US852975A - Shelf-bracket. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTBD MAY '7, 1907.

J. H. MORGAN. SHELF BRACKET. APPLICATION FILED MA 20, 190a.

cn., WASHINGTON. n. c.

NITE STATES PATENT FFTOE.

STAMPING COMPANY, LIMITED, OF LONDON,

TION OF ENGLAND.

ENGLAND, A CORPORA SHELF-BRACKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented May '7, 1907.

Application filed March 20,1906. Serial No. 307.028.

T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HENRY MORGAN, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at The Grange, Harlow Oval, Harrogate, in the county of York, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shelf-Brackets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in brackets used for supporting shelves and for like purposes for which such brackets are employed.

Hitherto brackets formed out of rectangular shaped pieces of metal have been liable to break at the angle or corner where they are bent at a right angle, to form wall and shelf plates, hereafter termed vertical and. horizontal arms. The outer portions of the web or strengthening ribs in such brackets have hitherto been made parallel with the flanged surfaces of the horizontal and vertical arms of the bracket, and at the point where the two portions of the web or strengthening rib overlap each other a single rivet has been employed to prevent the portions that overlap each other splaying outward. The said rivet in practice acts as a fulcrum, and permits the horizontal arm to move when a shelf or other weight is placed upon it, thereby causing the outer portions of the overlapping web at their point of contact with the flange portions of the vertical arm to turn outward, and to allow the bracket to collapse. To prevent this collapsing of the brackets braces arranged in various ways have been used. The braces are not only difficult to fix in po sition, but they add to the weight of the bracket and make it more cumbersome to handle and pack. Further, the brace is frequently in the way when shelves are arranged one above the other, and of the goods or articles placed thereon.

The object of this invention is to construct or form ashelf bracket by stamping and bending out of a suitable shaped. single piece or blank of sheet metal of an elongated diamond shape; or the bracket may be formed out of a blank after its wall and shelf plates with their flat flanges and closed strengthening webs or ribs have been formed. The said flat flanges are afterward respectively made to taper whereby they assume the form of an elongated diamond shape. Brackets so constructed are light and perfectly strong, and

the use of a brace is dispensed with, and the closed web or rib of the bracket is made to perform the functions of both brace and web.

This object is achieved by forming the web or strengthening rib to taper from the outer end of the horizontal arm of the bracket to the upper portion of the vertical arm, and the said web or rib of the vertical arm is made in a like manner to taper from its lower end to where it comes in contact with the horizontal arm. The web or rib is provided with a flat horizontal flange on each side thereof. By this means the two portions of the web or rib,hereafter termed the tapering web, are the broadest at the point where the two portions of the said web overlap each other, and they are made of a sufficient breadth to provide sufficient space to permit of at least two rivets passing through them,instead of one or four as hitherto ,for retaining the said horizontal arm rigidly in position whenever a great weight is placed upon the shelf. The brackets as hereinafter described can be produced at a very small cost, and permit in the case of shelves being placed one above the other of the articles or boXes being packed in entire continuity throughout the length of the lower shelf, as there is no brace to come in contact with them and prevent it being packed into the space occupied by such brace without breaking the line of packing.

It will readily be understood that a bracket with tapering flanges and a tapering web may be constructed out of a rectangular shaped blank by first stamping the web and flanges and afterward cutting or trimming the latter to the shape shown in the drawings. But this method would involve a great waste of material.

In the drawings hereunto annexed are illustrated a bracket constructed according to this invention.

Figure I. is a side elevation of a bracket provided with arms having tapering flanges and a tapering web. Fig. 2. a plan of the same. Fig. 3. an enlarged transverse elevation on lines 1, 2, Fig. 1, Fig. 4. is a plan of an elongated diamond shape blank of sheet metal drawn to the same scale as Fig. 1. out of which the bracket with arms having tapering flanges and web, is formed. ig. 5. a longitudinal elevation of the same blank nature undergoing the first operation for forming the tapering web. Fig. 6. a sectional bent.

elevation on line 3, 4, Fig. 5. Fig. 7. a transverse section of one operation. Fig. 8. a longitudinal elevation of the blank after it has undergone the second and third operations for forming the tapering flanges and shearing the tapering web at the point at which it is Fig. 9. a sectional elevation on lines 5, 6 Fig. 8. Fig. 10. a plan of the blank as it appears when ready for the bending operatlon.

To form a bracket with vertical and hori zontal arms having flat tapering flanges projecting from each side of and provided with a tapering closed preferred to use a flat elongated diamond shaped blank a of sheet metal, such as shown at Fig. 4, is employed which has been previously,-but not necessarily so,---cut to shape by any ordinary and suitable means. The length and width-at its widest and narrowest points, and the thickness of the blank will vary according to circumstances, but when made, say, of about 18 inches long by about 3 inches wide at its broadest point, and about an inch wide at the narrowest point, and of a thickness of, say, 20 wire gage, satisfactory results may be obtained. Or a rectangular shaped blank may be used, and cut to the shape shown at Fig. 4. after the stamping operation for forming the web and flanges has taken place.

