Display stand convertible to gravity feed

A display stand having four corner posts, horizontal front, rear and side support rails disposed in a common plane and interconnected at their ends to the corner posts to form a pattern of quadrilateral configuration having right angle corners together with a complementary shelf of quadrilateral configuration having right angle corners and being removably supported by the front, rear and side support rails may be converted to a gravity feed device wherein each shelf is tilted forwardly and downwardly due to its support at the rear portion thereof by a pair of support brackets mounted on the side support rails respectively and adjacent the rear ends thereof and projecting upwardly therefrom together with an elongated support element arranged to extend between the support brackets and whose ends are disjointably mounted respectively on the support brackets at a level about the associated rear support rail so that the rear edge of the shelf is disposed above the level of the rear support rail when mounted with its rear portion disposed atop the elongated support element and arranged with its front edge in engagement with and supported by the front rail. A removable front rail is arranged to arrest downward and forward movement of the articles and if desired a plurality of tracks may be mounted on the shelf to guide the movement of the articles.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to the conversion of a conventional display stand 
having removable shelves which normally are disposed horizontally and 
which are tilted by the invention so as to provide a gravity feed 
arrangement. 
BACKGROUND ART 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,648 issued Feb. 9, 1982 and assigned to the assignee of 
this invention discloses a gravity feed shelf in which low friction tracks 
are utilized and which are formed by an extrusion process and which are 
homogeneous in nature with low friction material impregnated therein. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,953 issued Sept. 11, 1984 and assigned to the assignee 
of this invention discloses and claims a process for forming a low 
friction plastic tract which is homogeneous and formed from a mixture of 
high impact polystyrene and organo polysiloxane fluid such as dimethyl, 
diethyl and phenymethyl siloxane and related copolymers. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,725 issued Jan. 21, 1986 and assigned to the assignee 
of this invention discloses a composite plastic track and method of making 
by a coextrusion process. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A conventional display stand having four corner posts, horizontal front, 
rear and side support rails disposed in a common plane and interconnected 
at their ends to the common posts to form a pattern of quadrilateral 
configuration having right angle corners and provided with a removable 
complementary shelf supported by the rails is modified in such a way as to 
convert one or more shelves into downwardly and forwardly inclined 
elements to form a gravity feed arrangement. The disposition of the shelf 
is arranged in tilted relationship by means of a pair of support brackets 
mounted on oppositely disposed side support rails respectively and 
adjacent the rear ends thereof together with an elongated support element 
whose ends are disjointably mounted respectively on said support brackets 
to engage and support a shelf so as to tilt the shelf forwardly with the 
front edge of the shelf supported by the front rail. The support brackets 
may be removably mounted or may be fixedly mounted on the side support 
rails near the rear thereof. According to a feature of the invention, a 
removable front rail includes an upper upstanding part for arresting 
forward movement of articles disposed on the shelf when tilted and an 
integral rearwardly extending lower part is arranged for disposition 
between the front rail and the front edge of the shelf. If desired, a 
plurality of tracks may be mounted on the shelf in side by side relation 
to guide the movement of the articles.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
With reference to FIG. 1, the numerals 1, 2, 3 and 4 designate corner posts 
while the numerals 5-10 inclusive designate front rails whose ends are 
secured to corner posts 1 and 3. Back rails similar to rails 5-10 are 
interconnected at their ends with corner posts 2 and 4 but such rails are 
not observable in FIG. 1. Side rails 11-16 inclusive are interconnected at 
their ends with corner posts 3 and 4. Side rails similar to side rails 
11-16 are supported at their ends by corner posts 1 and 2 but such rails 
are not observable in FIG. 1. 
Each removable shelf such as 17-21 inclusive is tilted downwardly and 
forwardly according to this invention by means of a pair of support 
brackets 22 and 23 such as are shown in FIG. 2 in cooperation with an 
elongated element 24 supported at its ends by support brackets 22 and 23. 
In FIG. 2 support brackets 23 and 22 are shown mounted respectively within 
cavities formed atop rails 14 and 14a. These support brackets may be 
fixedly mounted or, if desired, may be movable while attached to the 
stands or may be disjointably mounted. 
Also as is shown in FIG. 2, a removable front bumper rail generally 
designated by the numeral 25 is provided with an upstanding part 
comprising vertically disposed elements 26 and horizontally disposed 
elements 27 welded or otherwise secured to the upstanding elements 26. 
Rearwardly extending parts of rail 25 are designated by the numerals 26a. 
As is apparent in FIG. 2, the rearwardly extending parts 26a of the 
removable rail 25 are disposed atop a laterally projecting part 8a of 
front rail 8. Also as is apparent in FIG. 2, an end of removable bumper 
rail 25 engages the laterally extending portion 3a of vertical post 3. 
As is shown in FIG. 3, the shelf 20 is disposed in tilted position. As is 
shown in FIG. 5, the rearwardly extending portion 26a of removable bumper 
rail 25 is captured between the upper surface of part 8a of front rail 8 
and the lower edge 20a of shelf 20. Rear rail 8b is shown in cross section 
in FIG. 5. 
As is best shown in FIG. 4, bracket 22 includes an inner panel 30 and an 
outer panel 31. Panels 30 and 31 are interconnected by a panel 32 so as to 
form a structure of channel shaped cross sectional configuration. Inner 
panel 30 includes an arcuate upper edge portion 30a while outer panel 31 
includes an inwardly extending tab 33 which is downwardly and forwardly 
inclined and parallel to the angle of inclination of an associated shelf 
such as 20. As is best shown in FIG. 3, tab 33 overlies the shelf 20. As 
is apparent from FIGS. 4 and 5, elongated element 24 is disposed 
immediately underneath shelf 20 so that the shelf is effectively captured 
against up and down movement by the elongated element 24 and the tab 33. 
As is apparent particularly from FIG. 4, elongated element 24 is arranged 
so that its right hand end as viewed in FIG. 4 is in closely spaced 
relation or in contact with the inner surface of outer panel 31 so that 
elongated rod 24 is secured against movement in one direction toward the 
right as viewed in FIG. 4. 
Support bracket 23 is a mirror image of support bracket 22. Thus the inner 
panel 34 of support bracket 23 corresponds to and functions generally 
according to inner panel 30 of support bracket 22. Outer panel 35 of 
support bracket 23 corresponds to outer panel 31 of support bracket 30 so 
that elongated rod 24 is prevented from moving in one direction due to 
engagement of its end with the inner surface of outer panel 35. Tab 36 of 
bracket 23 corresponds to tab 33 of bracket 22. This tab overlies an edge 
of shelf 20. 
FIG. 7 shows a support bracket which functions in a manner very similar to 
the functioning of brackets 22. The support bracket generally designated 
by the numeral 40 includes a square body portion 41 which comprises a 
smaller lower part 41a and a larger upper part 41b. The upper part of 
panel 41b is configured in a manner somewhat similar to the upper edge 30a 
of support bracket 22. Disposed atop the square body portion 41 of support 
bracket 40 is a channel 42 having an upper panel 43 and a lower panel 44 
which are interconnected by the vertical panel 45. An edge of a shelf such 
as 20 is interposed between panels 43 and 44 and is thus captured against 
up and down movement and against movement generally toward the right by 
panel 45 as viewed in FIG. 7. 
For most applications of the invention, the support bracket such as is 
shown in FIG. 4 and its mirror image are preferred over that shown in FIG. 
7 and its mirror image because of the simplicity of the structure 
identified as support bracket 22. 
In order to convert a display stand having removable horizontal shelves 
such as 17-21 to a gravity feed device, it is simply necessary first to 
remove a shelf such as 20 and thereafter to mount the support brackets 22 
and 23 in their associated cavities near the rear ends of their associated 
side rails. The elongated element 24 is then mounted in position as shown 
in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5. The removable front bumper rail 25 is then mounted as 
shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter the removable shelf such as 20 is mounted so 
that its front edge overlies the rearward extending portions 26a of front 
bumper rail 25 and with its rear portion overlying elongated element 24 
and with its outer edges disposed underneath the tabs 33 and 36. 
In order to facilitate sliding movement downwardly and toward the front of 
the articles such as are designated in phantom lines by the numerals B1, 
B2 and B3, a plurality of channel like low friction elements may be 
disposed atop the removable shelf 20 as shown in FIG. 6, the channel like 
low friction elements being designated C1-C5 inclusive. If desired, 
channel elements C1-C5 may be constructed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the 
aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,725. 
By the invention, it is apparent that conventional display devices having 
removable horizontal shelves may be easily, quickly and economically 
converted to gravity feed devices in accordance with this invention.