WO2007128393A1

WO2007128393A1 - Pallet-mounted display unit

Info

Publication number: WO2007128393A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/003476
Authority: WO
Inventors: Polidori Paolo
Original assignee: Cida S.P.A.
Priority date: 2006-04-28
Filing date: 2007-04-20
Publication date: 2007-11-15

Abstract

The invention concerns a product display unit, in particular for food products, mounted on a pallet and further comprising a device for the distribution of containers useful for the user's drawing of these products.

Description

PALLET-MOUNTED DISPLAY UNIT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention concerns a structure suitable for displaying products in commercial premises, shops, and sales outlets of consumer products in general, commonly known as a "display unit".

BACKGROUND ART

The display units are normally composed of a structure fitted with numerous shelves capable of being shifted and placed at will, and of containers and similar accessories on or in which various types of products may be rested or inserted.

As is known, shops, service stations, supermarkets and hyper-markets often utilize mobile display units that are positioned inside or outside the sales outlets during the opening hours to the public and are frequently to be moved. Where such displaying structures are placed inside the sales outlet, it is in fact useful that such structures be easily shifted, so as to simplify a rearrangement of the exhibition spaces, while if the display unit is set up outside the sales outlet, it is intuitively grasped that the display unit itself must be recovered at the end of the day. Moreover, any operations of re-arranging the products set up on the display unit can be more comfortably performed next to the storeroom holding the products, a chance of easily moving the display unit can therefore prove to be extremely useful. The display units can also be equipped by the companies producing or distributing the products themselves, and these display units also provide panels for the display of advertising slogans or trademarks. The distributors' transport from the companies to the sales outlets and internally to the same is an operation involving considerable time and money. The possibility of simplifying the display units' transport operations translates to a savings of time and thus a lesser cost.

The display units in question are also of considerable weight, even if not filled with products. Making the display units easily movable may allow transporting the display unit without a need for removing the products from the display unit itself. Display units for distributing packaged and/or loose food product are in widespread use. Compared to other types of products, food products, especially in loose form such as sweets, sugar drops and the like require particular containers, and the display units in this case also fulfill a distributing function for such products. For the drawing of these products, the user may also need one-way containers, generally plastic or paper cups.

For the purposes of making such containers available to the user, the display units of the already known type provide appropriate structures that are generally positioned near the display unit. These structures offer the possibility of extracting one container at a time, for instance a cup, and may offer a further chance of distributing closing caps for said containers. It therefore proves rather evident that the transportability of said display units is further affected by the need of shifting said container distributor about, either separately or in connection with the display unit itself. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is therefore to supply a display unit capable of combining the capacity of displaying a large amount and variety of products with a great facility of transport. Moreover, another aim of this invention is to furnish a display unit capable of providing a highly practical and functional usage for the user as well as for the operator.

Within this aim, object of this invention is to furnish an display unit suitable for being easily transported by the operator, and comprising a series of shelves suitable for supporting the accessories needed for distributing the products. A further object of this invention is to furnish, in a single structure, both a product display unit and a container distributor suitable for the user's drawing of the products from the distributor. This object as well as these and other aims, that will become more clearly evident from the following description of a preferred yet not exclusive embodiment of the display unit according to this invention, are achieved by a structure for displaying and distributing the products, in particular packaged and/or loose food products, comprising a base, a structure including one or more uprights and accessories for displaying the products, characterized by the fact that said base comprises a pallet wherein one or more uprights are attached to the pallet.

In particular, the present invention thus envisions setting up a displaying structure on a pallet which may preferably be of a size observing the standards of the country the display units are commercially used in, so that the entire displaying structure can be easily transported by exploiting the means commonly used for the moving of loads, such as for instance trans- pallets or forklifts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become evident from the following detailed description, provided for exemplifying and non-limiting purposes and illustrated in the enclosed figures, where: Figure 1 shows a prospective view of the display unit mounted on a pallet according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows a prospective view of the display unit mounted on a pallet according to the present invention, according to a second form of embodiment including further accessories;

Figure 3 shows the same prospective view of Figure 2, where the display unit lacks some of the means supporting the accessories; Figure 4 shows a detail of the base of the display unit according to the invention;

Figure 5 finally shows an example of display unit according to this invention, including the various accessories and containers for the products.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

According to a preferred embodiment exemplified in the figures, the same concerns a display unit 1 comprising a base generally indicated by the reference number 2. This base is constituted of a pallet 2a of a conventional type, preferable made of wood, of plastic or of any other material suitable for the purpose, and preferably having dimensions observing the selling market standard of the displaying structure.

For instance, the standard pallet size for the European market is 80 x 120 cm. The advantage of utilizing a pallet size that observes the selling market standard of the displaying structure is that of being able to move the structure itself by employing the trans-pallets or forklifts commonly used for transport or inside the sales outlets, without having to set up special moving systems or means, or without having to set up systems capable of adapting non- standard pallets to the means of transport commonly employed in the selling market. Because for instance the US-standard differs from the European standard, the term "standard" is in this case intended as a measure variable from country to country, or from case to case in line with the reference rules applied in each of these countries. With reference to the Figures 2 and 4, the base 2 also comprises a pallet covering and protective profile and a further protective cover plate 2f. These elements forming the cover of the pallet have both a function of protecting the cover itself from external influences and a safety function designed to avoid a potentially hazardous contact of people with the generally rough pallet wood, as well as an aesthetic function designed to hide the unaesthetic pallet in a structure more pleasing and in harmony with the general appearance of the display unit.

In particular, the covering profile can be realized by assembling a number of gibs 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e. In this manner, the access to the pallet can be facilitated simply by removing the front panel 2b or the rear panel 2d, so as to allow the trans-pallet or forklift to access the pallet 2a. Two uprights 3 and 4, which are connected to the pallet by the connecting means 3a and 4a, respectively, may present a number of holes for connecting the accessories 7, 8, 9, 11 , which are capable of supporting and displaying the products and the eventual containers of said products, whether loose or packages, at various heights.

In particular, the displaying structure 1 according to this invention comprises a series of accessories useful for supporting for example the containers 12 and 13 which are of an already known type and suitable in particular for containing loose or packaged food products. Such accessories may comprise supports 8 including projecting appendices 9 suitable for supporting the food product container 12 and many other accessories. Panels for displaying inscriptions or advertising pictures may also be provided. In particular, as already mentioned, the display unit according to this invention incorporates a distributor 5 of containers 5a. This distributor 5 of containers, which is suitable for connecting to the uprights 3 and 4, presents a box-like structure suitable for containing the containers 5a, for instance glasses. These glasses must allow them to be extracted from the container distributor 5 one at a time; the latter is therefore fitted with devices for a controlled release of the glasses 6.

Such means 6a, 6b, 6c for the controlled release of the glasses are of an already known type, and allow both inserting the glasses inside the box-like body of the distributor 5 as well as their extraction from the container by the user, one at a time. According to the form of embodiment shown in the figures, a rack 7 is placed above the box-like structure 5 of the container distributor, which is suitable for holding the containers of an already known type 13 in a removable manner, as seen in Figure 4.

These containers 13 allow the food products contained in them to exit from the opening 13b upon acting on the lever 13a. The user can therefore place the glass container 5a on the shelf 11 and fill them by acting on the lever 13a. The display unit 1 according to this invention may also advantageously comprise a dispenser for the closing caps of the glass containers 5a. It is in particular possible, as can be seen in Figure 4, to provide dispensers 14 and 15 for closing caps of various sizes. The container distributor 5 may advantageously be suitable for distributing glass container of various sizes in order to satisfy the users' requirements.

It has thus been shown how the product display unit according to this invention allows securing the sought-after advantages and a comfortable usage.

It has in particular been shown that the display unit according to this invention allows loading the products from two sides and that, thanks to the pallet, it can be easily shifted, even under a full product load, by a common forklift or trans-pallet, as commonly employed inside sales outlets for the moving of goods. The shelves and accessory structures may be positioned at various heights. It has also been shown that according to one embodiment of the present invention, the latter incorporates in a single structure both a complex displaying structure capable of being fitted with various accessories depending on the requirements, as well as a distributor of containers, in this example of glasses of various sizes, which are useful to the user for drawing the products if these are loose food products. The fact of combining in a single pallet-mounted structure both a product display unit and a container distributor for drawing these products allows obtaining a single structure capable of being moved about in an extremely simple manner, by using a trans-pallet or a forklift, thus enormously simplifying both the operations of transporting the display unit from the factory to the site of usage inside the sales outlet as well as of moving the distributor itself inside the sales outlet, depending on the requirements. Another advantage achieved by the display unit according to this invention consists in turning a type of display unit of generally considerable size and weight into an easily transportable device. The structure illustrated here allows connecting a huge variety of accessories with the supporting structure of the uprights, and therefore creating even highly complex display units, while maintaining the double advantage of being easily transportable and incorporating a container distributor.

The expert in the branch can apply numerous modifications, without thereby leaving the range of protection of the present invention. The scope of protection of the claims must therefore not be limited by illustrations or by the preferred embodiments shown in the description given as an example, but said claims must rather embrace all the patentable characteristics of a novelty deducible from the present invention, including all the characteristics that would be considered equivalent by a specialist in the branch.

Claims

1. A structure (1) for displaying and distributing products, in particular of packaged and/or loose food products, comprising a base (2), a structure including one or more uprights (3, 4) and accessories (8, 9, 10, 11) for displaying the products, characterized in that said base (2) comprises a pallet (2a), where said one or more uprights (3, 4) are connected to said pallet.

2. A structure (1) for displaying and distributing products as in the previous claim, characterized in that said plurality of accessories (8, 9, 10, 11) can be shifted in height by using temporary connecting means attached to said one or more uprights (3, 4).

3. A structure (1) for displaying and distributing products as in the previous claim, characterized in that said structure also comprises a panel (10) for displaying advertising inscriptions.

4. A structure (1) for displaying and distributing products according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that it comprises a distributor (5) of containers (5a), where said distributor (5) is incorporated in the structure (1) so as to be jointly movable with the same.

5. A displaying structure (1) according to the previous claim, characterized in that said distributor (5) comprises at least one box-like body suitable for receiving said containers (5a) and equipped with means (6) for a controlled release of said containers (5a).

6. A displaying structure (1) according to the previous claim, characterized in that said distributor (5) is capable of containing and distributing containers (5a) of various sizes.

7. A displaying structure (1) according to the previous claim, characterized in that said containers (5a) are glasses.

8. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said base (2) comprises said pallet (2a) and is also fitted with a pallet covering profile (2b, 2c, 2d, 2e).

9. A displaying structure (1) according to the previous claim, characterized inthat said pallet covering profile comprises several gibs (2b, 2c, 2d, 2e) assembled on said pallet (2a) in a removable manner, so as to be disassembled to allow inserting a trans-pallet or a forklift into said pallet (2a).

10. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that it comprises an additional covering plate (2f) for said pallet (2a).

11. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the claims 5 or 6, characterized in that said pallet covering profile (2b, 2c, 2d, 2e) is made of a plastic material.

12. A displaying structure (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that said covering plate (2f) of said pallet (2a) is made of a plastic material.

13. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said plurality of accessories comprises supports (8) equipped with projecting appendices (9) suitable for supporting box-like containers (12) for said food products.

14. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said plurality of accessories comprises a rack (7) suitable for containing the containers (13) in a removable manner

15. A displaying structure (1) according to the claim 10 or 11 , characterized in that containers (12, 13) are of a type suitable for containing food products of a loose or packaged type.

16. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that it further comprises dispensers (14, 15) for closing caps of said containers (5a).

17. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized by the fact that said pallet (2a) has standard dimensions.

18. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said pallet (2a) is made of wood.

19. A displaying structure (1) according to any of the claims from 1 to 17, characterized in that said pallet (2a) is made of plastic.