SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SHELVES

Abstract

A support system for mounting a shelf to cabinet walls having vertical slots therein. The support system comprises rack rails to insert in the slots, each one of the rack rails comprises a series of upwardly arched channels. The support system further comprises mounting components to mount to the rack rails at similar heights, each one of the mounting components comprising a support face for supporting the shelf, an arched arm to be inserted in the arched channel, and an abutting face to contact one of 1—the rack rails to be mounted thereto and 2—one of the cabinet walls to be mounted thereto through one of the rack rails thereby limiting course of the arched arm in the arched channel. Once the mounting components are mounted to the rack rails, the mounted components provide support faces to set down the shelf thereon.

Claims

1. A support system for mounting of a shelf to cabinet walls, the support system comprising: a rack rail extending vertically and comprising arched channels disposed above each other; and a mounting component having: a support face; an arched arm; and an abutting face, wherein, once the mounting component is mounted to the rack rail: the arched arm is inserted into one of the arched channels, the abutting face abuts the rack rail thereby limiting an upward course of the arm in the one of the arched channels, and the support face extends outwardly from the rack rail and is ready to support the shelf.

2. The support system of claim 1, wherein the rack rail and the mounting component each have two flat sides whereby a distance between the two flat sides defines a respective thickness wherein both the rack rail and the mounting component have a similar respective thickness.

3. The support system of claim 2, wherein the support face and the abutting face are perpendicular to the flat sides.

4. The support system of claim 1, wherein the rack rail has a length, and wherein the rack rail is bendable along its length.

5. The support system of claim 1, to wherein the rack rail has a front face and the arched channels extend from the front face.

6. The support system of claim 5, wherein the front face is straight about the arched channels and wherein the abutting face is straight.

7. The support system of claim 1, wherein the rack rail and the mounting component are substantially flat.

8. The support system of claim 1, wherein the rack rail and the mounting component comprise electrically conductive material and whereby an electrical contact exists between the rack rail and the mounting component to form part of an electrical circuit.

9. A shelf system comprising: a shelf comprising two edges; cabinet side walls facing each other and having vertical slots; rack rails for insertion in the vertical slots, each one of the rack rails comprising a series of arched channels; and mounting components for mounting to the rack rails at similar heights, each one of the mounting components comprising a support face for supporting the shelf, wherein the mounting components are mounted to the rack rails and the support faces extend outwardly from the rack rails, further wherein the shelf is supported by the mounting components.

10. The shelf system of claim 9, wherein the mounting components further comprise an arched arm for insertion in one of the series of arched channels; and an abutting face to contact the rack rail to which the mounting component is mounted thereby limiting an upward course of the arched arm in the one of the series of arched channels.

11. The shelf system of claim 10, wherein the abutting face of the mounting components mounted to the rack rails contact the rack rails under the arched channels to which the mounting components are mounted.

12. The shelf system of claim 10, wherein the arched channels have a first length and the arched arms have a second length smaller than the first length.

13. (canceled)

14. The shelf system of claim 10, wherein the arched arms are rigid.

15. The shelf system of claim 9, wherein the slots have side walls and wherein the arched channels are limited sideways by the side walls of the slot in which they are inserted.

16. The shelf system of claim 9, wherein the rack rails have a thickness, a depth and a length, and wherein the thickness is smaller than the depth.

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. The shelf system of claim 9, wherein the rack rails and the mounting components comprise electrically conductive material and whereby an electrical contact exists between the rack rails and the mounting components to form part of an electrical circuit.

20. (canceled)

21. The shelf system of claim 9, wherein the shelf comprises slots near the edges, wherein the shelf is supported by setting the slots on the support faces whereby the mounting components are thus substantially hidden from view.

22. The shelf system of claim 21, wherein the shelf extends between the cabinet side walls, wherein the support system further comprise inserts mounted in the slots of the shelf, wherein the inserts are set down over the support face of each of the mounting components.

23. The shelf system of claim 22, wherein the inserts, the rack rails and the mounting components comprise electrically conductive material and whereby an electrical contact exists between the inserts, the rack rails and the mounting components to form part of an electrical circuit.

24. The shelf system of claim 23, further comprising a lighting element inserted in one of the slots, the lighting element being powered by the electrical circuit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Further features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:

[0036] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of components of a support system for shelves in accordance with an embodiment;

[0037] FIG. 2 is a closer perspective view of a rack rail part of a support system for shelves in accordance with the support system of FIG. 1; and

[0038] FIG. 3 is a closer perspective view of a mounting member part of a support system for shelves in accordance with the support system of FIG. 1

[0039] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of mounting members during and insertion in the rack rail and inserted in the rack rail with the rack rail laying idle;

[0040] FIG. 5 is an elevation perspective view of a cabinet wall with rack rails inserted therein;

[0041] FIG. 6 is a closer elevation perspective view of the extremity of a cabinet wall with the rack rail partially inserted therein;

[0042] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of two cabinet side walls with four rack rails inserted therein and one mounting member mounted to each of the rack rails;

[0043] FIG. 8 is a close-up perspective view of a portion of shelf during its mounting to a mounting member;

[0044] FIG. 9 is an up-looking perspective view of a portion of a shelf mounted to a mounting member; and

[0045] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a portion of a cabinet comprising a mounted shelf according to an embodiment of the support system for shelves, with a lighting component mounted to the bottom of the shelf.

[0046] It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] The realizations will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which realizations are illustrated. The foregoing may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the illustrated realizations set forth herein.

[0048] With respect to the present description, references to items in the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise or clear from the text. Grammatical conjunctions are intended to express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, the term “or” should generally be understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.

[0049] Recitation of ranges of values and of values herein or on the drawings are not intended to be limiting, referring instead individually to any and all values falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value within such a range is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. The words “about,” “approximately,” or the like, when accompanying a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described realizations. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as,” or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the exemplary realizations and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the realizations. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed element as essential to the practice of the realizations.

[0050] In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first”, “second”, “top”, “bottom”, “above”, “below”, and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

[0051] The terms “top”, “up”, “upper”, “bottom”, “lower”, “down”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “interior” and “exterior” and the like are intended to be construed in their normal meaning in relation with normal installation of the product, with indication of normal orientation of the components being provided on FIGS. 1 and 4.

[0052] In realizations, there are disclosed components of a support system 100 for shelves, and more particularly for cabinet shelves.

[0053] It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

[0054] Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the support system 100 for shelves comprises a set of rack rails 160 and mounting members 110 (aka mounting components 110) to be mounted thereon.

[0055] Referring additionally to FIG. 2, the rack rail 160 comprises a front face 172 and a rear face 174 defining therebetween a rack rail depth 194. The rack rail 160 has a rack rail length 192 (that is inserted in a slot of a wall when mounted for operation) of about or longer that the height of the cabinet wall 90 (see FIGS. 5 to 10) to be mounted thereto. The rack rail 160 is usually manufactured in lengths extending largely beyond the normal heights of cabinet walls 90. The rack rail 160 finally has a rack rail thickness 196, a.k.a. width 196, of a relatively small value, for instance smaller or about the thickness of a saw cut (e.g. about three (3) mm). Therefore, the small thickness of the rack rail 160 allows to limit visual intrusiveness of the support system 100.

[0056] Communicating with the front face 172 and evenly distributed over the rack rail length 192 are channels 162 (aka arched channels or upwardly arched channels), extending over the whole width 196 of the rack rail 160, and extending from the front face 172 toward the back of the rack rail 160. The channels 162 extend along an arch-shaped channel axis 184 extending upwardly from the channel entrance 186 at the front face 172. The channel 162 therefore has a channel width 182 limiting the size of the inset, with a channel bottom wall 164, a channel top wall 166 and channel end wall 168. Since the channels 162 extend over the whole width 196 of the rack rail 160, the channels 162 do not have side walls, the wall 90 (see FIGS. 5-10) to be mounted thereto operating as side walls as will be explained thereinafter.

[0057] The rack rails 160 further comprise holes 180 regularly distributed over the rack rail length 192. According to a realization, the holes 180 are regularly distributed between the channels 162. The holes 180 are located about mid-distance between channels 162. The holes 180 are further located about mid-depth of the rack rails 160.

[0058] Referring additionally to FIG. 3, a mounting member 110 comprises a body 111 from which extends an arch-shaped arm 112 (aka arched arm) following arm axis 134. The arm 112 extends upwardly. The arm 112 is configured with a shape and dimensions, a.k.a. arm width 132 (aka arm thickness) and arm length 136, providing the arm 112 with faces, namely an arm bottom face 114, an arm top face 116 and an arm extremity 118. The mounting member 110, and particularly the arm 112, is made of rigid material maintaining its shape when exerting external forces.

[0059] The arms 112 and channels 162 are further configured with shapes and dimensions that substantially correspond to each other, allowing coupling of the mounting member 110 to the rack rail 160 by inserting the arm 112 of the mounting member 110 in a channel 162.

[0060] The mounting member 110 has, according to a realization, a mounting member thickness 146 that is about or slightly smaller than the rack rail thickness 196. Accordingly, the mounting member 110 is thin enough to be inserted into any location the rack rail 160 may be inserted in.

[0061] According to alternative realizations (not shown), only a portion of the mounting member 110, at least the arm 112, has a thickness similar to the rack rail thickness 196. The remaining part of the mounting member 110, e.g., the body 111, may feature a different thickness, such as a greater thickness, thereby provided increased surface to support the shelf 80 (see FIGS. 8 to 10).

[0062] The mounting member 110 further comprises an exterior portion featuring an abutting face 122 configured to abut the front face 172 of the rack rail 160 when in use.

[0063] According to realizations, abutting faces comprises alone or in combination the abutting face 122, the arm extremity 118 abutting the channel end wall 168, or alternative faces of the mounting member 110 abutting either the front face 172 of the rack rail 160 above the channel 162 or the wall surface 92 (see FIGS. 5 to 10).

[0064] According to a realization, the mounting member 110 is shaped with at least partial profiles of at least a portion of the arm 112 and the abutting face 122 of the mounting member 110 that are complementary to at least a portion of the channel 162 and of the front face 172 of the rack rail 160. Accordingly, when the arm 112 of the mounting member 110 is partially inserted in the channel 162 with a load pressing downward, the abutting face 122 and the front face 172 are abutting, while at least portions of at least one of the arm bottom face 114, the arm top face 116 and the arm extremity 118 abuts a complementary one of the channel bottom wall 164, the channel top wall 166 and the channel end wall 168, thereby limiting the course of the arm 112 in the channel 162.

[0065] The mounting member 110 further comprises a support face 124. The support face 124 is providing a support for a shelf 80 to be set down thereon.

[0066] According to a realization, the support face 124 has a flat shape, providing a flat surface to set down a flat portion of a shelf thereon or in a channel practiced of a shelf thereby substantially hiding the mounting member from view. According to other realizations, the support face 124 may features a different shape, for instance to be coupled to the shape of a complementary receiving component having a complementary shape. For instance, the support face 124 may feature an upward projection to be inserted in a recess of a receiving component for improved stability of the shelf 80.

[0067] The mounting member 110 further comprises a mounting member exterior height 142 extending from the lowest point (when the mounting member 110 is installed on a rack rail 160) of the abutting face 122 to the highest point of the support face 124. The mounting member 110 further comprises a mounting member exterior width 144 extending from the wall surface 92 (see FIGS. 5-10), thus from where the mounting member 110 extends beyond the wall surface 92 when the mounting member 110 is installed on a rack rail 160, to the farthest point relative to the wall surface 92. The mounting member exterior height 142 and the mounting member exterior width 144 define the scale of visibility of the mounting member 110, the scale of visibility being configured to be zero (0) when optimally used, aka totally set in a shelf 80, when the shelf 80 mounted thereto and thereby providing minimal visual intrusiveness.

[0068] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is depicted a perspective view of mounting members 110 during insertion in a rack rail 160 and once inserted in the rack rail 160 with the rack rail 160 laying idle, or in other words when not inserted in a mounting wall, for teaching purpose.

[0069] The bottom example depicts how to mount the mounting member 110 to the rack rail 160. In order to mount the mounting member 110 to the rack rail 160, one inserts the arm 112 in the channel 162 so as to have the arm axis 134 and the channel axis 184 aligned. Afterwards, one slides the arm 112 in the channel 162 following the arched shape of the axes 134, 184 thus having the arm 112 following an upward course of the channel 162 until the abutting face 122 abuts the front face 172 of the rack rail 160.

[0070] The top example depicts the arm 112 of the support member 110 being inserted at its fullest in the channel 162, with the abutting face 122 abutting the front face 172 of the rack rail 160. One should note that even though the illustration depicts the arm bottom face 114, the arm top face 116 and the arm extremity 118 abutting the corresponding channel bottom wall 164, channel top wall 166 and channel end wall 168, alternative embodiments may provide them with slightly non-matching shapes without automatically preventing the realization to operate according to sought out requirements.

[0071] Further, one should note that the application of load over the support face 124 has the effect of: 1—increasing pressure at the abutment surface defined by the abutment of the abutting face 122 on the front face 172, and 2—improving penetration of the arm 112 deeper in the channel 162, the dept of penetration of the arm, though its upward course, being limited by one of the above-discussed abutment or by potential abutment of the arm extremity 118 over the channel end wall 168. Further, one should note that such a vertical load is supported by the whole channel bottom wall 164, thus the load is supported by about two third (⅔) of the rack rail depth 194 (see FIG. 2) in the depicted realization.

[0072] Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the rack rails 160 are adapted to be inserted in slim slots 94 extending over the height of the wall 90. As depicted on FIG. 5, intrusion to the visual aspect of the surface 92 of a wall is limited to the vertical saw cuts resulting into the slots 94, with these slots 94 being almost invisible (see FIG. 7) according to a normal perspective. Once inserted into the slots 94, the front face 172 of the rack rails 160 do not extend beyond the surface 92 of the wall 90, thereby limiting the visual intrusion to the edges of the above-discussed saw cuts. It is therefore understood that the mounting member 110 and the rack rail 160 are substantially flat (i.e., their width is substantially smaller than their depth) and that both have substantially the same width.

[0073] According to realizations, the rack rails 160 may be installed in length flush to the top and bottom limits of the wall 90, or alternatively, as depicted, extending beyond. Since these extensions beyond the limits of the wall 90 are out of sight, the installation of the rack rails 160 extending beyond a limit of the wall 90 does not go against the sought after minimal visual intrusiveness. Further, installation of rack rails 160 extending beyond a limit of the wall 90 may have operational advantages as will be discussed in relation with FIG. 10.

[0074] Referring now particularly to FIG. 6, the closer elevation perspective view of the extremity of the cabinet wall 90 with the rack rail 160 partially inserted therein shows a suggested configuration of the rack rail 160 about the wall 90. In the suggested realization, the slot 94 extends from the wall surface 92 over a slot depth 98 about the same or slightly greater than the rack rail depth 194 while being smaller than the wall thickness 96, with the slot depth 98 being selected for the wall 90 to remain structurally with the desired characteristics. Accordingly, the rack rail 160 is almost invisible when someone look at the wall 90 from the front of the cabinet for instance.

[0075] Referring now to FIG. 7, a perspective view of a cabinet (aka a shelf system) (with no doors) featuring two opposed cabinet side walls 90 with four rack rails 160 inserted therein and one mounting member 110 mounted to each of the rack rails 160 is depicted. As depicted, the visual intrusiveness of the support system 100 is limited to body 111 of the mounting member 110 defined by the mounting member exterior height 142 and the mounting member exterior width 144. According to a suggested realization, the scale of visual intrusiveness can be decreased to null once a shelf 80 is set down thereon as depicted on FIG. 10.

[0076] One should note that, in the mounted configuration, the wall 90, and more precisely the side walls of the slots 94, operates as a set of side guides to the arms 112, cooperating with the channels 162 in ensuring the alignment of the arms 112 in the receiving channels 162, preventing the arms 112 from travelling sideways. According to the realization wherein the rack rail thickness 196 and the mounting member thickness 146 are about the same and wherein the width of the slots 94 is about the same as the previous ones, side displacements of the arms 112 are limited on both sides by the side walls of the slots 94, resulting in precise and static positioning of the mounting members 110.

[0077] According to realizations, the rack rails 160 are inserted into the slots 94 and maintained in position by side pressure since the rack rails 160 are wedged in the slots 94. According to other realizations, additional solutions are used to affix the rack rails 160 into the slots 94, such as glue. According to a realization (not shown), the rack rails 160 are designed to be glued to the back wall of the slots 94, with its rear face 174 featuring recesses distributed over its rack rail length 192 to provide a non-flat surface and to provide space to receive potential extra glue.

[0078] Referring now to FIG. 8, a close-up perspective view of a portion of the shelf 80 during its mounting on a mounting member 110 depicts that the mounting member 110 comprises a support face 124 facing up, with the shelf 80 being simply set down on the mounting member 110 until the shelf 80 abuts the support face 124 of the mounting member 110.

[0079] Referring now additionally to FIG. 9, an upward-looking perspective view of a portion of the shelf 80 depicted on FIG. 7 once mounted to the mounting member 110 shows that a suggested configuration comprises the shelf 80 comprising a shelf slot 84 open on the shelf down face 82. FIG. 7 further depicts the use of a shelf insert 210 inserted in the shelf slot 84 about the mounting side of the shelf 80 to receive and abuts the support face 124 (FIGS. 3-4). According to a suggested realization, the interior depth of the shelf insert 210 is about the same as the mounting member exterior height 142, and the overall depth of the shelf insert 210 is about the same as the depth of the shelf slot 84.

[0080] Referring now particularly to FIG. 10, a perspective view of a portion of a cabinet (with no doors) depicts a mounted shelf 80 with a lighting element 250 mounted to the shelf down face 82.

[0081] According to a realization, the rack rails 160 and the mounting member 110 comprise or are made of electrically conductive material, with electrical contacts and thus electrical conduction resulting from the mounting of the mounting member 110 to the rack rails 160. Further, the shelf inserts 210 operate as conductive components between the mounting members 110 and the lighting element 250.

[0082] Referring additionally back to FIGS. 5-6, a realization wherein the rack rails 160 extend beyond the limits of the walls 90 allows to connect the rack rails 160 to a power source, for example one rack rail 160 (e.g., the front left rack rail 160 mounted to the left wall 90) connected to a first pole of a power source, and the complementary rack rail 160 (e.g., the front left rack rail 160 mounted to the right wall 90) connected to the second pole of the power source. Thus, a closed electric circuit involving the support system 100 able to provide electrical power the lighting element 250 is provided.

[0083] According to a realization (not shown), the rack rails 160 are made of flexible or bendable material with low compression coefficient that allows the manufacturing of the rack rails 160 in rolls. Accordingly, the rack rails 160 may be unrolled and forced into a straight configuration by forcing them in a straight slot 94 when to be mounted to a wall 90.

[0084] According to a realization, the arc length of the arm 112 measured in arc degrees is between about forty-five (45) degrees and ninety (90) degrees. According to a realization, the arc length of the arm 112 is between about sixty (60) degrees and ninety (90) degrees. According to the depicted realization, the arc length of the arm 112 is about ninety (90) degrees.

[0085] According to the depicted realization, the median radius of curvature of the arm axis 134 is about equal to one half (½) of the rack rail depth 194. According to a realization, the median radius of curvature of the arm axis 134 is selected between about one fourth (¼) and about the rack rail depth 194 with the arc length being adjusted accordingly to have the farthest point of the channel 162 enough distant to rear face 174 of the rack rail 160 to keep the desired resistance to the rack rail 160.

[0086] According to the depicted realization, the arm width 132 is about one third (⅓) of the rack rail depth 194. According to a realization, the arm width 132 is between about one sixth (⅙) and about one half (½) of the rack rail depth 194 in its greatest value, with the arm width 132 either as depicted being constant over its length 136 or decreasing from the portion close to the abutting face 122 toward the arm extremity 118.

[0087] According to a realization, the shape of the visible portion of the mounting member 110, e.g., the body 111, may vary. According to a realization (not shown), the shape of the junction edge joining the arm bottom face 114 and the abutting face 122 features a circular recess thereby increasing the radius of the edge joining these faces to a desired value. According to a realization (not shown), the visible portion of the mounting member 110 features an alternative shape similar to a truncated head-down triangle.

[0088] According to the depicted realization, the abutment between the mounting member 110 and the rack rail 160 limiting the upward course of the arm 112 in the channel 162 when a load is applied to the support face 124 of the mounting member is performed through a combination of the abutting face 122 and the arm extremity 118 abutting a complementary face of the rack rail 160. According to other realizations (not shown), such abutment is performed by a single one of the previous. According to a realization (not shown), the abutment is performed by shoulder-like portions on either or both of the arm bottom face 114 and the arm top face 116 abutting complementary faces located on the channel bottom wall 164 and/or the channel top wall 166. According to a realization (not shown), the abutment is performed by and through the combination of the arm bottom face 114 and the arm top face 116 being wedged between the channel bottom wall 164 and channel top wall 166 according to a combination of a width decreasing arm 112 and of a width decreasing channel 162.

[0089] While preferred embodiments have been described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made without departing from this disclosure. Such modifications are considered as possible variants comprised in the scope of the disclosure.