Patent Application
20170119152
The present invention is directed to a hanging shoe rack, and in particular to a collapsible hanging shoe rack, the size of which can be easily and significantly minimized when not in use.
It is generally known to attach various article holding devices, such as shoe racks, over a top edge of a household door to gain additional storage spaces. Door-mounted shoe racks are popular items since they represent a relatively simple way to create additional space in a closet or a room. Numerous shoe rack designs have been presented, however, many conventional racks have arms that project outwards but cannot be folded up, requiring the rack to take up a lot of space even when not in use or when in transport. In addition, the crossbars of non-folding racks can interfere with the storage of taller items such as boots. Thus, various foldable shoe racks have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,406 to Qiang discloses a modular folding shoe rack that includes first and second side rails; first and second arms pivotably connected with the side rails at a first end of the arms; a first crossbar connected with the opposite ends of the arms; and a second crossbar connected with the side rails as shown in
U.S. Pat. No. 8,636,156 to Malik discloses a rack for storing objects on a door that has at least two uprights, at least two hanging brackets, a plurality of shelf supports, a plurality of shelves and at least two hanging links as shown in
Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved collapsible shoe rack that is more convenient and efficient for the user to store or transport to overcome the problems presented above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible hanging shoe rack that can be stored and transported more conveniently and efficiently without putting any additional or unnecessary burden on the users.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible hanging shoe rack which can be pulled down and extended by gravity when in use without applying other external forces.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a collapsible hanging shoe rack, which can be quickly collapsed on the ground, and the size of which can be significantly reduced.
In one aspect, a collapsible hanging shoe rack may include a plurality of shoe retaining members having two parallel side arms integratedly connected with a horizontal arm, and a plurality of connecting units to pivotally connect to different portions of the shoe retaining members to form the collapsible hanging shoe rack. In one embodiment, the shoe retaining members are arranged in a reverse U-shaped manner in the hanging shoe rack, and each shoe retaining members is connected with two or more the connecting units on each side. More specifically, the shoe retaining member is disposed tiltedly and spacedly from another shoe retaining members in a parallel manner. The connecting units are also arranged in a parallel manner, so when the shoe rack is collapsed, the size of the shoe rack can be significantly reduced because the shoe retaining members can all be stacked up as well as all connecting units to occupy the smallest space.
In one embodiment, except the shoe retaining members at the top and bottom of the shoe rack, each connecting unit is configured to pivotally connect with three shoe retaining members. Taking three shoe retaining members as an example, (except the very top shoe retaining member), a first end of the connecting unit is pivotally connected with a bottom end of the side arm of a first shoe retaining member, a center portion of the connecting unit is pivotally connected with a center portion of the side arm of a second shoe retaining member, and a second end of the connecting unit is pivotally connected with a top portion of the side arm of a third shoe retaining member. It is noted that the connection of the connecting unit and the shoe retaining members to is identical on both sides of the shoe retaining members. Also, the shoe retaining members (except the top and bottom ones) are all connected with the connecting units in the same manner.
The top shoe retaining member is connected with the first shoe retaining member through a shorter connecting unit, wherein a first end of the shorter connecting unit is pivotally connected at a center portion of the side arm of the top shoe retaining member, and a second end of the shorter connecting unit is pivotally connected to a top portion of the side arm of the first shoe retaining member. Meanwhile, the top shoe retaining member, the first shoe retaining member, and the second shoe retaining member are connected through a connecting unit in the same manner to connect the first, second and third shoe retaining members as discussed above.
Like the top shoe retaining member, a bottom shoe retaining member has a similar connecting manner with the connecting units and other shoe retaining members. More specifically, the bottom shoe retaining member is connected with a bottom first shoe retaining member through a shorter connecting unit, wherein a first end of the shorter connecting unit is pivotally connected at a center portion of the side arm of the bottom shoe retaining member, and a second end of the shorter connecting unit is pivotally connected to a bottom portion of the side arm of the bottom first shoe retaining member. Meanwhile, the bottom shoe retaining member, the bottom first shoe retaining member, and the bottom second shoe retaining member are connected through a connecting unit in the same manner to connect the first, second and third shoe retaining members as discussed above.
It is noted that a vertical connecting member is disposed between two shoe retaining members to further strengthen the structure of the hanging shoe rack when it is fully extended. The vertical connecting member may include a first portion and a second portion, which are pivotally connected together at nearly a center portion of the vertical connecting member. When the shoe rack is collapsed, the vertical connecting member would be deformed to bend inwardly.
It is important to note that the entire shoe rack structure is resilient, more or less like a spring. When the shoe rack is hung on the door, it can be pulled down and fully extended by gravity without applying any external forces. And if the user would like to further secure the shoe rack on the door, the user can use the bottom retaining unit to further strengthen the structure of the shoe rack. On the other hand, when it is taken off from the door and put on the ground, the entire shoe rack is very much like a spring, and can be quickly collapsed due to the gravity as well.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described.
All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.
As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and the includes reference to the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the terms “comprise or comprising”, “include or including”, “have or having”, “contain or containing” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of in includes in and on unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present.
In order to further understand the goal, characteristics and effect of the present invention, a number of embodiments along with the drawings are illustrated as following:
In one aspect, referring to
In one embodiment, except the shoe retaining members 110 at the top and bottom of the shoe rack, each connecting unit 120 is configured to pivotally connect with three shoe retaining members 110. Taking three shoe retaining members 110 as an example, as shown in
Still referring to
Like the top shoe retaining member 1100, a bottom shoe retaining member 1100′ has a similar connecting manner with the connecting units and other shoe retaining members. More specifically, as shown in
It is noted that a vertical connecting member 124 is disposed between two shoe retaining members as shown in
The shoe retaining member 110 further includes a plurality of cross bars 113 and 114 parallel to the horizontal arm 112, which are used to support the shoes disposed thereon. The shoe rack 100 also includes a plurality of hanging units 130, one end of which is to engage with the shoe rack 100, and the other end is to engage with a top portion of the door to hang the shoe rack 100 over the door. As shown in
It is important to note that the entire shoe rack structure is resilient, more or less like a spring as shown in
More specifically, the shoe rack 100 in the present invention has a symmetric structure and basically includes a plurality of parallel shoe retaining units 110 (including the top and bottom ones 1100 and 1100′) pivotally connected with a plurality of parallel connecting units 120 (including 1201 and 1201′), which relies on the gravity to fully extend the shoe rack 100 when it is hung on the door. So when the shoe rack 100 is just removed from the door and put on the ground, the user has to lift it or the shoe rack 100 can be totally collapsed as shown from
On the other hand, if the user wants to use the shoe rack 100 again, it can be easily restored from totally collapsed (
Having described the invention by the description and illustrations above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description, but includes any equivalents.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 (e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/247,649, filed on Oct. 28, 2015, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62247649 | Oct 2015 | US |
