US3144944A - Drive-in pallet rack - Google Patents

Description

Aug- 18 1954 K. MGcoNNELL 3,144,944l

DRxvE-IN PALLET RACK Filed March 19, 1962 s sheets-shee 1 i Ii.

United States Patent O 3,144,944- Dltlt/Enllvl PATLMT RAQK Kennedy McConnell, Riverdale, Ill., assigner to Acme Steel Company, Chicago, lill., a corporation of Illinois lFiled Mar. 19, 1%2, Ser. No. 1lit ,532 ti Claims. Cl. 21h-14d) This invention relates to the art of support structures commonly referred to as pallet racks and particularly to an improved type of drive-in pallet rack.

Presently, pallets or skids are in wide use as supports for loads of all varieties of materials. The skids or pallets are designed to support the loads and also permit the forks of a lift truck to be inserted through or below them in order to allow the palletized loads to be conveniently transported from place to place as required. Because of the increased usage of palletized loads, there arose a definite need for a pallet rack or support structure which can support the maximum number of palletized loads over a minimum floor space at a minimum cost.

Present pallet rack structures for this purpose are generally in the form of vertical upright members joined together by horizontal side to side and front to back members forming an open type skeletal structure. The vertical members are made along enough to support the horizontal members at vertically spaced intervals to provide a multitiered structure for supporting the palletized loads at different stacked levels. The vertical members are spaced horizontally from each other by calculated amounts to establish bays of given length to accommodate a given number of palletized loads in a row without waste of space on the pallet rack structure. An improvement over this basic type of pallet rack structure mentioned is the drive-in pallet rack which ordinarily consists of a self-supporting structure having one or more aisles for permitting entrance of a truck equipped with a fork for lifting a load. These aisles are divided from each other` by vertical wall portions extending in a direction from front to back of the structure. They are provided with side shelves or supports, such as rails, extending horizontally from front to back along the sides of the vertical wall portions. The shelves or rails are spaced at different levels and are mounted opposite each other between the vertical wall portions at different vertical levels. These Vertical wall members can be made very long so that their entire length can be equal to several times the length or width of a palletized load. With this arrangement, a palletized load can be elevated by means of a fork lift truck and driven into an aisle of the driveln rack and positioned on the rails beginning at the rear of the rack, and another palletized load can be positioned forward of it. Additional palletized loads can be positioned all along the oppositely extending rails. The aisles provide a convenient Way of allowing the fork lift trucks to be driven into the pallet rack for access to the loads.

For certain installations of such a drive-in pallet rack it has appeared desirable to provide more convenience for assembly of the side rails to the vertical wall members and, at the same time, provide ready removal of the rails if the pallet rack is to be disassembled and later reassembled, and it is the principal object of this invention to provide a pallet rack having this convenience. In order to accomplish this objective, the rails are detachably secured in place on rail supports by means of quickly releasable latches. These rail supports are in turn detachably secured to the vertical wall portions so that the rails and the rail supports can be quickly detached from each other and from the vertical wall portions when necessary.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a pallet rack structure which is not subject to accidental disassembly.

It is still another object of the invention to require a .iiyldddll Patented Aug. 18, 1964 ICC minimum number of free parts in order to assemble all parts together. Other objects and advantages of the invention can be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. l shows a perspective view of a drive-in pallet rack as it appears during use;

FIG. 2 shows a portion of a vertical upright with a portion of a horizontal rail and its rail support secured to the vertical upright;

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the structure of FIG. 2 as viewed along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view as viewedl along the line if-dof FIG. 3 looking downward on the structure;

FIG. 5 shows a view of the upper left hand portion of the structure shown in FIG. 3, except with the rail detached;

FIG. 6 shows a partial sectional and cutaway view along theline 6 6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 shows a view similar to FIG. 3., but with two rail supports and rails shown in position.

According to the general construction of the drive-in pallet rack, as shown in FIG. l, it consists of a plurality of spaced apart parallel vertical wall members 1 separated from each other byaisle spaces 2. These vertical wall members consist ofvertical uprights 3 spaced from front to back along the wall members by means of horizontal beams 4 and diagonal braces 5 which join them together rigidly. Thevertical uprights 3 are provided with a plurality ofkeyhole openings 6 which are used to engage lugs or studs projecting from rail supports 7 and 7 mounted to project laterally from theuprights 3. These rail supports 7 and 7 supporttubular rails 3 which extend from front to back along the lengths of the vertical wall members ll. They are detachably secured to these rail supports in a manner hereinafter described.

