Abstract:
The invention can be used by being mounted on a shelf plate of an article display rack, prevents the shelf plate from being distorted due to a weight of the articles, prevents a distortion of an article support member, and prevents a forward feeding function of the articles from being deteriorated. In an article display and take-out unit with rollers used by being mounted on a shelf plate of an article display rack, the article display and take-out unit is provided with an article support member in which the rollers that support the articles vertically to a moving direction of the articles are rotatably installed in parallel, a rigid plate for preventing a distortion of the article support member caused by a weight of the articles, a first attachment that holds the rigid plate and the article support member and integrates them together, and a second attachment that holds at least the rigid plate at a desired height position.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an article (article for sale) display and take-out unit structured so as to display articles such as canned goods, bottled goods, paper bagged goods, boxed goods and the like in line, and take out the goods in the foremost portion of the display, and an article display rack using the unit. 
       RELATED ART 
       [0002]    Conventionally, in a general merchandising store such as a supermarket, a drag store or the like, many kinds of articles are abundantly displayed in individual display racks in an article display case  50  shown in  FIG. 12  (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei-8-24091). Since the articles are sold from the front side, the front portion necessarily gets into an emptied state. Accordingly, a so-called forward feeding work for feeding the articles at the back to the front side is necessary. Therefore, there have been proposed a lot of article display racks and article display devices which are provided with various automatic or semiautomatic forward feeding functions. 
         [0003]    An article take-out unit  51  provided with a conventional forward feeding function is provided fixedly with both side plates  52   a  and  52   b  having a function of comparting the articles. Accordingly, it is possible to display articles  53  having a size or dimension matching to a width formed by both the side plates  52   a  and  52   b , however, an additional unit matching thereto is necessary for displaying the articles which are larger than the width. Accordingly, in a general merchandizing store or the like, it is necessary to prepare many kinds of display and take-out units, and there is such a problem that a stock control or the like is troublesome. Further, in order to freely adjust a compartment width of the articles, there is a display rack which is provided with a detachable article compartment plate. However, in this display rack, it is not possible to securely prevent a side skid of heavy articles such as drink bottles or the like. Further, a hanging error of the article compartment plate is apt to be generated, and there is accordingly generated such a problem that an appearance is bad or the like. 
         [0004]    In order to solve the problem mentioned above, an article display and take-out unit  60  as shown in  FIGS. 13 and 14  has been developed (Japanese Patent No. 3126947). This is constructed by a unit main body  61 , an article compartment plate  62 , and an article forward slant prevention plate  63 . The unit main body  61  is constructed by a shallow box-shaped frame body portion  69  which is comparted into three sections in its center portion, a front engagement hole  64  which is perforated in a front engagement hole portion, a rear engagement hole  65  which is perforated in a rear engagement hole portion, and an article forward slant prevention plate support portion  67  which forms an engagement groove  66  with respect to a front end of the front engagement hole portion, and is formed as an approximately rectangular shape made of a resin as a whole. Further, as shown in  FIG. 14 , three roller arrangement frame bodies  70  are fitted respectively in the sections of the shallow box-shaped frame body portion  69  in the center portion, the roller arrangement frame bodies  70  being provided with a lot of rollers R which are provided rotatably in such a manner as to slide the articles  53  forward. The roller arrangement frame body  70  is a shallow box-shaped member having five rows of roller arrangement portions. Further, each of the rollers R having a shaft insertion hole in its center is pivotably attached to both side wall plates  71  of the roller arrangement frame body  70  and a shaft  72  which is supported by a shaft hole formed in a roller guide wall plate  68 . Each of the rollers R is attached in such a manner that a top portion projects above the top portions of the roller guide wall plate  68  and an article stabilization auxiliary plate  73  upward at about 0.3 mm. The roller guide wall plate  68  has a function of a stabilization correction plate by which the articles slide stably. The front engagement holes  64  and the rear engagement holes  65  are formed three rows per one line, and are formed in accordance with a zigzag pattern in which a position of the hole is not placed on the same level laterally with the positions of the adjacent holes in both sides. A hole shape of the engagement hole  64  is a rectangular shape which is somewhat larger than a cross sectional shape of the front engagement portion  62 A of the article compartment plate  62 . Further, the rear engagement hole  65  has the same structure. 
         [0005]    A prior art (cf. Japanese Patent No. 3126947) shown in  FIGS. 13 and 14  is an article display and take-out unit  60  which has a bottom surface portion that slides the articles  53  forward, a front engagement hole portion that has in a lateral direction a lot of front engagement holes  64  with which the front engagement portion  62 A of the article compartment plate  62  is detachably engaged, and a rear engagement hole portion that has in a lateral direction a lot of rear engagement holes  65  with which the rear engagement portion  62 B of the article compartment plate  62  is detachably engaged, and is installed to be oriented inclining downwardly toward the front side. Further, the engagement holes  64  and  65 , which are formed in the front engagement hole portion and the rear engagement hole portion, are of a rectangular shape, and are provided so as to prevent a hanging error of the article compartment plate  62 , by preventing the positions of the engagement holes formed in the front engagement hole portion and the rear engagement hole portion from being placed on the same level laterally with the positions of the adjacent engagement holes in both sides. In accordance with this structure, it is possible to securely ensure a display position of heavy articles such as the drinking bottles or the like, and it is possible to prevent the hanging error of the article compartment plate. Further, since the article display unit can be applied to every modes of articles, it has such an advantage that a stock control can be easily achieved. 
       PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS 
     Patent Documents 
       [0000]    
       
         Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei-8-24091 
         Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3126947 
       
     
       DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
     Problems to be Solved by the Invention 
       [0008]    A unit in the Patent Document 2 is mounted on a shelf plate, and is arranged in a state of inclining downward toward a front side. As a method of arranging in this state, there are a method of inclining the shelf plate itself, and a method of setting a rear side of the unit higher than the front side. However, it is necessary to change the degree of inclination on the basis of a weight of the articles, a bottom portion shape of the articles, and the like. Further, as the shelf plate, a net plate is frequently used in the light of a cost, a weight and the like, however, a flatness of a surface thereof is deteriorated by the weight of the articles and the like, and it is partly depressed or an irregular portion is generated. If the unit as mentioned above is mounted in a state in which the flatness of the surface of the net plate is deteriorated, the bottom surface portion of the unit is deformed, and there is a risk that the forward feeding function of the displayed articles may not work well. 
         [0009]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an article display and take-out unit which can be used while being mounted on a shelf plate of an article display rack used in most stores, can prevent the shelf plate from being deformed by the weight of the articles, can prevent an article support member from being deformed, does not deteriorate a forward feeding function of the articles, and can display the articles which are different in their sizes or dimensions and weights, and an article display rack using the unit. 
       Means for Solving Problems 
       [0010]    In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article display and take-out unit with rollers used by being mounted on a shelf plate of an article display rack, the article display and take-out unit, which includes: an article support member in which the rollers that support the articles vertically to a moving direction of the articles are rotatably installed in parallel; a rigid plate for preventing a distortion of the article support member caused by a weight of the articles; a first attachment that holds the rigid plate and the article support member and integrates the rigid plate and the article support member together; and a second attachment that holds at least the rigid plate at a desired height position, wherein the article support member is mounted on the rigid plate, the first attachment is installed to at least a front portion of each of the rigid plate and the article support member corresponding to a front side of a direction in which the articles move, the second attachment is installed to at least a rear portion of the rigid plate corresponding to a rear side of the direction in which the articles move, and the first attachment and the second attachment are installed on the shelf plate, and the rigid plate and the article support member are mounted on the shelf plate in such a manner as to incline downward toward the front side with respect to the shelf plate. 
         [0011]    Further, there is provided an article display rack in which the unit is mounted on the shelf plate. 
         [0012]    In the above aspect, the first attachment has an upper stage insertion port to which the front portion of the article support member is inserted, and a lower stage insertion port to which the front portion of the rigid plate is inserted, the second attachment has an insertion port to which only the rear portion of the rigid plate is inserted, and the rear portion of the article support member is mounted on the rigid plate, whereby the article support member is taken out while the rear portion of the article support member is prevented from being obstructed by the second attachment, at a time of taking out the front portion of the article support member from the upper stage insertion port. 
         [0013]    In the above aspect, an insertion port formed in one side surface of the main body portion of the second attachment may be structured so that a distance to an upper face of the main body is different from a distance to a lower face of the same, and not only a lower surface but also an upper surface can be functioned as a bottom surface which is mounted on the shelf plate, by inverting the upper and lower sides of the main body portion. 
         [0014]    In the above aspect, a front face stopper may be attached to a main body base front portion of the article support member. 
         [0015]    It is possible to employ a structure in which the first attachment and the second attachment are formed by an extrusion molding of aluminum. 
       Advantages of the Invention 
       [0016]    The present invention provides article display and take-out unit with rollers used by being mounted on a shelf plate of an article display rack, the article display and take-out unit, which includes: an article support member in which the rollers that support the articles vertically to a moving direction of the articles are rotatably installed in parallel; a rigid plate for preventing a distortion of the article support member caused by a weight of the articles; a first attachment that holds the rigid plate and the article support member and integrates the rigid plate and the article support member together; and a second attachment that holds at least the rigid plate at a desired height position, wherein the article support member is mounted on the rigid plate, the first attachment is installed to at least a front portion of each of the rigid plate and the article support member corresponding to a front side of a direction in which the articles move, the second attachment is installed to at least a rear portion of the rigid plate corresponding to a rear side of the direction in which the articles move, and the first attachment and the second attachment are installed on the shelf plate, and the rigid plate and the article support member are mounted on the shelf plate in such a manner as to incline downward toward the front side with respect to the shelf plate. Accordingly, the weight of the articles is not directly applied to the shelf plate, and the weight of the articles is applied alternatively to the integrated article support member and rigid plate. At this moment, the distortion is hard to be generated on the roller surface of the article support member due to the existence of the rigid plate, and hence the forward feeding function of the articles is not deteriorated. Further, since the unit is inexpensive and light in weight, is only mounted on the shelf plate (the net plate in many cases) of the article display rack introduced to a lot of stores, eliminating the necessity to change the article display rack itself. Thus, it is possible to hold down an introduction cost, and it is easy to install. 
         [0017]    In the structure in which the first attachment has an upper stage insertion port to which the front portion of the article support member is inserted, and a lower stage insertion port to which the front portion of the rigid plate is inserted, the second attachment has an insertion port to which only the rear portion of the rigid plate is inserted, and the rear portion of the article support member is mounted on the rigid plate, whereby the rear portion is taken out without being obstructed by the second attachment, at a time of taking out the front portion of the article support member from the upper stage insertion port, it is possible to take out only the article support member after being assembled when maintenance of the rollers is performed, which is convenient. 
         [0018]    In the structure in which a pair of rib-shaped portions for forming the insertion port are provided in the one side surface of the main body portion of the second attachment, the height from the insertion port to the upper surface and the lower surface of the main body portion is changed, and not only the lower surface but also the upper surface can be functioned as the bottom surface which is mounted on the shelf plate, by inverting the upper and lower sides of the main body portion, it is possible to easily change a degree of the decline, and it is possible to make the forward feeding function optimum in correspondence to the weight and the shape of the articles. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a side elevational schematic view showing a state in which the embodiment of the present invention is attached to a first attachment and a second attachment and mounted on a shelf plate. 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a side elevational schematic view showing a state in which the second attachment is in use while being inversely oriented. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a side elevational view of the first attachment. 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a side elevational view of the second attachment. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view showing a state in which a front face stopper is attached to the first attachment. 
           [0025]      FIG. 7  is a partly omitted plan view of an article support member. 
           [0026]      FIG. 8  is a partly enlarged perspective view of the article support member in a partly omitted manner. 
           [0027]      FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view showing a relationship between a roller and a roller cover. 
           [0028]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view in the same manner as  FIG. 9 . 
           [0029]      FIG. 11  is a general perspective view of the roller cover. 
           [0030]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view showing a conventional article display case. 
           [0031]      FIG. 13  is a perspective view showing a conventional take-out unit, and 
           [0032]      FIG. 14  is an exploded perspective view of the conventional take-out unit. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0033]    A description will be given below of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0034]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view before an assembly for integrally mounting an article support member  3  and a rigid plate  4  on a shelf plate  2  of an article display rack  1 . The article support member  3  is structured so that rollers  6 , which support the articles vertically to a moving direction of the articles, are rotatably installed in parallel in a main body base  5 . It is preferable that the main body base  5  and the rollers  6  are formed by a synthetic resin material. Further, the rigid plate  4  is provided on a lower surface of the main body base  5  of the article support member  3 ; is structured so that its upper surface keeps a horizontality; and is provided for preventing a distortion of the article support member  3  from being generated by a weight of the articles. The rigid plate  4  retains a rigidity while achieving a weight saving, for example, by using an aluminum plate, thereby making the article support member  3  hard to be distorted by the weight of the articles. 
         [0035]    Integration of the article support member  3  and the rigid plate  4  can be achieved by using and assembling a first attachment  7  and a second attachment  8 . The first attachment  7  has a main body portion  7 B that has a back face forming a groove  7 A and a front face forming an upper stage insertion port  7 C to which a front portion  3 A of the article support member  3  is inserted, and a lower stage insertion port  7 D to which a front portion of the rigid plate  4  is inserted. The second attachment  8  has an insertion port  8 A to which only a rear portion of the rigid plate  4  is inserted. A main body portion  8 B of the second attachment  8  is of a hollow elongated square pole shape, and has a pair of parallel rib-shaped portions  8 C provided so as to project from one side surface of the main body portion  8 B, thereby forming the insertion port  8 A between the rib-shaped portions  8 C. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  is a side elevational schematic view just before the article support member  3  and the rigid plate  4  are integrally assembled. The first attachment  7  and the second attachment  8  are directly mounted on the shelf plate  2 , and front and rear portions of the rigid plate  4  are inserted to the lower stage insertion port  7 D of the first attachment  7  and the insertion port  8 A of the second attachment  8 . The front portions  3 A of the article support member  3  are respectively inserted to the upper stage insertion ports  7 C of the first attachment  7 . The rear portion of the article support member  3  is mounted on the rigid plate  4 . 
         [0037]    In a specific example (a manufacturing embodiment) (cf.  FIG. 2 ), an inclination of the rigid plate  4  and the article support member  3  is set to 2 degree. Further, a distance from the main body portion  8 B of the second attachment  8  to the rear end of the article support member  3  is set to 8 mm, an insertion amount of the front portion  3 A of the article support member  3  to the upper stage insertion port  7 C is set to 5 mm, a total length of the article support member  3  is set to 637 mm, and a total length of the rigid plate  4  is set to 645 mm. Accordingly, in the case of detaching the article support member  3  for a maintenance, it is possible to slide the article support member  3  rearward (while detaching from the upper stage insertion port  7 C) so as to easily detach the article support member  3 . 
         [0038]    In  FIG. 3 , a decline of the article support member  3  is sharpened more than a state in  FIG. 2 , by inverting vertically the second attachment  8  in the state shown in  FIG. 2 . In this case, an angle of gradient between the rigid plate  4  and the article support member  3  is set to 4 degrees. 
         [0039]      FIGS. 4 and 5  show dimensions (mm unit) of the specific example of the first and second attachments  7  and  8 , respectively. The main body portion  7 B of the first attachment  7  is of a hollow elongated square pole shape, the groove  7 A is formed by forming an L-shaped portion  7 E on a back face of the main body portion  7 B, an upper rib-shaped portion  7 F and a lower rib-shaped portion  7 G are formed in a front face of the main body portion  7 B, and a disc-like intermediate rib-shaped portion  7 H having a spring property is formed in an intermediate portion. The second attachment  8  has dimensions shown in  FIG. 5 . These attachments  7  and  8  are constructed by an extrusion molded product of aluminum. It is easy to achieve extrusion moldings which are light and rigid and have various shapes by using aluminum as the material. 
