EP0334348B1 - Storage and/or transport container - Google Patents

Abstract

U-shaped gripping bars (5) are mounted by their end portions in block-shaped or cuboid swivel bearings (8) at the upper edge of a storage and/or transport container (1) on two opposite sides of the container. Said gripping bars (5) can be folded down against the outside of the walls for placing several containers (1) one inside the other and can be swivelled inwards to form stacking rests for placing the containers (1) one on top of the other. In this case, parts (9, 10, 16) of the gripping bar (5) secure one or more stacked containers (1) against slipping in the longitudinal or transverse direction. The gripping bars (5) can be arranged swivellably on the upper edge either of the transverse or the longitudinal walls (3). The possibility thus arises not only of stacking containers (1) of equal size but also containers (102) having a different base area. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a storage and / or transport box with longitudinal and transverse walls inclined inwards from the top opening towards the floor and two U-shaped handle brackets mounted on opposite sides of the box in horizontal pivoting bearings which are aligned with one another on the upper edge of the box and which are used to place several empty ones into one another Boxes can be folded down against the outside of the walls and swiveled inwards for stacking boxes to form stacking supports and placed on top of the box, and with bracket parts bent horizontally towards the middle of the box, a box placed in one direction (e.g. in the longitudinal direction) and with vertical ones at right angles to Bow handle bent bow parts fix the box in the other direction (e.g. in the transverse direction).

Such boxes are already known from DE-A-36 14 920. These have brackets that can be placed on the upper edge of the box, the handles of which form the base for another box to be placed. This is secured in one direction by cranking the handle against slipping. In the other direction, the box is defined by end extensions which are bent horizontally to the center of the box and are arranged between the two pivot bearings. However, these known boxes have the disadvantage that at the end of the end extensions bent towards the center of the box, wire interfaces exposed, which can lead to damage to the attached box on the one hand and injuries when lifting the box on the other. In addition, it has proven to be disadvantageous that the end extensions bent towards the center of the box narrow the grip space, especially since the end extensions must have a length which ensures that the box attached is securely attached. It has also been shown that the brackets jump out of the swivel bracket bearings when the box is lifted.

FR-A-1 450 763 also makes a storage and / or transport box with handle brackets part of the prior art. The latter have such a shape that the attachment of the attached box in both directions, that is, both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction, is effected by the vertical legs of U-shaped cranked bracket parts. These U-shaped cranked bracket parts are provided on the handlebars so that the unfolded handlebars protrude to a considerable extent unprotected over the outer wall surfaces of the box body and can therefore be easily damaged. Even in the folded state, these handlebars are not protected against damage because they then also partially protrude beyond the contour lines of the box body, for example in the area of their bearing eyes and in the area of their bends.

Finally, from DE-A-23 44 423 a sterilizing basket with hinged handlebars has become known. In this case, the handlebars have a shape in which two horizontal bracket parts bent towards the center of the box cause a further sterilization basket to be attached in one direction. These horizontal ironing parts are also connected to ironing parts which rest on an upper frame of the sterilizing basket in question. Here, however, it is disadvantageous that the handlebars have to be articulated on the upper frame of the sterilizing basket by means of molded, ring-shaped bearing eyes. Apart from the fact that the eyelets in any case protrude beyond the outline dimensions of the upper bounding frame and can therefore be deformed and damaged by external influences, it is possible to close the eyelets around the frame leg of the sterilization basket without causing damage to the surface protective layer (electroplating, lacquer or plastic coating ) practically not possible.

The invention has for its object to provide a storage and / or transport box of the generic type, in which the most free and secure access to the middle part used as a handle is possible without the exact definition of an attached box affected by the horizontal bracket parts is.

• daß die Schwenklager block- oder würfelförmig gestaltet sind und Endabschnitte der Griffbügel jeweils in Schwenklageröffnungen aufnehmen,
• daß wenigstens eines dieser Schwenklager durch Verschrauben und/oder Aufschieben bzw. Einschieben und Verrasten an einer Querwandrippe fixierbar ist,
• und daß dabei jedes der zum Festlegen des aufgesetzten Kastens in einer Richtung dienenden, waagerechten und zur Kastenmitte gebogenen Bügelteile in einer Richtung zwischen jeweils einem Schwenklager und einem auf den Kastenoberrand auflegbaren Bügelabschnitt angeordnet ist.

To solve this problem, the storage and / or transport box is characterized in that

• that the pivot bearings are block or cube-shaped and receive end portions of the handlebars in pivot bearing openings,
• that at least one of these pivot bearings can be fixed to a transverse wall rib by screwing and / or sliding on or pushing in and latching,
• and that each of the bracket parts used to fix the attached box in one direction, horizontally and bent towards the center of the box, is arranged in one direction between a respective pivot bearing and a bracket section which can be placed on the box top edge.

In this way it is possible to secure a transport box of the same size placed on a transport box against slipping, without wire interfaces coming into contact with the mounted box. Since the interfaces are located within the swivel bearing, there are no signs of corrosion. Another advantage is that the middle section of the bow handle used when lifting is not constricted, since the horizontal bracket parts are arranged near the box corners.

Various arrangement options have proven to be expedient. According to claim 2 it is provided that both end portions of a handle are inserted from the respective outer pivot opening into the pivot bearing.

But it is also possible that - according to claim 3 - both end portions of a handle are inserted into the pivot bearings from the inside opposite pivot bearing openings.

Finally, one end section of a handle can also be inserted into the pivot bearing from the outside pivot bearing opening and the other end section from the inside pivot bearing opening.

According to claim 5, the pivot bearings have at least one undercut guide on the foot side, which can be inserted from the outside of the box into correspondingly shaped, cut-out box-fixed guides up to a stop. In this way, the swivel bearings are securely connected to the box. Even with a high filling weight of the box, the tensile forces that occur when the box is lifted are transferred from the bracket to the box-fixed guides via its swivel bearing.

The pivot bearings are held according to claims 6 and 7 in their end position by releasably lockable locking devices which consist of a tongue which can be latched into a slot provided in the area of the box-fixed guides. As a result, the block or cube-shaped bearings are not only light and safe with the Box connectable, but they can also be easily removed if necessary. Only the locking device needs to be operated.

The handlebars can be pivotally arranged on the upper edge of either the transverse walls or the longitudinal walls. If they are mounted on the upper edge of the longitudinal walls, two small boxes can be placed on the handlebars, which have about half the base of the supporting large box. The smaller boxes are then placed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the large supporting box. In this case, the handlebars advantageously have a crank in their center, which is directed upwards when the bracket is pivoted inward and secures the smaller boxes against displacement in their transverse direction.

Instead of the two small boxes, another large box can also be placed on the supporting large box if it has a recess in the middle of its lower longitudinal edge which is larger in its dimensions than the cranking of the bracket (claim 9).

Finally, it is also possible to place a large box on two adjacent small boxes with longitudinal axes running parallel to one another for the purpose of stacking if, according to claim 10, the longitudinal walls of the small boxes are lowered relative to the transverse walls to the height of the inwardly pivoted handlebars.

Figur 1

einen Transportkasten in räumlicher Darstellung und schräg von oben gesehen,

Figur 2

eine Draufsicht auf einen Eckbereich des Transportkasten bei aufliegendem einwärts geschwenktem Bügel,

Figur 3

einen Schnitt entlang der Linie III-III in der Fig. 2,

Figur 4

eine Ansicht des Randbereichs eines Transportkastens bei heruntergeklapptem Bügel,

Figur 5

eine Ansicht in Pfeilrichtung V in der Fig. 4 mit einer ersten Befestigungsmöglichkeit eines Schwenklagers,

Figur 6

eine Ansicht in Pfeilrichtung V in der Fig. 4 mit einer zweiten Befestigungsmöglichkeit eines Schwenklagers,

Figur 7

eine Ansicht in Pfeilrichtung V in der Fig. 4 mit einer dritten Befestigungsmöglichkeit eines Schwenklagers,

Figur 8

Draufsicht auf einen Randbereich des Kastens, in dem die in Fig. 7 gezeigte kastenfeste Befestigungsmöglichkeit für ein Schwenklager vorgesehen ist, das entfernt wurde und deshalb nicht dargestellt ist,

Figur 9

einen Schnitt entlang der Linie IX-IX der Figur 7,

Figur 10

eine weitere Ausführungsform eines Bügels,

Figur 11

einen Schnitt entlang der Linie XI-XI in der Fig. 10,

Figur 12

eine Seitenansicht des Randbereiches des Transportkastens bei einer weiteren Ausführungsform eines Bügels,

Figur 13

ein weiterer Transportkasten in räumlicher Darstellung schräg von oben gesehen,

Figur 14

eine Draufsicht auf den Transportkasten nach Fig. 13.

