Abstract:
A storage rack column protector ( 30 ) is designed to protect a column ( 12 ) from damage from a straddle or outrigger type fork truck. If one of the outrigger forks is aimed at and heading toward the protected column ( 12 ), a ramp ( 36 ) on the protector raises the offending outrigger fork and thus also the wheel of the fork truck. Should the fork truck continue advancing, a stop ( 38 ) will bring the outrigger fork and the fork truck to a complete stop before it makes impact with the column.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This application claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/147,718, filed Aug. 6, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Since warehouse space for storage of goods is expensive, there are many advantages to an efficient and well organized vertical storage rack system which will allow the storage of goods in an orderly fashion. Since the products are stacked vertically, optimum use of the floor space may be achieved. The disadvantage is that the goods to be stored must be raised to the height of the rack where they are to be stored. The moving and especially the raising of the goods is most efficiently accomplished via fork trucks. 
     In as much as fork trucks require aisles to travel to the desired location to either store or retrieve goods from a particular rack, this aisle space is not available for storage. To maximize the storage area given a limited number of square feet in a building or warehouse, one must minimize the area reserved for aisle space for the fork trucks. Unfortunately, as one reduces the size of these aisles, the room to maneuver for the fork trucks is also reduced, and the end result is that the fork trucks hit the storage racks, damaging the fork trucks as well as the storage racks. 
     Counter-balanced fork trucks have a large counterbalancing weight on the back of the truck to compensate for the loads picked up by the forks of the truck. In some instances, in order to avoid all the extra load of the counterbalancing weights, and also to minimize the overall length of the fork trucks, fork trucks known as straddle or outrigger type trucks are used. The outrigger forks are nothing more than another pair of forks with wheels on them secured to the lower front of the forklift. These outrigger forks are not intended to raise and carry any loads. Instead, the outrigger forks ride along at ground level with the wheels contacting the floor. When a load is picked up by the fork truck, the outrigger forks press against the floor to counter the weight so as to keep the fork truck from tipping. 
     It is not unusual for these outrigger type fork trucks to hit and damage the base of storage racks around which they are operating. The operator is very preoccupied with the upper set of forks and where he is trying to place the goods on the rack, so he is not paying attention to the position of the outrigger forks. As he drives the truck closer to the rack in order to pick up or deliver a load of goods, he may drive one of the outrigger forks into a column, damaging the storage rack. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The column protector of this invention is intended to protect columns of a storage rack from accidental damage from fork trucks, and specifically from straddle or outrigger type fork trucks. 
     Each column protector wraps around the front of one of the columns of the rack and is secured to the floor. Each column protector stands guard in front of its respective column. The column protector includes a short ramp which has a front edge that lies very close to the floor level. The rear of the ramp preferably ends in a solid upright stop which is adjacent to the front of the column it protects. As a fork truck approaches the column, if the outrigger fork is aimed at the column, instead of hitting the column, the outrigger fork will ride up the slanting ramp and will pick up the wheel of the fork truck off the floor. If the truck is moving too fast, such that going up the ramp and picking up the wheel do not stop the truck, then the offending outrigger fork will hit the upright stop, and this will bring the truck to a stop before it has a chance to hit and damage the column. 
     The column protector of this invention preferably is manufactured from a single, thick piece of steel, which is cut and formed. The column protector is made of a much heavier gauge material than the column it is protecting. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a broken-away perspective view of a rack on which the protector of the present invention is intended to be used; 
     FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment of a column protector made in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is rear perspective view of a fork lift with outriggers loading a product onto the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the column protector of FIG. 2 mounted on the rack of FIG. 3, with the forklift outrigger shown in phantom; 
     FIG. 5 is a left front perspective view of the column and column protector of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is the same view as FIG. 5 but showing a second embodiment of a column and column protector; 
     FIG. 7 is a top view of the column protector of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 8 is a front view of the column protector of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 9 is a side view of the column protector of FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 10 is a side view of the column protector of FIG.  6 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 shows a rack  10 , as is known in the prior art. The rack  10  includes a plurality of front vertical columns  12  and rear vertical columns  14 , which are connected together by horizontal beams  16  to form shelves that support products  18 . As shown in FIG. 3, the products  18  may be loaded onto and unloaded from the rack  10  using a forklift  20  having outriggers  22 , which project forward from the forklift  20  just above ground level. 
     FIGS. 2,  4 ,  5 , and  7 - 9  show a first embodiment of a column protector  30 , made in accordance with the present invention, which may be mounted on the front of a column  12  to protect the rack  10  from being damaged by the outriggers  22 . The column protector  30  is generally U-shaped, and wraps around the front and the left and right sides of the column  12 . The column protector  30  includes the following main elements: left and right ears  32 , left and right vertical projections  34 , a front ramp  36 , and a vertical wall or stop  38  projecting upwardly from the front ramp  36 . The column protector  30  preferably is made from a single piece of flat steel, which is cut to form a blank, and is then formed into the final three dimensional finished piece. In this preferred embodiment, the steel from which the column protector  30  is formed is {fraction (5/16)}″ thick. The column  12  itself is preferably made of a much lighter gauge steel, on the order of 0.070 to 0.120 inch thick. 
     The left and right ears  32  have flat bottom surfaces lying at the elevation of the floor or other flat surface to which they are mounted, and the columns  12  also have flat bottom surfaces at ground level. The ramp  36  lies at an angle so that its front edge  40  is slightly above ground level, and its rear edge  42  is at a higher elevation. The front vertical wall  38  projects upwardly from the rear edge  42  of the ramp  36 . Left and right curved arms  44  connect the ramp  36  to the left and right ears  32 , respectively, so that the ramp  36  lies between and projects forward of the ears  32 . 
     The ears  32  have a top surface and a flat bottom surface and define substantially vertical holes  46  extending from the top surface through the flat bottom surface for bolting the ears down to the flat support surface. The interior surfaces of the ears  32 , the vertical walls  34 , and the upright stop  38  define a U-shaped recess, with the interior side surfaces of the U-shaped recess extending parallel to each other and parallel to the left and right sides of the rectangular cross-section column  12 , which they protect. The front edge  40  of the ramp  36  is the forwardmost point on the column protector  30 . 
     The column protector  30  is slid in from the front of the column  12 , so that the front vertical wall  38  lies approximately one-half inch in front of the column  12 , and the left and right vertical walls  34  lie adjacent to the left and right sides of the column  12 , leaving a gap of approximately one-half inch between the left and right vertical walls  34  and the left and right sides of the column  12 , respectively. Thus, the column protector  30  is effectively wrapped around the front and sides of the column  12  to protect them from the outriggers of the forklift. The ears  32  have holes  46 , which receive fasteners that fasten them to the floor. In this case, the fasteners are concrete anchor bolts  48 . 
     The left and right ears  32  are substantially parallel to each other. They are separated by a distance at least equal to the width of the column  12  and preferably allowing a one-half inch gap between the left and right vertical walls and the left and right sides of the column  12 . The one-half inch space all around the column  12  allows for the slight bending of the column protector  30  without damage to the column  12 . The column protector  30  may bend slightly upon impact, absorbing the energy of the truck  20  to protect the column  12 . 
     An optional gusset  45  may be welded to the underside of the column protector  30 , connecting and supporting the left and right curved arms  44  and the ramp  36 . 
     In this preferred embodiment, the ramp  36  is a flat plate approximately 3″ wide by 3″ long and angles up at an angle a of approximately 30 degrees from the horizontal. The front and lower edge  40  of the ramp is approximately ½″ above the bottom surface of the ears  32 , which means that, when the protector is installed, the lower edge  40  of the ramp  36  portion is approximately ½″ above the floor. The upper and rear  42  of the ramp smoothly transitions into the stop  38 , which is a substantially vertical wall. 
     The stop  38  has a width equal to that of the ramp  36  (approximately 3″) and a height of approximately 1.5″. 
     During normal operation, a column protector  30  is installed at the base of every column  12  to be protected. The column protector  30  is placed such that its ears  32  straddle the sides of the column  12 , the rear face of the stop  38  is one-half inch in front of the front of the column  12 , and the front edge  40  of the ramp  36  is facing the direction from which the fork truck is likely to approach (in most instances this will be the aisle traveled by the fork truck). As the fork truck approaches the column, if the outrigger fork is aimed at the column, instead of hitting the column, the outrigger fork will ride up the slanting ramp  36 . This action will pick the wheel of the fork truck off the floor. If the fork truck is moving too fast such that going up the ramp  36  and picking up the wheel do not stop the truck, then the offending outrigger fork will hit the upright stop  38 , and this will bring the truck to a stop before it has a chance to hit and damage the column  12 . The left and right vertical walls  34  also help protect the sides of the column  12  from the forks. 
     The impact of the fork truck will be transferred through the column protector  30  to the floor via the bolts  48  securing the column protector  30  to the floor. The direction in which the forces are applied to the bolts is substantially horizontal, while the bolts are mounted substantially vertically, so the force would have to shear the bolts in order to pull them loose, rather than tending to pull them out axially. The column itself will remain unscathed. In this manner, the column  12  of the storage rack need only be designed for the load carrying capacity it is expected to handle; the column  12  does not need to be beefed up in order to handle the potential fork truck abuse. Thus, the column  12  preferably is made of thinner-walled material than the column protector  30 . 
     FIGS. 6 and 10 show a second embodiment, which is the same as the first embodiment, except that the rack includes horizontal beams  116  which are close to the floor, so that they would interfere with the left and right vertical walls of the column protector. For that reason, the left and right vertical walls have been removed in this embodiment. However, the column protector  130  has all the other parts the same as the previous embodiment, including the ears  132 , ramp  136 , stop  138 , front edge of the ramp  140 , rear edge of the ramp  142 , arms  144 , gusset  145 , holes (not shown) and bolts  148  extending through the holes. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the present invention.