EP0357817B1 - Wooden rack with shelves insertable at various heights - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a wooden shelf with attachable shelves at different heights, consisting of at least two side parts, each with two interconnected vertical struts and with open in the direction of the opposite vertical strut depressions, such as transverse grooves, in the ends, for. B. the horizontal struts of shelves can be introduced, the shelves comprising at least two horizontal struts attached shelf strips that form longitudinal gaps between them.

Such a wooden shelf is already known from US-A-3 722 431.

According to the description, after dismantling the shelf, it can also be packed together in a small space.

However, it is disadvantageous that numerous different components and these are also required in large numbers, to get a certain shelf space, which increases the manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the packing density and the possibility of palletizing can still be improved.

From CH-A-276 677, Fig. 1, a wooden shelf is known in which, for the purpose of lying together on a narrow cross bar, two adjacent shelves have complementary end cut lines that deviate from the rectangular shape (see Figs. 1 and 5).

EP-A-0109968 discloses a wooden shelf (see Fig. 2, 3, page 2, line 10) which has a connection with a tongue and groove profile between the vertical struts and the horizontal parts. The opposite struts have open longitudinal grooves in which a guide and support pin of the shelves can engage. The latter feature is also shown in the German utility model G 79 30 222.0.

The gradual height adjustment is already satisfactorily solved in the prior art. With the exception of the publication mentioned first, the publications mentioned do not contain any special measures to ensure that the individual parts of the shelf are packed as tightly as possible before they are installed at the place of use.

However, the most compact possible folding of the individual components can be of great importance in certain cases, for example, when the location of the manufacture of the individual parts of the shelf (for example, a country with a large amount of wood and cheap labor potential) and the country in which the shelves are used should be a long distance from each other, for example as a household shelf. In such cases, the cost of storage and transportation in a container, truck, railroad car, or warehouse may be of the same order of magnitude as the manufacturing cost. In these cases it is important to design the wooden shelf in such a way that its individual parts can be folded extremely tightly together. This is not yet the case with the above-mentioned US-A-3 722 431.

The handling of the packaging units consisting of the individual parts of the wooden shelf should also be designed for the purpose of handling, for example for transport or storage, in such a way that they are stable with as little packaging material as possible, since packaging devices such as shrink film, wooden pallets, Wrapping bands u. The like. Increase the transport or storage costs and lead to unnecessary waste to be disposed of.

The object of the invention is therefore to modify the known wooden shelf of the type mentioned and its individual parts in such a way that they can be packed extremely tightly - without having to make any significant sacrifices, if any, at the same time - of the other properties of the shelves being set up and if possible wedge each other in such a way that stabilizing packaging measures are unnecessary or are at least associated with little effort.

The object is achieved in that the longitudinal gaps have such dimensions that the vertical struts can be accommodated in the longitudinal gaps, that the shelf strips and the vertical struts have the same profile shape, namely trapezoidal shape or step profile shape, which deviates from the rectangular shape, and that the edges of both the shelf strips as well as the vertical struts, which point upwards or outwards in the finished shelf, are chamfered or rounded.

These measures ensure that there are longitudinal gaps between the individual shelf strips Inclusion of the horizontal struts can be used, which on the one hand increases the packing density, on the other hand results in a stabilization of the shelves combined to form a packaging unit with respect to one another and to the vertical struts, so that further packaging means such as enveloping cardboard boxes, tensioning straps, shrink films or the like are either completely omitted or their application can be minimized. The chamfering or rounding improves the ability to be absorbed in particular when work is not being carried out very precisely, which benefits the cost savings, apart from the reduction in the risk of splintering and the improved visual appearance.

The trapezoidal shape has proven to be the cheapest, but the step profile shape is also still suitable.

Not only the transverse grooves shown in the prior art come into question as “depressions”. The horizontal struts can also be easily fixed by wood screws, which, for. B. are guided by double holes in the vertical strut, as is known for example from FR-A-2471159, Fig. 1, per se.

The arrangement according to the invention is particularly simple and yet fully effective if (e.g. only two) horizontal struts each carry three shelf strips and thereby form two longitudinal gaps between them, into which two vertical struts (which usually form a side part) can be accommodated.

It has already been mentioned that the trapezoidal shape is a particularly favorable profile shape that deviates from the rectangular shape, because, with a certain arrangement of this profile shape, the contact surface of the shelves (which is reduced by the longitudinal gaps per se) can be kept larger than z . B. would be possible with a rectangular shape itself. In addition, the trapezoidal shape with a suitable arrangement results in a desired wedging between the shelf strips and the vertical struts inserted between them.

It is favorable that in the case of a trapezoidal shape of the last profile, the corners with the acute trapezoidal angle have the aforementioned rounding, which, as already mentioned, on the one hand improves the visual appearance, on the other hand facilitates insertion, and on the other hand reduces the risk of injury at pointed corners of the wood . A corresponding rounding can also be provided at the other two corners, in a complementary form. It is generally favorable, however, if the ledge edges are designed in such a way at the corners with the obtuse trapezoidal angles that they are essentially perpendicular to the broad side surface on which they adjoin. The advantage of this measure is that the area that ends at an acute angle with a precise complementary shape is converted into a rectangular area. Further rounding can be carried out as in the first-mentioned corners, which in turn reduces the risk of injury even further.

The trapezoid is preferably axially symmetrical, the trapezoidal angle in each case being 20 to 40 °, preferably 25 to 35 ° for the commonly used pinewood, most advantageously approximately 30 ° for this wood. The same applies to poplar wood, which is also often used for such wooden shelves.

If harder wood is used, steeper angles can also be used, as a result of which the longitudinal grooves arranged in the shelves can be narrowed at the top (while at the same time they become larger at the bottom).

The invention also relates to a packaging unit formed from wooden shelf parts for the wooden shelf according to the preceding claims, wherein according to an embodiment of this unit from several, preferably from two at a distance There are vertical struts arranged parallel to one another, each of which is arranged in one of the longitudinal gaps of one or a plurality of shelves oriented axially thereto. In this way, the horizontal struts of the shelves of the two units come to lie offset in the same plane. This creates a ("whole") packaging unit with a total of at least four vertical struts, ie "legs", and for example four (or even six or more) shelves, i.e. a packaging unit that contains all the wooden shelf parts that are necessary to build a complete shelf.

It is also possible to combine packaging units with one another in accordance with this or the preceding claims, the extraordinarily tight and stable packaging being made possible because of the flat outer surfaces of these packaging units. All that is necessary is to take a measure that prevents the individual units from being displaced relative to one another, for example by using a shrink film or a tensioning strap.

According to yet another further development, a pallet-like packaging unit can be created, in which a plurality of packaging units are combined in such a way that a bottom (eg "half") packaging unit is arranged with the horizontal strut downward on the underside of the pallet, and on the top of the pallet an uppermost (e.g. the other "half") packaging unit with horizontal struts upwards. If packaging units are used that make up a complete shelf ("whole" units), this would mean that z. B. one of these packaging units is disassembled and one half is placed at the bottom and the other half at the top on the pallet-like packaging unit formed thereby. This indeed creates a pallet-like construction, which has a space on two opposite sides, each for entering z. B. forklift tines. In addition, this arrangement has the advantage that the less sensitive, because mostly not visible lower parts of the shelves each point outwards.

The invention also relates to a method for packaging wooden shelves, which are constructed according to claims 1 to 7. A first embodiment of such a method for packaging the parts of the wooden shelf is characterized in that several, for. B. two shelves are aligned so that the longitudinal gaps between the strips of the shelves are aligned with each other, and that vertical struts are then inserted into the longitudinal gaps to form a packaging unit (simple or "half" packaging unit) which is essentially the length of the Vertical strut, the width of the shelf depth and the thickness of the sum of the shelf board thickness and horizontal strut thickness (which should be equal to the vertical strut thickness, which also simplifies production).

According to a development of this method, two single units are placed on top of one another with the staggered horizontal struts turned towards one another (double unit or "whole" unit), and then, if necessary, connected to one another by means of shrink film, tensioning straps or also by means of screws provided in any case for later assembly of the shelf. These screws are expediently passed through screw holes, which are provided in the area of the horizontal grooves of the vertical struts anyway, in order to facilitate later assembly.

Several such double units can also be placed one on top of the other and / or next to one another and then connected to one another by means of tensioning means such as shrink film, tensioning straps and the like, whereby a multiple unit is created. Such a multiple unit consisting of several double units can be covered according to yet another embodiment of the method on the main surfaces (i.e. above and below) with single units such that the horizontal struts of these single units each point outwards, whereupon clamping means can then be arranged. This creates a kind of pallet, which creates a space between the horizontal struts, which point outwards and lie on the floor, for example, which can be used to insert the tines of a stacking device, such as a forklift.

If such pallets are stacked one on top of the other in such a way that horizontal struts come to lie on top of one another, this results in an insertion space for forklift tines of twice the height.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments which are illustrated in the drawings.

Fig. 1

in einer perspektivischen Ansicht schematisch ein Holzregal, das aus erfindungsgemäß gestalteten Einlegeböden und Vertikalstreben aufbaubar ist;

Fig. 2

eine Detailansicht der Verbindung zwischen den Vertikalstreben und einem Einlegebodenende;

Fig. 3

eine vergrößerte Seitenteilansicht einer Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Holzregals;

Fig. 4

eine Querschnittsansicht durch die Vertikalstrebe des Holzregals gemäß Fig. 3;

Fig. 5

eine Seitenansicht durch eine Einlegebodenleiste des Einlegebodens gemäß Fig. 3;

Fig. 6

in einer Ansicht von oben zwei Vertikalstreben, auf die zwei Einlegeböden aufgeschoben sind, um eine ("halbe" oder einfache) Verpackungseinheit zu bilden;

Fig. 7

eine Stirnansicht auf zwei aufeinandergelegte Verpackungseinheiten gemäß Fig. 6 mit Darstellung von verschiedenen Profilformen, siehe auch Fig. 7a, 7b;

Fig. 8

eine Teilseitenansicht auf zwei aufeinandergelegte Verpackungseinheiten;

Fig. 9

eine Seitenansicht auf eine aus zahlreichen Verpackungseinheiten gebildete Paletteneinheit, die durch Spannbänder fixiert ist, welche Paletteneinheit auf eine weitere, nur teilweise dargestellte, durch Schrumpffolie fixierte Paletteneinheit aufgesetzt ist.

It shows:

Fig. 1

in a perspective view schematically a wooden shelf that can be constructed from shelves and vertical struts designed according to the invention;

Fig. 2

a detailed view of the connection between the vertical struts and a shelf end;

Fig. 3

an enlarged partial side view of an embodiment of the wooden shelf according to the invention;

Fig. 4

a cross-sectional view through the vertical strut of the wooden shelf according to FIG. 3;

Fig. 5

a side view through a shelf strip of the shelf according to FIG. 3;

Fig. 6

in a view from above two vertical struts, on which two shelves are pushed to form a ("half" or simple) packaging unit;

Fig. 7

an end view of two superimposed packaging units according to FIG 6 with representation of different profile shapes, see also Fig. 7a, 7b.

Fig. 8

a partial side view of two superimposed packaging units;

Fig. 9

a side view of a pallet unit formed from numerous packaging units, which is fixed by tensioning straps, which pallet unit is placed on another, only partially shown, fixed by shrink film pallet unit.

In Fig. 1, a wooden shelf 10 can be seen in a perspective view, which consists of shelves 12 which can be attached at different heights and two side parts 14, each side part consisting of two interconnected vertical struts 16 and each strut having transverse grooves 18, the opening of which in the direction the respective opposite strut 16 is located and in which transverse grooves 18 the shelves 12 can be inserted.

While normally, especially in the prior art, the side parts formed from the two vertical struts maintaining stability in that the vertical struts are connected to one another by special horizontal strips that are independent of the shelves, these horizontal struts for the vertical struts forming the side parts are formed by the shelves themselves, by inserting the end regions of the shelves 12 into the horizontally running transverse grooves 18 and using fastening means , for example by means of wood screws 24. If at least two wood screws are used that are guided through a double hole (118 in FIG. 2), the transverse groove can also be dispensed with, since the double screw connection can provide sufficient stability.

In the embodiment specifically shown here, the shelves are in turn constructed in such a way that they each consist of at least two horizontal struts 20, one horizontal strut being arranged on each of the two longitudinal ends of the shelf, which horizontal struts have a plurality of shelf strips 22 which form longitudinal gaps 26 between them. which are designed so that they can accommodate the profile of the vertical struts, see for example the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, appropriately.

Fig. 3 shows one way to achieve this: On a horizontal strut 20, which is inserted here in the transverse grooves 18 of vertical struts 16 and fixed by means of wood screws 24, several, here three shelf strips 22 are placed and fastened, either by gluing or, as shown, by means of further wood screws 28, the profile shape of the shelf strips 22 and the vertical strut 16 being complementary, preferably identical to one another after rotation by 180 °, a profile shape deviating from the rectangular shape being chosen, in order to thus wedge the vertical struts 16 in the longitudinal gaps 26 to enable, in the sense that after the front insertion of the vertical strips 16 into the longitudinal gaps 26 between the shelf strips 22, the vertical struts 16th cannot fall out perpendicular to the ledge axis (i.e. laterally). Numerous embodiments are conceivable as a profile shape, for example the trapezoidal shape shown at the top in FIG. 7, or the staircase shape shown at the bottom right in FIG. 7. These shapes have the advantage that the profiles of the shelf 22 and the vertical strut 16 are not only complementary to one another, but that they are the same after rotation about the longitudinal axis by 180 °. This means that vertical struts 16 and shelf strips 22 can be made from the same wood profile material, which brings cost advantages. In principle, however, complementary but otherwise different profile shapes for vertical struts 16 and shelf strips 22 are also possible, for example a partial circular cross-sectional shape for the profile ends would be conceivable, as shown at 122 for the shelf strip and at 116 for the vertical strut at the bottom left in FIG. 7 .

For reasons of better manufacturability, for optical reasons as well as to reduce the risk of splintering, it may also be advantageous to see the edges of both the shelf strips 22 and the vertical struts 16 which point upwards or outwards in the case of the fully assembled shelf chamfer or even round off the reference numbers 30 and 32.

It is impractical to design the remaining edges 34 in the horizontal strut 22 and 36 in the vertical strut 16 to be exactly complementary, ie to give the corner a small depression. Instead, it is convenient to either round off or chamfer similarly to the other edges 30 or 32, or, as shown in FIG. 3, to take an intermediate route and make the corner at right angles, which is simplest in terms of production technology and also a somewhat enlarged contact surface of the shelf strips 22 on the horizontal strut 20 results or the transverse groove 18 also provides slightly larger contact surfaces for the ends of the horizontal strut 20 at the ends.

The resulting somewhat sharper edges are less annoying insofar as they point inwards or downwards and are not touched as easily by the user during normal use of the shelf as the rounded corners, so that the risk of injury from splinter formation can be neglected here .

5 shows an embodiment for the profile of a horizontal strut 22 with exemplary dimensions, which are given here in millimeters and at the same time also indicate the radius of curvature of the rounded upper corners 30. At the same time, it can also be seen that the lower corners are in part complementarily rounded inward, see the designation R3 (i.e. convex curvature of 3 mm), but that this curvature ends at a right angle on the lower surface 38 of the shelf strip 22. The profile shape of the vertical strut 16 shown in FIG. 4 shows a similar configuration.

This results in a clearly visible air gap 40 or 42 at the corner areas between the shelf strip 22 and the vertical strut 26, which facilitates insertion, although it must be said that of course there is also some play between the inclined surfaces 44 and 46 of the two profiles remains so that insertion can be carried out as easily as possible.

The trapezoidal angle of an axially symmetrical trapezoidal shape, as chosen in FIG. 3, depends on the material. For relatively soft wood, for example for pine or poplar wood, a trapezoidal angle 48 of 20 to 40 °, preferably of 25 to 35 °, has proven itself, the most chosen angle being 30 °. For harder wood, an angle can also be selected that is above 40 °, for example 45 °. The advantage of a larger angle is clear from FIG. 7 above: the larger this angle 48, the larger the upper width 50 of the shelf strip 22 and the more The longitudinal gap width 52 which arises at the upper end is narrower, so that the risk of objects falling through due to the longitudinal gaps formed in the shelves becomes smaller.

In Fig. 6 it is now shown how a packaging unit 54 can be formed from wooden shelf parts: For this purpose several, according to the representation of Fig. 6, two shelves 12 are pushed onto two vertical struts 16 in such a way that the vertical strut profiles in the longitudinal gap profiles of the shelves 12 come to rest. The number of shelves 12 that can be pushed onto the vertical struts 16 depends on the one hand on the length of the vertical struts 16 and thus on the height of the later wooden shelf, on the other hand on the length of the individual shelves 12 and thus on the later width of the wooden shelf. For the usual dimensions (height of the shelf, for example, 1.70 m or 1.80 m, width of the shelf, for example, 80 to 90 cm), approximately two shelves fit on the associated vertical struts. If one chooses shorter shelves for narrow shelves, for example about 60 cm, three shelves could be pushed onto two shelf braces.

Fig. 6 shows that each shelf 12 has a horizontal strut 20 only at its ends, which is generally also sufficient. In between, however, further horizontal struts 20 can also be provided without the function of the insertion being impaired thereby.

The horizontal struts 20 are to be noted if one wishes to form a further packaging unit 56, as can be seen in an end view in FIG. 7 (corresponding to a view from the right or left according to FIG. 6) and in a partial side view in FIG. 8. In this packaging unit 56, two packaging units according to FIG. 6 are placed one on top of the other in such a way that the horizontal struts 20 of the shelves 22 come to lie offset in the same plane 58 in relation to one another. This saves storage space. It can too several packaging units according to 56 according to FIGS. 7 and 8 are combined to form a pallet-like packaging unit according to FIG. 9, such packaging units 56 in each case being arranged offset by a horizontal strut width. A trapezoidal shape used according to FIG. 3 also for the horizontal struts has the particular advantage that a particularly small displacement distance is required here, as would be the case, for example, in the case of a rectangular profile. It is also expedient to manufacture the horizontal struts (20) from the same profile material as the vertical struts (16) and the shelf strips (22).

It is expedient to complete a group 60 of several packaging units 56 at the upper and lower ends by placing a packaging unit 54 on top packaging unit 56 and a further packaging unit 54 on top of the bottom packaging unit in such a way that horizontal struts 20 of the latter Packing units stand up or down. The overall pallet 62 thus formed results in a space 64 into which, for example, the tines of a forklift can be inserted. In addition, this arrangement has the advantage that the upper surface 66 or lower surface 68 of the pallet, which is exposed to slight damage, is formed by such shelf parts which point downward in the wooden shelf which is built up later and are therefore barely visible to the user. Another advantage is that straps 70, even if they are not properly tightened, cannot slide off the pallet body as easily because they are arranged between two horizontal struts 20, as shown in FIG Case is. In the lower, only partially recognizable further pallet 72, a shrink film 74 is provided instead of the tensioning straps.

A packaging unit 56 according to FIGS. 7 and 8 usually comprises All components necessary for the construction of a shelf, whereby the provided wood screws can either be added separately with a bag or, at least for some of these wood screws, can be used to close the vertical struts 16 of the two superimposed units together at both ends screw and thereby combine the two "half" units 54 to the "whole" unit 56. Other tensioning devices, such as a tensioning strap 70 or a shrink film 74, which would also be conceivable to form a "half" unit 56, can then be dispensed with.

