AU2020102846A4

AU2020102846A4 - Device for Storage of Cargo

Info

Publication number: AU2020102846A4
Application number: AU2020102846A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Carl Baldock; Julianne Baldock
Original assignee: Kurraca Designs Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Kurraca Designs Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-19
Filing date: 2020-10-19
Publication date: 2020-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 2028-10-19

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a device for storage of cargo in a trailer, wherein the device is formed of sheet like material and configured to be attachably mountable in a bed of the trailer wherein the device is further configured to be foldable so as to form a container which conforms substantially to a shape of the bed of the trailer, the container having at least one attachment means for holding the container to a frame of the trailer and/or holding the shape of the container wherein the container has a bottom face configured to contact a floor of the bed, and having two opposing side walls and front and rear walls extending upright from the edges of the bottom face thereby forming the container with an upwardly directed opening. 1/10 22 22O Fig. 1

Description

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Fig. 1

DEVICE FOR STORAGE OF CARGO FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a device for storage of cargo and which is preferably attachably mounted in a trailer.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Cargo or goods carried in a trailer requires strapping material or a cover for containment of the cargo or goods. The cover also serves to protect the cargo or goods from the environment.

[0003] However, the cover does not protect the floor or walls of the trailer bed from being damaged as a result from the movement of the goods during transport. The movement of the goods may also cause damage to the goods themselves. Furthermore, if the interior of the trailer bed is dirty, rusty or damaged, this may also affect the condition of the goods negatively.

[0004] Examples of the invention seek to solve or at least ameliorate one or more disadvantages of previous ways of carrying goods in the bed or tray of a trailer.

[0005] The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the above prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.

SUMMARY

[0006] According to the present invention there is provided a device for storage of cargo in a trailer, wherein the device is formed of sheet-like material and configured to be attachably mountable in a bed of the trailer wherein the device is further configured to be foldable so as to form a container which conforms substantially to a shape of the bed of the trailer, the container having at least one attachment means for holding the container to a frame of the trailer and/or holding the shape of the container wherein the container has a bottom face configured to contact a floor of the bed, and having two opposing side walls and front and rear walls extending upright from the edges of the bottom face thereby forming the container with an upwardly directed opening. Preferably, the sheet-like material has means for facilitating folding of the material for forming the container, such as fold-lines. The sheet-like material can be flexible.

[0007] The at least one attachment means can be in the form of side flap members extending from opposing sides of the side walls which are fastenable to the front and rear walls. The side flap members can be further adapted to be wrappable about upright portions of the trailer frame before fastening onto the front and rear walls for holding the container to the frame.

[0008] The container may be configured to have at least one cover for protecting contents therein. Preferably, the container has two covers.

[0009] Each of the side walls can have an upper flap member which is foldable relative thereto between a closed position whereby the upper flap members form one of the at least one cover over the opening and an open position in which goods can be received in or removed from the container. The upper flap member may extend from an upper end of the side wall.

[0010] Preferably, one of the rear or front wall has an upper flap member which foldable relative thereto between a closed position whereby the upper flap member substantially forms one of the at least one cover over the opening and is attachable to the other of the rear or front wall and an open position in which goods can be received in or removed from the container. The flap members of the side walls or front and rear walls can preferably be fastenable together via fastening arrangements. The upper flap member may extend from an upper end of the rear or front wall.

[0011] Further, the side walls may be fastenable to the front and rear walls for forming the container via fastening arrangements. Preferably, the fastening arrangements include hook and loop material. More preferably, the fastening arrangements are in the form of strap material having hook and loop material, a free end of the strapping material having one of the hook or loop material which is threadable through a buckle and securable to the fixed end of the strapping material having the other of the hook or loop material.

[0012] The container can have handles for ease of handling. Preferably, the side walls include at least one handle in the form of looped strap material.

[0013] The device can be manipulable between a collapsed configuration for storage or transport and a folded configuration where the device forms the container for cargo.

