Abstract:
The present articulating overhead storage device is used to support and store articles such as athletic equipment, sporting goods, clothing, tools upon or in a modular article holder releaseably connected to a spine articularly fixed to an overhead surface. The spine can be move between a generally horizontal and a generally vertical position. In another embodiment, the spine is detachable from the overhead surface and releasably attached to a floor stand.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to storage devices and in particular overhead storage devices. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Overhead storage devices are typically constructed, shaped and sized to support a particular type of article, like sports equipment, bicycles or similar type items. Currently a number of such storage devices exist, but fail to provide a means to easily reconfigure for the storage of articles or in different locations. Furthermore, existing overhead storage devices are not capable of being detached from the overhead and utilized as an independent floor or wall based storage device. 
     What is needed is a sturdy lightweight overhead storage device capable of articulating stored articles from an overhead position to a stacked or vertical position for user access. What is further needed is a sturdy lightweight overhead storage device capable of being detached from the overhead and utilized as an independent floor or wall based storage device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a sturdy articulating overhead storage device capable of securely holding a variety of articles to a spine of a predetermined length with an upper and lower end regions. In its most basic form, the present invention contemplates an article holder releasably connected to the spine to securely and releasably hold at least a portion of an article, such as athletic equipment, sporting goods, clothing, tools, and/or other articles for storage. 
     The spine is articularly fixed at its upper end region to an anchor plate which in turn is secured to an overhead surface thereby allowing articulation of the spine between a generally horizontal and a generally vertical position. The lower end region of the spine is releasably fixed to a foundation plate which in turn is secured to an overhead surface. In this configuration, the present invention allows an article or articles to be stored on a spine capable of moving between an overhead and generally horizontal position or hold a variety of articles in a generally vertical position for user access. It is further contemplated that an anchor plate and/or a foundation plate can be secured to a vertical and/or horizontal overhead surfaces, such as a ceiling, rafters, joists, walls, and/or studs. 
     Yet another related object of the present invention is to allow alternate overhead positioning of an article by providing a spine capable of articulating to a second foundation plate. Another related object of the present invention is to control the articulation of a spine loaded with articles by including a controller that arrests and/or assists the movement of the spine between its storage and vertical positions. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a user with an articulating overhead storage device capable of holding similar or dissimilar articles by providing a variety of article holders in the form of rest, loops, grips, and/or containers that are releasably fixed to a spine. 
     Another object of the present invention is to allow detachment of the spine for servicing or to simply remove it from the immediate area. Yet another related object of the present invention is to allow the spine to be releasably attached to a base receiver fixed to and projecting up from a floor stand to allow the spine to remain in a generally vertical position when detached from the anchor plate as described above. A further similar object of the present invention is to allow the user to easily move the vertically positioned and detached spine by using a wheeled floor stand. Yet a further similar object of the present invention is to improve user access to article(s) and/or article holder(s) by configuring the spine to rotate about a longitudinal axis. As can be appreciated, the above objectives achieved by the present invention allows a user to gain easy access to an article holder or an article itself. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other details of my invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are furnished only by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention, and in which drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a detailed side view of an upper region of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a detailed perspective view of a lower region of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of embodiments of article holders of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is an articulating overhead storage device  05  which includes a spine  10  with an upper end region and a lower end region. A modular article holder such as a rest  20 , spherical holder  22 , a pair of rests with holes  24 , wire frame basket  26  and/or pivoting basket  28  are releasably fixed to spine  10  by a stub  100  that extends away from spine  10  (See  FIGS. 1 and 4  through  7 ). 
     As depicted in  FIG. 1 , the invention contemplates the releasable fixation of different modular article holders to a common spine  10 . Modular article holders can be as in the form of a rest, a grip, container or a combination thereof. The releasably modularity of the article holder to a common spine  10  allows the user to store a wide variety of articles. As depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 5 , spherical holder  22  is configured to securely hold a sphere—such as a basketball to spine  10 . As depicted in  FIG. 7 , a plurality of rests  20  can be configured to hold athletic equipment upon a common spine  10 .  FIG. 4  depicts a wire frame basket  26  that can be used to strap in articles.  FIG. 4  further depicts a pair of rest with holes  24  to hold elongated articles, such as fishing poles or ski poles on a spine  10 . A modular article holder is manufactured from materials suitable for repeated secured holding of an article in an overhead and stacked position on the spine  10 . In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of removable rests  20  are manufactured from hollow lightweight aircraft aluminum with a circular cross section. 
     The upper end region of spine  10  is articularly fixed to an anchor plate  50  (See  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  5  through  7 ). Anchor plate  50  is fixed to an overhead surface (See  FIGS. 1 and 5  through  7 ). Fixation of anchor plate  50  can be to a vertical overhead surface (See  FIG. 5 ) or to a horizontal vertical overhead surface (See  FIGS. 6 and 7 ). 
     Articular fixation of the upper end region of spine  10  to an anchor plate  50  can be accomplished by a simple hinge joint (See  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  5  through  7 ), a ball joint or more elaborate articular joints such as a geared hinge (as generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,057), a positive locking hinge as generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,501,581), a clamping pivot hinge (as generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,066), a ratcheting hinge joint (as generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,360). In a preferred embodiment, spine  10  is releasably fixed to an anchor plate  50  above, at or below the articular fixation to allow relocation of spine  10 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, an anchor flange  52  extends away from anchor plate  50  and is pivotally fixed to the upper end region of spine  10  by a sliding socket connection located below the articular fixation. See  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  5  through  7 . An upper receiver  40  is pivotally fixed to anchor flange  52  by a pivot rod  54 . The upper receiver  40  is distal to the anchor flange  52  and configured to releasably receive a retractable stem  12 . The retractable stem  12  is slideably fixed within the upper region of spine  10  to extend beyond or retract into the upper end region of spine  10  along a longitudinal axis of spine  10 . Actuation of the retractable stem  12  is accomplished by a stem actuator  14  extending away from the longitudinal axis of spine  10  and projecting through a stem actuator slot  144  formed in the upper region of spine  10 . See  FIG. 2 . Retractable stem  12  fits within upper receiver  40  and is fixed in place by opposing upper pins  42 . See  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     The lower end region of spine  10  is releasably fixed to a foundation plate  60  which in turn is fixed to an overhead surface (See  FIGS. 5 and 6 ). Releaseable fixation of a foundation plate  60  to the lower end region of spine  10  can be accomplished by a mechanical latch, magnetic latch, a slideable hook  19  and rod  64  arrangement as depicted in  FIGS. 3 ,  5  and  6  or a combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment, a retractable hook  19  is slidably fixed within the lower end region of spine  10 . Retractable hook  19  extends beyond or retracts into the lower end region of a spine  10  along a longitudinal axis of the spine  10  by a hook actuator  16  which projects through a hook actuator slot  166  formed in the lower end region of spine  10 . See  FIGS. 1 ,  3 ,  5  and  6 . The retractable hook  19  engages a foundation rod  64  fixed to a foundation flange  62 . Foundation flange  62  is fixed to and projects downward from the foundation plate  60 . 
     In another embodiment, at least a portion of spine  10  rotates about a longitudinal axis of spine  10 . In yet another embodiment, the length of spine  10  can be varied by a telescopic joint between said upper and lower end regions of spine  10 . 
     The length of spine  10  is limited only by the distance between the overhead horizontal surface and the ground. It is contemplated that spine  10  is constructed of a lightweight material capable of holding, at a minimum, the total weight of the spine  10 , article holders and the articles  01  intended to be stored without significant flexing. It is contemplated that a spine  20  can be of any cross sectional form, hollow, solid or a combination of both and manufactured from metallic, plastic, composite or a combination of these materials. In a preferred embodiment, spine  20  is manufactured from hollow lightweight aircraft aluminum with a circular cross section. 
     In a preferred embodiment, lower end region of spine  10  is releaseably connected to a stand  30  in contact with the ground. It is contemplated that stand  30  can be in wheeled contact with the ground to allow the spine  10  to be moved about the ground. In a preferred embodiment, releasable connection of lower end region of spine  10  to stand  30  is achieved through the use of a base receiver  34  mounted to stand  30  and projecting upwards to receive a portion of lower end region of spine  10  to allow spine  10  to remain in a generally vertical position when spine  10  is detached from anchor plate  50 . The lower end region of spine  10  is releaseably fixed to base receiver  34 . 
     In yet another embodiment, retractable hook  19  is fitted with a second hook to form a double hook  199 . See  FIG. 6 . Double hook  199  releasably connected to a second foundation plate  60  allows spine  10  to be swung to/from a vertical position (depicted in  FIG. 6  as “Position A”) to/from two horizontal positions (depicted in  FIG. 6  as “Position B” and “Position C”). 
     It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.