SHELVING DECK

Abstract

A storage deck includes a plurality of vertical supports and a plurality of load beams positioned to define a plurality of spaced apart horizontal decks with each deck including a front and a rear spaced apart load beam. A wire deck portion includes a horizontal mesh of wire elements including runners and cross pieces and positioned on one deck of the plurality of horizontal decks. A plurality of risers, including a left side riser and a right side riser, wherein at least one insertion channel is formed between the left side riser and the right side riser, said at least one insertion channel being configured to receive first and second fork blades of a forklift machine, are affixed to the wire deck portion so as to project upwardly therefrom and to extend substantially from the front load beam to the rear load beam.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/138,625, filed 18 Dec. 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to storage shelves and more specifically to storage shelves for warehouses and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the warehousing and storage industry it is common to place large packages of materials on wooden pallets for easy handling with fork lift type trucks, generally known simply as a ‘fork lift’. There are many problems and extra costs associated with all of the various pallets heretofore devised, as elucidated in a copending U.S. patent application entitled “Riser Deck”, filed on 14 Mar. 2008, bearing Ser. No. 12/049,268, and incorporated herein by reference. The copending application addresses many of the problems but some problems still remain.

It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved storage deck.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved storage deck that is preferably pallet free or does not require pallets for convenient storage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved storage deck that is easy and relatively inexpensive to use and maintain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, to achieve the desired objects of the present invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment, provided is a storage deck including a plurality of load beams positioned to define a plurality of horizontal decks with each deck including front and rear spaced apart load beams. A wire deck portion includes a horizontal mesh of wire elements including runners and cross pieces positioned on one deck of the plurality of horizontal decks. A plurality of risers, including a left side riser and a right side riser, wherein at least one insertion channel is formed between the left side riser and the right side riser, said at least one insertion channel being configured to receive first and second fork blades of a forklift machine.

In a specific aspect, the wire deck portion has at least one of a front edge turned down to engage a front upper edge of the front load beam of the one deck and a rear edge turned down to engage a rear upper edge of the rear load beam of the one deck.

In yet another aspect, included in the plurality of risers is a first center riser disposed between the left side riser and the right side riser, and wherein said at least one insertion channel comprises a first insertion channel disposed between the left side riser and the center riser, and a second channel disposed between the center riser and the right side riser, each channel having a width sufficient to receive a forklift blade of said forklift machine.

The desired objects of the present invention are further realized in accordance with a specific embodiment of a storage deck including a plurality of vertical supports and a plurality of load beams positioned to form front and rear vertical supports and front and rear spaced apart load beams. The front horizontal load beams extend between the front vertical supports and the rear horizontal load beams extend between the rear vertical supports and are positioned to define a plurality of spaced apart horizontal decks with each deck including a front and a rear spaced apart load beam. A wire deck portion positioned on one deck of the plurality of horizontal decks includes a horizontal mesh of wire elements including longitudinally oriented runners and laterally oriented cross pieces. A plurality of risers, including two laterally spaced side risers, are affixed to the wire deck portion so as to project upwardly therefrom and to extend substantially from the front load beam to the rear load beam.

In a specific aspect, the wire deck portion has at least one of a front edge turned down to engage a front upper edge of the front load beam of the one deck and a rear edge turned down to engage a rear upper edge of the rear load beam of the one deck.

In yet another aspect, included in the plurality of risers is a first center riser disposed between the left side riser and the right side riser, and wherein said at least one insertion channel comprises a first insertion channel disposed between the left side riser and the center riser, and a second channel disposed between the center riser and the right side riser, each channel having a width sufficient to receive a forklift blade of said forklift machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and further and more specific objects and advantages of the instant invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage rack in accordance with the present invention, further illustrating a fork lift manipulating a package to/from storage;

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are top plan, side, and perspective views, respectively, of a wire deck portion used in the storage rack of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are top plan, side, and perspective views, respectively, of the wire deck portion of FIG. 2 with risers attached in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of the wire deck portion with risers attached of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are top plan, side, and perspective views, respectively, of different embodiment of a wire deck portion used in a storage rack similar to the storage rack in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are top plan, side, and perspective views, respectively, of the wire deck portion of FIG. 5 with risers attached in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view of the wire deck portion with risers attached of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of a storage rack with wire deck portion and risers positioned thereon; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged front perspective view of the storage deck with risers and package of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to the drawings, attention is first directed to FIG. 1 which illustrates a storage rack 10 with multiple packages 12 positioned thereon. In this specific example, each of the packages 12 includes disposable plastic feet 14 incorporated as a part of the package. It will be understood from the remainder of this disclosure that packages with or without feet can be stored on storage rack 10 and feet 14 are illustrated only to show the position relative to storage rack 10. Further, storage rack 10 is constructed for storage of specific types of packages but it will be understood that this is only for purposes of example and any skilled artisan will understand from the remainder of this disclosure how to expand, contract, or otherwise alter the storage rack arrangement for their specific purposes.

