Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ATTACHMENT BRACKET FOR SHELF SUPPORT SYSTEM
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to shelving systems
and, more particularly to an improved attachment bracket
adapted to be mounted with a particular type of existing
shelving systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various types of shelving systems have been
provided with post support brackets, whereby they combine
ease of installation and variable height positioning.
Furthermore, some shelving systems using brackets have been
disclosed wherein no fastening means nor tools outside of a
hammer are needed for the assembly.
U.S. Patent No. 4,079,678, issued on March 21,
1978 to Champagne, discloses such a bracket to be used with
wire shelves and will be described with more detail
hereinafter. U.S. Patent No. 4,592,286, issued to Trubiano
on June 3, 1986, uses the aforementioned bracket with flat
surface shelves. Patent No. 4,592,286 further discloses
means for supporting adjacent shelving in planar alignment
to a shelf supported between four posts provided with such
2S support brackets.
Although the above mentioned brackets provide
simplicity of installation and variable height positioning,
as well as solid connection means to strengthen shelving
systems against jarring, the previously disclosed brackets
only oppose gravity against upward vertical motion, for
instance when a shelf is struck from below, it can pop out
of its connecting bracket. Furthermore, the bracket forms a
collar with a portion of the shelving, whereby the collar
ensures the releasable securing to the corner post.
3S However, the assembly of the collar is troublesome if it is
to be achieved by a sole individual as the bracket and the
shelf must be held while assembling one to another.
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Furthermore, the prior art bracket of U.S. Patent No.
4,079,678 is sometimes difficult to assemble due to the
right angle configuration of its connecting slot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a feature of the present invention to
provide a bracket adapted for supporting shelves between
square cross-section support posts and which substantially
overcomes the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior
art .
According to the above feature of the present
invention, from a broad aspect, the present invention
provides an attachment bracket for a shelf support system,
adapted for being mounted to a post of square cross-section
and for receiving a- portion of a shelf unit therein, and
comprising a bracket. The bracket has a back wall defining
a bottom, a top and 'vertical edges, and side arms, extending
laterally from the vertical edges of the back wall, whereby
defining outer surfaces and inner surfaces of the bracket.
2~ At least a first protrusion is located on the inner surfaces
of the bracket and :i.s adapted for mating engagement with a
corresponding indentation in the post for being vertically
secured thereto. Each of the side arms comprises at least a
slot adapted for supporting at least a portion of the shelf
2~ unit therein. The slots have friction edge portions,
adapted for the captive engagement of the portion of the
shelf unit therein.
According to a further broad aspect of the present
invention there is provided an attachment bracket for a
30 shelf support system, adapted for being mounted to a post of
square cross-section and for receiving a portion of a shelf
unit therein, and comprising a bracket. The bracket has a
back wall defining a bottom, a top and vertical edges, and
side arms, extending laterally from the vertical edges of
35 the back wall, whereby defining outer surfaces and inner
surfaces of the bracket. At least a first protrusion is
located on the inner surfaces of the bracket and is adapted
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for mating engagement with a corresponding indentation in
the post for being vertically secured thereto. Each of the
side arms has at least a slot adapted for supporting at
least a portion of the shelf unit therein. The inner
surface of one of the side arms has a second protrusion at a
predetermined distance from the back wall, whereby the
bracket is adapted for snap-fitting engagement with the
corner post.
According to a still further broad aspect of the
1U present invention there is provided an attachment bracket
for a shelf support system, adapted for being mounted to a
post of square cross-section and for receiving a portion of
a shelf unit therein, and comprising a bracket. The bracket
has a back wall defining a bottom, a top and vertical edges,
and side arms, extending laterally from the vertical edges
of the back wall, whereby defining outer surfaces and inner
surfaces of the bracket. At least a first protrusion is
located on the inner surfaces of the bracket and is adapted
for mating engagement with a corresponding indentation in
the post for being vertically secured thereto. Each of the
side arms comprises at least a slot adapted for supporting
at least a portion of the shelf unit therein. The inner
surface of the back wall has at least a second protrusion,
whereby adapted for biasing the bracket outwardly from the
corner post when the bracket is matingly engaged therewith
for forcing the portion of the shelf secured thereto against
the post.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described in detail having reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a
bracket in a shelving system using square cross-section
3_'> support posts in accordance with the prior art;
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Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the bracket
of the prior art secured to a post and supporting a wire
shelf;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bracket in
S accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the bracket; and
Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the bracket.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
l0 According to the drawings and more particularly to
Fig. 1, a bracket of a shelf system of the prior art is
generally shown at 10. The bracket comprises a back wall 11
and side arms 12a and 12b extending forwardly from vertical
edges of the back wall 11 at substantially right angles
15 thereto. The back wall 11 and the side arms 12a and 12b
define inner surfaces 14 and outer surfaces 15. Protrusions
13 are included in the inner surfaces 14 of the bracket 10
and are formed by indentations 13a on the outer surfaces 15
at the junction of the back wall 11 and the side arms 12a
20 and 12b. Still referring to Fig. 1, only one protrusion 13
is shown, whereby three other protrusions are present on the
inner surfaces 14 of the bracket 10.
