Patent Application
20060096939
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rack, and more particularly to a modular rack that can be assembled conveniently in various configurations.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to
The base (50) is a parallelepiped box having a front, a rear, a top, a bottom and two sides. The base (50) has a door (52) mounted on the front of the base (50).
The two side rods (60) are firmly attached to the rear at the two sides of the base (50) and are parallel to each other. The side rods (60) are attached to the base (50) with screws (not numbered).
The multiple display panels (70) are detachably secured between the two side rods (60) over the base (50). Each display panel (70) has a front panel and multiple side sheets (74). Each front panel has multiple hanging holes (72), and the side sheets (74) are vertically formed respectively at opposite ends of the front panel to attach respectively to the side rods (60). The display panels (70) are attached to the side rods (60) with screws.
The conventional modular rack has the following drawbacks:
1. Because the elements are connected with screws, assembling or disassembling the conventional modular rack is troublesome and time-consuming especially when the screws must be removed from the side rods one by one.
2. The conventional modular rack has a single size and cannot be extended in either width or in height to display more merchandise. Variations of the conventional rack module are rare.
The present invention has arisen to provide a modular rack for displaying tools and merchandise to obviate the drawbacks of the conventional rack module.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a modular rack for displaying tools and merchandise, which can be assembled conveniently.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a modular rack for displaying tools and merchandise, which can be assembled in various configurations to satisfy various users' requirements.
To achieve the above objectives, the modular rack in the present invention comprises a base, two rod assemblies and multiple display panels.
The base has two adjustable foot frames that can be adjusted in width.
The rod assemblies are attached detachably and respectively to the adjustable foot frames and individually comprise at least two exteriors rods and at least one interior connector. Adjacent exterior rods connect to an interior connector. Each exterior rod has a front face, a rear face and multiple mounting slots defined in the front face and the rear face.
The display panels detachably and selectively attach to the front faces and the rear faces of the rod assemblies and individually have multiple hooks corresponding to and engaging the multiple mounting slots in the rod assemblies.
By adding exterior rods and the corresponding connectors, the modular rack can be extended in height. The mounting slots in the rod assemblies allow the display panels on an adjacent modular rack to connect to a common rod assembly so the modular rack can be extended in width. Moreover, most assembly of elements in the modular rack is accomplished by simply inserting hooks into the corresponding mounting slots. Therefore, assembly and disassembly of the modular rack are easy and convenient.
Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description in accordance with the drawings.
A modular rack for displaying tools and merchandise in accordance with the present invention comprises a base, two rod assemblies and multiple display panels.
The base has two adjustable foot frames with an adjustable width.
The rod assemblies are attached detachably and respectively to the adjustable foot frames and individually comprise at least two exterior rods and at least one interior connector. Adjacent exterior rods connect to an interior connector. Each exterior rod has a front face, a rear face and multiple mounting slots defined in the front face and the rear face.
The display panels detachably and selectively attach to the front faces and the rear faces on the exterior rods of the two rod assemblies and individually have multiple hooks corresponding to and engaging the multiple mounting slots in the rod assemblies.
By adding exterior rods and the corresponding interior connectors, the modular rack can be extended in height. The mounting slots in the rod assemblies allow other display panels on an adjacent modular rack to connect to a common rod assembly so the modular rack can be extended in width. Moreover, assembly of most elements in the modular rack is accomplished by simply inserting hooks into the corresponding mounting slots. Therefore, assembly and disassembly of the modular rack are easy and convenient.
With reference to
The base (10) has two adjustable foot frames (20) and a footplate (12) secured between the adjustable foot frames (20) adjustable in width. The footplate (12) has a front end, a rear end, two sides, an optional inclined toe guard (122) and two connecting lips (124). The inclined toe guard (122) is formed at the front end. The two connecting lips (124) extend perpendicular down respectively from the two sides of the footplate (12).
