U.S. patent application number 10/200786 was filed with the patent office on 2003-08-07 for shipping container.
Invention is credited to Cai, Jia-ping, Chen, Qiao-feng, He, Si-dong, Mai, Bo-Liang, Wang, Shi-sheng, Yao, Gu.
Application Number | 20030146212 10/200786 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27543949 |
Filed Date | 2003-08-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030146212 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mai, Bo-Liang ; et
al. |
August 7, 2003 |
Shipping container
Abstract
The present invention relates to a shipping container. By making
improvements on its structure: to add longitudinal members in the
base frame, and/or to increase the wave height D between the wave
crest and wave trough of the corrugated plate of the side panels,
and/or to adopt steel plate in the floor, on the premise of passing
ISO test, it provides a container which is lighter in tare weight,
less in material consumed and lower in production cost.
Inventors: |
Mai, Bo-Liang; (Financial
Center of Shekou Industrial Z., CN) ; Wang, Shi-sheng;
(FInancial Center of Shekou Industrial Z., CN) ; He,
Si-dong; (Financial Center of shekou Industrial Z., CN)
; Chen, Qiao-feng; (Financial Center of Shekou Industrial
Z., CN) ; Yao, Gu; (Financial Center of Shekou
Industrial Z., CN) ; Cai, Jia-ping; (Financial Center
of Shekou Industrial Z., CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHARLES E. BAXLEY, ESQUIRE
Hart, Baxley, Daniels & Holton
Fifth Floor
59 John Street
New York
NY
10038
US
|
Family ID: |
27543949 |
Appl. No.: |
10/200786 |
Filed: |
July 22, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
220/1.5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 90/027 20130101;
B65D 90/02 20130101; B65D 88/121 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
220/1.5 |
International
Class: |
B65D 088/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 25, 2001 |
CN |
01127670.3 |
Jul 25, 2001 |
CN |
01127669.X |
Jul 25, 2001 |
CN |
01242851.5 |
Oct 10, 2001 |
CN |
01256204.1 |
Apr 29, 2002 |
CN |
02227395.6 |
Apr 30, 2002 |
CN |
02227414.6 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A shipping container, comprising a pair of side walls, a rear
end, a front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; said base frame
further comprising two longitudinal bottom side rails and numbers
of parallel bottom cross members, wherein said base frame further
includes at least one longitudinal member, said longitudinal member
is in parallel with said bottom side rails, and connected with at
least two of the bottom cross members.
2. A shipping container, comprising a pair of side walls, a rear
end, a front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; said base frame
further comprising two longitudinal bottom side rails and numbers
of parallel bottom cross members, wherein said floor is made up of
corrugated steel floor.
3. A shipping container, comprising a pair of side walls, a rear
end, a front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; the cross
section of said side walls is a corrugated structure made up by a
number of identical wave crests, slopes and wave troughs, wherein
the wave height D between said wave crest and wave trough is
36<D.ltoreq.54 mm.
4. A shipping container according to any of claims 1-3, wherein
said base frame may include at least two longitudinal members.
5. A shipping container according to claim 4, wherein the space
between two longitudinal members is no longer than 600 mm.
6. A shipping container according to claim 5, wherein the space
between two longitudinal members is no longer than 300 mm.
7. A shipping container according to claim 6, wherein the space
between two longitudinal members is no longer than 180 mm.
8. A shipping container according to any of claims 1-3, wherein
some slots with openings are made on the bottom cross members in
regular interval, the entire longitudinal members pass through said
slots and be welded to the bottom cross members.
9. A shipping container according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the
longitudinal members are disconnected and then welded to the bottom
cross members.
10. A shipping container according to any of claims 1-3, wherein
said longitudinal members may be distributed non continuously.
11. A shipping container according to claim 10, wherein said
longitudinal members are shorter than said bottom side rails, and
only distributed within partial area of the entire base frame.
12. A shipping container according to any one of claims 1-3,
wherein said base frame may further include supporting beams tilted
installed at the corner of the cross made up by the longitudinal
members and the bottom cross members.
13. A shipping container according to claim 12, wherein the cross
section area of said bottom cross members is larger than that of
the longitudinal members.
