FR2606379A1 - Container made of welded metal wires - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a container made of welded metal wires. The container, comprising a bottom 6 and side walls 4 and 5 fixed in an articulated manner to the upper edges of the bottom, has supports for superimposed stacking with another container in the open or closed configuration. According to the invention, the supports are provided exclusively on the very walls of the containers 2 and 3 and are defined directly by the wires 7, 8, 9, 20 forming the walls 4, 5, thus avoiding the provision of additional elements to the said walls. Application of the said container to the transport and display of products, particularly in hypermarkets.

Description

 The present invention relates to a container made of welded metal wires.

 Currently, there are known containers made of welded metal wires such as those described in patents GB-A-1,010,726, US-A-2,579,655 and US-A-3,372,829, FR-A-2,202,012 , FR-A-2 097 493 and FR-A-1 050 723. In particular, in patent FR-A-2 202 012, there is described an embodiment of a container in which on each of the two lower edges opposite from its bottom, as also on each of the two walls corresponding to its edges, two supports are provided, which are either external to the edges, or external to the walls. The external supports at the edges are capable of supporting the respective feet of an upper container when the lower container is in the closed position, and the external supports on the walls are capable of supporting the feet of the upper container when the lower container is in the open position. Each of the external supports consists of a U-shaped metal wire with the two parallel branches of the U located substantially perpendicular to a horizontal plane.

 In another embodiment, the supports consist of profiled or bent sheet metal elements. The metallic wire supports shaped like a U as well as the shaped supports shaped or bent elements have small longitudinal dimensions compared to those of the edges and walls of the container. From this follows a series of drawbacks, the most important of which are those deriving from the fact that the weight of the stacked containers is concentrated on the supports which are too short, especially with regard to the wall supports, and from the fact that these external supports, in addition to they offer a small support surface, borrow various additional elements from the wires forming the walls and / or the bottom.

 The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above and relates to a container made of welded metal wires of the foldable and stackable type, in which the supports are made so as to distribute the weight of the upper containers over more compact surfaces. extended.

 An important object of the invention is to design a container having supports for the upper containers, which are produced without the need to introduce additional elements external to the wires themselves.

 To this end, the container of welded metal wires, according to the invention, comprising a bottom, several side walls enveloping said bottom and having articulation means so as to ensure a first raised opening position in which said walls are two with two parallels between them and a second closed position in which the walls are folded over said bottom, is remarkable in that the wires forming at least two of said parallel articulated side walls are folded outwards at their upper ends, thus defining a practically continuous flaring over essentially the entire length of each of said walls, the lower ends of said walls in said first position having horizontal outward expansions each defining a lowered console relative to the axis of the wire which defines it, the wire peripheral of the upper edge of said defined bottom, in correspondence of said consoles , coplanar stirrups to said walls, and serving as support for said consoles.

 Other aspects and advantages of the invention will appear during the following description of an embodiment (preferred but not limiting) shown with reference to the appended drawings in which - Figures 1 and 2 are schematic representations in perspective of a series of stacked containers, each in working condition, that is to say with the walls raised in FIG. 1, and in the rest position, that is to say with the walls folded down in FIG. 2.

- Figure 3 is a schematic and partial perspective view, limited to a wall portion flared outward.

- Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 but relating to the wall part at the bottom and the corresponding part at the top of the bottom.

- Figures 5 and 6 are perspective views on an enlarged scale of the arrangements of the lower support system of Figure 4, while the wall is folded (Figure 5) as in Figure 2, and respectively, while the wall is raised (figure 6) as in figure 1.

- Figure 7 is a front view of the walls according to the invention.

- Figures 8 and 9 are side views respectively along arrow N and line A-A in Figure 7.

- Figures 10 and 11 are plan views along arrow Z and line W-W in Figure 7, respectively.

 With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, only two containers are shown, generally indicated by the references 2 and 3, superimposed with the four side walls indicated, two by two, by the references 4 and 5, deployed in FIG. 1 and folded over. Figure 2.

 Each container has a bottom 6 formed for example of peripheral wires 7, of support wires 20 of section substantially equal to that of the peripheral wires 7 and of intermediate wires 8, in general thinner than the peripheral and support wires. The support wires 20 are crossed orthogonally with the intermediate wires 8. The intermediate wires develop according to their profile on each of the corresponding side walls 4 and 5. The two side walls 4 are generally of the usual type, whereby, we will no longer refer. On the other hand, the walls 5 are those which incorporate the new characteristic which is the subject of the invention.

 The bottom 6 has a trapezoidal support foot, defined by thick wires 9 which develop downwards with branches 10 inclined inwards so as to form with the horizontal sides an inverted trapezoid having the large base 18 of length equal to those of the walls 5 and the small base 19 having a shorter length.

 Each of the walls 5 of each container has, at the upper and lower ends, flares towards the outside of the terminal branches of the wires 8. That is to say, if it is understood that each wall is made up of two thick lateral wires 9 and several intermediate wires 8 of slightly lower thickness, the ends of the intermediate wires 8 are folded outwards at the top at the top so as to give rise to flaring.

 As can be seen more in FIG. 3, towards the top, at least all of the intermediate wires 8 have a larger vertical branch 11, a bend or a horizontal fold 12 and a branch again vertical 13.

 Preferably, the first and the last 14 of the intermediate wires 8 may not be folded outwards, and come directly by welding on the peripheral horizontal wire 7 of the top.

 Also, the wire 7, in correspondence with the intermediate wires 8, also has an outward horizontal branch 16 which is substantially equal to the outwardly oriented horizontal bends 12 of said wires 8, so as to define an upper flaring 17 in projecting outwards and which preferably has the length of the small base 19 of the inverted trapezoid of said bottom 6. So, while the containers have their four walls deployed as in FIG. 1, the short side 19 of each trapezoid of the bottom 6 will be introduced then supported by all the horizontal elbows 12 defined by the wires 8.To avoid the possibilities of displacement or overturning of the container 3 introduced into the flares formed by the elbows of the wires 8, on the internal face of the upper support wires 20, an inverted U-shaped wire is welded which has a height projecting from the last support wire 20 upwards, and which is slightly less than the vertical branch 13 of said wires 8.

 According to one aspect of the invention, the lower ends of the walls 5 of the lower peripheral wire 7 have a number of lowered zones 21 each formed by two vertical parts 22 and 23, coplanar with the support wires 20, which lower ends define a console 24 and are connected to a horizontal branch 25 not shown in said vertical plane, but projecting outward.

 In FIG. 5, it can be seen for example that the wires 8 falling down in the lowered zones 21 have their lower ends welded to the last lower support wires 20 while the wires 8, falling back on the non-lowered branches, are welded to the lower peripheral wire 7. The console 24 will be roughly of the same order of magnitude as the elbow 12 of the upper flare (FIG. 3).

 In correspondence with the brackets 24, the peripheral wire of the upper edge of the bottom 6 defines stirrups 30 consisting of two vertical pieces 31, 32 connected to a horizontal piece 33. These stirrups 30 have a depth substantially equal to that of the lowered areas 21 and a width slightly greater than the length of the horizontal branch of a projection 25. In this embodiment, the sliding or overturning of a container, for example of the container 2 relative to the container 3, is avoided. The stirrups 30 are not protruding outside, but are located in a vertical plane comprising the support wires 20. The support of the lower part of a wall on the upper edge of the bottom, is for this internal audit edge, as also the support at the top of the bottom wall 6 which comes internally to the flaring formed on the same wall and inside (and not outside) of the elements forming the wall.

 FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of this lower mounting while the wall is lowered as in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 shows the arrangement of a raised wall as in FIG. 1.

 It has been found that with its supports oriented towards the inside of the elements forming the walls and the edges, without introduction of foreign bodies to said elements, there is greater ease and compactness of stacking. In addition, the elimination of foreign bodies makes the construction more homogeneous, and the manufacture of the containers faster, economical and feasible on a machine of a unique type.

Claims (3)

1 - Container in welded metal wires comprising a bottom  (6), several side walls (4, 5) enveloping said bottom (6) and having articulation means, so as to ensure a first raised opening position in which said walls are two by two parallel to each other, and a second closed position in which the walls are folded over said bottom, characterized in that the wires forming (7, 8, 9, 20) at least two of said articulated parallel side walls are folded outwards at their upper ends , thus defining a practically continuous flaring 17 over substantially the entire length of each of said walls 7 the lower ends of said walls in said first position having horizontal outward expansions each defining a console (24) lowered relative to the axis of the wire (7) which defines it, the peripheral wire (7) of the upper edge of said bottom (6) defines, in correspondence with the brackets (24), stirrups coplanar to said walls s, and serving as a support for said consoles (24). 2 - container according to claim 1 characterized in that said stirrups (30) have a height substantially equal respectively to the length of said brackets (24), the outward projection of said brackets being at least equal to that of said flares on the very top of the walls. 3 - Container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, after stacking, the supports (17, 24) of a container on. the other with said walls in said first and second positions are internal to said wires (7,8, 9, 20) forming said walls.