Stackable rack

Claim 2

A rack comprising: a plurality of spaced plates, each said plate having a plurality of holes therein as well as first and second faces comprising opposite sides of the plate, each of said holes having an inner wall, elongated connectors for connecting said plates together, each said connector passing through a hole in each plate, each connector having an outer wall, each connector defining, in its outer wall, one notch for each of said plates; each notch having first and second spaced walls respectively engaging the first and second faces of its complementary plate adjacent to the hole through which the connector passes to form a joint, whereby, for each joint, there is a space between the outer wall of the connector and the inner wall of the hole through which the connector passes, and means for securing the connector to the plate at, at least, some of the joints comprising a flexible plug in the space between the outer wall of the connector and the inner wall of the hole.

Claim 3

A composite rack as defined in claim 1, in which the rack defined in claim 1 constitutes a first rack, comprising a second rack additional to the first rack, said second rack having the same construction as the first rack and also having notches in an end of each plate, said last-named notches being adapted to snugly grip the connectors of the first rack to tend to hold the first and second racks together.

Claim 4

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which at least one of said connectors is a rod and at least one of the notches is annular.

Claim 5

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which at least one of said connectors has a cross-section which is a circle and a wall of the notch conforms to a cord of said circle.

Claim 6

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which all of said connectors are rods, each such rod having two notches adjacent opposing ends thereof, each said notch being defined, in part, by a surface which is a portion of a circle whose centerline is off-center from the centerline of the rod.

Claim 7

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which said notch is defined, in part, by an indentation in the wall of the connector, the surface of the connector where said indentation terminates comprising a convex surface, said flexible plug having a shape conforming to the space between said convex surface and the inner wall of the hole through which the connector passes and also having two extensions at its opposite ends which extensions interface with opposite faces respectively of the plate through which the plug passes, one of said extensions being small enough to enable the plug to be inserted between the connector and the wall defining the hole.

Claim 8

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which said plates are joined by at least two spaced connectors adjacent the lower end of the plates and at least two spaced connectors adjacent the uppers ends of the plates, and a second rack as defined in claim 1 in which the lower ends of the plates have notches for engaging the spaced connectors adjacent the upper ends of the plates of the first-named rack to thus permit said second rack to be stacked above the first-named rack.

Claim 9

A rack system as defined in claim 7 in which the notches in the connectors make a friction fit with the plates which they engage.

Claim 10

A rack comprising: a plurality of spaced plates, each of said plates having a plurality of holes therein, elongated connectors for connecting said plates together, each said connector passing through a hole in each plate, each said connector defining one notch, in the side wall thereof, for each plate; each notch engaging portions of the opposite surfaces of its complementary plate adjacent to the hole through which the connector passes, said plurality of spaced plates comprising at least three parallel plates; one of which is a middle plate and the other two of which are outer plates, the holes in said outer plates being spaced apart the same distance, the holes in the middle plate being spaced apart a different distance than the complementary holes in the outer plates, said elongated connectors being at least slightly flexible so that the different hole spacing in the middle plate flexes the elongated connectors and causes them to hold the plates together.

Claim 11

A rack comprising: a plurality of spaced plates, each of said plates having a plurality of holes therein, elongated connectors for connecting said plates together, each said connector passing through a hole in each plate, each said connector defining one notch, in the side wall thereof, for each plate; each notch engaging portions of the opposite surfaces of its complementary plate adjacent to the hole through which the connector passes, said plurality of spaced plates comprising at least three parallel plates; one of which is a middle plate and the other two of which are outer plates, the holes in said outer plates being spaced apart the same distance, the holes in the middle plate being spaced apart a different distance than the complementary holes in the outer plates, said elongated connectors being at least slightly flexible so that the different hole spacing in the middle plate flexes the elongated connectors and causes them to hold the plates together.

Claim 12

A rack as defined in claim 1 in which each of said plates is substantially rectangular with one of said holes near each corner of the rectangle.

Claim 13

A rack as defined in claim 7 in which each rack has at least three plates and each plate of each rack is substantially rectangular, each plate having one of said holes near each corner of the rectangle.

Claim 14

A stackable rack comprising: first and second upright parallel spaced plates, each plate having two faces, each plate having a plurality of at least three holes therethrough perpendicular to the faces of the plate, first and second of said holes of each plate being spaced apart horizontally in the upper half of the plate and another hole being in the lower half of the plate, the plurality of holes in the two plates being in the same relative positions respectively, whereby each hole in one plate has a complementary hole in the other plate, and a plurality of connectors connecting the two plates together, each connector passing through a hole in one plate as well as through its complementary hole in the other plate, and each connector having two notches in its side wall which notches are spaced apart substantially the same distance by which the plates are spaced apart, there being one notch in each connector for each plate, each notch having first and second faces respectively frictionally engaging the first and second faces of its complementary plate to hold the plate to the connector, each said plate having notches at its lower end, the notches in each plate being spaced apart horizontally a distance equal to the spacing between said first and second holes; so that said plates and connectors form a first rack which may be stacked on top of a second rack, which is similar to the first one, by placing the notches in the plates of the first rack onto the two connectors that pass through the holes in the upper half of the second rack.

