Glass Case Storage Rack

Abstract

One or more (preferably two) floor-supported post-mounting stringers, each comprising parallel, conventional structural steel confronting channels, rigidly united by spanner plates welded at their ends to the lower channel webs in abutting relation therewith. Tubular posts have footings on their lower ends which are insertable downwardly between the channels of a stringer and rotatable into locking engagement with the stringer at any desired lengthwise location on the latter. Posts are thus conveniently spaced along each stringer to form rack bins between the posts for holding, on edge, any desirable number of flat cases of heavy material, such as plat glass, and the like.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The principal object is to provide a flat case storage rack which will comprise an inexpensive but durable means for supporting the stored material, packaged in wooden or fiberboard cases, upwardly away from the moisture of the floor, and, at the same time, include posts for holding the cases upright on edge, said posts being readily adjustable to expand or contract the size of individual rack bins to fit changing storage needs.

Another object is to provide such a rack including stringers which rest directly on the floor and provide support for the racked material to hold it upwardly off the floor and a plurality of posts having footings at one end by which the posts may be assembled in interlocking relation with the stringers at various points along the stringer, said post being readily unlocked from connection with said stringers for crating and shipping in parallel relation therewith.

Yet another object is to provide such a storage rack in which the stringers are made up of a pair of confronting steel channels united in parallel spaced relation by spanner plates, the ends of which abut the inner edges of lower webs of said channels and are welded thereto, and in which the footings provided on lower ends of said posts are longer than they are wide and are insertable downwardly between said channels and rotatable to extend said footings in opposite directions into said channels to lock the post on the stringer.

Still another object is to provide such a storage rack which will facilitate use of a forklift truck to deliver cases on edge to said rack or transfer such cases from one rack to another or to a truck for shipment .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention including two floor-supported stringers in which a number of vertical posts have been mounted to form a glass case storage rack.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the posts of the rack of the invention and gives a three-quarter bottom view of the preferred form of footing provided on said post.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged horizontal detailed sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 and shows one of the posts of the invention rotated 90.degree. to bring the footing thereof into interlocking relation with the channels of one of the case supporting floor stringers of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 and shows said footing rotated 90.degree. from the position in which it is shown in FIG. 3 to a position in which the footing is parallel with the channels of said stringer and, in view of the width of the footing being less than the spacing of said channels, said footing is thus free to be withdrawn upwardly from said stringer.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3 and illustrates the manner in which the post footing interlocks with the channels of a floor stringer when turned transversely therein as shown in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring specifically to the drawings, the invention is seen to comprise a glass case storage rack 10 which includes at least one but preferably two or more floor stringers 11, each of which stringers is preferably equipped with two or more posts 12. Each stringer 11 includes a pair of sheet steel channels 13 which are assembled in opposed confronting parallel spaced relation by metal spanner plates 14, opposite ends of which abut against inner edges of lower webs 15 in said channels and are welded thereto to rigidly unite said channels in this relationship. The floor stringers 11 lie directly on the floor 16 and the bottom faces of channels 13 and spanner plates 14 all flatly contact the floor in face-to-face relation therewith. The thickness of spanner plates 14 is approximately equal to the thickness of the webs 15 of the channels 13, the reason for this fact being made clear hereinafter.

Each of the posts 12 preferably comprises a thin walled steel tube 17 which is united at its lower end with a footing 18. This footing preferably comprises a flat steel plate 19 which is rectangular in shape and is centrally apertured to let the lower end of tube 17 extend a short distance downwardly therethrough, after which plate 19 is welded to the tube 17 with the axis of this tube and the center of said plate in coincidence. One pair of diagonally opposite corners 20 in said plate are allowed to retain the form of a right angle while the material of the plate 19 at the other diagonally opposite corner portions thereof is cut away to give these corner portions the shape of arcs 21 generated about centers 22, 23 located on the longitudinal centerline of plate 19 close to the tube 17. Underlying plate 19 and welded thereto to conform to and extend downwardly from end edges of said plate are steel skirts 25. The bottom end of tube 17 is connected by a reinforcing strap 30 with skirts 25 as by welding so as to rigidify the footing 18.

The width of footing 18 is slightly less than the distance which the channels 13 are spaced apart in the floor stringers 11 and this permits footing 18 to be lowered between said channels as shown in FIG. 4 when it is aligned lengthwise with said stringer. Each footing 18 has a length which is slightly less than the distance which the vertical walls of channels 13 are spaced apart. Due to the rounding of two diagonally opposed corner portions of the footing 18, the footing is adapted to be readily rotated 90.degree. clockwise from the position in which it is shown in FIG. 4 to extend said footing exactly crosswise of the floor stringer and insert end portions of the footing into the respective channels 13 of the stringer so as to fit snugly between the upper and lower horizontal flanges of said channels and thus effectively mount post 12 on that stringer. The diagonally opposite rectangular corners 20 of the footing 18 are thus brought into contact with the vertical walls of the channels 13 so as to prevent further clockwise rotation of the footing in this stringer.

