US20090001087A1

US20090001087A1 - Bottom Structure of Container

Info

Publication number: US20090001087A1
Application number: US12/147,769
Authority: US
Inventors: Sidong He
Original assignee: China International Marine Containers Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: China International Marine Containers Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2007-06-29
Filing date: 2008-06-27
Publication date: 2009-01-01
Also published as: CN201068305Y

Abstract

A bottom structure of a container comprises a bottom frame including two parallel bottom side rails and two bottom end rails transversally connected to the ends of the two bottom side rails, and one or more wood floors and one or more steel floors extending along the length direction of the bottom side rails, which are alternately arranged in parallel with the bottom side rails and fixed between the two bottom end rails, in which an upper surface of the steel floor is flush with an upper surface of the wood floor. The bottom structure in the present invention has the advantages of saving wood materials and having excellent rigidity.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a component of a container, and more particularly to a bottom structure for supporting the freight within the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditional container usually comprises two side walls, a door end, a front end, a roof panel, a floor, a bottom frame and so on, in which the floor together with the bottom frame constitute a bottom structure for supporting the freight within the container.
Generally, the floor of the bottom structure for the container is made of wood materials, which have the advantages of low cost and corrosion resistance. However, with the increasing attention to the forest protection in the world, the wood materials are more and more difficult to be available, because such wood materials are mainly from tropical rain forest area. Therefore, it is always an ongoing research topic about saving resource in container industry how to improve the bottom structure for the container to reduce the resource consumption of the container, for example, reduce the usage of wood floor, and to enhance the rigidity of the bottom structure of the containers. However, there is no practical and feasible solution yet, due to the limitations of the rigidity and intensity problems of the bottom frame, the manufacturing problem, the usage problem of the containers and the like.
Therefore, in view of the existing problems of the current bottom structure for the container, it is necessary to improve the existing bottom structure of the container, so as to enhance the rigidity of the bottom frame, reduce the steel consumption and the usage of the wood floor, and thereby achieve an object for saving resources.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a bottom structure of a container, which can effectively save wood materials, and the bottom frame of which has excellent integral rigidity.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention adopts the following technical solution. A bottom structure of container comprises a bottom frame including two parallel bottom side rails and two bottom end rails transversally connected to the ends of the two bottom end rails, and one or more wood floors and one or more steel floors extending along a length direction of the bottom side rail, which are alternately arranged in parallel with the bottom side rails and fixed between the two bottom end rails; wherein an upper surface of the steel floor is flush with an upper surface of the wood floor.
In the above base structure for container, the steel floor may be an element configured in such a way that a middle portion thereof is bulged to form a flat top acting as a steel floor surface; and the bottom structure can further comprises bottom cross members provided between the two sides of the element and the two bottom side rails, wherein the wood floor is fixed on an upper surface of the bottom cross member, and the upper surface of the bottom cross member is lower than the top surface of the steel floor in such a way that a height difference between the upper surface of the bottom cross member and the steel floor surface matches a thickness of the wood floor.
In the above base structure of container, the element may have a ‘Ω’-shaped cross section.
In the above base structure of container, a reinforcing board may be provided in a space formed by the bulged portion of the element.
In the above base structure of container, the reinforcing board may have a cross section in any shape selected from a group of ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘U’.
In the above base structure of container, the bottom cross member may have a cross section in any shape selected from a group of ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘U’.
In the above base structure of container, one steel floor may be arranged at a middle portion of the bottom frame and two wood floors may be arranged at both sides of the steel floor.
In the above base structure for container, one wood floor may be arranged at a middle portion of the bottom frame and two steel floors may be arranged at both sides of the wood floor.
Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: (1) compared with the current bottom structure made of wood entirely, it can save a lot of wood materials, since the steel floor and wood floor are arranged alternately and extend along the length direction of bottom side rail; (2) it can have advantages such as excellent integral rigidity, since the steel floor is a member which is provided with a reinforcing board in the inner space thereof so that the strength of the bottom structure can be enhanced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view for schematically illustrating the construction of the bottom structure of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a projection view for schematically illustrating the construction of the container equipped with the present invention, viewing from the container side wall;

FIG. 3 is a projection view for schematically illustrating the construction of the container equipped with the present invention, viewing from the end of the container; and

FIG. 4 is a projection view for schematically illustrating the partially enlarged construction of the present invention, viewing from the end of the container.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 1, the bottom structure of the present invention comprises a bottom frame 1 in a rectangle shape as a whole, which includes two bottom side rails 11 for forming the length sides of the bottom frame 1 and two bottom end rails 12 for forming the width sides of the bottom frame 1 and being connected with two bottom side rails 11.
A wood floor(s) 15 and a steel floor(s) 16 are provided between the two bottom end rails 12 and in parallel with the bottom side rails 11. The steel floor 16 and the wood floor 15 are fixed to each other and arranged alternately, extending along the length direction of bottom side rail 11 respectively. An upper surface of the steel floor 16 is flush with an upper surface of the wood floor 15. In this embodiment, preferably, the bottom frame 1 comprises one steel floor 16 located close to the middle of each of the bottom end rails 12 and two wood floors 15 located between the sides of the steel floor 16 and the bottom side rails 11 respectively. Alternatively, more than one steel floor 16 can be provided, and a plurality of wood floors 15 arranged alternately with respect to the steel floor 16 can be provided correspondingly.
Compared with the traditional bottom structure for the containers made of wood floor entirely, the above structure can save at least a half of wood materials, since the wood floor 15 and the steel floor 16 are alternately arranged between the two bottom end rails 12 and extend along the length direction of bottom side rail 11.
FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate a preferable embodiment in which the steel floor 16 and the wood floor 15 are arranged alternately. The steel floor 16 is formed of one element 13 having a length substantially matching the length of bottom side rail 11 so that the two ends of the element 13 can be fixed to the two bottom end rails 12 of the container respectively; obviously, the steel floor 16 may also consist of a plurality of elements 13, the total length of which are substantially equal to the length of bottom side rail 11. The element 13 is configured with ‘Ω’-shaped cross-section such that a middle portion thereof is bulged with respect to the end portions thereof. The bulged middle portion extends along the length direction of the bottom side rail 11 to form a flat top surface 131 of the steel floor for supporting the freight, and the bottom ends of the bulged middle portion extend outward to form two supporting feet 132.
There is only one element 13 arranged at the width side of the bottom frame 1 and in parallel with the bottom side rail 11. The bottom ends of the two sides of the element 13 extend outward to form two supporting feet 132, and a bottom cross member 14 is provided between each supporting foot 132 and the bottom side rail 11. The bottom cross member 14 has a ‘L’-shaped cross section along the length direction of the bottom side rail 11; obviously, the cross section may be in any shape selected from a group of ‘I’, ‘C’ and ‘U’. The wood floor 15 is provided on the bottom cross member 14, and the surface 141 of the bottom cross member 14 for supporting the floor is lower than the steel floor surface 131 on top of the element 13 by a height difference, which is about the thickness of the wood floor 15. Thus, when the wood floor 15 is fixed onto the bottom cross member 14, the upper surface of the wood floor 15 is flush with the steel floor surface 131 to support the freight steadily. When the wood floor 15 is mounted on the bottom cross member 14, the whole bottom structure is formed in such a way that the wood floor(s) 15 and steel floor surface(s) 131 are alternately arranged (please refer to FIG. 1). Accordingly, compared with the traditional bottom structure using wood floor entirely, the present invention can save wood materials. Alternatively, a plurality of elements 13 can be fixed at the width sides of the bottom frame 1. In this case, the supporting feet 132 on both sides of the elements 13 cooperates with the two bottom side rails 11 so as to support and fix the bottom cross member 14, and then the wood floor 15 is located on the upper surface of the bottom cross member 14 to be flush with the steel floor surface 131. This also can save wood materials.
A reinforcing board 133 extends downwardly from the top of the element 13 into the inner space formed by the bulged portion of the element 13, and thus may effectively enhance the strength of the element 13. Moreover, the reinforcing board 133 has an ‘L’-shaped cross section in parallel with the length direction of the bottom side rail 11. Obviously, the cross section may be in another shape such as ‘I’, ‘C’, or ‘U’.
Compared with the bottom structure made of wood floor entirely, the above-mentioned bottom structures of the containers of the present invention can save a lot of wood materials due to the steel floor; meanwhile, the bottom structure of the present invention can improve the structure rigidity of the bottom frame thereof, due to the reinforcing board 133 extending downwardly from the top of the element 13 into the inner space formed by the bulged portion of the element 13.
In the above-mentioned embodiment of the bottom structure of the container, the steel floor 16 is arranged at middle portion of the bottom frame 1 and the wood floors 15 are arranged at both sides of the steel floor 16. Obviously, the wood floor 15 is arranged at middle portion of the bottom frame 1 and the steel floors 16 are arranged at both sides of the wood floor 15, which can also have the effect of reducing wood consumption.

Claims

1. A bottom structure of a container, comprising:

a bottom frame including two parallel bottom side rails and two bottom end rails transversally connected to the ends of the two bottom side rails; and

one or more wood floors and one or more steel floors extending along the length direction of the bottom side rail, which are alternately arranged in parallel with the bottom side rails and fixed between the two bottom end rails;

wherein an upper surface of the steel floor is flush with an upper surface of the wood floor.

2. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 1, the steel floor may be an element configured in such a way that a middle portion thereof is bulged to form a flat top acting as a steel floor surface; and

the bottom structure further comprises bottom cross members provided between the two sides of the element and the two bottom side rails, wherein the wood floor is fixed on an upper surface of the bottom cross member, and the upper surface of the bottom cross member is lower than the top surface of the steel floor in such a way that a height difference the upper surface of the bottom cross member and the steel floor surface matches a thickness of the wood floor.

3. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 2, wherein the element has a ‘Ω’-shaped cross section.

4. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 2, wherein a reinforcing board is provided in a space formed by the bulged portion of the element.

5. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 3, wherein a reinforcing board is provided in a space formed by the bulged portion of the element.

6. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 4, wherein, the reinforcing board has a cross section in any shape selected from ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘U’.

7. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 5, wherein the reinforcing board has a cross section in any shape selected from ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘U’.

8. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 2, wherein the bottom cross member has a cross section in any shape selected from a group of ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘U’.

9. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 1, wherein one steel floor is arranged at a middle portion of the bottom frame and two wood floors are arranged at both sides of the steel floor.

10. The bottom structure of the container according to claim 1, wherein one wood floor is arranged at a middle portion of the bottom frame and two steel floors are arranged at both sides of the wood floor.