Patent ID: 7686173

Claim:
A shelving system, comprising: a vertical support column having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion having one or more slots provided therein, said slots having a first shape; a shelf, a first end of said shelf having one or more connectors protruding therefrom, said one or more connectors having an enlarged portion having a second shape, said first shape and said second shape being generally complementary to one another; said enlarged portion of each of said one or more connectors being disposed in a respective one of said one or more slots, and a second vertical support column having an upper portion and a lower portion, said lower portion having one or more vertically extending tabs extending therefrom, said upper portion of said vertical support column having one or more vertically extending recesses provided therein, wherein at least one of said recesses is bounded by said first end of said shelf to define an intermediate slot between said shelf and said vertical support column, said vertical support column being a bottom vertical support column and said second vertical support column being a top vertical support column, each of said one or more tabs being disposed in a respective one of said one or more recesses such that at least one of said tabs is received within said slot.