Supports: racks – Shelf type – Knockdown
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-28
2002-04-02
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Shelf type
Knockdown
C211S181100, C211S182000, C108S147130, C108S147150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06364138
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sectional rack, and more particularly to a sectional rack including vertical posts having an I-shaped cross section to allow horizontal shelves to connect to two lateral sides of the posts at the same height.
Sectional furniture has the advantages of easy storage and easy conveyance. However, the sectional furniture, after being assembled, does not always meet the space available in a room for the furniture. Consumers would apparently select sectional furniture that may be freely assembled to meet available space, and it appears that sectional racks and sectional cabinets could most satisfy the consumers' need.
A sectional rack, developed at an early stage, uses fastening means to screw all components of the sectional rack together. These fastening means require tools to tighten them and therefore complicate the assembling of the sectional rack and cause inconvenience to the consumers. There is now a commercially available sectional rack including metal posts
10
. The metal posts
10
are provided along their length with a plurality of vertically spaced annular grooves
13
. Horizontal shelves
12
are connected to the posts
10
by engaging four short sleeves
14
provided at four corners of the shelves
12
with the posts
10
. FIG.
1
is a sectional rack
1
assembled from such posts
10
and shelves
12
. Please now refer to
FIGS. 2 and 3
. The shelf
12
is connected to the post
10
via an openable connecting member
11
. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,263; 5,303,645; 5,174,676; 4,991,725; 4,799,818; 4,595,107; 4,546,887; and 4,763,799 all disclose sectional racks having structure similar to that shown in
FIGS. 1
to
3
.
When the sectional rack
1
is to be horizontally extended, two laterally adjacent shelves
12
must be connected to the same two posts by sequentially putting their short sleeves
14
around the posts
10
. That is, any two laterally adjacent shelves
12
could not be located on the posts
10
at the same height, and there is a difference in height between them. This makes the assembled sectional rack
1
visually unbalanced and not convenient for holding things.
It is therefore desirable to develop a sectional rack of which horizontally adjacent shelves could be supported on the posts at the same height to provide horizontally freely extendable areas on the rack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A sectional rack according to the present invention includes a plurality of vertical posts, a plurality of horizontal shelves, and a plurality of connecting members. Each of the vertical posts is a hollow post and has a generally I-shaped cross section with two substantially rectangular and width-expanded side portions and a width-narrowed middle portion extending between the two side portions. The horizontal shelves are connected to the two side portions of the vertical posts so that two adjacent shelves located at two sides of the post are at the same height, making the rack assembled from the shelves and the posts visually balanced and more attractive.
The connecting member of the present invention has a generally U-shaped cross section suitable for embracing one side portion of the post. And, the shelf of the present invention has short sleeves provided at four corners thereof. These short sleeves have a generally U-shaped cross section suitable for each embracing a connecting member, so that the connecting member is downward and inward compressed by the U-shaped short sleeve to firmly attach to the post and support the shelf on the post.
The U-shaped short sleeves of the shelves allow two laterally adjacent shelves to be horizontally connected to two side portions of the posts at the same height.
The posts of the sectional rack of the present invention are provided at their two side portions with a plurality of spaced horizontal slots or grooves for receiving a plurality of ribs provided at inner surfaces of the connecting members, so that the connecting members can be firmly attached to the posts by engagement of the ribs with the slots or grooves.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4582001 (1986-04-01), Leikarts
patent: 4593826 (1986-06-01), Bustos
patent: 4656952 (1987-04-01), Schweizer
patent: 5004198 (1991-04-01), Jager
patent: 5482238 (1996-01-01), Kreiter
patent: D382736 (1997-08-01), Kopish
patent: 6068143 (2000-05-01), Wang
patent: 6257426 (2001-07-01), Masunaka et al.
Harris Erica B.
Liauh W. Wayne
Protrend Co., Ltd.
Stodola Daniel P.
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