GB2342090A

GB2342090A - Transportation box for live chicks

Info

Publication number: GB2342090A
Application number: GB9929379A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Lovelace P Hodgson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-12-10
Filing date: 1999-12-10
Publication date: 2000-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 2019-12-10
Also published as: GB2342090B; GB9929379D0

Abstract

A transportation box for live chicks comprises a carcass including external walls 12, 13 and a base 11, means defining internal compartments and a lid. The means defining the internal compartments comprise internal walls including projections which extend through apertures 17, 18 formed in the base and provide means to support the base 11 spaced from the ground at least at inboard locations of the base 11. Said internal walls are preferably folded from a single blank. The box preferably has ventilation holes. The inboard locations for the support means prevent the base from sagging between the external walls. Preferably, the projections interlock with the base 11, for example by forming the projections with foldable tabs which engage the underside of the base in use, whereby the carcass and the means defining the internal compartments form a unitary assembly having increased strength and rigidity.

Description

1 2342090 TRANSPORTATION BOX This invention relates to transportation

boxes especially for live chicks.

It is known to transport live chicks, including duck, partridge, pheasant, guinea-fowl, domestic hen, turkey and quail chicks, in lidded cardboard box carcasses having internal walls defining compartments which each typically hold around twenty five pheasant chicks or considerably more of, for example, quail chicks and are generally of octagonal shape.

It is a necessary requirement, in order to provide for air to circulate around and through the compartments, for the bases of the boxes to be spaced from the ground or from the lid of the underneath box when the boxes are in stacked configuration and, for this purpose, the corners of the carcasses are provided with legs. However, with boxes currently available, the internal walls merely rest on the base and the base is inadequately supported between the corners and generally over the central area, with the result that the base tends to sag under the weight of the chicks and gaps are created between the base and the lower edges of the compartment walls.

It is an object of the present invention to provide transportation boxes which do not suffer from the above disadvantage.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a transportation box for live chicks comprises a carcass including external walls and a base, means defining internal compartments and a lid, in which the means defining the internal compartments comprise internal walls including projections which extend through apertures formed in the base and provide means to support the base spaced from the ground.

Preferably, the base apertures which receive the projections are at least at inboard locations, whereby the support means prevents the base from sagging between the external walls.

Preferably, the projections interlock with the base, for example by forming the projections with foldable tabs which engage the underside of the base in use, whereby the carcass and the means defining the internal compartments or compartment dividers form in use a unitary assembly having increased strength and rigidity compared with existing transportation boxes.

2 The internal compartments are preferably octagonal and may be four in number per box, The projections may be formed on alternate wall sections of each octagon divider so that they may, for example, be disposed with the projections of opposing pairs respectively adjacent an external wall of the carcass and adjacent a notional centre line of the base.

The lid of boxes according to the invention is preferably provided with a peripheral depending skirt which fits around the external carcass walls. Boxes may be stacked with the projections of an upper box resting on and supported by the lid of the box beneath.

The carcass walls, base, internal dividers and lid are preferably appropriately formed with ventilation apertures.

In another aspeci, the invention provides a method of assembling a transportation box for live chicks and including an external carcass and means defining internal compartments, the method comprising folding at least one blank for an internal compartment-defining means comprising walls including depending tabs to form one or more internal compartments, folding a carcass blank to form a carcass having external walls and a base, the base including apertures at locations corresponding with the intended position of the depending tabs of the internal compartment-defining means, inserting the depending tags through the base apertures and folding the tabs to engage the underside of the base.

Preferably, the apertures are provided at least at inboard locations of the base. Each blank for forming the internal compartments is preferably configured to form two or more adjacent compartments with suitable fold lines at a common wall edge between the adjacent compartments, so that a box containing four internal compartments can include two folded compartment blanks arranged side by side.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure I is a plan of a carcass blank; Figure 2 is a plan view of an internal divider blank for forming two fused octagonal compartments; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the compartments formed from the blank of Figure 2; and 3 Figure 4 is an underneath plan view of a completed box formed from a carcass from the blank of Figure I and two dividers according to the blank of Figure 2.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, the carcass blank is formed from cardboard and has a base portion 11, opposed wall portions 12 and opposed wall portions 13 attached to alternate sides of the base 11. The walls 12 have end tongues 14 with tabs 15 extending therefrom; the tabs 15 are formed with distal marginal extensions 16. The base I I is formed with peripheral slots 17 and inboard slots 18; the slots 17 are in alignment with slots 19 formed between the outer ends of the wall portions 12 and the tongues 14.

The base I I and walls 12 and 13 contain ventilation holes 20 and the walls 13 contain slots 21.

To form a box carcass from the blank of Figure 1, the sides 12 and 13 are bent upwards about fold lines 22 and 23 which correspond with the slots 17; the tongues 14 are wrapped around the outer end portions of the sides 13 and the tabs 15 are inserted through slots 21, bent back along the inside wall portion and the extensions 16 are engaged in slots 19.

With reference to Figure 2, the divider blank 30 is essentially rectangular with central cut lines 31, 32 extending from each end to form two half-pieces 33 connected by bridging zone 34 in alignment with the cut lines 31, 32, whereby the half pieces 33 are integrally formed with each other and are mirror images. Four tabs 35 are formed with each half piece 33 at opposed locations and lateral fold lines 36 are created between the sides of the tabs. Lateral slots 37 are formed in each half piece extending outwardly from the central cut line 32 and midway between the end tabs 35; the other end of each half piece is Banned with a rectangular extension 38 containing slots 39 extending inwardly from the outer edges.

In order to form octagonal compartments as shown in Figure 3 from the blank of Figure 2, the blank is firstly folded about fold line 34 until the two half pieces are face to face. The outer ends of the half pieces are then bent about the fold lines 36 and in opposite senses and the slots 37, 39 are interengaged to form the walls of the octagonal compartments.

In order to form the completed box and with reference to Figure 4, the tabs 35 of two internal dividers, making four octagonal compartments in all, are inserted through the slots 17 and 18 of the base I I and the ends of the tabs are bent inwardly as shown at 41. The 4 bent tabs thus interlock the carcass with the internal dividers and form feet which maintain the base spaced from the ground (or from the lid of another box immediately beneath) with the load distributed evenly not only at the walls, where the tabs extend through slots 17, but also at inboard locations where pairs of tabs extend through each slot 18. The completed box thus forms a unitary assembly and the base is prevented from sagging in a central region under the influence of the weight of the chicks. The walls of the internal compartments are shown by dashed lines.

Ventilation is provided through the holes formed in the walls and the base and through the array of holes 40 formed in the internal compartments; the lid (not shown) also has ventilation holes and is of conventional construction, with a depending skirt fitting around the upper regions of the carcass walls.

Claims

1. A transportation box for live chicks, the box comprising a carcass including external walls and a base, means defining internal compartments and a lid, in which the means defining the internal compartments comprise internal walls including projections which extend through apertures formed in the base and provide means to support the base spaced from the ground.

2. A box according to claim 1, in which the apertures are provided at least at inboard locations of the base.

3. A box according to claim I or claim 2, in which the projections interlock with the base.

4. A box according to any preceding claim, in which the internal compartments are octagonal.

5. A box according to any preceding claim, in which the projections are formed on alternate wall sections of each internal compartment-defining means.

6. A box according to any preceding claim, in which the lid is provided with a peripheral depending skirt which fits around the external carcass walls.

7. A method of assembling a transportation box for live chicks and including an external carcass and means defining internal compartments, the method comprising folding at least one blank for an internal compartment-defining means comprising walls including depending tabs to form one or more internal compartments, folding a carcass blank to form a carcass having external walls and a base, the base including apertures at locations corresponding with the intended position of the depending tabs of the internal compartment-defining means, inserting the depending tags through the base apertures and folding the tabs to engage the underside of the base.

8. A method according to claim 7, in which the apertures are provided at least at inboard locations of the base.

9. A method according to claim 7 or claim 8, in which each blank for forming the internal compartments is configured to form two or more adjacent compartments with suitable fold lines at a common wall edge between the adjacent compartments