Abstract:
A storage rack system includes a base detachably secured from the storage rack wherein the materials of construction for the base are a heavier gauge material than that of the storage rack for improved weight carrying capability and for resistance to abuse while minimizing the cost of the rack assembly. The base has offset front legs closest to the aisle to protect the front legs from accidentally being hit by a forklift truck.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/147,710, filed Aug. 6, 1999, and from PCT/US00/20054, filed Jul. 21, 2000, which are hereby incorporated by reference. This invention relates to storage racks and, more particularly, to improved versions of storage rack assemblies designed for high density storage of goods delivered by power driven lift equipment such as fork trucks. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    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 now 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.  
           [0003]    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.  
           [0004]    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 sometimes hit the storage racks, damaging the fork trucks as well as the storage racks.  
           [0005]    Prior art (Konstant U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,502; Klein U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,938) has taught the use of recessed legs towards the bottom of the rack in order to give more room to maneuver to the fork trucks at the ground level. This has typically been accomplished by angling back the front legs (the legs closest to the aisles), which puts these legs out of harm&#39;s way. However, the weight of the storage rack and of the goods stacked thereupon is then concentrated on this angled leg, and substantial use of struts and reinforcing members is required. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to retrofit existing storage racks in the field. The retrofit, if possible, is difficult, expensive, and time consuming, and requires specialized skills, such as a good welder to complete the task. Furthermore, while the bottom of the angled legs is far removed from the aisles, the closer one gets to the top portion of the angled legs, the closer one is to the aisle and to the distinct possibility of having a fork truck run into the angled leg. Also, since the prior art designs use the same upright members for the entire storage rack, the only way to beef up one portion of the upright is to beef up the entire height of the rack.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention provides an offset frame, which may be field-installed by bolting onto a storage rack. This design provides the following distinct advantages over the prior art:  
           [0007]    The base is designed and manufactured as a completely separate piece from the storage rack itself. Thus, an existing storage rack may be raised (or cut off) and placed on top of the base without any additional bracing, struts, or reinforcing members being required of the existing structure. Furthermore, for completely new installations, manufacturing the top and bottom sections separately makes both of them easier to manufacture and install.  
           [0008]    The base is designed with the front legs (closest to the aisles) offset back from the aisle. These front legs are substantially vertical, such that the entire leg is set back and away from where the fork trucks travel.  
           [0009]    Since the base is a completely separate member, it may be made of heavier members than the rest of the rack in order to support the cantilevered storage rack load without increasing the cost of the rest of the rack. Indeed, all the base members may be made from heavy structural members that enhance the frame—s strength and abuse resistance, while the storage rack itself may be manufactured of lighter gauge materials to save on manufacturing costs and to reduce the weight of the structure.  
           [0010]    The present invention simply bolts a cantilevered base onto the bottom of a storage rack, which readily permits modification of existing frames in the field to turn an ordinary rack into an offset rack. Using separate base and top members, using heavier structural members for the base than for the top, and the all-bolted capability contribute to this ease of retrofitting an existing storage rack.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a prior art storage rack;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment of a rack made in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a side view of the base portion of the rack of FIG. 2;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a top view of the base of FIG. 3;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a side view of the rack of FIG. 2 as it is being assembled;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is a side view of the bottom portion of the rack of FIG. 2;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a rack made in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 8 is a side view of the base of the rack of FIG. 7;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 9 is a top view of the base of FIG. 8;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 10 is side view of the rack of FIG. 7 being assembled; and  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 11 is a side view of the bottom portion of the rack of FIG. 7. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]    [0022]FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior art rack that may be retrofitted to make a rack in accordance with the present invention. A first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 2-6. A second preferred embodiment is shown in FIGS. 7-11.  
