AU2003200978A1 - A Structural Member Erected from a Blank of Foldable Material - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant(s) Actual Inventor(s) Address for Service: Invention Title: Amcor Limited Andrew Jackson CULLEN CO Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 239 George Street Brisbane OlQId 4000 Australian A Structural Member Erected from a Blank of Foldable Material Details of Associated Provisional Applications PS1061 13 March 2002 2003900305 23 January 2003 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it, known to us: 7 2 Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to a structural member and, in particular, to a structural member formed from a blank of foldable material.

The invention is intended for use as a bearer for containers or pallets which are used to transport or store goods. Although the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to this application it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular use.

Brief Description of the Prior Art Bearers of the type which are secured to the bottom of pallets or containers for transporting or storing goods are usually constructed from materials such as wood or steel. Although bearers constructed from these materials generally perform quite satisfactorily they suffer from the deficiency that they are quite heavy. This additional weight is undesirable for pallets or containers because it can make them more difficult to handle and more expensive to transport.

The aforementioned deficiency has been addressed by a structural member disclosed in Australian patent 740120 (Johnson). The structural member of the Johnson patent is erected from a blank of foldable material and can be used as a bearer for a pallet or a container. The structural member includes a plurality of wall panels which are hinged to each other by respective parallel fold-lines, and a plurality of'flaps which are each hinged to one of the wall panels by a common fold-line which is parallel to the other fold-lines. At least one of the flaps is divided by a further fold-line which is 3 also parallel to the other fold-lines. The flaps are dimensioned such that the free ends thereof abut selected ones of the fold-lines which hinge the wall panels together so as to thereby provide diagonal bracing of the structural member.

Although the structural member disclosed in the Johnson patent is lighter than bearers which are constructed from wood or steel, the structural member still suffers from a number of deficiencies. For example, when erecting the member from the blank, it is often necessary to manually position each flap so that the free end thereof abuts an appropriate fold-line. If the structural member is quite long and has many flaps it can be quite difficult to access the individual flaps let alone position them correctly. This accessibility problem may, for example, be addressed by reducing the number of flaps.

However, reducing the number of flaps has the disadvantage that it reduces the amount of bracing in the structural member which would therefore reduce the strength of the structural member.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a structural member formed from a blank of foldable material which substantially overcomes, or at least ameliorates, one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art, or at least provides the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, various embodiments of the present invention are disclosed.

4 Summary of the Invention According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a structural member erected from a blank of foldable material, the member including a pair of wall panels and a plurality of brace panels extending between the wall panels, each brace panel being hinged to a projecting portion of one of the wall panels and a recessed portion of the other wall panel by respective fold-lines, the projecting portions of the respective wall panels being arranged such that they are spaced apart from and substantially parallel to each other, and the brace panels being arranged to provide cross bracing between the projecting portions of the respective wall panels so as to reinforce the structural member.

In a preferred form, the brace panels are interleaved with each other such that adjacent brace panels cross each other. Also, each brace panel may include a tooth portion which engages with an adjacent brace panel so as to provide additional reinforcement of the structural member.

Moreover, a return panel may be hinged to one of the brace panels about a fold-line, the return panel being maintained in an inclined relationship with respect to the brace panel by a web panel hinged to the return panel and a projecting portion of one of the wall panels by respective fold-lines such that the return panel provides additional reinforcement of the structural member.

The projecting portions of at least one of the wall panels may be hinged thereto about a fold-line. Further, one of the wall panels may have a plurality of additional wall panels hinged thereto and to each other by respective parallel fold-lines.

Brief Description of the Drawings In order that the invention may be more fully understood and put into practice, various preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank erectable into a structural member according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the blank illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 illustrates an initial stage of the erection of the structural member from the blank illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 illustrates an intermediate stage of the erection of the structural member from the blank illustrated Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the structural member erected from the blank of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the structural member illustrated in Fig. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a blank erectable into a structural member according to a second embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the structural member erected from the blank of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a reverse front elevation of the structural member erected from the blank of Fig. 7; Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the structural member erected from the blank of Fig. 7; Fig. 11 is an end elevation of a structural member according to a third embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 12 is an end elevation of a structural member according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 13 is an end elevation of a structural member according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 14 is an end elevation of a structural member according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 15 is an end elevation of a structural member according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 16 is an end elevation of a structural member according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 17 is a plan view of a blank erectable into a structural member according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 18 illustrates an initial stage of the erection of the structural member from the blank of Fig. 17; Fig. 19 illustrates an intermediate stage of the erection of the structural member from the blank of Fig. 17; Fig. 20 is a perspective view of the structural member erected from the blank of Fig. 17; and Fig. 21 is an end elevation of the structural member illustrated in Fig. 7 Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to Fig. 1, a blank 30 of foldable material is erectable into a structural member according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The blank 30 includes a plurality of linearly arranged wall panels 31 to 34, and a plurality of offset and separate brace panels 35, 36 which extend between each adjacent pair of the wall panels 31 to 34 such that the brace panels 36 are interleaved with each other.

Referring to Fig. 2, for each adjacent pair of the wall panels 31 to 34, each brace panel 35, 36 is hinged to a projecting portion 37 of one of the wall panels of the pair and a recessed portion 38 of the other wall panel of the pair by fold-lines 39 and 40, respectively. Also, the brace panels 35, 36 are separated from each other by cuts 41 which extend through the blank 30 such that each brace panel 35, 36 includes an angular tooth portion 42.

Fig. 3 illustrates an initial stage of the erection of the structural member from the blank 30 in which the brace panels 35, 36 extending between the wall panels 31, 32 are hinged relative to the wall panels 31, 32 so that the wall panels 31, 32 are spaced apart from and parallel to each other.

Referring to Fig. 4, the brace panels 35, 36 extending between the wall panels 32, 33 are then hinged relative to the wall panels 32, 33 so that wall panels 31, 33 overlie each other and wall panels 32, 33 are spaced apart from and parallel to each other. Also, wall panel 31 is fastened to wall panel 33 by a suitable fastening means such as glue.

To arrive at the structural member 50 illustrated in Fig. 5, the brace 8 panels 35, 36 extending between the wall panels 33, 34 are hinged relative to the wall panels 33, 34 so that wall panels 32 and 34 overlap each other and wall panels 33, 34 are spaced apart from and parallel to each other. Also, wall panel 34 is fastened to wall panel 32 by a suitable fastening means such as glue.

Referring to Fig. 6, the projecting portions 37 of the respective wall panels 31, 32 are spaced apart from and parallel to each other. Also, the arrangement of the brace panels 35, 36 which extend between the wall panels 31, 32 is such that they provide cross bracing between the projecting portions 37 of the wall panels 31, 32 so as to reinforce the structural member In particular, the brace panels 35, 36 extend diagonally between opposing projecting portions 37 of the respective wall panels 31, 32 such that the brace panels 35, 36 cross each other. Also, additional reinforcement is provided by the tooth portions 42 of each brace panel 35, 36 engaging with an adjacent brace panel 35, 36.

Similar comments to those made in the preceding paragraph apply to the arrangement of the other wall and brace panels of the structural member Fig. 7 illustrates a blank 60 of foldable material erectable into a structural member according to a second embodiment of the present invention. For convenience, features of the blank 60 that are similar or correspond to features of the blank 30 have been referenced using the same reference numbers.

The blank 60 includes a pair of adjacent wall panels 31, 32, and a 9 plurality of offset and separate brace panels 35, 36 extending between the wall panels 31, 32 such that the brace panels 35, 36 are interleaved with each other. Each brace panel 35, 36 is hinged to a projecting portion 37 of one of the wall panels and a recessed portion 38 of the other wall panel by fold-lines 39 and 40, respectively. Each brace panel 35, 36 has a pair of return panels 61 hinged to opposing sides thereof by fold-lines 62, and each return panel 61 has a triangular-shaped web panel 63 hinged thereto by a fold-line 64.

Each web panel 63 is also hinged to a projecting portion 37 by a fold-line Adjacent return panels 61 are separated from each other by cuts 41 which extend through the blank 60 such that adjacent brace panels 35, 36 are thereby separated from each other. The cuts 41 also separate the wall panels 31, 32 from the portion of the return panels 61 which are adjacent thereto.

Figs. 8 to 10 illustrate a structural member 70 which is formed from the blank 60 by hinging the brace panels 35, 36 relative to the wall panels 31, 32 so that the wall panels 31, 32 and respective projecting portions 37 thereof are spaced apart from and parallel to each other. Also, the brace panels 36 reinforce the structural member 70 by extending diagonally between the projecting portions 37 of the respective wall panels 31, 32 such that the brace panels 35, 36 cross each other. The return panels 61, which are maintained in an inclined relationship with respect to the brace panels 35, 36 by the web panels 63, provide additional reinforcement of the structural member Figs. 11 to 16 illustrate other structural members which also embody the present invention. Again, for convenience, features of the structural members illustrated in Figs. 11 to 16 that are similar or correspond to features of the previously described structural members have been referenced using the same reference numbers.

The structural member 80 illustrated in Fig. 11 is similar to the structural member 70 illustrated in Figs. 8 to 10. However, unlike the structural member 70, the structural member 80 does not have return panels 61 or web panels 63.

The structural member 90 illustrated in Fig. 12 differs from the structural member 80 in that the projecting portions 37 of the structural member 90 are hinged to the wall panels 31, 32 by respective continuous fold-lines 40. Also, the wall panels 31, 32 are arranged so that they extend perpendicularly away from the projecting portions 37.

The structural member 100 illustrated in Fig. 13 differs from the structural member 80 in that the projecting portions 37 of the wall panel 31 are hinged to the wall panel 31 by a continuous fold-line 40 so that the wall panel 31 can be arranged to extend perpendicularly away from the projecting portions 37.

The structural member 110 illustrated in Fig. 14 differs from the structural member 90 in that the wall panel 32 is arranged and dimensioned so as to overlie the wall panel 31.

The structural member 120 illustrated in Fig. 15 differs from the structural member 110 in that the wall panel 31 extends in the opposite direction.

