Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Modular Pallet Rack System
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Modular pallet racks, specifically racks having vertical posts interconnected
by horizontal beams
capable of being assembled and disassembled using the connecting members on
the posts and
beams.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to racks and more particularly, to pallet
racks. Racks are well
known in the industry for storage of items in storage facilities. Various
modular racks are used
in the industry having the benefits of being assembled and disassembled
accordingly to the
requirement of a storage. Most of the pallet racks have several common
elements: First common
element is an upright or a vertical post which supports the horizontal beams,
second element is
horizontal beams extending between the uprights to support pallets or shelves.
There is also a
third element - cross segments connecting the uprights extending in the plain
generally
perpendicular to the plane of horizontal beams, those cross segments add
rigidity to the structure
of the rack. Fourth element comprises a plurality of connectors such as bolts,
nuts and various
brackets to connect the beams and cross segments to the uprights see, for
example, US Patent
3,625,372.
The plurality of segments makes the process of the assembly, disassembly and
transportation of
the pallet racks a complicated task. The assembly and disassembly process
required a use of
several tools and constant supply of small assembly pieces. The small loose
pieces such as bolts
and nuts can easily get lost, stuck in between the parts of the racks and
hamper the assembly
process. Therefore, there is a need to reduce or eliminate the use of the
small assembly parts in a
rack erection process.
Another deficiency of the pallet racks currently used in the industry, is the
linear way of
construction. All the pallet racks used in the industry are built in straight
lines. This arrangement
works well in large warehouse spaces with generally rectangular floor plans.
However, in
smaller warehouses with irregular floor plans the linear way of rack
construction results in a loss
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of space. Further some floor plans and storage articles would require "+"
shaped "T" shaped or
"L" shaped arrangement of pallet racks or a combination of those arrangements
to address
supporting columns, corners and other wall and floor plans irregularities.
Therefore, there is a
need for a pallet rack designed to be built in different shapes besides the
straight lines' structures.
Further the object of the invention is to provide a pallet racks system
comprising of only two
essential elements: vertical support posts and horizontal beams. This rack
system can be erected
in various geometrical layouts according to the floor plan.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a rack system. The
rack system has
vertical supporting posts or uprights and horizontal beams. The horizontal
beams are
interconnected with the posts to erect the rack system. The horizontal beams
can be connected to
two posts while extending in any one of four perpendicular directions. The
post is further
designed to be attached to beams simultaneously extending in two, three or
four horizontal
perpendicular directions from the same post.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an upright for
a modular rack
system to support a horizontal beam extending normal to the said upright. The
upright has a
plurality of female connectors to receive corresponding male connectors of the
horizontal beam.
The upright also has a generally rectangular profile adapted to receive the
horizontal beam
extending in any one of four perpendicular directions. The combination of
upright with said
beam is used to erect a rack system.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a beam for
a modular rack
system. The beam has an L-shaped grip member on the first end and a mirrored L-
shaped grip
member on the second end. The grip members have a plurality of male connectors
to engage
corresponding female connectors of two previously discussed uprights at each
end. The beam
with the upright are used to erect a modular rack system.
According still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a modular
rack system having
upright members and horizontal beam members, while each upright member has a
generally
rectangular profile and a plurality of female connectors, and each horizontal
beam has an L-
shaped grip member on each side. Each L-shaped grip member, while attached,
wraps around the
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corner of the upright. Further each grip member has a set of male connectors
interconnecting
with corresponding female connectors of the upright member. The horizontal
beams can extend
from the upright in four perpendicular directions, for example, the horizontal
beam might extend
right and left from the upright to engage additional uprights and also might
extend forward and
backward from the same upright to engage additional uprights, this way the
rack system can be
flexibly arranged to fit a range of floor plans.
Preferably, the L-shaped grip of has a set of male connectors selected from
the group of: hooks,
double hooks, tabs, loops, pins and other connectors known in the art. Still
preferably the L-
shaped grip of the beam has a leg, a foot and a finger part. It further has a
first set of the male
connectors on the foot part of the L-shaped grip and a second set of male
connectors on the
finger part of the L-shaped grip. The first and the second set of connectors
are independently
selected from the group of hooks, double hooks, tabs, loops, pins and other
connectors known in
the art.
According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided an upright
having a generally
rectangular X-shaped profile with four vertical walls, while each vertical
wall has a vertical
channel proximate the center of the wall. Each wall further has a first set of
female connectors to
receive the first set of male connectors of the grip members of the beam while
each channel
comprises a second set of female connectors to receive the second set of male
connectors of the
grip members of the beam. This way, the interconnecting upright and the beam
are used to erect
a modular rack system.
According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of
erecting a rack
system by use of generally rectangular X-shaped uprights and horizontal beams
comprising L-
shaped grip members while each grip member wraps a corner of the upright. Each
upright has a
plurality of connecting female connectors and each grip member comprising a
set of male
connectors engageable with those female connectors. Each horizontal beam
connects two
uprights and may extend in a normal direction from the upright - right, left,
forward or
backward.
Preferably, the L-shaped grip further comprising a first set of male
connectors on the foot part of
the L and a second set of male connectors on the finger part of the L. The
first and second set is
independently selected from the group of hooks, double hooks, tabs, loops,
pins and other
connectors known in the art.
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Still preferably the upright having a generally rectangular X-shaped profile
with four vertical
walls, further comprises vertical channels proximate the center of each wall.
In addition each
wall comprises a first set of female connectors to receive the first set of
male projections of the
beam while each channel comprises a second set of female connectors to receive
the second set
of male connectors of the beam. The interconnecting uprights and the beams are
used to erect a
modular rack system.
According to yet another aspect of the invention the rack system described
above can have an
upright with a plurality of male/female connectors and each L-shaped grip of
the horizontal
beam, can comprise a plurality of corresponding male /female connectors to
engage said upright.
Further benefits of the invention would be apparent through a review of the
description,
drawings and the claims of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic view of an assembled rack system.
Figure 2 is a front view of a fragment of the upright illustrating a preferred
embodiment .
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the fragment of the upright illustrating a
preferred embodiment.
Figure 4 is a top view of the upright.
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a beam with L-shaped grip illustrating a
preferred embodiment.
Figure 6 is a perspective view of a beam with mirror L-shaped grip
illustrating a preferred
embodiment.
Figure 7 is a front view of L-shaped grip illustrating a preferred embodiment.
Figure 8 is a front view of the upright with one horizontal beam attached.
Figure 9 is a front view of the upright with two parallel horizontal beams
attached.
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Figure 10 is a top view of the upright with two horizontal beams attached
perpendicularly to
each other.
Figure 11 is a side view of the upright with two horizontal beams attached
perpendicularly to
each other.
Figure 12 is a top view of the upright with three horizontal beams attached.
Figure 13 is a top view of the attachment of two parallel beams.
Figure 14 is a top view of the attachment of two perpendicular beams.
Figure 15 is a top view of the upright with four horizontal beams arranged
counter-clockwise.
Figure 16 is a top view of the upright with four horizontal beams arranged
clockwise.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Figure 1 shows a rack system erected in the storage facility. It is easy to
see that the system has
an irregular shape. It actually is having a "T" shaped segment extending into
"L" shaped
segment. Further it illustrates that the positions and width of shelves can
vary from one segment
of shelves to another. The arrangement of the Figure 1 is just one of the
examples demonstrating
the flexibility of the modular rack system. The main segments of the system
are: uprights 10 and
horizontal beams 20. The horizontal beams can be manufactured to any length
and thickness
suitable for the support of the pallets, shelves and other supporting parts
known in the art.
There are several examples of attachment of horizontal beams 20 to uprights
10. Attachment "A"
has two horizontal beams extending from upright 10 the beams are perpendicular
to each other
while one is extending to the right and other extending to the back from the
upright. The point
of attachment "A" is best illustrated in Figure 10. The similar point of the
attachment with two
horizontal beams perpendicular to each other can be found in other points in
the Figure 1.
Attachments "I3" and "C" shows three horizontal beams extending from the same
point of the
upright. At those points one beams is extending to the left, second to the
right and the third one
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to the front from the upright. The points of attachment "B" and "C" are best
illustrated in Figure
12.
The point of attachment "D" illustrate two horizontal beams extending from the
upright, one to
the left and one to the right. This point of attachment is best illustrated in
Figure 9.
There are also existing points of attachment in which beams are extending to
all four
perpendicular directions from the same point of the upright as shown in
Figures 15 and 16. In
this case, the horizontal beams can be attached to the upright in a clockwise
way see the Figure
16 or counter clockwise way see Figure 15.
Figure 2 shows a segment of the upright 10 having vertical walls 11. The
height of the upright
can vary accordingly to the requirement of the customer. The upright has a
plurality of female
connection means to receive a corresponding plurality of male connection means
of the
horizontal beams. It is understood that there are many possible ways to
connect a beam to a post
using male/female connection means.
One feature of the post in this invention is the fact that there are two ways
to attach two beams
extending 180 degrees from each. First using the same plane see Figure 9 and
Figure 13. And
second using opposite planes of the upright see Figure 15 beams N, S or E, W.
Further there are two ways to attach two beams perpendicular to each other.
First while the
beams grips are wrapping neighbouring corners see Figure 15 beams N & E, W &
S, S & E or N
&W. And second while beam grips wrapping opposing corners of the post see
Figure 10.
The post or the upright of the Figure II has a plurality of female openings of
the first type 13
and plurality of the female openings of the second type 14. Openings 13 are
designed to receive
male connectors 26 of the beam, and the openings 14 designed to receive male
connectors 25 of
the beam. Although it is preferred that two types of connecting pairs are
utilized in the system,
the system can be built with a single set of connectors or several sets of
connectors of same or
different types.
Figures 3 and 4 show another view of the preferred embodiment of the current
invention. Those
Figures illustrate the channels 12 which extends along the walls 11 of the
post 10. The channels
are indented into the plane of the post wall proximate the centre of the wall
and comprise the
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second set of openings 14. As best seen in Figure 4, post 10 has a generally
"X" shaped
structure, when viewed from the top. In some variants of the invention, the
post can have more
than one channel per wall. For example, there might be a post with two
channels per wall while
each of them having female openings to receive male connectors from the beams.
In another
embodiment the poll walls can have no channels at all, but only female
connectors receiving
mail connectors of the beams.
Figure 5 shows beam 20 with a first grip member 21. The grip member 21 engages
with the post
by the means of male connectors or hooks 25 and 26. It should be noted that
there is a large
variety of male female interconnecting members who can be utilized in order to
interconnect
horizontal beam 20 with upright 10.
Preferably, the grip member 21 is an "L" shaped grip having a leg 22, a foot
23 and a finger part
24 with hooks 25 extending from the finger part of the grip. This "L" shaped
structure allows the
grip member 21 to wrap around the corner 15 of the upright 10 as best
illustrated in figure 10.
The width of the members 22 and 23 can be the same or different, depending on
the design of the
beam. Preferably, the dimensions of members 22 and 23 should be smaller than
one half of the
width of the upright in order to permit attachment of two grip members on one
side of the
upright as illustrated in Figure 9.
Figure 6 shows the second "mirrored" grip 21' of the beam 20. It also has an
"L" shape structure
with a leg 22', a foot 23', a finger 24' and male connecting members 26' on
the foot part and 25'
on the finger part, to engage female members 13 and 14 of upright 10. Figure 7
illustrates the
mirror view of the "L" shaped members 21 and 21'.
The number of connecting male/female members on the grip portion of the beam
may vary. As
discussed above, they can be of same type or different types, there might be
one member only, or
series of those members. Alternatively, and preferably there can be a set of
different connecting
members or series of those sets. In Figures 5 and 6 there are three sets of
members 26' and 25',
however there might be one set, two sets or more sets. Preferably, two or
three.
The "L" shaped structure of the grip 21 including the finger part 24 adds to
the rigidity of the
structure by increasing the surface contact between the grip member and the
upright. This
contact, adds an effect of friction to the grip effect of the interconnecting
male/female members.
This way the erected structure gets improved rigidity and stability.
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Figure 8 illustrates an interconnecting relationship between the grip member
21 and the upright
10. It is important to notice that there is still space left to attach another
beam with a grip
member 21' to the left of the connected beam.
Another important aspect is the fact that while the beam is extending to the
right of the post, the
grip is attached to the front of the post while a grip member effectively.
This way of wrapping
the corner of the post provides better distribution of the force applied on
the beam, by using the
whole grip member and not only the male/female interconnecting members.
The grip members can further include additional fastening means known in the
art, for example,
openings 28 and 27 provided to use of beam locks (not shown).
Figure 9 shows a way in which two opposite beams can be attached to the same
upright. The
beams are extending to the right and to the left of the post while the
male/female engagement
takes place in the front of the post.
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the perpendicular connection of two beams to a
post while. This is a
view from the top. Therefore, one beam with grip 21 extends to the right and
beam with grip 21'
extends to the back from the post.
Figure 12 illustrates one of the ways to connect three horizontal beams to an
upright: two beams
with grip 21 and one with grip 21'. In this figure, there is one of the
embodiments of overlapping
grip structure, while the leg 22 of one of the grips overlaps the foot 23 of
another grip 21. In the
preferred embodiment, the leg 22 of the grip 21 is shorter and therefore the
overlapping does not
take place. This Figure also illustrates the interconnection of the connecting
male/female
members 25, 26, 25', 26' with the corresponding receiving members 13, 14. It
is important to
notice that while each member 13 receives one member 26 or 26', the receiving
member 14 can
receive both member 25 and 25'. Figure 13 illustrates the members 25 and 25'
received by the
member 14 in the channel 12. Figure 14 illustrates how one receiving member 14
receives
member 25 on the bottom and another receiving member 14, receives member 25'
on the left.
Furthermore, this figure illustrates the "L" shaped grip members wrapping
around corners 15'.
Figures 15 and 16 show arrangement of four horizontal beams in counter-
clockwise
arrangements with grip members 21 and clockwise arrangements with grip members
21'. In this
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illustration, the sizes of walls 22 and 22' are corresponding to the preferred
embodiment and are
smaller then the half width of the beam 10.
The beams and posts of the rack system are made of metal or other suitable
material known in
the art to support the load imposed on the rack systems. The manufacturing of
the male/female
connector members can take place during the manufacturing of the beams, grips
and posts or
following the production by means known in the art.
In the preferred embodiment, the female connecting members are positioned on
the uprights
while the male connecting members are located on the grip members of the
beams. However
alternate arrangements can work as well. For example, upright 10 might have
the male
connectors 26 instead of female connectors 13 while the grip member 21 can
have female
connectors 13 instead of male connectors 26. It is still preferable that the
male connectors 25 will
be located on the grip member 21 to engage the female connecting member 14 on
the post 10.
The grip member of the beam can have any number of male/female connecting
members to
assure sufficient grip between the beam and the post and to provide a
sufficient load distribution
between the connecting members.. Preferably there are at least two types of
male connecting
members flat hooks 26 and tapered hooks 25. Still preferably there are more
than one connecting
member of each type. Preferably, two to four of each type. The positioning of
the female
connectors on the upright had to be adapted to the position of the male
connecting members on
the grip members. This way the grip member can be attached at any desirable
height along the
upright to address the requirements of the storage facility.
It is preferable that the post will have the channels 12, to increase the
rigidity of the post, to
receive the finger part 24 of the grip 21 and preferably to accommodate the
female slots 14 to
receive the hooks 25.
The design of the posts and beams allows the erection of the rack system
accordingly to the
requirements and limitation of the storage facility addressing the floor plan,
wall arrangement
and height restriction. The connecting members allow easy connecting of the
parts of the rack
system provide sufficient grip during the use of the rack system, but also
allow simple
disconnection for rearrangement and relocation of the rack system.
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The lengths of the horizontal beams can be of standard sizes to erect a
modular rack system, and
also can be custom sized to fit special cases of storage facilities. In any
case, the uprights will be
able to support all the beams.
Many variations and modifications can be made to the system described above
without departing
from the scope of the invention. All the illustrations provided as an example
and in non limiting
way.
