Receptacles – Sectional – Knockdown
Patent
1996-01-03
1997-04-08
Castellano, Stephen J.
Receptacles
Sectional
Knockdown
206600, 206509, 220636, B65D 21032
Patent
active
056179677
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to transport containers of the type having side walls connected to one another at their edges by clamps, and with a pallet as a base, the pallet also being fastened to the side walls by clamps. Such transport containers can be dismantled at the site of the consignee by loosening the clamps and stacking the side walls as well as the pallet on top of one another. In this state the transport containers can be returned to the sender, to be re-assembled there. Depending on the stresses to which they are exposed, such transport containers can be used several times until serious damage makes it necessary to take them out of circulation.
Such returnable transport containers must meet a multitude of requirements during handling. Among others, it must be possible to stack such containers, it must be ensured that the stacked containers will not slide sideways out of position, and furthermore the transport containers may not weigh more than is absolutely essential.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,986, which is the most relevant published document, discloses a collapsible transport container having side walls connected to one another by flexible straps so as to form a polygon which is expandable or collapsible to a rectangle or a flattened parallelogram. The bottom of the panels are removably attached to a pallet, which includes a platform which surmounts an array of spaced parallel skid planks. The ends of the skid planks extend beyond the side panels which they support, and the skid planks are provided with notches to enable one assembled container to be loosely stacked on another.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,322 discloses a materials handling pallet comprising a base plate supported on an array of pallet blocks arranged at least at the corners of the base plate, wherein the outwardly directed side surfaces of the blocks are flush with the corresponding outwardly directed side and end surfaces of skid planks supporting the blocks.
FR-A-2380952 discloses a set of stackable wooden crates which are designed in such a way that a superjacent crate may be stacked so as to span a pair of subjacent crates which are positioned along side one another. Each crate has a pair of plain skid planks extending across its base and the skid planks are arranged to locate inside the end walls of a subjacent crate, when the crates are stacked.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to further develop a transport container of the above-mentioned type in such a way that it can be stacked without sliding out of position, whilst at the same time ensuring increased protection of the container parts during their use, reducing the mass of the container and the number of components used therein.
The invention accordingly provides a transport container comprising side walls connected to one another at their edges by clamps and a four-sided pallet, with blocks arranged at least at the corners of a base plate of the pallet and such that the forks of a forklift truck can be inserted there between, characterised in that the pallet is fastened to the side walls by clamps, the outwardly directed side surfaces of the blocks are flush with the corresponding outer surfaces of the adjoining side walls, skid planks are fastened to the undersides of the blocks, a rebate of width (A) is formed in an outwardly directed side surface of each skid plank such that, over part of its height, said side surface is rebated a constant distance (A) from the adjoining outwardly directed side surfaces of the adjoining blocks, the distance (A) being determined by the thickness of the side walls plus a handling play which is not substantially greater than half a side wall thickness, and the thickness and the material of the side walls are chosen such that a plurality of open transport containers can be stacked on top of one another, with the rebates in the skid planks of an upper container each resting on an upper edge of a side wall of the container positioned underneath.
Preferably, the outwardly directed side surfaces of the skid planks are, over part
REFERENCES:
patent: 3251322 (1966-05-01), Downs et al.
patent: 3266656 (1966-08-01), Kridle
patent: 3323674 (1967-06-01), Nist, Jr.
patent: 4375265 (1983-03-01), van de Wetering et al.
patent: 4673087 (1987-06-01), Webb
patent: 5036979 (1991-08-01), Selz
patent: 5109986 (1992-05-01), Pruitt, Jr.
Castellano Stephen J.
Clip-Lok International Limited
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