WO1996026138A1

WO1996026138A1 - Container with a movable bottom

Info

Publication number: WO1996026138A1
Application number: PCT/SE1995/000175
Authority: WO
Inventors: Per-Arne FRÖDERBERG
Original assignee: Froederberg Per Arne
Priority date: 1995-02-21
Filing date: 1995-02-21
Publication date: 1996-08-29
Also published as: AU2151495A; DE69518168D1; EP0810961A1; EP0810961B1; CA2213493A1; ATE194958T1; CA2213493C

Abstract

A container, e.g. for waste, presents an openable bottom for facilitating its discharge.

Description

CONTAINER WITH A MOVABLE BOTTOM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The present invention relates to a container which can be intended to receive all sorts of material, though hereinafter, to an illustrative but in no way delimiting end, the case of receipt of waste will be discussed.

Normally, waste containers present one or more openings located on top thereof and through which the waste can be thrown into the container. Thereafter, as the container is to be discharged, it must be lifted and in some way tilted to make the contents thereof fall out, and at larger waste containers a lifting crane is required for lifting the container and then discharging the contents thereof onto a lorry platform or a refuse dump. Thereby, at times it can be relatively difficult to accomplish an effective discharge of the container, and on the whole the handling thereof in connection with the discharge thereof is sometimes relatively complicated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a container which remedies the abovementioned disadvantages of priorily known containers.

This object is, according to the invention, achieved by providing a container with an openable bottom. Thanks to the bottom of the container according to the invention being openable, it becomes significantly easier than it was before to discharge the container, as it is sufficient to lift it straight up and then open the bottom for the discharge of the contents thereof by means of the gravitation . Thus, it is not any longer necessary to execute any tilting of the container and, therefore, neither to provide complicated means for accomplish¬ ing such tilting. Furthermore, a discharge of the container according to the invention can take place during a significantly less duration than the one of prior containers, and the risk for the remainder of some of the contents of the container therein can be reduced to a minimum.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the bottom is openable by means of a bottom part of the container being arranged to pivot downwards in relation to the walls of the container from a closed position, the container comprises an ar¬ rangement for locking the bottom part in relation to the rest of the container in a closed position, and the locking arrangement presents at least one member which is reachable from outside the container for mechanical manoeuvring of the locking ar¬ rangement between a locked position and an unlocked position which permits pivoting of the bottom part. Thanks to the arrangement of the locking arrangement and the locking mem- ber which is reachable from the outside for mechanical ma¬ noeuvring of the locking arrangement, it is possible to easily manoeuvre the locking member from outside, after the container has been lifted, to make the bottom part pivot down and to make the contents of the container fall out.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the locking member projects beyond a wall of the container and, during application of a compressive force, is arranged to be able to move inwards towards said wall for unlocking the locking ar- rangement from a position corresponding to the locking condi- tion of the locking arrangement. Thanks to this feature, dis¬ charge of the container can take place in an even easier way, as it is sufficient that the container is lifted and then laterally moved so that said container wall comes closer to a wall, for example, or any other object extending generally horizontally, whereby the locking member will hit this object and will be pushed in a direction towards the container wall under release of the bottom part for the pivoting downwards thereof.

According to yet another preferred embodiment of the invention, the container comprises means arranged to give the bottom part, in its opened position, a slope in relation to the vertical line in the direction of its closing movement as the container is lifted generally straight upwards. Thanks to this initial slope of the bottom part hanging downwards, the closure of the con¬ tainer is significantly facilitated, because when the lower edge of the bottom parts reaches the ground during lowering of the container the former will reliably be effected in a closing direction. This implies that the outer edge areas of the bottom part as well as the whole bottom part with attachment of the lat¬ ter to the container are preserved from detrimental breaking forces as to the rest and there is no risk for the bottom part be¬ ing pivoted in the wrong way.

According to a further development of the last mentioned embodiment of the invention, the bottom part is arranged to be freely pivotable at a wall of the container, and said means are formed by the bottom part comprising portions sloping upwards, for a pivotable connection of the bottom part to said wall at a distance above a bottom plane of the container, and by the weight distribution of the opening bottom part which hangs freely. The pivoting point of the bottom part which, in this way, is moved upwards along the container, makes it possible, with very simple means, to see to that the bottom part which hangs freely will slope with the bottom surface thereof in the required way.

Further advantages and advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description and the rest of the dependent patent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Hereinbelow a container according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of example, is described with ref¬ erence to the disclosed drawings, in which:

Fig 1 is a simplified perspective view obliquely from above of a container according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig 2 is a perspective view of the container in Fig 1 , from the opposite direction,

Fig 3 is a cross-sectional view of the container in Fig 1 , in closed condition,

Fig 4 is an enlarged detailed view illustrating a locking member of the locking arrangement of the container in a locking condi- tion,

Fig 5 is a view corresponding to the one of Fig 4, but with the locking member in an unlocked condition,

Fig 6 is a side view of the container according to Fig 1 , in a lifted and opened condition, and

