WO2004080829A1

WO2004080829A1 - Collapsible container

Info

Publication number: WO2004080829A1
Application number: PCT/DK2004/000017
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Klinge
Original assignee: Paul Klinge Group A/S
Priority date: 2003-03-13
Filing date: 2004-01-14
Publication date: 2004-09-23
Also published as: EP1603805A1; WO2004080832A1; AU2003227022A1

Abstract

A collapsible container comprises a base, two side walls and two end walls. Each wall extends between an inside plane and an outside plane and between opposed end edges. The walls are detachably interconnected by means of mutually corresponding engagement portions. The engagement portions of each end wall protrude from the inside plane of said end wall in the direction of the opposed end wall, and the engagement portions of each side wall protrude from the end edges of said side wall. Each side wall and its engagement portions are confined between the opposed inside planes of the end walls.

Description

Collapsible container

The present invention relates to- a collapsible container, in particular a collapsible box pallet, comprising a base, two side walls and two end walls, each wall extending between an inside plane and an outside plane and between opposed end edges, and the walls being detachably interconnected by means of mutually corresponding engagement portions. GB 868 455 discloses a collapsible box pallet composed of a plain pallet, four detachable walls and a lid, all made of wood. In order to detachably connect adjacent walls, two opposed side walls are provided with L-shaped corner straps, which have verti- cal slots, which engage in a downward direction with horizontal pins on two opposed end walls.. In order to facilitate transport of the four sides of the pallet when the complete pallet is returned empty, it is possible to pack the four sides, and the lid if re- quired, to form a flat package. However, to avoid loss of parts of the pallet during transport, it is necessary to manually provide the package with straps or clips in order to hold the parts of the package together. GB 1 002 241 describes a similar collapsi- ble box pallet.

GB 1 066 244 shows a collapsible box pallet, comprising a pallet base, a first pair of opposite walls arranged to be detachably secured at their lower edges to a first pair of opposite edges of the pallet base by sliding along the line of the edges, a second pair of opposite walls arranged to be slidably and detachably secured to a second pair of opposite edges of the pallet base by sliding along the line of the edges whereby they abut against and locate said first pair of opposite walls. Furthermore, the top corners of the walls are detachably secured by a piv- otally stirrup on one wall engaging a post on an ad- jacent wall.

GB 1 392 808 discloses a collapsible container having a base and four detachable walls. The walls are attached to the base by means of tabs projecting from the lower edge of the walls and engaging in holes of the base. Furthermore, two of the walls being opposed to each other have, at each of their uppermost corners, an engagement member projecting from the corner in the direction of the upper edge of the wall and having a downward protruding pin engaging a corresponding socket in the upper edge of an adjacent one ^' of the other two opposed walls. However, in the collapsed state, the base, walls and lid of this container must, like all the above described containers, be held together by means of clips, straps or simi- larly means, which must be attached manually before transport of the collapsed container.

The object of the present invention is to provide a collapsible container that is easy to disassemble and transport in the collapsed state. In view of this object, the engagement portions of each end wall protrude from the inside plane of said end wall in the direction of the opposed end wall, the engagement portions of each side wall protrude from the end edges of said side wall, and each side wall and its engagement portions are confined between the opposed inside planes of the end walls.

By providing the engagement between the end walls and the side walls within the room between the inside planes of the end walls, it is achieved that both the end walls and the side walls of several disassembled containers may be accommodated inside a similar, but still assembled, container, substan- tially without extending from the open top side of the assembled container. This is possible, because the side walls of the disassembled containers may be arranged with their longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the side walls of the assembled container. Thereby, several walls may be arranged parallel to each other, whereby the available space in the container may be utilized in a most efficient way. This in turn means that the volume taken up by a given number of empty containers may be reduced considerably, whereby freight charges may be minimized.

In an advantageous embodiment, each pair of interconnected engagement portions comprises a channel with a constricted opening and a rib having a head portion slidable into the channel. Thereby it is ensured that each pair of interconnected engagement portions will not disengage, for instance as a result of pressure exerted on the walls by bulk goods inside the container. Furthermore, the walls may be assem- bled and disassembled in a simple manner by mutual displacement of the walls in the direction of the channel .

In an advantageous embodiment in terms of strength and manufacture, the channel with a con- stricted opening has a substantially circular cross- section, and the head portion of the rib has a corresponding substantially circular cross-section. This embodiment is furthermore easy to clean, because the circular shape of the engagement portions leaves no corners, where dirt could collect.

