INTEGRAL STOP RAIL DEVICE TO ALIGN PALLETS ON END TO END PALLET RACKS AND ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES FOR FLUES BETWEEN PALLET RACKS

BACKGROUND
Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to pallet racks typically utilized in distribution centers, warehouses and merchandising outlets for storing pallets typically loaded with goods.

Description of the Prior Art

In warehouses, the main function of storage racks is to store and support distribution of products from their facilities to customers or stores. Pallet racking is made of steel frames (uprights) for the vertical members and the horizontal members acting as load beams forming pallet decks. Typically the racks are arranged in flanking rows spaced apart a short distance and accessible from their outer edges by fork lifts traveling about fork lift bays to load and unload pallets from the respective pallet decks. Oftentimes commercially available pallets are deeper than the pallet racks resulting in the pallets overhanging both the inside and outside edges of the pallet racks. It is desirable to maintain spacing between the flanking rows of racks so it has become common practice to mount pallet stops on the inside edges of the pallet racks to act as stops to limit the extent to which the respective pallets will extend from the rear side of the racks.

Also, in some jurisdictions fire authorities require a minimum space between pallets on adjacent rows to leave an unencumbered vertical and horizontal space throughout the height and length of the rows to act as a flue in the event of a fire. It has thus become common practice to incorporate what is termed “row spacers” to maintain the desired spacing for these flues. The row spacers can range from 2″ wide to 36″ wide depending on the application. The amount and type (heavy duty or regular) of row spacer is determined by the engineer producing seismic or engineering calculations for the particular job.

Most of the row spacers on Selective Pallet racking are 12″ long or 18″ long. The reason for the most prevalent length of 12″ is based on a standard frame depth of 42″ and a standard pallet depth of 48″. The typical expectation in the past is the forklift driver would overhang the pallet across the two load beams by approximately 3″ on either side which would allow for an open space of 6″ between adjacent rows of pallets providing they were positioned properly with a 12″ row spacer in place.

The reality of working in a warehouse is that the pallet-put-away is often fast-paced, leaving the fork lift driver with little time to position the pallets precisely on the beams. Thus, when the pallets are placed on the beams the transverse distance can vary a few inches either way, often closing the width of the flue space mandated by the local fire authorities. Because the 6″ wide vertical flue extends the length of the racks is often encroached upon and in many cases rendered non-existent, some local fire authorities now require pallet stops. The pallet stops are an accessory pallet rack part that will stop a pallet at a fixed location to protect a 6″ longitudinal flue space to assure this space being open throughout the rack system.

As more municipalities and fire prevention authorities have enforced the 6″ unencumbered flue space requirement, several different styles of pallet stops have been developed. Examples of pallet stops offered by businesses entities include:

Single Bay Wraparound Style: A single bay wraparound style pallet stop employing a system of square tubes extending the length of a single bay and then at the end forming a 90 degree bend toward the rack to join a standard end connector where it is welded in place. These are typically spaced 3″ off the rear of the 42″ deep frame, thus stopping the pallet from going beyond this distance to cooperate in establishing a combined 6″ space from pallet to pallet carried on adjacent racks. One drawback of this system is that the stop extends into the flue area 1½″ per side, thus encroaching on the flue space mandated in many fire jurisdictions.

Z-Type: Another popular system sold by manufacturers is the Z-type bracket, which is 4″ to 6″ wide piece that is typically bolted in place to a bolt pattern in alignment with the center of the pallet. This has been approved by some fire authorities, but there have been issues due to insufficient integrity to withstand the pounding to which pallets are exposed, and bending to the rear, thus failing to function to properly stop the pallets to maintain the required spacing. The other issues with the Z-Type pallet stop is that if a pallet is placed on the top of the stop, the damage usually renders it useless for future loading. This Z-bracket can also be detrimental to the load beams supporting the pallets because it is typically of heavier gauge than the beam. When the load impacts the Z-bracket, it can damage the supporting load beam because the 14-16 gauge beams do not have sufficient structural integrity to withstand the abuse transmitted when a thicker gauge Z-bracket stop is impacted. Another disadvantage is the Z-bracket system is not adaptable to mounting on beams with different face sizes or bolt patterns thus presenting the challenge of inventorying and selection of the appropriate bracket for the particular application.

A modification of the Z-shaped stop incorporates a vertical mounting flange formed with a window to be slidably received over a transverse beam for convenient mounting of the stop. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,846 to Anderson. While such stops tend to serve their desired function, they are relatively expensive to manufacture, labor intensive to install and prone to damage.

Other efforts have led to a proposed horizontal, inverted, U-shaped bracket which is mounted to the longitudinal beams of adjacent racks to maintain the desired spacing and which may mount a sprinkler conduit between the adjacent racks. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,574 to Weider. A similar effort has recently led to a proposal that an inverted U-shaped member be mounted between the beams of racks to maintain the desired spacing. A device of this type is promoted by Rack Safety Products LLC of Aliso Viejo, Calif. These devices are also expensive to manufacture and install and, once installed, limit the maneuverability of the adjacent racks.

Further efforts have led to a proposal of an adaptor bracket configured with a universal mounting hole pattern for mounting a stop. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Patent Application No. 2014/0110547 to Consaul. Again, this device is relatively expensive to manufacture and install and does not seem to have gained commercial acceptance in the marketplace.

Consequently, there remains a need for a pallet stop system which is convenient and inexpensive to install which positively establish a continuous integral stop to limit pallet encroachment in the space between flanking rows of pallet racks. Preferably the system employs the expedient of mounting directly to commercially available racks to, when installed, establish the desired distance of the stop from the edge of the pallet decks or their loads.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a pallet stop system for mounting to the longitudinal part of the rack which continues through the rear of the system. The system includes an elongated, integral stop rail devices spaced a set distance from the rear extent of the rack and load beams and extends the entire length of a row of back to back racks. A plurality of hanger straps are laterally elongated and mounted to one or both of racks of adjacent rows and configured to mount one or more elongated integral stop rail devices at the set distance from the rear of the load beams.

In some embodiments, the system is also configured to act as a spacer to cooperate in maintaining a predetermined minimum horizontal space between adjacent rows of racks to provide a 6″ minimum flue space throughout.

The method of the present invention includes forming an elongated, integral stop to be installed alongside multiple bays of end-to-end pallet racks. The hanger straps mounted from the respective rack, or racks, established selected spacing for the elongated, integral stop rail devices. The hanger stop rail devices may be made in multiple embodiments to extend continuously from one end of a row of racks to the other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view illustrating a row of flanking pallet racks separated by an integral stop rail device of the present invention and illustrating several modifications thereof;

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are detail views, in enlarged scale, taken from the circles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively in FIG. 1 and depicting sections of the integral stop rails;

FIG. 7 is a further embodiment of the integral stop rail device system of the present invention;

FIG. 7A is an end view of a pair of flanking rows of pallet racks defining a flue space incorporating integral rail stop devices to form flue spaces;

FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are detail sectional views in enlarged scale, taken from the circles designated 8, 9, 10 and 11, respectively, in FIG. 7A;

FIG. 12 is an end view of a pair of flanking rows of pallet racks separated by integral stop rails of the present invention;

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 are detail views, in enlarged scale, taken from the respective circles 13, 14 and 15 in FIG. 12;

FIG. 16 is a partial end view of a pair of rows of pallet racks incorporating a modification of the integral stop rail of the present invention;

FIGS. 17, 18 and 19 are detail sectional views of end fittings that may be incorporated in the integral stop rail device of the present invention;

FIGS. 20, 21, 22 and 23 are partial perspective views of rail systems incorporating the present invention; and

FIG. 24 is a flow diagram of a method of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1, 7 and 7A, the present invention includes one or more elongated, integral, stop rail devices, generally designated 31, extending along the respective sides of flanking rows of back-to-back pallet racks 33 and spaced above the horizontal planes 37 of top surfaces of pallet load beams 35. The stop rail devices are, in some instances, carried from the racks by mounting elements which may be in the form of modified rigid hangers or straps known as row spacers, generally designated 41. In some embodiments, the straps may be constructed to cooperate in maintaining both the lateral spans between the racks and the spacing between the juxtaposed edges of the pallets to maintain a minimum lateral space of at least 4 to 6 inches between the juxtaposed sides of pallets supported on flanking racks, and thereby leave an unencumbered flue space top to bottom and end to end as required by the fire authorities of many localities.

As will be described below, many municipalities in earthquake-prone areas require stabilizing or spacing strap devices such as that shown in FIGS. 7 and 7A to stabilize adjacent rows and positively maintain spacing between those rows. In some embodiments I adopt the expedient of modifying those straps to act as mounts for the integral rail stops of my invention.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, modern day warehouses have grown to the point where most exceed 10,000 square feet and only about 37% are less than 25,000 square feet, and an equal number exceed 100,000 square feet. Each warehouse is of its own configuration, typically incorporating exterior walls and interior posts or columns, the configuration of which must be taken into account in designing the layout for the installation and organization of pallet racks, access to opposite sides of flanking rows of racks. It would be of great benefit to the industry if a system were available to allow for racks arranged in a row to be modified by adding rail stops extending the full length of the rows of the different lengths dictated by the particular warehouse layout.

Also, experience has shown that a fire danger exists in warehouses or other facilities used for storing merchandise on pallets stacked on racks. Referring to FIG. 7A, horizontal spacing should be maintained between the proximate edges of pallets 44 supported on back-to-back racks throughout the full height and lengths of the racks to provide vertical openings between racked pallets to act as unobstructed flues throughout. Both vertical and horizontal spacing is important to maintain a clear vertical flue between to vent heat throughout the height and length from any fires that may start in lower parts of the racks. This open vertical and horizontal flue allows for ceiling or in-rack sprinklers to spray directly down on the flames to limit horizontal spread of the fire. It is also important that water reach the lower tiers to act directly on the base of the fire. In fact, many municipalities and governmental agencies have enacted codes to establish the minimum spacing between pallets mounted on such racks so as to maintain a minimum open-distance of six inches or so between the respective pallets carried on the racks. The situation is complicated by the fact that the lateral depth of the pallets are often greater than the lateral depth of the racks so there is overhang of say three inches on one or both sides of the racks. It is this problem to which one aspect of the present invention is directed.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in these embodiments, the hanger straps act as anchors and may result in the stop rail devices being disposed a short distance into the flue space, as for instance 2-3 inches depending on the cross section of the stop rail. While meeting some municipal codes this encroachment is opposed by most final plan checkers who require the stop rail devices to be spaced laterally outside the unobstructed flow area.

To that end, for one aspect of the present invention I provide a fully unobstructed flue 46 dictated by the space between elongated integral stop rail devices 31 (FIG. 7-7A) to project longitudinally along the side of rows of individual racks. The stop rail device may be carried from hanger straps mounted to a rack or between adjacent racks. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the load beams 35 (FIG. 7A) defining the horizontal beam structure are typically supported at multiple levels to provide support for pallets at the respective levels. I take advantage of this construction to construct and arrange my integral stop rail system so that, in some embodiments, the stop rail devices and their mounts can serve as spacers and may cooperate with the stop rail devices to maintain a selected minimum horizontal distance between pallets supported on flanking racks.

As noted, the width or depth of a standard pallet may be 48 inches and the depth of a deck defined by the support beams only 42 inches, thus leaving a pallet overhang on each side. By positioning my integral stop rail device, for instance, three inches from the extended vertical plane of the rear edge of the deck defined by the stop rail, where the forklift operator places the loaded pallet on the pallet support, the stop rail device will limit the rear overhang to three inches, thus tending to maintain the pallet centered and the desired spacing between the pallets on flanking rows of racks.

Referring to FIG. 7, for the purpose of illustration, I have shown five embodiments of hanger devices 186 which may be may be incorporated in my integral stop rail device in FIG. 1 and depicted in detail in FIGS. 2-7. The hanger device 186 may be in the form of rectangular elongated straps 182, 185, 187 or 189 formed with spaced apertures for receipt of wires 237, angle iron 190, bar stack 84 or square tube 192, respectively, or other elongated elements which will occur to those skilled in the art to form my integral stop device. The stop rail device may be made up of segments of tubes, stock or wire which may be available in various different lengths such as 20 or 40 feet long, and may be connected together on their proximate ends by coupling devices generally designated 61 (FIGS. 2, 35 and 6) to form an integral full length rail. As will be appreciated, the 40 foot lengths will be sufficiently long so the one piece will itself extend the length of several 8′ or 12′ long racks arranged in a long row.

The segments may be coupled together by the couplings 61 which may be in the form of, for instance, internal or external members or, in some embodiments, telescoping members 201 or 209 to be friction fit together, or just received in the opposite ends of threaded collars. For exemplary purpose, coupling members 61 are shown in FIGS. 3-4. Internal couplings may include square or round tube segments (FIGS. 2 and 3) to be friction fit in place or secured by fasteners such as Tek screws 203, 205 or 211 (FIGS. 2 and 3). This then establishes an integral rail device which may extend for several hundred feet to reach the full length of a warehouse.

