Abstract:
A storage and organizer apparatus has a shelf and a shelf support structure supporting the shelf when fully assembled and/or installed for use. At least a part of the storage and organizer apparatus is formed of a full hard steel material. The shelf can be supported by full hard steel components of the shelf support structure.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/736,717, which was filed on Nov. 15, 2005, and the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Disclosure  
         [0003]     The present disclosure is generally directed to components for organizer and storage systems, and more particularly to components for such systems formed from hard temper or full hard steel.  
         [0004]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0005]     Organizer and storage systems that employ shelves are widely known for use in closets, kitchen pantries, garages, laundry rooms, and the like. Conventional organizer and storage systems typically employ one or more shelves supported by a support structure in an in-use position and orientation. Shelving systems can be employed in a number of different arrangements. Free-standing shelving units are known and typically have vertical legs that interconnect and support a series of spaced apart shelves. Wall mounted shelves are also known to mount directly to a wall surface with braces to support the shelf or are also known to employ mounting brackets suspended from vertical risers or uprights that are mounted to a wall surface. In this type of system, the uprights can also sometimes be suspended from or supported by one or more horizontal mounting rails that are mounted directly to the wall surface.  
         [0006]     The various bracket and support components are typically formed and configured from formable or ductile steel materials. These materials include hot rolled, pickled and oiled sheet metal or cold rolled annealed sheet metal. These ductile or formable steels are particularly suited for being bent and formed to desired shapes. As an alternative, manufacturers can use high strength, low alloy steel materials to produce the mounting hardware for these types of storage and organizer systems.  
         [0007]     These soft steels have considerably lower strength than hard temper steel, otherwise known as full hard or strain hardened steel. These soft steels, without adding alloying materials, have lower strength as a result of undergoing annealing or other processes. However, soft steels typically do not fracture when subjected to severe stamping and bending operations during manufacture of components. In contrast, hard temper steel, though much stronger, has been considered too brittle to withstand even nominal stamping and bending operations. High strength, low alloy steel can also be produced that is capable of withstanding severe stamping and bending operations. However, steel alloy materials are significantly more costly to produce, resulting in cost prohibitive parts.  
         [0008]     Because of the material&#39;s superior formability, the soft hot rolled, pickled and oiled sheet metal and cold rolled, annealed sheet metal materials have been and continue to be considered the only commercially viable metal materials for forming storage and organizer hardware components. Hardware components including the vertical legs, risers, mounting brackets, uprights, and top rails for organizer and storage systems typically require significant forming resulting in multi-contoured shapes when formed as a suitable component. Hot rolled steel is cheaper than cold rolled steel and can be formed by casting a steel slab, reheating the slab, and hot rolling it down to a formable sheet metal. However, hot rolled sheet metal lacks strength and can only be rolled down to a relatively thick gage, on the order of about 0.060 inches. Cold rolled steel is hot rolled steel that is cold rolled to a thinner gage and to a full hard temper state, and then annealed to render the steel formable. Cold rolled steel can be produced to a thinner gage, on the order of between about 0.040 down to about 0.010 inches. Cold rolled annealed steel is also formable, but also lacks strength. The annealing process also increases the cost of producing the material.  
         [0009]     Thus, there are a number of drawbacks to using these softer steels and steel alloys to form storage organizer system components. One drawback to using the softer steel materials is that the material loses some of its strength when annealed or hot rolled. These materials typically have a much lower strength and lower yield than hard temper sheet steel. Accordingly, the material gage must be thicker for the softer steels in order to compensate for the lower material strength to insure the product or component has adequate load strength. The high strength, low alloy steels are significantly cost prohibitive. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]     Objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures.  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a rear and bottom perspective view of a shelf mounting bracket constructed in accordance with the teachings of the disclosure.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the shelf mounting bracket shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a top perspective view of the shelf mounting bracket shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of the shelf mounting bracket shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a cross section taken along line V-V of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a front view of a shelf riser or upright constructed in accordance with the teachings of the disclosure.  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is a side view of the upright shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is an end view of the upright shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  is a front view of a top rail for an organizer system and constructed in accordance with the teachings of the disclosure.  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  is an end view of the top rail shown in  FIG. 9 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of one example of a prior art shelf mounting bracket construction.  
         [0022]      FIG. 12  is a side view of the bracket shown in  FIG. 11 .  
         [0023]      FIG. 13  is a front view of the bracket shown in  FIG. 11 .  
         [0024]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view of another example of a shelf mounting bracket, similar to the bracket shown in  FIGS. 11-13 , but a modified to accommodate formation in accordance with the teachings of the disclosure.  
         [0025]      FIG. 15  is a side view of the bracket shown in  FIG. 14 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 16  is a front view of the bracket shown in  FIG. 14 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 17  is a cross section taken along line XVII-XVII in  FIG. 15 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 18  is a perspective view of another example of a storage and organizer system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and in the form of a direct-to-wall mounted shelf and bracket arrangement.  
         [0029]      FIG. 19  is a perspective view of another example of a storage and organizer system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and in the form of a free-standing shelving unit.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0030]     The hardware components described herein can be generally used in organizer and storage systems and can be constructed from hard temper or full hard steel in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. Performance and material composition characteristics for full hard or hard temper steel material is defined in the American and Asian standards ASTM A 109 Temper No. 1 (Hard) or JIS G3141 SPCC-1D, respectively. Steel specifications that meet these standards are considered to be hard temper or full hard. Full hard steel is typically known for having very high yield and ultimate strength, but also for being particularly brittle and suitable mostly for flat sheet usage. Full hard steel can be nearly twice as strong as softer, formable steel material of the same gage, but is typically known to fracture when attempts are made to form the sheet steel into complex shapes. Full hard steel is also cheaper and stronger than the softer steel materials noted above because it does not undergo any processes to render the material more formable and, thus, requires fewer finishing and process treatment steps to manufacture.  
         [0031]     Because hard temper or full hard steel is so much stronger than traditionally formable soft steel materials, a significantly thinner gage material can be used to create a component having comparable strength. This results in lower cost, lighter weight components of adequate or even superior strength. Use of full hard steel permits significant reduction in the stock sheet thickness because of the material&#39;s superior strength. The inventors have discovered that, by significantly reducing the material gage, full hard steel sheet has increased formability and, when formed, can produce a component with sufficient if not superior strength in comparison to components formed of much thicker gage, softer or more ductile steel. For some components with more severe forming requirements, slight design changes can be employed so the part can be formed successfully.  
         [0032]     The invention generally involves employing full hard steel to form metal hardware components for organizer systems. Such components made from hard temper or full hard steel have previously not been commercially available and not recognized within the industry as suitable possible replacements for conventional components fabricated from traditional thicker gage, softer steels or expensive high strength, low alloy steels. The disclosed invention offers a superior combination of low cost, high strength, and minimum necessary formability to create components. The industry has previously not recognized, and thus not taken advantage of, this combination of material characteristics.  
         [0033]     Turning now to the drawings,  FIGS. 1-4  illustrate one example of a shelf mounting bracket  10  constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure. In this example, the bracket  10  is fabricated using a relatively thin gage, hard temper or full hard steel sheet material and formed to a configuration providing substantial structural strength. The disclosed bracket  10  is made from sheet stock full hard steel, die cut to a configuration including all bracket contours, features, and apertures, and then formed into the bracket as shown. In this example, the bracket  10  is constructed for use in an organizer or shelving system and to mount to vertical risers of the system.  
         [0034]     In this example, the bracket  10  includes a pair of elongate, vertically oriented, and generally parallel sidewalls  12 . The sidewalls  12  are connected to one another by a bottom interconnecting wall  14  that is integral with each of the sidewalls  12 . As best depicted in  FIG. 1 , the bottom interconnecting wall  14  is generally flat in the middle  16  and is connected along each of its edges  18  to the respective sidewalls  12  at a shallow or gradual curve having a shallow or generous radius. Such a gradual transition between the sidewalls  12  and the bottom wall  14  eliminates or avoids any sharp angle bends in the stock material.  
         [0035]     Each sidewall  12  of the bracket includes a shelf support finger or blade  20  projecting forward from the front end  22  of the bracket  10 . Each sidewall  12  also has both a hook  24  and a tab  26  projecting rearward from the rear end  28  of the bracket  10 . When in use, the hooks  24  and tabs  26  are received in selected slots  30  of an upright or riser  32  to mount the bracket  10  to the riser  32  (see  FIGS. 6-8  below) and the blades  20  support a shelf (not shown) resting on their top surfaces  34 . Each of the hooks  34 , tabs  36 , and blades  20  lies in the same plane of its respective sidewall  12 . Thus, the majority of the bracket structure is flat, other than the transitional curves between the bottom wall  14  and the two sidewalls  12 . The inventors have recognized that, by fabricating the disclosed brackets  10  using a sufficiently thin gage, full hard steel stock material, the bracket  10  can withstand the process of adding formations in the steel, such as the gradual bends between the bottom and sidewalls  14 ,  12  in this example, as depicted in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0036]     The material thickness or gage of the disclosed bracket example can vary and yet fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, depending on the degree of draw, bend, or curvature desired for a particular component, the thickness could vary to accommodate it. Further, depending on the strength requirements of a particular component, the thickness of the material can also vary. In this example, a substantially strong bracket can be produced using a material having a thickness, for example, of approximately 0.031 inches (0.8 mm). The material thickness or gage of the disclosed bracket can be about 20% to about 50% thinner than a similar bracket made from the conventional soft steel materials noted above, while providing the same, or even significantly greater, strength characteristics.  
         [0037]     The bracket  10  depicted in  FIGS. 1-4  includes a number of apertures  36   a ,  36   b . In this example, one aperture  36   a  is formed in each of the sidewalls  12  and a pair of apertures  36   b  is formed in the bottom wall  14 . These apertures  36   a ,  36   b  can be easily formed in the hard temper of full hard steel material by conventional punching steps during the manufacture of the bracket  10 , and particularly before the bracket material is bent to form the shape as illustrated. As will be evident to those having ordinary skill in the art, the bracket  10  can include any number of apertures  36   a ,  36   b  or other such formations in and extending from any of its walls  12 ,  14  as needed for a particular application. Apertures  36   a ,  36   b  can be provided for any number of purposes, such as to add accessories to the bracket  10  or to suspend accessories from the bracket  10 .  
         [0038]     Utilizing full hard steel to form a mounting bracket  10  as shown in  FIGS. 1-4  allows for significant reduction in the required gage or thickness of the steel stock, while still achieving similar or even improved strength characteristics over conventional components formed from soft steel materials, as noted above. Full hard steel is in many instances twice as strong as the softer, formable steel materials. Further, significant weight reduction is also achieved because of the reduced material thickness rendered possible by using the full hard steel. In addition, the cost of the bracket  10  is significantly reduced because substantially less steel material is used and because full hard steel is cheaper, having undergone fewer process steps.  
         [0039]      FIG. 5  shows a cross section of the bracket  10  and shows in phantom the difference in thickness of the bracket if manufactured from a conventional softer steel material. The inventors have determined that the lighter or thinner gage of the full hard steel bracket  10  permits much better formability in the material than expected. In other words, 3-dimensional geometric shapes and significant bends, curves, and angles can be achieved. This is because, as a result of the thinner gage, the material will see less strain through the bend or curve. The same bend geometry can have a smaller bend radius and the distance from the inner surface to the outer surface of the material at the bend is significantly less as a result of the thinner gage material.  
         [0040]     It is well known that full hard steel can be painted so that the finished brackets and/or other components will look essentially the same as any other bracket constructed from conventional annealed steel material. The disclosed bracket  10  for a shelf organizer system will be significantly cheaper, and can be approximately 20-50% cheaper utilizing full hard steel material. Material cost for components of this type can be about 80% to about 90% of the bare formed part cost; so material savings results in direct cost savings. The disclosed bracket  10  can also be significantly lighter than and just as strong as, if not stronger than, the conventional more ductile, thicker gage steel brackets.  
