AU2013366646A1

AU2013366646A1 - Hook part

Info

Publication number: AU2013366646A1
Application number: AU2013366646A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Ulrich Bohnacker
Original assignee: Tegometall International AG
Current assignee: Tegometall International AG
Priority date: 2012-12-21
Filing date: 2013-12-19
Publication date: 2015-07-09
Anticipated expiration: 2033-12-19
Also published as: EA201500674A1; WO2014096190A1; NZ709251A; DE202012012380U1; JP2016511643A; EP2934237A1; EP2934237B1; TW201433283A; PH12015501414A1; CN104869866A; AU2013366646B2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hook part for connecting a foot part (2) to a column (3) in a shelving system, typically as part of store fittings. The hook part is assembled in a layer‑like manner from at least two sheet‑metal parts (20, 30), wherein the upper side of the hook part is formed by the upper side of a first sheet-metal part (20), whereas the lower side of the hook part is formed by the lower side of a second sheet‑metal part (30). The front portion (11) of the hook part is designed to be fastened to the foot part, whereas the rear portion (13) of the hook part is designed to be fastened to the column. In the layer‑like structure, lateral parts (21, 22) of the first sheet‑metal part and lateral parts (31, 32) of the second sheet-metal part, which in each case belong to the rear portion, are respectively folded upwardly and downwardly in order to allow the rear portion to be latched into the correspondingly formed hole in the column (3).

Description

PCT/EP2013/077373 - Tegometall International AG - Hakenteil (60) - PCA-48276 Hook Element Description In rack systems, it is important to connect the base element with the back 5 columns in a reliable manner and without clearance or slackness. In particular, rack systems for shop fitting are regularly required to support high loads, such that this connection is particularly important for the statics of the rack system, in par ticular in view of the risks of tilting and overturning. Known systems have rectangular holes in their back columns, into which 10 the cantilever-type base element, at the bottom, and the rack panels, further above, can be engaged via so-called hook elements. The hook elements are fixed to the base element at one side, for example by welding, and engaged with the rectangular holes of the corresponding back column at the other side. In order to achieve a torsionally stiff connection, typically two hook elements, an upper one 15 and a lower one, are provided for the connection with the respective back column. In Figs. 4 and 5, a base element with known hook elements fixed to it and a back column with holes before and after engaging them with one another are shown. The hook elements can be of different types in view of shape, materials and 20 fixation to the base element, depending on the manufacturer and the prescribed load. A known lower hook element is produced from a square-end material by mechanical processing such as sawing, milling, drilling, cutting and/or thread ma chining. On the one side it is accommodated in the pillar of a base element and is 25 connected to it via welding points. On this side, it further comprises a thread hole extending upwards for receiving a screwable base plate of the base element. On the other side of the hook element, where it protrudes from the base element pil lar, it is formed such as to be hook-engaged with the back column. A further known hook element is a forged member which has undergone 30 additional mechanical machining steps (drilling and milling) and which is to be in serted into a tube-like base element pillar and welded therein. Both above-described hook elements have a relatively high weight and re quire extensive mechanical processing. Therefore, both material costs and proc essing costs are comparably high. 35 The object underlying the invention is the provision of a hook element with the required stabilisation characteristics and with lower material and processing 2 costs. A further object is the provision of a hook element suited both for pillars of sheet metal base elements and for tube-like base element pillars. The hook element according to the invention is defined in claim 1. For comparable stability requirements, a hook element made of layered sheet metal 5 parts requires less material than a massive hook element (such as a square-end hook element or forged hook element). Further, such sheet metal parts can be processed more cost-efficiently than massive hook elements. Further improvements of the hook element as described in claims 2 to 5 maintain the simple configuration and processing and also ensure that the hook 10 element can be engaged with or hooked into the column. The improvements ac cording to claims 6 to 8 concern the connection of the hook element with the base element and its back foot. The remaining claims introduce further advantageous features. An embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail in the follow 15 ing and using the attached drawings. Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the hook element according to the embodiment of the present invention and the lower back and of the base element pillar; Figure 2 shows a side view of the base element cantilever part and, fixed in 20 it, the hook element according to the invention; Figure 3 shows a top view on the base element cantilever part and, fixed in it, the hook element according to the invention; Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the base element cantilever part and, fixed in it, the conventional hook element and the rack column before engage 25 ment; Figure 5 shows a perspective view of the base element cantilever part and the rack column after the engagement of the conventional hook elements into the rack column; Figure 6 shows a top view on the hook element according to the present in 30 vention; Figure 7 shows a side view of the hook element according to the invention; Figure 8 shows a back view of the hook element according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the hook element 1 of the embodiment is formed of 35 an upper sheet metal part 20 and a lower sheet metal part 30. The hook element has a front portion 11 to be fixed in a base element 2, a back portion 13 for engag ing with a rack column 3 and a narrower intermediate portion 12 between the front 3 and back portions 11 and 13. In the front portion 11, a thread hole 15 extends through the two sheet metal parts 20, 30. In the back portion, side parts 21, 22 of the upper sheet metal part 20 are flapped upwards, while corresponding opposite side parts 31, 32 of the lower sheet metal part are flapped downwards. The 5 downwards-flapped side parts of the second sheet metal part are longer than the upwards-flapped side parts of the first sheet metal part in a preferred embodiment. However, they can also be shorter or of the same length. The flapping angle can be 900 for the side parts of both sheet metal parts or can be different from 900 for at least one of the pairs of side parts. 10 Both side parts are connected with each other via welding points or by clinching, possibly additionally by crimping, in the front and back portions. How ever, a larger number of welding points or other connection types may be used. Figures 2 and 3 show the base element cantilever part 2 and, fixed in it, the upper and lower hook elements 1 and 5. The lower hook element 1 is the hook 15 element shown in Figure 1. It is engaged from below into a lowest hole 6 of a rack column 3 as shown in Figure 4, while the upper hook element 5 is engaged into a hole 7 of the rack column 3. The lowest hole 6 is located adjacent to the lower edge of the front part of the column 3 and is open towards the bottom. The lower hook element can thus be shifted into the rack column from below such that the 20 back portion of the hook element is located inside the column and the intermedi ate portion inside the hole. The back portion 13 of the hook element is arranged such as to fill up the inside of the column entirely, if possible, and such that its width is greater than the width of the column hole. The base element cantilever part has a back foot 4, the thread shaft 14 of 25 which is threaded inside the base element cantilever part 2 into the thread hole 15 in the hook element. The front portion 11 of the hook element is configured such as to fill up the inside of the base element pillar as entirely as possible. In addition, it is fixedly attached to the base element pillar from inside, preferably by point welding or gas-shielded welding. The base element can be formed tube-like or 30 can be composed of sheet metal parts. In Figures 6 to 8, the hook element is again shown from all sides. Devia tions from this form are possible, as long as the layered configuration and the hooking or engaging functionality of the hook element are maintained. The inclu sion of a third or further sheet metal layers is easily conceivable. 35 The hook element of this embodiment can be made of steel. In this case, its weight is about 100 g, while corresponding milled or forged hook elements have a weight of about 200 g. It can be manufactured on a fully automatic press 4 with coil supply, where the two sheet metal parts are welded together automati cally and an M10-thread hole is formed. In contrast to the conventionally used hook elements, a considerably improved cycle time and also clearly reduced la bour requirements can be achieved. Manufacturing costs are thus reduced con 5 siderably. The hook element of the embodiment ensures a high security of the rack system against tipping or overturning. When rack systems are used in shop fit tings, the load requirements are regularly particularly high such that the reliability of a clearance-free and torsionally stiff connection of the rack column with the 10 base elements in particular via the lower hook elements is of high importance.

