DK180864B1

DK180864B1 - A nestable rack for supporting carcasses inside refrigerated intermodal containers and a method of nesting a plurality of such racks

Info

Publication number: DK180864B1
Application number: DKPA202070009A
Authority: DK
Inventors: Lemus João
Original assignee: Maersk As
Priority date: 2020-01-06
Filing date: 2020-01-06
Publication date: 2022-06-02
Also published as: DK202170398A1; AU2021205609A2; AU2021205609A1; DK202070009A1; WO2021140119A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a rack 100, adapted to be arranged inside the interior of an intermodal container 400, comprising a top portion 4, a bottom portion 3, and two opposite first bars 1, 1’, each of the first bars 1, 1’ connecting a respective outward side S1, S1’ of the top portion 4 with a respective outward side S2, S2’ of the bottom portion 3.

Description

DK 180864 B1 1 A nestable rack for supporting carcasses inside refrigerated intermodal containers and a method of nesting a plurality of such racks The present invention relates to a rack suitable for carrying carcasses while being stored or transported inside an intermodal container, and adapted to be nested within another, similar rack when not in use. Meat is sensitive to physical impact. Therefore, when transporting meat in the form of carcasses, it is often desirable or even necessary to hang them.

This is particularly relevant, when the carcasses are transported by ships across oceans, due to the harsh conditions at sea. Here it is further necessary to chill the carcasses inside refrigerated intermodal containers, hereinafter re- ferred to as reefer containers.

However, standard reefer containers do not have hooks, and constructing or modifying such reefer containers to support the transport of hanged carcasses, is expensive and may mean the reefer container cannot be used for other types of goods.

Therefore, when transporting carcasses, racks having hooks hanging from their top are used. The racks for supporting the carcasses may be loaded into reefer containers using forklifts.

One such rack is disclosed in US3506136, showing a rack having hooks for the transport of carcasses, being loaded into an intermodal container using a forklift.

Generally, container racks that are not in use occupy much space, and it is therefore desirable that the racks have provisions that allow them to be stored without occupying too much space.

DK 180864 B1 2 From US 3848747 A, US 2007278169 Al, US 2011303129 Al, US 2015158629 Al and US 2018125231 Al racks suitable for being used inside intermodal containers are known.

Today, in order to reduce the space occupied by stored racks, some racks are made to be collapsible. One such rack is disclosed in WO18136994, showing a collapsible rack, which further can be stored on top of another similar rack, when not in use.

However, this disclosure requires the rack to be collapsed before it can be stored in a way that reduces the occupied space, and thus requires time and effort by one or more operators to collapse the rack. Furthermore, the dis- closed rack in the WO document is not suitable for storing or transporting car- casses, since it has no provisions for hanging carcasses, but is intended for storing and transporting liquids.

Therefore, there is a need for a rack that is inter alia suitable for storing and transporting carcasses inside reefer containers, and that is further adapted to allow for stored racks to be occupy a reduced space, without the need for col- lapsing the rack, when not in use, such as for when returning the rack to the place of origin of the meat, for another transporting cycle.

The object of the present invention is inter alia to provide a such a rack.

Summary In view of this object, a rack is provided as described in the following, accom- modating the needs mentioned above.

According to the invention, the rack is adapted to be arranged inside the inte- rior of an intermodal container, the rack comprising a top portion, a bottom

DK 180864 B1 3 portion, and two opposite first bars, each of the first bars connecting a respec- tive outward side of the top portion with a respective outward side of the bottom portion. Thereby, space is provided for a second, similar rack to be placed with its bottom portion resting at least partly on top of the bottom portion of the first rack, thereby nesting one of the two racks within the other. The two opposite first bars are parallel and spaced apart by a first distance larger than or equal to the distance between the respective outward sides of the top portion and/or between the respective outward sides of the bottom por- — tion. Each of the top portion and the bottom portion has a rear end and a front end, and each of the two opposite first bars has an upper end and a lower end, wherein the upper ends of the two opposite first bars are connected to the top portion at a position closer to the rear end of the top portion than to the front end of the top portion, and wherein the lower ends of the two opposite first bars are connected to the bottom portion at a position closer to the front end of the bottom portion than to the rear end of the bottom portion. Thereby, a highly rigid configuration of the rack is achieved, with a minimal amount of structural elements. In another embodiment, the top portion comprises one or more third bars adapted to carry one or more hangers for hanging goods from the top portion.

In another embodiment, the one or more hangers are hooks pivotally mounted to the third bars, nesting of two racks giving rise to a turning movement of the hangers towards a horizontal plane. Such hangers or hooks are suitable for hanging carcasses during storage or transport thereof.

DK 180864 B1 4 In another embodiment, the rack comprises two opposite second bars con- necting the top portion with the bottom portion and extending within the foot- print of the top portion and/or the bottom portion.

— In another embodiment, each of the aforementioned two opposite second bars comprises an upper end and a lower end, wherein the upper ends of the two opposite second bars are connected to the top portion at a position closer to the front end of the top portion than to the rear end of the top portion, and wherein the lower ends of the two opposite second bars are connected to the bottom portion at a position closer to the rear end of the bottom portion than to the front end of the bottom portion.

Thereby, the rigidity of the rack is improved.

In another embodiment, the rack comprises a bracket mounted to each corner of the top portion, for sideways support of the top portion of a second one of the rack which is placed on top of the top portion of a first one of the rack.

In another embodiment, the bottom portion comprises faces or guides adapted to be engaged by the tines of a forklift.

This enables the rack to be lifted and transported by a forklift, and easily loaded into an intermodal container.

In another embodiment, the faces or guides are defined by channels open at one or two ends.

This is particularly beneficial in allowing a forklift to carry several nested racks and also to shift one rack into a nested position within another rack during a nesting procedure, by the tines of the forklift being received by the faces or guides.

DK 180864 B1 In one embodiment, a system comprises a plurality of racks as described in any of the above embodiments, wherein the plurality of racks are nestable within each other by the bottom portion of a first rack arranged partly on top of a bottom portion of a second rack, and the top portion of the first rack arranged 5 partly on top of a top portion of the second rack. Thus, when not in use, the rack can be nested within another similar rack, thereby reducing space occupied by the racks, without requiring tools or dis- assembling the rack.

In one embodiment, a method of nesting a plurality of racks as described in any of the above embodiments is provided, to form a group of nested racks, wherein, by raising and shifting a rack, the bottom portion of a first rack is ar- ranged partly on top of a bottom portion of a second rack, and the top portion — of the first rack is arranged partly on top of a top portion of the second rack. In another embodiment, the racks are nested either outside the intermodal container and then inserted as a group into the intermodal container, or wherein racks are inserted individually one after another into the intermodal container to form a nested group therein. In this configuration, the nestable racks occupy a reduced amount of space inside the intermodal container, and are thus in a suitable configuration to be stored or transported.

Brief description of the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective schematic view of an embodiment of the rack. Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the rack shown in Fig. 1.

DK 180864 B1 6 Fig. 3 is a schematic front view of the rack shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the bottom portion of the rack shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the hangers shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a schematic view of several racks as the one shown in Fig. 1, arranged inside an intermodal container.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of several racks as the one shown in Fig. 1, nested within each other, and arranged inside an intermodal container. Detailed description The invention will now be explained in more details below by reference to the figures. Figures 1 and 3 show schematically the claimed rack 100, comprising a top portion 4 having two outward sides S1, S1', a bottom portion 3 having two outward sides S2, S2', and two opposite first side bars 1, 1' that each connect rigidly with a respective outward side S1, S1' of the top portion 4 and with a respective outward side S2, S2' of the bottom portion 3.

Since the two opposite first side bars 1, 1' are connected to the top portion 4 and to the bottom portion 3 at their two opposite outward sides S1, S1', S2, S 2' respectively, enough space is provided between the two opposite first side bars 1, 1' to receive the bottom portion of a second similar rack, thereby allow- ing the second rack to be nested within the first rack, in a configuration as shown in Figure 7. As further seen in Figures 1 and 3, the distance d1 between

DK 180864 B1 7 the two first side structures 1, 1’ is equal to or larger than the distance d2 be- tween the two opposite outward sides S1, S1' of the top portion 4 and the two opposite outward sides S2, S2' of the bottom portion 3.

Figure 1 further discloses an embodiment of the rack 100, wherein the two opposite first side bars 1, 1’ are elongated and each comprise an upper end la, 1a and a lower end 1b, 1'b. In the shown embodiment, the upper ends 1a, 1'a are rigidly connected to a rear end 4a of the top portion, such as by welding, and where the lower ends 1b, 1'b are rigidly connected to a front end 3b of the bottom portion 3.

Figure 1 further discloses two opposite second bars 2, 2' connecting the top portion 4 with the bottom portion 3 and extending within the footprint F of the top portion 4 or the bottom portion 3, see also Figure 4.

Figures 1-3 show that the two opposite second bars 2, 2' each comprise a lower end 2a, 2'a and an upper end 2b, 2'b. In the shown embodiment, the lower ends 2a, 2'a of the two opposite second bars 2, 2' are connected to the bottom portion 3 at a position closer to the rear end 3a of the bottom portion 3 than to the front end 3b of the bottom portion 3, and the upper ends 2b, 2'b of the two opposite second bars 2, 2' are connected to the top portion 4 at a position closer to the front end 4b of the top portion 4 than to the rear end 4a of the front portion 4.

Figures 1 and 2 further show further support elements at the lower ends 1b, 1'b, 2a, 2'a of each of the opposite side bars 1, 1', 2, 2', between the two op- posite first bars 1, 1° and the ground, and between the two opposite second bars 2, 2' and the bottom portion 3, providing even more rigidity to the rack

100.

