GB1569103A

GB1569103A - Containers

Info

Publication number: GB1569103A
Application number: GB2498875A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Baillie I C
Current assignee: Baillie I C
Priority date: 1976-09-13
Filing date: 1976-09-13
Publication date: 1980-06-11

Description

(54) CONTAINERS (71) 1, AIN CAMERON BAILEE, a citizen of the United States of America and a British subject of 59-62 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EJ, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to the construction of containers.

The invention has been devised primarily in connection with water tanks, and the following description will be confined to this application of the invention. However, it is to be understood that there is no limitation in this regard since the invention is also applicable to the construction of other forms of containers, for example containers for holding other liquids, fluent solid materials and chemicals.

An object of the invention is to provide a method for container construction which enables containers to be manufactured economically, particularly in mass production, and to provide containers made by such method.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a generally cylindrical closed container which method comprises, forming at least two unitary basic similar units each comprising a top wall of generally dome shape and an integral annular skirt or side wall formed to be slightly frusto-conical diverging away from the top wall, one of the basic units constituting a top section of the container forming the top wall and at least part of the side wall of the container, and joining the generally dome shaped top wall of the second basic unit to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the first unit in nested fashion thus to form a closed container.

In one arrangement the top wall of the second unit is cut from the remainder thereof before being secured to the first unit thus to form a single chamber tank.

In a further arrangement one or more skirts or side walls cut from a further similar basic unit is or are interposed between the skirt or side wall of the first basic unit and the top wall of or from the second basic unit to form a longer container.

In a further arrangement the generally dome shaped top wall of a third basic unit is joined to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the second basic unit thus to form a second closed container beneath the first.

The skirt or side wall of the third basic unit may be cut from the top wall before it is joined to the second unit, or a top wall cut from a fourth basic unit may be joined to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the third basic unit to form a third closed container.

If necessary, a sleeve or ring may be provided between two such interfitting parts, and this sleeve or ring may be cut from a basic unit.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a container comprising a top section which comprises a unitary basic unit having a top wall of generally dome shape and an annular skirt or side wall formed to be slightly frustoconical diverging away from the top wall, and a bottom section which comprises a bottom wall of generally dome shape formed from a second similar basic unit secured to the lower part either of the skirt or side wall of the top section or of an intermediate section or sectional assembly of annular skirts or side walls formed from yet further similar basic units secured to the lower end of the side wall of the top section such that the basic units fit together in nested fashion.

In order to provide a relatively small container, the bottom section is secured direct to the top section. A larger container can be produced by providing between the top section and the bottom section an intermediate section of annular form. An even larger container can be produced by pro viding between the top and the bottom sections an intermediate sectional assembly comprising two or more annular sections secured together end-to-end.

The intermediate section or one of the sections of the intermediate assembly may comprise a top wall of generally dome shape and a generally cylindrical side wall formed integrally therewith so that the said top wall forms a partition dividing the container into two compartments. In the case of a water tank, these compartments may, in use, hold hot and cold water.

A container with an intermediate assembly comprising a number of sections may have more than one of said sections of the form described in the preceding paragraph to provide three or more compartments arranged one above the other in the container.

The basic concept of the invention is thus that all the sections of the various forms of containers described can be produced from a unitary basic unit comprising a top wall of generally dome form and an annular side wall. This unit can be mass produced economically and either used as the top section of a container or an intermediate section dividing a container into two compartments, or can be cut into parts to provide a bottom section or/and an intermediate annular section as required.

In the mass production of containers, therefore, a large nlmber of basic units of the form described will be produced, and these will be used either as top or intermediate sections or cut into parts to provide generally domed bottom sections and/ or annular sections, as required.

Preferably the upper end of the lower one of the or each adjacent two sections fits inside and is secured to the lower end of the upper one of said sections. If necessary, a sleeve or ring may be provided between two interfitting parts, and this sleeve or ring may be cut from a unit.

The section may be made of metal, for example steel, in which case welding or adhesive will be used to secure the sections together. Preferably, however, the sections are made from a synthetic plastics material, so that the units from which the sections are produced can be moulded easily and inexpensively. In this case the sections will be secured together by an adhesive which in a preferred form may be a polyester resin containing hollow glass microspheres.

Where the container has at least two compartments required to be in communication with one another, they are preferably connected together inside the container. For example, a tank may have an upper compartment and a lower compartment for hot and cold water separated by an intermediate compartment, and in this case a pipe connecting the upper and lower compart ments will extend through the intermediate compartment, not outside the tank.

In order to promote a fuller understand ing of the above and other aspects of the present invention some embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying draw ings, in which: - FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-section through moulded basic unit used in the manufacture of the forms of tanks illustrated in the remaining drawings, FIGURE 2 shows one form of water tank embodying the invention, FIGURE 3 shows diagrammatically the four basic units of Figure 1 used in the manufacture of the tank shown in Figure 2, FIGURE 4 shows a vertical cross-section through another form of water tank embodying the invention, and FIGURE 5 shows certain details of the tank illustrated in Figure 4.

