Patent Abstract:
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.

Full Description:
The present application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/149,987 filed Sep. 9, 1998 now abandoned. 
    
    
     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 ¼ and {fraction (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&#39;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. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Having thus generally described the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating an embodiment thereof, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a repair system according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof; 
     FIGS. 3,  3   a ,  3   b  and  3   c  illustrate the replacement of a damaged post of a pallet rack; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the equipment utilized during replacement of the damaged post of the pallet rack; 
     FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating engagement of the equipment with the damaged post; 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the equipment of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a exploded view of the means of securing the repair assembly to the post; and 
     FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of the assembled connector of FIG.  7 . 
    
    
     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,  3   a ,  3   b  and  3   c , 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. 3 b  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.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1