Patent Application
20220354249
Nonapplicable.
Nonapplicable.
The present invention relates to storage organization, and more specifically to enclosed compartments.
Conventional storage systems in enclosed compartments, specifically in upright freezers and refrigerators, are inefficient and inconvenient as they limit the user to arranging and stacking items on a restricted number of manufacturer-installed fixed shelves, further limited by a variety of interior fixed protrusions such as ducts, lights and temperature controls. Said fixed shelves do not provide means to increase load-bearing capacity or to be easily repositioned within the compartment.
As well, users often have difficulty in locating stored items within stacked groups since conventional fixed shelving does not have means to affix labels or other identifiers of stored items. This leads to forgotten items that are stored past their expiry date and deteriorate beyond usability and are thus often wasted.
So, manufacturers of freezers and refrigerators and of storage organizers for freezers and refrigerators have long sought means of effectively adjusting the location of and access to stored food items for greater storage efficiency.
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. Pat. No. 10,139,153 to Furr (2018Nov. 27)
U.S. Pat. No. 9,528,753 to Conner (2016Dec. 27)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,437 to Funke (1980Mar. 4)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,566 to Carper (1990Jul. -31
While the need for improved cost-effective storage efficiency has long been sought after, the prior art food storage systems have left many areas available for improvement. For example, many limit themselves to a portion of food storage in a refrigerator and do not include the full scope of storage organization for refrigerators and freezers.
Furr discloses a kit of stackable modular assemblies that includes one or more bins fashioned after drawers that open with a pull-out drawer from the front, for organizing and storing of food items within a refrigerator or cooling unit.
Conner discloses three embodiments including 1) rotatable shelves for refrigerators with stationary or fixed shelf including a rotatable disk mounted on a bearing retainer having bearings for manual 360-degree rotation as desired; and, 2) a quarter-round pivotable shelf attached to a stanchion to enable the shelf to be manually pivoted 90 degrees; and, 3) a rotatable disk in communication with a drive motor for rotation by a control switch.
Funke discloses a refrigerator storage system characterized by circular tracks located on shelving throughout the refrigerator for receiving rotatable shelves for selective storage of food products.
Carper discloses a refrigeration apparatus accessory storage system mounting to a refrigeration apparatus shelf.
In conclusion, insofar as we are aware, no storage organizer formerly developed for upright refrigerators and freezers provides adjustability of location and capacity and weight-bearing support as well as item identification to a user without the defects of fixed shelving, fixed rails, fixed frames and constrained structures.
In accordance with one embodiment, an improved modular storage organizer within an enclosed compartment, particularly in a cold environment of upright freezers and refrigerators for homes and commercial food service, comprises modular, adjustable rigid vertical and elongated horizontal supports having the structural strength and means to interconnect with adjustable, extendable, rigid pull-out shelves as replacement for conventional fixed shelves in upright freezers and refrigerators to allow users to adjust location, identification and weight- bearing capacity of stored items.
Thus, some embodiments provide means to enable a user to position the organizer inside an enclosed compartment as a free-standing unit as well as fastened to the wall, floor and/or ceiling. Some embodiments provide means to move the adjustable shelves among a plurality of horizontal supports to accommodate varying dimensions and weights of stored items as well as varying dimensions of depth, width and height inside various models of upright freezers and refrigerators and other enclosed environments while accommodating fixed inside protrusions of said models. Shelves also have means for connecting varying flexible and rigid, durable, washable, encoded labels in a plurality of locations to identify stored items visually and by means of electronic inventory control systems.
Accordingly, several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows.
In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes.
Shelf 20 comprises the base plate 21, the left-side extender 22 shown underneath the left side of the base plate 21, the right-side extender 23 shown as unattached to the base plate 21 and the back extender 24 shown unattached to the base plate 21. The left-side extender 22 has a plurality of spaced positioning holes 22A and a rail flange 22B angled down. Similarly, the right- side extender 23 has a plurality of spaced positioning holes 23A and a rail flange 23B angled down. The base plate 21 has a plurality of spaced positioning holes 21A which connect with the positioning holes in the left-side extender 22 and right-side extender 23, by means of post binders 29 inserted in the aligned corresponding spaced positioning holes to thereby fit the width of the space between the left-side panel 30 and right-side panel 30.
