WO2016124968A2

WO2016124968A2 - Rotatable organizer

Info

Publication number: WO2016124968A2
Application number: PCT/IB2015/002599
Authority: WO
Inventors: Brad ROACH
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-02-02
Filing date: 2015-02-02
Publication date: 2016-08-11
Anticipated expiration: 2017-08-02
Also published as: WO2016124968A3; CN207355755U

Abstract

A rotatable organizer comprising: a base; a first gear in rotatable communication with the base; a first turntable fixedly attached to the first gear, the first turntable having a center; a first side gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first gear; a second gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first side gear; a second turntable fixedly attached to the second gear, the second turntable having a center; a rail attached to the base and extending up orthogonally with respect to at least one of the turntables, and where the rail provides encloses at least a portion of a perimeter of the rotatable organizer; a first turntable gap that provides access to the first turntable by a user, the access is of an angle a; a central divider located on a plane that contains an imaginary line that extends from the center of the exposed turntable to the center of the second turntable, the plane being generally orthogonal to the surface of the exposed turntable and the surface of the second turntable; where the first turntable and the second turntable are configured to be rotatable with respect to the base.

Description

ROTATABLE ORGANIZER

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This invention relates generally to rotatable organizer, and more particularly to a rotatable organizer that allows one to rotate items on a plurality of turntables, until the item desired is easily accessible.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Cabinets and shelves, such as those located in kitchens, basements, and other areas in the home or even office, are used to store items. Often times these cabinets and/or shelves are located above a user's head, thereby making it difficult to see what is inside cabinet or shelf. Furthermore, refrigerator shelves are often cluttered. Organizing items in cabinets, shelves and refrigerators such that a user can easily access them has been a problem for many years.

[0003] Lazy Susans and the like have been used to access a plurality of items by rotating the items on some sort of platform. However, Lazy Susans, are circular, and use up space inefficiently; especially in kitchen cabinets and shelves, and many times Lazy Susans will not fit in one's kitchen cabinet or shelf, especially if the cabinet, refrigerator or shelf is deep and narrow. Thus, a user is often relegated to sorting and searching through the myriad of containers in his or her cabinets or shelves until the item desired is found.

[0004] Accordingly, there is a need for a rotatable organizer that overcomes these and other disadvantageous.

SUMMARY

[0005] The disclosed invention relates to a rotatable organizer comprising: a base; a first gear in rotatable communication with the base; a first turntable fixedly attached to the first gear, the first turntable having a center; a first side gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first gear; a second gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first side gear; a second turntable fixedly attached to the second gear, the second turntable having a center; a rail attached to the base and extending up orthogonally with respect to at least one of the turntables, and where the rail provides encloses at least a portion of a perimeter of the rotatable organizer; a first turntable gap that provides access to the first turntable by a user, the access is of an angle a; a central divider located on a plane that contains an imaginary line that extends from the center of the exposed turntable to the center of the second turntable, the plane being generally orthogonal to the surface of the exposed turntable and the surface of the second turntable; where the first turntable and the second turntable are configured to be rotatable with respect to the base.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The present disclosure will be better understood by those skilled in the pertinent art by referencing the accompanying drawings, where like elements are numbered alike in the several figures, in which:

[0007] Figure 1 is a perspective view of the disclosed rotatable organizer; [0008] Figure 2 is a top view of the disclosed rotatable organizer; [0009] Figure 3 is a top view of the first turntable;

[0010] Figure 4 is a perspective of another embodiment of the disclosed rotatable organizer;

[0011] Figure 5 is a top view of the first turntable with flared out rail;

[0012] Figure 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the disclosed rotatable organizer; [0013] Figure 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the disclosed rotatable organizer with the turntables removed;

[0014] Figure 8 is a perspective view showing two rotatable organizers stacked;

[0015] Figure 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the disclosed rotatable organizer;

[0016] Figure 10 is a perspective view of the rotatable organizer from Figure 9, with the gate opened on an opposite side from Figure 9;

