CARPET DISPLAY RACK

PRESENTOIR SUR TRINGLAGE POUR TAPIS

English Abstract

A rack for hanging room sized carpets in show rooms. The rack has a plurality
of
uprights, each of which has a horizontal arm supporting a hanging carpet. The
arm is
adapted to be raised and lowered by a flexible drive member such as a cable or
belt
entrained on a motor-driven pulley and moved by a gear drive type motor. The
flexible
drive member or belt and motor-driven pulley are mounted on the rack.

Claims

I CLAIM
1. A display rack secured in an upright position for
hanging carpets, the rack comprising: at least one upright support
member; an arm assembly carried by the upright support, the arm
assembly including a horizontal member and a brace; an upper
support roller on the horizontal member bearing on a side of the
upright support, a lower support roller on an end of the brace
bearing on a side of the upright support opposite from the upper
support roller and a motor and a winch on the upright support
whereby a flexible tension member wound on the winch has a free end
extending directly over a pulley secured to the arm assembly and
then secured to the support member for moving the arm assembly from
a lowered position to an upper carpet display position.
2. A display rack secured in an upright position for
hanging carpets, the rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the

winch is a worm drive winch and has a toothed drum mounted on
the upright support whereby a toothed flexible tension member is
wound on the winch drum and extends along the upright support.
3. A display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the motor
is mounted on the winch and the winch is mounted on the upright
support.
4. A display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the winch
has a gear drive
5. A display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
winch has a gear ratio of 50:1.
6. A display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the
flexible tension-member is a cable.
7. A display rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein the winch
has a gear drive and the motor has a brake to control undesired
unwinding of the cable.

Description

CA 02606752 2007-10-17
CARPE'F DISPI.AY RAC:-K.
This application corresponds to Continuation In Part 11/586,606 of U.S. Patent
Application No. 11 /085,117
filed October 26. 2007.
Field of the invention
This invention relates to display racks and more particularly to improvements
in display
racks for hanging room sized carpets.
It is desirable to ha've carpets hanging in such a manner in order that a
number of carpets can
be viewed Nvithout moving a large number of carpets. However, raising the
carpets to a
hanging position can not be done conveniently Nvithout proper equipment and
furtheimore,
customers may request that the hanging carpet be spread horizontally. It is
desirable
therefore, that a sales person be provided with a motorized rack to
conveniently raise and
lo'~ver any caipet with a minimum of effort.
Attempts to provide display racks of this type include applicant's U.S. Pat.
No.5,2921,01 1
which discloses a winch and cable system and U.S Pat. 2,040,336, 'AFhich
discloses a
horizontal carpet support raised by pulling a rope. Other prior attempts
include those
disclosed in tJ.S. Pat. Nos. 3,187,900, W. Schneider; and 3,330,418, W.
Schneider.
It is considered desirable therefore, to provide a display rack having single
display rack
arms, which will be capable of being driven by individual motors.
A still further consideration is that of minimizing, damage to expensive
carpets by
exposed moving parts such as cables.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a display rack secured in an
upright position for
hanging carpets. The rack comprises an upright support member, an arm assembly

CA 02606752 2007-10-17
including a horizontal member, and a diagonal brace for movement from a
lowered
position to an upper storage position. The horizontal member has an upper
support roller
bearing on a side of the upright support; a lower support roller on an end of
the diagonal
brace bearing on a side of the support opposite from the upper support roller
and a drive
winch on the upright tubular member whereby a flexible member on the drive
winch
extends over a pulley on the arm assembly and has an end secured to an upper
end of the
support.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises an upright support member, an
arrn
assembly including a horizontal member, and a diagonal brace for movement from
a
lowered position to an upper storage position. The horizontal member has an
upper
support roller bearing on a side of the upright support; a lower support
roller on an end of
the diagonal brace bearing on a side of the support opposite from the upper
support roller
and a winch on the upright tubular member whereby a flexible belt member wound
on a
drive pulley of the worm drive winch has an end secured to the arm assembly
and the
flexible member has indentations to cooperate with teeth on the drive pulley.
Brief description of the drawings
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the display rack of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a side elevational view an arm assembly of the invention of FIG. 1;
and
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view partly in section of the motor and gear
mechanism and
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the motor and winch of Fig. 3,
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of an arm assembly showing the motor and
gear
mechanism mounted at a lower end of a vertical support member of the rack,
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of an arm assembly;
and
FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a motor and gear mechanism of FIG. 6
1)

