Flexible bags – Lifting or suspending element – Unitary with bag
Patent
1991-09-10
1993-03-09
Garbe, Stephen P.
Flexible bags
Lifting or suspending element
Unitary with bag
383 8, 383109, 383120, B65D 3004, B65D 3020, B65D 3310
Patent
active
051921332
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) for lifting, transportation and storage of bulk material. Such FIBC comprises a hose-shaped blank that is woven in such shape or is made from at least one piece of flat woven material joined together and having joints at its bottom and/or top ends. The FIBC also includes at least one lifting loop which might be formed from integral extensions of the container side walls, a filling opening and possibly also a liner.
The blank as defined herein can be made from round woven material or at least one piece of flat woven material joined together for forming at least one side joint or seam. Such joining together can for instance be performed subsequent to joining of the bottom and/or top joints.
FIBCs have been used for some time and have proved to be suitable for transportation, lifting and storage of bulk material such as granular fertilizer, ground and unground grain, Portland cement, coal, etc., in quantities of several hundred kilos per container.
The prior art reveals that the FIBCs are difficult to manufacture with a high degree of mechanization. Even relatively simple operations like cutting of the blank, folding and sewing of side and bottom seams are done manually. If the production of the container could be mechanized the manufacture costs would be reduced due to reduction in manual labor.
Previously known FIBCs for transportation of bulk material, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,247 (corresponding to NO U.S. Pat. No. 136,744), are made from a blank of flat woven fabric, and are formed by folding the blank at a transverse center line thereof and sewing the sides and the bottom. The middle section of the blank forms in the finished product a lifting loop which is an integral extension of the side walls. However, the container according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,247 was made with a squarish base by making gussets at opposite sides of the hose shaped blank before the base was sewn. The disadvantages of this construction are firstly that the containers are expensive to manufacture due to the long side seams and secondly that it is a difficult operation to make the gussets after the side seams have been made.
Further, there is known a container according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,723 (Norwegian Patent No. 138,134) which can be made from a round woven fabric. When such container is made from a round woven fabric, there will be no side seams. This container has a double base construction comprising one or two seams each having a length of 1/4 of the container circumference.
Neither of the two containers described in such U.S. patents are suitable for mechanized production and both such containers require a relatively large storage volume when empty.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, the object of the invention is to provide an improved FIBC where:
To meet the above objects, the inventors had to find ways to manufacture the FIBC which were suitable for mechanization. The starting point in the production of the FIBCs was to employ round woven fabric in the form of a hose shaped blank. The round woven fabric versus flat woven fabric possesses one great advantage, i.e. it does not have side seams. Side seams reduce the circumferential strength and increase the manufacturing costs of the FIBC. The present invention should therefore provide a reduction in the total seam length.
The simplest solution to the problem of how to make an FIBC with short seam length seemed to be a prefolded container which also was suitable for mechanized production. Preliminary tests indicated that the hose shaped blank folded one or twice longitudinally and then joined by a transverse seam at the bottom was strong and well suited for mechanized production. In fact, the number of foldings was not restricted to only once or twice, but it might include any practical number. The preliminary tests further showed that if the seam was positioned in the center of the bottom area of the container when filled or inflated, a container accordingly wo
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Juel Anders
Lysfjord Roger
Omdal Bjarne
Strand Olaf
Garbe Stephen P.
Norsk Hydro a.s.
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