US 5,088,607 · Granted 1992-02-18
The Pull-Out Display Tray That Changed Retail Shelving
Imagine a store shelf where the entire display tray slides forward and backward smoothly, and items automatically get pushed toward you by a built-in pusher mechanism. This patent locks down the clever sliding system that lets store workers restock merchandise from the back while customers see a perfectly organized front display.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers the specific mechanical design of a pull-out tray system that sits inside a store fixture, including how the tray slides along side panels, how a pusher mechanism moves merchandise forward, and how dividers stay aligned in channels carved into the front panel. What's protected here is the integrated assembly of these sliding and guiding components working together as a coordinated unit.
Why it matters
This patent represents a practical innovation in retail merchandising design. By combining a sliding tray, an automatic pusher, and movable dividers in one integrated system, the fixture makes restocking faster and displays merchandise more attractively. For a company like Sara Lee, which sells packaged goods across thousands of retail locations, controlling this fixture design meant they could differentiate their in-store presentation and make their products easier for retailers to manage and customers to access.
Real-world use
Every time you reach into a convenience store shelf and notice that snack packages or beauty products slide smoothly toward you while older inventory stays in the back, you're using a fixture based on this sliding-tray principle.
Original USPTO abstract
An integrated modular store fixture system having a tray assembly for displaying merchandise. The tray assembly includes a tray support having front and side panels and a slidable tray in sliding engagement with the side panels to slide between a forward and rearward position. A pusher is provided to slide along the tray to press merchandise forwardly towards the front panel. A divider for separating the tray into compartments is provided with means for gliding along the width of a channel formed in a front member disposed the front panel. The front member includes an additional channel to receive a front stop.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,088,607
- Filing date
- 1990-03-12
- Grant date
- 1992-02-18
- Assignee
- Sara Lee Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- RISAFI; CHRIS, HOWARD; FRED
- CPC class
- A47F1/125
Want to file your own patent?
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