US2780381A

US2780381A - Shipping and storage crates

Info

Publication number: US2780381A
Application number: US448543A
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: 1954-08-09
Filing date: 1954-08-09
Publication date: 1957-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 1974-02-05

Description

Feb. 5, 1957 I Q B. c. COIT, JR Y 2,

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. BURTON C C017; JG

BY 4 w Feb. 5, 1957 a. c. COIT, JR 2,780,331

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 y 5 Sheets-Shea}: 2

i 54 i INVENTOR.

QTTOEAZEX Feb. 5, 1957 B. c. COIT, JR 2,780,331

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN 14 BURTONC C017", 2.

United States Patent 3 Claims. (Cl. 220,-6)

My invention relates to shipping and storage crates that can conveniently be made of Welded Wire mesh, al-

though certain features of the invention can be used in connection with'crate wall-sof other forms and materials.

One object of my invention is to provide a crate that is more conveniently foldable or collapsible to facilitate shipping and storage thereof, when not in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a colla sible crate structure that, while it has a base or bottom of pallet-like form, the walls can be of great height relative to the length and width of the base frame and still be .folded to compact position, without the walls protruding beyond the relatively rigid base members.

Another object of my invention is to provide a crate mainly of wire mesh form, which has a base or underframeof sturdy character, with a relatively small amount of heavy bars or rods.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a crate of the character referred to that has one or more of its sides made of drop-panel form to permit of more convenient access to the contents of the crate and whose wall-s, nevertheless, are hinged at the corners for folding to collapsed pantograph form when the crate is empty, without the necessity of disengaging the latches of the drop panels.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved form of latching device for releasably holding the drop panels in normal vertical position.

As shown in the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the crate showing somewhat schematically the manner in which the vertical walls are supported by the base or underframe and the manner in which the bottom wall is movable toward and from its operative or horizontal position;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 3, showing the arrangement of rods 'or wires for guiding the latching slides;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the crate of Fig. 1, but with the underframe and feet omitted;

Figs. 4 and 5 are elevation'al and plan views respectively, of a modification of the latching devices shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view looking at the underside of the base of the crate, on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 7 shows the crate of Figs. 1 and 3 in collapsed or folded condition.

The crate has two vertical end walls each of which comprises vertical rods 10 welded in crosswise relation to horizontal rods 11. At each end of the crate, a channel bar 12 is welded to the

rods

10 and 11. A metal member 13 of strap-like form is welded to the outer face of each channel 12 and extends vertically, with bends 14 that serve as feet. The strap member 13 is then bent upwardly and downwardly to channel-like contour at 15.

Side plates or cleats 16 are welded to the outer edges of the

members

13 and 15, to strengthen the same, and gusset plates 17 extend between the U-shaped legs with their inner edges Welded to the plates 16 and their lower 2,780,381 Patented Feb. 5, 1951 ice 2 edges welded to the feet 14. The upper edges of these gusset plates are welded to the channels 12.

The frame members 12, together with their leg portions, serve somewhat as a pallet in that the crate can be handled by lift-fork trucks, the legs or feet 14 also being concave on their lower sides for convenience of stacking crates on one another.

The side walls of the crates have openings for panels 20, parts of the horizontal and vertical members of the mesh being omitted for this purpose. These side Walls comprise mainly vertical rods or wires 21 welded in crosswise relation to horizontal wires 22 in the lower part of the panel and to shorter horizontal wires 23 in the upper part of the wall. Whereas the vertical wires 21 are behind the horizontal wires,

stiffening rods

24 and 25 will be welded to the outer sides of the

horizontal wires

22 and 23.

The vertical wires of the side and end walls, at the vertical corners of the crate, are connected by helical wires 26 that serve as hinge elements, additional sleeve- "like hinge elements 27 being employed for greater strength at the upper corners of the crate.

The drop panels 20 comprise mainly vertical rods 28 welded in crosswise relation to horizontal rods 29, there being additional rods 30 and short bars 31 welded to the horizontal rods 29. Slide bars 33 that serve as latch bolts are slidably supported between adjacent horizontal rods 29, they being'retained in position between these horizontal rods by

rods

30 and 31 that extend across the outer faces of the bars, and the rods 28 that extend across the rear faces of the bars 33. When the bolts are in operative position as in Fig. 3, they extend between adjacent

vertical rods

25 and 21 and behind short bars 34 that are welded to the rods 23.

Protuberances 35 that may suitably be of bent wire are welded to the outer faces of the latch bars, and the bars have notches 36 and 37 with which keeper rings 38 cooperate to releasably hold the latches in either their operative or inoperative position. As shown in Fig. 3, the keeper which is slidable on the bar 31 is in the notch 36, so that the latch bar cannot become accidentally slid back to inoperative position. Similarly, the keeper, when engaged in the notch 37, will hold the latch bar in its retracted or unlatched position.

Loop-like stop members 38 are welded to the outer faces of the panels 20 in position to engage the adjacent vertical rods 25 when the panels are moved to vertical position, these loop members serving as aligning devices to facilitate accurate positioning of the panels for movement of the bars 33 into latched position.

The lower panels 20 are hingedly connected by spiral wires 40 to the adjacent horizontal rod 22 of the side wall, while the upper drop panels 20 are hingedly connected by spiral wires 41 to the uppermost wire of the next lower panel. It will be seen that since the drop panels are not hinged directly to the end walls of the crate, the crate can be collapsed or folded to the position shown in Fig. 7 without the necessity of disconnecting the latches. It will be obvious that the crate can have two or more drop panels as shown in Fig. l, or a single drop panel, in either or both of 'two opposite vertical walls.

Also, that portion of the side walls that contains the horizontal rods 22 welded to the cross rods 21 and hingedly connected to the end walls at the vertical corners of the crate has a stifiening effect to resist flexing outward of the end walls under internal load pressures, particularly since rods 21 extend the entire height of the side walls.

The crate has a bottom wall 42 comprising layers of

rods

43 and 44 welded in crossed relation to rods 45. At one end of the bottom wall 42, one of the rods 44 is hingedly connected to a lower rod 46 of the side wall, by a helical wire 47, the rod 46 being welded to the vertical wires 21 of the side Walls. The longitudinal edges of the bottom wall 42 will rest upon the box-like portions 15 of the legs. At its free end, the bottom wall will be supported in its horizontal position by hooks 4 8 that are welded to the side wall of the crate.

When the bottom wall 42 is folded up snugly in vertical position against the side wall to which it is hinged, the crate can be collapsed in generally pantograph style to the position shown in Fig. 7 simply by tilting the crate toward a horizontal position. The bottom wall, when in its lowermost position, will serve, of course, to maintain the rectangular relationship of the vertical walls when the crate is upright.

A modified form of latch is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this case, bars having loops 50 are welded to the rear sides of vertical rods 51, the loop ends being bent perpendicularly to slidably support a slide bolt 52. Outstanding loops 53 are welded to the drop panels 20 in position to receive the slide bolts 51 when latching the panels in their upright positions. A stop lug 54 is welded to each bolt 51 in position to obstruct release movement of the slide bolt when the handle 55 of the latch bolt is in'its lower position, under the weight of gravity. When the handle 55 is swung to horizontal position, the stud 54 can be passed through the adjacent looped end of the member 50 to permit backward sliding of the bolt.

I claim as my invention:

1. A crate comprising side and end walls pivotally connected at the vertical corners of the crate, a bottom wall for the crate, a footed base for the saidvwalls, one of the side walls having an upper part in the form of relatively spaced vertical panel-like portions each hingedly connected to its adjacent end wall and extending to the upper edge thereof, and panels in relatively superposed relation bridging the spaces between the'vertieal panel-like portions and hi igedly connected together at their adjacent horizontal edges, the lower edge of the lowermost panel being hingedly connected to the side wall, on a horizontal axis at a line below the said panellike portions, and the panels being provided with latch devices near, their upper edges, for detachable connection to the vertical panel-like portions.

2. A crate as recited. in claims 1, wherein the bottom wall is disposed between the vertical walls and is hingedly connected at one edge to the lower edge of one of the vertical walls and attits other end is supported on ledgelike members, whereby it is foldable upwardly against said one vertical wall.

3. A crate as recited in claim 1, wherein the footed base comprises two horizontal bars respectively secured to the lower edges of two opposite vertical walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 529,230 Zimmerman Nov. 13, 1894 844,955 Morgan Feb. 19, 1907 1,274,800 Sketteno Aug. 6, 1918 1,555,177 Barker Sept. 29, 1925 1,648,025 Mollay Nov. 8, 1927 1,849,472 Benedict Mar. 15, 1932 2,470,223 Powels May 17, 1949 2,660,328 Averill Nov. 24, 1953 2,667,319 Coit Jan. 26, 19-54 FOREIGN PATENTS 52,474 Germany June 25, 1890