Bottle stand

The stand comprises a number of holding devices (4) which are disposed on a rigid elongated section member (1) and each form a front upper support (22) and a rear lower support (18). These supports have a generally curved shape but are facing in opposite directions and offset not only in height but laterally, and are spaced apart from each other in the horizontal direction a distance at the most equal to the length of the neck of a bottle, so that the bottle is carried solely by its neck in an inclined position with the neck extending upwardly.

Bottles are usually stored in a horizontal position in racks which form at 
least two supports on which the body of the bottle rests. The neck is in 
this wa completely free and it is ensured that the liquid contained in the 
bottle is in permanent contact with the stopper of the latter. 
On the other hand, the bottle must be withdrawn for reading its label and 
this must most often be done by holding the bottle by the neck. Moreover, 
the racks have a relatively large overall size, since this size must 
correspond to the entire length of the bottle and these racks occupy the 
same space whether they are full or empty. 
An object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks by 
providing a bottle stand which has a very small overall size and yet 
permits an effective holding of a large number of bottles and an easy 
reading of their labels. 
The invention indeed provides a bottle stand comprising at least one rigid 
elongated section member, and at least one holding device for the neck of 
a bottle mounted on said section member or section members, formed by a 
rear support and a front support which face in opposite directions and are 
offset in height and spaced apart a distance which is less than the length 
of a normal glass bottle neck, wherein at least one of the rear and front 
supports is formed by a curved member which is carried by a fixing element 
for fixing to the section member and is laterally and downwardly inclined 
relative to the plane of the section member so that the neck of the bottle 
extends upwardly 
According to another feature of the invention, the front and rear supports 
of successive holding devices are alternately laterally offset to the left 
and the right. 
With this arrangement, the bottles are held solely by their neck and the 
holding devices have a length which is less than the length of the normal 
neck of a bottle. The stand therefore has an extremely small overall size 
while the inclination of the bottles ensures both a firm fixing of the 
bottles and an easy reading of the labels. 
According to a modification, the bottle stand comprises a plurality of 
section members assembled in pairs and each provided with holding devices. 
Each section member provided with holding devices may be assembled by 
cross-members to other similiar section members and thereby constitute a 
complete storage unit. 
The stand is therefore suitable for various utilizations and may be adapted 
to the shape and dimension of the storage premises. 
The following description of embodiments of the invention given by way of 
examples and shown in the accompanying drawings will show the advantages 
and features of the invention.

The bottle stand according to the invention comprises at least one rigid 
elongated section member 1 which has at least one longitudinal planar 
surface 2 but may have any desired section, for example a square, 
rectangular or preferably a U-section as shown. This section member which 
may be disposed vertically or horizontally is adapted to carry on its 
longitudinal planar surface 2 at least one holding device for the neck of 
a bottle 4. 
The holding device 4 comprises indeed a fixing plate 6 provided in each of 
its corners with an aperture 8 for the passage of a screw 10 or the like 
which also extends through an aperture 12 in the section member 1 and is 
firmly held in position by a nut 14 screwed on the screw. Extending from 
the plate 6 is a flat and vertical wing 16 which is substantially 
perpendicular to the plate 6 and carries on the end thereof remote from 
the plate a support 18 in the form of a semi-cylindrical cup whose 
concavity faces upwardly and whose inside diameter substantially 
corresponds to the outside diameter of a bottleneck. The cup 18 is fixed 
to a beveled end of the wing 16 so that it is inclined to the horizontal 
in the downward direction away from the plate 6. 
The plate 6 also carries above the wing 16 an arm 20 parallel to the wing 
16 but much shorter than the latter. Suspended from this arm 20 is an 
upper support 22, formed in the same way as the support 18 by a 
semi-cylindrical cup but having its concavity facing downwardly. The 
support 22 is, in the same way as the element 18, downwardly inclined to 
the horizontal in the direction away from the plate 6. Further, the axes 
of the two cups 18 and 22, which are parallel to each other, are laterally 
inclined relative to the wing 16 and to the arm 20, i.e., to the vertical 
plane perpendicular to the plate 6. 
The angle of inclination of the cups 18 and 22 is small, for example on the 
order of 10.degree., while the length of the wing 16 is less than that of 
the neck of a normal bottle. Thus any glass bottle, whether it be a 35 cl, 
75 cl, or 1 L bottle, may be placed in the holding device as indicated in 
dot-dash lines in FIG. 1, so that its neck bears in its lower part on the 
cup 18 and in its upper part under the cup 22. It will be observed that 
the combination of these two supports with the weight of the bottle 
ensures that the latter is firmly held whether it is full or empty. 
