Abstract:
A package display pusher assembly has a vacuum thermoformed tray, a vacuum thermoformed pusher arm, constructed independently of the vacuum thermoformed tray and a spring. The spring is coupled to the vacuum thermoformed tray at one end and the vacuum thermoformed pusher arm at it other end, configured to bias the pusher arm towards a point where the spring is coupled to the vacuum thermoformed tray.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/213,350, filed on Sep. 2, 2015, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    This application relates to package displays. More particularly, this application relates molded pushing devices for package displays. 
         [0004]    Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    In the area of product displays there are hundreds of displays for holding small commercial packages on shelves in retail locations. Such displays are common for small commercial packages where the product and package combination itself are not sufficiently sized for individual stacking and organizing on a shelf. Small retail products such as craft items, seed packages, small packaged food items/spice packets etc. . . . are often arranged in a plastic tray, such as an open top walled thermoformed tray that holds the packages for retail sale. 
         [0006]    However, as users take out the first few items from such trays, the products become disheveled and unorganized making them unappealing and, in some cases, less accessible or inaccessible from the front of the shelf. To address this, in the prior art many trays and contraptions have been devised that have an arm that biases the product packages forwards so that as a first item is removed the remainder are pushed forward for better arrangement and access for the next customer. These more advanced displays tend to be more complex and expensive to make. 
         [0007]    For example, some current pusher display arrangements are made from injection molded rigid plastics that require high cost tooling to be produced, long lead times to manufacture, and are otherwise not designed to be recycled or to be environmentally friendly. These items were designed to be used in a permanent display format where the display would be replenished during its multi-year life cycle. Currently, some displays that only intended for temporary use are using such pusher trays even with their high cost per unit, inefficiencies in handling and storage, and potential breakage due to the brittleness of the material. 
       SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION 
       [0008]    The object of the present invention is to provide a low cost flat pusher assembly made from thermoformed plastic that is easily made and shipped and can be inserted into all manners of correspondingly sized walled tray assemblies. 
         [0009]    The present pusher arrangement is manufactured using the vacuum forming method. This allows for the use of thin gauge sheets of plastic to form a hollow three dimensional parts from recycled plastics such as PET (Polyethylene terephthalate). The use of the vacuum forming process gives the diversity to develop the present pusher tray arrangement with minimal tooling costs, very little size restraints and the ability to be recycled in current municipal systems. This wide diversity allows for a much broader use of pusher trays in general. 
         [0010]    To this end the present arrangement provides a package display pusher assembly having a vacuum thermoformed tray, a vacuum thermoformed pusher arm, constructed independently of the vacuum thermoformed tray and a spring. The spring is coupled to the vacuum thermoformed tray at one end and the vacuum thermoformed pusher arm at it other end, configured to bias the pusher arm towards a point where the spring is coupled to the vacuum thermoformed tray. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  illustrates a pusher assembly tray in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  illustrates a pusher arm in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in accordance with another embodiment; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  illustrates several assembled pusher assemblies in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in accordance with another embodiment; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly in accordance with another embodiment; 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  illustrates another view of the pusher assembly of  FIG. 7  in accordance with another embodiment; 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly within a package display, in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray, in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray, in accordance with another embodiment; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  illustrates an assembled pusher assembly and tray, in accordance with another embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0024]    As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a pusher tray  10  is provided. Pusher tray  10  can be made from any vacuum formable polymer, such as PET, or other suitable material. Due to the softer nature of vacuum forming materials, tray  10  is constructed so that it can bend without breaking. Moreover, the hollow design of tray  10  acts as a buffer during shipping (e.g. when trays  10  are stacked) to reduce product breakage. For example, the hollow vacuum forming manufacturing process used for tray  10  makes it possible for the various parts to an assembled pusher assembly (described below) to nest one inside of the other. This makes it possible to package two to three times the number of pusher assembly components within the same container unlike injection molded pusher displays that do not nest. 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , tray  10  has guide grooves  12  and a spring/rubber-band lock  14  located at the front end of tray  10  in central cavity  16 .  FIG. 2  shows a pusher arm  20  with guide lugs  22  that fit into guide grooves  12 . As Shown in  FIG. 3  tray  10  and pusher arm  20  are arranged together to form a pusher arrangement  40  by connecting a rubber band  30  to band lock  14  as well as pusher arm  20  resulting in the fully formed pusher arrangement  40  with a forward biasing arm  20 . 
