(19)Fresh off Patent
(45) Week of Oct 5, 2026 No. 5 3,852 lapsed 145 picks
Home & Furniture · lapsed Aug 28, 2026

Shelf that locks to a back wall with a one-piece clip

A flat shelf with a downward flange that fastens to a back shelf wall using a one-piece mounting clip. The clip’s upturned ears pass through holes in the flange into matching ear openings in the back wall while a horizontal foot drops into a lower slot to lock the shelf. Used for freestanding or wall-mounted shelving where removable but locked shelves are wanted.

Sheet 1 of the patent drawingsSheet 2 of the patent drawingsSheet 3 of the patent drawings

(57) What the patent covered

The main claim covers a shelf with a downward flange that has multiple flange holes, plus a unitary one-piece mounting clip with upward ears and a horizontally offset foot; the ears insert into the flange and into ear openings in a back shelf wall and the foot inserts into a foot opening/slot below the ears to lock the clip and hold the shelf to the back wall.

The distinctive part: A single-piece clip with spaced ears and an offset horizontal foot that seats into a lower slot in the back wall to lock the shelf.

Making it

Stamped or formed steel back wall and shelf panels, stamped and bent steel mounting clips or injection-molded plastic clips, then manual or simple automated insertion/assembly.

Materials: Stamped or molded steel (clip), Sheet metal or composite back wall, Pressed or stamped shelf (steel), Optional plastic or nylon clip version (likely)

Manufacturability 4/5. Parts are simple stamped or molded panels and one-piece clips; assembly is low-complexity insertion of clips through aligned holes and seating the foot into the slot.

Is anyone buying?

Comparable products are on sale; this exact design wasn't found. multiple major retailers stock fixed-mount back clips (e.g., Lowe's, Home Depot) with thousands of reviews for ClosetMaid back clips; commonly sold in multi-pack formats.

This demand check was run with a web search in the week of Oct 5, 2026. Listings change often, so treat it as a starting point for your own research.

Who buys it: retail or garage shelving installers, workshop and storage furniture makers

Before you make it

We didn't find any related continuation or divisional patents still in force, although that doesn't rule out design patents, trademarks or unrelated patents covering the same product.

Claims focus narrowly on the specific clip geometry (ears plus horizontally offset foot seating in a lower slot); crowded shelving market and possible prior-art shelving clips exist.

Owners occasionally revive lapsed patents (about 1.5% are), and this page is a research lead rather than legal advice, so get a freedom-to-operate opinion before you manufacture anything.

Claim 1, as granted

1. A shelf assembly comprising: a back shelf wall having at least one mounting port therein, each mounting port comprising a plurality of ear openings and a foot opening below the ear openings; a shelf comprising: a generally planar top surface for supporting items thereon; and a flange extending downwardly and perpendicularly from the top surface, the flange including a plurality of flange openings therein; a mounting clip comprising: a generally planar body; a plurality of ears extending from a top side of the body wherein an upper portion of each of the ears extends upwardly relative to the body; and a foot, extending generally horizontally from a bottom side of the body, wherein the ears are spaced apart defining a gap therebetween, the foot is horizontally offset from each of the ears and horizontally aligned with the gap; wherein the upper portions of the ears are generally perpendicular relative to the foot; wherein the body, the ears, and the foot of the mounting clip are formed as a unitary one-piece structure; wherein the ears and the foot of the mounting clip are configured to be inserted through corresponding flange openings of said plurality of flange openings and into corresponding ear openings and a corresponding foot opening of said at least one mounting port to connect the shelf to the back shelf wall.