Receptacles – Freight containers
Patent
1994-10-31
1995-09-12
Moy, Joseph Man-Fu
Receptacles
Freight containers
B65D 9000
Patent
active
054490820
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to lift fittings for cargo containers, and is particularly, though not exclusively, concerned with lift fittings positioned inboard from the ends of cargo containers of non-standard lengths i.e. cargo containers which do not conform to present international standard lengths.
Cargo containers have become the standard means of transportation of material by road, rail and sea. As a result of their universal usage, standards have been established with respect to the size of cargo containers and design of cargo containers, so that they can be transported anywhere in the world using uniform lifting points. These uniform lifting points are required, in that cargo containers are most often lifted and moved by vehicular cranes or marine cranes, which either load or unload cargo containers onto flat bed trucks or railroad cars, or load or unload ocean-going container vessels. Container lifter devices currently in use include so-called ISO twistloks, and so-called "crane spreaders" with locking devices, which are generally T-shaped and which are presented in one angular setting to be received by conventional lift fittings, and are then rotated through 90.degree. to a locking position prior to lifting operations taking place.
The established standardised lengths of cargo containers are 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet and 40 feet. Containers of these dimensions usually have their lifting points formed by lift fittings located at or near the corners of the containers on the roof thereof, so that each lift fitting has the benefit of two intersecting walls for support, namely adjoining side and end walls. Each wall normally has horizontal support members which are secured to the lift fitting, and a vertical post is also provided at the intersection between the two walls which is also secured to the lift fitting. In this way, the rectangular box-like integrity of the container is maintained i.e. there is no projection into the container void from the walls of the container, and the structural strength of the container is maintained by the interconnection of the lift fittings and the horizontal and vertical supports.
However, recent developments in the United States, Canada and Mexico have led to the development of domestic containers of non-standard lengths, in order to accommodate high volume pay loads and reduce the associated cost of shipping. These non-standard containers utilised in the UK domestic market are typically found in lengths of 45 feet, 48 feet and 53 feet. Despite the non-standard length of these containers, they must still be capable of being lifted with vehicular cranes or marine cranes which are designed to the international standard i.e. designed to engage lift fittings at standard spacings apart on the corners of standard size containers. Therefore, the lifting points which are provided on non-standard length containers must be located inboard from the corner ends of the containers. It is known to fit these lifting points in non-standard length containers in portal frames built into the structure of the containers, but due to the fact that the lift fittings and the portal frames do not provide as much support strength and rigidity as is available by adjoining side and end walls (with lift fittings on standard length containers), the necessity arises to provide additional supporting strength to the portal frames to withstand transverse loads imposed during transportation.
The current techniques adopted to solve the problems of lack of rigidity of portal frames in non-standard length containers is to provide large triangular gussets which stiffen the portal frames. These gussets are located internally of the non-standard length container, and therefore project into the cargo space, and accordingly reduce the effective volume which can be utilised. Thus, while the triangular gussets only project into the container volume at the portal frames, cargo is usually loaded only through one end, and if cargo is to be moved through at least part of the length of the container, the maximum size of
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patent: 3591033 (1971-07-01), Partridge
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patent: 5191743 (1993-03-01), Romig et al.
patent: 5222621 (1993-06-01), Matias
patent: 5255806 (1993-10-01), Korzeniowski et al.
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