EP0220257A1

EP0220257A1 - Crate

Info

Publication number: EP0220257A1
Application number: EP19860902855
Authority: EP
Inventors: Evelyn Rosenorn
Original assignee: PORTAPAX Ltd
Current assignee: PORTAPAX Ltd
Priority date: 1985-04-25
Filing date: 1986-04-25
Publication date: 1987-05-06
Also published as: GB8610105D0; JPS62502608A; GB8510582D0; AU5815186A; GB2174074A; WO1986006348A1

Abstract

Caisse à claire-voie particulièrement destinée au transport et au stockage de pots de plantes et d'autres articles et comprenant un cadre en plastique formé d'une base (1) et de parois latérales (6, 7) articulées la base de préférence par des charnières solidaires (2) faites de fines sections de plastique, les parois latérales pouvant être fixées solidairement les unes aux autres lorsque le cadre est dressé, ladite caisse comprenant également un plateau (5) présentant des évidements (9) ou des ouvertures destinées à soutenir des articles, tels que des pots de plantes, à l'intérieur du cadre dressé.Skeleton crate particularly intended for the transport and the storage of pots of plants and other articles and comprising a plastic frame formed by a base (1) and side walls (6, 7) articulated the base preferably by integral hinges (2) made of thin sections of plastic, the side walls being able to be fixedly secured to one another when the frame is erected, said box also comprising a tray (5) having recesses (9) or openings intended for support items, such as plant pots, inside the erected frame.

Description

"CRATE"

The present invention relates to a crate, more particularly to a folding stackable and disposable crate particularly intended for the transport and warehousing of plant pots and other articles. Plant pots are often presently transported in trays of injection moulded plastics material wherein the tray is formed with a series of recesses adapted to hold the plant pots. However, such trays are expensive to produce and therefore usually have to be returned empty to the sender. Since plants are often thus conveyed from one country to another, the cost of return carriage is significantly high.

Plant pots are also transported in solid blocks of foamed plastics again formed with a series of recesses for receiving the plant pots. Such blocks are also quite expensive to produce, and in addition they tend to deteriorate by cracking and crumbling of the foamed plastics material.

In addition, plant pots may be transported in cardboard holders which are produced as blanks which are then erected and have areas which are pushed through to receive the plant pots. While such cardboard holders are cheap to produce they are not rugged, and their biggest problem is that they are not waterproof and lose most of their strength when wet or humid. As a result, the contents they carry are frequently damaged by the crates collapsing. The present invention aims to provide a means for conveying plant pots and other articles which overcomes the various disadvantages of the plant pot carriers described above.

The invention provides a crate, particularly intended for transporting and storing plant pots and other articles, which comprises a frame made of plastics material and comprising a base and side walls, the side walls being adapted to be locked together when the frame is erected, and a lining or tray (hereinafter referred to as a tray) having recesses or openings for supporting the said articles within the erected frame.

While the crate of the invention is particularly suitable for plant pots, it may alternatively be used for bottles, cheeses, and cakes for example. The side walls of the frame are preferably hinged to the base thereof, for example by integral hinges of plastics material, but alternatively the side walls may - be detachably connectable to the base, for example by clips which permit the side walls to be folded relative to the base when the side walls and base are connected together. Thus the frame of the crate of the invention may be folded between a first position wherein the base and the side walls thereof lie generally in the same plane and a second, erected, position wherein the side walls are disposed generally transversely, usually perpendicular, to the plane of the base, in which erected position the side walls are locked together, usually interlocked together, to form the erected frame which with the tray thus constitutes a box for holding articles such as plant pots by means of the tray therein.

The foldable. stackable crate of the invention is particularly suitable for transporting and storing plant pots at a competitive cost, while avoiding the problems of the prior art as mentioned above. Broadly the crate of the invention may essentially comprise a skeleton frame and a tray which is supported by the frame.

The frame itself may be a solid or open structure, or some parts thereof may be solid while other parts are open. In particular the base of the frame is preferably constituted by a series of interconnecting ribs.

Alternatively, the base of the frame may consist of • a perimeter rib only, to which the frame side walls are attached, and it is to be understood that such a frame having a base portion comprising a perimeter only may in certain intended uses of the crate be adequate for the purposes of the invention. The frame is made of plastics material such as polypropylene, while the tray is preferably made of a plastics material such as polystyrene or any other plastics or other material such as cardboard. The purpose of making the frame as a skeleton is to keep the crate extremely light weight, and. therefore, of low cost while at the same time giving the crate a certain amount of rigidity for the purpose of stacking. The purpose of the tray, on the other hand, is to retain and support the contents of the box formed by the erected frame.

