Abstract:
A load lock for a rack includes a mounting clip mounted in a recess of the mounting bracket, which makes the lock easy to install and impossible to remove without dismantling the rack. The load lock also includes a locking pin having an enlarged head, and the bracket includes a recess for receiving the enlarged head, so the locking pin can be retracted to install and remove the beam, but the recess provides a stop to prevent the lock from being retracted far enough to damage the lock.

Description:
This application claims priority from U.S. Ser. No. 60/118,830, filed Feb. 5, 1999. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Storage racks generally include a plurality of vertical members, which rest on the floor, and a plurality of horizontal beams mounted on the vertical members. The beams include a mounting bracket with lugs projecting inwardly and downwardly from the bracket. The lugs are received in holes of the vertical members to support the weight of the horizontal beams. Load locks are commonly used to prevent the horizontal beams from becoming accidentally dislodged from the vertical members. The load locks generally include a pin which extends through a hole in the bracket and a hole in the vertical member to prevent the horizontal beam from lifting up enough to dislodge the lugs. Some problems with prior art load locks are that they can come loose in shipment, they may themselves be too easy to dislodge, or they may be too difficult to install. Also, for resilient load locks which are retracted to pull the locking pin back, they may be retracted too far, which damages the resilient member. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a resilient load lock which is easy to install, which will not accidentally fall out, and which cannot be removed from the rack without disassembling the rack or destroying the lock. The present invention also provides an arrangement which prevents the resilient member from being pulled out too far, thereby protecting the load lock against damage during normal use. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage rack made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows an enlarged, broken-away portion of the rack of FIG. 1, where two horizontal beams are mounted on a vertical member of the rack; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the portion of the rack of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is the same view as FIG. 3 but with the locking member mounted on the bracket of the horizontal beam; 
     FIG. 5 is the same view as FIG. 4, but showing the horizontal beam being assembled onto the vertical member; 
     FIG. 6 is a front view of the locking member of FIGS. 1-5; 
     FIG. 7 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a top view of the locking member of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 9 is a view taken along the section  9 — 9  of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 10 is a broken-away end view of the bracket of FIGS. 1-5; 
     FIG. 11 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is a view taken along the section  12 — 12  of FIG. 11; 
     FIG. 13 is a view taken along the section  13 — 13  of FIG. 11; 
     FIG. 14 is the same view as FIG. 10 but showing the bracket in section; 
     FIG. 14A is the same view as FIG. 14, but showing the locking member of FIG. 6 being mounted onto the bracket; 
     FIG. 15 is the same view as FIG. 14A, but with the locking member completely assembled onto the bracket; 
     FIG. 16 is a view taken along the section  16 — 16  of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 17 is a view taken along the section  17 — 17  of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 18 is a front view of a second embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 19 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 18; 
     FIG. 20 is a top view of the locking member of FIG. 20; 
     FIG. 21 is a view taken along the section  21 — 21  of FIG. 18; 
     FIG. 22 is an end view of an alternative bracket; 
     FIG. 23 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 22; 
     FIG. 24 is a view taken along the section  24 — 24  of FIG. 23; 
     FIG. 25 is a view taken along the section  25 — 25  of FIG. 23; 
     FIG. 26 is a front view of a third embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 27 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 26; 
     FIG. 28 shows the locking member of FIG. 26 mounted on a bracket; 
     FIG. 29 is an end view of the bracket of FIG. 28; 
     FIG. 30 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 29; 
     FIG. 31 is a front view of a fourth embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 32 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 31; 
     FIG. 33 shows the locking member of FIG. 31 mounted on a bracket; 
     FIG. 34 is an end view of the bracket of FIG. 33; 
     FIG. 35 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 34; 
     FIG. 36 is a front view of a fifth embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 37 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 36; 
     FIG. 38 is a view of the locking member of FIG. 36 mounted on a bracket; 
     FIG. 39 is an end view of the bracket and locking member of FIG. 38; 
     FIG. 40 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 39; 
     FIG. 41 is a front view of another alternative embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 42 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 41; 
     FIG. 43 is a front view of the locking member of FIG. 41 mounted on an alternative bracket; 
     FIG. 44 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 43; 
     FIG. 45 is a rear view of the bracket of FIG. 43; 
     FIG. 46 is a front view of another embodiment of a locking member made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 47 is a side view of the locking member of FIG. 46; 
     FIG. 48 is a front view of the locking member of FIG. 46 mounted on a bracket made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 49 is a side view of the bracket of FIG. 48; and 
     FIG. 50 is a rear view of the bracket of FIG.  49 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 1-17 show a first embodiment of a rack arrangement made in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a storage rack  10 , including vertical members  12  and horizontal beams  14  mounted on the vertical members  12 . FIGS. 2-5 show a broken-away section of the vertical member  12  with two horizontal beams  14  mounted on the vertical member. Each beam  14  has a bracket  16  welded or otherwise secured to the end of the beam. The bracket  16  is an L-shaped member, and studs  18  on the bracket  16  project through holes  20  in the vertical member  12  to hold the beam  14  on the vertical member  12 . While only one end of each beam  14  is shown, it is understood that the other end of each beam  14  is similarly mounted on the next adjacent vertical member  12  of the rack  10 . 
     Each L-shaped bracket  16  defines two legs  22 ,  24 . The first leg  22  carries the studs  18  and has at least first and second holes  26 ,  28  (See FIG.  3 ), which will be described in more detail below. The first leg  22  abuts the front face  30  of the vertical member  12 , and the second leg  24  abuts one of the side faces  32  of the vertical member  12 . 
     On the outer surface  33  of the first leg  22  of the bracket  16  is mounted a resilient locking member  34 , which is mounted onto the bracket  16  by means of a clip  36  and which carries a locking pin  38  that extends through a first hole  26  in the bracket  16  and through a vertical member hole  20 , which prevents the bracket  16  from moving up relative to the vertical member  12 , thereby locking the horizontal beam  14  onto the column  12  of the rack  10 . 
     More details of the locking arrangement are shown in FIGS. 6-17. FIGS. 6-9 show details of the resilient locking member  34 . The main body of the locking member  34  is made of a resilient material, such as spring steel. In the upper portion is a locking pin  38 , which preferably is staked to the main body by inserting the shank  40  of the locking pin  38  through a hole in the main body and deforming the shank  40  to rigidly secure the locking pin  38  on the resilient body. The locking pin  38  includes an enlarged width head  42  at the end of the narrower width shank  40 . Two vertical reinforcing ridges  44  are stamped into the body on either side of the locking pin  38 . The uppermost portion of the resilient body is curved backward to form a handle  46  for retracting the locking pin  38 , as will be described later. In the lower portion of the locking member  34  is a cut-out area  48  into which projects the mounting clip  36 , which also has a stamped ridge  50  for strength and which has left and right wings  52 . 
     FIGS. 10-14 show details of the bracket  16 . The first and second legs  22 ,  24  lie approximately at right angles to each other. The studs  18  are staked onto the first leg  22  in the same manner that the locking pin  38  is staked to the resilient body of the locking member  34 , and the studs  18  project inwardly and downwardly from the inner surface  54  of the bracket  16 . While two studs  18  are shown in this embodiment, it is understood that more studs could be used, and it is expected that, for taller brackets, there may be three or more studs  18  on a bracket. Also, the studs  18  could be of other known designs, such as studs with enlarged, rounded heads rather than downwardly-projecting heads as shown here. The head of the stud should be larger than the shank at least in one direction to prevent it from pulling straight out of the vertical member once it has been installed. The inner surface  54  of the bracket  16  is flat. The first and second holes  26 ,  28  each have a greater-width portion  56  and a narrower-width portion  58 . The greater-width portion  56  of the first hole  26  is wide enough to permit the head  42  of the locking pin  38  to pass through, and the narrower-width portion  58  of the first hole  26  is wide enough to permit the shank  40  of the pin to pass through while not permitting the head  42  to pass through. In the second hole  28 , the greater-width portion  56  is wide enough to permit the wings  52  of the clip  36  to pass through, while the narrower-width portion  58  is wide enough to permit the stem portion  53  of the clip to pass through but not the wings  52 . The interior surface  54  of the bracket  16  defines a recess  60  (See FIG.  11  and FIG. 13) adjacent to the narrower-width portion  58  of the first hole  26 , and it defines a recess  62  adjacent to the narrower-width portion  58  of the second hole  28 . Each recess  60 ,  62  terminates short of its respective greater-width portion  56  leaving a non-recessed, narrower-width portion  64 . 
