Supports: racks – Shelf type – Knockdown
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-31
2002-04-02
Cohen, Curtis A. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Shelf type
Knockdown
C211S181100, C108S107000, C108S147120, C248S245000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06364139
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a two-part shelf-holder for sectional rack, and more particularly to a two-part shelf-holder that may be quickly opened and closed to mount around or dismount from a vertical post of the rack, so that a shelf or a horizontal support associated with the shelf-holder may be quickly mounted onto or dismounted from the vertical post.
Conventional sectional racks in the early stage required fastening means and tools to erect or disassemble the racks. However, improvements have been made to such sectional racks and fastening means and tools are no longer needed in the erection and disassembling thereof.
FIG. 1
illustrates one of these improved sectional racks. As shown, the rack includes vertical posts
10
having a plurality of horizontally spaced annular grooves
13
provided on their outer surfaces, and shelves
12
connected to the vertical posts
10
through two-part connecting members
11
. The two parts of the connecting member
11
maybe opened or closed relative to each other. Aradially inward projected rib
14
is annularly provided along an inner surface of the connecting member
11
at proper position, such that when the two parts of the connecting member
11
are in a closed position, it may be put around the vertical post
10
at a predetermined position by engaging the rib
14
with one of the grooves
13
. The connecting member
11
in the closed position has a downward and outward inclined outer surface, making it look like a truncated cone. The shelf
12
has short sleeves
15
provided at four corners thereof (only one corner is shown in FIG.
1
). Each sleeve
15
has a downward and outward inclined inner surface corresponding to the inclined outer surface of the connecting member
11
. The sleeves
15
are separately put around the connecting members
11
mounted on the vertical posts
10
to, on the one hand, force the connecting members
11
toward the vertical posts
10
and, on the other hand, connect the shelves
12
to the vertical posts
10
.
In the above-described sectional rack, each shelf
12
is connected to the vertical posts
10
by putting four sleeves
15
thereof around four connecting members
11
mounted on the posts
10
. If it is intended to increase or decrease the number of shelves
12
of the rack, it is necessary to temporarily remove the top shelf
12
from the rack before other layers of shelves
12
could be adjusted. This is, of course, inconvenient for the user to do so.
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 refer to the above-mentioned types of sectional racks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,581 entitled “Easy-mount Shelf Holder for A Sectional Rack” granted to the applicant of the present invention discloses an openable shelf holder that enables a shelf to be sideward connected to vertical posts of the rack without the need of mounting from a top of the posts. This design also allows adjustment of a number of shelves on the rack without the need of dismounting the rack. However, the shelf holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,581 includes complicated structure to prevent two parts of the shelf holder forming a complete and closed sleeve from separating from each other when the sleeve is put around the connecting member to press the latter against the vertical post. Such complicate structure increases the difficulty and, accordingly, the cost in manufacturing the rack.
It is therefore the intention of the inventor to provide a two-part shelf-holder for sectional racks to eliminate the drawbacks in the conventional shelf holders for sectional racks, including that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,581.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a two-part shelf-holder for connecting a shelf or a horizontal support to vertical posts of a sectional rack in a more convenient manner to enable easy increase or decrease of the number of shelves on the rack.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-part shelf-holder for connecting a shelf or a horizontal support to vertical posts of a sectional rack, and the two-part shelf-holder has simple structure and could be easily manufactured at low cost.
To achieve the above and other objects, the two-part shelf-holder of the present invention for supporting shelves on connecting members fixed around vertical posts of a sectional rack mainly includes a fixed part fixedly connected at one end to a corner of the shelf and a movable part pivotally connected at one end to the fixed part via a vertical pivotal shaft. The fixed part is formed at another end with a curved case defining a side opening. The movable part is formed at another end with a curved cover adapted to engage with the side opening of the case. A free end of the case is formed of a dovetail mortise and a free end of the cover is formed of a dovetail tenon for fitly engaging with the dovetail mortise of the case. The pivotal shaft extends two ends through two long holes provided on upper and lower sides of the movable part, so that the movable part could, on the one hand, be guided by the long holes to move inward or outward relative to the fixed part and, on the other hand, be turned about the pivotal shaft relative to the fixed part. When the cover of the movable part is turned to close the case of the fixed part with the dovetail tenon engaged with the dovetail mortise, a complete and closed sleeve is formed for firmly locating around and downward pressing against one connecting member on the vertical post.
The fixed part of the two-part shelf-holder of the present invention could also be fixedly connected at one end to an end of a horizontal support of the sectional rack.
When the movable part of the two-part shelf-holder is moved forward for the pivotal shaft to abut on an end of the long holes away from the cover, the dovetail tenon sideward disengages from the dovetail mortise to allow the movable part to pivotally turn away from the fixed part to open the shelf-holder. And, when the movable part of the shelf-holder is moved rearward or inward for the pivotal shaft to abut on an end of the long holes facing the cover, the dovetail tenon is sideward moved into the dovetail mortise to allow the movable part and the fixed part to form a closed, sleeve-like shelf/holder.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4750626 (1988-06-01), Nicely
patent: 5415302 (1995-05-01), Carlson et al.
patent: 5531167 (1996-07-01), Stevens et al.
patent: 5924581 (1999-07-01), Chen
patent: 6079575 (2000-06-01), Wang
Cohen Curtis A.
Harris Erica B.
Liauh W. Wayne
Pro Trend Co., Ltd.
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