WO2004080832A1

WO2004080832A1 - Container

Info

Publication number: WO2004080832A1
Application number: PCT/DK2003/000158
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Klinge
Original assignee: Paul Klinge Group A/S
Priority date: 2003-03-13
Filing date: 2003-03-13
Publication date: 2004-09-23
Also published as: EP1603805A1; WO2004080829A1; AU2003227022A1

Abstract

Container (1) comprising a base (2) and four walls (3, 4, 5, 6), of which at least two are fixed and stiff, whereas at least one of said walls (3, 4, 5, 6) comprises at least two removable segments (6a, 6b, 6c), wherein that the segments (6a, 6b, 6c) are adapted to be fit into grooves (8) provided at adjacent walls (3, 5).

Description

Container

The present invention relates to a container comprising a base and four walls, of which at least two are fixed and stiff, whereas at least one of said walls comprises at least two removable segments.

The prior art includes different kinds of containers, such as disclosed in DE-U1-20020108 , which relates to a container for articles, such as fruit, to store the articles and display them for sale. To facilitate access to the articles, an upper part of one wall is removable. It is, however, a disadvantage of this container that access to the last articles is difficult . GB-A-2021515 discloses a storage box comprising three fixed walls and a removable wall. This storage box has the disadvantage that removal of the wall will let out goods, especially if the goods stored are bulk goods, from inside the box, as the opening is revealed from the bottom of the box.

EP-A1-0876963 discloses a container having a side comprising two foldable portions to successively remove a part of a wall to allow easy access to the inside of the container during emptying of the con- tainer. This construction however has a number of drawbacks, as the construction is relatively fragile and exposed to breakage in that the hinge mechanism is sensitive to pressure on the foldable portions. Further the foldable portions are not able to with- stand the pressure from e.g. bulk goods stored in the container, and hence a foldable portion may unintentionally open allowing the bulk goods to escape from the container. Moreover the number of foldable por- tions is restricted to two, as the portions fold on each other, increasing the thickness of the next portion to be folded.

The object of the invention is to provide a container having improved accessibility and a high degree of robustness.

To achieve this object, the container according to the invention is characterized in that the segments are adapted to be fit into grooves provided at adjacent walls. With this construction the removable segments will withstand a high pressure exerted to the segments, e.g. by bulk goods, while emptying is improved, as it is possible to successively remove a wall of the container, while still keeping the con- tents inside the container, and the segments and container is not prone to breakage of any parts. Further the container according to the inventions allows easy and intuitive operation of the segments on removal and refitting, without any loose elements to hold the position of the segments. This means that ergonomic requirements of the container is fulfilled in that a person can remove a part of the wall, so the person emptying the container does not have to stretch in an awkward position and lift contents of the container up over the full height of the container, which movement may e.g. strain the back of a person. The container will thus meet the legislative requirements, which have been increased for the demands with regard to ergonomics of e.g. emptying of containers. Further as the wall is removed successively as required when a layer or upper part of the contents has been removed, the contents of the container will be kept inside the container at all times, and the risk that bulk goods will escape from the container is eliminated. Further the container and segments are easy, and thus cheap, to manufacture.

To provide a safeguard that the segments will not disengage, e.g. because of pressure from bulk goods inside the container, opposite ends of the segments are provided with heads adapted to fit into said grooves, which grooves are provided with narrowed openings to retain the heads within the grooves.

The segments may be plane or provided with handles projecting from a surface of the segment, according to an embodiment, however, the segments each are provided with at least one opening dimensioned to provide a hand^' grip. Such an opening is easy to manufacture and provide little influence on the container to store goods, and further provide a good grip for a person to remove the segment .

The container may have any size suitable for the purpose, according to an embodiment, however, the container is dimensioned such that a plurality of containers will fit into an ISO-container to substantially fill the ISO-container, preferably 24 containers in a 20-foot ISO-container. Alternative embodiments comprise containers dimensioned such that a plurality of containers will fit into a common lorry or lorry container.

For some purposes it may be adequate to provide an open container, which will allow easy filling and emptying, however to protect the goods inside the container e.g. from rain, it may be advantageous that the container comprises a lid.

Fork-lifts are commonly used for short distance transport, stacking etc. of containers, and to facilitate the use of such fork-lifts the base advantageously comprises at least one opening or space accessible by forks of a fork-lift. The container may be made of any suitable material, such as wood or metal, according to an embodiment, however, the container is made of a plastic material, which will allow easy and cost effective manufacture, e.g. by blow moulding, and further the weight of a container made of a plastic material is very low. The low weight reduces the transport expenses .

