GB2190904A - Stacking dispenser for manual retrieval of articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A stacking dispenser has structure 2 for maintaining a number of dispensable articles 4 in stacked formation one above another and free to move downwardly, all of the articles in the stack being arranged in a single file, a support 6 for the lower most article of the stack preventing movement of that article out of an opening in the structure unless that lower most article is lifted over a retainer, and a latch 10 positioned on the structure to be abutted, by an article as it moves out through that opening, such that the latch is thereby moved from a rest position, in which it does not hinder downward movement of the stack, to an operative position in which it engages under and supports a higher article of the stack together with any remainder of the stack thereabove. The latch may be a bendable spring as shown, or a hinged member; on contact with its lower end by an article being removed, the "elbow" of the latch supports the third article at 10b. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in stacking dispensers This invention relates to means for dispensing articles one by one from a stack of such articles.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved stacking dispenser which, whilst not restricted to such use, is particularly applicableto the dispensing in shops, supermarkets, sales areas and the like of cans, jars, bottles and the iike of uniform dimensions.

According to the present invention a stacking dispenser comprises: (i) meansformaintaining a pluralityofthedispensable articles stacked one above another and free to move downwardly, the articles being all similarly positioned and in a singlefile; (ii) means for supporting a lowermost article of the stack and for preventing its motion out of an opening in the stack-maintaining means unless that lowermost article is lifted over a retainer;; (iii) latching means positioned to be abutted, by an article in motion out of said opening, and to be thereby moved from a rest position in which it does not hinder downward movement ofthe stackto an operative position in which it engages under and supports a higher article of the stack tog ether with the remainder of the stackthereabove.

With such an arrangement, it is avoided thatthe whole of the stack may tend to stream out ofthe opening when the lowermost article is removed. Once the lowermost article has been wholly removed, the latching means reverts to its rest position and the stack is no longer supported at any point and can move downwardly as a whole, to bring a new article into the lowermost position.

In a preferred arrangement, the latching means is caused to engage between the second and third of the articles ofthe stack, considered from the bottom up. Thus, as the lowermost article is removed, only the second article is free to drop down into the "lowermost" position, and the remainder ofthe stack cannot follow the downward movement until thereby moval has been fully completed.

The latching means and the retainer may, in the rest condition of the latching means, define a gap which is somewhat less than the width of the articles.

The supportforthe lowermost article of the stack, and the retainer, may be combined in a single item, e.g. a member extending at least partially across the path of the lowermost article and having a lip which is at a somewhat higher point so that the lowermost article has to be lifted slightly, from its rest position and against the weight of the stack, to enable itto pass over the retainer lip.

The latching means may comprise an element which has a first portion to be abutted by the article as it moves out of the opening, and another portion which is positioned to move correspondingly across the path ofthe stacked articles so as to support one of the stack. In an advantageous form, the latching means is a two-arm lever, one arm of which is positioned for engagement by the emerging article, and the other arm of which moves in opposite direction across the stack. The said other arm may be a resiliently bendable portion of the element, or may be a pivoted elbow joint.

Preferably, provision is madeforvariance ofthe spacing between the retainer and the latching means, in the rest condition, to accommodate arti clesofdifferentwidths. Preferably also, provision is made for adjustment of the maintaining means to accommodate any differences in width and/or length of the articles to be stacked.

The maintaining means may advantageously be provided with an inspection opening or openings, e.g. in afrontwaíl,to permitinstantappraisal ofthe state of loading of the dispenser. In a convenient construction, the front wall of the maintaining means is slotted along substantially its entire length, and such slotting may be of such width as to permit ready inspection of the nature of the stacked articles by a shop customer.

In order that the nature ofthe invention may be readily ascertained, an embodiment of stacking dis penserconstructed in accordance therewith is hereinafter particularly described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure lisa perspective elevation of the dispenser, viewed from the front and one side; Figure2 is a front elevation of the dispenser; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the dispenser.

The dispenser indicated generally by reference numeral 1 is intended to be stood, or mounted, when in use in a substantially vertical position.

