Warewash rack system and warewasher with associated warewash rack system

Abstract

A ware rack system for holding lightweight wares during cleaning in a warewash machine includes a lower ware rack including a bottom wall, upright side walls and a plurality of pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein a multiplicity of the pegs are tall pegs that have upper ends that are located higher than upper edges of the upright side walls. An upper ware rack may be placed inverted atop the lower ware rack to capture lightweight wares between the upper ends of the tall pegs and the bottom wall of the upper ware rack.

1 . A ware rack system for holding lightweight wares during cleaning in a warewash machine, comprising:
 a lower ware rack including a bottom wall, upright side walls and a plurality of pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein a multiplicity of the pegs are tall pegs that have upper ends that are located higher than upper edges of the upright side walls.   
     
     
         2 . The ware rack system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an upper ware rack positioned in an inverted manner over the lower ware rack, wherein the upper ware rack includes a bottom wall and side walls, the side walls of the upper ware rack resting on the side walls of the lower ware rack.   
     
     
         3 . The ware rack system of  claim 2 , wherein the bottom wall of the upper ware rack defines a main support plane, and the main support plane is spaced from the upper ends of the tall pegs by respective vertical gaps. 
     
     
         4 . The ware rack system of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the vertical gaps are less than one inch in height. 
     
     
         5 . The ware rack system of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the vertical gaps are between ¼″ and ¾″ in in height. 
     
     
         6 . The ware rack system of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a plastic ware item having a portion that is positioned in one of the vertical gaps.   
     
     
         7 . The ware rack system of  claim 6 , wherein the plastic ware item is an inverted plastic cup or another inverted plastic container. 
     
     
         8 . The ware rack system of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the pegs are short pegs having upper ends that are located lower than upper edges of the upright side walls. 
     
     
         9 . The ware rack system of  claim 8 , wherein at least some of the tall pegs are removably connected or fixedly connected onto short pegs of the lower ware rack. 
     
     
         10 . The ware rack system of  claim 8 , wherein the tall pegs and the short pegs are integrally molded to be unitary with the bottom wall and the upright side walls. 
     
     
         11 . The ware rack system of  claim 1 , wherein the tall pegs and the short pegs are arranged in an array defined by a plurality of rows and columns, wherein each row is defined by an alternating sequence of tall pegs and short pegs, wherein each column is defined by an alternating sequence of tall pegs and short pegs. 
     
     
         12 . The ware rack system of  claim 2 , wherein an alignment structure is provided for positioning of the side walls of the upper ware rack on the side walls of the lower ware rack. 
     
     
         13 . A warewash machine, comprising:
 a treatment chamber;   a system for spraying liquids in a treatment zone of the treatment chamber;   the ware rack system of  claim 7  positioned in the treatment zone.   
     
     
         14 . A ware rack system for holding lightweight wares during cleaning in a warewash machine, comprising:
 a ware rack including a bottom wall and upright side walls to define a ware receiving space above the bottom wall and within a border defined by the upright walls, the upper side walls having upper edges;   a plurality of first pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein the first pegs have upper ends that are located higher than the upper edges of the upright side walls;   a plurality of second pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein the second pegs have upper ends that are below the upper edges of the upright side walls.   
     
     
         15 . A method of cleaning a lightweight ware item, comprising:
 utilizing a lower rack with a bottom wall and upright peripheral sidewalls, and multiple tall pegs that extend upward beyond upper edges of the upright sidewalls;   placing the lightweight wear item in an inverted manner downward onto the tall peg such that a bottom wall portion of the lightweight wear item sits atop an upper end of the tall peg;   forming a rack system by placing an upper rack with a bottom wall and peripheral sidewalls in an inverted manner down over the lower rack such that the bottom wall portion of the lightweight wear item is captured between the upper end of the tall peg and the bottom wall of the upper rack; and   cleaning the lightweight ware item in a chamber of a warewash machine while the rack system is disposed within the chamber.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the a vertical spacing between the bottom wall of the upper rack and the upper end of the tall peg is less than one inch.