GB2208788A - Support system - Google Patents

Abstract

A support system (10) comprises an upright (11) and a support arm (12), the upright (11) comprising a re-entrant opening (15) extending longitudinally of the upright (11), the support arm (12) comprising a support portion (17) which in use extends outwardly of the upright (11), and a connecting portion (20) which comprises a co-operating part (24) adapted to be received within the opening (15) of the upright (11) when the connection portion (20) is in a first orientation and is adapted to be trapped within the opening (15) upon the connecting portion (20) bring moved to a second orientation, the connecting portion (20) further comprising a bearing part (26) which, with the connecting portion (20) in the second orientation is located below the co-operating part (24) and the support portion (17), the bearing part (26) frictionally engaging the upright to restrain the support arm (12) from moving longitudinally of the upright (11). <IMAGE>

Description

"Support System".

This invention relates to a support system comprising an upright to which is secured a support arm and more particularly but not exclusively to a support system of the type which is used in shelving systems with the upright being mounted on a support such as a wall, or as part of a frame, and at least one end of a shelf being supported by the support arm which extends outwardly of the upright.

Many alternative proposals have been put forward for securing a support arm to an upright, for example in cantilever fashion, and to prevent the support arm from moving longitudinally of the upright.

Such systems have either required a clamp means to clamp the support arm to the upright at a desired position along the upright, or more commonly, where support arms which are quickly releasable are required, the support arms have been provided with, for example, two hooks which each engage with one of a pair of spaced openings along the upright.

Such quick release systems, although providing a positive connection between the upright and the support arm, do not allow for infinitely variable adjustment of the position of the support arm along the upright, which is desirable in many applications to ensure that the shelf for example supported on the support arm, can be levelled. Also, with quick release systems it is not always a simple task to remove and reconnect the support arm in engagement with the upright.

According to one aspect of the invention we provide a shelving system comprising an upright and a support arm, the upright comprising a re-entrant opening extending longitudinally of the upright, the support arm comprising a support portion which in use extends outwardly of the upright, and a connecting portion which comprises a co-operating part adapted to be received within the opening of the upright when the connecting portion is in a first orientation and is adapted to be trapped within the opening upon the connecting portion being moved to a second orientation, the connecting portion further comprising a bearing part which, with the connecting portion in the second orientation is located below the second part and the support portion, the bearing part frictionally engaging the upright to restrain the support arm from moving longitudinally of the upright.

It has been found that such a construction enables an improved connection to be achieved between the support arm and the upright.

Provided that sufficient friction can be obtained between the bearing part and the upright the support arm is able to support caparatively large loads without any ensuing risk of the support arm moving longitudinally of the upright.

It will be appreciated that because the bearing part is below the support arm and the connecting part any increase in loading on the support arm in a downward direction will tend to increase the pressure between the bearing part and the upright and hence increase the friction between the two to restrain the support arm from moving longitudinally of the upright. Further, by suitably adapting the co-operating part such increased loading will cause frictional engagement between the co-operating part and ports of the reentrant opening which again resists longitudinal movement of the support arm along the upright.

Thus, a connection is achieved between the support arm and the upright without the need for hooks which each have to be engaged in spaced openings, resulting in considerably simpler engagement and disengagement of the support arm with the upright.

Preferably the opening of the upright extends along generally the entire length of the upright. For example where the upright comprises a hollow member e.g. a hollow rectangular or other cross-sectionol tube, the opening may be provided by a slot in the tube wall. The co-operating part may be generally T-shaped the length of the cross-bar being wider than the width of the slot to prevent the co-operating part being withdrawn from the opening when the connecting portion is in the second orientation.

Thus, when the support arm is not loaded, the support arm may be slid to any desired position along the upright, although it may be necessary to separate the bearing part from the upright to achieve this because with the construction described, the bearing part and upright will tend to be urged together by gravity. This is accentuated where the support portion extends from the upright, due to a levering force imposed by the support portion.

The bearing part may comprise a plane surface which simply rests against the upright on one or preferably both sides of the re-entrant opening, but preferably in addition, the bearing part has a spigot element which extends from the plane surface and locates in the reentrant opening to restrain the connecting portion from moving transversely of the re-entrant opening once the connecting portion has been moved to the second orientation.

It will be appreciated that because the re-entrant opening is continuous, the spigot element does not bear downwardly on any part of the upright, although one or more sides of the spigot element may engage the periphery of the re-entrant opening if the connecting portion tends to move sideways.

The bearing port may comprise a coating or an insert of higher friction material than the remainder of the connecting portion. For example, the connecting portion may comprise a plate having the co-operating part provided integrally or attached thereto at one end thereof, and the bearing part may be provided by an insert of higher friction material such as nylon, so as to lie between the plate and the upright. The insert may include the spigot element where provided, integrally formed or attached thereto, the spigot element being provided at a position remote from the co-operating part.

