US2112498A - Display and delivery cabinet - Google Patents

Description

March 29, 1938. w, w LAX 2,112,498

DISPLAY AND DELIVERY CABINET Filed Dec. 30, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l IIEIIII "T W IIIIIIIII W 3'7 j:::;2:ft:: ,l 140 125 8 2 I 53 9 2.9 o I: I if; i a

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DISPLAY AND DELIVERY CABINET Filed Dec. 50, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 14/ W LA X. awn m? Patented 29, 1938 PATENT OFFICE 2,112,498 DISPLAY DELIVERY CABINET William Wilson Lax, Lougliborough, England Application December 30, 1935, Serial Natam In Great Britain March 5, 1925 g 1 (Jlaim.

This invention is for a display and delivery cabinet, particularly for bottles and other articles (e. g. packeted foods or containers), such as is suitable for shop counters and the like.

According to a feature of this invention the cabinet is of box-like nature and has partitions (a term which is employed herein to include both horizontal partitions, such as shelves, and vertical partitions, such as dividing walls) therein dividing it into a plurality of magazines each with an open mouth, and means connecting said partitions together permitting of their location in any selected one of a plurality of relative positions to vary the size, shape or number of the magazines.

In order that the invention may be better understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet, illustrating the manner in which the size and number of the compartments is adjustable by adding walls and partitions.

Figure 2 is a broken perspective view of a cabinet illustrating its construction, while Figure 3 is a perspective ,view of an adjustable shelf, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of an adjustable partition that may be employed in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the construction illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the cabinet is of box-like nature, and is subdivided by vertical and horizontal partitions into magazines of any predetermined number and size. In particular there are vertical side walls 25 and horizontal top and bottom walls 26 and 21. The space thus enclosed between said walls and the vertical rear wall is divided by means of horizontal partitions or shelves 28 and vertical partitions 29 into a plurality of magazines I2. The shelves 28 and the top and bottom walls 25 and 21 are removably and adjustably fitted in relation to the side walls 25 by the detachable and selected engagement of parts of said shelves and top and bottom walls with slots, recesses, or perforations, provided at intervals in the vertical faces of the side walls. Not only may the size of the cabinet and the number and size of the magazines therein be adjusted by the selective interconnection of the parts mentioned, but other magazines may be built onto it. To illustrate this, additional side walls I25 are shown, connected to the side walls 25 by horizontal shelves I28. The said additional side walls I25, may be interchangeable with the walls 25- (which latter may thus be regarded as vertical interior partitions) or they may be of different height and/0r width. Moreover, the walls 25 and I25 may be constituted by sections fitted edge to edge and held in that relationship by suitable means such as the cover plates 31 hereinafter mentioned; in Figure 2 joints between the wall sections are indicated by way of example at 39,

In the construction illustrated, the side walls 25 and I25 (or major partitions) are provided, desirably both at their inner and outer faces, with parallel dove-tailed grooves 30 which extend horizontally from front to rear, and the side edges of the shelves 28 and I28 and the top and bottom walls 25 and 21 are of dove-tail within the. said grooves. Therefore the said top and bottom walls and the shelves maybe slid into position at varying heights on the side walls 25 and I25. Each shelf 28 and the top and bottom walls 26 and 21 also are advantageously provided along their length i. e. from one side wall to the other, with a series of parallel tooth-like projections 32 both on the upper and the underside thereof, thereby providing a series of parallel slots or grooves 33 within which the vertical partitions 29 may be adjustably and removably fitted. As will be noticed, the top edge of a partition 29 fits slidably within one of the slots or grooves 33 in the underside of one shelf 28 or of the top wall 25, while the bottom edge of said partition 29 is similarly accommodated within one of the slots or grooves in the upper side of a lower shelf 28 or of the bottom wall 21 of the cabinet.

The back plate I8 is attached either by screwing it to the back of the upstanding walls or by sliding it into vertical grooves at the rear of the said walls. Similarly other plates 31, are provided to cover the outer faces of the side walls, top wall etc., and when these plates are attached by screws or the dovetails they hold the various sections of the walls in position. A cabinet is thereby provided having a plurality of magazines I2 or compartments open at the front for the display of articles contained in the said compartments; and by virtue of the fact that the shelves 28 and the partitions 29 are removably and adjustably fitted, the number,capacity and shape of the magazines can be varied as required to suit the type of article to be accom-.

modated and displayed. In Figure 3 the shelf consists of two parts 28a and 28b provided with mutually intermeshing fingers 40, the fingers on the one part being slidable in and out between the fingers on the other part soas to contract and expand the shelf. 'Ihe side edges 406 of the fingers 4| may be tongued and grooved as shown or they may be of any suitable shape to permit of slidable engagement. This shelf is adapted to be slid into grooves in side walls or other vertical partitions, and for this purpose the side edges ii of the shelf may be of dovetail shape as shown and it may have its upper and lower surfaces grooved, to accommodate vertical partitions. The extensible partition shown in Figure 4 comprises a male part 29a slidable between guides 4| on a female part no and having a keyed engagement therewith, the edges of the male part being received in grooves in the inner edges of the guides 4i. Thus by drawing out the part 200 the length of the partition from back to front may be increased, and its effective height may be varied by means of slides 42 movable in recesses 43 formed in or through the partitioi.