DK 180864 B1 8 Figure 1 further shows the top portion 4 comprising multiple third bars 12 each carrying multiple hangers 6. In the shown embodiment, the hangers 6 are hooks, pivotally mounted to the third bars 12. In an embodiment, the third bars 12 comprise brackets through which a tubular bar extends, to which tubular bar the hangers 6 are pivotally mounted, as shown in Figure 5, the third bar 12 not being shown therein. Figures 1 and 3 show two faces or guides 5, adapted to be engaged by the tines of a forklift. The faces or guides 5 are shown as downwardly open chan- nels which, however, may in another embodiment be downwardly closed, thereby increasing the rigidity of the rack 100. The faces or guides may be defined by channels open at one or two ends. Figures 1 and 2 show brackets 10 mounted to each corner of the top portion 4, suitable for sideways support of another rack positioned on top of the rack

100. Figure 4 shows the bottom portion 3 comprising the faces or guides 5. The — figure further shows a footprint F of the bottom portion 3, defined between the lines I. The top portion 4 and/or the bottom portion 3 may have a length of between 2 and 3 meters, a distance between the respective sides of the top portion 4 and/or the bottom portion 3 of between 2 and 2,5 meters, and a height of be- tween 1,8 and 2,3 m. Figure 6 shows an intermodal container 400, which may be a reefer container, accommodating several racks 100. The racks 100 are loaded into the inter- modal container 400 and ready to support carcasses hanging from their top portions 4.

DK 180864 B1 9 Figure 7 shows an intermodal container 400, accommodating several racks 100, that are nested within each other, by having their bottom portion 3 placed partly on top of a bottom portion 3’ of another similar nestable rack 100’, thereby defining a system 300 of groups 250 of nested racks 100, 100’.

Claims

DK 180864 B1 Patent claims:

A stand (100) arranged to be arranged inside the interior of an intermodal container (400), comprising a top part (4), a bottom part (3) and two opposite first rods (1, 1), each of the first rods (1, 1) connecting a respective outer side (S1, S1 ") of the top part (4) with a respective outer side (S2, S2") of the bottom part (3), the two opposite first rods (1) , 1 ") are parallel and separated by a first distance (d1) greater than or equal to the distance (d2) between the respective outer sides (S1, S1") of the top part (4) and / or between the respective outer sides ( S2, S2 ") of the bottom part (3), characterized in that each of the top part (4) and the bottom part (3) has a rear end (4a, 3a) and a front end (4b, 3b), and wherein each of the two opposite first rods (1, 1 ") have an upper end (1a, 1'a) and a lower end (1b, 1'b), - the upper ends (1a, 1 'of the two opposite first rods (1, 1) a) is connected to the top part (4) at a position closer to the rear part (4a) of the top part (4) than to - tops front end (4b) of the boom (4), and - the lower ends (1b, 1'b) of the two opposite first rods (1, 1 ') being connected to the bottom part (3) at a position closer to the bottom part (3). ) front end (3b) than on the rear end (3a) of the bottom part (3).

A stand (100) according to claim 1, wherein the top part (4) comprises one or more third rods (12) adapted to carry one or more hooks (6) for hanging goods from the top part (4).

A stand (100) according to claim 2, wherein the one or more hooks (6) are hooks rotatably mounted on the third rods (12).

A stand (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising two opposite second rods (2, 2) connecting the top part (4) to the bottom part (3) and extending within an impression (F) of the top part (4) and / or the bottom part (3).

A stand (100) according to claim 4, wherein each of the two opposite second rods (2, 2) comprises an upper end (2b, 2'b) and a lower end (2a, 2'a),

, DK 180864 B1 - the upper ends (2b, 2'b) of the two opposite second rods (2, 2) being connected to the top part (4) at a position closer to the front (4b) of the top part (4) than to the rear end (4a) of the top part (4), and - the lower ends (2a, 2'a) of the two opposite second rods (2, 2 ") being connected to the bottom part (3) at a position closer to the bottom part (3). ) rear (3a) than on the front (3b) of the bottom part (3).

A stand (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a bracket (10) mounted on each corner of the top part (4) for lateral support - another stand (100) being located on top of the top part (4).

A stand (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bottom part (3) comprises surfaces or grooves (5) arranged to engage the fork of a forklift truck.

A stand (100) according to claim 7, wherein the surfaces or grooves (5) are delimited by channels open at one or two ends.

A method of supporting a plurality of racks (100, 100 ") according to any one or more of claims 1-8 to form a group (250) of supported racks (100, 100"), wherein a first rack (100) bottom portion (3) is partially placed on top of a bottom portion (3) of a second rack (100), and the top portion (4) of the first rack (100) is partially placed on top of a top portion (4) of the second rack (100). ), lifting and displacing a stand (100 ').

The method of claim 9, wherein the racks (100, 100 ') are either supported outside the intermodal container (400) and then inserted as a group (250) into the intermodal container (400), or wherein the racks (100, 100 °) is inserted individually one at a time into the intermodal container (400) to form a supported group (250) therein.