The dispenser 1 comprises an elongated body 2 which defines an elongated channel 3 for the reception and stacking of a plurality of containers4.

The primary field of application of the dispenser is in shop outlets, and the containers4are intendedto be ofsubstantiallythe same size and shape, and to contain for example foodstuffs.

The cross-sectional dimensions of the channel 3 are selected such that a stack of the containers 4can be formed, and that there is clearance for the containers to slide down easily under their own weight.

In the embodiment shown, the body 2 isthinwalled and is shaped to bound the channel 3. Afront wall 2a of the body 2 is cut away, as at 5, to permit easy inspection of the stack of containers 4. Alternatively, by way of example, the cut away area 5 could be one, or several narrower slots, and could be discontinuous, or replaced by one or more holes at suitable levels. The area 5 could advantageously be glass or plastic covered.

The body 2 has an upper opening to permit load ing of containers 4 into the stack in the channeí 3. As shown, the top opening is directly above the stacking channel 3, but could equally well be in the front wall ofthe body 2 or in a side wall.

Atthe íower end ofthe channel 3the body 2 com- prises a retainerS. Essentially the retainer serves to prevent the lowermost container4from simply rol ling out ofthe lower front opening 7 underthe pres- sure of the remainder ofthe stack resting on it. The retainer 6thus has a forward part which is at a slightly higher level than a rearward part, such that the lowermost container 4 has to be lifted slightly "uphill" in orderto release it. In the construction shown,the retainer6 is constituted by two retainer strips spaced laterally of the front opening 7, but it could be a single element. The body 2 is provided with a bottom end wall 8, but this could be omitted if desired, because the stack of containers is supported in practice by the retainer 6.

Above the front opening 7, the body 2 has a transverse support 9 to carry a latching mechanism. In the construction shown, the latching mechanism comprises a flexible, resilient or articulated tongue 10 which is anchored at its upper part to the inside ofthe support 9.

The latching tongue 10 is shaped and dimensioned to extend into the front opening 7 such that, in the restcondition,the minimum gap between the lower end of the tongue 10 and the uppermost portion of the retainer 6 is less than the diameter of the con tainers 4. The tongue 10 abuts against the lower edge ofthe support 9 at point 1 Oa, and has a bend, or a pivot, at point 1 Ob. The bend or pivot 1 orb is disposed at such a position as to tend to engage between the next two succeeding containers 4 ofthe stack, above the lowermost container 4.

The operation ofthe dispenser is asfollows: When a customer pulls outthe lowermost of the containers 4 ofthe stack, by hand, that container rides up and overthe highest point of the retainer 6, andcausesaforward movementofthelowerend portion of latching tongue 10 until the gap is suf ficient to release the container. The forward movement ofthe lower end portion of the latching tongue 10 causes a pivoting movement about point 1 Oa which results in a movement of bend or pivot 10b in a direction across the channel 3 immediately below the container4which is third from the bottom ofthe stack.This action causes the whole of the remainder ofthe superposed stackto be temporarily supported bythe latching tongue 10, whilstthe lowermost container is being withdrawn. When the lowermost of the containers has been wholly removed from the dispenser, the next succeeding container4above it can drop the small available distance into the lowermost position.

As a resultofthis latching action, it is avoided that all ofthe containers 4 ofthe stack can simplyfall downwardly and be forced out of the lowerfront opening 7 in unrestrained manner.

Once the lowermostcontainer4 has been wholly removed, pastthe retainer 6 and the latching tongue 10, the latching tongue is no longer under constraint and can move back to its rest position in which it no longer engages, by its point lob, underthe container which itwas previously supporting. Accordingly, the whole of the remainder ofthe stack can now drop down by "one place", whereafterthedispenseris ready for similar operation at the time of removal by hand of the new lowermost container4ofthe stack.