The frame consists of a base and four side walls preferably connected to the base in one piece. This is most preferably achieved through an integral hinge which is a fine section of plastics material which can be bent when the side walls are folded up. The hinge may extend along the whole of the adjacent edges of the base and a respective side wall, but it is preferred that portions only, suitably spaced, of the said adjacent edges are hinged together.

When the side walls are folded up they may be suitably connected to each other at the corners by use • of a clip mechanism, preferably by clips provided at the side edges of one pair of opposite side walls engaging corresponding recesses in the side edges of the other pair of opposite side walls. The tray suitably comprises a sheet of approximately the same dimensions as the base of the frame, which sheet will in use lie in a plane adjacent the plane of the upper end of the erected frame, which sheet is provided with a series of recesses therein for supporting plant pots. The sheet may instead be provided with a series of openings instead of recesses which will support the plant pots by virtue of the frusto-conical shape of the latter. However, the provision of recesses shaped to correspond to the shape of plant pots is preferred. The tray also suitably comprises side walls depending down from the upper sheet of the tray; there may be two facing side walls only, or alternatively four side walls of the tray. The bases of the respective recesses may be provided with means, suitably cross-shaped, for supporting plant pots or the like while defining a space at the bottom of the recess, below the base of a plant pot inserted therein, for holding liquid draining from the contents of the plant pot.

The lower ends of the tray side walls are preferably located by clips or in channels formed inside and adjacent the lower ends of the frame side walls, to better locate the tray within the frame. The upper ends of the tray side walls may be suitably retained by clips formed at the upper ends of the frame side walls, or may be retained by folded back or hinged portions of the upper ends of the frame side walls.

The tray is preferably, but not necessarily, formed of thermo-foamed plastics material. Increasing the gaseous content of the foam may give a tray of adequate or even increased strength while making it cheaper to manufacture.

The side walls of the tray can be printed on the outside and the frame may be designed in such a way that windows or openings in the side walls thereof allow the printing on the sides of the tray to be visible.

There exist trays of a standard size for holding and transporting plant pots, the trays having different numbers of recesses and/or recasses of different diameters for accommodating plant pots of various sizes. In the present invention the erectible frame can be of a standard size to accommodate the standard size trays, which is an advantage since the trays are variable .only in terms of the number and size of their recesses, while the frame itself may be a standard item. Thus, in manufacturing terms, separate moulds are required for producing the trays only, while the frame may be a custom built skeleton. The invention will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the frame of a crate according to the invention, in the flat or transportable position thereof;

Figure 2 is a section taken along the line A-A in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line B-B in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a tray of a crate according to the invention; Figure 5 is a section taken along the same line A-A in Figure 2 but with the side walls of the frame in the erected position thereof and the tray positioned within the erected frame, the tray being shown along the section C-C of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a section taken along the same line B-B in Figure 3 and the tray positioned on the base of the frame, the tray being shown along the section D-D of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a section corresponding to Figure 6 but with the side walls of the frame in the erected position thereof;

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate other embodiments of trays having different arrangements of recesses of smaller size and greater number than in the tray of Figure 4; and Figure 10 is a sectional view of a recess formed in another embodiment of a tray of a crate according to the invention.

The crate shown in the drawings comprises a frame formed a base 1 comprising a series of ribs la, lb and four side walls, two of which are short-side walls 6 and two of which are long-side walls 7 which are preferably window walls, ie, large openings or windows are formed therein. The base 1 and the side walls 6, 7 are made of a plastics material such as polypropylene.

While the ribs la may be formed as shown in Figure 1, it is preferred that the ribs are disposed orthogonally with respect to the edges of the base 1.

While as shown the base 1 comprises a network of ribs la connected to a perimeter rib lb, as mentioned previously in certain circumstances it may be sufficient if the base 1 consists of the perimeter rib lb only.

The base 1 is connected to the side walls 6, 7 by integral hinges 2 which are constituted by fine, ie, relatively thin, sections of plastics material which can be readily bent when the side walls are folded up to erect the frame.

The hinges 2 may extend along the whole length of the adjacent edges of the base and each side wall, but the hinges 2 preferably comprise a series of fine sections of plastics material, suitably spaced apart along the length of the base and side wall edges. As shown in Figures 1. 2 and 3, the frame may lie generally flat wherein the base and the side walls are disposed in the same plane. In this position several such crates may be stacked together for easy transport thereof.

