AU709439B3 - Kiosk for presenting for sale various articles such as newspapers - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2(2)

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT Invention Title: KIOSK FOR PRESENTING FOR SALE VARIOUS ARTICLES SUCH AS NEWSPAPERS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to :-us 1 The subject of the present invention is a kiosk, particularly a kiosk intended for installation on the public highway for presenting for sale various articles such as newspapers.

Particularly in large towns and cities, there are frequently kiosks for selling newspapers on the pavements along the roadside or in pedestrian areas.

One of the faces of the kiosk forms a sales surface area, the inside of the kiosk being equipped with display units supporting the various articles to be sold, whilst the three side faces of the -kiosk, other than the front face, are equipped, on their outside, with posters which include various types of information and/or advertising.

The face of the kiosk which forms a sales surface area is generally closed by means of a two-leaf door, each leaf closing up substantially half the face.

Display units are provided on each inner face of the leaves with a view to increasing the surface area for presenting the articles which are offered for sale.

Display units are also present along the face which forms the sales surface area. In this way, when the door is closed, the display units placed on the leaves are opposite the display units located in the kiosk.

The technical problem which arises is one of space. Firstly, the rent paid by the kiosk manager depends on the surface area the kiosk occupies on the ground when it is closed. Next, the manager will wish to take advantage of the greatest possible sales surface area. This sales surface area is calculated in linear metres of shelves when newspapers are on sale.

It is therefore a matter of optimizing the volume of a kiosk for presenting for sale various articles, for example newspapers.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a kiosk which, whilst having a relatively small surface area on the ground when the kiosk is closed, makes it possible to offer a large sales surface area 2 which corresponds to the sales surface area of a kiosk of larger size.

To this end, the kiosk it proposes is a kiosk, for presenting for sale various articles such as newspapers, which includes a sales face along which display units are provided and which is equipped with closure means.

According to the invention, the display units arranged along the sales face are arranged on a sliding platform which is able to move substantially perpendicularly to the sales face.

In this way, it is possible to pull the display units towards the outside of the kiosk when the kiosk is open. Space is therefore made behind the display units, thus allowing a person, particularly a person responsible for selling the articles displayed in the kiosk, to have sufficient room to carry on his activity in comfort. When closing up, the display units may be pushed back inside the kiosk, thereby reducing the space behind the display units which is generally unoccupied when the kiosk is closed.

Obviously, this makes it possible to gain substantial space such that, for one and the same surface area on the ground in the closed position, the sales surface area is substantially greater when compared with kiosks of the prior art.

The closure means of the kiosk may, for example, consist of a metal roller shutter. The kiosk according to the invention is, however, well adapted to a kiosk in which the closure means consist of a door, preferably a door with two leaves, each leaf being provided in order to accommodate a display unit on its inner face. It is thus possible substantially to increase the sales surface area by using the door leaves.

The sliding platform is advantageously equipped with castors guided by a fixed rail. In a preferred embodiment, the platform comprises two rows of castors and the kiosk comprises two parellel guide rails, and 3 the guide rails have a U-shaped cross section, the castors moving between the two branches of the U. This device allows movement without too much friction so that it is possible to move the platform manually. A motor, for example an electric motor, could, of course, be provided in order to carry out the movement. A pinion may, in that case, be mounted at the end of the output shaft of a motor with a view to interacting with a rack in order to allow movement.

If the kiosk is equipped with a door, the movable display units advantageously move between a sales position, in which their outer face is located at the level of the door of the kiosk, and a stored position inside the kiosk. In this way, when the display units are mounted on the inner face of the doors, these can easily be accommodated in front of the movable display units when the kiosk is closed.

In this latter case, it is advantageous for at least one door leaf to be equipped with a newspaper display unit which includes shelving for receiving newspapers in such a way that the front page of the newspapers rests against one of the shelves, this shelving having a tilt which varies according to the height at which it is located and which is substantially tangential to a concave cylindrical surface, for example a cylindrical surface of parabolic cross section.