         [0040]      FIG. 6  shows a cross section of a state in which a transparent front face stopper  9  such as an acrylic plate or the like is attached to the groove  7 A of the first attachment  7 . It is possible to prevent articles from falling off from the front side, by means of the front face stopper  9 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 7  is a partly omitted plan view of the article support member  3 . The article support member  3  is provided with a lot of retainer grooves  12  and  13  in parallel for attaching a partition plate  11  in front and rear sides of a rectangular base plate  10 . Both right and left sides of the base plate  10  are provided with retainer lacking portions  16  for attaching side face fences  14  and  15  (cf.  FIG. 8 ). The retainer lacking portions  16  are formed at four positions per one side face fence  14  (cf.  FIG. 1 ), and the retainer lacking portions for the side face fence  15  are formed in the same manner on an opposed side surface to a direction shown in  FIG. 8 . Further, in close vicinity to a center portion and front and rear edges of the base plate  10 , retainer grooves  17  to  19  (cf.  FIG. 1 , too) of the compartment plate  11  are provided in parallel to the retainer grooves  12  and  13  and in correspondence thereto, and installation grooves  20  of the rollers  6 , which support the articles, are provided between the retainer grooves  12 ,  13  and  17  to  19 . The rollers  6  are provided rotatably in the installation grooves  20 . A shaft  6 A of the roller  6  is supported by a common plane edge  21  in an edge portion of the installation groove  20 . 
         [0042]    A groove  23  provided in a bearing stripe  22 A of the cover  22  is fitted to the shaft  6 A of the roller  6 , as shown in  FIG. 9 . Further, the roller cover  22  is provided with a closure member  22 B, as shown in  FIG. 10 , closes a gap between the rollers  6 , and is structured so that a rolling friction is generated between the articles and the roller  6  and a sliding friction is generated between the articles and the closure member  22 B. The articles automatically move by making a sum of the rolling friction and the sliding friction smaller than a movement component force generated by its own weight of the articles. 
         [0043]    A whole of the roller cover  22  is provided with the closure member  22 B filling in the gap between a through hole  22 C for exposing an upper peripheral surface of the roller  6  and the roller  6 , as shown in  FIG. 11 , and the closure member  22 B is integrally formed by a synthetic resin material in the roller cover  22 . An upper surface of the roller cover  22  is structured so as to be somewhat lower than the topmost surface of the roller  6  at a time of setting. 
         [0044]    The structure of the article support member  3  as mentioned above is only one example, and it is possible to use various structures, for example, the structures described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-24091, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-5082 and the like, as long as the rollers  6 , which support the articles, are rotatably installed in parallel in the main body base  6  which is formed as a tabular shape as a whole, so as to be vertical to the moving direction of the articles. Further, the structure may be made so that a simply frame shaped main body base  5  is integrally formed by a synthetic resin material, and the rollers  6  are only provided in the main body base  5 . It is possible to prevent the distortion of the frame body, that is, the main body base  5  even if the heavy articles are mounted on the rollers  6 , by structuring so as to support the frame body of the main body base  5  supporting the shaft  6 A of the roller  6  by the rigid plate  4  from below. 
         [0045]    The structures of the first and second attachments  7  and  8  are not limited to the illustrated ones. It is not limited to the method of fitting the article support member  3  and the rigid plate  4  to the attachments  7  and  8 , but a method of screwing them to the attachments  7  and  8  may be employed. Further, the first and second attachments  7  and  8  and the rigid plate  4  are formed by a manufacturing method of extruding a heated aluminum alloy through a die metal mold, however, may be formed by a synthetic resin material. In the case of forming the attachments  7  and  8  and the rigid plate  4  by a synthetic resin, it is necessary to take a rigidity into consideration in such a manner as to prevent the distortion from being generated by the articles weight. In the present example, the first attachment  7  and the second attachment  8  which are installed to the article support member  3  and the rigid plate  4  are mounted to the shelf plate  2 , however, a magnet may be attached to the bottom surfaces of the fist attachment  7  and the second attachment  8  so as to be fixed to the shelf plate  2 , as well as the first attachment  7  and the second attachment  8  are fixed by a screw or the like. Further, the rigid plate  4  as used has a dimension or size approximately the same as the shelf plate  2 , however, in the case that it is used only in a predetermined area of the shelf plate  2 , a smaller shelf plate than the shelf plate  2  may be used. Same applies to the size or dimension of the article support member  3 . 
       DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
       [0046]      1 : article display rack,  2 : shelf plate,  3 : article support member,  4 : rigid plate,  5 : main body base,  6 : roller,  7 : first attachment,  8 : second attachment