CA 02606752 2007-10-17
Detailed description of the drawings
Referring now in detail to the drawings in which the numeral 10 generally
denotes a
carpet display rack, the rack 10 has a supporting assembly 12 including posts
14 having
bottom plates 18. The posts 14 are also provided with adjustable top plates 22
secured in
the adjusted position by set screws 26.
A lower channel plate 30 has spaced apart apertures 32 and a top plate 34 of
right angle
cross section which has apertures 38 vertically aligned with the apertures 32
of the lower
plate 30. Vertical support members 40 (one of which is shown) have upper and
lower
pins 44 and 46 adapted to be received in the apertures 34 and 32 respectively
for pivotal
movement. The pin 44 carries a slideable collar 50 adjustable by means of set
screw 52..
An arm assembly 60 adapted to move vertically on the upright channel member
40,
includes a horizontal member 60 and a diagonal brace 64. An associated end 62
of the
arm 60 has spaced apart plates 65 to engage the upright tubular member 40, and
a roller
70 mounted at the end of the horizontal member 60 engages the other side of
the tubular
member 40. The lower end of the brace 64 is also provided with spaced plates
66 to
receive a roller 74 bearing against the adjacent side of the tubular member
40. A roller
86 is also mounted between the plates 65 on the horizontal member 60 adjacent
the
upright member 40. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a toothed belt 90 extends over a
similarly
toothed drum 92 of a winch 94 and has its end 93 looped over fastening means
85 on the
horizontal member 60 adjacent the roller 86. The toothed belt 90 is preferably
polyurethane combined with a tension member of braided steel sold under the
name
Breco Flex.
The pairs of spaced apart plates 65 and 66 are preferably joined or integrally
formed.
A nylon roller 100 is provided on the outer end of each arm assembly 60,
although means
for attaching a carpet to the horizontal member 62 does not form part of this
invention, a
carpet clip 110, as shown in FIG. 1 grips an upper edge of the carpet. The
clip 110 is the
3

CA 02606752 2007-10-17
subject of another patent application by this inventor.
The gear mechanism 94 is of the type referred to as worm gear and meshes with
a gear
124 for rotating the drive pulley drum 92. An electric motor 130 is secured to
the shaft
120 to facilitate turning the shaft. A suitable motor is manufactured under
the trade name
Nema. The worm gear operates at a 50:1 drive ratio and moves a 250 lb load
through a
9ft travel in approximately 37 seconds. The worm gear winch is self-braking so
that the
winch drum cannot accidentally run free.
As illustrated in FIG. 5 the drum 92 of the winch 94 is mounted on a lower end
of the
frame member 40. The toothed belt 90 has its end 93 looped over fastening
means 85
on the horizontal member 60 the belt 90 then extends over a pulley 200 on an
upper end
of the upright member 40 and extends over the toothed drum 92 of the winch 94
and
has an end 93 secured to a lower end of the frame 60.
It will be noted that the input shaft of the winch 94 is positioned at about
an angle of 30
degrees with respect to the upright frame members so that a portable electric
motor 131
can be attached to the winch 94 associated with a selected arm assembly 60.
The drive
pulleys of the winch 94 may be interchanged for use with either belts, chains
or cable
wrap systems. Furthermore, mounting of the housing 95 as shown in FIG. 5 is
also
adapted for use in top mounting of the winch 94 as shown in FIG 3. In place of
the
cordless motor 131 a modified electric motor 130 may be provided for use with
the
winch 54 shown in FIG. 5. The motor 130 can be provided with coupling means
(not
shown) and an extension cord or a source of power adjacent each arm assembly.
In use the arm assembly 60 can be raised and lowered, the belt 90 having been
correctly
installed on the drum 92. The carpet (not shown) is then secured to the arm
assembly 60
through the use of clips 110 and the arm assembly is raised by the electric
motor 130 or
131 to wind belt 90 on the drum 92. It will be appreciated that if the
operator stops the
power unit for any reason before fully raising or lowering the arm assembly
60, the drive
means cannot run free due to the provision of the self-braking winch gear
mechanism 94
As illustrated in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 a flexible drive member 201 such as a
cable,
extends over a pulley 265 to the drum 202 where it terminates, The flexible
drive
member 201 is fastened to the drum 202 so that the flexible drive member 201
is
4

CA 02606752 2007-10-17
wrapped around the drum 202 continuously thus decreasing its length and
raising a load.
The drum 202 has been made integral with the winch motor assembly 230 and
includes a
brake 294 which is disengaged by power energizing the motor 230.
In use the arm assembly 60 can be raised and lowered by the flexible drive
member
201 which extends around the pulley 265 before having its other end secured to
the
frame 44 by suitable fastening means. The motor assembly 230 is secured to the
frame
44 by suitable supports 203 and 204.
A suitable motor and gear box is sold by Warner Electric Co. provides the
following:
- 90 Volt DC
- 20 to 1 ratio
- overload clutch slip at 85-90 lbs
- rating of about 150 RPM @ 75 in. of torque
The brake 294 is provided on the motor gear box assembly 230 within the motor
housing.

Representative Drawing