GB2259443A - Storage locker - Google Patents

Abstract

A container such as a storage locker for personal articles which may be assembled from a kit of plastics components has a casing which provides a rear wall 2 and side walls (including a base) 3 to 6 which extend to a front opening 7 which may be closed by a door 9 mounted on hinges 10. The casing 1 is formed by assembly of a plastics shell 14 which provides side walls 3 and 4 and a triangular pant of the rear wall 2 and a plastics shell 15 which provides side walls 5 and 6 and a triangular part of the rear wall 2. The shells are connected together along marginal edges 17 and 22 and 18 and 21 by snap engaging clips 30. During engagement of the clips 30 complementary tongues and grooves between the marginal edges 17 and 22 and 18 and 21 of the shells move into engagement to reinforce the edges which are joined together by clips 30. The shells can be additionally secured together by pegs 47. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE "A container" TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART The present invention relates to a container of the kind having a rear wall and side walls extending from the rear wall to form a front opening in which the walls are formed by two or more shells, typically plastics moulded components, that are assembled and retained together by securing means at common edges of adjacent shells to form a casing, the latter typically being of parallelopipedon shape. The front opening of the casing may be provided with a pivotted door.

A container of the kind specified is disclosed in British Patent No. 1,504,123. Typically such containers with their front openings are used as lockers for the storage of personal belongings. Often several containers are secured together in side-by-side or stacked relationship for individual use by members of the public such as in changing rooms at sports and health centres.

For convenience and cost saving, containers of the kind mentioned are usually transported to site in kit form where they are assembled for use. This assembly is often by inexperienced personnel and consequently it is most desirable that the components of the container lend themselves to fast, simple and convenient assembly which results in a stable structure for the container. This is particularly so for the means by which the shells are secured together where it has been found that bolting the shells together (as proposed for the container structure disclosed in the aforementioned British Patent) is often inconvenient and not relatively fast.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container of the kind specified which lends itself to satisfying the above mentioned desirable characteristics and which alleviates the requirement for bolting the shells together.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES According to the present invention there is provided a container comprising a casing having a storage chamber formed by a rear wall and side walls extending from the rear wall to form a front opening to the storage chamber, said walls being formed by at least two shells each of which has a part of said rear wall and a part of said side walls; said shells being assembled and retained together to form the casing by securing means located at common edges between adjacent shells and which common edges extend over the side walls from the rear wall to the front opening, and wherein the securing means comprises clips which snap engage with marginal edge portions of the shells at the common edges formed between adjacent shells.

By the present invention it is envisaged that the casing of the container will be formed by two or more shells, typically being plastics moulded components, which are retained as an assembly by clips which snap engage between marginal edge portions at common edges presented by adjacent shells so that, in effect, the entire casing may be press fitted together from a kit of components in a simple and convenient manner by inexperienced personnel.

In achieving this each shell may have its part of the side walls arranged to present a portion of one or more side walls of the casing and/or one or more complete side walls of casing.

One or more of the clips may be integral with one or more of the shells. Preferably however the clips are components separate from those of the shells and are typically formed as plastics mouldings. As separate components the clips may have two opposed recesses within which the marginal edge portions of two adjacent shells are received, one each, to locate those edge portions in a predetermined orientation with respect to each other and with barbed portions of the clips snap engaging in rebates provided in the marginal edge portions of the adjacent shells. If a clip is integral with a shell, a single recess may be provided in the clip to receive the marginal edge portion of another shell to effect the said barbed snap engaging connection.The snap engagement of the barbed portions of the clips with appropriately shaped rebates in the marginal edges of the shells may be intended, in effect, to permanently secure the shells together.

A preferred feature of the casing is that common edges between two adjacent shells are profiled to provide tongue and groove engagement with each other, such engagement extending along the side walls, either continuously or discontinuously, in a direction from the rear wall to the front opening. The provision of such tongue and groove engagement will form a joint between common edges of two adjacent shells which joint may provide rigidity and strengthening in the casing structure. Furthermore, the tongue and groove engagement will provide an overlap between common edges of two adjacent shells which can seal and maintain the integrity of the casing structure about the storage chamber.Desirably the tongue and groove engagement between the common edges of two adjacent shells is effected automatically as the adjacent edge portions of those shells are moved into snap engagement with the clip or clips which retains the shells together. It will be appreciated that the common edges formed between two adjacent shells can be secured together by one or more clips which snap engage between those shells. By providing the aforementioned tongue and groove engagement at the common edges between two adjacent shells it has been found that the number of clips required to firmly secure those common edges together can be reduced and often a single clip will be adequate for this purpose.

To maintain the integrity of, and alleviate distortion in, the casing structure it is preferred that the marginal edge portions at the common edges formed between two adjacent shells are firmly secured together at positions adjacent to the rear wall and adjacent to the front opening. Snap engaging clips may provide appropriate securement at these positions. Preferably however at one or both of the aforementioned positions, the marginal edge portions at the common edges formed between two adjacent shells are provided with flange parts that overlie each other in planes substantially perpendicular to the common edges.The overlying flange parts at the aforementioned position or positions have coinciding apertures within which are received further securing means such as pegs or studs which are force fitted into the coinciding apertures, to further retain the assembled shells of the casing together.

The container may be intended for the storage of personal articles such as clothing. With this in mind one or more of the clips can include a hook portion which extends into the storage chamber and is presented for hanging articles therefrom.

In assembling the casing it is likely that the part of the rear wall provided on each shell will have a free edge which is to form a joint with one or more adjacent free edges of a part or parts of the rear wall on one or more other shells. These free edges may have means such as an array of co-operating rebates and flanges, which interengage in overlying and substantially complementary relationship in the plane of the rear wall to effect a closed joint between the rear wall parts of the shells.

The inter-engagement between the rear wall parts of the shells may provide a reinforcement and rigidity in the rear wall structure to alleviate unauthorised access into the container chamber through the rear wall. Desirably the inter-engagement of the aforementioned means between the parts of the rear wall on the respective shells is effected automatically as the respective shells are moved into snap engagement with the clips which secure those shells together.

The casing may be of any desired shape determined by the profiles of the shells from which it is assembled, for example it may be generally cylindrical with circular front and rear. Usually however the casing will be of generally parallelopipedon shape as is convenient for connecting together several similar containers in stacked or side-by-side relationship with minimal wastage of space between adjacent casings. Conveniently a parallelopipedon shaped casing is formed by two shells, each of which provides two side walls for the casing at substantially right angles to each other and a rear wall part of substantially triangular shape which extends between the included angle of the two side walls.These two shells are assembled so that two sets of common edges between adjacent shells are located diagonally opposite each other on the casing and the two triangular rear wall parts form a closed rear wall with a joint line between the rear wall parts extending diagonally between the two sets of common edges.

For security purposes the container may have a door pivotally mounted on the casing for closing the front opening. The pivotal mounting may comprise one or more hinges. Preferably the hinge has two legs, conveniently formed by plastics mouldings, which are pivotally connected together externally of the casing. The legs may be retained by snap engagement, one each, with a hinge seating in the door and a hinge seating in a side wall of the casing so that the engagement of the legs with the hinge seatings is inaccessible from the exterior of the container when the front opening is closed by the door. By such a hinge structure it will be appreciated that if the door is locked closed, unauthorised access to the container storage chamber cannot readily be achieved by forcing the legs of the hinge from the hinge seatings.

The container in accordance with the present invention is discussed with reference to a rear wall and a front opening; this implies that the container will usually be mounted for its front opening to be presented horizontally for convenience of access to the storage chamber when the container is in the form of a locker for personal articles.

It will be appreciated however that the container can be mounted otherwise, for example by standing on its rear wall so that the front opening is directed upwardly and the container is in the nature of a storage chest.

DRAWINGS One embodiment of a container constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the container; Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views respectively of two shells from which a casing of the container in Figure 1 is assembled; Figure 4 is an elevation of the container in Figure 1 showing its rear wall; Figure 5 is a scrap section along the line V - V of the container in Figure 1 and illustrates a clip by which the shells of the container are assembled together; Figure 6 is a perspective view, in part section, of part of a corner joint formed between the two shells in the container of Figure 1 and shows a clip for securing those shells together;; Figure 7 is a scrap section similar to that shown in Figure 5 and illustrates a modified form of clip; Figure 8 is a perspective view of the clip shown in Figure 7; Figure 9 shows a pegged joint for additionally securing together the shells shown in Figures 2 and 3; Figure 10 is a section taken on the line X - X of Figure 9; Figure 11 is a scrap section taken on the line XI - XI of Figure 1 and illustrates a hinge by which a door of the container is mounted; Figure 12 shows a modified form of the container, the modification principally being dimensionally;; Figure 13 is an elevation showing the rear wall of the modified container in Figure 12, and Figure 14 is a perspective view showing a portion of a rear wall part of a shell in the casing of the modified container in Figure 12 and which portion is profiled form forming a joint between parts of the rear wall shown in Figure 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The container illustrated is of oblong parallelopipedon shape and is assembled from a kit of, predominantly, plastics moulded components to provide a casing 1 having a rear wall 2 and side walls 3 to 6 which extend from the rear wall to form a rectangular front opening 7 to a chamber 8 of the casing. The container is primarily intended for use as a locker for the storage of personal articles and the front opening 7 is closable by a door 9 pivotally mounted by hinges 10 on the side wall 3.

The door 9 has a key operated lock mechanism 11 (which key may be coin released in known manner) for securing the door when closed to the side wall 5. The side walls have moulded in relieving panels 12 for alleviating distortion or bulging of the walls so that the latter remain substantially flat. Usually the container will be mounted for its door 9 to open by pivotal movement about a vertical axis so that the front opening 7 is presented horizontally.

Frequently the container will form part of an array with several similar containers in stacked, side-by-side or endto-end relationship and with this in mind the side walls 3 to 6 and rear wall 2 are provided with apertures 13 through which adjacent containers in the aforementioned array may be secured together, for example by twist or bayonet fitting components (not shown) which extend through coinciding apertures of walls of adjacent container which are in face-to-face abutment.

The casing 1 is assembled from two shells 14 and 15 shown in Figures 2 and 3 respectively. The shell 14 provides the side walls 3 and 4 which extend at right angles to each other and a substantially triangular part 16 which extends between the included angle of the side walls 3 and 4 and is intended to form a part of the rear wall 2 (see Figure 4). The side walls 3 and 4 present marginal edges 17 and 18 respectively which extend from the open front part 7 of the shell to the rear wall part 16 while a free edge 19 is presented by the rear wall part 16. The shell 15 provides the side walls 5 and 6 which extend at right angles to each other and a substantially triangular part 20 which extends between the included angle of the side walls 5 and 6 and is intended to form a further part of the rear wall 2. The side walls 5 and 6 present marginal edges 21 and 22 respectively which extend from the open front part 7 of the shell to the rear wall part 20 while the rear wall part 20 presents a free edge 23.

Located midway along each of the marginal edges 17, 18, 21 and 22 is a small rectangular recess 24 adjacent to which is sited a stepped rebate 25 formed in the exterior face of the respective side wall at its marginal edge.

Extending along each of the marginal edges 18 and 22 (but broken by the recess 24) is a rib or tongue 26 and extending along each of the marginal edges 17 and 21 is a channel or groove 27. The grooves 27 are of substantially complementary shape to the tongues 26 to receive those tongues as a close fit (as indicated in Figure 6) during assembly of the casing 1.

To assemble the casing 1 the shells 14 and 15 are orientated and brought together so that the marginal edges 17 and 22 lie co-extensively alongside each other as one set of common edges, the marginal edges 18 and 21 lie coextensively alongside each other as a second set of common edges, and the free edges 19 and 23 of the rear wall parts lie co-extensively adjacent to each other in the plane of the rear wall 2 to construct that rear wall and form a joint line that extends diagonally across the rear wall between the two sets of common edges as shown in Figure 4.

Two clips 30 are provided for securing together, one each, the two sets of aforementioned common edges presented by the marginal edges 17 and 22 and 18 and 21 respectively.

One form of clip 30 shown in Figure 5 has a web 31 at one end of which is formed a pair of flanges 32 which extend outwardly from the web generally oppositely and at right angles to each other. The free end of each clip flange 32 is provided with a barb 33. The end of the web remote from the flanges 32 is provided with a boss 34 which presents oppositely directed flanged seats 35 which underlie, one each, the clip flanges 32. A pair of opposed recesses 36 are formed in the clip 30 one between each flange 32 and the seat 35 which underlies that flange.

During assembly of the casing 1 a clip 30 is positioned for its web 31 to be accommodated within the opposed recesses 24 -of the two marginal edges which are to be brought together to form a set of common edges. In the arrangement shown in Figure 5 the marginal edges 17 and 22 of the side walls 3 and 6 are secured together by the clip 30 and to achieve this those marginal edges are pressed, one each, into the pair of opposed recesses 36 in the clip with the boss 34 directed to the interior chamber 8. As the marginal edges are forced into the recesses 36, the barbs 33 slide over the respective marginal edges while the latter slide over the seats 35 on the boss until the barbs 33 snap engage with the stepped rebates 25 as shown in Figure 5.It will be appreciated that the stepped rebates 25 are appropriately profiled to co-operate with the barbs 33 to effect the aforementioned snap engagement when the marginal edges 17 and 22 of the side walls are seated firmly on the seats 35 and the web 31 of the clip is closely received in the recesses 24 so that the two side walls 3 and 6 are firmly joined together by the clip with their marginal edges abutting each other over their extent between the front opening 7 and rear wall 2 of the casing.

During the aforementioned engagement of the marginal edges 17 and 22 with the clip 30, the tongue 26 on one marginal edge (22) is received automatically within the groove 27 along the other marginal edge (17). Following snap engagement between the clip and the side walls, the tongue 26 is a close firm fit within the groove 27, this ensures that the corner of the casing formed between two marginal edges is fully closed between the interior and exterior of the casing over the length of the marginal edges and also such corner is reinforced by the tongue and groove engagement.

Preferably the flanges 32 of the clip 30 and the rebates 25 in the marginal edges of the side walls are profiled so that when the clip is fully engaged with the side walls its exterior face is substantially continuous (coplanar) with the exterior faces of the two side walls which it joins and is appropriately shaped to form a continuous part of the profile presented by the convex corner formed between the marginal edges of the two side walls which it joins (see Figures 5 and 6).

It will be appreciated that the marginal edges 18 and 21 of the side walls 4 and 5 are joined by a clip 30 in a similar manner to that described above for the marginal edges 17 and 22 so that the structure of the casing 1 can be press fitted together and secured by two clips 30 in a simple and convenient manner.

A modified form of clip 30 is shown in Figures 7 and 8 in which one of the flanged seats 35 on the boss 34 within the casing chamber 8 is extended to form a hook portion 37 on which garments or other articles stored within the chamber 8 may be hung. The hook portion 37 conveniently abuts a side wall (3) (as indicated at 38 in Figure 7) at a position remote from the marginal edges which the clip joins together to restrain the hook portion from lateral displacement and generally stabilise it. In practice for a typical container as shown in Figure 1, the modified clip shown in Figure 8 will be used for securing together the upper marginal edges 17 and 22 while the clip shown in Figure 5 will be used for securing together the lower marginal edges 18 and 21.

To provide additional securement between the marginal edges which are joined by a clip 30, the ends of the marginal edges 21 and 22 of the side walls 5 and 6 at a position adjacent to the open front 7 and adjacent to rear wall part 20 are each provided with a pair of spaced flanges 40 and 41 which project perpendicularly to the longitudinal extent of the respective marginal edge and form a slot 42. Apertures 43 and 44 are provided in the flanges 40 and 41 respectively and such apertures coincide across the slot 42 formed between those flanges as shown in Figure 10. Formed at each end of the marginal edges 16 and 17 on the side walls 3 and 4 at a position adjacent to the open front 7 and adjacent to the rear wall part 16 is a flange extension 45 which projects generally perpendicularly relative to the longitudinal extent of the respective marginal edge and has an aperture 46.During assembly of the shells with the clips 30, the flange extensions 45 on the side walls 3 and 4 are received within the respective slots 42 in the side walls 6 and 5. With the shells secured together by the clips 30, the apertures 43, 44 and 46 in the overlying flanges at each end of the marginal edges coincide. A plastics peg or plug 47 is force fitted into each set of the aforementioned coinciding apertures as shown in Figures 9 and 10. The fitted pegs 47 securely join the ends of the marginal edges together at each set of common edges of the shells to provide the casing 1 with a stable structure.

The free edges 19 and 23 of the respective rear wall parts 20 and 16 on the shells come together automatically in abutting relationship during assembly of the casing 1 as shown in Figure 4. To provide a secure and strong joint line between the free edges 19 and 23, those free edges may include an array of flanges and rebates indicated at 50 which are complementary between the two free edges so that as those edges move together pairs of complementary flanges and rebates coincide and move into overlying engagement with each other in the plane of the rear wall 2 which is formed. An example of the flanges and rebates on a free edge of a rear wall part will be discussed hereinafter with reference to Figure 14.

Each of the hinges 10 by which the door 9 is mounted has two legs 50 and 51 which are pivotally connected together by a pivot pin 52 (see Figure 11). The leg 51 is received as a push fit within a seating 53 in the edge of the door 9 and during its insertion into the seating 53 a barb 54 on the free end of the leg 51 snap engages over a shoulder 55 which forms part of the hinge leg seating in the door. Such snap engagement of the leg 53 in its seating in the door firmly secures that leg to the door.

Similarly the leg 50 of the hinge is push fitted into a seating 56 in the edge of the side wall 3 of the casing 1.

During such fitting a barb 57 on the free end of the leg 56 snap engages over a shoulder 58 of the hinge seating in the side wall. This latter snap engagement firmly retains the hinge leg 50 on the side wall 3 for pivotal movement of the door on the casing. It will be seen from Figure 11 that with the door 9 pivotted to close the front opening 7 of the casing, both hinge legs 50 and 51 are disposed within the casing chamber 8 thereby alleviating the possibility of the legs being forced from their respective side wall and door seatings to achieve unauthorised access into the chamber. The pivot pin 52 conveniently extends through flange extensions of the legs 50 and 51 which project from the exterior of the container when the door is closed so that the door can be pivotted through a wide angle, say 270" as indicated by the arrow 59.

The modified container shown in Figures 12 and 13 is generally of the same structure and assembly as the container in Figure 1, basically the dimensions of the shells 14 and 15 and door 9 have been modified to provide a design which is more appropriate for a relatively large wardrobe type locker convenient for hanging garments.

Because of the relatively larger door the number of hinges 10 have been increased and it will be noted from Figure 13 that a larger array of complementary engaging flanges and rebates 50 has been provided over the relatively longer joint line (as compared with Figure 4). A preferred arrangement for the array of rebates and flanges 50 for inter-engagement between the free edges 19 and 23 of the rear wall parts 16 and 20 respectively is shown in Figure 14. In Figure 14 the free edge 23 on the rear wall part 20 of the shell 15 is provided with an array of rebates 60 which alternate in opposite side faces of the rear wall part 20 at its free edge 23. The rebates 60 have a depth which is half that of the thickness of the wall part 20 and form flanges 61 which alternate on opposite side faces of the rear wall part 20 to be out of phase with the rebates 60.The flanges 61 and rebates 60 are tapered and profiled so that each flange 61 is, substantially, the mirror image of the rebate 60 which it overlies or underlies through the thickness of the wall part 20. The free edge 19 of the rear wall part 16 on the shell 14 is provided with rebates 60 and flanges 61 in a similar manner to those shown for the free edge 23 but which are disposed to be complementary to the flanges 61 and rebates 60 respectively at the free edge 23. With this arrangement when the free edges 19 and 23 are brought together the array of flanges 61 on one free edge are received as a close and complementary fit within the array of rebates 60 on the other free edge. As a consequence a considerable overlap is provided between the inter-engaging free edges 19 and 23 in the plane of the rear wall 2 which is formed by the inter-engaging rear wall parts 16 and 20. It will be appreciated that the interengagement between the free edges 19 and 23 for the rear of the container as shown in Figure 4 can be achieved in a manner generally similar to that described with reference to Figure 14.

Claims (21)

CLAIM8

1. A container comprising a casing having a storage chamber formed by a rear wall and side walls extending from the rear wall to form a front opening to the storage chamber, said walls being formed by at least two shells each of which has a part of said rear wall and a part of said side walls; said shells being assembled and retained together to form the casing by securing means located at common edges between adjacent shells and which common edges extend over the side walls from the rear wall to the front opening, and wherein the securing means comprises clips which snap engage with marginal edge portions of the shells at the common edges formed between adjacent shells.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1 in which the clips are components separate from the shells.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2 in which a said clip comprises opposed recesses within which the marginal edge portions of adjacent shells are received to locate said edge portions in a predetermined orientation with respect to each other and with barbed portions which snap engage in rebates provided in the marginal edge portions of the adjacent shells.

4. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and comprising at least one clip which is integral with a shell.

5. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which barbed portions of the clip are located on the exterior of the side walls and snap engage in rebates provided in exterior faces presented by the marginal edge portions of adjacent shells which the clip secures together.

6. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the marginal edge portions at the common edges between two adjacent shells form a convex corner on the exterior of the casing and a said clip is profiled and accommodated on the exterior of the casing to present a substantially continuous surface about said corner with exterior faces presented by the parts of the side walls of the adjacent shells which the clip secures together.

7. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which common edges between two adjacent shells are profiled to provide tongue and groove engagement with each other, said engagement extending along the side walls in a direction from the rear wall to the front opening.

8. A container as claimed in claim 7 in which the tongue and groove engagement between the common edges of two adjacent shells is effected automatically as the marginal edge portions of those shells are moved into snap engagement with a said clip which retains the shells together.

9. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the marginal edge portions at the common edges formed between two adjacent shells comprise flange parts which overlie each other at at least one of a first position adjacent to the rear wall and a second position adjacent to the front opening, said flange parts overlying each other in planes substantially perpendicular to said common edges, the overlying flange parts at said position having coinciding apertures within which are received further securing means to retain the assembled shells of the casing together.

10. A container as claimed in claim 9 in which the further securing means comprises a peg or stud which is forced fitted into said coinciding apertures.

11. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a said clip includes a hook portion which extends into the storage chamber and is presented for hanging articles therefrom.

12. A container as clied in claim 11 in which the hook portion bears against a upstanding wall of the casing to be supported by that wall against the deflection horizontally.

13. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the part of the rear wall provided on each shell has a free edge which is it form a joint with an adjacent free edge of a part of the rear wall on another shell, and wherein said free edges have means which interengage in overlying and substantially complementary relationship to effect a closed joint between the rear wall parts of the shells.

14. A container as claimed in claim 13 in which the interengaging means between the parts of the rear wall on the respective shells comprise an array of co-operating rebates and flanges in the plane of the rear wall.

15. A container as claimed in either claim 13 or claim 14 in which inter-engagement of said means between the parts of the rear wall on the respective shells is effected automatically as the marginal edge portions of the shells are moved into snap engagement with the clips which secure the shells together.

16. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the casing is of substantially parallelopipedon shape and is formed by two shells, each shell providing two side walls for the casing at substantially right angles to each other and a rear wall part of substantially triangular shape which extends between the included angle of the two side walls, the two shells being assembled so that common edges between adjacent shells are located diagonally opposite each other on the casing and the two triangular rear wall parts form a closed rear wall.

17. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the shells and clips are plastics moulded components.

18. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and having a door which is pivotally mounted on the casing for closing the front opening.

19. A container as claimed in claim 18 in which the door is mounted on the casing by at least one hinge which comprises two legs pivotally connected together externally of the casing, said legs being retained by snap engagement, one each, with a hinge seating in the door and a hinge seating in a side wall of the casing so that the engagement of the legs with the hinge seatings is inaccessible from the exterior of the container when the front opening is closed by the door.

20. A container as claimed in either claim 18 or claim 19 in which the door and its pivotal mounting are plastics moulded components.

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