US20090301980A1

US20090301980A1 - Storing System

Info

Publication number: US20090301980A1
Application number: US12/440,029
Authority: US
Inventors: Rolf Dieter Hans-Jochen Bürger
Original assignee: Conopco Inc
Current assignee: Conopco Inc
Priority date: 2006-09-08
Filing date: 2007-08-02
Publication date: 2009-12-10
Also published as: EP2059454A1; CA2661961A1; WO2008028732A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a storing system and/or a display system for shelving objects with round or tapered top, the use of these articles as well as the production of such articles.

Description

The present invention relates to a storing system and/or a display system for shelving objects with a round or tapered top.
Under the term objects with a round or tapered top in the sense of this invention fall any kind of objects, which don't have a plateau on top, but a peak, dome or edge. Examples for such objects are cylindrical, spherical, egg-like, pyramidal, cone-shaped or three-cornered column-like objects, which don't have a plateau on top, but a peak, dome or edge. Under the term objects with a round or tapered top in the sense of this invention also fall any kind of cylindrical, spherical or egg-like objects, which are cut so that the bottom side is flat or touches the ground at least three touchpoints.
It is clear that some geometrical forms do not have a bottom and a top (like for example a sphere) or it cannot be detected what is the bottom or the top (like an ellipsoid) or that objects have also next to their round or tapered tops flat surfaces as well (like a cream container, where the basic geometrical form is a circular cylinder which has flat surfaces at footprint and top surface of cylinder and an arching surface at the cylinder barrel; if this cylinder-like and disk-like cream container is placed onto the arched surface, it has a round top, a round bottom and flat sides). For reason of simplicity in the sense of the present invention we define that the bottom of the object to be stored is the point or surface on which it is put.
For example, disk-like objects, like cream containers, are not easy to display in a shop, when the front side (top cover) of the object should be visible for a potential buyer. Other than cuboid shaped objects, which can be easily piled in a shelf without any kind of specially designed piling system, disk-like objects need a rack system.
For practical reasons such objects should be stored the same way as they will be displayed in the shop. Otherwise the staff has to reorganize the objects which is time consuming.
Nowadays the big department stores have a lot of products to display and therefore they are not willing to give more space than necessary to a single product. Because of the specific shapes of the objects with round or tapered top it is also quite difficult to pile such objects in a single row. Such a single row and multilayer arrangement is very unstable.
Therefore the goal of the present invention was to provide an embodiment, which allows to store and to display objects with round or tapered top in single row and multilayer arrangement. For the purpose of the present invention the only difference between storing and displaying (or storing system and display system) is the location where the system is used. When it is used in a showroom usually the term “displaying” is appropriate and when the system is used in a location where no potential customers have access the term “storing” is appropriate.
Furthermore that storing system should be easy to produce by using conventional methods.
Furthermore the storing system should be producible in any material, which is desired. Such material can be plastic, wood, metal, glass, foamed polystyrenes, etc.
The invention of the present European Patent Application relates to a storing system (S) for objects with round or tapered tops, which is a body which has two indentations (I) and (I′) on opposite sides, wherein

- (I) the indentations (I) and (I′) are covering the whole length of the side and
- (II) the indentation (I) is shaped to receive the top of the objects with round or tapered tops and
- (III) the indentation (I′) is shaped to receive the bottom of the object with round or tapered top and
- (IV) the addition of the height (h) of the indentation (I) and the height (h′) of the indentation (I′) is at least the height of the objects with round or tapered tops which are to be stored.

