U.S. patent application number 13/652490 was filed with the patent office on 2014-04-17 for ladder rack for garments, footwear, and household articles.
The applicant listed for this patent is Oren Avissar. Invention is credited to Oren Avissar.
Application Number | 20140103000 13/652490 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50474461 |
Filed Date | 2014-04-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140103000 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Avissar; Oren |
April 17, 2014 |
Ladder Rack for Garments, Footwear, and Household Articles
Abstract
An organization and storage rack having a ladder-like frame with
rungs and hooks designed to receive items such as garments,
footwear, and other household articles. By extending the rungs
through a ladder-like frame, along with knobs at the rung tips,
this rack allows items to be densely places without the need for
traditional clothing hangers or other accessories. It can safely
store a large amount and variety of garments and footwear without
risk of damage from sharp hooks or hangers. It can either be leaned
like a ladder against an upright surface or hung on the back of a
door or other upright surface.
Inventors: |
Avissar; Oren; (Los Angeles,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Avissar; Oren |
Los Angeles |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
50474461 |
Appl. No.: |
13/652490 |
Filed: |
October 16, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/85.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47F 5/12 20130101; A47G
25/06 20130101; E06C 7/08 20130101; A47G 25/0664 20130101; A47G
25/0692 20130101; E06C 1/005 20130101; E06C 7/14 20130101; E06C
9/08 20130101; E06C 1/10 20130101; A47B 55/00 20130101; A47G
25/0685 20130101; A47K 10/10 20130101; A47G 25/0614 20130101; A47F
5/08 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/85.3 |
International
Class: |
A47G 25/06 20060101
A47G025/06 |
Claims
1. A ladder rack having a plurality of rungs on a ladder-like frame
in which the rungs are solid pieces that extend through the ladder
frame such that the ladder rungs are accessible on both the inside
and outside of the ladder frame.
2. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the rungs are
arranged in sets of 2 or more on a wider frame to create a level
plane at each step of the ladder rack.
3. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the ladder frame
is attached with a hinge at the top to a horizontal cross-frame,
which enables the ladder frame to swing outward at the base while
remaining fixed at the top to the horizontal cross-frame attached
to an upright surface, such as a door.
4. The ladder rack according to claim 3, wherein hinged legs are
attached to the bottom of the ladder frame such that: the frame can
be manually pulled outward at the base to allow the hinged legs to
extend into place; the legs are cut or attached in a way that
limits the travel of the hinge such that the legs lock at the
desired angle to brace the ladder frame at an angle against an
upright surface, such as a door.
5. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein an upper segment
containing single rungs and a lower segment containing sets of
rungs can be joined or disassembled, such as with cam-lock
connectors.
6. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein knobs are placed
on the tips of the ladder rungs to facilitate hanging items on the
rung tips.
7. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the members of the
ladder frame are attached at the top to a solid horizontal
cross-frame to strengthen the ladder frame, create a more stable
surface when leaning the rack against an upright surface, and
providing an area for additional hooks, knobs, or trays.
8. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the members of the
ladder frame are attached at the bottom to a solid horizontal
cross-frame to strengthen the ladder frame and create a more stable
base when leaning the rack against an upright surface.
9. The ladder rack according to claim 2, wherein solid or
semi-solid shelves or bins, made of material such as wood, plastic,
or wire mesh, can be placed on top of the rung sets to create
additional types of storage.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM
LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX
[0003] Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention is in the technical field of garment
organization. More particularly, the present invention is in the
technical field of racks designed to organize and dry garments,
footwear, and other household articles.
[0005] Clothing racks are generally used for storing or drying
clothing in personal settings as well as in commercial setting for
transporting or displaying clothes for sale and marketing.
Traditional garment rack designs often use clothing hangers to hold
individual garments or are limited to holding only a few articles
using hooks. Furthermore, few clothing rack designs are suitable
for placement in bedrooms and other living spaces.
[0006] Currently, the most typical places for people to store their
clothing and apparel items are in closets, drawers, and bins. This
is generally convenient for clean clothing that hasn't been worn
since being washed. A problem common for many people is where to
place clothing that has been worn once or twice since washing and
can be worn again before re-washing. It's usually not desirable to
refold worn clothes and place it in contact with clean clothes, so
people generally leave these articles piled up or draped over
random objects.
