Claims
- 1. A method of manufacturing a wire shelf for a modular shelving system, said method comprising the steps of:
- laying a plurality of mat=defining wires in parallel relation, substantially in one plane;
- placing a plurality of transverse rod-defining wires in mutually spaced parallel relation adjacent said mat-defining wires in perpendicular relation thereto;
- welding said plurality of mat-defining wires and said plurality of transverse rod-defining wires together at the points of adjacency;
- bending said transverse rod-defining wires in the regions of their opposing ends so that at least one mat-defining wire at each said opposing end is not positioned in the plane formed by the remainder of said mat-defining wires; said one mat-defining wire at each said opposing end of said transverse rod-defining wires, in conjunction with the mat-defining wire adjacent thereto, forming a frame member for said shelf; and
- bending said one mat-defining wire at its opposing ends to form a projection from said shelf at each of said ends thereof.
- 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of bending each said projection at an angle from the remaining portion of each said one mat-defining wire.
- 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of said plurality of mat-defining wires and said plurality of transverse rod-defining wires is essentially continuous, and further comprising the step of;
- cutting said plurality of continuous wires to lengths substantially equal to one of the lateral and longitudinal dimension of said shelf, prior to said bending step.
- 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of bending a second mat-defining wire, adjacent said one mat-defining wire, at the said opposing ends of said transverse rod defining wires at its opposing ends, also to form a projection from said shelf at each of said ends thereof.
- 5. A method of manufacturing a vertical wire support for a modular shelving system, said method comprising the steps of:
- laying a plurality of horizontal support-defining wires in parallel relation, substantially in one plane;
- placing a first pair of vertical corner post-defining wires in mutually spaced parallel relation adjacent said horizontal support-defining wires in perpendicular relation thereto;
- placing a second pair of vertical corner post-defining wires in mutually spaced parallel relation adjacent said horizontal support-defining wires in perpendicular relation thereto and spaced from said first pair, one of said plurality of horizontal support-defining wires and said pairs of vertical corner post-defining wires being essentially continuous;
- welding said pairs of corner post-defining wires and said plurality of horizontal support-defining wires together at the points of adjacency;
- cutting said continuous wires to lengths substantially equal to one of the lateral and vertical dimension of said vertical wire support; and
- bending said horizontal support-defining wires in the regions of their opposing ends so that each pair of corner post-defining wires lies in a plane not parallel to the plane defined by the remaining portions of said horizontal support-defining wires.
- 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said planes in which said pairs of corner post-defining wires lie are substantially parallel and mutually perpendicular to the plane defined by said remaining portions of said horizontal support-defining wires.
- 7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of welding a wire cross brace to said vertical wire support structure extending at a non-perpendicular angle to said horizontal support-defining wires.
- 8. A shelving system comprising:
- A. a shelf including:
- (1) an object carrying portion for carrying objects to be placed on said shelf;
- (2) a frame surrounding and attached to said object carrying portion; and
- (3) a projection connected to and projecting from said object carrying portion; and
- B. means for supporting said shelf, including:
- (1) a pair of vertical supports comprising two vertical support members spaced by a distance sufficient to permit the insertion of said projection therebetween but to prevent substantial horizontal movement of said projection when said projection is so inserted; and
- (2) a horizontal support, connected between said two vertical supports, adapted to support at least a portion of said shelf when said projection is inserted between said two vertical support members;
- said projection comprising a detachable snap-on element adapted to snap onto a portion of said frame and adapted to snap onto each of said two vertical supports, said snap-on element including a first surface engageable on said horizontal support and a second surface engageable on said frame thereby to vertically support said shelf on said support means.
- 9. A subassembly for a shelving system comprising:
- A. a shelf including:
- (1) an object carrying portion for supporting objects;
- (2) a frame surrounding and attached to said object carrying portion; and
- (3) a projection connected to and projecting from said object carrying portion; and
- B. two vertical supports spaced by a distance sufficient to permit the insertion of said projection therebetween but to prevent substantial horizontal movement of said projection when said projection is inserted therebetween; and
- C. a horizontal support, connected between said two vertical supports, adapted to support at least a portion of said shelf when said projection is inserted between said two vertical supports;
- said projection comprising a detachable snap-on element adapted to snap onto a portion of said frame and adapted to snap onto each of said two vertical supports.
- 10. A shelving system comprising:
- A. a shelf including:
- (1) an object carrying portion for carrying objects to be placed on said shelf;
- (2) a plurality of lateral rods connected to and supporting said object carrying portion, front and rear portions of each of said rods in the regions of the ends thereof depending at a substantially right angle to the remainder thereof;
- (3) front and rear longitudinal frame members each comprising two vertically spaced frame ribs, said frame ribs of said front frame member being connected to said front portions of said lateral rods and said frame ribs of said rear frame member being connected to said rear portions of said lateral rods, the opposing ends of each of said frame ribs extending at a substantially right angle from the remainder thereof to define a pair of frontwardly extending vertically spaced projections from said each end of said front frame member and a pair of rearwardly extending vertically spaced projections from each end of said rear frame member; and
- B. means for supporting each end of said shelf, each said supporting means including:
- (1) a pair of vertical supports spaced by a lateral distance substantially equal to the distance between said front and rear frame members, each said vertical support comprising two vertical support members spaced by a distance sufficient to permit tight insertion of one of said projections from said frame members therebetween but to prevent substantial horizontal movement of said one projection when said one projection is so inserted, the space between the projections in each said pair of frontwardly and rearwardly extending projections being sufficient relative to the space between said two support members comprising each said vertical support to provide stability of said shelf and said supporting means, when assembled together, in the longitudinal direction by providing resistance to rotation about the interconnection of said support members and said pairs of projections; and
- (2) a horizontal support, connected to each of said vertical supports, adapted to support at least a portion of said shelf when one said pair of projections is inserted between said two vertical support members comprising each said support.
- 11. The shelving system recited in claim 10, wherein said object carrying portion comprises a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending ribs, and wherein each lateral rod is attached to the bottom of each of said parallel ribs.
- 12. The shelving system recited in claim 11, wherein each said frame rib comprises a metal wire rod, wherein each said object carrying portion rib comprises a metal wire rod, wherein each of said lateral rods comprises a metal wire rod, and wherein said metal wire rods are interconnected by welding.
- 13. The shelving system recited in claim 10, further comprising a generally sinuously formed stiffening element connected said two vertically spaced frame ribs comprising each of said frame members at spaced points along the length thereof.
- 14. The shelving system recited in claim 10, wherein at least two of said horizontal supports are connected between two pairs of said vertical support members thereby to form a unitary lateral support structure for supporting one end of said shelf.
- 15. The shelving system recited in claim 14, wherein said pairs of vertical support members comprise two front pairs of vertical support members and two rear pairs of vertical support members, and wherein each unitary structure comprises one front pair of vertical support members and one rear pair of vertical support members.
- 16. The shelving system recited in claim 10, further comprising a snap-on cover adapted to snap over each said pair of projections and the portion of said pair of vertical support members horizontally adjacent each said pair of projections when said pair of projections is inserted between said vertical support members.
- 17. A shelving system comprising:
- A. a shelf including:
- (1) an object carrying portion for carrying objects to be placed on said shelf;
- (2) first and second laterally extending frame members each comprising two vertically spaced frame ribs at least one of which is connected to said object carrying portion at opposing ends of said shelf and the opposing ends of which project beyond the longitudinal boundaries of said object carrying portion in the region of said connection thereby to define a pair of vertically spaced forwardly extending projections and a pair of vertically spaced rearwardly extending projections at each end of said shelf; and
- B. means for supporting each end of said shelf, each said supporting means including:
- (1) a pair of vertical supports spaced by a lateral distance substantially equal to the distance between said front and rear longitudinal boundaries of said object carrying portion in the region of said connection to one said lateral frame member, each said vertical support comprising two vertical support members spaced by a distance sufficient to permit tight insertion of one of said projections from said frame members therebetween but to prevent substantial horizontal movement of said one projection when said one projection is so inserted, the space between the projections in each said pair of frontwardly and rearwardly extending projections being sufficient relative to the space between two support members comprising each said vertical support to provide stability of said shelf and said supporting means, when assembled together, in the longitudinal direction by providing resistance to rotation about the interconnection of said support members and said pairs of projections; and
- (2) a horizontal support, connected to each of said vertical supports, adapted to support at least a portion of said shelf when one said pair of projections is inserted between said two vertical support members comprising each said support.
