EP0195527A1

EP0195527A1 - Adjustable shelving

Info

Publication number: EP0195527A1
Application number: EP86301232A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kenneth James Gutteridge
Original assignee: N Greening Ltd
Current assignee: N Greening Ltd
Priority date: 1985-02-23
Filing date: 1986-02-21
Publication date: 1986-09-24
Also published as: ES296406Y; ES296072Y; DE3664553D1; ES296406U; EP0195527B1; GB2171291A; GB2171291B; GB8604188D0; ES296072U; GB8504735D0; ATE44859T1

Abstract

Adjustable shelving comprises a shelf (10) on support posts (12) passing through corners thereof. The corners of the shelf have corner pieces (16) of plastics material therein that sit on collets (20). Each collet has an internal annular rib (22) that engages one of a series of circumferential grooves (14) of the support part 12. The weight of the shelf presses the corner piece downwards and that in turn squeezes the collet to secure its grip on the support post. Lifting the shelf releases the collets so that they may each be repositioned on another groove of the support posts, in order to set the shelf at a different height.

Description

This invention concerns adjustable shelving which may be readily adjusted to various desired heights or readily assembled and disassembled.
Adjustable shelving is known in which support posts pass through corners of the shelves or through members on the corners of the shelves, the )helves being secured by means of screws or bolts through the shelf corners or members that engage the support posts.
In another form of adjustable shelving split collets are positioned around the support posts and have an internal rib that engages a selected one of a series of grooves of the support post. The two parts of the collets are held together by a ring thereabout. The combined collets are in the form of truncated cones and corresponding openings in the shelf corners enable the shelf to sit on the combined collets.
Fitting of the split collets can be awkward and time consuming in view of the need to secure the collet parts together with a split ring first.
The object of this invention is to provide adjustable shelving that may be more readily assembled and disassembled than the above-mentioned shelving types.
According to this invention it is proposed for adjustable shelving to use a one piece collet that can engage a support post at a selected position and on which a shelf can rest.
The preferred collet is generally tubular but has a longitudinal split so that it can be opened out for ease of movement up and down a support post. For engagement with the support post it is preferred to provide mutually engaging grooves and ribs on the support posts and the collets, preferably the collet will have an annular rib on its inner surface and the support post will have a series of circumferential grooves along its length for selective engagement of a collet therewith. The collet may also have longitudinal slots therein that are not the full length collet but which will aid opening out thereof for movement along a support post. Alternatively, the collet may be weakened, say by thinning longitudinally on the opposite side thereof to the longitudinal split. That weakening forms a sort of hinge that facilitates opening out of the collet for fitting onto the post.
So that a shelf can rest on the collet, the collet preferably has a flared outer shape say of truncated cone form. The shelves can then have correspondingly shaped openings at or near the corners or sides thereof. These openings may be formed in the material of the shelves themselves or preferably corner pieces may be provided in the corners of or at the sides of the shelves which pieces are internally shaped to match the external shape of the collets. The pressure of the corner pieces on the collets thus enhance engagement between the collets and the support posts to provide a firm shelf.
The corner pieces may be of metal or of plastics material. Those made of plastics material, in particular, may be designed to give a neat appearance to the shelves and to be readily incorporated in the shelves say by means of longitudinal slotting to facilitate squeezing thereof through and into openings in the shelves.
The shelving of the invention may be suitable for free standing shelving or for trolleys. For either the support posts are preferably hollow at least at their lower ends so that wheels or feet can be fitted thereto, as desired.
The shelving of the invention is readily adjustable by removal of the shelf to release the collets, which are themselves easily moved along the support posts to engage other grooves at the desired position, and repositioning of the shelf.
This invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of a corner arrangement for adjustable shelving;
Figure 2 is a side view of a collet for the arrangement of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through the collet of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a plan view of the collet of Figure 2;
Figure 5 is a second embodiment of a corner arrangement for adjustable shelving;
Figure 6 is a side view of a collet for the arrangement of Figure 5;
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section through the collet of Figure 6;
Figure 8 is a side view of a corner piece for the arrangement of Figure 5;
Figure 9 is a longitudinal section through the corner piece of Figure 8;
Figure 10 is a plan view of the corner piece of Figure 8;
Figure 11 shows a corner arrangement for a trolley; and
Figure 12 shows a corner arrangement for free standing shelving.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, a shelf 10 is mounted on a support post 12. The support post 12 has circumferential grooves 14 at spaced intervals along its length. The shelf 10 has openings 15 at its corner in which are fixed corner pieces 16 of metal. The corner piece 16 tapers upwardly but ends with a lip 18 that overlies the edge of the opening 15 in the shelf 10.
Each corner piece 16 rests on a collet 20 of plastics material that engages a groove 14 of the support post 12 by means of an internal annular rib 22. The collet 20 has a longitudinal split 24 so that it can be opened out sufficiently for moving along the post 12 to engage a different groove 14 if the height of the shelf is to be altered. The collet 20 also has longitudinal slits 26 therein which extend only partially along the length of the collet. These splits 26 are to assist opening out of the collet. The resilience of the collet due to its material of construction helps it to engage the support posts but also it has an external tapered shape that corresponds to the internal shape of the corner piece 16, so that, when the shelf is put onto the support posts, the corner pieces compress the collets to ensure firm engagement with the support posts.
It should be noted that the rib 22 of the collet of Figures 2 to 4 is near the lower end of the collet as fitted but that the rib may be at any other position relative to the ends of the collet. For example and as shown in other Figures of the accompanying drawings, the rib may be nearer the upper end of the collet.
Turning now to Figures 6 to 10 of the drawings, for the sake of simplicity like parts to those of Figures 1 to 4 have been given the same reference numerals and only the differences between the embodiments will now be described.
As has already been mentioned the collet 20 of Figures 5 to 7 differs from that in Figures 1 to 4 in that the rib 22 is near the upper end of the collet as fitted. This is particularly useful for the lowest shelf in any shelving system or trolley as the lowest groove in the support posts can be higher up the post than otherwise. As the grooves are usually pressed into the tubular support posts, that leaves a greater length of tube below the last groove in which a trolley wheel or shelf foot fitting can extend so that the fitting can be more secure (see Figures 11 and 12).
Furthermore, the corner pieces 16' of the Figure 5 embodiment are of plastics material rather than of metal. The corner pieces 16' have longitudinal slits 30 therein to allow compression of the corner pieces for fitting into the appropriate openings of the shelves. The corner pieces 16' also have upper and lower flanged ends 32 and 34 respectively that are bevelled and which give a neat appearance to the corners of the shelves.
Finally in Figures 11 and 12 the embodiment of Figure 5 is shown with a trolley wheel 40 fitted and with a support foot 50 fitted respectively. The trolley wheel and support foot fittings are of known design.

Claims

1. Adjustable shelving comprising one or more shelves and corner posts passing through corners thereof, the shelf or shelves resting on one piece collets that engage the support posts.

2. Shelving as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collet is generally tubular with a longitudinal split whereby it can be opened out for movement along a support post.

3. Shelving as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the collets and posts have mutually engaging grooves and ribs.

4. Shelving as claimed in claim 3, wherein the collets each have an annular internal rib and the-posts have a series circumferential grooves.

5. Shelving as claimed in claim 4, wherein the collet also has longitudinal slots therein that are not full length.

6. Shelving as claimed in claim 4, wherein the collet is weakened opposite to the longitudinal split.

7. Shelving as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the collet has a flared outer shape.

8 Shelving as claimed in claim 7, wherein the shelf or shelves have corner openings correspondingly shaped to the collets.

9. Shelving as claimed in claim 8, wherein the openings are formed of the shelf material.

10. Shelving as claimed in claim 8, wherein shelves have corner pieces in the openings, that are correspondingly shaped to the collets.