GB1584924A - Freight containers - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FREIGHT CONTAINERS (71) We, THE BLOXWICH LOCK & BR< STAMPING COMPANY LIMITED, a British Company of P.O. Box 4, Alexander Works, Bell Lane, Bloxwich, Walsall, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following state ment :- This invention relates to improvements in containers for the transport of goods by land, sea and air.

The form of container in common use all over the world comprises a rectangular box open at one end which is provided with two co-operating doors hinged at their vertical outer edges to the sides of the door opening.

For securing the doors in the closed position each carries adjacent to its free edge a rotatable operating bar having on its top and bottom ends locking cams adapted to engaged respectively with keepers on the header rail and bottom rail. Each bar is operated by a lever handle which, when the mechanism is full fastened, engages with a staple or equivalent device on the door and is locked with a padlock which is then sealed with a customs seal.

Valuable freight is frequently transported in containers, and thieves find various ways of getting at the contents of containers without necessarily leaving evidence that the container has been opened.

Door hinges are removed and replaced, fastening mechanism is freed and re-engaged, and padlocks on handles are removed and replaced with forged customs seals.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide an interconnection between the free edges of the doors of a container which can be sealed and if disturbed by relative movement between the doors will indicate clearly that this has happened.

According to our invention an anti-theft sealable device for containers comprises two co-operating fittings adapted to be secured to the respective doors of a container adjacent to their free edges by screws or fixing bolts which are concealed and inaccessible when the device is sealed, one fitting comprising a socket or staple and the other comprising a housing for a slidable bolt adapted to be extended across the meeting edges of the doors into the socket or staple, when the doors are closed, the housing and the slidable bolt incorporating co-operating means which register when the bolt is shot and are adapted to receive a wire or other customs seal.

The fittings cannot be removed from the doors when the device is in the sealed position and any relative movement between the doors caused, for example, by disturbance of the hinges or the fastening mechanism must necessarily lead to breakage of the seal of the anti-theft device.

One form of our anti-theft device is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which, Figure 1 is a plan of the device in position and co-operating doors of a container.

Figure 2 is a view in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 are sections on a larger scale on the line B-B of Figure 2 respectively showing the device in the free and locked positions.

The drawings show the device fitted to cooperating doors 1, 2 of a freight container.

When the doors are closed they are fastened by the engagement with keepers at the top and bottom of the door frame of locking cams carried by vertical operating bars 3, 3 mounted for rotation about their axes in bearings fixed to the doors adjacent to their free edges.

One part of the anti-theft device is a socket or staple 4 of hollow box form which is secured to the door 1 adjacent to its free edge by screws 5 of which the heads are countersunk into holes in the inner wall of the socket.

The screws are inserted through aligned holes 6 in the outer wall of the socket and pass through the door, and nuts are screwed on to them on the inner side of the door.

The other part of the device is a housing 8 of hollow rectangular cross-section which is secured to the door 2 by screws 9, 9 similar to the screws 5, the heads of the screws being countersunk into the inner wall of the hous ing and the screws being inserted through aligned holes 10, 10 in the outer wall of the socket.

A bolt 11 is slidably mounted in the hous ing-8 and is of sufficient length to allow it to be projected across the meeting edges of the closed doors into the socket 4 as shown in' Figure 4.

The rear end of the bolt is of channel sec tion and in the extended position of the bolt aligned slots 12 in the flanges of the bolt register with slots 13 in the top and bottom walls of the housing, and a wire or the like can be passed through the slots to lock the bolt in the extended position, a customs seal is then applied to the wire.

A lug 14 is conveniently pierced out of the exposed portion of the bolt to form a finger pierce for manipulating it, and a tapered nose 15 is provided on the free end of bolt on the face next to the door to ride over the usual weather seal 16 between the edges of the door as the bolt is moved into the extended position.

It will be appreciated from Figure 4 that when the bolt is in the extended and sealed position it obturates the countersunk heads of the screws so that the device cannot be removed by a would be thief with a screw-driver.

