Product Dispensers This invention is concerned with dispensers for storing a supply of separate product packages and presenting the packages for removal by customers in a self-select retail environment in which customers collect items they wish to purchase and pay for the selected items at a so-called check-out station. In shops and stores which operate on a self-select basis, security can be a problem, and in particular small packages of consumable products having a relatively high sales value can be stolen with several packages of the same product being taken at the same time. It is known to present such packages to self-select customers in dispensers which are designed to enable removal of only one package at a time.

In our International Patent Application No. WO 00/10433, published on 2 March 2000, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, there is described a dispenser including a container for holding a substantially upright stack of horizontal packages, and a dispensing device, in particular a drawer member, for receiving a lowermost package from the stack contained within the container, the dispensing device being actuable by a customer to present the received package for removal from the dispenser. For full details of the dispenser reference should be made to the published specification No.

WO 0010433. This dispenser has been found in tests to be effective and reliable in achieving controlled dispensing of product packages. However, with certain forms of package circumstances can arise whereby the stacked packages have a tendency to become disorganised in the lower part of the container and the ability of the dispensing device to permit removal of the packages becomes interrupted. Some products are sold in packages having a backing card on the front of which a product holding compartment is formed.

Often the product compartment covers only part of the area of the backing card, and typically it may extend over only 40 to 60% of the height of the backing card from the lower edge. When packages of this form are arranged in a vertical stack, with each package having its backing card horizontal and lowermost, the packages directly support one another only in the region of their product compartments and significant spaces occur between the backing cards of successive packages in the stack in other areas. When packages are dispensed from the bottom of such a stack, conditions can arise which cause the packages towards the bottom of the stack to tip up and assume inclined positions in which they become jammed under the weight of the packages above. As a consequence removal of the lowermost package by displacement away from the stack in a horizontal direction is hindered.

The present invention addresses the problem explained above and as a solution it proposes a dispenser comprising a container for holding a stack of packages, a dispensing device for receiving a package from a lower end of the stack and operable for removing the received package from the dispenser, wherein opposed walls of the container are so arranged that over the majority of the height of the stack the packages are disposed in horizontally inclined orientations therebetween, and that as each package approaches the dispensing device at the lower end of the container the package adjusts to a substantially horizontal orientation..

By keeping the packages inclined until just before they reach the dispensing position at the lower end of the stack it has been found that any tendency for packages to tip and jam up in the bottom of the container can be eliminated. In a preferred dispenser the dispensing device is arranged to displace a package received thereby forwardly away from the lower end of the stack, and the front and rear walls of the container are spaced apart at such a distance that the packages in the upper part of the container are held in rearwardly upwardly inclined positions at 20 to 40° to the horizontal.

Preferably the rear wall is profiled so that it is downwardly rearwardly inclined at a bottom end portion of the container to increase the spacing between the front and rear walls in this region so that the packages can move to the horizontal position before or at the time of being received by the dispensing device.

In order that the dispenser can be used to dispense reliably packages of different sizes, it is preferred that the distance between the front and rear walls be variable, which is conveniently achieved by the position of at least one of the front and rear walls being selectively variable. In an especially convenient construction the rear and/or front wall is selectively engageable with any one of a plurality of slots formed in the side walls of the container. The width of the container between its side walls can be changed by mounting inserts of appropriate thickness on the insides of the side walls.

To assist a clear understanding of the invention is a more detailed description is given below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a schematic vertical cross-section through a dispenser according to the invention; Figure 2 is a detailed illustration of the profile of the rear wall slide rails; Figures 3A to 3D are a schematic plan views of a dispenser with a two compartment container, showing how it is adjusted for dispensing packages of different sizes; Figure 4 is a schematic vertical cross-section through a two compartment dispenser embodying the invention; and Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 4 showing a modified form of the dispenser.

Except as described below the dispenser shown in Figure 1 should be taken to be as described in International Application No. WO 00/10433, and especially with reference to Figures 1-16 of that application. Furthermore, the dispenser with two compartments illustrated in Figures 3A to 3D is essentially as described in the aforementioned application with reference to figures 28 to 35 thereof, with the exception of the modifications described below.

The dispenser shown in Figure 1 of the drawings of the present application includes a container 5 for receiving an upright stack of packages 2, and a dispensing device in the form of a sliding drawer 6 movable horizontally forwardly from the closed position in which it is illustrated in the drawing to an open position in which a package 2 received within an upwardly open recess 8 defined in the drawer is presented for removal, the drawer 6 having a pull handle 10 at the front for operating the drawer. The container has a front wall 501 and a rear wall 502. The rear wall 502 has forwardly projecting vertical ribs 504 which form slide rails for packages as they move downwardly as a result of packages being delivered from the dispenser. The front wall 501 may have similar ribs 505 (see Figure 3A) forming slide rails. The distance F separating the front and rear walls, in particular the surfaces of their slide rails 504,505 is arranged to be slightly shorter, preferably about 2 to 5mm shorter, than the length of the packages 2 to be dispensed. As a result the packages are unable to lie flat between the front and rear walls, at least in the upper part of the container, and the packages are constrained to adopt orientations in which they are inclined rearwardly and upwardly at an angle of about 30° to the horizontal. The packages are indicated to be of a type having a backing card 201 with a compartment 202 which houses the packaged product formed on the front of the backing card and extending over slightly less than half the length of the backing card. The stacked packages 2 are inclined in the dispenser container 5 with the product compartments lowermost, which the packages naturally favour due to the product weight.

The ribs 504 of the rear wall 502 are relieved at the bottom end of the container, and in particular they have rearwardly downwardly inclined portions 506 so that the distance between the front and rear walls increases at the bottom of the container enabling the first package in the container above that received in the recess 8 of the dispensing drawer 6 to fall to a horizontal position ready to drop into the drawer recess when the drawer has been emptied and is returned to the closed position. The profile of the rear wall rails 504 is shown in more detail in Figure 2 in which the rear wall is shown to slope forwardly again after the rearwardly sloping section 506, which is to encourage the packages to move to the front of the drawer recess 8.

By the packages 2 being constrained between the front and rear walls so that they are kept inclined until they reach the bottom of the container, any tendency for the packages to become disorganised and jam in the dispenser can be averted.

The dispenser can be adapted to suit packages of different sizes by the distance between the front and rear walls 501,502 being variable. Shown in figure 3A is a dispenser with a container 5 forming two compartments 510,512 for holding respective stacks of packages. Each compartment is confined by a front wall, a rear wall and opposite side walls. At a medial section the container side walls 514,516 are formed with a series of parallel grooves or slots 515. The rear wall 502 of the front compartment 510, and the front 501 wall of the rear compartment are selectively engageable in the slots 515 to vary the length F of the two compartments to suit the packages to be stacked therein and to be dispensed. As shown in Figure 3A, the two adjustable walls 501 and 502 are positioned so that packages 2A of a shortest length can be dispensed.

In figures 3B and 3C the position of the rear wall 502 of the front compartment 510 is changed to enable larger packages 2B and 2C respectively, to be dispensed whilst the rear compartment is intended to dispense the smallest packages 2A. In Figure 3D the rear wall 502 of the front compartment 510 is positioned for the largest length packages 2D to be dispensed, but as these packages are also narrower, inserts 525 are mounted on the compartment side walls. The inserts 525 are slidable into and out of engagement with the side walls which are equipped with retaining elements 526 of L-shaped cross- section for engaging lips provided on the side edges of the inserts 525. Similar elements 526 are provided at the sides of the rear compartment 512 for mounting inserts in this compartment if required.

Figure 4 illustrates a two compartment dispenser with a first dispensing drawer 106 for delivering product packages 2 from the front compartment 510, and a second dispensing drawer 106'for delivering product packages from the rear compartment 512. The construction and operation of the dispensing drawers 106,106'will be understood from the description of International Application No. WO 00/10433 which is appended hereto. In each of the compartments 510,512, the packages 2 stack in rearwardly and upwardly inclined positions, except at the bottom of the compartment where, on arrival, the packages are allowed to tip down to a horizontal orientation ready to drop into the top recess 8 of the dispensing drawer 106 or 106'. This inclined stacking followed by falling into a horizontal position is achieved by appropriate spacing between the front and rear walls 501,502 of the compartment 510,512 in relation to the length of the packages, as explained above in connection with Figures 1 and 2. In this embodiment the required spacing between the front and rear walls of each compartment 510,512 is obtained by fitting separately formed ribs 504 of appropriate depth to the fixed rear walls 502. Two spaced parallel ribs 504 are clipped onto each of the rear walls 502. As clearly shown in the drawings, the depth of each rib is reduced over a bottom end section 506 of the rib to allow the packs to fall to the horizontal position. Thus, when the dispenser is assembled it is customised to the sizes of the packages to be dispensed by fitting appropriate ribs 504 to the rear walls 502 of the two compartments 510,512. Figure 5 shows the same dispenser as that of Figure 4 but fitted with ribs 504 of greater depth to suit packages 2 which are of shorter length. Also, in this embodiment the packages 2 are thinner, and a spacer 530 is installed in the recess 8 of each dispensing drawer 106,106'to reduce the depth of the recess to suit the package thickness.

It will be understood that modifications to the described embodiments which have been given by way of non-limiting example only can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and such modifications will occur to readers skilled in the art. It is, therefore, intended that the invention should be limited only by the scope of claims which follow.