As viewed in FIG. l, it is apparent that a fork lift truck 9 can be driven through theaisles 2 in order to transport aload 10 through the aisle and position it at the far end of the aisle between two opposite rails il mounted on oppositely positioned vertical wall members ll. After positioning of the load lll, another load can be driven in and positioned ahead of it. But, the rails at levels above must also be filled before loads are positioned toward the front of theaisles 2. Naturally, the first load to be positioned would be on the oor below the rst level of rails if all of the usable space is to be occupied. Theloads 11 and l2 shown in two aisles beyond theaisles 2 indicate how the aisles can be filled to use all the space in them.

As viewed in FlGS. Z, 3, 4 and 5, amore detailed view is shown of the connections between arail 8, an upright 3 and a rail support '7. Therail support 7 is provided with an inverted channel shapedbody 13 welded along its forward edge 1d to one wall l5 of an L-shaped ange 16 which has another wall 1'7 extending perpendicular to the wall l5 in a direction away from thebody portion 13. Thewall 15 of theflange 16 is provided with a Z-shaped bracket 18 having aportion 18a welded to thewall 15 and a portion 18h spaced away from thewall 15. This portion lltl is provided with an opening 18e in which is mounted an L-shaped latch 19. The wall 1S of theange 16 is also provided with a hole 2d through which the latch l@ passes. The upright 3 is provided with a plurality of equally spacedholes 21 along two parallel rows and the latch is adapted to pass into one of theseholes 21 when the Lshapedflange 16 is positioned against the upright 3 with one of the holes 2l aligned with thelatch 19. The wall 17 of theflange 16 has iianged studs or projectingmembers 22 projecting from them and they are adapted to engage thekeyhole openings 6 provided in parallel rows along the front wall 3a of each upright 3. The iianged end 22a of eachstud 22 is slightly smaller saga-,eas

back through thehole 6. Each wall 17 of the L-shaped tlange is provided with two of these studs so that they can be connected to two spaced apartholes 6 and provide a rigid connection of the rail support '7 to the upright 3. Thesestuds 22 thereby provide a connection along the front Wall 3a of the upright. Thelatch 19 provides a connection along aside wall 3b of the upright'. By means of thelatch 19 and thestuds 22 along two walls at right angles to each other of the upright 3 substantial rigidity is provided.

Thelatch 19 projects out through an l..shaped slot 23 in onewall 24 of thebody portion 13. The slot 23 is provided with avertical portion 23a and a horizontal portion 23h. When the latch is engaged in a position as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, it is rotated so that its tree end projecting through the slot 23 rests in theslot portion 23a. When unlatching is required, thelatch 19 is rotated upwardly and slid longitudinally along the slot portion 2319 to thereby disengage the extremeinner end 19a of thelatch 19 from thehole 21 through which it is connected.

Thebody portion 13 is also provided with an S-shaped support 24 which is provided with threevertical walls 24a, 24h and 24C. The two walls 24h and 24e are provided With aligned holes through which are slidably mounted two L-shaped latches 25 and 26. The free ends of these latches are bent to providehandles 25a and 26a. The other ends of these latches are provided with locking pins orprojections 25!) and 26h which extend transversely through holes in thelatches 25 and 26. The otherVertical wall 24a of thesupport 24 is provided with two short studs or projectingmembers 27 and 28. As shown in FIG. 5, arail 8 is adapted to be positioned between thevertical walls 24a and 24h of thesupport 24. For convenience, the rail S can be of the identical structure as theuprights 3 which means that they are provided with theholes 6 and theholes 21. With therail 8 positioned between thewalls 24a and 24h, thestuds 27 and 28 and thelatches 25 and 26 are aligned to pass into theholes 21 which extend in parallel rows alongopposite side walls 8b of the rail until engagement of thestuds 27 and 28 and thelatches 25 and 26 are as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 6.

As viewed in FIG. 2, theholes 24d in the vertical wall 24h are of a key slot design to accommodate the pins 25h and 26h in thelatches 25 and 26. In order to pass the pins 25h and 26h through theholes 24d, thehandles 25a and 26a on the latches are rotated ninety degrees from their positions as shown in FIG. 2 to align the pins 2Sb and 26h with theholes 24d. The pins 25h and 26h are then passed through theholes 24d and the latches are allowed to then rotate back to their vertical position, as shown in FIG. 2. In this position, thepins 25h and 26b are prevented from reverse movement through theholes 24d. With therail 8 properly positioned, thelatches 25 and 26 engage theholes 21 while thestuds 28 also engageholes 21 to thereby retain therail 8 in a fixed position.