The shelf base plate 21 connects with the back extender 24 by means of post binders 29 inserted in the base plate spaced positioning holes 21A aligned with the back extender spaced positioning holes 24A. The back extender 24 includes a back extender security flange 24B that is angled upwards, having a rigid security tab 24C with means to interlock with the base plate positioning slots 21B.
Each shelf 20 has two label holder holes 25D as means to attach the optional front label holder 25 that interlocks with the shelf base plate front gripping flange 21C by means of post binders 29 inserted in the label holder holes 25D. The label holder 25 has means for inserting a plurality of optional front-facing labels 25B (shown in
The shelf rail 70 interlocks with the post segment 40 by means of integrated parallel rail gripping grooves 46.
The discrete prong 60 has means to interlock a header flange 64 by abutting the interlocking surface SSA of the header 50A. The discrete prong 60 and associated post segments 40 can be positioned in alternative top security slots 52 in the header 50B.
Operation
In operation, one uses the storage organizer in the first embodiment in upright freezers and refrigerators in place of fixed shelves that are manufacturer factory-installed for home and commercial food service. User removes the factory-installed fixed shelves from the freezer and/or refrigerator, leaving a partially or fully empty cavity. Thus, since the organizer replaces the factory-installed fixed shelves with the user's desired number and position of adjustable, extendable shelves and rails, it avoids the capacity and location restrictions of some prior-art storage organizers.
To replace the factory-installed fixed shelves, user creates two free-standing side panels 30 for which user does not require any tools in the first embodiment. User can create two or more interlocked assembled posts 49 for each side panel 30 for desired load-bearing capabilities with each vertical post 49 comprising a plurality of interlocking post segments 40.
User first interlocks a plurality of vertical post segments 40 into two or more separate assembled posts 49 for each side panel 30 and then interlocks the post segments 40 in each post 49 with horizontal universal design crossbars 50 used variably as: (a) stabilizer 50A, (b) header 50B and (c) footer 50C, thus creating two free-standing side panels 30 for each of the left and right side of the cavity.
User then interlocks a plurality of elongated horizontal shelf rails 70 on parallel vertical post segments 40 by means of rail gripping grooves 46 to populate as user desires, the ladder-like side panel 30 for each of the left-side and right-side of the cavity.
User positions the stabilizer 50A on each side panel 30 to provide a resistance fit with the ceiling of the cavity without damaging the ceiling by means of pressing the ceiling/floor brace surface 55C upward and aligning the stabilizer 50A with optional plurality of corresponding lower headers 50B by means of two or more parallel vertical threaded spacer bolts 51A inserted in spaced bolt holes 56A in the stabilizer 50A and then into corresponding bolt holes 56B in the header 50B, with said bolts 51A providing means to adjust the distance between the stabilizer 50A and header 50B by means of hand-positioning each rotating hex nut 51B and 51C at the bottom of each bolt 51A. The header 50B interlocks with each lower post segment 40 by means of a discrete prong 60 inserted in the top security slot 52 of the header 50B.
User then positions the lower portion of each assembled side panel 30 on the corresponding footer 50C to meet the inside bottom of each left-side and right-side wall in the cavity to provide a resistance fit with the floor of the cavity without damaging the floor, by means of pressing downward the ceiling/floor brace surface 55C.
User adjusts the width of each shelf 20 by means of the left-side extender 22 and right-side extender 23 and adjusts the depth of the shelf 20 by means of the back extender 24. The shelf 20 is easily cleaned, resists physical impact and corrosion, handles heavy use and withstands most environmental conditions.
The back extender 24 is thereby positioned to fit the depth of the cavity and to prevent stored items from sliding off the rear of the shelf 20 by means of a back extender security flange 24B that is angled upwards, having a rigid security tab 24C that can be positioned into various spaced shelf base plate positioning slots 21B in the shelf above to help stabilize the shelf 20 when shelves are closely spaced and are pulled partially out of the cavity thereby helping to prevent the shelf from sliding out uncontrolled.
User populates the two free-standing side panels 30 by means of sliding a plurality of shelves 20 with each positioned in the cavity onto any two parallel rails 70. User can pull out the shelf 20 partially or fully to put items in desired positions and then slide shelf fully inside cavity. The shelf rail 70 has the extension security lock hole 71 located near the rear of the shelf rail 70 as means to prevent the shelf rail 70 from completely sliding out of the cavity along with its associated shelf 20 by means of a plurality of optional locking devices (not shown) inserted in the lock hole 71.
User can stabilize shelf 20 in a partially pulled-out position by means of aligning the back extender security tab 24C in one of the adjacent spaced base plate positioning slots 21B. Rail 70 has an extension security lock hole 71 located near the rear of the rail 70 as means to prevent the rail from completely sliding out of the cavity along with its associated shelf 20 by inserting a plurality of optional locking devices (not shown) in the lock hole 71.
User can accommodate location of factory-installed inner protrusions in the cavity such as dials, knobs, ducts and other devices by means of positioning shelves 20, posts 49 and rails in side panels 30. User can add or decrease storage capacity by inserting or removing a plurality of rails 70 and shelves 20. User positions associated shelf label 25B in the front label holder 25 and in packaging of items to designate position and description of stored items.
When user creates its desired structure of the organizer by assembling required number of post segments 40, rails 70 and shelves 20 with label holder 25 and shelf labels 25B and inserts organizer in the cavity of the freezer and/or refrigerator or other enclosed compartment, six effects increase storage efficiency and capacity:
User can view, identify, rearrange and remove stored items on the organizer with ease and flexibility while having air flowing freely around items within the cavity of freezer and/or refrigerator in the first embodiment whereby users can lead a healthier, more relaxed lifestyle and save food costs by using their organizer and labels to locate misplaced items, reduce food spoilage, buy food in bulk at reduced prices and batch cook with healthy ingredients, portion- packed to accommodate varying meal choices on demand by family members (including babies and pets).
Conclusion, Ramifications and Scope
There are 10 million standalone upright freezers currently in homes in the USA of which approximately 35% are the most popular 20 Cubic Foot size. Additionally, most households have a freezer attached to their refrigerator as a side-by-side or as a top or bottom unit.
Over 8 million refrigerators are sold in the U.S. each year and occupy the major share in the home appliances market in sales volume. About 27 percent of today's urban homes and 40 percent of rural ones have at least two refrigerators. Those numbers will likely change again as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect lifestyles regarding food storage and consumption in and out of homes.
Worldwide, there are 52.6 million standalone freezers plus 150 million refrigerators. The U.S. market represents 41.9% of the world marketplace.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden surge in home refrigerator and freezer purchases as people were increasingly stocking supplies, hoarding food and other consumable items which created a huge demand for standalone freezers and refrigerators, thus causing temporary retailer out-of-stock situations, further exacerbated by long shipping and handling times for appliances and manufacturing supplies.
Collectively, there is universal great frustration with the difficulty in finding items easily and quickly in freezers and refrigerators and in throwing away lost expired food. Busy lifestyles lead to over-use of processed unhealthy food with increased interest in healthier food choices, preparation and storage.
The organizer provides a cost-effective and efficient method to solve the above issues, including improved lifestyles and healthier food choices by encouraging low-cost bulk buying and batch cooking using nutritious ingredients resulting in varied meal choices on demand by all family members.
Manufacturing the organizer for a frozen environment requires different methods and more sophisticated and expensive materials than are used in conventional room-temperature storage. This is primarily why this product has not previously been available. Still further advantages will become apparent from a study of the description and the accompanying drawings.
Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of one of the embodiments. For example, in addition to cold and frozen environments, the organizer can be used a plurality of sizes of room-temperature and heated environments; the organizer side panels can be fastened to a wall using one or more of the wall mounting holes (45), to the ceiling and/or floor with the floor/ceiling mounting holes (45A) and post segments can be further interlocked with the prong interlocking holes (45B) in one or more of the post segments (40) and discrete prongs (60).
Thus, the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/186,011, filed May 7, 2021 by the present inventors
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63186011 | May 2021 | US |
