U.S. patent number 3,828,964 [Application Number 05/246,023] was granted by the patent office on 1974-08-13 for polyvalent pliable container.
Invention is credited to Pierre Edmond Michel Bonnot.
United States Patent |
3,828,964 |
Bonnot |
August 13, 1974 |
POLYVALENT PLIABLE CONTAINER
Abstract
A folding container that is used by all forms of transportion,
such as rail, ship and air including a floorboard provided with
means of assembly for the placement of side and end panels to thus
form an enclosure, the rigidity of which is assured by placing a
top on the structure obtained. The surface of this top is embossed
to correspond with reliefs and spaces on the bottom of the
floorboard facilitating the stacking of several containers either
folded or unfolded for use. The resulting folding, multipurpose
container is compact in size and is strong enough to resist the
great accelerations and decelerations of air travel.
Inventors: |
Bonnot; Pierre Edmond Michel
(Maisons-Laffitte, FR) |
Family
ID: |
22929028 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/246,023 |
Filed: |
April 20, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
220/1.5; 206/511;
206/600; 220/4.28 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
19/18 (20130101); B65D 2519/00412 (20130101); B65D
2519/00233 (20130101); B65D 2519/00666 (20130101); B65D
2519/00497 (20130101); B65D 2519/00039 (20130101); B65D
2519/00268 (20130101); B65D 2519/00074 (20130101); B65D
2519/00557 (20130101); B65D 2519/00179 (20130101); B65D
2519/00288 (20130101); B65D 2519/00606 (20130101); B65D
2519/00407 (20130101); B65D 2519/00696 (20130101); B65D
2519/00318 (20130101); B65D 2519/00422 (20130101); B65D
2519/00611 (20130101); B65D 2519/00626 (20130101); B65D
2519/00711 (20130101); B65D 2519/00218 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65D
19/02 (20060101); B65D 19/18 (20060101); B65d
087/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;220/1.5,4F,97R,6 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Price; William I.
Assistant Examiner: Pollard; Steven M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Dyson; Edward E. Byrne; John J.
Claims
I claim:
1. A container comprising a floorboard having a first pair of side
portions and a second pair of side portions defining a top surface,
a pair of side panels having vertical edges and upper and lower
edges, interengaging means between said first pair of side portions
and the lower edges of said side panels, a pair of end panels
having vertical edges and upper and lower edges, second
interengaging means between the vertical edges of said side panels
and the vertical edges of said end panels, a top structure adapted
to engage the tops of said side and end panels to form an
enclosure, a support structure affixed to the underside of said
floorboard, said support structure comprising a planar base having
four spaced, rectangular openings therein arranged in a rectangular
pattern and defining load-supporting stringers, said base being
spaced from the underside of said floorboard and having side
openings therein below each of said side portions of said pair of
side portions of said floorboard for receiving container handling
equipment.
2. The container of claim 1 wherein said interengaging means are
evenly spaced metal flanges on said first pair of side portions
which are received in grooves in the lower edges of the side panels
guiding and securing them upon assembly.
3. The container of claim 1 wherein said top structure includes
embossing on the upper surface thereof conforming to said
rectangular openings in said support structure, said embossing
being received in said rectangular openings when said containers
are stacked.
4. The containers of claim 1 wherein the stringers defined by said
rectangular openings in said base comprise three longitudinal
stringers and three transverse stringers intersecting said
longitudinal stringers, and said base is affixed to said underside
of said floorboard at the points of intersection of said
stringers.
5. The container of claim 1 wherein said top structure includes
slots in its top surface for receiving banding straps.
6. The container of claim 1 wherein said top structure includes a
continuous downwardly extending rim having a lower edge engaging
said floorboard to form an enclosed container for said side and end
panels when in disassembled condition and laid flat on said
floorboard.
7. The container of claim 1 wherein said base has opposite outer
side edges which are spaced laterally inwardly from at least one of
said pair of side portions of said floorboard, the spaced defined
thereby receiving bars of a container handling sling which engage
the underside of the floorboard.
Description
A principal objective of this invention is to provide a folding,
multipurpose container answering the requirements of all types of
transportation such as rail, ship and air which is directly
transferred from one mode of transportation to aonther without
difficulty.
The distribution of merchandise comprises all operations between
the end of production lines and access to the consumer, such as
packaging, the formation of shipment units, stocking, transport and
delivery. An objective of this invention is to provide a folding
multipurpose container capable of withstanding the great
acceleration and deceleration of air travel.
Another objective is to provide a folding multipurpose container,
the elements of which are easily and readily assembled and which
can be stacked in a reduced space.
This folding multipurpose container of this invention includes a
floorboard provided along the lengths of its upper side with means
for assembling side panels, the vertical sides of which are flanged
to allow the placement of end panels to form an enclosure, the
rigidity of which is assured by affixing a top to the structure
thus obtained. The surface of this top is embossed to mesh with the
reliefs and spaces on the bottom of the floorboard, thus
facilitating the stacking of many containers either folded or
unfolded for use.
The surface of the top of the container is set off by polygonal
reliefs forming spaces between them which allow these reliefs, once
several containers are stacked, to be inserted into spaces and
reliefs prearranged on the bottom of the containers. These spaces
correspond to the size of the polygonal reliefs on the surface of
the top of the container.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the surface of
the top of the container presents ribs and spaces into which the
reliefs and spaces on the bottom of the container are inserted when
several containers are stacked.
Because of the reliefs and spaces on the surface of the top of the
container, as well as on the bottom of the floorboard, the strength
of both the tops and floorboards of these containers is reinforced,
while the containers' balance is assured when stacked, whether
folded or unfolded for use.
The means of assembly provided along the edges of two sides on the
top side of the floorboard of the container includes appropriate
metal flanges evenly spaced to correspond with grooves on the lower
portion of the side panels, thus guiding and securing the panels
upon assembly. Each of the end panels has two indented flanges
along its edge. Each flange is provided near its two vertical ends
with an appropriate metal flange meant to match grooves made on the
vertical edge of each side panel, thus guiding and securing the end
panels upon assembly. The periphery of the top of the container is
provided with a rim, the inside part of which touches the exterior
face of the upper part of the panels once they are assembled. The
lower side of the rim, once the panels are removed, rests on the
top of the floorboard, providing chamber to house the panels once
the container is folded.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent
to those skilled in the art by reference to the following detailed
description when viewed in light of the accompanying drawings
wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective of the container unfolded for use;
FIG. 2 is a perspective of the container of FIG. 1 in its folded
mode;
FIG. 3 is a sketch of the surface of the top of the container;
FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the container's floorboard;
FIG. 5 is a side view of the container with the side panels
removed;
FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-section of a folded container;
FIG. 7 is a cross-section along the line VII--VII of FIG. 3;
FIG. 8 is a detailed enlarged cross-section of the sector included
by circle VIII of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a fragmented portion of a container viewed in perspective
showing a second embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 10 is a top view of the container shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a top view of another embodiment;
FIG. 12 is a side view of the container shown in FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a partial cross-section of the container of FIGS. 11 and
12 along line V--V in FIG. 11;
FIG. 14 is a top view of another embodiment of the container;
FIG. 15 is a side view of the container in FIG. 14;
FIG. 16 is a top view of another embodiment; and
FIG. 17 is a side view of the container in FIG. 16.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like
parts, the container in the diagram represents a floorboard 1
provided along the edges 2 of its upper surface 3 (see FIGS. 5, 7
and 8) with metal flanges of appropriate size 4, evenly spaced
along the edges 2 and adapted to cooperate with grooves 5 on the
lower portion of two ribbed side panels 6. This construction guides
and retains the panels upon assembly.
The upper part of the floorboard 1 has two grooves 7 along the
edges of both ends of the container. The grooves 7 support the
lower portion of two ribbed end panels 8 to which two other ribbed
end panels 10 are rigidly affixed with a dovetailed joint 9.
End panels 8 and 10 are provided close to their vertical ends with
appropriate metal flanges 11 and 12, which are analogous to or
different from flanges 4 on floorboard 1 of the container, so long
as they are arranged to fit with grooves 13 along the vertical edge
of each side panel 6, to guide and retain panels 8 and 19 upon
assembly.
