Special receptacle or package – With pallet feature
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-12
2001-09-25
Fidei, David T. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
With pallet feature
C208S178000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293400
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an article transporting/storing apparatus for transporting or storing industrial products such as electric equipment, components thereof, construction materials, furniture or other various types of article as well as to the article transported by this apparatus.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As this type of article transporting/storing apparatus, an apparatus comprising a pallet for placing article thereon, four supports attached to four corners of the pallet in the vertically erected state to an article-loading surface thereof, and coupling members for coupling and fixing the adjoining supports to each other has been widely used. To transport an article with this type of article transporting/storing apparatus, the article is accommodated in a space surrounded by the four supports and is placed on the pallet, and the article is transported together with the article transporting/storing apparatus. When storing the article accommodated in the article transporting/storing apparatus in a warehouse or the like, a plurality of the article transporting/storing apparatuses can be piled up on each other to effectively utilize a space in the warehouse.
However, size of the article to be transported and stored with this type of article transporting/storing apparatus varies from large ones to small ones, but the conventional type of article transporting/storing apparatus has a fixed space capacity for accommodating an article or article therein. Therefore, an article having a fixed size can be transported or stored with an article transporting/storing apparatus having a size suited to the article's size, but an article having a size larger than that can be accommodated in the article transporting/storing apparatus can nor be transported nor be stored. Further, if it is tried to transport or store an article far smaller than that can be accommodated in the article transporting/storing apparatus, the transportation efficiency is quite low, and a space in a warehouse is inefficiently used, which is not desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an article transporting/storing apparatus capable of efficiently transporting or storing article and also to provide an article which can be efficiently transported with this article transporting/storing apparatus.
The article transporting/storing apparatus according to the present invention comprises pallet for placing the article to be transported or stored, for example four supports which are detachably attached to a surface the pallet on which the article is placed (article-loading surface). These supports stand almost vertical with respect to the article-loading surface of the pallet. A coupling unit couples any two adjoining supports to each other in such a way that the space (distance) between any two adjoining supports can be adjusted. When transporting or storing an article, a pallet of size suitable to the size of the article is selected, the spaces between the supports is adjusted according to the size of the pallet. Then the supports are fixed to the pallet and the article to be transported or stored is placed on the article-loading surface of the pallet. Thus, an article having a different size can be transported or stored by the article transporting/storing apparatus having a size suited to that of the article.
The coupling unit comprises two joints (first and second) and two coupling members (first and second). When the supports are attached to the pallet, the two coupling members cross each other, one end of the first coupling member is rotatably connected to the first joint of a support (first) of the two adjoining supports and the other end is rotatably connected to the second joint of the other support (second) of the two adjoining supports, and one end of the second coupling member is rotatably connected to the second joint of the first support of the two adjoining supports and the other end is rotatably connected to the first joint of the second support of the two adjoining supports. Therefore, a space between the supports can be easily adjusted by pulling the supports apart or by pressing the supports towards each other.
The coupling unit may comprise three joints (first, second, and third) and two coupling members (first and second). When the supports are attached to the pallet, the two coupling members cross each other, the joints are provided in the order of first, third and second from the top to bottom of the support. One end of the first coupling member is rotatably connected to the first joint of a support (first) of the two adjoining supports and the other end is rotatably connected to the third joint of the other support (second) of the two adjoining supports. One end of the second coupling member is rotatably connected to the second joint of the first support of the two adjoining supports and the other end is rotatably connected to the first joint of the second support of the two adjoining supports. While the third joint of the first support is connected to a first joint of the forth support through a coupling member, and the third joint of the second support is connected to a first joint of a third support through a coupling member. Therefore, a space between the supports can be easily adjusted by pulling the supports apart or by pressing the supports towards each other. Further, a space between adjoining supports and a space between supports that do not adjoin each other can be adjusted differently so that the size of the pallet need not be a square.
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Arai Tomoaki
Ishihara Satoshi
Ishikawa Sakae
Tanaka Isamu
Fidei David T.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
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