Mobile display rack

A mobile display rack for the storage and display of packaged products. The display rack includes a frame structure comprising four vertically disposed support members supporting at or near their tops a vertically stationary top shelf. Within the frame structure positioned one above the other but below the stationary top shelf are a plurality of vertically movable shelves adapted to hold product containers. Each movable shelf has a lowest vertical position determined by a shelf stop assembly affixed to the frame structure, and a highest vertical position determined by the movable shelves above it. When the movable shelves are loaded with containers and the lowest shelf raised by an appropriate means such as a fork lift, the shelf will move upwardly until the tops of the containers contact the bottom of the shelf immediately above it which shelf, in turn, will move upwardly until the tops of the containers on it contact the bottom of the shelf immediately above it, and so on, until the tops of the containers on the uppermost movable shelf contact the bottom of the top stationary shelf, at which point all of the containers are under a compressive force rendering them immovable, thereby providing a stable, loaded, display rack that can safely be moved from one point to another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to product display racks. More particularly, 
the present invention relates to a display rack for displaying product on 
a plurality of shelves, and which can be quickly and easily converted from 
its display condition to a stable, mobile condition, whereby the loaded 
display rack can be safely moved from point to point. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The prior art abounds with display racks, as contrasted to conventional 
shelving, for displaying products, such as bottled and canned products, in 
special areas of marketing facilities such as super markets, and the like. 
Many of these are stationary racks to which the product intended to be 
displayed is brought from a storage area either by hand or by some form of 
mobile cart. In either event, an intermediate handling of the product 
between its storage point and its display point is necessary. To eliminate 
this intermediate handling of product, smaller racks have simply been made 
mobile by the addition of wheels so that a loaded rack can be moved 
between storage area and display area. Because the load capacity of such 
racks is relatively small, product can be safely moved with little, if 
any, further modification to the rack. The same, however, cannot be said 
for normally stationary, large display racks which, because of their size 
and load capacity cannot be made safely mobile simply by the addition of 
wheels. 
Accordingly, there are in the prior art display racks or carts that have 
been specifically designed for mobility and for transporting and 
displaying large product loads. Such mobile racks, however, usually have 
been difficult to maneuver in confining areas, and generally have not 
provided for adequately securing the product load against shifting and 
resulting breakage during movement. One mobile display rack that has taken 
these factors into consideration, however, is shown and described in U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,159,831. The mobile rack of this patent comprises a wheeled 
frame structure having a plurality of horizontal shelves vertically 
adjustable and pivotably attached to two vertical tracks on the back wall 
of the frame structure. As each shelf is loaded with containers, the next 
higher shelf is pivoted into contact with the container tops, and the 
procedure repeated with each succeeding higher shelf until all shelves are 
loaded. The frame structure also comprises a similarly pivoted top cap 
which can be brought into contact with the tops of the containers on the 
top shelf, and which can be maintained in a state of compression with the 
entire stacked load by means of an adjustable tie down strap connecting 
the cap with the bottom shelf, whereby all of the containers can be firmly 
secured against shifting during movement of the rack. While the described 
mobile rack should function satisfactorily in storing and safely moving a 
large load of product to a display area, its pivoting shelves used in 
conjunction with the tie down strap for securing the load against movement 
by compression is a rather awkward arrangement which can be ineffective if 
not used properly. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a mobile display 
rack designed for displaying large numbers of vertically stacked product 
containers. It is a further object of this invention to provide such a 
mobile display rack capable of transporting a large load of vertically 
stacked product containers from a reserve storage area to a display area 
thereby eliminating handling of the product containers intermediate the 
two areas. It is still a further object of this invention to provide means 
associated with such a mobile display rack for firmly securing a large 
load of vertically stacked containers in the rack thereby permitting 
movement of the rack without risk of load shifting and possible resultant 
breakage or damage. It is an additional object of this invention to 
provide such a mobile display rack which may be safely and easily 
maneuvered in confining spaces using equipment and personnel normally 
present in any large market. 