In some cases it is found preferable,-but .not necessarily so,--to cut or otherwise form a T shaped slot b at a suitable distance from the ends of the blank. Or the said slot may be cut in the web and the flat flanges formed. The vertical portion 1) of the said slot,as shown at Fig. 4.,-is about one thirty-second of an inch in width, and in length it extends to the dotted lines a (1 so as to leave a margin for forming the flat tapering flanges 6(Fig. 4) of the bracket. The width and length of the horizontal portion 6 (as shown at Fig. 4) of the slot is made to correspond with the thickness and depth of the tapering web f so that the latter will fit therein and rest thereon. The blank when the T shaped slot has been formed therein is then,by meansof stainping,-folded in a lengthwise direction in dies, say, along the lines g, 71, (Fig. 4) to form the closed tapering web f, as shown at Fig. 5. The lower portion of each side of the tapering web f is afterward bent outward, as shown at Fig. 9, along the dotted lines 0, cl, to form the flat tapering flanges upon which the shelf'i (shown in dotted lines at Fig. 1) rests.

Instead of forming or bending the elon-- gated diamond shaped blank as herein described, in some cases it will be found more advantageous to stamp the blank in dies centrally and longitudinally in the shape of a V with the portions forming the tapering flanges e arranged to project horizontally on each side of the V, as shown at Fig. 7. The V portion is afterward closed or squeezed toweb, as shown at Fig. 4, it is gether by any suitable means until it as sumes the form shown at Fig. 6. It will readily be understood that when this latter process is employed, the elongated diamond shaped blank (1 is first made to assume the V shape, or it may be folded double in the first instance by stamping in dies at or aboutthe center of the blank along the dotted lines g, h, (Fig. 4) to form the tapering web f. When the doubling process is first done the tapering flanges would afterward be turned outward at a right angle. The vertical slit 1) is first out prior to the doubling process taking place, afterward the horizontal slit b is formed by removing a portion from. one part of the tapering web to form the step b as shown at Fig. 8. Or when the T slot is first formed then such slot is out while the blank is flat, as previously described.

The blank having the tapering web f and flanges 6 formed by any of the above described methods, the left hand portion Z (Fig. 10) of the blank is then bent or turned at a right angle at or about the dotted lines 1c, 76, (Fig. 5) to form the horizontal arm of the bracket. arms of the bracket, respectively, form the wall and shelf plates. When the blank has been so bent or turned the web of the said right hand portion will then rest or repose in the slightly opened out ends of the slot 6 or recess formed at b by removing a portion of The vertical and horizontal v the web, and it will be supported by the base of the slot thus formed. and by thevertical rear ends of the tapering web of the horizontal arm of the bracket impinging upon the front face of the tapering flanges of the vertical arm. At the same time the upper horizontal ends of the tapering web of the vertical arm of the bracket are then inclosed with in the said slot which do not project above the tapering flanges of the said horizontal arm. The two portions of the tapering web f at the point where they overlap are at the widest part of the two portions of the tapering web so that the overlapping portion forms a stay which is secured to the broadest part of the tapering web of the vertical arms and the two parts are fastened together byat least two rivets m which not only prevent any movement of the two arms,when bent and secured in position,taking place, but i they also act as transverse strengthening pieces, and at the same time assist in preventing any breaking of the material forming the flat tapering of the flanges at the corner 71. A bracket thus formed, owing to its flanges and its closed web portions being made to taper in the direction of their length and away from each of the outer ends of the bracket, will resist all pressure arising from leverage and torsional strain without the use of any additional braces. Holes j'are punched in the flanges for enabling it to be secured in position by screws or nails as may be desired.

I am aware that the specification of a prior patent shows and describes a sheet metal bracket formed out of a single piece of sheet metal comprising arms bent at a right angle to each other and with a round corner at the point of juncture, a tapering base to the strengthening web or rib and a rearwardly bent reinforcing flange extending entirely round the arms of the bracket, and the same is hereby disclaimed.

I claim as my invention A sheet metal bracket formed from a single elongated diamond shaped blank of which a tapering strengthening web is first formed by a longitudinal fold of the metal, the tapering portions of the web being arranged to terminate at a transverse slit and a recess formed in one portion of the upper surface of the said web by removing a portion thereof, a flat tapering flange formed out of the blank on each of each of the said flanges over at a sharp angle to the other portion for enabling the web connected to the bent over flanges to overlap the top of the web on the other portion and the portions of the web to be afterward closed together, and its ends to impinge upon the outer surfaces of the vertical flanges, and the means comprising two strengthening rivets passing transversely through the widest portions of the web for preventing any movement of the horizontal arm when a plate is placed upon its upper surface as set forth.

JOHN HENRY MORGAN. As witnesses: l/VILLIAM SADLER, ANNIE PARK.

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