STORAGE RACK

The storage rack according to the present disclosure is adapted for storing an article therein, and comprises one or snore rack bodies capable of being assembled together that each includes four spaced apart main rods, two horizontal rods, two support rods and an engaging unit. Two of the main rods cooperatively define a first imaginary side plane, the other two of said main rods cooperatively define a second imaginary side plane opposite to the first imaginary side plane. The two horizontal rods extend along the first and second imaginary side planes and respectively intersect a pair of the main rods defining the first and second imaginary side planes. The two support rods cooperatively define an imaginary support plane for supporting the article.

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Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 104208137, filed on May 26, 2015.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a storage rack, and more particularly to a storage rack adapted for storing an article therein.

BACKGROUND

Storage boxes for disposable items such as tissues, plastic gloves or face masks to be pulled out therefrom are often covered with another protective box for the purpose of protecting or changing the appearance of the storage box. These conventional protective boxes, however, are incapable of being stacked or assembled together, and cannot possibly anticipate all sizes and shapes of the storage boxes or any other object to be covered thereby. Moreover, since conventional protective boxes are generally made of plastic or acrylic materials, durability also becomes an issue.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an article of the disclosure is to provide a storage rack that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

The storage rack according to the present disclosure is adapted for storing an article therein, and includes a rack body that includes four main rods, two horizontal rods, two support rods and an engaging unit.

The four main rods are spaced apart from one another and cooperatively define a receiving space thereamong. Each of the main rods has opposite first and second ends, with two of the main rods cooperatively defining a first imaginary side plane, and the other two of the main rods cooperatively defining a second imaginary side plane that is opposite to the first imaginary side plane.

Each of the two horizontal rods extends along a respective one of the first and second imaginary side planes and intersects a respective pair of the main rods defining the respective one of the first and second imaginary side planes.

Each of the two support rods has a support segment that intersects the horizontal rods and cooperatively define an imaginary support plane that is adapted for supporting the article.

The engaging unit includes a first engaging subunit and a second engaging subunit. The first engaging subunit has at least one linking rod connected to first ends of the main rods, and an engaging frame connected to the linking rod. The second engaging subunit is connected to the second ends of the main rods and is adapted to be engageable with the engaging frame of the first engaging subunit of the rack body of another one of the storage rack.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment's with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the storage rack according to the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment taken along Line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional, view showing two rack bodies of the embodiment being assembled together and in use;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the assembled rack bodies of FIG. 3 in use;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the embodiment in use;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of two rack bodies of the embodiment being assembled together and in use at an angle different from that in FIGS. 1 to 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the embodiment in use at an angle different from that in FIGS. 1 to 6.

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, an embodiment of a storage rack 100 according to the present disclosure may include one or more rack bodies 10.

Each rack body 10 includes four main rods 1, two horizontal rods 2, two support rods 3, an engaging unit 4, two limiting rods 5, two crossing rods 6 and two fixing plates 7. In this embodiment, the rack body 10 is made of metal, but the material of which the rack body is made should not foe limited by that in this embodiment.

The four main rods 1 of the rack body 10 each include opposite first and second ends, and are spaced apart from one another to cooperatively define a receiving space 11 therealong for receiving an article 8. Two of the main rods 1 cooperatively define a first imaginary side plane 12, and the other two of the main rods 1 cooperatively define a second imaginary side plane 12′ that is opposite to the first imaginary side plane 12. One of the main rods 1 that define the first imaginary side plane 12 and one of the main rods 1 that define the second imaginary side plane 12′ cooperatively define an imaginary front plane 13 that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes 12, 12′, and the other one of the main rods 1 that define the first imaginary side plane 12 and the other one of the main rods 1 that define the second imaginary side plane 12′ cooperatively define an imaginary rear plane 14 that is opposite to the imaginary front plane 13 and that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes 12, 12′.

Each of the two horizontal rods 2 of the rack body extend along a respective one of the first and second imaginary side planes 12, 12′, intersects a respective pair of the main rods 1 defining the respective one of the first and second imaginary side planes 12, 12′, and may serve as a support structure for the support rods 3.

Each of the two support rods 3 of the rack body 10 includes a support segment 31 that intersects the horizontal rods 2 and that cooperatively define an imaginary support plane 34 adapted for supporting an article 8, a stop segment 32 extending transversely from the support segment 31 and having a distal end that is distal from the support segment 31. The rack body 10 further includes first and second connecting rods 33, 33′. The first connecting rod 33 interconnects ends of the support segments 31 of the support rods 3 that are opposite to the stop segments 32 of the support rods 3, and the second connecting rod 33′ interconnects the distal ends of the stop segments 32. A distance between the imaginary support plane 34 and the first end of any one of the main rods 1 is longer than that between the imaginary support plane 34 and the distal end of the stop segment 32 of any one of the support rods 3.

The engaging unit 4 of the rack body 10 includes a first engaging subunit 41 that has two connecting rods 414, one of which connects the first ends of the two of the main rods 1 defining the first imaginary side plane 12 and the other of which connects the first ends of the other two of the main rods 1 defining the second imaginary side plane 12′, two linking rods 411 connected to the first ends of the main rods 1 through the two connecting rods 414, respectively, and an engaging frame 412 connected to the linking rods 411, and a second engaging subunit 42 that is connected to the second ends of the main rods 1 and that is adapted to be engageable with the engaging frame 412 of the first engaging subunit 41 of the rack body 10 of another one of the storage rack 100. The engaging frame 412 is formed with a guide part 413 that is on the same side of the rack body 10 as that of the stop segments 32 of the support rods 3 and that is indented toward the linking rods 411. It should be noted that the number of linking rods 411 included in the first engaging subunit 41 may be varied and should not be limited by that in this embodiment.