In a further advantageous embodiment, adjacent walls of the container, by mutual displacement in the channel direction, may be brought to a disengagement position, in which an engagement portion of the rib is aligned with a disengagement portion of the channel, in which disengagement portion the channel has an opening without restriction, and an engagement portion of the channel is aligned with a disengagement portion of the rib, in which disengagement portion the rib has no head portion, so that said adjacent walls subsequently may be disengaged by mutual displacement crosswise to the channel direction. Thereby, the walls may be disconnected from each other by a mutual displacement in the vertical direction that is smaller, or much smaller, than the full length of the channel, i.e. the height of the walls. This makes it much easier to handle the walls, when disassembling or assembling the container.

In an embodiment especially easy to manufacture, each wall is injection-moulded integrally with its engagement portions. Furthermore, the washability of the disassembled container is further improved, as corners and cavities, where dirt could gather, may be avoided.

In an embodiment, at least one of the walls of the container is divided into at least two separate wall sections, of which one is placed on top of the other, and which may be removed consecutively from the container. Thereby gradual emptying of the container is facilitated, when at the same time bulk goods, for instance, remaining in the container, may still be kept well in place inside the container. This is achieved by firstly removing the uppermost wall section, taking out the upper quantity of the bulk goods, then removing the second uppermost wall section, subsequently taking out the bulk goods at the level of the just removed wall part, and so on. In this way it is avoided that a person has to assume an awkward position, that is, to stoop excessively to pick up goods located very low in relation to the top edge of the container wall. This means that the container may be emptied in a correct way in terms of ergonomics, which is a requirement for instance at the distribution of bulk goods in supermarkets. This embodiment is an invention in itself, and it may be applied to a container independently of the configuration of the remaining walls of the container, that is, the walls that are not divided into separate wall sections may be fixed and possibly also connected permanently to each other. In an embodiment, each separate wall section comprises two channels, each being composed by two engagement portions separated by a disengagement portion. This makes it possible to remove a wall section from the container after a small displacement of the wall section in the channel direction; the necessary displacement may be much smaller than the height of the wall section to be removed. In particular, it is not necessary to displace the lower situated wall sections all the way to the top of the container edge in order to remove those wall sections from the container.

In another embodiment, each separate wall section comprises two ribs, each being composed by two engagement portions separated by a disengagement portion. Thereby the same advantages are achieved as explained in the paragraph above, in the case where the engagement portions of the removable wall sections have the form of rib .

In an embodiment, the channel extends between two channel walls of which one is discontinued in the disengagement portion of the channel, and the rib is discontinued in its disengagement portion. This makes it possible to remove a side wall of the container after a small displacement in the vertical direction without having to first remove an end wall of the container. This is also especially advantageous in the case where one of the side walls is divided into more separate wall sections, as it otherwise would be necessary to lift said wall sections all the ^' way to the top edge of the container in order to remove them from the assembled container.

In an embodiment, adjacent wall sections are interconnected by means of extensible strings.

Thereby one or more of the upper separate wall sections of a container wall may be kept in place at the container after its removal from the wall, that is the removed wall sections will hang in the extensible strings. In this way, the separate wall sections are always kept as a part of the wall to which they are associated and do not get lost during the gradual emptying of the container, or subsequently during transport of the container. Furthermore, when worn out, the strings may easily be replaced on site by any suitable strings available. The strings may even be easily removed but cutting, if so preferred.

In an embodiment, the walls are provided with downward extending guide flaps at a lower edge. The guide flaps ensure that the walls are kept in place at the edge of the base of the container, such as a plain pallet. In an embodiment, the external length of the side walls is larger than the external length of the end walls.

The invention further relates to a method of packing several identical collapsible containers, in particular collapsible box pallets, each container comprising a base, two side walls and two end walls, whereby a container is disassembled by mutual displacement of adjacent walls in vertical direction. According to the invention, the method is character- ized by that- the walls of the disassembled container are placed in an assembled one of the identical collapsible containers, whereby the side walls of the disassembled container are arranged with their longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the longitudi- nal axis of the side walls of the assembled container. Thereby the above-mentioned advantage is achieved.

In a specific advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention, the containers have a horizontal cross-section of approximately 1200 mm x 800 mm, all walls of five disassembled containers are arranged inside one assembled container, and all the bases of said five disassembled containers are stacked on top of each other. In a further specific advantageous embodiment of the method, the containers have a horizontal cross-section of approximately 800 mm x 600 mm, all walls of six disassembled containers are arranged in- side two assembled containers, and all the bases of said six disassembled containers are stacked on top of each other.

The invention will now be explained in more de- tail below by means of examples of embodiments with reference to the schematic drawing, in which

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a collapsible box pallet according to the invention, whereby a wall section has been removed and placed in a hanging posi- tion,

Fig. 2 is a side view of the box pallet in Fig.

1,

Fig. 3 is a top view of the box pallet in Fig. 1; however, shown in the state before removal of said wall section,

Fig. 4 is a detail of Fig. 3. on a larger scale,

Fig. 5 is a detail of Fig. 1 on a larger scale,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a collapsible half box pallet 1' according to the invention, whereby one wall section has been removed,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the half box pallet 1' in Fig. 6, whereby the wall section, which has been removed in Fig . 6 , has been put back in the side wall of the box pallet, Fig. 8 is an end view of the half box pallet 1' in Fig. 6,

Fig. 9 is a cross section of the half box pallet 1' along the line IX-IX in Fig. 8,

Fig. 10 is a detail of the half box pallet 1' in Fig. 6 on a larger scale,

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of six box pallets of the type shown in Fig. 1, which have been packed to take up the volume of approximately two box pallets of this type,

Fig. 12 is an end view of the packed box pallet shown in Fig. 11,

Fig. 13 is a cross section of the packed box pallet along the line XIII-XIII in Fig. 12,

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of eight half box pallets 1' of the type shown in Fig. 6 packed to take up the volume of approximately three half box pallets 1' of this type, Fig. 15 is a top view of the packed half box pallets 1' in Fig. 14,

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of three box pallets of the type shown in Fig. 1 which have been stacked on top of each other, and Fig. 17 is a perspective view of a half. box pallet 1' of the type shown in Fig. 6 provided with a . lid and three small crates on top of the lid.

Fig. 1 shows a collapsible box pallet 1 according to the invention, comprising a base in the form of a plain pallet 2, opposed first and second side walls 3, 4 and opposed first and second end walls 5, 6. Each of the end walls 5, 6 of the box pallet 1 are divided into three. separate wall sections 16, 17, 18, which is placed on top of each other, thereby abut- ting each other along horizontal lines. The walls 3, 4, 5, 6 and the wall sections 16, 17, 18 are all provided with downward protruding guide flaps 26 at their lower edges in order to guide their position in relation to the plain pallet 2 and the lower wall sections, respectively.

Although the invention in the following will be exemplified in the form of a box pallet, it will be understood by the man skilled in the art that the in- vention is equally applicable to a collapsible container that does not have the form of a box pallet . The collapsible container according to the invention may be used for transport and/or storage of any kind of goods, such as bulk goods, for instance fruit or other kinds of foodstuffs. The collapsible container may also be utilised for display and distribution of goods for instance in a supermarket .

The collapsible container 1 according to the invention may be produced of any kind of suitable material; however, in the case of a box pallet for the transportation of goods such as foodstuff, it is preferred that the pallet walls 3, 4, 5, 6 are produced of a suitable plastic material, such as polypropylene or possibly glass reinforced material, such as poly- amide or the like. Preferably, the walls are produced by injection-moulding. The plain pallet 2 may be of the conventional type made of wood or it may also be made of a suitable plastic material, possibly rein- forced. Advantageously, substantially all parts of the container are produced mainly of a suitable plastic material, whereby the washability of the container 1 is highly improved. Furthermore, the walls of the collapsible box pallet are advantageously pro- vided with a number of evenly distributed apertures 7 in order to allow a cleaning fluid to penetrate the walls during washing.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, each end wall 5, 6 is provided with an engagement portion 8 protruding from an inside plane 9 of said end wall 5, 6 in the direction of the opposed end wall 5, 6. Fig. 4 shows the engagement portion 8 protruding from the inside plane 9 of the first end wall 5 in the direction of the opposed second end wall 6. Furthermore it may be seen that the side walls 3, 4 have engagement portions 10 protruding from end edges 11 of the side walls in the longitudinal direction of the side walls. In Fig. 4 the extension of the inside plane 9 of the first end wall 5 is indicated by means of a broken line, and it is understood that the side walls 3, 4 and their engagement portions 10 are confined between the opposed inside planes 9 of the end walls 5, 6. This means that the total outer dimension of the side walls 3, 4 including their engagement portions 10, in the longitudinal direction of the side walls, is smaller than the distance between the inside planes 9 of the end walls 5, 6 in the assembled box pallet shown in Figs.- 1 to -4, and consequently it is possible to accommodate not only the end walls 5, 6 but also the side walls 3, 4 of a disassembled box pallet of the type shown in Fig. 1 in a still assembled box pallet of the same type. This is illustrated in Figs. 11 to 13.

Referring again to Fig. 4, it may be seen that the engagement portion 8 of the first end wall 5 comprises a channel 12 having a substantially circular cross-section, extending along a vertical edge of the end wall 5 and having a constricted opening 13. The end edge 11 of the side wall 4 is provided with a corresponding vertically extending rib 14 provided with a head portion 15 inserted in and having a substantially circular cross-section corresponding to the channel 12 in the engagement portion 8 of the end wall 5. However, the channel 12 and the corresponding head portion 15 of the rib 14 may have another cross- section than circular, for instance a square or oc- tagonal cross-section.

Fig. 5 shows a detail of the corner between the first end wall 5 and the second side wall 4 of the box pallet 1 in Fig. 1. The upper wall section 16 of the first end wall 5 has been disengaged from the box pallet 1 and is hanging in front of the second wall section 17 of the end wall 5 in strings 19 by means of which the two wall sections 16, 17 are connected. The upper part of the rib 14 on the second side wall 4, which is adapted to engage the upper wall section 16 of the end wall 5, is visible, because the wall section 16 has been removed, and it may be seen that this upper part of the rib 14 is divided into two engagement portions 20 having a head portion 15 and an intermediate disengagement portion 21, where the rib 14 has no head portion. Correspondingly, the channel 12 in the engagement portion 8 of the first end wall 5, which is visible on the loosely hanging wall section 16, comprises two engagement portions 22, where the channel has a restricted opening 13, and an intermediate disengagement portion 23, where the channel 12 has an opening without restriction. As it will be understood by the person skilled in the art, the loosely hanging wall section 16 may be placed on top of the wall section 17 and brought into engagement with the second side wall 4 in the following way: Firstly, the wall section 16 is swung upwards and held at the level of the upper part of the rib 14, so that the, in this position, lower engagement portion 22 of the channel 12 is positioned adjacent the disengagement portion 21 of the rib 14. In this position, the engagement portion 22 may be inserted over the disengagement portion 21 of the rib 14, and the disengagement portion 23 may be inserted over the upper engagement portion 20 of the rib 14, by a displacement crosswise to the direction of the channel 12. Subsequently, the wall section 16 may be dis- placed downwards, vertically in the direction of the channel 12, so that both engagement portions 22 of the wall section 16 engage the engagement portions 20, respectively, of the rib 14, whereby the wall section 16 is held in place engaging the side walls 3, 4.

Referring to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, it may be understood by the man skilled in the art, that the engagement portion 8 of the end wall 5 and the engagement portion 10 of the side wall 4 could be inverted, so that the engagement portion 8 of the end wall 5 were provided with the rib 14, and, correspondingly, the engagement portion 10 of the side wall 4 had the form of the channel 12.

Figs. 6 to 10 show another embodiment of the box pallet according to the invention, whereby side walls 3 ' , 4 ' have been divided into separate wall sections 16', 17', 18', instead of the end walls, as it is the case in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1. This embodiment has the form of a so-called half box pallet 1', which relates to the fact that the plain pallet 2 ' has the shape and size of half the plain pallet 2 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1. The box pallet shown in Fig. 1 has a length of approximately 1200 mm, a width of approximately 800 mm and a height of approximately 800 mm. The half box pallet 1' shown in Fig. 6 has a length of approximately 800 mm, a width of approximately 600 mm and a height of approximately 800 mm. However, the collapsible con- tainer 1 according to the invention may be produced with any measures suitable for the actual purpose .

Fig. 10 shows a detail of the corner between the second end wall 6 ' and the second side wall 4 ' of the half box pallet 1' shown in Fig. 6. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 10, the separate wall sections 16', 17', 18' is provided with a rib 14' having two engagement sections 20', in which the rib 14' is provided with a head section 15 ' , and an intermediate disengagement portion 21', in which the rib 14' is discontinued. The end wall 6' is provided with an engagement portion 8 ' having a vertical channel 12 ' . The channel 12 ' extends between an inner channel wall 24 and an outer channel wall 25. The channel 12' is composed of two engagement portions .22 ' and an intermediate disengagement portion 23'. In the disengagement portion 23 ' , the outer channel wall 25 is discontinued, which permits removal of the wall section 16' by firstly sliding the wall section upward in the direction of the channel 12' and secondly displacing the wall section cross-wise the channel direction.

In Figs. 11 to 13, six box pallets of the type shown in Fig. 1 has been reduced to the size of approximately two box pallets of the same type by dis- assembling five of the box pallets as described above, packing the wall sections of the disassembled box pallets in the remaining assembled box pallet and stabling the plain pallets 2 of the five disassembled box pallets on top of each other. Similarly Figs. 14 to 15 illustrate the case, where eight half box pallets 1' of the type shown in Fig. 6 have been reduced to the size of approximately three half box pallets of the same type by disassembling six of the half box pallets as described above, packing all the walls of the disassembled half box pallets in the two remaining assembled half box pallets and stabling the six plain pallets 2 ' of the disassembled half box pallets on top of each other.

Eventually it should be noted that, in the disassembled state of the collapsible container according to the invention, the walls and the plain pallet of the container may easily be washed in a so-called flume type washing machine or a tunnel washing machine. This is not possible with conventional containers that cannot be disassembled, and consequently such containers have to be washed in much larger and therefore more expensive machines.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S

1. A collapsible container, in particular a collapsible box pallet, comprising a base, two side walls and two end walls, each wall extending between an inside plane and an outside plane and between opposed end edges, and the walls being detachably interconnected by means of mutually corresponding engagement portions, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the engagement portions of each end wall pro- trude from the inside plane of said end wall in the direction of the opposed end wall, in that the engagement portions of each side wall protrude from the end edges of said side wall, and in that each side wall and its engagement portions are confined between the opposed inside planes of the end walls.

2. A collapsible container according to claim

1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each pair of interconnected engagement portions comprises a channel with a constricted opening and a rib having a head portion slidable into the channel.

3. A collapsible container according to claim

2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the channel with a constricted. opening has a substantially circular cross-section, and in that the head portion of the rib has a corresponding substantially circular cross-section.

4. A collapsible container according to claim 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that adj acent walls of the container, by mutual displacement in the channel direction, may be brought to a disengagement position, in which an engagement portion of the rib is aligned with a disengagement portion of the channel, in which disengagement portion the channel has an opening without restriction, and an engagement portion of the channel is aligned with a disengagement portion of the rib, in which disengagement portion the rib has no head portion, so that said adja- cent walls subsequently may be disengaged by mutual displacement crosswise to the channel direction.

5. A collapsible container according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each wall is injection-moulded integrally with its engagement portions.

6. A collapsible container according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that at least one of the walls of the container is divided into at least two separate wall sections, of which ^• one is placed on top of the other, and which may be removed consecutively from the container..

7. A collapsible container according to claim 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each separate wall section comprises two channels, each being com- posed by two engagement portions separated by a disengagement portion.

8. A collapsible container according to claim 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each separate wall section comprises two ribs, each being composed by two engagement portions separated by a disengagement portion.

9. A collapsible container according to any one of the claims 4 to 8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the channel extends between two channel walls of which one is discontinued in the disengagement portion of the channel, and in that the rib is discontinued in its disengagement portion.

10. A collapsible container according to any one of the claims 6 to 9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that adjacent wall sections are interconnected by means of extensible strings .

11. A collapsible container according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the walls are provided with downward extending guide flaps at a lower edge .

12. A collapsible container according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r - i z e d in that the external length of the side walls is larger than the external length of the end walls .

13. A method of packing several identical collapsible containers, in particular collapsible box pallets, each container comprising a. base, two side walls and two end walls,, whereby a container is disassembled by mutual displacement of adjacent walls in vertical direction, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by that the walls of the disassembled container are placed in an assembled one of the identical collapsible containers, whereby the side walls of the disassembled container are arranged with their longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the side walls of the assembled container.

14. A method of packing several identical collapsible containers according to claim 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by that the containers have a horizontal cross-section of approximately 1200 mm x 800 mm, by that all walls of five disassembled con- tainers are arranged inside one assembled container, and by that all the bases of said five disassembled containers are stacked on top of each other.

15. A method of packing several identical col- lapsible containers according to claim 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by that the containers have a horizontal cross-section of approximately 800 mm x 600 mm, by that all walls of six disassembled con- tainers are arranged inside two assembled containers, and by that all the bases of said six disassembled containers are stacked on top of each other.