Trolley for carrying goods

Abstract

A trolley comprising a plurality of rectangular and elongated shelves comprising a plate providing a surface for carrying goods, such as potted plants and flowers, and hooks, and a plurality of posts provided with a series of openings, such as slots, receiving the hooks. The hooks extend in lateral direction and a series of openings is provided in precisely one side of the posts or in precisely two and opposite sides of the posts.

Claims

1. A cart comprising: a plurality of elongated shelves, each of said elongated shelves comprising: a pair of long sides; a pair of short sides, said short sides are perpendicular to said long sides; a plate, said plate providing a planar top surface for supporting objects thereon; and a plurality of hooks, wherein each hook comprises: a strip bent around axes extending perpendicular to a plane of said top surface, the strip comprises a first portion that has a first notch therein, a second portion that has a second notch therein, a third portion, a fourth portion, and a fifth portion; wherein the first notch aligns with the second notch, wherein said first portion is generally parallel to the second portion, said third portion is generally perpendicular to the second portion, said fourth portion is generally perpendicular to the third portion and parallel to the first portion and the second portion, and said fifth portion is generally perpendicular to the fourth portion, wherein the fifth portion is configured to be inserted within a portion of a corresponding shelf from said plurality of shelves respectively wherein each first portion and each second portion of each of the plurality of hooks extends along a respective short side for each respective shelf respectively in a direction generally perpendicular relative to the long sides of each respective shelf; a plurality of posts, each of said plurality of posts comprising a plurality of openings disposed therein respectively, wherein said plurality of openings are configured to receive said hooks of said plurality of shelves with the first notches and the second notches of each shelf engaging corresponding openings from said plurality of openings to mount the shelves to the posts.

2. The cart according to claim 1, comprising a generally rectangular base having a holder at each corner of the base, wherein each holder receives a corresponding post from said plurality of posts.

3. The cart according to claim 2, wherein each said holder and each of said plurality of posts each have a cross-section, and wherein each post comprises an outer dimension that is slightly smaller than an inner dimension of each holder.

4. The cart according to claim 1, wherein each fifth portion of each strip extends in a channel or girder of each shelf respectively.

5. The cart according to claim 1, wherein the said shelves each have a length in a range from 1250 to 1350 mm and a width in a range from 530 to 570 mm.

6. The cart of claim 1, wherein said plurality of openings define a plurality of slots.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and form a part of the specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating one or more embodiments of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a trolley carrying a plurality of shelves according to the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is a detail of FIG. 1, showing a corner of a shelf hooked in a corner post of the trolley.

(4) FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective top views of a shelf and a cross-sectioned shelf according to the present invention.

(5) FIGS. 5 to 7 show details of a hook portion of the shelf is a detail of the shelf shown in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a trolley 1 for carrying goods, such as potted plants and flowers, comprising a rectangular and elongated frame 2 provided with four wheels 3 at its underside near each corner and a holder 4 for a post 5 at each corner. A post 5 is placed in each holder. In this example, the holders and posts all have a square cross-section with the posts having outer dimensions (width) that are slightly smaller than de inner dimensions of the holders. Thus, the posts are slidably and removably positioned in de holders in one of four positions. Each post has on one of its four sides a series of openings 6 and on the side opposite from the openings a slot 7 running the length of the post. A plurality of shelves 10 is mounted in the trolley.

(7) FIGS. 3 and 4 show a single rectangular and elongated shelf 10 suitable to be mounted in the trolley 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The shelf had a plate 11 providing a planar top surface 12 for carrying goods. A plurality of box girders 13 is formed on and/or attached to the bottom surface of the plate, to render the shelf sufficiently stiff. The long and short edges of the plate are provided with raised edges 14.

(8) The shelf has a hook 20 at each corner. With these hooks, the shelf 10 can be mounted at a selected height in the trolley by tilting the shelf, inserting a pair of hooks in openings at the selected height, lowering the shelf until it is horizontal and slightly shifting the shelf to insert the pair of hooks on the opposite side of the shelf in openings 6 in the posts 5 on the opposite side of the trolley 1.

(9) As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the hooks 20 are made from a strip 21 of resilient steel having a yield strength of 600 MPa and a thickness of 2 mm and a height of 20 mm. At both ends, the strip is bent about an axis A extending in the height direction of the strip (perpendicular to the central plane of the plate in the finished shelf). Two notches 22 are provided near each end of the strip, which notches align after bending the strip about axis A, thus forming hooks.

(10) The strip is provided with a plurality of holes 23, that allow e.g., clinching the ends of the plate to the strip, and four notches.

(11) In this example, the strip is bent, at each end, at three further positions and all about axes extending in the height direction of the strip, to form portions 24 for clinching the plate to the strip, portions 25 for closing off and end of a box girder in the plate and portions 26 extending in a box girder in the plate.

(12) The plate 11 is clinched to the strip 21 by folding edge portions of the plate over the strip and clinching portion of the plate together through the openings 23 in the strip. Identical but mirrored strips are attached to each of the short sides of the shelf, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 8.

(13) The trolley was obtained by modifying a trolley having shelves with hooks extending in longitudinal direction, more specifically by removing the shelves from the trolley 1, lifting the posts 5 from the holders 4, turning the posts a quarter turn to a position where the series of openings 6 of each of the posts faces the (imaginary) longitudinal vertical plane of the trolley 1, placing the posts 5 back into the holders 4, and placing the shelves 10 comprising hooks 20 extending in transverse direction in the trolley 1.

(14) The invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiments, which can be varied in a number of ways within the scope of the claims. For instance, a series of openings can be provided in precisely two and opposite sides of the posts.