The support portion may be connected to a central region of the plate and may thus extend generally perpendicularly outwardly relative thereto in a direction transverse to the plane of the plate and the support arm may be adapted to support an article such as one end of a shelf, or another disploy member on which articles may be displayed.

Preferably the support system in accordance with the invention comprises at least two uprights each having at least one support arm secured thereto as described, and a shelf or other display member may extend between the pair of support arms.

Of course, where desired, more than one support arm may be provided along the length of the upright so that more than one shelf may be provided supported the same pair of uprights.

In conventional systems in which brackets each have a pair of hooks to engage respective openings of the upright, levelling the shelf can be accomplished by ensuring that the brackets are in co-operation with corresponding openings in each of the uprights. This can be achieved by counting the number of openings for example along the upright, assuming of course that the openings of the uprights are aligned which is not always the case.

In the present invention, because the position of the support arm is infinitely adjustable along the length of the re-entrant opening, preferably additional means are provided to facilitate levelling of a shelf. For example, markings may be provided along the length of the or each upright at corresponding positions, to facilitate levelling.

The invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE I is a perspective view of a support system in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a side view of a support arm of the system of Figure 1; FIGURE 3 is a view of the support arm of Figure 2 along the arrow X of Figure 2; FIGURES 4A and 4B are sections taken along the lines A-A and B-B respectively of Figure 3; and FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a modified arrangement.

Referring to the drawings, a support system 10 comprises an upright II to which a support arm 12 is secured. The upright 11 in the present example comprises a hollow member of generally square cross-sectional tubular form although as will be appreciated from the description below, an upright 11 of an alternative configuration could be provided if required.

In one wall 13 of the upright 11, a slot 14 is provided so that the upright II has a re-entrant opening 15.

The upright II may have apertures 16 through which fasteners may be passed to enable the upright 11 to be secured to a support surface such as a wall, or alternatively, the upright II may comprise part of a framework, such as a free standing framework, of the support system.

The support arm 12 comprises a support portion 17 which extends generally outwardly away from the upright 11 generally perpendicularly thereto, the support portion 17 having a shelf support part 18 on which in use, a shelf rests.

The support portion 17 is secured to a transverse connecting portion 20 in a central region thereof, the connecting portion 20 comprising a plate 21 which when the support arm 12 is secured to the upright 11 as shown in Figure I, is entirely outside of the upright II, and a co-operating part 22 which is of generally T-shape, the cross-bar 23 of the T being integrally connected by a reduced dimension part 24 to one end of the plate 21.

The width of the cross-bar 23 in the present example, as indicated at W in Figure 3, is wider than the width of the slot 14. However, the thickness t of the connecting part 22 is very much less than the width of the slot 14.

Hence the co-operating port 22 can be received within the slot 14 when the connecting portion 20 is in a position generally perpendicular to the position in which it is shown in Figure 1, and then by moving the connecting portion 20, by rotating the connecting portion 20 generally about an axis parallel with the axis of the support portion 17, the connecting portion 20 can be moved to the position shown in Figure I in which the co-operating part 22 is entrapped within the re-entrant opening 15, the cross-bar 23 engaging with inner surfaces 25 of the re-entrant opening 15.

The connecting portion 20 further comprises a bearing part 26 which is provided by an insert of nylon material 27 which is secured to the plate 21 on the opposite side to the support portion 17.

To locate the insert 27, the plate 21 has a recess 28 in which a thickened part 29 of the insert 27 is received, the thickened part 29 being of a corresponding configuration to the recess 28.

The insert 27 may also be secured to the plate 21 by adhesive, fasteners or the like, to improve the rigidity of the connection between the sheets 27 and the plate 21.

It can be seen that the thickened portion 29 extends outwardly of the sheet 27 to provide a spigot element 30 which locates in the re-entrant opening 15 and serves to restrain the connecting portion 20 from moving transversely of the upright II, which movement would be permitted by the connection of the co-operating part 22 within the opening 15.

The area of the bearing part 26 which surrounds the spigot element 30 simply rests on the upright 11 on the tube wall 31 either side of the slot 14.

In another embodiment (see Figure 5) the insert 27 may have a channel 31 which receives the lowest edge of the plate 21, and one or more resiliently deformable clip elements 32 which clip over the top edge of the plate 21 as a snap interfit to retain the plate in the channel.

In each of the embodiments, conveniently, for strength, the upright ii is made of metal, and similarly, the plate 21 and support portion 17 are made of metal for rigidity. However, the insert 27 is preferably made of a higher friction material than metal, for example of nylon. It can be seen that the bearing part 26 is located below both the connecting part 22 and the support arm 17 so that the weight of the arm 17 tends to pivot the connecting portion 20, but because the connecting part 22 is of T-shape the co-operating part 22 is prevented from being withdrawn from the opening 15.Rather, the bearing part 26 is urged into tight engagement with the regions 33 of the upright ii either side of the opening 15 and the friction between the bearing part 26 and the regions 33 is sufficient to restrain the support arm 12 from moving longitudinally of the upright II. It will be appreciated that frictional engagement between the cross-bar 23 and the inner surfaces 25 of the reentrant opening 15 also contribute to preventing the support arm 12 moving longitudinally.

As the load on the support arm 12 is increased, for example as a shelf supported by the support arm 12 is loaded, this will simply increase the friction between the bearing part 26 and the upright II and between the cross-bar 23 and the inner surfaces 25 of the opening 15.

It has been found that such construction can support large loads without any risk of the support arm 12 moving longitudinally of the upright I 1.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the upright 11 and/or the support art 12, instead of being made of a metallic material such as mild steel or aluminium, could be made of a suitable rigid plastic material. The connecting portion 20 need not be of the exact configuration shown provided that a connecting part 22 is provided to engage within the re-entrant opening 15 provided in the upright II, and provided that a bearing part 26 is provided to engage with the upright 11 and restrain longitudinal movement of the support arm 12 along the upright II.

Instead of an insert 27 of nylon material, any other high frictional material may be provided, or by suitable roughening of the plate 21 itself and/or providing a suitable coating, sufficient friction may be obtained between the upright 11 and the connecting portion 20 without the need of the intervening insert 27. However, the arrangements described in relation to the drawings is preferred.

As shown, the support arm 12 is adapted to support one end of a shelf placed thereon. If desired, the support portion 17 may be of another configuration able to entirely support a shelf or any other member, preferably a member for displaying articles.

The support system 10 described is intended for use as a shop fitting, although it will be appreciated that the invention may be applied to supporting, for example shelves, in any other application such as in domestic applications or libraries.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the accompanying drawing, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (18)

1. I. A support system comprising an upright and a support arm, the upright comprising a re-entrant opening extending longitudinally of the upright, the support arm comprising a support portion which in use extends outwardly of the upright, and a connecting portion which comprises a cooperating part adapted to be received within the opening of the upright when the connecting portion is in a first orientation and is adapted to be trapped within the opening upon the connecting portion being moved to a second orientation, the connecting portion further comprising a bearinq part which, with the connecting portion in the second orientation is located below the cooperating part and the support portion, the bearing part frictionally engaging the upright to restrain the support arm from moving longitudinally of the upright.
2. 2. A system according to claim I wherein the co-operating part is adapted in use, to frictionally engage a part around the re-entrant opening.
3. 3. A system according to claim I or claim 2 wherein the opening of the upright extends along generally the entire length of the upright.
4. 4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the upright comprises a hollow tubular member and the opening is provided by a slot in a tube wall.
5. 5. A system according to claim 4 wherein the co-operating part is generally T-shaped, the length of the cross bar being wider than the width of the slot to prevent the co-operating part being withdrawn from the opening when the connecting portion is in the second orientation.
6. 6. A system according to claim 5 where appendent to claim 3 wherein when the support arm is not loaded, the support arm is slidahle to any desired position along the upright.
7. 7. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bearing part comprises a plane surface which rests against the upright on at least one side of the re-entrant opening.
8. 8. A system according to claim 7 wherein the bearing part has a spigot element which extends from the plane surface and locates in the re-entrant opening to restrain the connecting portion from moving transversely of the re-entrant opening once the connecting portion has been moved to the second orientation.
9. 9. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bearing part comprises a coating or an insert of higher friction material than the remainder of the connecting portion.
10. 10. A system according to claim 9 wherein the connecting portion comprises a plate and the bearinq part is provided by an insert of hiqher friction material so as to lie between the plate and the upright.
11. II. A system according to claim 10 wherein the insert includes the spigot element integrally formed or attached thereto, the spigot element being provided at a position remote from the co-operating part.
12. 12. A system according to claim 10 or claim ! I wherein the support portion is connected to a central region of the plate and extends generally perpendicularly outwardly relative thereto in a direction transverse to the plane of the plate.
13. 13. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the support arm is adapted to support an article such as one end of a shelf, or another display member on which articles may be displayed.
14. 14. A system according to any one of the preceding claims which comprises at least two uprights each having at least one support arm secured thereto, and a display member extending between the pair of support arms.
15. 15. A system according to claim 14 wherein more than one support arm is provided along the length of the uprights to enable more than one display member to be provided supported the same pair of upriqhts.
16. 16. A system according to claim 14 or claim 15 wherein markings are provided along the length of each of the pair of uprights at corresponding positions, to facilitate levelling of the display member.
17. 17. A system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.
18. 18. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.