14. A shipping container according to any one of claim 1-3, wherein
only one end of said bottom cross member is connected with said
bottom side rail, the other end is connected with said longitudinal
member.
15. A shipping container according to any one of claims 1-3,
wherein said floor is made up of corrugated steel floor which is
directly paved on said bottom cross members, and welded to the
external side of the bottom cross members, constituting an integral
rigid structure.
16. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein said bottom
cross members may be made of steel bars of C-shape cross sectional
form.
17. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein the cross
sectional form of the bottom cross members is L-shaped, at the edge
of the bottom cross member, there installed many convex teeth
matching with the concave grooves of the corrugated floor, helping
the bottom cross members to be welded to the corrugated steel
floor.
18. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein there are
non metallic stuffing filled within all the grooves of the
corrugated steel floor.
19. A shipping container according to claim 18, wherein said non
metallic stuffing may be made of wood, or foam, or plastics.
20. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein thin plate
is paved on the corrugated steel floor.
21. A shipping container according to claim 20, wherein said thin
plate may be made of thin wooden plate, composite plate or steel
plate.
22. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein said non
metallic stuffing is filled within some of the grooves of the
corrugated steel floor.
23. A shipping container according to claim 22, wherein the grooves
with non metallic stuffing filled in are in a certain proportion to
the grooves without non metallic stuffing filled in.
24. A shipping container according to claim 22, wherein the grooves
with non metallic stuffing filled in are not in a certain
proportion to the grooves without non metallic stuffing filled
in.
25. A shipping container according to claim 18 or 22, wherein the
non metallic stuffing filled in the grooves of the corrugated steel
floor is continuously distributed along the grooves.
26 A shipping container according to claim 18 or 22, wherein the
non metallic stuffing filled in the grooves of the corrugated steel
floor is incontinuously distributed along the grooves.
27. A shipping container according to claim 18 or 22, wherein said
corrugated steel floor may be continuous, the non metallic stuffing
completely filled in the grooves of the corrugated steel floor.
28. A shipping container according to claim 18 or 22, wherein said
corrugated steel floor is disconnected at the position where the
non metallic stuffing is filled, said non metallic stuffing is held
within a concavity which is formed by two adjacent disconnected
corrugated floors and has an opening at its bottom.
29. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein the
wavelength of each corrugation of the steel floor is not equal to
each other, and said non metallic stuffing is filled in the wider
grooves.
30. A shipping container according to claim 15, wherein the
wavelength of each corrugation of the corrugated steel floor is
equal to each other.
31. A shipping container according to any one of claims 1-3,
wherein the thickness of said side panel is 0.8 0.2 mm.
32. A shipping container according to any one of claims 1-3,
wherein the length I of said slope projection on said wave trough
plane is 0.ltoreq.I.ltoreq.25 mm.
33. A shipping container according to any one of claims 3 or 31 or
32, wherein the wave height D between said wave crest and wave
trough is 38 mm, the length I of said slope projection on said wave
trough plane is 15 mm.
34. A shipping container according to any one of claims 3 or 31 or
32, wherein the wave height D between said wave crest and wave
trough is 45 mm, the length I of said slope projection on said wave
trough plane is 12 mm.
35. A shipping container according to any one of claims 1-3,
wherein said bottom cross members, longitudinal members and support
beams can be made of steel bars whose cross section can be L-shape,
I-shape, T-shape, U-shape, C-shape or square shape.
36. A shipping container according to claim 1 or claim 35 or any
one of claims 4-9, wherein said floor is made of steel plate.
37. A shipping container according to claim 36, wherein the
thickness of said floor is no thicker than 4 mm.
Description
DESCRIPTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a shipping container, and
more particularly, to the improvements on the structure of a
container.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Containers were first used in cargo transportation in U.S.A.
in 1956. After more than 40 years development, containers have been
used worldwide. In the course of the development of the container,
designers and manufacturers are devoted to improvements on its
structure, so as to improve the functions of the container, reduce
the material consumed and the production cost.
[0003] As shown in FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, a conventional shipping
container consists of a pair of side walls 1, a rear end 2, a front
end 3, a roof 4, a floor 5 and a base frame 6, where the base frame
6 and the floor 5 constitute the bearer for the cargoes in the
container which is also called the base assembly.