[0007] Accordingly, there is a need for an improved clothing rack
to quickly store and organize clothes between washes while
minimizing the amount of room space required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention is a rack used to organize and dry
garments, shoes, and other household articles made of cloth. There
are two variations of this invention that allow it to either be
leaned like a ladder against an upright surface (version 1) or hung
on the back of a door or other upright surface (version 2).
[0009] Both versions of this invention feature a plurality of rungs
on a ladder-like frame for holding items. The rungs extend through
the ladder frame to receive items on both the inside and outside of
the frame, as well as being hung on the rung tips. By extending the
rungs through the ladder frame this design allows items to be
densely places on the rack without the need for traditional
clothing hangers or other accessories. Knobs are placed along the
upper backing frame of both versions to hang additional garments or
accessories such as hats and belts.
[0010] Version 1 of this invention leans against an upright surface
and has an upper and lower section for clothing and shoes
respectively. Clothing rungs are for cloth-like garments or
accessories such as belts or handbags and shoe rungs are for
footwear and other rigid items. Shoe rungs are placed in pairs on a
wider ladder frame to create level planes at each step of ladder.
This configuration creates an effectively flat surface while using
the same ladder design and building material as the clothing
section. Optional shelves and bins can be laid on top of the shoe
rungs to create a solid surface for items that can't be held
directly on the shoes rungs. To enable smaller packaging and
storage area the rack can be disassembled into two halves at the
junction of the upper and lower sections.
[0011] Version 2 of this invention hangs on the back of a door or
other upright surface and has a rung configuration similar to the
clothing section of version 1. Its ladder frame is connected at the
top to a hinged backing frame attached to door hangers. The rack
can be braced at an angle, using optional legs, for easy loading
and unloading of items or hung flat in parallel with the door to
save space. To brace the rack at an angles the bottom of the rack
is pulled away from the door allowing a pair of hinged legs to fall
into place. To restore it to a flat position the legs are manually
flipped up allowing the bottom of the rack to swing flat against
the door. When the bottom legs are not included the rack can be
manually swung away from the door while items are loaded.
[0012] The ladder-like design of this rack offers easy access and
visibility of the contained items using a simple light-weight
construction that requires minimal room space. It can safely store
a large amount and variety of garments, footwear, and accessories
without risk of damage from sharp hooks or hangers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of version 1 of the present
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is a side view of version 1 of the present
invention;
[0015] FIG. 3 is a fragmented perspective view of the connection
point between the top and bottom portions of version 1 of the
present invention;
[0016] FIG. 4 is a fragmented perspective view of the bottom
portion of version 1 of the present invention with an optional
accessory shelf;
[0017] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the closed state of version
2 of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the open state of version 2
of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 7 is a fragmented perspective view of the top joint and
hook portion of version 2 of the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 8 is a fragmented perspective view of the folding legs
at the bottom portion of version 2 of the present invention;
and
[0021] FIG. 9 is a fragmented perspective view of an alternative
design of the folding legs at the bottom portion of version 2 of
the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0022] Referring now to the invention in more detail, FIG. 1 to
FIG. 4 shows version 1 of the rack, which leans against a wall, and
FIG. 5 to FIG. 9 shows version 2, which hangs on the back of
doors.
[0023] FIG. 1 shows version 1 of the rack having a narrower upper
ladder frame 4 for cloth-like garments or accessories, such as
handbags or belts, and a lower wider ladder frame 5 for rigid items
such as footwear. The upper ladder frame supports clothing rungs 1
that pass through the frame 4 and have optional knobs at the tips
3. Garments, such as pants and shirts, can be draped over the
center area of the rungs 15 or the outer area 16 as well as hooked
on the knobs 3. The wider lower ladder frame 5 supports pairs of
shoe rungs 2 that create level planes at each step of rung pairs.
Shoe rungs may or may not have knobs, such as 3, at the tips
depending on the choice of design. Like the upper frame, pairs of
shoes can be placed in the center area of the rungs 15. The outer
area of the rungs 16 can either support pairs or single shoes
depending on the width of the rack and/or shoes. Extra spacing 17
is added between the clothing rungs 1 and shoe rungs 2 to provide
separation between garments and footwear. FIG. 4 shows optional
shelves 40 and bins 41 that can be placed on the shoe rungs to
create addition types of storage.