A mobile display rack for use in super markets, and the like, according to 
the objects of this invention includes a frame structure of rectangular 
configuration comprising four vertically disposed support members 
supporting at or near their tops a stationary top shelf. Within the frame 
structure position one above the other but below the top shelf are a 
plurality of vertically movable shelves each adapted to hold a plurality 
of product containers. Each shelf has a lowest vertical position in the 
frame structure determined by a shelf stop assembly affixed to the frame 
structure, and a highest vertical position in the frame structure 
determined by the shelves above it. In operation, each movable shelf 
receives containers the height of which governs the setting of the shelf 
stop assembly. When the lowest movable shelf is raised by any appropriate 
means, as by fork lift, it will move upwardly until the tops of its 
containers contact the bottom of the shelf immediately above it, which 
shelf, in turn, will move upwardly together with the first shelf until the 
tops of the containers on the second shelf contact the bottom of the shelf 
immediately above it, and so on, until the tops of the containers on the 
highest movable shelf contact the bottom of the stationary top shelf, at 
which point all of the containers on the movable shelves are compressed 
into immovable positions. Thus, the load of the rack is given great 
stability in a very simple and effective manner so that the loaded rack 
can be moved with little, if any, risk of load shifting. Once the state of 
compression is reached, the loaded rack can be safely moved from one point 
to another, such as from a reserve storage area to a display area. At this 
latter point, the means used to raise the shelves can then be used to 
reverse the action so that all of the shelves with their containers are 
returned to their lowest vertical levels as determined by the shelf stop 
assemblies affixed to the frame structure, leaving the rack in its display 
condition. On removing an empty or partially empty display rack from the 
display area, the same procedure is followed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawing, FIGS. 1 and 2 show the mobile display rack of 
this invention generally indicated at 10 comprising four frame support 
members 11 supporting at or near the top thereof a stationary shelf 12, 
which together form a display rack frame structure of rectangular 
configuration. Each frame support member 11 is right-angle shaped having 
two arms 11a, the end of each of which is formed into a return U-shaped 
11b having an inside arm 11c shorter than the parallel outside arm 11a, 
all as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 3A. Frame support members 11 are joined 
by cross support members, not shown, which give the frame structure 
rigidity, such cross support members being judiciously located so as not 
to interfere with the use of the display rack as subsequently described 
herein. Located within the frame structure below stationary shelf 12 are a 
plurality of vertically movable shelves 13 one above the other, the number 
of which may vary but which are shown in FIG. 1 as five. 
Shelves 13 are vertically free moving having a lowest vertical position 
determined by shelf stop assemblies 14, each of which comprises four units 
or sets, one such unit or set affixed to each support member 11. As shown 
in FIGS. 3 and 3A, each unit or set comprises a generally U-shaped clamp 
15, the arms 16 of which are disposed at angles to the base 17 so that 
when the unit is assembled, each arm 16 fits flush against the inside face 
of corresponding arm 11c of U-shaped member 11b. Cooperating with U-shaped 
clamp 15 is a correspondingly U-shaped shelf stop member 18 the arms 19 of 
which are each provided with a lower section 19a on which is a projection 
24 adapted to fit snugly into aperture 25 of arm 11c when assembled. 
Offset from lower section 19a is an upper section 19b which cooperates 
with arm 11c to form channel 28. Base 20 of shelf stop member 18 is 
provided with an aperture 21 that is aligned with a threaded aperture 22 
in base 17 of clamp 15, the two apertures being adapted to receive set 
screw 23 when assembled. 
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, each vertically movable shelf 13 is fashioned 
at each of its four corners in the same generally U-shaped manner as are 
clamp 15 and shelf stop member 18. Each corner of shelf 13 is provided 
with a lip 26, which may extend around the entire periphery of shelf 13, 
the descending arm 27 of which lodges and is supported in channel 28 when 
shelf 13 is in its lowest vertical position as illustrated in FIG. 4. The 
extension of lip 26 about shelf 13 may be provided with a rim 29 which 
serves to retain containers on the shelf, particularly when the rack is in 
its display condition as in FIG. 1. Each shelf 13 is further provided on 
its upper surface with recesses, not shown, for properly locating 
containers placed thereon, while the bottom or underside of each shelf 13, 
and stationary shelf 12, is provided with cavities, also not shown, in 
which the tops of the containers located on the shelf immediately below 
are lodged and prevented from moving when shelves 13 are raised out of 
their channels 28 and placed under compression, as illustrated in FIG. 5. 
In use of the mobile display rack of this invention for displaying package 
goods in large volumes, such as bottled soft drinks as illustrated in 
FIGS. 1 and 2, the lowest vertical position of each movable shelf 13 is 
first preset for the particular bottle size to be displayed. Since display 
rack 10 can only display one bottle size at any one time, presetting of 
the movable shelves is initially necessary, and, of course, when bottle 
sizes are changed during use, resetting is required. As a full complement 
of bottles is placed on each shelf 13, the bottom of each bottle is placed 
in a locater recess provided for it. These recesses can be designed 
directly into each shelf 13 or, more preferably, separate locator forms 
can be used, the locater forms being interchanged as the bottle size of a 
display rack is varied. On completion of loading of shelves 13, the 
display rack will be in its decompressed, or display, condition as 
illustrated in FIG. 1. 
To prepare the display for transport, it is only necessary to place the 
forks of a fork lift beneath the bottom movable shelf 13, as indicated in 
FIG. 1, and a lifting action initiated. The upward movement of the forks 
begins to lift the bottom shelf 13 out of its lodgement in channel 28 of 
shelf stop assembly 14. As shelf 13 with its load of bottles continues to 
rise, the caps of the bottles approach the bottom of the next higher shelf 
13 and enter cavities provided in its undersurface. As contact is made and 
upward movement of the forks continued, the second shelf 13 begins to move 
upwardly out of its lowest position in channel 28 until its load of 
bottles contacts the underside of the third movable shelf 13. Continued 
upward movement of shelves 13 proceeds until the bottles on the uppermost 
shelf 13 contact the bottom of stationary shelf 12. The upward pressure of 
the forks of the fork lift transmitted through successive shelves 13 
against the stationary shelf 12 places the entire display load under a 
compressive force sufficient to impart to the load the necessary stability 
to permit the display rack to be moved by fork lift from one location to 
another while in its compressed, or transport, condition as illustrated in 
FIG. 2. On arriving at the new location, the loaded rack is decompressed 
by lowering the forks until shelves 13 contact their respective shelf stop 
assemblies 14, at which point the display rack is again in its 
decompressed, or display, condition as illustrated in FIG. 1. 
A modification by which the display rack of this invention is provided with 
its own means of mobility is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. In this 
modification, the shelf stop assembly 14 provided for each movable shelf 
13 in the first modification is replaced by a shelf stop assembly 
comprising a rectangular frame 40 secured at its four corners to the four 
frame support members 11 by suitable means such as bolts 41 passing 
through the lower section of frame 40. The upper section of frame 40 is 
offset inwardly from the lower section to provide a ledge 42 which 
cooperates with the descending arm 27 of lip 26 provided at the edge of 
each movable shelf 13 to securely lodge each shelf 13 within its frame 40. 
The display rack is further provided with support means, not shown, such 
as a stationary lower shelf, situated below the lowest movable shelf 13, 
for supporting any suitable lifting means such as a jack. 
Once the shelves 13 have been fully loaded with bottles as described with 
respect to the first modification, the lowest movable shelf 13 is caused 
to move upwardly by actuating the lifting means located on the lower 
stationary shelf, thereby separating descending arm 27 from ledge 42 of 
frame 40. The lifting action is continued with respect to each shelf as 
previously described until contact is made by the bottles on the uppermost 
movable shelf 13 with the underside of top stationary shelf 12, whereby a 
stabilizing, compressive action on the display load is again effected. The 
loaded display rack, in its compressed, or transport, condition as 
illustrated in FIG. 2 can now be moved from one location to another 
without the use of another vehicle by means of wheels, not shown, 
specifically installed in this modification at each corner of the frame 
support structure. Upon reaching the new location, the load can be 
decompressed as before by reversing the action of the lifting means so 
that shelves 13 are lowered into contact with their respective frames 40, 
again placing the display rack in its decompressed, or display, condition 
as in FIG. 1. 
From the above description of the mobile display rack of this invention, it 
can readily be seen that a simple structure has been provided through the 
use of which even very large numbers of containers can not only be 
effectively displayed for marketing purposes, but also transported safely 
and quickly from one point to another. The display rack eliminates the 
intermediate handling of individual containers between storage and display 
points, a necessary practice with non-mobile display racks, and also 
eliminates the awkward and cumbersome straps and other means that have 
heretofore been used in attempts to provide stability and safety to large 
mobile display racks. The display rack according to the present invention 
can be kept in a reserve storage area where the product to be displayed is 
normally stored in any event. Since the product can be stored in the 
storage area on the display rack, no additional storage problem is created 
by use of the rack. When needed, such a fully loaded, stored display rack 
in its decompressed, or display condition, as in FIG. 1, can quickly and 
simply be placed in its compressed, transport condition as in FIG. 2, and 
wheeled directly to its intended display point, from which point an empty 
or partially empty display rack can be returned to the storage area. In 
transporting the latter, care must be taken to insure that a container is 
placed in a recess at each corner of each movable shelf 13 in order to 
provide for an equal distribution of the compressing force and thereby 
providing a stable, safely transportable display rack.