In the device illustrated the socket, housing and bolt are formed as steel pressings, but in a modification all three components or one or more of them could be formed as die-castings.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS 1. An anti-theft device for containers for the transport of goods, the container being of the kind having an open end provided with two co-operating doors hinged at their vertical outer edges to the sides of the door opening, comprising two co-operating fittings adapted to be secured to the respective doors of a container adjacent to their free edges by screws or fixing bolts which are concealed and inaccessible when the device is sealed, one fitting comprising a socket or staple and the other comprising a housing for a slidable bolt adapted to be extended across the meeting edges of the doors into the socket or staple when the doors are closed, the housing and the slidable bolt incorporating cooperating means which register when the bolt is shot and are adapted to receive a wire or other customs seal.

2. An anti-theft device is claimed in Claim 1 in which each fitting is secured to a door by one or more screws or fixing bolts with heads countersunk in the fitting and passing through the door to receive nuts on the inner side of the door.

3. An anti-theft device as claimed in Claim 2 in which the securing screws or bolts are inserted through aligned holes in the walls of the fitting, and these holes and the heads of the screws or bolts are obturated by the slidable bolt when the latter is in the extending position.

4. An anti-theft device as claimed in Claim 1 in which slots in the slidable bolt and the housing are aligned when the bolt is in the extended position and are adapted to receive the wire or other customs seal.

5. An anti-theft device as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which a projection is provided on the forward end of the slidable bolt to carry it over the usual weather seal between the edges of the doors as it is being moved into the extended position.

6. An anti-theft device for freight containers substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. ing and the screws being inserted through aligned holes 10, 10 in the outer wall of the socket. A bolt 11 is slidably mounted in the hous ing-8 and is of sufficient length to allow it to be projected across the meeting edges of the closed doors into the socket 4 as shown in' Figure 4. The rear end of the bolt is of channel sec tion and in the extended position of the bolt aligned slots 12 in the flanges of the bolt register with slots 13 in the top and bottom walls of the housing, and a wire or the like can be passed through the slots to lock the bolt in the extended position, a customs seal is then applied to the wire. A lug 14 is conveniently pierced out of the exposed portion of the bolt to form a finger pierce for manipulating it, and a tapered nose 15 is provided on the free end of bolt on the face next to the door to ride over the usual weather seal 16 between the edges of the door as the bolt is moved into the extended position. It will be appreciated from Figure 4 that when the bolt is in the extended and sealed position it obturates the countersunk heads of the screws so that the device cannot be removed by a would be thief with a screw-driver. In the device illustrated the socket, housing and bolt are formed as steel pressings, but in a modification all three components or one or more of them could be formed as die-castings. WHAT WE CLAIM IS

1. An anti-theft device for containers for the transport of goods, the container being of the kind having an open end provided with two co-operating doors hinged at their vertical outer edges to the sides of the door opening, comprising two co-operating fittings adapted to be secured to the respective doors of a container adjacent to their free edges by screws or fixing bolts which are concealed and inaccessible when the device is sealed, one fitting comprising a socket or staple and the other comprising a housing for a slidable bolt adapted to be extended across the meeting edges of the doors into the socket or staple when the doors are closed, the housing and the slidable bolt incorporating cooperating means which register when the bolt is shot and are adapted to receive a wire or other customs seal.

2. An anti-theft device is claimed in Claim 1 in which each fitting is secured to a door by one or more screws or fixing bolts with heads countersunk in the fitting and passing through the door to receive nuts on the inner side of the door.

3. An anti-theft device as claimed in Claim 2 in which the securing screws or bolts are inserted through aligned holes in the walls of the fitting, and these holes and the heads of the screws or bolts are obturated by the slidable bolt when the latter is in the extending position.

4. An anti-theft device as claimed in Claim 1 in which slots in the slidable bolt and the housing are aligned when the bolt is in the extended position and are adapted to receive the wire or other customs seal.

5. An anti-theft device as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which a projection is provided on the forward end of the slidable bolt to carry it over the usual weather seal between the edges of the doors as it is being moved into the extended position.

6. An anti-theft device for freight containers substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.