GB2138770A - Containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A container (10) comprises wall elements (12) and an internal base (14). The wall elements which may be trapezoidal in cross section and may taper downwardly, are secured together by fasteners at locations (38) at the top and bottom edges of the container. The fasteners are in the form of corrugated steel fasteners hammered across the joints (36) between the wall elements. At the bottom of the container, the base 14 is secured by fasteners (32) inserted radially. The container has structural integrity without the need for steel bands. The container may be constructed as a tub, e.g. for plants, a bucket, a barrel for liquids or a silo. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Containers This invention relates to containers and to a method of making containers and is particularly but not exclusively applicable to decorative containers such as garden tubs, similar tubs for indoor use such as plant holders, storage devices for the kitchen,log baskets and the like. The invention may also be applicable to liquid containers such as beer barrels and even to silos. The invention is particularly applicable to the construction of containers of this kind from wood but, with the advent of plastics and other synthetic materials as substitutes for wood, the invention may well be applicable to structures in which the wooden members described below are formed from some other material.

In the case of decorative garden tubs, beer barrels and containers of that sort as presently available. the structure comprises a series of wall elements secured together around one or more internal structural members or bases by means of steel bands. The usual way of constructing these containers is by means of a skilled manual operation in which the individual wall elements are each formed with a laterally extending groove to receive the base member and are hand-fitted round the base after which the steel band is fitted to the assembly to hold it together in a structural unit.

The individual wall elements have to be formed slightly oversize so that, during the band-fitting operation they can be trinmed with a spokeshave so that the band fits exactly.

It will be appreciated that this is an extremely skilled task and very time consuming.

The sizes of the wall elements and of the steel band cannot be stardardised so as to avoid this skilled fitting operation because temperature and humidity variations cause significant expansion and contraction of the wood as a result of which the fitting of the band must be a matter of careful adjustment at the particular time of assembly.

It will be appreciated that the steel band usually has to be located exactly in line with the internal base so that the tension in the band is directly resisted by the base without causing any tendency for the wall elements to be dislodged.

Thus, the manufacture of tubs, barrels and the like by the above-described traditional method is an extremely slow and skilled task and thus the cost of manufacture of these articles includes a very large proportion of labour.

Moreover, although the traditional methods of construction of these containers have been well tried over the years and accepted for centuries, the resulting structures cannot be said to be entirely satisfactory for all the uses to which they are put and it often happens that the steel bands tend to drop off whereupon the entire structure collapses.

To the knowledge of the Applicants no acceptable alternative to the above-described traditional methods of construction of tubs, barrels and the like has reached the market place and it is an aim of the present invention to provide improvements in relation to one or more of the above-identified problems including an improved container such as a garden tub or the like, and an improved method of making same.

According to the invention there is provided a container comprising wall elements secured by fastening means which penetrates the wall elements, in edge-toedge relationship to form a hollow container body.

Preferably said fastening means comprises end fastening means applied to the wall elements at one end at least thereof. Preferably the fastening means is applied at both ends of each wall element. The fastening means may comprise corrugated steel wood fasteners or the like, or any suitable alternative fastener which may have a corrugated or crimped or non-linear strip or plate form and is adapted to be hammered or pressed or otherwise caused to enter the material of the wall elements so as to extend across the joint between two adjacent wall elements and simultaneously to enter the structure of both. Preferably the fastener has a sharpened edge for the purpose.

Preferably the wall elements are secured by fasteners to an internal structural member.

The internal structural member may be in the form of an end or base which fits within the hollow container body. The fasteners may comprise screws, nails or the like extending through the wall elements generally at right angles to their outer faces.

Preferably also, the wall elements are formed so that in cross section they have the shape of a trapezium. The wall elements preferably also taper in width, as measured between their side edges, from one end to the other of the wall elements.

The wall elements and the internal structural member or members or base are preferably formed of wood but the method and structure of the invention may also be applicable to other materials including synthetic materials.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a wooden tub or like container comprising a plurality of wooden wall elements secured in' edge-to-edge relationship to form a hollow container body by means of corrugated fasteners pressed or hammered or otherwise caused to enter the wall elements across the joints thereof at each end of each wall element, and by means of at least one fastener such as a screw, nail or the like for each wall element and which extends through the wall element into an internal structural member or base within the container.

The Invention also provides a wooden tub, barrel or like container comprising wall elements secured together by fasteners without the use of bands or the like.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making a container comprising the step of securing wall elements together in edge to edge relationship by fastening means which penetrates the wall elements so as to produce a generally hollow container body.

The fastening means preferably comprises end fasteners caused to enter the wall elements and extend across the joint between adjacent edges thereof. The fastening means may also or alternatively comprise fasteners extending through the wall elements into an internal structural member within the container body.

