Supports: racks – Elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-26
2001-01-16
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Elements
C211S191000, C248S235000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173846
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to safety devices which are installed onto pallet racks and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved pallet rack having a safety bracket that is easily and quickly attached to the pallet rack and which is used as a safety barrier to prevent pallets from being pushed off the pallet rack.
Pallet racks provide a primary storage support structure in large warehousing, storage and distribution facilities. In such warehousing operations, fork lifts or other vehicles are commonly employed to load or remove loaded pallets from the pallet racks. Large retailing operations have also recently employed pallet racks to both store and display products in the retail showroom. As the size of the facilities has increased and the direct access of the public to pallet racks systems has increased, the damage potential due to accidental droppage or improper loading of the pallet racks has also escalated.
Safety systems have been installed to enhance the safety and minimize safety risks from mishandling or misloading of the pallet racks. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,573,125, 5,170,829, and 4,981,225 describe the use of retractable safety net systems mounted on pallet racks to prevent accidental droppage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,198 describes the use of an apparatus for selectively holding, retaining, supporting, and/or securing objects upon one or more shelves, and prevent such objects from inadvertently falling therefrom. The apparatus generally comprises a flexible, elastic barrier, or barrier having an elastic membrane therein, that permits observation and inspection of objects contained within an interior compartment or enclosure on the shelf. The barrier can be stretched and pulled aside to allow access to the compartment or enclosure and when released, retracts back to an original position to function as a barrier that retains objects within the compartment or enclosure and prevent the inadvertent escape of such objects contained therein.
The following patents describe various devices or processes for holding objects upon a tray or shelf: Liss et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,755; issued Oct. 19, 1965); Postula et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,249; issued Jun. 16, 1964); and Florian (U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,312; issued Sep. 24, 1957).
Liss et al. describes a magnetic guard rail suitable for medicine cabinets. The guard rail prevents accidental breakage of items stored upon a shelf of a medicine cabinet. The guard rail is designed for medicine cabinets made from steel. In essence, the guard rail is held in place through magnets. It comprises a complex array of components including plastic front posts, an integrally formed connecting rib, body members, a nonmagnetizable shelf, rear body members, cup-shaped circular shells, permanent magnets of circular shape, a steel surface, rod or railing members that extend between the posts and slidably engage with the posts through apertures and a resilient clip. The body members thus support the guard rail and are held in position on the shelf by the attractive force of the attached magnets.
Postula et al. describes a reinforced wire shelf suitable for medicine cabinets and the like. The shelf is made of a composite welded wire construction, and consists of a continuous peripheral frame, and a plurality of traversely extending rods and reinforcing rods that form two trusses to reinforce the shelf against vertical bending. The shelf is equipped with a guard assembly that reinforces the shelf to resist vertical deflection thereof. The guard includes an upper rod member having integral legs which are welded to one of the reinforcing rods, a central leg, and a longitudinal lower rod member.
Florian describes a snap-on guard for children's high chairs provided with tray portions for holding food. The guard can be attached or detached from the tray and act as a guard to retain food, dishes, toys, and the like on the tray. The guard is made from a flexible transparent sheet of thin plastic material. However, the guard must be of sufficient thickness to be self-supporting and be transparent so that it will not interfere with the vision of the child sitting in the chair. The outer marginal edge of the tray has a plurality of head-and-socket fasteners spaced regularly throughout the entire edge of the tray. The heads are screwed into the wood of the tray and the sockets are secured to the marginal edge of the base of the sheet.
The foregoing discussion should not be construed as an admission that such devices and/or patents are either relevant or material to the present invention. Rather, these patents relate generally only to the field of the invention and are discussed herein as constituting the closest art of which the inventor is aware. Moreover, these devices are generally expensive to implement and cannot easily be incorporated to existing pallet racks or else are not suitable for the task. Therefore, until now a need remained for a safer and at the same time more economical pallet rack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention is directed to an improved pallet rack comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced pairs of front and rear upright posts, a plurality of laterally spaced pairs of front and rear longitudinal load beams supported by the upright posts and a plurality of longitudinally spaced lateral load beams extending between front and rear longitudinal pairs, the improvement which comprises:
a safety bracket attached at least at the rear end of the lateral load beams for preventing pallets from being pushed off the rear end of the rack, said bracket comprising:
a base member having two ends;
a back member, said back member connected at about one end of the base and extending upwardly from the base to form a stop for the pallet; and
a front, substantially vertical member connected to the other end of the base and extending downwardly from the base, wherein said front member has an aperture of shape and size to allow insertion of the load beam through the aperture of the bracket and the base of the bracket to rest on the load beam of the rack with the back member extending upwardly to prevent a pallet from being pushed off of the rack.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the safety bracket is a single angled piece of steel having a thickness from about 0.1 to about 1 inch, preferably from about 0.2 to about 0.8 inches and most preferably from about 0.3 inches to about 0.5 inches. The safety bracket is easily and quickly attached to existing pallet racks commonly found in warehouses. Moreover, the bracket may be sized when sold to fit the exact dimensions of the pallet rack that is to be retrofitted. Safety brackets may be installed on both ends of the lateral load beams for being pushed off either end of the rack. The total number of safety brackets installed on each rack may vary depending on the exact dimensions of the rack and the pallets to be stored thereon. The main function of the safety bracket is to prevent pallets from falling off the supporting beams of the rack because of accidents occurring when the forklift is loading or unloading pallets. This safety bracket is quickly and easily attached to existing pallet racks without the use of any tools. In addition, this safety bracket does not require any permanent alteration or defacement of the pallet rack system. This ease of installation of the safety bracket, saving man-hours, together with greatly increased safety for employers, customers, merchandise and equipment, translates into significant cost savings for businesses. Notably, and in contrast to the pallet rack of the present invention, the vast majority of existing pallet racks, have nothing to stop the pallet from being pushed off the load beams onto the floor. The lateral load beams keep the pallet from falling directly below the longitudinal load support beams on which it rests due to excessive loads and/or pallet breakage but cannot prevent horizontal falls. The safety bracket of the present invention, therefore, presents a nov
Jenkens & Gilchrist P.C.
Novosad Jennifer E.
Stodola Daniel P.
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