The two limiting rods 5 extend along the imaginary front plane 13 and interconnect the two of the main rods 1 which define the imaginary front plane 13.

The two crossing rods 6 are spaced apart from each other, extend along the imaginary rear plane 14, and interconnect the two of the main rods 1 which define the imaginary rear plane 14.

The fixing plate 7 interconnects the crossing rods 6 and is formed with a through hole 71 adapted for extension of a fastener 91 therethrough (see FIG. 5) to fix the storage rack 100 to a reference surface. It should be noted that the number of fixing plates 7 included in the rack body 10 may be varied and should not be limited by that in this embodiment.

Further referring to FIG. 3, when wishing to assemble two of the rack bodies 10 together, the second engaging subunit 42 of one of the rack bodies 2 is slid into the engaging frame 412 from the guide part 413 of the first engaging subunit 41 of the other one of the rack bodies 10 so that the first and second engaging subunits 41, 42 are mutually engaged. FIG. 4 shows the two rack bodies 10 being respectively stored with an article 8. It should be noted that the number of assembled rack bodies 10 included in the storage rack 100 may vary according to practical requirements and should not be limited by those illustrated in this disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, the storage rack 100 may be fixed onto a wall 9 with the fastener 91 by virtue of the through hole 71 formed on the fixing plate 7 to save table space, When the storage rack 100 includes two or more rack bodies 10, the rack bodies 10 may be assembled together by respectively engaging the first and second engaging subunits 41, 42 thereof, and the entire storage rack 100 may be fixed onto the wall 9 by fastening just one of the rack bodies 10 in the foregoing manner.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, in other configurations of the present disclosure, the rack bodies 10 may be rotated and disposed at an angle different from that of the configuration in FIGS. 1 to 5, When being disposed vertically at the angle illustrated in FIG. 6, the assembled rack bodies 10 may be fixed onto the wall 9 by fastening one of the rack bodies 10 thereon, with the stop segments 32 serving as the base of the rack bodies 10 for supporting the articles 8. When being disposed relatively upside-down at the angle illustrated in FIG. 7, the rack body 10 may be hung onto the wall 9 without the use of any fasteners, with the stop segment 32 now acting as a hook for achieving the same and the linking rods 411 now defining an imaginary support plane and acting as the base support for the article 8.

In sum, the storage rack 100 according to the present disclosure allows for a plurality of rack bodies 10 to be assembled together by virtue of the first and second engaging subunits 41, 42 of the engaging unit 4 and be used effectively even when disposed at different angles. Furthermore, the fixing plate 7 and the through hole 71 enables the storage rack 100 to be fixed on a wail 9 so that table space may be saved and space utilization in a given area may be improved. Since the storage rack 100 may comprise of mutually supporting rods made of metal material, durability issues potentially present in the prior art may also be resolved.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims

1. A storage rack adapted for storing an article therein, said storage rack comprising a rack body that includes:

four main rods spaced apart from one another and cooperatively defining a receiving space thereamong, each of said main rods having opposite first and second ends, two of said main rods cooperatively defining a first imaginary side plane, the other two of said main rods cooperatively defining a second imaginary side plane that is opposite to said first imaginary side plane;
two horizontal rods, each of which extends along a respective one of said first and second imaginary side planes and intersects a respective pair of said main rods defining said respective one of said first and second imaginary side planes;
two support rods, each of said support rods having a support segment that intersects said horizontal rods, said support segments of said support rods cooperatively defining an imaginary support plane that is adapted for supporting the article; and
an engaging unit including a first engaging subunit that includes at least one linking rod connected to said first ends of said main rods, and an engaging frame connected to said linking rod, and a second engaging subunit that is connected to said second ends of said main rods and that is adapted to be engageable with said engaging frame of said first engaging subunit of said rack body of another one of said storage rack.

2. The storage rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said support rods further has a stop segment extending transversely from said support segment.

3. The storage rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

said stop segment of each one of said support rods has a distal, end distal from said support segment; and
a distance between the imaginary support plane and said first end of any one of said main rods is longer than that between the imaginary support plane and said distal end of said stop segment of any one of said support rods.

4. The storage rack as claimed in claim 2, said rack body further includes first and second connecting rods, said first connecting rod interconnecting ends of said support segments of said support rods that are opposite to said stop segments of said support rods, said second connecting rod interconnecting said distal ends of said stop segments of said support rod.

5. The storage rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

said support segments of said support rods extend through said receiving space; and
said stop segments of said support rods extend respectively from ends of said support segments opposite to said first connecting segment, and is disposed outside of said receiving space.

6. The storage rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

two of said main rods cooperatively define an imaginary front plane that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes;
the other two of said main rods cooperatively define an imaginary rear plane that is opposite to the imaginary front plane and that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes; and
said rack body further includes a limiting rod that extends along the imaginary front plane and that interconnects said two of said main rods which define the imaginary front plane.

7. The storage rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

two of said main rods cooperatively define an imaginary front plane that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes;
the other two of said main rods cooperatively define an imaginary rear plane that is opposite to the imaginary front plane and that is perpendicular to the first and second imaginary side planes; and
said rack body further includes two spaced-apart crossing rods that extend along the imaginary rear plane and that interconnect said two of said main rods which define the imaginary rear plane, and at least one fixing plate that interconnects said crossing rods and that is formed with a through hole adapted for extension of a fastener therethrough to fix said storage rack to a reference surface.

8. The storage rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rack body is made of metal.

Patent History
Publication number: 20160345725
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 6, 2015
Publication Date: Dec 1, 2016
Inventor: Charles TSAI (Taipei City)
Application Number: 14/934,862
Classifications
International Classification: A47B 47/00 (20060101); A47B 47/02 (20060101);