US2915192A

US2915192A - Closet storage rack

Info

Publication number: US2915192A
Application number: US622330A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Charles Roma
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1956-11-15
Filing date: 1956-11-15
Publication date: 1959-12-01
Anticipated expiration: 1976-12-01

Description

Dec. l, 1959 c. ROMA, JR 2,915,192

CLOSET STORAGE RACK Filed Nov. 15, 195e INVENTOR CHA/@LES ROMA, JR..

ATTORNEYS CLOSET STRAGE RACK Charles Roma, lr., Memphis, Tenn. Application November` 15, y1956, Serial No. 622,330

'3 Claims. (Cl. 211--114) This invention relates to a closet storage rack, and more particularly, to a rack adapted to be movably mounted within a storage closet for movement between a position in which it may be loaded conveniently and a position in which it occupies normally wasted closet space.

'Closets in homes and other buildings normally are pro- "vided with a door of some kind in the front wall through which access may be had to the interior of the closet. The rear wall of the closet usually carries a horizontal shelf lextending forwardly from the back wall toward the door. Such shelf must be spaced substantially from the front wall of the closet, however, in order that access may' be had to the shelf for placing articles thereon. Immediately below the horizontal shelf, the ordinary closet is provided with a horizontally extending rod for the support of garment hangers.

This arrangement of the ttings in a closet leaves a substantial amount of space which cannot be used effectively for storage purposes without preventing access to the horizontal shelf and the garment hanger supporting rod.

Various proposals have been made for the addition of certain other structures in closets to facilitate the use of some, at least, of the normally wasted space. See, for example, Davis Patents 2,460,681 and 2,483,629. However, the structures proposed heretofore have presented practical disadvantages, in that they were relatively expensive and/ or they interfered with the normal use of the customary closet fittings.

It is an object of this invention to provide a storage rack adapted to be mounted within a closet near the front wall thereof for vertical movement between a lowered, rst position in which access may be had to both the rack and a closet shelf through the door of the closet, and a second, raised position in which the rack is located adjacent the ceiling of the closet and adjacent the portion of the front wall of the closet located above the door.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a closet storage rack with means for mounting and moving it which will be economical to manufacture, easy to install, and eliicient to use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a storage closet with a storage rack mounted so as to permit efricient utilization of the closet space above and adjacent the doorway of the closet without in any way interfering with the normal use of the rest of the closet space.

The foregoing objects of the invention are attained by the provision of a storage rack guided for vertical movement along a path adjacent the front wall of a closet by guides attached to the inner faces of the door frame and supported by exible strands passing over guide elements secured to the ceiling of the closet. The tiexible strands are attached to the top of the rack, extend upwardly over the guide elements, and then pass down` wardly along one side of the doorway of the closet. Also attached to the ceiling of the closet is a stop member Which may be manipulated to lock the strands in any Sttes atent O G '2,915,192 *Patented Dec. 1 1959 desired position so that the elevation of the rackcan'be regulated conveniently.

A better understanding of the invention and additional objects and advantages thereof will be gained from consideration of the following detailed description of certain embodiments thereof illustrated in the acompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view showing the front face of a closet wall with the closet doorway open and with the rack of the present invention disposed adjacent the floor of the closet;

Fig. 2 is a vertical ksectional view showing the rear face of the front wall of the closet with the storage rack of the present invention disposed adjacent the ceiling if 'the closet;

Fig. 3 is an exploded View of the rack and the :means for mounting and guiding it during vertical movement; A

`Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view -of strand guiding and stopping means which may be used in the apparatus of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken along the line 5 5 in Fig. l and showing the arrangement vof the parts for guiding the rack in its vertical movements;` and Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross sectional view similar to Fig. 5, but showing a modified form of guiding means for the rack. l

In Fig. 1 the front wall of a closet has been designated by the numeral 2, and the rear wall, by the nu-` meral 4. As is customary, the front wall 2 of the closet is provided with a doorway 6 which may bebordered by a frame 8 set into the front wall 2 of the closet. Also illustrated are the usual fittings for a closet, that is', a horizontal storage shelf 10 and a garment hanger sup-l porting rod 12. n

Any suitable closure may be provided for the doorway 6T. For example, a swinging door or a sliding door of conventional construction might be used. Such closure has been omittedfrom the drawings in the interest of clarity.

Mounted within the closet, by means which will be described in detail later, is a storage rack designatedgenerally by the numeral 14. This storage rack 14 pref--V erably is in the form of a container open only at its front` face, but many of the advantages of the present invention can be realized with other articles supporting struc tures.

The illustrated storage rack 14 is made of sheet metal, preferably sheet aluminum, so as to be lightweight and durable; It includes a top wall 16, a bottom wall 18;' a back wall 20, two

end Walls

22 and 24, and a hor'izontal divider 26, all connected together by bolts to form a container. In use, articles such as vshoes may rest upon the bottom Wall 18 and upon the divider 26, and it is often desirable to increase the rigidity of these members by the provision of longitudinal ribs such as that indicated by the numeral 28 in Fig. 3.

The rack 14 is suspended from the ceiling 30 ofthe closet by means of flexible strands or cords 3.2 and 34 attached to the top wall l16 of the rack near the ends and the front edge of such wall. Y These

strands

32 and 34 extend downwardly together from the ceiling of the closet for convenient manipulation. n

As shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5, the rack 14`is guided for vertical movement by guide means or tracks 36 and 3S attached to the rear face of the door' frame 8 by screws 410 and extending substantially the entire height of the closet. At their upper ends, the

tracks

36 and 38 may be connected to the ends of a ceiling bar vor channel 42 wlii'cfli` carries suitable strand guiding and locking means. At# tached to each of the

end walls

22 and 24 of the rackf 14 is a vertical channel-shaped member 44 which carries aL plurality of rollers 46.

tracks

36 and 38 and serve to confine the rack 14 against all movements other than vertical reciprocation. It is preferred that the rollers 46 be formed of nylon because this material makes it easier to reciprocate the rack 14 and minimizes the noise generated by such reciprocation.

Fig. 6 illustrates another form of rack guiding means. Here, the end wall of the rack, the door frame, and the vertical track have been designated by the

numerals

22a, 8a, and 36a, respectively, to indicate that these members may be exactly like the

corresponding members

22, 8, and 36 of the 4embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 5. Cooperating with the track 36a is a vertical guide channel 48 attached by rivets 50, or by bolts, to the end wall 22a of the rack. In this connection it will be understood that the opposite end wall of the rack carries an identical guide channel in position to cooperate with a track like the track 36a. In this embodiment, both the track 36a and the guide channel 48 should be formed of steel because aluminum slides tend to bind.

Since in both of the illustrated embodiments the storage rack is confined to vertical reciprocation, it will be evident that the depth of the rack may closely approximate the distance between the front edge of the closet shelf 10 and the front wall 2 of the closet, giving the rack a substantial capacity. Also it should be pointed out that the capacity may be increased further by increasing the width of the rack 14. This is possible because the

guide tracks

36 and 38 may be located anywhere along the inside face of the front wall of the closet.

The ceiling bar 42 is attached to the ceiling 30 of the closet by screws or other suitable fastening means 52. A pulley or guide 54 of some suitable construction is attached to the ceiling bar 42 near one end thereof and serves to guide the flexible strand 32. Adjacent the other end of the ceiling bar 42 there is mounted a fixture 56 which may be of the type commonly used in Venetian blinds. As shown in Fig. 4, the fixture 56 includes a housing 58 having therein a grooved pulley or guide 60 for the reception of both of the

tiexible strands

32 and 34. The fixture S6 also includes a pivotally mounted stop element 62, the lower end of which is serrated to facilitate the gripping of the

liexible strands

32 and 34.

It will be seen that the strand 32 extends upwardly from the rack 14 along one side of the doorway 6 of the closet, over the guide 54, across the ceiling 30 of the closet, over Athe guide 60, and then downwardly along the opposite side of the doorway 6. The strand 34 extends upwardly from the rack 14, over the guide 60, and then downwardly in close proximity to the downwardly extending portion of the strand 32. Although reference has been made to two

strands

32 and 34, it will be apparent that one strand would serve just as well if its two ends were attached to the rack 14. In such an arrangement, the strand portions extending downwardly from the guide 60 would be connected together at their lower ends.

By bringing the downwardly extending portions of the

strands

32 and 34 into contact with the serrated edge of the stop element 62, and then allowing these portions of the strands to move upwardly a short distance under the influence of the weight of the storage rack 14, the stop element 62 is caused to pivot about its axis to pinch the downwardly extended portions of the flexible strands against the end wall of the housing 58. In this position, the

strands

32 and 34 are locked against movement in a direction which would permit the rack 14 to descend. When it is desired to release the stop element 62, all that need be done is to pull downwardly slightly upon the downwardly extending portions of the

flexible strands

32 and 34 to pivot the stop element 62 in a clockwisev direction away from the end wall of the housing 58.

