Multi-sided storage rack for skis or similar articles

Abstract

A multi-sided or polygonal rack for storing or displaying skis or similar articles. A pair of unitary molded frame members are formed with a polygonal web integrally joined to a central top by a plurality of spokes extending radially from the hub to the midpoint of each side of the polygonal member. In one embodiment of the invention a carousel type arrangement is achieved by mounting two frame members in vertically spaced relationship upon a central post, the frame members being freely rotatable on the post. Another version finds the upper and lower frame members provided with wall mounting brackets, while still a third version finds the two frame members mounted upon a central post and provided with mounting brackets for mounting the rack upon a car. Both frame members of the car rack version and the upper frame members of the carousel and wall mounted versions are provided with resilient straps each having one end anchored to a projecting pin fixedly mounted adjacent one end of each side of the polygonal web, the straps having a washer like member fixed to their opposite ends which can be slipped over the pin at the next adjacent side to clamp the skis against the outer side of the polygonal member. The lower frame members of the carousel and wall mounted versions are formed with integral pockets at each exposed side of the polygonal outer web, the pockets serving to receive the tails of a pair of skis.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application relates to the co-pending application of Jack H. Wegley, Ser. No. 269,039, filed July 5, 1972, which application discloses a basic concept to which further improvements have been added in the present application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The art of the present invention is found in a polygonal frame member which is of one-piece molded construction. Two basic forms of frame members are employed, each of which includes a polygonal outer web integrally joined to a coaxial central hub by radially extending spokes extending from the hub to the midpoint of each side of the polygonal outer member. In one form of frame member, pockets are formed along each outer side of the frame member, while in the other form of frame member the pockets are eliminated and replaced with a pair of locating ribs. The two forms of frame members may be produced from a single mold, inserts being placed in the pocket forming portions of the mold when it is desired to mold frame members without the pockets. For strengthening purposes, the central hub has an axial length greater than the axial width of the polygonal outer web and the radially extending struts are tapered, extending the full length of the hub and the full width of the rib.

Three forms of the invention are disclosed, a carousel type form in which frame members are rotatably supported at vertically spaced positions on a central post, the post preferably being of the extensible length type employed for pole lamps. A second form of the invention finds upper and lower frame members being provided with wall mounting brackets at one side of their polygonal configuration, the brackets being fixedly secured to a wall surface as by bolts. In both the carousel and wall mounted version, the pocket type frame members are employed as the lower of the two frame members, while the upper frame members do not have pockets, but are provided with resilient straps for clamping a ski rack to each of the exposed polygonal sides.

A third form of the invention, a car rack embodiment, is disclosed which finds two of the non-pocket type frame members fixedly mounted at spaced positions on a central shaft with car mounting brackets and straps secured to the lower side of the respective polygonal frame members.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent to the following specification and to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a carousel-type supporting apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the carousel-type supporting apparatus taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inner mounting means for the plurality of spokes of the carousel type supporting apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inner mounting means for the plurality of struts of the carousel-type supporting apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view, partially separated, of the mounted spokes of the carousel-type supporting apparatus taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side elevational view, partially separated, of the mounted struts of the carousel-type supporting apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7, is a partial front elevational view of another carousel-type supporting apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the carousel-type supporting apparatus of FIG. 7 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a lower poket-type retaining member of the carousel-type supporting apparatus of FIG. 7 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a pole mounted ski rack;

FIG. 11 is a detail top plan view, partially in cross section of the upper frame member of the rack of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view taken on line 12--12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a detail cross sectional view taken on line 13--13 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a top plan view, partially in section, of he lower frame member of the rack of FIG. 10;

FIG. 15 is a detail cross sectional view taken on line 15--15 of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a detail perspective view of a wall mounted embodiment of the rack of FIG. 10;

FIG. 17 is a top plan view of the rack of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view, taken on a central vertical plane of the lower frame member of the rack of FIG. 16; and

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of a rack embodying certain features of the rack of FIG. 10 adapted to be mounted upon an automobile.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a carousel-type supporting apparatus 10 in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The supporting apparatus 10 is generally comprised of a pair of individually rotatable retaining means 15a and 15b for retaining heavy objects, such as, the illustrated set of golf clubs and golf bag 40. The retaining means 15a and 15b are rotatably mounted to a center post 11 which vertically mounted between the ground 12 and the ceiling 13. The carousel-type supporting apparatus 10 may be adjusted by means of a pair of telescopic member 11a and 11b which include respective apertures 11c that cooperate the respective pins 14 to allow the supporting apparatus to be securely mounted in a conventional showroom. The rotatable retaining means 15a and 15b are identical; therefore, for the sake of clarity and brevity, only the lower rotatable retaining means 15a will be described throughout the rest of this specification.

Referring now also to FIG. 2, there is shown a top plan view of the carousel-type supporting apparatus 10 which illustrates the lower rotatable retaining means 15a set forth in the lower half of FIG. 1. The lower rotatable retaining means 15a is generally comprised of an annular member 16a, a plurality of diagonally disposed struts 17a, a plurality of horizontally disposed spokes 18a, an upper collar 20a, a lower collar 22a, and a plurality of retaining hooks 39a. The annular member 16a has twleve sections, each section having either one end of the six struts 17a or one end of the six spokes 18a mounted thereto. The other ends of the struts 17a and the spokes 18a are respectively mounted to the lower collar 22a, and a plurality of retaining hooks 39a. The annular member 16a has twelve sections, each section having either one end of the six struts 17a or one end of the six spokes 18a mounted thereto. The other ends of the struts 17a and the spokes 18a are respectively mounted to the lower collar 22a and the upper collar 20a. The mounting of such struts 17a and spokes 18a will be described in detail in the later discussions of FIGS. 3, 4 5 and 6. The upper collar 20a and the lower collar 22a are rotatably supported on the center post 11 by respective rings 19a and 21a which are securely mounted to the center post 11 as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6, the means for constructing and rotatably mounting the retaining means 15a are shown in detail. In FIGS. 3 and 5, the ring 19a is secured to the center post 11 by means of the aperture 23a and the pin 24a. A plurality of inner spoke brackets 27a may be mounted on the upper collar 20a by conventional means, for example, suitable screw and lock washer means 28a. The inner end of the spoke 18a may be secured to the inner spoke bracket 27a by means of an aperture and pin combination 29a. The outer end of the spoke 18a may be secured to the annular member 16a by means of an outer spoke bracket 30a. The outer spoke bracket 30a secures the spoke 18a by means of an aperture and pin combination 32a, and the outer spoke bracket 30a is secured to the annular member 16a by means of the screw and lock nut arrangement 31a.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 6, there is shown the means in detail for securing the plurality of struts 17a between the annular member 16a and lower collar 22a. The ring 21a is secured to the center post 11 by means of the aperture 25a and the pin 26a. A plurality of inner strut brackets 33a may be respectively welded to the lower collar 22a at the illustrated area designated 34a. The inner end of the strut 17a may then be secured to the inner strut bracket 33a by means of a screw and lock nut arrangement 35a. The outer strut bracket 36a may be secured to the annular member 16a by a screw and lock nut arrangement 37a. In turn, the outer end of the strut 17a may be secured to the outer strut bracket 36a by means of an aperture and pin combination 38a.

For the most part, all of the elements of the carousel type supporting apparatus 10 are fabricated of aluminum, and the same applies for the later taught supporting apparatus 50, except for the base stand 44. The plurality of struts 17a and spokes 18a are inverted U-shaped aluminum channels which are relatively lightweight and may be arranged to ensure compact packaging of the carousel-type supporting apparatus 10. The center post 11 may consist of two sections which allows the approximate maximum length of the package to be no longer than a respective diameter of the annular members 16a and 16b.

