AU716767B2 - A crate with slidable side barrier - Google Patents

Description

WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 A CRATE WITH SLIDABLE SIDE BARRIER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a crate, and particularly to a crate which can hold articles such as milk cartons for transportation, storage and display.

Although the invention will be described with reference to milk cartons as articles, it should be appreciated that the crate can also be used to hold other articles, such as beverage bottles, bread, fresh produce, and the like.

BACKGROUND ART Crates, such as plastic injection-moulded crates, are well known and are widely used in the food industry to transport, store and display various food and drink products. For instance, plastic milk crates are known which have a bottom wall (typically of a grid-like structure), four side walls, and an open top. Between 6 to 12, or more, milk cartons can be placed withiTh the crate for storage and transportation. The plastic crates are strong enough to allow a number of loaded crates to stack on top of each other to form a tower.

A disadvantage with conventional crates is that articles can only be removed from the open top of the crate or one side only. Thus, when the crates are stacked on top of each other, it is necessary to unstack the crates to remove an article from lower crates.

Another requirement for crates is that they have a generally smooth internal and external surface with no sharp edges which can damage articles, cut fingers, and which are susceptible to breakage during normal or rough handling. Smooth edges are also desired to allow the crates to be easily cleaned and to reduce sites for bacterial growth, deposition of debris, scum, and the like.

Crates are known which have a large opening in a side wall such that articles can be removed from the crate through a side wall. However, these openings also make transportation difficult due to the possibility of articles WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 2 inadvertently falling through the opening.

One type of known crate has a sliding platform to hold plastic drink bottles in the crate. The platform has an array of polygonal openings extending therethrough, the openings being sized such that a drink bottle can pass through an opening. In use, the platform extends about a quarter to mid-way up the inside of the crate and drink bottles pass through the openings in the platform and are held thereby. The drink bottles can therefore not knock together and are also prevented from falling out of the crate. This crate has a large opening in the side wall, and the platform can be slid to an upper portion of the crate which is above the top of the drink bottles such that the drink bottles can be removed through the opening in the side wall of the crate.

In order to provide strength to the crate (which has been considerably weakened by the large openings in the side walls), the sliding platform is large and bulky. The platform is strengthened by an array of upstanding flanges around the polygonal openings. To further strengthen the crate, the sliding platform is attached to large sharp ribs which extend vertically along side walls of the opening, the ribs acting as guides to allow the sliding platform to slide up and down the ribs. The ribs are sharp and are susceptible to breakage as they extend somewhat into the opening in the side wall of the crate and thus can be knocked and damaged when articles are removed from the crate through the opening. The ribs can also cut fingers, and can accumulate debris and bacteria. As the ribs are somewhat sharp, the articles in the container are kept away from the ribs by being held within the polygonal openings in the sliding platform.

This arrangement is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. As mentioned above, the sharp ribs can cut fingers, can break to expose jagged edges, are not particularly robust against rough handling, and can damage or puncture soft-walled containers in the crate, unless the containers are held away from the ribs.

WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 3 The present invention is directed to a crate having an opening in a side wall through which articles can pass, the opening having a slidable barrier which can keep articles within the crate, or allow articles to be removed through the side wall in the crate, depending on the position of the barrier, and where the crate does not have protruding ribs, and the like, along which the barrier can slide.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a crate which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

On one form, the invention resides in a crate for holding articles such as milk cartons, the crate having a bottom wall, at least one side wall, at least one opening in the at least one side wall, the opening allowing an article to be removed from the crate through the opening, a barrier slidable in the crate between a first free position where an article can be removed through the opening, and a second barrier position where a portion of the barrier extends across the opening to resist removal of the article from the crate, the barrier having slide portions which slide along internal guides, the guides forming part of the at least one side wall of the crate.

By having internal guides in the crate, there are no sharp ribs such as described above with reference to the known crate and the guides, by being internal, are not knocked or broken when articles are passed through the opening in the side wall.

The crate can be used for storing milk cartons, other type of beverage cartons or bottles, but can also be used to hold other type of food products such as fresh food products, and any other type of food or non-food article, which may need to be held in a crate.

The crate may be formed from any suitable material, but currently it is popular to form crates from injection-moulded plastic. The crate may be of any suitable size or shape, depending on the size, number and WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 4 shape of the articles, as well as the requirements for stacking and storing. It is, however, conveniently found that crates can be substantially rectangular when viewed in plan, having a bottom wall and four side walls. For ease of storage and transportation, it is found convenient to have the bottom wall and the side walls substantially square.

The bottom wall may be continuous, or may be perforated such that the bottom wall may be grid-like in construction. Grid-like bottom walls are common for storing milk cartons which may have condensation. The grid-like walls also allow for easy cleaning, and cuts down on weight.

The crate may have a single side wall by virtue of the crate being circular or elliptical, but it is more common for crates to have four side walls, the side walls being joined to each other and extending vertically up from the bottom wall. The top is typically open, although a lid may be provided, especially as the crate according to the invention, does allow removal of articles from one or more of the side walls.

Typically, the crate has four side walls, and each side wall has an opening dimensioned to allow an article to be removed through the opening. By having an opening in each side wall, the crate can be positioned any way in a stack while still allowing articles to be removed.

However, this is a preferred feature only and certain types of crates may have only one side wall provided with an opening.

The barrier is slidably mounted relative to the remainder of the crate. The barrier can slide between a first position where an article can be removed through the side wall, and a second position where an article is restrained within the crate. It is preferred that when the barrier is in the first position, it is adjacent an upper or lower, or one side, of the opening to provide minimum obstruction through the opening. In the second barrier position, it is preferred that a portion of the barrier extends across the opening at a position approximately mid-way, or thereabouts, between the top and the bottom wall of the opening.

The barrier itself may be an insert which can be removed from the remainder of the crate. The insert may be configured such that it has a portion which can extend across each said opening in the crate wall. That is, if the crate has four side walls with four openings, the insert may have four portions which can extend across the openings.

For a typical square crate, the insert is square and has four elongate portions each terminating in a slide portion. The slide portion may comprise a rounded corner of the insert.

To allow a smooth sliding action of the insert, the rounded corner has a portion extending upwardly, or downwardly, from the corner which is also rounded, and this portion can prevent rocking of the insert and facilitates a smooth up and down sliding action.

The slide portions may slide within internal guides which can also be smoothly curved to complement the shape of the slide portion. The internal guides preferably form part of the upstanding corners of the S" crate.

25 If desired, the barrier can be releasably held in position in its second and/or first positions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES An embodiment of the invention will be described *with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 shows a view of the crate with the barrier positioned above the crate for reasons of clarity.

e Figure 2 shows the crate with the barrier in the S"second barrier position.

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Figure 3 shows the crate of Figure 2 with the 35 barrier in its first free position.

Figure 4 shows a preferred releasable coupling mechanism for the barrier.

BEST MODE WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 6 Referring to the drawings, there is shown a crate which in the embodiment is used to hold milk cartons (not shown). Crate 10 is formed from injection-moulded plastic and has a grid-like bottom wall 11 which is substantially square when viewed in plan, and four vertically extending side walls 12 15. The top of crate is left open. Each side wall is square and has a large opening extending through the side wall, the opening occupying most of the side wall. To provide strength to the crate, the opening is slightly tapered at its upper end to provide strengthening zones (for instance, 16) The crate has four corners 17 20 which are continuous and are not perforated in any way. On the inside of each corner 17 20 is a smoothly curved channel or recess 21 24 which functions as an internal guide for the barrier.

As shown in Figure 1, barrier 25 is an injectionmoulded plastic insert having four elongated barrier portions 26 29 which define a rectangle or square and which are sized to allow them to fit inside and slide inside crate 10. Barrier portions 26 29 terminate in rounded corners which form part of vertically upstanding slide portions 30 33 which are curved or channel-shaped and complement the shape of channels 21 24 in crate Thus, barrier 25 can be inserted into crate and slide portions 30 33 will slide in their respective guide portions which are channels 21 24.

Figure 2 shows barrier 25 in an upper barrier position where each of barrier portions 26 29 extends across a respective opening and functions to hold milk cartons in the crate.

Figure 3 shows barrier 25 pushed down to its lower free position where it sits adjacent bottom wall 11 and in this position, milk cartons can be removed through the openings.

By having slide portions 30 33 curved, and slidable along correspondingly curved internal guides, there are no sharp ribs to collect debris or grime, and WO 97/32790 PCT/AU97/00135 7 there are also no external guide portions that can be damaged. The guide portions are internal and do not extend or protrude into the openings and therefore cannot be knocked or damaged when articles are removed from the crate through the side walls.

Figure 4 shows a releasable coupling arrangement whereby barrier 25 can be kept in its second barrier position. The releasable coupling arrangement comprises a small button or projection 34 on the crate and which can be engagement with a pair of spaced apart buttons or projections 35, 36 integrally moulded into the outside of one or more of the barrier portions 26 29. Referring to Figure 4, it can be seen that the barrier can be pushed downwardly which will cause button 35 to push around button 34 which will allow the barrier to now slide down to its lower position. Although a more positive locking action can be envisaged, we find this simple mechanism to be effective in holding the barrier in its upper position but still allowing it to be manually pushed down to its lower position.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. A crate for holding articles such as milk cartons, the crate having a bottom wall, at least one side wall, at least one opening in the at least one side wall, the opening allowing an article to be removed from the crate through the opening, a barrier slidable on the internal face of the crate between a first free position where an article can be removed through the opening, and a second barrier position where a portion of the barrier extends across the opening to resist removal of the article from the crate, the barrier having slide portions which slide along internal guides, the guides forming part of at least one side wall of the crate, wherein each slide portion comprises a rounded portion extending upwardly or downwardly, from at least two opposing edges of the barrier, the portion functioning to prevent rocking of the insert and to facilitate a smooth up and down sliding action, wherein the internal guides are curved to complement the shape of the slide portion.

2. The crate of claim 1, wherein the barrier is slidably mounted relative to the remainder of the crate and can slide between a first position where an article can be removed through the side wall, and a second position where an article is restrained within the crate. 20

3. The crate of claim 1 or 2, wherein the barrier is an insert which can be removed from the remainder of the crate and which has a portion which go can extend across each said opening in the crate wall.

4. The crate of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the crate is rectangular and has four side walls and the insert is complementary in shape and has four l 25 elongate portions each terminating in a slide portion.

5. The crate of claim 4, wherein the slide portion comprises a rounded corner of the insert. S

6. The crate of claim 5, wherein the internal guides form part of the ~upstanding corners of the crate.

7. The crate of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the crate is formed from 9 injection-moulded plastic.

8. The crate of claim 7, wherein the crate is rectangular when viewed in plan, and has a bottom wall and four side walls, the bottom wall being grid-like in construction, the side walls being joined to each other and extending vertically up from the bottom wall, each side wall having an opening dimensioned to allow an article to be removed through the opening.

9. A crate for holding articles, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. *sees O 99 5* *S *O