Furthermore, the inclination of the bottle is such that the liquid therein 
permanently remains in contact with the stopper. 
It will be clear that the holding device 4 has an extremely small overall 
size and that the bottle can be in any case easily placed in position or 
withdrawn, the bottle being handled by its heaviest part, i.e., its body. 
The section member 1, of course preferably supports a certain number of 
holding devices 4 evenly spaced apart along its length. In this case, the 
cups 22 and 18 of the successive devices are alternately offset to the 
right and to the left so that the bottles placed in these devices extend 
away from each other in the direction away from the section member, which 
affords free access to the bottles and consequently enables their labels 
to be easily read without moving the bottles. 
Of course, instead of employing cups 18 and 22 which are laterally offset 
relative to the wing 16 and the arm 20 respectively, the holding device 
could have a wing 16 and an arm 20 which make a suitable angle with the 
plate 6 and be thus contained in the plane of symmetry of the cup it 
carries. 
It is also possible to place between the section member 1 and the plate 6 a 
wedge-shaped shim which provides the desired lateral inclination. Such a 
shim may moreover have, in the same way as the shim 24 shown in FIGS. 2 
and 3, a substantially triangular section and ensure itself both the 
lateral offset and the inlination to the horizontal. 
FIGS. 2 to 4 illustrate an embodiment of the holding device which includes 
such a shim 24 and in which the fixing plate 6 carries two arms 
respectively 16 and 20 which are perpendicular thereto and consequently 
receive a lateral and downward inclination which is a function of the 
shape of the shim 24. The lower arm 16 carries at its end a flat member 28 
in the shape of a crescent whose concavity faces upwardly and whose inside 
diameter is substantially equal to the outside diameter of the neck of a 
bottle. In the same way, the upper shorter arm 20 carries at its end a 
flat member 30 in the shape of a crescent whose concavity faces 
downwardly. The member 30 has dimensions similiar to those of the member 
28 and is also perpendicular to the arm carrying it, i.e., parallel to the 
fixing plate 6. 
Preferably, each of the arms is reinforced by horizontal ribs 32, 34, 
connecting it to the plate 6. 
The holding device designed in this way may be mounted on the section 
member 1 by screws as described with reference to FIG. 1 or as shown in 
FIGS. 2 to 4 by means of hooks 36 connected to the shim 24 an the fixing 
plate 6 and cooperating with slots 38 provided in the planar longitudinal 
side 2 of the section member 1 (FIG. 5). 
The shim 24 may of course be connected to the plate 6 or even be in one 
piece with the latter and be, as shown, formed by a thickening of the 
fixing plate 6. In this case, the hook 36 is fixed to these two parts. The 
shim 24 may also be detachable and include an opening or even a slot in 
which a hook 36 fixed to the plate 6 is fitted. It is then possible with a 
single type of holding device and two types of shim, or reversible shims, 
to provide for the front and rear supports the desired inclinations and 
offset. 
Depending on the size of the stand required, the section member 1 may have 
any desired length and may be used alone, with a certain number of holding 
devices, or be associated with another similar section member 41 so as to 
form a vertical post as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the flanges 42 of 
two U-section members are placed in butting relation so that the planar 
sides 2 receiving the holding devices form two opposed sides of the post. 
The section members 1 and 41 are fitted together inside a retaining base 
42 which constitutes a foot which rests on the ground and may even be 
fixed to the latter if desired. 
In their upper part, and possibly in one or more intermediate parts, the 
two section members 1 and 41 are surrounded by a collar 44 of rectanglar 
or square section whose sides are in close contact with those of the post 
and which is fixed to the section members 1 and 41 by any suitable means 
such as screws 1 and 46. Preferably, each of the sides of the collar 44 
includes on its two opposed vertical edges an L-shaped flange which forms 
a slideway 47 for receiving an end member 48 of a cross-member 50 for 
connection to another similiar post. A plurality of posts may be in this 
way assembled by cross-members 50 and constitute bottle stands of 
extremely variable dimensions corresponding to the available space for the 
storage. 
