AU2006200724A1 - Modular Bottle Rack - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: Australian Wine Racks Pty Ltd Actual Inventors: Christopher Perrett and Bevan Quinn Address for Service: A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys PO Box 222, Mitcham, SA 5062 Invention Title: Modular Bottle Rack Details of Associated Provisional Application No 2005900878 datedt 22 February 2005 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- This invention relates to a modular bottle rack suitable for storage of bottles such as bottles of wine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A number of modular racks are available commercially, and a number have been described. The principal benefit of a modular rack is that it provides flexibility in the size and usually overall shape of a bottle rack made by assembling the modules.

A principal problem for modular racks is stability of construction, and particularly where the rack extends above a certain height. Of particular concern is that component parts may work loose. Another difficulty relates to ease of use, for example, at times there is some awkwardness of locating bottles in bottle locating features, which are often present at end walls of such racks.

There have been numerous earlier descriptions of modular bottle racks in the patent literature. In one such patent specification being US patent 4093076, there is a disclosure of a modular arrangement for storage of wine bottles This suffers from the disadvantage that there is awkwardness of placement of bottles in that no support is provided for bottles between the end walls, similarly the spigots interconnecting the walls do not on their own provide a sufficiently secure construction. Thus an adhesive needs to be used to glue them into respective sockets. US patent 3746178 and UK patent 1330786 also disclose modular wine racks which wine racks suffer similar deficiencies to the rack disclosed in the document referred to above.

For the purposes of this specification the word "comprising" means "including but not limited to", and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning. Also a reference within this specification to a document is not to be taken as an admission that the disclosure therein constitutes common general knowledge in Australia.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a wine rack or component parts thereof that obviates, minimises or reduces any one of the above problems or at least provides the public with a useful choice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a first form of one aspect the invention might be said to reside in a modular bottle rack each module comprising a pair of wall elements being a front and a rear wall element and an elongate floor extending between the pair of wall elements, the wall elements being interconnectable to provide a respective front and rear wall of the rack, the floor having at both ends a socket and/or spigot means, for slidably connecting with a corresponding spigot and/or socket means in the rear of the respective wall element, the wall elements each having a regular multisided face and at least the front wall element having an opening for passage of a bottle therethrough, each of the wall elements having a rearwardly extending peripheral reinforcing flange comprising collectively facets extending rearwards from each side of the multisided face, the wall elements each having wall element interconnecting means comprising a slot extending inwardly from a first facet of the flange, and an expanded ended fastener being provided to slide into the slot when a second facet of an adjacent wall element is aligned and abutted therewith, to thereby hold the adjacent wall elements together, the floor further having a stop means adjacent to or abutting a rear edge of said flange to block egress of the fastener from the slot of the wall interconnecting means and thereby inhibit release of the connection between adjacent wall elements.

Preferably a snap lock catch is formed at both ends of the floor between the floor and a respective wall element, so that on full engagement between respective spigot and socket means the snap lock catch is engaged.

The wall elements have a regular multisided face which may be a regular polygon, perhaps an even numbered polygon, which may be an octagon, hexagon but for simplicity it is preferred that the wall element is four sided and for regularity of shape in the assembled multimodular unit they are rectangular and most preferably square. Whilst a polygon or square has been described the face need not be angular, and can have a face that is generally rounded with facets or straight portions having rearwardly extended flanges forming facets so positioned to allow for interconnection between wall elements.

The regularity of the shape may be less important where a single module is used and the invention will be understood to encompass a single module, the wall elements of which may be more irregular in shape.

For simplicity of construction it is preferred that the flange extends the entire periphery, however structural variants may be envisioned whereby there are breaks in the continuity of the peripheral flange or where the flange is provided in fragmented form perhaps only on two or more of the facets. It may be desired that gussets or other ribs between the flange or flange parts are formed in the rear of the wall elements to provide structural rigidity, particularly where the flange is not present in a continuous form.