[0004] As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5, the conventional container
base frame mainly comprises two bottom side rails 601, numbers of
bottom cross members 602, where the two ends of the bottom cross
members 602 are welded to the bottom side rail 601 respectively,
constituting a rigid integral frame structure. In the conventional
container, plywood floor 5 (28 mm) is paved on the bottom cross
members 602, and joined with the bottom cross members 602 by screws
603, the plywood floor 5 and the base frame 6 make up the bearer
for the cargoes in the container.
[0005] To pass the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) test for containers, the cross members need to be arranged in
high density with quantities of beams, and the bottom cross members
should be made of thick steel plates to satisfy the strength
requirement, therefore, large quantity of material is consumed. In
addition, the floor is made of special hard wood. On one hand,
there exist several shortcomings such as: a great diversity in
quality, expensive price, high cost, and easily influenced by
possible shortage of plywood floor supplies. On the other hand,
since it is thicker (28 mm) in thickness, the plywood floor is
heavier in weight, and the tare weight of the container is heavier
accordingly.
[0006] The side panel of the container is usually made of
corrugated plate. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the cross section of
the conventional side panels is a corrugated structure made up by a
number of identical wave crests, slopes and wave troughs, where the
slope projection length I on the wave crest plane is relatively
longer and the wave height D is relatively shorter. The
conventional corrugated structure of the side panels is not
advantageous for enhancing the bending resistant capability of the
corrugated plate, therefore, thicker steel sheet and high strength
material have to be adopted to pass ISO test. Use of high strength
material drives up the material cost and use of thicker steel sheet
not only increases material cost and tare weight, but also
decreases the loading capacity and efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The main object of the present invention is to overcome the
shortcomings of the conventional container, and by making
improvements on its structure, to provide a container which is
lighter in tare weight, less in material consumed and lower in
production cost.
[0008] The aim of the present invention can be achieved by
improvements on its base frame as follows:
[0009] A container comprising a pair of side walls, a rear end, a
front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; said base frame
further comprising two longitudinal bottom side rails and numbers
of parallel bottom cross members, wherein said base frame further
includes at least one longitudinal member, said longitudinal member
is in parallel with said bottom side rails, and connected with at
least two of the bottom cross members.
[0010] Said base frame may include at least two longitudinal
members, the space between two longitudinal members is no longer
than 600 mm, and it is preferred to be no longer than 180 mm.
[0011] Said longitudinal members may be shorter than said bottom
side rails, and only distributed within partial area of the entire
base frame, i.e., said longitudinal members only cross some of the
bottom cross members.
[0012] Said base frame may further include supporting beams tilted
installed at the corner of the cross made up by the longitudinal
members and the bottom cross members.
[0013] The aim of the present invention can be achieved by
improvements on its floor as follows:
[0014] A container comprising a pair of side walls, a rear end, a
front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; said base frame
further comprising two longitudinal bottom side rails and numbers
of parallel bottom cross members, wherein said floor is made up of
corrugated steel floor.
[0015] The aim of the present invention can be achieved by
improvements on its side panels as follows:
[0016] A container comprising a pair of side walls, a rear end, a
front end, a roof, a floor and a base frame; the cross section of
said side walls is a corrugated structure made up by a number of
identical wave crests, slopes and wave troughs, wherein the wave
height D between said wave crest and wave trough is
36<D.ltoreq.54 mm.