The unitary basic unit used in the manufacture of the tanks comprises, as shown in Figure 1, a top wall 10 of generally dome shape and an annular side wall 11. The side wall is, in fact, of slightly tapering form in a direction from the lower end of the unit towards the upper end so that the upper end is of smaller diameter than the lower end.

The unit is produced by moulding from a dough moulding compound containing typically by weight, 25% glass fibre, 25two polyester resin and 50% filler. The taper with which the side wall 11 is formed, enables the unit easily to be removed from a mould.

The top wall 10 is formed with a locally thickened portion 12 which may, for example, be subsequently formed with an aperture to receive an immersion heater or a pipe connection.

Four basic units of the form shown in Figure 1 are nested in the manufacture of the tank illustrated in Figure 2. This tank comprises a top section 13 having a generally dome-shaped top wall and an annular side wall, a bottom section 14 comprising a wall of generally dome shape, and an intermediate sectional assembly comprising three annular sections 15, 16 and 17. The upper end of the section 15 fits in and is secured by adhesive to the lower end of the side wall of the top section 13, the sections 16 and 17 are secured in a similar manner to the section 15 and the section 16 respectively and the bottom section 14 fits within and is secured by adhesive to the lower end of the section 17. A short sleeve or packing ring 18 is provided between the sections 14 and 17, this ring being formed with an inclined cut in order slightly to reduce its diameter, should it be necessary.

The first one of the four units shown in Figure 3 is cut along the lines 19 to provide the top section 13 and the packing ring 18, the remaining part 20 of the unit being scrap. The second and third units are cut along the lines 21 and 22 to provide, respectively, the section 15 and the section 16, the remaining parts 23 and 24 being scrap. The fourth unit is cut along the lines 25 to provide the bottom section 14 and the section 17, the remaining part 26 being scrap.

Whilst the parts 20, 23, 24 and 26 have been referred to as scrap, they can advantageously be used in the manufacture of other tanks.

The adhesive used for securing together each two adjacent sections may comprise polyester resin and glass microspheres in proportions of 1:1 by weight.

To produce a smaller tank, one or more of the sections 15, 16 and 17 may be omitted. To produce an even smaller tank, all these sections may be omitted and the bottom section 14 secured direct to the top section 13. A larger tank may be produced by adding further annular sections.

The tank illustrated in Figure 4 has a top section 27 similar to the section 13 of the tank of Figure 2, a bottom section 28 similar to the bottom section 14, intermediate annular sections 29, 30 and 31, and additionally as compared with the tank of Figure 2, two intermediate sections 32 and 33 each comprising a top wall 34 of generally dome shape and a unitary annular side wall 35. The section 32 fits in and is secured by adhesive to the lower end of the section 30, and the section 33 likewise fits in and is secured by adhesive to the lower end of the section 32 and has secured to its lower end the section 31. The top walls 34 of the two sections 32 and 33 therefore form partitions dividing the tank into three compartments. The upper compartment is intended to hold cold water and the lower compartment is intended to hold hot water.

Referring to Figure 5, the upper compartment is connected to the lower compartment by a pipe 36 extending through the intermediate compartment. The pipe is connected by a pipe connector 37 to the bottom wall of the upper compartment, i.e.

the top wall 34 of the section 32, and extends downwardly through the top wall of the lower compartment, i.e. the top wall 34 of the section 33, to which it is secured by a further pipe connector 38, to the lower part of the lower compartment.

An expansion pipe 39 is connected by a pipe connector 40 to the top wall of the lower compartment and extends upwardly through the lower wall of the upper compartment, to which it is connected by a further pipe connector 41, to the upper part of the upper compartment. The pipe connector 40 is connected to an aperture formed in the locally thickened portion 12 of the top wall 34 of the section 33.

The arrangement is that the upper compartment supplies cold water through the pipe 36 to the lower compartment in which it is then heated by an immersion heater 42, and any water which overflows from the hot water compartment as a result of heating of the water therein is expelled through the expansion pipe 39 back into the cold water supply.

In another form of tank for holding hot and cold water, the two compartments for the hot and cold water may be adjacent to one another, separated only by a partition, and in this event heat will be transmitted from the hot water through the partition to the cold water so that the latter is preheated to an extent before being fed into the hot water compartment.

If it is desired to provide the domed top wall of a tank or a compartment with an opening having a lid, the opening is preferably provided at a location offset from the centre of the tip wall and the lid is cut from the top wall of a basic unit so that it conforms in curvature to the top wall and pivotally mounted on the top wall at the centre thereof, so that it is slidable between a position in which it closes the aperture and a position clear of the aperture.

The whole tank in each example may be covered with glass cloth bonded by a polyester resin in order to increase the resistance of the tank to water pressure and to improve its heat insulation the covering may include foam material.

In further embodiments containers may be assembled from portions of the basic unit of Figure 1, with double thickness side walls. The tapered formation of the skirt or side wall of the basic unit allows portions to be fitted inside one another to build up a double skin over the whole length of the side wall of the container. In such an assembly the side wall portions are preferably adhered together over their whole area.

The arrangement gives a greater strength to the container and also assists in eliminating weakness in the container which may arise from localised directonal strength characteristics in a given basic unit moulding, caused by the reinforcing material being orientated disadvantageously. The second layer offers the high probability that the reinforcing material therein over that area will lie randomly transverse to that of the first layer, thus compensation for the directional qualities in the basic units and giving non-directional strength in the assembled units.

In such doubled skinned assemblies the basic units used may be formed with a domed portion of greater thickness to effectively equal the doubled thickness of side wall or skirt in the assembled tanks so that the top and bottom walls of the assembled tanks are of comparable strength to the side walls.

It should be noted that with the assembly of portions of basic units to form containers, the tapered formation of the basic units provides generally parallel surfaces to be bonded together offering a greater surface area in contact and for adhesive bonding.

If it is desired to produce a single compartment tank with internal baffles, then several basic units complete with dome portions can be assembled as discussed above, with the internally disposed domed portions being drilled to form the internal baffles.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: - 1. A method of producing a generally cylindrical closed container which method comprises, forming at least two unitary basic similar units each comprising a top wall of generally dome shape and an annular skirt or side wall formed to be slightly frusto-conical diverging away from the top wall one of the basic units constituting a top section of the container forming the top wall and at least part of the side wall of the container, and joining the generally dome shaped top wall of the second basic unit to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the first unit in nested fashion thus to form a closed container.

2. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the top wall of the second unit is cut from the remainder thereof before being secured to the first unit thus to form a single chamber tank.

3. A method according to Claim 1, wherein one or more skirts or side walls each cut from a further similar basic unit is or are interposed between the skirt or side wall of the first basic unit and the top wall of or from the second basic unit to form a longer container.

4. A method according to Claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the generally dome shaped top wall of a third basic unit is joined to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the second basic unit thus to form a second closed container beneath the first.

5. A method according to Claim 4, wherein a top wall cut from a fourth basic unit is joined to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the third basic unit to form a third closed container.

6. A method according to any preceding claim wherein a sleeve or ring is provided between two interfitting parts, and said sleeve or ring is cut from a basic unit.

7. A container comprising a top section which comprises a unitary basic unit having a top wall of generally dome shape and an annular skirt or side wall formed to be slightly frusto-conical diverging away from the top wall, and a bottom section which comprises a bottom wall of generally dome shape formed from a second similar basic unit secured to the lower part either of the skirt or side wall of the top section or of an intermediate section or intermediate assembly of annular skirts or side walls formed from yet further similar basic units secured to the lower end of the side wall of the top section such that the basic units fit together in nested fashion.

8. A container as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the intermediate section or one of the sections of the intermediate assembly comprises a further similar basic unit having a top wall of generally dome shape and a unitary annular side wall so that the said top wall forms a partition dividing the container into two compartments.

9. A method or container as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said basic unit is moulded from synthetic plastics material.

10. A method or container as claimed in Claim 9, wherein said basic unit is moulded from a glass fibre reinforced plastic material dough moulding compound.

11 A container according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the side wall is a double skin each layer of which is formed from one or more portions of a skirt or side wall cut from such a similar basic unit.

12. A container according to Claim 11, wherein the generally dome shape top wall of the basic units used is of greater thickness than the skirt or side wall thereof.

13. A method of producing a container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. In such doubled skinned assemblies the basic units used may be formed with a domed portion of greater thickness to effectively equal the doubled thickness of side wall or skirt in the assembled tanks so that the top and bottom walls of the assembled tanks are of comparable strength to the side walls. It should be noted that with the assembly of portions of basic units to form containers, the tapered formation of the basic units provides generally parallel surfaces to be bonded together offering a greater surface area in contact and for adhesive bonding. If it is desired to produce a single compartment tank with internal baffles, then several basic units complete with dome portions can be assembled as discussed above, with the internally disposed domed portions being drilled to form the internal baffles. WHAT I CLAIM IS: -

1. A method of producing a generally cylindrical closed container which method comprises, forming at least two unitary basic similar units each comprising a top wall of generally dome shape and an annular skirt or side wall formed to be slightly frusto-conical diverging away from the top wall one of the basic units constituting a top section of the container forming the top wall and at least part of the side wall of the container, and joining the generally dome shaped top wall of the second basic unit to the lower part of the skirt or side wall of the first unit in nested fashion thus to form a closed container.