Although for some purposes a stack of two or three containers will be sufficiently stable, an e - bodiment of the container is provided with means for ^• engagement with a similar container placed on top, to further increase the stability of a stack. This is of particular importance when handling and transport is rough. In the following the invention will be described in detail by means of an embodiment and with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an oblique view of a container according to the invention, Fig. 2 is an oblique view corresponding to Fig. 1, however with two segments removed,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of an embodiment of a joint between a segment and the container,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of an alternative embodiment of a joint between a segment and the container,

Fig. 5a is a side view of a segment,

Fig. 5b is a side view of an alternative em- bodiment of a segment, and

Fig. 5c is a top view of a segment. In Fig. 1 and 2 can be seen a container 1 according to the invention. The embodiment shown com- prises a base 2 and three fixed walls 3, 4, 5, and a fourth wall 6 made up of removable segments 6a, 6b, 6c. In Fig. 1 all segments 6a, 6b, 6c are in place, so the container 1 constitutes an upwardly open container, whereas in Fig. 2 two segments 6a, 6b are re- moved, so the only segment remaining is the lower segment 6c. The number of segments can be chosen as occasion requires, however the minimum number of segments is two, and three segments is found to provide a fair compromise between function and trouble by ad- ministrating a large number of segments, although a larger number may be advantageous for some purposes, such as for a large or high container. When all segments are removed, the whole wall 6 is removed, which will enable very easy emptying of the very last con- tents of the container. To further facilitate emptying of the container 1, the opposite wall 4 may also be removable, e.g. in that it comprises segments, or the wall 4 may be removable in one piece, or hinged at the base 2. The container may further be provided with a lid 12, which can be seen in Fig. 1, and for illustration purposes it is shown at a distance from the container. The segments 6a, 6b, 6c are provided with two openings 7 dimensioned to provide a hand grip to facilitate manual removal of the segments. In the illustrated example, the openings 7 are provided symmetrically between the upper and lower edge of the segment, however it may be advantageous to provide the openings 7 near the upper edge of the segment so hand grip is near the user, so the removal of a segment is less straining for the back. Further the skilled person will understand that only one opening 7 in each segment may be enough, or that a plurality of openings 7 may be provided in each segment, e.g. four, two near the upper edge and two near the lower edge of the segment, so hand grips are available near the upper edge independently of orientation of the segment. Advantageously the container 1 comprises feet or the like to allow forks of a fork lift (not shown) to be introduced in a space or opening 13 under the base 2. Such openings 13 should preferably be provided to allow introducing of the forks from all sides^' of the container.

The base 2 , and ^' sides 3, 4, 5 may be manufactured by blow moulding of a plastic material, such as a polypropylene, glass reinforced polyamide or the like . The segments 6a, 6b, 6c may be inserted into a through-going groove 8 in adjacent walls 3, 5, as can be seen in Fig. 3. The segments are slidably fit in the grooves 8 by insertion of the segments from the top of the container 1. Each end of the' segments is provided with enlarged heads 10 of any suitable shape, which heads are received in the grooves 8. In the embodiment shown, the heads are cylindrical having a circular cross section. The corresponding grooves 8 in the walls are provided with a narrowed opening 11 towards the opposite groove, so the heads

10 are retained in the groove 8, as the heads 10 cannot pass the narrowed opening 11. Thus the segments can only be removed by lifting the segments up through the groove. A high pressure exerted on the segments, e.g. from bulk goods inside the container, will thus not be able to force the segments out of the grooves . As an alternative to having through-going grooves, the container 1 may be provided with entrance openings 9 on the front of the container, as can be seen in Fig. 4. The entrance opening 9 allow access to relatively short grooves 8 with narrowed openings 11, so that an enlarged head 10 of a segment, such as the segment shown in Fig. 5a, can be introduced through the entrance opening 9 and moved into the groove 8 and retained therein. One advantage of this embodiment is, that the segments need only be lifted for a very short distance before they can be removed, which facilitates emptying. Further, as the segments can be removed from the front instead of from the top, the segments can be removed even when the container is provided with a lid, to thereby fa- cilitate inspection of the goods in the container.

An embodiment of the segment is shown in Fig. 5a, in which one end of the segment is illustrated, whereas the other end may be identical. This embodiment of the segment comprises a flat main part and enlarged engagement heads 10 for introduction in the grooves 8 of the container 1 as explained above . In this example the end of the segment is provided with two heads 10, which for some purposes may provide the necessary strength, and the friction restricting sliding up and down of the segment in the groove 8 is relatively small. Further this embodiment of the segment is suited for the embodiment of the container having entrance openings 9 on the front of the con- tainer for insertion and removal of the segments.

Another embodiment of a segment is shown in Fig. 5b. As can be seen the head 10 at the end of the segment is extending from the upper edge 14 to the lower edge 15 of the segment 6a. Because of the large size of the head 10 in that it stretches from top to bottom, the load on the head and the groove 8 is relatively small compared to the embodiment shown in Fig. 5a. Fig. 5c is a view from above of the segment 6a according to Fig. 5a or 5b. As can be seen the heads 10 may be of elliptic cross section, preferably as shown with the major axis cross wise with respect to the segment to provide the best resistance to pull- out from the groove 8, when the head 10 is engaged therein. Other cross sectional shapes are also possible, the only requirement being that the head 10 is wider than the narrowed opening 11. A suitable shape could be an arrow-shape with barbs resisting pull-out from the groove 8. Preferably the segments are provided with the same kind of heads 10 in opposite ends thereof, as this will allow the segment to be inserted in any position, not only one or two.

With this kind of segments, the segments will stiffen and strengthen the structure of the container when the segments are in use, as the segments will be able to e.g. withstand pressure exerted to the walls from the inside, thereby for instance preventing sagging or bulge of the walls. The container 1 may be provided with a locking and/or sealing means (not shown) to lock or seal the container to prevent unauthorized access to the goods in the container, or e.g. that wind or rough handling rips off the lid 12. For example the lid 12 may be provided with a projection engaged in a groove, and/or the lid 12 may be slidably mounted on the top of the container, so the lid 12 cannot be lifted off, and the lid 12 may then further be connected to a segment, e.g. by a wire or string, which may for instance be inserted through an opening 7 and connected to the lid 12.

Further the segments may be provided with clamps or other kinds of retaining means to retain the segments in position, such as a retaining pin. The retaining pin may be adapted to break at removal to provide a seal .

Preferably the container is a subcontainer suitable for placing inside a^' larger container, such as ^' an ISO-container or a lorry container. The ISO- container may be a refrigerated container, having slightly reduced inner space.

The container may be provided with solid walls or perforated walls having a plurality of ventilation holes . Further the base of the container may be provided with holes for ventilation and/or drainage. The presence of ventilation holes is of particular advantage when transporting perishable goods, and ventila- tion holes will greatly enhance the effect of e.g. cooling by a refrigerating appliance.

According to an embodiment, the container is tapered to provide a base insertable in another container to provide nesting containers of small com- bined dimension. Hereby storage and transport of empty containers is facilitated, however the volume of the container is slightly restricted.

Further adjacent segments may be provided with means for engagement, so the segments are joined. Hereby it is possible to stiffen the construction. Moreover the base 2 may be provided with means for restricting outward movement of the segments, such as a flange (not shown) to withstand pressure exerted on the segments from the inside.

Advantageously the base of the container may have approximately length and width of a Europallet, so the container is easy to handle, store and trans- port with other goods on Europallets.

The container according to the invention is particularly useful for storage and transport of bulk goods, such as fruit and vegetables.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S 1. A container (1) comprising a base (2) and four walls (3, 4, 5, 6) , of which at least two are fixed and stiff, whereas at least one of said walls (3, 4, 5, 6) comprises at least two removable segments (6a, 6b, 6c) , c h a a c t e r i z e d in that the segments (6a, 6b, 6c) are adapted to be fit into grooves (8) provided at adjacent walls (3, 5) .

2. A container (1) according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that opposite ends of the segments (6a, 6b, 6c) are provided with heads (10) adapted to fit into said grooves (8) , which grooves (8) are provided with narrowed openings (11) to retain the heads (10) within the grooves (8) .

3. A container (1) according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the segments (6a, 6b, 6c) each are provided with at least one opening (7) dimensioned to provide a hand grip.

4. A container (1) according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the container (1) is dimensioned such that a plurality of containers (1) will fit into an ISO-container to substantially fill the ISO-container, preferably 24 containers (1) in a 20-foot ISO-container.

5. A container according to any of the claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the container is dimensioned such that a plurality of containers will fit into a common lorry or lorry con- tainer.

6. A container (1) according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the container (1) comprises a lid (12) .

7. A container (1) according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the base (2) comprises at least one opening or space (13) accessible by forks of a fork-lift.

8. A container (1) according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the container (1) is made of a plastic material.

9. A container (1) according to any of the pre- ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the container (1) is provided with means for engagement with a similar container (1) placed on top.