The body according to the present invention is used for storing objects with round or tapered tops. For that purpose the objects are filled in the indentation (I′) in such a way that the round or tapered top is facing upwards. Then the next body according to the present invention is piled on top. The hollow space created by the piling of two bodies according to the invention is able to receive the objects which need to be stored and/or displayed.
The body can have any kind of shape. A very usual shape, which is also a preferred form, is cuboid. Cuboid is very common and preferred, because it is a good shape for putting on a shelf in a super market. A cuboid body is also easy to produce and the filling is quiet efficient. The body can also have other shapes than a cuboid. The body can for example have a round form. For any form the body has the important criteria are that the height of the hollow space created by the piling of two bodies is at least the height of the objects which need to be stored. The combined height could be larger and the stability is still given. But the preferred embodiment of the present invention is that the addition of the height (h′) of the indentation (I′), which receives the bottom of the objects with round or tapered tops and the height (h) of the of the indentation (I), which receives the top of the object with round or tapered top, is exactly the height of the object. Such a body, which is able to create the exact space which is necessary for the storing of the objects with round or tapered tops is preferred.
The body can also be ornamented. Such a body can have any kind of shape.
The form of the indentation (I′) can be hollowed in any form. It can be for example cylindrical, concave, rectangular, round or tapered.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to a storing system (S), wherein the form the indentation (I′) is shaped to receive round or tapered shapes.
The objects which are to be stored can also have a round or tapered bottom. Such objects can be balls, cream containers, eggs, etc.
In a preferred embodiment, the indentation (I) and the indentation (I′) are identical.
Preferably, the indentation (I) as well as the indentation (I′) do not cover the whole width of the side. Therefore edges are created which are arranged lengthwise the indentation (I) and the indentation (I′). These edges are defined as (B), (B′), (B″) and (B″′). These edges are useful for a better stability of the embodiment of the present invention when it is piled. When the embodiments are piled, these edges serve as stands for the upper layer (next body). The dimensions of these edges can vary. The width of such an edge (lengthwise) can go from millimetres to centimetres depending how big the objects are which need to be stored.
The longitudinal edges B, B′, B″ and B′″ are part of the sidewall of the body according to the present invention.
Furthermore the body according to present invention can comprise walls closing the embodiment at one width or both widths of the indentations. These walls are defined as G, G′, G″ and G′″. The maximal amount of these walls is 4 (4 ends of the indentations). When one width is closed by a wall consisting of several pieces it is still defined as one wall in the sense of the present invention. G and G′ are the wall of the indentation (I), where as G″ and G′″ form the wall of the indentation (I′).
These walls prevent that the objects to be stored can drop out of the body. These walls can be attached to the body the walls, during or after the production of the body. It can be made out of same material or a different material. It can be fixed using conventional means. The wall can also be created during the indentation process. The walls usually close the ends of the body. The walls can have the same height than the indentation. But they could also be lower than the indentations.
It is also possible to have walls which do not cover the whole width of the indentation, so that the wall only covers a part of the width. The goal of such a wall is that the objects do not drop out of the storage system. A further feature of such walls is that when they have a suitable thickness and when they have the same height as the indentations, then they can be used as stands for the body which is piled onto that body. In such a case the walls can be in addition to the edges which are arranged lengthwise as well as a substitution for these edges. The wall can have gaps or only cover a part of the widths. The position of the part(s) can vary.
The height of the walls can vary as well. Furthermore, it is possible to produce bodies with different arrangement of walls, depending for what purpose the storage units are used.
Therefore the present invention also relates to a body as described above, which also comprise walls closing the embodiment at one width or both widths of the indentations.
A body according to the present invention may also comprise edges B, B′, B′ and B′″ as well as wall units G, G′, G″ and/or G″′.
The indentations (I) and (I′) of a body according to the present invention may be close together, so that the embodiment has the minimal height.
But, it also possible that there is a distance between the two opposite indentations.
A preferred way to produce such walls is that due to the method of production. In such a case the walls are preferably made out of the same material as the rest of the body and preferably the walls and the rest of the body are one single unit. Such a method of production can be any kind of conventional methods, for example founding, molding, drilling, etc.
But the walls can also be attached to the body in a separate step of production. They can be fixed by any kind of common means, such as welding, glueing, screwing, etc. The wall can then be made out of the same material as the body or out of a different one. Additionally, every wall can be made out of a different material.
The storage system (S) can be used for any kind of objects. The working principle of the embodiment of the present invention is not dependent on the size of objects to be stored.
The dimension of the embodiment of the present invention depends on the size of the objects, which need to be stored and/or displayed.
It can be used to store little objects with round or tapered tops like little round or spherical or triangle-shaped cheeses, cream containers, sweets containers, balls or eggs.
But it could also be used to store bigger objects with round or tapered tops, such as footballs or even tires.
The dimension is also depending on how many of these objects need to be stored in a row and where it will be stored (on a counter, on a shelf, in a huge warehouse, etc). For example the length of the embodiment can go from a few centimetres up to a few meters. In case that the embodiment of the present invention is used for cream containers the length is usually between 10 cm and 50 cm.
The indentations, wherein the objects are put, can also comprise kind of compartments in the size of the object which needs to be stored. Such embodiments are shown in the FIGS. 10 and 11. The function of these compartments lies therein that especially the objects in the top layer have a good stability in the sense that they do not fall forward or backwards. The presence or the absence of these compartments does not have an influence in the stability of the piling.
When the objects with a round or tapered top are cream containers then these compartments have the thickness of the cream container so when container are standing in the half shell they do not fall backwards or forwards, even if only one container is left in the top layer.
Therefore a further preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to a storing system (S) as disclosed above, wherein the indentation (I′), comprises compartments (F) in the size of the object which needs to be stored.
All preferences already described above also apply for this embodiment.
The embodiment of the invention is used in that way that the objects with round or tapered top are filled into the indentation (I′) and the next body is put on top of the objects using the indentation (I). This procedure can be repeated many times. In that way these objects with round or tapered top can be piled up easily and safely. The stability results therefrom that either the edges which are arranged lengthwise and/or that the walls covering the width of the indentations of one body are put on the edges and/or walls of another body when piled up.
Such a multilayered arrangement of objects with round or tapered top in single row is achieved by the embodiment of the present invention.
Therefore a further embodiment of the present invention relates to the use of the storing system (S) as described above, wherein the objects with round or tapered top are put into the indentation (I′) and a further body is used to cover the tops of the objects with the indentation (I).
This procedure can be repeated as many times as wanted.
To achieve the best stability of the single row and multilayer arrangement, the height of hollow space between two embodiments in the folded state must be at least as large as the object with round or tapered top, which needs to be stored.
Therefore, the height of the hollow space [(h)+(h′)] created by the piling two bodies according to the present invention must be at least the height of the objects to be stored. It can be that the hollow space is larger than the object to be stored.
It is possible that the hollow space is created equally by the indentation (I) from one body and by the indentation (I′) of a second body piled on each other.
The height of hollow space could be larger, but because of economical reason (storage room, material cost) it is useful and preferred to create an embodiment, which allows to create the desired exact height of the hollow space.
Furthermore, it is preferred that the shape of the hollow space (created by the piling of two bodies according to the present invention) in which the object with the round or tapered top are put in has the same shape as the bottom of objects with round or tapered top. Preferably the bottom unit (indentation (I′) covers 50% of the object to be stored. The term “50% of the object” in the sense of this application is defined that 50% of the height of the object which needs to be stored is received by the indentation (I) and the other 50% are received by the indentation (I′).
The body according to present invention can be made out of various materials. One single body can be made out of several materials.
Preferred are materials, which are used for conventional storage or display racks, such as polymeric materials (such as polystyrenes, polyethylenes, polyproyplenes, etc), wood, glass metal, etc.
Such materials, in case they are directly used in a display of a department store should be a light material so that the racks can be placed anywhere in the shelves.
The embodiment of the present invention can have any look. The material from which the embodiments are made from can be transparent, translucent or opaque (non-transparent). It can have any colour or pattern.
In case that the rack is used for displaying and selling products in a department store the material is preferred to be transparent so that the customer can see the product easily and as well as the staff of the shop can see the number of product remaining in the display.
The production of the embodiment of the present invention can be done according to known processes. The preferred used process should be able to produce thin-wall embodiments, because of economical reasons. Such methods can be vacuum forming (thermoforming), thin-wall injection moulding, drilling, founding, carving, etc.
Therefore a further embodiment of the present invention is the process of production of storing systems (S) as described above by using the vacuum forming (thermoforming), thin-wall injection moulding, drilling, founding or carving methods.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: shows a cross section of an embodiment according to the present invention, wherein

- B, B′, B″ and B′″ are the edges (arranged longitudinal) on which the embodiments are piled onto each other;
- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment; and
- h and h′ are the height of the indentations.

FIG. 2: shows a cross section of two embodiments according to the present invention, which are piled on each other and which are filled with disk-like objects,

- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment.

FIG. 2 a: shows the longitudinal section of the piled embodiments according to the present invention. Stored are disk-like objects.
FIG. 3: shows a front view of an embodiment wherein a front wall serves as widthwise arranged edge. Depending on the material of the storage system only the objects of the top level can be seen partially,

- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment.

FIG. 4: shows a front view of an embodiment wherein a front wall serves as widthwise arranged edge and wherein no longitudinal edges are present. Depending on the material of the storage system only the objects of the top level can be seen partially,

- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment.

FIG. 5: shows the top view of an embodiment according to the present invention.

- B″ and B′″ are the edges (arranged longitudinal) of the embodiments;
- I′ is the indentation.

FIG. 6: shows the top view of an embodiment according to the present invention;

- B″ and B′″ are the edges (arranged longitudinal) of the embodiments;
- I′ is the indentation;
- G″ and G′″ are the edges (arranged widthwise) on which the embodiments are piled onto each other.

FIG. 7: shows the top view of an embodiment according to the present invention, wherein only edges G″ and G′″ (arranged widthwise) are present which the embodiments are piled onto each other,

- I′ is the indentation.

FIG. 8: shows a cross section an embodiment according to the present invention, wherein the front walls G and G″ are not covering the full width of the embodiment,

- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment.

FIG. 9: shows a cross section an embodiment according to the present invention, wherein the front walls G and G″ are not covering the full width of the embodiment,

- B, B′, B″ and B′″ are the edges (arranged longitudinal) of the embodiments;
- I and I′ are indentations of the embodiment.

FIG. 10: shows the top view of an embodiment according to the present invention comprising several compartments F in the half indentation I′

- G″ and G′″ are the front walls,
- B″ and B′″ are the edges (arranged longitudinal) of the embodiment.

FIG. 11: shows the longitudinal section of an embodiment according to the present invention comprising several compartments F.

Claims

1. Storing system (S) for objects with round or tapered tops, which is a body which has two indentations (I) and (I′) on opposite sides, wherein

(I) the indentations (I) and (I′) are covering the whole length of the side and

(II) the indentation (I) is shaped to receive the top of the objects with round or tapered tops and

(III) the indentation (I′) is shaped to receive the bottom of the object with round or tapered top and

(IV) the addition of the height (h) of the indentation (I) and the height (h′) of the indentation (I′) is at least the height of the objects with round or tapered tops which are to be stored.

2. A storing system according to claim 1, wherein the body is cuboid.

3. A storing system according to claim 1, wherein the indentation (I′) is cylindrical, concave, rectangular, round or tapered.

4. A storing system according to claim 1, wherein the indentation (I′) is shaped to receive round or tapered shapes.

5. A storing system according to claim 1 wherein the indentation (I) and the indentation (I′) are identical.

6. A storing system according to claim 1, wherein the body comprises longitudinal edges B, B′, B″ and B″′

7. A storing system according to claim 1, comprising walls G, G′, G″ and/or G″′ closing the embodiment at one width or both widths of the indentations (I) and or indentation (I′).

8. A storing system according to claim 1, which is transparent, semi-transparent and/or non-transparent.

9. A storing system according to claim 1, comprising compartments (F).

10. A storing system according to claim 1, wherein the indentation (I) covers 50% of the object to be stored and 50% are received by the indentation (I′).

11. A storing system according to claim 1, made out of polymeric materials (such as polystyrenes, polyethylenes, polyproyplenes, etc), wood, glass and/or metal.

12. Use of the storing system according to claim 1 for objects with round or tapered tops in a single row and multilayer arrangement.

13. Process of production of storing system according to claim 1 by vacuum forming (thermoforming), thin-wall injection moulding, drilling, founding or carving methods.