Claims

1. Hook element for connecting a base element (2) with a column (3) in a rack system, 5 wherein the hook element is formed of at least two sheet metal parts (20, 30) in a layered configuration; wherein the upper side of the hook element is formed by the upper side of a first sheet metal part (20), while the lower side of the hook element is formed by the lower side of a second sheet metal part (30), 10 wherein a front portion (11) of the hook element is configured such as to be fixed to the base element, and a back portion (13) of the hook element is config ured such as to be fixed to the column.

2. Hook element according to claim 1, 15 wherein the back portion (13) of the hook element is configured such as to be engaged with a hole (6) which is open towards the bottom and provided at the lower end of the front side of the column (3).

3. Hook element according to claim 2, 20 wherein side parts (21, 22) of the first sheet metal part (20) and side parts (31, 32) of the second sheet metal part (30), respectively forming part of the back portion (13), are flapped upwards and downwards, respectively, in order to allow the engagement of the back portion into the accordingly shaped hole in the col umn (3). 25

4. Hook element according to claim 3, wherein the upwards-flapped side parts (21, 22) of the first sheet metal part (20) are shorter in the vertical direction than the downwards-flapped side parts (31, 32) of the second sheet metal part (30). 30

5. Hook element according to claim 3, wherein the upwards-flapped side parts (21, 22) of the first sheet metal part (20) and the downwards-flapped side parts (31, 32) of the second sheet metal part (30) are equally long in the vertical direction. 35

6. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, 6 wherein the hook element comprises an intermediate portion (12) between the front and back portions (11, 13), which is narrower than the front and back portions. 5

7. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the front portion (11) is configured such as to be fixed in the base element (2).

8. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, 10 wherein the front portion (11) comprises a throughhole (15) extending through the at least two sheet metal parts for receiving the thread of a foot (4) of the base element (2).

9. Hook element according to claim 8, 15 wherein the throughhole (15) is provided with a thread for allowing a foot shaft (14) with an appropriate thread to be screwed into it.

10. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least two sheet metal parts (20, 30) are welded onto each 20 other or are bonded to each other in a different manner, for example by clinging and/or crimping.

11. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising precisely two sheet metal elements, namely the first one (20) and the second one 25 (30).

12. Hook element according to any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising three, four or more sheet metal parts (20, 30). 30

13. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, consisting only of the at least two sheet metal parts (20, 30).

14. Hook element according to any one of the preceding claims, configured to be used in rack systems for shop fitting. 35