EP0694016A1

EP0694016A1 - Pallet container

Info

Publication number: EP0694016A1
Application number: EP94915083A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dietmar Przytulla; Maerten Burdgdorf
Original assignee: Mauser Werke GmbH
Current assignee: Mauser Werke GmbH
Priority date: 1993-04-23
Filing date: 1994-04-21
Publication date: 1996-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 2014-04-21
Also published as: ATE150412T1; US5501334A; WO1994025367A1; EP0694016B1; JPH08509193A; DK0694016T3; ES2101534T3; DE9306177U1; DE59402155D1; DE4328009A1; DE4328009C2; CN1096488A; AU6646794A; JP3578763B2

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/EP94/01245 Sec. 371 Date Oct. 18, 1994 Sec. 102(e) Date Oct. 18, 1994 PCT Filed Apr. 21, 1994 PCT Pub. No. WO94/25367 PCT Pub. Date Nov. 10, 1994.The invention refers to a pallet container (10) for storage and transport of liquid contents with a thin-walled inner container (12) of thermoplastic material, with a support jacket (15) of wire cage bars or pipe bars which tightly enclose the inner container (12) and with a bottom pallet (16) suitable for application with a forklift and fixedly secured to the support jacket (14), wherein the inner container (12) is provided in the top plate (18) with a charging opening (20) and with a discharge valve (22) near the bottom. In order to improve the stacking capability and to increase the stackability, the top plate (18) of the inner container (12) is covered from above by a cover plate (26) which includes a central opening (28) for access to the upper charging opening (20) and is fixedly secured about its perimeter with the upper edge of the support jacket (14). The upper edge of the support jacket (14) is formed by the uppermost circumferential cage bar (24) or pipe bar which is covered from above in horizontal or radial direction by the cover plate (26) and from outside in vertical or axial direction by a subsequently arranged flange rim (34) which projects downwardly essentially at a right angle from the cover plate (26).

Description

PALLET CONTAINERS

The invention relates to a pallet container for storing and transporting liquid filling goods according to the features in the preamble of claim 1.

Such a pallet container is e.g. from the U.S. Design Patent No. Of. 297,619 known.

When stacking such pallet containers with a wire mesh support jacket in a so-called lightweight construction - without massive angle frame supports or without stable corner posts - the attached floor pallet, e.g. a wooden pallet with three individual runners lead to uneven load distribution and load introduction into the lower lattice jacket. The exact placement of a filled, heavy-weight pallet container by means of a fork-lift truck on the narrow upper edge of the lattice support jacket is difficult and it is almost impossible to move or move a set-up pallet container on the edge of the lower support jacket.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pallet container with increased stability and improved stackability.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a light-weight pallet container with a support jacket made of crossed tubular or lattice bars without massive corner frame support in that a cover plate covering the top of the inner container from above is provided, which has a corresponding recess in the middle for accessing the top Has filler opening, and the circumferential side is firmly connected to the edge of the support jacket, the upper end edge of the support jacket being formed by the uppermost horizontally circumferential lattice bar or tubular bar, which is a little horizontal or radial from the cover plate. direction is covered from above and is covered with a flange edge pointing essentially at right angles downwards by a piece in the vertical or axial direction from the outside. With the upper cover plate on the pallet container, when stacking similar pallet containers on top of one another, a large flat standing area is initially offered for the bottom pallet of a stacked pallet container and a uniform load distribution and thus load transfer into the support jacket of the pallet container below is achieved downwards. It is now also considerably easier for the forklift truck driver to stack the pallet containers on top of one another and, if necessary, to align them precisely by moving them.

The upper edge of the support sheath is also better protected against punctual stresses during transport operations, which may result in lateral bending. The overall stability of the lightweight pallet container is improved.

The fact that the cover plate rests on the top horizontally circumferential grid rod or tubular rod of the support jacket and that a corresponding recess or circumferential groove is provided on the underside of the cover plate in the flange edge arranged there for receiving the top grid rod, the top edge of the support jacket is secure fixed in the plane of the cover plate and evasion or yielding in the horizontal or radial direction is prevented.

A particular stability of the pallet container as a whole is achieved according to the invention in that on each side of the supporting jacket and / or in its corner regions at least one vertically extending lattice bar or tubular bar of the supporting jacket is extended by a piece above the top horizontally rotating lattice bar, by a Corresponding hole is inserted in the cover plate and fastened against the cover plate from above. Appropriately, the vertically extending upward and through the holes in the top plate inserted bars with a screw thread and the cover plate is firmly and easily detachably screwed and fastened to the extended bars by means of screw nuts or flange nuts screwed from above.

