Sectional rack with drawers

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6726040
  • Patent Number
    6,726,040
  • Date Filed
    Friday, October 4, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, April 27, 2004
    20 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Original Assignees
  • Examiners
    • Stodola; Daniel P.
    • Harris; Erica B
    Agents
    • Liauh; W. Wayne
Abstract
A sectional rack that can be assembled without using any tool and type of fastener includes oblong-sectioned vertical posts having horizontal slots symmetrically provided on two opposite sides, and externally, gradually, downwardly expanding connecting members adapted to firmly attach to the vertical posts through engagement of ribs provided on inner wall surfaces of the connecting members with the horizontal slots on the vertical posts, and horizontal shelves having an internally gradually downward expanded short sleeve provided at each corner and being adapted to connect to the vertical posts by seating the short sleeves over the connecting members attached to the vertical posts. Further, channels are optionally hung on the vertical posts to support drawer-type baskets thereon.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a sectional rack, and more particularly to a sectional rack that can be assembled without using any tool and fastening means, and is adapted to firmly hold channels for supporting drawer-type baskets thereon.




There are various types of sectional racks commercially available in the markets. Among these sectional racks, those can be conveniently and quickly assembled without using tools and fastening means are particularly welcome by consumers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,263; 5,303,645; 5,164,676; 4,991,725; 4,799,817; 4,595,107; 4,546,887; and 4,763,799 all disclose sectional racks that can be assembled without any tool.




A typical structure of the conventional sectional racks is shown in FIG.


1


and includes vertical posts


10


, connecting members


11


, and horizontal shelves


12


. The vertical post


10


is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced annular grooves


13


and therefore has a bamboo-like appearance. The connecting member


11


is provided on an inner wall surface with ribs


14


adapted to engage with the annular grooves


13


and thereby hold the connecting member to the vertical post


10


. An outer wall surface of the connecting member


11


gradually expands from top to bottom. The horizontal shelf


12


is provided at each corner with a short sleeve


15


having an inner wall surface gradually expanded from top to bottom corresponding to the inclined outer wall surface of the connecting member


11


. When the short sleeves


15


are seated over the connecting members


11


to connect the shelf


12


to the vertical posts


10


, they apply a compressive and binding force to the inclined outer wall surface of the connecting member


11


and therefore cause the latter to even firmly attach to the vertical posts


10


at the annular grooves


13


.




In the conventional racks having the above-described structure, the horizontal shelves


12


are not forward and backward movable once they are connected to the vertical posts


10


. With this structure, it is impossible to use the shelves as a drawer on the sectional rack. There has been developed a drawer-type basket for use on the above-described sectional rack. The basket is supported on rails (not shown) that are provided at front and rear ends with two short sleeves


15


for fixing onto connecting members


11


on posts


10


at two sides of the basket. When the basket is loaded with things and pulled outward, front ends of the rails are subjected to a downward force to cause lifted rear ends of the rails as a result of leverage. At this point, the short sleeves


15


at the lifted rear ends of the rails are not subjected to any downward force from the rear ends of the rails and become loosened from the connecting members


11


, and the connecting members


11


have the possibility of separating from the annular grooves


13


of the posts


10


and falling therefrom, causing safety problem in using the sectional rack.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a sectional rack that could not only be assembled without using any tool and fastening means, but also have rails firmly connected thereto for holding drawer-type baskets.




To achieve the above and other objects, the sectional rack of the present invention mainly includes oblong-sectioned vertical posts having horizontal slots symmetrically provided on two opposite side walls, and externally gradually downward expanded connecting members adapted to firmly attach to the vertical posts through engagement of ribs provided on inner wall surfaces of the connecting members with the horizontal slots on the vertical posts, and horizontal shelves having an internally gradually downward expanded short sleeve provided at each corner and being adapted to connect to the vertical posts by seating the short sleeves over the connecting members attached to the vertical posts. And, channels having upward extended L-shaped lugs provided at front and rear ends may be firmly hung on the vertical posts by inserting the lugs into corresponding horizontal slots of the vertical posts, so that a drawer-type basket may be conveniently slidably supported on and between two such channels.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein





FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of a conventional sectional rack having bamboo-like posts;





FIG. 2

is a fragmentary assembled sectional view of the sectional rack of

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

is an exploded perspective view of a sectional rack according to the present invention showing the assembling of a horizontal shelf to a vertical post of the sectional rack;





FIG. 4

is a fragmentary assembled sectional view of the sectional rack of

FIG. 3

;





FIG. 5

is a perspective view of an example of the sectional rack of the present invention;





FIG. 6

shows a drawer-type basket and two channels that can be attached to and used with the sectional rack of the present invention;





FIG. 7

is an enlarged and partially cutaway perspective view showing the manner of attaching the channel of

FIG. 6

to the vertical posts of the sectional rack of the present invention; and





FIG. 8

is a fragmentary sectioned side view showing the vertical posts of the sectional rack of the present invention with channels attached thereto to hold the drawer-type basket.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Please refer to

FIGS. 3 and 4

that are fragmentary exploded perspective and assembled sectional views, respectively, of a sectional rack according to the present invention, and to

FIG. 5

that shows an example of an assembled sectional rack of the present invention. As shown, the sectional rack includes a plurality of vertical posts


20


, a plurality of connecting members


22


, and a plurality of horizontal shelves


24


.




The vertical post


20


has an oblong cross section, and is symmetrically provided at two opposite side surfaces with a plurality of vertically equally spaced horizontal slots


21


.




