DE29503435U1 - Storage and transport box or container, especially collapsible small parts load carriers - Google Patents

Description

PATENT ATTORNEYS · &EEgr;&Egr;&Mgr;&iacgr;4&egr;&agr;&idiagr;6&EEacgr; · flUciER · Gftofese.· POLLMEIER · VALENTIN ■ GIHSKE

27. Feb. 1995 " * ^{i[hk n uo}

Fritz Schäfer GmbH, Fritz-Schäfer-Str. 20, 57290 Neunkirchen

Storage and transport boxes or containers, in particular foldable small parts load carriers

The invention relates to a storage and transport box or container, in particular collapsible

Small parts load carrier which has front and side walls which are hinged to a base and/or top frame, can be locked in the upright position and, after unlocking, can be swung inwards, two of which opposite walls are divided and consist of at least two individual panels which are connected to one another via central hinges in the form of double hinge links in the folding axis and which can be folded inwards while rotating towards one another.

In a box-shaped small parts load carrier known from German utility model 92 03 114.5, the walls hinged to the floor and/or top frame can all be folded down at their base into the interior of the box. At least one of the foldable side walls is made up of two individual panels that extend over the entire length of the wall and can be pivoted in a longitudinal direction relative to each other so that they can be folded down into the interior of the box by pivoting to fold the box. To stabilize the box in the upright position, some of the walls are provided with stops that are attached near their opposite side edges and serve to lock the walls together in the unfolded position in which they are upright in relation to the floor. The stops are arranged so that the walls in the fully upright position rest against the upper and lower stops from the inside and the outside, respectively.

PATENT ATTORNEYS - &EEgr;&Egr;&Mgr;8*&Egr;&idiagr;|[&sfgr;&EEacgr; · w"öCl£B _# . GElOlSe ₁ POLLMEIER · VALENTIN ■ GlHSKE -2-

US 4,646,928 A discloses a similar box-shaped small parts load carrier in which the two individual panels can be pivotally connected to one another using central hinges in the form of double hinge links arranged at least in the end areas. Both the hinges that are usually used, for example with multiple overlapping hinge eyes on the walls and also on the base or upper frame or half-open hinge eyes on the base and/or upper frame for hinge pins on the walls that snap into them, and the known double hinge links arranged in the division plane or folding axis cause additional manufacturing and considerable assembly work due to the separate components (hinge links and hinge pins/bolts).

Such small parts load carriers in the form of folding boxes enable space-saving, cost-effective return transport of empty containers, for which purpose folded boxes or containers of a low height can be stacked together. However, problems arise primarily when the containers filled with small parts are stacked on top of one another for storage and/or transport, so that they must be able to withstand a stack load of often up to 400 kg. In this case, box walls divided lengthwise and consisting of individual panels show a pronounced tendency to buckle in the area of the folding axis, resulting in strong horizontal bending moments that act on the walls.

The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a box or container of the type mentioned at the beginning with a higher stacking load and improved hinges, in particular with regard to the stability of the central hinge, which is also easy to manufacture, especially when assembling the central hinge.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the double hinge member is designed as a hinge clip with molded hinge pins and, bridging the folding axis, into corresponding hinge pins in the two

PATENT ATTORNEYS · HEMF^EßlßH _; fÄÜlil^g.· PRfJfSE". POLLMEIER · VALENTIN GIHSKE -

The hinge clips are then snapped into the hinge receptacles assigned to the individual panels. This creates a one-piece hinge clip that only needs to be inserted and pressed into the corresponding hinge receptacles by hand to connect the two individual panels with its hinge pins. The hinge clips are inserted perpendicular to the side wall surface into the hinge receptacles of the box produced by injection molding, which are formed by two perpendicularly positioned drawing cores. The double hinge elements in the form of hinge clips enable a side wall design without protruding, overlapping hinge eyes, which can have a disruptive effect when handling the containers. This also makes it possible to make the side walls thicker, which contributes significantly to the stability of the containers. In order to create the hinge, there is no longer any need for separately inserted hinge bolts or pins; only the two wall elements and the hinge clips with the molded hinge pins are required.

