GB2103182A

GB2103182A - Containers

Info

Publication number: GB2103182A
Application number: GB08124005A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Trevor William Jennings
Original assignee: WCB Clares Ltd
Current assignee: WCB Clares Ltd
Priority date: 1981-08-06
Filing date: 1981-08-06
Publication date: 1983-02-16

Abstract

A container has legs 24, 26 which are rotatable from a handle or stored position to a certain position 40 and are displaceable from that position into a supporting condition by the action of gravity. Rods 46 on the legs engage under hooks 44 to retain the legs in position. The rods and hooks may be interchanged in a modified construction. Projections 36 enable the containers to be stacked. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Container This invention concerns containers such as baskets and trays.

The invention has particular application to wire mesh baskets for use, for example, for storage or display purposes. However, the invention is not confined to such an application.

Baskets and trays for storage or display purposes commonly comprise a body supported on legs which are fixed relative to the body. Such containers are, therefore, bulky which poses problems over transportation. In addition, they may not be easy to move when full and this can be a limitation in their use.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide a container which, at least in its preferred form, overcomes these disadvantages.

According to the invention, there is provided a container having supporting legs which are movable to and from a supporting condition.

This arrangement permits a construction which can readily be made compact for transport. For example, the legs can be mounted on the body so as to fold away against or into the body when the container is not in use.

To hold the legs in the supporting condition for use, retention means are preferably provided. A simple retention arrangement features means, associated with one of the body and the legs, defining at least one hook and means, associated with the other of the body and legs, engageable with such a hook or hooks by relative displacement of the body and the legs under the action of gravity.

This has the advantage that the retention means may be arranged to engage and disengage automatically, as the container is set down or lifted up, without the need for operation of a manual control. Awkward manipulation of the container to fix the legs in or disengage them from the supporting condition is thus avoided.

More particularly, gravity control of the condition of the legs may be achieved by mounting the legs on the body so that they are rotatable to and from a position neighbouring that which they occupy in the supporting condition and so that they are displaceable: 1. from the neighbouring position into the supporting condition by the action of gravity on the container body when the container is set down, and 2. from the supporting condition into the neighbouring position by the action of gravity on the legs when the container is lifted up.

A neat way of mounting the legs on the body is to form then each with a looped section defining a slot in which a bar of the body is received. The legs are thus rotatable and, to a limited extent determined by the length of the slot, also displaceable relative to the body.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the legs are convertible into a handle for the container so that the container is both versatile and easy to carry.

Another preferred feature is stackability. For this purpose, the feet of the legs may be formed with projections engageable with an edge of the body of a similar container.

The invention is described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the invention in a carrying mould: Fig. 2 is a fragmentary diagrammatic side view of the container illustrating how its handle may be converted into supporting legs; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the container with the legs in a supporting condition.

The drawings show a basket 10 having a main body 12 and a handle/leg arrangement 14. That is, the body 12 is provided with means convertible from supporting legs to a handle and vice-versa.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the body 12 is of wire mesh construction and is generally rectangular in plan form. It has end and side walls, 1 6 and 1 8 respectively, and a continuous upper rim which is formed from end and side rim bars, 20 and 22 respectively, and which serves both to reinforce the walls and to secure them together.

The arrangement 14 is mounted on the end rim bars 20. The arrangement 14 comprises two identical container portions 24, each associated with a respective end wall 16, and so only one will be described. The portion 24 has two limbs 26 referred to as legs in the following description for simplicity. The legs 26 are pivotably secured to the end rim bar 20 adjacent corners of the body 12 so that they are movable between the position shown in Fig. 1 and that shown in Fig. 3.

Welded to the legs 26 adjacent their ends 28 remote from the bar 20, i.e. adjacent their feet, is a handle-bar 30. The handle-bar 30 extends between the two legs 26 and is provided with a kink 32 so that, in the position of the legs 26 illustrated in Fig. 1 the kinked portion 34 of one handle-bar 30 lies immediately adjacent to its counterpart in the other handle-bar 30 to provide a carrying handle.

In the position illustrated in Fig. 3 the legs 3 support the body 12 and allow the container to be stacked with other such containers. This is possible because the handle-bar 30 is formed with two projections 36 arranged to co-operate with the legs 26 to define a locating recess 38 (see Fig. 2) for receiving and locating the rim of a similar container for stacking purposes.

The legs 26 are movable into their supporting condition illustrated in Fig. 3 by a combination of rotation and displacement relative to the body 12.

Thereafter, they are restrained in the supporting condition by retention means 40.

More particularly, the retention means 40 comprise a bar 42, welded to the wires in the end wall 16 and formed with hooks 44, and a cooperating bar 46 joined between the two legs 26.

The bar 42 extends across the full width of the wall 16 and includes three of the hooks 44 in equi-spaced relation. Two of the hooks 44 coincide with the locations of the legs 26 when these are in the supporting condition and the remaining hook 44 is spaced centrally between the legs then. The hooks 44 project downwardly to define, with the end wall 16, locating recesses 48 for receiving the bar 46. The bar 46 extends between the outer edges of the two legs 26, which are of U-shaped form, and so, in the supporting condition of the legs, portions of the bar 46 between the two sides of each leg engage within the recesses 48 behind the outer hooks 44 and the central portion of the bar 46 engages within the recess 48 defined by the central hook 44.

The manner in which the retention means 40 can be engaged and disengaged is best seen in Fig. 2. Firstly, it should be appreciated that the legs 26 are mounted on the end rim bars 20 so as to be both rotatable and displaceabie relative to the body 12. The mounting is provided by forming a loop 50 in the end of each leg 26 so as to define a slot 52 in which the end rim bar 20 is received.

Thus, the legs 26 are rotatable about the end rim bar 20 and are displaceable relative to the body 12 by movement of this bar 20 within the slots 52.

In order to bring the legs into the supporting condition from the position illustrated in Fig. 1 they are rotated outwardly and then downwardly towards the end wall 16. The weight of the legs ensures, in the absence of any counteracting force, that they hang downwardly from the end rim bar 20 with the bar 20 lying at the ends of the slots 52 remote from the feet 28. The bars 42, 46 are arranged so that with the bar 20 thus located in the slots 52, the bar 46 can pass under the lower ends of the hooks 44. The legs 26 can thus be brought against the end wall 1 6. Then, by lowering the container onto a supporting surface, the weight of the body 12 causes the end rim bar 20 to drop-in the slots 52 towards the feet 28 and, concurrently, the bar 46 to be wedged up into the recesses 48 to secure the legs in the supporting condition.If the container is once again lifted, the reverse occurs and the bar 46 drops from the recesses 48 by the action of gravity on the legs 26, after which the legs can be rotated once more into the position illustrated in Fig. 1.

The gravity control for the retention means 40 is convenient in that all that is needed to place the legs in the supporting condition is to lift the body 12 with the legs 26 placed to extend generally outwardly from the body and then to lower it once the legs are aligned in the neighbouring position to the one which they occupy in the supporting condition, in which they lie against the end wall 1 6 but the bar 46 is not yet wedged in the recess 48. Release of the retention means 40 is equaliy easily achieved.

The length of the legs 26 is such that they can be rotated right round and into the body 12 to create a compact arrangement for transport purposes.

Overall, the described construction is simple to manufacture, versatile, and easy to convert from one mode to another.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a wire mesh basket, it could alternatively be applied to a plastics or sheet metal tray.

Various modifications are possible. For example, in the illustrated embodiment it is not necessary to use three hooks 44. Alternatively, a single central hook 44 or two spaced hooks 44, could be used. Nor is it essential for the bar 46 to extend the full width of the basket end. However, the described arrangement is preferred because it gives extra rigidity.

Another modification to the retention means would be to replace the bar 46 with a bar having upwardly extending hooks engageable under a straight bar replacing the bar 42.

The retention means may also be modified in other ways. For example, although in the embodiment illustrated hooks are utilised which are shown as being V-shaped deformations in a bar, instead one or more L-shaped projections may be employed at each end of the body for generally the same purpose. Such projections may be provided on either the body or the iegs, or on elements carried by either the body or the legs.

And, they may be engageable with a bar or a loop of wire on the other part, or on an element carried by the other part.

Of course, the location of the retention means can be varied. For example, it might be placed higher up the wall 16 or lower down. Or it might be arranged between the base of the container body 12 and the legs 26.

Claims

1. A container having supporting legs which are movable to and from a supporting condition.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, further having retention means for fastening the legs in the supporting condition.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, in which the retention means comprise first and second means associated respectively with the body of the container and the legs and arranged to be engageable with and disengageable from one another by relative movement of the body and the legs.

4. A container as claimed in claim 2, in which the retention means comprise first and second means associated respectively with the body of the container and the legs arranged to be engageable with and disengageable from one another by the action of gravity.

5. A container as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, in which the retention means comprise means, associated with one of the body of the container and the legs, defining at least one hook and means, associated with the other of the body of the container and the legs, engageable with said at least one hook.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5, in which the hook defining means comprise projections on means carried by or forming part of the body.

7. A container as claimed in claim 5 or 6, in which the engageable means comprise bars carried by or forming part of the legs.

8. A container as claimed in claim 5, in which the hook defining means comprise projections on means carried by or forming part of the legs.

9. A container as claimed in claim 5 or 8, in which the engageable means comprise bars carried by or forming part of the body.

10. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the legs are mounted on the body of the container so as to be rotatable to and from a position neighbouring the position which they occupy in the supporting condition and so as to be displaceable between the neighbouring position and the supporting condition.

11. A container as claimed in claim 10, in which the mounting means for the legs comprise bars carried by or forming part of one of the body and the legs and engaged within slots in means carried by or forming part of the other of the body and the legs.

12. A container as claimed in claim 11, in which the mounting bars are provided by reinforcing bars for reinforcing the walls of the body.

13. A container as claimed in claim 12, in which the reinforcing bars form part of a continuous rim of the body.

14. A container as claimed in any of claims 11 to 13, in which the means providing the slots comprise loops at respective ends of the legs.

1 5. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the legs are convertible into a handle for the container body.

1 6. A container as claimed in claim 15, in which there are two pairs of legs and in which the two legs in each pair are joined, adjacent to their feet, by a respective handle bar.

1 7. A container as claimed in claims 15 or 16, in which the legs are convertible into a handle by rotation relative to the body.

18. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the legs are foldable from the supporting condition into the body of the container.

1 9. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, which is stackable with other similar containers when the legs are in the supporting condition.

20. A container as claimed in claim 19, in which the body of the container and the feet of the legs are formed to permit engagement of the feet of the legs on one container, when the legs are in the supporting condition, with the body of a similar container.

21. A container as claimed in claim 20, in which the feet of the legs are provided with projections engageable with bars on the body of another similar container.

22. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, whose body is of wire mesh construction.

23. A container substantially as herein particularly described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.