EP0770557A1

EP0770557A1 - Steady stacking system for diversely-sized nesting boxes

Info

Publication number: EP0770557A1
Application number: EP96500008A
Authority: EP
Inventors: José M. Dalmases Villadrosa
Original assignee: OAK SA
Current assignee: OAK SA
Priority date: 1995-10-26
Filing date: 1996-01-22
Publication date: 1997-05-02
Also published as: NL1004342A1; ES2114457A1; FR2740429A1; PT101924A; ITTO960854A1; BE1010466A3; ES2114457B1; DE19644323A1; IT1288766B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a steady stacking system for diversely-sized nesting boxes.

The system has been devised for boxes of a type where the larger boxes (1) have a length being two times the width of the smaller boxes (2) and where the stacking and nesting boxes are of a rectangular straight parallelepiped type with a perimetral step, at their intermediate portion and being provided with a housing, at the top half of their sides and with shoulders/supports (3,5), at the lower half of said sides, to allow the stacking of filled boxes with a 180° rotation in the performance of the nesting. The system comprises shoulders/supports (3) located at the longer sides and the respective housings for the larger box, such that they are compatible with the shoulders/supports (5) located at the shorter sides and their respective housings for the smaller boxes. This arrangement allowing to steadily stack two smaller boxes (2) upon a larger box (1), independently of the guiding direction of the smaller boxes and viceversa.

Description

The present invention relates to a system providing that two intermixing sizes of stacking and nesting boxes of a rectangular straight parallelepiped type can be stacked, being the length of the first box two times the width of the second one.
There are stacking and nesting boxes of the rectangular straight parallelepiped type with a perimetral step, at their intermediate portion, provided at the top half of their housing sides and at the lower half of said sides, with functional shoulders/supports mutually arranged to allow the filled boxes to be stacked upon other boxes, thereby achieving with a 180° rotation that the boxes can be nested.
An improvement of this box type with the object to achieve that the top box slided and is safely sealed upon the lower box, even if the shoulders/supports may be thin, using for it an arrangement of inclined planes located at the lower portion of the shoulders/supports which are aligning the top box upon the lower box at a time when the first box is resting upon the second one to go on to its stacking or sliding on the latter is also known.
A second improvement of this box type allowing the stronger shoulder/support to be the one bearing a larger load by means of a division of the shoulder/support of larger width and farthest from the respective side end in two diverse width potions using a longitudinally-directed draining or slitting is also known.
A third improvement in this box type facilitates the boxes to bear high loads when occasionally is necesaary, by the addition of an optional shoulder/support, which helps the smaller shoulder/support in its attempt to hold the load, located at the box's lower end near the smaller shoulder/support is also known.
These improvements are the object of several registered patents owned by the applicant.
Just how to stack boxes of this type when the length of the larger box is two times the width of the smaller box is a matter however not being answered so far.
For such interrelation to be achieved, a provision is made in the present invention so that said shoulders/supports, and their respective housings of the larger box, located at their longer sides are arranged such that they are compatible with the shoulders/supports and their respective housings of the smaller box, located at their shorter sides, all that allowing thereby that both two smaller boxes upon a larger box as a larger box upon two smaller boxes can be stacked, mixed and in a steady way.
If a single smaller box has to be stacked upon a larger box, to prevent stability losses during a transport, respective notches suitable to receive the lower ends of the shoulders/supports of the overlapping smaller box, which ends avoid the small box is sliding during a transport, are provided at the ends of the top edge of the larger box.
If two smaller boxes are stacked upon a larger one, said notches are designed to received any of the shoulders/supports of the smaller boxes, the boxes can then be stacked without paying attention to the direction of the boxes.
If a larger box is stacked upon two smaller boxes, the latter can also receive the larger box at any of the box's two guiding directions, the lower ends of the shoulders/supports of the larger box are thus steadily resting upon the edges of the shorter sides of the smaller box.
It is then derived from the foregoing that in the stacking process, either manual or automatic, attention to the smaller box's directions is not necessary when stacking upon the larger boxes, because both shorter sides of the smaller box can be received by any longer side of the larger box. Said attention on the guiding of the larger box is neither required, when stacking upon the smaller boxes, since both longer sides of the larger box can be received by any shorter side of the smaller boxes.
To facilitate a better understanding of the invention, a detailed description follows with reference to the 7 drawings sheets attached, illustrating only by way of a non-exhaustive example, a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Figure 1 is a top view of the larger box.
Figure 2 is a top view of the smaller box.
Figure 3 is a view of a smaller box stacked upon a larger box.
Figure 4 is a view of two smaller boxes, at both possible guiding directions, stacked upon a larger box.
Figure 5 is the same view as figure 4 but with the larger box oppositely guided.
Figure 6 is a view of the larger box stacked upon two smaller boxes, each guided at diverse directions.
Figure 7 is the same view as figure 6 but with the larger box guided at an opposite direction.
Returning to the figures, a larger box (1) can be seen with its shoulders/supports (3) and its respective housings (4) arranged such that they are compatible with the shoulders/supports (5) and its respective housings (6) of the smaller box (2), such that it might be possible to stack with a load; (a) a single smaller box upon a larger one (figure 3); (b) two smaller boxes upon a larger box whichever was the boxes' guiding direction or the larger box's guiding direction (figures 4 and 5) and (c) a larger box upon two smaller boxes whatever might be the smaller boxes' guiding direction or the larger box's guiding direction (figures 6 and 7).
The larger box (7) having notches (7) designed to receive the lower ends of any of the shoulders/supports (5) of the smaller box, at the ends of its top edges. Said notches are also designed to prevent the smaller box sliding during a transport, when a single smaller box upon a larger box is to be stacked (figure 3).

Claims

Steady stacking system by diversedly-sized and nesting boxes, where the length of the larger box is two times the width of the smaller box, said stacking and nesting boxes being of the rectangular straight parallelepiped type with a perimetral step, at their intermediate portion, and being provided at the top half of their sides, with housings, and at the lower half of said sides, with shoulders/supports allowing the stacking of filled boxes upon other boxes and with a 180° rotation for the performance of the box nesting, characterized in that the shoulders/supports located at the longer sides and its respective housings of the larger box, are arranged to be compatible with the shoulders/supports located at the shorter sides and their respective housings of the smaller boxes, so as to perform a steadily stacking of two smaller boxes upon a larger box, independently of the guiding direction of the smaller boxes and a larger box upon two smaller boxes, independently of the guiding direction of the larger box.
System according to the previous claim, characterized in that some notches suitable to receive the ends of the shoulders/supports of the overlapping smaller boxes have been provided at the ends of the top edges of the longer sides of the larger box, said notches being designed so that when stacking a single smaller boz upon another larger box, the smaller box remains steady during a transport.