The connecting member


22


includes two integrally connected parts adapted to fitly enclose the oblong-sectioned vertical post


20


and to open and close relative to each other. The two parts of the connecting member


22


are symmetrically provided at inner wall surfaces at predetermined positions with horizontal ribs


23


corresponding to the horizontal slots


21


on the vertical post


20


, such that the connecting member


22


can be firmly attached to the vertical post


20


by engaging the ribs


23


with the slots


21


. While the connecting member


22


has a straight inner wall surface adapted to fitly bear against an outer surface of the oblong-sectioned vertical post


20


, it has a gradually downward expanded outer wall surface.




The shelf


24


is provided at each corner with a short sleeve


25


, each of which has a gradually downward expanded inner wall surface corresponding to the gradually downward expanded outer wall surface of the connecting member


22


. Whereby when the shelf


24


is connected at four corners to the vertical posts


20


via the short sleeves


25


, the short sleeves


25


are separately seated on and downward pressed against the connecting members


22


attached to the horizontal slots


21


of the vertical posts


20


, enabling the shelf


24


to firmly locate in place on the sectional rack.




With the horizontal slots


21


symmetrically provided at two opposite sides of the vertical posts


20


, the connecting members


22


can be directly attached to the vertical posts


20


for connecting the shelf


24


to the vertical posts


20


without the need of any additional fastening means, such as screws.




In the sectional rack shown in

FIG. 5

, there is included a drawer-type basket


40


. An advantage of using the drawer-type basket


40


is items positioned therein are not subjected to unexpected falling.

FIG. 6

shows two channels


30


and a basket


40


slidably supported on and between the two channels


30


. The channels


30


define two inward opened horizontal guide ways


31


. Two L-shaped lugs


32


separately vertically project from upper front and upper rear ends of an outer sidewall of each channel


30


with a horizontal section


33


of each lug


32


extended laterally outward. A distance between the front and the rear lug


32


is the same as that between two horizontal slots


21


correspondingly provided on two vertical posts


20


at the same side of the sectional rack. As can be clearly seen from

FIGS. 7 and 8

, the channel


30


is fixed to the sectional rack simply by extending the vertical lugs


32


into two corresponding horizontal slots


21


on the two vertical posts


20


at the same side of the sectional rack. The basket


40


is then associated with the channels


30


to locate therebetween by sliding two lateral edges


41


of the basket


40


into the two guide ways


31


defined by the two channels


30


.




When the two channels


30


fixed to the sectional rack are subjected to a downward pressure, two outer sidewalls thereof are pressed against inner side surfaces of the two vertical posts


20


to bring the vertical lugs


32


to firmly bear against inner wall surfaces of the posts


20


without the risk of separating from the horizontal slots


21


. When the basket


40


is pulled outward along the two guide ways


31


so that rear ends of the two channels


30


are subjected to an upward force, the horizontal sections


33


of the rear lugs


32


are stopped by upper edges of the horizontal slots


21


on the vertical posts


20


from moving upward any further. Therefore, the use of the drawer-type basket


40


would not in any way cause separation or loosening of the two channels


30


from the sectional rack.




The channels


30


may be freely mounted on the sectional rack at any vertical position on the posts


20


, and the basket


40


may have sidewalls of any height to meet actual need. The sectional rack of the present invention may be assembled without using any tool, and the two channels


30


are conveniently and quickly connected to the rack without the need of using any screws or other fastening means.



Claims
  • 1. A sectional rack, comprising a plurality of vertical posts, a plurality of horizontal shelves, a plurality of connecting members, and a plurality of drawer-type baskets and channels for supporting the baskets;each said vertical post having an oblong cross section and being symmetrically provided at two opposite side surfaces with a plurality of identical, vertically equally spaced, horizontal slots; each said connecting member being symmetrically provided on two opposite straight inner wall surfaces with two pairs of ribs adapted to engage with said horizontal slots on two opposite sides of said vertical post and thereby attach said connecting member to said vertical post, and said connecting member having an outer wall surface gradually expanded from top to bottom; and each said shelf being provided at each comer with a short sleeve having an inner wall surface gradually expanded from top to bottom corresponding to said outer wall surface of said connecting member, such that said short sleeve could be seated over said connecting member to generate a downward compressive and binding effect on said connecting member and thereby hold said shelf to said vertical post at said connecting member wherein each of said channels has two vertically upward extending L-shaped lugs, and said horizontal slots are constructed to also allow said L-shaped lugs to be inserted therein so as to hang said channels on said vertical post, wherein each of said horizontal slots is configured to selectively receive each of the ribs of said connecting members and the lugs of each said channel to enable each of the shelves and the drawing baskets to be mounted at any location along the length of the vertical post.
  • 2. The sectional rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said channel defines an inward opened guide way along which a lateral edge of said basket is slidably moved, and is provided at upper front and upper rear ends of an outer sidewall with said two vertically upward extended L-shaped lugs, a distance between said front and said rear lugs being the same as that between two said horizontal slots correspondingly provided at the same vertical position on two said vertical posts located at the same side of said sectional rack, and said channel being fixed to said sectional rack by inserting said front and said rear lugs into two said horizontal slots correspondingly provided at the same height on two said vertical posts located at the same side of said sectional rack.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
3677615 Hudson Jul 1972 A
4656952 Schweizer Apr 1987 A
5486046 Jernstrom et al. Jan 1996 A
6257426 Masunaka et al. Jul 2001 B1
6357611 Chen Mar 2002 B1
6364138 Chen Apr 2002 B1