Referring now to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, there is shown another carousel-type supporting apparatus 50 for retaining shown skis 54 in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The supporting apparatus 50 is generally comprised of a pair of generally annular rotatable retaining means 45a and 45b which are adapted to rotate around a center post 41 which is supported by a base stand 44. While the plurality of spokes 46c and the plurality of struts 46a and 46b are mounted in a similar fashion as the aforementioned spokes and struts of the supporting apparatus 10, the plurality of struts 46a are attached to a common collar 47 by means of strut bracket 48 so that the retaining means 45a and 45b are locked in rotation movement in order to retain the shown skis 54. As is obvious in light of the earlier discussion of supporting apparatus 10, the pair of rotatable retaining means 45a and 45b are also rotatably mounted to the center post 41 by means of the respective lower collar and ring 42a and 43a and upper collar and ring 42b and 43b. The shown skis 54 are retained on the supporting apparatus 50 by means of cooperating lower pocket retaining member 49 and upper pocket retaining member 51.

Referring now to FIG. 9, there is shown a perspective view of the lower pocket retaining member 49 which is mounted to the lower retaining member 45a by means of the U-shaped inner support 53. The pocket retaining members 49 and 51 may be constructed of suitable rigid material, such as, metal, and such material may be rubber or felt control on its inner surface 52.

In FIGS. 10 through 19, three exemplary forms of ski racks are disclosed which employ main frame members 100 (FIG. 11) and two instances a main frame member 102 of a molded thermoplastic material.

Referring first to FIGS. 11 through 13, main frame member 100 is preferably constructed as a one-piece member having a continuous polygonal outer web 104, a centrally located hub 106 coaxial with the polygonal configuration of outer web 104, and a plurality of stiffening webs 108 which extend radially from hub 106 to the respective midpoints of the individual sides of polygonal web 104. As best seen in FIG. 12, the axial extent of hub 106 is approximately twice that of the axial extent of outer web 100 and stiffening webs 108 are tapered as at 110 to provide an increased degree of rigidity to the assembly. Preferably, frame members 100 are cast as a single unit, however, in some situations, it may be desirable to form the members from two as at the dividing line A of FIG. 12 which are subsequently assembled by thermal bonding.

For additional strength, an inwardly projecting flange 112 (FIG. 12) is formed around the inner periphery of outer web 104. Near the end of each individual side of outer web 104, a pair of outwardly projecting locating ribs 104 are integrally formed to extend axially along each side of web 104.

At or adjacent each corner of polygonal web 104, an outwardly projecting pin 116 is fixedly secured as by a riveting technique (FIG. 13) to the web, a resilient strap 118 having one end fixedly secured to web 104 during the rivetin process. A coupling washer 120 is fixedly secured to the free end of each strap 118. The length of resilient strap 118 is somewhat less than the distance between adjacent pins 116 so that when the coupling wahser 120 at the free end of the strap is slipped over the pin 116 at the adjacent side of web 104, strap 118 is resiliently tensioned and may thus serve as a clamping or holding memker for detachably holding a pair of skis S against one side of polygonal web 104, the locating ribs 114 holding the skis in a substantially centered position at the side of web 104.

Frame member 102 differs from frame member 100 in that a ski tail receiving cup 122 is integrally molded at the outer side of each side of polygonal web 104. Apart from the presence of cups 122, the configuration and dimensions of web 102 are identical to the corresponding configuration and dimensions of web 100 and by employing a mold with removable inserts, a single mold may be alternatively used ro produce webs 100 or 102. It will be noted that the spacing between locating ribs 114 and the opposite end sides of cups 122 is identical.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a pole mounted version of a ski rack embodying the invention is disclosed in which a frame member 100 and a frame member 102 are received on an extensible pole 126 which passes through the central hubs 106 of the respective frame members. Pole 126 is of the longitudinally extensible type which is adjustably extended to rigidly clamp the pole in a fixed position between a floor and ceiling, poles of this type being widely employed for supporting lamps. Frame members 100 and 102 are supported upon pole 106 for free rotation relative to the pole as by roll pins 128, 130 which pass through pole 126 in underlying relationship of the central hubs of the respective frame members. In the arrangement of FIG. 10, the uppermost frame member 100 and the lowermost frame member 102 are rotatively coupled to eeach other whenever a pair of skis is mounted in the unit as shown in FIG. 10, the tail ends of the skis being received in one of the cups 122 while the upper ends of the skis are clamped to one side of frame member 100 by the resilient straps 118. Thus, when fully loaded, the rack can be freely rotated to bring a desired pair of skis to a selected position, thus enabling locating of the rack closely adjacent a wall or in a corner of the room.

In FIGS. 16 through 18, a stationary wall-mounted version of the rack is disclosed in which the upper frame member 100 is provided with a generally U-shaped wall mounting bracket 132 fixedly secured to one side of the outer web of frame member 100. A slightly modified form of frame member 102, designated 102' in FIGS. 16 and 18 is employed in which the cup 122 is omitted from one of the sides of polygonal member 104 and an offset wall mounting bracket 134 is fixedly secured to member 102' in place of the omitted cup. The brackets 132 and 134 are fixedly secured, as by screws, to a wall surface as illustrated in FIGS. 17 and 18.

In FIG. 19, a car rack version of the invention is disclosed which employs two frame members 100 fixedly interconnected to each other by a central rod 136 which is fixedly secured at its opposite ends, as by riveting, to the central hubs of the respective frame members 100. A mounting bracket 138 of a configuration suitable to support the two frame members 100 at a sufficient clearance from a car roof or rear deck is employed and is fixedly secured to one side of the frame members as illustrated in FIG. 19. Conventional suction cups and straps 140 and 142 are employed to support and secure the rack of FIG. 19 to the roof or trunk lid of a car.

Thus, although the present invention has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments, such as, a carousel-type supporting apparatus having hexagonally shaped retaining member, nevertheless, various changes and modifications obvious to a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, for example, generally annular shaped retaining members having some other member of sides, are deemed to lie within the spirit, scope and contemplation of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A carousel type rack comprising:

a vertically disposed post; and

upper and lower frame members projecting radially outwardly from said post, said pair of frame members being rotably mounted on said post and each of said frame members comprising:

a hub rotatably received upon said post;

a polygonal outer web coaxial with said post;

a plurality of radially extending spokes integral with said hub and extending from said hub to the midpoints of the sides of said polygonal member and integrally jointed thereto to define a rigid one piece frame member, the axial width of said polygonal web being less than the axial length of said hub with said spokes being tapered from a maximum axial width equal to that of the hub at their juncture therewith to a minimum axial width equal to that of said web at the juncture of said spokes within said web; and

retaining means for retaining articles contiguous to the sides of said polygonal member, said retaining means on the lower frame member comprising upwardly opening pockets integrally formed on the outer sides of the polygonal web, and said retaining means on the upper frame member comprising resilient straps secured at one end to one end of each side of said polygonal web and means for releasably attaching the other end of said strap at the other end of said one side of said polygonal web.

2. A ski rack comprising a pair of frame members, each frame member including a one piece polygonal outer web symmetrical about a central axis, a cylindrical central hub coaxial of said axis and a plurality of stiffening webs each intricately joined at one end of said hub and projecting radially from said hub, the opposite ends of said stiffening webs being respectively integrally joined to the midpoints of the sides of said polygonal outer web to constitute said hub, stiffening webs and polygonal web has a unitary one piece frame member, a rod like central member received within the hubs of said frame members, locating means engaged between said central member and said hubs to maintain a selected axial spacing between said frame members, and releasable securing means on said frame members for releasably securing skis to the sides of said polygonal webs, said securing means including a bolt fixedly mounted at one end of a side of said polygonal outer web of one of said frame members projecting outwardly from said outer web, a resilient strap having a length less than the length of a side of said polygonal web, means mounting one end of each said strap upon said bolt against the outer side of said outer web, and means at the other end of said strap for detachably securing said strap to a similar second bolt located at a corresponding position on an adjacent side of said outer web, and wherein said securing means also includes a ski tail receiving cup integrally formed on a respective side at the outer web of the other of said frame members.

3. A ski rack as defined in claim 2 further comprising means for supporting said central member in a vertical position with said one of said frame members located adjacent the lower end of said central member.

4. A ski rack as defined in claim 3 wherein said locating means comprises bracket means for fixedly mounting said frame members upon a wall surface spaced in vertical alignment with each other.