Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to racking
particularly racking for storing goods of the type
which is built from metal uprights in which are formed
sockets and beams at the end of which are hooks which
engage in -the sockets.
It is known that racking of this type which is
designed so that the beams can be assembled and dis-
assemhled from the upright, can be inadvertently
disassembled by a fork lift truck catching the under-
side of a beam and lifting the beam so that the hooks
are disengaged from the sockets. In order to avoid
this, various proposals have been made such as providing
a springing clip ~n one of the hooks which engages on
the underside of a socket providing a projection on
the upper side of the hook which springs into engagement
with the underside of a socket, or by providing a pin
or bolt between the beam and upright. The problem wi-th
the clip and projectlon arrangement is that positive
~ 1ndication of their being in locking engagement may be
lacking. Whilst the pin or bolt arrangements may be
unsatisl'actory~bècause the pins can drop out and bolts
are tedious -to fasten.
The invention has been made with the above points
in mind.
According to the present inven-tion there is provided
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racking of the type comprising metal uprigh-ts in which
are formed sockets and beams at the ends of which are
hooks which engage in the sockets in which at least
one locking member is magnetically held in place against
a metal upright, the locking member being shaped and
positioned whereby it may bear against a stop on the
metal upright and against a beam when the hooks of the
beam are engaged in the sockets in the metal upright
to prevent removal of the hooks from the socket.
10 The invention provides a simple and ef-fective
system for preventing the accidental displacement of a
beam from an upright. A locking member is magnetically
held in place on the uprlght between a stop and the
beam so that any upward forces on the beam cause the
beam to abut the locking member which in turn abuts the
stop preventing disengagement o-f the hooks from the
soc~ets. The locking member may be simply placed in
position after assembly of the uprights and beams without
need for clips and bolts and is magnetlcally retained
flrmly in place against the upright.
Each socket in the metal upright is preferably
formed by pressing out a portion of the cen-tral web~
of the upright to provide a louvre having a flat Iace
spaced fro~ the plane of the web and overlying a socket
aperture from which the ~lat face portion has been removed.
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The lower edge O-r the louvre may act as the stop
providing an abutment surface against which part of
the locking memher may bear.
Preferably one or more of the hooks at the ends
of the beam are provided with an abutment surface on
their upper side for contact with the locking member.
Thus the locking member may conveniently be positioned
on an upright in the space beneath a louvre ~orming a
socket and above -the hook of a beam which is engaged
in the soc~et beneath.
According to one embodiment of -the invention the
locking member is a bar magnet having its poles at
each end of the bar of suitable size and shape to be
positioned between the stop and the beam, e.g. the
louvre and the top of a hook. Preferably the magnet
; substantially fills the space between the beam and the
; stop so that minimal upward movement of the beam is
allowed.
A second type of locking member is a magnet having
the same size and shape characteristics as described
above but one in which the poles oL the magne-t are
constituted at the major surfaces. Thus all the surface
of the magnet in contact with the upright is a pole and
therefore there is strong uniform attraction to the
~pright over the whole area of contact.
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A preferred locking member is a so-called
"pot-magnet". A "pot-magnet" comprises a magnet as
described above having its poles at the major surfaces
which is shrouded over all but one major surface with
a metal susceptible to magnetism. The metal shrouding
becomes a pole piece f'or the covered pole and therefore
the edge of the shrouding forming the perimeter around
the unshrouded major surface acts as a pole having the
same polarity as the covered major surface,, i,e. both
poles are concentrated at the same surface. The
attraction to metal o-f the unshrouded surface of the
- pot-magnet is signiflcantly increased compared to the
magnet without shrouding and there~ore the pot-magnet
will adhere firmly in place agains-t the metal upright.
The exact shape of the locking member is not
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crltical providing lt has the necessary sur~aces to abut
-the stop and beam. Conveniently the locking member
may take the form of a block or bar. Preferably the
edges o~ the major surface o~ the block not intended
to contact the upright are radiused or cham~ered to
reduce the possibility o-f accidental displacement. In
this way a positive effort is required for removal of
the locking member.
Preferably the locking member is provided with a~
pin projecting from the sur~ace intended to contact the
upright and the upright is provided with an aperture
to accommodate the pin. This arrangement prevents
horizontal displacement of the locking member, e.g.
by knocking the locking member, and is particularly
advantageous when used on an upright at the end of
racking since the locking member will not have beams
on each side. The pin is preierably made of a material
not susceptible to magnetism, e.g. a plastics material.