[0017] The length of said slope projection on said wave trough
plane is 0.ltoreq.I.ltoreq.25 mm the thickness of said side panel
is 0.8-1.2 mm.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1, FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C show respectively the
front, left, right and top views of a conventional container;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a partial top view of the base frame and plywood
floor of the conventional container;
[0020] FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the A-A line of
FIG. 2;
[0021] FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the B-B line of
FIG. 2;
[0022] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the connecting
structure between the bottom cross members and the plywood floor of
the base assembly shown in FIG. 2;
[0023] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the side panels of the
conventional container;
[0024] FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken along the A-A line of
FIG. 6;
[0025] FIG. 8 is a partial top view of the base frame and plane
steel floor in the first preferred embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0026] FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along the A-A line of
FIG. 8;
[0027] FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged perspective view illustrating
a kind of connecting structure between the bottom cross members and
the longitudinal members of the base frame shown in FIG. 8;
[0028] FIG. 11 is a partial enlarged perspective view illustrating
another kind of connecting structure between the bottom cross
members and the longitudinal members of the base frame shown in
FIG. 8;
[0029] FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view taken along the B-B line
of FIG. 8;
[0030] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating the connecting
structure between the bottom cross members and the plywood floor of
the base assembly shown in FIG. 8;
[0031] FIG. 14 is a front view of the corrugated plate used in the
side panels of the second preferred embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0032] FIG. 15 is a cross sectional view taken along the A-A line
of FIG. 14;
[0033] FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view of the third preferred
embodiment according to the present invention;
[0034] FIG. 17 is a partial top view of the base frame and
corrugated steel floor of the container shown in FIG. 16;
[0035] FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view taken along the A-A line
of FIG. 17;
[0036] FIG. 19 is a partial perspective view illustrating a kind of
base frame which is made up by C-shaped bottom cross members and
corrugated steel floor;
[0037] FIG. 20 is a partial perspective view illustrating another
kind of base frame which is made up by L-shaped bottom cross
members and corrugated steel floor;
[0038] FIG. 21 is a cross sectional view taken along the B-B line
of FIG. 17;
[0039] FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram illustrating the connecting
structure between the bottom cross members as shown in FIG. 19 and
the corrugated steel plates in the container shown in FIG. 16;
[0040] FIG. 23 is a cross sectional view illustrating a kind of
corrugated steel plate with stuffing in its grooves in the third
preferred embodiment according to the present invention;
[0041] FIG. 24 is a cross sectional view illustrating another kind
of corrugated steel plate with thin plate paved on it in the third
preferred embodiment according to the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 25 is a partial perspective view illustrating floor
structure in the third preferred embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0043] FIG. 26 is a perspective partial cross sectional view
illustrating the continuous corrugated steel floor with stuffing in
its grooves in the third preferred embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0044] FIG. 27 is a perspective partial cross sectional view
illustrating the disconnected corrugated steel floor with stuffing
in its grooves in the third preferred embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0045] FIG. 28 is a partial top view illustrating the base frame
and plane steel plate in the fourth preferred embodiment according
to the present invention;
[0046] FIGS. 29, 30, 31, 32 are schematic diagrams of different
kinds of base frames in the fourth embodiment according to the
present invention;
[0047] FIG. 33 is a schematic diagram illustrating a kind of
connecting structure between the longitudinal members, supporting
beams and bottom cross members in the fourth embodiment according
to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0048] Embodiment 1:
[0049] In this embodiment, the improvements mainly concentrate on
the base frame and floor of the container.
[0050] As shown in FIG. 8, the base frame according to this
embodiment mainly comprises two bottom side rails 611, several
longitudinal members 613 and several bottom cross members 612. The
both ends of the bottom cross members 612 are respectively welded
to the side of the bottom side rails 611, the longitudinal members
613 are crossed and welded to the bottom cross members 612,
constituting an integral rigid frame structure. Compared to a
conventional container, in the new design, several longitudinal
members 613 are added in the base frame, and thinner plane steel
plate is adopted in the floor. Therefore, on the premise of passing
ISO test, the space L1 between two bottom cross members is far
larger than that (L0, as shown in FIG. 2) of the conventional one,
thus, the quantity of the bottom cross members are greatly
reduced.
[0051] As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, at least two longitudinal
members 613 are crossed and welded to some bottom cross members
612, and the longitudinal members 613 are distributed along the
longitudinal direction of the bottom cross members 612. To enable
the longitudinal members to pass the ISO test with a small
sectional area H2, B2 and thinner thickness T2, space L2 between
the longitudinal members should be no larger than 600 mm, better
preferred to be no larger than 300 mm, and best preferred to be
equal to the width of the floor test wheel 400 of a container,
which is 180 mm, so than at least one longitudinal member will
directly support the floor test wheel 400. In addition, the space
L1 between the bottom cross members 612 should not be made too
large, and should be reasonably designed.
