Resiliently biased actuator

An ejector mechanism for ballistically moving a forwardmost associated article away from a stack or column of such articles supported on a generally horizontally oriented surface located in an outer housing, the forwardmost article having a surface supported on the generally horizontally oriented surface, the ejector mechanism comprising:

• an ejector housing:
• a selectively moveable plate held in the housing and mounted to the ejector housing, the plate including a surface adapted for contacting the surface of the forwardmost associated article and moving upwardly relative to the generally horizontally oriented surface for moving the surface of the forwardmost associated article vertically away from the generally horizontally oriented surface;
• a spring mounted to the ejector housing and acting on the plate and adapted to bias the plate vertically in a direction transverse to the generally horizontally oriented surface to an extended position in relation to the generally horizontally oriented surface;
• an actuating member operably connected to the plate and acted on by the spring;
• and,
• an electromechanical or mechanical assembly operably connected to both the actuating member and the plate and adapted to selectively move the plate, against a bias of the spring, to a retracted position in relation to the generally horizontally oriented surface.

An ejector mechanism employed in a merchandising environment for ballistically moving an associated article away from a stack or column of such articles supported on a shelf extending in a generally horizontal direction, the ejector mechanism comprising:

• an ejector housing;
• a plate mounted to the ejector housing and selectively moveable in a vertical direction in relation to a horizontally oriented merchandising shelf, the plate including a surface adapted for contacting a surface of the associated article and moving upwardly relative to the shelf for moving the associated article vertically away from the stack or column of such articles in a direction transverse to the horizontal direction;
• a spring mounted to the ejector housing and acting on the plate and adapted to bias the plate vertically in a direction transverse to the horizontal direction to an extended position in relation to the shelf;
• an actuating member which contacts the spring and is operably connected to the plate;
• and,
• an electromechanical or mechanical assembly operably connected to the actuating member so as to a) allow the spring to bias the plate to its vertically extended position in relation to the shelf, and b) subsequently move the plate, against a bias of the spring, to a vertically retracted position in relation to the shelf so that the plate surface is located adjacent a top surface of the shelf.