The said partition is provided top and bottom with tongues 4i to fit in the grooves 33 in the shelves. Means such as clamping screws or pegs [indicated at 48) may be provided for securing the slides 42 in thedesired extended position,

In order that the articles shall not be forced straight out from the front of the cabinet a stop bar or strip is fixed detachably or otherwise over the front edge or face of each shelf, as is indicated at 34 in Figure 2. This bar, therefore, may hide from view the slots "in the shelf and may also project up-to a sufiicient height from the shelf to hold the articles in position. The stop bars may be secured at each end by screws screwed into tapped holes 35 formed at intervals in the front edge or face of each side wall 25. Alternatively the stop bars may be detachably dropped or fitted in position by pin and slot connections or by forming grooves in the side walls into which parts or elements on the stop bars canbe fitted. Desirably shielding strips I are provided for attachment to the front edges of the side walls (eg. between the stop bars) to conceal the ends of the slots.

Where the cabinet is to be employed for comparatively heavy goods or articles the shelves may be fitted with rollers or balls on which said articles may run so as to assist in conveying same to the front of the compartments.

'lhe cabinet may be fitted on an ornamental or other base or pedestal. and a plain or ornamental cover can also he detachably or otherwise fixed at the top.

By providing upstanding walls, grooved or slotted on both vertical faces. it will be appreciatedthat the cabinet can be readily built up or extended.

'Ihe front face of the cabinet may be vertical vor same may he oblique or inclined rearwardly from bottom to top so that a portion of the foremost article displayed in each magazine may project forwardly beyond the front of the cabinet for facilitating its removal by hand. Where the cabinet is provided with an inclined or oblique front, shelves of different depth, 1. e. different dimensions from front to rear, will be provided according to the position at which said shelves are located in the cabinet. 1

AsisindicatedinFlgure2,insteadofthe whole front of the compartment being arranged in one oblique plane, it may be arranged in several oblique planes to provide a more ornamentaleii'ect. Inthisfigureitwillbeseenthat notonlydothemagaxlnesdiiferintheirvertical dimension, but also that a pluralityof magazines have display openings in each oblique plane." I

In some'cases, particularly where a more elaborate cabinet is required, means may-be provided for automatically counting the articles con-. tained in each compartmentso that the number of articles in each compartment can beimmediately ascertained. This may be accomplished by providing a member moving in unison with the spring-pressed plunger or the like ofeach compartment and operating by rack and pinion or equivalent device an indicator at the front of the cabinet so as to bring a different number into I view each time an article is removed.

. tally, I herein term shelves; while those elements that are disposed vertically I term partitions. These terms are used for easy designation rather than for description either of construction or location of parts, it being recognized that all the interior compartment-forming elements are partitions.

It will be seen by reference to Figures 2, 3, 6 and 8, that the front edges 55 of the partitions which are employed in the formation of such compartments as are located back of inclined portions of the face of the cabinet are correspondingly inclined with such cabinet face so that when said partitions are adjusted to suit the depth of the cabinet the said inclined edges 55 of the partitions may be brought into the planes of the in-' clined parts of the front of the cabinet, thus insuring that the open ends of the compartments shall properly expose the articles to permit their easy removal as has been pointed out. Those faces of the extensible shelves and partitions, such as represented in Figures 8, 7 and 8, which when properly set into the cabinet constitute the walls of the article-compartments are each in a common plane throughout with the result that there are no obstructing projections in the compartments with which the articles might engage as they are being placed in or removed from the cabinet, and to designate this feature I refer to the faces of said extensible shelves and partitions as being smooth.

I claim:

A cabinet of box-like form, the front face .of which is open and which varies in depth from front to back at difierent distances from the base, extensible partitions for sub-dividing the cabinet into compartments of varying depth from front to back, which partitions are provided with movable slides whereby the effective height of the said partitions may be varied, and means for locating and supporting the partitions to vary the dimensions of the compartments, the extensibility of the partitions permitting them to be adjusted to effect depth from front to back in accordance with the depth of the cabinet in the places where the partitions are respectively located and with the front edges of said partitions flush with the open front of the cabinet.

WILLIAM WILSON LAX.

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