebelow and so on until the merchandise is successively removed from each shelf to the merchandise being supported on the floor or ground, and the rear of said shelf being movable along a fold line transversely of said shelf and corresponding to the direction of said slot.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Merchandise support

Life of this patent

Merchandise support

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims29