CERTIFICATE 1, Peter Strehl, of Maximilianstrasse 54, 80538 Munchen, Germany, being competent in the German and English languages, hereby certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief the attached English translation is a true and correct translation of international patent application No. PCT/EP2004/010163. MOnchen, March 19, 2007 Peter Strehl PCA-41398 Translation of PCT/EP2004/010163 Round column with adapter rail Description Round columns are well suited as support elements in shelving systems because of their high stability at a given material expenditure (EP 1 132 026 Al). The present invention is based on the idea of using such round columns in 5 connection with other structural components (including shelving elements) for other articles, such as counters for sales, office and storage purposes. Due to the absence of dangerous corners and edges and their closed aesthetic form, round columns are suitable also for such purposes. It is thus an object of the invention to make a round column, which is well 10 known in the storage field and has openings for hooking in structural elements, suitable for producing items of furniture such as counters. This object is successfully met by the adapter rail characterised in claim 1. Due to its structure, this adapter rail can be hooked in openings of the round column and because of its square profile permits further common structural 15 components to be attached in two mutually perpendicular directions to produce a table-shaped or parallelepiped piece of furniture. Since the adapter rail has an open square profile and hooks for engaging in the openings of the round column at the both edges adjacent to the open cor ner, the combination of a round column and an adapter rail according to invention 20 permits the manufacture of composite pieces of furniture of high load-carrying capacity. The embodiment of the invention according to claim 2 is useful in the sense of simple assembly. The measure set forth in claim 3 permits the round column to be used as 25 an intermediate column in alignment with two corner columns of a piece of furni ture. The embodiment of the adapter rail in accordance with claims 5 to 7 and the embodiment of the round column in accordance with claim 8 are of importance regarding the mutual connection of adjacent round columns by means of stable 30 connecting members. Claims 10 to 13 refer to a counter composed of round columns as support ing components, and connecting members. Embodiments of the invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which: 35 Fig. 1 is a perspective representation of a counter made using four round columns; -2 Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross-section through the counter of Fig. 1, taken underneath the upper counter plate; Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial view of the lower left corner of the sectional view of Fig. 2; 5 Fig. 4 shows another embodiment in a representation similar to Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the adapter rail used in accordance with Figs. 1 to 4; Fig. 6 is a partial side view of the adapter rail, seen in the direction of the arrow VI in Fig. 5; and 10 Fig. 7 is a partial view of the sheet metal material forming the adapter rail of Fig. 6, which has been punched but not yet bent. The counter shown in Fig. 1 essentially consists of four round columns 10 interconnected by a desk top 11, connecting rails 12, 13 extending in the width direction and connecting rails 14, 15 extending in the depth direction of the 15 counter. The connecting rails 12... 15 may also serve to receive shelves (not shown) underneath the desk top 11. Further provided are side walls formed of a plurality of strip shaped panel ling elements 16 arranged one above the other. The side wall of the counter, which is not visible in Fig. 1, may be closed by similar strip shaped panelling ele 20 ments. Alternatively, these non-load-bearing wall elements may be formed from perforated panels. As indicated in Fig: 1, the desk top 11 is cut out within the area of the round columns 10 and has bent portions 17 along its four sides, which are provided with hooks for engaging in upper slots 20 of the round columns 10. 25 In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the round columns 10 project over the surface of the desk top 11 and are closed by caps 21. Alternatively, the desk top 11 may be formed in such a way that it rests upon the upper ends of the round columns 20, and a continuous peripheral flange may be formed in such a way that it snugly surrounds the round columns. As a further alternative, the desk top 11 30 may be larger than the outline of the understructure formed of the four round col umns 10 and may be have its lower surface provided with pegs for engaging in the open upper ends of the round columns 10. While the desk top 11 is directly connected with the round columns 10 or placed thereupon, the remaining elements of the counter are connected to 35 adapter rails 25 attached to the round columns 10, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In accordance with Figs. 3 to 7, the adapter rail 25 consists of a generally square profile which is open at one corner, with a flange 27 bent outward under 450 being formed at the free edge of either one of the two legs 26 defining the -3 open corner. The two flanges 27 of the adapter rail 25 extend parallel to each other and form at their free edges a plurality of hooks 28 disposed one above the other. The hooks 28 serve for hooking the adapter rail 25 in corresponding slots 20 of a round column 10 and are, in the embodiment shown in Figs. 6 and 7, 5 arranged one above the other at distances which correspond to twice the pitch of the slots 20 in the round column 10. The other two legs 30 of the adapter rail 25, which form the corner of the square profile opposite to the open corner, are each provided with elongated slots 31. Elongated slots 32 are formed in the legs 26 which have substantially half the 10 width of the legs 30. In the longitudinal direction of the adapter rail 25, the slots 31, 32 are arranged at a pitch equal to that of the slots 20 in the round column 10. As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, it may be appropriate to provide two or three juxtaposed slots 31 in both legs 30 near the upper end (and similarly near the lower end not shown) of the adapter rail of 25. 15 As seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the slots 30 serve for attaching the connecting rails 12...15. In the embodiment shown, these connecting rails are formed from U profile bars each end of which has a pair of juxtaposed hooks 35 for engaging a corresponding pair of juxtaposed slots 30 in the adapter rail 25. In the depth direction of the counter, further rails or bars (not shown) may be fixed between the 20 upper and lower connecting rails 14, 15, which may serve as consoles for shelves (likewise not shown) underneath the desk top 11. The slots 32 provided in the partial legs 26 are in particular intended for engagement by the panelling elements 16. As shown in Fig. 3, these panelling elements 16 have bent-down ends provided with hooks for engaging the slots 32. 25 In the vertical direction, the panelling elements 16 may be bent and may overlap each other. Fig. 4 shows an embodiment, in which the column 10 forms an intermediate column and is provided with two adapter rails 25 disposed at 900 with respect to each other. Connecting rails 12... 15 and panelling elements 16 are attached to 30 both adapter rails 25 in the same way as in Fig. 3. Only within the area between the two adapter rails 25, there are no panelling elements 16, which would be inside the counter. The round columns 10 are formed from a metal tube, while the remaining elements are formed from punched and bent steel sheet material. Other materials, 35 specifically as plastics, may be used for the panelling elements 16. Likewise, the caps 21 - if used for closing the upper ends of the round columns 10 - may consist of plastics.