Claims (13)

1. Wooden rack (10) with shelves (12) insertable at various heights, comprising at least two side parts (14) each having two vertical struts (16) connected with one another and having recesses (18, 118) open in the direction of the opposite vertical strut (16), with transverse grooves (18), into which ends, for example the horizontal struts (20) of shelves (12), are insertable, whereby the shelves (12) comprise shelf strips (22) attached in each case to at least two horizontal struts (20), which strips form longitudinal gaps (26) between them, characterised in that the dimensions of the longitudinal gaps (26) are such that the vertical struts can be fittingly received in the longitudinal gaps (26), that the shelf strips (22) and the vertical struts (16) have the same profile shape, deviating from the rectangular shape, namely a trapezium shape (Fig. 7, upper half), or graded profile shape (Fig. 7, bottom right), and that the edges of both the shelf strips (22) and the vertical struts (16), which point upwards or outwards in the completed rack, are chamfered or rounded off.
2. Wooden rack according to Claim 1, characterised in that, instead of the recesses, double bores are provided.
3. Wooden rack according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the horizontal struts (20) each have three shelf strips (22) and form two longitudinal gaps (26) between them.
4. Wooden rack according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that, in the case of the strip profile having a trapezium shape, the corners (30, Fig. 5; 32, Fig. 4) having the acute trapezium angle are rounded.
5. Wooden rack according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that, at the corners with the obtuse trapezium angle (34, Fig. 5; 36, Fig. 4), the edges of the strips are designed in such a way that they are essentially at right angles to the broad side surface (38) which they adjoin.
6. Wooden rack according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the trapezium is axially symmetrical and the trapezium angle (48) is 20° to 40°, preferably 25° to 35°, and most favourably approximately 30°.
7. Packing unit (54) formed from wooden rack pieces for a wooden rack according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the unit (54) consists of several, preferably two, vertical struts (16) arranged in parallel at a distance from one another, which vertical struts are arranged in each case in one of the longitudinal gaps (26) of one shelf or several axially aligned shelves (12).
8. Packing unit according to Claim 7, characterised in that two packing units (54) are laid on top of one another with their respective several, preferably two, vertical strips (16), in such a way that the horizontal struts (20) of the shelves (12) of the two packing units lie in the same plane (58), staggered in relation to one another (Fig. 6, 7).
9. Packing unit according to Claim 7 or 8, characterised in that several packing units (54, 56) according to these Claims are combined into a pallet-like unit (62) in such a way that a packing unit (54) according to Claim 6 with downward horizontal struts (20) is arranged on the lower side of the pallet, and/or that a packing unit (54) according to Claim 6 with upward horizontal struts (20) is arranged on the upper side of the pallet.
10. Method for packing wooden rack parts for wooden racks according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised by lying two or more shelves on top of one another in such a way that the shelf strips (22) and the longitudinal gaps (26) between them are aligned with one another, and by inserting vertical struts into the longitudinal gaps (26) of the shelves (12) arranged one behind the other to create a packing unit with the thickness A + B (A = the thickness of the horizontal strut (20), B = the thickness of the shelf strip (22) and the vertical strut).
11. Method according to Claim 10, characterised in that two packing units according to Claim 9 are laid on top of one another in such a way that the horizontal struts (20) of the two units come to lie staggered next to one another in one plane (58) in order to form a packing unit of the thickness 2A + 2B.
12. Method for forming a pallet-like packing unit, characterised in that several packing units in accordance with Claim 11 are laid on top of one another and are fixed by clamping means, such as a clamping band (17) or shrink foil (74).
13. Method according to Claim 12, characterised in that a packing unit (54) according to Claim 10 is laid on the upper side and/or on the lower side of the packing in such a way that the horizontal struts (20) point outwards, and that subsequently clamping means are fitted around the packing to form a pallet.

Images