Rack for stemmed glassware

Oct. 26, 1965

J. B. MCCAULEY

3,214,031

RACK FOR STEMMED GLASSWARE

Filed Feb. 10, 1964

Sheets-Sheet 1

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J. B. MCCAULEY

3,214,031

RACK FOR STEMMED GLASSWARE

Oct. 26, 1965

Filed Feb. 10, 1964

Sheets-Sheet 2

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<img file="US3214031A_D0003.tif" />

john 8. McCauley

INVENTOR BY

BUCKHORN, BLORE, KLARQUIST 8 SPARKMAN ATTORNEYS

3,214,031

Patented Oct. 26, 1965

United States Patent Office

3,214,031 RACK FOR STEMMED GLASSWARE John B. McCauley, 2612 N. Killingsworth, Portland, Oreg.

Filed Feb. 10,1964, Ser. No. 343,842

Claims. (Cl. 211—71)

The present invention relates to a rack for glasses and more particularly to a rack for storing stemmed glassware in pendant position.

Stem glasses are expensive, and, because of their peculiar shapes and fragility, are particularly subject to breakage. Thus, handling and storage of such glasses so as to minimize breakage has always been a problem, especially in automatic glass washers and on open shelves where they are readily accessible. Previously suggested racks for stemmed glasses have not obviated the above difficulties, nor have they been adapted for holding large quantities of such glassware.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved rack for supporting large quantities of stemmed glassware in pendant position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved rack for stemmed glassware, which can be safely stacked on top of other like racks.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved rack into which stemmed glassware can readily be placed and from which such glassware can be easily removed, even while the rack is stacked beneath other racks.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved rack for storing stemmed glassware of various sizes and shapes and for protecting such glassware from breakage.

Another object is to provide a portable rack for supporting stemmed glassware that can be placed, full of glasses, in an automatic glass washer, wherein such glasses can be cleaned while thus supported and protected from injury.

In furtherance of the above objects and in accordance with an illustrated embodiment, the rack includes a wire framework including a series of transverse bridge members extending over the top of the framework and a series of spaced-apart, longitudinal stringers extending side by side slightly beneath the bridge members from which glassware is pendantly suspended. The stringers are supported at one of their ends from above by one of the bridge members, and adjacent ones of the stringers define longitudinal slots, each having an open end underneath the 5θ supporting bridge member for receiving the stems of the glassware.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages will become more apparent upon inspection of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front end view of two of the racks of FIG. 1, stacked one on top of the other;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modification of the rack of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of a further modification in accordance with the invention; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are side and front perspective views, respectively, of still further modifications in accordance with the invention.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred form of rack which consists of a wire framework 10 of generally rectangular shape suitable for placement in a glass washer. The framework has a base 12, an upper, or top, portion 14, an open front end 16, a back end 18 and sloping opposite sides 20. The base of the framework is composed of lower side members 22, which establish the length of the framework at its ³ base, and lower end members 24 extending at right angles to and between the side members to establish the width of the base.

Each of the lower side members 22 is welded to the lower ends of four upstanding leg members 26 which ¹⁰ are inclined slightly inwardly toward the upper portion of the framework to define the sloping sides 20. The lower end members 24, also, are welded to opposed leg members 26, at a position spaced slightly above the lower side members 22, as shown clearly in FIG. 2, so that the 15 lower sides 20 overhang the lower ends to provide lateral stability when two or more of the racks are stacked together.

Four bridge members 28 span the width of the framework and are each joined at their opposite ends to the ²³ upper ends of laterally opposed leg members 26, each opposed pair of leg members and its connecting bridge member preferably being bent from a single piece of wire. Extending side by side beneath the bridges 28 are a plurality of spaced-apart, parallel stringers 30. Adjacent ²³ ones of the stringers 30 are spaced alternately relatively closely together and relatively widely apart. The more widely spaced pairs are joined together at one end of each in a loop 32, whereby the more closely spaced, unjoined adjacent stringers define longitudinal slots 34 be³⁰ tween the looped pairs for receiving the stems 36 of glassware 38. The enlarged bases 40 of the glassware are supported on adjacent stringers 30 defining the slots.

The looped ends 32 of the center stringers 30 are supported from above on L-shaped, vertical supports 42 which ³³ depend from the front bridge member 28. The looped ends of the stringers 30 adjacent the sides Of the framework are supported on horizontal supports 44 attached to the front leg members 26. Thus, as most clearly shown in FIG. 2, the front bridge member 28, with its depending ⁴⁰ supports 42, and the looped ends 32 define unobstructed entrance openings into the slots 34 for the insertion and removal of glassware 38. The distances between vertical supports 42 are greater than the base diameter of the largest stemmed glass, and the clearance between the stringers 30 and bridge members 28 is ample to permit passage of the bases of the glassware 38 beneath such bridges.

At their opposite, unlooped ends, the stringers 30 are supported on a horizontal upper cross member 46 which extends from side to side of the framework and forms a closed end of each of the slots 34, whereby the glassware cannot be inadvertently pushed through the back end of the rack.

An important feature of the rack as thus described is that several of them can be stacked one on top of another as shown in FIG. 2, and further, glasses can be inserted into and removed from all of the racks while so stacked. A pair of base stringers 47 extend the length of the framework between the lower side members 22. Each base stringer has curled opposite ends 48 which project ⁶⁰ beyond the lower end members 24 and support the upper rack 49 on the bridge members 28 of the lower rack 50. Two lower cross members 51 intermediate the lower end members 24 span the base and provide the supporting base stringers 47 with added rigidity between their op⁶³ posite ends.

Because the base of each rack is slightly wider than its top and because the lower sides 20 overhang slightly the lower ends 16, 18, the top of the lower rack 50 nests within the base of the upper rack 49 to provide the upper ⁷⁰ rack with laterial stability. Longitudinal stability is provided by the intermediate bridge members 28 of the lower

3,214,031 ³rack, which members support the upper rack should the latter rack, when stacked, be misaligned forwardly or rearwardly with respect to the ends of the lower rack.

The series of bridges 28 not only serve to support the stringers 30 and other racks stacked on top of the framework 10, but also provide protection from breakage for glassware 38 suspended within the framework.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of a framework that is modified slightly to provide greater stability when stacked than the framework 10 of FIG. 1. A portion of a lower rack 52 is illustrated, including a front bridge member 53, a front leg member 54, a lower side member 56 and the looped ends 58 of paired stringers 60. Also shown is a portion of a front leg member 54 and a lower side member 56 of an identical upper rack 61. The bridge member 53 joins the leg member 54 at an inwardly bent upper corner which forms a horizontal shoulder 62. The lower side member 56, where it joins the lower end of the leg member 54, forms a downwardly projecting foot 64. The four feet 64 of the upper rack 61 hook over the four corner shoulders 62 of the lower rack when the two racks are stacked one on top of the other. With this arrangement, the lower stringers 47, cross members 51 and intermediate bridge members 28 of the framework of FIG. 1 can be eliminated if desired.

The overall dimensions of the racks 52 and 62 must be proportioned slightly differently than those for the rack 10 of FIG. 1 in order to be stacked as illustrated in FIG. 3. The base of the rack 52 has a slightly greater length than the upper portion thereof to enable the feet 64 of the upper rack to hook over the shoulders 62 of the lower rack. However, the base width of the rack is slightly less than the upper width thereof, whereby the lower side members 56 of the upper rack engage and are supported on the shoulders 62 of the lower rack. When stacked as shown, it will be readily apparent that the upper rack 61 cannot be moved appreciably either laterally or longitudinally with respect to the lower rack 52.

Illustrated in FIG. 4 is a further modification of the framework of FIG. 1 having a series of paired stringers 66, each pair being joined together at both ends to form elongated closed loops and longitudinal slots 68 between adjacent loops. Bridge members 70 at the ends of the framework support both ends of the two center loops, and both ends of each side loop are supported on horizontal stub supports 72 from leg members 74. Thus, both ends of each slot 68 are open. However, a horizontal stop member 76 extends from side to side of the back end of the framework and is spaced outwardly from the looped back ends 77 of the stringers 66 so as to define, together with the loops, a transverse slot 78 interconnecting all of the longitudinal slots 68. With this construction, glassware in one of the longitudinal slots 68 can be moved via the transverse slot 78 to a different one of the longitudinal slots 68, thus enabling removal from the rack of a desired glass at the rear of one slot 68 without first having to withdraw all other glasses forward of the desired glass in the same slot.

The rack of FIG. 5 is of modified construction such that glassware is inserted in and removed from a central portion of an open side 79 of the framework. Two pairs of stringers 80 extend from each upper end of the framework toward the center thereof, and each pair from one end terminates in a closed loop 82 at the center just short of a like pair extending from the opposite end. The loop stringers 80, together with a single continuous side stringer 83 extending from one end to the other end of the framework, define two longitudinal slots 84 bisected by a central transverse slot 86. A pair of central bridge members 88 are cantilevered over the looped ends 82 from one side of the framework and support such looped ends from above. The opposite, unlooped ends of the stringers 80 terminate at upper end members 90 whereby the only access to the longitudinal slots 84 is from the open side 79 of the framework through the transverse slot 86.

The rack illustrated in FIG. 6 is of simplified construction in that it has only a single bridge member 92, above 5 the open front end 94 of its framework. The bridge member supports looped ends 96 of paired stringers 98, which define a series of slots 100 and terminate at a continuous upper cross member 102 at the back of the framework. The slots, therefore, are accessible only 10 from the open front 94 of the rack. The base of the rack is open, and consists of only a pair of opposed lower side members 104 connected by a single lower end member 106. Because of the open base and single bridge, such racks are not suited for stacking.

For the foregoing it will be evident that the number of glasses that can be accommodated in a single rack is limited only by the number and length of the longitudinal slots provided, which in turn depend on the size of rack desired. The different slots in each rack can, of course, 20 be of various widths to accommodate different stem sizes, but a single uniform slot width slightly greater than the diameter of the largest stem expected will, in most instances, be sufficiently narrow so that the smallest stemware can be supported.

Having illustrated and described several preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments admit of modification in arrangement and detail. It is my intention to claim as my invention all such modifications as come 30 within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims.