Rack for holding rods

Abstract

A rack for holding rod members includes two side plates, connecting structures respectively provided at the two side plates, and fastening members provided at the connecting structures of the side plates. By means of the fastening members, two or more the racks can be coupled together in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-side manner or a stack manner to form a combination of racks for holding rod members.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a rack for holding rod members and more particularly, to a combination of racks, which allows the user to combine a number of racks in different directions to fit the available installation space.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional rack for holding rod members is known comprising two side plates, a bottom plate transversely connected between the side plates at the bottom, an upper bearing plate transversely connected between the side plates at the top, and a lower bearing plate transversely connected between the side plates and spaced between the bottom plate and the upper bearing plate. The upper bearing plate and the lower bearing plate each have a series of arched notches at the front or back side for supporting rod members on the bottom plate. The bottom plate is set in a forwardly downwardly sloping position. This structure of rack is practical for holding rod members. However, the rack has a fixed size for holding a predetermined number of rod members. When several racks are used in order to hold a big number of rod members, much floor space is required. According to this design, the user cannot easily fasten multiple racks together.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a combination of racks for holding rod members that can easily be set up in any of a variety of forms subject to available installation space.

To achieve this object of the present invention, the rack, which is capable of combining another same rack to form a combination of racks for holding rod members, comprises two side plates, a bottom plate, an upper bearing plate and a lower bearing plate all connected between the side plates for holding rod members, and coupling means for coupling the one of the plates to another one of plates of the another same rack to form the combination of racks.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side plates each have a first connecting structure, a second connecting structure and a third connecting structure such that two or more the racks can be selectively combined in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-side manner or a stack manner by means of the coupling means.

In the preferred embodiment, the coupling means comprises screw bolts engageable into screw holes provided in the side plates of the racks, and nuts respectively threaded onto the screw bolts.

In still the preferred embodiment, the coupling means comprises plug pins insertable into holes provided in the side plates of the racks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing showing the action of one arrangement of the combination of racks according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view in an enlarged scale of a part of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an assembly view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing the action of another arrangement of the combination of racks according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view in an enlarged scale of a part of the present invention, showing the detail of the third connecting structure of each side plate and the part of the coupling means corresponding to the third connecting structure of each side plate.

FIG. 7 is an assembly view of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a schematic drawing showing the action of still another arrangement of the combination of racks according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an assembly view of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a rack 10 in accordance with the present invention comprises a front side 12 and a back side 14, and coupling means 60 for coupling the rack 10 to another rack 10 together. The rack 10 comprises two side plates 20, a transverse bottom plate 30, a transverse upper bearing plate 40, a transverse lower bearing plate 50, two angle plates 70, and a face plate 80.

The side plates 20 are rectangular flat members each having a first connecting structure 21, a second connecting structure 22, and a third connecting structure 23. The bottom plate 30 is transversely connected between the side plates 20 at the bottom side in a forwardly downwardly extended sloping manner toward the front side 12. The upper bearing plate 40 is transversely connected between the side plates 20 at the top side, having a plurality of arched notches 42 arranged in series in the front side thereof and provided with openings facing the front side 12 of the rack 10. The lower bearing plate 50 is transversely connected between the side plates 20 and spaced below the upper bearing plate 40 but above the bottom plate 30, having a plurality of arched notches 52 arranged in series in the back side thereof and provided with openings facing the back side 14 of the rack 10. The two angle plates 70 are respectively provided at the top side of the side plates 20. The face plate 80 is fastened to the angle plates 70 at the top for posting company logo, advertising matter, or the like.