- 18. The shelving system recited in claim 17, wherein said object carrying portion comprises a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending ribs each connected to said first and said second frame members.
- 19. The shelving system recited in claim 18, wherein said each of frame ribs and said object carrying ribs comprises a metal wire rod, and wherein said metal wire rods are interconnected by welding.
- 20. The shelving system recited in claim 17, further comprising a generally sinuously formed stiffening element connecting said two vertically spaced frame ribs comprising each of said frame members at spaced points along the length thereof.
- 21. A shelf for a shelving system supported by at least one pair of spaced vertical supports, each including two vertical support members, connected by a horizontal support; said shelf comprising:
- (A) an object carrying portion for carrying objects to be placed on said shelf;
- (B) a plurality of lateral rods connected to and supporting said object carrying portion, front and rear portions of each of said rods in the regions of the ends thereof depending at a substantially right angle to the remainder thereof;
- (C) front and rear longitudinal frame members each comprising two vertically spaced frame ribs, said frame ribs of said front frame member being connected to said front portions of said lateral rods and said frame ribs of said rear frame member being connected to said rear portion of said lateral rods, the opposing ends of each of said frame ribs extending at a substantially right angle from the remainder thereof to define a pair of frontwardly extending vertically spaced projections from said each end of front frame member and a pair of rearwardly extending vertically spaced projections form each end of said rear frame member, each of said frontwardly extending projections and of said rearwardly projections being adapted to be received between two vertical support members comprising one said vertical support.
- 22. The shelving system recited in claim 21, wherein said object carrying portion comprises a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending ribs, and wherein each said lateral rod is attached to the bottom of each of said parallel ribs.
- 23. The shelving system recited in claim 21, further comprising a generally sinuously formed stiffening element connecting said two vertically spaced frame ribs comprising each of said frame members at spaced points along the length thereof.
- 24. The shelving system recited in claim 23, wherein each said frame rib comprises a metal wire rod, wherein each said object carrying rib comprises a metal wire rod, wherein each of said lateral rods comprises a metal wire rod, and wherein said metal wire rods are interconnected by welding.
- 25. The shelf for a shelving system supported by at least one pair of spaced vertical supports, each including two vertical support members, connected by a horizontal support; said shelf comprising:
- (A) an object carrying portion for carrying objects to be placed on said shelf; and
- (B) first and second laterally extending frame members each comprising two vertically spaced frame ribs at least one of which is connected to said object carrying portion at opposing ends of said shelf and the opposing ends of which project beyond the longitudinal boundaries of said object carrying portion in the region of said connection thereby to define a pair of vertically spaced forwardly extending projections and a pair of vertically spaced rearwardly extending projections at each end of said shelf, each of said frontwardly extending projections and of said rearwardly extending projections being adapted to be received between two vertical support members comprising one said vertical support.
- 26. The shelving system recited in claim 25, wherein said object carrying portion comprises a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending ribs each connected to at least one of said first and said second frame members.
- 27. The shelving system recited in claim 26, further comprising a generally sinuously formed stiffening element connecting said two vertically spaced frame ribs comprising each of said frame members at spaced points along the length thereof.
- 28. The shelving system recited in claim 27, wherein said each of frame ribs and said object carrying ribs comprises a metal wire rod, and wherein said metal wire rods are interconnected by welding.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/669,026 filed Mar. 13, 1991, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
663326 |
May 1963 |
CAX |
2590144 |
Nov 1985 |
FRX |
5721138 |
Jan 1958 |
ITX |
1072036 |
Jun 1967 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
669026 |
Mar 1991 |
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