SETTABLE LUGS FOR CLIMBING RACKS

• US 3,833,090 A
• Filed: 08/29/1973
• Issued: 09/03/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rodney A. Georgianna
• Original Assignee: Rodney A. Georgianna
• Inventors: Georgianna, Rodney A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Machado, Reinaldo P.
• Application Number:
  US05/392,435
• Time in Patent Office: 370 Days
• Field of Search: 182/92 248/243
• US Class Current: 182/92
• CPC Class Codes: E06C 9/04 in the form of climbing irons or the like built-in climbing irons for poles A63B27/00; built-in climbing devices as construction element E04F11/00

Abstract

Warehouse racks are commonly provided which include upright posts of sheet metal having numerous slots in their faces and sides for the reception of longitudinally extending and transversely extending shelf supporting bars. The shelves may be located at various heights up to 8 feet or even more for the temporary storage of merchandise. Fork lifts are generally used for placing merchandise on the higher storage shelves and for transferring the merchandise from higher to lower shelves. Merchandise is generally withdrawn from the lower shelves for filling orders with the aid of manually propelled or automotive vehicles. There are many instances, however, where merchandise, particularly on the lower shelves, could be more conveniently withdrawn if provision is made for enabling a stock clerk to climb the rack, at least, partway, and manually transfer merchandise, either directly or through an associate, from the rack to such a vehicle. To this end, the present invention provides lugs which can be transferably applied to the racks to serve usefully as steps and/or hand-holds as convenience may require. The lugs provided are desirably sufficiently numerous to avoid the need for frequent transference of lugs from one location to another.

Claims

1. An integral, safety climbing lug adapted for selfmaintaining, stable but readily removable application to the front wall of an upstanding sheet metal storage rack post, in which wall pairs of complementary, laterally spaced, upstanding slots are present at numerous common levels, said lug comprising, in combination, a. a horizontal loop of greater width than depth from front to rear, the side and front portions of which loop form a combined tread and hand-hold, and the rear portion of which provides a flat vertical rear surface of substantial height and of substantially greater width than height, and b. a pair of laterally spaced, lug supporting and stabilizing finger portions which have forward faces that are offset rearwardly from the rear wall of the loop by substantially the thickness of the post wall, extend upward from the rear wall of the loop for substantial distances beyond the upper surface of the combined thread and hand-hold, and have notches in their lower ends adjacent to the rear wall of the loop, which correspond in width to the thickness of the post wall, the finger portions being constructed and arranged to be inserted from front to rear through the respective rack post slots of an associated pair and to bear stably at their upper free ends against extensive rear surface portions of said rack post wall which lie above the upper ends of the slots through which the fingers have been inserted, and the loop portion being constructed and arranged, when the finger portions have been so inserted, to have its rear face bear extensively and stably against a fornt surface portion of the rack post.

2. A lug as set forth in claim 1 in which the loop portion of the applied lug normally extends horizontally and is relatively massive and the finger portions are relatively light and are urged upward and forward by the weight of the loop portion.

3. A lug as set forth in claim 1 in which the rear face of the loop is constructed and arranged to bear against the front surface of the rack post both above and below the horizontal plane in which lug support is provided by the notched lower ends of the fingers, and laterally both between and beyond the fingers.