JP2005022749A - Container permitting slide-stacking - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide containers capable of being smoothly and surely slide-stacked while securing comparatively favorable workability, without requiring minute positioning between a lower stage container and an upper stage container at the time of slide-stacking. <P>SOLUTION: Level guide surfaces 11 are provided on the upper end portions of the longitudinal side plates 1 that constitute the container. Underneath the bottom plate 3 of the container, a central bottom section 33 and support leg sections 35 are protrusively provided, the central bottom section 33 being capable of making its way into and being disposed at an interior region enclosed by the four side plates of the lower stage container at the time of stacking the containers, and the support leg sections 35 located approximately right under the longitudinal side plates 1 while extending in the same direction in which the side plates 1 are extended. Toward the tip regions of the support leg sections 35, near the corner portions of the bottom plate, slanting sections 40 are formed that are inclined by a prescribed inclination angle, θ1, and capable of coming in contact with the level guide surfaces 11 of the longitudinal side plates 1 of the lower stage container on which a container is placed at the time of sliding operation. The inclination angle, θ1, is preferably set at 2°-25°. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a slide stackable container (article storage container).

  Generally, a plastic container comprises a flat rectangular bottom plate, two short side plates corresponding to the two short sides of the bottom plate, and two long side plates corresponding to the two long sides of the bottom plate, and a lid. The upper surface is open in the none type. Such containers include a slide stackable type. "Slide stack" means that when the upper container is stacked on the lower container, the upper container is moved while sliding the upper end of the lower container from one side to the opposite side, and then the four corners of the upper and lower containers are vertical. An operation that completes stacking in a state that matches the direction. If slide stacking is possible, for example, the convenience when stacking containers in multiple stages to a height exceeding the height of a person is improved. The specific procedure of the slide stack is as follows, for example. First, the lower side ends of one short side of the bottom plate of the upper container are respectively brought into contact with the middle in the longitudinal direction of the upper ends of the two long side plates of the lower container, and the other short side of the bottom plate of the upper container is placed. The upper container is provisionally placed on the lower container in a state where the upper container is inclined so that the side is in a raised state. From the temporarily placed state, the upper ends of the two long side plates of the lower container are slid along the longitudinal direction to both lower surface side ends of one short side of the bottom plate of the upper container, and the four corners of the upper and lower containers are Match.

  In the folding container in which each side plate is foldable with respect to the bottom plate, a force is applied to cause the sliding side plate (that is, the long side plate) of the lower container to fall outward when sliding stacking. One of the objects is to prevent a situation where the distance between the two long side plates increases and the upper folding container falls into the lower folding container (paragraph 0006 of Patent Document 1). For this purpose, in Patent Document 1, a rail projection is provided at each upper end of the long side plate, and a rail groove is formed between the center bottom and each leg on the lower surface of the bottom plate. When sliding stacking, slide the upper container with the rail grooves on the bottom plate of the upper folding container fitted into the rail projections on the long side plates of the lower folding container, so that the side plate of the lower container collapses. While preventing, the slide stack of the upper container is made possible.

  However, the slide structure of Patent Document 1 also has some drawbacks. First, at the time of slide stacking, fine positioning is required to correctly fit the narrow rail groove of the upper container bottom plate into the thin rail protrusion of the lower container long side plate, and workability is not always good. Secondly, it is conceivable to increase the protrusion height of the rail protrusion at the upper end of each side plate in order to improve workability. However, the thin rail protrusion easily breaks.

JP 2001-335029 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a container that does not require fine positioning between a lower container and an upper container at the time of slide stacking and can perform slide stacking smoothly and reliably while ensuring relatively good workability. It is to provide. Another object of the present invention is to provide a container in which the structure for the slide stack is not easily damaged.