According to a proposal of the invention, the hinge clips have a substantially U-shaped cross-section and two hinge pins in pairs diametrically opposite each other on each flange. The hinge clips are pressed into the corresponding receptacles of the individual plates at the hinge points in such a way that of the pairs of hinge pins protruding outwards on the flanges, one hinge pin engages in the first individual plate and the other hinge pin engages in the second individual plate.

According to a preferred proposal of the invention, the individual panels are designed as double-walled hollow chamber elements open towards the folding axis and the hinge mounts as joint shafts with hinge eyes on the foot. Due to the double walling, which is created by drawing cores, an even higher moment of resistance to horizontal bending is achieved and thus a correspondingly further increased load-bearing capacity of the box. The design of the double-walled hollow chamber elements open towards the folding axis, i.e. on the end faces facing each other.

· · t

PATENT ATTORNEYS - HEIVfflJESiCH · MÜfcljEft-jSBQSSH. POLLMEIER · VALENTIN · GIHSKE -4-

Hollow chamber elements or individual panels create the space required for the individual panels to rotate when folded in, whereby the cavity is nevertheless closed on all sides and over the entire length of the individual panels when the individual panels are erected. After the hinge pins have been snapped into the hollow chamber profiles interrupted by drawing cores for the hinge holder or joining shafts during the manufacture of the individual panels, additional security of the snapped-in hinge clips can be achieved by a slight oversize of the hinge pins. The use of the hinge clips as double hinge links to connect two individual panels is not, however, tied to the individual panels being designed as hollow chamber elements; a high level of hinge stability is ensured by the hinge clips even when they are used, for example, in hinge holders of ribbed individual panels.

Further details and advantages of the invention emerge from the claims and the following description, in which embodiments of the subject matter of the invention shown in the drawings are explained in more detail. They show:

Fig. 1a,

Ib as a detail of a box, the individual panels of a divided side or front wall of a storage and transport box or container not shown in detail, seen from the side and from the inside (Fig. Ib) of the box;

Fig. 2a

to 2c in side view two individual plates connected to each other by hinge clips and pivoted into a parallel position one above the other (see Fig. 2a), the individual plates in the partially erected (see Fig. 2b) and fully erected state (see Fig. 2c);

Fig. 3 in the area of a hinge point a longitudinal section

PATENT ATTORNEYS · &EEgr;&Egr;&Mgr;&iacgr;&phgr;&iacgr;^&EEgr;_;ftlÜLliß; (JRQSSe^POLLMEIER · VALENTIN · GIHSKE -5-

through the two individual panels of a two-part front or side wall, shown before the hinge clip is pressed in;

Fig. 4 shows the folded, stacked individual panels according to Fig. 2a, seen from the left, without hinge clips;

Fig. 5a

to 5c show a hinge clip in detail in the front view (Fig. 5a), in the side view (Fig. 5b) and in the top view (Fig. 5c);

Fig. 6 shows a front view of another version of a single plate provided with ribbing; and

Fig. 7 shows a section along the line VII-VII of Fig. 6 with a hinge clip before locking (see the right half of Fig. 7) and after locking into the hinge receptacle.

Of a storage and transport box or container described at the beginning of the prior art, which is used as a small parts load carrier, only the upper individual plate 1 or 101 and the lower individual plate 2 are shown in the figures. Two opposite walls of the box (not shown) are divided and consist of two individual plates 1, 2 or 101; 102, while the other two walls are continuous. The individual panels 1, 2 and 101, 102 are on the one hand hinged to the base and lower frame of the box and on the other hand are movably connected to one another via central hinges arranged in the division plane/folding axis 3, which coincides with the pivot axis of the foldable individual panels 1, 2 and 101, 102, in the form of hinge clips 4 shown in Fig. 5a to 5c as double hinge members, one of which is inserted into the hinge receptacles 5 of the individual panels 1, 2 and 101, 102 arranged at a distance from one another; the exact number of hinge receptacles 5 and the number of hinges used for connection

PATENT ATTORNEYS · HEMP^EfJKH · fJÜljllER.· pRftis*,POLLMElER · VALENTIN · GIHSKE -6

Hinge clip 4 depends on the length of the box walls or individual panels.

