Receptacles – Sectional – Folding
Patent
1998-02-05
2000-06-13
Vidovich, Gregory M.
Receptacles
Sectional
Folding
220 7, 220315, 220913, B65D 612
Patent
active
060737905
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP97/00566, filed Feb. 7, 1997, which claims the benefit of German Application No. 19605080.4, filed Feb. 12, 1996.
This invention relates to folding containers for fruit and vegetables for example, in particular folding containers whose walls fold inward onto the container bottom and are interconnected by snap-in elements in the erect position. Such a folding container is indicated by the features of the preamble of claim 1.
For transporting goods of daily life, in particular perishable foods such as fruit, lettuce and the like, it is a well-known procedure to use containers whose side walls can be folded up over the bottom. This on one hand provides sufficient volume for transport, while on the other hand the containers take up accordingly little space during empty transport, i.e. return transport. A great variety of suggestions have been made on how to design a suitable transport container for the abovementioned purposes.
An ever recurring discrepancy in the transport of perishable goods in containers is the relationship between the lightness of the container, which is generally obtained by a perforated bottom and side wall structure, and protection of the contained goods from damage. The main danger here is that the contained goods, e.g. bananas or the like, can be damaged from outside since e.g. in a mixed stack with wooden containers or wooden crates splinters can penetrate through the open structure of the side and bottom walls and pass into the transported goods, making them unfit for sale.
A further problem of known containers is that it is frequently very difficult to handle the connecting mechanisms for the erect side walls of such containers. This is a very great problem because these folding containers are predominantly operated by untrained personnel, being in particular also used in the private sphere. It is often very difficult to release the side walls from their lock-in position because the actual snap-in mechanism is unknown and no operating instructions are generally provided for such containers. The users of the folding containers therefore hurt themselves particularly when converting the container to the service position or the empty position since they scrape their hands or pinch their fingers. This problem is not to be underestimated because the acceptance of such folding containers depends upon the attitude of users on the market. It is therefore very essential that folding containers, while having a very stable snap-in connection, permit very simple unlocking and conversion of the side walls to the empty position, i.e. the return transport position.
The problem of the invention is to provide a folding container whose folding walls can be easily fixed in the erect position but also very simply released and converted to the return transport position in which the side walls are folded onto the bottom. Further, damage-free transport of the contained goods should be ensured.
This problem is solved according to the invention by the features contained in the characterizing part of claim 1, expedient developments of the invention being characterized by the features contained in the subclaims.
According to the invention the snap-in locking is effected by snap-in elements which can be released with simple finger pressure, the side walls being converted to the folded position, i.e. folded onto the container bottom, with the same finger pressure operation at the same time as the snap-in elements are released. For this purpose the snap-in elements are equipped with a pressure lever which is preferably adapted to a finger surface, in particular the thumb surface, and is thus immediately recognized optically by the user as a pressure lever and as the actual operating surface for releasing the snap-in element. That is to say, the user will automatically press the lever, thereby simultaneously causing the side walls to fold into each other and consequently ensuring very simple handling of the container. Mere pressure on th
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patent: 4542924 (1985-09-01), Brown et al.
patent: 4674647 (1987-06-01), Gyenge et al.
patent: 4775068 (1988-10-01), Reiland et al.
patent: 5158329 (1992-10-01), Schlack
Brevard Maerena W.
Schoeller-Plast S.A.
Vidovich Gregory M.
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