If it is desired to lubricate the inner surfaces of the channels 13 a footing 18 may be readily slid along inside a floor stringer 11 on which it is mounted to make adjustments in the position of a post 12 to change the sizes of the storage bins into which said rack is divided by said posts. By virtue of the fact that spanner plates 14 lie in the same plane with the lower webs 15 of channels 13, these plates do not interfere with footings 18 being so shifted over and past any of these spanner plates in relocating the posts 12 on the stringers 11.

Should it be desired to maintain a relatively tight frictional contact between the footing 18 and the stringers 11, this can readily be done by omitting to use a lubricant between the footings and the stringers and just apply the necessary force, as by application of a hammer, when this is needed to shift the footings in the stringers. Whenever it is necessary to disassemble the rack 10 of the invention, this can be readily accomplished merely by rotating each of the posts 12 counterclockwise a quarter turn and lifting the footing 18 of that post from between the channels 13 of stringer with which said post has been associated.

The ease with which a post 12 can thus be disassociated from the floor stringers 11 of the invention renders packaging or crating the rack 10 for shipment a very simple matter as the posts are merely removed from the stringers and laid lengthwise with the latter so as to form a relatively compact package.

The ease with which the post 12 may be relocated in the rack 10 makes it possible to always keep the individual sections into which the rack is divided snugged up so that the cases of plate glass, such as are illustrated in FIG. 1, will always be held vertically on edge while resting on the floor stringers 11. In this view, three pairs of posts 12 are used to divide the storage space of the rack into two separate bins. The longitudinal spaces on the rack occupied by these pair of posts and these storage sections are shown by the brackets in the upper right-hand corner of FIG. 1. The first pair of posts is there indicated by the numeral 12a; the first three glass cases are identified as C1, C2, and C3. The next pair of posts is indicated as 12b. The next two glass cases shown on the rack are identified as C4 and C5. The final pair of posts 12 at the back end of the rack are identified as 12c. This view is believed to clearly illustrate how flexible the invention is in adapting itself to providing storage bins of any desired size for storing relatively large flat packing cases such as those used for packing plate glass. While this is the immediate object of the present invention it is to be understood that it is adapted for use in a wide variety of storage fields where transversely adjustable posts are required for maintaining flat cases containing heavy materials stacked on edge and with the case in approximately vertical position.

Other advantages in the present invention reside in the broad base afforded by the floor stringers 11 for supporting the cased material not only with the cases in vertical position but with the lower edge of the case spaced upward above the floor and thus out of any moisture developing on the latter short of flood proportions. The invention also facilitates the leading posts 12 being readily dismounted from the floor stringers 11 to permit broadside removal of cases from storage by lifting the same on a forklift truck, after which the outside posts 12 can be readily replaced to support the balance of the cases left in storage.

Another substantial advantage resides in the fact that the entire rack of the present invention is free from the floor itself and it is possible to shift the entire rack from place to the floor so as to serve efficient use of the floor for storage purposes.

Claims

I claim:

1. In an expansible storage rack for supporting above the floor large flat cases of heavy material such as plate glass, the combination of:

plural stringer means, resting, when in use directly on a flat floor, each stringer thereof including a pair of conventional parallel steel channels each of which has a vertical middle web and upper and lower horizontal webs, said channels being held in spaced confrontation by flat transverse spanner plates, spaced longitudinally of the stringer, with the plate ends secured to the lower horizontal channel webs, and

post means, each post of which has a footing on end end which is longer than its width, said width permitting said footing to be inserted downwardly between said channels, the depth of said footing being such as to permit the same to be extended laterally into both channels to snugly fit the vertical spaces between said horizontal webs by rotating said post to lock said footing in position in said stringer and hold said post rigidly upright.

2. An expansible storage rack as recited in claim 1 wherein said spanner plates lie in the same plane with said lower channel webs and in abutting relation therewith and are welded to said webs whereby each channel can rest throughout its length directly on the floor and support said heavy cases spaced upwardly above the floor, and a post footing is free to be adjusted lengthwise anywhere in a stringer including areas in which spanner plates are located.

3. An expansible storage rack as recited in claim 1 wherein

each post comprises a steel tube and

each footing comprises a steel bottom plate welded to said tube and reinforcing skirts welded to opposite end edge portions of said bottom plate and extending downward therefrom to give said footing a depth to fit snugly within said channels,

two diagonally opposed corners of said footing being rounded to facilitate the footing being rotated crosswise in a stringer,

the opposite diagonal corners providing stops against continuing said rotation past said crosswise position.

4. An expansible storage rack as recited in claim 3 wherein

the bottom plate is centrally apertured to allow a short lower end portion of the tube to extend therethrough after which said tube is welded to said plate; and

a metal reinforcing strap underlying the bottom end of said tube and welded thereto, opposite ends of said strap extending to and being welded to said skirts.