[0014] The container may be substantially formed of a single sheet of flexible material. More preferably, the flexible material is a waterproof material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0016] Figs. 1 and 2 are perspective views of a device for storage of cargo in a bed of a trailer formed into a container having an opening according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a side wall of the container of Figs. 1 and 2;

[0018] Figs. 4 and 5 are outer and inner views of a cover of the container of Figs. 1 and 2;

[0019] Fig. 6 is a top view of side cover flaps having fastening arrangements;

[0020] Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 6;

[0021] Fig. 8 is a cross-section view through dotted line A-A of Fig. 6;

[0022] Fig. 9 is an example protective bag for the device in collapsed form of Figs. 1 to 8;

[0023] Fig. 10 is an example box packaging for the container of Figs. 1 to 8;

[0024] Fig. 11 is a first preferred embodiment shape of the device in a flat configuration prior to being formed into the container; and

[0025] Fig. 12 is a second preferred embodiment shape of the device in a flat configuration prior to being formed into the container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] Preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention.

[0027] Figs. 1 to 12 show views of a device for carrying cargo according to preferred embodiments of the present invention. The device is preferably arrangeable to be formed into a container 2 which is advantageously to be received and attachably mounted into a bed of a trailer or a tray of a vehicle, such as a utility vehicle. The device is also collapsible from the formed container 2 into a compact or collapsed configuration for storage and transport, for example by rolling or folding. Preferably, the device, in its compact configuration, can be stored in a box 4 or bag 6 as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10. Such a box 4 or bag 6 can also serve as packaging for the device.

[0028] When in its erected configuration, the device is formed of at least one sheet of material has a portion which is arranged to form a bottom face 8 of the container 2 and which in use is configured to contact and/or line the floor of the bed of the trailer. Preferably, the container 2 is substantially the size of the bed of the trailer, and the bottom face 4 is substantially conforms to the area of the bed floor. In a preferred arrangement, the device is substantially formed of a single sheet of material. Preferably, the material is a flexible material.

[0029] The device has portions which extend from the edges of the bottom face 8 which are foldable along fold lines 10 relative to the bottom face to form four walls 12, 14, 16 which when in the folded configuration extend upwardly from the outer perimeter of the bottom face 8. Preferably, the walls 12, 14, 16 are arranged to line and be supported by the inner surface of the frame or walls of the trailer bed or ute tray. The four walls 12, 14, 16 can comprise a pair of opposing side walls 12 and a pair of opposing front and rear walls 14, 16.

[0030] Each side wall 12 has attachment means in the form of a pair of attachment members 18 which are configured to attach the edges of the side wall to a corresponding adjacent edge of the rear and front walls 14, 16. These attachment members 18 therefore act to hold the walls 12, 14, 16 together and to keep the walls 12, 14, 16 upright. The attachment members 18, as illustrated particularly in Figs. 1 and 2, may be in the form of side flap members extend laterally from the side walls 12 and which attach to the front and side walls 12, 14 via hook and loop material arrangements. The attachment members 18 may also be used to releasably attach the corners of the container 2 to the comers of the trailer which may have an upright bar or support. For example, the attachment members 18 may wrap about the upright bar before attaching to the front or side walls to hold the corner of the container 2 to the corner of the trailer. By detaching the attachment members 18, for example by pulling the hook and loop material apart, the container 2 can be collapsed into a flat or compact configuration.

[0031] It will be appreciated that there are many other attachment arrangements could also be utilised to attach the walls 12, 14, 16 together in an erected box-like configuration. The attachment members 18 may be integral to the flexible material or may be separate members which are permanently fixed to the flexible material via stitching, adhesive or other like methods.

[0032] Each of the walls 12, 14, 16 has flap portions 20, 22 24 which extends from the upper part of the respective wall. Each flap portion 20, 22, 24 is foldable relative to its respective wall along fold lines 26 such that they are movable between an open configuration which allows the goods to be received or to be removed from the inner part of the container 2 or a closed configuration which covers the opening of the container 2 thereby acting to protect the goods. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, each of the flap portions 20 of the side walls are substantially half the size of the opening to form a first cover such that, when in the closed configuration, the top edges of the flap portions 20 are substantially contiguous.