The pin is conveniently of a length such tha~ it passes
through the aperture of the upright and projec-ts through
the other side so that the locking member may be removed
by pressing the pin. This is particularly advantageous
when the locking member has chamfered edges and it is
difficult -to obtain a purchase on the locking member
~5 sufficient tv overcome the magnetic attraction to the
metal upright.
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The inven-tion will now be described by way of'
example with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which:
Figure 1 represents a locking member suitable for
use in the invention,
~igure 2 represents a front elevation of racking
in accordance with the inven-tion,
~igure 3 represents a section taken along the
line A-~ in Figure 2, and
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Figure 4 represents a section taken along the
line B-B in Figure 2.
The locking member 1 shown in Figure 1 is a po-t-
magnet comprising a magnet 2 having its poles at the
major surfaces (4 and 5) and a metallic shroud 3.
The shroud effectively transfers the pole 4 of the
magnet to the perimeter regions 7a to 7d surrounding
the pols 5. The locking member also includes a pin 9
to be inserted in an aperture in the upright. The edges
11 of the locking member are radiused.
The racklng shown in Figures 2 to 4 includes a
metal upright 10 comprising a central web 12 in which
sockets 13 are spaced at regular equal intervals. Each
socket is formed by pressing out a portion 13a o~ the
central web 12 to provlde a louvre having a flat face
spaced from the plane of the wsb and overlying a socket
aper-ture 13 b from which the front face por-tion has been
removed. The lower surfacs 14 of the socket louvre
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provides an abutment surface constituting a stop.
Either side of the central web 12 as seen in
Figure 3 are flanking webs 22 and 23 at right angles
to the central web which have outer abutment surfaces
24 and 25. Extending at right angles from the flanking
webs 22 and 23 are connecting webs 26 and 27, at right
an~les to the connecting webs are bolting webs 28 and 29
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and terminal webs 30 and 31 which extend from the bolting
webs in a common plane parallel to the plane of the
central web 12. The bolting webs have holes 33 -formed
at intervals so that interconnecting members, one o-f
which members 32 is shown in Figure 3, can be located
between the bolting webs of opposed uprights and bolted
- therebetween by bolts 34. The holes 33 can also be used
to secure bracing members (not shown) which can be fitted
diagonally between uprights. Alternatively the members
32 may be welded to the webs 28.
The beams 40 are each provided at least at one end
and generally at both ends with a bracket 42 having -two
arms 42 and 43 (Figure 3) at right angles to each other.
The ~irst arm 42 is welded onto an end of the beam 30
and has an abutment surface 4~ which is designed to lie
in abutting~contact with abutment surface 24 or 25 of
flanking webs 22 and 23 of the upright. The second arms
43 when fitted to the upright lie against the central
web 12 and have three downwardly facing hooks 50, 51 and
52 each of which fit into sockets 13. The number of
hooks on the end of a beam is not cri-tical although
generally there are two or more depending upon the size
of the beams. A gap 53 is formed between the abutment
surface 1~ o~ the louvre and the hooks 51 provides the space
for fitting the locking member 1. The hooks 51 have an
upper abutment surface 5~ on their upper sicle deEining
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parts of the extremity of the gap 53 which together
with lower abutment surface 14 of louvres form limits
against which the locking mernber acts as will be
described.
To assemble the racking uprigh-ts 12 are erected
withl if necessary, interconnecting members 32 and
beams 40 are then offerred to the uprights and hooks
50, 51 and 52 inser-ted in sockets l3 at a selected
height. The beams are then tapped down so that the
hooks and sockets coact to bring abutment sur-Paces 44
and 24/25 into engagement.
The locking member 1 is then placed against the
upright in the gap 53 with the pin 9 projecting through
aperture 55 and is held ln place by the magnetic -~orce.
Any upward movement of the beams 40 causes the abutment
surfaces 54 to abut the locking member~which in turn
abuts the abutment sur-Lace 14 oi the louvre preventing
further movement and disengagement of the.hooks. The
locking member may be removed by.pressing the pin 9
; 20 so that the magnet is forced away from the upright.
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