Abstract:
A storage rack provides a convenient means to both dry and store often cumbersome athletic clothing and equipment. The storage rack is of an endo-type design in the sense that the stored athletic equipment and clothing is substantially draped over or encapsulated various appendages of a hollow shell of the rack. Internal surfaces of the athletic equipment and clothing are dried by a series of air flow apertures carried by each appendage which communicate inwardly with a common air chamber held at superatmospheric pressure and defined by the shell. Preferably an inlet supply air passage is also carried by the shell for receiving superatmospheric air into the air chamber.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/385,172, filed May 31, 2002. 

   TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates to a storage rack and more particularly to a hollow endo-type storage rack for the drying of athletic equipment and clothing. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Athletics such as football and hockey, amongst others, are without question a favorite national past time. Consequently, it is of no surprise that children begin active participation in sporting activities at a young age, often through organized minor leagues and scholastic athletic programs. The equipment and clothing necessary to participate in many sports includes a protective helmet, a variety of body pads and related clothing, gloves, special shoes or skates, and jerseys. This equipment and clothing is often bulky and cumbersome; stored within closed, airless, lockers at athletic facilities, or clumped together within athletic bags. Moreover, where the athletes are children, the equipment and clothing is often strewn about the home to a parent&#39;s dismay. 
   To complicate matters, the sporting equipment and clothing is often damp from body sweat and exposure to rainy weather. Damp clothing is prone to mildew, staining and unpleasant odor, especially when not properly stored and/or immediately dried. Moreover, conventional drying methods for everyday clothing such as a rotating drum-type clothes dryer are not conducive to the drying of athletic equipment which may include integrated hard materials such as plastic or metal that can damage surrounding supportive fabrics. Also, known drying methods typically dry from the outside-in which is not preferred for items such as shoes and gloves which are primarily damp on the inside from body sweat. Thus, a partially dried piece of equipment, such as a glove, will still feel uncomfortably damp and cold against the bare hand of the athlete. Yet further, because known drying methods typically do not function as an organized storage area for sporting equipment and clothing, the athlete or parent must be bothered with remembering to move the equipment and clothing from the drying means and to a designated storage area. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A storage rack provides a convenient means to both dry and store often cumbersome athletic clothing and equipment. The storage rack is of an endo-type design in the sense that the stored athletic equipment and clothing is substantially draped over or encapsulates various appendages of a hollow shell of the rack. Internal surfaces of the athletic equipment and clothing are dried by a series of air flow apertures carried by each appendage which communicate inwardly with a common air chamber held at superatmospheric pressure and defined by the shell. Preferably an inlet supply air passage is also carried by the shell for receiving superatmospheric air into the air chamber. 
   Advantages and features of the storage rack of the present invention are convenience in the organization of bulky athletic equipment and clothing. Yet another advantage of the storage rack is the ability to dry athletic equipment and clothing from the inside-out thus reducing unpleasant odors, eliminating mildew growth, extending the useful life of the athletic clothing and equipment and adding comfort to the wearer of the athletic equipment and clothing. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The presently preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following description and in the accompanied drawings wherein: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a storage of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a side view of the storage rack; 
       FIG. 3  is a front view of the storage rack; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a storage rack; and 
       FIG. 5  is a front view of a third embodiment of a storage rack. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , a storage rack  10  of the present invention stores and dries athletic equipment and clothing  12  for football, hockey and a wide variety of other sports. A hollow shell  14  of the storage rack  10  generally resembles an upright stature of a human being and has a series of appendages  16  or branches similar to a human body which project from a central torso  18  of the shell  14 . The torso  18  is elevated by a pair of bent or crouching legs  20  of the appendages  16 . Stabilizing the torso  18  in the upright or substantially vertical position are a substantially horizontal pair of elongated feet  22  press fitted to a distal or lower end  24  of each respective one of the pair of legs  20 . Spaced above the legs  20 , with the torso  18  extending vertically therebetween, are a pair of arms  26  of the appendages  16  extending substantially horizontal. Projecting upward from the torso  18 , and between the oppositely projecting arms  26 , is a head  28 , which generally completes the human image and is highly suggestive of where various components of the athletic equipment and clothing  12  should be stored. 
   For instance, the head  28  of the appendages  16  extends upward to support a protective helmet  30  of the athletic equipment and clothing  12 . Each one of the arms  26  has a horizontal portion  32  disposed generally between the head  28  and a respective vertically projecting hand or distal portion  34  of the arms  26 . Draped and stored over the two horizontal portions  32  and hanging downward to partially cover the torso  18  is a shoulder pad  36  of the athletic equipment and closing  12  with the head  28  projecting upward beyond the shoulder pads  36 . The distal portions or hand  34  support, and are generally encased by, respective left and right gloves  38  commonly used in the sport of hockey. Athletic shoes  40  such as cleats for the sport of football or ice skates for hockey, fit invertly over a pair of stanchions  42  projecting upward from a bent knee portion  44  of each respective one of the pair of legs  20 . Moreover, an upward surface  46  of each foot  22  carries a slit  48  which snugly encases and protects the blades of the shoes or ice skates  40  thus storing the skates in an upright position. If the skates  40  are stored within the slits  48 , the pair of stanchions  42  can serve to store socks (not shown) or any other type of clothing having a tubular design. A lower or shin portion  50  of each leg  20  supports a hook member or device  52  for hanging shin pads  54  of the athletic equipment and clothing  12 . 
