US2968409A

US2968409A - Drive-in pallet rack

Info

Publication number: US2968409A
Application number: US571553A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jurechko John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1956-03-14
Filing date: 1956-03-14
Publication date: 1961-01-17
Anticipated expiration: 1978-01-17

Description

Jan. 17, 1961 Filed March 14, 1956 J. JURECHKO 2,968,409

DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 1

IN VEN TOR.

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A TTORNEYS Jan. 17, 1961 J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Filed March 14, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Jab/2 Jurechh'a,

ATTORNEYS Jan. 17, 1961 J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 7 Filed March 14, 1956 0 R ma M R MW/Qm 1h M Maw J J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Jan. 17, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March; 14, 1956 INVENTOR. Ja/m Ju re 6/7/20, BY Q20, 4 q M Uh. fi i mm A TTORNEYS 1 J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Jan. 17, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 14, 1956 a NUNN IN VEN TOR. Jo/m Jurecfi/ia,

, ATTORNEYS DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK John Jurechko, 12 Sycamore Road, Levittown, Pa. Filed Mar. 14, 1956, Ser. No. 571,553

6 Claims. (Cl. 211-134) This invention relates to shelving structure and more particularly the shelf racks used in warehouses for pallet loading. Since the advent of the fork-lift truck and similar industrial plant material moving vehicles, it has been necessary to devise shelving structures especially adapted for pallet loading. Such shelving must of necessity provide adquate means of access for the material moving vehicle, thus eliminating certain structural members formerly present in shelving. However, by simply removing structural members from a shelf structure, the entire structure may be weakened beyond the point of usefulness. It is the present practice in the warehousing industry to provide double rows of shelves of rigid construction with adjacent aisles for loading access. As a consequence, a large portion of present day warehouse floor space is wasted as aisle space.

It is therefore a primary purpose of this invention to provide warehouse or industrial plant shelving structures which may be used for multiple depth pallet loading and which are sufiiciently strong to sustain normal loads without attachment to the building structure.

It is another object of this invention to provide warehouse or industrial plant shelving which utilizes a larger proportion of floor space as storage space rather than aisle space than has been provided heretofore.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a warehouse shelving structure which will eliminate or substantially reduce the amount of aisle space required.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method of warehousing whereby substantially all available floor space is utilized for storing goods with a minimum of necessary aisle space.

'It is also an object of this invention to provide a shelving structure which may be easily erected and modified in form.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a pallet rack made up of a minimum number of structural members but which has sufficient structural rigidity to withstand normal warehuose and industrial loadings.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the drawings of which:

Fig. l is a perspective view partially in section showing a pallet rack made in accordance with the invention and showing pallet loads in place and others being put in place;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the pallet rack shown in Fig. 1 with the pallet loads shown in dot-dash;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the pallet rack shown in Fig. 1 with the pallet loads shown in dot-dash;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the pallet rack of Fig. I viewed from the right side and showing the pallets in dot'dash;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram in plan viewof a section of warehouse floor set up in accordance with known methods;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a section Fnited States Patent of this invention for comparison with the known methods of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a section of warehouse floor set up in accordance with known methods; and

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a sec tion of warehouse floor set up in accordance with the methods of this invention for comparison with the known methods of Fig. 7.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by dividing the warehouse floor space into a plurality of parallel aisle areas and utilizing these aisles as storage space. Present methods and structures provide rigid storage shelves or racks which are, at the most, two pallets deep and are accessible from at least two sides. This requires aisle space on two sides of a rack for access to only a depth of two pallets. By means of this invention the pallets are stored in open aisles to an unlimited depth. Since the pallets are stored in the aisles themselves, there is no need for additional access aisles. The invention provides open-ended shelving structures which define aisles through which fork-lift trucks or the like can travel.

The specific embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings is made up of standard structural shapes which are connected by bolts, rivets or welds. Fig. 1 shows one single unit of shelving structure made accord ing to the invention. The form of this unit may be repeated from either side thereof to form additional shelving or upward to provide additional layers of pallets.

The vertical structural members of the pallet rack include

vertical beams

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Viewed from the front of the pallet rack, the left side, which is in the foreground of Fig. 1, includes the

vertical beams

10, 11, 12 and 13. Each of these beams, which are shown as I-beams or channels, is welded at the bottom to the base beam 20. The base beam 20 is afiixed at the rear to the rear runner 22 which may or may not be bolted or otherwise afiixed to thefioor to anchor the pallet rack. Moving vertically, the vertical beam 10 is bolted to the

rear runners

23 and 24, and the vertical beam 11 is similarly affixed to the

front runners

25 and 26. The front and rear runners span the left and right sides of the pallet rack and provide structural form and rigidity to the entire structure. On the right side, which is in the background of Fig. 1 and shown in Fig. 4, the