On the one hand, this enables simple and inexpensive assembly of the individual parts of a pallet container; on the other hand, the cover plate of such a pallet container is easy to dismantle again, e.g. when replacing or renewing a thin-walled plastic inner container for multiple use of the other parts of the pallet. In addition, such a pallet container can be easily dismantled for final recycling and disassembly into its individual components for complete material recycling, since all connections are designed to be easily detachable.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention it is provided that at least some of the vertical grille bars elongated upwards and inserted through the cover plate are also extended downwards by a correspondingly longer piece, inserted through corresponding holes in the floor pallet and fastened from below against the floor pallet , are preferably also screwed. This special variant advantageously achieves secure fixation of the individual pallet parts against one another, secure encapsulation of the inner container and high stability of the overall construction with only comparatively few screw connections.

Further advantages are to be mentioned: with the upper cover plate, a considerable improvement in the internal pressure resistance (test pressure 1 bar) is achieved, and the cover plate offers a secure support with uniform load distribution for a stacked second (and third) pallet container. The cover plate in the closed version also serves as cover and UV protection for the inner container when the pallet container is stored outside. In order to save material and weight, in another lightweight construction of the cover plate it is provided that several further openings or recesses are formed in a symmetrical arrangement around the central opening for the filler neck (window version). These recesses can also be used as a closed version only in a thinner material thickness of z. B. 2 or 3 mm.

The invention is explained and described in more detail below with reference to the preferred exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a pallet container according to the invention in

Side view, Figure 2 shows the right upper corner area II of the pallet container from Fig. 1 in an enlarged view, Figure 3 is a plan view of the upper cover plate of the

Pallet containers, Figure 4 shows a partial section along the line IV-IV in

3, FIG. 5 to various partial sectional views through FIG. 9 the top cover plate according to the invention and FIG. 10 a further advantageous embodiment of the cover plate according to the invention.

In FIG. 1, the reference number 10 denotes a pallet container which has a thin-walled blow-molded inner container 12 made of thermoplastic material and a support jacket 14 which tightly surrounds the inner container 12 and is made of galvanized wire mesh bars or tubular bars. The support jacket 14 is firmly connected at the bottom to a forklift-compatible floor pallet 16. The floor pallet 16 preferably consists of recycled plastic recycled material. In contrast to metal pipe or conventional wooden pallets, such a floor pallet made of plastic is on the one hand more moisture and acid resistant and on the other hand also free from corrosion problems. In the case of the pallet container 10 shown in FIG. 1, the support jacket 14 consists of a single sheet of intersecting lattice bars, which is angled by 90 ° in the four corner areas and whose connecting line (e.g. several welding points) lies vertically above the bottom-side removal valve 22 . The connection of the wire basket support jacket is realized in the present case by a clinch plate 30 covering at least two vertical bars on both sides of the connecting line, which clinch plate is bent or clinched at its outer edges and inside the sheet with punched-out tongues around the covered vertical bars.

The inner container 12 has an upper filling opening 20 (FIG. 4), which is recessed in the top floor 18 and a removal valve 22 on the bottom side for removing the liquid filling material. A flat, preferably also made of recycled plastic cover plate 26 is placed on the top, horizontally circumferential grid rod 24 of the supporting jacket 14, which covers the inner container 12 from above and has a corresponding inner recess 28 in the center for accessing the upper filler opening 20, and the circumferential side but easily detachably connected to the upper edge of the support jacket 14.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the uppermost horizontally circumferential lattice bar 24, which forms the upper terminating edge of the supporting jacket 10, is a little in the horizontal or radial direction from the upper cover plate 26 and from a flange edge 34 of the cover plate 26 which points essentially at right angles downwards a piece covered in the vertical or axial direction from the outside. A corresponding recess or circumferential groove 36 is provided on the underside of the cover plate 26 resting on the uppermost, horizontally rotating lattice bar 24 in the outside flange edge 34 for receiving the uppermost lattice bar 24.

Furthermore, an important feature of the invention is on each side of the support jacket 14 and / or in its respective Corner areas at least one vertically extending lattice bar 40 extended upward by about 20 mm above the top horizontally rotating lattice bar 24, inserted through a corresponding hole 38 in the cover plate 26 or flange 34 and fastened from above against the cover plate 26. For example, button sleeves (rivets) could be attached with a force fit or disc-shaped abutments welded on. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, for an easily detachable but firm connection of the cover plate 26 and support jacket 14, the upwardly extended lattice bars 40, which are pushed through bores 38 or openings, are provided with a screw thread at the top, and the cover plate 26 is by means of screw nuts 42 screwed on from above firmly screwed to the support jacket. The screw nuts 42 are preferably designed as flat flange nuts at the top and are arranged in a corresponding recess / depression 32, countersunk in the surface of the cover plate 26.

A top view of the cover plate 26 is shown in FIG. A corresponding rectangular recess 28 is provided in the center for accessing the upper filling opening of the inner container arranged underneath. In the recess 28 two opposite fork-shaped connecting pieces 44 are formed, which are in a positive connection with two corresponding connecting pieces 46 formed laterally next to the filling opening 20 of the inner container 12 on its upper floor 18.