In an advantageous embodiment, one of the movable display units is also mounted pivotably about a substantially vertical shaft located at the level of an adjacent display unit. In such a case, the pivoting display unit preferably includes an arm connecting the display unit to its pivoting shaft, the arm being shaped so as to .form at least one shelf which is able to receive articles and is incorporated into the adjacent display unit. In order to facilitate the construction of such display units, the shelf or shelves of the arm advantageously forms or form the lower shelf or shelves of the adjacent display unit.

4 Having a pivoting display unit with an offset pivoting shaft makes it possible, by pivoting the display unit, to create an opening which is large enough to allow a person to pass through, with a relatively small angle of rotation about the pivot.

This device enables the person usually located behind the display units of a kiosk to leave his kiosk easily in order to serve or to give information to a customer, whilst remaining close to his merchandise.

In a preferred embodiment, the sales face of the kiosk includes three display units, the central display unit being mounted pivotably and the two others being fixed relative to the platform.

In any case, the invention will be clearly understood with the aid of the following description, with reference to the appended diagrammatic drawing which represents, by way of non-limiting example, a preferred embodiment of a kiosk according to the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a kiosk according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a top view in section of the kiosk of the preceding figure.

Figure 3 is a front view of this same kiosk, and Figure 4 is a detailed view on an enlarged scale and in vertical section along the sectional line IV-IV of Figure 2.

The kiosk shown in the drawing comprises a substantially parallelepipedal structure, which is known per se, which defines two side faces 2, a rear face 4 and a front sales face 6. A door which includes two leaves 8, which each pivot about a vertical shaft at their outer edges, enables the kiosk to be closed up. Each leaf is mounted on a vertical post 10 which forms part of a framework which also includes a base 12 consisting of a series of sections which are welded to one another and an upper structure which is connected 5 to the base by means of vertical posts, including the two posts 10 mentioned above.

A floor 14 is laid on the base 12. A sliding platform 16 is located at the level of the front face 6 just above the floor 14. This platform 16 carries three display units, a central, pivoting display unit 18 which will be described in greater detail below and two side display units 20 and 22.

The platform 16 is equipped with two rows of three castors 24. Each castor 24 is mounted at the end of an arm 26. The latter is fixed, by welding or with the aid of screws, for example, on a girder 28 which forms part of a set of girders which form the structure of the platform 16. All the castors 24 in one and the same row are arranged in a U-profile girder 30, between the two branches of the U. These U-shaped girders form part of the base 12 and are arranged parallel to the direction of movement of the platform 16, i.e.

substantially perpendicularly to the front face 6.

Stops, which are not shown in the drawing, are provided at the level of the U-shaped girders 30 so that the platform 16 is able to move between a first position, represented in solid lines in Figure 2 and in which the front face of the display units 18,20,22 is located substantially between the two posts 10 carrying the leaves 8, and a second position represented in broken lines in this same Figure 2 and in which the display units 18,20,22 are set back inside the kiosk.

As already indicated above, three display units 18,20,22 intended for receiving newspapers are located on this platform 16. The central display unit 18 is mounted pivotably on the platform 16. The pivoting shaft 32 of this display unit 18 is located at the level of the adjacent display unit 20. It is mounted in a conventional manner on two journals with the aid of two ball bearings, as shown in Figure 4.

An arm 34 connects the display unit 18 to its pivoting shaft 32. It has a square, tubular cross section and is fashioned so that it has the same 6 appearance as the display unit 20. It also forms the lower shelf of this display unit 20. Thus, when the central display unit 18 pivots, the lower shelf of the display unit 20 and thus, also, any newspapers placed on it pivot as well.

The advantage of this pivoting display unit is that it enables the person located in the kiosk to leave it easily in order to assist or advise his customers, without leaving his merchandise. The fact that the pivoting shaft is separate from the pivoting display unit makes it possible, with a relatively small angle of rotation, to obtain an opening which is large enough to allow a person to pass through. The separation of the pivoting shaft 32 from the display unit 18 also makes it possible to have a pivoting display unit 18 which occupies practically all the free space between the two adjacent display units 20,22: the closer the pivoting shaft is to the display unit, the more its width has to be reduced so as not to collide with the adjacent display units during pivoting. The separation of the pivoting shaft therefore makes it possible, for one and the same amount of space, to increase the sales surface area.

Each leaf 8 of the door which is intended for closing up the kiosk is equipped with a parabolic display unit 36. This type of display unit includes shelving intended for receiving newspapers, the front page of the newspaper resting against one of the shelves, and it is more or less tilted so that the shelves are substantially tangential to a cylindricalsurface of parabolic cross section. The face of a shelf intended to receive the front page of the newspapers is located on the concave side of the surface and is completely visible to a person standing in front of the display unit. At the bottom, the display unit has a few horizontal shelves to enable magazines and newspapers to be laid flat.

A display unit of this type has the advantage of enabling more newspapers to be presented on a door 7 leaf and the customer can see the magazines and newspapers much better than on a conventional display unit in which the magazines and the like are either horizontal or substantially vertical.

The fact that the display units 18,20,22 of the front face 6 of the kiosk are mounted on a sliding platform 16 allows significant space to be gained. By virtue of this platform, the person involved in selling newspapers and the like has as much space behind the display units 18,20,22 inside the kiosk as in a kiosk of the prior art. However, when the kiosk is closed up, the display units move back into the kiosk, leaving little room behind the display units 18,20,22.

This movement of the platform allows a very sutstantial gain in space and may be used to advantage in various ways.

Firstly, this sliding platform fitted to a kiosk of the prior art makes it possible to reduce the ground surface area in the closed position whilst presenting the same sales surface area when the kiosk is open. The use of the inner volume of the kiosk when it is closed is optimized.

Next, it allows the use of parabolic display units on the door leaves of the kiosk without the ground surface area when the kiosk is closed having to be increased. The use of these parabolic display units is advantageous because it affords the customer better comfort but also makes it possible to increase, in a given volume, the length of shelving available for presenting newspapers or the like.

In both cases, the gain in sales surface area relative to the volume of the kiosk is substantial.

This volume is thus much better utilized.

It goes .without saying that the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in the drawing and described above by way of non-limiting example. On the contrary, it encompasses all variants thereof.

Thus, for example, the platform could be guided differently. The castors could be integral with the 8 base of the kiosk and the guide rails would then be placed on the platform. Other types of guiding known to the person skilled in the art may be used in this case (rollers, rails, etc.). It is, of course, possible to envisage motorizing the movement of the platform by using, for example, an electric motor which has an output shaft equipped with a toothed wheel acting on a rack. The motor could, for example, be fixed and the rack be integral with the sliding platform, or vice versa.

The presence of parabolic display units is not compulsory. All types of display unit may be used without departing from the scope of the invention, even display units intended for presenting goods other than newspapers or the like.

The movement of the platform described here is such that the display units always remain entirely inside the kiosk. It is perfectly possible to envisage having display units which emerge outside the kiosk.

This may be particularly useful when provision is made for opening the leaves not by 900 as shown in the drawing but by a greater amount, for example 135 or 1800.

Claims (2)

1. Kiosk, for presenting for sale various articles such as newspapers, which includes a sales face along which display units are provided and which is equipped with closure means, wherein the display units arranged along the sales face are arranged on a sliding platform which is able to move substantially perpendicularly to the sales face; and wherein one of the moveable display units is also mounted pivotally about a substantially vertical shaft located under an adjacent display unit.

2. Kiosk according to claim 1, and equipped with a door, wherein the moveable display units move between a sales position, in which their outer face is located in line with the door of the kiosk, and a storage position inside the kiosk. DATED this 5th day of July 1999. ROGER BLANC AND JEAN KESSLER WATERMARK PATENT AND TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS 4TH FLOOR DURACK CENTRE 263 ADELAIDE TERRACE PERTH WA 6000 r