U.S. patent application number 13/083928 was filed with the patent office on 2011-10-20 for modular collapsible gardening rack.
Invention is credited to Archie Vermeer.
Application Number | 20110253656 13/083928 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44786886 |
Filed Date | 2011-10-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110253656 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Vermeer; Archie |
October 20, 2011 |
MODULAR COLLAPSIBLE GARDENING RACK
Abstract
The present device a modular collapsible gardening rack includes
a base; vertical uprights demountably attached at one end to the
base; cross members demountably attached at each end to the
vertical uprights; and a flexible shelf connected at each side to
one cross member thereby defining a shelf panel there between. The
shelving material includes shelf pockets at preselected pocket
spacings, the pockets for connecting the shelf to the cross members
by inserting the cross members there through. Preferably in a
collapsed position the demounted vertical uprights and the
demounted cross members are rolled up inside the flexible shelf and
into a storage position.
Inventors: |
Vermeer; Archie;
(Beamsville, CA) |
Family ID: |
44786886 |
Appl. No.: |
13/083928 |
Filed: |
April 11, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61324488 |
Apr 15, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
211/85.8 ;
211/13.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47F 5/137 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/85.8 ;
211/13.1 |
International
Class: |
A47F 7/00 20060101
A47F007/00 |
Claims
1. A modular collapsible gardening rack comprising: a) a base; b)
vertical uprights demountably attached at one end to the base; c)
cross members demountably attached at each end to the vertical
uprights; d) a flexible shelf connected at each side to one cross
member thereby defining a shelf panel there between; e) wherein the
shelving material includes shelf pockets at preselected pocket
spacings, the pockets for connecting the shelf to the cross members
by inserting the cross members there through.
2. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1 such
that in a collapsed position the demounted vertical uprights and
the demounted cross members are rolled up inside the flexible shelf
and into a storage position.
3. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein the pocket spacing is selected to provide a tensed panel
when the shelf is mounted onto the cross members.
4. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein the pocket spacing is selected to provide a deep panel when
the shelf is mounted onto the cross members.
5. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein the pocket spacing is selected to provide a shallow panel
when the shelf is mounted onto the cross members.
6. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein vertical uprights including numerous slots for connecting
the cross member thereto by receiving cross member ends therein and
thereby preselecting the height of the cross member.
7. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 7
wherein the cross member ends including a notch and a retainer
portion for demountably attaching the cross member end into a slot
of the vertical upright.
8. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein the base including wheels for rollably moving the cart.
9. The modular collapsible gardening rack claimed in claim 1
wherein the base further including longitudinal members and
transverse members connected with uprights brackets, the upright
brackets for receiving one end of the vertical uprights
therein.
10. In combination a modular collapsible gardening rack and rolled
shelving material, the combination comprising; a) a base; b)
vertical uprights demountably attached at one end to the base; c)
cross members demountably attached at each end to the vertical
uprights; d) a flexible shelf cut from the rolled shelving material
at a preselected length, the shelf connected at each side to one
cross member thereby defining a shelf panel there between; e)
wherein the shelving material includes shelf pockets at preselected
pocket spacings, the pockets for connecting the shelf to the cross
members by inserting the cross members there through.
11. The combination claimed in claim 12 such that in a collapsed
position the demounted vertical uprights and the demounted cross
members are rolled up inside the flexible shelf and into a storage
position.
12. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein the pocket spacing
is selected to provide a tensed panel when the shelf is mounted
onto the cross members.
13. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein the pocket spacing
is selected to provide a deep panel when the shelf is mounted onto
the cross members.
14. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein the pocket spacing
is selected to provide a shallow panel when the shelf is mounted
onto the cross members.
15. A modular collapsible gardening rack comprising: a) a modular
collapsible gardening rack moveable between a collapsed position
and an assembled position wherein in the assembled position the
rack includes: b) a base; c) vertical uprights demountably attached
at one end to the base; d) cross members demountably attached at
each end to the vertical uprights; e) a flexible shelf connected at
each side to one cross member thereby defining a shelf panel there
between; f) wherein in the collapsed position the vertical uprights
and the cross members together with the flexible shelf are
demounted and rolled up into the shelf into a storage position.
Description
[0001] The present application claims priority from previously
filed U.S. provisional patent application 61/324,488 titled Modular
Collapsible Gardening Rack by Archie Vermeer on Apr. 15, 2010.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present device relates to gardening racks in particular
relate to a modular and collapsible gardening rack that can be used
for storage of goods typically sold in gardening centers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Currently gardening racks used in the gardening industry are
made entirely of steel and are available with or without wheels for
being able to roll the gardening rack from one location to the
other.
[0004] The base and uprights typically are made of steel as are
each individual shelf. Present day gardening racks can be partially
disassembled in that the one-piece steel shelves can be removed
from the vertical uprights such that one is able to disassemble the
current state of the art gardening rack into individual rigid steel
shelves as well as a base and vertical uprights for the purpose of
transportation.
[0005] The disadvantages of the current state of the art gardening
rack are firstly that these racks are extremely heavy in that they
are made entirely of steel including the shelf material. The shelf
panels are normally made of expanded steel mesh and/or steel plate
type material.
[0006] Goods are typically stored onto the shelves of the gardening
racks and transported from manufacturing locations and/or warehouse
locations to the final retail outlets. Once the goods have been
sold by the retailer the empty gardening racks are then partially
disassembled and loaded back onto trucks for shipment back to the
manufacturing facilities and/or the warehouses.
[0007] Current gardening racks are extremely heavy are not easily
collapsible, break down into components which are fairly large and
bulky and normally require two or more persons in order to put
together the gardening rack and again disassemble the gardening
rack.
[0008] There is a need for a gardening rack which is easily
collapsible and modular in nature that can be easily assembled and
disassembled by a single person which is much lighter in weight and
less expensive to manufacture than, the current gardening racks and
can be effectively used to store and move about gardening type
items.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] With the intention of providing demonstration of the
characteristics of the device or method, an example is given below,
without any restrictive character whatsoever, with reference to the
corresponding figures, of a preferred embodiment of the device and
method as follows;
[0010] FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the base of the modular
collapsible gardening rack
[0011] FIG. 2 is a partial side elevational view of the base
together with vertical uprights of the modular collapsible
gardening rack
[0012] FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the base together
with vertical uprights mounted thereon.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the base together
with the vertical uprights together with the shelf cross members
mounted thereon
[0014] FIG. 5 is a partial top plan view of a portion of a shelf
cross member.
[0015] FIG. 6 is an end elevational view of the shelf cross member
showing its cross section.
[0016] FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a shelf cross
member.
[0017] FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of a shelf cross member.
[0018] FIG. 9 is a schematic partial perspective view of a shelf
cross member.
[0019] FIG. 10 is a schematic side perspective view of an entire
shelf cross member.
[0020] FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of an assembled
modular collapsible gardening rack.
[0021] FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view of a shelf together with
cross members showing a tensed panel.
[0022] FIG. 13 is a partial side elevational view of a modular
collapsible gardening rack together with a plant placed on the
tensed panel.
[0023] FIG. 14 is a cross sectional view of a shelf mounted onto
shelf cross members showing a deep panel.
[0024] FIG. 15 is a partial side elevational view of the modular
collapsible gardening rack showing plants resting on the deep
panel.
[0025] FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view of a shelf mounted onto
shelf cross members showing a shallow panel.
[0026] FIG. 17 is a partial cross sectional elevational view of the
modular collapsible gardening rack showing a tray together with
plants resting on a shallow panel.
[0027] FIG. 18 is a side schematic perspective view of rolled
shelving material.
[0028] FIG. 19 is a schematic perspective view of a modular
collapsible gardening rack together with shelving having end
flaps.
[0029] FIG. 20 is a schematic side perspective view of the base of
the modular collapsible gardening rack.
[0030] FIG. 21 is a schematic perspective view of the shelf cross
members and the vertical uprights and the shelf material
disassembled from the modular collapsible gardening rack.
[0031] FIG. 22 is a schematic perspective view showing the vertical
uprights the shelf cross members and the shelf material rolled up
into a storage position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0032] Referring to FIG. 11 the present device and method a modular
collapsible gardening rack shown generally as 100 includes the
following major components namely base 102, vertical uprights 104
and shelf 108. Shelf 108 is preferably made of flexible sheet or
film material such as plastic or fabric for example.
[0033] Referring now to FIGS. 11, 1 and 2 base 102 includes the
following components namely longitudinal frame member 110
transverse frame members 112 bracket flanges 114 wheels 116 and
wheel brackets 118.
[0034] Modular collapsible gardening rack 100 can be placed in an
assembled position shown generally as 120 in FIG. 11 and in a
collapsed position shown generally as 122 in FIGS. 20, 21 and 22
for example. For clarification in the collapsed position 122 all of
the components of the modular collapsible gardening rack 100 are
shown in two separate figures namely FIG. 20 which includes the
base 102 and FIG. 22 which shows the vertical uprights 104, shelf
cross members 106, and the shelf 108 in a storage position 130.
[0035] It is apparent from drawings that in collapsed position 122,
base 102 of modular collapsible gardening rack 100 is not further
disassembled but rather the vertical uprights 104 are removed from
base 102 and the shelf cross members 106 and the shelves 108 are
also removed from the vertical uprights 104.
[0036] It is possible to disassemble base 102 further however in
practice it is seldom done.
[0037] Vertical uprights 104 are manufactured from known sectional
steel tubular material, which contains slots 132 for receiving a
retainer portion 134 of an end of the shelf cross member 106.
[0038] Referring now to FIGS. 5 through 10 inclusively shelf cross
member 106 is preferably made from tubular steel type material of
rectangular or square cross section as shown in FIGS. 5 through 11
with each cross member end 138 including a notch 140 defined
therein.
[0039] The notch 140 on each cross member end 138 of shelf cross
member 106 includes a bearing surface 142 and a retainer portion
134.
[0040] In addition shelf cross member 106 includes a top portion
144 a bottom portion 146 and side portions 148.
[0041] FIG. 6 shows the cross section 150 of shelf cross member
106. This is a typical cross section 150 however in practice many
other cross sections 150 could also be used.
[0042] Referring now to FIG. 18 shelf 108 is made of shelving
material 160, which preferably can be supplied in roll form shown
in FIG. 18 as rolled shelving material 162. Shelving material 162
may have predefined shelf pockets 164 which are spaced at pocket
spacing 166 shown as S1 and shown as 167 S2 in FIG. 18. In this
manner the user could simply unroll rolled shelving material 162 to
a predetermined distance and simply cut off a preselected length of
shelving material 160 from roiled shelving material 162 depending
upon the width of the modular collapsible gardening rack 100. The
shelving material 162 includes shelf pockets 164 at preselected
pocket spacings 166, the pockets for connected the shelf 108 to the
cross members 106 by inserting the cross members 106 there
through.
[0043] Shelf 108 can be placed into either a tensed panel
configuration 172 as shown in FIG. 12 in which the shelf panel 170
is placed under tension prior to placing any weight on the shelf
thereby creating a tensed panel 172 as shown in FIG. 12. One could
also select to place the shelf 108 into a deep panel 174
configuration as shown in FIG. 14 in which the depth D 173 is
greater than one inch. One could also select to place the shelf 108
into a shallow panel 176 configuration as shown in FIG. 16 in which
the depth D 173 is less than or equal to one inch.
[0044] FIG. 13 shows a plant 180 placed onto a tensed panel 172
wherein there is a minimum of a deflection downwardly of shelf 108.
FIG. 15 on the other hand shows plants 108 placed into a deep panel
174 having depth D 171 and FIG. 17 shows a tray 182 placed onto a
shallow panel 176 having depth D 173 wherein the tray then houses
plants 180 thereon.