The periphery of top 14 of the container is provided with a rim 15,
the interior surface 16 of which, upon assembling side panels 6 and
end panels 8 and 10, joins exterior notched surface 6a of panels 6
and exterior notched surface 10a of panels 10 (see FIGS. 5 and 7).
The bottom of floorboard 1 is formed with reliefs 17 and 18 to
provide the container with adequate support on the ground. Relief
17 is arranged to fit, as shown in FIG. 3, spaces 19 formed by
reliefs 20 on the surface of top 14 to allow several containers to
be stacked either folded or unfolded for use as shown in FIG. 2.
When folded, end edges 18a of reliefs 18 on floorboard 1 appear
next to the inside surface of border 20a of reliefs 20 of top
14.
The container has clasps 21 which attach to hooks 22 on one of the
panels 6 when unfolded and to hooks 23 on floorboard 1 when the
container is folded (see FIG. 2). Top 14 presents notches 24 on
reliefs 20 to permit eventual banding of the unfolded container and
the surface of its upper side is roughened to improve the friction
between reliefs 17 and 18 when the containers are stacked.
To assemble the container, starting from a folded position such as
shown on FIG. 6, top 14 is separated from floorboard 1 and the two
side panels 6 are slid into place along flanges 4. After this, one
need merely place end panels 8 by fitting flanges 11 into grooves
13 to allow partial loading of the container. When the container is
filled, one places end panels 10 in the same way as panels 8. At
the end of the operation, top 14 is placed and fasteners 21 are
attached to hooks 22.
When the container is to be unloaded, top 14 is lifted. After
partial unloading, panels 10 are removed, allowing easy access to
the lower portion of the container to complete unloading.
These actions are performed in reverse to obtain a folded container
such as shown on FIGS. 2 and 6. All that remains to be done is to
fasten clasps 21 to hooks 23 on floorboard 1 or engage the lock, if
hooks and clasps are replaced by other means of locking or
fastening.
According to FIG. 9, top 14 has rectangular reliefs 25 so arranged
as to create between them and side reliefs 20b spaces 26 which,
when several boxes are stacked, permit these reliefs to be inserted
into grooves 27 between reliefs 28 on the bottom of the container's
floorboard 1 (see FIG. 10).
The grooves or rectangular openings 27 divide the supporting base
of the container floorboard into six reliefs or stringers 28, four
along the outer perimeter of the base and two extending
perpendicular to each other and intersecting the four along the
outer perimeter intermediate their lengths. These are nine points
of intersection, 28a, of the reliefs or stringers 28. The stringers
are connected to the underside of the floorboard at these points
and the weight of the container is evenly distributed
thereover.
FIGS. 11 and 12 show another embodiment of this invention. Here,
the surface of top 14 is ribbed, creating grooves 29 into which the
bottom of floorboard 1 bearing reliefs 30, prearranged as in FIGS.
3 and 4, will fit. In order to strengthen top 14 additional ribs 31
are provided (see FIGS. 12 and 13). In this embodiment, notches 32
are hollowed on the surface of top 14 in order to permit as with
notches 24 the eventual banding of the container unfolded for
use.
Another embodiment for carrying out the invention is shown in FIGS.
14 and 15. As in FIGS. 9 and 10, top 14 bears on its surface
reliefs 33, which in this case are substantially triangular and
create spaces 34. The above correspond to spaces 35 and reliefs 36
on the bottom of floorboard 1 allowing several containers to be
stacked. The surface of top 14 has notches 37 for the eventual
banding of the unfolded container.
Another embodiment of this invention is shown in FIGS. 16 and 17.
As in FIGS. 9 and 10, top 14 also has reliefs 38 on its surface
which are rectangular in shape and are arranged in such a way as to
create spaces 39 between them and lateral reliefs 20b. These
correspond to spaces 40 and reliefs 41 arranged on the bottom of
floorboard 1 to permit the two structures to nest when several
boxes are stacked. Reliefs 38 bear notches 42 corresponding to
notches 43, similar to notches 37 shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, all of
which are adapted to permit eventual banding of the unfolded
container.
In a general manner, while there has been disclosed effective and
efficient embodiments of the invention, it should be well
understood that the invention is not limited to such embodiments as
there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition, and
form of the parts without departing from the principle of the
present invention as comprehended within the scope of the accompany
claims.
* * * * *