U.S. patent application number 11/970202 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-18 for storage rack with multiple tiers.
Invention is credited to Xuliang Li.
Application Number | 20080308516 11/970202 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39921459 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080308516 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Li; Xuliang |
December 18, 2008 |
Storage Rack with Multiple Tiers
Abstract
A storage rack with multiple tiers includes at least two rack
portions and at least a connecting member. The two rack portions
include an upper rack portion and a lower rack portion. The rack
portions respectively include at least three support beams and at
least a rack tier fixed thereon. Two female screw threads are
respectively formed on a bottom of the support beams of the upper
rack portion and on a top of the support beams of the lower rack
portion. The at least a connecting member is connecting the upper
rack portion and the lower rack portion. The connecting member
includes a handheld portion and two screw portions. The screwing
portions are respectively disposed on two sides of the handheld
portion and each having a male screw thread thereon. The male screw
threads are configured for threadly engaging the female screw
threads of the support beams.
Inventors: |
Li; Xuliang; (Dongguan,
CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
GLOBAL IP SERVICES
7285 W. Eagle Court
Winton
CA
95388
US
|
Family ID: |
39921459 |
Appl. No.: |
11/970202 |
Filed: |
January 7, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/153 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 87/0223
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/153 |
International
Class: |
A47F 5/01 20060101
A47F005/01 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 18, 2007 |
CN |
200720120772.4 |
Claims
1. A storage rack with multiple tiers comprising: at least two rack
portions, comprising an upper rack portion and a lower rack
portion, the upper rack portion being adjacent to and stacked upon
the lower rack portion, each rack portion comprising at least three
support beams and a rack tier fixed thereon, the support beams of
the upper rack portion being vertically coaxially aligned with the
support beams of the lower rack portion respectively, two female
screw threads being respectively formed in a bottom of the support
beam of the upper rack portion and on a top of the support beam of
the lower rack portion; and at least a connecting member for
connecting the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion
comprising a handheld portion, two screw portions with male screw
threads disposed on two sides of the handheld portion respectively,
the male screw threads being configured for engaging with the
female screw threads of the support beams.
2. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 1,
wherein a plurality of anti-sliding grooves is defined on the
surface of the handheld portion and the two screw portions of the
connecting member are vertically coaxially aligned to each
other.
3. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 2,
wherein the male screw threads of the two screw portions have a
same screwing direction.
4. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 2,
wherein the male screw threads of the two screw portions have an
opposite screwing direction and two screw portions have a same
length.
5. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 1,
wherein the rack portions respectively comprises four support beams
and four connecting members.
6. A storage rack with multiple tiers comprising: a lower rack
portion having at least three support beams and at least a rack
tier fixed thereon, a top end of each support beam defining a screw
hole therein; an upper rack portion being adjacent to and stacked
upon the lower rack portion, the upper rack portion having at least
three support beams coaxially aligned with the support beams of the
lower rack portion and at least one rack tier fixed thereon, two
opposite ends of each support beams defining a screw hole therein;
and a plurality of connecting members for connecting the upper rack
portion and the lower rack portion, each connecting member having a
handheld portion with two screws disposed on two sides of the
handheld portion respectively, wherein the screws of each
connecting member are engaged in the screw holes of each support
beam of the lower rack portion and each support beam of the upper
rack portion.
7. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 6,
wherein pluralities of anti-sliding grooves are defined in the
surface of the handheld portion and the two screw portions of the
connecting member are vertically coaxially aligned to each
other.
8. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 7,
wherein the two screw portions of each connecting member have male
screw threads in a same screwing direction.
9. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 7,
wherein the two screw portions of the connecting member have male
screw threads in opposite screwing directions and two screw
portions have the same length.
10. The storage rack with multiple tiers according to claim 6,
wherein the lower rack portion and the upper rack portion
respectively comprise four support beams and four connecting
members.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent
application No. 200720120772.4 with filing date of Jun. 18,
2007.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates generally relates to a storage
rack, and more particularly, to a storage rack with multiple tiers
that is safe to use and easy to be assembled and disassembled.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] A storage rack is often used for storing everyday items. In
conventional storage racks, multiple rack tiers are often included
but no secure connection mechanism is used to connect the different
tiers. As a result, a rack tier on the top may fall apart from the
rest of the storage rack in case that not all the connections stay
in the same plane, which raises a safety issue.
[0006] As an attempt to solve this problem, holes have been formed
on the storage rack to accommodate inserted support beams so as to
position the rack tiers. However, since no tightening measure is
carried out, when a top tier is impacted accidentally, it is still
easy for the top tiers to fall apart from the rest of the storage
rack.
[0007] In addition, for conventional storage racks during assembly
operations, different rack tiers have to be stacked one upon
another and it is not viable to complete the assembly on the ground
and erect the complete storage rack in one operation. Hence it is
not convenient to assemble and disassemble the conventional storage
racks.