For simplicity of manufacture it is preferred that the front wall element and the rear wall element are identical. They may thus be made from the same mould. The invention does however contemplate variations where the rear wall element and front wall element vary.

Thus the rear wall element may not have an opening to allow insertion of a bottle, it may therefore be closed over. This variation may be preferred where the wine rack is not positioned up against a wall so that collectively the rear wall elements make up a covered wall.

Preferably at least the front wall element includes a depression at an upper edge. Thus where a single wall element were to be stood up alone a bottle can be located into the depression which may be useful for display purposes. The front face depression may be a vertical depression generally centrally of the front wall element, and for simplicity of assembly and manufacture the depression is also present on the lower edge of the front wall element. In that way unnecessary care does not have to be taken to ensure that the wall elements are all assembled aligned so that the depression of each wall element are uniformly placed, otherwise an out of place wall element may stand out and be aesthetically displeasing.

The openings may be rounded but need not be so, any aesthetically pleasing shape may be assumed preferably provided that it allows ready insertion or withdrawal of a bottle.

In preferred embodiments of the invention the bottle does not rest on the periphery of the wall defining the opening but is fully supported by the floor.

Preferably a further flange is provided extending rearwardly around the periphery of the opening. This provides further rigidity to the wall element in its assembled form. There may also be provided vertical ribs extending between the opening flange and the peripheral flange to assist with strength particularly where a large number of modules are stacked on top of one another.

The floor may be of a unitary construction, although the invention also envisions embodiments where two or more floor parts are provided, and joined together or separately supported between the front and rear wall elements. A unitary floor construction has the advantage of simplicity of manufacture and structural rigidity of the assembled rack, whereas a split floor may provide convenience in packaging and transport. Embodiments of this invention contemplate two rails extending at two spaced apart locations between pairs of wall elements, however this provides for a degree of horizontal pivotal movement between the floor and the wall elements which on a larger multibottle assemblies can cause instability. However as will be appreciated below rotation inhibiting elements may be provided.

A floor encompassing a majority of the width of a wall element provides the capacity to provide stability by, for example, having two or more spaced apart spigot/socket means rigidly connected with one another via the floor. It is preferred that the floor is capable of supporting sliding movement of a bottle thereon, so that the base of a bottle can be slid on the floor on insertion. This is a deficiency of many modular wine bottle racks whereby there is some awkwardness in insertion of the bottle which is essentially supported by ends of the rack, and is required to be suspended by the neck whilst searching to locate the rear support for the bottle.

It is also preferred that the bottle is supported by the floor on storage, rather than the wall elements providing support of the bottle. Wine bottles are typically generally cylindrical, and tend to roll sideways on flat surfaces and thus a bottle location means is similarly preferred, to inhibit sideways movement of the bottle. The bottle location means of the floor may be a depression in the floor along the length of the floor or at least a portion commensurate with the type of bottle being stored. Alternatively an elongate bottle locating aperture coinciding with the type of bottle being stored may be formed in the floor. For structural rigidity, where a bottle locating aperture is present it is preferred that a bottle locating aperture flange is formed around the periphery of the aperture.

It may also be desired to form a longitudinal bottle stop for the bottle within the bottle locating means. This would then locate the depth with which the bottle was inserted in the rack. In a multibottle rack with like sized bottles it would thus be relatively easy to provide a uniform presentation of bottles. Where the bottle locating means is an aperture the longitudinal bottle stop may take the form of perhaps a lateral end to the aperture or alternatively may be provided as a lateral portion of the rear wall element. Otherwise a suitably positioned protrusions may extend upwardly from the depression, or similarly an end wall of the depression.

Additionally a stop means, perhaps in the form of a short wall, a bead or spaced apart stops can abut the rear edge of the flange of a facet to further inhibit horizontal pivotal movement, particularly where a snap lock is used to lock the floor in place with the wall element, this can act to bear the stop means against the rear edge of the flange.

Connection of the floor to the wall elements is by the provision of sockets and spigots on one or other of the wall elements and the ends of the floor. These are thus joined by insertion of the spigots into the socket by sliding motion.

It is preferred for simplicity of construction that at least one spigot is provided at both ends of the floor, that it can be located into a complementary shaped socket. The socket can readily be formed within cavities formed in the rear or each wall element within the peripheral flange and where an aperture flange is also present, then between them and or any vertical reinforcing ribs that may be provided.

The spigot may be elongate and may comprise substantially the end of the floor, that can simply be slotted into, for example, a long rectangular slot across the rear of the wall element. It is preferred however that two spaced apart spigots are provided at each end of the floor which fit into corresponding spigots at the rear of the wall element, or where two floor members are provided each member having one spigot at each end.

The invention any one of many shapes of spigot and these may be rounded in cross section, however it is preferred that they are shaped with angular or other rotational inhibiting internal cross-sectional shapes particularly where two floor members are provided for. In a most preferred form the socket is formed at the ends of each facet or in the case of a rectangular or square wall element, they may defined by a portion of the peripheral flange, a portion of the aperture flange and perhaps one or more vertical ribs.

The spigots can take on a complementary cross sectional shape.

The snap lock catch may be formed between the socket and the spigot. In one form this may be provided as vertical groove formed in the socket, with a catch protrusion formed at a corresponding position on the flange of the wall. The catch protrusion will take a familiar form for such catches, namely a ramped surface angled inwardly in the direction of insertion of the socket, having an abrupt end, dropping back to the surface of the flange, the abrupt end bearing against a similarly shaped surface of the groove when engaged. The snap lock thus locks the spigot inside the socket. This snap lock will be generally inaccessible and will provide a construction that may be considered tamper free, to the extent that without diligent efforts the snap lock will remain engaged.

Interconnection of the wall elements is by the use of a fastener which has at least one expanded end and an thinner central portion passing through a slot in a facet. A single

I

such slot for each facet may be adequate, particularly where the wall element has more than four sides, however with a four sided element is it preferred to have at least two spaced apart slots in facets where they are provided.

In one form one or two slots are formed in each facet. A separate joiner is provided in this form of the invention and comprises a central thin portion capable of sliding in aligned slots of two adjacent facets, and has two expanded ends one either side of the central portion. The dimension of the central portion coincides with the thickness of the adjacent flanges so whereby the expanded element bears against those inside portions of the flanges adjacent the slots to hold them together.

There is a difficulty with providing separate fasteners in that they are separate items required to be manufactured, they may be misplaced and yet another item needs to be properly put into place for assembly, and it is preferred that the joiners are formed into facets of the wall elements. The fasteners will thus extend outwardly from a facet of the flange and the central thin portion will be dimensioned to pass through one flange thickness instead of two in the previously described embodiment, the fastener will have only one expanded end. In one configuration of this form half of the facets are provided with joiners, and the other half are provided with slots. Thus, for example, in a square faced wall element two adjacent facets are provided with one or two slots, and the opposite two faces may be provided with joiners. In an alternative each facet might be provided with one slot and one joiner so that each facet is uniform.

Preferably the slots are elongate, and the fasteners also have a corresponding length so that when fully inserted one end of the fastener aligns with an edge of the flange in which the slot is formed. The fastener stop means in the floor is also preferably located so that, on proper positioning in the wall element, it abuts the edge of the flange where the slot is formed, and thus the fastener stop means also abuts the end of the fastener aligned with the edge of the flange. This then keeps the fastener locked into place with minimal if any movement potential. This arrangement keeps the modular rack very stable.

The slots may extend from front edge to rear edge of the facet so that the fastener may be inserted from the outside or inside of the rack. This has the advantage of allowing the rack to be readily expanded, without requiring dismantling, and reassembling of the end wall elements. With this form of slot it is also preferred that there is also provided a two way acting stop between adjacent floor element of adjacent modules. One embodiment of the two way stops will be described in more detail below with reference to the illustrations.

It may also be desired to provide for suitable anchors or perhaps just apertures within the end walls that facilitate fastening to a wall. This will be desirable, for example where a multi row rack is assembled and the height exceeds a limit where there might be considered a risk of the rack toppling over particularly if access is available to children and this height may be with 3 or 4 rows.

In one form each module supports a single bottle, and thus the floor is designed, for example, with a single depression or hole for locating the bottle, however a larger, multibottle module might be provided, thus the floor may be designed to accommodate two or more bottles across. Typically this will not be larger than four, and might be three. The front wall element might have a single opening therethrough for the two or more bottles to pass through, however preferably for structural, aesthetic and to prevent clashing of bottles, it may have two or more apertures one for each of the bottles that the module can accommodate. The module may be a multifloor module, wherein two or more vertically spaced floors may be connected with a single pair of wall elements.

Typically this will not be more than one floor, however where these are intended from a modest sized bottle rack a floor may be used at the top of the rack to close the top off.

The floor need not necessarily be directly connected to the wall element of one module, the floor may be provided by the module below connected to the top of the wall elements.

The invention contemplates that generally the top module or modules of a multirow rack will have a cover. The floor may thus be inverted and inserted in a like manner when used for a floor and used as a cover. Additionally a wall element may be used to assist in the display of a bottle, the wall element may be reversed, with what might normally be used as an outside face, facing inwardly and positioned on the rear wall. The form of wall element including a depression is preferably used, and this may be to locate a bottle without the some risk of rolling off. The floor on top of the rack will also be understood to be positioned so that the slide inhibitor is faced forward so that the bottle is located as against sliding through the bottle locating means of the floor.

The invention will also be understood to encompass separately a wall element, a floor member and a floor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 Is a perspective view of a multibottle rack according to a first embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a single bottle rack according to the first embodiment, Figure 3 shows a front plan view of a wall element, Figure 4 shows a first side view of the wall element, Figure 5 shows a second side view of the wall element, Figure 6 shows a rear plan view of the wall element, Figure 7 shows a top plan view of a floor, Figure 8 shows a side elevation of the floor, Figure 9 shows an end view of the floor, Figure 10 is a perspective view from underneath a second embodiment of two floors held side by side, Figure 11 shows in greater detail a catch as shown in inset XI of figure Figure 12 is a cross section part view through XII-XII of figure 13 showing greater detail of the fit of one of the spigots of the floor with socket of a wall member, Figure 13 is a partial top view showing the fit of the floor spigot in the socket of the wall member, the wall member shown in cross-section, Figure 14 is an end view showing the fit between two aligned and abutting facets of the flanges of two adjacent wall members, Figure 15 is a partial side view showing the fit between two aligned and abutting facets of the flanges of two adjacent wall members, showing particularly the action of the stop, Figure 16 is a partial cross sectional view through XVI XVI of figure showing the position of the slot and expanded ended fastener and its retention by stop member of the floor, Figure 17 is a perspective view from underneath a second embodiment of a floor element that goes to make up half the floor, Figure 18 is a top plan view of the floor element shown in figure 17, Figure 19 is an end view of the floor element of figure 17, Figure 20 is a perspective view of a single bottleholder assembly using the floor element shown in figure 17, Figure 21 is a rear perspective view of a third embodiment of a wall element, Figure 22 is a is first floor member for use with the third embodiment of wall element, and Figure 23 is a second floor member for use with the third embodiment of wall element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED AND EXEMPLIED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a modular bottle rack. Each module comprising a pair of wall elements being a front and a rear wall element and an elongate floor extending between the pair of wall elements, the wall elements being interconnectable to provide a respective front and rear wall of the rack. The floor has at both ends a socket and/or spigot means, for slidably connecting with a corresponding spigot and/or socket (7) means in the rear of the respective wall element. The wall elements having a regular multisided face and at least the front wall element having an opening for passage of a bottle therethrough. Each of the wall elements having a rearwardly extending peripheral reinforcing flange (10) comprising collectively facets (11, 12, 13, 14)) extending rearwards from each side of the multisided face. The wall elements each having wall element interconnecting means comprising a slot (15) extending inwardly from a first facet of the flange, and an expanded ended fastener (16) being provided to slide into the slot when a second facet of an adjacent wall element is aligned and abutted therewith, to thereby hold adjacent wall elements together. The floor has a stop means adjacent to or abutting a rear edge (21) of said flange to block egress of the fastener from the slot of the wall interconnecting means and thereby inhibit release of the connection between adjacent wall elements.

