GB2070924A - Book support - Google Patents

Abstract

On the shelf (1) of an array of book shelves there are secured preferably two mutually parallel guide rails (2) mounted on the shelf or embedded in it. To form compartments, one or more vertical supporting walls (6) are slidable within the rails (2) by means of their sliding feet (7) after overcoming appreciable frictional resistance. The walls (6) extend transverse to the rails. The walls (6) can be employed hanging from the shelf (1) or standing up from it, according to whether the rails (2) are secured to the underside (10) or the upper surface of the shelf. The guide rails (2) are preferably in the form of C- shaped hollow sections of which the limbs (5) each resiliently receive a sliding foot (7) between them. Each supporting wall (6) can be provided with one or more supporting flanges (8, 9) extending perpendicularly from it and engaging the shelf when the wall is under load. The walls (6) can be displaced to any point in the rails (2) by hand and they serve to form compartments under or on the shelf (1) and for providing lateral support, for example for books. This lateral supporting force is obtained by friction between the wall (6) and the rails (2) and by friction between the supporting flanges (8, 9) and the underside (10) or upper surface of the shelf. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Book support The invention relates to a book support. Basically three kinds of book support or so-called book end are known. The one kind acts solely by virtue of its weight and can be moved freely across the shelf by hand. There is no connection between the book support and the shelf, and its supporting action is based entirely on the resistance to lateral movement resulting from its own weight, which is high.

The second kind of book support or book end acts not by its own weight but by virtue of the weight of the books themselves to be supported. Thus, the books to be supported rest on a horizontal portion of the support, which is, for example, made of sheet metal. This kind of book support, which is satisfactory in itself, does however require the support to be pushed up against a row of books as its effectiveness is obtained soiely by the vertical engagement of books on the horizontal portion of the book end or book support. However it is not possible to form an actual compartment or division on the shelf with this kind of book end. In the third kind of book support a special form of shelf, for example of sheet metal, is employed, with its longitudinal edges formed as guide rails. Supporting hoops are guided by their ends which slide in these guide rails.The friction between the shelf and the supporting hoop is achieved by the spreading force of the U-shaped wire hoop. This book support, effective in itself, requires the use of a special form of shelf.

Furthermore this kind of book support can only be employed in a form hanging down from the shelf but not standing up on it, as a shelf made of sheet metal with its edges bent upwards to form rails is not very satisfactory in appearance and anyway it is certainly not practical in use. Moreover the wire chosen for making the supporting hoop must be of relatively stout gauge.

The aim is to provide a book support of the last-mentioned kind, by which the above-mentioned drawbacks can be overcome.

The book support according to the invention is characterised by at least one horizontal guide rail for at least one vertical supporting wall extending transverse to the rail, which rail is designed to be secured on a horizontal support and at least one sliding foot on the supporting wall, which foot is slidable along the guide rail and located on it by friction, and in that the guide rail is provided with at least one resilient limb engaging the sliding foot.

A number of embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are illustrated in the drawing by way of example. In the drawing: Figure 1 is a cross-section through the shelf of a book shelf structure with a supporting wall extending downwards from the shelf, and Figure 2 is a cross-section through another shelf on which one supporting wall of different form extends downwards and one supporting wall projects upwards, the guide rails for the downwardly and upwardly projecting supporting walls being of different construction.

In the first embodiment, shown in Fig. 1, two guide rails 2 are secured by means of screws 3 to the underside of a shelf 1 acting as a carrier or support for the book support.

The two guide rails 2 are of identical form and have a C-shaped cross-section. Each rail 2 is secured to the support 1 by one of its limbs 4 by means of screws 3. The other limb 5 is resilient. The rail 2 can be made, for example, of sheet steel, aluminium or plastics material.

The supporting wall 6, shown in Fig. 1 is substantially rectangular in the side view as shown and has in its upper region two sliding feet 7. At the same height level as the feet 7 the wall 6 is also provided with two horizontally extending supporting flanges 8 and 9.

Each flange 8, 9 can for example be of rectangular form in plan view. The flanges 8 and 9 extend in opposite directions, i.e. towards opposite sides of the wall 6, with the flange 9 extending forwards from the plane of the drawing and the flange 8 extending rearwards from the plane of the drawing. Looking in the direction of the arrow A, the wall 6 and the two flanges 8 and 9 have the shape of a T. The flanges 8 and 9 can be spaced slightly away from the underside of the support 1; alternatively, however, they could substantially engage the underside 10 with no significant spacing.To increase the stiffness of the wall 6 against twisting is can be provided with corrugations 11 and 1 2. The wall 6 is made in one piece with the two feet 7 and the two flanges 8 and 9, and comprises a stamped-out panel, of which the upper portion is then folded through 90 to form the two feet 7 and the supporting flanges 8 and 9.

