A number of shelving systems intended for installation and use by the ordinary consumer, usually a homeowner, are currently known.
In one system is commercially available a pair of slotted rods are first attached vertically to a support structure, such as a wall, and then shelf supporting brackets are placed in appropriate slots in such fashion as to project perpendicularly outwardly from the wall a distance sufficient to underlie well over half the shelf width, or, more usually, three-fourths of the shelf width. The system is unaesthetic due to the vertical slots or similar bracket supporting structure from which the brackets project, and, also, due to the unaesthetic appearance of the brackets themselves. Usually the brackets are stamped out of sheet metal. Although they may be smoothly contoured and even colored, they are large and unsightly and, of necessity, extend downwardly from the bottom of the supported shelf a distance sufficient to cause interference with objects resting on a lower shelf. When used as a bookshelf, for example, it is not possible, assuming the height of the shelved books is nearly the vertical distance between shelves, to push the books as a group along a lower shelf.
In another system which is commercially available the vertical bracket holding structures and the bracket are eliminated and a long, continuous bracket which receives the rear edge of the shelf is employed. The bracket is secured to the vertical wall surface by suitable means, such as screws at two or more points. The bracket has two shelf holding members which extend outwardly from the back wall of the bracket and between which the rear edge of the shelf is received. Means are provided for securing the shelf to the bracket of which screws which pass through one of the shelf holding members and into engagement with the shelf are known. This system, though it may be considered an improvement over the slotted rail and bracket system earlier described, does not always provide sufficient securement force to the shelf, particularly when loads are placed on the shelf in locations near the outer edge of the shelf, which loads impose a maximum cantilever load on the bracket. Such cantilever loads ten to counteract any securement means which project upwardly from the bottom ledge of the bracket and into engagement with the bottom of the shelf. Further, such brackets are quite expensive to manufacture because they are often contoured in such a way that costly extrusion dies are required in the manufacturing process.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds