US20040035335A1

US20040035335A1 - Adjustable rack

Info

Publication number: US20040035335A1
Application number: US10/227,898
Authority: US
Inventors: Wen-Shan Ko
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-08-26
Filing date: 2002-08-26
Publication date: 2004-02-26
Also published as: GB0221462D0; GB2392823A; DE20213705U1; FR2844163B3; FR2844163A3

Abstract

An adjustable rack is composed of two opposite vertical supports, multiple shelves and multiple securing members. The opposite ends of the shelves respectively are slidably mounted on the vertical supports. The securing members are detachably and selectively fastened in opposite vertical supports to support the corresponding shelves at the desired positions, whereby distances between adjacent shelves are adjustable.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adjustable rack, and more particularly to an adjustable rack in which the distance between adjacent shelves of the rack can be conveniently adjusted to give the rack excellent flexibility for holding objects.

2. Description of Related Art

How and where to store articles of daily use in an orderly manner is always an important consideration, especially for people who live in small houses or apartments. A rack having multiple shelves is always a help to people for storing articles of daily use to efficiently use available living space. Conventional racks usually have multiple shelves or boxes vertically stacked together and multiple rods extending between adjacent shelves or boxes to support the whole rack. The rods are always the same size to limit production cost so that the distance between two adjacent shelves or boxes is the same. However, different types of objects cannot be efficiently stored on such racks. For example, if the objects have heights larger than the distance between two adjacent shelves, the objects cannot be stored upright on the rack. On the other hand, a lot of space is wasted if the objects have heights much smaller than the distance between two adjacent shelves.

Therefore, the present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the drawbacks of the conventional rack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide an adjustable rack, which has multiple shelves movably and selectively secured on two support rods by multiple securing members whereby distances between adjacent shelves are adjustable.

Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an adjustable rack in accordance with the present invention; [0008]
FIG. 2 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of a securing member and a support rod of the adjustable rack in FIG. 1; [0009]
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the support rod of the rack in FIG. 1; [0010]
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the mounting-bar and the support rod of the rack in FIG. 3; [0011]
FIG. 5 is an operational perspective view of the mounting-bar of the adjustable rack in FIG. 1; and [0012]
FIG. 6 is an operational perspective view of the adjustable rack in FIG. 1 in use.[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an adjustable rack is composed of two vertical supports ([0014] 10), multiple shelves (20), and multiple securing members (30).
Each vertical support ([0015] 10) has a foot (12), two support rods (11) with top and bottom ends and a top frame (13). The bottom end of each support rod (11) is connected to the corresponding foot (12), and each support rod (11) extends up from the foot (12). The top frame (13) is mounted on the top ends of the support rods (11) of each vertical support (10) to keep the two support rods (11) parallel to each other. Each support rod (11) is a hollow tube with an inner and outer periphery and has a rectangular chamber (110) longitudinally formed in the support rod (11). A slot (113) with two edges is longitudinally defined in the support rod (11) in communication with the rectangular chamber (110). A guide track (112) with a shoulder (111) is defined on the outer periphery of the support rod (11) at the edges of the slot (113).
Each shelf ([0016] 20) is a flat plate having two ends and is movably attached to and between the two vertical supports (10). Multiple holes (not numbered) are defined through each shelf (20), and two mounting-bars (21) are respectively formed at opposite ends. With further reference to FIG. 3, each mounting-bar (21) has two ends, a bottom and a top. A hole (210) is defined in each end of each mounting-bar (21) to correspond to the support rod (11), and a recess (211) is defined in the bottom of the mounting-bar (21) corresponding to the holes (210) to hold the securing members (30).
Each securing member ([0017] 30) is composed of a slide (31), a retaining block (33) and a fastening element. The slide (31) is slidably mounted in the chamber (110) in the support rod (11) and has a rectangular flat head (311) abutting an inner face of the chamber (110). The head (311) has an inner and outer flat surface. A U-shaped plate (312) has two arms and a span between the arms. The span is attached to the outer surface of the flat head (311) so the arms are facing the retaining block (33). A threaded rod (32) is attached to and extends from the span through the slot (113) of the support rod (11). Each arm of the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm contacts to the guide track (112) of the support rod (11). The retaining block (33) is partially received in the guide track (112) and has a hole (331) axially defined in the retaining block (33) to correspond to the threaded rod (32). To assemble the securing member (30), the threaded rod (32) passes through the hole (331) in the retaining block (33) and then is firmly held in place by a fastening element such as a nut (34).
With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the slide ([0018] 31) is mounted in the chamber (110) in the support rod (11), and the retaining block (33) is attached to the slide (31) by the fastening element, such as the nut (34). The fastening element is screwed onto the threaded rod (32) toward the support rod (11) to compress the retaining block (33) in the guide track (111) and pull the slide (31) firmly against the side of the chamber (110) to hold the securing member (30) in a desired position in the support rod (11). When the securing members (30) are fastened to the support rod (11), each mounting-bar (21) on the shelf (20) rests on the corresponding fastened securing members (30), wherein the recess (211) in the mounting-bar (21) accommodates the entire exposed portion of the securing element (30) inside to present a good appearance.
With reference to FIGS. [0019] 4 to 6, the securing elements (30) can be conveniently released from the support rods (11) and re-fastened at any desired position. Therefore, users are able to adjust distances between adjacent shelves (20) to correspond to heights of objects to be stored.
Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. [0020]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable rack comprising:

two opposite vertical supports (10) adapted to stand on the ground, each vertical support (10) having two parallel support rods (11) with an inner and outer periphery and each support rod (11) having:

a chamber (110) longitudinally formed inside the support rod (11);

a slot ( 111) with two edges longitudinally defined in the support rod ( 11) and in communication with the chamber (110); and

a guide track (113) with a shoulder (111) longitudinally defined in the outer periphery of the support rod (11) on each edge of the slot ( 111);

multiple shelves (20), each shelf (20) having two ends and two mounting-bars (21) respectively formed at opposite ends of the shelf (20), each mounting-bar (21) having two holes (210) defined in the mounting-bar (21) to correspond to the support rods (11); and

multiple securing members (30) detachably secured in the support rods (11) and supporting the shelves (20) on the adjustable rack, each securing member (30) comprising:

a slide (31) movably mounted in the chamber (110) in the corresponding one of the support rods ( 11) and having a threaded rod (32) formed on the slide (31) to extend out of the corresponding support rod (11) via the slot (113) in the corresponding support rod (11);

a retaining block (33) partially mounted in the guide track (113) and having a hole (331) axially defined in the retaining block (33) to correspond to the threaded rod (32); and

a fastening element detachably connected to the threaded rod (32) to push the retaining block (33) against the corresponding support rod (11).

2. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each vertical support (10) further has a foot (12) for holding the two support rods (11) erect; and

a top frame (13) mounted on the support rods (11) of each vertical support (10) to keep the two support rods (11) parallel to each other.

3. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each mounting-bar (21) has a bottom and a recess (211) defined in the bottom of the mounting-bar (21) to hold at least one of the securing members (30) on the support rods (11) of the corresponding one of the vertical support (10).

4. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein each mounting-bar (21) has a bottom and a recess (211) defined in the bottom of the mounting-bar (21) to hold at least one of the securing members (30) on the support rods (11) of the corresponding one of the vertical support (10).

5. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each slide (31) further has a rectangular flat head (311 ) in contact with an inner face of the chamber (110);

a U-shaped plate (312) with two arms and a span between the arms is attached to the flat head (311) at an outer face of the span, wherein the arms are facing the retaining block (33).

6. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein each slide (31) further has a rectangular flat head (311) in contact with an inner face of the chamber (110);

7. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 4, wherein each slide (31) further has a rectangular flat head (311) in contact with an inner face of the chamber (110);

8. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 5, wherein each arm of the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm contacts the support rod (11).

9. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 6, wherein each arm of the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm contacts the support rod (11).

10. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 7, wherein each arm of the U-shaped plate (312) further has a toothed edge (310) to improve the effectiveness of positioning the arm when the arm contacts the support rod (11).

11. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastening element is a nut (34).

12. The adjustable rack as claimed in claim 10, wherein the fastening element is a nut (34).