AU2004100514B4 - Improved freight container - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR AN INNOVATION PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: ANDERS REINLI Actual Inventor: ANDERS REINLI Agent and Address for Service: MADDERNS, 1 st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention Title: IMPROVED FREIGHT CONTAINER Details of Associated Provisional Application No. 2004900065 dated 8 th January 2004.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to containers for shipping freight. In a particular form the invention relates to improvements for containers which are designed to be top lifted using conventional lifting equipment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The use of forty foot closed box type containers to ship palletised cargo is of course well known. These are typically designed to be top lifted at each of the four upper corners, the load attachment points being designed to transfer load forces through the corner posts to the floor of the container. To overcome difficulties associated with accessing goods which have been stored in a closed box type container, where the goods are loaded and unloaded by a single access door, open sided containers have been developed which may have either or both of the elongate sides of the container completely open. During shipping, these open sides are closed using flexible curtains which can be withdrawn to allow access to the cargo. Clearly, this provides much more flexible access to the cargo than conventional containers.

However, open sided containers suffer from a serious disadvantage. As is well known, the structural rigidity of an open sided box structure is somewhat reduced when compared to a closed box type structure. In order to overcome this loss of structural rigidity, the cross-section of the base must be correspondingly increased so that the floor stiffness can provide in part the missing structural integrity. However, not only does this not overcome the problem of substantial stresses occurring at the corner points of the container, this often causing structural fatigue, but also reduces the overall useful volume of the container (given that the overall height of the container is a constant).

One approach to address the structural rigidity problems of open sided containers is described in International Application WO 99/15437. This involves employing an intermediate support such as a corrugated wall section struts or ties between a base deck and an overlying roof, corrugated in a unitary, integrated beam sectional profile. Whilst potentially further increasing the structural rigidity of a container, this arrangement has the significant disadvantage that the intermediate wall section prevents access from one side of the container to the other. Thus each side of the intermediate wall in the container must be separately loaded and unloaded. In addition, containers incorporating this intermediate wall can not accommodate wide cargo such as timber packs which take up the entire width of a container.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an open sided container capable of improved structural rigidity that allows for convenient loading and unloading of cargo.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one aspect the present invention accordingly provides a top liftable freight container including: a peripheral frame structure, a load bearing floor and a roof secured to said frame structure, and first and second opposed end walls interconnecting the floor and the roof; characterised by: an intermediate bracing frame structure interconnecting the floor and the roof, said bracing frame structure including a horizontal beam member fixed to and extending longitudinally of said roof on its inner side and centrally thereof, a pair of longitudinally spaced apart vertical posts or pillars each spaced inwardly from a respective said end wall and each having its upper end secured to the beam member and its lower end secured to the floor, said spaced apart posts or pillars defining an elongate central opening in the bracing frame structure which allows access from one side of the container to the other side, and bracing elements respectively extending between the roof and the floor on opposite sides of said elongate central opening and disposed between a respective said end wall and its proximal said vertical post, wherein said bracing frame structure is arranged and constructed to brace said container against deflection caused by top lifting.

The intermediate bracing frame structure functions to strengthen the freight container thereby reducing the required thickness of the floor ensuring that volume of the container is optimised. In addition as the bracing frame structure provides access to both sides through the central opening the container is more convenient to pack and able to accommodate wider cargoes.

Preferably, said beam member extends only between said vertical posts and has its ends substantially equidistant from said first and second end walls.

This substantially simplifies the construction of the intermediate bracing frame structure.

Optionally, said horizontal beam member extends along the full length of said roof.

Preferably, said bracing element comprises a web forming panel of corrugated sheet metal secured to and extending between a respective said post and a respective said end wall.

These panels may be used to mount shelving and the like and provide effective separation between the sides of the container near the opposed end walls.

Preferably, said roof comprises a centrally located elongate plate extending between said end walls and opposed roof panels secured to respective longitudinal edges of said plate and to said peripheral frame structure, and wherein said beam member is secured to said elongate plate and comprises a pair of co-extensive box girders, secured to one another, one on top of the other.

This improves the structural integrity of the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a top liftable freight container according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a front view of the freight container illustrated in Figure 1; FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the freight container illustrated in Figure 2 through sectional line AA; FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view through sectional line BB showing the attachment of the bottom of the wall panel to the floor of the container; and FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view through sectional line BB showing the attachment of the top of the wall panel to the roof of the container.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to Figures 1 to 3, there is shown a top liftable freight container 100 of a generally box shape having a solid floor 110, a closed roof 120, closed opposite end walls 130, 140 and a pair of opposite open sides 150, 160, which are closable by means of concertina type flexible curtain or alternatively a number of individual removable barrier elements (not shown).

Roof 120 includes two opposed roof panels 125, 126 (as best seen in Figure 3) which are secured to respective longitudinal edges of a centrally located elongate roof plate 180 extending between said end walls 130, 140. Roof panels 125, 126 are further secured to the peripheral frame structure of the container. Roof 120 also includes four top lift attachment points 121 positioned above the corner posts.

Container 100 includes openings 111 which are positioned to receive fork lift tines for those occasions where a container is bottom lifted. Whilst in this embodiment the container is top lifted by attachment points 121 positioned on the top corners of the container (such as a standard 40 foot container), clearly the invention is equally applicable to those containers whose top lifting attachment points are spaced inwardly from respective corner posts (such as often found in 48 foot containers).

Interior to container 100 is a bracing frame structure 200 which includes a pair of co-joined box girders 210, 220 (as best shown in Figure 3) and vertical support posts 230, 240 at opposite ends thereof forming an elongate central opening which allows access from one side of the container to the other. The girders 210, 220 are secured together and welded to mounting plate 211 which in turn is welded to roof plate 180 thereby forming an integral beam member attached to and extending along the roof 120 centrally thereof. Clearly, as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, other attachment methods may be used such as bolting the beam member directly to the roof. The posts 230, 240 which are attached to opposite ends of box girders 210, 220 extend perpendicularly from the floor 110 to the interior surface of roof 120 and are secured at both ends to the floor 110 and roof 120 respectively.

Co-joined box girders 210, 220 in this embodiment extend between posts or pillars 210, 220 but clearly, as would be apparent to those skilled in the art, the integral beam member so formed may extend along the full length of the roof. In addition the size and the strength of intermediate bracing frame structure 200 can be adopted to suit the requirements of the particular type of container and the top lifting arrangement.

Intermediate web-forming panels 250, 260 of corrugate sheet metal extend from respective posts 230, 240 to the respective end walls 130, 140 thereby functioning as bracing elements and providing extra bracing between the end walls and support posts. These panels 250, 260 are aligned perpendicular to end walls 130, 140. In another embodiment web panels 250, 260 are replaced by a pair of ties forming a cross frame which also functions to brace support posts 230, 240.

As would be apparent to those skilled in the art other similar bracing arrangements are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, there are shown enlarged sectional views of the securing arrangement of panel 260 to container floor 110 and roof 120. A slot 117 is formed in floor 110 allowing panel 260 to be directly welded 265 to central "I"-beam 170. Furthermore the top of wall panel 260 is directly welded 266 to elongate roof panel 180 thereby increasing the overall structural rigidity of the panel and its ability to brace the container 100. An identical arrangement is adopted for wall panel 250.

In operation as container 100 is lifted by attachment points 121 the intermediate bracing frame structure 200 will brace the roof and floor against deflection caused by lifting at the top corners. Box girders 210, 220 provide added structural stiffness thereby reducing overall container deflection. As a result the container can be constructed with a reduced floor cross-section. As an example, the floor height of a typical 40 foot open sided container is 350 mm. However, adopting the present invention allows containers to be built with floor heights of 250 mm and furthermore having improved resistance to structural fatigue at the welded joins between the corner posts and the floor and roof. Additionally, the present invention allows for the loading and unloading of cargo from one side thus overcoming one of the serious deficiencies of open sided "I"-beam type containers having an intermediate wall. The aperture defined by frame structure 200 also allows wide packs taking up the entire width of the container to be loaded and shipped.

It will be understood that the term comprise and any of its derivatives (eg.

comprises, comprising) as used in this specification is to be taken to be inclusive of features to which it refers, and is not meant to exclude the presence of any additional features unless otherwise stated or implied.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.

Claims (4)

1. A top liftable freight container including: a peripheral frame structure, a load bearing floor and a roof secured to said frame structure, and first and second opposed end walls interconnecting the floor and the roof; characterised by: an intermediate bracing frame structure interconnecting the floor and the roof, said bracing frame structure including a horizontal beam member fixed to and extending longitudinally of said roof on its inner side and centrally thereof, a pair of longitudinally spaced apart vertical posts or pillars each spaced inwardly from a respective said end wall and each having its upper end secured to the beam member and its lower end secured to the floor, said spaced apart posts or pillars defining an elongate central opening in the bracing frame structure which allows access from one side of the container to the other side, and bracing elements respectively extending between the roof and the floor on opposite sides of said elongate central opening and disposed between a respective said end wall and its proximal said vertical post, wherein said bracing frame structure is arranged and constructed to brace said container against deflection caused by top lifting.

2. A top liftable freight container according to claim 1 wherein said beam member extends only between said vertical posts and has its ends substantially equidistant from said first and second end walls.

3. A top liftable freight container according to claim 1, wherein said horizontal beam member extends along the full length of said roof.

4. A top liftable freight container according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein each said bracing element comprises a web forming panel of corrugated sheet metal secured to and extending between a respective said post and a respective said end wall. A top liftable freight container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said roof comprises a centrally located elongate plate extending between said end walls and opposed roof panels secured to respective longitudinal edges of said plate and to said peripheral frame structure, and wherein said beam member is secured to said elongate plate and comprises a pair of co-extensive box girders, secured to one another, one on top of the other. Dated this 30 th day of June, 2004 Anders Reinli By his Patent Attorneys MADDERNS