Product management display system with trackless pusher mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10568438-B2
Application number	US-201916255216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2019
Priority date	Sep 12, 2005
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

A product management display system for merchandising product on a shelf includes using a trackless pusher mechanism that travels along a surface on which product is placed and one or more dividers for separating product into rows. The one or more dividers may be engaged to a front rail in two different conditions, locked and unlocked. In a locked condition, the relationship between the divider and the front rail resists alteration in any direction with respect to each other. In the unlocked condition, the dividers may be freely slid laterally along the front rail, while remaining perpendicular to the front rail. The one or more dividers may lock to the front rail through the use of corresponding teeth, resilient surfaces, a locking tab, a locking bar and/or a cam that may define a cam glide.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A merchandise display system comprising:
a front rail configured to mount to a shelf; and
a divider having a spring loaded locking tab for locking the divider to the front rail and a front product stop for preventing product from sliding off of the shelf;
wherein the spring loaded locking tab further comprises a handle accessible forward of the front product stop;
wherein the spring loaded locking tab further comprises two or more locking tab teeth and the front rail comprises two or more front rail teeth for interacting with the two or more locking tab teeth to lock the divider to the front rail; and
wherein the spring loaded locking tab is configured to allow the divider to be repositioned along the front rail by pressing the spring loaded locking tab inward toward the front product stop.

2. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the spring loaded locking tab moves between a first locking position and a second unlocking position on a front of the divider.

3. The merchandise display system of claim 2 wherein the spring loaded locking tab moves toward the front product stop when moving from the first locking position to the second unlocking position.

4. The merchandise display system of claim 2 wherein the spring loaded locking tab biases the handle toward the front rail such that the locking tab teeth engages the front rail teeth when released.

5. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the spring loaded locking tab is a resilient plastic spring configured to bias against the front rail.

6. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the handle of the spring loaded locking tab comprises a tongue wherein the tongue is accessible in front of the front product stop to adjust the divider along the front rail.

7. The merchandise display system of claim 6 wherein the tongue extends higher than the front rail.

8. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the locking tab teeth are positioned below the handle of the spring loaded locking tab.

9. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the front rail defines a front rail tongue and the divider defines a channel for receiving the front rail tongue.

10. The merchandise display system of claim 1 further comprising a pusher and the spring loaded locking tab being positioned in front of the pusher both when the divider is loaded with product and when the divider is not loaded with product.

11. The merchandise display system of claim 1 wherein the locking tab teeth extend in a forward direction toward the front rail teeth and the front rail teeth extend in a rearward direction toward the locking tab teeth when the divider is engaged with the front rail.

12. A merchandise display system comprising:
a front rail configured to mount to a shelf; and
a base having a spring loaded locking tab for locking the base to the front rail and a front product stop for preventing product from sliding off of the shelf;
wherein the spring loaded locking tab further comprises a handle accessible in front of the front product stop; and
wherein the spring loaded locking tab biases against the front rail in a first locking position to prevent the base from moving in a lateral direction along the front rail and is movable to a second unlocked position to allow the base to move in a lateral direction along the front rail by pressing the spring loaded locking tab inward toward the front product stop.

13. The merchandise display system of claim 12 wherein the spring loaded locking tab moves toward the front product stop when moving from the first locking position to the second unlocking position.

14. The merchandise display system of claim 12 wherein the spring loaded locking tab includes locking tab teeth that are configured to engage front rail teeth to prevent the base from moving in a lateral direction along the front rail.

15. The merchandise display system of claim 14 wherein the locking tab teeth are positioned below the handle of the spring loaded locking tab.

16. The merchandise display system of claim 14 wherein the locking tab teeth extend in a forward direction toward the front rail teeth and the front rail teeth extend in a rearward direction toward the locking tab teeth.

17. The merchandise display system of claim 12 wherein the spring loaded locking tab is a resilient plastic spring configured to bias against the front rail in the first locking position.

18. The merchandise display system of claim 12 wherein the handle of the spring loaded locking tab comprises a tongue wherein the tongue extends in front of the front product stop for adjusting the base along the front rail.

19. The merchandise display system of claim 18 wherein the tongue extends higher than the front rail.

20. The merchandise display system of claim 12 wherein the front rail defines a front rail tongue and the base defines a channel for receiving the front rail tongue.

21. The merchandise display system of claim 12 further comprising a pusher and the spring loaded locking tab being positioned in front of the pusher both when the base is loaded with product and when the base is not loaded with product.

Assignees

• Rtc Ind Inc

Inventors

• Hardy Stephen N

Classifications

• A47B57/585

  with connection means slidable in a rail · CPC title

• A47F1/125

  with an article-pushing device · CPC title

• A47B57/58

  with means for adjusting partitions horizontally (book-ends A47B65/00) · CPC title

• A47B57/583

  by sliding · CPC title

• A47F1/04

  Racks or} containers with arrangements for dispensing articles {, e.g. by means of gravity or springs · CPC title