EP0510942B1

EP0510942B1 - Adjustable tray

Info

Publication number: EP0510942B1
Application number: EP92303605A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yukio Takama
Original assignee: SAKASE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Co Ltd
Current assignee: SAKASE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Co Ltd
Priority date: 1991-04-22
Filing date: 1992-04-22
Publication date: 1996-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 2012-04-22
Also published as: DE69208717D1; EP0510942A1; JPH05168650A; DK0510942T3; JP2731874B2; DE69208717T2

Description

This invention relates to a tray for accommodating articles such for example, items of medical equipment including medicines or office equipment, the tray comprising a base and side walls extending upwardly from the edges of the base respectively, at least one main parting board located in the tray to partition the tray into compartments to receive articles and at least one sub-parting board to further partition said compartments into sub-compartments.
An example of such a tray is seen in US-A-4884689 which shows the use of adjustable parting or division boards. The method of locating the boards is such that it is possible to dislodge the boards in use thereby allowing the contents of the individual sub-compartments created in the boards, to mix together. This is because the slots which are formed in the side walls and the main parting board and the end portions of the main and sub-parting boards are shaped so that there is no resistance to detachment of the boards from the slots when lateral forces are applied to the boards.
DE-U-8707115 shows a drawer construction in which a frame defining the side walls of the drawer is secured to a base board. The inner surfaces of the frame are provided with grooves to allow main partition boards to be inserted into the drawer and further partition boards can be assembled into the drawer to engage with the main partition boards to further sub-divide the drawer.
The grooves which are formed in the side walls of the frame offer no resistance to detachment of the main boards when lateral forces are applied to the boards.
GB-A-1105801 shows another form of drawer construction in which the main body of the drawer is constructed from plastics and the longer side walls incline outwardly. Division panels extend between the longer sides and have dovetail end portions which locate in dovetail slots formed in the side walls. The section of the slots and the dovetail end portions varies throughout their length so that when assembled the division panels pull the side walls to the vertical position relative to the base wall. There is no provision for additional division panels to sub-divide the compartments formed by the main panels.
An example of a tray in accordance with the invention as claimed in independent claim 1 and dependent claims 2 and 3 will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tray,
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of part of the tray seen in Figure 1 with the parts positioned prior to assembly,
Figure 3 is a plan view of part of the tray seen in Figure 1,
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the tray showing articles located in the compartments, and
Figure 5 is an elevation of a support for a plurality of trays.

Referring to the drawings the body 1 of the tray is formed as an injection moulding from synthetic resin material and has a base 9 and upstanding side walls 10. At their edges remote from the base the side walls have flanges 12 and on the outer surfaces each side wall has a step 13 so that the lower portion of the outer surface of each side wall is stepped back thereby enabling a tray to be stacked on top of a similar tray.
The inner surfaces of the side walls 10 are formed with a plurality of spaced dovetail grooves 11 which extend perpendicularly from the base 9. The ends of the grooves adjacent the base are spaced from the base by a short distance and the grooves at their other ends, are open. Moreover, the grooves in the opposite side walls are aligned with each other.
In order to divide the tray into compartments, division or parting boards 2, 3 are provided. The parting board 2 in the example has a length substantially equal to the longer sides of the tray and is provided intermediate its ends, with a plurality of dovetail grooves 21 on each side. At its ends respectively the board 2 is provided with dovetail tenons 22. The grooves 21 are formed in the intermediate portion of the parting board and are aligned on opposite sides of the board. The aligned grooves on the opposite sides of the board are interconnected. Moreover, when the tenons 22 are inserted into the aligned grooves 11 in the shorter sides 10 of the tray, the grooves 21 in the parting board are aligned with the grooves 11 in the longer sides of the tray. As with the grooves 11, the grooves 21 have open upper ends and their lower ends adjacent the base 9 are spaced from the base by the same distance as the grooves 11.
When the parting board 2 is in position the tray is divided into two compartments and the division of these two compartments into sub-compartments is provided by the parting boards 3. These are supplied in different lengths and have dovetail tenons 32 at their opposite ends. The appropriate length of parting board 3 is chosen so that one of the tenons 32 can be engaged in a groove 11 in one of the longer side walls and the other tenon 32 engaged in the corresponding groove 21 in the parting board 2. The parting boards 3 since they are secured to the parting board 2 by the tenons and also to the side walls, provide reinforcement for the parting board 2 and since all the parting boards have at least one end secured to a side wall of the tray the risk of the boards becoming detached in the use of the tray for example due to lateral pressure exerted by the contents of the sub-compartments, is minimised.
It will be appreciated that more than one slotted parting board 2 may be employed if so required and that instead of having a length substantially equal to the longer sides of the tray it or they, may have a length substantially equal to the shorter sides of the tray. Figure 5 of the drawings shows how using the flanges 12, a plurality of trays can be supported in a wheeled frame W.

Claims

A tray for receiving articles comprising a base (9) and side walls (10) extending upwardly from the edges of the base respectively, at least one main parting board (2) located in the tray to partition the tray into compartments to receive articles, and at least one sub-parting board (3) located in the tray to further partition said compartments into sub-compartments characterised in that the side walls (10) are provided on their inner surfaces with a plurality of dovetail grooves (11) which extend upwardly away from the base (9) and have open upper ends, and the or each main parting board (2) is provided at its ends respectively with dovetail tenons (22) which can be engaged with and disengaged from aligned grooves (11) in a pair of opposite side walls (10) thereby enabling the compartment size to be varied, the or each main parting board (2) being provided on opposite sides with aligned interconnecting dovetail grooves (21) extending upwardly from a base rib, and each sub-parting board (3) being provided at its ends respectively with dovetail tenons (32) for engagement within aligned grooves (21, 11) in a main parting board (2) and a side wall (10).
An adjustable tray as claimed in Claim 1, wherein a flange (12) extending outwardly is provided at the edges of each side wall of the tray body, thereby enabling the tray body to be stored in a given storage space by a drawer mechanism.
An adjustable tray as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 2, wherein the lower portion of each side wall on the outside has a step (13), thereby enabling the tray body to be stacked on top of a similar tray body.