Patent Application
20140205367
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector configuration for an assembled modular rack, pointing to an improved combination configuration for an assembled modular rack, particularly to a member composed of multi-sectional metal column and metal webbing placing plate, which is oriented toward improving modular rack. The modular rack is assembled by the following: putting together a connector with a rectangular plate object or a glass plate, fastening them together with a screw to establish a placing plate, setting the receiving column of the placing plate onto metal post, covering the post at an appropriate location by a clamping member, in which the connector is securely positioned at an appropriate location of the metal post by the clamping member.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention takes advantage of an assembled metal modular rack as the improvement basis, which is based on U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,263. The cited patent is described as follows: a modular rack for placing objects thereon, comprising: at least three spaced post units, each of which includes a hollow upper post, a cylindrical connector, and a hollow lower post, each of said upper and lower posts having an outer surface formed with a plurality of annular peripheral grooves, said upper post having an internally threaded bottom end, said lower post having an internally threaded top end, said connector having an externally threaded upper portion which extends into and which engages threadedly said internally threaded bottom end of said upper post, said connector further having an externally threaded lower portion which extends into and which engages threadedly said internally threaded top end of said lower post, and a radially protruding flange portion between said upper and lower portions, said flange portion having an outer diameter smaller than that of said upper and lower posts and cooperating with said upper and lower posts to form an annular retaining groove; a plurality of tubular sleeves sleeved on said post units, each of said tubular sleeves being formed with a radially inward protrusion which extends into a selected one of said peripheral and retaining grooves in said upper and lower posts; and a plurality of trays, each of which has a peripheral portion provided with at least three spaced positioning tubes, each of which is sleeved tightly on one of said tubular sleeves, each of said trays having a length which is at least equal to length of each of said upper and lower posts.
In the combined elements for the above configuration, all the elements therein except the curved pieces are made of metal, trays 21 and positioning tubes 23 are linked together by phase welding, Such working renders it impossible to change the material for the trays 21, and the tray body 211 of the trays 21 is composed of multiple metal separators, so there are hollow spaces created by such separation on the placing plate, therefore for the purpose of placing objects, in the event for that these hollow spaces are found to be smaller than the required specification, there needs to be placed a rectangular plane object on the tray body 211, in order to prevent objects from falling from the hollow space. Consequentially, this would directly incur the cost for producing the elements, as well as packaging volume.
The connector configuration for the assembled modular rack, in particular a connector for receiving a rectangular plane object, has a receiving portion and a joinder, these two members are connected to become one body, the receiving portion is connected to the wall surface of a radial tube outer edge of the joinder, the receiving portion is a fan-shaped plane, the plane is disposed with a first border and a second border formed by the bending of a section of the receiving portion, the plane surface is disposed with at least one hole The described joinder is a conical column, which has the first columnar opening and the second columnar opening, the opening diameter of the first columnar opening is smaller than the opening diameter of the second columnar opening; the described receiving portion can receive one of four corners of a rectangular plane object.
The associated metal post, clamping member combination can be combined into a modular rack, the described metal post is used to serve as the supporting elements for the four corners of the four rectangular corners for the modular rack. The post is a columnar constituent, whose appearance has circular indentation. The post itself is circular, rod-shaped material, it is made of aluminum or steel. The circular indentation is a disposition formed by a separation arrangement from the top of the post to the bottom of the post. A clamping member, it includes two congruent semi-circular plate objects, the semi-circular plane object basically includes a leaf portion and a groove portion, wherein the groove portion and the leaf portion correspond to each other, and an inter-engaged leaf portion and the groove portion presents a conical column looking shape. The surface of the semi-circular plane is disposed with congruent protruding ribs, whose function is to help the connector to securely clamp onto the post at an appropriate location.
In continuation of the above, when the two semi-circular plane objects are inter-engaged in the said manner, when the two semi-circular plane objects are installed on the post, the protruding ribs are connected onto the circular indentation of the post to make a clamping element and can circle around the post. In other words, the clamping element can be positioned on the post at a position of any perpendicular height, and can rotate along the circular indentation to function as an element fastening means.
