EP0598226A2 - Folding container - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a collapsible container which is suitable, on the one hand, for transporting articles and, furthermore, can be used for displaying the article in said container and, by simple and rapid collapsing into a shape which takes up the least possible space, can be used for return transport, the intention being for the constructional and material outlay for the container to remain as low as possible whilst maintaining a sufficient service life. In order to provide such an invention, it is necessary for all the moving parts to be linked to this body and for the container to consist of the integral, sturdy rear wall and the intermediate parts, possibly firmly connected and arranged perpendicular to said rear wall, or attachment parts for the movably arranged parts. <IMAGE>

Description

In today's business life, many goods are probably not very sensitive or in need of protection, they are elaborately packaged for the mostly long journey from the manufacturer to the wholesaler to the retailer, and then either unpacked and presented by the retailer or sometimes repacked for this purpose.

Some of these products, particularly shoes, involve a relatively large amount of packaging material compared to the packaged goods, and moreover, relatively high personnel costs are incurred due to packing and unpacking. For example, the individual shoes are first wrapped in tissue paper or the like, then packed in the individual shoebox, these shoeboxes are packed in mostly 12 units intermediate box, which in turn are then put together into pallets and repackaged again with shrink wrap, etc.

All of this packaging is disposable packaging that ensures a correspondingly high amount of waste.

In order to be able to use the outer packaging several times, foldable containers with plate-shaped outer surfaces have already been developed, such as, for example, according to US Pat. No. 2,576,750.

To fold this container for the empty and space-saving return transport, however, the existing intermediate floors must be removed, since the container is folded in on the side. The intermediate shelves that have been removed must be accommodated in an additional space outside the actual container, and in addition the folding in the transverse direction has a destabilizing effect the unfolded container, which receives its stability only by the front and rear doors folded up onto the two-part base and lid.

As a result, both the moving into the folded state is relatively complex and the stability in the opened state is not sufficient, however, when the front side is open, as is necessary for the presentation of goods.

It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a collapsible container which is suitable on the one hand for the transport of the goods, and moreover for the presentation of the goods in this container and by simple and quick folding into a space-saving form for the return transport can be brought, the design and material expenditure for the container should remain as low as possible with sufficient life.

This object is achieved in a generic container by the characterizing features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments result from the subclaims.

The basic idea of the present, foldable container is that all movable parts are articulated to a body which consists of the one-piece, fixed rear wall and possibly fixedly connected, perpendicular to the rear wall intermediate parts or extension parts for the movably arranged parts.

As a result, sufficient stability of the container is already achieved in the opened, filled and open state, i.e. during the presentation.

This stability is particularly great if all 4 edges of the rear wall are arranged at right angles and facing toward the front there are then all of the attachment parts surrounding the rear wall.

By extending the lower, horizontal attachment part in depth, the stability of the container is also promoted, especially in the folded, narrow state.

Due to the fact that the intermediate floors on which the goods are stored and presented are continuously formed in the transverse direction, but are articulated on the rear wall via at least one horizontal hinge running parallel to the rear wall or an intermediate part firmly connected to the rear wall, the intermediate floors on the one hand not get lost and on the other hand can be folded up in one movement to fold up the container.

If - depending on the requirements according to the dimensioning of the goods - the height distance between the floors must be less than the depth of the intermediate floors, the intermediate floors are divided in depth by at least one transverse hinge, the second part of the. Counted from the rear wall The intermediate shelf can be folded downwards by at least 180 ° with respect to the first one, and a possibly existing third part can be folded upwards in relation to the previous one again, etc., so that these hinges dividing the intermediate shelves in the folded state in a zigzag shape with the individual segments perpendicular standing in front of the back wall.

In the folded state, these intermediate floors rest on support strips arranged horizontally on the side walls, with at least the last being formed by the design Hinge between the shelves and the rear wall is ensured that the shelves are not foldable down beyond the horizontal.

Various options can be implemented for the mutual assignment of the side walls, front parts, as well as the base and lid.

A particularly simple one is to fasten the side walls to the body using a vertically running hinge, i.e. directly on the rear wall or an intermediate part that struts forward from the side edge of the rear wall and is firmly connected to the rear wall, so that the side walls are rectangular when opened Strive forward towards the rear wall and provide support for the intermediate shelves, can be folded inwards when folded and are therefore parallel to the rear wall. The space remaining between the folded side walls and the rear wall must be sufficient for the raised shelves. In order to prevent the side walls from swinging outwards when the container is open, as a result of which the intermediate floors would lose their lateral support, the side walls are either prevented from pivoting outwards by means of releasable connecting elements with respect to the base and lid, or by a corresponding design of the hinges relative to the body .