When it is desired to erect the frame into the position shown in Figures 5 and 7. the side walls 6. 7 are simply folded about the hinges 2 into positions in which they are perpendicular to the plane of the base 1, the side walls being locked together along their vertical adjacent edges by clips (not shown in detail in the drawings) or other suitable fastening means.

Along their edges remote from the hinges 2, the side walls 6. 7 are provided with lateral ribs 4 for strength, as shown. The ribs also serve to assist in stacking erected crates one upon the other. Further, the upper and lower corners of the erected crate may be shaped to assist stacking.

There are also provided along the side walls 7 hinged portions 3 as shown, for assisting in retaining a tray 5 which forms the other component part of the crate. The portions 3 are suitably hinged to the side walls 7 by hinges similar to the said hinges 2.

The tray 5 is made of a foamed plastics material, such as polystyrene. As shown in Figures 4 to 7, the tray 5 essentially comprises a sheet 8 of approximately the same dimensions as the base of the frame, the sheet 8 lying in use a plane approximately corresponding with the plane of the upper end of the erected frame, as shown in particular in Figure 5. The sheet 8 is provided with a series of recesses 9 shaped to correspond to the shape of plant pots. The recesses 9 are frusto-conical in shape and have side walls 9a and bases 9b adjacent the base 1 of the frame.

The tray also has the facing side walls 10 depending down from the sheet 8. The lower ends of the tray side walls 10 are located by clips 11 formed inside and adjacent the lower ends of the erected frame side walls 7, to better locate the tray within the erected frame. The upper ends of the tray side walls 10 are retained by the hinged portions 3 provided at the upper ends of the tray side walls 7. and extending back slightly into the crate in the erected position of the frame. The hinged portions 3 have detent portions 3a for firmly engaging corresponding recesses 3b (see Figure 1) formed in the frame side walls 6, thus giving - the erected frame as a whole a more rigid structure. Figures 8 and 9 show other embodiments of trays having different arrangements of recesses 9 of smaller size and greater number than in the tray of Figures 4 to 7. The crate may if desired be provided with a suitable lid.

Figure 10 shows another embodiment of a tray 5 wherein the recesses 19 have the base 19b thereof formed with an upwardly extending portion 20. which is preferably cross-shaped as viewed in plan. In use the portion 20 supports the base of a plant pot and defines together with the side wall 19a of the recess a space 21 below the plant pot for receiving water or other liquid draining from the plant pot.

When assembling the crate, the tray 5 is located in the erected frame and retained therein by means of the clips 11 and hinged portions 3.

The crate is made light in weight by virtue of the skeleton structure of the frame, and the foamed plastics of the tray, is cheap to produce, and yet is strong and does not deteriorate.

While the invention has been described above in relation to trays for holding plant pots, suitably shaped trays may also be provided for holding other articles, such as bottles, cheeses, and cakes for example.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A crate which comprises a frame made of plastics material and comprising a base (1) and side walls (6,7), the side walls being adapted to be locked together when the frame is erected, and characterized by a tray (5) having recesses (9) or openings for supporting articles within the erected frame.

2. A crate as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the side walls of the frame are hinged to the base thereof.

3. A crate as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the base of the frame is connected to each side wall by one or more integral hinges (2) of plastics material which can be bent when the side walls are folded up.

4. A crate as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the tray is provided with recesses (9, 19) of frusto-conical shape adapted to receive plant pots.

5. A crate as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the said recesses (19) are provided at the base thereof with an upwardly extending portion (20) for - supporting the base of a plant pot and for defining together with the side wall (19a) of the recess a space (21) below the plant pot.

6. A crate as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the said portions (20) are cross-shaped as viewed in plan.

7. A crate as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the tray comprises a sheet (8) of approximately the same dimensions as the base of the frame, in which sheet (8) are formed the said recesses or openings, and facing side walls (10) depending down from the sheet (8), and in that clips (11) are provided inside and adjacent the lower ends of the erected frame side walls for locating the lower ends of the said tray side walls (10) .

8. A crate as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that two opposite side walls (7) of the frame are provided at their edges remote from the base with hinged portions (3) adapted to engage corresponding portions (3b) of the other two opposite side walls (6) of the frame in the erected position thereof.

9. A crate as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that at least one side wall (7) of the frame is provided with a window opening.