It is generally known to attach various article holding devices, such as shoe racks, over a top edge of a household door to gain additional storage spaces. Door-mounted shoe racks are popular items since they represent a relatively simple way to create additional space in a closet or other room. Numerous shoe rack designs have been presented, however, many conventional racks have arms that project outwards but do not fold up, requiring the rack to take up a lot of space even when not in use or when in transport. In addition, the crossbars of non-folding racks can interfere with the storage of taller items such as boots. Thus, various foldable shoe racks have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,406 to Qiang discloses a modular folding shoe rack that includes first and second side rails; first and second arms pivotably connected with the side rails at a first end of the arms; a first crossbar connected with the opposite ends of the arms; and a second crossbar connected with the side rails. Each side rail may also include complementary male/female connectors at its opposite ends to allow for connection of one side rail to another, resulting in a modular design. Even though the shoe rack in the '406 patent is foldable, the folded shoe rack is still bulky and takes a substantial size of the space, which is not easy to store or transport the shoe rack, even after it is folded.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,636,156 to Malik discloses a rack for storing objects on a door that has at least two uprights, at least two hanging brackets, a plurality of shelf supports, a plurality of shelves and at least two hanging links. The uprights are spaced apart a distance equal to a length of the shelves and spaced from the door by ends of the uprights angled toward the door. The shelves may be disposed at an angle relative to a vertical position of the uprights wherein a superior mounted pair of uprights has hanging links depending from a lower support end and the hanging links are engaged upon an upper support end of another pair of uprights. However, like the foldable shoe rack in the '406 patent, the reconfigurable rack in the '156 patent still takes a lot of spaces to store or transport, even though the size of which is reconfigurable.
Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved collapsible shoe rack that is more convenient and efficient for the user to store or transport to overcome the problems presented above.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds