Air-conditioned display case having a walk-in supply room therein

Air-conditioned display case has two separate inside rooms divided by a partition having a plurality of partition members which can be individually opened. One of the two rooms is a display room with a front access opening situated on the front side of the partition for displaying the merchandise therein. Display shelves for displaying merchandise thereon are disposed in the display room extending frontwardly from the partition. The other room is a walk-in supply room situated on the rear side of the partition. Supply shelves are disposed in the supply room extending rearwardly from the partition. The supply room also has a closeable entrance and preliminary storage shelves so that the merchandise can be brought into the supply room by a work personnel through the entrance and can be preliminarily stored therein. The merchandise can further be placed on the supply shelves and, subsequently, slidingly moved onto the display shelves past the partition. The absent states of the merchandise on the display shelves can be detected and, if absent, the merchandise on the corresponding supply shelves can be moved to the display shelves automatically. The display case also includes air passageways having a heat exchanger and air driving fans so as to form aircurtains across the front access opening.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention pertains to an air-conditioned display case for keeping and 
displaying merchandise, namely, perishable foods or the like items, and it 
relates more particularly to facilitating the supply of the merchandise to 
the display case. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
FIG. 13 shows a conventional refrigerated display case as an example of 
conventional air-conditioned display cases. A display case 1 has an 
housing 2 and a separator panel 14 which is disposed inside the housing 2. 
The housing 2 has an access opening 9 on its front side. A duct 20 is 
disposed inside the separator panel 14 and the space further inside is a 
display room 5. Display shelves 4 are disposed in the display room 5 for 
displaying merchandise 11 thereon. There are an inside air passageway 8A 
in the duct 20 and an outside air passageway 8B between the housing 2 and 
the separator panel 14. An evaporator 6 is disposed in a rear section 
inside the air passageway 8A so that the air passing through the 
evaporator 6 is refrigerated thereby. A fan 7D and a fan 7E are disposed 
in the inside and the outside air passageways 8A, 8B, respectively, so as 
to drive and circulate the air through the respective air passageways and 
form inside and outside aircurtains 10A, 10B, respectively, across the 
access opening 9, in the directions shown by the arrows. The temperature 
of the outside aircurtain 10B is normally between those of the inside 
aircurtain 10A and the ambient air. The aircurtains 10A, 10B are effective 
in substantially isolating the refrigerated air in the display room 5 from 
the ambient air and, therefore, keeping the merchandise 11 on the display 
shelves 4 under a refrigerated state. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,027, for example, discloses a conventional refrigerated 
display case of this type. 
With such a conventional air-conditioned display case as described above, 
however, the merchandise to be displayed must be supplied always through 
the front access opening. In that case, a work personnel must convey a 
supply of merchandise, normally on a cart, to the front of the display 
case. Therefore, when the store is crowded with shopping customers, moving 
the cart through the customers or occupying the area in front of the 
display case by the cart and the work personnel is not only a nuisance to 
the shopping customers but also an inconvenience to the work personnel 
himself. Furthermore, in case of a conventional display case, the work 
personnel has to make a trip to the display case in order to convey a new 
supply of merchandise every time when any of the display shelves are to be 
replenished with the merchandise. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the above described situation, an object of the present 
invention is to provide an air-conditioned display case to which the 
merchandise can be supplied without interfering with the shopping 
customers. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an air-conditioned 
display case to which the merchandise can be supplied easily, efficiently 
and without interruption of the supplies. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide an air-conditioned 
display case with which the work personnel may minimize the frequency of 
his trips in conveying new supplies of merchandise to the display case. 
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an 
air-conditioned display case with which the items placed in its display 
room at an earlier time sell first. 
The air-conditioned display case according to the present invention has an 
housing, having a front access opening, and a separator panel disposed in 
the housing substantially evenly spaced therefrom. The display case has an 
outside air passageway between the housing and the separator panel and an 
inside air passageway inside the separator panel. The outside and inside 
air passageways have respective air outlets at the top edge of the access 
opening and respective air inlets at the bottom edge of the access 
opening. Fans are provided in the outside and the inside air passageways 
in order to create forced airflows through the air passageways, thereby 
forming air curtains, i.e. panels of air flows, across the front access 
opening. A heat exchanger is disposed in the inside air passageway so as 
to regulate the temperature of the air passing therethrough and 
consequently cool down or warm up the interior of the display case. 
