This invention relates to a moveable shelf and support therefore that offers greater flexibility and versatility than those presently in use.
There are known storage systems that include one or more moveable shelves that are supported for movement along a work area on tracks or guide rails that are affixed to the floor of the area. When there are a plurality of these shelves, they can be compressed in abutting relationship to open up space and then moved to offer access to the individual shelf areas for the insertion and removable of articles therefrom. These types of devices have wide application and considerable utility.
However, the requirement for having rails or tracks in the floor by which the shelves can be moved means that the area must be specially adapted to utilize this type of system. Also, once converted to this arrangement, the utility of the area is somewhat compromised.
In addition, once in position the types of moveable shelves aforedescribed are not easily moved to another location. If they are to be moved, then that location must also be modified to provide the necessary guide rails on which the shelves can be mounted.
It is, therefore, a principal object to this invention to provide an improved moveable shelf arrangement that does not require guide rails for its operation.
It is a further object to this invention to provide a moveable shelf that can be supported on any type of floor and can be freely moved from position to position to optimize space utilization.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved moveable base system for such shelves that will offer a predictable movement along a floor of any conventional type including carpeted ones that will insure parallel movement of the individual shelves.
A first feature of the invention is adapted to be embodied in a storage arrangement comprising a shelf adapted to receive articles. The shelf has a base and a drive unit disposed beneath the base and adapted to support the shelf on a floor for movement there along. Each drive unit is comprised of pairs of transversely spaced wheels supported for rotation upon the base about parallel, spaced axes. Each drive unit includes a support belt trained around the wheels and having a lower flight for engaging the floor and supporting the shelf thereupon. At least drive unit further includes a drive for rotating at least one of the wheels for driving the belt and effecting movement of the shelf along the floor.
Referring now in detail to the drawings and initially to the embodiment of
The shelf 31 includes an upper shelf assembly 33 that is mounted on a base, indicated generally by the reference numeral 34. The shelf assembly 33 can be of any material and construction and, for example, can include adjustable shelves that are held by side pieces. Since those skilled in the art will readily understand the various forms that the shelving may take, further description of that is believed to be unnecessary.
The base 34 has a construction as best shown and as will be described later by reference to
Referring now primarily to
The driving wheels 35 are affixed at spaced locations and between pairs of the pillow blocks 43 and bearings 44 to the driving shaft 41. In a like manner, the driven wheels 36 are affixed to the driven shaft 42. In order to facilitate assembly and machining, the shafts 41 and 42 need not be continuous shafts but can constitute shaft segments that are joined together by couplings 45.
The drive belts 37 may be of the toothed type and can cooperate with sprocket teeth on the driving wheels 35 and driven wheels 36. In addition and if desired, a plurality of sprockets 46 may be fixed along the lengths of the shafts 41 and 42 and interconnected by a chain (not shown).
The driving shaft 41 is driven by one or more electric motors 47 that are mounted on a mounting bracket assembly 48 on the underside of the plate 38. These electric motors 47 have pinion gears 49 affixed to their drive shafts. The pinion gears 49 cooperate with gears 51 fixed to the driving shaft 41 so as to drive it. These motors 47 are of the reversible variable speed type and are control by a suitable control panel 49 mounted on the side of the shelves 31 (
Although the drive belts 37 may be made of any suitable material and may, as noted above, have their inner flight toothed to provide a non-slip driving relationship with the driving wheels 35 and driven wheel 36, it may be desirable to provide an arrangement for retaining the drive belt against axial movements.
In this embodiment, the driving and driven wheels 35 and 36 have annular members 51 affixed to their outer periphery and which extend radially outwardly beyond the outer periphery of the wheels 35 and 36. Thus, as seen in
Depending upon the width or depth of the shelves 31, it may be desirable to provide further support on the floor 32 and specifically for the back up side of the belt 37.
Also, the width of the belts 37 may be changed from a narrow width to a wide width as shown in
It has been noted in the embodiment as thus far described, there are provided two electric drive motors 47 spaced transversely across the length of the shelf 31. Of course, the number of drive motors can be changed. Also although electric motors are illustrated, other means for rotating the driving shaft 41 can be employed. These can include providing a manual crank handle mounted on the side of shelf 31 for rotating the shaft 41.
In the embodiment as thus far described, all of the drive wheels 35 are mounted on a common shaft and are driven. Depending upon the loads to be expected and the specific environment, it is not necessary that all wheels be directly driven.
In connection with an arrangement wherein the driving wheels that are driven by an electrical motor or other force are not all coupled to each other, it would be possible to provide controls whereby one motor can be driven and the other remains stationary or is rotated in a reverse direction. In this way, it is actually possible for the shelf to be driven in an arcuate fashion. The possibilities of such various movements should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without further description or illustration.
Thus, from the foregoing description it should be readily apparent that the described embodiments permit the use of storage devices that can be easily moved and employed in any closed area without the necessity of guide rails. This offers substantially greater versatility and a wider variety of types of storage systems. Of course, the foregoing description is that of preferred embodiments of the invention and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2002-243984 | Aug 2002 | JP | national |
This application is a division of our co-pending application, entitled MOVEABLE SHELF AND PARTITIONING SYSTEM, Ser. No. 10/248,686, filed Feb. 9, 2003 and assigned to the assignee hereof.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10248686 | Feb 2003 | US |
Child | 11674614 | Feb 2007 | US |