US1182901A - Wire crate. - Google Patents

Description

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WIRE CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. 1914.

Patented May16, 1916.

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ami humus 1 THE COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c

atto'tililf SAMUEL G. GILLESPIE, OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

WIRE CRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1916.

Application filed May 28, 1914. SeriaI'No. 841,545.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL G. GILLESPIE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Charleston, in the county of Kanawha, State of lVest Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WVire Crates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of. the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to collapsible wire crates designed for use in shipping fiber boxes of fruit and the like, and has for an object to provide a crate which may be easily collapsed into a flat condition so as to take up a minimum amount of room in stor 1ng.

A further object of the invention is to provide a crate having its end and side walls secured to the bottom wall by permanent substantially S-shaped hooks that facilitate setting up and taking down of the crate.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a crate having its end and side walls secured together through the instrumentality of resilient staple like hooks, the bights of the hooks straddling the stay wires of the side walls while the shanks of the hooks terminate in spring eyes which spring over the adjacent border wires of the end walls, these spring eyes permitting of the hooks being mounted or detached in a minimum time and with minimum labor in setting up or taking down the crate.

\Vith the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification :Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crate constructedin accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the crate in knocked down condition. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view showing the manner of attaching the staplelike hooks, the dotted lines indicating the position assumed by the hooks in snapping them over a portion of the crate.

Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of reference designate similar parts, the crate is shown to comprise a bottom 10, end walls 11, side walls 12, these walls all being connected together at their lower edges permanently by S-shaped hooks 13, and a cover 14 which is separate from the above named parts, and is connected to the side walls by a hasp 15 as will hereinafter be more fully described.

The bottom, end walls, side walls and cover are preferably each formed of a Wire bent to form a rectangular frame comprising longitudinal and transverse border rods 16 and 17. Crossed diagonal brace wires 18 are terminally connected to the corners of each rectangular frame and reinforce the same against distortion. Furthermore, a plurality of spaced transverse stay wires are terminally connected to the longitudinal border wires of the bottom frame as shown at 19 to reinforce the bottom against bulging when the weight of the crate contents comes upon it. The frames of the end walls are likewise braced by transverse stay wires 20 which are terminally connected to the upright border wires of the frames. Finally the frames of the side walls are braced by upright and longitudinal stay wires 21 and 22 which are terminally connected to the border wires of the frame. A Wire mesh screen is marginally secured to the border wires of the bottom, end, cover and side wall frames as shown at 23 to prevent pilfering of the crate contents.

As above stated the bottom, side and end walls are secured together by S-shaped hooks, these hooks being arranged to embrace the border wires of the frames and permanently secure the parts together so that when the crate is knocked down to collapsed condition, as shown in Fig. 2, the parts will extend in a single plane and thus will occupy a minimum amount of space when stored.

For detachably securing together the side and end walls in set up position, staple like hooks 25 are employed, the bights of the hooks being arranged astride of the upright stay wires of the side walls, and the legs of the staples terminating in spring eyes 26 which are adapted to be manually sprung over the upright border wires of the end walls. In knocking down the crate, it is simply necessary to exert a sufficient pressure upon the bights of the hooks in the direction of the end walls to disengage the spring eyes from the upright border wires of the end walls. By virtue of this construction of fastening hook, the crate may be set up or knocked down in a minimum time and with minimum manual exertion.

For detachably securing the cover in position, the above mentioned hasp 15 is preferably formed of a single staple the legs of which are bent abruptly in the same direction adjacent to their terminals, and adjacent to the bight of the staple as shown at 27 and 28, the terminal bent portions 27 being equipped with eyes which embrace the longitudinal stay wires of one of the side walls, and the bent portion 28 of the staple being adapted to extend downwardly and lie flat upon the opposite side wall. A pad lock 29 is engaged with the bight of the staple and with a bowed keeper 30 carried by the central longitudinal stay Wire of the side Wall, The cover is in this manner locked in position and the crate made secure against pilfering while en route to its destination.

Vhat is claimed, is

A collapsible crate including a bottom member, side and end members hinged to said bottom member, each of said side and end members including a skeleton frame, transverse and longitudinal stay bars ,in-

cluded in the frame of the side memlk'r's' and the former being disposed adjacent each end of the side member, and U-shaped members having their arms disposed on opposite sides of both the transverse and longitudinal stay bars, and the free ends of said arms terminating in spring hooks 3 Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Pitents, Washington, D. G."

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