         [0041]      FIGS. 6-8  illustrate one example of a shelf riser or upright  32  for an organizer or storage system and that is constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. Again, the riser  32  in this example is formed from hard temper or full hard steel and has a generally U-shaped configuration in cross section. The riser  32  is narrow and significantly lengthy in its longitudinal direction and has a front wall  38  and a pair of parallel spaced apart sidewalls  40 . Each of the walls  38 ,  40  extends lengthwise in a longitudinal direction of the riser  32  and the riser  32  has an open back  42  opposite the front wall  38 . The sidewalls  40  transition integrally into the front wall  38  as shown in  FIG. 8 . The transition is a gradually curved bend achieving a 90° angle between each sidewall  40  and the front wall  38 . Similar to the bracket in  FIGS. 1-4 , the inventors have recognized that using a sufficiently thin gage, full hard steel stock material, in combination with shallower, gradual, or larger radii curves, permits fabricating such a riser  32  configuration. In one example, the material thickness of the full hard steel stock material for the riser can be approximately 0.055 inches (1.4 mm). This gage is again significantly less than the thickness of the metal used for such a riser fabricated from the conventional softer steel materials, and can be approximately 20-50% thinner.  
         [0042]     The front wall  38  of the riser as shown herein includes a plurality of elongate, longitudinally oriented slots  30  arranged in adjacent spaced apart pairs along the front wall  38 . A plurality of fastener openings  44  are also shown punched through the front wall  38  within the array of slots  30 . These slots  30  and fastener openings  44  can be easily punched in the full hard steel material before or after the riser walls  38 ,  40  are bent.  
         [0043]     The riser  32  disclosed in this example is formed from a full hard thin gage steel and results in a component that is equally strong or stronger than a conventional riser formed from the conventional softer steel materials noted previously. The disclosed riser  32  is also lighter in weight because of the reduced material thickness, and significantly less expensive than conventional components. The significant expense or cost reduction results from the much thinner gage material permissible using full hard steel and the fact that full hard steel is cheaper than annealed steel sheet because it requires fewer process steps to manufacture.  
         [0044]      FIGS. 9 and 10  illustrate one example of a top rail  50  from which the risers  32  shown in  FIGS. 6-8  can be suspended. In this example, the top rail  50  is a simple flat steel strip with two flat sections lying in different planes and made from hard temper or full hard steel material. Because of the shape of the rail and its gradual obtuse bend angles, the rail configuration can be essentially identical in shape to a rail made from conventional soft steel materials. The thinner gage full hard material will result in less strain at the bends, permitting the same shape but formed from the hard temper steel stock.  
         [0045]     In this example, the top rail  50  has a mounting section  52  and a forwardly projecting hanger section  54 . The mounting section  52  and the hanger section  54  are each a generally planar strip of steel in this example having a length much greater than height. The two sections  52 ,  54  are generally parallel to one another in this example, but are not in the same plane. A top edge  56  of the mounting section  52  transitions gradually at a first bend  58  into an upward and forward extending step section  60 . The step section  60  in turn transitions gradually at a second bend  62  into the vertically oriented forward positioned hanger section  54 . The back or rear side  64  of the mounting section  52  defines a mounting surface that will lie against a wall when in use. The plane of the hanger section  54  is spaced forward of the mounting plane creating a gap between a wall surface (not shown) and the hanger section  54  when in use. The orientation of the step section  60  in this example is such that it is neither parallel nor perpendicular to the vertical planes of the mounting and hanger sections  52 ,  54  and a horizontal plane. However, the step section  60  transitions between both of these portions at gradual bends  58 ,  62  of significantly less than 90° and again using shallow or relatively large radii.  
         [0046]     In this example, the top rail shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10  is also manufactured from full hard steel, which can have a significantly reduced material thickness when compared to a conventional annealed steel top rail. In one example, the full hard steel strip used to manufacture the top rail  50  has a thickness or gage that can be approximately 0.055 inches (1.4 mm), similar to the risers  32  discussed above. Again, the top rail  50  disclosed herein can be manufactured using a much thinner stock material, which can again be about 20-50% thinner. Thus the top rail  50  can be much cheaper to manufacture than a conventional annealed steel rail because the disclosed top rail  50  is made from full hard steel. The steel. can have a thinner wall thickness because it is much stronger than annealed steel. The disclosed top rail  50  will also be much lighter than a conventional rail because of the thinner gage steel.  
         [0047]     In the disclosed example, the top rail  50  has a number of fastener openings  66  shown as being formed through the mounting section  52  of the top rail  50 . When mounted to a wall surface, the riser or upright  32  as illustrated in  FIGS. 6-8  can be suspended from the hanger section  54 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the riser  32  includes a cut out region that forms a hook  68  which is received over and mirrors a contour of the hanger section  54  of the top rail  50 . The risers  32  can simply hang from the top rail  50  and then be secured using the fastener openings  44  in the riser  32  to a wall surface (not shown). The brackets  10  shown in  FIGS. 1-4  can then be mounted by installing the hooks  24  and tabs  26  in a selected group of the mounting slots  30  formed in the front wall  38  of the riser.  
         [0048]      FIGS. 11-13  illustrate an example of a known configuration of a shelf mounting bracket  100  that is typically formed of cold rolled annealed steel stock or hot rolled pickled and oiled steel stock. The bracket  100  has a nose or forward end  110  with a somewhat semi-spherical shape and contour that requires a fairly deep draw in the forming process. Full hard steel may not be able to accommodate such a deep draw, depending upon the material gage, because the nose  110  has a complex contoured bend and relatively tight radius of curvature.  FIGS. 14-17  illustrate an alternative shelf mounting bracket  200  that can readily be fabricated from full hard steel with only a slight modification to the nose configuration. The nose  210  is modified to reduce the formed or drawn complexity and to reduce the curvature radii. The bracket  200  of  FIGS. 14-17  can be made from thinner gage full hard steel and thus will be lighter in weight, less expensive to produce, and have equivalent or improved strength in comparison to the softer steel conventional bracket  100  of  FIGS. 11-13 .  
         [0049]      FIGS. 18 and 19  are provided to illustrate alternative examples of storage and organizer system components that can be fabricated from hard temper or full hard steel.  FIG. 18  shows another example of a shelf mounting bracket or brace  300  that can be fabricated in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. In this example, the bracket  300  is used in a direct-to-wall, wire shelf mounting arrangement. The bracket  300 .in this example is configured to mount a wire shelf  302  directly to a wall surface  304  without the use of either vertical risers/uprights or a top rail as in an earlier example. In this example, the bracket  300  has a mounting end  306  with a flat pad  308 . A fastener opening  310  is provided in the flat pad  308 . The pad  308  is oriented at an angle to an elongate body  312  of the bracket. When positioned against a wall surface, a fastener can be driven through the fastener opening  310  to secure the bracket to the wall. The pad angle results in the bracket body extending forward and upward away from the wall in this example. The elongate body  312  in this example has a V-shaped or L-shaped cross section to add significant strength and resistance to bending.  
         [0050]     The bracket or brace  300  also has a shelf support end  314  at the other end of the body  312 . The shelf support end  314  has a wire receptacle  316  that is open facing downward and forward. In this example, the receptacle  316  has a semi-cylindrical shape to match that of a cylindrical wire of the wire shelf. The axis of the receptacle is oriented horizontally and generally perpendicular to the elongate body  312  of the bracket  300 . When in use, a rear end of the wire shelf is attached to a wall surface above the flat pad  308 . A forward end of the shelf  302  has a horizontal wire  318  that is received in and retained and supported by the receptacle  316 . The bracket  300  is one of many different examples of storage and organizer component configurations and constructions that can be fabricated using full hard steel material to achieve the cost reduction, weight, reduction, and strength benefits disclosed and described herein.  
         [0051]     Bracket structures and arrangements other than the example of the bracket  300 , as well as other system components, can also be fabricated from full hard or hard temper steel and yet fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention. In one example, the shelf can be a sheet metal shelf and formed from full hard steel material. Such a sheet metal shelf can be drawn, bent, and/or formed to include particular desired shapes, contours and formations in the metal sheet to add rigidity and strength to the finished part. In another example, the direct-to-wall mount bracket can support the shelf from below, and not from above as in the example of  FIG. 18 .  
         [0052]      FIG. 19  shows another example of a storage and organizer system in the form of a free-standing shelving unit  400 . In this example, the unit  400  has a plurality of shelves  402  horizontally oriented and spaced vertically apart from one another. The unit  400  also has a plurality of vertical legs  404  positioned at the four corners of the shelves  402 . Each shelf is connected to and supported by the legs  404  as is known in the art. Though not shown herein, the shelves  402  can be secured to the legs  404  using separate brackets or other parts. In this example, the shelves are secured directly to the legs using fasteners  406 . The legs in this example have a V-shaped or L-shaped cross section and can be formed from hard temper or full hard material in accordance with the previous examples disclosed herein. The shelves can also be formed from full hard steel. In these examples, the legs and/or the sheet metal shelves can be drawn, bent, and/or formed to add rigidity and strength to the finished parts. Such formations can include drawn dimples, ribs, ridges, and the like, and/or formed bends, curves, creases, and the like. As in the previous examples, the material stock can be of a substantially thinner gage, cost significantly less, and yet be formed or configured to provide equivalent or even superior strength in comparison to similar parts made from conventional soft steel materials.  
         [0053]     The disclosed examples of storage and organizer systems and components are provided to illustrate that many different components and component configurations can be constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. In each of the examples herein, the full hard steel component has a 3-dimensional formation. Parts of each component are formed out of plane with respect to other parts of the component. Such parts for use in substantial load bearing applications, such as shelving support and mounting structures, were previously believed not suitable for manufacture using hard temper or full hard steel stock. The material was believed not capable of being formed into structurally adequate 3-dimensional shapes. The inventors have discovered that the higher strength provided by the full hard steel material permits suitable parts to be formed using thinner gage full hard material. The inventors have also discovered that, by using the stronger thinner gage full hard steel stock, the material has satisfactory formability to create load bearing storage and organizer components.  
         [0054]     Storage and organizer system components have not previously been manufactured using full hard steel. This is in part because manufacturers have believed full hard steel to be too brittle to withstand any substantial 3-dimensional forming. The inventors have recognized that, by using a thinner gage full hard steel sheet material, the full hard material can be formed without fracturing the metal. In many instances, a component can be fabricated that has the same 3-dimensional drawn and/or bent geometry as a conventional part made from softer, weaker, but more formable steel materials. Once formed, even with the substantially thinner wall thicknesses, the components are more than strong enough to perform satisfactorily during use. The thin gage metal reduces the overall material usage, cost, and weight of the various components, while not sacrificing strength. The thinner gage also reduces strain in the formed materials, thus permitting greater formability. One may sacrifice some degree of formability (see  FIGS. 11-13  and  14 - 17  as one potential example), but the other advantages far outweigh this one disadvantage.  
         [0055]     The composition of the full hard steel can vary considerably and yet fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In one example, the steel for each of the above example components can be manufactured to meet the American or Asian steel material standards noted above. However, different compositions of hard temper or full hard steel can be utilized to produce the various components disclosed herein.  
         [0056]     Again, those in the industry of making these kinds of components traditionally have looked to use and develop either more expensive but stronger steel alloys, or softer, formable steel materials in the finished products. Those in the industry have traditionally not looked to use the strength advantages of semi-finished full hard steel material to solve problems in the industry. The inventors have recognized the many advantages that full hard or hard temper steel offers and have overcome the previously known drawbacks and disadvantages. Use of full hard steel to fabricate the types of components disclosed as examples herein offers a superior combination of low cost, high strength, and satisfactory formability. These advantages are magnified for manufacturers, distributor, and retailers. Because each component can be significantly lighter in weight, the weight per unit volume of product is substantially less. Shipping and handling costs can be reduced for manufacturers and distributors. Handling complexity and difficulty can also be reduced for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers because the components will be significantly lighter.  
         [0057]     Although certain mounting hardware components for organizer and storage systems have been described herein in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all embodiments of the teachings of the disclosure that fairly fall within the scope of permissible equivalents.