The bottom and lid are also hinged to the body, either directly to the rear wall or a horizontal attachment part arranged between them, so that these parts move from the horizontal position, which they assume when the container is open, to a vertical one that is folded inwards Position can be folded parallel to the back wall.

Here, too, the remaining space between the folded-in floor or lid and the rear wall must be sufficient to accommodate the raised intermediate floors and possibly also the inwardly folded side walls if, when folded, the floor and lid are to lie outside the folded-in side walls.

The front of the container is closed in half when the front fronts are divided. Depending on the dimensions of the container, this front front is divided either vertically or horizontally and accordingly hinged either to the front edges of the side walls or to the front edges of the base and lid.

In any case, the front fronts from the transport position, i.e. folded inwards and parallel to the rear wall, must be able to be folded outwards by a full 270 ° so that they can lie parallel on the outside on the side walls or on the floor and lid, as is the case for the Presentation state with the front open is necessary.

Even when the container is folded, that is to say after the side walls as well as the base and lid have been folded, the halves of the front face again lie parallel on the outside on these parts carrying them.

The extension, which in the opened state of the container represents the depth of the container, must therefore not be greater for the side walls or bottom and lid than the corresponding extension of the front fronts. It is therefore advisable to divide the front front vertically in a container that is more high than wide and to link it to the side walls, which has the additional advantage that the container can be lifted into the container without lifting Presentation state, that is, can be spent with the front and sides open.

In addition, the container should be a maximum of twice as wide as deep, so that the width of the vertically divided front is not or only slightly larger than the depth of the opened side wall, on which it comes to lie when folded, to make it a compact, cuboid to achieve in the form of a flat cuboid for the collapsed container.

Another way of assigning the side walls, floor, lid and front panel is to design the front panel as a circumferential frame with half-doors that are attached to it in the vertical, divided, and to attach this front panel frame to the front edges of both side panels.

Then when these side walls, which are in turn articulated at their rear edge to the body or the rear wall, have a further, vertical hinge in the middle, so that the two halves of the side walls can be folded inwards and thereby the entire frame of the front panel Pulling inwards ensures that the side walls never fold out in an undesired manner and the support for the loaded intermediate floors is thereby lost. The disadvantage is that an additional hinge must be present in the middle of the side walls, but this embodiment is also particularly stable.

Bottom and lid can be fastened to the inside in a similar manner on the body.

When dimensioning the container, whose width is greater than its height, the reverse arrangement of this frame-supported front is of course also possible on the bottom and lid, but then the security of the maximum vertical side walls as support for the intermediate floors is no longer given.

• Figuren 1a bis 1c:
  Eine Aufsicht auf einen erfindungsgemäßen Behälter in aufgeklappten geschlossenem (1a), aufgeklappten geöffnetem (1b) und zusammengeklappten (1c) Zustand und
• Figuren 2a bis 2c:
  Eine teilgeschnittene Seitendarstellung der analogen Zustände des Behälters.

An embodiment according to the invention is described in more detail below by way of example. Show it:

• Figures 1a to 1c:
  A top view of a container according to the invention in the opened closed (1a), opened open (1b) and folded (1c) state and
• Figures 2a to 2c:
  A partially cut side view of the analog conditions of the container.

In the figure sequence 1, an embodiment of the container according to the invention is shown in a cut-away top view, and roughly the same state images are shown in the figure sequence in a partially cut-away side view.

In the figures a, the container is unfolded and completely closed on the outside, the intermediate floors 4 being in the horizontal position, that is to say in the position in which they could be loaded.

The intermediate floors 4 are divided in the horizontal in the transverse direction by a joint 17 into a front half 18 and a rear half 19, the rear half 19 being articulated via a further joint on the horizontal intermediate part 7, which is fixed to the rear wall 6 and the lateral, vertical intermediate parts 14 is connected, and therefore this body also gives additional stability.

On the lateral intermediate parts 14 of the body, the side walls 5 are articulated on the front edges via a vertical hinge and are at right angles to the rear wall 6 in FIGS. 1a and 2a.

As a result, the intermediate floors 4 can rest with their front half 18 and their rear half 19 on the inner sides of the side walls 5 arranged support strips 11.

For this purpose, care must be taken to ensure that the side walls 5 cannot pivot away laterally, for example by providing the hinge between the vertical intermediate part 14 and the side walls 5 with a corresponding swivel angle limitation or a detachable connection between the side walls 5 and the floor 12 or the lid 13 is present.

Bottom 12 and lid 13 are articulated on a top and bottom horizontally strutting on the upper and lower end edges of the rear wall 6, horizontal extension 15 via a hinge 10, and in the illustration of Figures 1a and 2a horizontally striving forward above or below the Positioned side walls 5 on which they rest in this position.

