US3347394A

US3347394A - Stacked storage bins

Info

Publication number: US3347394A
Application number: US589740A
Authority: US
Inventors: George J Gould
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-10-26
Filing date: 1966-10-26
Publication date: 1967-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1984-10-17

Description

Oct. 17, 1967- STACKED STORAGE BINS Filed Oct. 26, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l 3A g 1 J n' M ".--29 FIG. 1 I 22 INVENTOR GEORGE J. GOULD ATTORNEY G. J. GOULD 3,347,394

Oct. 17, 1967 G. J. GOULD STACKED STORAGE BINS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 26, 1966 INVENTOR GEORGE J. GOULD ATTORNEY United States Patent '0 3,347,394 STACKED STORAGE BINS George J. Gould, 791 Meacham, Elmont, NY. 11003 Filed Oct. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 589,740 3 Claims. (Cl. 211-126) This invention relates to storage bins for small parts or articles, wherein the bins are adapted to be stacked one upon the other, and an object of the invention is the provision of certain new and useful improvements in such bins which result in secure stacking and interlocking of the bins while permitting easier handling of the articles particularly in extracting them from a bin.

Another object of the invention is the provision of novel features of construction whereby the useful life and durability of the bins is enhanced.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects will become apparent in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a stacking bin embodying features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bin, showing also in phantom fragmentary outlines of bins stacked both above and below the said bin.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the said bin.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view, partly in phantom, with parts broken away and partly in section, of three stacked bins, with only parts of the top and bottom bins being shown.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of two stacked bins.

Referring in detail to the drawing, three identical bins are shown at 10, 11, and 12; it is in order to bring out and clarify the stacking and locking features of the bins that three bins are shown. Since all the bins are identical, however, like parts of the various bins shown bear the same reference numerals, and in describing the bin it is to be understood that all the bins are included.

Each bin includes a floor or bottom wall 13, side walls 14, a rear wall 15, and a forwardly and upwardly sloping partial front wall 16. The side walls 14 include forward portions 14a which project forward with the contour of an obtuse angle, as shown, whose apex is at approximately the level of the midlines of the side walls. The partial front wall 16, which may be hereinafter termed merely the front wall, terminates in an upward direction at the same horizontal level at which a ledge 17 is formed, and from the forward edge of the ledge a fiat lip 18 extends angularly downward. This lip has a lesser width than that of the bottom wall 13 and provides a finger grip for handling the bin. The ends of the space between the lip 18, the ledge 17 and the wall 16 are closed by walls 19.

A continuous flange 20 extends around the top of the side walls and rear wall of the bin as well as downward on the top edges of the side wall extensions 14a. This flange is set back outward from the top edges of the side walls and from the top edge of the rear wall; the setback 0n the rear wall is of greater degree than that on the side walls. Hence the ledges 21 on the side walls are of lesser width than the ledge 22 on the rear wall 15. The

greater setback of the flange on the rear wall provides a rearwardly extending overhang 23, from close to the outer edge of which a rectangular tongue 24 extends. Intermediate its width, the rear wall 15 has a relatively Wide flat thickened portion 25 extending from the bottom surface of the bottom wall 13 up to the overhang 23. Thus, between the tongue 24 and the upper portion of the portion 25, there is a rectangular space or groove, by means of which the bin, when removed from a stack, may be supported on a rail, not shown, which may register within the said groove.

The side walls 14 are similarly provided with thickened portions 26 on the outer sides thereof approximately intermediate their width. On their inner surfaces, and positioned close to the forward ends of the bottom 13,

, the side walls have thickened portions 27 rising from the floor of the bin to the ledges 21, thereby providing a widened area to the ledges 21 by addition thereto of the flat top surfaces 28 of the portions 27.

As is seen in the drawing, the

bins

10, 11 and 12 are stacked one above the other, with the bin which is above another having its bottom wall resting on the ledges or

shoulders

21 and 22 within the confines of the flange 20. As is clear in FIGS. 6 and 7, access to any bin below the top one is readily had by extending the fingers of a hand through the space between the forward portions of the upper and lower bin; this is indicated by the arrows A in FIG. 6. i

It is desirable to interlock the various bins in a stack for obvious reasons, one of which is to prevent longitudinal sliding of a bin while reaching into it or extracting an article or articles from it. For this purpose a recess 29, preferably cylindrical, is formed at the rear of the bottom wall 13, and a complementary pin 30 is provided extending upward from the shoulder 22. Additional interlocking of the stacked bins is obtained by the provision of two upstanding lugs 31 on the shoulder 22, spaced from the pin 30, and projecting forward from the rear portion of the flange 20. Complementary sockets 32 are provided cut into the bottom and rear walls so that they are enterable by the lugs 31 simultaneously from below and through the rear wall.

Since the entire bin is unitary and molded of a plastic material which, in the preferred form, is one known under the name Duralene, and in order to provide a greater height and depth for the sockets 32 than the thickness of the

walls

13 and 15, the material enclosing the sockets is, so to speak, pressed inward and upward, thus avoiding any open passages through these walls. The same is true for the recess 29 which receives the pin 30; that is, the height of the recess is greater than the thickness of the bottom wall 13, so that some material of the latter is, again so to speak, pressed upward to provide the enclosure in which the recess is formed.

As a result of use and handling as well as repeated insertion of the fingers or hand into a bin to extract a piece or part contained therein, the side walls 14 including the portions 14a, at the front of the bin, tend to become spread in time, so that Without suitable provision to accommodate for the spread the shoulders 21 are not sufliciently wide to stably support the forward portion of the bin above. The areas 28 at the top of the slab-like thickened portions 27 on the inside of the side walls 14, then serve to provide support for the forward end of the bin. This provision is preferable to making the side walls thicker in the first place, which would entail needless additional cost of material, and it also reduces the volume or capacity of the bin to a far lesser extent than would thicker side walls.

It is apparent from all of the foregoing that the bins when stacked are also interlocked to maintain the stack in stability at all times and particularly while any of the 3 contents in any of the stack of bins is being withdrawn.

It is to be noted, particularly in FIG. 6, that the pin 30 of each bin is offset a short distance rearwardly of a vertical line through the complementary recess 29, and that the lugs'31 are similarly offset rearwardly the same distance from a vertical plane through the sockets 32. As a consequence, when the bins are stacked each bin is positioned slightly rearward of the next lower bin.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to the construction shown in the drawing such is not to be construed as a limitation upon the invention which is best defined in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A plurality of unitary plastic storage bins adapted to be stacked one upon another wherein each of said bins consists of a bottom wall, side walls, a rear wall and an upwardly and forwardly sloping front wall extending upward to approximately one-half the height of said side walls thereby providing an entrance passage into each of the stacked bins which are positioned below the topmost of the stack, a continuous outwardly offset upwardly extending flange on the top edges of said side walls and said rear wall providing a continuous internal shoulder on said side walls and said rear wall, the rear portion of said flange which is on said rear wall being offset a greater distance than the portions of said flange on said side walls whereby the internal shoulder on said rear wall has a greater width than said shoulders on said side walls, said internal shoulder on said rear wall having a pin extending upward therefrom at a position substantially intermediate the length thereof and spaced from said rear portion of said flange, each of said bins having a recess extending upward in the bottom wall thereof adjacent the rear wall thereof and positioned a distance forward of a vertical line through said pin, said pin being complementary to said recess, said bins when stacked as aforesaid having the bottom of one bin resting on said continuous internal shoulder of the next lower bin and the pin on said next lower bin registering in said recess of said one bin.

2. A plurality of bins according to claim 1, wherein each of said bins has two spaced lugs extending upward from said internal shoulder on said rear wall and forward from said rear portion of said flange, said lugs being positioned near but spaced from said portions of said flange on said side walls, each of said bins having sockets complementary to said lugs extending forward through the lower edge of said rear wall and upward through the adjacent portion of said bottom wall, said sockets being positioned a distance equal to said first-named distance forward of a vertical plane through said lugs, said bins when stacked as aforesaid having said lugs of said next lower bin registering in said sockets of said one bin.

3. A plurality of bins according to claim 2, said side walls having on the insides thereof slab-like thickened portions extending vertically upward from a position adjacent the front edge of said bottom wall to the level of said internal shoulders on said side walls, the top surfaces of said thickened portions lying in a common horizontal plane with said internal shoulders.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,003,839 10/1961 Bloom et al. 312-l11 3,252,614 5/1966 Evans 22097 3,259,269 7/1966 Asenbauer 22097 3,270,913 9/1966 Bridenstine et al. 22097 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A PLURALITY UNITARY PLASTIC STORAGE BINS ADAPTED TO BE STACKED ONE UPON ANOTHER WHEREIN EACH OF SAID BINS CONSISTS OF A BOTTOM WALL, SIDE WALLS, A REAR WALL AND AN UPWARDLY AND FORWARDLY SLOPING FRONT WALL EXTENDING UPWARD TO APPROXIMATELY ONE-HALF THE HEIGHT OF SAID SIDE WALLS THEREBY PROVIDING AN ENTRANCE PASSAGE INTO EACH OF THE STACKED BINS WHICH ARE POSITIONED BELOW THE TOPMOST OF THE STACK, A CONTINUOUS OUTWARDLY OFFSET UPWARDLY EXTENDING FLANGE ON THE TOP EDGES OF SAID SIDE WALLS AND SAID REAR WALL PROVIDING A CONTINUOUS INTERNAL SHOULDER ON SAID SIDE WALLS AND SAID REAR WALL, THE REAR PORTION OF SAID FLANGE WHICH IS ON SAID REAR WALL BEING OFFSET A GREATER DISTANCE THAN THE PORTIONS OF SAID FLANGE ON SAID SIDE WALLS WHEREBY THE INTERNAL SHOULDER ON SAID REAR WALL HAS A GREATER WIDTH THAN SAID SHOULDERS ON SAID SIDE WALLS, SAID INTERNAL SHOULDER ON SAID REAR WALL HAVING A PIN EXTENDING UPWARD THEREFROM AT A POSITION SUBSTANTIALLY INTERMEDIATE THE LENGTH THEREOF AND SPACED FROM SAID REAR PORTION OF SAID FLANGE, EACH OF SAID BINS HAVING A RECESS EXTENDING UPWARD IN THE BOTTOM WALL THEREOF ADJACENT THE REAR WALL THEREOF AND POSITIONED A DISTANCE FORWARD OF A VERTICAL LINE THROUGH SAID PIN, SAID PIN BEING COMPLEMENTARY TO SAID RECESS, SAID BINS WHEN STACKED AS AFORESAID HAVING THE BOTTOM OF ONE BIN RESTING ON SAID CONTINUOUS INTERNAL SHOULDER OF THE NEXT LOWER BIN AND THE PIN ON SAID NEXT LOWER BIN REGISTERING IN SAID RECESS OF SAID ONE BIN.