Patent Document

This is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 11/373,626, filed Mar. 13, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,506,771 
   CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   Application Ser. No. 11/373,626 U.S. Pat. No. 7,506,771 Wall Rack For Cylindrical Containers 

   STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Research and development of this invention and application have not been federally sponsored and no rights are given under any Federal program. 
   REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
   Not Applicable 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to storage racks as may be employed by craftsmen and mechanics, in general, and to storage racks for containing such items as screws, nuts, washers, bolts, springs, dowels, nails, knobs, anchors, caps, band aids, sewing needles, buttons etc. of different size, composition and types as are utilized in the shops and garages of home craftsmen and mechanic, in particular. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   As will be appreciated by such home craftsmen and mechanics, storing all types of these in containers on shelves leaves much to be desired. First of all, many types of containers are required to store each item separately. Secondly when stored on a shelf, it becomes difficult to determine exactly what contents are stored in each container. Thirdly, as typically happens, what is being looked for is located in a container at the back of the shelf and, therefore, everything on the shelf in front of it must be moved away and/or about in order to get the container whose contents are desired to be worked with. While some home-do-it-yourselfers take to storing these items in empty baby food bottles, such containers often times are too small to carry the quantity of nails, bolts, anchors, caps and other relatively large items of this nature. Additionally, it is not unusual for these types of containers to slip off the shelf, fall to the ground, and shatter when looking for that one or two containers of interest located at the rear of the shelf. Large containers, on the other hand, take up too much room on the shelf to enable the storing of more than a handful of these types of devices. While a “week-end”, “once-in-a-while” fixer-upper apartment or home dweller might not care if brads, washer, nuts and caps are mixed together, for the quality or professional worker, that is generally not acceptable—they should all be kept separate. 
   OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide some new form of container compartment apparatus for the storage of those types of devices used by the craftsman or mechanic who employ them on more than just an occasional basis. 
   It is an object of the invention, also, to provide such container compartment apparatus where the contents of each container can be easily identified. 
   It is object of the present invention, additionally, to provide such apparatus which allows for the easy removal of any one or more containers so that they can be taken outdoors, if need be, or to any place indoors, where ever desired work is to be done. 
   It is a further object of the invention to provide and install such container compartment apparatus at space typically in a home that is not generally being used already for some other purpose. 
   It is yet another object of the invention to provide such container compartment apparatus which can be easily installed and put to use with almost no effort at all. 
   It is a still further object of the invention to provide such apparatus which can be put to immediate use upon being brought home from any point of purchase. 
   As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, it is also an object of the invention to provide such container compartment apparatus available in different sizes to accommodate almost any need of storage desired by the craftsman or mechanic—at home or at a place of business—for the particular job or jobs typically called upon to be done. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   As will become clear from the following description, the container compartment apparatus of the invention is particular useful where a plurality of cylindrical geometric shaped containers are used for storage. A rack of given thickness from front to back is provided with a plurality of geometric apertures cut through into which the containers are inserted. Openable closure lids of plastic or rubber composition, for example, are sized to fit the containers, and include a written identification of any contents that are placed within the container. 
   The rack is then mounted to spaced-apart studs at a wall surface (of an inside garage, for example), and in any appropriate manner. To facilitate the finding of the desired container, they may all be arranged in a grid pattern on the rack, with the containers being tilted upwardly from back to front so that their contents can be easily removed. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention that simplifies and allows this, the containers are tilted upwardly at an angle between 6° and 15° for optimum withdrawal, while keeping the contents from falling out even if the closure lid for the containers were removed. By employing plastic or rubber closure lids, felt-tip markers can easily be employed to write the contents onto the lids for ease of identification. And to permit the removal of the entire container, the apertures are cut slightly larger then that of the container itself. 
   As will also be seen, different manners are presented for mounting the storage rack to the vertical studs—although, in general, any type of vertical extending rails that are spaced apart may be used to receive the storage rack. Moreover, a thickness is selected for the rack itself, so that only a portion of the container extends forwardly of the rack, the remainder of the container extending through to be supported by the garage, or other wall surface behind. As described, the upward 6°-15° angle can be provided by offsetting the cutting of the apertures in the rack, or by the use of spacer bars or spacer feet which couple the back of the rack to the wall. 
   Particularly good results have followed using just about any geometric shaped container. About the only limitation is that the material selected for the rack and its thickness be strong enough to support the weight of each content loaded container in order to maintain its structural integrity. The preferred embodiment of the invention, for example, employs a storage rack of wood, metal or plastic composition, configured to support  15  such geometric shapes in 3 columns of 5 rows each—although a more extensive construction of 4 columns and 9 rows has been utilized in a more extensive arrangement. Analysis has shown, however, that a 15 container arrangement fits most purposes, and that a rack of such size can be easily nailed bolted or otherwise to 16 inch spaced-apart wall studs, with the containers then just fitted in place. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  are front, side and top views of a wall rack for geometric containers in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a pictorial view showing how the invention may be utilized in one particular craftsman/mechanic construction. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the container compartment apparatus of the invention includes a storage rack  100  of given thickness from front to back. Fabricated of either metal, wood or plastic, for example, the storage rack  100  includes a front face plate  10 , side members  12  and a back plate  14 . A plurality of geometric apertures, e.g. rectangular, square, hexagonal etc.  16  are cut through the rack  100  from front to back—which, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, are cut through in a grid pattern of columns and rows, three of the first, and five of the second as shown in  FIG. 1 . Within the apertures  16 , a plurality of geometric containers  18  are inserted, sized to fit through the apertures and closed at a first end  20 . A plurality of openable closure lids  22  are sized to fit the containers  18  at a second opposite end  24 , such that with the geometric containers being of a metal, glass or plastic composition, the closure lids  22  are of a composition to allow a written identification on each lid as to the contents within each of the containers cover. 
   In accordance with the invention, a major axis  17  of at least one of the containers  18  when inserted within the apertures  16  is upwardly tilted from back to front at an angle  19  between 6° and 15°. At the same time, the dimension of the container when inserted within the aperture is less in size then the aperture itself to allow for a removable fit therebetween. Means are then provided to secure the storage rack  100  to vertically extending rails  23  at a wall surface shown at  25 . With such wall  25  being an inside of a garage wall, for example, such means of securement can be to a pair of spaced-apart vertically extending studs of typical 16″ spacing. The securement can be of any appropriate manner—such as with nails, bolts, etc. extending through a series of holes  40  shown adjacent the upper and lower edges  41  and  43  of the rack  100 . 
   (As will be appreciated, for a craftsman and mechanic to optimally utilize the storage rack of the invention, each of the containers  18  are to be upwardly tilted from back to front at 6°-15° angles, and each are to be dimensioned to allow for ease of removal from its associated aperture. The following description, although presented in the context of this optimal utilization, will be seen to be applicable as well as where just one container is so configured.) 
   Different manners of obtaining the upward tilt of the containers  18  at an angle between 6° and 15°can be affected. In one construction of the invention, spacers  44  at the rear lower edge  43  of the rack  100  could be thicker than spacers  46  at the rear upper edge  41  so that when contacting the wall  25 , the lower edge  43  of the rack extends the rack further away from the wall than does the upper edge. A second way is to cut the apertures  16  through the front plate  10  to the back plate  14  at a downward slope of 6°-15° instead of perpendicular to the plates  10 ,  14  and forgo the spacers  44 ,  46 . Alternatively, and as shown in  FIG. 4 , upper and lower spacer bars  50 ,  52  may span and be connected between the rails or studs, fixed to the rack by means of the holes  40 , nails and bolts, etc.; the bars  50  and  52  would be of the same thickness where the spaces  44  and  46  are employed or where the apertures  16  are so angled,—or the upper spacer bar  50  may be of a lesser thickness than the lower spacer bar  52  where the spaces  44  and  46  are not used, and the apertures  16  are not so angled. In any one arrangement, the 6°-15° angle retains the geometric containers  18  within their respective apertures  16 , and with the tilt assuring that the container contents are retained in place. With a plastic cover lid  22 , a felt-tip marker could easily be employed to identify the contents of the storage container as being one of the storage of screws, nuts, washers, bolts, springs, dowels, nails, knobs, anchors, and caps of different sizes, compositions and types. And, by having the circumference of each container less than that of its associated aperture, each of the containers can easily be removed from the rack to be taken wherever the craftsman or mechanic may need to be then working. 
   An orthogonally configured rack  100  lends itself quite well in this manner, and easily accepts the upwardly angled containers for use and allows for their simple removal. 
   While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. Thus, whereas the orthogonal configuration of the storage rack of the drawing illustrates the apertures receiving the containers to be in a grid pattern of 3 columns and 5 rows, other grid patterns and other configurations may be utilized instead. For at least such reasons, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.

Technology Category: 7