With further reference to
The symmetrical panels (22a, 22b) individually have a front end, an enlarged rear end, a top edge, a bottom edge, an inside surface, a rear edge, multiple hooks (226), a clamping flange (222) and an overlapping flange (224). The first panel (22a) further has multiple holes (228). The second panel (22b) further has multiple separators (24) mounted on the inside surface and corresponding to the holes (228) in the first panel (22a). Each separator (24) is cylindrical and has a threaded hole (243) axially formed through the separator (24). The front end of each symmetrical panel (22a, 22b) is curved at the top edge of the panel (22a, 22b). The enlarged rear end of each symmetrical panel (22a, 22b) is diverges from the top edge. Multiple hooks (226) are formed on each enlarged rear edge. The clamping flanges (222) are formed respectively on the top edges of the symmetrical panels (22a, 22b), extend toward the opposite symmetrical panel (22a, 22b). Each clamping flange (222) has a width. The clamping flanges (222) on the foot frames (20) clamp the connecting lips (124) on the footplate (12) and hold the footplate (12) in place. The connecting lips (124) on adjacent footplates (12) may be mounted between the same clamping flanges (222). The overlapping flanges (224a, 224b) are formed respectively on the bottom edges, extend toward the opposite symmetrical panels (22a, 22b) and are respectively named as a first overlapping flange (224a) and a second overlapping flange (224b). Each overlapping flange (224a, 224b) has a width at least two times larger than the width of the clamping flange (222). The first overlapping flange (224a) on the first symmetrical panel (22a) has multiple notches (284) and the second overlapping flange (224b) has multiple threaded rings (282). Each threaded ring (282) is formed on the top of second overlapping flange (224b) and extends through the notch (284) in first other overlapping flange (224a) when the overlapping flanges (224a, 224b) overlap each other.
The screws (242) pass respectively through the holes (228) in the first panel (22a) and screw respectively into the separators (24) on the second panel (22b) to clamp the separators (24) between the panels (22a, 22b) and draw the clamping flanges (222) together. The screws (242) may be loosened to allow more space between the clamping flanges (222). Therefore, the foot frame (20) is adjustable in width.
The bracket (26) is firmly attached to the enlarged rear ends near the bottom edges of the symmetrical boards (22) to engage a corresponding rod assembly (30), is U-shaped, is preferably welded to the symmetric panels (22a, 22b) at the bottom edge near the rear edge and has a front, a top, two wings, a slot (262) and two holes (264). The slot (262) is defined in the front, extends to the top and holds the rear edge near the bottom of the panels (22a, 22b) and the overlapping flanges (224a, 224b). The holes (264) are defined respectively in the wings of the bracket (26) near the top.
The feet (28) are detachably attached respectively to the threaded rings (282) on the overlapping flange (224) and individually have a round base and a threaded rod. The threaded rods are formed respectively on and extend up from the round bases and screw respectively into the threaded rings (282).
The dressing strip (21) is made of resilient material such as resilient foam material and is clamped between the two symmetrical panels (22a, 22b) at the front end to make the foot frame (20) appear neat.
The rod assemblies (30) are attached respectively to the brackets (26) on the foot frames (20) and individually comprise at least two exterior rods (32) and at least one interior connector (34). The exterior rods (32) are U-shaped and individually have a front face, a rear face, an outer side (324), an open inner side, a longitudinal recess and multiple mounting slots (322). The multiple mounting slots (322) are defined through the front face and the rear face of the exterior rod (32) at equal intervals, communicate with the interior recess and have two internal recesses. Each interior connector (34) is mounted inside the longitudinal recesses of adjacent exterior rods (32) and is attached to the adjacent exterior rods (32) to allow the rod assemblies (30) to be extended in length. The interior connector (34) is also U-shaped and has an inner edge (342) and two sides. When the interior connector (34) connects adjacent exterior rods (32), the inner edge (342) of the interior connector (34) is mounted in the longitudinal recesses of adjacent exterior rods (32) and abuts the outer sides (324) of the adjacent exterior rods (32). The interior connector (34) is held firmly in place by multiple screws penetrating the inner edge (342) of the interior connector (34) and the outer sides (324) of the two adjacent exterior rods (32). With further reference to
Each display panel (40) is rectangular, is attached between adjacent rod assemblies (30) and has a top, a bottom, two sides, a front surface, a rear surface, two flanges (42), multiple hooks (44) and multiple optional hanging holes (402). The two flanges (42) are formed respectively on the top and the bottom of the display panel (40). The multiple hooks (44) are formed on the two sides to engage the corresponding mounting slots (322). The hanging holes (402) are defined through the front and rear surfaces to attach hanging accessories (not shown). With further reference to
With further reference to
With further reference to
In
In conclusion, the modular rack for displaying tools and merchandise has the following advantages.
1. The rod assemblies in the modular rack can be extended in height by adding exterior rods and the corresponding connectors.
2. The mounting slots on the rod assemblies and the adjustable foot frame allow other panels and footplates on an adjacent modular rack to connect to so the modular rack can be extended in width.
3. Besides the extension in height and width, the modular rack can display tools and merchandise on the back so the appearance of the modular rack is versatile.
4. Because most assembly of elements in the modular rack is accomplished by simply inserting hooks into the corresponding mounting slots, assembly and disassembly of the modular rack are easy and convenient.
Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
