Patent Application
20090152424
This invention relates generally to a hanger hook assembly for securing a hanger rod adjacent a wire shelf.
Wire storage shelves are known. Storage areas such as closets and laundry rooms use wire shelves to store clothes and linens, for example. Wire shelves typically include parallel shelf wires arranged to provide a storage surface. The parallel shelf wires may bend down near the front edge of the wire shelf. Thicker supporting wires attach to the undersides of the parallel shelf wires, perpendicular to the other shelf wires.
The storage surface is suitable for storing folded clothes, but a user may desire to hang some types of clothes. Wire or plastic hangers are typically used to hang clothes, such as dress shirts. The hangers commonly include a looped end for hanging over a rod. Sliding the looped end along the rod moves the hanger and the hanging clothes, facilitating access to the hanging clothes.
Hanging the looped end directly from one of the shelf wires or supporting wires is often undesirable because the looped end contacts the other wires in the wire shelf when moving the looped end. This limits access to the hanging clothes. Some storage areas may include permanent hanging rods mounted apart from the wire shelf, but these permanent hanging rods limit potential storage configurations and increase overall costs.
An example hanger hook assembly for a wire shelf includes a rod end portion and a hanging rod extending from the rod end portion. A hanger end portion mounts to a wire shelf, and the hanger end portion aligns with a wire shelf storage surface. A hook portion has a length extending from the hanger end portion to the rod end portion, the hook portion is concave along the length relative to a point located between the hanger end portion and the hook end portion.
Another example hanger hook assembly for a wire shelf includes a bracket for spanning a plurality of shelf wires, a hanging rod aligned with the plurality of shelf wires, and a hook mounted to the bracket. The hook has a length extending from adjacent the bracket to the hanging rod. The length maintains concavity relative to a point located between the bracket and a portion of the hook.
Another example hanger rod assembly for a shelf includes a plurality of brackets each for spanning adjacent shelf wires. A plurality of hooks each have a hanger end portion for hanging from one of the plurality of brackets and a loop portion extending from the hanger portion. A hanging rod secures to the loop portion of each of the plurality of hooks.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
A standard wire shelf 10 includes a plurality of shelf wires 18 arranged to form a wire shelf storage surface 14, as shown in
An example hanger hook assembly 50 includes a bracket 54 and a hook 58. The bracket 54 engages support wires 20 to hang the hanger hook assembly 50 from the wire shelf 10. As the bracket 54 engages support wires 20 between other adjacent shelf wires 18, some of the shelf wires 18 limit sliding movements of the bracket 54 parallel to the support wires 20. A hanging rod 62 is attached to the hook 58. In the example, the hanging rod 62 is welded to the hook 58. The hanging rod 62 is supported by, and may extend between the hanger hook assembly 50 and the hook of an adjacent hanger hook assembly 52. A clothes hanger 71 includes a looped end portion 72 for hanging the hanger 71 from the hanging rod 62. The geometry of the remaining portions of the hanger hook assembly 50 provides clearance for looped end portion 72 of the clothes hanger to slide along the hanging rod 62.
Referring now to
The example bracket 54 also includes a plurality of bracket hangers 86 extending away from other portions of the bracket 54. The bracket hangers 86 are sized to receive the hanger end portion 66 of the hook 58 and hold the hanger end portion 66 substantially parallel to the wire shelf storage surface 14. Some of the bracket hangers 86 engage a lower surface of the hanger end portion 66 while another bracket hanger loops over an upper surface of the hanger end portion 66.
The bracket hangers 86 limit some movements of the hanger end portion 66, but in this example permit disengaging the hanger end portion 66 from the bracket hangers 86 when moving the hanger end portion 66 away from the downturned hook 82 aligned with the wire shelf support surface 14 (
Referring now to
Referring again to
In this example however, the bracket 54 includes a plurality of designated weld areas 90 for securing the bracket 54 to the upper portion of the support wires 20. The example weld area 90 includes opening that exposes a portion of the underlying support wires 20. The exposed underlying support wires 20 can then be welded to the bracket 54. The weld areas 90 provide suitable area to weld the bracket 54 to the support wires 20 if desired. Welding the bracket 54 to the support wires 20 limits relative movement between the hanger hook assembly 50 and the wire shelf 10.
Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