It should be particularly noted that the rack 14 may be held at any desired level between the floor and the ceiling of the closet. When the rack 14 is lowered all the way to the floor, there is virtually no interference with access These rollers 46 ride in the to the closet shelf 10. When the rack 14 is held at an intermediate level, access may be had to its contents without bending over. When the Yrack is raised to the ceiling, it is entirely out of view and it does not interfere with the placing of small articles, such as hats, upon the shelf 10. When raised, the rack 14 also forms a substantially dust proof storage container in that its open front face is close to the front wall 2 of the closet and is effectively closed thereby.

Another characteristic of this invention that should be noted is that the structure may be shipped in disassembled form. At the point of use, the several parts of the rack 14 may then be bolted together, the ceiling bar 42 and tracks 36 and 38 installed, and the

strands

32 and 34 positioned for u se.

Although reference has been made in theY foregoing detailed description to certain specific embodiments of the invention, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that various alterations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended therefore that the foregoing description be considered as exemplary only and that the scope of the invention be ascertained from the following claims.

I claim:

l. Apparatus for storing articles in the normally unused space near the ceiling and the front wall of a storage closet having a doorway in its front wall terminating a substantial distance below the ceiling thereof; comprising a substantially closed article support having an access opening only in the front face and adapted to be disposed inside said closet adjacent said doorway; opposed vertical tracks adapted to be disposed on opposite sides of said doorway; guide means on said support adjacent said access opening for cooperating with said tracks to confine said support to vertical movement; first strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above one end of said article support; second strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above the opposite end of said article support; a rst exible strand portion connected to the top of said one end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said iirst and second strand guiding means, and then downwardly from said second strand guiding means adjacent one side of said doorway; a second flexible strand portion connected to the top of said opposite end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said second strand guiding means, and then downwardly in proximity to said first strand portion; and stop means adjacent said second strand guiding means and operable selectively by manipulation of the downwardly extending parts of said first and second strand portions for holding said parts against movement in a direction which would permit said article support to descend, whereby said support may be held at any desired elevation.

2. Apparatus for storing articles in the normally unused space near the ceiling and the front wall of a storage closet having a doorway in its front wall terminating a substantial distance below the ceiling thereof; comprising a substantially closed article support having an access 'opening only in the front face and adapted to be disposed inside said closet adjacent said doorway; opposed tracks having vertical grooves adapted to be disposed on opposite sides of said doorway; a vertical series of nylon guide rollers on each end of said support adjacent said access opening adapted to ride in said vertical grooves to confine said support to vertical movement; rst strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above one end of said article support; second strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above the opposite end of said article support; a rst flexible strand portion connected to the top of said one end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said rst and second strand guiding means, and then downwardly from said second strand guiding means adjacent one side of said doorway; a second tiexible strand portion connected to the top of said opposite end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said second strand guiding means, and then downwardly in proximity to said iirstv strand portion; and stop means adjacent said second strand guiding means and operable selectively by manipulation of the downwardly extending parts of said first and second strand portions for holding said parts against movement in a direction which would permit said article support to descend, whereby said support may be held at any desired elevation.

3. Apparatus for storing articles in the normally unused space near the ceiling and the front wall of a storage closet having a doorway in its front wall terminating a substantial distance below the ceiling thereof; comprising a substantially closed aluminum article support having lan access opening only in the front face and adapted to be disposed inside said closet adjacent said doorway; opposed steel tracks having vertical grooves adapted to be disposed on opposite sides of said doorway; a vertical steel rail on each end of said support adjacent said access opening adapted to ride in said vertical grooves to conne said support to vertical movement; iirst strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above one end of said article support; second strand guiding means adapted to be disposed adjacent the ceiling of said closet above the opposite end of said article support; a rst exible strand portion connected to the top of said one end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said rst and second strand guiding means, and then downwardly from said second strand guiding means adjacent one side of said doorway; a second flexible strand portion connected to the top of said opposite end of said article support adjacent said access opening and extending upwardly therefrom, over said second strand guiding means, and then downwardly in proximity to said rst strand portion; and stop means adjacent said second strand guiding means and operable selectively by manipulation of the downwardly extending parts of said first and second strand portions for holding said parts against movement in a direction which would permit said article support to descend, whereby said support may be held at any desired elevation.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 493,596 McLeran Mar. 14, 1893 563,299 Nitzsche July 7, 1896 891,228 Bowen June 23, 1908 1,123,247 Clarke Jan. 5, 1915 2,180,863 Clancy Nov. 21, 1939 2,181,399 Forbes Nov. 28, 1939 2,306,266 Heim Dec. 22, 1942 2,459,598 Stott Jan. 18, 1949 2,483,629 Davis Oct. 4, 1949 2,634,186 Zuss Apr. 7, 1953 2,798,545 Busciolano July 9, 1957