Adjustable Divider Lock Bar System for Merchandise Display Shelves
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing variety of packaged merchandise with different dimensions at points-of-purchase poses challenges for effective organization, display, and dispensing, as existing solutions fail to provide versatile and secure adjustment mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus featuring dividers with basal platforms and locking mechanisms that allow for secure positioning and adjustment along a display shelf, using a retainer plate and lock bar system to prevent inadvertent movement, enabling easy lateral and longitudinal adjustments to accommodate various merchandise dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If dividers are made adjustable to accommodate merchandise of different dimensions, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the locking mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The divider system transitions from a static fixed position to a dynamic adjustable position through the lock bar mechanism. The lock bar can slide between locked and unlocked positions, allowing the divider to be either securely fixed or freely adjustable, enabling adaptation to different merchandise dimensions while maintaining structural integrity when locked.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is segmented into distinct functional components: the retainer plate with locking features provides the locking interface, the lock bar provides the actuating mechanism, and the divider provides the structural element. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while simplifying the overall design and assembly.
2Reliability
If the locking mechanism is made secure to prevent inadvertent movement, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation decreases due to difficulty in adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The lock bar acts as an intermediary mechanism between the user's manual adjustment action and the divider's positional change. When the lock bar is in the unlocked position, it mediates by allowing free movement of the divider for adjustment. When engaged with the retainer plate, it mediates by preventing inadvertent movement while maintaining the ability to be deliberately repositioned.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is designed to be self-securing through the engagement of the lock bar with the retainer plate's locking features. Once the divider is positioned, the lock bar can be engaged to automatically secure the position without requiring additional fastening steps, and can be easily disengaged for repositioning, making the system self-sufficient for both locking and unlocking operations.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for displaying and dispensing merchandise at a point-of-purchase adjacent a display shelf secures at least one divider to a retainer plate affixed to the display shelf. An elongate lock bar extends beneath the divider, along a predominant portion of the length of the divider, and is coupled with the divider for unbiased sliding movement to selectively engage or disengage teeth carried by the lock bar and complementary teeth placed on the retainer plate to secure the divider in a selected location along the retainer plate or release the divider for movement to another selected location.