For the purpose of the present invention, the term integral stop rail device or stop rail is intended to mean an elongated strip extending the length of two or more racks and made up of one or more segments to act as a continuous stop. The term “rail” is intended to mean a strip of metal or like material such as, for example, and without limitation, tubing, bar stock, rod, wire, cable or cord of rigid material or drawn tight to act as stops and limit lateral movement of pallets positioned on adjacent pallet decks. Connection of segments may be by welding or coupling or the like or, in some instances, the proximate ends of the various lengths of rail segments may be merely abutted together in proximate relationship with one another and in general longitudinal alignment with one another. The term hanger strap is intended to mean any type of rigid hanger to be connected to one or more racks and having a rail mounting element for mounting the rail spaced a selected distance from the respective pallet decks.

While in many applications I select spacer straps to mount at their opposite ends from flanking racks as described below, I have also found that mounting straps 91′-91″″ can be mounted cantileverly to serve well as hangers. Referring to FIGS. 20-23, the straps 91′ 91″″ are formed at their bases with a pair of vertically spaced slots 48 aligned with pairs of apertures 50 in vertical posts 52 to receive, for instance shoulder bolts (not shown). The hanger straps 91′-91″″ are formed with respective vertical slots 77, angle slots 76 and bores 78, all spaced a selected distance from the slots 48 so as to space the openings a set distance laterally from the load beams supporting the pallets (FIG. 5). In some embodiments the strap 91′-91′″ may be configured to cooperate in establishing a spacing between adjacent rows of racks for the purpose of maintaining the so-called flues of the required width between the respective racks in the respective flanking rows.

In practice, I have found that 14 gauge tubes, 1 or 1½ inches square or 1 inch in diameter can be coupled together to serve the purpose of acting as an integral stop rail device. Other cross sections will occur to those skilled in the art, such as, for instance, T-bar or angle iron 70 or 78 (FIGS. 14 and 20), round or square tube 185 and 189 (FIGS. 15 and 21), channel strips, bar stock 34 (FIGS. 6 and 7), and cable, cord or heavy gauge wire 237 (FIGS. 7 and 16).

As noted above, in some locales, particularly those prone to earthquakes, the local municipal codes require that racks in adjacent rows be coupled together as by metal strips or straps to stabilize the racks and pallets in the event of a seismic event. For various configurations some codes even establish the necessary horizontal spacing between flanking racks, such as at least 10, 12 or 18 inches. I have found it expedient to construct straps 165, 157 and 151 (FIGS. 12-15) to facilitate both these coupling and spacing requirements. In some embodiments I form the straps 151, 165 and 157 with the openings spaced apart to receive square tubes, angle irons or round tubes spaced apart to maintain a space of approximately 4 inches, or in some instances 7½ inches, or even other selected distances so the spacing of the elongated stop rail devices mounted therein will stop the pallets at the required position necessary to meet local code.

As will be appreciated by those of skill, a great advantage of one embodiment of the present invention is that the hanger straps or rails may be manufactured in a production line and inventoried to be available for installation to connect rows of conventional pallet racks in situ to establish the desired stop for the pallets and/or set the desired spacing between side-by-side racks. As noted, the sides 39 and 40 of the pallets and loads may be spaced apart to form a flue 56 (FIG. 7A) of the desired width.

Referring to FIG. 24, in practice of the method of the present invention the workman can make the hangers at 174 with slots or bores to attach to vertical posts of the respective racks disposed in flanking rows to space openings for receiving the integral rail devices a selected horizontal distance from the vertical plane including the adjacent edges of the flanking racks and/or between integral stop rail devices mounted from the respective flanking racks. In either case, the workman will determine the overall lengths of the combined racks of a row and then select the necessary number of rail segments as at 175 to be coupled together as at 177 to span the overall length. The hanger straps may be retrieved from inventory and mounted from the respective racks at 181 and 183 (FIG. 12) for mounting of the integral stop rail device at 182. It will be appreciated that the openings for the stop rail devices may be open at the top and configured to form a loose or friction fit. In some instances, the openings are in the form of windows closed at the top so the sections of the stop rail devices may be inserted longitudinally through such windows.

As will be appreciated, in practice, during fabrication the hanger strips may be stamped out with the specific lateral lengths to correspond with the desired spacing of mounting bores or slots in the rack posts and the spacing of the rail mounting elements from those mounting bores. When installation is to be undertaken the hanger straps may be withdrawn from inventory and mounted to the respective racks at the desired level above the level of the respective pallet support beams to position the respective stop rail devices spaced the desired distance above the extended horizontal plane of the respective support beams and spaced the desired distance laterally of the edges of the respective racks to accommodate overhang of the pallets.