[0024] FIGS. 1 and 2 show version 1 of the rack leaning against an
upright surface. The ladder frame is fixed at an angle 11 to an
upper backing frame 10 and a base 9 to position the rack at an
angle and provide stability. The areas of the backing frame 10 and
base 9 that are in contact with the wall and floor are lined with a
soft non-slip surface to keep the rack in place and avoid damaging
the wall or floor. The backing frame 10 also has knobs 6 to hang
additional garments or accessories.
[0025] FIG. 1 through 3 shows the joint 7 connecting the upper 4
and lower 5 frames of the rack. FIG. 3 more clearly shows the
interconnection of these components. A cam-lock connector 8, such
as the Hafele Minifix.RTM., is secured to a corresponding bolt 12
to lock the upper 4 and lower 5 fames together.
[0026] FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show version 2 of the rack in the closed
and open positions respectively. To transition from the closed
position to the open position the bottom of the rack 32 is pulled
away from the door allowing gravity to lock the legs 21 in place
and brace the ladder frame at an angle--as if it were leaning
against the door. FIG. 8 more clearly shows the transition of the
legs. The bottom edge of the frame 20 is cut at an angle 28 causing
the legs 21 to lock at the desired angle. Each leg 21 is
independently attached to the frame 20 by a hinge 26 to enable the
legs 21 to swing freely between the open and closed position. To
transition the rack from the open to the closed position the legs
21 are manually flipped up, in parallel with the frame 20, allowing
the rack to swing flat against the door. FIG. 9 shows an
alternative design for the bracing legs 21. In this figure the ends
of the legs 21 are cut at an angle and hinged 34 on the inside of
the ladder frame 20. The presence of the legs 21 are optional and
may vary in material and how they are hinged at the frame 20.
[0027] FIG. 7 shows the top of the rack where the ladder frame 20
is connected to the hinged backing frame 21. The top of the ladder
frames 20 have holes at the top with a dowel passing through the
holes to create a hinge 24. The inside edges of the frame 33 are
rounded to provide clearance for the swinging frame. The hinge
dowel 23 is fixed to support blocks 22 to keep it in place. Similar
to version 1, the backing frame 21 also has knobs 31 to hang
additional garments or accessories. To attach the rack to the door
rigid hooks 25, typically made of metal, wrap over the top of the
door and around the backing frame 21. The backing frame 21 can
slide in and out of the top opening of the hooks 25 to place or
remove the rack from the door.
[0028] To use the rack, garments are simply draped or hung on the
dowels 1,29 and knobs 3,6,30,31. In version 1 of the rack footwear
can also be placed flat across the pair of dowels 2 at each step of
the lower ladder section. In version 2 the rack is typically pulled
into the open position, shown in FIG. 6, to add or remove items and
restored to the closed position, shown in FIG. 7, for storage. To
store the rack, version 1 can be disassembled in the middle 7,
shown in FIG. 3, and version 2 can be slid in and out of the hooks
25, shown in FIG. 7.
[0029] In further detail, referring to version 1 of the rack in
FIG. 1, the rungs 1 are sufficiently wide and thick to support
typical garments and footwear, such as about 24 to 30 inches wide
and about 3/4 inches in diameter. The ladder frame 4,5 are
sufficiently long to hold multiple levels of rungs with reasonable
spacing between rungs and total rack length, such as the combined
length of 4 and 5 is about 60 inches. Referring to version 2 of the
rack in FIG. 6, similar to version 1, the rungs 29 are sufficiently
wide the thick to support typical garments. However, the rungs 29
in version 2 may be slightly shorter to fit within the width of a
typical door, such as about 20 inches wide. The length of the
ladder frame 20 is sufficiently long to hold multiple levels of
rungs with reasonable spacing between rungs and total rack length
suitable for the back of a door, such as the length of 20 is about
36 inches.
[0030] The building materials and precise shapes of components may
vary. The construction details of the invention as shown in FIG. 1
through 9 are that the rack may be made of wood or of any other
sufficiently rigid and strong material such as high-strength
plastic, metal, and the like. Further, the various components of
the rack can be made of different materials.
[0031] While the foregoing written description of the invention
enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered
presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will
understand and appreciate the existence of variations,
combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method,
and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited
by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all
embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the
invention.
* * * * *