The wall 6 with its feet 7 and flanges 8 and 9 is guided to slide longitudinally within the two guide rails 2, movement being achieved by hand. The rails 2 form a clamping profile for the two feet 7 so that displacement of the wall 6 within the rails 2 takes place only after the frictional resistance exerted by the resilient limbs 5 of the rails 2 on the feet 7 has been overcome. To form a compartment below the shelf 1 a number of such supporting walls 6 are mounted in the two guide rails 2 and can be brought to any desired relative spacing.

The walls 6 all extend vertically and the supporting force exerted on each wall 6 has the consequence that one or the other of the two flanges 8 and 9 engages against the underside 10 of the shelf 1. Thus by virtue of the presence of the flanges 8 and 9 the supporting force does not have to be taken by the limbs of the guide rails 2. So that each wall 6 can be moved easily by hand along the rails 2, it is of advantage if, with the wall 6 exactly vertical, neither of the flanges 8 and 9 quite engages the underside 10 of the shelf 2, so as thereby to avoid additional frictional resistance to the movement of the wall 6 along the rails 2.

In the second and third embodiments shown in Fig. 2, the rails 13 or 14 are embedded in the support 1 5 so that these rails do not project above the top and bottom surfaces of the support 1 5. In these two embodiments there is illustrated in each case only one guide rail 1 3 or 14 respectively. The two guide rails 1 3 serve to support a downwardly suspended wall 1 6 and the two rails 14 serve to support an upstanding wall 1 7.

One would choose the latter position of the wall 1 7, for example for the top shelf 1 5 of a set of book shelves. The wall 1 6 is again provided with sliding feet 18, only one of which is illustrated. The rail 1 3 can be identical with the rail 2 of Fig. 1, again being provided with the resilient limb 5. The rail 14 is held into the support 1 5 by means of a number of screws 3, the rail being received within a groove 1 9 in the support 1 5 so that it does not project below the lower face 20.

The wall 1 6 is again provided with the supporting flanges shown in Fig. 1, but only one flange 9 is illustrated.

The guide rail 1 4 is iikewise received in a groove 21 in the support 15. The rail 14 is provided in addition with a mounting limb 22 received in a recess 23 in the support 1 5.

Thus the rail 1 4 is held in the support 1 5 by means of its mounting limb 22 instead of by screws 3. The rail 14 does not extend above the upper surface 24 of the support 1 5. The supporting wall 1 7 again has two sliding feet 25, only one of which is illustrated. The wall 1 7 can have the two supporting flanges 8 and 9 illustrated in Fig. 1, but only the flange 9 is shown. The wall 1 7 is held by means of a resilient limb 26 of the rail 14.The supporting force acting on the wall 1 6 is transmitted by the above-mentioned flanges 8 and 9 to the underside 20 of the support 1 5. The supporting force acting on the wall 1 7 is likewise transmitted to the upper face 24 of the support 1 5 by the flanges 8 and 9. The walls 1 6 or 1 7 can handle substantial supporting forces and still remain substantially vertical.

In an embodiment which is not illustrated the book support-could also simply have only one guide rail for the supporting wall or walls.

This single rail would be arranged, in the example shown in Fig. 1, in the region midway between the two rails illustrated, i.e.

substantially in the middle of the wall 6. The latter would then be provided with a single sliding foot which slides within this rail.

Claims (10)

1. Book support comprising at least one horizontal guide rail for at least one vertical supporting wall which extends transverse to the rail, the guide rail being designed to be secured to a horizontal support, and at least one sliding foot on the supporting wall, which foot is capable of sliding along the rail and being held in it by friction, in which the guide rail is provided with at least one resilient limb engaging the foot.

2. Book support according to Claim 1, in which two mutually parallel guide rails are provided and the supporting wall has two mutually parallel sliding feet.

3. Book support according to Claim 1, in which the guide rail is in the form of a hollow section into the interior of which the foot projects.

4. Book support according to Claim 1, in which that the guide rail is provided with at least one mounting limb designed to be secrued in a recess in the support.

5. Book support according to Claim 1 in which the supporting wall is provided, at the height level of the foot or feet, with at least one horizontal supporting flange for engaging against the support.

6. Book support according to Claim 5, in which the supporting wall is provided with a number of flanges which extend in opposite directions from the wall.

7. Book support according to Claim 6, in which the supporting wall and the flanges are formed in one piece.

8. Book support according to Claim 1, in which the supporting wall comprises a sheet metal plate which is provided with at least one corrugation to increase its stiffness.

9. Book support substantially as described herein and with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

10. Book support substantially as described herein and with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.