Patent ID: 7690518

Claim:
A rack for displaying and first-in, first-out dispensing of a plurality of products of substantially identical configuration each having a bottom end configured for supporting the product in an upright orientation resting on the bottom end, comprising: a loading chute defining a loading aperture at a front side of the rack, the loading chute including a loading ramp extending rearwardly from the loading aperture to a rear end of the loading ramp, the loading chute being configured to receive the products one at a time, bottom end first, in a horizontal orientation with a front face of each product against the loading ramp; a dispensing chute defining a dispensing aperture at the front side of the rack, the dispensing chute including a dispensing ramp that extends forwardly and slopes downwardly from a rear end of the dispensing ramp to a front end thereof, the rear end of the dispensing ramp being laterally adjacent the rear end of the loading ramp; a cam extending between the rear ends of the loading and dispensing ramps, the cam comprising first and second cam portions that are generally separate and arranged sequentially such that a product sliding rearwardly along the loading ramp first encounters the first cam portion, the first cam portion sloping downwardly in a rearward direction at a substantially steeper angle than the rear end of the loading ramp so as to tilt a product sliding off the rear end of the loading ramp into an upright orientation with the front face of the product facing forward, the product next encountering the second cam portion, the second cam portion sloping downwardly in a lateral direction so as to move the upright product onto the rear end of the dispensing ramp with the front face still facing forward; and a stop positioned adjacent the dispensing aperture such that the upright product sliding down the dispensing ramp is stopped by the stop and is positioned to allow a consumer to withdraw the product from the dispensing aperture.