GB2117228A - Improvements relating to shelf storage systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A shelf storage system can be built up in units, modular fashion, from a few basic elements. Side walls (1) have an array of horizontal ribs (4) on each side to receive the downturned lateral flanges (15) of shelves (2). These can be slid into position from the front, selecting any pair of opposed ribs, and they act as spacers for the walls. A rear wall (3) spans the side walls to act as an abutment for the shelves, and the uppermost one is secured to this wall to make it captive. Further units can be added to either side, using one extra side wall and a set of shelves, and the system can also be expanded vertically, with further side walls fitting on top of the existing ones. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to shelf storage systems This invention relates to shelf storage systems.

It is concerned with a modular system which can be built up from a very few basic elements into almost any size and shape, and which allows the number and spacing of the shelves to be varied considerably. It is aimed primarily for the storage of paper in the shape of leaflets, files or other documents which are best kept in some ordered structure. It may be used, for example, for an internal filing system, or for dispensing leaflets of many different kinds.

Most products have some sort of information or advertising leaflet associated with them, and therefore retailers tend to have a very considerable stock of these which the manufacturers supply in the hope that they will be made available to the public. There is seldom room enough to spread them all out in separate trays, and if left in mixed heaps, they soon become disordered. It is therefore desirable to have some form of dispenser which can readily identify the product on which there is a leaflet and enable the customer to take such a leaflet without difficulty.

It should also cater for very different amounts of any leaflet; for some products there have to be a great number available; for others just a few will suffice.

According to the present invention there is provided a shelf storage system including a pair of matching upright lateral supports and a plurality of shelves spanning them, each support having, on each side, a parallel array of horizontal guide means which receive edge portions of the shelves, the shelves being slidable horizontally into position between the supports, and the cooperation between their edge portions and the guides being such that the shelves also act as spacers to maintain the supports in position.

To extend this system, there may be one or more further supports, and a set of shelves for each such further one. Each further support will be addable to the side of the existing assembly using the associated set of shelves to expand that assembly laterally.

The supports may also have complementary upper and lower edges whereby any support can be located directly on another. Thus, the assembly can also be built up vertically.

Conveniently, the edge portions of the shelves are downturned flanges, and the guide means are channels formed by L-shaped ribs on the sides of the supports. Above each channel there will generally be a rib or projecting formation to prevent the edge portions of the shelves lifting clear of the guide means.

Each shelf will preferably have a downwardly inclined front edge portion which will serve as a handle by which the shelf can be slid into position or removed, and which can also carry labelling to identify what is stored on that shelf.

A rear wall will normally span each pair of supports, with a mortice and tenon-type interengagement. Each support preferably has two rear wall engaging formations, one for engaging one rear wall and the other for engaging another rear wall of a support/shelf assembly added to one side, the rear walls thereby being interconnected.

There may also be means for securing together the rear wall and at least one of the shelves. The latter may be provided with spring catches for positive engagement with the rear wall, but generally this will be adapted to be engaged positively only by a shelf at the uppermost position.

For a better understanding of the invention one embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of part of a shelf storage system made up from a number of shelf units, Figure 2 is a face view of a side wall forming part of a unit, Figure 3 is a front end elevation of the wall of Figure 2, Figure 4 is a plan view of the wall of Figure 2, Figure 5 shows at A and B vertical sections on the lines AA and BB of Figure 2, Figure 6 is a face view of a rear wall for a unit, Figure 7 is a side view of the wall of Figure 6, Figure 8 is a plan view of the wall of Figure 6, Figure 9 is a plan view of a shelf for the storage system, Figure 10 is a side view of the shelf, Figure 11 is a section on the line Xl-Xl of Figure 9, and Figure 12 is a section, to an enlarged scale, on the line XIl-XlI of Figure 9, with additional elements.

The storage system is built up from a number of shelf units, two of which are shown back-to-back in Figure 1. Each unit has two side walls 1, a number of shelves 2, and a rear wall 3, but the system is expandable laterally so that one side wall is common to two adjacent units. Thus, to add one unit to the side of an existing one, only one extra side wall and one set of shelves is required to make two units. This lateral expansion is indicated in outline in Figure 1. The system can also be expanded by building vertically, as also indicated by broken lines in Figure 1. When the back-to-back arrangement is used, the rear wall 3 is common to both units and provides means for holding them together.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 5, each side wall 1 is of generally rectangular form and has an array of horizontal ribs 4 on each side for supporting the shelves 2. This version is designed for injection moulding, and partly due to that it has rows and coiumns of rectangular windows 5. The ribs 4 centrally span these windows along each horizontal row, and over the greater part of each span the combined ribs develop into a T-section 6.

The cross member of each T is in a vertical plane and they alternate from one side to the other along the row, as best seen from Figures 2 and 5.

Thus when viewed laterally the windows appear almost completely filled in. These T-sections 6 form interrupted channels, the upwardly facing ones of which form guide and support means for the shelves. The lower edge of each T-section 6 provides a stop which resists a shelf supported on the ribs 4 immediately below lifting clear.

Along the top edge, each wall 1 has a T-section formation 7, and along the bottom the lower edge of each T-section 6 has an inturned flange 8 so that, when viewed from the end as in Figure 3, there appears to be a T-section channel complementary to the formation 7. This arrangement allows another similar wall to be slid longitudinally into positive engagement on top of or below the existing wall to build up the system vertically. At each end of the wall 1 there are two shallow rectangular projections 9 which serve as tenons in joining the wall to other members of the storage system.

Referring now to Figures 6 to 8, the rear wall 3 is also generally rectangular and has rows and columns of rectangular windows 10. In this version, it is designed to serve two units one on top of the other. At each vertical edge, there are two pairs of back-to-back rectangular sockets 11, those on one edge being staggered with respect to those on the other. These sockets are on spaced rectangular projections 1 2 co-planar with the main body of the walls 3 and they present in either face view of the wall a narrow rectangular vertical slot. They receive the tenons 9 at the rear end of a side wall 1, the fit being such that the wall can be pressed home manually and can be likewise pulled away, but in ordinary use the assembly will remain unitary.

When a double-tier unit (one rear wall and four side walls) is being constructed, for each side wall 1 one of its rear tenons 9 will engage a socket 11, while the other one will remain free. However, if lateral expansion is carried out, the new adjacent rear wall 3 will have its projections 1 2 interleaved with those of the standing unit, and the hitherto free tenons will plug into sockets 11 of the new rear wall.

it will be understood that a smaller rear wall, for a single unit can be constructed on the same principles.

The shelves 3 will be uniform, and one preferred construction is shown in Figures 9 to 12.

Each is rectangular in plan, and along the side and rear edges there is an upstanding flange 13. This will keep papers on the shelf when it is removed, and also confine them in position when the shelf is housed in a unit. The front edge portion 14 is downwardly sloping and its ends join to lateral flanges 1 5 which are downwardly extending and proud of the flanges 13. The front edge portion 14 provides means for withdrawing a shelf from a unit, fingers placed under that portion being afforded a grip by which the shelf can be pulled forward. At the centre, there is a slightly recessed rectangle 1 6 to receive labels which will identify what that shelf holds. At the rear, there are pairs of projecting barbs or catches 1 7 which can snap into engagement with the rear wall 3, as described below.It will be seen that they are not symmetrical with respect to the centre line of the shelf, so that if the rear wall 3 is doing double duty, a shelf entered at the same level from the unit backing the one with the present shelf will not interfere with the latter's barbs.

This shelf, also being designed for injection moulding, has a matrix of windows 1 8 over its rear two thirds portion, and is suitable for storage of paper. However, completely imperforate shelves may be provided, these being necessary if small items are to be carried.

The barbs 17 can be integrally formed with the main body of the shelf. The rear wall 3 may be designed not as shown in Figure 6 but with narrow horizontal slots at levels corresponding to the ribs 4 so that the barbs will snap through them and co-operate with both upper and lower edges.

This will keep each shelf absolutely firm. However, release is then difficult, particularly with a back-toback arrangement. Therefore it will be preferred to have the large window arrangement of Figure 6 except at the top (and possibly also at the bottom) where there will be narrow slots to receive the barbs of the uppermost (and lowest) shelf. Those of the other shelves will extend freely through the windows.

The assembly of a unit will be evident from the drawings. Side walls are plugged into a rear wall, and that in itself will create a stable structure. The uppermost shelf is slid in from the front, being supported on the ribs 4 by its flanges 1 5 which engage in the interrupted channels. Once this is pushed home and the barbs 1 7 snap into engagement with the rear wall 3, the side walls will be held truly parallel and extra stability is achieved. Further shelves are added in the same way as required. There is no need to use every opposed pair of ribs; in some circumstances greater shelf spacing may be required. Building vertically requires, for each unit, a pair of side walls, a rear wall (if a double one is not used for the first unit) and a set of shelves, while building back-to-back needs just the side walls and shelves.

To add a unit to one side, a further rear wall 3 is provided, and arranged as described above so that one set of projections 1 2 interleaves with the projections 12 on the standing unit and the free tenons 9 plug into the associated sockets 11. One extra side wall is plugged into one of the sockets 11 on the free pair of projections 12, and shelves are slid in as required, using the new wall and the hitherto unused ribs 4 on the outside of the adjacent wall of the standing unit.

The shelves may be required for storage of articles other than leaflets or sheets of paper; for example they may be used for collections of specimens, such as coins or butterflies. It is advisable to have these covered by glass or "perspex" (RTM) so that they can be viewed but not exposed. Figures 9 and 10 illustrate in broken lines a modification by which this can easily be achieved and Figure 1 2 shows a more detailed section. A shoulder 1 9 is formed on the inside of the flanges 13, providing a ledge on which three edges of a rectangular transparent plate can rest.

If complete enclosure is required, the front of the chamber thus formed may be blocked by a strip 20 just to the rear of the front edge portion 14, its ends abutting the inside of the side flanges 1 3.

Some specimens may need more vertical height than that afforded by the shoulder 1 9. In order to provide this, the flanges 1 3 may be built up by extension strips 21 as best seen in Figure 12. In cross-section, each extension is stepped along its lower edge to conform to the profile of the upper edge of the flange 1 3 and the shoulder 19, while along its upper edge it is similarly stepped on the other side to provide a profile matching that of the original flange. Thus, there is a higher shoulder 22 on which a glass plate can be rested. If necessary, more extensions can be placed on top of the first one to build up the shelf wall-to any desired height. Preferably the extension strips 21 are extrusions, with mitred ends for their junctions at the rear corners of the shelf.The strip 20 may also be adapted to be built up in a similar way. They may be glued in place, or some press stud interengagement may be provided, for example, if they do not remain in place without assistance.

It is also possible to mould the shelf with separate compartments (and without the windows 18) or to provide a drop-in grid which will divide a plain shelf into a compartmented one.

Instead of moulding the elements, other constructions may be preferred. In particular, the side walls may be extruded in plastics or metal, conveniently aluminium, the extrusion profile being that of Figure 3 for example. The rear wall attachment would then have to be different. For example it could use the rib formation, the rear ends of the ribs having a complementary fit with the vertical edge portions of the rear wall 3.

Alternatively, a groove could be cut down each side near the rear edge, locally interrupting the ribs, and a plain sheet serving as the rear wall 3 could then be dropped into this groove. The shelves 2 also may be of various different constructions. For example, they may be of sheet metal, with downturned side flanges and an upturned rear flange to abut the rear wall 3.

Provision could be made for securing this flange to that wall and so locking the assembly together.

If injection moulding is used, it will be preferred to have moulds for maximum sizes of side walls, rear walls and shelves, and to provide bolster sets whereby smaller elements for lesser sized units can be turned out without the need for entirely separate moulds.

Claims (13)

1. A shelf storage system including a pair of matching upright lateral supports and a plurality of shelves spanning them, each support having, on each side, a parallel array of horizontal guide means which receive edge portions of the shelves, the shelves being slidable horizontally into position between the supports, and the cooperation between their edge portions and the guides being such that the shelves also act as spacers to maintain the supports in position.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one further support and set of shelves is provided, the or each such support being addable to the side of the existing support/shelf assembly by the associated set of shelves.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the supports have complementary upper and lower edges whereby any support can be located directly on another.

4. A system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the edge portions of the shelves are downturned flanges and the guide means are channels formed by L-shaped ribs on the sides of the supports.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein above each channel there is a rib or projecting formation to prevent the edge portions of the shelves lifting clear of the guide means.

6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each shelf has a downwardly inclined front edge portion to serve as a handle.

7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a rear wall spans each pair of supports.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein each rear wall and pair of supports have mortice and tenon-type interengagement.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8 as appendent to claim 2, wherein each support has two rear wall engaging formations, one for engaging one rear wall and the other for engaging another rear wall of a support/shelf assembly added to one side, the rear walls thereby being interconnected.

10. A system as claimed in claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein there are means for securing together the rear wall and at least one of the shelves.

1 A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the shelves are provided with spring catches for positive engagement with the rear wall.

12. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rear wall is adapted to be engaged positively only by a shelf at the uppermost position.

13. A shelf storage system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.