[0052] Various link structures can be adopted for the longitudinal
members 613 and the bottom cross members 612. Two kinds of
representative link structures are given below:
[0053] As shown in FIG. 10, some slots 614 with openings are made
on the bottom cross members 612 in regular interval, the entire
longitudinal members 613 can pass through slots 614 and be welded
to the bottom cross members 612.
[0054] As shown in FIG. 11, the longitudinal members 613 are
disconnected and then welded to the bottom cross members 612.
[0055] In the structures described above, both the bottom cross
members 612 and the longitudinal members 613 can be made of steel
bars whose cross section can be L-shape, I-shape, T-shape, U-shape,
C-shape or square shape.
[0056] In this embodiment, the floor is made of steel plate 510 no
thicker than 4 mm. As shown in FIG. 13, the bottom cross members
612 of the base frame and the steel plate 510 are connected by
welding. As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 12, the bottom side rails 611,
longitudinal members 613, bottom cross members 612 and the steel
plate 510 are welded together, constituting an integral rigid
bearer for cargoes in the container.
[0057] This invention has following advantages:
[0058] (a) The height H1 of the bottom cross members 612 is larger
than that (H0, as shown in FIG. 4) of a conventional one, which
enables the material distribution of the bottom cross members more
advantageous for increasing the bending resistance of the bottom
cross members.
[0059] (b) Since the bottom cross members 612 and the steel floor
510 are welded into an integral structure, the materials around the
spot where the steel floor 510 and the bottom cross members 612 are
welded will greatly improve the bending resistance of the bottom
cross members.
[0060] Therefore, on the premise of passing the ISO test, the
thickness T1 of the bottom cross members 612 according to this
embodiment is thinner, normally it is 2 3 mm, while the thickness
TO of the conventional bottom cross members 602 is thicker,
normally it is 4.about.4.5 mm. In this embodiment, the bottom cross
members 612 have similar base width B1, higher height H1, and
comprehensively lighter weight as compared to that of the
conventional one.
[0061] The steel floor is made of common steel. Compared to
conventional plywood floor, it has advantages such as light weight,
low cost and stable market supply. On the premise of passing the
ISO test, in the new designed base frame, the quantity and the tare
weight of the bottom cross members are reduced. Moreover, in the
new design, since steel floor is adopted instead of plywood floor,
the material cost is decreased. Besides, by using steel floor
instead of conventional plywood floor, the influence to the
production and cost of the container from the possible shortage of
the wood supply can be avoided.
[0062] Embodiment 2:
[0063] In this embodiment, the improvements mainly concentrate on
the structure of the side panels of the container.
[0064] To pass the ISO strength test for the side panels of the
container, the corrugated plate for the side panels should possess
certain bending resistant capability, which depends on the bending
resistant section modulus W of the corrugated plate and the yield
strength of the corrugated plate material. The larger the bending
resistant section modulus W is, the better the bending resistant
capability of the corrugated plate is. So it is with the yield
strength.
[0065] In the conventional container, the corrugation depth (wave
height) D of the corrugated plate is too small, and the projection
length I of the slope on wave crest plane is too high, which is not
advantageous for material to be thoroughly distributed in wave
crests and troughs on the corrugated plate, and results in small
bending resistant section modulus W. Therefore, Therefore, thicker
steel sheet and higher strength material need to be used in the
conventional corrugated plate to pass ISO strength test.
[0066] As shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, on the premise of meeting
the ISO standard dimension requirement for the container, the
corrugation depth D of the corrugated plate is increased and the
projection length I of the slope on the wave crest plane is
reduced, so as to appropriately increase the width B of wave crest
and the width C of the wave trough, improve the material
distribution in wave crests and troughs, and thereby to improve the
bending resistant section modulus W of the corrugated plate. In
this way, the corrugated plate for the new side panel is equivalent
to the corrugated plate of the conventional side panel in bending
resistant strength, thus achieving the end of substituting
expensive, high strength material with cheap, low strength
material, reducing material cost, corrugated plate thickness and
tare weight.
[0067] The corrugation depth D of the corrugated plate for the new
side panel is 36<D.English Pound.54 mm projection length I of
the slope in the wave crest plane is 0.ltoreq.I.ltoreq.25 mm, which
is better preferred to be within 12-15 mm, and the thickness of the
side panel is within 0.8-1.2 mm.
[0068] A comparison of dimension and material of corrugated plates
for the conventional side panel and two examples of this embodiment
is given in the table below:
1 Corrugation dimension mm Corrugated plate Thickness material
Corrugation T of Yield Corrugation shape Wave Wave depth Corrugate
strength and material crest B trough C D Slope I d plate Material
Kg/mm.sup.2 Conventional 72 70 36 68 1.6 Corten 35 corrugated plate
A New P1 78 78 38 15 1.2 SS41 25 corrugated P2 78 78 45 12 1 SS41
25 plate
[0069] It can be seen from the data in the table, the slope
projection length I of the corrugated plate for the conventional
side panel is too big 68 mm, while corrugated depth D is
comparatively small 36 mm. To pass ISO test, the thickness T of the
corrugated plate has to be at least 1.6 mm and steel sheet Corten A
of relatively higher strength yield strength 35 Kg/mm.sup.2 has to
be used.
[0070] The corrugated plate P1 for the new side panel appropriately
increases wave crest and wave trough size by adding the corrugated
plate depth D 38 mm and reducing the slope size I 15 mm. The
corrugated plate made of lower strength steel sheet SS41 yield
strength 25 Kg/mm.sup.2 and 1.2 mm in thickness T is good enough to
provide equivalent bending resistant strength as the corrugated
plate for the conventional side panel.
[0071] The corrugated plate P2 for the new side panel appropriately
increases wave crest and wave trough size, by adding corrugated
plate depth D 42 mm and reducing slope dimension I 12 mm. The
corrugated plate made of lower strength steel sheet SS41 yield
strength 25 Kg/mm.sup.2 and 1 mm in thickness T is good enough to
provide equivalent bending resistant strength as the corrugated
plate for the traditional side panel.
[0072] It can be seen that, by adjusting the wave depth D and the
projection length I of the slope on the wave crest plane, the
corrugated plate for the new side panel can achieve the end of
substituting high strength material with low strength material,
reducing the material cost of the container, the thickness of the
corrugated plate, the weight of the container and improve the
maximum pay load of the container.
[0073] Embodiment 3:
[0074] In this embodiment, the improvements mainly concentrate on
the floor structure of the container.
[0075] As shown in FIG. 16, the container according to this
embodiment consists of a pair of side walls 130, a rear end, a
front end, a roof 430, a base frame 630 and a corrugated steel
floor 530.
[0076] As shown in FIGS. 17, 18, 21 and 22, the base frame of the
container mainly comprises two bottom side rails 631 and several
bottom cross members 632; both ends of the bottom cross members 632
are welded to the side of the bottom side rails 631 respectively;
corrugated steel plate 530 is paved on the bottom cross members
632, and welded on the bottom cross members 632 and two bottom side
rails 631, constituting a rigid bearer for cargoes in the
container.
[0077] Since steel is much better in synthetic mechanics
performance than wood, and corrugated floor has good bending
resistant capability, which are specially advantageous for
satisfying loading requirements and application features of
container floor, the corrugated steel floor 530 is better in
mechanics performance and has higher load bearing strength than the
prior art plywood floor. With the corrugated steel floor 530
adopted, thinner steel sheet and less material are required to
achieve high bending resistant capability. Besides, the welding of
the corrugated steel floor 530 with the bottom cross members 632
enhances the bending resistant strength of bottom cross members
632, reduces cross sectional dimension, weight and cost. The
corrugated floor 530 according to this embodiment made of 2 mm
thick steel sheet is good enough to meet strength requirement.
[0078] In the above base assembly, bottom cross members 632 and the
corrugated steel floor 530 can be joined by many ways, and the two
preferred ways are given below:
[0079] As shown in FIG. 19, the corrugated steel floor 530 is
directly paved on the bottom cross members 632, and form a rigid
integrated structure either by welding at the external sides or by
rivet. The bottom cross members 632 can be made of steel of
C-shaped cross sectional form.