In theregion 27 of thebody 13, the metal is slit and bent inwardly to provide clearance for thearm 26a of thelatch 26.

When it is desired to remove therail 8, thelatches 25 and 26 are rotated ninety degrees and then retracted to clear their connector ends from theholes 21 of therails 8. This allows therail 8 to be shifted slightly to disengage thestuds 28 fromother holes 21 so that therail 8 can then be removed.

In FIGS. 2 to 6 is shown how asingle rail support 7 is mounted to anupright 3. In FIG. 7 is shown in detail how two rail supports are mounted on opposite sides of anupright 3. It is apparent that therail support 7 shown at the right hand ofn theupright 3 is of opposite hand to therail support 7 to the left of theupright 3. Other than this, the two rail supports '7 and 7 are identical and they support the rails in an identical manner by means of latches Z5 and 26 and studs 2'7 and 28 engagingholes 21 inrails 3.

From what has been shown and described, it should be apparent that a structure has been shown between uprights, rail supports and rails whereby they can be easily connected together in a rigid and secure manner and easily disconnected from each other when required in order to change the structural arrangement and layout of the pallet rack. Although the connections include latch type connections, there are no separate loose parts required for latching. The latches are built into the rail support members and cannot be lost.

When extending the rails S for substantial lengths, it is necessary to use more than one rail length. When using a plurality of them, one after another, as a single rail, since there are twolatches 25 and 26 on eachrail support 7 or 7', the ends of rail lengths can be placed on therail support 7 or 7 with their ends abutting each other. Then, onelatch 25 or 26 is used for connecting to the one length at its end while the other latch is connected to the other length at its end. In this way, onelatch 25 engages one rail end while thelatch 26 engages the other rail end. If splicing in this manner vis not intended, one of thelatches 25 or 26 on each rail support can be eliminated.

Although only a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it should be clearly understood that the invention can be made in other ways without departing from the true scope of the invention as deiined by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A rack structure of a type having upright skeletal walls spaced parallel to each other to form aisles therebetween, said walls having uprights which have connected thereto rail supports which in turn have connected thereto load support rails extending parallel to said walls, each connection between a rail support and a rail comprising, said rail support having two spaced vertical wall portions extending from its upper surface between which a rail is positioned, said rail being provided with a plurality of holes spaced from each other in rows at the same vertical level longitudinally along the rail, one of said Wall portions having a projecting member directed toward the other said wall portion to align with one of said holes on one side of the rail positioned between the two wall portions, the other said wall portion supporting a retractable latch which is aligned with one of said holes on the opposite side of said rail, said latch being extendable to engage the hole it is aligned with while the projecting member is engaged with the hole it is aligned with to thereby form the connection between the rail support and the rail.

2. A rack structure defined by claim l characterized by, said latch having a projection adapted to engage the said wall portion in which the latch is supported to thereby retain the latch in its extended position.

3. A rack structure deined by claim 1 characterized by said latch being slidably mounted for retraction and extension through a hole in said wall portion which supports the latch, said hole being irregularly shaped to match an irregular cross-sectional shaped portion of the latch so that the latch must be specially oriented with respect to the hole to allow passage of the irregular portion through the hole, reorientation of the latch after passage through the hole preventing its return through the hole.

4. A rack structure defined by claim l characterized by, said latch being slidably mounted for retraction and extension through a hole in said Wall portion which i) supports the latch, said hole being of keyhole shape to match a key shaped portion of the latch so that the latch must be specially oriented with respect to the hole to allow passage of the key shaped portion through the hole, reorientation of the latch after passage through the hole preventing its return through the hole.