Fig 7 is an enlarged detailed view illustrating the locking arrangement of the container according to Fig 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In Fig 1 a container 1 according to the invention is shown, said container presenting a generally parallellepipedic form and above all being intended for receipt of waste through two elongated inlet openings 4 located on top in the opposite longitudinal side walls 2, 3 of the container. The container presents a bottom part 5 which is formed by a generally flat and rectangular bottom piece 6 forming the bottom, and flange-like portions 7 which are projecting generally perpendicularly up from opposite short sides of said bottom piece and preferably being in one piece with said piece, said portions being intended to bear on the outside of the respective short walls 8 of the con- tainer in the closed condition of the container. Through pivot pins or the like the bottom part is pivotably connected to the short walls 8 at 9 around an axle which is generally perpendicu¬ lar to said short walls. The flange-like portions narrow from a container corner 10 at which the pivoting point 9 is arranged and towards the opposite container corner 11 , and the reason for this design will be explained later on.

In Fig 3 the design of the bottom part is further illustrated, and also how the latter is locked in relation to the rest of the container. It is pointed out that, in practice, the walls of the con¬ tainer should be made of corrugated sheet, but in order to facilitate, on the drawings they have been shown as presenting two discs arranged with an interspacing. It appears that the very bottom surface 12 of the end of the bottom part which is located nearest to the pivoting point 9 presents an arc-shape with the pivoting point 9 as centre point and touches the lower edge 13 of the long side wall 3 of the container. The reason for this design is that, in this way, the bottom piece 6 will seal against said lower edge all the time during the downwards pivoting of the bottom part 5 in relation to the rest of the container, so that no waste will be able to get stuck there.

At its opposite end the bottom part presents a second locking element 14 in the shape of a recess in which a first male locking element 15 is intended to engage for the inhibition of a downwards pivoting of the bottom part around the pivoting point 9. The first locking element 15 is formed by a V-shaped devia¬ tion of an arm 16 of a yoke-like locking member 17 which makes part of an arrangement for accomplishing said locking. The constitution of this locking arrangement is more clearly shown in Fig 7. The locking members 17 are two as to their number and obviously formed by bent flat bars, and a first arm 18 of each locking member respectively is intended to project out from an opening 19 in the lower region of the long side wall 2 of the container, while the second arm 16 projects through the container wall at this opening and into the interior of the container. At the origin of their two arms, the locking members 17 are connected to a bar 20, which, around its geometrical axis, is pivotably received in sleeves 21 at opposite short walls of the container. In this way, the locking members are pivotable around an axle 22 which is generally parallel to the bottom plane of the container, and thanks to the connection arrange¬ ment accomplished by the bar 20 the positions of the locking members are made interdependent, so that they are commonly pivoted, and it is enough that one of the locking members is manoeuvred to make the other execute the same movement.

The weight distribution of the locking members is made in such a way that, at generally vertically directed walls of the con¬ tainer, the gravitation seeks to pivot the V-shaped locking element 15 towards the wall 2 to the locking position shown in Figs 3 and 4, so that the bottom part is held locked in relation to the rest of the container thanks to the effect of the gravitation upon the locking members 17. As one requires to discharge the container, the following steps are taken. The container is lifted in a suitable way, e.g. by means of bringing the forks of a fork truck into one of the inlet openings 4, as illustrated in Fig 6. As the container is lifted a compression force is applied from outside onto one of or both of the two locking member arms 18 in direction towards the container wall 2, this for example being accomplished by the container being driven towards a wall or a post or simply by anyone manually pressing one of the locking arms 18 towards the container wall. The pivoting of the locking members 17 thereby accomplished, clockwise according to Figs 3-5, leads to the first locking element 15 loosing its locking engagement with the recess 14, which is illustrated in Fig 5. This, in its turn, leads to that the bottom part 5 can pivot freely around the pivoting point 9, and it therefore pivots down to the position shown in Fig 6 while at the same time the waste located in the container slides out. Thanks to the pivoting point 9 being arranged at a distance above the bottom plane of the container, the bottom piece 6 of the container will present a slope in relation to the vertical line in the closing direction in connection with a possibility to free pivoting and finding of a free position of balance. The downwards narrowing shape of the flange-like portions towards the down-hanging end of the bottom part contributes to the increase of this angle. This angle can be fur¬ ther increased by suitable weight distribution of the bottom part, which explains that, in Fig 6, it looks like a state of balance is not obtained, even though that is the case. However, it would also be possible to accomplish said sloping by arranging one or more stop members that inhibit pivoting of the bottom part further than to a given position in relation to the rest of the container. The advantage of said sloping in relation to the vertical line lies in that the very lowering of the container onto the ground or onto a floor is significantly facilitated and the risks for damages on the bottom part are minimized, as the forces on the outer edge 23 of the bottom part become small, and, furthermore, there is no risk that the bottom part 5 is effected to pivot in the wrong direction during the lowering thereof, that is clockwise as seen in Fig 6. The bottom piece 6 hereby forms an angle with the vertical line, which angle suitably is more than 10°, preferably more than 20° and most preferably more than 30°.

During the final phase of the very closing, the closing members 17 will automatically go into a locking engagement with the re¬ cesses 14 in the bottom part and lock the latter in relation to the rest of the container thanks to the fact that the first locking ele¬ ment 15, by means of its downwards directed V-yoke 24, presents an oblique surface which, as it is hit by portions 25 of the bottom part that surround the surface 14, will run along these under pivoting of the locking member 17 around the axle 22 in an opening direction until the locking element 15 has reached such a position that it falls into the recess 14, where¬ after the weight distribution of the locking member 17 leads to the latter being automatically in-pivoted and retained in its locking position.

Of course, the invention is not in any way delimited to the embodiment described above, but a plurality of possibilities to modifications should be obvious to a man skilled in the art without him or her deviating from the basic idea of the inven¬ tion.

As has already earlier been mentioned, the invention includes containers for totally different material than waste.

To accomplish the retention of the locking members in the locking position, also a spring member can be arranged, so that a spring force must be overcome to bring the locking members out of the locking engagement. It would also be possible to combine such a spring member with a certain weight distribu¬ tion of the locking members to see to that they are retained in the locking position.

Even though a container with two locking members has been illustrated above, other numbers would of course be possible. For example one single locking member could be arranged, and then preferably at the middle of the container, or more than two locking members could be arranged.

The pivotable arrangement of the locking members could, of course, be done in a plurality of ways equivalent to the illus¬ trated case.

Claims

1. A container, e.g. for waste, characterized in that it presents an openable bottom.

2. A container according to claim 1 , characterized in that the bottom is openable by means of a bottom part (5) of the container being pivotably arranged downwards from a closed position in relation to the walls (2, 3, 8) of the container.

3. A container according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises means (7, 9) arranged to give the bottom part (5), in its opened position, a slope in relation to a vertical line in a di¬ rection of its closing movement as the container is lifted generally straight upwards.

4. A container according to claim 3, characterized in that said slope is suitably at least 10°, preferably at least 20°, and most preferably at least 30°.

5. A container according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the bottom part (5) is arranged to be freely pivotable at a wall (8) of the container, and in that said means are formed by the bottom part comprising portions (7) sloping upwards, for a pivotable connection of the bottom part to said wall at a dis¬ tance above a bottom plane of the container, and by weight dis¬ tribution of the opening bottom part which hangs freely.

6. A container according to claim 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that said means comprise stop members that delimit the pivoting movement of the bottom part in relation to the walls of the container in the opening direction.

7. A container according to claim 5, characterized in that the container is generally parallellepipedic and the bottom part presents a flat, bottom-defining bottom piece (5) and flange portions (7) projecting generally perpendicularly along and out from two opposite edges thereof, said portions being adapted to be located exteriorly of a part of a respective, opposite con- tainer wall (8) at the closing position of the bottom part.

8. A container according to any of the claims 2-7, charac¬ terized in that it comprises an arrangement for locking the bottom part (5) in relation to the rest of the container in a closed position, and in that the locking arrangement presents at least one member (17) reachable from outside the container and for mechanical manoeuvring of the locking arrangement between a locked position and an unlocked position which permits pivoting of the bottom part.

9. A container according to claim 8, characterized in that the locking member (17) projects beyond a wall (2) of the container and is arranged to be movable inwards from said wall for unlocking of the locking arrangement during application of a compressive force, from a position corresponding to the locking condition of the locking arrangement.

10. A container according to claim 9, characterized in that the locking member (17) is pivotably connected to said container wall (2) and that it presents an arm (18) projecting beyond this wall, and a first locking element (15) connected to said arm and arranged to be brought into locking engagement with a second locking element (14) of the bottom part (5), and that the first locking element is arranged to be effected to go out of and into said locking engagement with the second locking element by pivoting of the arm.

1 1. A container according to claim 10, characterized in that the locking member (17) has the character of a double-armed yoke designed to pivot a second arm (16) in the same direction during the pivoting of said arm (18) towards the container wall (2), said second arm (16) presenting the first locking element (15) and projecting into the interior of the container.

12. A container according to claim 10 or 11 , characterized in that the locking arrangement comprises means for retaining the locking member (17) in the locking position.

13. A container according to claim 12, characterized in that said means are designed to apply a force upon the locking member which forces it to a locking position, and that the locking member (17) is movable out of the locking position by overcoming said force.

14. A container according to claim 13, characterized in that said retaining means comprises a distribution of the weight of the locking member which permits the latter to be pivoted towards the locking position by means of the gravitation force.

15. A container according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the retaining means comprises a member that effects the locking member (17) towards the locking position by means of spring force.

16. A container according to any of the claims 8-15, charac¬ terized in that the locking arrangement comprises a plurality of locking members (17) and an arrangement (20) for the intercon¬ nection thereof and to make the positions thereof interdepend¬ ent for a common unlocking and locking respectively of all locking members (17).

17. A container according to claims 10 and 13, characterized in that the locking member (17) presents surfaces (24) arranged to automatically get hit by surfaces (25) of the bottom part during closure of the bottom part (5), and to move along the lat- ter to automatically bring the locking element (15) of the locking member into locking engagement with the locking element (14) of the bottom part.