Preferably the end fastening means are applied to the wall elements in a first step, then the internal structural member or base is inserted into the container body and secured thereto by the screws, nails or like fasteners.

The invention also provides any concept or feature or combination of features defined and/or described and/ or illustrated in this application.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1 shows a perspective view of a wooden tub from above and slightly to one side; Fig 2 shows a side elevation view of the tub of Fig 7; Fig 3 shows a plan view of the tub of Figs 1 and 2, the direction of viewing being indicated by arrow Ill in Fig 2; Fig 4 shows a view of the tub of the preceding figures from below, the direction of viewing being indicated in Fig 2 by arrow IV; Fig 5 shows, on a larger scale, a perspective view of an internal structural member or base of the tub of the preceding figures; Fig 6 shows, also on a larger scale, a perspective view of a wall element of the tub of the preceding figures; and Fig 7 shows a plan view of an end fastener used in the construction of the tub.

Fig 1 shows a wooden tub 10 intended for decorative use within a dwelling house or in the garden thereof for containing plants or storing logs, coal or many other materials.

The tub 10 comprises twelve wooden wall elements 1 2 and an internal structural member or base 14, also formed of wood.

Details of the method of construction of the tub 10 are described below. The finished product may be sanded and/or stained and/or polished and/or treated with wood preservative according to the intended use of the product.

As shown in Fig 6, each wall element 1 2 comprises a length of deal timber having an outer face 16 and an inner face 18 and side edges 20 and 22. Faces 16 and 18 are flat and parallel. Side edges 20, 22 converge towards each other from outer face 1 6 to inner face 18, so that the wall elements fit together in edge-to-edge flush engagement to form the hollow container body shown in Fig 1.

Additionally, each wall element also tapers in width from its upper end 24 to its lower end 26 so that the resulting tub 10 tapers downwardly as shown in Fig 2.

Wall elements 1 2 are cut with the precise dimensions and angles required for the purpose by means of conventional timber cutting machinery. In this embodiment, the wall elements are formed from offcuts of deal timber.

Likewise, structural member or base 14, shown in Fig 5 is also cut by means of such machinery from deal timber offcuts as described below.

Base 14 is in the form of a regular dodecagon (having twelve sides) and proportioned to fit within the hollow or tubular container body formed by the wall elements 12 as shown in Fig 1. The dimensions of the base are chosen so that it fits exactly at the location identified in Fig 2 by arrow 30, where a series of fasteners 32 extend through the wall elements and into the base to secure the base in position. The fasteners are preferably screws provided with screw head cups (not shown) or countersunk. Alternatively, where cheapness is paramount and appearance is not too significant, nails may be used instead of the screws.

The method of assembling the wall elements and the base to form tub 10 is as follows.

Wall elements 12 are secured with their side edges 20, 22 in face to face contact by means of corrugated steel wood fasteners 34 as shown in Fig 7. The fasteners 34 are hammered into the wall elements across the joints 36 therebetween at the locations exemplified at 38 in the drawings. One fastener 34 is provided across each joint 36 at the top of the tub and one such fastener across each joint at the bottom of the tub, thereby forming a strong open ended container body 28 into which the base 14 is inserted.

Base 14 has its twelve side faces 40 cut at an angle corresponding to the downwardly tapering form of the container body 28 so that the base lodges in the container body at exactly the location identified by arrow 30 in Fig 2, whereupon screws 32 are inserted and the whole assembly of the tub thereby rendered extremely strong and rigid.

Base 14 is constructed from two deal offcuts secured together by several of the corrugated fasteners 34 which are simply hammered into the base across the joint 42 between the two halves thereof.

The corrugated fasteners 34 are of length from 1.5 to 2.0 centimetres and of width about 7.5 centimetres and formed with five parallel corrugations extending widthwise of the fastener. The fastener is sharpened along its longitudinal edge 46 and is intended to be hanmered into the wood by hitting it on the opposite longitudinal edge 48.

The fasteners 34 can each be hanmered into position in a few seconds. In the case of base 14, the fasteners straddle the joint 42 and in the case of the wall elements 1 2 they straddle the joints 36.

The wall elements 12 are pre-drilled to receive the screws 32 and, starting with the cut-to-size base 14 and wall elements 12, the whole assembly job for tub 10 is a matter of a few minutes' work.

Wall elements 1 2 and base 14 can be constructed from any suitable wood. The thickness of the wood (between the inner and outer sides of the wall elements) depends to some extent on the hardness of the wood. For ease of construction, a minimum thickness of 1.59 centimetres (5/8th of an inch) is the minimum thickness for the wood. However, if slots were cut for the fasteners 34 then the thickness could be reduced somewhat.

In a further embodiment (not illustrated) the tub 10 is modified by providing two of the wall elements 12 somewhat longer than the others, these two wall elements are arranged on opposite sides of the tub and each is drilled and receives a rope which is knotted at its end and forms a carrying handle whereby a bucket or the like is formed. In the case of the two extended wall elements and the two wall elements adjacent each of these, at the upper end of the bucket or tub the fasteners 34 cannot be used and therefore an internal drilled plate and corresponding wood screws are employed for joining the wall elements in edge to edge relationship.

Among the advantages of the embodiments described above are the simplicity, cheapness and strength of the structure, the use of manufacture, the fact that an unskilled workforce can be used, the rapidity with which the product can be made and the attractive appearance of the product when finished.

It is particularly to be noted that the apparently simple structure of the described embodiment provides a product which can do the same job as the traditional article which has remained substantially unchanged over centuries and requires a prodigious input of skilled labour and can only be produced at a relatively low rate and correspondingly high cost. In view of the simplicity and ease of manufacture of the above embodiments and the long felt demand for a product having their qualities, if the invention were obvious to make then of course it would have been made long ago.

Among the modifications which could be made in the above embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention are the use of stainless steel fasteners both as the fasteners 34 and/or the fasteners 32. Modifications can be made to the wail elements 1 2 themselves. For example, apertures could be formed therein for the purpose of providing strawberry baskets. Moreover, fasteners, eyelets or the like could be secured to their upper edges for the purpose of providing hanging baskets. Equally, the invention may well be applicable to the construction of barrels or liquids such as beer and even to the construction of silos. Moreover, the wall elements themselves can be removed after manufacture and an alternative wall element inserted having a modified structure whereby the function of the container can be changed. Instead of screws or nails for the fasteners 32, screw nails or the like may be employed.

Base 14 can be formed with drainage holes if the tub is to be used as a plant container.

The corrugated fasteners 34 can be hidden if necessary by use of plastic wood or other filler. Wall elements 34 may be cut with curved outer surfaces whereby the tub has a cylindrical or approximately cylindrical outer profile. Of course the length of the wall elements may be varied and the tube need not taper downardly.

Claims (21)

1 A container comprising wall elements secured by fastening means which penetrates the wall elements, in edge-to-edge relationship to form a hollow container body.

2 A container according to claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises end fastening means applied to the wall elements at one end at least thereof.

3 A container according to claim 2 wherein the fastening means is applied at both ends of each wall element.

4 A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the fastening means is of corrugated or crimped or non-linear strip or plate form and is adapted to be hammered or pressed or otherwise caused to enter the material of the wall elements so as to extend across the joint between two adjacent wall elements and simultaneously to enter the structure of both.

5 A container according to claim 4 wherein the fastening means has a sharpened edge.

6 A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the wall elements are secured by fasteners to an internal structural member.

7 A container according to claim 6 wherein the internal structural member is in the form of an end or base which fits within the hollow container body.

8 A container according to claim 7 wherein said fasteners securing the wall elements to an internal structural member comprise screws, nails or the like extending through the wall elements generally at right angles to the outer faces of the wall elements.

9 A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the wall elements are formed so that in cross-section they have the shape of a trapezium.

10 A container according to claim 9 wherein the wall elements taper in width, as measured between their side edges, from one end to the other of the wall elements.

11 A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the wall elements and the internal structural member or mem bers or base are formed of wood.

12 A wooden tub or like container compris ing a plurality of wooden wall elements secured in edge-to-edge relationship to form a hollow container body by means of corrugated fasteners pressed or hammered or otherwise caused to enter the wall elements across the joints thereof at each end of each wall element, and by means of at least one fastener such as a screw, nail or the like for each wall element and which extends through the wall element into an internal structural member or base within the container.

1 3 A wooden tub, barrel or like container comprising wall elements secured together by fasteners without the use of bands or the like.

14 A method of making a container comprising the step of securing wall elements together in edge-to-edge relationship by fastening means which penetrates the wall elements so as to produce a generally hollow container body.

1 5 A method according to claim 14 wherein the fastening means comprises end fasteners caused to enter the wall elements and extend across the joints between adjacent edges thereof.

16 A method according to claim 1 5 or claim 16 wherein the fastening means comprises fasteners extending through the wall elements into an internal structural member within the container body.

17 A method according to claim 15 or claim 16 wherein the end fastening means are applied to the wall elements in a first step, then the internal structural member or base is inserted into the container body and secured thereto by screws, nails or like fasteners.

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

1 9 A container according to claim 1 3 substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

20 A method according to claim 14 substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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