AU712962B2

AU712962B2 - Fish transport container

Info

Publication number: AU712962B2
Application number: AU64333/96A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Mark Edwin Scherer
Original assignee: BRIDCOURT Pty Ltd
Current assignee: BRIDCOURT Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1995-08-28
Filing date: 1996-08-28
Publication date: 1999-11-18
Anticipated expiration: 2016-08-28
Also published as: AU6433396A

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

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-~113 Wj '.0 'VrAI 016 Bv-dzur-tP4\AL-+6 Mark Edwin S HERE4 C

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Name of Applicant: Address for Service: Q&S~46C. 30=1\N Invention Title: KEN MADDERN PATENT ATTORNE, 5th Floor, 150 Grenfell Stroet, AA A 4. A r- rl M ft

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"Fish Transport Container' Details of Associated Provisional Application Nos: PN 5060 dated 28th August, 1995 and PN 6127 dated 20th October, 1995 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to the applicant.

1 This invention relates to transport means for transporting of live fish or other seafood, and although not limited to air transport, is particularly suitable for air transport.

While containers when properly stowed in an aircraft cause very little problem, quite often rough handling occurs when loading or unloading, and another object therefore is provide means whereby the container has more security against damage than has been general heretofore, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide means whereby the container will be protected against damage which could result in spillage of water on an aircraft lo floor. If salt water is spilt on an aircraft floor, it can penetrate inaccessible spaces and serious damage has been known to occur, even to the extent of requiring an aircraft to be scrapped.

In one embodiment of the invention therefore a fish transport container is provided with an impervious inner container portion, an outer sheath having a base and side walls which form a tank to carry the inner container portion, the inner container portion having impervious walls forming a bladder which is pliable. The outer sheath however provides protection for the bladder so that even if the other sheath is damaged for example by forks of a fork lift truck, the inner bladder is unlikely to be damaged.

20 The cost of transport is very great, and it is usually not feasible to use a fish container to be returned without return payload, and consequently it is "'..usually necessary for at least some degree of knock-down to be achievable with a container, but the container necessarily needs to be rugged and watertight.

25 Thus, in an embodiment of the invention, a fish transport container is semi-collapsible, being provided with sides and ends which are joined together to form a watertight tank up to a certain level, which is sufficient to contain spillage of water from a bladder when retained in the container, and the sides and ends are retractable above that level.

30o Another problem which is encountered is the facility to use oxygen bottles of different capacity for longer or shorter journeys, and yet to be able to have access to the fish within the bladder, both for loading the fish within the bladder and also for removing them while still alive. This problem is overcome in this invention by having a separate removable cradle for oxygen bottles which will overlie a bladder when within the container, but having supporting means within the container whereby the cradle can be lowered so as to support the retractable sides and ends, or alternatively can be removed.

A problem which has been encountered with containers previously is that of fracture, and also there is a danger of containers moving within an aircraft for example when poorly positioned or stacked. To enable a container 1o to be stacked, however, it is necessary for a container to be movable over the floor of an aircraft without concentration of loads on the floor, and in an embodiment of the invention, a container is provided with a flat base having a sheet of polymeric material (for example polypropylene) secured to its undersurface, the polymeric material providing a very limited degree of friction so that the container, even when carrying a load of water with fish therein, can be slid across the aircraft floor. If portions of the sides and ends which are retractable are hinged, there is danger that upon damage of the container the hinges will not provide sufficient rigidity to avoid distortion, and in an embodiment of the invention two only of the retractable sides are hinged, and 20 the other two are completely removable, but even with that arrangement there is a possibility of disengagement, and still further in an embodiment of the invention there is provided locking means between the hinged and removable portions of the sides and ends which will retain them erected until the locking means are released, but the locking means can be arranged to be non-load- 25 bearing, but merely to retain the erected configuration of sides and ends.

Two embodiments of the invention are described hereunder in some °detail with reference to and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: ."Fig 1 is an isometric sketch which shows the container with its sides and S 3o ends erected, and containing an oxygen bottle cradle; -3- Fig 2 is a fragmentary isometric view showing the mechanism by which the sides and ends are erected; Fig 3 is a fragmentary drawing which illustrates isometrically various features of a container according to a second embodiment generally similar to the first; and Fig 4 is a fragmentary isometric "exploded" view showing how an end extension can be located over an upstanding spigot on the base portion of the outer sheath.