When loading a rod member 90 in one rack 10, the rod member 90 is vertically inserted through one arched notch 42 of the upper bearing plate 40 and the respective arched notch 52 of the lower bearing plate 50, keeping the bottom end of the rod member 90 rested on the bottom plate 30.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. I again, the first connecting structure 21 of each side plate 20 comprises two mounting flanges 211 respectively perpendicularly extending from the front and back sides of the respective side plate 20 in same direction, and a plurality of screw holes 212 respectively symmetrically formed in the mounting flanges 211. Alternatively, each screw hole 212 can be formed in a respective hollow bolt 213, which has an outer thread 214 threaded into a respective through hole 219 in the respective mounting flange 211 of the respective side plate 20 and an inner thread 215 forming the screw hole 212. The coupling means 60 comprises a plurality of first fastening members 61, for example, screw bolts 611 that can be respectively mounted in the screw holes 212 at the mounting flanges 211 of the side plates 20 and screwed up with a respective nut 612 to secure the two racks 10 together in a back-to-back manner as shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, the second connecting structure 22 of each side plate 20 comprises two through holes 221 respectively formed in the respective side plate 20. The through holes 221 in one of the two side plates 20 of each rack 10 are hexagonal through holes 222. The coupling means 60 further comprises a plurality of second fastening members 62, for example, screw bolts 621 that can be respectively mounted in the through holes 221 of one of the two racks 10 and a plurality of nuts 622 that can be mounted in the hexagonal through holes 222 of the other of the two racks 10 and threaded onto the screw bolts 621 to fasten the two racks 10 together in a side-to-side manner as shown in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 6, 8 and 9, the third connecting structure 23 of each side plate 20 comprises two mounting flanges 231 respectively perpendicularly extending from the top and bottom sides of the respective side plate 20 and two holes 232 respectively formed in the mounting flanges 231. The coupling means 60 further comprises a plurality of third fastening members 63, for example, plug pins 63 that can be respectively mounted in the holes 232 to fasten the two racks 10 vertically in a stack as shown in FIG. 9.

Claims

1. A rack for holding rod members, which is capable of combining another same rack to form a combination of racks for holding rod members, having a front side and a back side, the rack comprising:

two side plates each having a connecting structure;

a bottom plate connected between said side plates in a sloping manner toward the front side;

an upper bearing plate connected between said side plates, said upper bearing plate having a plurality of notches having openings facing the front side;

a lower bearing plate connected between said side plates and located between said upper bearing plate and said bottom plate, said lower bearing plate having a plurality of notches having openings facing the back side; and

coupling means installed in one of said connecting structures of said side plates for coupling the one of said side plates to another one of side plates of the another same rack to form the combination of racks.

2. The rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting structure of each said side plate comprises a mounting flange at a side of the respective side plate and a screw hole formed in said mounting flange; said coupling means comprises a plurality of screw bolts respectively mounted in the screw holes in the mounting flanges of said side plates.

3. The rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein the connecting structure of each said side plate further comprises a hollow bolt having an outer thread threaded into said mounting flange and an inner thread that forms the screw hole of the respective side plate.

4. The rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein said coupling means further comprises a plurality of nuts respectively threaded onto said screw bolts.

5. The rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting structure of each said side plate comprises a through hole formed in the respective side plate; said coupling means comprises a plurality of screw bolts respectively mounted in the through holes of the connecting structure of each said side plate and a plurality of nuts respectively threaded onto said screw bolts.

6. The rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting structure of each said side plate comprises a mounting flange at a side of said respective side plate and a hole formed in said mounting flange; said coupling means comprises a plurality of plug pins respectively mounted in the holes at the mounting flanges.

7. The rack as claimed in claim 1, further comprising two angle plates respectively fastened to the respective side plates at a top side, and a face plate connected between said angle plates.

8. A combination of racks for holding rod members comprising at least two racks combined together, each said rack comprising:

two side plates; and

transverse plates connected between said side plates for holding rod members thereon;

wherein said two side plates each have a first connecting structure, a second connecting structure and a third connecting structure, which are selectively respectively connectable to the first connecting structure, the second connecting structure or the third connecting structure of one side plate of the another rack for combining selectively the racks in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-side manner or a stack manner.

9. The combination of racks of claim 8, further comprising screw bolts;

wherein the first connecting structure of each said side plate comprises screw holes formed at front and back sides of said respective side plate;

wherein the screw bolts are respectively mounted in the screw holes for combining the racks in the back-to-back manner.

10. The combination of racks of claim 8, further comprising screw bolts and nuts threaded respectively onto the screw bolts;

wherein the second connecting structure of each said side plate comprises through holes through which the screw blots are respectively inserted for combining the racks in the side-to-side manner.

11. The combination of racks of claim 8, further comprising plug pins;

wherein the third connecting structure of each said side plate comprises holes formed in top and bottom sides of the respective side plate;

wherein the plug pins are respectively inserted into the holes for combining the racks in the stack manner.