[0008] Therefore, what is needed is to provide a storage rack that
is safe to use and easy to be assembled and disassembled.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] A storage rack with multiple tiers in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided. The
storage rack includes at least two rack portions and at least a
connecting member. The at least two rack portions include an upper
rack portion and a lower rack portion. The upper rack portion is
adjacent to and stacked upon the lower rack portion. The rack
portions respectively include at least three support beams and at
least a rack tier fixed thereon. The support beams of the upper
rack portion are vertically coaxially aligned with the support
beams of the lower rack portion respectively. Two female screw
threads are respectively formed on a bottom of the support beams of
the upper rack portion and on a top of the support beams of the
lower rack portion. The at least a connecting member is connecting
the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion. The connecting
member includes a handheld portion and two screw portions. The
screwing portions are respectively disposed on two sides of the
handheld portion and each having a male screw thread thereon. The
male screw threads are configured for threadly engaging the female
screw threads of the support beams.
[0010] In the embodiments of the present invention, different rack
tiers are connected by the connecting members through screw
threads. Since connections by screw threads are relatively secure,
it is less likely for the storage racks according to the
embodiments to fall apart upon accidental impacts. Hence it is
relatively safe to use such storage racks. In addition, it is
convenient to assemble and disassemble such storage racks by
operating on the screws.
[0011] Other advantages and novel features will become more
apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments
when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] Many aspects of the present storage racks with multiple
tiers can be better understood with reference to the following
drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn
to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly
illustrating the principles of the present storage racks with
multiple tiers.
[0013] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a storage rack with multiple
tiers in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is an enlarged, perspective view of a first rack
portion of the storage rack with multiple tiers shown in FIG.
1;
[0015] FIG. 3 is an enlarged, perspective view of a second rack
portion of the storage rack with multiple tiers shown in FIG.
1;
[0016] FIG. 4 is an enlarged, perspective view of a connecting
member of the storage rack with multiple tiers shown in FIG. 1;
[0017] FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of the storage rack
with multiple tiers shown in FIG. 1; and
[0018] FIG. 6 is an assembly view of FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] Referring to FIG. 1, a storage rack with multiple tiers in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is
provided. The storage rack includes a lower rack portion 11, an
upper rack portion 12 and a connecting member 13 configured for
connecting the upper rack portion 12 and the lower rack portion
11.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the lower rack portion 11
includes four support beams 111 and three rack tiers 112 fixed
thereon. A top end of each beam 111 defines a screw hole 1111
therein, which has a female screw thread. Understandably, the
number of the support beam 111 of the lower rack portion 11 may be
three, five, or more five. The number of the rack tiers 112 may be
one, two or more three. The upper rack portion 12 includes four
support beams 121 and two rack tiers 122 fixed thereon. Two
opposite ends of each beam 121 respectively define a screw hole
1211 therein, which has a female screw thread. Understandably, the
number of the support beam 121 of the upper rack portion 12 may be
three, five, or more five. The number of the rack tiers 122 may be
one, two or more three.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 4, the connecting member 13 includes a
handheld portion 131 and two screw portions 132, 133 respectively
disposed on each side of the handheld portion 131. Multiple
anti-sliding grooves are defined in the surface of the handheld
portion 131 in the axial direction of the handheld portion 131. The
screw portions 132 and 133, which are cylindrical, vertically
coaxially aligned to each other and having equal vertical length,
each has a male screw thread formed thereon. The male screw threads
on the screw portion 132 and the screw portion 133 have opposite
screwing directions.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the support beams
121 of the upper rack portion 12 are configured to be vertically
coaxially aligned with support beams 111 of the lower rack portion
11 respectively. In other words, if the upper rack portion 12 is
stacked on the lower rack portion 11, the vertical axes of the
support beams 121 are respectively aligned to the vertical axes of
the support beams 111. The female screw threads of the screw holes
1211, 1111 have opposite screwing directions and are configured for
threadly engaging with the male screw threads of the connecting
member 13. In this embodiment, the female screw thread of the screw
hole 1211 is a right screw thread and the female screw thread of
the screw hole 1111 is a left screw thread.
[0023] In a storage rack with multiple tiers in accordance with a
second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the two screw
portions on the two sides of the handheld portion respectively have
screw threads of the same screwing directions. In addition, the
rack tiers can be disassembled from the upper and the lower rack
portions. In an assembly operation, the four support beams can be
assembled to the upper rack portion first and then the rack tier is
assembled to the support beams. In this embodiment, it is easy to
achieve a secure engagement between the connecting member and the
support beams so that different rack portions can be fixed to each
other securely.
[0024] In the above embodiments, different rack tiers are connected
by the connecting members through screw threads. Since connections
by screw threads are relatively secure, it is less likely for the
storage racks according to the embodiments to fall apart upon
accidental impacts. Hence it is relatively safe to use such storage
racks. In addition, it is convenient to assemble and disassemble
such storage racks by operating on the screws.
[0025] It is believed that the present embodiments and their
advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and
it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or
sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples
hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary
embodiments of the present invention.
* * * * *