   All of the appendages  16  have a series of apertures  56  which extend through the shell  14  between an external face  58  being in direct contact with the athletic equipment and clothing  12  and an internal face  60  which defines an air chamber  62 . The apertures  56  flow at superatmospheric pressure from the air chamber  62  and against inward damp surfaces  64  of the athletic equipment  12 . In this way, the storage rack  10  dries the athletic equipment and clothing  12  from the inside-out. 
   An electric fan  66  engages or press fits to a crotch or tail member  68  extending generally downward between the pair of legs  20  and induces air flow through an air passage  70  defined by the crotch member  68 , and into the air chamber  62 . The fan  66  has an integrated timer  67 , an on/off switch  69  with a power cord  72  which plugs into a standard alternating current outlet or wall receptacle commonly found in residential homes. When the user turns the switch  69  on, the timer  67  is activated allowing the fan  66  to run for a pre-established period of time before automatically shutting down. Referring to  FIG. 4 , the supply air passage  70  is extended by a flexible duct  74  as an alternative retrofit press fitted at one end to the crotch member  68  and attached at the opposite end to a frame  76  having a magnetic strip  78  which engages a metallic air supply wall or floor grill  80  commonly found in residential homes. In this way the storage rack  10  utilizes the forced air heating or cooling system of a residential home to flow air into the hollow shell  14  thus drying the athletic equipment and clothing  12 . 
   A reinforcement webbing or member  82  engages unitarily to the external face  58  at each horizontal portion  32  and the torso  18  for supporting the horizontal portions  32  along with the weight of the shoulder pads  36  and the gloves  38  from below. Each webbing  18  has a series of eyelets  84  for suspending a removable hanger  86  or any other type of hooked storage device commonly used for the hanging or storage of clothing, such as pants. 
   The storage rack  10  is preferably made of a non-rusting material such as aluminum, stainless steel, chrome plated steel, coated steel or plastic. Plastic is a preferred material because it possesses structural strength while being lightweight and relatively inexpensive. Furthermore, the plastic is preferably molded producing a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and features. To assist in the molding process and reduce costs of shipping and handling, the storage rack  10  is shipped in a disassembled state having generally five separate parts which include a top member  88  of the shell, a bottom member  90  of the shell, the fan  66  and the pair of horizontal elongated feet  22 . The shell  14  of the storage rack  10  is divided into the top member  88  and the bottom member  90  which press together during assembly. Likewise, each foot  22  press fits to the respective leg  20  for quick and easy assembly. The plastic may be manufactured in a variety of colors with the addition of decals (not shown) to coordinate with and display loyalty to a favorite professional athletic team. 
   Each foot  22  of the free-standing storage rack  10  press fits to the bottom member  90  of the hollow shell  14  at each leg  20  via a slot  92  defined laterally by a first and second side  94 ,  96  of the exterior surface  98  of the shell  14 . The slots  92  extend from the front portion  98  to the back portion  100  of the exterior surface of shell  14 . The distance between the first and second sides  94 ,  96  is generally equal to the lateral width or thickness of each foot  22 . Each foot  22  also has a laterally extending slot  102  which mates with the respective leg  20 . Once the feet  22  are press fitted to the respective legs  20 , the storage rack  10  is capable of maintaining an upright stature. The storage rack  10  can also be supported in the upright stature by an existing structure so that the feet  22  are not required. For instance, the hollow shell  14  of the storage rack  10  can be conveniently supported against a backside of an entry door. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the athletic equipment and clothing  12  is deorderized by a scenting element  106  illustrated as a permeable sheet or cloth substantially disposed in the air chamber  62  and held in-place by being sandwiched between the press fitted interface of the top member  88  to the bottom member  90 . The scenting element  106  may also be any variety of other shapes and materials including that of pellets held within a screen-like basket disposed accessibly within the air chamber  62 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 5 , a second embodiment of a storage rack  10 ′ may also be made of a conventional piping material such as polyvinyl chloride piping, PVC, and with a variety of pipe fittings  104  to form the various appendages  16 ′. Moreover, the storage rack  10 ′ need not be in the shape of a human being, but may instead have appendages  16 ′ strategically placed to minimize required storage space, yet still have the endo-type drying features of the internal air chamber and a series of apertures. For instance, the storage rack  10 ′ can be tree-like in design wherein the appendages  16 ′ are a series of hollow branches and a torso  18 ′ is analogous to a hollow trunk having a diameter equal to or greater than the diameter of the branches. 
   While the forms of the invention herein discloses constitute presently preferred embodiments, many others are possible. For instance, the fan  66  could be reversed in direction creating a vacuum pressure within the air chamber. This embodiment could be used to evacuate unpleasant odors of the athletic equipment from a room. It is not limited herein to mention all the possible equivalent forms or ramifications of the invention. It is understood that the terms used herein are merely descriptive rather than limited and that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.