MX2010006493A - Rack system. - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus, system, and method of use for a storage racking system.

Description

SHELVING SYSTEM Field of the Invention The present invention is used in warehouse shelving systems that facilitate the storage of stored materials. The invention can be used in existing warehouse shelving systems or can be used in new warehouse shelving systems.

Background of the Invention Warehouse shelving systems have existed for years. These shelving systems are designed to allow the warehouse operator to maximize the use of the volume of the storage area in the warehouse. The depth or square surface of the storage space in a warehouse can be extended, dramatically, by the addition of shelving systems. Effectively, the square depth of a storage facility can be increased multiple times by adding multiple vertical storage areas through the use of shelving systems.

One of the problems with the shelving systems is that there is a need for steps for the operation of the equipment such as a forklift for the storage and removal of materials from the shelves. In this regard, pallets are a common way of handling a REF. : 211876 unit of storage materials. In other words, the stage defines the reception area or the area of a storage volume unit. The warehouse operator or the manufacturer can define the height of materials, packaging or products stored on the pallet. If a uniform height of material could be defined, the material placed on the pallet would define a uniform volume of the materials that will be stored on the shelf or support. The shelving system can be designed to accommodate this uniform volume of storage.

By means of a revision, a shelving system has been developed that minimizes the space used by the warehouse equipment in order to place and remove the material pallets of the shelving systems. U.S. Patent No. 5, 273,170 of Azzopardi authorized the signer of the present application to place supports or shelves in separate locations in order to maximize the use of the storage space. The Azzopardi patent effectively eliminates any passage between the horizontal orientation supports. The supports are spaced a sufficient distance that allows a mast of a forklift to pass between them. However, the horizontal supports are also located close enough, so that the platforms rest on the supports without any additional space. used. In other words, except for the shelving structure, the total volume of the shelving system could be used for storage. The subject matter of the Azzopardi patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

On occasion, a platform could be slightly irregular, having a non-standard size or in some way be out of condition. It would be useful to provide a structure that provides additional support for pallets under these circumstances.

There is a need to balance the cost of supplying additional support, the weight involved in supplying additional couplings, other design considerations such as the dimensions, shapes and locations of these supports, as well as the cost. It would be desirable to provide additional support while handling these other design considerations.

Brief Description of the Figures Figure 1 is a front elevation view of a shelving system for use in the support of pallets of materials, such as cartons, boxes, or the like, in load arms extending in the horizontal direction and support rails carried over the vertical support structures, a space is provided between the opposite loading arms and the inner rails to facilitate the movement of a lift truck mast therebetween, the elevation view of Figure 1 is extended in a plane as shown in the subsequent Figures; Figure 2 is an enlarged partial fragmentary view of the left side of Figure 1 showing a pair of pallets resting on the corresponding loading arms with an edge of the pallets located next to the outer rail on the surrounding loading arms as shown in FIG. greater detail in Figure 4; Figure 3 is an enlarged partial fragmentary view of the right side of Figure 1 showing a pair of pallets, which are slightly narrower than the pallets shown on the left side of Figure 1 in which the edge of the pallets obtains some support of an extension tongue coupled with the corresponding outer rail because the platform edge does not extend towards the outer rail; Figure 4 is a top plan view of one side of the shelving system shown in Figure 1, for example, the side shown in Figure 3, the top plan view shows the inner rail, the outer rail, the corresponding arms load and extension tabs coupled with the outer rail and spaced between the loading arms, with the extension tabs protruding out of the outer rail towards the inner rail to provide additional support to the pallets that could not otherwise rest on at least a portion of the outer rail and to provide additional support for those pallets that rest, at least in part, on the outer rail, - Figure 5A is a view in upper floor similar to that shown in Figure 4 which only illustrates the outer rail and the relative dimension and spacing of the extension tabs; Figure 5B is a side elevational view of the illustration in Figure 5A, showing the corresponding spacing; Y Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along lines 6-6 in Figure 5B showing the outer rail in cross section having a portion oriented in a generally vertical direction and a portion oriented in the horizontal direction formed Generally at a generally straight angle to each other with an extension tongue located below and coupled to the horizontal portion, generally, by welding, the extension tongue is engaged with the outer rail at the time of manufacture and beforehand. of the installation and / or after the installation of the shelving system.

