AU2006201369A1 - The Container with Adjustable Shelf - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicants: Actual Inventors: Address for Service: Invention Title: TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT China International Marine Containers (Group) LTD. and Nantong CIMC Special Transportation Equipment Manufacture Co., LTD.

Rong Liu and Xinlin Lu A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys PO Box 222, Mitcham SA 5062 The Container with Adjustable Shelf The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- THE CONTAINER WITH ADJUSTABLE SHELF FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to containers, and more particularly to a container with adjustable shelf inside itself.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At present, in order to satisfy different transport requirements for different cargoes, the loading layer height in the container need to be adjusted. Generally, stratified shelf is set to achieve adjustable height in the container. This kind of container always comprises container body, supporting boards fixed on four corners inside the body and shelves jointed fixedly to the supporting boards, there are several supporting holes in equidistance or not equidistance on each supporting board in the vertical direction; At four corners of the shelf, latch plates positioning the shelf in the supporting holes are added.

When setting shelves in this kind of container, for positioning the shelves in the container, the shelves are moved to a predicted height, then an operator handles the latch plates at four corners manually to insert the latch plates into corresponding supporting holes. While adjusting shelf height in the container, an operator pulls out the latch plates manually, and moves the shelf upwards or downwards to the predicted height; then insert each latch plate into the corresponding supporting holes manually.

Although using this kind of shelf structure can adjust the loading layer height in the container, the shelf positioning operation is achieved by hands, so the operation efficiency is low. Furthermore, it's not easy to insert the latch plates into the supporting holes accurately.

For the purposes of this specification the word "comprising" means "including but not limited to", and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning. Also a reference within this specification to a document is not to be taken as an admission that the disclosure therein constitutes common general knowledge in Australia.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The purpose of this invention is to provide a container with adjustable shelf, which can position the shelf automatically. This container will reduce the difficulty of operating a latch plate manually and improve the efficiency of adjusting the shelf.

The technical scheme to achieve the invention purpose is to make a container with adjustable shelf, which includes container body and shelf inside said body, a set of supporting boards with several supporting holes are set inside said body, said shelf has elastic latch plates joint device which match the supporting holes of said supporting boards to fix the shelf itself onto said body.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, the side of said shelf has sliding bushes, which contain the elastic latch plate joint device.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, the elastic latch plate joint device comprises the latch plate, which can be inserted into the supporting hole and an elastic piece, which push the latch plate into the supporting hole.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, the elastic latch plate joint device further comprises a pin, which is connected fixedly on the side of said latch plate away from the supporting hole, a oriented plate on the shelf for said pin to pass through, wherein said elastic component covers said pin and is lain between said oriented plate and the latch plate.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, further comprising a connecting gripe on the side of the latch plate away from the supporting hole, said pin joints said gripe fixedly through a bolt.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, further comprising outside baffles on said edges of said sliding bushes of said shelf, which prevent said latch plates from moving away said shelf.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, further comprising groove on the matching side of said latch plate with said supporting hole, which can copulate the lower edge of said supporting hole.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, further comprising a slope on the peak angle of said latch plate at the same side with said groove.

In the above-mentioned container with adjustable shelf, further comprising a blocking piece on said shelf, which can position the end location of said groove of said latch plate.

As described in this invention, the container with adjustable shelf positions the shelf through the elastic latch plate joint device. Comparing with the prior art, it's no need for operator to handle latch plate to move the shelf upwards or downwards, but resilience driven by the joint device will push the latch plates into the supporting holes automatically without manual operation. So that the container reduces the difficulty of manual operation and has advantages of operating conveniently and adjusting efficiently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram for the invention a container with adjustable shelf.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram for the invention a container with adjustable shelf from another visual angle.

Fig. 3 is A-A section view of fig. 2.

OFig. 4 is B detail view of fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram shows the buckled state of the joint device and

O

supporting board.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram shows the buckling state of the joint device and supporting board are buckling.

Fig. 7 shows the state that the connection device of the container with adjustable shelf is pushed into the sliding bush of the shelf.

Fig. 8 shows the state that the connection device of the container with adjustable shelf and supporting board are buckled again.

Fig. 9 shows the state that the shelf of the container is to be moved.

Fig. 10 shows the state that the shelf of the container has been moved.

Fig. 11 is C detail view of fig. DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown from figs. 1 to 5, the invention a container with adjustable shelf comprises a container body 11 and shelf 12 set in the container body 11. At least a set of supporting boards are set inside the container body 11, and several supporting holes 14 are set on each supporting board in the vertical direction as shown in fig. 2. The supporting boards can be welded onto container body 11 as shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4.

In this example of exploitation, there are two couples supporting boards set respectively at four corners inside the container body.

As shown in fig. 5, a elastic latch plate 17 as joint device is set on the shelf 12, the shelf 12 is positioned properly onto the supporting board 13 through the elastic latch plate 17 to adjust loading layer height of the container body. The number of the joint devices matches the number of the supporting boards 13. In this example of exploitation, sliding bushes 15 is set onto the side of shelf 12, which contains the joint devices. It's understandable that the shelf 12 and the joint devices also could be connected through slide-way (not shown in the drawing). Out-baffle 16 can be extended from the side edge of sliding bush 15. It would be more safe and reliable for preventing the joint devices from disassembling from the sliding bushes 15 of shelf 12 with blocking of out baffle 16.

The joint device comprises latch plate 17 which can be buckled in the supporting hole 14 and elastic piece 18 which can push latch plate 17 into the supporting hole 14. In this example of exploitation, the elastic piece 18 is a spring. A groove 19 is set on the matching side of supporting hole 14 and latch plate 17, and a peak angle of the latch plate 17 at the same side of the groove 19 is designed as a slope 20. When the latch plate 17 is pushed into the supporting hole 14, the groove 19 is buckled in the lower edge of the supporting hole 14 for the gravity of shelf 12, thus the shelf 12 is positioned.

While an outside force (such as lifting by fork truck) lifts shelf 12 up, the upper edge of supporting hole 14 presses slope 20 of latch plate 17 to pull supporting board 17 out of supporting hole 14 to make shelf 12 moved up. In order to move latch plate 17 horizontally easier, the upper edge of supporting hole 14 could be designed as a slope or cambered surface.

In this example of exploitation, a connecting gripe 21 is set on one side of latch plate 17 away from supporting hole 14. A pin 22 can be connected fixedly onto outside of connecting gripe 21 through a bolt, and the elastic piece 18 can cover the pin 22. A oriented plate 23 guiding pin 22 is set on sliding bush 15 of the shelf 12 to ensure the latch plate 17 slide in sliding bush 15. Furthermore, when putting shelf 12 out or in container body 11, pin 22 could be operated manually to draw latch plate 17 back completely to exit from supporting hole 14, then shelf 12 can be put out.

In order to avoid the shelf moving horizontally, blocking piece 24 is set on the shelf 12 to position the end location of the groove 19 of latch plate 17. Blocking piece 24 may be bolt, screw, bulge etc.

As shown in fig. 5, when moving the shelf 12 from a lower supporting hole 14 to an upper supporting hole 14, an outside force (such as lifting by fork truck) lifts it upward.

At the same time, as shown in fig. 6, the shelf 12 brings the latch plate 17 up, the upper edge of supporting hole 14 presses the slope 20 of shelf 12, and the elastic piece 18 is pressed into sliding bush 15 of shelf 12 by latch plate 17 to make the latch plate 17 exit from the supporting hole 14 (as shown in fig. 7) to keep shelf 12 moving up. When the shelf 12 is moved to upper the supporting hole 14, the latch plate 17 is pushed into the upper supporting hole 14 by the elastic piece 18. While the outside force is removed, as shown in fig. 8, the groove of the latch plate 17 copulates with the lower edge of the supporting hole 14, thus shelf 12 is positioned.

When moving the shelf 12 from an upper supporting hole 14 to a lower supporting hole 14, firstly, as shown from figs.5 to 7, outside force pushes the shelf 12 up to make the latch plate 17 out of the supporting hole 14. And secondly, as shown from figs. 9 to 11, an outside force pushes the shelf 12 horizontally to gain a displacement A L between the latch plate 17 and the supporting hole 14 to make the latch plate 17 could not go into any supporting hole 14. Thirdly, refer to the fig. 8, when the shelf 12 is moved downwards upon a desired supporting hole 14, move the shelf 12 horizontally to get rid of the displacement A L between the latch plate 17 and the supporting hole 14, then 8 move the shelf 12 down to the desired supporting hole 14. Pushed by the elastic piece 18, the latch plate 17 is put into the supporting hole 14, and the shelf 12 is positioned.

Claims (9)

1. A container with adjustable shelf, including container body and shelf inside said container body, a set of supporting boards with several supporting holes are set inside said container body, wherein said shelf has elastic latch plates joint device that matches the supporting holes of said supporting boards to fix said shelf onto said container body.

2. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 1, wherein a side of said shelf has sliding bushes, which contain the elastic latch plates as joint device.

3. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 2, wherein said elastic latch plates joint device comprise latch plates which can be set in the supporting holes and elastic components which push the latch plates into the supporting holes.

4. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 3, wherein said elastic latch plate joint device comprises a pin which is connected fixedly on the side of said latch plate away from the supporting hole, a oriented plate on the shelf for said pin to pass through, wherein said elastic component covers said pin and is lain between said oriented plate and the latch plate.

The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 4, further comprising a connecting gripe on the side of the latch plate away from the supporting hole, said pin joints said gripe fixedly through a bolt.

6. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising outside baffles on side edges of said sliding bushes of said shelf, which prevent said latch plates from moving away said shelf.

7. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising a groove on matching side of said latch plate with said supporting hole, which can copulate the lower edge of said supporting hole.

8. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 7, further comprising a slope on the peak angle of said latch plate at the same side with said groove.

9. The container with adjustable shelf according to claim 7, further comprising a blocking piece on said shelf, which can position the end location of said groove of said latch plate. The container with adjustable shelf substantially as disclosed herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 3rd day of April 2006 China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd. Nantong CIMC Special Transportation Equipment Manufacture Co., Ltd By their Patent Attorneys A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys