Tray holder
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsAlain Blais, Julie Croteau, Michel Robert, Christian Bedard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clip to secure trays in a stack including a platform, rails coupled to the platform to mate with tabs of at least bookending trays in the tray stack when the platform occupies a brake position thereof relative to the stack and an elastic brake element coupled to the platform and configured to be biased against the stack when the platform occupies the brake position to increase a mating friction between the rails and the tabs, the elastic brake element being actuatable against the bias to permit selective movement of the platform to and from the brake position, the selective movement solely actuating the elastic brake element.
Claims18
A clip to secure trays in a stack, comprising:
- a platform, wherein the platform is nestable with an additional platform;
- rails coupled to the platform to mate with tabs of at least bookending trays in the tray stack when the platform occupies a brake position thereof relative to the stack;
- and
- an elastic brake element coupled to the platform and configured to be biased against the stack when the platform occupies the brake position to increase a mating friction between the rails and the tabs,
- the elastic brake element being actuatable against the bias to permit selective movement of the platform to and from the brake position, the selective movement solely actuating the elastic brake element.
A clip to secure nestable trays in a stack, the clip comprising:
- a platform, wherein the platform is nestable with another platform to form a tray stack pile, the platform comprising complementary legs and grooves, the legs protruding from a bottom surface thereof and the grooves being recessed from a top surface thereof;
- a plurality of rails protruding from the platform to engage with tray tabs to prevent movement of the platform relative to tray ends in first and second transverse directions;
- an edge stop projecting from the platform to limit movement of the platform across the tray ends in a third direction transverse to the first and second directions;
- a brake to inhibit movement of the platform relative to a tray stack;
- and
- an elastic element to bias the brake toward the tray stack to increase friction of the slider and tab engagements,
- the brake including leading and trailing edge cams that permit movement of the platform across the tray ends in the third direction by encouraging movement of the brake against the bias during such platform movement.
A clip to secure nestable trays in a stack, the clip comprising:
- a platform having front and rear surfaces and leading and trailing edges, wherein the platform is nestable with an additional platform;
- a plurality of rails protruding from the rear surface to engage with tray tabs to prevent movement of the platform relative to tray ends in first and second transverse directions;
- an edge stop projecting from the trailing edge to limit movement of the platform across the tray ends in a third direction transverse to the first and second directions beyond a brake position;
- a brake to inhibit movement of the platform relative to a tray stack;
- and
- an elastic element to bias the brake rearward from a platform plane to increase friction of the rail and tab engagements with the platform occupying the brake position,
- the brake including leading and trailing edge cams that permit movement of the platform to/from the brake position across the tray ends in the third direction by encouraging movement of the brake against the bias during such platform movement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.