ADAPTIVE STORAGE RACK

Abstract

A rack for storing and/or transporting elements, in particular glazing elements, of the type including a receiving structure for these elements, the top part of the structure including a receiving device and a securing device for an additional top rack that is to be stacked thereon, and the bottom part of this structure including a complementary device that can allow it to cooperate with the receiving device and the securing device of an additional bottom rack on which it is to be stacked. The securing device includes at least two members separated from one another in the transverse direction by a value of a pitch corresponding to a difference in dimensions, in the transverse direction, of the racks that are to be stacked.

Description

The present invention relates to a rack intended for the storage and/or the transportation of glazing elements, in particular glazing units intended for automobiles, such as, for example, windshields, back windows or sidelites.

It is known that the racks of this type generally consist of mechanically welded tubular elements which form a receiving cradle on which the glazing elements are deposited in such a way that they rest on their rim, parallel to one another.

Such racks usually have standard dimensions and occupy a ground surface area that is substantially rectangular, the glazing elements being distributed in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, these racks can be stacked and, to this end, comprise receiving means whose purpose is to ensure an accurate positioning on one another, and securing means ensuring that they are linked both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction once they are stacked.

These securing means usually consist of a cylindrical block ending with a cone, which is disposed in the top part of the rack of each side thereof and orifices provided at its base which are situated in line with these blocks. Thus, when two racks of identical dimensions are superposed, the two blocks of the bottom rack are housed in the respective orifices of the top rack.

It is understood in these conditions that it is possible to superpose only racks whose base surface area is strictly identical.

A difficulty arises when wanting to fill transport vehicles with such racks, whether these vehicles are road or rail vehicles, insofar as the receiving surface areas are not always a multiple of the base dimensions of the racks. More often than not that is not the case and the volume that is thus not used represents for the user a significant loss.

The present invention aims to allow the user to come close to optimally filling the chosen transportation means while increasing the quantity of elements transported compared to that which usually exists with the known standard racks.

Thus, the subject matter of the present invention is a rack for storing and/or transporting elements, in particular glazing elements, of the type comprising a receiving structure for these elements, the top part of the structure comprising receiving means and securing means for an additional top rack that is to be stacked thereon, and the bottom part of this structure comprising complementary means that can allow it to cooperate with the receiving means and the securing means of an additional bottom rack on which it is to be stacked.

This rack is characterized in that the securing means comprise at least two members separated from one another in the transverse direction by a value corresponding to a difference in dimensions, in the transverse direction, of the racks that are to be stacked.

Preferentially, the securing means will be able to comprise two members. These members will be able to consist of dog points and the complementary means will be able to consist of an orifice produced in the anterior base of the structure.

The dog points will be able to comprise a cylindrical base topped by a conical part.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinbelow as nonlimiting examples with reference to the attached drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rack provided with receiving means and securing means according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a partial top view of the rack represented in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view in transverse cross section of the receiving means and of the securing means of the rack according to the invention,

FIG. 3a is a view in vertical cross section of the base of an anterior vertical upright of the rack according to the invention,

FIG. 4 is a view in partial vertical cross section of the rack along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a partial front view of the rack represented in FIGS. 1 and 2,

FIG. 6 is a view in partial cross section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2 of a stack of two racks of identical transverse dimensions,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the encircled part of FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a view in partial cross section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2 of a stack of two racks of different transverse dimensions,

FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the encircled part of FIG. 8,

FIG. 10 is a view in transverse cross section of a variant embodiment of the receiving and securing means of the rack according to the invention.

Throughout the description, the rack 1 according to the invention is considered to rest on a support, ready to be loaded/unloaded, which makes it possible to define its “bottom” and “top” parts. The aperture for access to the glazing elements is inscribed in a longitudinal plane, and is positioned on the anterior part of the rack 1, that is to say in proximity to an operator required to load/unload the glazing elements. By contrast, the posterior part of the rack 1 is the part furthest away from the operator. The glazing elements are therefore loaded from the posterior part of the rack 1 to the anterior part of the rack 1, in a transverse direction, and are oriented, for each of them, in a substantially longitudinal direction. The expressions “bottom”, “top”, “anterior”, “posterior”, longitudinal” and “transverse” should thus be considered relative to this orientation.

The rack 1 according to the invention which, in the present implementation, is made of mechanically welded tubes, comprises a frame 3 whose base is of substantially rectangular form and whose anterior face is provided with a toeboard 5a which is slightly wider than the frame 3 and whose lateral faces are provided with a toeboard 5b.

The toeboards 5a and 5b are respectively pierced with two apertures 7a and 7b which are intended to allow the passage of the arms of a lifting operator of pallet truck type. The part of the anterior toeboard 5a and the anterior part 3a of the frame 3 situated between the two apertures 7a are interrupted so as to create a controlled access space 6 opening onto the interior of the rack 1.

The two ends of the anterior toeboard 5a end with anterior vertical uprights 11a whose tops are respectively joined by crossmembers 13 to the tops of two vertical uprights 11b standing at the posterior corners of the frame. Moreover, the tops of the two posterior vertical uprights 11b are joined to one another by a crossmember 14, oriented in a transverse direction.

The base frame 3 is provided with two transverse uprights 15, the top face of which is provided over all its length with notches 17 which are intended to receive the rims of the glazing elements 16 in a longitudinal direction, in particular the windshields or the back windows of vehicles, which are intended to be stored/transported, so as to hold them in a substantially vertical position.

The controlled access space 6 of the rack 1 comprises means which make it possible to close it off during transportation or storage, which makes it possible to ensure the protection of the glazing elements 16, and which also make it possible to free it up during the loading/unloading operation, which improves the access to the glazing elements, in particular those which are stored in the posterior part of the rack, that is to say away from the operator.

The racks according to the invention are intended to be stacked one on top of the other and, for this, comprise, on the one hand, receiving means, or guiding means, that can promote the implementation of this superpositioning and securing means that can prevent the movement of the racks once the latter are in place.

As represented in FIGS. 4 and 5, the receiving means consist of two anterior guides 18 and of two posterior guides 20.

Each anterior guide 18, which is disposed on the anterior part of the crossmember 13, comprises a base 18a provided with two wings which are inclined from top to bottom and from the outside to the inside of the guide, namely a wing 18b of transverse direction and a wing 18c of longitudinal direction. The inclination of these wings confers upon them a deflector function that makes it possible, when one rack is being stacked on another, to push back the rack to be positioned when it is not perfectly centered relative to the receiving rack in order to deflect it and bring it into the correct position, as explained hereinbelow.

Likewise, each posterior guide 20 which is disposed on the posterior crossmember 14 comprises a base 20a provided with two wings which are inclined from top to bottom and from the outside to the inside of the guide, namely a wing 20b of transverse direction and a wing 20c of longitudinal direction.

The securing means which are disposed in the anterior guides 18 comprise, as represented in FIGS. 3, 7 and 9, two dog points, namely an anterior dog point 22 and a posterior dog point 23, aligned in a transverse direction. These dog points comprise a cylindrical base 22a topped by a cone 22b. The base 22a is provided with a bottom boss 22c which comes to be embedded in a hole of the base 18a of the guide with which it is welded.

The dog points 22 and 23 have a diameter such that they can be introduced into holes 25 provided at the bottom end of the anterior vertical uprights 11a, as represented in FIG. 3a.

FIG. 6 shows a stack of two identical racks whose width a, or transverse dimension, is greater than that a′ of the standard racks of the prior art, namely a bottom rack 1 on which there is disposed a top rack 1′, a disposition which thus makes it possible to very substantially increase the number of elements transported. In such an implementation of the invention and as represented in FIG. 7, the anterior dog point 22 of the guide 18 of the bottom rack 1 fits into the hole 25 of the base of the anterior vertical upright 11a of the top rack 1′.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a stack of two racks of different transverse dimensions, namely a bottom rack 1 of width a on which there is disposed a top rack 1′ of smaller width a′ corresponding to that of the racks of the prior art. In this disposition and as represented in FIG. 9, the posterior dog point 23 of the guide 18 of the bottom rack fits into the hole 25 of the base of the anterior vertical upright 11a of the top rack.

The present invention is particularly advantageous in that it makes it possible to stack not only identical racks as represented in FIGS. 6 and 7, but racks of different transverse dimensions as represented in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The present invention thus allows the user, based on the surface area available in the transport vehicle, to combine racks of conventional type of width a′ with racks of greater width a so as to occupy all of the available space. It is understood that the separation e that will be produced between the dog points 22 and 23 will correspond to the difference that exists between the transverse dimensions a and a′ of the racks 1 and 1′.

Obviously, according to the invention, the guides can comprise a greater number of pins. Thus, in FIG. 10, the anterior guide 18′ comprises three dog points, namely an anterior dog point 22, an intermediate dog point 24 and a posterior dog point 23, all three aligned in a transverse direction. The distance separating two adjacent dog points can be different, as represented in FIG. 10 in which the anterior 22 and intermediate 24 dog points are separated by a length e′ and the intermediate 24 and posterior 23 dog points are separated by a greater distance e.

Such a disposition makes it possible to further increase the combinations of arrangement available to the user in order to allow him or her to produce an optimal loading of the means for transporting his or her racks.

Finally, it is known that the number of racks that the transport vehicle can transport may be limited by the weight thereof.

Now, it is understood that the weight of the racks can vary as a function of the glazing elements that are to be transported. The present invention, by allowing racks of different dimensions, and therefore of different weights, to be combined, allows the carrier to best adjust the total weight of the racks disposed in the transport vehicle with the weight capacity thereof.

Claims

1. A rack for storing and/or transporting elements comprising a structure receiving the elements, a top part of the structure comprising receiving means and securing means for an additional top rack to be stacked on the latter, and a bottom part of the structure comprising complementary means that can allow it to cooperate with the receiving means and the securing means of a bottom rack on which it is to be stacked, wherein the securing means comprise at least two members separated from one another in a transverse direction by a value corresponding to a difference in dimensions, in the transverse direction, of the racks that are to be stacked.

2. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the securing means comprise two members.

3. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two members consist of dog points and the complementary means consist of an orifice produced in the anterior base of the structure.

4. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 3, wherein the dog points comprise a cylindrical base topped by a conical part.

5. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said receiving means comprises a base provided with two wings which are inclined from top to bottom and from outside to inside.

6. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elements are glazing elements.

7. The storage and/or transportation rack as claimed in claim 5, wherein the two wings include a wing of transverse direction and a wing of longitudinal direction.