U.S. patent application number 13/116302 was filed with the patent office on 2012-11-29 for sectional rack.
This patent application is currently assigned to Protrend Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Henry Chen.
Application Number | 20120298606 13/116302 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47218515 |
Filed Date | 2012-11-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120298606 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen; Henry |
November 29, 2012 |
SECTIONAL RACK
Abstract
A sectional rack includes at least four vertical supports, at
least two shelves, and a plurality of clamping members. Each of the
vertical supports includes two laterally juxtaposed posts. Each of
the clamping members defines a vertically extended receiving recess
and has two wing portions laterally extended from two opposite
lateral edges of an open side of the receiving recess. The
receiving recess is sized for one post of the vertical support to
partially set therein, allowing the clamping member to assemble to
the vertical support. Each of the shelves is provided at each of
four corners with an outward-opened C-shaped clamping member for
tightly fitting around and thereby pushing the two wing portions of
the clamping member toward each other for firmly clamping the post
in the receiving recess, so that the four corners of the shelf are
firmly connected to the posts of the four vertical supports.
Inventors: |
Chen; Henry; (Taipei,
TW) |
Assignee: |
Protrend Co., Ltd.
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
47218515 |
Appl. No.: |
13/116302 |
Filed: |
May 26, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/186 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 47/0083 20130101;
A47B 57/265 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/186 |
International
Class: |
A47B 47/00 20060101
A47B047/00 |
Claims
1. A sectional rack, comprising at least four vertical supports, at
least two shelves, and a plurality of clamping members; each of the
vertical supports including two laterally juxtaposed posts, and a
plurality of vertically equally spaced connecting members connected
to between the two laterally juxtaposed posts; each of the clamping
members defining at an inside with a vertically extended receiving
recess, and having two wing portions separately laterally extended
from two opposite lateral edges of an open side of the receiving
recess; the receiving recess being sized for one post of the
vertical support to partially set therein, allowing the clamping
member to assemble to the vertical support with the open side of
the receiving recess facing toward the shelf connected to between
the four vertical supports and be supported on the vertical
supports; each of the two wing portions having a width that is
increased from an upper end to a lower end of the wing portion,
such that a laterally outer end surface of the wing portion is a
gradually downward outward inclined surface; and the wing portion
having an outside surface that is also a gradually downward outward
inclined surface; and each of the shelves being provided at front
and rear corners at two lateral sides thereof with a C-shaped
clamping member each; the C-shaped clamping members being located
on the shelf with an opening thereof facing laterally outward; each
of the C-shaped clamping members including a pair of hooking
portions facing toward each other to define the opening
therebetween; two opposite inner end surfaces of an inner space
enclosed in the C-shaped clamping member being downward outward
inclined surfaces, so that a width of the inner space of the
C-shaped clamping member measured between the two opposite inner
end surfaces gradually increases from top to bottom of the C-shaped
clamping member, and the two inclined inner end surfaces of the
C-shaped clamping member having a gradient the same as that of the
two laterally outer end surfaces of the two wing portions; an
inside surface of each of the two hooking portions facing toward
the inner space of the C-shaped clamping member being a downward
and outward inclined surface, and the inside surfaces of the
hooking portions having a gradient the same as that of the two
outside surfaces of the two wing portions of the clamping member;
whereby when the C-shaped clamping members provided at the front
and rear corners at two lateral sides of the shelf are
correspondingly externally fitted around the clamping members
assembled to the posts of the four vertical supports, the two
inclined inner end surfaces of each of the C-shaped clamping
members tightly bear on the laterally outer end surfaces of the two
wing portions of the corresponding clamping member, and the
inclined inside surfaces of the two hooking portions of each of the
C-shaped clamping members tightly bear on the outside surfaces of
the two wing portions of the corresponding clamping member, so that
the wing portions are pushed toward each other to move toward the
shelf and reduce a size at the open side of the receiving recess on
the clamping member, enabling the clamping members to tightly clamp
on the posts of the vertical supports.
2. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the
clamping members further includes two vertically extended protruded
blocks that are laterally symmetrically provided at the two
opposite lateral edges of the receiving recess for partially
clamping the post of the vertical support therebetween; and a
portion of the post being located outside the receiving recess and
exposed from the two protruded blocks being smaller than a half
circle.
3. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein the clamping
members are formed by bending a metal plate, and the protruded
blocks are formed by molding a plastic material.
4. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein a distance
between the two protruded blocks on each of the clamping members is
slightly smaller than an outer diameter of the posts of the
vertical supports, so that the post is forced through the two
protruded blocks and clamped in the receiving recess.
5. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the
clamping members is provided on a wall of the receiving recess near
an upper end thereof with an inward protrusion extended into the
receiving recess, and each of the posts of the vertical supports to
be clamped in the receiving recesses is correspondingly provided
with a recess for engaging with the protrusion, so that the
clamping member is held in place on the post through engagement of
the protrusion with the recess.
6. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 5, wherein the wall of
the receiving recess is an arc-shaped wall, and the protrusion
extended from the wall of the receiving recess has a flat front
end.
7. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 6, wherein the wall of
the receiving recess of the clamping member is provided with a
through hole, which is located immediately below the
protrusion.
8. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting
members connected to between the two laterally juxtaposed posts of
each of the vertical supports are respectively in the form of a
vertically extended flat plate.
9. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of the
clamping members is provided at a lower edge with a notch for
engaging with an upper end of one flat-plate connecting member
located between the two laterally juxtaposed posts.
10. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
connecting members connected to between the two laterally
juxtaposed posts of each of the vertical supports are respectively
in the form of a round bar, and the round bars being horizontally
extended between each pair of a front and a rear vertical support
with front ends and rear ends of the round bars connected to the
front and the rear vertical support, respectively.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a sectional rack, and more
particularly to a sectional rack, of which shelves are tightly
connected to four vertical supports through tight fitting of
C-shaped clamping members provided at four corners of the shelves
around clamping members assembled to the vertical supports, giving
the sectional rack an increased structural strength.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Various types of organizers are provided in homes, offices
or other working places for holding or positioning different
articles and items. Such organizers can be generally divided into a
fixed type that could not be easily disassembled and a sectional
type that can be easily disassembled and assembled again. The
sectional organizers have the advantages of easy to store and
transport to thereby enable reduced storing and transporting costs
and accordingly upgraded market competing ability.
[0003] The sectional organizers can be further divided into two
types, one of which requires tools to assemble and disassemble it
while the other type can be assembled and disassembled without the
need of using any tool. Among the same type of sectional
organizers, products that can be assembled using fewer tools would
be accepted by more consumers. A currently commercially available
sectional rack with vertical supports has a left and a right
vertical support, and a plurality of shelves assembled to and
between the two vertical supports. Each of the two vertical
supports includes a front twin-post support having two juxtaposed
front posts and a rear twin-post support having two juxtaposed rear
posts, and at least two vertically spaced connecting members. The
connecting members are welded at front and rear ends to the front
and the rear twin-post support, respectively.
[0004] Every shelf is fixedly provided at four corners with a
fastening connector each. The fastening connectors are respectively
an axially extended U-shaped bracket to define a U-shaped receiving
space therein. The U-shaped receiving spaces of the fastening
connectors located at two front corners of the shelves are forward
opened, while the U-shaped receiving spaces of the fastening
connectors located at two rear corners of the shelves are rearward
opened. The receiving spaces of the fastening connectors at four
corners of the shelves can be engaged with corresponding front and
rear twin-post supports of the two side support frames, so that the
front and rear fastening connectors at two lateral sides of the
shelves outward push against the front twin-post supports and the
rear twin-post supports of the two side support frames and are
fixedly assembled to between the two side support frames. The
above-structured sectional rack has relatively low structural
strength and tends to wobble sidewardly. To overcome this problem,
it is necessary to erect two crossed tension braces between the
rear twin-post supports of the two side support frames to give the
assembled sectional rack an increased structural strength. Since
the crossed tension braces are not suitable for mounting to between
the front twin-post supports of the two side support frames, the
sectional rack could not have balanced front and rear structural
strength. Thus, the whole sectional rack still has poor structural
strength and tends to wobble sidewardly when an external force is
applied thereto.
[0005] It is therefore tried by the inventor to overcome the
problems in the conventional sectional rack having twin-post
supports by developing a novel structure for assembling shelves to
four vertical supports, so that the sectional rack in a fully
assembled state can have increased structural strength without
wobbling under sideward external force applied thereto.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
sectional rack including at least two shelves and four vertical
supports, which can be firmly connected to one another to give the
fully assembled sectional rack an increased overall structural
strength.
[0007] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
sectional rack that has increased structural strength without the
need of mounting two crossed tension braces to a rear side of the
rack, enabling the rack to have a neat and aesthetic
appearance.
[0008] To achieve the above and other objects, the sectional rack
according to the present invention includes at least four vertical
supports, at least two shelves, and a plurality of clamping
members. Each of the vertical supports includes two laterally
juxtaposed posts. Each of the clamping members defines a vertically
extended receiving recess and has two wing portions laterally
extended from two opposite lateral edges of an open side of the
receiving recess. The receiving recess is sized for one post of the
vertical support to partially set therein, allowing the clamping
member to assemble to the vertical support. Each of the shelves is
provided at each of four corners with an outward-opened C-shaped
clamping member for tightly fitting around and thereby pushing the
two wing portions of one clamping member toward each other for
firmly clamping the post in the receiving recess, so that the four
corners of the shelf are separately firmly connected to the four
vertical supports.
[0009] In the sectional rack of the present invention, each of the
wing portions has a width that is increased from an upper end to a
lower end of the wing portion, such that a laterally outer end
surface of the wing portion is a gradually downward outward
inclined surface; and the wing portion has an outside surface that
is also a gradually downward outward inclined surface. Each of the
C-shaped clamping members includes a pair of hooking portions
facing toward each other to define an opening therebetween. Two
opposite inner end surfaces of an inner space enclosed in the
C-shaped clamping member are downward outward inclined surfaces, so
that a width of the inner space of the C-shaped clamping member
measured between the two opposite inner end surfaces gradually
increases from top to bottom; and an inside surface of each of the
two hooking portions facing toward the inner space of the C-shaped
clamping member is a downward and outward inclined surface. With
the inclined surfaces on the C-shaped clamping member
correspondingly and fitly bearing on the inclined surfaces on the
wing portions of the clamping member, the C-shaped clamping member
is able to produce a tightening effect on the two wing portions and
pushes them toward each other, so that the clamping member can more
tightly clamp the post in the receiving recess.
[0010] In the sectional rack of the present invention, each of the
clamping members is provided on a wall of the receiving recess near
an upper end thereof with an inward protrusion extended into the
receiving recess, and each of the posts of the vertical supports to
be clamped in the receiving recesses is correspondingly provided
with a recess for engaging with the protrusion. Through engagement
of the protrusion on the clamping member with the recess on the
post, the clamping member is held in place on the post without the
risk of moving upward, downward, leftward or rightward relative to
the post.
[0011] In the sectional rack of the present invention, each of the
clamping members further includes two vertically extended protruded
blocks laterally symmetrically provided at the two opposite lateral
edges of the receiving recess for partially clamping the post
therebetween; and a portion of the post being located outside the
receiving recess and exposed from the two protruded blocks is
smaller than a half circle; and a distance between the two
protruded blocks on each of the clamping members is slightly
smaller than an outer diameter of the posts of the vertical
supports, so that the post is forced through the two protruded
blocks and clamped in the receiving recess.
[0012] In the sectional rack of the present invention, the clamping
members are formed by bending a metal plate, and the protruded
blocks are formed by molding a plastic material.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description of
the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings,
wherein
[0014] FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a sectional rack
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a clamping member according
to the present invention, viewed from an inside thereof;
[0016] FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the clamping member of FIG.
2, viewed from the inside thereof;
[0017] FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the clamping member taken
along line A-A of FIG. 3;
[0018] FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of a shelf according
to the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view of the shelf of FIG.
5;
[0020] FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG.
6;
[0021] FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the sectional
rack of the present invention showing a shelf is assembled to the
vertical support thereof;
[0022] FIG. 9 is a top view of FIG. 8;
[0023] FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG.
9;
[0024] FIG. 11 shows a protrusion formed on the clamping member is
engaged with a recess formed on a post of the vertical support;
[0025] FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the clamping member is
further provided with two protruded blocks;
[0026] FIG. 13 shows the clamping member of FIG. 12 in use; and
[0027] FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a sectional rack according
to another embodiment of the present invention, in which connecting
members in the form of round bars are connected to between front
and rear vertical supports located at the same lateral side of the
sectional rack.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0028] Please refer to FIG. 1 that is an assembled perspective view
of a sectional rack according to an embodiment of the present
invention. The sectional rack of the present invention includes at
least four vertical supports 30, at least two shelves 10, 20, and a
plurality of clamping members 40. In the illustrated embodiment,
there are included four vertical supports 30, two shelves 10 that
are respectively in the form of a plate, and two shelves 20 that
are wire shelves. As shown in FIG. 1, the shelves 10, 20 are
respectively connected at four corners to the four vertical
supports 30 to provide an assembled sectional rack of the present
invention.
[0029] The vertical supports 30 respectively include two laterally
juxtaposed posts 31, and a plurality of vertically equally spaced
connecting members 32. The connecting members 32 are provided
between the two laterally juxtaposed posts 31 of each of the
vertical supports 30 to connect the two posts 31 into an integral
unit.
[0030] Please refer to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. Each of the clamping
members 40 defines at an inside with a vertically extended
receiving recess 41, and has two wing portions 42 separately
laterally extended from two opposite lateral edges of an open side
of the receiving recess 41. The receiving recess 41 is sized for
one of the two juxtaposed posts 31 of each vertical support 30 to
partially set therein, allowing the clamping member 40 to assemble
to the vertical support 30 with the open side of the receiving
recess 41 facing toward the shelf 10 or 20 connected to between the
four vertical supports 30. Each of the two wing portions 42 has a
width that is increased from an upper end to a lower end of the
wing portion 42, such that a laterally outer end surface 421 of the
wing portion 42 is a gradually downward outward inclined surface.
Further, the wing portion 42 has an outside surface 422 that is
also a gradually downward outward inclined surface. Further, each
of the clamping members 40 is provided at a lower edge with a notch
43.
[0031] Please refer to FIGS. 1, 5, 6 and 7 at the same time. Each
of the shelves 10 is provided at front and rear corners at two
lateral sides thereof with a C-shaped clamping member 50 each. The
C-shaped clamping members 50 are located on the shelf 10 with an
opening 52 thereof facing laterally outward. Each of the C-shaped
clamping members 50 includes a pair of hooking portions 51 facing
toward each other to define the opening 52 therebetween. Two
opposite inner end surfaces 53 of an inner space enclosed in the
C-shaped clamping member 50 are downward outward inclined surfaces,
so that a width of the inner space of the C-shaped clamping member
50 measured between the two opposite inner end surfaces 53
gradually increases from top to bottom of the C-shaped clamping
member 50. The two inclined inner end surfaces 53 of the C-shaped
clamping member 50 have a gradient the same as that of the two
laterally outer end surfaces 421 of the two wing portions 42.
Meanwhile, an inside surface 511 of each of the two hooking
portions 51 facing toward the inner space of the C-shaped clamping
member 50 is a downward and outward inclined surface. The inside
surfaces 511 of the hooking portions 51 have a gradient the same as
that of the two outside surfaces 422 of the two wing portions 42.
The shelf 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 is provided at respective four
corners with identically structured C-shaped clamping members
50.
[0032] Please refer to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 at the same time. Each of
the clamping members 40 assembled to the vertical support 30 is
connected to the shelf 10 by guiding the two wing portions 42 of
the clamping member 40 into one corresponding C-shaped clamping
member 50 on the shelf 10. The width and a depth of the inner space
of the C-shaped clamping member 50 at a bottom thereof are larger
than a distance between the laterally outer end surfaces 421 of the
two wing portions 42 and the thickness of the wing portions 42 at a
top thereof, allowing the C-shaped clamping member 50 to be easily
externally downward fitted around the two wing portions 42 of the
clamping member 40. With the same gradient thereof, the two
inclined inner end surfaces 53 of the C-shaped clamping member 50
can fitly bear on the laterally outer end surfaces 421 of the two
wing portions 42 of the clamping member 40 and produce a tightening
effect on the two wing portions 42. Meanwhile, with the same
gradient thereof, the inclined inside surfaces 511 of the two
hooking portions 51 of the C-shaped clamping member 50 can fitly
bear on the outside surfaces 422 of the two wing portions 42 and
push the wing portions 42 toward the shelf 10. At this point, the
two wing portions 42 would be brought to move closer toward each
other to thereby reduce a size of the open side of the receiving
recess 41 on the clamping member 40, so that the post 31 is more
tightly clamped in the receiving recess 41. Meanwhile, the C-shaped
clamping member 50 produces a tightening effect on the clamping
member 40 to thereby enable these two members 50, 40 to firmly
connect to each other. The notch 43 provided at the lower edge of
every clamping member 40 can be engaged with an upper end of the
connecting member 32 on the vertical supports 30, enabling the
clamping member 40 to more stably bear on the post 31 of the
vertical supports 30. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the
connecting members 32 are respectively a flat plate.
[0033] To assemble the shelf 10 to the vertical supports 30, first
assemble the clamping members 40 to the posts 31 of the vertical
supports 30. Then, externally fit the C-shaped clamping members 50
of the shelf 10 around the two wing portions 42 of the clamping
members 40 from a top thereof, and push the shelf 10 downward for
the C-shaped clamping members 50 to tightly connect to the clamping
members 40. More specifically, the C-shaped clamping members 50 at
the front and rear corners of the two lateral sides of the shelf 10
are respectively fitted around the wing portions 42 of the clamping
members 40 on the four vertical supports 30 to assemble the shelf
10 to between the four vertical supports 30.
[0034] Please refer to FIGS. 2 and 11. Each of the clamping members
40 is provided on a wall of the receiving recess 41 near an upper
end thereof with an inward protrusion 44 extended into the
receiving recess 41. Each of the posts 31 of the vertical supports
30 to be clamped in the receiving recesses 41 is correspondingly
provided with a recess 33 for engaging with the protrusion 44.
Through engagement of the protrusion 44 with the recess 33, the
clamping member 40 is held in place on the post 31 without the risk
of moving upward, downward, leftward or rightward relative to the
post 31. With these arrangements, it would be more easily to fit
the C-shaped clamping members 50 around the clamping members 40.
When it is desired to remove the shelf 10 from the sectional rack,
simply apply an upward force on a lower side of the shelf 10 to
disengage the C-shaped clamping members 50 from the clamping
members 40 and accordingly, disassemble the shelf 10 from the
vertical supports 30. When the C-shaped clamping members 50 are
moving upward relative to the clamping members 40, the protrusions
44 engaged with the recesses 33 on the posts 31 prevent the
clamping members 40 from displacing on the posts 31 and therefore
enable easy disassembling of the sectional rack. Each of the
receiving recesses 41 has an arc-shaped wall, and the protrusion 44
extended into the receiving recess 41 has a flat front end. A
through hole 45 is formed on the wall of the receiving recess 41
immediately below the protrusion 44, so that a lower side of the
protrusion 44 is separated from the wall of the receiving recess
41. This design allows the protrusion 44 to be more easily engaged
with the recess 33 on the post 31.
[0035] Please refer to FIG. 12. Two vertically extended protruded
blocks 46 are further laterally symmetrically provided at the two
opposite lateral edges of the receiving recess 41 of each clamping
member 40. A distance between the two protruded blocks 46 is
slightly smaller than an outer diameter of the posts 31 of the
vertical supports 30, so that the post 31 is forced through the two
protruded blocks 46 and clamped in the receiving recess 41. The
clamping member 40 has a certain degree of elasticity, so that the
post 31 can be forced into the receiving recess 41 to partially set
therein. It is noted a portion of the post 31 that is located
outside the receiving recess 41 and exposed from the two protruded
blocks 46 is smaller than a half circle. The clamping member 40 is
formed by bending a metal plate, and the protruded blocks 46 are
formed by molding a plastic material. The protruded blocks 46 have
a certain degree of compressibility to enable an increased friction
coefficient thereof, which in turn enables an increased tightening
force applied by the protruded blocks 46 on the post 31. As can be
seen from FIG. 13, to manufacture a complete clamping member 40
with the protruded blocks 46, first position one clamping member 40
in a mold cavity and then associate the plastic protruded blocks 46
with the clamping member 40 through insert molding.
[0036] In FIG. 1, the connecting members 32 mounted to between the
laterally juxtaposed posts 31 of the vertical supports 30 are in
the form of vertically extended flat plates. However, in FIG. 14,
another type of connecting members 32' in the form of round bars is
illustrated. The connecting members 32' in the form of round bars
are horizontally extended between each pair of front and rear
vertical supports 30. That is, the connecting members 32' are
connected at respective front ends to the front vertical supports
30 and at respective rear ends to the rear vertical supports 30, so
as to connect two vertical supports 30 located at the same lateral
side into one integral unit.
[0037] The sectional rack illustrated in FIG. 1 can be sidewardly
extended to provide a larger rack by assembling an additional pair
of front and rear vertical supports 30 to one lateral side of the
original sectional rack and assembling two or more additional
shelves 10, 20 to the extended sectional rack.
[0038] In the sectional rack assembled from vertical supports 30
and shelves 10, 20 according to the present invention, when the
C-shaped clamping members 50 on the shelves 10, 20 are fitted
around the clamping members 40 on the vertical supports 30 to
produce a tightening force against the clamping members 40, the
clamping members 40 are brought to tightly clamp on the posts 31 of
the vertical supports 30. Therefore, the shelves 10, 20 are firmly
connected to the vertical supports 30 via the firm engagement of
the C-shaped clamping members 50 with the clamping members 40. In
this manner, the fully assembled sectional rack has upgraded
structural strength and is able to resist increased lateral force
applied thereto without wobbling sidewardly.
* * * * *