AU2004205223A1 - Crate handling system - Google Patents
Crate handling system Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- AU2004205223A1 AU2004205223A1 AU2004205223A AU2004205223A AU2004205223A1 AU 2004205223 A1 AU2004205223 A1 AU 2004205223A1 AU 2004205223 A AU2004205223 A AU 2004205223A AU 2004205223 A AU2004205223 A AU 2004205223A AU 2004205223 A1 AU2004205223 A1 AU 2004205223A1
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- AU
- Australia
- Prior art keywords
- crates
- pallet
- crate
- frame
- articles
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
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Description
W
P/00/01 I Regulation 3.2
AUSTRALIA
Patents Act 1990
ORIGINAL
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "CRATE HANDLING SYSTEM" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: p
TITLE:
CRATE HANDLING SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention THIS INVENTION relates to a crate handling system.
The invention is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, a crate handling system for articles which enable the crates to be transferred from a storage facility to a retail area for direct customer selection of the articles from the crates.
The invention is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, a crate handling system suitable for chilled, frozen or refrigerated foodstuffs (such as dairy foods) which enable the crates to be transferred from a chilled/freezer/refrigerated storage area to a chilled/freezer/refrigerated retail compartment where customers can directly select the packaged foodstuffs from the crates.
2. Prior Art The handling of articles, including pre-packaged foods, in retail outlets is a major problem. This problem is further exacerbated if the articles, eg., dairy products, must be maintained under strict temperature controlled conditions, eg., milk and other dairy products at below -4 0 C and frozen dairy products below -18 0 C. Generally, such food products are delivered to the storage area of the retail outlet in crates and must be transferred to a chilled/freezer/refrigerated storage area. The products are then transferred to the retail area, usually on a "demand" basis. For example, for fresh milk in cardboard or plastic containers, the crates are carried to a refrigerated display cabinet and placed on the containers display shelves on a "one-by-one" basis. The now empty crates must be returned to the storage area for collection, eg., when the next delivery of dairy foods (from the same manufacturer) is made. (The delivery crates usually belong to the dairy foods manufacturer and must be returned as promptly as possible.) While this degree of manual handling of the products in a small retail outlet is tiresome, in very large retail outlets, such as major supermarkets, it is also extremely inefficient and expensive relying on a high "man power" component.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a crate handling system which enables articles, such as foodstuffs, to be easily transferred between a storage area and a retail display area.
It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide such a system where the articles can be stored, and displayed for retail purposes, under temperature (and/or other) controlled conditions.
It is a further preferred object of the present invention to provide such a system where the crates provide retail display "shelves" for the articles.
It is a still further preferred object of the present invention where the crates may be "nested" when empty for return to the article supply source.
It is a still further preferred object to provide a load handling trolley to transfer the crates between the storage and retail display areas.
Other preferred objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
In one aspect, the present invention resides in a crate handling system for articles including: a base pallet operable to support at least one stack of crates; and a plurality of crates stackable on the pallet, each of the crates having a floor and a pair of walls operable to enable similar crates to be vertically stacked when containing articles but nested when empty, each crate having at least one reduced height wall to enable consumer access to the articles when the crate is stacked.
Preferably, the pair of walls are a pair of end walls, and the reduced height wall is one, or both of the side walls, to allow consumer access to the articles in the crate when stacked, but allowing respective crates to be nested by alternatively stacking the crates with their longitudinal axes rotated through 900.
Preferably, the upper or (distal) portions of the end walls are provided with socket-like formations to releasably engage the floor of a crate stacked immediately above it.
Preferably, the height of the reduced height side wall(s) is less than 20% of the height of the end walls.
Preferably, the dimensions of the floor are equal to, or one half of, the dimensions of the pallet so that the crates may be stacked on such a pallet in one or two vertical stacks, respectively.
Preferably, the pallet has a load bearing face equal to one-sixth the area of a standard pallet.
The pallet may incorporate integral feet to support the load bearing face above a surface to enable the pallet to be transported by a trolley or other load handling apparatus.
Preferably, the crates and pallets are moulded from suitable plastics material, eg., polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, ABS or the like, the plastics material enabling the empty crates to be steam-cleaned or hot water and chemical (caustic) cleaned.
Preferably, the trolley has a substantially U-shaped trolley frame (in plan view) with a pair of frame rails interconnected by a cross-beam and supported by wheels (of which at least one is preferably of the castortype) with preferably at least one wheel adjacent the distal ends of the frame rail.
Preferably, a load supporting frame, also of substantially Ushape, is supported on the trolley frame by a plurality of hinged links operable to move in parallelism.
Preferably, a handle, hingedly mounted on the cross-beam, is connected to the load frame by an operating link and is arranged, so as the handle is swung downwardly to a transport position, the operating link causes the load carrying frame to be swung upwardly relative to the trolley frame to lift the pallet from the supporting surface to enable the pallet (and any crates thereon) to be transported.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To enable the invention to be fully understood, preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a plurality of the crates, in a nested position, prior to loading on the trolley; FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the pallet and crates loaded on the trolley; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of two of the pallets; FIG. 4 is a perspective side view of one of the crates; FIG. 5 is a similar view showing two of the crates nested together; FIGS. 6 and 7 are respective side views showing alternative foodstuff containers in one of the crates; F1G. 8 is a perspective "exploded" view showing the crates being loaded onto a pallet; and FIG. 9 shows a stack of the nested crates on the pallet.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the crates 10, pallet 40 and load handling trolley 50 will be hereinafter described with reference to the other drawings in more detail.
Referring to FIG. 3, each pallet 40 has a load carrying area equal to one-sixth of an Australian standard pallet and is integrally moulded 6 from suitable plastics, polyethylene or ABS, material. The pallet 40 has a body 41, with an upper load carrying surface 42. A plurality of feet 43 are provided adjacent the respective corners of the pallet body 41 and extend below the body 41 to provide a clearance to receive the load handling trolley 50 (when the latter is in its lifting/non-transport configuration).
In the embodiments illustrated, each pallet 40 is adapted to support two vertical stacks of crates 10, each stack being five crates 10 high.
However, in an alternative embodiment, each crate 10 can have the same base dimensions as the pallet 40, these alternative crates being supported by the pallet 40 in a single stack five crates high. The choice of which size crate to use may, in part, be determined by the sizelshape/number of articles to be supported within each crate.
Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, each crate 10 has a rectangularfloor 11, with a length substantially equal to the width of a pallet 40 and a width substantially equal to one half the length of the pallet 40 so that crates can be stacked on the pallet 40 with the longitudinal axis of the crates transverse to the longitudinal axis of the pallet The floor 11 has a plurality of holes 12 therethrough and is preferably provided with a peripheral rim 13 and integral reinforcing ribs (not shown) on the underside of the floor 11. Respective end walls 14, 15 are substantially vertical upstanding from the floor 11 (although preferably having a slightly diverging inclination) and each side wall 14, 15 is provided, at its upper end, with a socket-like formation 16, 17 operable to releasably engage the floor 11 (and peripheral flange 13) of a similar crate 10 stacked thereon.
The end walls 14, 15 are interconnected by side walls 18, 19 which are of reduced height less than 20% of the height of the end walls) to allow access to articles stored in the crates 10 when the crates are stacked one above the other. For example, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, each crate 10 may contain fresh or flavoured milk in, eg., 2 litre plastic containers 101, or 1 litre cardboard cartons 102. The number/size/shape of the articles transported in the crates may vary depending on the intended particular application.
Each crate 10 is preferably integrally moulded from suitable plastics material, where the side walls 18, 19 are formed integrally with the floor 11 to provide structural bracing to the end walls 14, 15 and thereby assist in the latter against flexing outwardly when vertically stacked full of the articles.
As shown in F1G. 5 (and FIGS. 8 and the crates 10 can be nested, for return, when empty, by rotating alternative crates 10 in a vertical stack through 900 so that a crate 10 is received between the end walls 14, of the crate 10 immediately below it. It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that this enables the volume of the crates, when empty, for return to be minimised.
Each pallet 40, and the crates 10 stacked thereon, can be transported between a storage position and a retail display position by a trolley 50 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The trolley has a substantially U-shaped trolley frame 51 with a pair of parallel side rails 52, 53 interconnected by a cross-beam 54. The pM trolley frame is supported on wheels 55 adjacent the distal ends of the side rails 52, 53 and a pair of wheels 56 at or adjacent the cross-beam 54.
Preferably, at least the wheels 56 are of the "castor-type", although both pairs of wheels may be of that type.
A substantially U-shaped load frame 57 overlies the trolley frame 51 and has a pair of parallel load rails 58, 59 interconnected by a cross-bar Three parallel links 61 hingedly connect the frame rails 52, 53 of the trolley frame 51 to the side rails 58, 59 of the load frame 67. A handle 62, with a cross-bar 63, is hingedly connected to the cross-beam 54 via suitable brackets 64 and an operating link 65 interconnects the handle 62 to the cross-bar of the load frame 57. By rotating the handle 62 downwardly in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, the operating link 65 causes the links 61 to swing relative to the trolley frame 51 to raise the load frame 57 in the direction of arrow B.
As shown in FIG. 1, the load frame 57 is in the lowered position to enable the trolley 50 to be engaged with the underside of the body 41 of the pallet 40. By moving the handle 62 downwardly to the position shown in FIG. 2, the pallet 40 is raised to enable the pallet 40 (and stack crates 10) to be transported, eg., from a refrigerated store room to a refrigerated display area.
Preferably, the trolley 50 is manufactured from square- or rectangular steel or aluminium tubing, which is preferably provided with an anti-corrosion coating galvanising, powder-coating, paint).
M.
M
With the products, eg., containers 101/cartons 102, stacked in the crates 10 and the crates 10 stacked one on top of the other, consumers are able to directly select the desired articles from the crates at a retail location. This obviates the need for the articles 101/102 to be removed from the crates 10 and placed on separate storage shelves, eg., in a refrigerated cabinet for retail display/customer selection. This clearly minimises the amount of manual handling which is required to enable the articles to be firstly transported from, eg., a refrigerated storage area and, secondly, placed in an, eg., refrigerated retail area for customer selection.
While the pallets 40 may be of a greater load area, eg., one quarter the area of an Australian Standard Patent, the one-sixth (1/6 t size selected in the described embodiment is preferred to enable reasonable access and movement between the storage and retail display areas while enabling the crates 10 to be stacked, eg., five high, without the total weight of the pallet/crate/articles exceeding a reasonable load limit for a person to move the trolley without safety concerns.
As hereinbefore described, the size and shape of the crates may be varied to suit the particular articles to be transported/displayed therein. The distance that the sockets 16, 17 are above the top face of the floor 11 must be greater than the height of the articles to be transported/displayed in the crates 10. Preferably, the distance will provide sufficient clearance to enable the articles to be "tilted" forward for removal from the crates 10. The height of the side walls 18, 19 must be sufficient to restrain the articles within the crate during transport, but to enable relatively easy removal of the articles from the crate for consumer selection removal.
Preferably, the height of the side walls 18, 19 will not exceed 20% of the height of the end walls 14, Advantages/features of the invention include: crate weight is under 15kg and is, therefore, better for the large manual handling requirement in coolrooms; crates are shelf-ready in two forms; a full 1/6 l pallet of crates can be wheeled straight into shop fridges (as per trolley). There is adequate access to allow removal of units from the crates once they are positioned in the fridge; individual crates can be lifted and placed onto product shelving of existing fridges crates would be placed where individual units are currently placed after being lifted out of pallets). This reduces manual handling at the point of stocking fridges; two crates fit within the 1/6 t h Australian standard pallet dimension and store the same number of 1 litre cartons per Australian standard pallet space. Storage of 3 litre and 2 litre bottles is 1 row of product less than current storage when comparing pallet space utilisation; four-wheeled trolley allows for easy movement of products. Lift of the 1 /6 t pallet is vertical as opposed to the rock back action of the twowheeled frames. The operator is not required to support any of the weight or balance the device; four-wheeled trolley allows more movement of stock per lift; the system allows for better truck space utilisation as it has very
-S
similar capacity utilisation as the current crate on pallet arrangement; current methods of product restraint would continue to be adequate as wheels are removed from under the product prior to transport.
This means that the stock is sitting on the floor as per the current system; the modification of existing packing and stacking equipment is all that is required to fill the crates and stack five high. This greatly reduces the need for capital outlay; purchasing of crates ad pallets is less expensive and the on costs are greatly reduced as the equipment is similar in its simplicity to the existing crates and pallets; the crates are able to be "cross-stacked" for return logistics.
This reduces the space required for storage and return transport. The pallets are stackable which greatly reduces the storage and return transport space requirements; the crate design has the top of the side redesigned. The existing crates have the base of the crate stacked on top sit inside the bottom crate for securing and orientation. The crate has been designed so that the crate stacking on top locates on raised area of the bottom crate.
The top crate has a recess on its base that allows the locating. This effectively acts as a "tongue in groove" arrangement and stops the sides of the bottom crate from being able to flex sideways out from under the crate.
This design ensures there is adequate column strength to support the weight of five high stacks; the same recess on the bottom of the crate is located onto a 0111111111111111111 12 ridge on the 1/6t pallet. This orientates the stacks and restricts the ability of the stacks to slide during transporting; the pallets have a raised edging and the feet act as wells. This allows the pallet to act as a bunded pallet to catch any spills or leaks. This will improve fridge and coolroom hygiene. Design allows for easy washing of pallets on return to factory.
This solution is seen to be viable industry solution for any products that can be packed into the crate shampoo bottles, flour, cordial, etc.). The use of the system would allow ease of movement through the packing and distribution system and allow it to be placed (as a bulk item, ie., five high stacks on the 1 /6h pallet) into the shelving or sell area of the customer stores.
Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention.
Claims (4)
1. A crate handling system for articles including: a base pallet operable to support at least one stack of crates; and a plurality of crates stackable on the pallet, each of the crates having a floor and a pair of walls operable to enable similar crates to be vertically stacked when containing articles but nested when empty, each crate having at least one reduced height wall to enable consumer access to the articles when the crate is stacked.
2. A system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein: the pair of walls are a pair of end walls, and the reduced height wall is one, or both of the side walls, to allow consumer access to the articles in the crate when stacked, but allowing respective crates to be nested by alternatively stacking the crates with their longitudinal axes rotated through 90
3. A system as claimed in Claim 2 wherein: the upper or (distal) portions of the end wall being provided with socket-like formations to releasably engage the floor of a crate stacked immediately above it; and the height of the reduced height side wall(s) is less than 20% of the height of the end walls.
4. A system as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein: the dimensions of the floor are equal to, or one half of, the dimensions of the pallet so that the crates may be stacked on such a pallet in one or two vertical stacks, respectively; the pallet has a load bearing face equal to one-sixth the area of a standard pallet. A system as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4 to transport the pallet and crates, and further including a trolley, wherein: the trolley has a substantially U-shaped trolley frame (in plan view) with a pair of frame rails interconnected by a cross-beam and supported by wheels; a load supporting frame, also of substantially U-shape, is supported on the trolley frame by a plurality of hinged links operable to move in parallelism; and a handle, hingedly mounted on the cross-beam, is connected to the load frame by an operating link and is arranged, so as the handle is swung downwardly to a transport position, the operating link causes the load carrying frame to be swung upwardly relative to the trolley frame to lift the pallet from the supporting surface to enable the pallet (and any crates thereon) to be transported. DATED this twenty-sixth day of August 2004. PARMALAT AUSTRALIA LTD By its Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU2004205223A AU2004205223A1 (en) | 2004-08-26 | 2004-08-26 | Crate handling system |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU2004205223A AU2004205223A1 (en) | 2004-08-26 | 2004-08-26 | Crate handling system |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| AU2004205223A1 true AU2004205223A1 (en) | 2006-03-16 |
Family
ID=36101570
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU2004205223A Abandoned AU2004205223A1 (en) | 2004-08-26 | 2004-08-26 | Crate handling system |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| AU (1) | AU2004205223A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111268342A (en) * | 2020-03-24 | 2020-06-12 | 深圳市鲸仓科技有限公司 | Three-dimensional storage racking device, three-dimensional storage racking system and three-dimensional storage racking method |
-
2004
- 2004-08-26 AU AU2004205223A patent/AU2004205223A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111268342A (en) * | 2020-03-24 | 2020-06-12 | 深圳市鲸仓科技有限公司 | Three-dimensional storage racking device, three-dimensional storage racking system and three-dimensional storage racking method |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PC1 | Assignment before grant (sect. 113) |
Owner name: PARMALAT AUSTRALIA LTD Free format text: FORMER APPLICANT(S): PARMALAT AUSTRALIA LTD |
|
| MK1 | Application lapsed section 142(2)(a) - no request for examination in relevant period |