         [0023]    The rack  10  of FIG. 1 has a plurality of forward legs  12 , a plurality of rear legs  14 , and horizontal beams  16  interconnecting the forward and rear legs  12 ,  14  to form shelves to support products. Each pair of forward and rear legs  12 ,  14  also includes horizontal forward-to-rear supports  18  and angled forward-to-rear supports  20 . This rack encounters the problems discussed above with respect to prior art racks, which may be hit by forklift trucks maneuvering along the aisles in a warehouse.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 shows a rack that is recessed at the bottom to greatly reduce the opportunity for impact with the forklift trucks. This rack  110  may be made in this form initially, or it may be made by retrofitting the prior art rack of FIG. 1. This rack also has front legs  12 , rear legs  14 , horizontal beams  16 , horizontal forward-to-rear supports  18 , and angled forward-to-rear supports  20 . In addition, it has a base  40  at each pair of forward and rear legs  12 ,  14 . The base  40  is shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4. Each base  40  has a front receptacle  42  and a rear receptacle  44 . A structural member  45  connects the front and rear receptacles  42 ,  44  together, and a support leg  46  projects downwardly from the structural member  45  between the front and rear receptacles  42 ,  44  and terminates at ground level with a foot  47 , which bolts into the floor.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIGS. 5 and 6 show how the rack is assembled onto the base  40 . The front leg  12  of the rack is a channel, which is shorter than the rear leg  14 . If the rack  10  of FIG. 1 is being retrofitted, the front leg  12  would be cut off at the desired height, and any cross members  18 ,  20  that were connected to the portion of the front leg that is cut off would also be removed. The front leg  12  receives internally the upper portion of a splice member  12 A, which preferably is a rectangular or C-shaped structural member. The lower portion of the splice member  12 A is received in the front receptacle  42 . The receptacle  42  and the front leg  12  are secured to the splice member  12 A by fasteners, which, in this preferred embodiment, are bolts  48 , extending through holes  50  in the leg  12  and the splice member  12 A or through holes  50  in the receptacle  42  and the splice member  12 A. The rear leg  14  of the rack extends through the rear receptacle  44  to the ground level and is secured to the rear receptacle  44  by bolts  48  extending through holes  50  in the rear leg and the rear receptacle  44 . As shown in FIG. 4, in this preferred embodiment, the front receptacle  42  is a rectangular-shaped structural beam, and the rear receptacle  44  is a C-channel-shaped structural beam.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 shows the bottom portion of the assembled offset rack  110 . It can be seen that the support leg  46  of the beam  45  and the rear leg  14  of the rack rest on the ground, while the front leg  12  and front receptacle  42  are elevated off of the ground a desired distance, which usually is in the range of six inches to thirty-six inches for a rack that is retrofitted and six inches to ninety-six inches for a new rack. The support leg  46  is recessed back from the front receptacle  42  a distance of about six to twenty-four inches.  
         [0027]    When a prior art rack  10  of FIG. 1 is being retrofitted to make the offset rack of FIG. 2, it is not necessary to move the original rack  10  or even to unload it. The retrofit may be done simply by providing an external support for the front legs  12  above the point where they are to be cut off, cutting them off, and installing the splice member  12 A and the base  40 . This does not require welding or a substantial amount of labor and can be accomplished quickly and easily.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 7-11 show a second embodiment of a rack  210  made in accordance with the present invention. In this design, the base  240  includes a front receptacle  242  and a rear receptacle  244  connected together by a structural member  245 . Projecting downwardly from the structural member  245  between the front and rear receptacles  242 ,  244  is a support leg  246 , which extends to the ground and terminates at a flat plate  247 . This base differs from the previous embodiment in that the rear receptacle  244  also serves as a rear support leg, extending all the way to the ground level and terminating at a foot  247 . If the base  240  is tall, as shown here, it will have additional bracing  218 ,  220 . (The height of the base may be tall or short in either embodiment.) Very tall bases may require additional bracing  218 ,  220 . The rack that is assembled onto this base  240  has front and rear legs  12 ,  14  cut to the same length and inserted into their respective receptacles  242 ,  244 . The legs  12 ,  14  preferably are secured to the receptacles  242 ,  244  by fasteners, which, in this preferred embodiment, are bolts  48 , extending through holes  50  in the respective members that are being joined. In this preferred embodiment, both the front and rear receptacles  242   244  are preferably rectangular cross-section structural members, although other shapes of structural members could be used instead. The base  240  may be made of much thicker-walled, heavier-duty material than the legs  12 ,  14  of the rack.  
         [0029]    In order to retrofit the rack  10  of FIG. 1 to form the rack  210  shown here, the foot plates at the bottoms of the legs  12 ,  14  are cut off, the rack  10  is lifted up, and the legs  12 ,  14  are inserted into the receptacles  242 ,  244  of the base  240  and secured in place. Of course, if this rack were being made originally, the foot plates would not be added to the legs  12 ,  14 , and the legs  12 ,  14  would simply be inserted into their respective receptacles  242 ,  244  and secured in place.  
         [0030]    The rack  210  shown in FIGS. 7-11 has the front leg  12  and its front receptacle  242  terminating at a desired elevation above the ground level, in this embodiment approximately three to six feet, and the support leg  246  is recessed from the front of the rack approximately six to twenty-four inches.  
         [0031]    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.