GB2099407A - Storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

A storage container has a front wall (11) that slopes downwardly to a discharge opening (14) in an opposite back wall (12). The back wall also slopes inwardly towards the bottom but at a lower angle to the horizontal than the front wall. A cover plate (15) is pivotally mounted along its upper edge above the discharge opening and is movable between opening and closing positions. When the cover plate is closed a substantial proportion of the weight of the container contents bears against the cover plate. Selectively releasable cover retaining means (30) comprising a latching hook (31) pivotally mounted to the container is provided for releasably holding the cover plate in its closing position. The latching hook engages with a rotatable retaining bar (33) on the cover plate, a lug (39) being provided on the retaining bar so that rotation of the bar causes the lug to lift the latching hook out of engagement with the retaining bar and thereby release the cover plate. The container is mounted on a trailer so that it can be readily moved and also from a vehicle. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improved storage container This invention relates to storage containers and in particular relates to containers for storing industrial rubbish although the invention is not limited to this particular field of use.

In the past, industrial rubbish containers have generally been in the form of large rectangular bins having small wheels or casters at the corners. The bins have not been designed to be towed behind a vehicle and the bins therefore have had limited mobility. The bins have been arranged to be picked up by a specially designed hydraulically operated lifting apparatus on a truck. The lifting apparatus lifts the bin over the top of the truck where the bin is inverted to empty the contents into the back of the truck.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage container which enables the contents thereof to be readily discharged by gravity.

It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide a storage container mounted on a trailer so as to be readiiy towed behind a vehicle.

According to the present invention there is provided a storage container including: one wall that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container; a wall opposite said one wall, said opposite wall being provided with a discharge opening; a cover member for closing the discharge opening, the cover member being pivotally mounted for movement between a closing position in which it closes the discharge opening and an opening position in which it allows gravity discharge of contents of the container through the discharge opening, the slope of said one wall causing a substantial proportion of the weight of the contents to bear against the cover member when in its closing position.

In the preferred arrangement ofthe storage container the wall that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container is comprised by a frontwall and the opposite wall is comprised by a rear wall.

The container also including opposed side walls between the front and rear walls. The front wall preferably includes a generally vertical upper portion and a sloping lower portion extending for the major part of the container height Furthermore the rear wall preferably has an upper generally vertical portion directly opposite the vertical upper portion of the front wall and also has a lower portion that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container.

The cover member preferably comprises a cover plate pivotally mounted at its upper edge so as to swing about that upper edge in moving between its closing and opening positions. Selectively releasable cover retaining means are preferably provided for holding the cover plate in its closing position. The cover retaining means may comprise a latching hook pivotally mounted to the container and having a hooked outer end for engaging with a portion of the cover plate to releasably hold the cover plate in its closing position.

Preferably the latching hook is arranged to engage from above with a retaining bar, the retaining bar being selectively rotatable an being provided with a lug operative upon rotation of the retaining bar to engage with the hooked outer end of the latching hook to lift the outer end out of engagement with the retaining bar and thereby enable the cover plate to move to its opening position. The latching hook may be provided with a contoured face engageable by the retaining bar when the cover plate is moved from its opening to its closing position so as to lift the latching hook out of the path of movement of the retaining bar until the cover plate reaches its closing position.

A storage container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a preferred arrangement of storage container with the cover member closed and the trailer ready to be towed behind a vehicle, Figure 2 is a side view of the Figure 1 container with the cover member in its opening position and the tow bar retracted, Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the cover retaining means.

The storage container 10 shown in the drawings is generally rectanguiar in plan and includes a front wall 11 that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container 10, a rearwall 12 opposite to the front wall 11 and opposed side walls 13 extending between the front and rear walls 11, 12. The rear wall 12 is provided with a discharge opening 14 and a cover member 15 is provided for closing the discharge opening 14. The cover member 15 is pivotally mounted for movement between a closing position in which it closes the discharge opening 14 (Figure 1) and an opening position in which it allows gravity discharge of contents of the container 10 through the discharge opening 14 (Figure 2).The slope of the front wall 11 is such as to cause a substantial proportion of the weight of the contents of the container 10 to bear against the cover member 15 when in its closing position.

In the illustrated container, there is provided a lid 16 extending across the upper edges of the four walls 11, 12, 13 and the lid 16 may be pivotally mounted to enable access to the interior of the container 10.

The storage container 10 is mounted on a trailer 17 so that it can be towed behind a vehicle. The trailer 17 includes a support frame 18 defining a chassis of the trailer 17 and for supporting the walls 1 11, 12, 13 of the container 10. The trailer 17 is provided with two ground engaging wheels 19 and a towbar 20 for attachment to a vehicle. The towbar arrangement 20 may be of the general form described in Australian Patent Specification No. 18976/76. In that specification there is described a towbar 20 which can be pivoted from a generally vertical position (Figure 2) where it provides a supporting leg 21 for the trailer 17 to a generally horizontal position (Figure 1) in which it can be attached to a vehicle.The lower end of the supporting leg 21 which engages the ground when the towbar 20 is in its generally vertical position is provided with a small wheel or caster 22 enabling the bin to be manually moved on the two ground engaging wheels 19 and the caster 22. The container 10 may also be provided with a retractable leg (not shown) adjacenttothe pivotally mounted towbar 20 and which can be engaged with the ground to support that end of the container 10 while the towbar 20 is being pivoted from its vertical position and is being attached to a vehicle.

The front wall 11 includes a generally vertical upper portion 23 and a sloping lower portion 24, the lower portion 24 extending for the major part of the container height. In the illustrated container, the sloping lower portion 24 is inclined at about 45" to the horizontal. The vertical upper portion 23 is provided with an inlet opening 25 for receiving material. The inlet opening 25 may be provided with an inlet cover plate (not shown) which is hinged at its lower edge to the upper edge of the sloping lower portion 24. The inlet cover plates can be iowered to enable access to the bin and may be closed during transportation of the container 10.

The discharge opening 14 extends the full width of the rearwall 12 between the slide walls 13. The rear wall 12 has an upper generally vertical portion 26 directly opposite the vertical upper portion 23 of the front wall 11 and also has a lower portion 27 that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container 10. The sloping lower portion 27 of the rear wall 12 is inclined at an angle to the horizontal greater than the slope angle of the lower portion 24 of the front wall 11. For example, the lower portion 27 of the rear wall 12 may be inclined at between 60 and 80" to the horizontal.

The cover member 15 in the illustrated container comprises a cover plate 28 which is pivotally mounted at its upper edge so as to swing about that upper edge in moving between its closing and opening positions. The cover plage 28 extends across the entire width of the container 10 and in the illustrated arrangement the cover plate 28 is hinged along its upper edge to the lower edge of the vertical upper portion 26 ofthe rear wall 12.

The container 10 also includes selectively releasable cover retaining means 30 for holding the cover plate 28 in its closing position. As illustrated the retaining means 30 is associated with the lower edge of the cover plate 28. The cover retaining means 30 includes latching means mounted on the container, the latching means comprising a latching hook 31 pivotally mounted to the container 10 and having a hooked outer end 32 for engaging with a portion of the cover plate 28 to releasably hold the cover plate 28 in its closing position. If desired, a latching hook 31 may be provided at each side of the cover plate 28. The latching hook 31 is arranged to engage from above with a retaining bar 33 extending across the lower edge of the cover plate 28.The retaining means 30 also includes releasing means 34 for disengaging the latching hook 32 from the retaining bar 33 to enable the cover plate 28 to be pivotally moved outwardly from its closing position to its opening position.

As mentioned above, the latching hook 31 is mounted to engage the retaining bar 33 from above, i.e. the hooked outer end 32 is turned downwardly to engage over an end portion 35 of the retaining bar 33. The latching hook 31 is pivotally mounted at its inner end 36 to side wall 13 of the container 10. The latching hook 31 is resiliently biased into engagementwith the retaining bar 33 and in the illustrated embodiments a biasing spring 37 is provided for biasing the latching hook 31 downwardly to engage the retaining bar 33.

The retaining bar 33 is selectively rotatable by being mounted by brackets 38 to the lower edge of the cover plage 28.

The releasing means 34 comprises a lug 39 provided on the retaining bar 33, the lug being operative upon rotation of the retaining bar 33 to engage with the hooked outer end 32 of the latching hook 31 to lift the outer end 32 out of engagement with the retaining bar 33 and thereby enable the cover plate 28 to move to its opening position. The lug 39 is in the general form of a plate extending radially outwardly from the outer end 35 of the retaining bar 33. The releasing means 34 further includes a releasing line 40 which is attached to the lug 39 and is arranged to be manually operated to rotate the retaining bar 33 so that the lug 39 engages with the outer end 32 of the latching hook 31 to disengage it from the retaining bar 33.The releasing line 40 is secured at its lower end to the lug 39 and extends upwardly over a pin or pulley 41 on the adjacent side wall 13 and thence to a further pin 42 located at the same height as the pulley 41 but forwardly thereof. The operator may then grasp the line 40 between the pulley 41 and the forward pin 42 and by pulling down on the line 40 the lug 34 is lifted to disengage the latching hook 31 from the retaining bar 33. The cover plate 38 is then free to pivot outwardly from its closing position to its opening position under the weight of material in the container 10 assisted by the fact that the cover plate 28 is sloping relative to horizontal when in its closing position as shown in Figure 1.

The latching hook 31 is provided with a contoured face 43 engageable by the retaining bar 33 when the cover plate 28 is moved from its opening to its closing position so asto lift the latching hook 31 out of the path of movement of the retaining bar 33 until the cover plate 28 reaches its closing position. That is, the latching hook outer face 43 is inclined downwardly and forwardly so that when the cover plate 28 is being moved from its opening to its closing position the outer end 35 of the retaining bar 33 engages with the face 43 thereby lifting the latching hook 31 out of the path of movement of the retaining bar 33 againstthe action of the biasing spring 37. When the cover plate 28 reaches its closing position the latching hook 31 engages over the outer end 35 of the retaining bar 33 to thereby hold the cover plate 28 in its closing position.

In use of the storage container 10 according to the preferred embodiment as herein shown and described, the container 10 can be towed to a site and the tow bar 20 can be pivoted to provide a stable support for the front end of the trailer. The container 10 can then be uncoupled from the vehicle. The caster 22 on the lower end of the two bar 20 enables the container 10 to be moved manually to any suitable position. Industrial rubbish or other material which it is desired to load into the container 10 can be placed in the container 10 through the inlet opening 25 at the upper portion 23 in thefront wall 11 or through the opened top 16 of the container 10.

The rubbish slides down the sloping lower portion 24 ofthe front wall 11 and bearsagainstthecober member 15 which is retained in its closing position.

When the container loins full the inlet cover plate is hinged upwardly to close the inlet opening 25 and the storage container 10 can be coupled to a vehicle and be towed away where the contents of the container can be disposed of. An empty container 10 can be left in place of the removed full container. The contents of the full container 10 can be discharged by pulling on the releasing line 40 at the side of the container thereby releasing the latching hook 31 from the retaining bar 33. The weight of material bearing against the cover member 15 pushes the cover member 15 to its opening position and the contents are discharged by gravity through the discharge opening 14. When empty, the cover member 15 can be moved to and be held in its closing position simply be pushing the cover member 15 to that position.

Finally, it is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be made to the construction and arrangement of parts as herein described without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (12)

1. A storage container including: one wall that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container; a wall opposite said one wall, said opposite wall being provided with a discharge opening; a cover member for closing the discharge opening, the cover member being pivotally mounted for movement between a closing position in which it closes the discharge opening and an opening position in which it allows gravity discharge of contents of the container through the discharge opening, the slope of said one wall causing a substantial proportion of the weight of the contents to bear against the cover member when in its closing position.

2. A storage container according to Claim 1 wherein said one wall is comprised by a front wall and said opposite wall is comprises by a rear wall, the container also including opposed side walls between the front and rearwalls.

3. A storage container according to Claim 2 wherein the front wall includes a generally vertical upper portion and a sloping lower portion extending for the major part of the container height.

4. A storage container according to Claim 3 wherein the rear wall has an upper generally vertical portion directly opposite the vertical upper portion of the front wall and also has a lower portion that slopes inwardly towards the bottom of the container.

5. A storage container according to Claim 4 wherein the sloping lower portion of the rear wall is inclined at an angle to the horizontal greater than the slope angle of the lower portion of the front wall.

6. A storage container according to any one of Claims 2 to 5 wherein the discharge opening extends the full width of the rear wail between the side walls.

7. A storage container according to any preceding claim wherein the cover member comprises a cover plate pivotally mounted at its upper edge so as to swing about that upper edge in moving between its closing and opening positions.

8. A storage container according to Claim 7 and further including selectively releasable cover retaining means for holding the cover plate in its closing position.

9. A storage container according to Claim 8 wherein the cover retaining means comprises a latching hook pivotally mounted to the container and having a hooked outer end for engaging with a portion of the cover plate to releasably hold the cover plate in its closing position.

10. A storage container according to Claim 9 wherein the latching hook is arranged to engage from above with a retaining bar constituting said portion of the cover plate, said retaining bar being selectively rotatable and being provided with a lug operative upon rotation of the retaining bar to engage with the looked outer end of the latching hook to lift the outer end out of engagement with the retaining bar and thereby enable the cover plate to move to its opening position.

11. A storage container according to Claim 10 wherein said latching hook is provided with a contoured face engageable by the retaining bar when the cover plate is moved from its opening to its closing position so as to lift the latching hook out of the path of movement of the retaining bar until the cover plate reaches its closing position.

12. A storage container substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.