A snap lock catch (22) is preferably formed at both ends of the floor between the floor and a respective wall element, so that on full insertion of respective spigots into sockets the snap lock catch is engaged.

The illustrated wall elements have a square face, thereby having four sides and four facets (11,12,13,14) to the flange extending rearwardly from the face. It can be seen that the flange (10) extends around the periphery of the wall element in continuous form, there being no breaks in the flange, apart from the slots Even there it will be noted that the slots do not break through the flange, because the thickness of the flange is increased to accommodate the slot, which in effect form a groove. The rearward edge of the flange is coplanar for all of the facets, and whilst that is a convenient configuration that may be varied.

The opening through the wall elements to accommodate a bottle extends over most of the face, thereby providing ready accessibility to the rack on insertion of bottles as well as keeping materials use in manufacture down. The shape of the opening is rounded. It can be seen that the upper and lower extent of the opening is approximately level with the floor and top of the module. Similarly sides of the opening are approximately in line with sides of the module.

An opening flange (23) is provided extending rearwardly around the periphery of the opening. It can be seen that the opening flange is merged with the peripheral flange at a central portion of all facets, to form a thicker wall portion (for example at 24).

Vertical reinforcing ribs (25) are also provided between the opening flange and the peripheral flange. Rear edges of the opening flange and the reinforcing ribs are co-planar with the rear edges of the peripheral flanges. It will be appreciated from an inspection of drawings that the wall element is rigid.

It can be seen that the face of the wall member has a depression (26) running between two opposing sides (11 and 13). The depression can perhaps best be seen in figure One benefit of the depression is that it can be used as a means of locating a display bottle which will later be further explained with reference to figure 1.

It will be appreciated that the one wall element can be used for both the front and rear wall of each module.

The floor is shown separately in figures 7 through 10 and is of unitary construction, being moulded as a single piece. The floor is elongate and has a width that is approximately the same as a side of the wall element. It overall shape in top plan view is rectangular except for two spigots extend from both ends (27, 28) of the floor. The two spigots are spaced apart to the extent that they are as close as practicable to the sides of the floor. In the illustrated embodiment they are inset from the edge by an amount equivalent to the thickness of the flange of the wall element into which they are fitted on assembly, that is, in the order of millimetres.

A floor flange (40) is provided peripherally around the rectangular floor structure. The profile of side faces of the flanges can perhaps best be seen in figure 8 to have a deepening adjacent the end.

The floor has an elongate bottle locating aperture (30) extending most of the length of the floor perhaps best seen in Figure 7. The width of the bottle locating aperture is narrower than a regular bottle, in the illustrated embodiment it is 55mm wide, so that a bottle can be located within the locating aperture. It will be appreciated that a bottle will sit relatively low in the bottle locating aperture and will therefore sit relatively stably therein. A rear end of the bottle aperture is radiuses whereas the front end of the bottle aperture is squared off The rear end engages with the rear end of the bottle to lift the bottle upwards on the converging edges of the bottle locating aperture to lift the bottle upwards, the converging sides therefore acting to guide the bottle through the opening of the rear wall element.

A small locating flange (45) is also provided around the periphery of the bottle locating opening In a specific form it may also be desired to provide for further inhibition of relative movement of two adjacent floors. They can be provided with a snap fit arrangement as best illustrated in figures 10 and 11. It is found with this simple expedient flexing of the assembled rack is inhibited. These may be varied as shown in figures 22 and 23 to be two-way acting, the latter configuration is particularly useful where the slots (15) extend from a front edge to a rear edge of the wall element reinforcing flange The floor is connected to the wall elements by means of the spigots and sockets already referred to. The spigots as can perhaps best be seen in figure 10 are extensions from both ends of the floor, these are open bottomed, as is the rest of the floor to assist with moulding. The spigots both have a generally even shape along their length and the cross sectional profile can best be seen in figures 9 and 12. Sockets are formed at the corners of the wall elements as perhaps best seen in figure 6 and 12. They are formed by a corner formed by adjoining facets of the peripheral flange an internal wall is formed by a portion of the opening flange and a small portion is formed by a vertically aligned internal reinforcing rib It can thus be seen that the socket, and spigot have an irregular shape, which has a number of internal angles that inhibit relatively rotation of the socket and the spigot. Figure 12 shows the fit of a spigot within a socket A snap lock catch (50) is provided between the spigot and the socket. The spigot, as can perhaps best be seen in figure 13, has a vertical groove (51) formed therein, the groove having two abrupt walls, a front wall (52) of which interacts with an abrupt face (54) of a catch protrusion (53) formed in the socket. The catch has a ramped surface angled outwardly in the direction of insertion of the socket so that on insertion the spigot rides over the ramp of the catch and once the groove is located over the catch the catch snaps into place, the abrupt face of the catch and groove interacting to stop withdrawal of the spigot from the socket, thereby locating the socket in place.

Interconnection of the wall element is by means of a pair of fasteners (16) with expanded ends of one flange sliding each into a respective one of a pair of slots (15) in an abutting flange and engaging therewith. The connection made between two abutting flanges can be seen in figure 14. The slots and fasteners are elongate and the respective shapes may be described as a dovetail fit. The slot and fastener of a first embodiment thereof are of essentially equal length, thus in figure 15 it can be see that as the fastener is slid fully into the slot, a rear face (55) of the fasteners is aligned with the rear edge of the flange (21).

A lateral bead (20) is formed on the upper surface of the floor, and again as seen in figure this is positioned to abut against the rear face of the fastener and the rear edge of the flange when the spigot is fully inserted into the socket. It may also be recalled that catch means is engaged when the spigot is fully inserted into the socket, and collectively this ensures that the fastener (16) is maintained tightly within the slot (15) and also that the two abutting wall elements are firmly positioned one above the other, with minimal risk of working loose.

An alternative embodiment can be seen in figure 21 where the slot (15) extends from the inner face to the outer face and fasteners (16) can be slid to engage with the slot from either face. Inhibition of relative sliding movement can be achieved by providing for two-way movement inhibitors (60, 61). These are in the form of an upright groove and a complementary shaped upright ridge On relative sliding of the groove and slot, adjacent floor flanges (40) are forced apart. When the groove and slot register the resilience of the floor flanges forces them into engagement such that adjacent upright faces of the grooves and ridges inhibit relative sliding movement both fore and aft.

A module may be assembled into a single bottle rack as shown in figure 1. It can be seen that only two wall elements are provided, and two floors are also provided, one on the bottom and the other on the top. It will be noted that the top floor element is inverted relative to the bottom floor, as can be evidenced by the relative position of the floor flanges For assembly in the case of a single bottle rack, the floor elements may be connected both into one wall member by insertion of respective spigots into sockets, with the snap lock catch engaged for all of them, the other of the pair of wall elements can then be positioned in place and once snap locked into place the single bottle wine rack is fully assembled.

Alternatively and more commonly the several modules may be assembled into a multibottle rack, figure 2 shows a multibottle rack and may be used to illustrate the difference in assembly. Assembly of a multibottle rack requires the assembly of two or more wall elements first, by slidably inserting the fasteners (16) of one into the slots of an adjacent wall element. Specifically for the two bottle rack of figure 1 two elements are fastened one on top of the other. The floors can then be put into place the bottom first followed by the second which in being put into place also locks adjacent wall elements together. It will be appreciated therefore for the first embodiment of fasteners and slots that the wall elements must be put together first before a floor is added to lock them together.

It will be noted that the squared off (32) end of the bottle locating aperture faces forward and the rear of the rack has an additional wall element extending above the top of the rack and that this is faced in a reverse direction to those below, so that the face and thus the depression (26) is facing forwards. It will be appreciated that the arrangement of the floor and reversed wall element provides for a display, whereby the bottom of the bottle is securely supported by the squared off (26) end of the bottle locating opening of the floor and the depression in the face of the upwardly extending wall located an upper part, perhaps the neck of the bottle, which thus is held at an angle so that the label may be clearly displayed, and the bottle securely located.

A third embodiment of floor is shown in figures 16 through 20. The floor in this embodiment is made of two floor members each from one half of the floor. The manner in which the floor is fastened to both ends is substantially the same as for the first and second embodiments of floor shown in figures 1 though 15. The principal difference is that the floor is provided in two identical members. Each floor member is provided with a spigot which fits into socket of a front and rear wall element, in a manner identical to that described for the first two embodiments. The only difference is that both floor elements have an engaging protrusion (65) spaced from spigot the engaging protrusion engaging a suitably positioned slot in the respective wall element. This is intended to provide further inhibition against rotation of the individual floor member relative to the wall element.

The two floor elements are positioned in the assembled rack in spaced relation ship and thus for therebetween the elongate bottle locating aperture A rear end of the bottle aperture is radiuses (31) by reason of the floor element each forming a part radiuses portion, the apex of the radius can be seen to be formed by the rear edge (21) of the 22/02/2006 15:0~8 +61-8-82723255 E 28 PAUE 02/08 18 flange (10) of the front end wall element Contact with the bottle will be understood to be made only with the radiuses portions of each floor element to act as a guide to help lift the bottle through the opening of the rear wall element. The squared off portion (32) of the bottle locating aperture is provided with the free edge (21) of the flange of the rear end wall element.

Various features of the invention have been particularly shown and described in connection with the exemplified embodiments of the invention, however, it must be understood that these particular arrangements merely illustrate and that the invention is not limited thereto and can include various modifications falling within the spirit and scope of the invention- 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 9200] Z 002

Claims (26)

1. A modular bottle rack each module comprising a pair of wall elements being a front and a rear wall element and an elongate floor extending between the pair of wall elements, the wall elements being interconnectable to provide a respective front and rear wall of the rack, the floor having at both ends a socket and/or spigot means, for slidably connecting with a corresponding spigot and/or socket means in the rear of the respective wall element, the wall elements each having a regular multisided face and at least the front wall element having an opening for passage of a bottle therethrough, each of the wall elements having a rearwardly extending peripheral reinforcing wall flange comprising collectively facets extending rearwards from each side of the multisided face, the wall elements each having wall element interconnecting means comprising a fastener slot extending inwardly from a first facet of the wall flange, and an expanded ended fastener being provided to slide into the slot when a second facet of an adjacent wall element is aligned and abutted therewith, to thereby hold the adjacent wall elements together, the floor further having a spigot stop means adjacent to or abutting a rear edge of said wall flange to define a fully engaged position between the floor and wall element, a catch means is provided at both ends of the floor between the floor and a respective wall element, so that on full engagement between respective spigot and socket means the catch means is engaged to block egress of the fastener from the slot of the wall interconnecting means and thereby inhibit release of the connection between adjacent wall elements.

2. The modular bottle rack as in claim 1 wherein the flange extends the entire periphery.

3. The modular bottle rack as in either claim 1 or 2 wherein the front wall element and the rear wall element are identical. 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 9200] ~003 ArGF 04/08 22/02/2006 15:08 +61-8-827232 55 APT

4. The modular bottle rack as in either claim 1 or 2 wherein the front wall element Sand the rear wall element are different, the face of the rear wall element being closed 1 over.

5. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the floor is of unitary construction.

6. The modular bottle rack as in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein two or more floor Sparts collective form the floor and are supported between the front and rear wall elements.