Each hinge clip 4 has a substantially U-shaped cross-section (see Fig. 5c), with two hinge pins 7a, 7b and 8a, 8b formed in pairs diametrically opposite each other on its flanges 6; it also has reinforcing ribs 9 connecting the two flanges 6 to one another.

The individual panels 1, 2 shown in Figs. 1 to 4 are, as can be seen in detail from Fig. 4, designed as double-walled hollow chamber elements 10 that are open on their end faces facing the folding axis 3 and that provide joining slots 11 into which the hinge clips 4 can be inserted (see Fig. 3) and pressed until their hinge pins 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b are engaged in the hinge eyes 12 assigned to them at the engaging or foot end of the joining slots 11 (see Figs. 3 and 7). The hollow chambers which are open at the front when the individual panels 1, 2 are folded together (see Fig. 2a) and when they are erected in intermediate positions (see Fig. 2b) are closed on all sides when the individual panels 1, 2 are completely erected, as shown in Fig. 2c, to which the flanges 6 of the hinge clips 4 which laterally close off the joining shafts 11 also contribute.

The individual plate 101 according to Fig. 6 differs from the individual plates 1, 2 in that it is designed without hollow chambers and instead with reinforcing ribbing 13; the previously described joining principle for connecting the individual plate 101 with a second individual plate 102 of the same design remains unchanged, because in this case too, hinge clips 4 are inserted into the joining slots 11 of the hinge receptacles 5 (see the right half of Fig. 7) and, after being pressed into their final position (see the left half of Fig. 7), are snapped into the hinge eyes 12 formed on the individual plates 101, 102 with their hinge pins 7a, 7b or 8a, 8b. Here, the hinge pins 8a and 7a, which are arranged diametrically opposite one another, engage in one individual plate and the hinge pins 8b and 7b engage in the other individual plate.

Claims (3)

PATENT ATTORNEYS · HEMUEfJfOH - fflÜV^S · GgOjSSfr-. POLLMEIER · VALENTIN · GIHSKE _7_ "giVhk * 77 240 7. Feb, 1995 Fritz Schäfer GmbH, Fritz-Schäfer~Str. 20, 57290 Neunkirchen Protection claims: 1. Storage and transport box or container, in particular a foldable small parts load carrier, which has front and side walls hinged to a base and/or top frame, which can be locked in the upright position and, after being unlocked, can be swung inwards, of which two opposite walls are divided and consist of at least two individual panels connected to one another via central hinges in the form of double hinge elements in the folding axis, which can be rotated towards one another and folded inwards, characterized in that the double hinge member is designed as a hinge clip (4) with integrally formed hinge pins (7a, 7b; 8a, 8b) and the folding axis (3) is locked in bridging manner into corresponding hinge receptacles (5) assigned to the hinge pins (7a, 7b; 8a, 8b) in the two individual plates (1, 2 or 101, 102). 2. Box according to claim 1, characterized in that the hinge clip (4) has a substantially U-shaped cross-section and two hinge pins (7a, 7b; 8a, 8b) arranged in pairs diametrically opposite each other on each flange (6). 3. Box according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized by that the individual plates (1, 2) are designed as open towards the folding axis (3), PATENT ATTORNEYS · HEMHEiSfOFl. MUl^S · GÖiO§§E·· POLLMEIER · VALENTIN · GIHSKE -8 double-walled hollow chamber elements (10) and the hinge receptacles (5) are designed as joining shafts (11) with hinge eyes (12) on the base side. • · ♦