Elevator conveyor and storage rack system

Claim 1

A storage rack for horizontally elongated articles possessing sufficient longitudinal rigidity to be sustained upon widely separated individual transverse support means comprising: parallel horizontal frame means defining the bottom of a shelf area, said area being open at one end for reception of articles, a rollable means transversely bridging said frame means only in a region adjacent the open end with the upper peripheral surface of the rollable means disposed above the plane of the frame means, a slidable support means mounted upon said frame means having an article supporting surface in a horizontal plane generally coincident with the upper surface of said rollable means and having slide elements engaging said frame means, said slidable support means being shiftable on said frame means from a location adjacent said rollable means to a position remote from the rollable means, the rollable means being adapted to movably support an article introduced through the open end and to present a portion of the article to the slidable support means, the weight of the article when a portion of the article is resting upon the slidable support means causing frictional engagement between said article and said shiftable support means sufficient upon advancement of said article by external force to propel said shiftable support means along said frame means to a desired location whereby the article becomes supported at one end region by the rollable means and at the other end region by the slidable support means, and stop means remote from said open end limiting the shifting movement of said slidable support means.