Storage rack shelving system

• US 5,160,051 A
• Filed: 08/03/1990
• Issued: 11/03/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: L&P Property Management Company (Leggett & Platt Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Leggett & Platt Incorporated
• Inventors: Bustos, Rafael T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin-Shue, Alvin C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PUROL, SARAH L
• Application Number:
  US07/562,476
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 211/187, 211/192, 211/135, 211/133, 211/153, 211/49.1, 211/59.2, 211/126, 108/107
• US Class Current: 211/59.2
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/12 dispensing from the side of an approximately horizontal stack A47F1/087 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 5/101 Display racks with slotted uprights

Abstract

A warehouse-style merchandising shelving system for displaying consumer products on gravity-feed shelves for retail sale which comprises a plurality of vertical corner posts arranged in pairs, side support bars extending front to rear between each of the pairs of corner posts, a plurality of pairs of crossbars each of which comprises a front crossbar and a rear crossbar, with each front crossbar extending between two of the front corner posts and each rear crossbar extending between two of the rear corner posts, a plurality of channel shaped sheet metal racks extending between and supported from each of the pairs of crossbars, with each of the channels having a downwardly and forwardly sloping bottom wall and a pair of side walls extending vertically from the bottom walls, and a low-friction slip-surface track located within each of the tracks.

Claims

1. A warehouse-style merchandising shelving system for displaying consumer products on gravity-feed shelves for retail sale, which system comprises

a plurality of vertical corner posts, each of said corner posts having a plurality of vertically and equidistantly spaced slots formed therein, said corner posts being arranged in pairs with a front one of each of said pairs of corner posts being located at the front of said shelving system and a rear one of each of said pairs of corner posts being located at the rear of said shelving system,

side support bars extending front to rear between each of said pairs of corner posts,

a plurality of pairs of crossbars, each of said pairs of crossbars comprising a front crossbar and a rear crossbar,

each front crossbar extending between two front corner posts, each of said front crossbars having connector means formed on its opposite ends, said connector means of said front crossbars being received within said vertical slots of said front corner posts,

said rear crossbar extending between two of said rear corner posts, said rear crossbar having connector means formed on its opposite ends, said connector means of said rear crossbar being received within said vertical slots of said rear corner posts, said rear crossbar being located above the front crossbar of each pair of crossbars,

a plurality of channel-shaped sheet metal racks extending between and supported from each of said pairs of crossbars, each of said racks having a downwardly and forwardly sloping bottom wall and a pair of sidewalls extending in a vertical plane from said bottom walls, and

a low-friction slip-surface track located within each of said racks, said track having a width approximately equal to the distance between said sidewalls and a length approximately equal to the length of said racks.

2. A warehouse-style merchandising shelving system for displaying consumer products on gravity-feed shelves for retail sale, which system comprises

a plurality of vertical corner posts, each of said corner posts having a plurality of vertically and equidistantly spaced slots formed therein, said corner posts being arranged in pairs with a front one of each of said pairs of corner posts being located at the front of said shelving system and a rear one of each of said pairs of corner posts being located at the rear of said shelving system,

side support bars extending front to rear between each of said pairs of corner posts,

a plurality of pairs of crossbars, each of said pairs of crossbars comprising a front crossbar and a rear crossbar,

each front crossbar extending between two front corner posts, each of said front crossbars having connector means formed on its opposite ends, said connector means of said front crossbars being received within said vertical slots of said front corner posts,

said rear crossbar extending between two of said rear corner posts, said rear crossbar having connector means formed on its opposite ends, said connector means of said rear crossbar being received within said vertical slots of said rear corner posts, said rear crossbar being located above the front crossbar of each pair of crossbars,

a plurality of channel-shaped sheet metal racks extending between and supported from each of said pairs of crossbars, each of said racks having a downwardly and forwardly sloping bottom wall and a pair of sidewalls extending in a vertical plane from said bottom wall,

a low-friction slip-surface track located within each of said racks, said track having a width approximately equal to the distance between said sidewalls and a length approximately equal to the length of said racks, and

each of said channel-shaped sheet metal racks having a female fitting in the form of a downwardly open hook-shaped recess formed on the top portion of one of said sidewalls and a male fitting formed on the top portion of the other of said sidewalls, and said sidewalls of said channels being located in close side-by-side adjacency atop said crossbars with a male fitting of an upper portion of one sidewall of each channel engaged with a female fitting of an upper portion of a sidewall of an adjacent channel.

3. The shelving system of claim 2 wherein each of said male fittings comprises an upper edge portion on one said of each channel-shaped rack which is offset from the vertical plane of the one side and said female fitting comprises a downwardly open hook-shaped recess formed along the upper edge portion of the other side of each channel-shaped rack, said recess being adapted to receive an offset fitting upper edge portion of a sidewall of an adjacent channel-shaped rack.

4. The shelving system of claim 3 wherein said female fitting recess is formed by an outwardly bent hook-shaped section formed along the upper edge of said other side of each of said channel-shaped racks.

5. The shelving system of claim 2 wherein each of said channel-shaped sheet metal racks rests atop a pair of said crossbars.

6. The shelving system of claim 5 wherein each of said channel-shaped racks has a front bracket depending from the underside thereof adjacent the front edge thereof, said front bracket being engaged with the rear surface of said front crossbar to prevent said channel-shaped rack from sliding forwardly off of said supporting crossbars.

7. The shelving system of claim 6 wherein each of said channel-shaped racks has a rear bracket depending from the underside thereof adjacent the rear edge thereof, said rear bracket being located closely adjacent the front surface of said rear crossbar.

8. The shelving system of claim 2 wherein each of said channel-shaped racks has a front end and a wire bumper extending upwardly from the front end of said channel-shaped rack.

9. The shelving system of claim 8 wherein each wire bumper has a generally U-shaped section extending upwardly from said bottom wall of said channel-shaped rack.

10. The shelving system of claim 9 wherein each wire bumper has a pair of end sections extending rearwardly from opposite ends of said U-shaped section, each of said end sections being located on the underside of a bottom wall of one of said channel-shaped racks and secured within a fastening element stamped from said bottom wall.