Bottom 12 and cover 13 extend forward slightly beyond the side walls 5.

As can also be seen, the two halved front fronts 16 are articulated on the front, vertical edges of the side walls 5, each of which covers the left and right half of the front of the container, the state of FIGS. 1a and 2a.

To open the container, these front fronts 16 are swung open by 90 ° around the joint 20, as in FIG. 1b shown in the upper half of the picture so that the interior of the container is accessible.

In particular if the container serves as a presentation container at the same time, these front fronts 16 are pivoted around hinges 20 not only by 90 but also by 270 °, so that they rest in parallel on the outside of the unchanged side walls 5, as shown in FIG. 1b.

If the container is empty and is to be folded up for empty return transport, the intermediate shelves 4 are first unfolded to the rear by folding the rear half 19 upwards by 90 ° relative to the intermediate part 7, and then from the upper edge of the rear half 19 arranged hinge 17 the front halves 18 freely hang down, as shown in Figure 2b.

In Figures 1 and 2, only two such shelves are shown, usually the entire container height will be covered.

Whether the intermediate floors are divided into only two halves 18 and 19 or into several parts depends on how much space is available in height between the individual intermediate floor levels in relation to the depth of the desired intermediate floors 4.

It should be noted that the lateral, fixed vertical intermediate parts 14 are so wide in the depth of the container that there is sufficient space for the raised intermediate floors 4.

In a next step, the side walls 5 with the front fronts 16 already resting on their outer side plan are folded inwards by 90 ° around the vertical hinges to the intermediate part 14, so that the side walls 5 come to lie parallel to the rear wall, and the raised intermediate floors 4 are received and held in the body, that is to say between the rear wall 6 and the folded-in side walls 5, as shown in FIG. 1c.

In a last step, the bottom 12 and the lid 13 now automatically fold down and up, and are thus also perpendicular in front of the folded partitions 5 and thus parallel to the rear wall 6. Additional connecting elements, for example by means of lacing or hooks, between the Free, inwardly folded front edges of the bottom 12 and the lid 13 can serve to secure the container 1 in the folded state.

Claims (10)

Collapsible container with - Plate-like outer boundary parts such as side walls (5) and rear walls (6), which are formed in one piece in at least the largest room dimension and - intermediate floors (4) inside the container (1), which can be brought into an approximately horizontal position,
characterized in that - The intermediate floors (4) are arranged on the rear wall (6) or a horizontal intermediate part (7) of the body which is firmly connected thereto and can be folded up at least up to the vertical, - The side walls (5) have support strips (11) for the intermediate floors (4), - The side walls (5) are hinged to the body via vertical hinges (9) and can be folded inwards into a position parallel to the rear wall (6), and - The bottom (12) and lid (13) can be hinged to the body via horizontal hinges (10) and folded inwards in a position parallel to the rear wall (6). Container according to claim 1,
characterized in that
the side walls (5) are hinged to a vertical intermediate part (14), which is firmly connected essentially at right angles to the rear wall (6), and the intermediate part (14) has a depth that is greater than the space required for the raised intermediate floors (4 ) and the intermediate part (7). Container according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized in that
the bottom (12) and the lid (13) are articulated via the hinges (10) to a horizontal extension (15) which is essentially at right angles and is firmly connected to the rear wall (6), the extension (15) in the Depth has an extent that is greater than the space required for the raised intermediate floors (4) and the intermediate part (7). Container according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the intermediate floors (4) are divided into two by a horizontal hinge (17) running parallel to the rear wall (6) into a front half (18) and a rear half (19), the front half (18) being opposite the rear half (19 ) can be folded down by at least 180 °. Container according to one of claims 1 to 4,
characterized in that
are hinged in the vertically divided half front fronts (16) on the front edges of the side walls (5) by at least 270 ° and are hinged (20). Container according to one of claims 1 to 4,
characterized in that
in the horizontal divided, approximately half front fronts (16) on the front edges of the base (12) and lid (13) are arranged so that they can be folded outwards by at least 270 °. Container according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
Detachable connections (21) are arranged at the front corners between the side walls (5) and bottom (12) or cover (13) in the opened state. Container according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the horizontal extension part (15) in depth has an extension which is larger than the intermediate part (7), the raised intermediate floors (4) and the folded side walls (5) and front fronts (16). Container according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
on the side walls (5) articulated front fronts, the width and depth of the container (1) are chosen so that the resulting depth of the side walls (5) is equal to or by the thickness of the front front (16) less than the width of the half front front ( 16). Container according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
with arrangement of the half front fronts (16) on the bottom (12) and lid (13), the depth and height of the container (1) are chosen so that the depth of the bottom (12) and lid (13) is equal to or by the thickness of the Front (16) is less than the height of the half front (16).

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