The present disclosure relates to the field of kitchen or restaurant equipment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a mobile cart for drying and storing holding trays for the food service industry.
Many restaurant and food service settings, and particularly quick service restaurants (QSR), pre-prepare food or order components so as to efficiently use kitchen space and food preparation time. The pre-prepared foods or order components are stored in holding trays that are configured to maintain the quality of the food held therein for an extended period of time. Particularly in the QSR setting, a kitchen will use many of these trays throughout the day. Therefore the cleaning, drying, and storage of food holding trays presents a challenge, notably of space in the kitchen.
Wire frame utility carts are known in the industry, yet these carts are designed for general utility and therefore are not particularly or individually suited for specific tasks leading to inefficient use and operation. Jurasek U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,712, entitled “Modular Display Rack” discloses a modular display rack constructed of wire rod and includes a plurality of disconnectable rack sections with legs that interweave between offset horizontal rods to connect the racks to the side frames. Young, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,097, entitled “Multi-Position Wire Display Rack” discloses a wire display rack in which each of a plurality of shelves which pivot about a rear hook and have downturned protrusions that fit into inwardly projecting loop deformations on the horizontal side members. Stroh U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,529, entitled “Display Rack” discloses a display rack in which shelves are secured to transverse portions of sidewalls by depending lugs that extend from the shelves and are received into loop portions of the transverse portions. Simard U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,294, entitled “Multi-Configurational Wire-Rod Display Rack” discloses a plurality of shelves with hook ends that connect over respective horizontal attachment rods of the side frames. Rosen U.S. Pat. No. 9,307,833, entitled “Shelving System” discloses a plurality of shelves with L shaped portions between which upper and lower bars of support frames are received.
Exemplary embodiments of a tray rack include opposed side support frames. A plurality of shelf hooks extend interior to the tray rack from the side support frames. Each shelf hook of the plurality of shelf hooks include a projection extending inwardly from the side support frame and a lip extending upward from the projection. A plurality of shelves each including a pair of sides. The sides each have a hang bar. A plurality of wires extend between the hang bars. Each wire of the plurality includes a horizontal portion between an upturned portion at either end. The upturned portion and the hang bars define the sides of the shelf. A shelf base is defined by the horizontal portions of the plurality of wires. End wires extend between the pair of sides along each elongated side of the shelf base. The end wires are positioned at a height above the shelf base. Each shelf of the plurality of shelves is connected between the opposed side support frames by engagement of the hang bars with the shelf hooks.
Additional exemplary embodiments of the tray rack include a plurality of shelf hooks arranged at vertically spaced apart intervals along the side support frames. A shelf of the plurality of shelves may be connected to the side support frames at a position adjacently above a lower shelf of the plurality of shelves. The shelf blocks disengagement of the lower shelf from the side support frames.
In still further exemplary embodiments, the side support frames each include vertical rods and a plurality of side horizontal supports that extend between the vertical rods of a side support frame. The side horizontal supports are vertically spaced apart at predetermined intervals along the vertical rods. A plurality of shelf hooks extend from each side horizontal support. The hang bars are divided along a length dimension into a plurality of intervals defined by the upturned portions connected to the hang bars. The shelf hooks extend from each side horizontal support. Intervals of a hang bar of an associated shelf engage the shelf hook extending from an associated horizontal support. The shelf hooks and the hang bar intervals may be coordinated such that a shelf hook engages the hang bar across substantially all of an associated interval of the hang bar. Upturned portions of the associated shelf may engage the side horizontal supports when the associated shelf is connected to the side support frames. The side horizontal supports may further each include a horizontal ledge that extends inwardly from the side horizontal support and the shelf hooks extend from the horizontal ledge. The shelves may be secured within an interior of a tray rack footprint defined by the opposed side support frames. A rear horizontal support may be connected between the opposed side support frames. A front horizontal support may be connected between the opposed side support frames.
In still further exemplary embodiments a shelf of the plurality of shelves may be configured to receive a food tray in a drying position wherein a top of the food tray is supported on the end wire. It is configured to receive a food tray in a storage position wherein a bottom of the food tray is supported by the shelf base and the storage position is defined by engagement of a side of the food tray with at least one of the end wires. The drying position may be further defined by engagement of a food tray lid projecting from the top of the food tray with at least one of the end wires.
A shelf of the plurality of shelves may include a plurality of lid supports connected to the shelf base and oriented at an obtuse angle relative to the shelf base. The plurality of lid supports may each be configured to support at least one lid positioned against the lid support. The shelf may further include a plurality of brackets with each bracket connected to the shelf base at a location proximate to a connection of a lid support to the shelf base. Each bracket may be oriented at an acute angle relative to the shelf base. At least one lid positioned against the lid support may be further supported by an associated bracket. An end of each bracket may be secured to an adjacent lid support at a position elevated above the shelf base.
The tray rack 10 includes two generally opposed sides 19, each side comprising adjacent vertical rods 16 and one or more horizontal supports 17. In the embodiment depicted in
The side support frame 18 further includes a series of shelf hooks 32 positioned to an interior side of the side support frame 18. The shelf hooks 32 exemplarily include a projection 34 and a lip 36. The projections 34 engage with and receive the weight from a hang bar 38 of a shelf 20 engaged therewith.
The lip 36 of the shelf hook 32 helps to retain the hang bar 38 in engagement with the projection 34 and prevents inward horizontal movement of the hang bar 38. In this manner, a series of shelves can be removably secured between generally opposed side support frames 18 to form a tray rack 10 that can be inserted and removed and reconfigured within a utility cart 12. It will also be recognized that the side support frames 18, and one or more shelves 20, 22, 24, may be secured together and to a utility cart 12 to provide a utility cart with the features as disclosed herein.
The cart hooks a 26 exemplarily open downwards with a downwardly extending lip 30 while the shelf hooks 32 exemplarily open upwardly with an upwardly extending lip 36. While the side support frame 18 is depicted in as having one pair of cart hooks 26, it will be recognized that in still further embodiments, the side support frame 18 may include additional cart hooks (not depicted), for example, positioned in alignment for engagement with other three-sided supports 14 of a cart 12 to which the side support frame 18 may be connected.
The side support frame 18 is exemplarily constructed with bent wire. In an exemplary embodiment, the side support frame 18 includes an outer frame 40 and an inner frame 42. The outer frame 40 is bent to provide the outer perimeter of the side support frame 18, including top projections 44 and lower projections 46 which help to provide definition and rigidity to the ends of the side support frame 18 while also providing a structure to which the cart hooks 26 and exemplarily the topmost and lowermost shelf hooks 32 may be secured.
The inner frame 42 further provides strength and rigidity to the side support frame 18 by extending along the interior of the side support frame 18. In an exemplary embodiment, the cart hooks 26 and the shelf hooks 32 are secured to the outer frame 40 and the inner frame 42 of the side support frame 18 by welding. In an exemplary embodiment, the shelf hooks 32 are welded between the outer frame 40 and the inner frame 42 thereby securing the outer frame 40 to the inner frame 42.
The shelf base 48 may also be constructed of a plurality of base wires 58, the base wires 58 being exemplarily arranged perpendicular to the wires 54. The base wires 58 may be positioned and secured above the wires 54. It will further be recognized that in an embodiment, one of the wires 54 may also form the end wire 50. In exemplary embodiments, and in the embodiments as disclosed in further detail herein, the end wire 50 defines a height above the top of the shelf base 48. This may be achieved by the end wire 50 secured to the top of the base wires 58 shelf base 48, or an end wire 50A may be independently secured between the upturned portions 45 of a wire 54 at a position above the shelf base 48. Both of these configurations are shown in
An end wire 50A extends between upturned portions 45 supporting the end wire 50. The end wire 50A exemplarily blocks access to the shelf base 48, making the partitioned shelf 22 accessible from only the front to facilitate organization and retention of items on the partitioned shelf 22. The partitioned shelf 22 further exemplarily demonstrates the partitions 56 spaced at a distance from one another such that two tray inserts 76 can be stored therebetween side-by-side. In an exemplary embodiment, tray inserts 76 are dimensioned to fit within trays 66 as described in further detail herein. The partitioned shelf 22 may be dimensioned such that up to four tray inserts 76 may be stored (either open-side up or open-side down) between adjacent partitions 56 and the end wires 50. The partitions 56 thus help to keep the tray inserts 76 organized while not obstructing user access to the tray inserts 76.
The brackets 64 exemplarily extend between adjacent lid supports 60. In this manner, the brackets 64 create a platform 78 upon which the lids 72 are supported. The lid shelf 24 further includes an end wall 80, exemplarily constructed of a plurality of end wires 82. The end wall 80 may secure to the shelf base 48 with base wires 58 that connect to the end wires 82. In exemplary embodiments of the lid shelf, the end wall 80 includes a support loop 85 that extends between end wires 82. In a still further exemplary embodiment, the support loop 85 may further include vertical extensions 83 from the respective base wires 58.
The trays in the storage position 66A may further be combined with a respective lid 72 already associated with the tray 66. As previously noted, the tray lip 70 may be located at each end of the tray and helps to retain the lid 72 in engagement on the tray 66. When the tray is in the storage position 66A, a bottom of the tray rests upon the wires 54 forming the shelf base 48 while a side 74 of the tray 66 engages the end wire 50 which retains the tray in the storage position 66A within the tray rack 10. The end wires 50 extend at a position above the shelf base 48 so as to engage the sides 74 of the trays 66 and retain the trays 66 in position on the shelf 20.
The side support frames 102 include shelf hooks 114 that extend inwardly and upwardly from the side horizontal support 108. As previously described, a variety of configurations of shelves, 20, 22, and 24 may be used with the tray rack 100. In exemplary embodiments, the shelf hooks 114 are elongated in a horizontal dimension along the lengthwise dimension of the side horizontal supports 108. The shelf hooks 114 and the respective shelves are configured such that the shelf hooks 114 are received between adjacent upturned portions 45 of the shelves within the intervals 37 of the hang bar 38. In this manner, the shelves are prevented or limited from translation in the horizontal dimension due to engagement between the shelf hooks 114 and the upturned portion 45. Also, because of the general correspondence between the width of the shelf hooks 114 in the horizontal dimension and the intervals 37 between adjacent upturned portions 45, disengagement of a respective shelf from the side horizontal supports 108 and/or the shelf hooks 114 requires at least one side of a respective shelf to be elevated entirely above the respective shelf hooks 114 so that the hang bar 38 and the upturned portions 45 can be moved past the associated shelf hooks 114. In such embodiment, the distance which the shelf must thus travel in the vertical dimension to be disengaged from the rest of the tray rack 100 presents a barrier to such disengagement and promotes resistance to disengagement between the shelves and the rest of the tray rack system.
During assembly, the shelves are secured to the shelf hooks 114 on the side support frames 102 by horizontally inserting the shelf at a position above the respective shelf hooks and lowering the shelf until it is in engagement with the shelf hooks 114 within the respective intervals 37 of the hang bars 38. The shelves 20 are added to the tray rack system 100 in a sequential order from bottom to top. This arrangement further resists disengagement of a shelf from the rest of the tray rack since the vertical distance required to elevate a shelf to disengage the shelf from the tray rack system 100 is blocked by the shelf located adjacently above. In this manner, so long as a shelf is located below an adjacent shelf, such shelf is further retained in position in engagement with the rest of the tray rack system 100, and in particular, to the shelf hooks 114 of the side horizontal supports 108.
In exemplary embodiments, and as depicted in
Exemplary embodiments of the tray rack as described herein can be used with a variety of shelf configurations, including shelf configurations with specific designs and/or components for specific purposes or uses. The shelves are moveable and removable, yet when assembled resist disengagement, providing a sturdy and reliable solution for kitchen equipment drying and storage. In exemplary embodiments, the entireties of the shelves are held within an envelope of the tray rack defined by the cart and thus the footprint of the tray rack remains consistent independent of the rack configuration, with and without shelves.
In the above description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clarity, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be inferred therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed. The different systems and method steps described herein may be used alone or in combination with other systems and methods. It is to be expected that various equivalents, alternatives and modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
The present application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/582,578, filed on Nov. 7, 2017, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62582578 | Nov 2017 | US |