Detailed description of the invention While the present description could be susceptible to a modality in different ways, the modalities in the Figures and in the present will be described in detail, with the understanding that the present description will be considered as an example of the principles of the description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the description to the details of interpretation and to the arrangements of the components indicated in the following description or illustrated in the Figures.

With reference to Figure 1, a shelving system 20 is shown. It should be understood that the shelving system shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting. The shelving system can be extended in all three directions to facilitate the placement of numerous units of material. In addition, while only one level of a vertical shelf is shown, multiple vertical shelf levels as well as placement on the 22nd floor level can be achieved. The shelving system 20 includes the vertical support structures 24, the loading arms oriented in a generally horizontal direction 26 and the upper supports 28. The shelving system 20 is designed for the retention of numerous positioning storage units on pallet 30. The pallet storage storage units are commonly comprised of a pallet 34 on which a container 36 or a plurality of cartons or boxes rest on the upper surface 38 on the pallet. The The lower surface of the pallet 40 rests on the upper surface 42 of the corresponding loading arms 26. The pallet storage storage units can be handled using the equipment and the known techniques.

The loading arms 26 are engaged in the intercept couplings 46 and extend inwardly in the direction of the opposing loading arms. A space 50 is provided between the separate faces 52 of the opposing loading arms 26, 26 coupled with the vertical supports 24 at a corresponding level. A pair of pallets 34, 34 can be placed on the loading arms at this level in order to provide a generally horizontal level that rests in place for the positioning units on pallet 30. Space 50 is provided to allow a A mast oriented in the vertical direction of a loading device such as a lift truck has access to the area between the loading arms 26.

It should be noted that while multiple pallets are retained on the corresponding pair of loading arms 26 as shown. This is the configuration that is shown and described in the Azzopardi patent, ie, U.S. Patent No. 2, 732,170 of which the signer of the present application is licensed. However, individual pallets can also be stored in these shelving system configurations 20 with a single pallet extending between the opposing loading arms 26.

With reference to Figure 4, a top plan view of one side of the shelving system 20 is shown. For example, the right side of the shelf shown in Figure 1 (60) shows a top plan view of Figure 4. Figure 4 shows the load arms 26 separated and that are coupled with the vertical structures 24 and separated in a horizontal direction. In addition, in the interior areas relative to the vertical structures 24 and the outer rail 70 extends between the surrounding loading arms 26. The outer rail 70 is coupled with each of the loading arms through mounting fasteners, welds , fasteners or other suitable means. Similarly, an inner rail 76 is coupled close to the face 52 of each load arm 26, which is generally separated from the outer rail 70.

The pallets that rest on the shelving system, are supported, generally, on the inner rail 76, the outer rails 70 and could rest on the corresponding loading arms 26. With reference to Figures 2 and 3, the configurations of pallet shown on the left side (Figure 2) and on the right side (Figure 3) are shown in an elongated illustration. For example, the elongated illustration in Figure 2 shows the left side of Figure 1 in the elongated area adjacent to the coupling intersection 46 where the lower arm 46 engages with the vertical support structure 24. The outer rail 70 can be observed with a generally straight vertical portion 80 and a generally horizontal portion 82 The lower part 40 of the pallet 34 rests on the upper part of the generally horizontal portion, the horizontal portion 82. With this configuration, the pallet is generally well supported by the inner rail 76 (not shown), the outer rails 70 and could be supported intermittently by the loading arms 26.

In contrast, Figure 3 shows an enlarged side elevational view of the pallet on the right side of Figure 1 proximate to the coupling intersection 46. As will be described in more detail below, an extension tongue or tongue 90 is located below the horizontal portion 82 of the outer rail 70. As such, even when the edge 88 of the pallet 34 does not rest on the horizontal portion 82 of the corresponding outer rail 70, an extension tongue 90 (see Figure 4) that extends from the outer rail 70, will likely provide support for the pallet 34. The absence of the tab 90 could cause the pallet to only be generally supported by the inner rail 76, and perhaps, intermittently by the arms of loading 26. While this load has to be Sufficient in most situations, the provision of the tabs 90 provides additional added support for loading the pallet.

With reference to Figures 4, 5A, 5B and 6, the tabs 90 are shown and described. The extension tab 90 is shown as a generally square metal part that has been engaged with the underside 92 of the horizontal portion 82. of the outer rail 70 (see Figure 6). The tab 90 in the figure is provided by way of illustration and not as limitation. While an extension of approximately 5.08 to 7.62 centimeters (2 to 3 inches) is shown in Figure 5A, the tongue 90 could be longer or shorter depending on the circumstances. In addition, the shape of the extension tongue could be altered depending on the circumstances associated with the shelving system. It is anticipated that a variety of shapes and dimensions could be utilized with the extension tongue or "tongue" in order to provide the equivalent structure and function. In addition, the exposed periphery 96 of each tab could be formed in a way that facilitates simple positioning of the pallet on the tab without interfering with the pallet. In this regard, the positioning of the tongue 90 below the horizontal portion 82 of the rail 70 helps to provide some clearance or play under the pallet to prevent it from hanging over a tongue.

The tabs 90 are useful for providing additional support at intermediate positions to the surrounding pairs of loading arms. A dimension extending in the horizontal direction 98 could be approximately half the width 100 of the horizontal portion 82 of the rail 70. This dimension can be increased or decreased depending on the circumstances. In addition, while a tongue is generally separated halfway between the surrounding loading arms 26 as shown in Figure 4, multiple tabs could be engaged between the surrounding arms 26.

In use, a shelving system 20 could be constructed with the intermediate tabs 90 as shown in the figures. One or more tabs 90 are coupled, generally, with the lower side 92 of a horizontal portion 82 of the outer rail 70. The tabs can be manufactured and coupled with the rail 70 during the construction of the shelving structures or they could be coupled once the shelving structure is installed. In this regard, the tabs could be used in an "update" condition. This could allow users of a pre-existing shelving system to benefit from the discoveries of the present invention.

When a forklift truck positions a pair of pallets for placement on the corresponding sections of the loading arms and rails, the tabs will help support the intermediate portions of the pallet that could not extend towards the outer rail 70. In addition, the condition of the pallets can be unpredictable. For example, design variations and material irregularities could be found on some pallets, users could inadvertently use non-standard pallets and other pallets could be damaged or could be found in other unexpected circumstances. The tabs 90 help increase the likelihood that a variety of pallet conditions and characteristics can be accommodated in the shelving system.

In addition, the tabs could be added to the shelving system in an update application even while the portions of the shelving system are loaded with material. In this respect, the tongues can be welded on the outer rail simply by moving the loads. The displacement of the charges could eliminate a load directly above the welding site in the interest of safety while welding is performed. However, once the extension tongue is welded in position, the load can be displaced to provide a hole in the surrounding site for welding an extension tongue in the surrounding location. In contrast, the update of a new interior rail or a intermediate rail between the outer rail and the inner rail would be a significant case of time, effort, money, and perhaps could be prohibitively expensive. In this situation, the material may need to be removed from the entire storage area to allow the placement of longer sections.

It is noted that in relation to this date the best method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Claims (4)

CLAIMS Having described the invention as above, the content of the following claims is claimed as property:

1. A shelving system for retaining pallets, characterized in that it comprises: vertical support structures; generally horizontal loading arms that extend from the vertical support structures; a space defined between the opposite pairs of horizontal load arms; an inner rail coupled with one face of each of the opposite loading arms and extending between the surrounding loading arms carried on a vertical support structure; an outer load rail coupled with the surrounding load arms is generally close to an intersection coupling of a horizontal load arm with a corresponding vertical support; and at least one extension tongue located between the surrounding load arms and extending from the outer load rail to the corresponding inner load rail.

2. The shelving system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises: the outer loading rail having a horizontal portion and a vertical portion, the extension tab is engaged with the horizontal portion.

3. The shelving system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises: the extension tongue that is coupled with the underside of the outer load rail.

4. The shelving system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises: an extension tongue separated between the surrounding pairs of loading arms and coupled with the lower side of the corresponding outer load rail, a dimension approximately equal to the horizontal width dimension of the corresponding rail.