In order to achieve the above mentioned objects, the inside space of the 
display case is divided into two separate rooms by a substantially 
vertical partition having a plurality of partition members, which can be 
opened individually. One of the two divided rooms is a display room 
situated on the front side of the partition and the other room is a 
walk-in supply room situated on the rear side of the partition through 
which supplies of the merchandise can be provided into the display room. 
Display shelves for displaying merchandise thereon, spaced vertically and 
extending from the partition frontwardly, are disposed in the display 
room. Supply shelves, laterally aligned, vertically spaced, extending 
rearwardly from the partition, are disposed in the supply room. The supply 
shelves are for placing additional supplies of the merchandise thereon 
before the merchandise is moved onto the display shelves past the 
partition. The supply room has preliminary storage shelves for 
preliminarily storing the merchandise thereon before it is transferred 
onto the display shelves via the supply shelves. The supply room has a 
closeable entrance and can accommodate a work personnel in charge of the 
supply of the merchandise so that the personnel can enter the room through 
the entrance and work therein in order to supply merchandise onto the 
display shelves from the rear side of the display room without hindering 
any shopping customers that may be present in the front of the display 
case. The absent states of the merchandise on the display shelves can be 
detected and the merchandise can be automatically supplied to any empty or 
underloaded display shelves from the supply shelves.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in 
detail in reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. In all of the figures, including 
FIG. 13 which shows a conventional display case, like reference characters 
denote like constituent elements. 
FIG. 1 shows a refrigerated display case as the first embodiment of the 
air-conditioned display case according to the present invention. A 
refrigerated display case 1 has a housing 2 and a separator panel 14. The 
separator panel 14 is disposed inside the housing 2 substantially evenly 
spaced therefrom. The display case 1 has an access opening 9 on its front 
side. A partition 3 is disposed substantially vertically inside the 
housing 2 so as to divide the inside space of the display case 1 into two 
separate rooms. One room on the front side (the side of the access opening 
9) of the partition 3 is a display room 5 having the access opening 9 on 
the front side thereof. The other room on the rear side of the partition 3 
is a supply room 13. The partition 3 includes a support frame 24, which 
are fixed to a bottom part 2A of the housing 2, and partition members 3A 
pivotally mounted on the support frame 24. 
The display case 1 has an inside air passageway 8A located inside the 
separator panel 14 and an outside air passageway 8B between the housing 2 
and the separator panel 14. In other words, the inside air passageway 8A 
is situated on the opposite side of the outside air passageway 8B with 
respect to the separator panel 14 so that the inside and the outside 
passageways 8A and 8B are isolated from each other by the separator panel 
14. At the top section and the bottom section inside the separator panel 
14, the inside air passageway 8A is enclosed by a top duct 20T and a 
bottom duct 20B, respectively. In the rear section inside the separator 
panel 14 and between the top duct 20T and the bottom duct 20B, the inside 
air passageway 8A is not enclosed and the supply room 13 serves as a part 
of the inside air passageway 8A. The outside air passageway 8B is the 
space between, and defined by, the housing 2 and the separator panel 14 
and, therefore, is isolated from both the display room 5 and the supply 
room 13. An evaporator 6 is disposed in the top duct 20T as a heat 
exchanger. Fans 7A and 7B are disposed within the top duct 20T and the 
bottom duct 20B, respectively, of the inside air passageway 8A. Air inlet 
ports 15A and 15B are disposed on a lower edge 15 of the access opening 9 
and serve as the air inlets to the inside air passageway 8A and the 
outside air passageway 8B, respectively. Air outlet ports 16A and 16B are 
disposed on an upper edge 16 of the access opening 9 and serve as air 
exits from the inside air passageway 8A and the outside air passageway 8B, 
respectively. A fan 7C is disposed in the outside air passageway 8B in the 
proximity of the air inlet port 15B. The fans 7A and 7B cause a forced air 
flow which circulates through the inside air passageway 8A (namely, 
through the air inlet port 15A, the bottom duct 20B, the supply room 13, 
the top duct 20T, the evaporator 6, the air outlet port 16A) and the 
access opening 9, as shown by arrows in FIG. 1. The fan 7C causes another 
forced air flow which circulates through the outside air passageway 8B 
(namely, through the air inlet port 15B, the outside air passageway 8B and 
the air outlet port 16B) and the access opening 9, as shown by arrows in 
FIG. 1. Being refrigerated by the evaporator 6, the air circulating 
through the inside air passageway 8A forms a panel of refrigerated air, 
i.e. a refrigerated inside aircurtain 10A, across the air outlet 16A and 
the air inlet 15A. The air circulating through the outside air passageway 
8B forms an outside aircurtain 10B across the air outlet 16B and the air 
inlet 15B. The temperature of the outside aircurtain 10B is normally 
between those of the refrigerated inside aircurtain 10A and the ambient 
air. The aircurtains 10A, 10B effectively keep the refrigerated air inside 
the display room 5 and the supply room 13 from escaping to the outside 
through the access opening 9. 
Still referring to FIG. 1, numeral 18 denotes an entry door which is 
disposed on one side of the supply room 13, i.e. in a sidewall (not shown) 
of the housing 2. The door 18 allows a work personnel 17 to enter the 
supply room 13 directly from the side of the display case 1. Preliminary 
storage shelves 19 are disposed in the supply room 13 for preliminarily 
keeping the merchandise thereon. 
In the supply room 13, supply shelves 4A extend rearwardly from the 
partition 3 in a laterally aligned and vertically spaced arrangement. In 
the display room 5, display shelves 4B extend frontwardly from the 
partition 3 in also a vertically spaced arrangement at the respective 
levels of the supply shelves 4A. In other words, each of the supply 
shelves 4A is at the level of a corresponding display shelf at which the 
supply shelf and the display shelf are in alignment. Both the supply 
shelves 4A and the display shelves 4B are mounted on brackets 12 which are 
fixedly mounted on the support frame 24. The supply shelves 4A and the 
respective display shelves 4B are vertically in alignment and slightly 
descending toward the front of the display case 1. There are no 
obstructions between the supply shelves 4A and the respective display 
shelves 4B so that any merchandise 11 placed on the supply shelves 4A can 
be slid and moved to the respective display shelves 4B by being pushed 
frontwardly past the partition 3. The display shelves 4B at an even level 
may be integrated to form a wide display shelf laterally (as viewed from 
the front of the display case) extending across the sides of the housing 2 
(as partly shown in phantom lines in to FIG. 7). 
Each of the partition members 3A corresponds to one of the supply shelves 
4A. The partition members 3A are pivotally mounted in the top edges 
thereof on the vertical support frame 24 so that they can be pivotally 
opened by being pushed frontwardly, as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1. 
There are merchandise passing clearances 3B below the bottom edges of the 
partition members 3A so that items of the merchandise 11 having normal 
heights can pass through the clearances 3B without opening the respective 
partition members 3A. However, a design of the partition members 3A may be 
made so as not to leave the clearances 3B (as shown in phantom lines in 
FIG. 7). In such case, although the supply room 13 can be normally kept 
unseen from the shopping customers, the partition members 3A have to be 
pushed open as the merchandise is moved from the supply shelves 4A to the 
display shelves 4B. 
Next, the function of the refrigerated display case 1 according to the 
first embodiment of the invention will be described in reference to FIG. 
1. 
The work personnel 17 conveys a supply of merchandise, namely, perishable 
foods or the like items, to the side of the display case 1 by using a cart 
or other conveying means. The personnel will then open the entry door 18 
and bring the merchandise into the supply room 13. If and when any of the 
display shelves 4B need to be replenished with the merchandise, the work 
personnel 17 will fill the display shelves 4B with the merchandise by 
first placing the merchandise on the respective supply shelves 4A and 
pushing and slidingly moving the merchandise 11 forward (frontwardly) to 
the display shelves 4B. Although the merchandise 11 can normally be pushed 
forward from the supply shelves 4A to the display shelves 4B through the 
merchandise passing clearances 3B without opening the corresponding 
partition members 3A, the work personnel 17 in the supply room 13 may push 
and open the partition members 3A in order to inspect the condition of the 
merchandise on the display shelves 3B or in order to reach the merchandise 
thereon so as to rearrange the merchandise in order. The frontwardly 
descending arrangement of the supply and the display shelves 4A, 4B, as 
shown in FIG. 1, facilitates the frontward movements of the merchandise on 
the shelves by the work personnel 17 because of the gravitational effect. 
However, either of the supply shelves 4A or display shelves 4B, or both, 
may alternatively be positioned horizontally. Still alternatively, either 
or both of the shelves may employ conveyor rollers thereon so as to 
eliminate the sliding friction of the merchandise, thereby further 
facilitating the frontward movements of the merchandise thereon. 
Any items of the merchandise 11 which have been brought into the display 
case 1 by the work personnel 17 but have not been placed on the supply 
shelves 4A or display shelves 4B can be placed on the preliminary storage 
shelves 19 and kept thereon until it is transferred onto the supply 
shelves 4A later. Therefore, the work personnel can bring into the display 
case 1 a large quantity of merchandise at a time and minimize the 
frequency of his trips to the display case 1. Furthermore, since the 
supply room 13 is a part of the inside air passageway 8A the air driven by 
the fans 7A and 7B and refrigerated by the evaporator 6 circulates through 
the inside air passageway 8A, including the supply room 13, as shown by 
the arrows in FIG. 1. Consequently, the merchandise 11 placed on the 
preliminary storage shelves 19 in the supply room 13 is preliminarily 
refrigerated by the refrigerated air circulating through the inside air 
passageway 8A. Therefore, the merchandise 11 will be readily refrigerated 
and suitable for being taken by the shopping customers immediately after 
it has been transferred from the preliminary storage shelves 19 onto the 
display shelves 4B via the supply shelves 4A. 
A closeable entrance of any suitable design, such as an entrance with a 
shutter, may be substituted for the entry door 18. 
FIG. 2 is a side elevational sectional view of the second embodiment of the 
refrigerated display case according to the present invention. Since the 
second embodiment is a partial improvement of the first embodiment, the 
description will be made only on the improved parts. The substance of the 
improvement is an addition of a rear duct for the inside air passageway 8A 
in the supply room 13 shown in FIG. 1. 
In reference to FIG. 2, a rear duct 20R is disposed inside the separator 
panel 14 in the proximity of the rear section thereof and substantially 
evenly spaced therefrom. The rear duct 20R is connected to the top duct 
20T and the bottom duct 20B at the respective ends thereof so that the top 
duct 20T, rear duct 20R and the bottom duct 20B constitute an integral and 
continuous duct 20. The interiors of the ducts 20T, 20B and 20R are 
communicated with one another and form an inside air passageway 8A' for 
the second embodiment. As opposed to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, 
the supply room 13 in the second embodiment is isolated from the inside 
air passageway 8A'. Therefore, the work personnel 17 in the supply room 13 
will not be directly subjected to the flow of the refrigerated air and 
will be able to work under a less unpleasant condition. Other parts, their 
reference characters and their functions of the display case 1 of the 
second embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are identical to those of the display 
case 1 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1. 
FIG. 3 is a side elevational sectional view of the third embodiment of the 
refrigerated display case according to the present invention. Since the 
third embodiment is also a partial improvement of the first embodiment, 
the description will be made only on the parts improved from the first 
embodiment. A plurality of preliminary storage shelves 19A are disposed in 
the rear section of the supply room 13 in a vertically spaced arrangement 
and horizontally extended to the proximity of the door 18. Therefore, the 
work personnel 17 can inspect the condition of any merchandise stored on 
the preliminary storage shelves 19A by simply opening the door 18 from 
outside the display case 1 without entering the supply room 13. The work 
personnel 17 can place new supplies of merchandise onto the preliminary 
storage shelves 19A even from outside the door 18. Thus, the work for 
supplying merchandise into the display case 1 is substantially 
facilitated. Other parts, their reference characters and their functions 
of the display case 1 of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 3 are 
identical to those of the display case 1 of the first embodiment shown in 
FIG. 1. 
Now, the forth embodiment of the refrigerated display case according to the 
present invention will be described in reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. 
Since the fourth embodiment is still a partial improvement of the first 
embodiment, the description will be made only on the parts improved from 
the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4, a plurality of conveyor shelves 
21 are disposed in the rear section of the supply room 13 in a vertically 
spaced arrangement. 
FIG. 5 is a side view showing a detail structure of each of the conveyor 
shelves 21 used in the refrigerated display case 1 shown in FIG. 4. Each 
of the conveyor shelves 21 has a frame 21A and a plurality of rollers 21B 
rotatably mounted on the frame 21A in a flat arrangement. Each of the 
conveyor shelves 21 also has a stopper 21C on and along one end thereof. 
Each of the conveyor shelves 21 is disposed so that the end thereof having 
the stopper 21C is placed lower than the other end and that lower end 
comes close to the door 18. In other words, the conveyer shelves 21 are 
sloped downwardly toward the door 18. Therefore, the work personnel can 
see at a glance and inspect any merchandise placed on the conveyor shelves 
21 from outside the display case 1 by simply opening the door 18 without 
entering the supply room 13. Since the merchandise placed on each of the 
conveyor shelves 21 by the work personnel is by itself conveyed on the 
sloped conveyor shelf 21 downwardly by the gravitational effect until it 
is stopped by the stopper 21C, the work personnel will be greatly helped 
in loading the shelves 21 with the merchandise. Furthermore, when the 
merchandise is removed from the conveyor shelves 21 so as to be 
transferred onto the supply shelves 4A, any merchandise remaining on the 
sloped conveyor shelves 21 gravitationally moves toward the lower ends 
having the stoppers 21C and, thus, the remaining merchandise will be by 
itself repositioned orderly to the lower sections on the shelves 21 
against the stoppers 21C. This effect eliminates the need of rearrangement 
of the merchandise on the conveyor shelves 21 by the work personnel. 
Next, the fifth embodiment of the display case according to the present 
invention will be described in reference to FIGS. 6 to 10. FIG. 6 shows a 
partial side elevational sectional view of the fifth embodiment of the 
display case. Light emitters 22A are mounted on the bottom side of the top 
duct 20T and the bottom sides of the display shelves 4B, and photosensors 
22B are mounted on the display shelves 4B, in such a manner that each of 
the photosensors 22B is paired with the light emitter 22A directly 
thereabove. The light emitters 22A emit divergent lights downward so that 
the respective photosensors 22B detect lights when the merchandise 11 is 
absent on the respective display shelves 4B. Thus, each pair of the light 
emitters 22A and the photosensors 22B constitutes a merchandise detector 
22 (not reference-numbered in FIG. 6). 
FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing one of the supply shelf mechanisms 
employed in the display case of the fifth embodiment. A supply shelf 
mechanism 23 includes a supply shelf body 23A which is constituted of a 
base 23H and riser walls 23I fixedly attached on both the sides and the 
rear end of the base 23H. The supply shelf body 23A is pivotally mounted 
on a pair of the support frame 24 in the front end thereof by a pair of 
pivots 23J and is normally resting on a pair of the brackets 12. A pair of 
anchor pins 23B are fixedly attached to both the sides of the supply shelf 
body 23A in the proximity of the rear end thereof. A pair of idler pulleys 
23C are mounted on the support frame 24 at an even level substantially 
higher than the level of the supply shelf body 23A. A drive shaft 23D is 
rotatably and horizontally mounted on and across the brackets 12 at an 
level slightly lower than the level of the supply shelf body 23A. A pair 
of wind-up pulleys 23E are fixedly mounted on the drive shaft 23D and a 
bidirectional drive motor 23G is fixedly mounted on one of the brackets 12 
and drivably connected to the drive shaft 23D. In reference to FIG. 7 and 
FIG. 8, a pair of wires 23F are passed by way of the respective idler 
pulleys 23C and the ends thereof are anchored to the respective anchor 
pins 23B and the respective wind-up pulleys 23E so that the wind-up 
pulleys can wind up the wires 23F as the drive shaft 23D is rotated by the 
drive motor 23G and, consequently, the supply shelf body 23A is rotated 
about the pivots 23J so as to be made downwardly sloped toward the display 
shelf 4B. Still referring to FIG. 7, on and across the pair of the support 
frame 24 is pivotally mounted the partition member 3A which normally 
covers a supply gate 3C, the opening between the pair of the support frame 
24. The partition member 3A has its pivotal mounting axis along the top 
edge thereof and can be pivotally opened by being pushed frontwardly as 
mentioned before. Although not shown in the figure, a plurality of the 
supply shelf mechanisms 23 of identical construction are disposed 
laterally aligned one another and at a plurality of vertically spaced 
levels. A total number of the supply shelf mechanisms 23 in the display 
case is assumed to be "n" for further explanation purposes. Each of the 
supply shelf mechanisms 23 can be independently operable as explained 
below. 
FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the control and drive circuit for n number 
of the drive motors 23G employed in the supply shelf mechanisms 23 of the 
same number. The circuit includes n number of merchandise detectors 22, a 
central processing unit (CPU) 25 of a microcomputer, a drive circuit unit 
26 and n number of the drive motors 23G. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 9, as 
the photosensors 22B receive lights transmitted from the respective light 
emitters 22A, namely, the merchandise detectors 22 detect absent states of 
the merchandise on the respective display shelves 4B, the respective drive 
motors 23G are actuated by the control and drive circuit. 
FIG. 10 is a program flowchart for controlling n number of the drive motors 
23G. When the 1st merchandise detector 22-1 is "OFF" (signifying that 
merchandise 11 on the corresponding display shelf 4B is absent and the 
drive switch S1 will, therefore, be "ON"), the corresponding 1st drive 
motor 23G-1 of the corresponding supply shelf mechanism 23 will be turned 
on and actuated. Then, as explained in the following paragraph, the 
corresponding display shelf 4B will receive merchandise and the 
merchandise detector 22-1 will then be turned to "ON" (signifying that the 
merchandise is now present) and the drive switch S1 will then be "OFF". 
Likewise, the presence/absence status of the merchandise by all of the n 
number of the merchandise detectors 22 are sequentially detected and, 
finally, when the n-th merchandise detector 22-n is "OFF" (the drive 
switch Sn will be "ON"), the corresponding n-th drive motor 23G-n will be 
turned on and actuated. 
Referring to FIGS. 7 to 10, with any of the 1st to n-th supply shelf 
mechanisms 23, as the drive motor 23G is actuated, the actuated motor 23G 
turns the drive shaft 23D and the windup pulleys 23E. Then, the pair of 
wires 23F are wound up, thereby causing the supply shelf body 23A to be 
tilted so as to be downwardly sloped frontwardly. As the supply shelf body 
23A is sloped, the merchandise placed thereon will slide down and move 
frontwardly, thereby pushing and opening the partition member 3A and 
further moving onto the display shelf 4B past the supply gate 3C. The 
supply shelf body 23A, then, can be lowered to the rest position by 
reversely rotating the drive motor 23G, or, alternatively, by manually 
pressing it down. 
Thus, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention as 
described above, the merchandise placed on the supply shelf body 23A can 
automatically be moved to the corresponding display shelf 4B when the 
corresponding display shelf 4B lacks the merchandise. 
FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing one of the supply shelf units 
employed in the display case of the sixth embodiment according to the 
present invention. A supply shelf unit 27, which is disposed on the 
brackets 12, includes a supply shelf body 27A which is constituted of a 
base 27H and side riser walls 27I1 and a rear riser wall 27I2 fixedly 
attached on both sides and the rear end, respectively, of the base 27H. A 
plurality of parallel and evenly spaced conveyor rollers 27B are rotatably 
and laterally mounted on and across the side riser walls 27I1. Timing 
wheels 27C are fixedly mounted on one side of all of the conveyor rollers 
27B and all of the timing wheels 27C are engaged with an endless timing 
belt 27D. A drive motor 27E is mounted on one of the brackets 12 and is 
drivably connected to one of the timing wheels 27C so that all of the 
timing wheels 27C and, therefore, all of the conveyor rollers 27B are 
simultaneously rotated in the clockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 11) 
once the drive motor 27E is actuated. 
A plurality of the drive motors 27E for the plurality of the supply shelf 
units 27 can be controlled and driven in the same manner as was explained 
in the case of the fifth embodiment in reference to FIGS. 9 and 10 except 
that the drive motors 27E of the sixth embodiment need not be rotated in 
the reverse direction. In other words, as any of the merchandise detectors 
22 senses the absent status of the merchandise on the display shelve 4B, 
the corresponding drive motor 27E will be actuated and the conveyor 
rollers 27B will be rotated clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 11), so that the 
merchandise thereon moves frontwardly, pushing and opening the partition 
member 3A, onto the display shelve 4B past the supply gate 3C. 
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing one of the supply shelf units 
employed in the display case of the seventh embodiment of the present 
invention. A supply shelf unit 28 includes a pair of opposing side frames 
28A, disposed in parallel with each other, and a loading board 28B 
interposed between, and fixedly connected to, the side frames 28A. A pair 
of shafts 28F are rotatably mounted on and across the frames 28A in the 
proximities of both the ends thereof. A pair of sprockets 28D are fixedly 
mounted on each of the shafts 28F at positions close to the side frames 
28A. A pair of endless chains 28C run in parallel with each other around 
the loading board 28B, engaging with the sprockets 28D, so that the pair 
of the shafts 28F are drivably connected each other. Evenly spaced 
pushrods 28E are laterally mounted on and across the pair of the chains 
28D. A drive motor 28G is mounted on one of the side frames 28A and 
drivably connected to one of the shafts 28F. Thus, once the motor 28G is 
actuated to rotate the shafts 28F in the clockwise direction (as viewed in 
FIG. 12), the pushrods 28E will move around the loading board 28B in the 
same rotating direction and will push and move any merchandise placed on 
the loading board 28B frontwardly (rightwardly as viewed in FIG. 12) and 
onto the corresponding display shelf 4B (not shown in FIG. 12) in the same 
manner as described for the sixth embodiment. The basic function and the 
control and drive principle of all of the supply shelf units 28 are also 
the same as those of the of the supply shelf units 27 of the fifth 
embodiment except that the drive motors 28G need not be reversely rotated. 
Referring back to FIGS. 1 to 4, by substituting a heater for the evaporator 
6 in the inside air passageway 8A, a warmed-air type display case, as 
opposed to the refrigerated-air type display case as described in the 
above embodiments, can also be made as an additional embodiment of the 
present invention. Furthermore, a single display case may be made a 
dual-functioning display case by employing both an evaporator and a heater 
in the inside air passageway 8A, so that the display case can be used 
either in a refrigerating mode or in a warming mode by using either the 
evaporator or the heater, respectively. 
As described above, the refrigerated display case according to the present 
invention has two separate inside rooms divided by a partition. One room 
is a display room on the front side of the partition for displaying the 
merchandise on display shelves therein having a front access opening 
through which the shopping customers reach the merchandise. The other room 
is a supply room on the rear side of the partition having a means for not 
only supplying the merchandise therefrom onto the display shelves in the 
display room but also a means for preliminarily storing the merchandise 
therein. An entry door allows a work personnel to enter the supply room. 
The work personnel, therefore, can supply merchandise into the display 
room from the backside of the display room, without using the front access 
opening and, thus, without interfering with the shopping customers. The 
innermost (rearmost) parts of the display shelves, which are otherwise 
difficult to be reached by the work personnel through the front access 
opening, can be easily loaded with the merchandise from the rear side. 
Since the supply room can be utilized as a storage room, the conveyance of 
the merchandise to the display case can be performed in less number of 
times for a given quantity of merchandise and it can also be planned and 
practiced more efficiently as compared to the occasion of a conventional 
display case. Furthermore, the shopping customers tend to pick merchandise 
in the proximity of the front access opening, but, since the merchandise 
is supplied frontwardly from the rear side of the display room, an actual 
FIFO (first-in first-out) flow situation of the merchandise can be 
realized. In selling perishable foods or the like items, it is ideal that 
the items placed in the display case earlier sell first. 
It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in 
the above described embodiments which provide the characteristics of this 
invention without departing from the spirit and principle thereof 
particularly as defined in the following claims.