In this specific example, storage rack 10 includes four vertical supports 16 with front horizontal load beams 17 extending between the front vertical supports 16 and rear horizontal load beams 18 extending between the rear vertical supports 16. Also, several front horizontal load beams 17 and rear horizontal load beams 18 are spaced apart vertically along vertical supports 16 to form horizontal shelves.

Referring additionally to FIG. 2, a wire deck portion 20 is illustrated. Portion 20 is a horizontal matrix or mesh of heavy wire elements 22, in this specific embodiment including longitudinally oriented runners 24 and laterally oriented cross pieces 26. While portion 20 is illustrated with perpendicularly oriented wire elements it will be understood that elements 22 are described as wire but could be metal rods, metal bars, heavy wire, plastic grid, or any other convenient material or shape, all of which are intended to be incorporated into the generic term “wire”. Further, while the perpendicular orientation is preferred because of its inherent ruggedness and simplicity of manufacture, it will be understood that other orientations might be devised for specific applications.

As best seen in FIG. 2B, a front edge 27 of wire deck portion 20 is turned down to engage the front upper edge of load beam 17 and a rear edge 28 of wire deck portion 20 is turned down to engage the rear upper edge of load beam 18. The turned-down front edge 27 preferably includes at least one cross piece 26 of deck portion 20. Also, the turned-down rear edge 28 preferably includes at least one cross piece 26 of deck portion 20. As can be seen best in FIGS. 8 and 9, turned-down front edge 27 can be formed (e.g. turned slightly inwardly) to frictionally grip load beam 17 or may be actually attached by some convenient method, such as welding, bolts, etc. Similarly, turned-down rear edge 27 can be formed to frictionally or attachedly grip load beam 17 so that deck portion 20 is held fixedly in place during normal storage operations.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a complete storage or shelving deck 29 is illustrated wherein wire deck portion 20 is illustrated with laterally extending risers 30, which in this preferred embodiment include a central riser 32 and two laterally spaced side risers 34. As can be seen best in FIG. 4, risers 30 are formed generally in the shape of channels and can be any convenient material, such as channel iron, channel aluminum, formed sheet metal, etc. or for some specific applications plastic, wood, etc. Also, while channels are illustrated in the preferred embodiment to reduce weight without reducing rigidity, it will be understood that solid bar or hollow tubular material might be used in some specific applications. Also, while each of the risers 30 is illustrated as extending continuously between the front and rear load beams, in some applications (especially where light material is being stored) it might be convenient to form each of the risers with a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart elements to reduce the overall weight. Thus, each riser could be defined by a plurality of rectangularly shaped elements or elements of other shapes, as desired. Channel metals are preferred because of the ruggedness and small need for any type of maintenance. Further, side risers 34 are preferably wider than central riser 32 to allow for greater lateral placement errors of packages during normal storage operations (see, for example, FIGS. 8 and 9).

Risers 30 are attached to wire deck portion 20 by any convenient means depending primarily on the material used for risers 30 and wire deck portion 20. In the preferred embodiment and for simplicity of manufacture, wire deck portion 20 is metal (e.g. steel rod or wire) and risers 30 are metal (e.g. formed sheet metal) so that the attachment can be welding or the like. In some specific applications it may be desirable to removably or movably attach risers 30 to wire deck portion 20 and to this end the lower edges of risers 30 could include laterally extending, horizontal flanges (extending inwardly into the channel or outwardly away from the channel) to allow the use of bolts or screws (not shown) to hold risers 30 to wire deck portion 20.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, a somewhat different embodiment of storage or shelving deck 29 is illustrated. In this embodiment, the wire deck portion and the risers are extended laterally to substantially increase the shelf capacity. Otherwise all of the features described above relative to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 are included in this embodiment. This embodiment is included herein to illustrate the versatility of the concept and the potential changes that could be incorporated without changing the basic scope of the concept.

