Pallet rack repair system

A method for repairing pallet racks wherein the assembly is used to replace a damaged front post. The repair assembly includes a tubular post having a floor plate at a lower end and a support plate at an upper end with a horizontal brace and a diagonal brace to replace the existing braces. The assembly is structurally solid and has the diagonal brace placed sufficiently high above the floor to avoid damage by forklift trucks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 The present invention relates to pallet racking arrangements and more
 particularly, relates to a method system for repair of pallet racks.
 Pallet racks originally received wide usage in warehouses wherein typically
 they would extend in a plurality of rows for substantially the height of
 the building with space being provided between the rows for forklift
 trucks to move. The forklift trucks would then remove stock from the
 shelves for the shipping of quantities thereon or for further processing.
 More recently, the opening of large warehouse stores to the public have
 utilized such pallet racks for direct access by the consumer. In this
 arrangement, the warehouse and retail functions are combined.
 Inherently, there are dangers in such a system and safeguards against
 collapse must be provided. To date, most of the safety concerns have
 centered around the various design criteria to ensure that the pallet
 racks are capable of accepting the loads to which they are subjected.
 Normally, the pallet racks are of a knock down design wherein the shelves
 or beams are hooked onto a post. The posts are generally perforated to
 receive the hook elements and various designs of the post have been
 proposed in the art. One may, for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No.
 4,064,996 illustrating such a post structure.
 While the use of pallet racks achieves substantial economies for the user,
 they are very susceptible to damage. Inherently, the loaded pallets must
 be lifted onto the racks by fork lift trucks. Due to the sometimes limited
 spaces, accidents are quite frequent wherein the fork lift truck will
 accidentally collide with one of the support posts. With the very high
 loads which the pallet racks carry, this is a dangerous situation and any
 post even slightly damaged must be replaced.
 In order to replace the damaged post, the loaded pallets must be removed
 from the structure and the rack disassembled. After repair, the pallets
 must then be reloaded on the structure.
 The above process is both an expensive and time consuming one. Frequently,
 once the post has been damaged, the forces acting on the structure will
 then cause damage to some of the bracing and beams. For safety reasons, it
 frequently becomes necessary to replace a substantial portion of the
 structure.
 Although it has been proposed in the art to provide post protectors--see
 U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,110, such post protectors do not assist in preventing
 damage to the post at a height above the protector.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for the repair
 of pallet racks, which method minimizes the downtime when repairing a
 damaged post.
 It is a further object of the present invention to provide a repair system
 for the repair of damaged pallet racks.
 According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 repair assembly for pallet racks comprising a tubular post having an upper
 end and a lower end, a floor bearing plate secured to the tubular post at
 the lower end thereof, a horizontal support plate secured to the tubular
 post at the upper end thereof, a connecting member secured to the upper
 end of the tubular post, a horizontal brace extending perpendicularly
 outwardly from a wall of the tubular post, a horizontal brace clamping
 member located at a distal end of the horizontal brace, a diagonal brace
 extending upwardly and outwardly from the wall of the tubular post, and a
 diagonal brace clamping member located at a distal end of the diagonal
 brace.
 In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of
 repairing a pallet rack having a front post with a damaged lower portion
 and an undamaged upper portion, the method comprising the steps of
 supplying a repair assembly comprising a tubular post having an upper end
 and a lower end, a floor bearing plate secured to the tubular post at the
 lower end thereof, a support plate secured to the tubular post at the
 upper end thereof, a connecting member secured to the upper end of the
 tubular post, a horizontal brace extending perpendicularly outwardly from
 a wall of the tubular post, a horizontal brace clamping member located at
 a distal end of the horizontal brace, a diagonal brace extending upwardly
 and outwardly from the wall of the tubular post, and a diagonal brace
 clamping member located at a distal end of the diagonal brace, placing a
 lifting mechanism adjacent the post, the lifting mechanism having means to
 engage and hold the undamaged upper portion of the post, lifting the post
 a sufficient distance to transfer all weight bearing on the damaged
 portion to the lifting mechanism, cutting and removing the damaged lower
 portion and associated horizontal brace and diagonal brace, placing the
 repair assembly defined above such that the tubular post replaces the
 damaged lower portion of the front post, lowering the undamaged upper
 portion of the front post on the support plate, and attaching the
 connecting member secured to the upper end of the tubular post to the
 undamaged upper portion of the front post, and securing the clamping means
 located at the distal ends of the horizontal brace and the diagonal brace
 to a rear post of the pallet rack.
 In greater detail, the repair assembly of the present invention is designed
 to work with all standard pallet racks. In this respect, it will be
 understood that different pallet racks will have different dimensions and
 the repair assembly will be configured accordingly.
 The repair assembly of the present invention is designed to be sufficiently
 sturdy to permanently replace the damaged portion of the pallet rack and
 to withstand any further damage from lift trucks and the like.
 Accordingly, it is constructed of sufficiently robust material and in
 preferred embodiments, the post and braces are made of steel between 1/4
 and 3/16 inch thick. The same material will be used for the connecting
 members.
 As previously mentioned, damage frequently occurs when a portion of the
 forklift truck hits the upright post. To the best of Applicant's
 knowledge, all of the horizontal and diagonal braces are located at a
 relatively low height and particularly in the case of the diagonal brace,
 the low height can lead to the danger of the whole structure crumpling. In
 the present invention, the diagonal brace is situated at least 40 cm and
 preferably 45 cm above the floor bearing plate. This has been found to be
 significant as it is above all portions of commercially available forklift
 trucks which would be likely to make contact with the post.
 It is also preferred that the diagonal post form an angle of between 20 and
 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal and more preferably, between 25
 and 28 degrees. This angle is important in ensuring the overall rigidity
 of the structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and by reference characters
 thereto, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a repair assembly which is
 generally designated by reference numeral 10.
 Repair assembly 10 includes a tubular post 12, having a front wall 14, an
 opposed side wall 16, and a pair of side walls, only one side wall 18
 being shown.
 Located at the bottom of tubular post 12 is a floor bearing plate 20. Floor
 bearing plate 20 extends beyond both front wall 14 and back wall 16; the
 portion extending past front wall 14 has an aperture 22 therein to receive
 a fastening member such as a bolt which will be secured to the floor. A
 C-shaped bolt guard 24 extends substantially about the periphery of the
 portion extending beyond front wall 14 to protect the bolt from damage.
 Similarly, an aperture is provided in the portion of floor bearing plate
 20 extending past back wall 16.
 At the upper end of tubular post 12 there is a horizontal plate 26 welded
 thereto. Also surrounding horizontal plate 26 and the upper portion of
 tubular post 12 is a C-shaped connector 28 having a front wall 30, a
 portion of which lies in juxtaposition with front wall 14 of tubular post
 12, there remaining portion extending upwardly to receive the existing
 post of the pallet rack as will be discussed in greater detail
 hereinbelow. Similarly, side wall 32 lies in juxtaposition to side wall 18
 of tubular post 12.
 A horizontal brace 34 extends outwardly from back wall 16. Horizontal brace
 34 has an upper wall 36 and a bottom wall 38 which are substantially the
 same as back wall 16 to thereby provide a very strong connection.
 Similarly, a diagonal brace 46 extends diagonally outwardly and upwardly
 from back wall 16. In this respect, it will be noted that diagonal brace
 46 is located a distance above horizontal brace 34 and extends at an angle
 of approximately 26 degrees. Diagonal brace 46 includes a top wall 48 and
 a bottom wall 50 which are slightly narrower than back wall 16 of tubular
 post 12.
 A C-shaped connector generally designated by reference numeral 40 is
 located at the distal end of horizontal beam 34 and includes a front wall
 42 and a pair of side walls, only one side wall 44 being shown. Similarly,
 a C-shaped connector 52 is provided at the distal end of diagonal brace
 46.
 Repair assembly 10, in FIGS. 1 and 2, is shown after having replaced a
 portion of a damaged post 54 as used in a conventional pallet rack
 arrangement. In the pallet rack arrangement there is also provided a rear
 post 56 and an upper horizontal brace 58.
 Each of posts 54 and 56, and as may be best seen in FIG. 4, is of a formed
 steel having an inwardly extending channel 64 with apertures 66 located
 therein. This is similar to the arrangement shown, for example, in U.S.
 Pat. No. 4,064,996 to Shillum.
 The tubular post 12, horizontal brace 34 and diagonal brace 46, on the
 other hand, are preferably formed of a solid non apertured metallic
 material and will thus be able to withstand impact by truck lift forks and
 the like.
 In practicing the method of the present invention, reference will now be
 made to the steps involved therein.
 There is provided a lifting mechanism generally designated by reference
 numeral 68 and which includes a base 70 having a recess 72 formed therein
 to permit placement of the lifting mechanism proximate to front post 54.
 Mounted on base 70 is a hydraulic jack 74 having an arm 76 extending
 upwardly therefrom. At the distal end of arm 76 there is provided a post
 engaging attachment generally designated by reference numeral 78. Post
 engaging attachment 78 will be specific to the type of post being repaired
 and thus a number of different attachments may be employed.
 Post engaging attachment 78 includes a front wall 80 from which a plurality
 of members 82 extend. Each member 82 has a horizontal portion 84 which is
 substantially perpendicular to front wall 80 and an upwardly extending
 portion 86. A pair of side walls 88 extend rearwardly from front wall 80,
 each side wall 88 having an aperture 90 formed therein to receive a pin 92
 for attachment to arm 76.
 Referring to FIGS. 3, 3a, 3b and 3c, there is illustrated front post 54
 which has been hit by a lift truck and has a lower damaged portion 96 and
 an upper undamaged portion 98 (horizontal and diagonal braces not shown).
 Initially, lifting mechanism 68 is placed into position whereby members 82
 extending from front wall 80 will engage with upper undamaged portion 98
 through apertures 66. Hydraulic jack 74 is then operated to lift post 54
 to the extent necessary to remove any weight bearing on lower damaged
 portion 96. Lower damaged portion 96 is then removed as indicated by cut
 line 100.
 Subsequently, repair assembly 10 is moved into position as shown in FIG. 3b
 and hydraulic jack 74 is then lowered to permit the bottom end of upper
 undamaged portion 98 to rest on horizontal plate 86. A rear C-shaped
 reinforcing plate 106 is placed inwardly of channel 64 and bolts 104 are
 then secured through C-shaped connector 28. A similar procedure is
 followed with respect to connectors 40 and 52 located at the distal ends
 of horizontal brace 34 and diagonal brace 46 respectively.
 It will be understood that the above described embodiments are for purposes
 of illustration only and that changes and modifications may be made
 thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.