1. A merchandiser for cooling and displaying produce, comprising:
a frame defining a cooled air plenum;
a unit cooler for supplying cooled air to said plenum;
a shelf mounted to said frame below a first cooled air passageway in communication with said plenum, said shelf having a rear end proximate to said first cooled air passageway and a front end distant from said first cooled air passageway;
a drawer slidably mounted to said frame below said shelf and below a second cooled air passageway in communication with said plenum; and
a return air channel defined in said shelf adjacent said front end of said shelf;
wherein cooled air that spills from said shelf travels through said return air channel toward a portion of said drawer remote from said second cooled air passageway, and cooled air that spills from said drawer is received by said unit cooler for further cooling.
2. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein said frame further defines a refrigerated chamber enclosing said unit cooler, said merchandiser further comprising a right side wall and a left side wall that, in combination with the front of said plenum and the top of said refrigerated chamber, define a display chamber.
3. The merchandiser of claim 2 wherein said shelf includes an air movement deflector extending vertically upwards along the width of said shelf proximate said front end of said shelf.
4. The merchandiser of claim 3 wherein said return air channel is defined by said air movement deflector and a shelf front wall mounted between said right side wall and said left side wall.
5. The merchandiser of claim 4 further comprising an angled wall mounted to the top of said shelf front wall such that said angled wall extends upward and toward said plenum.
6. The merchandiser of claim 2 further comprising an awning frame and an awning, supported by said awning frame, to shade said display chamber.
7. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein said drawer includes a drawer floor and a drawer front wall, said drawer floor being angled slightly downward toward said drawer front wall.
8. The merchandiser of claim 7 wherein said drawer floor extends to a forward extent that is short of said drawer front wall.
9. The merchandiser of claim 8 wherein said drawer includes a perforated wall extending upwardly along the width of said drawer.
10. The merchandiser of claim 9 wherein said perforated wall, said drawer front wall and said forward extent of said drawer floor define a drawer return air channel.
11. The merchandiser of claim 1 further comprising casters mounted to the bottom of said frame to facilitate relocation of said merchandiser.
12. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein said produce is available in a plurality of types and said plurality of types of said produce are arranged by manner of preparation.
13. The merchandiser of claim 12 further comprising an indication of said manner of preparation associated with each type of said plurality of types.
14. The merchandiser of claim 13 wherein said produce is potatoes.
15. The merchandiser of claim 14 wherein said manner of preparation is selected from the group comprising: boiling, baking, mashing, roasting and French frying.
16. The merchandiser of claim 14 wherein said cooled air is maintained below around 10\xb0Celsius.
17. The merchandiser of claim 1 further comprising a drip pan and a condensate line to communicate condensate water from said unit cooler to said drip pan.
18. The merchandiser of claim 17 wherein said drip pan is positioned proximate a vent in a wall of said merchandiser to facilitate evaporation of said condensate water.
19. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein a size of said first cooled air passageway may be adjusted to suit a degree of cooling required for said shelf.
20. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein said unit cooler comprises:
a radiator adapted to pass cooled matter from an ingress to an egress; and
a fan for promoting flow of said cooled air received by said unit cooler for further cooling past said radiator and toward said cooled air plenum.
21. The merchandiser of claim 1 wherein said shelf is mounted to said frame over said drawer such that said shelf shades at least a portion of an interior of said drawer.
22. A merchandiser for cooling and displaying produce, comprising:
a frame including a rear wall;
a panel arranged at a spaced distance from said rear wall so as to define a passageway therebetween;
a unit cooler for supplying cooled air to said passageway;
a first cooled air opening in said panel;
a shelf mounted to said frame below said first cooled air opening, said shelf having a rear end proximate to said first cooled air opening, a front end distant from said first cooled air opening, and a return air channel between said rear end and said front end;
a second cooled air opening in said panel; and
a drawer slidably mounted to said frame below said shelf and below said second cooled air opening;
wherein cooled air that spills from said shelf travels through said return air channel toward said drawer at a location remote from said second cooled air opening, and cooled air that spills from said drawer is received by said unit cooler for further cooling.
23. A merchandiser for cooling and displaying produce, comprising:
a frame defining a cooled air plenum;
a unit cooler for supplying cooled air to said plenum;
a shelf mounted to said frame below a first cooled air passageway in communication with said plenum, said shelf having a rear end proximate to said first cooled air passageway, a front end distant from said first cooled air passageway, and a front wall projecting upwardly from said shelf at said front end;
a drawer slidably mounted to said frame below said shelf and below a second cooled air passageway in communication with said plenum; and
a return air channel defined in said shelf between said rear end and said front wall;
wherein cooled air that spills from said shelf travels through said return air channel toward a portion of said drawer remote from said second cooled air passageway, and cooled air that spills from said drawer is received by said unit cooler for further cooling.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A retractable lens comprising:
a plurality of optical components including a first optical element, a second optical element and a third optical element which are positioned on an optical axis in a ready state of said lens, at least said first optical element and said second optical element being movable independently in said optical axis direction; and
a support frame which supports said second optical element, and has a generally ring-shaped portion and at least one radial arm portion, wherein said ring-shaped portion substantially surrounds said optical axis, and wherein said radial arm portion projects radially outwards from a rear end of said ring-shaped portion such that an outer end of said radial arm portion is guided in said optical axis direction, said second optical element supported in a front end portion of said ring-shaped portion,
wherein, when said retractable lens moves from said ready state to a retracted state, said third optical element is positioned in said ring-shaped portion while said first optical element is retracted from an on-axis position on said optical axis into an off-axis space radially outside said ring-shaped portion such that said first optical element is positioned radially outside said second optical element and said third optical element.
2. The retractable lens according to claim 1, wherein said third optical element is immovable in said optical axis direction, and
wherein said support frame moves rearward and reduces distance between said second optical element and said third optical element when said retractable lens moves from said ready state to said retracted state.
3. The retractable lens according to claim 1, further comprising:
a housing having a ring portion in which said ring-shaped portion of said support frame is positioned; and
at least one guide shaft positioned outside said ring portion and extends generally parallel to said optical axis,
wherein said radial arm portion projects radially outwards to an extent wherein an outer end of said radial arm portion is positioned radially outside said ring portion, said radial arm portion configured to be guided in said optical axis direction via said guide shaft.
4. The retractable lens according to claim 3, wherein said radial arm portion comprises a pair of radial arm portions positioned at different angular positions relative to said optical axis, and wherein said guide shaft comprises a pair of guide shafts positioned at said different angular positions relative to said optical axis.
5. The retractable lens according to claim 3, further comprising at least one rotatable ring which is rotatable about a rotational axis extending in a direction of said optical axis, wherein movement of said first optical element is controlled by rotation of said rotatable ring.
6. The retractable lens according to claim 1, wherein said ring-shaped portion of said support frame is configured to prevent unnecessary light from being incident on said third optical element.
7. The retractable lens according to claim 1, wherein said first optical element, said second optical element and said third optical element comprise a front lens group, a middle lens group and an image pick-up device, respectively.
8. The retractable lens according to claim 7, further comprising a lens group positioned in front of said front lens group,
wherein said lens group and said front lens group are moveable along said optical axis while changing the distance therebetween and to perform a focal-length varying operation in said ready state, and
wherein said middle lens group is moveable along said optical axis via said support frame and perform a focusing operation.
9. The retractable lens according to claim 8, wherein said lens group, which is positioned in front of said front lens group, is adjacent to said middle lens group in said optical axis direction in said retracted state.
10. The retractable lens according to claim 3, wherein said housing is a stationary barrel fixed to a camera body.
11. The retractable lens according to claim 1, wherein said ring-shaped portion is a substantially rectangular ring shape.
12. A digital camera having a body, an image pickup device, a retractable lens and an image display panel affixed to the body for displaying an image picked up by the image pickup device, the image pickup device and retractable lens housed within the body, the retractable lens comprising:
a plurality of optical components including a first optical element, a second optical element and a third optical element which are positioned on an optical axis in a ready state of said lens, at least said first optical element and said second optical element being movable independently in said optical axis direction; and
a support frame which supports said second optical element, and has a generally ring-shaped portion and at least one radial arm portion, wherein said ring-shaped portion substantially surrounds said optical axis, and wherein said radial arm portion projects radially outwards from a rear end of said ring-shaped portion such that an outer end of said radial arm portion is guided in said optical axis direction, said second optical element supported in a front end portion of said ring-shaped portion,
wherein, when said retractable lens moves from said ready state to a retracted state, said third optical element is positioned in said ring-shaped portion while said first optical element is retracted from an on-axis position on said optical axis into an off-axis space radially outside said ring-shaped portion such that said first optical element is positioned radially outside said second optical element and said third optical element.
13. The camera according to claim 12, wherein said third optical element is immovable in said optical axis direction, and
wherein said support frame moves rearward and reduces distance between said second optical element and said third optical element when said retractable lens moves from said ready state to said retracted state.
14. The camera according to claim 12, further comprising:
a housing having a ring portion in which said ring-shaped portion of said support frame is positioned; and
at least one guide shaft positioned outside said ring portion and extends generally parallel to said optical axis,
wherein said radial arm portion projects radially outwards to an extent wherein an outer end of said radial arm portion is positioned radially outside said ring portion, said radial arm portion configured to be guided in said optical axis direction via said guide shaft.
15. The camera according to claim 14, wherein said radial arm portion comprises a pair of radial arm portions positioned at different angular positions relative to said optical axis, and wherein said guide shaft comprises a pair of guide shafts positioned at said different angular positions relative to said optical axis.
16. The camera according to claim 14, further comprising at least one rotatable ring which is rotatable about a rotational axis extending in a direction of said optical axis, wherein movement of said first optical element is controlled by rotation of said rotatable ring.
17. The camera according to claim 12, wherein said ring-shaped portion of said support frame is configured to prevent unnecessary light from being incident on said third optical element.
18. The camera according to claim 12, wherein said first optical element, said second optical element and said third optical element comprise a front lens group, a middle lens group and an image pick-up device, respectively.
19. The camera according to claim 18, further comprising a lens group positioned in front of said front lens group,
wherein said lens group and said front lens group are moveable along said optical axis while changing the distance therebetween and to perform a focal-length varying operation in said ready state, and
wherein said middle lens group is moveable along said optical axis via said support frame and perform a focusing operation.
20. The camera according to claim 19, wherein said lens group, which is positioned in front of said front lens group, is adjacent to said middle lens group in said optical axis direction in said refracted state.
21. The camera according to claim 14, wherein said housing is a stationary barrel fixed in said body.
22. The camera according to claim 12, wherein said ring-shaped portion is a substantially rectangular ring shape.