Spacer

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a spacer for supporting stacked drawers. The spacer includes a U-shaped body portion and a post extending therefrom. The body portion defines an elongated slot for receiving a rail of the lowermost drawer. The post supports the uppermost drawer. The spacer may further include a generally vertical wall portion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to prior ROC (Taiwan) Patent Application No. 093211507, filed Jul. 21, 2004; and China Patent Application No. 200420084546.1, filed Jul. 29, 2004. These applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to spacers for containers. More particularly, the present invention relates to spacers that attach to a flange or rail of a container for spacing stacked containers from one another and supporting such stacked containers.

2. Description of Related Art

Once a container, such as a mesh container, is manufactured it must be packed, shipped and/or displayed for sale. Mesh containers, in particular, have walls that can be easily dented or damaged by handling. Damage is especially likely to occur when multiple containers are fitted together or nested in such a way that each subsequent container sits or nests within the preceeding container. This packing method is common in shipping to reduce shipping costs. Damage is also likely when containers have a predilection to bind together, such as when they are nested, so they are difficult to separate. This creates inconvenience to the handler, as well as greatly increasing the probability of damage to the containers. Damage can occur due to rubbing, binding or in attempting to separate bound containers.

Forming nesting devices to dispose between such nested containers to minimize damage is well known. U.S. Pat. No. 1,468,748 to Schuman discloses a nesting device that has a stepped wedge shape for holding nested receptacles so that the walls are kept from binding contact. The nesting device of Schuman is not releasably secured to the receptacles. As a result, this nesting device can be dislodged during shipping or packing, which is undesirable.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,878 to Ostborg et al. patent discloses an alternative nesting accessory with a body portion defining two short openings for accommodating the upper edge of cookware. The opening used depends on the diameter of the cookware. The Ostborg et al. nesting accessory further includes a leg portion extending downwardly away from the body portion and a foot portion angularly offset from the leg portion. Moreover, the Ostborg et al. nesting accessory is used such that cookware is stacked upon the leg and foot portions of the lower located nesting accessories. Consequently, the nesting accessories contact and bear upon the walls of the cookware which is undesirable for mesh containers whose walls could be damaged by such contact.

A need exists for a spacer for protecting the walls of containers, particularly mesh container, during packing, shipping, unpacking, and display while still allowing the convenience of nesting. There is also a need for a way to assure the spacers remain in place during shipping.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a spacer comprising a body portion and a post. The body portion has a generally U-shape defining an elongated slot. The post extends upwardly from an outer surface of the body portion. Upon attaching the spacer to a lower rail of a lower drawer, the rail is disposed within the elongated slot, and the post supports an upper drawer disposed above the lower drawer.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the body portion further includes a curved wall portion connected to an upper wall portion and a lower wall portion. In such an example, the body portion may further include a generally vertical wall portion connected to the upper wall portion and spaced from the lower wall portion for defining an opening in communication with the elongated slot.

In one example, a free end of the vertical wall portion is flush with an outer surface of the lower wall portion. In another example, the free end of the vertical wall portion extends beyond the outer surface of the lower wall portion.

In another example, the vertical wall portion further includes a hook portion.

In yet another example, the post further includes a cross-sectional shape selected from the group comprising: X-shaped, circular, square, rectangular, circular ring, square ring, or rectangular ring.

Additionally, the spacer of the present invention includes a single elongated slot.

The present invention is also directed to a combination of drawers and spacers. The spacers extend between stacked drawers and include body portions for contacting only the rail of such drawers. The spacers support the drawers using the rail. The spacers further include the elongated slot and post, previously discussed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be more fully appreciated as the same becomes understood from the following detailed description of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the present invention when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first example of a spacer of the present invention removed from a drawer;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the spacer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A shows top views of exemplary posts for spacers;

FIG. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of a lower drawer with a set of spacers and an upper drawer for stacking thereon;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of a plurality of stacked drawers separated and supported by spacers of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, side view of a second exemplary spacer of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, side view of a third exemplary spacer of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, side view of a fourth exemplary spacer of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a portion of mesh drawer or container 10a is shown. Mesh drawer 10a includes sidewalls 12a and bottom wall 14a (see FIG. 3). Upper end of sidewalls 12a further include continuous rail or rim 15a. Details with respect to mesh drawer 10a and its construction and variations are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. ______, entitled, “METHOD FOR MAKING MESH CONTAINERS WITH A RAIL AND MESH CONTAINER FORMED THEREFROM;” filed ______; and naming inventors Hsi-Ming Cheng, R. Neal Post, and Christopher Hardy, this application being incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, spacer 16a of the present invention is for use with mesh drawer 10a. Spacer 16a includes body portion 18 and post 20 extending upwardly therefrom. Body portion 18 has a generally U-shape formed by upper wall portion 22 connected to curved end wall portion 24 and lower wall portion 26. Generally vertical wall portion 28 is connected to upper wall portion 22 and spaced from bottom wall portion 26 to form opening 30 in communication with slot 32. Thus, body portion 18 defines open-ended elongated slot 32.

In this example, free end 28a of vertical wall portion 28 is flush with outer surface 26a of lower wall portion 26.

Post 20 extends upwardly from outer surface 22a of upper wall portion 22, and has length L. The post preferably has an X-shaped cross-section (as best seen in FIG. 2A). However, post 20 is not limited to this shape and may, for example, have other cross-sectional shapes such as solid circular, solid square or rectangular, circular ring, square ring or rectangular ring, as shown in FIG. 2A.

In the present example, post 20 has free end 20a that is generally parallel to outer surface 22a of upper wall portion 22.

Spacer 16a is preferably integrally formed from plastic using conventional techniques such as molding. The plastic selected should be able to perform as described below.

Spacer 16a is used with several other spacers 16a, as shown in FIG. 3. These spacers 16a are connected to rail 15a of lower drawer 10a by passing rail 15a through opening 30 and into slot 32, which is sized to receive rail 15a (as shown in FIG. 4). During insertion, vertical wall portion 28 and/or lower wall portion 26 may move to allow rail 15a to enter slot 32. Vertical and lower wall portions 28,26 return to their original position after such insertion due to the material and configuration of spacer 16a. Additionally, vertical wall 28 contacts inner surface 15a′ (best seen in FIG. 1) of rail 15a and exerts a force on spacers 16a so that spacers 16a are removably connected to rail 15a. In the present example, post length L (see FIG. 2) is such that gap g is defined between bottom walls 14a and 14b.

As shown in FIG. 4, stacked drawers 10a-f are shown with respective spacers 16a-f connected to rails 15a-f thereof. When so stacked, post 18 of lower spacer 16a below drawer 10b contacts spacer 16b thereabove and so forth. As a result, spacers 16a-f do not contact the bottom or sidewalls of the drawers 10a-f which helps prevent damage to such containers.

Referring to FIG. 5, a second example of spacer 116 is shown. Spacer 116 is similar to spacer 16a except vertical wall portion 128 has a length greater than vertical wall portion 28 (see FIG. 2) so that free end 128a extends distance d beneath outer surface 126a of lower wall portion 126. Spacer 116 is used similar to spacer 16a-f as previously discussed. Lengthening vertical wall portion 128a, however, improves the attachment of spacer 116 to drawers 10a-f so that spacer 116 is more difficult to remove therefrom.

Referring to FIG. 6, a third example of spacer 216 is shown. Spacer 216 is similar to spacer 116 except vertical wall portion 228 includes hook portion 228b. Spacer 216 is used similar to spacers 16a-f as previously discussed. During use, hook portion 228b engages edge E of rail 15f (see FIG. 4) to further secure spacer 216 thereto.

Additionally, free end 220a of post 220 is angled with respect to outer surface 228a of upper wall portion 228. This allows spacer 216 to be used with drawer 210a which includes angled rail 215. When spacer 216 is used with drawer 210a, upon insertion spacer 216 upper portion moves inward along angled rail 215 in direction D1 so that through use of hook portion 228b and angled free end 220a spacer 216 is removably locked into attachment with rail 215. Upon such insertion, lower wall portion 226 moves away from upper wall portion 222.

Referring to FIG. 7, a fourth example of spacer 316 is shown. Spacer 316 is similar to spacer 216 except lower wall portion 326 is angled with respect to upper wall portion 322. Additionally, free end 320a of post 320 has an alternative angle as well. Spacer 316 works similarly to spacer 216.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other products for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. Therefore, this invention is not to be limited to the specific examples depicted therein. For example, the features of one example disclosed above can be used with the features of another example. Alternatively, such spacers can be used with drawers formed of materials other than mesh, such as ceramic, glass, wood, plastic, or metal containers. The spacers of the present invention are particularly useful with such containers that nest (i.e., each subsequent container sits or nests within the preceeding container) when stacked. Additionally, such spacers may be used with drawers having openings in their sidewalls, such as open corners, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/972,308, entitled, “MESH CONTAINER, SYSTEM USING MESH CONTAINERS AND METHOD FOR MAKING MESH CONTAINERS;” filed Oct. 22, 2004; and naming inventors Hsi-Ming Cheng, R. Neal Post, and Christopher Hardy, and incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the public generally, and especially the designers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured solely by the claims, nor is intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

Claims

1. A spacer for use with a lower drawer having a lower rail and an upper drawer, said spacer comprising: a body portion having a generally U-shape defining an elongated slot; and a post extending upwardly from an outer surface of said body portion, wherein upon attaching said spacer to said lower rail of said lower drawer said lower rail is disposed within said elongated slot, and said post supports said upper drawer disposed above said lower drawer.

2. The spacer of claim 1, wherein said body portion further includes a curved wall portion connected to an upper wall portion and a lower wall portion.

3. The spacer of claim 2, wherein said body portion further includes a generally vertical wall portion connected to said upper wall portion and spaced from said lower wall portion for defining an opening in communication with said elongated slot.

4. The spacer of claim 3, wherein a free end of said vertical wall portion is flush with an outer surface of said lower wall portion.

5. The spacer of claim 3, wherein a free end of said vertical wall portion extends beyond an outer surface of said lower wall portion.

6. The spacer of claim 5, wherein said vertical wall portion further includes a hook portion.

7. The spacer of claim 1, wherein the post further includes a cross-sectional shape selected from a group comprising: X-shaped, circular, square, rectangular, circular ring, square ring, or rectangular ring.

8. The spacer of claim 2, wherein a free end of said post is generally parallel to said outer surface of said upper wall portion.

9. The spacer of claim 1, further including a single elongated slot.

10. A spacer comprising: a body portion having a generally U-shape and including a curved wall portion connected to an upper wall portion and a lower wall portion, said curved wall, upper wall and lower wall portions defining an elongated slot; and a post extending upwardly from an outer surface of said upper wall portion.