Drop-Down Tiered Cabinet Shelves for Visible Spice Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage solutions for kitchen condiments and spices, such as Lazy Susans and conventional spice racks, face challenges in organizing and accessing a large number of containers due to limited capacity and obstructed views, making it difficult to locate specific items within a cabinet.
Innovation Solution
A storage and display shelf apparatus featuring a set of pivotally connected shelves that slide into a cabinet and drop down in a tiered arrangement, allowing each shelf to be at a different height, enabling easy access and identification of contents by moving the shelves outside the cabinet and arranging them in a progressive elevation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If containers are stored on a Lazy Susan tray inside a cabinet, then storage capacity is improved, but visibility and accessibility of individual containers deteriorates due to obstructed views
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional Lazy Susan tray to a three-dimensional tiered shelving structure. Multiple shelves are arranged at different vertical levels, creating a stepped configuration that allows containers on higher shelves to be visible above containers on lower shelves, thereby solving the visibility problem while maintaining storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage system is divided into multiple independent shelves rather than a single continuous tray. Each shelf can be individually accessed and removed from the cabinet, allowing users to retrieve containers from any level without disturbing containers on other shelves, thus improving accessibility while maintaining overall storage capacity.
2Ease of operation
If conventional spice racks are mounted to the countertop or wall, then accessibility is improved, but available counter space is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes vertical space within the cabinet by creating a multi-level tiered structure. This three-dimensional arrangement allows the storage system to occupy the vertical dimension rather than consuming horizontal counter space, thereby maintaining accessibility while preserving valuable countertop area.
3Quantity of substance
If spice racks are attached to the inside door of a cabinet, then storage capacity is improved, but interior storage space is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The shelves are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to be removed from the cabinet and positioned elsewhere for access. This dynamic configuration enables the storage system to provide both high storage capacity when installed and flexible access when removed, without permanently reducing the cabinet's interior storage volume.
4Quantity of substance
If undercabinet storage racks are positioned horizontally, then storage capacity is improved, but accessibility and viewing of contents deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the horizontal storage arrangement into a vertical tiered configuration. By stacking shelves at different heights, the system maintains high storage capacity while improving accessibility, as containers on upper shelves become visible and accessible without requiring the user to reach over or move containers on lower shelves.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides efficient storage and display of a significant quantity of items within a cabinet while allowing easy access and visibility of all contents, overcoming the limitations of traditional storage solutions by ensuring each item can be clearly identified and retrieved without disturbing others.
Implementation Method 1
A spring surrounding the hinge pin and positioned between the aligned bosses exerts an upward biasing force upon the shelves when positioned on the guide tracks
Implementation Method 2
The link arm is pivotal on the rearward shelf upon movement of the assembly of shelves in the stored positioned on the guide tracks to the display position where the shelves forward of the back shelf move off of the guide tracks and the trunnions move forward in the link arm slots so that the shelves drop down to a vertically displaced position
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of trays or shelves are adjacently connected to one another and mounted on a frame to rollout and drop down from a stored position in a cabinet to a display position out of the cabinet in a progressively elevated series of connected trays. The series of trays extending from a front tray to a back tray are hingedly connected to one another and slidable on guide tracks of a frame that is secured to the interior base of the cabinet. Link arms positioned laterally of the trays are connected to sidewalls of each tray. The trays move together as a unit on the guide tracks out of the cabinet to a point where the back tray is restrained from further movement out of the cabinet. The link arms pivot downwardly so that the trays slide forwardly in slots of the arms and drop vertically down to progressively elevated heights relative to one another in a tiered arrangement. In the display position all the containers in the trays are visible because none are concealed one behind the other. The trays are lifted upwardly to a horizontal position opposite the cabinet and then pushed back into the cabinet to the stored position.