GB2063824A

GB2063824A - Crates

Info

Publication number: GB2063824A
Application number: GB7941740A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Bekaert NV SA
Current assignee: Bekaert NV SA
Priority date: 1979-12-04
Filing date: 1979-12-04
Publication date: 1981-06-10
Also published as: EP0030456A1

Description

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GB 2 063 824 A 1

SPECIFICATION

Improvements in or relating to crates

5 This invention relates to crates into which goods may be temporarily packed for handling and transport. Such crates are commonly used, for example, for the transport of goods from a factory or warehouse to retailing premises.

10 A particular example of the use of such crates is in the dairy industry. Here, crates are loaded at the dairy with bottles and/or cartons of milk, cartons of cream and yoghurt, packets of butter or cheese and other dairy products, and the goods are transported 15 to shops and supermarkets in thus-loaded crates. Preferably the crates are made stackable one on the other and a plurality of such crates can be stackably loaded onto a wheeled trolley for ease of transport. ' Alternatively the crates may be provided with engag-20 ing means whereby a plurality of crates may be slideably loaded into wheeled racks in a closely spaced vertical arrangement, and transported in a similarway.

When known crates are vertically stacked, either in 25 a self-supporting way or in racks as mentioned, problems arise of access to the goods for unloading purposes. For example, it may be desired to unload goods quickly from the bottommost crate in a stack because of demand for a particular product in the 30 supermarket. This may involve the otherwise unnecessary removal of the upper crates in order to get to the goods in the bottom crate. Furthermore, the goods in any particular crate may not be of uniform size and shape, and having regard to the fixed sizes 35 of crates it may not be possible to load the goods snugly so that they cannot move about during transport. Excessive play for fragile goods, for example eggs or bottles may lead to breakages in the conditions of vibration and shock impact often 40 encountered during handling and transport.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved crate which in its various embodiments can overcome or at least substantially reduce these difficulties.

45 According to the invention there is provided a crate for the carriage of goods comprising a base, a pair of opposed sidewalls and a front wall hingeably connected between the sidewalls at its upper corner portions, each sidewall having extending in the 50- region of its upper edge a longitudinal guide adapted for sliding engagement with a respective said corner portion of the front wall, the arrange-„ ment being such that the front wall may be hinged forward from a generally vertical position where it 55 encloses the front of the crate to a generally horizontal position and slid rearwardly along said guides so as to >;e at least in part across the top of the crate.

The ability to thus open the front of the crate whilst 60 it is in stacked relationship with similar upperand lower crates makes it possible to extract goods from the crate without disturbing the others. Yet the front wall remains captive on the crate in its retracted position and may easily be closed again if desired. 65 Thus the risk of misplacing the wall does not arise.

as would be the case if it were detachably removable from the crate.

In a preferred embodiment the front wall is provided with latching means selectively engage-able with the main body of the crate in a plurality of positions whereby the front wall can be locked in one of a plurality of orientations to close the front of the crate. In this way the further difficulty mentioned above, i.e. that of snugly packing the goods, can be met, for the adjustable positioning of the front wall effectively makes the interior space of the crate adjustable to accommodate differently sized goods.

The latching means may be arranged to engage with one or both sidewalls, but in a preferred arrangement it comprises at least one protuberance extending from the bottom edge of the front wall and engageable in a plurality of apertures formed in the base. The apertures may be defined for instance by a plurality of wire loops welded or otherwise fixed to metal rods forming the base. The protuberance preferably comprises a loop formed in a bottom rod of the front wall.

Many arrangements forthe hinged connection between the front and side walls will be apparent, but in a preferred arrangement each upper corner portion of the front wall is provided with a protruding wire loop which engages in a respective opening in the side walls formed as a continuation of the respective guide. The guides themselves may each conveniently be defined by an upper longitudinal rod of a side wall forming lattice and a top edge frame member.

The crates according to the invention are preferably made stackable one on top of the other, and to this end each sidewall may comprise a peripheral frame the base edge of which matingly engages the upperframe edge of a similar crate. Forthe purpose of secure location of the crates on each other, each frame base edge may have a downwardly extending locating member adapted to engage a registering aperture formed in the upperframe edge of a similar crate. Conveniently, the locating member comprises the extended end of a rod forming part of a sidewall forming lattice.

In order that the invention may be readily understood an embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 7 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a plurality of crates according to the invention stacked on a wheeled trolley;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a crate;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the crate;

Figure 4 is a front view of the front wall of the crate (removed), and

Figure 5 is a plan view of the base of the crate.

Figure 1 shows how four crates 1 may be stacked one on top of the other on an wheeled trolley 2. The construction of the crates is shown in more detail in the remaining figures.

Each crate comprises a base 3 which is formed in two hingedly connected portions 4,5 each comprising a grid of welded steel rods, and connected by loops 6. The front base portion 4 has welded thereto three closed loops 7 of steel wire for a purpose to be

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GB 2 063 824 A

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described. The base portion 5 is welded along two opposite edges thereof to respective flanges of 2-section strips 8, which together with U-shaped tubular members 9 of rectangular cross section form 5 the peripheral frame of respective sidewalls 10.

The main body of each sidewall 10 is formed by a lattice of steel rods fixed to the peripheral frame. The upper longitudinal rod 11 of each lattice is parallel to, but spaced from, the upper edge of the respective 10 U-shaped member 9 so as to form a longitudinal extending guide 12 for a purpose to be described. Furthermore the front end of each rod 11 bends downwardly at the front of the crate before its attachment to frame member 9 to form an opening 15 13.

The front wall 14ofthecrateas seen bestin Figure 4 consists of a substantially rectangular grid of welded steel rods the uppermost 15 of which extends beyond the grid and is bent to form 20 outwardly projecting loops 16 at each upper corner portion. The bent rod 17 forming the periphery of the grid is bent along its bottom extent to form a further loop 18.

Referring now to Figure 3 the operative engage-25 ment of the front wall 14 in the remainder of the crate can be seen. The loops 16 at each upper corner portion of the front wall are engaged in the respective openings 13 to provide a hinged connection. The front wall 14 is thus able to pivot substantially about 30 the axis, horizontal in use, of the uppermost rod 15 from a closed position as seen in Figure 2 to an open position in which the front wall 14 lies substantially horizontally. When in the horizontal position the front wall may be slid rearwardly, the loops 16 riding 35 along the guides 12, until it reaches the rearward position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3. As will be apparent, in this position goods may be removed from or placed in the crate through the front wall opening notwithstanding that the upwardly open 40 crate is substantially entirely covered by another similar crate stacked on top.

The front wall 14 is maintained in its horizontal withdrawn position by the engagement of the loops 16 in the guides 12, the width of the guides being 45 substantially equal to the thickness of the loops. It is also possible that the guides can taper down in the rearward direction whereby to clamp the front wall firmly in its horizontal position.

The front wall 14 is fastened closed by the 50 engagement of the loop 18 in a selected one of a plurality of apertures formed by the closed loops 7. It will be seen that there are seven different fastening positions, spaced for example by 1 cm each, and therefore seven different angular orientations of the 55 front wall 14, of which three are shown in dotted lines in Figure 3. In this way the effective storage space in the crate is made adjustable, and thus different unit sizes of goods may be accommodated yet packed snugly for transport so as to minimize 60 breakage risk in transit.

The crates are designed so as to be stackable. Lateral location of one crate on another is provided by the mating engagement of the top frame edges of a lower crate into the Z-shaped lower frame edges of 65 an upper crate. Longitudinal location is provided by an extended end 19 of a vertical rod of each sidewall which engages in a registering aperture 20 formed in the upperframe edge of a lower crate.

Angle brackets 22 are welded to each side wall 70 frame at the rear of the crate, adapted to receive hooks orthe like for mechanical handling of the crate. The rearwall of the crate is formed by two tubular rods 23 welded to the U-shaped members 9.

It will be appreciated that the crates described are 75 readily stackable in firm stacks for convenience and ease of transport on a wheeled trolley. Yet it is not necessary forthe crates to be unstacked in order to remove goods packed therein or to add further goods. This is made possible by the feature of the 80 pivotable and retractable front wall of the crate, ; which may be withdrawn to a position where it overlies the top of the crate while the front of the crate is open. Once such goods have been remove.d or added, the front wall may be drawn forwards and 85 reclosed in a number of different positions to ensure the snug packing of the goods in the crate.

Claims

90 1. A crate forthe carriage of goods comprising a base, a pair of opposed sidewalls and a front wall hingeably connected between the sidewalls at its upper corner portions, each sidewall having extending in the region of its upper edge a longitudinal 95 guide adapted for sliding engagement with a respective said corner portion of the front wall, the arrangement being such that the front wall may be hinged forwardlyfrom a generally vertical position where it encloses the front of the crate to a generally

100 horizontal position and slid rearwardly along said guides so as to lie at least in part across the top of the crate.
2. A crate according to claim 1 in which the front wall is provided with latching means selectively

105 engageable with the main body of the crate in a plurality of positions whereby the front wall may be locked in one of a plurality of orientations to close the front of the crate.
3. A crate according to claim 2 in which the

110 latching means comprises at least one protuberance extending from the bottom edge of the front wall and engageable in a plurality of apertures formed in the base.
4. A crate according to claim 3 in which the

115 apertures are defined by a plurality of wire loops -

welded or otherwise fixed to metal rods forming the base.
5. A crate according to claim 4 in which the protuberance comprises a loop formed in a bottom

120 rod of the front wall.
6. A crate according to any of the preceding claims in which each upper corner portion of the front wall is provided with a protruding wire loop which engages in a respective opening in the side

125 walls formed as a continuation of the respective guide.
7. A crate according to claim 6 in which each guide is defined by an upper longitudinal rod of a side wall forming lattice and a top edge frame

130 member.

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8. A crate according to any of the preceding claims in which each side wall comprises a peripheral frame the base edge of which is adapted to matingly engage the upper frame edge of a similar

5 crate so as to render a plurality of such crates stackable.
9. A crate according to claim 8 in which each frame base edge has a downwardly extending locating member adapted to engage a registering
10. A crate according to claim 9 in which each locating member comprises the extended end of a rod forming part of a sidewall forming lattice.

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11. A crate substantially as hereinbefore de-5 scribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by Croydon Printing Company Limited, Croydon, Surrey, 1981.

Published by The Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buiidings, London, WC2A 1AY, from which copies may be obtained.

10 aperture formed in the upperframe edge of a similar crate.