[0033] The side, front and rear flap portions 20, 22, 24 can be secured together over the container opening with fastening arrangements in the form of fastening members 28, 36, 38 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 6 to 8, the fastening members 28, 38 can comprise hook and loop material 30, 32 and buckle 34 arrangements. For example, one side flap portion 20 has strapping material attached with hook and loop material 30, 32 which the other side flap portion 20 has a buckle 34 through which the free end of the strapping material can be threaded therethrough and then the end portion of the strapping material having hook material can be fixed to the respective loop material 32 as illustrated in Fig. 8. Thus, the fastening members 28 cinch the side flap portions together to form the first cover. In the preferred embodiment, the side flap portions 20 have three such fastening members 28, although it will be understood that numbers of fastening members can be varied to accommodate the container size or shape and that other fastening members, such as buckles, ratchet tie downs, and the like could equally be used.

[0034] The rear flap portion 22, when in the closed position, is sized to substantially cover the opening of the container 2 and the front wall 14 thereby forming a second cover. Referring now to the example illustrated Figs. 4 and 5, the rear flap portion 22 has six fastening members 38 and four fastening members 36 to secure the second cover. Notably, the fastening members 38 function to attach the rear flap portion 22 to front wall 14 and front flap portion 24 when the rear flap portion 22 is in the closed configuration.

[0035] Each of the front wall 14 and front flap portion 24 have two fastening members 36 as shown in Fig. 2. In the example illustrated in Figs 1 and 2, the fastening members 36 are hook and loop arrangements thereby allowing easy engagement and disengagement. The front flap portion 24 is smaller relative to the rear flap portion 22 and is foldable under the side flap portions 18. In addition, the inner surface of the rear flap portion 22 can have additional portions of loop material 33 so that the end part of the rear flap portion 22 can attach to fold over onto itself if required.

[0036] Therefore when the side flap portions 18 are secured together to form a first cover over the container opening and the front and rear flap portions 22 and 24 are secured together to form a second cover, the interior of the container 2 and any goods contained therein are advantageously protected by a double layer of protection which prevents dirt, dust and moisture from penetrating during transport and storage of the goods.

[0037] The rear flap portion 29 also includes fastening members 38 which are configured to secure the sides of the rear flap portion 22 to the container side walls 12 and/or the frame of the trailer, such as rails at the upper sides of the trailer. In the illustrated example of Figs. 2 and 4, the clos members 38 are hook, loop and buckle arrangements 30, 32 34 similar to those of fastening members 28 although it can be appreciated that many other arrangements are also possible. In particular, these arrangements as illustrated in Fig. 2 comprise three portions of strap material, each portion extending laterally across the width of the rear flap portion 22 such that the end portions extend beyond the side edges thereof. The distal end portions of the strap material comprise loop material 32 which is receivable in corresponding pairs of buckles or loops 34 located on the side walls such that the loop material 32 is then securable to the hook material 30 at the opposing end portions of the strap material. The ends portions of the strap material are therefore looped about side rails of the trailer to hold the sides of the container 2 thereto.

[0038] The side walls 12 may also have handles 40 to allow easy manipulation of the container 2, in particular, if the container 2 is being moved from or to the trailer whilst containing cargo. In the preferred embodiments, each side wall 12 has a pair of handles 40 intermediate the securing members 38. The handles 40 can be in the form of strap material which is configured so as to form loops which are arranged to sit upright from the upper part of the side walls for easy manual handling. In a preferred embodiments, the four handles could be used by two or four users to transport the container 2 and cargo contained therein manually.

[0039] The outer surface of the front wall 14 can also have securing arrangements 42 which allow the releasable attachment of the front wall to a front or rear frame, such as a bar of the trailer.

These securing arrangements could be in the form of loop and hook material on strapping material as illustrated in Fig 1. One end of the strapping material having hook material 30 can be wrapped about the front or rear bar of the trailer before being secured to the loop material 32 provided on the outer surface of the front wall 14. Furthermore the outer surface of the rear flap portion 22 can have two additional portions of hook material 35 which allow the securing arrangements 42 for further attachment thereto if the second cover is closed.

[0040] The device is preferably formed of sheet-like flexible material having a shape such as that shown in the flat configurations 44, 46 illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12 which are suited to differently sized trailer beds. For example the flat configuration 44 is adapted for a bed of a trailer having a floor of area 4 foot wide by 6 foot long, and the flat configuration 46 is adapted for a bed of a trailer having a floor of area 5 foot wide by 7 foot long. Figs. 11 and 12 also show cross section views of the folded edges or joins in bolded circles 48.

[0041] In a particularly preferred embodiment, the device is substantially formed of a single sheet of flexible material where the flexible material can be a fabric material which is waterproof and durable, such as a heavy polyester fabric (about 650 gsm) comprising moisture impermeable material such as PVC. Alternatively, most of the device comprises a single sheet of material, and the side flap portions 28 can be formed of further flexible material as illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12. Furthermore the strap material mentioned above can comprise polyester webbing, for example being about 50 mm wide.

[0042] One or more of the covers can have printed matter in the form of branding such as logos and the like. In particular the fastening or securing arrangements can also have such branding for example the webbing or loop and hook material can also include branding.

[0043] Through-out the specification and claims the word "comprise" and its derivatives is intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the context requires otherwise.

[0044] Orientational terms used in the specification and claims such as vertical, horizontal, top, bottom, upper and lower are to be interpreted as relational and are based on the premise that the component, item, article, apparatus, device or instrument will usually be considered in a particular orientation, typically with the assembly uppermost.

[0045] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the methods of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A device for storage of cargo in a trailer, wherein the device is formed of sheet-like material and configured to be attachably mountable in a bed of the trailer wherein the device is further configured to be foldable so as to form a container which conforms substantially to a shape of the bed of the trailer, the container having at least one attachment means for holding the container to a frame of the trailer and/or holding the shape of the container wherein the container has a bottom face configured to contact a floor of the bed, and having two opposing side walls and front and rear walls extending upright from the edges of the bottom face thereby forming the container with an upwardly directed opening.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment means is in the form of side flap members extending from opposing sides of the side walls which are fastenable to the front and rear walls.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein the side flap members are further adapted to be wrappable about upright portions of the trailer frame before fastening onto the front and rear walls for holding the container to the frame.

4. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container is configured to have at least one cover for protecting contents therein.

5. A device according to claim 4, wherein each of the side walls has an upper flap member extending from an upper end thereof which is foldable relative thereto between a closed position whereby the upper flap members form one of the at least one cover over the opening and an open position in which goods can be received in or removed from the container.

6. A device according to claim 4, wherein one of the rear or front wall has an upper flap member extending from an upper end thereof which is foldable relative thereto between a closed position whereby the upper flap member substantially forms one of the at least one cover over the opening and is attachable to the other of the rear or front wall and an open position in which goods can be received in or removed from the container.

7. A device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the flap members of the side walls or front and rear walls are fastenable together via fastening arrangements.

8. A device according to claim 7, wherein the fastening arrangements include hook and loop material.

9. A device according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the fastening arrangements are in the form of strap material having hook and loop material, an free end of the strapping material having one of the hook or loop material which is threadable through a buckle and securable to the fixed end of the strapping material having the other of the hook or loop material.

10. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container has handles for ease of handling.

11. A device according to claim 10, wherein the side walls include at least one handle in the form of looped strap material.

12. A device according to any one of the preceding claims which is manipulable between a collapsed configuration for storage or transport and a folded configuration where the device forms the container for cargo.

13. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container is formed of a single sheet of flexible material.

14. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flexible material is a waterproof material.

Fig. 1 1/10