U.S. patent application number 10/227898 was filed with the patent office on 2004-02-26 for adjustable rack.
Invention is credited to Ko, Wen-Shan.
Application Number | 20040035335 10/227898 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32475497 |
Filed Date | 2004-02-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040035335 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ko, Wen-Shan |
February 26, 2004 |
Adjustable rack
Abstract
An adjustable rack is composed of two opposite vertical
supports, multiple shelves and multiple securing members. The
opposite ends of the shelves respectively are slidably mounted on
the vertical supports. The securing members are detachably and
selectively fastened in opposite vertical supports to support the
corresponding shelves at the desired positions, whereby distances
between adjacent shelves are adjustable.
Inventors: |
Ko, Wen-Shan; (Tainan Hsien,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Cooper & Dunham LLP
1185 Avenue of the Americas
New York
NY
10036
US
|
Family ID: |
32475497 |
Appl. No.: |
10/227898 |
Filed: |
August 26, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
108/107 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 57/26 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
108/107 |
International
Class: |
A47B 009/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An adjustable rack comprising: two opposite vertical supports
(10) adapted to stand on the ground, each vertical support (10)
having two parallel support rods (11) with an inner and outer
periphery and each support rod (11) having: a chamber (110)
longitudinally formed inside the support rod (11); a slot ( 111)
with two edges longitudinally defined in the support rod ( 11) and
in communication with the chamber (110); and a guide track (113)
with a shoulder (111) longitudinally defined in the outer periphery
of the support rod (11) on each edge of the slot ( 111); multiple
shelves (20), each shelf (20) having two ends and two mounting-bars
(21) respectively formed at opposite ends of the shelf (20), each
mounting-bar (21) having two holes (210) defined in the
mounting-bar (21) to correspond to the support rods (11); and
multiple securing members (30) detachably secured in the support
rods (11) and supporting the shelves (20) on the adjustable rack,
each securing member (30) comprising: a slide (31) movably mounted
in the chamber (110) in the corresponding one of the support rods (
11) and having a threaded rod (32) formed on the slide (31) to
extend out of the corresponding support rod (11) via the slot (113)
in the corresponding support rod (11); a retaining block (33)
partially mounted in the guide track (113) and having a hole (331)
axially defined in the retaining block (33) to correspond to the
threaded rod (32); and a fastening element detachably connected to
the threaded rod (32) to push the retaining block (33) against the
corresponding support rod (11).
2. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each vertical
support (10) further has a foot (12) for holding the two support
rods (11) erect; and a top frame (13) mounted on the support rods
(11) of each vertical support (10) to keep the two support rods
(11) parallel to each other.
3. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each
mounting-bar (21) has a bottom and a recess (211) defined in the
bottom of the mounting-bar (21) to hold at least one of the
securing members (30) on the support rods (11) of the corresponding
one of the vertical support (10).
4. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein each
mounting-bar (21) has a bottom and a recess (211) defined in the
bottom of the mounting-bar (21) to hold at least one of the
securing members (30) on the support rods (11) of the corresponding
one of the vertical support (10).
5. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each slide
(31) further has a rectangular flat head (311 ) in contact with an
inner face of the chamber (110); a U-shaped plate (312) with two
arms and a span between the arms is attached to the flat head (311)
at an outer face of the span, wherein the arms are facing the
retaining block (33).
6. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein each slide
(31) further has a rectangular flat head (311) in contact with an
inner face of the chamber (110); a U-shaped plate (312) with two
arms and a span between the arms is attached to the flat head (311)
at an outer face of the span, wherein the arms are facing the
retaining block (33).
7. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 4, wherein each slide
(31) further has a rectangular flat head (311) in contact with an
inner face of the chamber (110); a U-shaped plate (312) with two
arms and a span between the arms is attached to the flat head (311)
at an outer face of the span, wherein the arms are facing the
retaining block (33).
8. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 5, wherein each arm of
the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to
improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm
contacts the support rod (11).
9. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 6, wherein each arm of
the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to
improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm
contacts the support rod (11).
10. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 7, wherein each arm of
the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to
improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm
contacts the support rod (11).
11. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
fastening element is a nut (34).
12. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 10, wherein the
fastening element is a nut (34).