Such a stacking container has considerable advantages over conventional simple shelving, and in particular in confined spaces such as shops, supermarkets and the like. Thetotal front-to-backdepth of the dispenser needs to be only very little greaterthan the diameter of the containers 4. Similarly, its width need only be very litle greaterthan the axial length of the containers 4. The overall height of the body ofthe dispenser is immaterial, and it is particularly of interest that vertical headroom is usually readily available in shop premises, whereas front-to-back and lat eral spacing may be severely limited because of the number of different items which may have to be pre sented for sale.

The dispenser can have a standard body 2 in which thefront-to-backand lateral dimensions of the channel 3 can easily be adjusted to suit cans or jars of different diameters and different axial lengths. For example, one or both of the side walls of the body 2, and its back wall, could be made slidably adjustable to adjust the dimensions of the channel 3, orsimple spacer bars orwalls could be inserted in the channel 3. The support 9 and/orthe latching tongue 10 could be adjusted vertically, within limits, to suit any change of diameter of the containers stacked in the dispenser.

The dispenser requires no special mounting, and can for example be merely secured firmly on a vertical wall, or island structure used forshop-fitting.

The state of fill ofthe dispenser can be readly ascertained by simple inspection of the stack of containers through the front opening 5, so that a person employed to keep the dispenser(s) filled can take in the information at a glance and does not have to count containers in the manner needed when checking containers simply placed on a shelf.

The dispenser presents all of its containers successively at the same height position, so that the front opening 7 can usefully be placed at a height which is convenientforthe customer to remove a container 4 by hand, without having to bend down or stretch upwardly.

As the containers are automatically aligned in a stack, the dispenser lends itself to automatic stocking by a feeder line extending across the shop space above the dispenser, or even extending downwardly to the dispenserfrom a stockroom above. This permitsthe avoidance of re-stocking bystaffwho may thereby encumber the passageways needed bythe customers.

Claims (14)

1. Astacking dispensercomprising: (i) meansformaintaining a pluralityofdispensable articles stacked one above another and free to move downwardly, the articles being all similarly positioned and in a single file; (ii) meansforsupporting a lowermostarticleof the stack and for preventing its motion out of an opening in the stack-maintaining means unless that lowermost article is lifted over a retainer; (iii) latching means positioned to be abutted, by an article in motion out of said opening, and to be thereby moved from a rest position, in which it does not hinder downward movement ofthe stack, to an operative position in which it engages underhand supports a higher article of the stacktogetherwith any remainder of the stackthereabove.

2. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said latching means is caused to engage between a second article and a third article of the stack, considered from the bottom of the stack upwardly.

3. Astacking dispenser, as claimed in either of claims 1 and 2, wherein the latching means and the retainer, in the rest condition of the latching means, define between them a gap which is somewhat less in width than the width ofthe articles.

4. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the supportforthe lowermost article ofthe stack, and the retainer, are combined in a single item.

5. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in claim 4, wherein the supportforthe lowermost article ofthe stack and the retainertogetherform a member extending at least partially across the path of the lowermost article, said member having a lip which is at a higher point so that the lowermost article has to be lifted, from is rest position and against the weight of the stack, to enable itto pass over the lip.

6. Astacking dispenser, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said latching means comprise a member which has a first portion to be abutted by the article as it moves out ofthe opening, and another portion which is positioned to move correspondingly across the path of the stacked articles so asto support one of the stack.

7. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the latching means is a two-arm lever one arm of which is positioned for engagement by the emerging article and the other arm of which moves in opposite direction across the stack.

8. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in claim 7, wherein said other arm is a resiliently bendable portion ofthe latching member.

9. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in claim 7, wherein said other arm is a pivoted elbow.

10. Astacking dispenser, as claimed inanyoneof claims 1 to 9, wherein spacing between said retainer and said latching means, in the rest condition, isvariable to accommodate articles of different widths.

11. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said maintaining means are adjustable to accommodate differences in width and/or length of articles to be stacked.

12. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in any one of claims 1 to wherein said maintaining means in cludesafrontwallwith anopeningtherein.

13. A stacking dispenser, as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein said maintaining means includes a front wall which is slotted along substantially its entire length, for inspection of the nature of stacked articles.

14. A stacking dispenser substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.