The stand comprising a U-section member shown in FIG. 1 may however be 
employed alone or with other similiar stands placed next to it. Each 
section member 1, 61 is, in this case, fixed to a member or the like by 
any suitable means but preferably by at least one solid or hollow 
parallelsided packing block capable of being fitted in the U-section 
member. The block 52 then includes a throughway aperture 54 which is 
aligned with an aperture 56 in the section member when fitting these parts 
together and thereby permits the passage of a screw 58 which secures the 
assembly to the wall (FIG. 6). 
The upper part of the section member 61 may furthermore be closed by a 
block 60 which is longer than the others and provided in its lower part 
with a groove 62 for fitting on the edge of the planar side 2 of the 
section member 61. If desired, a bracket 64 for supporting a shelf may be 
fixed to the closing block 60 when a plurality of identical bottle stands 
are arranged in side by side relation. A rack or shelf (not shown) may 
then be supported by the brackets 64 of a plurality of adjacent stands. 
The blocks 52 and 60 may have a depth similiar to that of the U-section 
member or, as shown in FIG. 6, may have a distinctly greater depth so as 
to define a space between the section member 61 and the wall to which it 
is secured. In this embodiment, the section member 61 is provided with 
orifices 66 evenly spaced apart and having a circular section, the upper 
edge of which constitutes the front support of the holding device. The 
rear support is formed by a cup 68 similiar to the cup 18 and carried in 
the same way as the latter by a flat and vertical wing 70 connected to a 
fixing member 72. The member 72 has the shape of a yoke whose two branches 
74 and 76 have different widths while its base 78 is curved in the centre 
so as to be capable of matching the shape of the lower edge of the orifice 
66. The wing 70 is connected to the small branch 74 of the yoke 72 but is 
laterally inclined to the perpendicular to the plane of this branch 74 at 
an angle of about 10.degree., as shown more particularly in FIG. 7. The 
two branches 74 and 76 of the yoke 72 are strictly parallel and planar and 
each come to bear against one of the sides of the wall of the section 
member 61 when the yoke straddles the edge of the orifice 66 (FIG. 8). In 
this way, they ensure a firm assembly for the cup 68 and its exact 
positioning when in use. 
The neck of the bottle which must be supported is in this case inserted in 
the section member 61 so as to be in contact, on one hand, with the front 
upper support formed by the edge of the orifice 66 and, on the other hand, 
with the rear lower support constituted by the cup 68. As the orifice 66 
has a diameter larger than that of a neck, the bottle is slighty 
downwardly inclined at an angle of about 10.degree., as in the foregoing 
embodiments. 
The section member 61 comprises a plurality of orifices 66 spaced apart 
alon its length, these orifices each receiving a yoke 72 carrying a wing 
70 laterally offset, but the wings of successive devices are alternately 
offset to the right and to the left. 
It will be understood that the orifice 66 of circular section may be 
replaced by an orifice of some other shape, for example a diamond-shaped 
orifice, the shape of the yoke 72 being modified in consequence. 
According to another embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, a 
holding device comprises a front or upper support 82 formed by a portion 
of a cylinder which is directly connected to the fixing plate 84 but has 
its axis and generatrices downwardly and laterally inclined relative to 
this plate. The rear lower support is formed by a flat member 86 in the 
shape of a crescent which is connected to the plate 84 by a slightly 
curved wide arm 88 which occupies almost the whole of the width of the 
flat crescent-shaped member 86. However, and as shown, the arm 88 is 
preferably hollow in its central part so as to lighten the device without 
imparing its strength. 
The front and rear supports 82 and 86 are preferably in one piece wih the 
fixing plate 84 which has a concave rear surface from which extends a 
hooking member 90 for hooking in a slot 92 in a section member 94. The 
slot 92 has an oblong shape having a longitudinal large axis whereas the 
hooking member 90 has a T-shape whose bar extends transversely relative to 
the fixing plate. This member must therefore be pivoted and deformed in 
order to enter the slot, but elastically resumes its shape when it has 
been inserted and turned through 90.degree.. It therefore retains the 
fixing plate against the section member by applying thereagainst the two 
edges of its concave side (FIGS. 11 and 12). 
Preferably, the immobilization of the holding device is strengthened by 
extensions or lugs 95, 96 of the arm 88 which come to fit on each side of 
the section member 94 and prevent its pivoting under the action of the 
load constituted by the bottle. 
In all cases, the bottle is extremely easy to place in position and 
withdraw, empty or full. It is firmly held in position while remaining 
accessible so that the labels can always be read. Moreover, in the absence 
of bottles, the stand has only a small overall size and the storage space 
for the bottles may be used for other purposes.