The side arms 12a and 12b each comprise an upper
slot, 17a and 17b, respectively, depending from a top edge
25 thereof, 12a' and 12b', respectively. The side arms 12a and
12b further comprise lower slots 16a and 16b, respectively,
downwardly projecting from transverse gaps 18a and 18b,
respectively. The transverse gaps 18a and 18b laterally
project in the side arms 12a and 12b, respectively. The
30 lower slots 16a and 16b extend substantially perpendicular
to the gaps 18a and 18b, respectively, and extend
substantially parallel to the back wall 11.
A corner post of the prior art is generally shown
at 20 in Fig. 1. The corner post 20 is of square cross
35 section and comprises a plurality of indentations 21 at its
corners, disposed in sets in horizontal planes equally
spaced from one another. The indentations 21 of the corner
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post 20 are shaped to engage in mating relationship with the
protrusions 13 of the bracket 10 and are spaced to
correspond with the spacing of the protrusions 13 in the
vertical direction. Thus, the bracket 10 can be disposed on
any set of indentations 21 of the corner post 20.
Similar ones of the above described mating bracket
and corner post 20 may be disposed at the corners of a
shelf for the support thereof, as will be explained below.
Still referring to Fig. 1, a portion of a wire shelf is
10 generally shown at :?2. The wire shelf 22 is defined by a
plurality of elongated straight wires 23 having downwardly
shaped transverse end sections 23' (only one end being
shown). Opposed sinusoidally shaped wires 24a (only one
being shown) extend between the straight wires 24 adjacent
the end sections 23'. The wire shelf 22 further defines an
end wall corner pox-tion 25 consisting of spaced parallel
wires 26 and 27. The spacing between the wires 26 and 27 is
equal to the spacing between the lower slots 16a, 16b and
the upper slots 17a, 17b of the bracket 10. In mounting the
shelf 22 on the corner post 20, the wire 26 is disposed in
the slots 16a and 1E>b through the gaps 18a and 18b, whereas
the wire 27 is disposed in the slots 17a and 17b. Bracket
and corner post assemblies had been placed beforehand at the
four corners of the wire shelf 22, whereby the wire shelf 22
is supported thereat. Fig. 2 shows a corner adjacent to the
corner described in Fig. 1, wherein the wire shelf 22 is
mounted to the bracket 10 and corner post 20 assembly by the
aforementioned method.
It can be appreciated from Figs. 1 and 2 that the
wire shelf 22 forms a collar with the bracket 10 by being
secured in the slots thereof, whereby the bracket 10 is kept
in mating engagement. with the corner post 20. As explained
above, the sets of indentations 21 receive the protrusions
13 of the inner surface 14 in mating engagement.
3.5 Consequently, the bracket 10, and thus the wire shelf 22,
are kept from sliding in a vertical direction on the corner
posts 20 at the corners thereof. However, a certain amount
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of dexterity is expected from a person to mount a shelf to
the above described bracket. For instance, the bracket must
be held manually on the post while the wire shelf is
inserted therein, manually once more . At the same time, the
wire shelf must be kept generally horizontal in order for
the mounting to be completed.
Returning to Fig. 1, a set of four slots 26a, 26b
and 27a, 27b, are defined in the wires 26 and 27,
respectively, whereby to be received in a snuggle fit in the
slots 16a, 16b, and 27a, 27b of the bracket 10 respectively.
Consequently, the arms of the bracket 10 can not be spread
apart when held in the slots of the wires 26 and 27.
Furthermore, the wire shelf 22 is secured to the bracket 10
in all horizontal directions. As a result, the shelving
system using the brackets of the prior art provides a solid
structure, thereby preventing dislodging of its components
when subject to, for instance, jarring or shaking.
However, the wire shelf 22 sits in the slots of
the bracket 10 and is kept in position by its own weight.