     FIGS. 14A and 15 show how the locking member  34  is mounted onto the bracket  16 . First, the locking member  34  is brought adjacent to the outer surface  33  of the first leg  22  of the bracket  16 , and the head  42  of the locking pin  38  is extended through the greater width portion  56  of the first hole  26  while the wings  52  of the clip  36  are extended through the greater width portion  56  of the second hole  28 . Then, the clip  36  is flexed inwardly, and the resilient locking member  34  is moved downwardly with the wings  52  of the clip moving along the interior surface  54  of the bracket until they pass the non-recessed portion  64  and snap into the recess  62  in the second hole  28 . At the same time, the shank  40  of the locking pin  38  is moving down into the narrow part  58  of the first hole  26 . At this point, the locking member  34  is mounted on the bracket  16 , as shown in FIG.  15 . The wings  52  in the recess  62  prevent the locking member  34  from moving out of the second hole  28  unless the clip  36  is again flexed inwardly to permit the wings to get over the ridge  64 , which cannot occur when the bracket  16  is mounted on the vertical member  12 . When the clip  36  is installed on the bracket  16 , it is recessed so that it does not project inside the flat inner surface  54  of the bracket  16 . 
     Now, the assembled beam  14  is mounted onto the vertical member  12 , moving in the direction shown in FIG. 4, toward the vertical member  12  and then downwardly along the vertical member, as shown in FIG.  16 . The studs  18  enter their respective vertical member holes  20 A and  20 C. The locking pin  38  is pushed outwardly by the body of the vertical member, and the bracket  16  is moved downwardly until the locking pin  38  reaches the vertical member hole  20 B. The resilience of the locking member body then pushes the locking pin  38  inwardly into the hole  20 B. This then locks the beam  14  onto the vertical member  12 . The locking pin  38  is located so that it is near the top of its respective hole  20 B when the studs  18  are near the bottom of their respective holes  20 A,  20 C. The locking pin  38  thus prevents the beam  14  from moving upwardly a sufficient distance to permit the studs to be removed from the vertical member  12 . When the bracket  16  is mounted on the vertical member  12 , the body of the vertical member  12  prevents the clip  36  from flexing inwardly, so the resilient locking member  34  cannot become dislodged from the bracket  16  without first removing the beam  14  from the vertical member  12 . 
     In order to remove the beam  14  from the vertical member  12 , a person has to pull outwardly on the handle  46  of the resilient locking member  34 , retracting the locking pin  38  to a position in which it is flush with the flat inner surface  54  of the bracket, so the locking pin  38  is removed from the hole  20 B. The recess  60  in the narrow part  58  of the first hole  26  stops the head  42  of the locking pin  38  from coming completely out of the bracket  16 , thereby preventing the operator from retracting the locking member  34  far enough to damage it. Then, the bracket  16  can be lifted up to a point at which the studs  18  can be removed from the holes  20 A,  20 C in the vertical member to remove the beam  14  from the vertical member  12 . 
     FIGS. 18-21 show a second embodiment of a resilient locking member  134 . This locking member  134  is very similar to the member of the first embodiment, except that the enlarged head portion  142  of the locking pin  138  is formed by making two cuts along the pin  138 . This design also includes stiffening ridges  144 ,  150 , a clip  136  with a stem  153  and wings  152 . It should be noted that the lowermost portion  155  of the wings  152  is flared forwardly to help ramp the wings  152  over the non-recessed portion  64  to install the locking member  134  onto the bracket  116 . The bracket  116 , shown in FIGS. 22-25, is very similar to the first bracket  16 , with studs  118 , a first hole  126 , a second hole  128 , greater-width portions  156  and narrower-width portions  158  of the holes  126  and  128 , and non-recessed, narrower-width portions  164 . The locking member  134  is assembled onto its bracket  116  in the same manner as the first embodiment. 