In FIG. 3, only dashed lines are indicated on the side next to the filling opening 20 of the inner container 12 or laterally next to the recess 28, two parallel support rods 48 on which the cover plate 26 can be supported in the central area. The support rods 48 are themselves fastened on the outside to the uppermost horizontally rotating lattice bar 24. A corresponding groove 50 is expediently formed on the underside of the cover plate 26. forms in which the support rod 48 is inserted in a recessed manner. The stiffening ribs 58 formed on the underside of the flange edge 34 in the groove 36 running there are also only indicated by dashed lines. On top of the cover plate 26, three (to five) bores 38 are preferably formed along the flange edge on each outer edge of the cover plate for pushing through the elongated lattice bars with a corresponding recess / depression 32 for the screwed-on flange nut.

Only on the (here upper) narrow outer edge on which the bottom-side outlet valve 22 of the inner container 12 is also provided are four bores 38 for pushing through the bars. A pallet container designed in this way impresses with its outstandingly good drop resistance in drop tests, particularly when throwing edges.

3, rectangular stacking cams 52 or projections, which protrude upward from the surface of the top plate 26 and are used for the aligned stacking of similar pallet containers, with each stacked pallet container 16 in the underside or bottom surface of the base pallet correspondingly arranged and designed recesses or recesses for engaging the stacking cams 52 are provided. The stacking cams advantageously prevent e.g. Walking of, in particular empty pallet containers stacked on top of one another on the loading area of a truck or on the forks of a forklift truck, due to vibrations during transportation.

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged section of the pallet container 10 in partial section. The filler opening 20, which is closed with a screw cap 54, is arranged in a recessed manner in the upper bottom 18 of the inner container 12 and laterally there is the positive connection of the inner container 12 and the cover plate 26 with the interlocking and pinned connectors 44, 46 of the top panel 18 and the inside of the recess 28 in the cover plate 26 can be seen. Directly next to it sits below the cover plate 26 the transversely extending support rod, here designed as a support tube 56, on which the cover plate 26 rests. In the edge region of the cover plate 26, an upstanding stacking cam 52 is arranged on its surface. On the very outside, the flange 26 lies with its flange edge 34 all around on the top horizontally extending lattice bar 24 and is screwed firmly but easily detachably to the elongated vertical lattice bar 40 which is pushed through.

FIG. 5 shows a partial section along the line V-V in FIG. 3 through the edge region or flange edge 34 of the cover plate 26 in the region of a bore 38 for pushing through an elongated vertical lattice bar 40. The thickness of the cover plate 26 is generally approximately 10 mm and in the region of the flange edge 34 approximately 30 mm. Around the bore 38, the flange edge 34 is solid, while the flange edge 34 in the sections between the bores 38 is hollow from below and there — as can be seen in FIG. 7 according to section VII-VII — is a material saving A plurality of stiffening ribs 58 are provided which are spaced apart from each other.

With the construction according to the invention of the pallet container with the cover plate attached, a considerable improvement in the stability against internal pressure occurring (static internal pressure test at 1 bar over 5 minutes) is also achieved. With increasing internal pressure, the inner container strives to assume a balloon-like shape with a strong bulge in the top surface; This can lead to instabilities and transport hazards (container crash), for example, when containers are stacked on top of each other. This disadvantage is also eliminated by the increased overall stability of the pallet container according to the invention. FIG. 6 shows a partial section along line VI-VI in FIG. 3 through the flange edge 34. At this point, the groove 50 for the support rod 48 or the support tube 56 extends or opens at right angles into the lower groove 36 along the flange edge 34. FIG. 9 then shows how the support rod 48 inserted into the groove 50 is shaped on the outside into a hook and placed over the top, horizontally rotating lattice bar 24. After screwing the cover plate 26, the two support rods 48 are fixed immovably.

FIG. 8a shows a partial section along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 3 through the outer edge of the inner cutout 28 (for accessing the upper filling opening 20). From this, the lateral fixation of the flat iron support rod 48 inserted into the groove 50 becomes clear.

In FIG. 8b, in an approximately modified embodiment, the groove 50 is designed somewhat wider and a hollow steel support tube 56 is inserted therein as a support rod.

Also shown on the left-hand side is the connecting piece 44, via which the form-fitting connection to the upper floor of the inner container is made by means of the corresponding connecting pieces 46 formed there. Another advantageous lightweight construction of the cover plate according to the invention is characterized in that further openings or recesses 62, 64 in an asymmetrical arrangement are formed on the side next to the central opening 28 for the filling opening of the inner container or / and in the corner regions of the cover plate 26 ' are (window version). In this way, plastic material can be saved for the production without loss of stability or rigidity of the cover plate and thus the weight of the plate itself can be reduced.

