AU771092B2 - Improved storage assembly - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Provisional Application No.

Filing Date: Title: ROBERT W ROBINSON ROBERT W ROBINSON HODGKINSON OLD McINNES Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 3, 20 Alfred Street MILSONS POINT NSW 2061 Improved Storage Assembly PQ4463 2 December 1999 Improved Storage Assembly The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: Ocs A-ece;ved o: 8 atch NO: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to storage assemblies and, more particularly, to a storage assembly which includes features for adjusting the height of storage shelves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A number of prior art storage assemblies are known to the applicant, the most relevant of which is disclosed in US patent No. 5,127,342 filed 14 November 1990 in the name of International Storage Systems. That document discloses a shelving system having four shelf posts and a plurality of rectangular shelves, each of which has a hollow, tapered, tubular shelf sleeve mounted on each comer. That shelving system also includes a plurality of collars, each having two halves joined along a continuous hinge. The collars disclosed therein have a substantially tubular interior surface which has a protruding circumferential ridge extending therefrom which mates with a corresponding indented circumferential groove in the shelf posts. In use, the collar is placed around the post, so that the protruding circumferential ridge on the inside surface of the collar sits within one of the indented circumferential grooves in the shelf post.

The collar has a slight outwards taper, so that when the shelf sleeve fits around the collar, the sleeve causes the collar to grip the post tightly and the shelf sleeve is unable to move down the post beyond the collar. In such an arrangement, the interaction between the sleeve, the collar and the post enables the shelf to be supported on the post 20 at a particular level.

Such prior art arrangements have a number of disadvantages.

Firstly, forming a horizontal circumferential groove in a post at a series of specific intervals can only be achieved using particularly precise machining processes.

If the grooves are not perfectly horizontal, then the collars do not fit properly around the S 25 post and the shelf sleeves do not fit properly around the collars. Such posts are therefore difficult to manufacture, and have accompanying high production costs.

Secondly, using horizontal circumferential grooves in the posts limits the user's ability to change shelf heights incrementally. That is, a shelf may only be moved vertically by a distance corresponding to an exact multiple of the distance between circumferential grooves. As such, there is a corresponding desire to have these circumferential grooves placed fairly closely together, to allow the maximum number of shelf height variations. However, this desirable outcome has the disadvantage of -2increasing production costs because of increasing the number of horizontal grooves which must be made.

In addition, manufacturers of such round shelf posts often attempt to produce quality posts of polished metal. The lustre of such polished metal is offset if a large number of horizontal grooves appear as blemishes in the shelf post.

It is therefore the aim of the present invention to provide an improved storage assembly which goes at least some way towards overcoming or ameliorating the disadvantages of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a shelf support system for a storage assembly, said system comprising at least one post having a substantially constant cross-section throughout at least a portion of its length, a longitudinally split collar corresponding to each said post, having an interior surface corresponding to said constant cross-section, and being mounted on said post, an aperture in a shelf of said shelf support system, said aperture being supportively engageable with the exterior surface of said collar, and a releasable engagement means on said post and the interior of said collar o permitting said collar to be releasably engaged at each of a plurality of spaced apart locations on said post, S 20 said releasable engagement means comprising a plurality of protrusions on one of •said collar interior or post and a plurality of recesses on the other of said collar interior or post, wherein said split collar can be releasably engaged with said post at one of said locations, said shelf aperture being engaged with the exterior of said collar to clamp said 25 collar to said post and thereby support said shelf at said one location.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a storage assembly comprising at least one shelf having a plurality of corners and one of said posts at each said shelf corner, wherein each said shelf comer is supported by the above described shelf support system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMB'ODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: -3- Fig 1: Is an exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Fig 2: Is a cross-sectional assembled view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig 1, the preferred embodiment includes a post 1 having a substantially circular cross-section, a conical tapered plastic collar 3 which is capable of surrounding the post 1, a conical tapered metal shelf sleeve 6 which is capable of surrounding the collar 3 and at least one shelf 8 which is connected to, and suppoirted by, the metal shelf sleeve 6.

As shown in Figs 1 and 2, the post 1 includes four groups of vertically spaced apart indentations 2. In this preferred embodiment, the first and second groups are on opposite sides of the post 1, each indentation 2 in the first group being opposite a corresponding indentation 2 in the second group and at substantially the same vertical height. The indentations 2 in the third and fourth groups are arranged in a similar relationship to one another but rotated by 900 relative to the first and second group.

Vertically adjacent indentations 2 are all equally spaced by the same distance S.

As seen in Figs 1 and 2, indentations 2 in the first and second groups are vertically offset from the indentations 2 in the third and fourth groups by a distance of 1/2 S.

As also seen in Figs 1 and 2, the tapered plastic collar 3 of the preferred S 20 embodiment tapers outwardly from top to bottom and has a substantially tubular inner •.surface which corresponds to the outer surface of the post 1. The collar 3 is longitudinally split into first and second halves 4,5 which mate together by means of corresponding male and female parts. The inner surfaces of collar halves 4,5 each include two protrusions 7 which are opposite one another in the same way as the S 25 indentations 2.

As shown in the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the improved storage assembly of the present invention is put together by placing the first and second collar halves 4,5 around the post 1 so that the male and female collar parts mate together and the protrusions 7 on the inner surface of the collar mate with the corresponding indentations 2 on the post 1. The tapered metal shelf sleeve 6 which is secured to the shelf 8 is slid down over the top of the post 1 and surrounds the collar 3 so that the inner surface of the shelf sleeve 6 clamps the outer surface of the collar 3. The tapered, -4frusto-conical, nature of both the collar 3 and the shelf sleeve 6 prevents the shelf sleeve from slipping downwards and provides an effective support for the shelf 8.

In order to adjust the shelf height of the preferred embodiment of the storage assembly of the present invention by a distance of S, user simply lifts the shelf sleeve 6 up off the collar 3, disengages the collar 3 from the post 1, moves the collar 3 up or down by a distance of S, re-attaches the collar 3 to the post 1 and slides the shelf sleeve back over the collar 3.

In order to adjust the shelf height of the preferred embodiment of the storage assembly of the present invention by a distance of 1/2 S the user goes through the same steps as described in the preceding paragraph but also rotates the collar 3, once it is detached from the post 1, by 900 so that the protrusions 7 on the inner surface of the collar 3 mate with indentations 2 in an adjacent group or column of indentations 2 on the post 1. For example, in moving the collar 3 upwards by a distance 1/2 S, a protrusion 7 which originally mated with an indentation 2 in the first group of indentations 2, subsequently mates with an indentation 2 in the third group of indentations, when the collar 3 is re-attached to the post.

Thus a user is able to adjust the shelf height by a vertical distance of 2 S, S, or any multiple thereof. In prior art storage assemblies which use horizontal circumferential 20 grooves in the post, shelf heights are only able to be moved vertically by a multiple of 20 the distance between adjacent circumferential grooves. The above described •••arrangement is therefore more versatile than prior art storage assemblies.

The preferred embodiment described above has a number of advantages including: It is relatively simple to manufacture compared to prior art storage assemblies; 2. It enables greater possibilities of shelf height variation without the 25 consequential disadvantage of increased blemishes diminishing the appearance of the shelf posts.

3. It provides an alternative storage assembly to those currently in the market place.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The term "comprising as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "having" or "including" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of".

Claims (14)

1. A shelf support system for a storage assembly, said system comprising at least one post having a substantially constant cross-section throughout at least a portion of its length, a longitudinally split collar corresponding to each said post, having an interior surface corresponding to said constant cross-section, and being mounted on said post, an aperture in a shelf of said shelf support system, said aperture being supportively engageable with the exterior surface of said collar, and a releasable engagement means on said post and the interior of said collar permitting said collar to be releasably engaged at each of a plurality of spaced apart locations on said post, said releasable engagement means comprising a plurality of protrusions on one of said collar interior or post and a plurality of recesses on the other of said collar interior or post, wherein said split collar can be releasably engaged with said post at one of said locations, said shelf aperture being engaged with the exterior of said collar to clamp said collar to said post and thereby support said shelf at said one location.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said releasable engagement means on said post are arranged in four groups, the first and second of said groups being respectively arranged on opposite sides of said post and opposite each other, the third and fourth of said groups being respectively arranged opposite each other and on opposite sides of said post but rotatably displaced around the longitudinal axis of said post by 900 relative to said first and third groups.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spacing between said releasable engagement means of said first and second groups are equal to a first predetermined spacing.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the spacing between said releasable engagement means of said third and fourth groups are equal to a second predetermined spacing.

The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said first and second predetermined spacings are substantially equal.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said releasable engagement means of said third and fourth groups are longitudinally displaced along said longitudinal axis of said post relative to said first and second groups.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said longitudinal displacement of said third and fourth groups is substantially equal to one half of said substantially equal first and second predetermined spacings.

8. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said releasable engagement means comprises recesses on said post and protrusions on said collar interior.

9. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said collar exterior and said shelf aperture are substantially frusto-conical.

The systems as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein said substantially constant cross-section of said post is circular.

11. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said collar is longitudinally split into two pieces.

12. A shelf support system for a storage assembly, said system being substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.

13. A storage assembly comprising at least one shelf having a plurality of corners and one of said posts at each said shelf corner, wherein each said shelf comer is supported by the shelf support system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

•14. A storage assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings. Dated this 2 9 th day of November 2000 S.o ROBERT W ROBINSON go. S• Patent Attorneys for the Applicant HODGKINSON OLD McINNES