If the wire shelf 22 is pushed from below, it may move out
of the brackets 10.
Referring to Figs. 3 to 5, and more particularly
to Fig. 3, there is provided an attachment bracket,
generally shown at 7.. The attachment bracket 1 is similar
to the bracket 10 described in Fig. 1, and thus like
numerals will designate like elements.
The bracket 1 comprises a back wall 11 and side
arms 12a and 12b extending forwardly from vertical edges of
the back wall 11 at substantially right angles thereto from
3U a top plan view, as shown in Fig. 4. The back wall 11 and
the side arms 12a and 12b define inner surfaces 14 and outer
surfaces 15. As shown in Fig. 4, a plurality of protrusions
13 are included in inner surfaces 14, and are formed by, in
a preferred embodiment, indentations 13a on the outer
surfaces 15 at the junction of the back wall 11 and the side
arms 12a and 12b. The bracket 1 depicted in Fig. 3
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comprises four indentations 13a, and thus four protrusions,
hidden in Fig. 3, but partially shown in Fig. 4.
Similarly to the known bracket 10 depicted in Fig.
1, the protrusions 13 are equally spaced, whereby to engage
in a mating relation with the indentations 21 of the corner
post 20, as explained herein above. Furthermore, the side
arms 12a and 12b of the bracket 1 are spaced such that, when
the bracket 1 embraces the corner post 20, the inner
surfaces 14 of either side arms 12 are generally co-planar
therewith.
Advantageously, as best seen in Fig. 4, a pimple
40 is located on the inner surface 14 of one of the side
arms 12, resulting from a nick 41 in the outer surface 15.
The pimple 40 is placed at a predetermined distance from the
back wall 11 equivalent to the width of the corner post 20,
whereby the protrusions 13 are kept in mating engagement
with the indentations 21 of the corner post 20 when the
bracket 1 is placed on the corner post 20. Thus, the
bracket 1 and the corner post 20 may interconnect such that
the bracket 1 is releasably locked in all directions on the
corner post 21 by the pimple 40, whereby installation of a
shelf in the bracket 1 will be facilitated as the latter no
longer needs to be held manually on the corner post 20.
As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the side arms 12a and
12b have upper slots 17a and 17b, respectively, depending
from top edges 12a' and 12b', respectively. The side arms
12a and 12b also have lower slots 16a and 16b, respectively,
downwardly projecting from transverse gaps 42a and 42b. The
lower slots 16a and 16b are arcuatly linked to the gaps 42a
and 42b, respectively, and are substantially parallel to the
back wall 11. The arcuate connections between the gap 42a
and the lower slot 16a, and between the gap 42b and the
lower slot 16b, define friction edges 43a and 43b,
respectively. Furthermore, the upper slots 17a and 17b of
the side arms 12a and 12b, respectively, also define
friction edges, 44a and 44b, respectively.
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The slots 16a, 16b, 17a and 17b are sized to
receive a portion of a shelf, may it be the wire shelf 22 of
Fig. 1 or a plate member as disclosed in U.S. Patent No.
4,952,286, issued on June 3, 1986 to the present assignee.
In any case, the shelf elements are snuggly received in the
slots 16a, 16b, 17, and 17b, and are now held captive
therein by the friction edges 43a, 43b, 44a and 44b,
respectively. Therefore, the shelving is now prevented from
upwardly moving out. of the slots of the bracket 1 in
response to an accidental upward force. On the other hand,
the insertion of the shelving in the lower slots 16a and 16b
of the bracket 1 is facilitated by the arcuate connections
thereof. Furthermore, no tools outside of a hammer, when
necessary, are required to secure the shelving to the
bracket 1 nor for the releasing thereof.
The inner surface 14 of the back wall 11 of the
bracket 1 also comprises at an upper edge 11' thereof a
further protrusion 45, formed by an indentation 45a in the
outer surface 15 thereof. As shown in Fig. 3, only one
indentation 45a and thus only one protrusion 45 have been
added to the bracket 1. However, another pair of protrusion
45/indentation 45a can be added at a bottom edge thereof.
then shelving is inserted in the bracket 1, a collar is
formed around the corner post 20, by the side arms 12a and
12b, the back wall 11 and the shelving, similarly to Fig. 1
of the prior art. The protrusion 45 is compressed such that
it biases the bracket 11 away from the corner post 20. As a
result thereof, the shelving closing the above described
collar is pressed against the corner post 20, whereby added
strength is provided to the corner post 20 and bracket 1
assembly.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the embodiments described
herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of
the appended claims.