     FIGS. 26-30 show a third embodiment. Again, the locking pin  238  of the locking member  234  has a slightly different shape, with a shank  120  and a wide head  242 . In this embodiment, there are additional handles  247  on the sides of the resilient body. There still are ridges  244 ,  250  for strength, and the clip  236  has wings which are flared inwardly at the bottom  255 . The bracket  216  includes studs  218  and first and second holes  226 ,  228  in its first leg  222 . The first hole  226  receives the locking pin  238  and has a wide upper portion  256  and a narrower lower portion  258 . The second hole  228  receives the clip  236  and has a wide upper portion  256  and a narrower lower portion  258 . The interior surface  254  of the bracket  216  defines a recess  260  adjacent the narrow lower portion  258  of the first hole  226  which does not terminate before it reaches the wide part  256  of the hole. The recess  262  formed adjacent to the narrow part  258  of the second hole  228  does terminate short of the wide portion  256  of the hole, leaving a non-recessed, narrow width portion  264  for retaining the clip, as was explained with respect to the first embodiment. 
     FIGS. 31-35 show a fourth embodiment of the invention. In this case, the resilient locking member  334  is installed with the clip  336  above the locking pin  338 . The first, pin-receiving hole  326  in the bracket  316  is then below the second, clip-receiving hole  328 . The holes  326 ,  328  have enlarged portions  356  and narrow portions  358  and recesses  360 ,  362 , and non-recessed, narrow width portions  364  as described with respect to the previous embodiments. The locking member  334  is installed downwardly on the bracket  316  as in the previous embodiments. The handles  355  are located in the lower portion of the locking member  334  to help retract the locking pin  338 . In this embodiment, and in some others, the cut-out  348  aligns with an opening  366  in the bracket. This permits the operator to insert a drift pin through the locking member  334  into the opening  366  and to pry the bracket  316  upwardly with the drift pin while holding the locking member  334  in a retracted position to help dislodge the bracket  316  from its respective vertical member  12 . 
     FIGS. 36-40 show a fifth embodiment. In this embodiment, there is no clip  436  on the locking member  434 . Instead, the locking member  434  is staked to the bracket  416  by means of the upper stud  418 . The locking pin  438  functions in the same manner as the previous embodiments, being retracted into a recess  460  in the narrow portion of the first hole  426 . In this case, the hole  426  has upper and lower narrow portions and upper and lower recesses  460 , which permits the same bracket piece to be used for left and right ends of the beam  14 . It is possible to provide a second hole (not shown) in the bracket  416  even when the locking member  434  is staked so that, if the locking member  434  becomes damaged for any reason, it can be cut off and replaced in the field with a clip-type locking member as in the previous embodiments. 
     FIGS. 41-45 show a sixth embodiment of the invention. In this case, the resilient locking member  534  includes a lower clip  536  and an upper locking pin  538 . The holes  526 ,  528  have enlarged portions  556  and narrower portions  558  and recesses  560 ,  562 , and the lower hole  528  has a non-recessed, narrow width portion  564 . The studs  518  are the same as in previous embodiments. What is different in this embodiment is that there are two outwardly-projecting ears  580  in the bracket  516 , adjacent to the bottom of the lower hole  528 . Once the locking clip member  534  is installed on the bracket  516 , these ears  580  catch in an opening  582  of the clip, making it impossible to remove the clip  534  simply by pressing in on the clip  536  and lifting up. Instead, a screwdriver or other tool must be used to lift the bottom of the clip body  534  over the ears  580 . The ears  580  are formed by displacing some of the material of the bracket  516  outwardly. 
     FIGS. 46-50 show a seventh embodiment of the invention, which is similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 31-35. This embodiment differs in that its upper hole  628  has an open top, so it is actually a slot. The holes  626 ,  628  have enlarged portions  656  and narrow portions  658  and recesses  660 ,  662 , and non-recessed, narrow width portions  664 . It would, however, be possible for the narrow portion  658  of the top hole  628  to have no enlarged portion  656  and to simply extend straight up. The studs  618  and handles  655  are as in previous embodiments. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the present invention.