In the drawing, the object of the invention is shown in exemplary embodiments. Show it

Figure 1

a transport box in spatial representation and seen obliquely from above,

Figure 2

a plan view of a corner region of the transport box with the bracket pivoted inwards,

Figure 3

3 shows a section along the line III-III in FIG. 2,

Figure 4

a view of the edge region of a transport box with the bracket folded down,

Figure 5

4 with a first possibility of fastening a swivel bearing,

Figure 6

4 with a second fastening possibility of a pivot bearing,

Figure 7

4 with a third possibility of fastening a pivot bearing,

Figure 8

Top view of an edge region of the box, in which the box-fixed fastening option shown in FIG. 7 is provided for a pivot bearing which has been removed and is therefore not shown,

Figure 9

7 shows a section along the line IX-IX of FIG. 7,

Figure 10

another embodiment of a bracket,

Figure 11

10 shows a section along the line XI-XI in FIG. 10,

Figure 12

2 shows a side view of the edge region of the transport box in a further embodiment of a bracket,

Figure 13

another transport box seen in spatial representation obliquely from above,

Figure 14

13 shows a plan view of the transport box according to FIG. 13.

If a further transport box 101 of the same size is to be placed on the storage and / or transport box 1 shown in FIG. 1, the handle brackets 5 mounted on the upper edges of the transverse walls 4 in pivot bearings 8 must be pivoted inwards to form stack supports.

You come with two bracket sections 6 on the top of the box 11 to rest (Fig. 1 and 2). The handle 5 form the stack support for another box, which comes to rest with its bottom 2 on the middle part 7. In order to fix the attached box in its position, a horizontal bracket part 9 bent to the center of the box is provided between the swivel bearing 8 and the clip section 6 which can be placed on the outside of the box of an attached box and secures it against slipping. On both sides of the handle 5, crankings 10 are provided, which fix an attached box by their vertical, bent at right angles to the bracket section 6 bracket parts in the other direction.

Fig. 3 shows how a mounted box 101 is fixed in its position by the bracket middle part 7 of the box below and by the horizontal bracket part 9. Below the pivot bearings 8, 4 recesses are provided on the outer sides of the transverse walls for receiving the bracket middle parts 7 when these are pivoted outward from their position shown in FIG. 3 against the outer side of the transverse walls (FIG. 4).

The different possibilities of the swivel bearing and handle mounting are shown in FIGS. 5 to 12.

Fig. 5 shows a type of attachment for the block or cube-shaped pivot bearing 8 at the top of the box. The pivot bearing 8 is screwed to the transverse wall rib 17.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 4, the block-shaped or cube-shaped pivot bearing 8 sits below the transverse wall rib 18, which runs in the plane of the top edge 11 of the box.

Another embodiment is shown in FIGS. 7 to 9. Here the pivot bearings 8 are provided with dovetail connections 12 and can therefore be pushed on from the outside of the box in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 9. By means of a latching device, which consists of a tongue 19 attached to the pivot bearing 8 and a slot 20 embedded in the transverse wall rib 17, the pivot bearings 8 are fixed in their position after they have been pushed on completely. When the pivot bearing has reached its position, the tongue 19 engages in the slot 20. To release the latching connection, the tongue 19 is pressed slightly upward, so that the block-like or cube-like pivot bearing 8 can be pushed out of the box-fixed guide of the dovetail connection 12. This type of fastening enables damaged brackets to be exchanged in a simple manner. Instead of the dovetail-shaped guides, other shapes with undercuts can also be used, for example T-shaped, box-fixed guides which engage in correspondingly shaped undercut recesses at the base of the pivot bearing.

In the embodiments shown so far, the handle 5 are inserted from the outer pivot bearing openings 13 into the pivot bearing 8. However, there is also the possibility, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, of inserting the handle 5 into the inner opposite pivot bearing openings 14 of the pivot bearing 8 and fixing it there, for example by means of bearing plugs. This has the advantage that the pivot bearing 8 can be placed closer to the box corners. As a result, the free space in the handle area is larger and the horizontal bracket parts 9 can make an attached box more precise and secure due to a longer contact surface establish. The pivot bearings 8 are embraced and held by the side jaws 15 of the upper box edge 11 (Fig. 11).

12 shows a combination of the pivot bearing and handle bracket arrangement according to FIGS. 1 and 10. Here, on the right side, a pivot bearing 8 is formed on the upper box edge 11, in which the handle bracket 5 is inserted through the outer pivot bearing opening 13 while the bracket is inserted on the left side through the inner pivot bearing opening 14. This combination allows both bracket ends to be inserted simultaneously and in a simple manner from one side into the pivot bearing 8 without the ends of the bracket having to be pushed apart to allow it to be pushed into the bearing.

In the storage and / or transport box 1 shown in FIG. 13, the handle brackets 5 are pivotably arranged on the upper edge of the longitudinal box walls 3, in the same way as the swivel bracket shown in FIG. 1 on the upper edge of the transverse box walls 4.

In the middle, the handlebars 5 are provided with an offset 16. As indicated, two small boxes 102 can be placed next to one another on the storage and / or transport box 1 shown in FIG. 13. The boxes 102 are secured in their position by the horizontal bracket parts 9, the vertically extending cranks 10 and the cranks 16 in the middle of the bracket.

The box according to FIG. 13 also allows a box of the same size to be put on. However, it is a prerequisite that a depression 21 is formed in the middle of the lower longitudinal edge, the dimension of which is slightly larger than the offset 16.

Finally, there is also the possibility of placing a large box 1 on two small boxes 102 arranged side by side. For this purpose, the longitudinal walls of the small box must be lowered relative to their transverse walls to the level of the handlebars that are pivoted inwards.

Claims (10)

1. A box (1) for storage and/or transport, having longitudinal and crosswalls (3 resp. 4) which slope inwards from the opening at the top down to the bottom (2) as well as two U-shaped handles (5) which are supported on opposite sides of the box in horizontal pivot bearings (8) provided at the top edge of the box in line with one another, and may be folded down against the outside of the walls (3 resp. 4) for putting a number of empty boxes (1) inside one another and swung inwards and laid on the top edge (11) of the box to form rests when stacking boxes (1) by putting them one on top of another, and by horizontal parts (9) of the handle which are bent towards the middle of the box secure a superimposed box (1) in one direction (e.g., in the longitudinal direction) and also by vertical parts (10) of the handle which are bent out at rightangles to the handle secure the box (1) in the other direction (e.g., in the transverse direction), characterized

   - in that the pivot bearings (8) are made block-shaped or cubical and receive end-portions of the handles (5) in respective pivot-bearing openings (13);

   - in that at least one of these pivot bearings (8) may by screwing (Figures 5 and 6) and/or sliding on (Figures 7 and 8) or sliding in (Figure 11) and snapping (Figure 9) be fixed onto a rib (17 resp. 18) on a crosswall;

   - and in that moreover each of the horizontal portions (9) of handle bent towards the middle of the box and serving to secure the superimposed box (1) in one direction, is arranged in a direction between any one pivot bearing (8) and a portion (6) of handle which may be laid on the top edge (11) of the box.
2. A box for storage and/or transport as in Claim 1,
      characterized in that
   both end portions of one handle (5) are introduced into the pivot bearings (8) by that opening (13) in the pivot bearing which is lying respectively on the outside (Figure 1).
3. A box for storage and/or transport as in Claim 1,
      characterized in that
   both end portions of one handle (5) are introduced into the pivot bearings (8) by the openings (14) in the pivot bearings which lie opposite one another on the inside (Figure 10).
4. A box for storage and/or transport as in Claim 1,
      characterized in that
   the one end portion of one handle (5) is introduced into the pivot bearing by that opening (13) in the pivot bearing which is lying on the outside, and the other end portion by that opening (14) in the pivot bearing which is lying on the inside (Figure 12).
5. A box for storage and/or transport as in one of the Claims 1 to 4,
      characterized in that
   the pivot bearings (8) exhibit on the side at the foot at least one undercut guide which may be slid from the outside of the box up to a stop in correspondingly shaped undercut guides fixed to the box.
6. A box for storage and/or transport as in one of the Claims 1 to 5,
      characterized by
   a catch device able to lock the pivot bearings (8) releasably in their end positions.
7. A box for storage and/or transport as in one of the Claims 1 to 6,
      characterized in that
   the catch device consists of a tongue (19) which may be snapped into a slot (20) provided in the region of the guide fixed to the box.
8. A box for storage and/or transport as in at least one
      of the Claims 1 to 7,
   in which the handles are supported on the top edge of the longitudinal walls and preferably serve for the support of small boxes placed on the box at rightangles to its longitudinal axis, which have about half the area of base of the supporting large box,
   characterized in that
   the handles (5) exhibit in the middle a cranked portion (16) which with the handles swung inwards is directed upwards and secures the small boxes (102) against shifting in the direction transverse to them.
9. A box for storage and/or transport as in Claim 8,
      characterized in that
   in the middle of their bottom longitudinal edges the large boxes (1) exhibit a depression (21) which is of larger dimensions than the cranked portion (16) of the handle.
10. A box for storage and/or transport as in Claims 8 and 9,
       characterized in that
    the longitudinal walls of the small boxes (102) are lowered with respect to the crosswalls by the height of the inwards swung handle.

Images