US2576671A

US2576671A - Shipping container

Info

Publication number: US2576671A
Application number: US85926A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Burton C Coit
Original assignee: TRI STATE ENGINEERING Co
Current assignee: TRI STATE ENGINEERING Co; TRI-STATE ENGINEERING Co
Priority date: 1949-04-06
Filing date: 1949-04-06
Publication date: 1951-11-27
Anticipated expiration: 1968-11-27

Description

B. C. COKT, JR

SHIPPING CONTAINER NomZZ, @951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 6, 1949 m M m m 51/? 701V 6. C017, JP.

6' TTORNE K Nov. 27, 1951 B. c. con-r, JR 5 SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed April 6, 1949 v 2 smzms snam 2 IN V EN TOR. BUR 7'0N C. C01 7; J2,

:4 T'TOENE X Patented Nov. 27, 1951 SHIPPING CONTAINER Burton 0. Coit, Jr., Washington, Pa., assignor to Tri-State Engineering Company, Washington, Pa. a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 6, 1949, Serial No. 85,926

My invention relates to containers of the crate type that are particularly suitable for the shipment of small parcels a number of which can be placed within the container for shipment after which the container may be folded or collapsed for storing or for return to a factory or shipping point for reuse.

The container is suitable also for use in con junction with pallets of the load-supporting type that are transferable from place to place, the pallet deck constituting the bottom wall of the container or crate. 1

One object of my invention is to provide a container having a hinged lid or lid panels that, when closed, will not extend above the upper edges of the side walls and which is nevertheless hinged in such manner that the lid or lid panels can be freely swung far enough to open position, over the upper edge of each of the side walls, that it will remain in an open position, the advantage of having the lid disposed below the upper plane of the crate walls being that the crates or containers can readily be stacked upon one another.

Another object of my invention is to provide a container of the character referred to, made of relatively light material which is somewhat flexible but wherein means are provided for retaining the lid or the lid panels in such tightly closed position that the lids and the upper edges of the side walls of the container cannot be sprung apart to permit theft of'small articles from the container when the container is closed and fastened for shipment or storage.

In Y the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the container, showing the manner in which it may be connected to a pallet deck; Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4 shows a hinge joint for one of the lid panels of Fig. 3, in closed position, and Fig. 5 shows the position occupied by a lid panel and the hinge elements when the lid panel is swung to open position.

The container or crate is here shown as mounted upon a pallet similar to that shown in my application Ser. No. 726,687, filed February 5, 1947 (Patent 2,471,095). The pallet has a deck of lattice or mesh-like form to certain longitudinal wires to which the lower strand of the container side wall is hingedly connected by a helical wire 7 that embraces the lower wire of the side wall and one of the longitudinal deck wires, at each edge of the deck. A mesh-like bottom sheet can, of course, be used instead of a pallet deck as the bottom wall of the container. The deck may have the usual legs 8 and 9 and floor bars or base bars I!) whereby the containers can be readily transported and stacked upon one another by lifting forks that are entered between the legs 8 and 9.

hinge elements l6-l'| being rotated or screwed.

into position to lock a vertical wire [4 to a vertical wire l2 at said diagonal corners. vAt, the

other diagonal corners, hooks l8 are welded to adjacent wires l4l5 and have hooked engagement with adjacent wires l3 to detachably connect the panels together where they are not hinged. Hook-like loops i9 are similarly employed at diagonally-opposite upper corners of the container, they being of suflicient width to prevent relative verticalshifting of the side and end walls when the crate is closed. The provision of the hinge joints at I6Il permits of folding the vertical walls upon one another, when the: hooks I8I9 and 20 are disengaged from the sides and deck, and the hinges at 7 permit folding of the crate walls upon the deck. It is ,not an essential feature of the present invention however, that the vertical walls be foldable upon one another or hingedly connected to the deck or bottom wall.

The lid is here shown .as formed of panels 2| and 22. The panel 2| is formed of wires 23 welded to .wires 24, .and the panel 22 is formed of, wires 25 welded to wires 26. Each of the lid panels 2l--22 is hingedly connected to the adjacent vertical wall by a pair of helical wires 21 and 28. The pitch of the wire 21 is such that it can have interlaced or screw-threaded engagement with the various vertical wires l2, the wire 21 serving as a hinge element having pivotal movement with respect to the wires 12 and also being slidable on such wires. The helical wire 28 serves as another hinge element having its turns interlaced or intermeshed with the turns of the wire 21 and also interlaced with the adjacent wires 23 or 25, as the case may be, of the lid panel.

When the lid panels are closed, ears or loops 30 that are welded to the adjacent vertical walls will project upwardly through the mesh of the panel 2| and the panel 22 to receive a locking rod or a pad lock, thereby vertically supporting that edge of the panel and also preventingthe lid from being sprung upwardly such distance as will permit the theft of small articles from the container.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, wires 3| and 32 are 3 welded to the rods 26 of the panel 22 and

wires

33 and 34 are welded to the upper and lower sides of the wires l24 of the panel 2 I. Loops 35 are welded to the panel 22, between the wires 3l32 and extend between the Wires 3334 when the lids are closed. Padlocks can then be placed in these loops to prevent unauthorized opening of the lid. However, pad looks through the loops 30 will suffice to lock the lid panels closed and locks through loops 35 will ordinarily not be required.

The wires 3I32 and 33-34 also serve as reinforcement for the normally free edges of the lid panels 2 [-22, to thereby reduce danger of springing them to effect unauthorized openingwhen no' the pallet can extend somewhat between the adjacent side walls, while their curved-in portions at 36 can rest upon the adjacent end walls of the container, the alignment of the containers and pallets upon one another being thus facilitated, and danger of shifting of stacked pallets on one another being thereby reduced.

The arrangement requires a special hinge structure, in order that when the hinge panels are swung to their open positions, they will remain open as will be seen in Fig. 5. This arrangement is possible because of the double hinge arrangement at 2l-28 and the slidability of the coil 21 on the vertical wire I2. The 2-coil arrangement also reduces danger of fouling hinges.

It will be understood that a single lid panel can be employed, having the double link or hinge construction to facilitate the insetting of it into the upper part of the container. The sides and ends{ and the deck or bottom wall may suitably be of 2-inch by 2-inch mesh N0. 2 gauge wire, while the lid panels may be of No. 5 gauge wire.

I claim as my invention: v

1. A crate having vertical walls of lattice like or binding of the panels, a lid member therefor of lattice form, a

V able vertically thereon, a second spiral hinge ele 4 ment having interlocking pivotal connection with the first-named spiral member and with the adjacent edge'of thelid member.

2. A crate having vertical side walls, one of which is provided with vertically-extending rods, a'hinge element vertically slidable on said rods at :points near the upper ends thereof, means limiting vertical movements of the said element, a lid member having pivotal connection at one edge with the hinge element and movable into and out of a plane below the uppermost edges of the vertical walls, and means for releasably fastening the free edgeof the lid member to the adjacent side walls of the crate, at a plane below the uppermost edges of the side Walls. 3. A crate having vertical side walls, vertical rods on two opposite side walls, a pair of lid members whose inner edges have means thereon for detachably connecting them together, hinge elements pivotally connected to the outer edges of the lid members and respectively slidable on the said' vertical 'rods for limited distances, the lid members being movable into and out of a plane below the uppermost edges of the vertical walls, means at one of the other sidewalls of the crate for, releasably fastening one of the'lid members thereto ,at a point adjacent to the free edge of the said member andbelowthe uppermost edge of this third side wall; and means for in like manner fastening the other lid member to the fourth side wall of the crate. I I

- BURTON C. COIT, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references 'areof record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS