GB2326405A

GB2326405A - Collapsible container

Info

Publication number: GB2326405A
Application number: GB9812521A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael James Warwick
Original assignee: Lin Pac Mouldings Ltd
Current assignee: Linpac Mouldings Ltd
Priority date: 1997-06-20
Filing date: 1998-06-10
Publication date: 1998-12-23
Also published as: GB9812521D0; ZA975515B; DE19827438A1

Abstract

A container assembly has trays 1 and 2 between which extends a tubular wall 3 for top and bottom ends of the wall 3 to be received in cavity wall skirts 6 and 8 of the trays. A pivotally mounted lock member 10 on the tray 1 has a projection 15 which engages through apertures 17, 18 and 19 to secure the wall 3 to the tray 1. When not in use the wall 3 is removed from the cavity walls 6 and 8, collapsed and sandwiched between the trays 1 and 2 as the cavity walls 6 and 8 are telescoped together for aperture 30 of wall 8 to coincide with apertures 17 and 18 of wall 6. The lock member is displaced for its projection 15 to engage through apertures 18, 30 and 17 thereby securing the two trays 1 and 2 together and retaining the collapsed wall 3 therebetween as a compact package.

Description

11 o 1 is 2326405 1 TITLE "A container assembly"

TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART

The present invention relates to a container assembly and is particularly concerned with an assembly having two opposed substantially parallel trays and a tubular extension wall which extends between the trays so that the trays provide top and bottom walls of a storage compartment enclosed by the extension wall. The container assembly will be erected at a loading site and following loading of the storage compartment and fitting of the top tray, the two trays and extension wall are usually secured together to provide a secure package for transport/storage. A well known method of securing the trays to the extension wall is by use of ties or bands which extend around the outside of the container to hold its three components together with the trays closing the opposed end openings of the tubular extension wall. When the container assembly has- been opened and its contents removed, it is usual for the trays and tubular extension wall to be returned to a loading site for re-use. It is an object of the present invention to provide a container assembly of the kind discussed above and which has improved means for securing a tray to the tubular extension wall as the assembly is erected and improved means for facilitating storage or transport of the component parts of the container assembly when not in use as a compact unified package.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES

According to the present invention there is provided a container assembly comprising two trays and a tubular extension wall, said assembly having an erect condition in which the two trays are substantially parallel and opposed in spaced relationship with the tubular extension wall 2 extending between the trays to provide a storage compartment and a compact condition in which the extension wall is collapsed and is received between the two trays when in relatively adjacent relationship, and wherein a first of the trays carries lock means which is mounted thereon to be displaceable between an engaging position and a dis- engaging position; with the assembly in said erect condition the locking means in its engaging position serving to secure the first tray to the extension wall and with the assembly in said compact condition, the locking means in its engaging position serving to secure the first tray to the second tray with the collapsed extension wall retained between the two trays.

B y the present invention it is envisaged that the first tray will usually provide a top wall to the container assembly in its erect condition. The tubular extension wall will usually stand on the second tray to provide an open topped container and following loading of the container through its open top the first of the trays is fitted to close the open top and engage with the tubular extension wall to secure the first tray to the extension wall. Usually the second or bottom tray will have been secured to the extension wall, conveniently, but not essentially, by use of a similar locking means on the second tray as that which is provided on the first tray.

It is preferred however that the second tray is secured to the extension wall in accordance with the provisions of the package assembly which is the subject of our co-pending Application No. (Applicants Reference B 153).

The secure container can now be stored/ transported and when required the first tray removed simply by displacing its locking means to the disengaging position and lifted from the top of the extension wall to open the storage 3 is compartment. The assembly is collapsible by removing the tubular extension wall from the second tray, collapsing that extension wall and locating it between the two trays so that it is sandwiched and retained between those trays.

With the two trays in opposing and adjacent relationship, the locking means of the first tray is displaced into its engaging position in which it secures the first tray to the second tray and provides a secure compact package of the two trays with the extension wall retained between them for convenience of storage or transport.

Preferably the locking means is in the form of a lock member that is pivotally mounted on the first tray to be pivotal between the engaging and dis-engaging positions.

The lock member preferably has a projection which, in the engaging position, engages with the extension wall in the erect condition of the assembly to secure that wall to the first tray and engages with the second tray in the compact condition of the assembly to secure thLt second tray to the first tray. Usually the lock member will be in the form of a plate or flap pivotally mounted on the first tray at an edge of that tray and from which plate or f lap the projection extends. For convenience of access, particularly when the first tray is to provide a removable top wall of the erect container assembly, it is preferred that the lock member is pivotally mounted on the first tray to be external of the storage compartment when the assembly is in its erect condition. Usually the extension wall and the second tray will be provided with apertures within each of which the projection is received for securing the first tray either to the extension wall or to the second tray as the case may be.

The f irst tray may have at its periphery a skirt which serves to locate the extension wall on that tray in the 4 erect condition of the assembly. Such skirt may be in the form of a cavity wall within which a first end part of the extension wall is received when the assembly is in its erect condition. The second tray may similarly be provided at its periphery with a skirt which serves to locate the extension wall on that second tray in the erect condition of the assembly. Again, the skirt of the second tray may be in the form of a cavity wall as aforementioned within which a second end part of the extension wall is received when the assembly is in its erect condition.

When both trays are provided with skirts as aforementioned and one of those skirts is in the f orm of a cavity wall, such a cavity wall skirt may receive the other skirt in telescopic manner when the assembly is in its compact condition to provide a strong peripheral retaining wall f or the collapsed extension wall which it encloses.

Preferably the locking means comprises retaining means which acts to retain the locking means in its engaging position. such retaining means conveniently provides for snap engagement between the lock member and a part relative to which that member is pivotally displaceable, say a skirt or wall of the f irst tray or the extension wall when the container is in its erect condition. In addition, or alternatively, the locking means may be provided with holding means which acts to retain the locking means in its dis-engaging position. The holding means is conveniently presented by co-operating surfaces on the aforementioned pivotally mounted lock member and on the first tray which inter-engage (for example, by snap engagement or movement over top dead centre of resiliently displaceable parts) and during pivotal movement of the lock member to temporarily retain that member in its dis-engaging position. This latter retention may serve to facilitate assembly of the container, particularly where the f irst tray is provided with a plurality (two or more) of lock members all of which may be temporarily retained by the holding means in their dis-engaging position whilst the first tray is being fitted to the tubular extension wall to close the storage compartment and similarly whilst the f irst tray is being f itted to the second tray when the assembly is in its collapsed compact condition.

The tubular extension wall of the container assembly when in its erect condition will usually provide a tube of rectangular cross section to provide a storage compartment of retangular parallelopipedon shape. It will be realised however that the present invention is applicable to containers of other shape, for example the storage compartment may be cylindrical as provided by a tubular extension wall of circular shape. The extension wall will usually be formed of wall sections hingedly connected together to permit it to collapse sufficiently to be located between the two trays and f orm a compact package of the collapsed container.

DRAWINGS one embodiment of a container assembly 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 assembly in its erect condition; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the tubular extension wall of the assembly with the wall in its collapsed condition; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the container assembly in its compact condition; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a lock member f or 6 mounting on a tray in the container assembly; Figure 5 is a scrap section through the container assembly in its erect condition which shows the lock member. of Figure 4 in its dis-engaging position prior to securing the first tray to the extension wall; Figure 6 is a similar scrap section to that shown in Figure 5 but with the container assembly in its compact condition and with the lock member in its dis-engaging position prior to securing the first tray to the second tray, and Figure 7 shows a modified form of locking means. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The container assembly has, other than where mentioned, its component parts moulded in plastics material and is formed with rectangular top and bottom trays 1 and 2 and a tubular extension wall 3. The wall 3 has an erect condition (shown in Figure 1) in which its tube is of substantially rectangular cross section and to the opposed opposite ends of which are fitted the trays I and 2. The trays 1 and 2 respectively provide top and bottom walls which close the ends of the extension wall to provide a substantially rectangular parallelopipedon shaped storage compartment X.

The extension wall 3 is formed with six wall sections which are connected together by parallel hinge lines 3A so that when the wall 3 is removed f rom, between the trays 1 and 2, it can be collapsed in concertina fashion as shown in Figure 2. The wall 3 in its collapsed condition can be stored between the two trays I and 2 as shown in Figure 3 to present the container assembly as a compact package convenient for transport and storage when not in use.

The top tray I has a substantially f lat rectangular panel 5 extending around the periphery of which is a skirt 7 6 of cavity wall structure comprising inner and outer wall parts 6A and 6B respectively. The bottom tray 2 is formed with a similar substantially flat and rectangular panel 7 having a peripheral skirt 8 also of cavity wall structure comprising a shallow inner wall part 8A and a deep outer wall part 8B.

In the erect condition of the container assembly as shown in Figure 1 the tubular extension wall 3 is located for a bottom open end thereof to be received within the cavity wall 8 of the bottom tray 2 following which the open topped container presented by the bottom tray and extension wall can be loaded as required. The open topped container is thereafter closed by the top tray 1 being f itted to the extension wall 3 so that the upper end of the extension wall is received within the cavity wall 6 of the top tray as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 4 shows a lock member 10 having a flat plate 11 from which extend flanges 12 with co-axial bores 13. The bores 13 receive a pivot pin 14 (Figure 5) which also extends through co-axial bores provided in bosses (not shown) on the top tray 1 to pivotally mount the lock member 10 on the marginal edge of the panel 5 so that the plate 11 hangs over the skirt 6 externally of the storage compartment X. Projecting from the plate 11 is a boss 16 and an arcuate flange or tongue 15, the centre of curvature of which coincides with the axis of the pivot pin 14. The end of the tongue 15 remote from the plate 11 is provided with an upwardly directed retaining rib 15A whilst the boss 16 is provided with a downwardly directed retaining lip 16A - The inner and outer wall parts 6A, 6B of the cavity wall 6 are provided with apertures 17 and 18 respectively which oppose each other and generally correspond in shape 8 to the section of the tongue 15. The end part length of the tubular extension wall 3 that is received within the cavity wall 6 is provided with an aperture 19 which coincides with the apertures 17 and 18 in the cavity wall and is of similar section to those apertures. The apertures 17 to 19 are positioned so that as the lock member 10 is displaced about its pivot 14 in the direction of arrow A, the tongue 15 enters the apertures 18, 19 and 17 respectively until the retaining rib 15A snap engages over the inner wall part 6A. In addition, the outer wall part 6B is provided with an aperture 20 which is located so that as the lock member 10 is pivotted in the direction of arrow A, the boss 16 is received within the aperture 20 and the retaining lip 16A snap engages over the outer wall part 6B of the cavity wall skirt 6 substantially simultaneously with, or shortly after, the rib 15A snap engages over the inner wall part 6A. The snap engagement between the rib 15A and the wall part 6A and between the lip 16A and the wall part 6B serves to retain the locker member 10 firmly on the skirt 6 with the tongue 15 projecting through the aperture 19 thereby capturing the extension wall 3 within the top tray 1. Dis-engagement of the lock member 10 is effected simply by pulling on the plate 11 to snap the rib 15A and lip 16A over the wall parts 6A and 6B respectively to move the lock member to its dis-engaging position shown in Figure 5.

It will be seen from Figures 4 and 5 that the flanges 12 of the lock member 10 are provided with f lats 21.

These flats are located so that when the lock member 10 is in its disengaged position shown in Figure 5, the flats 21 abut in face-to-face relationship with a flat face on the panel 5 and such abutment serves to hold the lock member in its dis-engaged position. Upon manual displacement of 9 the lock member in the direction of arrow A to its engaged position, the f langes 12 are rotated through a top dead centre condition (as permitted by the resilience of the plastics material between the flanges and the panel 5) for the flats 21 to move off the flat face of the panel 5 as the tongue 15 moves through the apertures 17 to 19.

Preferably the top tray I is removably secured to the extension wall 3 in the erect condition of the container by a pair of lock members 10 positioned centrally one at each end of the tray 1 as shown in Figure 1.

The bottom tray 2 is removably secured to the extension wall 3 in the erect condition of the container by lock members shown generally at 25 (Figures I and 3) which provide an engagement/dis-engagement facility in a similar manner to the lock members 10.

Following storage or transport of the secure erect container assembly and its contents, the top tray 1 is removed by pivotally displacing each of the lock members 10 to its dis-engaged position (as shown in Figure 5) in which it is held by co-operation of the flats 21 with the panel 5. The holding means provided by the flats 21 is particularly convenient to facilitate removal of the top tray and the fitting of that tray as it prevents the tongue 15 from obtruding into the cavity wall without the necessity of the lock member 10 from being held manually away f rom the skirt 6. When the container assembly has been emptied, both of the trays 1 and 2 are removed from the tubular extension wall 3 and the latter is collapsed as shown in Figure 3. The collapsed wall 3 is now stored within the bottom tray 2 and thereafter the top tray 1 is fitted to the bottom tray 2 to capture the collapsed extension wall 3 between the two trays as shown in Figure 6. In this latter condition the outer wall part 8B of the is skirt of the lower tray is received in telescopic manner within the cavity wall 6 of the top tray 1. The wall part 8B of the cavity wall of the lower tray is provided with an aperture 30 and when that wall part is received within the cavity wall 6 as aforementioned, the aperture 30 coincides with the apertures 17 and 18 of the cavity wall 6. Upon displacement of the lock member 10 from its disengaged to its engaged position, the projection 15 moves through the apertures 18, 30 and 17 respectively (in Figure 6) until the retaining rib 15A snap engages over the wall 6A and the retaining lip 16A snap engages in the aperture 20 (over the wall 6B) to retain the lock member in its engaging position. In this latter position the projecting tongue 15 captures the wall part 8B and thereby secures the two trays 1 and 2 together with the extension wall 3 retained therebetween to provide a compact package convenient for storage and transport.

With the compact package of Figure 6 the lock members 25 may be utilised to additionally retain the two trays together similarly to the lock members 10. It will be noted that the lock members 25 are on different sides of the container assembly from the lock members 10 to alleviate interference between those members on the top and bottom trays during their pivotal displacement. it is possible however to have the lock members 10 and 25 located on the same sides of the container assembly and in vertical alignment by having one lock member bifurcated so that the other lock member can move into its engaging position through the bifurcation of the first mentioned lock member. Such a modification is shown in Figure 7 where the lock member 10 is bifurcated to have legs which carry a pair of the projections 15 which are to be received in appropriately located apertures in a similar manner to that discussed for the apertures 17 to 19 and 30. The lock member 25 carries a projection 25A which is displaceable into an engaging position in the direction of arrow B between the legs of the lock member 10 so that the projection 25A can engage in coinciding apertures in the skirts 6 and 8 when the container assembly is in its collapsed condition.

In a further modification the tray 2 may be removably secured to the extension wall 3 by locking means which is the subject of our co-pending Application No.

(Applicants Reference No. B 153).

For convenience of carrying the container assembly in either of its erect or compact conditions, a pair of handles 40 are pivotally mounted to the top tray 1.

Conveniently, the handles 40 are carried by the pivot pins 14 and when not in use are accommodated unobtrusively within recesses 41 moulded into the top panel 5 (as indicated by the broken lines 40 in Figures 5 and 6). 12

Claims

1. A container assembly comprising two trays and a tubular extension wall, said assembly having an erect condition in which the two trays are substantially parallel and opposed in spaced relationship with the tubular extension wall extending between the trays to provide a storage compartment and a compact condition in which the extension wall is collapsed and is received between the two trays when in relatively adjacent relationship, and wherein a first of the trays carries lock means which is mounted thereon to be displaceable between an engaging position and a dis-engaging position: with the assembly in said erect condition the locking means in its e ngaging position serving to secure the first tray to the extension wall and with the assembly in said compact condition, the locking means in its engaging position serving to secure the first tray to the second tray with the collapsed extension wall retained between the two trays.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the locking means comprises a lock member pivotally mounted on the first tray to be pivotal between the engaging and disengaging positions, said ' lock member comprising a projection which, in the engaging position, engages with the extension wall in the erect condition of the assembly to secure the wall to the first tray and engages with the second tray in the compact condition of the assembly to secure the second tray to the first tray.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the lock member comprises a plate or flap pivotally mounted on the first tray at an edge of that tray and from which plate or flap the projection extends.

4. An assembly as claimed in either claim 2 or claim 3 in which the lock member is pivotally mounted on the first 13 tray to be external of the storage compartment when the assembly is in its erect condition.

5. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 in which each of the extension wall and of the second tray is provided with an aperture within which the projection is received for securing the first tray either to the extension wall or to the second tray as the case may be.

6. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first tray is provided at its periphery with a skirt which serves to locate the extension wall on the first tray in the erect condition of the assembly.

7. An assembly as claimed in claim 6 in which the skirt is in the f orm of a cavity wall within which a f irst end part of the extension wall is received when the assembly is in its erect condition.

8. An assembly as claimed in either claim 6 or claim 7 when appendant to claim 5 in which the skirt is provided with an aperture through which the proj@ction extends when engaging the aperture of either the extension wall or the second tray.

9. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the second tray is provided at its periphery with a skirt which serves to locate the extension wall on the second tray in the erect condition of the assembly.

10. An assembly as claimed in claim 9 in which the skirt of the second tray is in the form of a cavity wall within which a second end part of the extension wall is received when the assembly is in its erect condition.

11. An assembly as claimed in either claim 9 or claim 10 when appendant to claim 5 in which the skirt of the second tray is provided with an aperture through which the projection extends when securing the first tray to the 1. 1 14 second tray in the compact condition of the assembly.

12. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 11 when appendant to claim 6 in which at least one of the skirt of the first tray and of the skirt of the second tray is a cavity wall and such a cavity wall skirt receives the other skirt in telescopic manner with the assembly in a compact condition.

13. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the locking means comprises retaining means which acts to retain the locking means in its engaging position.

14. An assembly as claimed in claim 13 when appendant to claim 2 in which the retaining means comprises snap engagement between the lock member and a part relative to which that member is pivotally displaceable.

15. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the locking means comprises holding means which acts to retain the locking means in its dis-engaging position.

16. An assembly as claimed in claim 15 when appendant to claim 2 in which the holding means comprises co-operating surfaces on the pivotally mounted lock member and on the first tray which inter-engage during pivotal movement of the lock member to temporarily retain that member in its dis-engaging position.

17. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which each of the first and second trays carries a said locking means, the locking means of the second tray when the assembly is in said erect condition, serving to secure the second tray to the extension wall.

18. An assembly as claimed in claim 17 in which the locking means of the second tray, when the assembly is in said compact condition, serves to secure the second tray to the first tray.

19. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which, with the assembly in its erect condition, the tubular extension wall provides a tube of substantially rectangular cross section to provide a storage compartment of substantially rectangular parallelopipedon shape.

20. An assembly as claimed in claim 19 in which the extension wall comprises wall sections hingedly connected together by substantially parallel hinge lines for the extension wall to collapse in concertina fashion.

21. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which, substantially, the tubular extension wall, the two trays and the locking means are plastics mouldings. 21. A container assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.