The structural member 130 illustrated in Fig. 16 differs from the 11 structural member 120 in a number of respects. Firstly, the wall panel 32 of the structural member 130 is narrower. Also, a plurality of linearly arranged additional wall panels 132 are hinged to the wall panel 32 and to each other by respective fold-lines 131. The additional wall panels 132 are essentially wrapped around the outside of the member 130 so that the structural member 130 is generally in the form of a hollow beam having a rectangular transverse cross-section with each of the brace panels 25, 26 extending between diagonally opposite corners of the beam.

Fig. 17 illustrates a blank 140 of foldable material which is erectable into a structural member according to another embodiment of the present invention which is similar to the structural member 130 illustrated in Fig. 16. For convenience, features of the blank 140 that are similar or correspond to features of the blank of the structural member 130 have been referenced using the same reference numbers.

The blank 140 differs from the blank from which the structural member 130 is erected in that the blank 140 has four more additional wall panels 132. Further, the portions of the continuous fold-line 40 which hinge the brace panels 35 to the wall panel 32 are double fold-lines.

Fig. 18 illustrates an initial stage of the erection of a structural member from the blank 140 in which the wall panel 31, brace panels 35, 36, and projecting portions 37 are pivoted about the various fold-lines which hinge the panels/portions together until the wall panel 31 overlies wall panel 32 as shown in Fig. 19. Wall panels 32, 132 are then essentially wrapped around the outside of the structure formed by the wall panel 31, brace panels 12 36, and projecting portions 37 to produce the structural member 150 illustrated in Figs. 20 and 21.

The structural member 150 is in the form of a hollow beam which has a rectangular transverse cross-section and which is reinforced by a plurality of diagonal braces extending between diagonally opposite corners of the beam. The braces are provided by the brace panels 35, 36 and are oriented such that adjacent braces cross each other.

The structural member 150 is prevented from unravelling by using a suitable fastening means such as an adhesive, clips or staples.

Alternatively, a layer of non-slip sheet material (not shown) can be placed on the blank 140 so that the sheet is sandwiched between the facing surfaces of the blank 140 as the structural member 150 is formed. A clip, tape, glue or other suitable securing means can then be used to secure the structural member 150 to form a strong and resilient structure.

The foldable material from which the blanks of the various structural members are formed may be of any suitable type such as plastic or fibreboard material. Suitable fibreboard materials include double-sided corrugated fibreboard and solid fibreboard. If a blank is formed from corrugated fibreboard it is preferred that the corrugations or flutes of the fibreboard are transverse with respect to the fold-lines of the blank.

The various structural member embodiments described above have a number of applications. For example, a plurality of structural members may be integrally formed with or secured to a pallet such that the structural members function as bearers. Also, the structural members may be 13 used as void-fillers in concrete slabs or packaging articles such as boxes. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the structural members will also have other applications that are not mentioned here which require a rigid, lightweight and strong member.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the dimensions of the various members and the number of braces and wall panels can be varied to suit. Also, the brace panels need not be interleaved with each other so that adjacent brace panels cross each other.

Moreover, the brace panels 35, 36 need not have tooth portions or return panels hinged thereto. Also, although the structural members, such as the members 130 and 150, are described as having rectangular transverse crosssections, it will be apparent that other forms of polygonal cross-section are possible where the included angle between adjacent wall panels is less than

Claims (8)

1. A structural member erected from a blank of foldable material, the member including a pair of wall panels and a plurality of brace panels extending between the wall panels, each brace panel being hinged to a projecting portion of one of the wall panels and a recessed portion of the other wall panel by respective fold-lines, the projecting portions of the respective wall panels being arranged such that they are spaced apart from and substantially parallel to each other, and the brace panels being arranged to provide cross bracing between the projecting portions of the respective wall panels so as to reinforce the structural member.

2. The structural member of claim 1, wherein the brace panels are interleaved with each other such that adjacent brace panels cross each other.

3. The structural member of claim 2, wherein each brace panel includes a tooth portion engaging with an adjacent brace panel so as to provide additional reinforcement of the structural member.

4. The structural member of claim 1 or 2, wherein a return panel is hinged to one of the said brace panels about a fold-line, the return panel being maintained in an inclined relationship with respect to the brace panel by a web panel hinged to the return panel and a projecting portion of one of the wall panels by respective fold-lines such that the return panel provides additional reinforcement of the structural member.

The structural member of claim 1 or 2, wherein the projecting portions of at least one of the wall panels are hinged thereto by a fold-line.

6. The structural member of claim 1 or 2, wherein one of the wall panels has a plurality of additional wall panels hinged thereto and to each other by respective parallel fold-lines.

7. A structural member substantially as herein described with reference to Figs, 1 to 6; Figs. 7 to 10; Fig. 11; Fig. 12; Fig. 13; Fig. 14; Fig. Fig. 16; or Figs. 17 to 21.

8. A blank of foldable material erectable into a structural member, the blank being substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 7; or Fig. 17. DATED this 1 3 th day of March 2003 AMCOR LIMITED By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.