  The present invention comprises a planar rectangular bottom plate, two first side plates corresponding to two opposite sides of the bottom plate, and two second side plates corresponding to the remaining two opposite sides of the bottom plate. The container is a slide stackable container, and a horizontal guide surface extending in a longitudinal direction of the side plate is provided at an upper end portion of the first side plate, and a horizontal guide surface of the first side plate is provided at an upper end portion of the second side plate. A holding projection protruding upward from the guide surface is provided, and at the bottom of the bottom plate is a horizontal lower surface formed at least at the four corners, and protrudes downward from the lower surface and stacks containers. A central bottom that can sometimes enter and be placed in an inner region surrounded by the four side plates, and a leg that protrudes below the lower side surface and that is positioned almost directly below the first side plate and extends in the extending direction of the first side plate And a bottom of the leg In the tip region near the corner, an inclined portion that is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane by a predetermined inclination angle (θ1) and that can contact the horizontal guide surface of the first side plate of the lower container on which the container is placed during the sliding operation is formed. It is characterized by being.

  In the slide stackable container, it is preferable that the predetermined inclination angle (θ1) is set in a range of 2 ° to 25 °.

(Action etc.)
According to the container of the present invention, the upper container can be slide stacked while sliding on the horizontal guide surface of the first side plate from one side of the second side plate of the lower container toward the other side. In that case, first, the inclined portion of the leg portion of the bottom plate of the upper container is brought into contact with the middle of the horizontal guide surface of each first side plate of the lower container and, for example, one of the second side plates of the lower container is held. By placing the center protrusion of the bottom plate of the upper container on the protrusion, one second side plate side of the upper container rises upward and the other second side plate side (the front side in the direction of movement when sliding) is lowered forward. In an inclined posture state, the upper container is temporarily placed on the lower container (see FIG. 5). In this temporary mounting state, the upper container is kept in a deep forward tilting posture until the leg inclined portion that is normally inclined by a predetermined inclination angle (θ1) with respect to the horizontal plane contacts the first side plate horizontal guide surface of the lower container. Take. Therefore, compared to the case where the leg portion does not substantially have the inclined portion, the front side in the sliding direction of the central bottom portion of the bottom plate of the upper container is below the horizontal guide surface in the inner region between the first side plates. You can enter deeply. That is, the overlapping margin or the fitting depth (d1 shown in FIG. 5) between the first side plate of the lower container and the front side portion in the sliding direction of the center bottom of the bottom plate of the upper container is increased, and the two first first plates of the lower container are increased. The sandwiching of the front side of the center bottom of the bottom plate of the upper container between the side plates is ensured. Therefore, at the time of temporary mounting and at the start of sliding, the upper container may cause a lateral shift with respect to the moving direction during sliding (that is, the extending direction of the first side plate), or may fall off from the first side plate of the lower container. It is surely prevented.

  When the predetermined inclination angle (θ1) is less than 2 °, the inclined portion approaches as much horizontal as possible, and the first side plate of the lower container and the center bottom portion of the bottom plate of the upper container when sliding temporarily move forward in the traveling direction. In order to ensure a large allowance for overlapping with the portion or a fitting depth, the purpose of providing an inclined portion in the leg portion and causing the upper container to take a deep forward inclined posture is lost. On the other hand, when the predetermined inclination angle (θ1) exceeds 25 °, the general container may have a small degree of freedom in setting the height difference between the horizontal lower side surface of the bottom plate and the lower end portion of the leg portion. The length or range of the inclined portion in the extending direction of the container is too short, and the upper container is deeper enough that the leg inclined portion of the upper container abuts against the first side plate horizontal guide surface of the lower container when temporarily placed. There is a risk that the tilted posture cannot be taken (see the comparative example below).

(Additional remark) The further preferable aspect and additional component of this invention are enumerated below.
I. “A horizontal lower end is formed on the bottom of the bottom plate in addition to the inclined portion. When the containers are stacked after the slide stack is completed, the horizontal lower end of the bottom of the upper plate is the first bottom of the lower container. The load of the upper container is supported by the lower container by contacting the horizontal guide surface of the side plate and the lower surface of the corner of the bottom plate of the upper container contacting the holding projection of the second side plate of the lower container. Is preferred. In this case, the horizontal lower end of the bottom plate leg and the lower side of the bottom plate corner of the upper container function as a load transmission unit, and the first side plate horizontal guide surface and the second side plate holding projection of the lower container support the load. Since it functions as a part, four side plates can contribute equally to load transmission from the upper container to the lower container.

  According to the slide stackable container of the present invention, as described above, when the upper stack container is temporarily placed on the lower container in the forward tilted state at the start of the slide stack, the front bottom center of the bottom plate of the upper container is the lower container. The upper container is securely sandwiched between the two first side plates, and it is difficult for the upper container to be laterally displaced with respect to the traveling direction when sliding. For this reason, the slide stack can be smoothly and reliably performed while ensuring a relatively good workability without requiring fine positioning between the lower container and the upper container. Further, the present invention does not employ a fragile structure such as a thin rail portion, and therefore has an advantage that the structure for the slide stack is difficult to break.

  An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a folding container will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a state where the folding container is assembled. As shown in each figure, the folding container includes a bottom plate 3 having a planar rectangular shape, a long side plate 1 as two first side plates corresponding to two opposing long sides of the bottom plate 3, and a bottom plate 3. The short side plate 2 is provided as two second side plates corresponding to the two short sides facing each other. These container constituent members (1 to 3) are each made of plastic such as synthetic resin.

  Each of the long side plate 1 and the short side plate 2 is rotatably attached to the bottom plate 3 at the respective lower end portions thereof, and the side plates 1 and 2 are erected vertically with respect to the bottom plate 3. Container is assembled. At the time of assembling the container, a locking mechanism (detailed explanation is omitted because it is well known) for maintaining the standing state of the side plates 1 and 2 works, and the standing state of the side plates 1 and 2 is maintained unless the lock is released. In the unlocked state, each short side plate 2 is first tilted on the bottom plate 3 (step 1 in FIG. 3), and then each long side plate 1 is placed on the short side plate 2 that has been inverted. The container is folded by being tilted so as to overlap (procedure 2 in FIG. 3).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the two long side plates 1 are extended along the long sides of the bottom plate 3. A horizontal guide surface 11 extending in the longitudinal direction of the side plate is provided at each upper end of the long side plate 1. The horizontal guide surface 11 functions as a guide rail surface during slide stacking, and serves as a load support surface during stacking. Long side holding projections 12 that protrude upward from the horizontal guide surface 11 and have a substantially L shape in plan view are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal guide surface 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the two short side plates 2 extend along the short sides of the bottom plate 3. A horizontal placement surface 21 extending in the longitudinal direction of the side plate is provided at each upper end portion of the short side plate 2. The horizontal placement surface 21 serves as a load support surface during stacking. At both ends in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal placement surface 21, short side holding projections 22 that protrude upward from the horizontal placement surface 21 are provided.

  The horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 and the horizontal placement surface 21 of the short side plate 2 are set to the same height, and the long side holding projection 12 and the short side holding projection 22 are the same. It is set to height. Accordingly, the short-side holding protrusion 22 protrudes above the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long-side side plate. When the container is assembled, the long-side holding projection 12 and the short-side holding projection 22 are jointly provided at the upper end of the connection boundary (corner) between the long-side side plate 1 and the short-side side plate 2. A holding protrusion (12, 22) having a substantially L shape in plan view is constructed (see FIG. 3).

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the bottom plate 3 has a planar rectangular shape, and has four vertical side surfaces 31 corresponding to the four sides of the rectangular shape, and has a predetermined height. For convenience, four corners are defined in the connecting portion of the adjacent vertical side walls 31. On the lower side of the bottom plate 3, a horizontal lower side surface 32 is formed at each of at least four corners. A central bottom portion 33 is provided below the bottom plate 3 so as to protrude downward from the horizontal lower side surface 32. The central bottom 33 is provided at a position recessed inward by a predetermined distance (specifically, a distance equal to or greater than the thickness of the side plates 1 and 2) from the vertical side surfaces 31, and the four side plates are stacked when containers are stacked. It is possible to enter and arrange the inner area surrounded by 1 and 2. The center bottom 33 itself also has four corners.

  Further, on the lower side of the bottom plate 3, it protrudes below the horizontal lower side surface 32 at a position around the central bottom portion 33 and between each side of the central bottom portion 33 and each vertical side surface 31. A plurality of legs are provided. The leg part is divided into a short side leg part 34 and a long side leg part 35. The short side legs 34 are provided almost directly below the respective short side plates 2 and extend in the same short side direction as the extending direction of the short side plates 2. There are two short side legs on each short side of the bottom surface of the bottom plate 3. Similarly, the long side leg portion 35 is provided at a position almost directly below each long side side plate 1 and extends in the same long side direction as the extending direction of the long side side plate 1. There are two long side legs on each long side of the bottom surface of the bottom plate 3.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5 (A), each of the long side leg portions 35 includes an inclined portion 40 formed in a tip region near the corner of the bottom plate of the leg portion, and the inclined portion 40. Also includes a horizontal lower end 43 formed in a region near the center of the bottom plate. The horizontal lower end portion 43 is made of, for example, a horizontal rib and a reinforcing rib or other meat portion connected to the horizontal rib. The inclined portion 40 includes an inclined surface 41 provided at a position near the corner of the bottom plate among the inclined portions, and an inclined rib 42 that continues to the rear from the inclined surface 41. The inclined portion 40 composed of a series of inclined surfaces 41 and inclined ribs 42 is inclined by a predetermined inclination angle θ1 with respect to a horizontal plane (for example, the horizontal lower end portion 43, the horizontal lower side surface 32, or the horizontal guide surface 11 of the side plate). Yes. The inclination angle θ1 is preferably set in the range of 2 ° to 25 °, and the inclination angle θ1 is set to 5 ° in the container of FIGS. As will be described later, the inclined portion 40 is a portion that can contact the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 of the lower container on which the container is placed during the sliding operation.

  In the bottom plate 3, the bottom surface 33 a of the central bottom portion 33, the bottom surface 34 a of the short side leg portion 34, and the horizontal lower end portion 43 of the long side leg portion 35 are all the same height (that is, the surface) from the horizontal lower side surface 32. The bottom surface of the bottom plate 3 (that is, the ground contact surface when placed directly on the ground).

  Now, according to the folding container of this embodiment, the upper container can be stacked by the slide stack on the lower container in the assembled state in which all the side plates 1 and 2 are fixed upright. The general procedure will be described with reference to FIG. First, the left end (front side in the moving direction during sliding) of the central bottom 33 of the bottom plate 3 of the upper container is placed on the holding protrusion 22 of the short side plate 2 on the right side (the rear side in the moving direction during sliding) of the lower container. Place it like a hook and push the upper container almost horizontally from right to left. Then, when the middle of the central bottom 33 of the upper container has almost passed the holding projection 22 of the right side plate 2 on the right side of the lower container, the center of gravity of the upper container is forward (leftward) from the holding projection 22. The upper container is tilted forward with the contact point between the center bottom 33 of the upper container and the short side holding projection 22 of the lower container as a pivot point.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (B), the length of the upper container bottom plate is maintained while the central protrusion 33 of the upper container bottom plate 3 is placed on the holding protrusion 22 of the short side plate 2 on the right side of the lower container. The inclined portion 40 of the side leg 35 abuts in the middle in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 of the lower container. As a result, the upper container is temporarily placed on the lower container in a forward leaning state in which the right side (rear side) of the upper container rises upward and the left side (that is, the front side in the traveling direction during sliding) falls forward. In this temporarily mounted state, the upper container is deeply inclined forward until the leg inclined portion 40 that is normally inclined by the inclination angle θ1 with respect to the horizontal plane contacts the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 of the lower container. Therefore, the left end (front side in the traveling direction during sliding) of the upper bottom plate 33 of the upper container bottom plate enters the inner region between the two long side plates 1 deeply below the horizontal guide surface 11. At this time, the overlap margin d1 between the long side plate 1 of the lower container and the front side portion in the traveling direction of the bottom plate central bottom 33 of the upper container becomes very large. By the way, in the container prototype of the form shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 (the dimension during assembly is 600 mm long side length 400 mm short side length 200 mm height), the overlap margin d1 was about 8 mm.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the inclined portion 40 is provided at the tip end region near the bottom plate corner of each long side leg 35 of the bottom plate 3, so that the lower container of the lower container can be temporarily mounted in the slide stack start state. The overlap margin d1 between the long side plate 1 and the front side portion in the direction of travel of the bottom plate center bottom 33 of the upper container can be secured very large. For this reason, the front container bottom plate central bottom 33 front side sandwiching between the two long side plates 1 of the lower container is ensured, and the upper container is displaced laterally with respect to the advancing direction at the time of sliding when temporarily placing and at the start of sliding. It does not wake up or fall off from the long side plate 1 on the lower container. Therefore, the upper container can be smoothly and reliably slide-stacked on the lower container while sliding on the horizontal guide surface 11 of each long side plate 1 of the lower container.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the front side of the center bottom 33 of the bottom plate of the upper container is placed between the two long side plates 1 of the lower container only by temporarily placing the upper container on the lower container in a forward inclined posture state. Since it is sandwiched naturally, unlike a conventional container, a fine positioning is not required between the lower container and the upper container, and relatively good workability can be ensured. Furthermore, since a fragile structure such as a thin rail portion is not adopted as a structure for the slide stack, there is a feature that the container is hardly damaged.

  In the container stacking state after the slide stack is completed, the horizontal lower end 43 of each long side leg 35 of the bottom plate of the upper container contacts the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 of the lower container, and the upper container Each of the short side legs 34 of the bottom plate is in contact with the horizontal placement surface 21 of the short side plate 2 of the lower container, and the horizontal lower side surface 32 of each corner of the bottom plate of the upper container is connected to each side plate 1, 2. By contacting the upper surface of the holding projections (12, 22) located at the upper end of the connection boundary (corner), the load transmission between the upper and lower containers is supported. Further, in the container stacking state, the four corners of the central bottom 33 of the bottom plate of the upper container are restricted from moving back and forth and right and left by the corresponding four holding projections (12, 22) of the lower container. Alignment (or prevention of lateral displacement) of the upper container with respect to the container is achieved.

(Comparative example)
FIG. 6 shows a container as a comparative example to be compared with the present invention. The container of this comparative example has basically the same structure and dimensions as the container of the above embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 except for the shape of each long side leg 35 of the bottom plate 3. The long side leg portion 35 of the container of the comparative example has a horizontal lower end portion 43 as in the container of the embodiment, but a portion corresponding to the inclined portion 40 in the container of the embodiment is not formed. In FIG. 6 (A), the inclined portion formed in the tip region closer to the bottom plate corner than the horizontal lower end portion 43 is the “first side plate (long side side) of the lower container on which the container is placed during the slide operation” It does not correspond to the inclined portion (40) that can come into contact with the horizontal guide surface (11) of the side plate 1), but is merely a chamfered portion 50 that is inclined to merely chamfer the front surface of the leg portion 35. Incidentally, the inclination angle θ2 of the chamfered portion 50 with respect to a horizontal plane (for example, the horizontal lower end portion 43) is 45 °.

  FIG. 6B shows a state in which the upper container is temporarily placed on the lower container in order to stack the containers of the comparative example in a slide stack. At the time of provisional loading, the distal end portion of the horizontal lower end portion 43 of the long side leg portion 35 of the upper container (that is, the boundary portion between the horizontal lower end portion 43 and the chamfered portion 50) is the horizontal guide surface 11 of the long side plate 1 of the lower container. The upper container takes a forward leaning posture in a state of being in contact with the chamfered portion, but the chamfered portion 50 is not in contact with the horizontal guide surface 11. That is, the upper container is not tilted forward as the chamfered portion 50 comes into contact with the horizontal guide surface 11, and the forward tilt amount of the upper container is much smaller than that in the above embodiment. For this reason, in the container of the comparative example, the overlap margin d2 between the long side plate 1 of the lower container and the front side portion in the sliding direction of the bottom bottom central portion 33 of the upper container is very small. d2 was only about 3 mm.

  In the container of the comparative example shown in FIG. 6, since the overlap margin d2 at the time of temporary placement is only about 3 mm, even if the upper container is slid on the horizontal guide surface 11 of the lower container, the sliding operation should be carefully performed. If it is not expected, there is a risk that the upper container slips from the lower container due to lateral displacement. On the other hand, in the container of the above embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the overlap margin d1 at the time of temporary placement is as large as about 8 mm. Therefore, the operation for sliding the upper container on the horizontal guide surface 11 of the lower container is performed. Even if it is a little violent, there is no worry that the upper container will cause a lateral shift and slide down from the lower container. For this reason, the container of the said embodiment is remarkably superior to the container of a comparative example at the point that the handling at the time of a slide stack and reliable stacking are possible.

  The slide stack structure disclosed in this specification can be applied not only to a folding container but also to any type of container that is assumed to be stacked in a state without a lid.

The right half is a plan view of the container, and the left half is a bottom view of the container. The front view of the container seen from the long side. The perspective view which shows the upper end part vicinity of one corner of a container. The perspective view which shows the lower end part vicinity of one corner of a container. The container of an Example is shown, (A) is a principal part enlarged view of a baseplate, (B) is a front view which shows the state which mounted the upper container temporarily in the lower container at the time of a slide stack. The container of a comparative example is shown, (A) is a principal part enlarged view of a baseplate, (B) is a front view which shows the state which mounted the upper container temporarily in the lower container at the time of a slide stack.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Long side side plate (1st side plate), 2 ... Short side side plate (2nd side plate), 3 ... Bottom plate, 11 ... Horizontal guide surface of a long side side plate, 22 ... Holding protrusion of a short side plate, 32 ... Horizontal lower surface of bottom plate, 33 ... Center bottom, 34 ... Short side leg, 35 ... Long side leg, 40 ... Inclined portion, 41 ... Inclined surface, 42 ... Inclined rib (41 and 42 are inclined portions) , 43 ... horizontal lower end.

Claims (2)

A flat rectangular bottom plate, two first side plates corresponding to two opposite sides of the bottom plate, and two second side plates corresponding to the other two opposite sides of the bottom plate are slide stackable. A container,
A horizontal guide surface extending in the longitudinal direction of the side plate is provided at the upper end of the first side plate,
The upper end portion of the second side plate is provided with a holding projection protruding upward from the horizontal guide surface of the first side plate,
Below the bottom plate is a horizontal lower surface formed at least at the four corners, and a center that protrudes below the lower side surface and that can enter and be arranged in an inner region that is surrounded by the four side plates when containers are stacked. A bottom portion and a leg portion that protrudes downward from the lower side surface and is positioned almost directly below the first side plate and extends in the extending direction of the first side plate;
In the tip region near the corner of the bottom plate of the leg, an inclination that can incline with a horizontal guide surface of the first side plate of the lower container on which the container is placed during the sliding operation is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane by a predetermined inclination angle (θ1). A container characterized in that a part is formed.   The container according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined inclination angle (θ1) is set in a range of 2 ° to 25 °.

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