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an adjustable rack, and
more particularly to an adjustable rack in which the distance
between adjacent shelves of the rack can be conveniently adjusted
to give the rack excellent flexibility for holding objects.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] How and where to store articles of daily use in an orderly
manner is always an important consideration, especially for people
who live in small houses or apartments. A rack having multiple
shelves is always a help to people for storing articles of daily
use to efficiently use available living space. Conventional racks
usually have multiple shelves or boxes vertically stacked together
and multiple rods extending between adjacent shelves or boxes to
support the whole rack. The rods are always the same size to limit
production cost so that the distance between two adjacent shelves
or boxes is the same. However, different types of objects cannot be
efficiently stored on such racks. For example, if the objects have
heights larger than the distance between two adjacent shelves, the
objects cannot be stored upright on the rack. On the other hand, a
lot of space is wasted if the objects have heights much smaller
than the distance between two adjacent shelves.
[0005] Therefore, the present invention has arisen to mitigate
and/or obviate the drawbacks of the conventional rack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The main objective of the present invention is to provide an
adjustable rack, which has multiple shelves movably and selectively
secured on two support rods by multiple securing members whereby
distances between adjacent shelves are adjustable.
[0007] Further benefits and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed
description with appropriate reference to the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an adjustable rack in
accordance with the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of a
securing member and a support rod of the adjustable rack in FIG.
1;
[0010] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the support rod of
the rack in FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the mounting-bar and the
support rod of the rack in FIG. 3;
[0012] FIG. 5 is an operational perspective view of the
mounting-bar of the adjustable rack in FIG. 1; and
[0013] FIG. 6 is an operational perspective view of the adjustable
rack in FIG. 1 in use.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an adjustable rack is
composed of two vertical supports (10), multiple shelves (20), and
multiple securing members (30).
[0015] Each vertical support (10) has a foot (12), two support rods
(11) with top and bottom ends and a top frame (13). The bottom end
of each support rod (11) is connected to the corresponding foot
(12), and each support rod (11) extends up from the foot (12). The
top frame (13) is mounted on the top ends of the support rods (11)
of each vertical support (10) to keep the two support rods (11)
parallel to each other. Each support rod (11) is a hollow tube with
an inner and outer periphery and has a rectangular chamber (110)
longitudinally formed in the support rod (11). A slot (113) with
two edges is longitudinally defined in the support rod (11) in
communication with the rectangular chamber (110). A guide track
(112) with a shoulder (111) is defined on the outer periphery of
the support rod (11) at the edges of the slot (113).
[0016] Each shelf (20) is a flat plate having two ends and is
movably attached to and between the two vertical supports (10).
Multiple holes (not numbered) are defined through each shelf (20),
and two mounting-bars (21) are respectively formed at opposite
ends. With further reference to FIG. 3, each mounting-bar (21) has
two ends, a bottom and a top. A hole (210) is defined in each end
of each mounting-bar (21) to correspond to the support rod (11),
and a recess (211) is defined in the bottom of the mounting-bar
(21) corresponding to the holes (210) to hold the securing members
(30).
[0017] Each securing member (30) is composed of a slide (31), a
retaining block (33) and a fastening element. The slide (31) is
slidably mounted in the chamber (110) in the support rod (11) and
has a rectangular flat head (311) abutting an inner face of the
chamber (110). The head (311) has an inner and outer flat surface.
A U-shaped plate (312) has two arms and a span between the arms.
The span is attached to the outer surface of the flat head (311) so
the arms are facing the retaining block (33). A threaded rod (32)
is attached to and extends from the span through the slot (113) of
the support rod (11). Each arm of the U-shaped plate (312) further
has a toothed edge (310) to improve the effectiveness of
positioning the arm when the arm contacts to the guide track (112)
of the support rod (11). The retaining block (33) is partially
received in the guide track (112) and has a hole (331) axially
defined in the retaining block (33) to correspond to the threaded
rod (32). To assemble the securing member (30), the threaded rod
(32) passes through the hole (331) in the retaining block (33) and
then is firmly held in place by a fastening element such as a nut
(34).
[0018] With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the slide (31) is mounted
in the chamber (110) in the support rod (11), and the retaining
block (33) is attached to the slide (31) by the fastening element,
such as the nut (34). The fastening element is screwed onto the
threaded rod (32) toward the support rod (11) to compress the
retaining block (33) in the guide track (111) and pull the slide
(31) firmly against the side of the chamber (110) to hold the
securing member (30) in a desired position in the support rod (11).
When the securing members (30) are fastened to the support rod
(11), each mounting-bar (21) on the shelf (20) rests on the
corresponding fastened securing members (30), wherein the recess
(211) in the mounting-bar (21) accommodates the entire exposed
portion of the securing element (30) inside to present a good
appearance.
[0019] With reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, the securing elements (30)
can be conveniently released from the support rods (11) and
re-fastened at any desired position. Therefore, users are able to
adjust distances between adjacent shelves (20) to correspond to
heights of objects to be stored.
[0020] Although the invention has been explained in relation to its
preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other
possible modifications and variations can be made without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter
claimed.
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