By positioning the clamping element in advance on the post by the above clamping element, it is possible, by way of first providing the joinder of the connector of the current invention to enclose onto the post, through the characteristic of the conical column, and then passing the second columnar opening through the upper circular portion of the clamping element, to make the clamping element to be firmed secured with the connector by the working of the first columnar opening's gradually shrinking opening diameter. An additional proceeding is to lock and connect the four corners of a rectangular plane object respectively to the plane surface of the receiving portion, to combine theretofore a comprehensive configuration of a modular rack.
Preferred embodiments and associated drawings are provided below for detailed description to fully teach the current invention. In view of the drawings for the preferred embodiments for the current invention, skilled persons in the relevant technology to the current invention is expected to be able to make and use the invention based on the description of the current specification, and such is not to restrict the scope of technology of the current invention.
First, reference is drawn to
The connector 1 in assembled modular rack functions as a connecting means connecting between the placing plate the support post, the combination thereof works out to be a modular rack, whose assembly is perfected in the manner of:
Referring now to
In continuation of the above, the two semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b each correspond to match each other, when the two semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b are installed on the post 3, the rib-shaped structure 43 treats the circular indentation 31 of the post 3 as clamping member 4 and is attached and circles thereon. In other words, the clamping member 4 can be located at any perpendicular height on the post 3, and rotates along a circular path to serve as a clamping member.
Referring now to
First is to assemble the four corners of the rectangular glass plate 21 and the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, passing the above assembly by the locking members 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d in a top-bottom fashion through the holes 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, through the holes 122 of the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, and then engage the leaf portion 41 to the groove portion 42 of the semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b, 5a, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b congruent to the clamping member 4, which are combined to cover appropriate parts of the posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, the rib-shaped structures 43 of the semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b, 5a, 5c 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b operate to wedge in the circular indentation 31 for fixed positioning, then, set the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d that have securely connect the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d onto the rectangular glass plate 21 onto the posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, which work to respectively set the second columnar opening 112 of the joinder 11 of the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d onto the upper edges of posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, before setting further toward the bottom, until further extension is not possible with the location of the clamping member 4 reaches against the plate wedge. Because the joinder 11 is conical column with a narrow top and broad bottom structure, after the semi-circular plate objects of the clamping member 44a, 4b, 5a, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are combined together, the result is a conical column with a narrow top and a broad bottom, as a result, when the opening diameter of the second columnar opening 112 of the joinder passes through the upper portion of the clamping member 4, the decrease in the opening diameter of the first columnar opening 111 work to firmly clamp onto the clamping member 4, by this way, the connector 1 is fixed to a appropriate location of the post 3, so as to form a comprehensive structure of an assembled modular rack.
In reference to
First, assemble the four corners of the rectangular glass plate 21 and the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, passing the above assembly by the locking members 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d in a top-bottom fashion through the holes 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, through the holes 122 of the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, and then engage the leaf portion 41 to the groove portion 42 of the semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b, 5a, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b congruent to the clamping member 4, which are combined to cover appropriate parts of the posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, the rib-shaped structures 43 of the semi-circular plate objects 4a, 4b, 5a, 5c 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b operate to wedge in the circular indentation 31 for fixed positioning, then, set the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d that have securely connect the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d onto the rectangular glass plate 21 onto the posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, which work to respectively set the second columnar opening 112 of the joinder 11 of the connectors 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d onto the upper edges of posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, before setting further toward the bottom, until the location with the clamping member 4 abuts to the plate wedge to be locked into a position, by way of this, the rectangular plate object 22 is fixed in an appropriate location of the posts 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, so as to form a comprehensive structure of an assembled modular rack.
The connector 1 can be made of plastics or metals. In the case of plastics, embodiment of
The above description only refers to a preferred embodiment of the current invention, and are not intended to be representative and limiting to the scope of protection for the present invention, Any variation or modification deriving from the claims of the current invention are covered by the claims of the current invention.
