Wine barrel rack

Abstract

A wine barrel rack comprises a unitary molded plastic base including a generally rectangular planar wall around a periphery of the base connected to a formed wall to provide an upwardly opening space. The formed wall defines outer legs at opposite longitudinal ends of the base. An inner leg is disposed centrally between the outer legs. The legs are provided for resting on a support surface. First and second cradles are each disposed between one of the outer legs and the inner leg. Each cradle is contoured for supporting a barrel in the upwardly opening space, in use.

1 . A rack for supporting barrels comprising:
 a unitary molded plastic base including a generally rectangular planar wall around a periphery of the base connected to a formed wall to provide an upwardly opening space, the formed wall defining end legs at opposite ends of the base, a middle leg disposed centrally between the end legs, the legs for resting on a support surface, and first and second cradles each disposed between one of the end legs and the middle leg, each cradle being contoured for supporting a barrel in the upwardly opening space, in use.   
     
     
         2 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the base is of substantially uniform wall thickness. 
     
     
         3 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein inwardly facing surfaces of the end legs are contoured corresponding to shape of a barrel to alternatively support the rack on subjacent barrels. 
     
     
         4 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the legs provide spacing for receiving forks of a forklift. 
     
     
         5 . The rack of  claim 4  wherein the formed wall includes aligned coplanar supports for engaging forks of a forklift. 
     
     
         6 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the cradles are formed at upper ends of the legs. 
     
     
         7 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the formed wall comprises an end leg at each corner of the base. 
     
     
         8 . The rack of  claim 7  wherein each end leg comprises a pair of feet and a support between each pair of feet for engaging forks of a forklift. 
     
     
         9 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the formed wall further defines a side leg along each longitudinal side of the base centrally between the end legs. 
     
     
         10 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the planar wall includes a plurality of upwardly extending stops, the stops positioned at longitudinal edges of the planar wall proximate the cradles, to limit lateral movement of barrels in the cradles. 
     
     
         11 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the base has a wall thickness in a range of 0.25″ to 0.5″. 
     
     
         12 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the base has a wall thickness of about 0.43″. 
     
     
         13 . The rack of  claim 1  wherein the base has a draft to enable nesting of a plurality of racks. 
     
     
         14 . A wine barrel rack comprising:
 a unitary molded plastic base of substantially uniform wall thickness including a generally rectangular planar wall around a periphery of the base connected to a formed wall to provide an upwardly opening space, the formed wall defining a corner leg at each corner of the base for resting on a support surface and first and second cradles, each cradle being contoured for supporting a wine barrel in the upwardly opening space, in use.   
     
     
         15 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein inwardly facing surfaces of the corner legs are contoured corresponding to shape of a wine barrel to alternatively support the wine rack on subjacent wine barrels. 
     
     
         16 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  further comprising a middle leg disposed centrally between the corner legs. 
     
     
         17 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the legs provide spacing for receiving forks of a forklift and the formed wall includes aligned coplanar supports for engaging forks of a forklift. 
     
     
         18 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the cradles are formed at upper ends of the legs. 
     
     
         19 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein each corner leg comprises a pair of feet and a support between each pair of feet for engaging forks of a forklift. 
     
     
         20 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the formed wall further defines a side leg along each longitudinal side of the base centrally between the corner legs. 
     
     
         21 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the planar wall includes a plurality of upwardly extending stops, the stops positioned at longitudinal edges of the planar wall proximate the cradles, to limit lateral movement of wine barrels in the cradles. 
     
     
         22 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the base has a wall thickness in a range of 0.25″ to 0.5″. 
     
     
         23 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the base has a wall thickness of about 0.43″. 
     
     
         24 . The wine barrel rack of  claim 14  wherein the base has a draft to enable nesting of a plurality of wine barrel racks.