         [0026]    In another embodiment,  FIG. 4  shows the pusher arrangement  40  that uses a coiled/uncoiled metal spring arm  32  in place of rubber band  30 .  FIG. 5  shows a plurality of the assembled pusher arrangements  40  side by side.  FIG. 6  shows an alternative arrangement for pusher assembly  40  that is essentially the same as  FIG. 4  except that tray  10  also has vacuum thermoformed walls  18  for helping to maintain commercial products in the correct alignment as pusher arm  20  pushes the items forward (via boas spring  32 ). 
         [0027]      FIGS. 7 and 8  show an alternative arrangement for assembly  140 . Here Tray  110  has the same guide grooves  112  and spring/rubber-band lock  114  located at the front end of tray  110  in central cavity  116 . As in  FIG. 4 , assembly  140  has a spring  132 . In this embodiment spring  132  has a cut locking notch  133  (“T” cut punch in metal spring) that connects with spring lock  114  (“V” cut) and pusher arm  120 , rather than being a hollow body is simply a flat arm insert  120  with support flange  124  (see  FIG. 8 ). Such an arrangement can also be used with a tray having side walls (e.g.  FIG. 6 ) 
         [0028]      FIG. 9  shows another embodiment with pusher assembly  40 / 140  inserted into a display carton with commercial products therein, illustrating a typical use.  FIGS. 10, 11 and 12  are essentially the same as the arrangement shown in  FIG. 6 , where tray  10 / 110  has side walls  18  (or  118  if such version of assembly  140  is used). However, in these embodiments, side walls  18 / 118  and trays  10 / 110  are connected into a joint assembly  50 / 150  (rather than individual assemblies  140 ). 
         [0029]    All of the above described embodiments offer a product package pusher assembly  40 / 140  that can be durably constructed from vacuum thermoformed constituent parts (tray  10 / 110  and pusher arm  20 / 120 ). As noted above, the benefit of vacuum forming the components is that unlike rigid injection molded parts, when assembled the injection molded parts must be engineered to allow clearance tolerances when assembling. The vacuum formed parts can be designed with interference due to the part&#39;s ability to flex and deform to temporarily accommodate mechanical interference. 
         [0030]    Such an innovative design for pusher assemblies can impact the retail market by integrating a pusher assembly ( 40 / 140 ) with the shipping carton and allows the product to go directly to the store shelves without manually restocking every package. Once one end of the carton is opened the entire carton of product can be placed onto the shelf and automatically dispensed as customers remove the lead product. Pusher assembly  40 / 140  then can advances the next product into the forward position that was just vacated. 
         [0031]    In this manner ordinary walled product package displays can be easily provided with an insertable biased pusher arm (part  20 / 120  of assembly  40 / 140 ) that allow products to be inserted on top of tray insert  10 / 110  between either the front of tray  10 / 110  (i.e. possibly tray wall  18 / 118 ) or a front of a product carton such as shown in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0032]    It is noted that both thermoformed pieces of pusher arm  20 / 120  and tray  10 / 110  can be stamped and thermoformed from a single sheet of plastic making the device inexpensive to manufacture. Moreover, the designs for both base  10 / 110  and pusher arm  20 / 120  are stackable for easy and inexpensive shipping and only require a basic rubber band for completion. 
         [0033]    While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore, to be understood that this application is intended to cover all such modifications and changes that fall within the true spirit of the invention.