US1759645A - Multiple-unit plate rack - Google Patents

Description

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May 20, 1930. F E; w. JANKE ET L MULTIPLE unr'r PLATE RACK Filed Se t. 14, 1929 a i 7 4 a May 20, 1930.

E. W. JANKE ET AL MULTIPLE UNIT PLATE RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 14, 1929 i 33, aum

e ,which our inventionmay'bereduced to pracitlce are illustrated pin ,the accompanymg I Patentecl'Ma y, 20, 1930 UNITED Tar-s PATENT mm ELIZABETH w. J'ANKE' ANDnLEnEnK'JAnKE, or PLAINFIELD, NEW J R EY SAID .ALFRED H. JANKE .ASSIGNOB TO SAID ELIZABETH W4JAnKE MULT1rI E-'Un1r PLATE nAoK Abplicat'ion filed September 14, 1929. Serial No. 392,504.

, @ur invention relates to holders for individual plates carrying foodready for serving, the holders being; shaped so that they can be readily superposed upon each other in considerab'le number, "thereby conserving space on-the shelfor'support upon which the rack-rests. "Our novel plate rack'is of particular advantage for storing foods assembled on plates ready forserving, such as salads or desserts, in refrigerators which have a limitedamount of shelf space and in which usually thevertical space between two shelves 'cannotbe sufficiently utilized, because plates containing ready prepared food cannot Very the rack, the sizeof the rack can thus be adapted to the vertical space between the reg frigerator shelves. Thezra ckzcan also be'divided'. into several ,racksioi' suitable height, thus utilizingthe refrigeratorspa'ce to the fullest extent.. I 1' Several modifications of ,the manner in drawings in which Fig. .1 represents in unit made of wire, I I e v Fig. '2 represents the triangular wire elepe rspective View a rack I gment which holds the central wirespiderin Fig. 1, togetherat its arm ends,

- Fig. 3 s'hows'in central vertical section on theline 3,3 in Fig. '1 t'he'detjails of the constru'ction of the remand socket ateach arm end, and shows how the foot of the superposed nnit engages a socketof the unit below,

, Fig. 4L represents an individual wirelength having one of itsends bent into a foot, and theotherjend bent into a socket, three of such lengths forming the three-armed spider shown in Fig. 1, e

' Fig. 5 represents amodified form of a unit showing 'how suchia unit can bemade of a plurality of lengths of fiat; material,

u-Fig. 6 represents'a sideelevation of one cornerof twosuperposed units, some of the parts being brokeniaway, and

well ordinarily be placed on top'of each other.

Fig. 7 shows one-of the corners ofthe unit 1n Flg'. 5 in horizontal section on the line 7, 7 in Fig. 5. e e V Referring more particularly now to Figs;

1 to gthe triangular-spider-1-is composedof threewires 2, each bent in the form shown in Fig. 4,-on'e end ofeach-wire being bent at right angles and twisted .to form afoot 3,

andthe other end being bent at right angles I to form a socket 4. Three of suchbla-nksare in the'opposite direction and being coiledto assembled at their centralportions a, so that the two straight portions of each blank are paired with the correspondingstrai ht portion's ofthe adjacent blanks in such manner that the foot 3 atjtheend of one blank is joined with the socket 4 ofthe adjacent blank,

whereupon the two wires thus paired are twisted together to form the arms of the spider. In order t'o-retain the arms in their angularrelation to each other, they are connected by a triangular wireelement '5 shown in detail in Fig. 2, preferably in such manner that the corners of the wire element 5 are crimped around the. arm ends, therebyclamp-T ing together the-twowires which form the foot and the socket at the armkend. In order to raise the supporting point of the foot within the socket of the adj acentunit for reasons of frame rigidity to be explained later, and also to maintain the spacing be tween two ad acent units, indicated 1n Fig.

