WALL STORAGE MOUNTING ARRANGEMENTS
A slatwall mounting system includes a rail member and a mounting arrangement. The rail member includes longitudinally extending upper and lower edges, a longitudinally extending upper slot portion including a downward extending undercut a longitudinally extending lower slot portion including an upward extending undercut. The mounting arrangement includes a bracket member having a downward oriented hook portion and a mounting aperture, and a cam assembly having a mounting cam assembled with a user graspable cam driver, the cam and cam driver defining an annular groove for securing the cam assembly to the mounting aperture. The mounting cam is rotatable between a slatwall securing position for mounting engagement with the lower slot of the rail member, and a slatwall releasing position, in response to user manipulation of the cam driver.
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This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/570,519, filed Aug. 9, 2012, entitled WALL STORAGE MOUNTING ARRANGEMENTS, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,528,871, which is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/197,564, entitled WALL STORAGE MOUNTING ARRANGEMENTS and filed Aug. 25, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,267,363, which claims the benefit of both U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/978,494, entitled WALL STORAGE MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT and filed Oct. 9, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/034,604, entitled WALL STORAGE MOUNTING ARRANGEMENTS and filed Mar. 7, 2008. The entire disclosures of each of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference, to the extent that they are not conflicting with the present application.
BACKGROUNDUse of available wall space for storage of items is often desirable, for example, where easy access to or visibility of these items is required, and/or where floor space is limited, such as for example, in a retail setting or in a residential garage. While some items may be stored or retained on a wall by a conventional peg board and hook arrangement, slatwall panels may also be used for more versatile storage options. A conventional slatwall panel includes one or more horizontal slots configured to receive hooks, fasteners, or other such components, for example, for direct retention of an item (e.g., a handtool or article for retail sale). Additionally or alternatively, hooks or fasteners may be affixed to storage accessories, such as, for example, bins, cabinets, boxes, hangers, or shelves, for storage of one or more items.
SUMMARYThe present application contemplates a system for mounting one or more items to a wall surface by securing one or more slatwall rail members to the wall surface, and selectively attaching one or more mounting bracket assemblies to the rail members, for example, for direct or indirect attachment of an item or items to the bracket assemblies. According to an inventive aspect of the present application, a portion of a bracket (for example, a retaining portion or hook portion) may loosely secure the bracket to a slot in the rail member, while a user operable cam member may be provided to more securely attach the bracket assembly to the rail member.
Accordingly, in one embodiment, a slatwall mounting system includes a rail member and a mounting arrangement. The rail member includes longitudinally extending upper and lower edges, a longitudinally extending upper slot portion including a downward extending undercut and a longitudinally extending lower slot portion including an upward extending undercut. The mounting arrangement includes a bracket member having a downward oriented hook portion and a mounting aperture, and a cam assembly having a mounting cam assembled with a user graspable cam driver, the cam and cam driver defining an annular groove for securing the cam assembly to the mounting aperture. The mounting cam is rotatable between a slatwall securing position for mounting engagement with the lower slot of the rail member, and a slatwall releasing position, in response to user manipulation of the cam driver.
According to another inventive aspect of the present application, a slatwall mounting system may be provided with rail members configured to interlock vertically to provide multiple vertical mounting positions for attachment of mounting bracket assemblies or other mounting hardware. In one embodiment, a slatwall rail comprising includes longitudinally extending upper and lower edges, with one of the upper and lower edges including a longitudinally extending tongue portion, and the other of the upper and lower edges including a longitudinally extending groove portion. The groove portion may be sized to closely receive an interlocking member substantially matching the tongue portion of the slatwall rail (for example, for vertically stacking identical rail members). In one such embodiment, the rail further includes a recessed portion extending inward from the groove portion to closely receive a tab portion significantly thinner in cross section than the tongue portion. In one example, this recessed portion may be sized to receive an upper or lower edge of a peg board.
According to still another inventive aspect of the present application, a slatwall mounting system may be provided with a mounting member configured to be assembled to a rail member for securing the rail member to a wall surface, and/or to another rail member. In one such embodiment, a mounting member includes laterally extending tab portions sized to be received in slot portions of a rail member. The mounting member may be configured to mount the rail member to a wall surface (for example, by providing one or more mounting apertures), and/or configured to mount the rail member to another rail member (for example, by providing opposed tab portions sized to be received in slot portions of a second rail member for side by side assembly of the two rail members).
Features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
This Detailed Description of the Invention merely describes embodiments of the invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims in any way. Indeed, the invention as claimed is broader than and unlimited by the embodiments described herein, and the terms used have their full ordinary meaning.
The present application relates to wall storage mounting arrangements in which a slatwall, configured to be mounted to a wall or other surface, includes one or more slots for receiving hooks, fasteners, or other such hardware for retaining an item, such as, for example, a hand tool, or a storage accessory, such as, for example, a bin or cabinet. The slots of a slatwall may include one or more laterally extending undercuts or recesses configured to receive laterally extending portions of hooks, fasteners, brackets or other hardware, such that when the hardware receives and or supports an item to be retained on the slatwall, engagement of the laterally extending portion of the hardware with a portion of the slatwall secures the hardware and the item to the slatwall to prevent the hardware and item from separating from or falling off of the slatwall.
Schematic examples of some wall storage mounting arrangements 10a, 10b, 10c are illustrated in
In another embodiment, shown, for example, in
According to an inventive aspect of the present application, as schematically shown, for example, in
The movable retaining member 36 may be configured to be moved in and out of engagement with a single undercut 33, as shown in
Many different mechanisms may be utilized to provide for movement of a movable retaining member between mounting member retaining and releasing positions, including, for example, sliding, pivoting, rotating, or extending mechanisms. In one embodiment, a movable retaining member is configured to be manipulable (either directly or indirectly) from an outer or front side of the mounting member, for example, between mounting member retaining and releasing positions.
In the illustrated embodiment, a cam driver 140 is connected with the cam 130 through the bracket opening 125 for user manipulation of the cam 130. While many different configurations may be utilized to connect the cam driver 140 to the cam 130, such as, for example, adhesives, fasteners, welding, press fit engagement, heat-staking, or an integral connection, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in
In another example, as shown in
As shown in
The cam driver 140 may be configured to be rotated by hand and, as shown in
To prevent a loose or uneven fit between the cam, the mounting hardware, and the slatwall, mating surfaces of one or more of these components may be adapted to eliminate gaps or account for variances in component dimensions (resulting from, for example, manufacturing, painting/coating, or component wear). In one embodiment, one or more mating surfaces may be provided with contoured surface features (such as, for example, ribs). For example, cams 630a, 630b, 630c, 630d, as shown in
As described in the present application, a wall storage mounting arrangement may include a plurality of slatwall rail members configured to be stacked with each other to provide a slatwall panel assembly having multiple slots for mounting items or storage accessories (for example, by using the cam locking bracket described in greater detail above) at multiple vertical and horizontal locations. Additionally, larger items or storage accessories may utilize slots on multiple rail members. In one embodiment, a slatwall rail member includes a vertically extending tongue at one end for insertion into a corresponding vertically extending groove of an adjacent slatwall rail member. Additionally or alternatively, the slatwall rail member may include a vertically extending groove at one end for receiving a vertically extending tongue of an adjacent slatwall member. The rail member may, but need not, be configured to interlockingly stack with other substantially identical rail members, thereby eliminating the need for production, storage, and inventory management of rail members of different configurations.
According to an inventive aspect of the present application, a rail member configured to interlockingly stack with similar or identical rail members may additionally be configured to stack with a panel, board, or other such component that is dimensionally different from the rail member. As shown in
A slatwall panel or rail member, such as, for example, the exemplary rail member 110 of
Many different configurations may be used to attach a wall mount member to an endmost portion of a rail member. In one embodiment, a wall mount member may include one or more laterally extending tabs configured to be received in corresponding slots in the rail member, such that the wall mount member may be slid into interlocking engagement with the rail member for attachment of the rail member to a wall.
According to another inventive aspect of the present application, a mounting member may be configured to function as a rail joining member for aligning and joining two rail members to be mounted to a wall end-to-end. This joining member may, but need not, include a mountable portion for securing the joined rail members to a wall. Many different configurations may be used to align and join rail members in an end-to-end configuration. In one embodiment, a joining member may include opposed laterally extending tab portions configured to be received in corresponding slots in first and second rail members, such that the joining member may be slid into interlocking engagement with the first and second rail members for joining and/or aligning the first and second rail members.
According to another aspect of the present application, one or more cap members may be provided to cover an endmost portion of a rail member, a wall mount member, a joining member, or some other portion of the wall mount arrangement. In one embodiment, a cap member may be configured to accommodate stacking of two or more rail members, for example, as shown in (and described with reference to) the panel assembly 200 of
While many different configurations may be used to affix a cap member to an endmost portion of a rail member, in one embodiment, a cap member may include one or more inwardly extending flexible prongs configured to snap over a portion of the rail member, such as, for example, an overhang portion defining an undercut in a slot of the rail member. As shown in
According to another inventive aspect of the present application, a wall mount member or joining member, as described herein, may be configured to receive a cap member, such as the cap members 830a, 830b of
While the rail member 110 may be constructed in any suitable material (for example, various metals and plastics), in one embodiment, the rail member 110 may be constructed from extruded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material. To preserve material used to construct the rail member 110 while maintaining adequate strength of the rail component, recesses (shown, for example, at 111a, 111b, 119a, 119b) may be formed in the front and rear sides of the rail member 110.
Other inventive features may be provided with a rail member in accordance with the present application. For example, a rail member may be configured to include a hollow portion or recess for receiving electrical wiring (not shown), for example, to supply power to electrical devices mounted to or stored on the rail member. As one example, rechargeable electrical hand tools mounted to or stored on the rail member may be connected to electrical wiring provided in the rail member, so that the hand tools may remain fully charged and ready for use. The hollow or recess configured to receive electrical wiring may be large enough to allow an end user to install electrical wiring (e.g., an extension cord) before or after the rail member is mounted to a wall. As another example, the rail member may be formed around the electrical wiring, or the electrical wiring may be pre-installed in a hollow portion (e.g., a hole or channel) of the rail member, such that an end user may obtain a rail member with integrated electrical wiring.
While various inventive aspects, concepts and features of the inventions may be described and illustrated herein as embodied in combination in the exemplary embodiments, these various aspects, concepts and features may be used in many alternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the present inventions. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects, concepts and features of the inventions—such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods, circuits, devices and components, software, hardware, control logic, alternatives as to form, fit and function, and so on—may be described herein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of the inventive aspects, concepts or features into additional embodiments and uses within the scope of the present inventions even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the inventions may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative values and ranges may be included to assist in understanding the present disclosure; however, such values and ranges are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical values or ranges only if so expressly stated. Moreover, while various aspects, features and concepts may be expressly identified herein as being inventive or forming part of an invention, such identification is not intended to be exclusive, but rather there may be inventive aspects, concepts and features that are fully described herein without being expressly identified as such or as part of a specific invention. Descriptions of exemplary methods or processes are not limited to inclusion of all steps as being required in all cases, nor is the order that the steps are presented to be construed as required or necessary unless expressly so stated.
Claims
1. A wall mounting arrangement comprising:
- a first rail member comprising longitudinally extending upper and lower edges extending between first and second lateral ends, a first side for engaging a wall surface, and a second side opposite the first side and having at least a first mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between the first and second lateral ends; and
- a first mounting member including a mountable body portion defining a first side for engaging a wall surface and a second side opposite the first side and defining a mounting aperture, and at least a first tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a first lateral end of the first mounting member, the first tab portion being sized to be received in the first mounting slot of the first rail member at the first lateral end of the first rail member.
2. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, wherein the second side of the first rail member further comprises a second mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between the first and second lateral ends, and the first mounting member further comprises a second tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from the first lateral end of the first mounting member, the second tab portion being sized to be received in the second mounting slot of the first rail member at the first lateral end of the first rail member.
3. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 2, wherein the second side of the first mounting member includes first and second slot portions that align with the first and second mounting slots of the first rail member when the first mounting member is assembled with the first rail member.
4. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 2, wherein the first mounting slot forms an inverted L-shape in cross-section and the second mounting slot forms an L shape in cross-section.
5. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, wherein the second side of the first mounting member is at least partially matching in profile with the second side of the first rail member.
6. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, wherein the mounting slot includes a vertically extending undercut for receiving a flanged end of a mounting bracket.
7. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a cap member configured to cover the first mounting member.
8. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 7, wherein the first mounting member includes upper and lower recessed portions, and the cap member includes first and second prongs each configured for snap fit engagement with a corresponding one of the upper and lower recessed portions of the first mounting member.
9. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first rail member further comprises a longitudinally extending tongue portion disposed on one of the upper and lower edges, and a longitudinally extending groove portion disposed on the other of the upper and lower edges, the groove portion being sized to receive an interlocking member substantially matching the tongue portion of the first rail member.
10. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 9, wherein the first rail member further includes a recessed portion extending inward from the groove portion to receive an interlocking member thinner in cross section than the tongue portion.
11. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a second rail member including longitudinally extending upper and lower edges extending between first and second lateral ends, a first side for engaging a wall surface, and a second side opposite the first side and having at least a first mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between the first and second lateral ends, wherein the first mounting member further comprises at least a second tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a second lateral end of the first mounting member opposite the first lateral end, the second tab portion being sized to be received in the first mounting slot of the second rail member at the first lateral end of the second rail member.
12. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a second mounting member including a mountable body portion defining a first side for engaging a wall surface and a second side opposite the first side and defining a mounting aperture, and at least a first tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a first lateral end of the second mounting member, the first tab portion being sized to be received in the first mounting slot of the first rail member at the second lateral end of the first rail member.
13. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a bracket member having a front panel and a downward oriented hook portion extending rearward of the front panel for engagement with the first mounting slot of the first rail member.
14. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 13, wherein when the first mounting member is assembled with the first rail member and the bracket member is assembled with the first rail member, the first tab portion blocks sliding movement of the bracket member within the first mounting slot beyond the first lateral end of the first rail member.
15. The wall mounting arrangement of claim 13 wherein the first rail member further comprises a second mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between the first and second lateral ends, the arrangement further comprising a cam assembly secured to the bracket member and receivable in the second mounting slot when the hook portion is engaged with the first mounting slot, the cam assembly being rotatable for releasable interlocking engagement with the second mounting slot.
16. A method of mounting a slatwall to a wall surface, the method comprising:
- providing a first rail member having at least a first mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between first and second lateral ends;
- engaging a first side of the first rail member with the wall surface;
- providing a first mounting member including a mountable body portion defining a mounting aperture and at least a first tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a first lateral end of the mountable body portion;
- inserting the first tab portion of the first mounting member into the first mounting slot of the first rail member at the first lateral end of the first rail member; and
- installing a fastener through the mounting aperture to secure the first mounting member to the wall surface.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a second mounting member including a mountable body portion defining a mounting aperture and at least a first tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a first lateral end of the mountable body portion; inserting the first tab portion of the second mounting member into the first mounting slot of the first rail member at the second lateral end of the first rail member; and installing a fastener through the mounting aperture of the second mounting member to secure the second mounting member to the wall surface.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first mounting member further includes at least a second tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a second lateral end of the mountable body portion opposite the first lateral end, the method further comprising providing a second rail member having at least a first mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between first and second lateral ends, engaging a first side of the second rail member with the wall surface, and inserting the second tab portion into the first mounting slot of the second rail member at the first lateral end of the second rail member, such that the first mounting slot of the first rail member aligns with the first mounting slot of the second rail member.
19. A method of securing an item to a wall surface, the method comprising:
- providing a first rail member having at least a first mounting slot extending in a longitudinal direction between first and second lateral ends;
- engaging a first side of the first rail member with the wall surface;
- providing a first mounting member including a mountable body portion and at least a first tab portion extending in a longitudinal direction from a first lateral end of the mountable body portion;
- inserting the first tab portion of the first mounting member into the first mounting slot of the first rail member at the first lateral end of the first rail member;
- securing the first mounting member to the wall surface;
- engaging a hook portion secured to the item with the first mounting slot.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first tab portion blocks sliding movement of the hook portion within the first mounting slot beyond the first lateral end of the first rail member.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 23, 2013
Publication Date: Dec 19, 2013
Applicant: Waterloo Industries, Inc. (Oak Creek, WI)
Inventors: Esnad Begic (Waterloo, IA), Franco F. Daino (Muskego, WI), Michael Edward Hay (Buckingham, IA), Gregory Jon Holcomb (Cedar Falls, IA), Mike Malich (Milwaukee, WI), Alan K. Mangrich (Cole Camp, MO), Rajesh R. Wadhwa (Portage, MI)
Application Number: 13/974,086
International Classification: F16M 13/02 (20060101);