AU707996B2

AU707996B2 - A bottle storage system

Info

Publication number: AU707996B2
Application number: AU74187/96A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Paul Laurence Duxfield; Shane Andrew Mercer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-12-07
Filing date: 1996-12-05
Publication date: 1999-07-29
Anticipated expiration: 2016-12-05
Also published as: NZ280624A; AU7418796A

Description

A Bottle Storage System Background to the Invention To correctly store wine, the bottle containing the wine should be laid on its side in a horizontal or near horizontal position. When wine is being stored, particularly in domestic situations, it is highly desirable that each individual bottle be separated from the contiguous bottles to facilitate the insertion and withdrawal of individual bottles from the storage system. The bottles should also be stored in a manner that the labels on the bottles can be read and also so the labels are protected as much as possible from inadvertent damage when the bottle is being placed into or withdrawn from the cellaring system.

o It is also desirable that bottle storage systems be able to be expanded when required, be able to store a variety of sizes and shapes of bottles and be cost effective.

too to. 15 Known bottle storage systems often consist of custom made racks or shelves which are stackable so more than one rack can be placed on top of an existing rack or racks to allow the number of bottles to be held in the system to be increased, or decreased, as required. It is also known to produce wine racks and bottle storage systems which consist of individual shelves which can interlock to provide an expandable facility. Other known methods of storing wine bottles is to utilise a number of pipes such as ceramic or plastic pipes or the like which are of a length and diameter to enable individual bottles to be stored in the pipe. Bottle storage systems composed of pipes, utilise various methods to group and maintain the pipes in the group to provide a bottle storage system that can accept a multiple of bottles.

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C Previously known bottle storage systems suffer from various disadvantages such as the comparatively high cost of those systems that rely on a modular arrangement to expand the capacity of the system. In addition, known systems also tend to lack stability if the height of the system is increased in an endeavour to increase the capacity of the system.

When a rack type of system is utilised, it is often not possible to increase the capacity of the system.

Further disadvantages with known bottle storage systems is that installation and removal of the system can be difficult and some systems do not readily allow the bottle to 1 0 tilt from the horizontal position, so the bottles are liable to become inadvertently dislodged as a result of vibrations, particularly those resulting from earth movements. Another disadvantage with many of the known bottle storage systems is that it is difficult to remove a bottle from the system without scratching or defacing a label on the bottle.

A yet further disadvantage with the known forms of bottle storage systems is that the size of the cavity to receive a bottle is often limited thereby making it difficult to store the larger bottles.

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Object of the invention It is therefore an object of this invention is provide an improved wine bottle storage system that will overcome or at least minimise the above recited disadvantages.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, one form of the invention comprises a bottle storage system including: -2two substantially rectangular rack members each comprising a series of cavities wherein the pattern of cavities formed in the first rack member is substantially the same as the pattern of cavities in the second rack member, and two rack support members, each comprising a front upright and a rear upright which are adapted to be located substantially parallel to each other, wherein an edge of one rack member is joined to the front upright of a first rack support member and the corresponding edge of the second rack member is joined to the rear upright of the first rack support member and the opposite edges of the first and second ~rack members are joined to the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, the said system including a first foot member which joins the lower end of the front upright of the first rack support member to the lower end of the rear upright of the first rack support member and a second foot member which joins the lower ends of the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, and wherein a first header member joins the upper end of the front upright to the upper end of the rear upright of the first rack support member and a second header member joins the upper ends of the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, and further wherein the edges of the said first rack member are joined to the front uprights of the first and second rack support members in a manner that is vertically offset -3from the junction of the edges of the second said rack member to the rear uprights of the second rack support member.

Preferably each rack member is formed from contiguous sections of material each formed into a substantially zig zag shape with apexes of one section joined to apexes of a contiguous section.

Preferably each foot member comprises a bridge including means to secure the bridge to the bottom of the front upright of a rack support member and the bottom of the 10 rear upright of the same rack support member, Preferably the header member comprises a bridge including means to secure the bridge to the upper ends of the front upright of a rack support member and the rear upright of the same rack support member.

Preferably the means to secure the foot member and the header member to the oS uprights comprises a spigot of a size and shape that it can engage within an end of the said upright.

Preferably the header member includes a support arm by which the header member can be secured to a support surface.

Preferably the system includes a jointing member to join together two units of a bottle storage system, said jointing member including a bridge and a series of spigots -4adapted to enter into the bottom of contiguous uprights of a first unit and separate spigots adapted to enter into the top of contiguous uprights of a second unit in a manner that the first said unit will be joined to and supported above the second said unit.

Preferably each rack member is formed by a series of substantially identical sections with the apexes of such sections joined together in a manner that a substantially rectangular rack is formed.

Short description of the Drawings *9 10 Preferred forms of the invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein; .ooo Figure 1 is a view in an exploded form of a free standing embodiment of the wine bottle storage system.

Figure 2 is an exploded view of another embodiment of the bottle storage system depicting various alternative arrangements.

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Description of the Preferred Embodiments As illustrated in Figure 1, the free standing version of the bottle storage system comprises a front rack 1 and a rear rack 2, which in a highly preferred form are composed wire or the like of a suitable gauge which is bent into sections of a zig zag configuration.

The rack is built up by placing a first section alongside another section so the apexes of one section contact the apexes of the second section. The apexes are then joined such as by welding or other known method. This action is repeated until a rack of the desired size is constructed. While it is preferred construction to utilise the overlapped and welded wire it is to be understood the wire need not be joined at all overlaps but at selected overlaps only. Other methods of securing each section to the contiguous section to form an integrated rack will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance it is also envisaged that each rack can be formed by a metal stamping or any other suitable means.

The sides of the front rack 1 are joined, such as by welding, to front uprights 3 and the sides of the rear rack 2 are joined to rear uprights 4. The front upright 3 and rear 10 upright 4 are preferably of the same length, but the front rack is joined to the uprights 3 in a manner that when the bottle storage system is assembled, the front rack will be slightly higher than the rear rack. Preferably the front and rear uprights are formed of metal tubing.

~The combined uprights and racks are preferably supported in a working position by two foot member 6, each of which may consist of a length of square tubing or the like which is provided with two spigots 7 of a size and shape that they can enter into and .0 engage in the ends of the uprights. The spigots are spaced apart an appropriate distance so that when the spigots are engaged in the tubing, the front rack 1 will be spaced from the rear rack 2 by an amount that will allow bottles to be inserted through the holes in the front and rear racks and be supported by the racks. While the spigot and socket arrangement to join the feet to the uprights is a preferred arrangement, it will be apparent other methods of permanently or temporarily joining the feet to the uprights can also be employed.

-6- Means are also provided to join the upper ends of the uprights 3 and 4 to form a free standing unit as indicated in Figure 1. As illustrated, a header unit 8 which can be formed from curved tubing or the like is provided with spigots 9 which are of a size and shape that they can engage into the open end of the uprights 3 and 4 so that a mechanical connection is formed between the header unit 8 and the uprights 3 and 4. The distance between the spigots 9 is preferably the same as the distance between the spigots 7 to maintain a constant distance between the front and rear racks 3 and 4.

The embodiments depicted in Figure 2 illustrate various alternative accessories and i *06 10 ancillary equipment. If for instance, instead of being free standing, it is desired the unit 0 be support, such as by a wall, the design of the header unit can changed. In the embodiment illustrated, the header unit 10 may comprise a bridge 11 of, for instance rectangular section tubing, which includes spigots 12 of a size and shape that they can *engage within the bore of the uprights 4. The spigots 12 are preferably spaced apart the same distance as the spigots 7. Support arms 13 project inwardly from one end of the bridge 11 of the header unit 10 with the arms being provided with mounting holes 14 or the like so that screws or other fixing means as will be known in the art can be passed .through the mounting holes 14 and into a support surface such as a wall.

Figure 2 also illustrates a method of joining two modules to form a double height bottle storage system. In this version, a jointing device 20 which comprises a bridge 21 and a number of spigots 22 which extend on either side of the bridge 21. The spigots 22 are of a size and shape that they can engage within the bores of the uprights 3 and 4 as illustrated. The jointing device 20 preferably also includes support arms 23 which have -7mounting holes 24 so that the joiner unit can be attached to a supporting wall by means of screws or the like which are passed through the mounting holes 24 and into the support.

It will thus be seen that by utilising various combinations of header units, foot units or jointing units a cellar system can be configured either into a free standing unit or into a unit which can be supported against a wall or into a unit which can be joined to similar units to increase the capacity of the system.

While it is preferred the uprights and the various component parts, except for the 10 wire racks, be formed from tubing, it will be understood that those elements can be of any desired cross section and may be constructed of solid material such as metal, plastics or the a..

like.

Having been apprised of the general concept of the invention as embodied in the preferred forms hereinbefore described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a. a :toI various modifications and amendments can be made to the preferred embodiments and yet ao still come within the general concept of the invention. All such amendments and S. embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present application as defined in the appended claims.

-8cl laims defning the inventon are as follows: 1. A bottle storage system including: two substantially rectangular rack members each comprising a series of cavities wherein the pattern of cavities formed in the first rack member is substantially the same as the pattern of cavities in the second rack member, and two rack support members, each comprising a front upright and a rear upright which 10 are adapted to be located substantially parallel to each other, e wherein an edge of one rack member is joined to the front upright of a first rack support member and the corresponding edge of the second rack member is joined to the rear upright of the first rack support member and the opposite edges of the first and second rack members are joined to the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, o the said system including a first foot member which joins the lower end of the front upright of the first rack support member to the lower end of the rear upright of the first rack support member and a second foot member which joins the lower ends of the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, and wherein a first header member joins the upper end of the front upright to the upper end of the rear upright of the first rack support member and a second header member joins the upper ends of the front and rear uprights of the second rack support member, -9-

Claims

2. The bottle storage system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each rack member is formed from contiguous sections of material each formed into a substantially zig zag shape with apexes of one section joined to apexes of a contiguous section.
3. The bottle storage system as claimed in claim 1 or in claim 2, wherein each foot member comprises a bridge including means to secure the bridge to the bottom of the front upright of a rack support member and the bottom of the rear upright of the same rack support member,
5.. 4. The bottle storage system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the header member comprises a bridge including means to secure the bridge to the upper 0° ends of the front upright of a rack support member and the rear upright of the same rack support member. 5. The bottle storage system as claimed in claim 3 or in claim 4, wherein the means to secure the foot member and the header member to the uprights comprises a spigot of a size and shape that it can engage within an end of the said upright. I
6. The bottle storage system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the header member includes a support arm by which the header member can be secured to a support surface.
7. The bottle storage system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including a jointing member to join together two units of a bottle storage system, said jointing member including a bridge and a series of spigots adapted to enter into the bottom of contiguous uprights of a first unit and separate spigots adapted to enter into the top of contiguous uprights of a second unit in a manner that the first said unit will be joined to and supported above the second said unit.
8. The bottle storage system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each rack is formed by a series of substantially identical sections with the apexes of such sections joined together in a manner that a substantially rectangular rack is formed.
9. The bottle storage system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. S. e rDATED this FOURTH day of DECEMBER 1996 OOO• •e Paul Laurence Duxfield Shane Andrew Mercer Patent Attorneys for the Applicants SPRUSON FERGUSON -11- A Bottle Storage System ABSTRACT A bottle storage system which includes two substantially identical rack members each having a substantially identical pattern of cavities. The vertical edges of the rack members are joined to upright rack support members in a manner that the first rack support member will be supported behind the second rack support member with the first rack member offset vertically in relation to the second rack member Each rack support member includes a front and a rear upright held in a spaced apart formation by foot members and header members A jointing means (20) is provided to enable a second unit of the bottle storage system to be located on and above a first unit and means (10,11,12,13,14) are also provided to enable the units to be supported against a wall. 9 9 9 .9 99 m 9 99* 9999*