3 by thearrow b, the end of the, wire which forms the foot 3 is extended partway into its pertaining socket, where the wire end is :bent.

over as shown at 7 the foot 3 ofthesuperposed unit resting upon this bent portion 7. V

. At the same time the extension of this, hook shaped foot wire into the soclret 4'affords fa- -;oilities for more securely joining the foot to its pertaining socket, such as by soldering the crimped corner of the wire 5 together with the wires of the foot 3, and thewire. forming the socket coil ,4 at the arm end, whereby the solder can be easily made to flow partway into thesocket as shown in Fig- 3 in-stippled form; Fig. 1 shows in dot-dash in full lines. Inasmuch as the frame iscomposedof rather thm wire elements, and sums lines afunit superposed-uponthe unit shown v ier'weak support fora plate. .WVhen several extends substantially only :in one plane, such aunit alone by itself would form a rathunits are assembled however, theirinterengaging feet and socketscounteract the downward bendlng'of the frame under the loadln such. manner, thatthe Iwire elementsfof the ".stantially only to tension stresses and are pre-,

Z vented fromsagging under the load. These horizontal frame portion become subject subfavorable stress 'conditionsl e xi'st because when the frame arms of aseparate un t sag under the load, its feet swing outward andits 0ppositely directedsocketsinward; VVhenseveralunits are interengaged with their feet and sockets, thefoot of one unit swings oppo- *site to; the direction inwhich the socket of the upper portion ofthe socket of the adjacent unit;(as shown'i-n Fig. 3); than inthe bottom.

. ofthesocket. j V

- y .Referring'to'Figsj to7,ithesefigures show thefother unit swings in whichfthat foot is seated, and thuslthe two forces neutralize leach-other, and ineifect the horiz'ontalframe elements virtuallybecome bars 'fixed' atboth ends. For this reason itis of 'advantage to have the foot end of. one unit seated'frather. in

how such a. skeletonized"unit inay .be made V of flat lengths of material such as sheet stock.

For convenience,jwe have aga'inshown a tri angular skeletonlzed'frame, though any other;

2' form may be used As will-be noted from Fig. 5-, the'three arms ofthe spider are corn- V posed of straight lengthslOfofthin strips of provided with longitudinal ribs-115 The materiallwhich for purposes of rigidity are three strips are joined together, for instance when the channel-of the foot )is formed and the armbent at right angles. This crimping imparts rigidity to the 'cornerf so that :the';

foot .will remain substantially at right angles to the horizontal portion of each arm.

by a rivet 12, attheirinner ends,'-'their outer ends being bent downward to form the feet on'itscentrallOngitudinaI axis to forma 'ichannel element by-Which rigidity isimp arted to; the foot. the pointwhere v arm 1O bent to form'the foot, andwhi-ch *isindicated in}, Fig. Gby-a, the material is eriinped so as to ac 13" of the unit, each' 'foiot being besides bent coinmodate the surplus" material accruing Thejouter ends of the three arms 1 ar tied together by tie stripsl l which for purposes of rigidity may also be provided with "longitudinal ribs 15, the tie strips and the arms being joined. by any suitable means, 7 Y for instance by rivets 1 6. The ends, of. each tie strip 14 are bent upward so that when-the r ends ofthe tie strips'are joined together as shown in Fig. they form a channel 17, the

tie pieces being slightly longer'than the distance betweentwo feet'la so that the, chan-;

nel element can serve as a socket for the channeled foot 13 ofthe superposed units In or;

,der :to provide stops for the; superposed feet,

each socket 17 beprovided with a plate 5 i 1,8 which may at the same time serve the purposef'of tieing together the'constit uen t por 'tions ofthe socket 17.; Also-in this case a l considerable rigidity. is imparted to the structureiiby the" relative arrangement of the I ,sockets'and'feet, in so faras also in this modification, when'the load on the unit tends to 1 defiectthecenter down'warch andthus deflects its feet "outward, the funit below through 1 its 7 socket 'portionswill counteractthis outward bending of 'the'feet, because the load-onthe lower unit will tend to bendthe socket por,-'

tions-of that unit inwardly. ,The sockets; i

and; feet, being short and rigid by virtue of their structure, as compared with the free J -lengthsof material, used in the frame, these bending stresses are easi'ly absorbed by the feet and sockets' without deformation. OW ing to the existence of substantially only ten- 'sion stresses in the frame, also comparatively soft materials, such as aluminum may-be used 1 in manufacturing the units. We clann: .i

frame, composed of a: plurality of lengthsof wire, twisted together inpairs and shaped at eaclrpolygon'corner, so that one wire forms.

7 1". A verticalmultipl unit plate rack built I up of'a plurality of superposed independent p I v units, each unit adapted tofsupport aplat'e jand constituting a skeletonized polygonal a foot and the'other wirela socket,for-supq j portingly engaging respectively thesoc'ket i and foot atthe corresponding corners of the relation to each other.

. 2. A'vertical multiple adjacent units to hold 'the units' inTspajc-ed j 'i I H unitplate'rack a g -up of a plurality of superposed independent;

units, each unit adaptedtojsup'port a lplate f and constituting a three armed spiderfoomposedofa plurality 'of-wires twisted in pairs 1 to form' the spider arms,lone wire at eacli' farm endfheing bent to form. a foot and'th'e other wire being} shapedto 'form& a socket for supportingly engaging respectively the 1 socket andfoot attire-corresponding arm other wire being coiled: to form Ia sockt fo supportingly engaging respectiyely the socket and foot at the correspond1ng-"armends of theadj acent units to hold the units in spaced relation to each'other, an'da triangular wire element ]o1ned;to and connecting the.

arm ends of'said' spider.

4.: A vertical multipleunit plate radii built upof a plural ty of superposed independent units, each'un t adapted to supportza plate and constituting a three armed spider composed of three lengths of ire joined near their middle portionsand having their free lengths twisted together in pairs to form the spider arms, the two Wires of each pair being shaped at their ends to form a foot and a socket for supportingly engaging respectively the socket and the foot at the correspond-, ing arms of the adjacent units, and a triangular Wire element tying the arm ends of the spider together and being clamped at its corners around the pertaining arm end between the foot and the socket.

5. A vertical multiple unit plate rack built up of a plurality of superposed independent units, each unit adapted to support a plate and constituting a skeletonized frame extending substantially in one plane only and having at least three points of support at its periphery, and having feet and sockets at said supporting points, extending in opposite directions at right angles to said plane, and being adapted to respectively engage the sockets and feet of the adjacent units to maintain the frames in spaced relation to each other, and whereby said units mutually reenforce each others carrying surfaces under 7 load.

6. Avertical multiple unit plate rack built up of'a plurality of superposed independent units, each unit adapted to support a plate and constituting a skeletonized frame, ex-

tending substantially in one plane only and having at least three points'of support at its perlphery, and having feet and sockets at said supporting points, extending in opposite directions at right angles to said plane, and being adapted to respectively engage the sockets and feet of the'adjacentunits to maintain the frames in spaced relation to each other, the stresses upon each frame due to the load being counteracted by the interengagement of the feet and sockets of the assembled units, so that the frame elements are subject substantially only to tensionstresses.

7. A vertical multiple unit plate rack built up of a plurality of superposed independent a 8.- A vertical multiple unit plate rack built up of a plurality of superposed independent units, each unit adapted to support a plate and constituting a skeletonized frame, composed of a plurality of lengths of material joined together and extending substantially in one plane only, said frame having at least three points of support at its periphery at some of the junction points ofsaid lengths, and having feet and sockets at said supporting points formed by said lengths and exof the assembled units, so that the frame elements are subject substantially only to'tension stresses.

ELIZABETH W. J ANKE. ALFRED H. JANKE.

opposite directions at right angles to said plane, and being adapted to respectively engage the sockets and feet of the adjacent units to maintain the frames in spaced relation to each other, the stresses upon each frame due to the load being counteracted by the interengagement of the feet and sockets of the assembled units, so that the frame elements are subject substantially only to tension stresses.

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