A saving in material and weight can, however, already be achieved if the additional gaps are not completely broken through, but rather are only considerably thinner than the remaining plate thickness. So the average plate thickness z. B. 8 - 10 mm and the areas in the recess areas are less than 4 mm or even only 1 - 2 mm thick (thin film version). The upper cover plate thus represents a stable upper peripheral end part for the lattice frame. Such a peripheral end part could, in a modified version, for example also by means of a steel tube, an angle iron or a cross-section, for example, rectangular or in the form of a double-T-shaped profiled steel rail will be realized.

All these components serve to distribute the load evenly and, provided that the feature of lattice bars inserted through holes and screwed from above is used, should be an equivalent solution within the scope of this invention.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1.) Pallet container (10) for storing and transporting liquid contents with a thin-walled inner container (12) made of thermoplastic material, with a support jacket (14) tightly surrounding the inner container (12) made of wire mesh or tubular rods and with a suitable forklift truck Floor pallet (16) with which the support jacket (14) is firmly connected, the inner container (12) in the top floor (18) having a filler opening (20) and a bottom valve (22), characterized in that one of the top floor (18) of the inner container (12) from above covering cover plate (26) made of thermoplastic plastic is provided, which has a corresponding central recess (28) in the middle for access to the upper filler opening (20), and the circumferential firmly with the upper edge of the supporting jacket (14) connected iεt, the upper end edge of the supporting jacket (14) being formed by the uppermost circumferential lattice bar (24) or tubular bar, which is covered by the cover plate (26) by a piece in the horizontal or radial direction from above and by a subsequent flange edge (34) of the cover plate (26) which points essentially downwards at right angles by a piece in the vertical or axial direction from the outside is covered, with on each side of the support jacket (14) and / or in its corner regions at least one vertically extending lattice bar (40) or tube bar of the support jacket (14) being extended a little above the uppermost horizontally rotating lattice bar (24) formed, inserted through a corresponding hole (38) in the cover plate (26) and fastened from above against the cover plate (26).

2.) Pallet container according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover plate (26) rests on the uppermost horizontally circumferential lattice bar (24) or tubular bar of the Stützmantelε (14) and one on the underside of the cover plate (26) in the flange edge (34) corresponding recess or circumferential groove (36) for receiving the uppermost lattice bar (24) is provided.

3.) Pallet container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the vertically extending, elongated and through holes (38) in the top plate (26) inserted bars (40) with a screw thread εind and the cover plate (26) Mittelε of screw nuts (42) screwed on top but firmly and easily detachably are screwed and fastened to the extended bars (40).

4.) Pallet container according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that at least some of the upwardly elongated and through the cover plate (26) inserted from above attached vertical lattice bars (40) are likewise extended downward by a corresponding amount, by corresponding bores in the Floor pallet (16) inserted and fastened from below against the floor pallet (16), preferably screwed.

5.) Pallet container according to one of the preceding claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the thin-walled plastic inner container (12) is connected to its upper floor (18) in the vicinity of its upper filler opening (20) with a positive connection to the upper cover plate (26).

6.) Pallet container according to Anεpruch 5, characterized in that the inner container (12) in the vicinity near the side next to its filler opening (20) has at least two opposing molded connecting pieces (46) which are formed with two corresponding connecting pieces (44) formed on the cover plate (26) ) are connected.

7.) Pallet container according to one of the preceding claims 1 or 3, so that the upper cover plate (26) is supported by or rests on at least a few parallel support rods (48) arranged laterally next to the filling opening (20).

8.) Pallet container according to claim 7, characterized in that the support rods (48) run in a groove (50) formed or formed on the underside of the cover plate (26) and with their two ends in each case on the top horizontal grating bar (24) of the Stützmantelε (14) are attached.

9.) Pallet container according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the support rod (48) consists of an upright flat iron, which is flattened at its two outer ends, each with a downward-pointing hook which forms the uppermost horizontally rotating lattice bar (24). reach from above.

10.) Pallet container according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the support rod (48) consists of a metal tube daε is flattened at its two outer ends with fork-shaped prongs and the top one horizontally overlap the circumferential lattice rod (24) from above and reach under from below.

11.) Pallet container according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the cover plate (26) on its surface preferably in about the side centers and / and in the corner areas has small elevations or cam-like projections (52) which, when stacking two or more of the same type Pallet containers (10) are designed such that they can be engaged in corresponding recesses or depressions in the underside or bottom surface of the bottom pallet (16) of the stacked pallet container (10).

12.) Pallet container according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that laterally in addition to the central opening (28) for the filling opening of the inner container or in the corner regions of the cover plate (26 ') further openings or recesses (62, 64) in a symmetrical arrangement are designed to save material and weight.