Referring first to Fig 1, a semi-collapsible fish transport container lo 10 comprises a base 11 which has secured to its underside a sheet of polymeric material (polypropylene) 12 which has an appropriate semi-rigid characteristic, two sides 13 and two ends 14 which are integral with the base 11 to the extent that they constitute a watertight tank. However, the sides and ends 13 and 14 do not extend for the full height of the container 10, there being demountable side extensions 16 and end extensions 17 respectively hinged and insertable into the sides and ends 13 and 14. There is also provided a cradle 18 for oxygen bottles and this can be releasably suspended from inwardly extending tabs 19 which extend inwardly from the side extensions 16.

There are also provided fork tunnels 20 (or alternatively a single one which is slightly wider than those shown) which extend inwardly from the sides 13 and for the full width of the container 10. The tunnels 20 are contained within the container space so as to reduce overall height, to provide a flat base for load bearing requirements, and also to increase the protection against accidental damage by forks of a fork lift truck.

25 The construction of the sides and ends is now described in further detail, particularly with reference to Fig 2.

The side extensions 16 are hinged by means of laterally extending hinge pins 23 which slidably engage the walls of two vertically extending slots 24 in ."hinge plates 25 on opposite ends 14 for each of the sides 16. To reduce .i 30 danger of damage, the upper ends of the side and end walls 13 and 14 are reinforced by internally located frame members 27 which in this embodiment -4are formed from square aluminium tubing, and these support the lower frame members 28 of the extensions 16 and 17 when they are in place in their erected configurations. The side extensions 16 also have inwardly directed headed pins 30, and the insertable end extensions 17 are provided with engagement plates 31 with downwardly open slots 32 which engage over the shank portions of pins 30 and are retained in position by the heads. The upper frame members 33 of the extensions 17 are connected to the lower members 28 by means of rectangular vertical posts 36 at each end, each post 36 having a hollow lower end and an upwardly extending lug 36a which laterally locates in io an aperture (not shown) in the base of a main post 43 of an overlying container when stacked, while the lug 36b upstanding from frame member 27 is engaged by the lower end of post 36 as an end extension 17 is lowered to be engagable with pins 30. Thus removal can only be achieved by upward movement of the insertable end extensions 17 away from the side extension 16, and to inhibit that happening accidentally under rough conditions which may be encountered in transport, there are provided respective spring loaded pins 38 which must be withdrawn to lift out end extension 17. Post extension 43a of side 16 overlies, and is supported by the main corner post 43 when extensions 16 and 17 are erected.

20 As shown in Fig 1, the cradle 18 is provided with rails 40 which are spaced in parallel, and are so located that they can support either the smaller or larger oxygen bottles which are normally employed, although only two rails are required if only one size of bottle is to be used. As said, the cradle 18 is supported when in use by the tabs 19. However, for retraction purposes, as 25 may, for example, be required for return journeys, the pins 38 can be withdrawn, the ends 17 lifted away from the remainder of the container assembly, the cradle 18 placed on the upper surfaces of the fork tunnels and then the sides 17 can be placed over and supported by the cradle 18, and S. finally the side extensions 16 can be lifted from their hinging slots 24 and S 30 folded inwardly over the previously stacked end extension 17. This provides a very convenient way of reducing the overall height of container 10 for return journey, so that a larger number of containers can for example be contained in one shipping container, and therefore minimise transport costs.

The containers however are also stackable. It is desirable that they should be stackable both in their demounted and erected positions, and consequently the end extensions 17 are provided with upwardly projecting lugs 36a which will engage within the open lower ends of the corner frame posts 43 of the sides and ends 13 and 14. With this arrangement, the containers may be very rugged when fully erected, and very accurately interengaged, and since the main corner posts 43 are of larger cross-sectional size than either of post 1o extensions 36 or 43a, the entire weight of an overlying container is supported by the four main corner posts.