Claim 15

A stackable rack comprising: first and second upright parallel spaced plates, each plate having two faces, each plate having a plurality of at least three holes therethrough perpendicular to the faces of the plate, first and second of said holes of each plate being spaced apart horizontally in the upper half of the plate and another hole being in the lower half of the plate, the plurality of holes in the two plates being in the same relative positions respectively, whereby each hole in one plate has a complementary hole in the other plate, and a plurality of connectors connecting the two plates together, each connector passing through a hole in one plate as well as through its complementary hole in the other plate, and each connector having two notches in its side wall which notches are spaced apart substantially the same distance by which the plates are spaced apart, there being one notch in each connector for each plate, each notch having first and second faces respectively frictionally engaging the first and second faces of its complementary plate to hold the plate to the connector, each said plate having notches at its lower end, the notches in each plate being spaced apart horizontally a distance equal to the spacing between said first and second holes; so that said plates and connectors form a first rack which may be stacked on top of a second rack, which is similar to the first one, by placing the notches in the plates of the first rack onto the two connectors that pass through the holes in the upper half of the second rack.

Claim 16

A stackable rack as recited in claim 12, wherein there are four holes in each plate, two of said holes being horizontally spaced apart near the upper end of the plate and the other two holes being horizontally spaced apart near the lower end of the plate, the horizontal spacing in each case being sufficient to provide rigidity to the stackable rack.

Claim 17

A stackable rack as recited in claim 12, further comprising plugs in the gaps between said connectors and said plates.

Claim 18

A stackable rack as recited in claim 14, wherein each plug has an extension that interfaces with at least one face of the plate with which the plug is associated.

Claim 19

A stackable rack as recited in claim 14 wherein each plug has two extensions that respectively interface the two faces of the plate with which the plug is associated.

Claim 20

A stackable rack as defined in claim 12 wherein there is a third plate parallel to the first and second plates, said third plates having at least three holes in substantially the same relative positions as holes in the first and second plates, whereby the third plate has a hole complementary to each hole in the first plate, said third plate having two faces, said connectors having notches that have first and second faces that respectively engage the two side walls of the third plate to thus secure the third plate to the connectors.

Claim 21

A stackable rack as defined in claim 17 in which the connectors are resilient and the holes in the third plate are slightly out of alignment with those in the first and second plates so that the connectors have a slight flexing that causes the notched portions of the connectors to more firmly engage the plates.

Claim 22

A stackable rack as defined in claim 12 in which each plate has an inside face and an outside face, the inside faces facing each other, said connectors being longer than the spacing between the outside faces of the first and second plates to form extensions upon which another stackable rack may be placed.

Claim 23

A rack comprising: first and second upright parallel spaced plates, each plate having two faces, each plate having a plurality of at least three holes therethrough perpendicular to the faces of the plate, first and second of said holes of each plate being spaced apart horizontally in the upper half of the plate and another hole being in the lower half of the plate, the plurality of holes in the two plates being in the same relative positions, respectively, whereby each hole in one plate has a complementary hole in the other plate, a plurality of connectors connecting the two plates together, each connector passing through a hole in one plate as well as through its complementary hole in the other plate, and each connector having two notches in its side wall which notches are spaced apart substantially the same distance by which the plates are spaced apart, there being one notch in each connector for each plate, said notches having first and second faces spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness of the plate, the faces of the notches respectively facing the faces of the plate to thus provide, in each hole, a space between the connector and the plate, and a plurality of plugs, at least some of said spaces having said plugs therein, to provide added rigidity to the rack.

Claim 24

A rack comprising: first and second upright parallel spaced plates, each plate having two faces, each plate having a plurality of at least three holes therethrough perpendicular to the faces of the plate, first and second of said holes of each plate being spaced apart horizontally in the upper half of the plate and another hole being in the lower half of the plate, the plurality of holes in the two plates being in the same relative positions, respectively, whereby each hole in one plate has a complementary hole in the other plate, a plurality of connectors connecting the two plates together, each connector passing through a hole in one plate as well as through its complementary hole in the other plate, and each connector having two notches in its side wall which notches are spaced apart substantially the same distance by which the plates are spaced apart, there being one notch in each connector for each plate, said notches having first and second faces spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness of the plate, the faces of the notches respectively facing the faces of the plate to thus provide, in each hole, a space between the connector and the plate, and a plurality of plugs, at least some of said spaces having said plugs therein, to provide added rigidity to the rack.

Claim 25

A rack as defined by claim 20 in which each plate has two notches in the lower end thereof, the notches in the plates being in the same relative positions and the notches in each plate being spaced apart by a distance equal to the distance between two connectors that pass through the upper half of the plate so that the rack may be stacked on top of a similar rack.

Claim 26

A rack as defined in claim 20 in which each plate has two holes spaced apart horizontally in the upper half of the plate and two holes spaced apart horizontally in the lower half of the plate, the holes in each plate being in the same relative positions as the holes in the other plate, said plurality of connectors comprising four connectors that respectively pass through the four holes in each plate and thus hold the plates and connectors together, the holes being spaced apart a sufficient distance to give the rack rigidity.