This invention relates to shelving and is particularly concerned with shelving of the kind wherein a shelf is supported by an arm projecting forwardly from an upright support, e.g. a wall.
It has been proposed in FR-A-631 300 to provide a shelving bracket comprising an elongate base member for attachment in an upright position to an upright support and having a slot extending lengthwise of the base member and opening in a front surface of the same, with an opening extending lengthwise of the base member and being wider than and behind the slot, an arm projecting from the base member to carry a shelf, a screw threaded pin extending from the opening, through the slot and into the arm, and a nut threaded onto the pin and engaging a surface of the arm, the arm being releasably clampable to the base member at a desired height. The said surface is a forwardly-facing and visible bearing surface and the nut is also visible. Furthermore the screw-threaded pin has an enlarged head received within the opening. Such a bracket is height-adjustable but is conspicuous because of the visible nut. Furthermore the base member is usually a metal channel member which has little aesthetic appeal in the home.
A somewhat similar arrangement has been proposed in US-A-2 961 212 but here the elongate base member is in the form of an extruded metal post intended to be supported, in a vertical position between e.g. a floor and a ceiling. Again a screw-threaded pin is provided having an enlarged head which, in this arrangement, is visible and engages a visible bearing surface of the arm, a nut threaded onto the pin being hidden within the post.
It has also been proposed in NL-A-7 503 595 to provide a shelving bracket comprising a base member for attachment in an upright position to an upright support and carrying a forwardly- projecting screw-threaded pin, and an arm projecting from the base member and including an internal captive nut threadedly receiving the forward end of the screw-threaded pin. Such a bracket is inconspicuous in that no fixing means are visible and can be easily mounted and dismounted by merely turning the arm. However, it has the disadvantage that its height cannot be varied.
An object of the invention is to provide a shelving bracket which has aesthetic appeal in the home and is easily height-adjustable.
With this object in view and in the light of the proposal in FR-A-631 300, the present invention is characterised in that the base member is made of wood and the opening is a groove formed in the rear surface of the base member, the arm is also made of wood, the nut is internal of the arm and captive therewithin, and a further nut also threaded onto the pin is slidable but non-rotatable within the groove, the arm being rotatable relative to the base member to effect the clamping.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-
A shelving bracket for attachment to a domestic wall is made of a suitable hardwood, e.g. af- romosia timber, and consists of a rectangular- section base strip 1, and a pair of screw-operable clamping devices 2 disposed one above the other on the strip. The upper clamping device 2 is not shown but each one includes an arm 3 extending outwards from the base strip 1 at right angles thereto to carry a shelf (not shown).
The base strip 1 has in the rear face thereof spaced top and bottom longitudinal rectangular- section grooves 4 and 5 and top and bottom longitudinal through slots 6 and 7 extending from the bases of the grooves 4 and 5 to the front face 8 of the base strip 1. The upper groove 4 and slot 6 is only partly shown. The base strip 1 also has therein through openings 9 to enable attachment of the base strip 1 to the surface of a wall by suitable screws or other fastenings (not shown) which enter the wall. The screw clamping devices 2 co-operate with the respective groove-and-slot formations 4, 6 and 5, 7. each screw clamping device including a centrally tapped rectangular plate 10 which is a friction fit in its groove 4, 5 for easy sliding along its groove, and a screw-threaded pin 11 which has an inner end portion engaging the plate 10 and which extends through the slot 7 to project from the front face 8 of the base strip 1. The arm 3 of each device is in the form of a narrow wedge-shaped block extending outwards from the front face 8 of the base strip 1, with its inner end face 3A abutting said front face. Each clamping device also includes a transversely tapped cylinder 12 inset in a bore in the top of the arm 3 to form a nut lying flush with the top face 3B of the arm 3 and engaging the outer end portion of the pin 11 which extends through a bore 13 opening from the inner end face 3A of the arm 3.
Each arm 3 is vertically adjustable on its base strip 1 simply by giving the arm a half-turn anticlockwise to release the clamping device 2, exerting upward or downward pressure to move the entire clamping device 2 slidingly along the strip 1 to the desired extent, and then giving the arm 3 a half-turn clockwise to tighten the clamping device 2 whereby the arm 3 is held in position to receive on its top face 3B a shelf (not shown), so that the shelf is supported at its ends by a pair of releasably damped arms 3.
It will be appreciated that the strips 1 and arms 3 of the brackets can be made in various lengths to support different sizes of shelves for different uses.