NZ209263A - Container secured to pallet by folded base pad - Google Patents

Description

209263 Priority Date(s): ... 18.7§ ."".83.

Complete Spacificaticr, Filed: Class: Publication Qb;-: 2.0 OCT 1^7 P.O. Journal, No: . -1.5.0. j ....

Patents Form No. 5 NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION "PALLETIZED CONTAINERS" -3E-, WE VISY BOARD PROPERTIES PTY.LTD. of 27 2 -272- Edwardes Street, Reservoir, 3073, Victoria, Australia, a company incorporated under the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia, hereby declare the invention, for which-I-/we pray that a patent may be granted to -me-/us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement (followed by page 1 A.) - ^ TITLE: PALLETIZED CONTAINERS Background of the Invention This invention relates to palleti2ed containers.

Palletized containers of various descriptions have been widely known and used for many years. Although corru-5 gated board containers incorporating integral pallet components, for example, as described in Australian Patent No. 426,164 (AU-B 23812/67), have been widely used with success for many years, the need has developed for palletized containers in which the pallet structure is relatively 10 rigid and may, for example, be constructed from timber components.

A palletized container of the above type is described in greater detail in Australian Patent No. 505,345 (AU-B 23926/77) in which a hinged flap having the same 15 dimensions as the bottom of the container is attached to the pallet construction and the flap is then engaged between two of the bottom flaps of the container and is held in position by the container and its contents.

This type of palletized container has shortcomings 20 in that the container, particularly when empty, partially filled or enclosing a light load is capable of being displaced laterally in one direction and may therefore be detached from the pallet construction.

This problem has been overcome by the proposal of 25 U.S. Patent No. 4,085,846 by Williams, in which the floor of the container is attached directly to the pallet and is positively located in use by folded base flanges of the container. However, this arrangement suffers from the disadvantages that notches must be cut in the end base flanges 30 to facilitate entry of the folded floor components and the floor components must be held, either manually or by means of a holding peg, during the assembly process. The notches create regions of weakness in the assembled container and the requirement for a holding means is generally inconvenient. -840514 09263 A similar arrangement, having an integral means for holding the folded floor components in their folded condition, is shown in French specification 2,500,810 (82 01857). However, the same disadvantages are apparent. 5 Summary of the Invention It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved palletized container construction in which the above problems are at least reduced.

The invention provides a palletized container 10 comprising a pallet structure and a container adapted to be secured to said pallet structure, said container comprising side walls and top closing flaps for at least part of the top of the container if required, bottom flaps which fold inwardly of the container from the side walls and 15 defining a generally rectangular opening in the base of the container, and at least one base pad having a portion secured to or integral with said pallet structure and being shaped to be disposed in use internally of the bottom flaps and adjacent at least portions of each side wall to limit 20 lateral movements of said container when engaged therewith in all directions, characterized in that the or each base pad has fold lines about which the pad is folded to reduce its dimensions in all directions to facilitate its insertion into the base of said container through said rectangular 25 opening, said base pad(s) when folded retaining the folded condition without any external assistance or interconnection of parts of said pad(s).

It will be appreciated that the above construction not only avoids the slotting of the end base flaps, as in the 30 above described references, but also facilitates a simple assembly technique not requiring specially constructed external or integral flap holders such as shown in the French specification referred to above.

In the presently preferred form of the invention, 35 two base pads are provided and each is shaped to extend from a central portion of the pallet structure, each said base ;40514 2092 63 pad having foldable ears which when folded reduce the dimensions of the pad, when viewed in plan, to the size of approximately half of the said opening in the base of the container.

Where the pallet structure is separately constructed, 5 each base pad has a portion which is attached to the -pallet structure, for example by being inserted between the top deck of the pallet and the bearers or separating blocks and securely attached therebetween. This arrangement avoids * another disadvantage of the prior art arrangement of point attachment along a central strip of the floor components. The foldable portion of the base pad is of course capable of being folded flat against the top of the pallet structure so as to lie flat against the inside of the base of the container when attached thereto.

Detailed Description of the Drawings The presently preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 shows the shape of one base pad; 20 FIG. 2 shows two base pads attached to a pallet structure; FIG. 3 shows the base pads in the folded condition ready for assembly of the container body; FIG. 4 is a plan view of the arrangement shown 25 in FIG. 3 with a container assembled thereon, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view from above of the container when assembled on the pallet structure showing the base pads in position. 30 Referring firstly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the base pad used to hold the container body described further below is formed from corrugated board or other suitable / material and will be seen to comprise a rectangular attach ment portion 1 which is adapted for attachment to the pallet 35 structure and a smaller shaped pad portion 2 formed with crease or score lines 3, 4 to define a central trapezium - 840514 1' A 'J. /? ■i , ^ shaped portion T and shaped foldable ears 5,6 extending from the sides of portion T. The ears 5, 6 are relieved at 7 and 8 so that the pad portion 2 is connected to the attachment portion 1 by a narrow neck. Fold lines Fjtare also 5 provided about which the pad may be folded so as to lie flat against the pallet structure.

As will be seen from Fig. 2 of the drawings, the rectangular attachment portions 1 of two base pads A and B are disposed in use between the timber top deck and the 10 bearers of a pallet structure P and is secured in position by attachment of the top deck to the bearers. This leaves the shaped pad portions 2 extending upwardly from a central portion of the pallet structure ready for folding and insertion into the container body as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 15 of the drawings.

Consideration of Fig. 3 of the drawings will show that prior to assembly of the container body onto the pallet and base pad assembly, the ears 5,6 are folded at about right angles to the portions T whereby the corners of the relieved 20 portions 7,8 engage the top of the pallet structure to hold the pads A,B in the position shown in Fig. 3. Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings show that the container body has four side walls 9, 10, 11 and 12 from which four top flaps 13, 14, 15 and 16 and four short base flaps 17, 18, 19 and 20 extend. 25 when the container body is erected and the base flaps folded inwardly, an enlarged rectangular opening 21 is defined in the base of the container.

When the container body is to be attached to the pallet structure, the ears 5 and 6 of each shaped portion 2 30 of each base pad are folded as described above until the corners of the ears frictionally contact the top of the pallet. In the folded condition, the dimensions of the shape portions 2 are approximately equal to the dimensions of the opening 21. Accordingly, the container body may 35 easily be inserted over the folded portions 2 as shown in Fig. 3, whereupon the ears are straightened and the portions 40514 209263 - 2 folded against the inside of the base of the container body as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. When in this position it will be noted that the sides and ends of the portions 2 of each base pad are in close proximity to the 5 side walls of the container body whereby lateral movement in all directions is effectively prevented.

Once the container is loaded with the product to be transported, the base pad portions 2 are held firmly 0^ against the base of the container body so that the container and pallet structure behave effectively as an integral unit.

Although the base pad configuration described above is preferred, other configurations achieving similar results may be used. For example, by changing the angle of #1 each relieved portion 7,8, the ears may be folded so as to be adjacent the central portion T. This arrangement is useful for rectangular containers. Similarly, the relieved portions 7,8 of the ears 2 may be arcuate to facilitate folding of the ears back upon each other so that the dimensions of the folded pads are even smaller than in the 20 preferred embodiment.

In a modification of the invention not shown in the accompanying drawings, the configuration of the base pad may be modified so as to form integral feet or joist members of the types described in Australian Patent No. 426,164 or 25 United States Patent No. 4,119,205. Thus, the invention is not restricted to use with a separately constructed pallet structure. u 840514 } 209263

Claims (10)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A palletized container comprising a pallet structure and a container adapted to be secured to said pallet structure, said container comprising side walls and top closing flaps for at least part of the top of the container if required, bottom flaps which fold inwardly of the container from the side walls and defining a substantially rectangular opening in the base of the container, and at least one base pad having an attachment portion secured to or integral with said pallet structure and an interior portion to be disposed in use internally of the bottom flaps and adjacent at least portions of each side wall to limit lateral movements of said container when engaged therewith in all directions, characterized in that the or each base pad has fold lines about which the interior portion is folded to reduce its dimensions in all directions to facilitate its insertion into the base of said container through said rectangular opening.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said interior portions when folded retain their folded condition without any external assistance or interconnections of parts of said pad(s).

3. The container of claim 1 or 2, wherein said base pad(s) has fold lines and ear portions extending outwardly from the fold lines, said interior portion having a folded position in which the interior portion is folded about the fold lines 209S&3 and said ear portions frictionally engage the pallet structure to retain the interior portion in the folded position without any external assistance or interconnection of parts of said pad (s) .

4. The container of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein two base pads are provided, each being shaped to extend from a central portion of the pallet structure, characterized in that each interior portion has foldable ears which when folded reduce the dimensions of the pad, when viewed in plan, to the size of the opening in the base of the container to facilitate insertion of the pads into said opening.

5. The container of claim 4, wherein the pallet is separately constructed and each attachment portion which is rectangular is attached to the pallet structure between the top deck and the bearers of said pallet so that the pads are securely attached to said pallet.

6. The container of claim 4, wherein each attachment portion which is rectangular is attached to said pallet structure, said interior portion extends from said attachment portion by a narrow neck, a trapezium shaped central portion is defined by said fold lines and foldable shaped ear portions extend from the sides of the central portion, relieved portions extend from the base of the central portion to the sides of the ear portions. '"N / / m 8 .--I.-;.'..

7. The container of claim 6, wherein said relieved portions are shaped so that said ear portions when folded define with said central portion a rectangular U-shaped structure extending outwardly and upwardly from the pallet structure with the relieved portions of ear portions frictionally engaging the pallet structure to hold the interior portions in their folded condition.

8. The container of claim 6, wherein said relieved portions are shaped so that the ear portions can be folded against said central portions, the relieved portions of said ear portions engaging the pallet structure to hold the interior portions in their folded condition.

9. The container of any preceding claim wherein said base pads are substantially as described with reference to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A palletized container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. VISY BOARD PROPERTIES PTY. LTD BALDWIN, SON & CAREY O