The second embodiment shown in Figs 3 and 4 is generally similar to the first embodiment. However, instead of the posts being stackable one upon the other, the upper edge of the side extension 16 and the upper edge of the end extension 17 are both provided with rubber buffer pads 45. The bladder 46 is contained within the tank defined by the base 11 and side and end walls 13 and 14, the bladder 46 having a relatively large opening 47 at its upper end, and the opening 47 is circumscribed by a Z shaped aluminium section surround 48, the pliable material of the bladder surrounding the mouth opening 47 being S: 20 sandwiched between an outstanding flange of Z section 48 and a reinforcing S: strip 49, which abuts the lower side of a sealing strip 50. The opening 47 is rectilinear, and is closed by a closure plate 52 which has downturned flanges 53, and closure plate 52 bears downwardly on a sealing strip 54. It is clamped downwardly by hand clamps 55 carried on swivel pins 56 which swivel up to be 25 accommodated by respective slots 57 in the ends of clamping bars 58. The central portion of the closure plate 52 contains a pressure relief valve 60 which is adjusted to about 2 psi (15 kPa).

In lieu of the tabs which are illustrated in Fig 1 and designated 19, use is made of support rails 62 from which an oxygen bottle cradle 63 depends, the 30 cradle 63 having releasable clamp bands 64 which depend from the cradle 63 on one or both sides (one side only being shown).

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Claims

2. A fish transport container according to claim 1 wherein said inner container portion comprises a bladder having impervious walls which are pliable and thereby also retractable into said outer sheath when said bladder is not 15 filled.
3. A fish transport container according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said bladder has a mouth opening in its upper end, a closure plate releasably closing said mouth opening but having a pressure relief valve, and an oxygen supply conduit extending through said closure plate into a lower portion of said bladder.
4. A fish transport container according to claim 3 further comprising clamping bars overlying said closure plate, and screw threaded clamp means releasably bearing S. down on the clamping bars.
5. A fish transport container according to any preceding claim further comprising rails extending .e horizontally within said outer sheath near its upper end, and flexible straps carried by side walls of said bladder extending over said rails and fastened back on themselves suspending said side walls from said rails.
6. A fish transport container according to any preceding claim further comprising a pair of inwardly directed rails on two opposite said extensions, and an oxygen bottle cradle suspended from said rails.
7. A fish transport container according to claim 6 further comprising a pair of spring return pins on said H:\valerie\Keep\speci\64333.96doc.doc 23/09/99 -8A- cradle which, when withdrawn against their respective springs, permit said cradle to be lifted away from said 9* S S S S S S H:\valerie\Keep\Speci\64333.96don.doc 23/09/99 7 Parallel to either the side extensions 16 or end extensions 17 are respective rails 66 over which supporting straps 67 are folded to support the side walls of the bladder 46, the strap 67 being secured back onto themselves by means of hook and loop (touch and hold) fasteners 68. In lieu of the arrangement of the engagement plates and headed pins 30, use is made of an insertable bar on each of the four corners which retains the side and end extensions together at those corners, and hinges 71 hinge the side extensions 16, while the end extensions 17 have the hollow lower ends of their vertical posts 36 engage over upstanding spigots 72 from the corners of the tank. There are provided two spring loaded pins 74 which are withdrawable from sleeves 75, but when released spring back to engage apertures (not shown) in the upper frame members 33 of the hinged sides 16. Oxygen is introduced into the base of the bladder 46 through a flexible hose 76 and a depending tube 77 which is associated with a diffuser 78 in the lower end of the bladder 46. In lieu of the diffuser 78 being as shown, which will reduce oxygen bubble size, use may alternatively be made of a series of spaced plates so that the oxygen is "forced to move upwardly between plates in a zig zag path thus providing a greater area for oxygen solution and therefore in turn providing a longer time span before replenishment is required, than if bubbles are used. In this specification, except where the context requires otherwise, the words "comprising", "comprises" or 30 "comprise" means "including", "includes" or "include" respectively, i.e. when the invention is described or defined as comprising specified features, various embodiments of the same invention may also include additional features. H:\valerie\Keep\Speci\64333 .96doc.doc 6/07/99 9 outer sheath.
8. A fish transport container according to any preceding claim further comprising hinges joining two opposite said extensions to respective side walls, spigots locating lower ends of the other two of said extensions to respective side walls, and bars inserted through aligned apertures in portions of said extensions at corners of said sheath to retain said extensions in their erected configurations, but being withdrawable to release said extensions to be retractable.
9. A fish transport container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Dated this 6th day of July, 1999 MARK EDWIN SCHERER By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia S 4 *S* S S S.. H:\valerie\Keep\Speci\64333.96doc.doc 6/07/99