Storage rack system

Abstract

A product vertical storage rack is provided for storing generally cylindrical shaped products, such as wine, in a generally horizontal orientation. The rack includes three parallel spaced sets of longitudinal continuous support elements defining support surfaces, each having a width to longitudinally accommodate one or more products of a pre-determined length. The sets of support elements are oriented such that the second and third sets of support elements intersect and engage the first set of support elements at spaced intervals to produce a lattice structure defining a plurality of multiple cylinder receiving regular hexagon prism shaped openings. A preferred embodiment is configured to hold 19 bottles in each regular hexagon prism shaped opening.

1 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack for storing generally cylindrical shaped products in a generally horizontal orientation, the rack including:
 three parallel equi-spaced sets of longitudinal continuous primary support elements each directly or indirectly defining surfaces capable of acting as support surfaces having an effective width selected to longitudinally accommodate one or more of cylindrical products of a pre-determined length,   the sets of primary support elements being oriented such that the second and third sets of support elements intersect and supportingly engage the first set of support elements at equi-spaced intervals at included angles with respect to the first support elements of +60 degrees and −60 degrees respectively, to produce a lattice structure defining a plurality of multiple cylinder receiving generally regular hexagon prism shaped openings between the primary support elements having sides of length x, each of the hexagonal prism shaped openings being in apex to apex contact, with a pair of opposed equilateral triangular prism shaped openings also having sides of length x disposed there between.   
     
     
         2 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 1 , wherein said first set of primary support elements are oriented horizontally such that each hexagon prism shaped opening has a flat horizontal support surface defining its base. 
     
     
         3 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 2 , wherein at least one of said sets of primary support elements are in the form of sheets of a structural material. 
     
     
         4 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack according to  claim 3  wherein at least some of the primary support elements are made from plywood sheet having a thickness of around 12 mm. 
     
     
         5 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to any one of  claim 3 , wherein at least two of the support elements are in the form of sheets of structural material, wherein the supporting intersection of each sheet set with the other sheet set or sets is achieved by providing an appropriate arrangement of open ended slots extending from the front and/or rear edge of each sheet, each slot being appropriately sized and oriented to receive the intersecting sheet to form the, or a part of, the lattice structure of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         6 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 3  wherein at least a portion of one of said sets of primary support elements are defined by elongate elements of reduced width. 
     
     
         7 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 6  wherein the elements of reduced width are each in the form of a rod or groups of spaced rods. 
     
     
         8 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 7  wherein the rods are metal rods. 
     
     
         9 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 1  further including discrete secondary support elements which define at least some of the support surfaces. 
     
     
         10 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 9  wherein the secondary support elements define the three lowermost support surfaces within each generally hexagon shaped opening. 
     
     
         11 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 1  configured as a wine rack, wherein the dimension x is selected to accommodate and support in the finished rack a total of three wine bottles adjacent each support surface within each generally hexagon prism shaped opening to accommodate a total of 19 wine bottles within each generally hexagon prism shaped opening. 
     
     
         12 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack according to  claim 11  designed to store claret style bottles having a diameter of about 74-76 mm wherein the support surface is defined directly by the primary support elements and x is approximately 198-202 mm. 
     
     
         13 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack accordingly to  claim 12  wherein the finished rack has a single depth bottle storage density of around 135 bottles per square metre. 
     
     
         14 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack according to  claim 11  designed to store Burgundy style bottles having a diameter of about 80-86 mm wherein the support surface is defined directly by the primary support elements and x is approximately 216-224 mm. 
     
     
         15 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to any one of  claim 1  configured as a wine rack, wherein the dimension x is selected to accommodate and support in the finished rack a total of two wine bottles adjacent each support surface within each hexagon prism shaped opening to accommodate a total of 7 wine bottles within each hexagon prism shaped opening. 
     
     
         16 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack according to  claim 1  wherein the width w is approximately 340-360 mm to accommodate a single bottle length. 
     
     
         17 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack configured as a wine rack according to  claim 1  wherein the width w is approximately 680-720 mm to accommodate two bottle lengths end to end. 
     
     
         18 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack according to  claim 1  wherein the temperature fluctuations experienced adjacent a mid portion of the majority of cylinder products within a rack loaded with cylinder products is less than the temperature fluctuations adjacent a mid portion of a majority of cylinder products loaded within a similar sized rack having discrete isolated openings for each cylinder product. 
     
     
         19 . A cylinder product vertical storage rack substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying representations.