US2994439A - Shelves - Google Patents

Description

L. B. KOLKEY Aug. 1, 1961 SHELVES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 12, 1959 INVENTOR. LEONARD 5. K0; K5)

ATTORNEY This invention pertains to new and improved shelves. More specifically it pertains to a type of movable shelf which is adapted to be mounted within an already existing shelf or the like.

Virtually every house is built so as to include a variety of cabinets, many of which are located immediately adjacent to a floor. Frequently such cabinets are comparatively difiicult to utilize to their fullest advantage because of the problem of getting material into and out of the shelves within them. As a result of this problem many kitchen shelves, such as, for example, shelves under a kitchen sink are not used to their maximum potential.

The present invention is aimed at providing a new and improved type of shelf construction which is intended to eliminate this problem. More specifically it is an object of the present invention to provide shelves which are adapted to be attached within already existing shelves, and which are designed so that a part of a shelf may be pulled out of the existing shelves in order to facilitate the use of the available storage space. A still more specific object of the present invention is to provide shelves of this category which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which are extremely efiicient in operation. Another object of the present invention is to provide shelves of this category which may be installled by virtually any individual with a minimum of difiiculty.

These and various other objectives of this invention will be fully apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains from a detailed consideration of the remainder of this description including the appended claim and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View of a shelf of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of this shelf;

FIG. 3 is a rear plan view of this shelf;

FIG. 4 is a front plan view of this shelf;

FIG. 5 is a side view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the manner in which this shelf is used;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken at line 66 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a partial side elevational view indicating the manner in which a shelf of this invention may be assembled during installation.

It is to be understood that the accompanying drawings are primarily intended to illustrate a presently preferred embodiment of this invention. Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will realize that the external appearance of a shelf of this invention may be modified in a number of ways in accordance with ordinary, routine engineering skill without changing the manner in which such a shelf is operated. They will further realize that the relative sizes of the various parts of the particular shelf illustrated may also be changed in accordance with routine engineering skill so as to adapt this shelf for use in varying locations.

As an aid to understanding this invention it can be stated in essentially summary form that the shelves herein described consist of two parts, a base and a carrier. Such a carrier may be termed a drawer because of its similarity to many conventional types of drawers or may be designated by other similar names. With the present invention the base is adapted to be attached to an appropriate supporting surface, such as, for example, the bottom of a shelf. This base includes what may be termed rail means which are engaged by various parts s tent Patented Aug. 1., 1961 of the carrier in such a manner that the carrier may he slid upon the base as may be desired in use.

This invention is best more fully explained by referring directly to the initial four figures of the accompanying drawing in which there is shown a complete shelf 10 of the present invention consisting of a base 12 and a carrier 14. This base 12 is of a generally rectangular shape and has parallel side rails 16 located adjacent to its top so as to extend generally between a rear brace 18 and a front brace 20. These braces 1-8 and 20 are located at the bottom of the complete base 12 and are adapted to be attached to a supporting surface 22 by means of screws 24 passing through brackets 26 attached to the braces 18 and 20. The supporting surface 22 may conveniently be an existing shelf of an type in virtually any location.

The brace 18 is attached to the rails 16 by means of small substantially vertical legs 28; the brace 20' is connected to the rails 16 by means of similar vertical extending legs 30 which are connected to adjacent ends of stop wires 32 formed as extensions of the rails 16. These wires 32 extend in the same substantially horizontal plane as the rails 16 at right angles to these rails. Thus, the wires 32 and the rails 1-6 are both spaced from the bottom of the base 12 and the supporting surface 22 during the use of a shelf 10 as herein described.

The carrier 14 is of essentially a basket-like shape, but preferably has parallel front and rear ends 34 and 36, respectively which differ from one another so that the front end 34 is shorter than the rear end 36. The ends 34 and 36 are connected by means of sloping parallel sides 38 and a bottom 40. This bottom 40 is positioned generally upon the rails 16 by means of carrier support rods 42 located adjacent to the rear end 36 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, but which are spaced from this rear end and from one another The support rods 42 are each provided with bent over ends 44 which extend vertically and which directly engage the outside edges of the rails 16 so as to insure proper alignment of the carrier 14 upon the base 12 at all times.

At the rear end 36 of the carrier 14 there is mounted a support bracket 46 which extends across this end 36 and which terminates in inturned ends 48 extending horizontally beneath the rails 16. These ends 4 8 are shorter than the stop wires 32 previously described. In the carrier 14 positioning bars 50 are secured to the support rods 42 so as to be parallel to the rails 16 and so as to be spaced upon these support rods 42 a distance from the rails 16 such that the positioning bars 50 will normally engage the stop wires 32 on full extension outwardly of the shelf 10. Preferably the positioning bars 50 are each provided with cam surfaces 52 located toward the rear end of the carrier 1-4. Because of their function as hereinafter explained the bars 50 can be termed stop means.

The use of the complete shelf 10 is essentially very simple. After the shelf 10 has been installed upon any supporting surface such as the surface 22 as explained, the carrier 14 may be pulled with respect to the base 12 to a position as shown in FIG. 5 of the drawing. In such a position the majority of the carrier 14 extends from the base 12, but the entire carrier 14 is securely held upon this base 12 by means of the rod 42 located adjacent to the front of the shelf 10 engaging the rails 16 and by means of the ends 48 of the support bracket 46 engaging the lower surfaces of the rails. These ends 48 may be considered stabilizing means since they prevent tipping of the carrier :14 by locking against the undersurface of the rails 16. Movement of the carrier 14 away from the base 12 beyond the position indicated in FIG. 5 of the drawing is prevented by means of the positioning bars 50 engaging the stop wires 32'. In order to return the carrier 14 to its initial position it is only necessary to push this carrier toward the back of the base 12 until such time as the ends 48 of the-support bracket 46 engage the legs 28. Thus, these legs 28 serve to stop or limit motion of the carrier 14, and hence may be termed stop means.

Whenever it is desired the carrier 14 may be disengaged from the base 12 by first moving the carrier to the position shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings and then lifting up slightly upon this carrier so that the positioning bars 50 clear the stop wires 32. At this point the carrier 14 may be slid further along the base 12 so as to become disengaged from it. The carrier 14 may be easily placed back in position upon this base 12, by simply locating the ends 48 of the support bracket 4-6 beneath the rails 16 while simultaneously locating the rest of the carrier above these rails. The cam surfaces 52 of the positioning bars 50 will engage the stop wires 32 so as to aid in sliding the carrier 14 back upon the base 12 during such reassembling. It will be realized that many of the parts of the base 12 and the carrier 14 may be manufactured out of either a single elongated wire or a plurality of wires, depending upon the desires of any particular manufacturer. It will also be realized that if desired, the principal parts of the carrier 14 may be formed out of any variety of materials besides wire. Thus this carrier 14 can be built so as to include a plastic basket or basin instead of the particular structure comprising the ends 34 and 36, the side 38 and the bottom 40 shown.

Because of the nature of this invention, it is to be considered as being limited only by the appended claim forming a part of this disclosure.

I claim:

A shelf construction which provides: a base adapted to be located on a horizontal surface, said base including a pair of horizontal parallel rails, each of said rails having a front end and a rear end, said rear ends being bent so as to extend vertically from said surface, said front ends being bent so as to include portions extending toward one another at right angles to the principal portions of said rails and being bent so as to have extremities extending vertically from said surface; a carrier including a pair of support rods extending across said rails, said support rods resting upon said rails, the ends of said support rods being bent so as to extend around the sides of said rails remote from one another, said support rods being spaced from one another and being capable of being moved past the portions of said front ends which extend toward one another and being capable of being moved off of said rails, and bars located on said carrier generally between said rails, said bars being spaced from said rails so as to engage said portions of said front ends which extend toward one another when said carrier is moved on said rails in a direction away from said rear ends of said rails, and means formed on said carrier for engaging said vertical ends of said rails when said carrier is moved toward said rear ends of said railsso as to limit motion of said carriers toward said rear end of said rails.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 461,375 Spaunhorst Oct. 13, 1891 1,074,796 Jones Oct. 7, 1913 1,974,983 Cook Sept. 25, 1934 2,033,792 Sywert Mar. 10, 1936 2,033,861 Otte Mar. 10, 1936 2,078,681 Otte Apr. 27, 1937 2,125,557 Goldman Aug. 2, 1 938

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