The particular sections of the elongated integral stop rail segments may then be positioned in the aligned windows, slots or bores in one convenient installation step. The proximate ends may then be coupled together as by couplings 61 or for the wire or cable embodiments with wire clamps or convenient spacers. In some instances, the proximate ends of segments of tubes will be telescoped together for friction fit or joined by spot welding, threading and/or other couplings known in the art, or as described below.

The racks will then be available for receipt of the pallets delivered by forklift so that the pallets may be loaded from the bay side of the respective racks and the lateral travel thereof will be limited by engagement with the elongated integral stop rail device 31. For example, in some embodiments, the spacing between the respective racks will be maintained at the desired spacing of 6, 7½, 10, 12, 18 inches or other spacing as prescribed by code and incorporated in the manufacture of the hanger straps.

Referring to FIGS. 12-15, for exemplary purposes, I have shown a pair of flanking rows of racks 181 and 183, connected together by the respective spacer straps 151, 157 and 165 to cooperate in maintaining the stability between the respective rows of racks, and also serving as a mount for spacing the respective stop rail devices a desired distance apart for limiting pallet travel on the respective load beams at the various levels of the racks.

With continued reference to FIGS. 12-15, for the purposes of illustration, I show the flanking rows of pallet racks, configured with various modifications stop rail devices, square and round tubes 185 and 189 (FIGS. 13 and 15) and angle iron 187 (FIG. 14) carried from respective straps 165, 157 and 151. In some embodiments I form my hangers with two pairs of openings for the stop rail devices to thus provide the option for installation to provide, for instance a 6″ wide or 12″ wide flue.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 16, in one embodiment I includes a rectangular hanger 41 for connecting between rows of racks and formed with a pattern of four bores 233 arranged in a rectangular pattern to, when mounted by bolts through the mounting slots at the ends 240 to the vertical posts 170 via square apertures 238 space pairs of vertically spaced bores approximately three inches from the lateral extent of the racks. The pairs of vertically aligned bores are spaced about six inches apart horizontally to establish a six inch flue. Extending through the respective bores are wire cables 237. The cables 237 may include tensioners on their respective ends, such as nuts 241 and 248 screwed over the threaded ends, turnbuckles or the like.

In some embodiments, the hangers at the ends of the racks include extra reinforcement around the respective bores, such as over-sized washers 236 (FIG. 16) or the like, so that the cables may be anchored through such washers to facilitate the hangers 41 carrying the stress of tensioning and shock of the cables being bumped along their lengths by pallets being loaded on and offloaded from the pallet decks.

Thus, installation of the particular integral rails formed by such wires may be achieved by mounting the hangers from the adjacent racks and threading the wires through the respective bores 233. Tension may be applied to such wires as by a tensioner and the ends crimped off, clamped or screwed tight by the nuts 241 and 248.

Referring to FIGS. 17-19, in some embodiments, I conveniently anchor the ends of the stop rail devices, as by a nut and bolt stop 192, cross bolt 196 or anchor bolt 198 on a flange of the angle stop rail.

As will be appreciated by the reader, the integral stop device of the present invention is economical to manufacture and install to provide a positive stops along the entire length of adjacent rows of racks to limit the extent to which pallets supported on the adjacent rows will extend beyond the margins of the racks. In some embodiments the invention will limit the pallets from encroaching on an flue area of a predetermined width to thus enhance the safety a warehouse environment and provide a clear path for introduction of water from sprinklers of firefighting personnel to enhance the effectiveness of the water in snuffing out a fire in the racks.

From the above it will be apparent that the present invention provides an economical and effective apparatus for manufacturing original equipment or adding stop apparatus to existing racks to maintain the desired positioning of pallets on the racks and in some instances to also maintain the desired spacing between the adjacent rows of racks. My integral stop rail device may be constructed of relatively inexpensive components, such as sections of angle, bar stock, square tubes or even wire stretched taut and supported at the opposite ends from anchors such as large washers or the like mounted to rigid hangers. My system has particular utility for retro-fitting onto existing racks installed in warehouses having a pre-established configuration dictated by structural columns and the like constraining the engineer to specified spacing of the racks to accommodate such columns and still allow for access by fork trucks loading and unloading the pallets.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with regard to the preferred embodiments and drawings thereof, it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various adaptations and modifications of the present invention may be accomplished without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the detailed description and the accompanying drawings as set forth hereinabove are not intended to limit the breadth of the present invention.

INTEGRAL STOP RAIL DEVICE TO ALIGN PALLETS ON END TO END PALLET RACKS AND ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES FOR FLUES BETWEEN PALLET RACKS

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