[0080] FIG. 20 illustrates another way of connecting the bottom
cross members 632 with the corrugated steel floor 530: the cross
sectional form of the bottom cross members 632 is L-shaped, at the
edge of the bottom cross member 632, there installed many convex
teeth 633 matching with the concave grooves of the corrugated floor
530, helping the bottom cross members to be welded to the
corrugated steel floor.
[0081] In above structures, the cross sectional form of the bottom
cross members 632 can be L-shape, I-shape, T-shape, U-shape,
C-shape or rectangle shape to suit the demands of various base
frames.
[0082] Compared to the prior art, the base assembly of this
embodiment possesses following advantages
[0083] (a) By substituting the prior art plywood floor with the
corrugated steel floor, the rigidity and strength of the floor is
enhanced, and thereby the load bearing capability of the base
assembly is enhanced.
[0084] (b) Since the rigidity and strength of the corrugated steel
floor is enhanced, the space between cross members are widened, and
thereby the quantity and amount of cross members are enhanced.
[0085] (c). Since the steel floor and cross members are welded into
an integrated entity, the material around the welding spot will
greatly enhance the bending resistant strength of the cross
members.
[0086] Therefore, on the premise of passing ISO test, the thickness
of the bottom cross member according to this embodiment is 3 mm
thick, while it has to be 4.about.4.5 mm thick for bottom cross
members of the prior art base assembly. The use of corrugated steel
floor improves the bending resistant capability of bottom cross
members, that is why the amount and weight of bottom cross members
in this embodiment is much smaller than that of the prior art base
assembly.
[0087] To further meet the demands of various applications, make
the surface of the corrugated floor as plain as the plywood floor
for the ease of cargo loading the floor structure of this
embodiment can be improved in following ways
[0088] As shown in FIG. 23, stuffing 531 can be filled in the
concave grooves of the corrugated floor of the base assembly to
make the surface of the corrugated floor flat. Stuffing 531 can be
made of various kinds of materials such as wood, foam, plastics or
other non-metal materials.
[0089] As shown in FIG. 24, a layer of thin plate 532 can be paved
on the surface of the corrugated floor of the base assembly as an
alternative way to make the surface of the corrugated floor flat.
The thin plate 532 can be made of a variety of materials, such as
thin wooden plate, composite plate or steel plate.
[0090] In order to fasten the cargoes in the container, some pieces
of wood or other non-metallic materials may be retained on the
floor 530. Following improvements on the structure of the floor may
be adopted:
[0091] As shown in FIG. 25, the floor 530 consists of corrugated
steel floor 533 in the main, and several plywood bars or other non
metallic stuffing 531 such as wood, foam, or plastics, which are
put together and paved on the base frame 630 of the container,
constituting a rigid base assembly for loading. The floor 530 and
base frame 630 may be jointed by welding, riveting, or connecting
via screws.
[0092] As shown in FIG. 26, which is a partial enlarged view of
FIG. 25, the corrugated steel floor 533 is continuous at the
position where the non metallic stuffing 531 is filled. The non
metallic stuffing 531 is completely held within an integrated
concavity 534 of the corrugated steel floor 533.
[0093] As shown in FIG. 27, the corrugated steel floor 533 is
disconnected at the position where the non metallic stuffing 531 is
filled. The non metallic stuffing 531 is held within a concavity
534 which is formed by two adjacent disconnected corrugated floors
533 and has an opening 535 at its bottom.
[0094] As shown in FIG. 25, FIG. 26 and FIG. 27, the steel floor
533 is non uniform corrugated steel floor, which is formed by
modifying the corrugated steel floor structure in partial. The
wavelength of each corrugation is not equal to each other, and
there is a wider concavity 534 at regular intervals, within which
the non metallic stuffing 531 is installed.
[0095] The grooves with non metallic stuffing filled in may be or
not be in a certain proportion to the grooves without non metallic
stuffing filled in.
[0096] Alternatively, the steel floor according to this embodiment
may be common uniform corrugated steel floor, namely, the
wavelength of each corrugation is equal to each other, where the
grooves of the corrugated steel floor are made of the concavities
of the corrugated steel floor itself, and the non metallic stuffing
may be installed at intervals within the predetermined
concavities.
[0097] Embodiment 4:
[0098] In this embodiment, the improvements mainly concentrate on
the base frame of the container.
[0099] As shown in FIG. 28 and FIG. 29, in a kind of structure of
this embodiment, there is one or several longitudinal members 340
vertically installed between the bottom cross members 240, and
there are supporting beams 440 tilted installed at the corner of
the cross made up by the longitudinal members 340 and the bottom
cross members 240. And the distribution intensity of the supporting
beams 440 may be varied in different position of the base frame
according to the actual loading situation of the container.
Compared with the conventional base frame of the shipping
container, one or several longitudinal members 340 and tilted
supporting beams 440 are added in the base frame. Therefore, with
the base frame strength requirement fulfilled, the space L1 between
two cross members of the base frame may be far larger than that
(L0) of the conventional one. Thus, compared with the conventional
container base frame, the numbers of the cross members 240 are
greatly reduced.
[0100] As shown in FIG. 30 and FIG. 31, in another kind of
structure of this embodiment, longitudinal beams 340 are shorter
than bottom side rails, and vertically installed between adjacent
or non adjacent bottom cross members 240. Conventionally,
manufacturer installed a whole length of longitudinal beam on the
base frame, the whole length of the longitudinal beam is in
parallel with and of the same length as the bottom side rail 140;
while in this embodiment, the habitual thought is broken through,
the longitudinal beam is installed in segment regularly or
irregularly, namely, distributed non continuously.
[0101] In another kind of structure of this embodiment, only one
end of the bottom cross member is connected with the bottom side
rail, and the other end is connected with the longitudinal member.
As shown in FIG. 32, one end of several bottom cross members 240
are disconnected from the two bottom side rails 140 crisscross,
each longitudinal member 340 is connected in parallel between more
than two disconnected bottom cross members 240, the internal point
of the longitudinal member 340 is connected with the disconnected
end of one bottom cross member 240, while the two ends of the
longitudinal member 340 are connected with the internal point of
the bottom cross member 240.
[0102] The longitudinal members 340 and the bottom cross members
240 are jointed by crossing, and the embodiments of the crossing
structure may be various. Apart from the two kinds of commonly used
crossing structures described in embodiment 1 of this invention,
another kind of connecting structure may be adopted as shown in
FIG. 33: several beams 240, 340, 440 are jointed together at one
connecting point.
[0103] In the above mentioned container base frames, the bottom
cross members 240, longitudinal members 340 and tilted supporting
beams 440 may be made of steel beams with the cross sections such
as L shape, I shape, T shape, U shape, C shape or square shape. In
order to save material, the cross section of the longitudinal
members 340 should be less than that of the bottom cross beams 240,
and the longitudinal members are usually made of beams with smaller
thickness and width.
[0104] Comparing to the conventional design, the container base
frame according to this embodiment has other advantages as
follows:
[0105] a. The height H1 of the bottom cross members 240 is higher
than that of the conventional one, which makes the cross section
material distribution of the bottom cross members 240 more
favorable for increasing its bending resistance;
[0106] b. The bottom cross members 240, the longitudinal members
340, the supporting beams 440 and the steel floor 540 are welded
together into an integral entity, which makes the strength of the
materials around the welding area increased, and the bending
resistance of the base frame is greatly improved;
[0107] The steel floor is made of common steel. Compared with
conventional plywood floor, it has advantages such as lightweight,
low cost and stable supplies from the market. On the premise of
passing ISO test, in the new container base frame, the quantity of
the bottom cross members used is reduced, the longitudinal members
can be installed with more flexibility and the dimension of its
cross section is smaller. Therefore, the material consumed is
greatly reduced and the material cost of the new type container
base frame is reduced compared with that of the conventional one.
In addition, the conventional plywood floor is replaced by the
steel floor, which prevents the influence to the production and
cost of the container from the possible shortage of plywood floor
supplies. With the application of the container base frame and the
steel floor according to this embodiment, the targets of reducing
material cost and tare weight of a container, and increasing its
loading capacity are successfully achieved.
* * * * *