[0045] Shelf 108 could further include end flaps 190 as shown in
FIG. 19 which can be placed in the display position shown as 192 in
FIG. 19 and can be placed in an upright position not shown in FIG.
19 for transportation of the goods, which are placed upon the
shelves 108.
In Use
[0046] Referring first of all to FIGS. 1 through 4, modular
collapsible gardening rack 100 is assembled by taking a base 102
and inserting vertical uprights 104 into upright brackets 114 which
are attached to base 102 via a bracket flange 202.
[0047] It is possible to disassemble base 102 by removing upright
brackets 114 from each corner of base 102 by unbolting bracket
flanges 202 from both the transverse frame members 112 and
longitudinal frame members 110. In practice however as already
indicated base 102 is left assembled since further collapsing of
this portion of the modular collapsible gardening rack usually does
not provide any further efficiencies.
[0048] Shelf 108 is attached at a first side 121 to a cross member
106 and at a second side 123 to another cross member 106. The
material between the cross members 106 is a shelf panel 170. In the
case the shelf material 160 is used having predefined shelf pockets
164 two shelf cross members 106 are inserted into individual shelf
pockets 164 prior to positioning them onto vertical uprights 104.
By selecting pocket spacing S1 and 52 one can choose to have either
a tensed panel 172 or a deep panel 174 or a shallow panel 176. With
each shelf pocket 164 in position over top of each shelf cross
member 106 each shelf cross member 106 is then demountably placed
into the desired slot 132 of the respective vertical upright
104.
[0049] Retainer portion 134 of shelf cross member 106 is inserted
into slot 132 such that bearing surface 142 comes to rest to the
bottom of each slot 132 thereby securely ensuring that shelf cross
member 106 is demountably attached to vertical uprights 104.
Retainer portion 134 of shelf cross member 106 prevents accidental
removal of the shelf cross members 106 from vertical uprights
104.
[0050] Once the modular collapsible gardening rack 100 has been
assembled one can place plants 180 and/or trays 182 containing
plants 180 onto each of the shelves 108 of modular collapsible
gardening rack 100.
[0051] One can select to have a number of different shelves 108 at
various elevations thereby one can take advantage of all of the
space circumscribed by the modular collapsible gardening rack 100.
For example it may be desirable to have a deep panel 174 shelf near
the bottom of modular collapsible gardening rack 100 and shallow
panel 176 shelves 108 and/or tensed panel 172 shelves 108
approximate the upper portion of modular collapsible gardening rack
in order to take advantage of all the space available on modular
collapsible gardening rack 100.
[0052] In order to collapse modular collapsible gardening rack 100
the reverse of the assembly procedure is performed. Firstly shelf
cross members are demounted from the vertical uprights 104 by
slightly raising or lifting each shelf cross member end 138 such
that retainer portion 134 is clear of each slot 132 and can be
easily removed from slot 132.
[0053] Once shelves 108 are removed thereafter, vertical uprights
104 can be slideably removed from each upright bracket 114.
[0054] Disassembled components are shown in FIGS. 20 and 21. In
FIG. 20 is depicted base 102 in FIG. 21 is depicted 4 vertical
uprights 104 and two shelf cross members 106 and one shelf 108.
[0055] In FIG. 22 the suggested storage position 130 is wherein the
vertical uprights 104 and the shelf cross members 106 are rolled
inside of shelf 108 as depicted in FIG. 22 schematically.
[0056] The shelving material 160 can be selected from a wide
variety of materials that are flexible in nature. For example
plastics, fabrics, reinforced flexible sheet materials can be used
for shelving material 160. The shelving material 160 will be
selected depending upon the strength requirements of the shelf. The
advantages of using flexible material is among others the savings
in weight, the ease of use, the reduction in collapsed size and the
reduced cost to name a few.
[0057] It should be apparent to persons skilled in the art of
various modification and adaptations of the structure described
above are possible without departure from the spirit of the
invention the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *