Cantilevered shelf and supporting means

• US 4,250,815 A
• Filed: 08/04/1978
• Issued: 02/17/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: White Consolidated Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: White Consolidated Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Swanson, Richard H.
• Primary Examiner(s): McCall, James T.
• Application Number:
  US05/931,101
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 108/108, 108/107, 108/106, 108/152, 108/144, 211/190, 211/193, 211/182, 211/208, 211/175, 211/153, 211/187, 211/149, 248/243, 248/73, 248/221.4, 248/222.2, 312/306, 312/281
• US Class Current: 108/108
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 57/10 the grooved or notched parts being the side walls or uprights themselves
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 5/13 made of tubes or wire assemblies of elements of the same kind, e.g. stackable, A47B87/00

Abstract

An easily mountable and repositionable cantilevered shelf supported from the rear wall of a commercial refrigerator or freezer cabinet on two vertical support members secured inside on the rear wall. Each support member has longitudinal flanges projecting forward from an elongate vertical base fastened to the rear wall and formed with front channels facing toward the base part, opposed flanges of the channels of the two support members having notches along their length. Shelves are made from rod and wire construction with a solid cross bar across the rear upper shelf edge. The ends of the cross bar project laterally as short trunnions and hook into matched pairs of notches in the facing channel flanges of each support. Rearwardly projected lower rods incline downwardly and rearwardly on each side of the shelf and their ends abut against the mid-portions of the support channels so the shelf can be fulcrumed about the abutments to lock the trunnion ends of the cross bar into the associated, rearward directed, facing notches.

Claims

1. A cantilevered shelf and support construction comprising:

at least one planar shelf means, with means rigid with the upper rear of said shelf means providing a short lateral trunnion like projection extending from adjacent each top rear corner of said shelf means and rearwardly disposed abutment means depending from the sides of said planar shelf means to a location below said projections and in front of a plane through the forward surface of said projections and perpendicular to the planar shelf means; and

at least a pair of parallel spaced apart vertically disposed elongate shelf support brackets secured to a vertical surface, each bracket having a front laterally projected portion facing and spaced forward from the vertical surface, the central portion of said lateral portion providing an elongate vertical abutment surface for an associated one of said shelf abutment means, the lateral portions of said pair of brackets facing each other and having their under portions provided with a plurality of matched, spaced apart, open ended slots opening toward and spaced from the vertical surface a distance greater than the cross-section dimension, in a fore and aft direction, of said projections;

said projections being received in a matched pair of said slots with said abutment means engaging associated said abutment surfaces, the projections being maintained in the slots by the downward force of said shelf means fulcrumed on said abutment means;

whereby said shelf means can be repositioned by upward tilting and rearward shifting of said shelf means to remove the projections from engagement with associated said slots and permitting vertical repositioning of the shelf means to a different location.

2. The construction as defined in claim 1, wherein each said bracket is made from sheet metal bent to form a flat mounting flange with a forwardly projecting support web which continues with additional bends to provide said lateral projected portion.

3. The construction as defined in claim 2, wherein said shelf means includes a U-shaped rod, said trunnion-like projections are end portions of a cross bar rigidly secured to the ends of said U-shaped rod with said end portions projected beyond the side legs of said U-shaped rod, and each said abutment means is a trussed beam construction made from rods secured to the legs of said U-shaped rod.

4. The construction as defined in claim 1, wherein said shelf means is made from a U-shaped rod, said trunnion-like projections are end portions of a cross bar rigidly secured to the ends of said U-shaped rod with said end portions projected beyond the side legs of said U-shaped rod.

5. The construction as defined in claim 4, wherein a plurality of spaced apart cross rods are rigidly secured between the legs of said U-shaped rod and wherein a grid constituting a plurality of wire rods secured to the top of said shelf rods provides a support surface for said shelf means.

6. The construction as defined in claim 4, wherein a second U-shaped rod is spaced below said first named U-shaped rod and means rigidly secure the front and side leg portions of both U-shaped rods to each other, the rear portions of said second U-shaped rod being bent at a downward and slightly outward inclination and terminating in abutment ends and comprising said abutment means.

7. The construction as defined in claim 6, wherein short upright rods are rigidly secured between said rear portions and said legs of the first named U-shaped rod to provide a truss beam construction of said abutment means.

8. The construction as defined in claim 7, wherein the terminal ends of said first named upper U-shaped rods are bent to form short upright lugs and said cross bar rests against and is rigidly secured to said upright lugs.

9. The construction as defined in claim 8, wherein at least one cross rod means rigidly joins the end portions of the side legs of said first named U-shaped member and means rigidly join said cross bar and said cross rod means.

10. The construction as defined in claim 1, wherein said shelf means comprises a rectangular arrangement of rod means with front, back and side rod portions, said trunnion-like projections are end portions of a cross bar rigidly secured to the rear part of said side rod portion and to said back rod portion with the said end portions of the cross bar projected beyond the side rod portions, and each said abutment means comprises a trussed beam construction made from rods including part of said side rod portions.

11. The construction as defined in claim 1, wherein said vertical surface is the rear wall of a commercial refrigeration equipment cabinet, and a plurality of said shelves are included on at least one pair of said shelf support brackets.

12. A construction as defined in claim 11, wherein at least two side-by-side sets of vertical shelves are provided and each set of shelves include a pair of said shelf support brackets, the intermediate two shelf support brackets are constructed of two of said shelf support brackets disposed in complementary side-by-side disposition and means, rigidly join said two side-by-side support brackets.

13. A construction as defined in claim 1, wherein said abutment means depending from the rear side edges of said planar shelf means have terminal abutment portions disposed laterally outward from the sides of said shelf means;

each laterally projected portion of each bracket comprising a front channel shaped portion, the channel facing and spaced forward from the vertical surface, the central portion of said channel providing said elongate vertical abutment surface for an associated one of said shelf abutment means and the channel flange portions of said pair of brackets which face each other being provided with said plurality of matched, spaced apart, open ended slots.

14. The construction as defined in claim 13, wherein each said bracket is made from sheet metal bent to form a flat mounting flange with a forwardly projecting support web which continues with additional bends to provide said channel shaped portion.

15. The construction as defined in claim 14, wherein said shelf means includes a U-shaped rod, said trunnion-like projections are end portions of a cross bar rigidly secured to the ends of said U-shaped rod with said end portions projected beyond the side legs of said U-shaped rod, and each said abutment means is trussed beam construction made from rods secured to the legs of said U-shaped rod and the ends of rods constitute said terminal abutment portions.

20. The construction as defined in claim 4, wherein the terminal ends of said U-shaped rod are bent to form short upright lugs and said cross bar rests against the front of said upright lugs.

16. Shelf support bracket construction, for use with a planar shelf having a short lateral trunnion-like projections extending from adjacent each top rear corner of the shelf and abutments depending from the rear side edges of the shelf means and disposed laterally outward from the sides of the shelf to a location below the projections, comprising:

an elongate shelf support bracket with a flat base flange, at least two of which are used to support a shelf and are adapted to be secured in parallel spaced apart vertical disposition to a vertical surface, each bracket having a front laterally projected portion facing and spaced forward from the vertical surface, the central portion of said lateral portion providing an elongate vertical abutment surface for an associated one of the shelf abutment means, the lateral portions of said bracket having its under portion provided with a plurality of spaced apart, open ended slots opening toward and spaced from said flat flange a distance greater than the cross-section dimension, in a fore and aft direction, of the shelf projection.

17. The construction as defined in claim 16, wherein each said bracket is made from sheet metal bent to form a flat mounting flange with a forwardly projecting support web which continues with additional bends to provide said lateral projected portion.

18. The construction as defined in claim 16, wherein a combination two shelf support bracket is constructed of two of said shelf support brackets disposed in complementary side-by-side disposition and means, rigidly join said two side-by-side support brackets.

19. The construction as defined in claim 18, wherein each said bracket is made from sheet metal bent to form a flat mounting flange with a forwardly projecting support web which continues with additional bends to provide said lateral projected portion, and said support webs are adjacent and parallel to one another and the means which rigidly secure said brackets are secured to said support webs.