5. A rack structure of a type having upright skeletal walls spaced parallel to each other to form aisles therebetween, said walls having uprights which have connected thereto rail supports which in turn have connected thereto load support rails extending parallel to said walls, each connection between a rail support and a rail comprising, said rail support having two spaced vertical wall portions extending from its upper surface between which a rail is positioned, said rail being provided with a plurality of holes spaced from each other in rows at the same vertical level longitudinally along the rail, one of said wall portions having a projecting member directed toward the other said wall portions to align with one of said holes on one side of the rail position between the two wall portions, the other said wall portion supporting a retractable latch which is aligned with one of said holes on the opposite side of said rail, said latch being extendable to engage the hole it is aligned with while the projecting member is engaged with the hole it is aligned with to thereby form the connection between the rail support and the rail, a connection between a rail support and an upright comprising, each rail support abutting two non-coplanar adjacent walls of the right, the upright being provided with first openings along a first of said adjacent walls for engaging a second projecting member on the rail support to provide support of the rail support along the first adjacent wall, each upright being provided with second openings along the second adjacent wall for engaging a second latch on the rail support to provide support of the rail support along the second adjacent wall, said second latch being movable on said rail support for engagement with and release from the second openings.

6. A rack structure of a type having upright skeletal walls spaced parallel to each other to form aisles therebetween, said walls having uprights which have connected thereto rail supports which in turn have connected thereto load support rails extending parallel to said walls, each connection between a rail support and a rail comprising, said rail support having two spaced vertical wall portions extending from its upper surface between which a rail is positioned, said rail being provided with a plurality of holes spaced from each other in rows at the same vertical level longitudinally along the rail, one of said wall portions having a projecting member directed toward the other said wall portion to align with one of said holes on one side of the rail positioned between the two wall portions, the other said wall portion sup porting a retractable latch which is aligned with one of said holes on the opposite side of said rail, said latch being extendable to engage the hole it is aligned with while the projecting member is engaged with the hole it is aligned with to thereby form the connection between the rail support and the rail, said latch being slidably mounted for retraction and extension through a hole in said wall portion which supports the latch, said hole being of keyhole shape to match a key shaped portion of the latch so that the latch must be specially oriented with respect to the hole to allow passage of the key shaped portion through the hole, reorientation of the latch after passage through the hole preventing its return through the hole, a connection between a rail support and an upright comprising, each rail support abutting two non-coplanar adjacent walls of the upright, the upright being provided with irst openings along a first of said adjacent walls for engaging a second projecting member on the rail support to provide support of the rail support along the first adjacent wall, each upright being provided with second openings along the second adjacent wall for engaging a second latch on the rail support to provide support of the rail support along the second adjacent wall, said second latch being movable on said rail support for engagement with and release from the second openings.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,408,530 Pierce Mar. 7, 1922 1,489,038 McKee Apr. 1, 1924 1,917,314 Moir July 11, 1933 2,945,596 Higgins July 19, 1960 2,963,169 Konstant Dec. 6, 1960 3,042,221 Rasmussen July 3, 1962 3,053,356 Weinmann Sept. 11, 1962

Claims (1)

1. A RACK STRUCTURE OF A TYPE HAVING UPRIGHT SKELETAL WALLS SPACED PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER TO FORM AISLES THEREBETWEEN, SAID WALLS HAVING UPRIGHTS WHICH HAVE CONNECTED THERETO RAILS SUPPORTS WHICH IN TURN HAVE CONNECTED THERETO LOAD SUPPORT RAILS EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID WALLS, EACH CONNECTION BETWEEN A RAIL SUPPORT AND A RAIL COMPRISING, SAID RAIL SUPPORT HAVING TWO SPACED VERTICAL WALL PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM ITS UPPER SURFACE BETWEEN WHICH A RAIL IS POSITIONED, SAID RAIL BEING PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF HOLES SPACED FROM EACH OTHER IN ROWS AT THE SAME VERTICAL LEVEL LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE RAIL, ONE OF SAID WALL PORTIONS HAVING A PROJECTING MEMBER DIRECTED TOWARD THE OTHER SAID WALL PORTION TO ALIGN WITH ONE OF SAID HOLES ON ONE SIDE OF THE RAIL POSITIONED BETWEEN THE TWO WALL PORTIONS, THE OTHER SAID WALL PORTION SUPPORTING A RETRACTABLE LATCH WHICH IS ALIGNED WITH ONE OE SAID HOLES ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID RAIL, SAID LATCH BEING EXTENDABLE TO ENGAGE THE HOLE IT IS ALIGNED WITH WHILE THE PROJECTING MEMBER IS ENGAGED WITH THE HOLE IT IS ALIGNED WITH TO THEREBY FORM THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE RAIL SUPPORT AND THE RAIL.

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