rear runners

22, 23 and 24 are aflixed to the vertical beam 14 and the

front runners

25 and 26 and are bolted to the vertical beam 15. As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the rearward bottom pallet load 30 rests on the floor while load 31 rests upon front and

rear runners

25 and 23, respectively, and the uppermost load 32 rests upon front and

rear runners

26 and 24, respectively. Additional structural support is provided by the spaced pairs of

angle beams

33 and 34, spaced above and parallel to

beam

20, and 35 and 36 spaced above and parallel to beam 21. Each of these pairs of angle beams is bolted to the front and

rear runners

23, 24, 25 and 26 and to of Warehouse floor set up in accordance with the methods the front shelving structure as will be heerinafter more fully shown. It will be noted that the channel beam 21 is similar to beam 20 and that in all other respects the right and left sides of the pallet rack shown in Fig. 1 are identical.

The forward shelving structure is specifically designed to provide access to the rearward shelves as shown in Fig. 1. There are four such shelves shown in the drawings: 40 and 41 on the left side and 42 and 43 on the right side. Since these shelves are identical in form, it will serve to describe one of them in detail, it being understood that the same description applies to each of the others. The shelf 43 is supported by a pair of angle beams 36. At the rear the

fiat plates

50 and 51 are bolted to the front runner 26. These are in turn respectively welded to the

angle shelf beams

52 and 53. The

angle beams

52 and 53 extend forward and are welded to the

angle brackets

54 and 55. The

angle brackets

54 and 55 are in turn bolted to the. parallel angl beams 36 and are bolted to the

vertical beams

16 and 17, respectively. The shelf thus formed extends transversely in two directions from the vertical beams, forming the side of the pallet rack unit. The shelf41 is paired with shelf 43 to form a U-shaped structure opened at one end to accommodate pallet loads. The

flanges

56 and 57 form the actual load support structure and at the same time are spaced sufliciently to permit access by a load carrying vehicle. The structure of shelf 41 is similar in all respects to shelf 43. which has been described in detail. In the case, of shelf 41

angle brackets

54a and 55a correspond to

angle brackets

54 and 55 of shelf 43. The outboard flanges shown in Fig. 2, 54a of 41 and 57b of 43 correspond to

flanges

56 and 57 respectively.

It will be understood that

flanges

56a and 57b form self-supporting shelves when combined with additional similar structures not shown.

In describing the drive-in pallet rack made according to the invention, the term open is used to describe the type of shelving formed by the forwardly projecting

shelves

41 and 43, shown in Fig. 2. The term open denotes the character of the shelf formed thereby which is not closed at the front. In contrast to this, the rear shelves, also shown in Fig. 2, are partially enclosed in that they are partially closed in by structural members on all four sides.

It has been found that pallet racks made in accordance with the foregoing description may be easily assembled and that the shelves will sustain any warehouse or industrial load without warping or twisting of any of the members. This is believed to be made possible by the highly integrated shelf structure typified by shelf 43 and in combination with the remaining members. The modified form of cantilever from the frame 17 is extremely rigid in view of the fact that it is tied into all of the principal structural members of the pallet rack running in three directions. It will be appreciated that under full load conditions, when loads are carried by both sides of the shelf 43, the torsion stress about the shelf 43 will be greatly reduced if not eliminated and the loading will be reduced to simple column loading on the

vertical beams

15, 16, and 17 with cantilever loading on the pairs of angle beams 36.

Fig. of the drawings shows a warehouse floor plan using known methods and structures. The pallet racks 60, 61 and 62 are centrally spaced on the floor. In the example shown, the racks are eight pallets long and two pallets deep. Since the racks 60, 61 and 62 are rigid structures, the fork-lift trucks can only reach the pallets directly at the open part of the shelf, and it is there fore necessary to provide aisle space along both sides of the racks. For example, in the case of rack 60 the pallets on the side nearest aisle 64 are only accessible from aisle 64, and it is necessary to provide aisle 65 to reach the pallets on that side. The same is true of racks 61 and 62. As shown in Fig. 5, the three racks, 60, 61 and 62, each eight pallets long and two pallets deep, contain forty-eight pallets on one vertical level. The same forty-eight pallets are shown in Fig. 6 stored in accordance with the invention. There the pallets are stored in the rigid shelves 66 and in the aisles formed by the forwardly extending shelving structures 67. It will be apparent that two of the aisles of Fig. 5 have been eliminated by virtue of the invention. Even greater storing efiiciency may be achieved in storing the fortyeight pallets of Fig. 6, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 8 by extending the forwardly extending structures 67 back to the wall so that each aisle holds six pallets. This would eliminate the back aisle 68.

In Figs. 7 and 8, comparison is made between the old methods and structures of Fig. 7 and the methods and structures of the invention shown in Fig. 8 on the basis of a fixed amount of floor space. In Fig. 8, twenty pallets are stored in the same space required for eight pallets in Fig. 7. The essential difference is in the elimination of aisle space formerly needed for access to the palletswith old methods and structures.

Considerable variation may be made in the pallet racksshown in the drawings to achieve a number of particular desired purposes. The racks may be extended upward for a number of shelves to utilize overhead space. The lower shelves 40, and 42 may be eliminated so that no pallet stacking takes place below the level of the

shelves

41 and 43. Thus, the

shelves

41 and 43 clear any forklift truck which may be used, and the overhead shelves may be used for permanent storage. Where the shelves are extended in a vertical direction above the reaching level of fork-lift. trucks, the shelves may be tied together at the top, thus providing greater structural rigidity.

The, methods and structures of the invention are par-- ticularly adapted to refrigeration storage and storage of bulky seasonal goods that are fragile and require separate shelving. It will be noted that the pallet racks of the invention may be. completely installed without breaking into thefloors or walls of the warehouse. In refrigerated storerooms it is particularly undesirable to break through the floors or wall surfaces.

The invention is used to greatest advantage when the storage shelves are extremely long. The longer the shelf, the greater the amount of space available for storage rather than aisle space. It is thus possible to utilize a storeroom completely for storage with the sole exception of one entering aisle. As has been indicated, the term shelf or shelves is used herein to designate the spaced pallet supporting portions of the pallet rack and is not necessarily intended to designate a structural shelf which in itself would support a pallet.

As I have pointed out, it is an object of this invention to provide a multiple depth storage rack for multiple depth pallet loading. The multiple depth loading is structurally significant in that, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, it is possible with this invention to load more than one depth of pallets within the forwardly projected walls of the pallet rack. The forwardly projecting walls thus extend outwardly to accommodate more than one depth of pallet loading.

It will be apparent that many variations may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention which has been described without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A drive-in pallet rack comprising a partially enclosed shelving structure formed of rigidly connected structural members, a forwardly extending structural frame rigidly attached at its rear to said partially enclosed shelving structure and substantially horizontal flanged shelf means rigidly attached to said frame and rigidly attached at the rear thereof to said partially enclosed shelving structure, said structural frame having a base portion, the edge of said flanged shelf means being spaced horizontally from said frame, said base portion underlying the other portions of the frame and being disposed within the limits thereof.

2. The drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that there is a plurality of said shelf means attached to said frame disposed at dilferent vertical levels thereon.

3. The drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said forwardly extending frame comprises an inverted channel beam at the floor level, a plurality of spaced vertically extending beams attached to said channel beam and a plurality of forwardly extending spaced parallel angle beams integrally attached to said vertical beams.

4, The .drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said shelf means comprises a pair of forwardly extending parallel spaced angle beams, said angle beams being connected by transversely disposed angle beams which are rigidly attached to said structural frame, each of said forwardly extending angle beams having one flange disposed substantially at right angles to said structural frame.

5. A multiple depth pallet storage rack having transverse rear shelves and forward shelves open from the front and top projecting forwardly from said rear shelves, said forward shelves comprising a plurality of vertically spaced, substantially parallel forwardly projecting beams,

a plurality of transversely spaced substantially parallel vertical beams rigidly attached to said forwardly projecting beams, a plurality of transversely extending substantially parallel forwardly spaced beams rigidly connected to said vertical beams, forwardly extending substantially horizontal flanged beams disposed upon said forwardly spaced beams, the flanges of said flanged beams forming laterally projecting shelves on said forwardly extending flanged beams for supporting pallets in multiple depth.

6. A drive-in pallet rack comprising a U-shaped structure formed of rigidly connected structural beams, the legs of said U-shaped structure forming an open aisle, the bottom of said U-shaped structure comprising a plurality of shelf compartments and substantially horizontal shelf means disposed along each of the legs of said U- shaped structure, said shelf means having spaced sub stantially parallel flanges forming open shelves, the shelves thus formed extending horizontally from the legs of said U-shaped structure, said shelf means comprising short angle beams disposed transversely upon the legs of said U-shaped structure and spaced parallel angle beams rigidly attached to the ends of said short angle beams and having laterally projected flanges extending substantially parallel to said legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,344,617 Burgess June 29, 1920 1,522,600 Strickland Jan. 13, 1925 1,620,841 Vance Mar. 15, 1927 1,708,588 Proctor Apr. 9, 1929 1,791,336 Warshaw Feb. 3, 1931 1,921,222 De Lamar Aug. 8, 1933 2,096,958 Clerc Oct. 26, 1937 2,182,681 Seibel Dec. 5, 1939 2,345,650 Attwoo-d Apr. 4, 1944 2,635,762 Shaw Apr. 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 697,641 Great Britain Sept. 30, 1953