7. The modular bottle rack as in claim 6 wherein the floor comprises two rails extending at two spaced apart locations between pairs of wall elements.

8. The modular bottle rack as in claim 7 wherein rotation inhibiting elements are provided on each of the rails.

9. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the spigot means is at least one spigot at both ends of the floor, and the socket means is a socket within the end walls, the spigot being configured so that it can be located into the complementary shaped socket. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the socket is formed within cavities formed in the rear or each wall element within the peripheral flange.

11. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein two spaced apart spigots are provided at each end of the floor which fit into corresponding spigots at the rear of the wall element or where two floor members are provided each member having one spigot at each end. 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 92001 @l004 22/02/2006 15:08 +61-8-02723255 220220~1508 +E18-27325APT PAGE 05/08 21

12. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the Preceding claims whereiri the spigots are shaped with angular or other rotational inhibiting internal cross-sectional shapes.

13. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the catch means is a snap lock catch may be formed between the socket and the spigot.

14. The modular bottle rack as in claim 13 wherein the snap lock catch is provided as vertical groove formed in the socket, with a catch protrusion formed at a corresponding position on the flange of the wall. The modular bottle rack as in either claim 13 or 14 wherein the catch protrusion comprises a ramped surface angled inwardly in the direction of insertion of the socket, having an abrupt end, dropping back to the surface of the flange, the abrupt end bearing against a similarly shaped surface of the groove when engaged. 16, The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the expanded ended fastener has at least one expanded end and a thinner central portion for passing through the fastener slot in a facet

17. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the wall element is four sided and has at least two spaced apart fastener slots in facets where they are provided.

18. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein one or two fastener slots are formed in each facet.

19. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the interconnecting means are formed into facets of the wall elements, the fasteners extend outwardly from a facet of the flange and the central thin portion is dimensioned to pass through one flange thickness the fastener having only one expanded end. 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 9200] R 005 22/02/2006 15:OB +61-B-82723255 APT PAGE uE6/OB 22 The modular bottle rack as in any one Of the Preceding claims wherein the wall element is sguare faced and two adjacent facets are provided With one Or two slots, arnd the Opposite two faces are Provided with joiners.

21. The 'nodular bottle rack as in any one of claims 1 to 19 wherein the wall element is square faced wherein each facet is provided with one slot and one joiner.

22. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the slot s are elongate, and the fasteners have a corresponding length so that when fully inserted one end of the fastener aligns with an edge of the flange in which the slot is formed.

23. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the spigot stop means in the floor is also located so that, on proper positioning in the wall element, it abuts the edge of the flange where the slot is formed, and thus the fastener stop means also abuts the end of the fastener aligned with the edge of the flange to thereby keep the fastener locked into place with minimal if any movement potential.

24. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the fastener slots are extend from front edge to rear edge of the facet so that the fastener may be inserted from the outside or inside of the rack. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein each module supports a single bottle.

26. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims having a bottle location means to inhibit sideways movement of the bottle.

27. The modular bottle rack as in either claim 5 or 6 having a bottle locating means in the floor is in the form of a depression in the floor along the length of the floor or at least a portion commensurate with the type of bottle being stored. 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 9200] l9006 22/02/2006 15:08 +61-8-82723255 APT PAGE 07/08 INO 23

28. The modular bottle rack as in any one of claims I to 26 wherein the bottle Slocating mean is a bottle locating aperture formed through the floor

29. The modular bottle rack of claim 28 wherein a bottle locating aperture flange is 5 formed around the periphery of the aperture. The modular bottle rack as in any one claims 26 to 29 further having a ,O longitudinal bottle stop for the bottle within the bottle locating means providing a means Sby which to register a bottle in a fully inserted position.

31. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the front wall element includes a depression at an upper edge.

32. The modular bottle rack as in any one of the preceding claims wherein a wine bottle positioned within the bottle rack is fully supported by the floor. Dated this 22nd day of February 2006 AUSTRALIAN WINE RACKS PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 22/02 '06 WED 15:28 [TX/RX NO 9200] i007