Thus, a new and improved storage or shelving deck has been disclosed that is preferably pallet free or does not require pallets for convenient storage. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that pallets can be used if desired. Also, any packages, e.g. with or without feet can be stored on the new and improved storage or shelving deck and the well known fork lift can be conveniently used in the normal manner (see explanations in the above described copending application). Little or no maintenance is required in conjunction with the new and improved storage or shelving deck and the long term cost is at least comparable (or less) than shelving required for pallet storage.

Various changes and modifications to the embodiments herein chosen for purposes of illustration will readily occur to those skilled in the art. To the extent that such modifications and variations do not depart from the spirit of the invention, they are intended to be included within the scope thereof, which is assessed only by a fair interpretation of the following claims.

Claims

1. A storage deck comprising:

a plurality of load beams positioned to define a plurality of horizontal decks with each deck including front and rear spaced apart load beams;

a wire deck portion including a horizontal mesh of elements including runners and cross pieces, the wire deck portion being positioned on one deck of the plurality of horizontal decks; and

a plurality of risers affixed to the wire deck portion so as to project upwardly therefrom, the plurality of risers including a left side riser and a right side riser, wherein at least one insertion channel is formed between the left side riser and the right side riser, said at least one insertion channel being configured to receive first and second fork blades of a forklift machine.

2. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plurality of risers further comprises a first center riser disposed between the left side riser and the right side riser, and wherein said at least one insertion channel comprises a first insertion channel disposed between the left side riser and the center riser, and a second channel disposed between the center riser and the right side riser, each channel having a width sufficient to receive a forklift blade of said forklift machine.

3. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the wire deck portion includes at least one of a front edge turned down to engage a front upper edge of the front load beam of the one deck and a rear edge turned down to engage a rear upper edge of the rear load beam of the one deck.

4. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the wire deck portion includes one of metal rods, metal bars, heavy wire, and plastic mesh.

5. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plurality of risers is formed generally in the shape of channels.

6. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers includes one of channel steel, channel aluminum, formed sheet metal, plastic, and wood.

7. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers includes one of solid bar and hollow tubular material.

8. A storage deck as claimed in claim 2 wherein the left side riser and the right side riser are wider than the central riser.

9. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers extends continuously from the front load beam to the rear load beam.

10. A storage deck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the front edge and the rear edge of the wire deck portion is fixed to the front load beam and the rear load beam by one of frictional engagement, welding, and bolts.

11. A storage deck comprising:

a plurality of vertical supports and a plurality of load beams positioned to form front and rear vertical supports and front and rear spaced apart load beams, the front horizontal load beams extending between the front vertical supports and the rear horizontal load beams extending between the rear vertical supports and positioned to define a plurality of spaced apart horizontal decks with each deck including a front and a rear spaced apart load beam;

a wire deck portion including a horizontal mesh of wire elements including longitudinally oriented runners and laterally oriented cross pieces, the wire deck portion being positioned on one deck of the plurality of horizontal decks; and

a plurality of risers affixed to the wire deck portion so as to project upwardly therefrom and to extend substantially from the front load beam to the rear load beam, the plurality of risers including a left side riser and a right side riser, wherein at least one insertion channel is formed between the left side riser and the right side riser, said at least one insertion channel being configured to receive first and second fork blades of a forklift machine.

12. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein the plurality of risers further comprises a first center riser disposed between the left side riser and the right side riser, and wherein said at least one insertion channel comprises a first insertion channel disposed between the left side riser and the center riser, and a second channel disposed between the center riser and the right side riser, each channel having a width sufficient to receive a forklift blade of said forklift machine.

13. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein the plurality of risers is formed generally in the shape of channels.

14. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 the wire deck portion includes at least one of a front edge turned down to engage a front upper edge of the front load beam of the one deck and a rear edge turned down to engage a rear upper edge of the rear load beam of the one deck.

15. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers includes one of channel steel, formed sheet metal, channel aluminum, plastic, and wood.

16. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers includes one of solid bar and hollow tubular material.

17. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein the left side riser and the right side riser are wider than the central riser.

18. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein each riser of the plurality of risers extends continuously from the front load beam to the rear load beam.

19. A storage deck as claimed in claim 11 wherein the front edge and the rear edge of the wire deck portion is fixed to the front load beam and the rear load beam by one of frictional engagement, welding, and bolts.