[0017] Figure 11 is a front view of the rotatable organizer from Figure 9;

[0018] Figure 12 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the rotatable organizer;

[0019] Figure 13 is a perspective view of the rotatable organizer showing the rail and base manufactured as one piece;

[0020] Figure 14 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the first turntable; [0021] Figure 15 is a perspective of another embodiment of the first turntable; [0022] Figure 16 is another embodiment of the rotatable organizer;

[0023] Figure 17 is a modification of the front portion of the rail from the rotatable organizer of Figure 16; and

[0024] Figure 18 shows another embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the disclosed rotatable organizer 10. The rotatable organizer 10 comprises a base 14, a rail 18 attached to the base 14. A first turntable 30 located within the base 14 and on a first end 34 of the organizer 10. A second turntable 54 is located within the base 14 and on a second end 38 of the organizer 10. The first end 34 and second end 38 may be described as the front end and back end of the organizer, respectively. The rail 18 generally encloses a portion of a perimeter about the organizer 10. The rail 18 may enclose the entire perimeter about the organizer, or may only enclose a portion of the perimeter of the organizer 10, with a gap or opening 100 in the rail to allow one to easily remove items from the organizer 10 without having to open a gate, or lifting the item above the rail.

[0026] Figure 2 is a top view of the organizer 10. The first turntable 30 is shown. Attached, or manufactured as part of the first turntable 30, is a first gear 31. The gear 31 is shown in dotted lines, because the gear 31 is below the surface of the first turntable 30, in this view. In addition the first gear has a diameter that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the first turntable 30. In other embodiments, the first gear 31 could be the same size as the turntable 30, or the gear can be larger than the turntable. The first gear 31 and first turntable 30 rotate together, with respect to the base 14. The first gear 31 meshes with a first side gear 42. The first side gear 42 is rotatably attached to the base 14, that is the first side gear 42 rotates with respect to the base 14. The first side gear 42 meshes with second gear 50. Second gear 50 is attached to a second turntable 54 in a manner similar to the way the first gear 31 and the first turntable 30 are attached to each other. The second gear 50 and the second turntable 54 are rotatably attached to the base 14. The second gear 50 has a diameter that is slightly less than the diameter of the second turntable 54. In other embodiments, the second gear 50 could be the same size as the turntable 54, or the gear can be larger than the turntable. The second gear 50 meshes with a second side gear 58. The second side gear 58 is rotatably attached to the base 14. The second side gear 58 also meshes with the first gear 31. Thus, if the first turntable 30 rotates in clockwise fashion, as shown by the arrow 66, the first gear 31 causes the first side gear 42 and the second side gear 58 to both turn counterclockwise (see the arrows 70,74), causing the second gear 50 and second turntable 54 to turn clockwise ( see arrow 78). Similarly, if the first turntable 30 is turned counter-clockwise, the second turntable 54 will also turn counter-clockwise. In other embodiments, there may be only a first side gear 42 and no second side gear 58. There may be a non-stick or low friction surface 82 that is co-planar with the surfaces of the turntables 30, 54. One will note that the first and second side gears 42,58 are much smaller than the first turntable 30, first gear 31, and the second turntable 54 and first side gear 50. The non-stick surface 82 may be attached to the base 14, and has openings configured to fit around the turntables 30 and 54. The turntables 30, 54 are configured to each rotate about their centers 32, 55 respectively.

[0027] Figure 1 shows the rotatable organizer with the first turntable 30 being exposed and able to be touched and rotated by user. The first turntable 30 is exposed because the rail does not come all the way down to the turntable surface level, but rather there is a turntable gap 300. The turntable gap is a space between the bottom of the rail 18 and the top of the turntable. The turntable gap 300 is represented by the shaded band 300. The opening created by the rail 18 as shown in Figure 1 is about 180°, and represented by angle a. Thus the first turntable 30 has about 180° of its perimeter exposed, giving a user 180° of the turntable's perimeter to use to turn the turntable by. By opening up the turntable 30 exposure to greater than 45° degrees, greater movement of the turntable is achievable. A single turn of the turntable 30 provides greater turning of the turntable, than if only 45° or less of the turntable was exposed. Figure 3 is a top view of another embodiment of the first turntable 30 and rail 18. In this embodiment the turntable is exposed by about 120°, as shown by angle a.

[0028] Figure 4 shows the rotatable organizer 10 with rails that have an opening smaller than the opening for the first turntable 30. The opening for the turntable 30 is located beneath the right curved rail portion 104 and the left curved rail portion 108. The opening to access the first turntable, as shown in Figure 4 is about a, or in this embodiment a is about 180°. However, the opening 112 defined by the right curved rail portion 104 and the left curved rail portion 108 may be shown by angle β.β will generally be smaller than a, and as shown in Figure 4, β is about 100°. β may correspond to an arc opening 112 size of a few inches, just large enough for one or maybe two cans or bottles being stored on the rotatable organizer 10 to be squeezed through the opening 112 at the same time. In one embodiment the arc defining the opening 112 may range from about less than 1 inch to about 10 inches. Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10 with left and right rail portions 104, 108 each with a flared end, 116, 120 respectively. The flared ends 116, 120 help in guiding cans, bottles, and other items through the rails and onto the turntables 30, 54. The flared ends 116, 120 also help guide a items out of the rotatable organizer 10.

[0029] The rotatable organizer 10 embodiment shown in Figure 6 has a rail 18 that is low in height, and does not have an opening 112 as shown in Figures 1, 3, 4, 5 above, for retrieving items out of the rotatable organizer 10, nor is there an opening for allowing one to slide items onto the rotatable organizer 10 via the opening. Rather the rail 18 is low enough that an opening is generally not needed, because a user can simply lift an item out of the rotatable organizer 10 over the low height rail 18. Conversely, a user can easily set items on the turntables 30, 54, simply by going over the low height rail 18. In one embodiment the rail may be about 1 inch to about 4 inches in height. In other embodiments, the height of the rotatable organizer may be a percentage of the total length of the rotatable organizer. In one embodiment, the height of the rotatable organizer may be no more than 50% of the length of the rotatable organizer. Please note that the first turntable 30 is exposed to the user under the rail 18, and thus the user can still turn the turntable 30. There may be a handle/divider 124 located in the rotatable organizer 10, the handle/divider 124 may also be of a low height. The height range of the handle/divider 124 may be about 1 inch to about 8 inches. In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the total height of the rotatable organizer 10 may be 4 inches or less. In other embodiments, the rotatable organizer may have a height of 4 inches or less, except for the handle which may have a larger height than about 4 inches. This will keep manufacturing costs down— since the amount of material used may be less, as well as keep shipping costs down. Since the rails 18 and handle 124 (in some embodiments) are of a low height, more of the rotatable organizer can be manufactured as one piece, and shipped with the rails and handle being attached to the rotatable organizer, thereby reducing manufacturing and shipping costs, and providing an end user with a rotatable organizer that requires little to no assembly. [0030] Figure 7 shows a rotatable organizer 10 with a rail 18. Located on the rail 18 are 4 bottom slots 128 (the fourth slot is not visible in this view). The rail also has four top slots 132. As shown in Figure 10, four flat stacking posts 136 are inserted into the four top slots 132. The four flat stacking posts 136 are configured to slide into the four bottom slots 128 of a second organizer to be stacked on top of the first organizer 10. The stacking posts 136 may have a width of about ½ inch to about 2 inches, and a thickness of about 1/10 of an inch to about 0.4 inches. In other embodiments, th estackign posts 136 may have a width that is larger than its thickness.

[0031] Figure 8 shows another embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10 with a second organizer 210 stacked on top of a first organizer 10. The flat stacking posts extend from the top slots 132 of the organizer 10 into the bottom slots 128 of the organizer 210. In this embodiment, the bottom slots 128 have an inner ceiling or other barrier 140, that stops a flat stacking post 136 from going past the barrier 140 when a stacking post is slid into the bottom of the bottom slot 128. Similarly, the top slots 132 may have a floor or other barrier 144, that stops a flat stacking post 136 from going past the barrier 144 when a stacking post is slid into the top of the top slot 132. Although two organizers 10, 210 are shown stacked in Figure 8, three or more organizers may also be stacked together. The flat stacking posts 136 are thinner than round stacking posts, and thus helps maximize the space for items to be stored on the turntables, without increasing the footprint of the organizer 10, 210, unlike round stacking posts, which either take up room from items stored on the turntables, or would extend out past perimeter of the rails.

[0032] Figure 9 shows another embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10. This embodiment has a removable front gate member 148. The front gate member 148 may be made out of a flexible material such as metal, plastic, etc. In the embodiment shown in Figure 9 the front gate member 148 is made out of a semi-flexible wire. There is a right side gate holding member 152 attached to the rail 18, and a left side gate holding member 156 also attached to the rail 18. The front gate member 148 comprises a generally horizontal portion 160, and a first generally vertical portion 164, and a second generally vertical portion 168. The vertical portions 164, 168 are removably attachable to the gate holding members 152, 156. Figure 9 shows the front gate member 148 with only the first generally vertical portion 164 installed in the right side gate holding member 152. Figure 10 shows the rotatable organizer 10 from Figure 9, but this time with only the second generally vertical portion 168 installed in the left side gate holding member 156. Figure 11 is front view of the rotatable organizers 10 from Figures 9 and 10, but with the front gate member 148 installed in both the right side gate holding member 152 and the left side gate holding member 156. A turntable gap 304 is shown in Figure 10. Since the rail does not extend over the exposed portion of the first turntable 30, the turntable gap 304 is not defined by the a space between the bottom of the rail 18 and the top of the turntable 30, but rather is defined by the space between the first front end 208 of the rail 18, and the second front end 212 of the rail.

[0033] Figure 12 is another embodiment of the removable front gate member 148, in this embodiment the front gate member is made out of a large generally flat, curved, and flexible piece of material, such as plastic. Again the front gate member 148 comprises a generally horizontal portion 160, and a first generally vertical portion 164, and a second generally vertical portion 168. The front gates 148 shown in figures 9-12 are removable. When the front gate is removed, the rail 18 has a large opening that allows a user to easily remove and store items on the turntables. When the front gate 148 is installed, the front gate is configured to allow easy access to the first turntable 30 so that a user can turn the first turntable 30 in order to rotate the items about the turntables. The front gate 148 will keep the items on the turntable from falling off the first turntable.

[0034] Figure 13 shows an embodiment of the rotatable organizer, where the base 14 and rail 18 are manufactured as one integral unit, such as by injection molding, or any other suitable manufacturing process. By designed the base 14 and rail 18 as one integral unit, the cost of manufacturing is reduced, and the weight of the rotatable organizer 10 is reduced, thus lowering not only manufacturing costs, but shipping costs as well. In this view, the rotatable turntables 30, 54 are not yet installed.

[0035] Figure 14 shows a perspective view of the first turntable 30. In this embodiment, the turntable 30 has vertical ridges 172 along its perimeter. The ridges 172 help a user turn the turntable by using his or her fingers on the perimeter of the turntable 30, and turning it either clockwise or counterclockwise. Similarly, figure 15 shows another embodiment of the first turntable 30, but instead of ridges, the perimeter of the turntable has a plurality of dimples 176. The dimples will help a user turn the turntable 30.

[0036] Figure 16 is another embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10. A front portion of the rail 180 is located at the front of the rotatable organizer, and near the first turntable. A first side portion 308 of the rail 18 is located near or at the first end point 309 of the first turntable gap 300. A second side portion 312 of the rail 18 is located near or at the second end point 313 of the first turntable gap 300. In this embodiment, the front portion 180 of the rail has a rail height of H_RF. The first side portion 308 and second side portion 312 of the rail 18 both have a rail height of H_RS. H_rf is less than H_RS. This allows a user to remove items from the turntables 30,54 and place items on the turntables 30, 54 without having to overcome the full height of the rails H_RS.

[0037] Figure 17 is a modification of the front portion 180 of the rail from Figure 16, where there is a gap 184 between a first end of the rail 188 and a second end of the rail 192. The gap 184 may be sized such that it allows the first end 188 and second end 192 to flex to allow items to pass through the gap. In one embodiment, the gap 184 may be about 0.5 inches to about 6 inches wide. In other embodiments, the gap 184 may be wide enough to allow items such as bottles, jars, and cans to fit through the gap 184.

[0038] Figure 18 shows another embodiment of the rotatable organizer 10. In this embodiment, instead of four separate flat stacking posts 136, the organizer has a first set of stacking posts 196, a second set of stacking posts 200. The first set of stacking posts 196 comprises a stacking post base 204, a first flat stacking post 208 attached to the stacking post base 204, and a second flat stacking post 212 attached to the stacking post base 204. Similarly, the second set of stacking posts 200 comprises a stacking post base 204, a first flat stacking post 208 attached to the stacking post base 204, and a second flat stacking post 212 attached to the stocking post base 204. Each set of stacking posts 196, 200 are slideable into the rail 18. If the user does not want to stack the rotatable organizers 10, the stacking posts 196, 200 can be removed from the rail 18. [0039] The disclosed rotatable organizer has many advantages. The first turntable has greater exposure, so it is easier for a user to turn the turntables. Another advantages is that a front gate may be configured to stop items from falling off the turntable, and the front gate may have a flared opening to assist in retrieving items from the rotatable organizer and to put items on the turntables of the organizer. Another advantage is to have a low height rail that generally encloses the perimeter of the organizer, to keep items from falling out of the organizer, while still being low enough to make it easy to remove items and from the organizer, and put items on the organizer, as well as still providing access to the first turntable for turning. Flat stacking posts decrease the footprint of the organizer, while maximizing space on the turntables. Using low height rails and handles will decrease both manufacturing and shipping costs, due to less raw material being used, and lowered weight of the organizer. Another advantage is to provide a removable gate to the organizer, so the user has the option to use a gate, or to not have a gate. Manufacturing the rail and base as one piece also will reduce manufacturing and shipping costs, due to the reduced amount of assembly of the device, and the lowered weight of the device. Using a first turntable with dimples or ridges will make the first table easier to turn, thereby making it easier to rotate all the items on the turntable.

[0040] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", and "third", and the like may be used herein to modify elements performing similar and/or analogous functions. These modifiers do not imply a spatial, sequential, or hierarchical order to the modified elements unless specifically stated.

[0041] While the disclosure has been described with reference to several embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A rotatable organizer comprising:

a base;

a first gear in rotatable communication with the base;

a first turntable fixedly attached to the first gear, the first turntable having a center;

a first side gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first gear;

a second gear in rotatable communication with the base, and meshing with the first side gear;

a second turntable fixedly attached to the second gear, the second turntable having a center;

a rail attached to the base and extending up orthogonally with respect to at least one of the turntables, and wherein the rail provides encloses at least a portion of a perimeter of the rotatable organizer;

a first turntable gap that provides access to the first turntable by a user, the access is of an angle a;

a central divider located on a plane that contains an imaginary line that extends from the center of the exposed turntable to the center of the second turntable, the plane being generally orthogonal to the surface of the exposed turntable and the surface of the second turntable;

wherein the first turntable and the second turntable are configured to be rotatable with respect to the base.

2. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the first turntable gap is defined by the space between the bottom of the rail and the top of the first turntable.

3. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the first turntable gap is defined by the space between a first front end of the rail and a second front end of the rail.

4. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, where angle a ranges from about 180° to about 45°.

5. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, where the rail encloses only a portion of the perimeter of the rotatable organizer, with an opening in the rail located generally above the first turntable, the opening having a width ranging from about 0.1 inches to about 6 inches.

6. The rotatable organizer of claim 5, where in the each portion of the rail adjacent to the opening, has a flared end, with the flare angled away from the center of the first turntable.

7. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the rail height of the fully assembled organizer is no more than about 50% of the overall length of the fully assembled organizer.

8. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the height of the fully assembled organizer is no more than about 4 inches.

9. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, further comprising:

a first bottom slot located near the bottom of the rail;

a second bottom slot located near the bottom of the rail;

a third bottom slot located near the bottom of the rail;

a fourth bottom slot located near the bottom of the rail;

the four bottom slots generally distributed about the perimeter of the rail;

a first top slot located near the top of the rail;

a second top slot located near the top of the rail;

a third top slot located near the top of the rail;

a fourth top slot located near the top of the rail;

the four top slots generally distributed about the perimeter of the rail;

a first flat stacking post configured to slide into the first top slot, and further configured to slide into a first bottom slot of a second rotatable organizer;

a second flat stacking post configured to slide into the second top slot, and further configured to slide into a second bottom slot of a second rotatable organizer;

a third flat stacking post configured to slide into the third top slot, and further configured to slide into a third bottom slot of a second rotatable organizer;

a fourth flat stacking post configured to slide into the fourth top slot, and further configured to slide into a fourth bottom slot of a second rotatable organizer;

wherein the four flat stacking posts have a width of about ½ inch to about 2 inches, and a thickness of about 0/.1 inches to about 0.4 inches.

10. The rotatable organizer of claim 5, further comprising:

a first front end of the rail adjacent to one side of the opening;

a second front end of the rail adjacent to the opposite side of the opening;

a first side gate holding member attached to the first front end of the rail

a second side gate holding member attached to the second front end of the rail;

a front gate member removably attachable to the first side gate holding member and the second side gate holding member.

11. The rotatable organizer of claim 10, wherein the front gate member comprises:

a generally horizontal portion;

a first generally vertical portion on a first end;

a second generally vertical portion on a second end; and

wherein the first and second generally vertical portions slide into the first side gate holding member and the second side gate holding member respectively.

12. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the base and rail are manufactured as one piece.

13. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the base and rail are generally formed using a single mold.

14. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the first turntable has a plurality of vertical ridges on its outer perimeter.

15. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, wherein the first turntable has a plurality of dimples located on its outer perimeter.

16. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, further comprising:

a first side portion of the rail located adjacent to a first end point of the first turntable gap; a second side portion of the rail located adjacent near a second end point of the first turntable gap;

a front portion of the rail located near the first turntable and equidistant to the first side portion of the rail and the second side portion of the rail;

where the height of first side portion of the rail and the height of the second side portion of the rail are both greater than the height of the front portion of the rail.

17. The rotatable organizer of claim 16,

wherein there is a located a rail gap located between a first end of the rail and the second end of the rail, and the rail gap is located generally near the first turntable and generally at the front portion of the rail.

18. The rotatable organizer of claim 1, further comprising:

a first set of stacking posts, the first set of stacking posts comprising:

a first stacking post base;

a first flat stacking post attached to the stacking post base;

a second flat stacking post attached to the stacking post base;

a second set of stacking posts, the second set of stacking posts comprising:

a second stacking post base;

a third flat stacking post attached to the stacking post base;

a fourth flat stacking post attached to the stacking post base;

wherein the first set of stacking posts is configured to slide into and out of the rail, and wherein the the second set of stacking posts is configured to slide into and out of the rial on a side opposite of the first set of stacking posts.