AU2016247227B2 - A removable bulkhead for a shipping container - Google Patents

Abstract

Here is disclosed a bulkhead member (10) for placement within an interior of a shipping container (20) so as to at least partially close an opening in said shipping container (20) to facilitate filling of said shipping container (20) with a bulk material. The bulkhead member (10) comprises a panel (12) configured to extend in a substantially upright manner so as to span across said opening in the shipping container (20). The panel (12) has a front surface that faces said interior of the shipping container and a rear surface. A first end portion (13) extends from a first vertically extending edge of the panel (12) and is configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel (12). A second end portion (14) extends from a second vertically extending edge of the panel (12) and is configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel (12). A plurality of reinforcement struts (16) are configured to be mounted to a rear surface of the panel (12) to extend between the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel(12). Each reinforcement strut (16) extends in a substantially parallel manner with respect to each other reinforcing strut (16). The vertical location of each of the reinforcement struts (16) along the rear surface of the panel (12) is predetermined so as to be located to avoid contact with any projections provided on internal walls of the shipping container (20). 14 \2L 59o X4 rin rT <V~______ilifF______;~1i

Description

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A REMOVABLE BULKHEAD FOR A SHIPPING CONTAINER RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from Australian provisional patent application No. 2015904360, filed 23 October 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a bulkhead for use in a shipping container, and in particular, to a removable bulkhead that can be used with any shipping container to assist in constraining a bulk material to be stored in the shipping container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of shipping containers, also known as ISO container, freight containers and a variety of other terms, is well established for use in the transport of bulk material, such as grains and milled products.

Bulk materials are difficult to handle as the materials have a tendency to adopt a fluid-like flow when handled in large volumes. In this regard, when packed for storage and transport, unless the bulk material is properly constrained, it will tend to spill, thereby creating issues in relation to lost and damaged materials, as well as mess and contamination. For this reason, silos, tanks and other enclosed containers have proven effective in handling and containing such materials.

Due to the widespread use of shipping or ISO containers in transporting a wide variety of goods around the world and the manner in which cranes and other hoisting devices are designed to accommodate such containers, the use of shipping containers to store bulk materials has become an effective and popular method of exporting grain. However, due to the general design of shipping containers, namely the provision of the containers having a pair of upright doors typically located at one end of the containers which are opened to access the inside of the containers, such devices require considerable adaptation in order to be used to effectively store bulk materials such as grains. Without such 3o adaptation, it would be impossible to load the bulk material into the containers as the material would merely spill from the open doors. Grain spilt on-board ships can pose significant problems for a ship's bilge system, which can be difficult and costly to address.

To adapt shipping containers to receive and store grain, false or temporary bulkheads have been developed. Such a bulkhead is typically in the form of a removable vertical frame that is installed along the inside of the container doors to provide safe access to the container and to support the stowed grain independently of the doors. Such false bulkheads are typically made from plywood and various types of fibre board or MDF and the thickness of the material must be sufficient to withstand the rigours of transport. The bulkhead may extend across both doors of the shipping container, or only one door of the container and irrespective of the breadth of the bulkhead being used, the LHS door of the container is typically closed and sealed prior to loading of the container with the bulk material.

Such false or temporary bulkheads are configured to have a height that is less than the height of the shipping container such that a gap is provided between the top of the bulkhead and the roof of the container. Such a gap provides a means for loading the bulk material into the shipping container, such as by way of a conveyor belt or funnel shoot. The bulk material is evenly distributed within the container such that the weight of the material is evenly distributed over the entire surface area of the container.

Due to the weight of the false or temporary bulkheads, such bulkheads have traditionally been cumbersome to install and remove. For this reason, temporary bulkheads made from a cardboard or cellular paper material have been proposed. Such bulkheads employ reinforcement struts extending at spaced intervals across the surface of the material to provide strength to the bulkhead to support the weight of the bulk material in use. Such a system has proven effective in reducing the overall weight of the bulkhead, however the positioning of the struts has made it difficult to fit the temporary bulkheads in position due to the interference of the ends of the struts with tie-down lugs located on the inside walls of the container where the temporary bulkheads are to be fitted.

For this reason, such temporary bulkheads have had to be adjusted or otherwise 3o reconfigured to adjust the position of the reinforcement struts with respect to the position of the tie-down lugs located on the shipping container. Such adjustment and reconfiguration is time consuming and has the potential to substantially compromise the integrity of the bulkhead which can result in the bulkhead becoming structurally weaker and failing to contain the bulk material in use.

As such, there is a need to provide a temporary bulkhead from use in a shipping container to contain bulk material therein which is light and easy to use and which does not require reconfiguration during use with a variety of different types of shipping containers.

The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the above prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

The invention according to one or more aspects is as defined in the independent claims. Some optional and/or preferred features of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention there is provided a bulkhead member for placement within an interior of a shipping container so as to at least partially close an opening in said shipping container to facilitate filling of said shipping container with a bulk material; comprising a panel configured to extend in a substantially upright manner so as to span across said opening in the shipping container, said panel having a front surface that faces said interior of the shipping container and a rear surface; a first end portion extending from a first vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; a second end portion extending from a second vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; and a plurality of reinforcement struts configured to be mounted to a rear surface of the panel to extend between the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel, each reinforcement strut extending in a substantially parallel manner with respect to each other reinforcing strut, whereby the vertical location of each of the reinforcement struts along the rear surface of the panel is predetermined so as to be located to avoid contact with any projections provided on internal walls of the shipping container.

In a preferred embodiment, the panel may be a substantially planar panel of cellulose material, such as cardboard. The first end portion and the second end portion may be formed integral with the panel and may be formed by pressing a crease line in the material so as to enable said first end portion and said second end portion to pivotally move with respect to the panel.

In an alternative embodiment, the first end portion and the second end portion may be formed separately to the panel. In this embodiment, the first end portion and the second end portion may be attached to the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel respectively by way of one or more hinges.

The reinforcement struts may be metallic struts configured to be attached to the rear surface of the panel. In one form, the reinforcement struts may be attached by an adhesive so as to be permanently fixed to the rear surface of the panel. In another form, the reinforcement struts may be permanently fixed to the rear surface of the panel by way of a mechanical fastening means such as a rivet, screw of the like.

The location of the struts along the rear surface of the panel is determined by way of a key member. The key member is in the form of a length of material that identifies the location of tie-down lugs and other similar projections located on an inside wall of commercially available shipping containers that may prevent optimal use of the bulkhead member. Each of the struts are located on the rear surface of the panel in accordance with those regions of the key member that indicate no interference with tie-down lugs or other projections.

Accordingly, in another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of assembling a bulkhead member for placement within an interior of a shipping container so as to at least partially close an opening in said shipping container to facilitate filling of said shipping container with a bulk material, comprising the steps of: providing a panel configured to extend in a substantially upright manner to span across said opening in the shipping container, said panel having a front surface that faces said interior of the shipping container and a rear surface; forming a first end portion extending from a first vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; forming a second end portion extending from a second vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; and forming a plurality of reinforcement struts, each reinforcement strut being configured to extend between the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel, positioning each of the reinforcement struts on a rear surface of the panel such that each reinforcement strut is spaced apart and extends in a substantially parallel manner, wherein, the location of each reinforcement strut is further assessed against a key member that identifies the location of tie-down lugs and other similar projections located on an inside wall of commercially available shipping containers to avoid interference between the reinforcement struts and such tie-down lugs and other similar projections during use of the bulkhead member; and securing the reinforcement struts to the rear surface of the panel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments, in which:

Fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of a bulkhead member in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front perspective view of the bulkhead member of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the bulkhead member of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the bulkhead member of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a right hand side end view of the bulkhead member of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the bulkhead member of Fig. 1 in use with a shipping container in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of a shipping container in use with a bulkhead member in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a plan view a key member for positioning reinforcement struts of the bulkhead member in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 10 is a rear view of a bulkhead member of the present invention with reinforcement struts located in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 - 5, a bulkhead member 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is depicted. The bulkhead member 10 1o generally comprises a substantially planar panel 12 made from a light weight cellulose material such as cardboard. Alternatively, the substantially planar panel may be made from a more rigid wood based material, such as fibre board or MDF.

In use, the substantially planar panel 12 extends in a vertical manner to form a removable wall and has a first end portion 13 and a second end portion 14. Each of the first end portion 13 and second end portion 14 define vertically extending edges of the bulkhead member 10 and are movably connected to the substantially planar panel 12 by way of a flexible hinge or similar fold line formed therebetween. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the flexible hinge is formed within the material by way of a crease line or similar formation, such that the panel 12 and the first end portion 13 and the second end portion 14 are integrally formed. It will be appreciated that in an alternative embodiment, the first and second end portions 13, 14 may be formed separately to the panel 12 and attached thereto by way of dedicated hinge members (not shown).

As is depicted from a rear view of the bulkhead member 10 of Figs. 1 and 3, a plurality of reinforcement struts 16 extend across the rear surface of the panel 12, as shown. The struts 16 are in the form of U-shaped metal channels, typically made from steel or aluminium, and extend horizontally across the width of the panel 12 in a substantially parallel manner. Each of the struts 16 are affixed to the rear surface of the panel 12 by way of a permanent attachment means, such as an adhesive or by way of a mechanical means such as a pin, rivet or the like. In an alternative embodiment, the struts 16 may be removably mounted to the panel 12. In the embodiment depicted, five struts 16 are provided to extend across the rear surface of the panel 12 at variable heights such that the struts 16 provide strength to the panel 12 to bear the weight of the bulk material being contained thereby.

In the embodiment as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a distal end of each strut 16 adjacent the second end portion 14 extends beyond the edge of planar panel 12. As this edge of the bulkhead member 10 is to be positioned behind the door of the shipping container in a manner as will be discussed below, the extension of the ends of the struts 16 in this region provides an ability for the ends of the struts to physically abut with the wall of the shipping container for secure positioning of the bulkhead member 10 within the channel of the wall of the shipping container for use.

Due to such an extension of the ends of the struts 16 in this region, the second end portion 14 of the panel 12 is prevented from pivoting behind the bulkhead member 10. As such, the second end portion 14 extends in front of the panel 12 so as to provide a contact with the inside wall of container to create a seal therewith that prevents bulk material from leaking past the second end portion 14 of the panel 12. Such a seal is a natural result of the bulk material filling the shipping container. As the bulk material fills the container it comes into contact with the front face of the bulkhead member thereby applies a force against the second end portion 14 causing it to pivot backwards towards the side wall of the shipping container, thereby forming a seal with the side wall that prevents bulk material leaking past the edges of the bulkhead member 10.

By comparison, the opposing ends of the struts 16 adjacent the first end portion 13 of the panel 12 extend to the edge of the panel 12 but do not project beyond the end of the panel 12. In this regard, the first end portion 13 is able to extend both behind the panel 12 (as shown) and in front of the panel 12, for use as either a half, or one door bulkhead, or a full or two door bulkhead, as will be discussed in more detail below. Similarly, the manner in which the first end portion 13 forms a seal with the walls of the shipping container is a natural result of the bulk material filling the shipping container and applying a pressure against the first end portion 13 urging it against the walls of the shipping container.

Each of the struts 16 are spaced apart at predetermined distances from the bottom of the panel 12. The distances between adjacent struts 16 is configured to accommodate the variable position of tie-down lugs that are located inside the doors of existing shipping containers, typically within the channel in which the bulkhead member 10 is to be received. As most manufacturers of shipping containers provide the tie-down lugs in relatively consistent positions along the walls of the container for each container they manufacture, it is possible to position the struts 16 to extend along the surface of the panel 12 to abut the walls of the shipping container and not interfere with the tie-down lugs for a majority of commercial shipping container designs. Such a provision enables placement of the bulkhead member 10 to be securely achieved each time the bulkhead member is employed between shipping containers without any requirement to modify the structure of the bulkhead member 10 to accommodate such tie-down lugs, such as by detaching and repositioning the struts 16. By providing such an arrangement, the overall structural integrity of the system is not compromised, thereby significantly reducing the likelihood of leakage of bulk material from the container.

Figs. 6 and 7 show the bulkhead member 10 in use with a shipping container 20. As is shown, the shipping container 20 is of a conventional configuration having a pair of container doors 22, 24 provided at an end thereof to provide access to the interior of the container 20. The container doors comprise a right hand side (RHS) door 22 and a left hand side (LHS) door 24, each of which pivot between an open and a closed position through a hinge (not shown) provided along an edge thereof. Each of the LHS door 24 and the RHS door 22 are configured to be locked in a closed position so as to substantially seal the shipping container 20 when in transit.

Figures 6 and 7 depict a half or one door mode of application of the bulkhead member 10 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the LHS door 24 of the shipping container 20 is initially closed and sealed. This may include applying a supplementary seal to the closed LHS door 24 prior to loading the bulk material, using a conventional strip or bolt seal. The bulkhead member 10 is then installed within the open space of the RHS door 22 such that the distal ends of the struts 16 are in contact with the side wall of the shipping container 20 and the second end portion 14 of the panel 12 extends in front of the panel 12 and is in contact with the inside wall of the shipping container 20, as shown. The other end of the bulkhead member 10 extends across the opening of the shipping container 20 to extend behind the closed and sealed LHS door 24. An attachment means, such as an adhesive tape or similar device may then assist in retaining the bulkhead member 10 in position prior to filling with the bulk material, such as grain.

The bulkhead member 10 is positioned such that a gap 'X' is provided between the roof of the shipping container 20 and the upper end of the bulkhead member 10. This gap provides space for receiving the bulk material for filling the shipping container 20. The step of filling the shipping container 20 with bulk material may be performed by a variety of known methods. A common method is through the use of a conveyor or funnel shoot that extends into the shipping container through the gap 'X' to deliver the bulk material into the internal space of the shipping container 20. Due to the flowing nature of the bulk material 5, the bulk material 5 will typically distribute itself throughout the interior of the shipping container 20 under gravity, thereby applying weight against the bulkhead member 10 during the filling process. Such weight of the bulk material will be distributed evenly across the front face of the panel member 12, which is strengthened to accommodate such forces by way of the struts 16. This is depicted more clearly in Fig. 8.

As the bulk material 5, fills the internal space of the shipping container 20, the bulkhead member 10 is securely retained in position within the channel formed behind the doors as shown. This is achieved, despite the presence of tie-down lugs within these channels, as is the case with most commercially available shipping containers 20. Further, each of the first end portion 13 and second end portion 14 are urged into sealed contact with the walls of the shipping container, substantially sealing the space.

As discussed previously, due to existence of a variety of different manufacturers of shipping containers 20 throughout the world, the specific location of the tie down lugs within these channels may vary between manufacturers. As such, if a bulkhead member 10 is configured such that the struts 16 are evenly spaced across the back surface of the panel member 12, for some shipping containers, a bulkhead member 10 may not be able to be correctly fitted into position due to contact between the strut 16 and the tie-down lug. This will require a user having to dismantle the strut 16 from the rear surface of the panel member 12 to reposition the end of the strut such that it is able to fit into the channel. Such an action can cause a tear in the material of the bulkhead member which may significantly destroy the integrity of the bulkhead member 10 such that it will fail to contain the bulk material 5 in use, resulting in spillage of the bulk material from the shipping container during transit, or during the loading/unloading process.

The manner in which the struts 16 of the bulkhead member 10 of the present invention are positioned so as to avoid contact with any tie-down lugs present in within the receiving channel of the shipping container will be discussed in relation to the key member 30 depicted in Fig. 9.

The key member 30 is in the form of an elongate piece of material, typically made from wood or a metal, having a pair of substantially vertical parallel edge surfaces 31. One of the edge surfaces 31 has a plurality of notches or recesses 32 formed therein. Each of these recesses 32 extend for a predetermined length that is measured from the base 33 of the key member 30. The recesses 32 are generated from data collected from shipping containers 20 provided from each of the manufacturers of the shipping containers commercially available world-wide, and represent the location of tie-down lugs along the inner channel of the shipping container 20. The non-recessed regions represent those locations or heights from the base of the floor of the shipping container where no tie-down lugs are located. As such, by using the key 30 to position the struts 16, a bulkhead member 10 can be configured for use with any known commercially available shipping container without fear of the bulkhead member 10 requiring 1o adjustment due to the struts contacting tie-down lugs on the inner surface of the shipping container 20.

The manner in which the key member 30 can be used to position the struts 16 is depicted in Fig. 10. In this arrangement, the location of the struts coincides with the non-recessed regions of the key member 30 when measured from the base of the key member 30. As such, the struts 16 can be spaced apart at irregular distances but in such a way as to provide rigidity and strength to the panel 12. This ensures that the panel 12 is sufficiently strengthened to accommodate the weight of the grain 5 during transport, thereby avoiding inadvertent leakage of the grain during transport and upon loading/unloading the shipping container 20.

It will be appreciated that to assemble the bulkhead member 10, the key member 30 may be merely aligned alongside the panel 12 and the struts 16 arranged and secured in place at a position that equates to a non recessed region of the key member 30. This avoids the need for measuring the spacing between the struts to facilitate speed of manufacture of the bulkhead member 10 to accommodate the size and width of the bulkhead member 10.

It will be appreciated that the bulkhead member of the present invention provides a removable and re-usable bulkhead member that is able to be used with any shipping container without requiring adaptation or alteration to accommodate the present of tie-down lugs or similar projections present in the region of the shipping container where the bulkhead member is to be installed. The present invention provides for a universal key member that establishes the location of such projections in commercially available shipping containers and enables reinforcement struts of the bulkhead member to be positioned to abut the wall surface of the shipping container without contacting a tie-down lug or similar projections.

Throughout the specification and claims the word "comprise" and its derivatives are intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. That is, the word "comprise" and its derivatives will be taken to indicate the inclusion of not only the listed components, steps or features that it directly references, but also other components, steps or features not specifically listed, unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the methods of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (12)

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A bulkhead member for placement within an interior of a shipping container so as to at least partially close an opening in said shipping container to facilitate filling of said shipping container with a bulk material; comprising a panel configured to extend in a substantially upright manner so as to span across said opening in the shipping container, said panel having a front surface that faces said interior of the shipping container and a rear surface; a first end portion extending from a first vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; a second end portion extending from a second vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; and a plurality of reinforcement struts configured to be mounted to a rear surface of the panel to extend between the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel, each reinforcement strut extending in a substantially parallel manner with respect to each other reinforcing strut, whereby the vertical location of each of the reinforcement struts along the rear surface of the panel is predetermined by comparing the vertical location of each of the reinforcement struts against a key member representative of the location of projections on internal walls of the shipping container that the bulkhead member is being used with such that the reinforcement struts are located to avoid contact with the projections provided on the internal walls of the shipping container.

2. A bulkhead member according to claim 1, wherein the key member is an elongate member having one or more notches formed along an edge thereof, said notches being representative of vertical locations where projections are likely to be found on the internal walls of the shipping container.

3. A bulkhead member according to claim 1, wherein reinforcement struts are secured to the rear surface of the panel so as to be secured in position.

4. A bulkhead member according to claim 1, wherein the panel is a substantially planar panel of cellulose material.

5. A bulkhead member according to claim 4, wherein the cellulose material is cardboard.

6. A bulkhead member according to claim 1, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion are formed integral with the panel.

7. A bulkhead member according to claim 6, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion are formed by pressing a crease line in the material so as to enable said first end portion and said second end portion to pivotally move with respect to the panel.

8. A bulkhead member according to claim 1, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion are formed separately to the panel.

9. A bulkhead member according to claim 8, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion are attached to the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel respectively by way of one or more hinges.

10. A bulkhead member according to claim 3, wherein the reinforcement struts are attached by an adhesive so as to be permanently fixed to the rear surface of the panel.

11. A bulkhead member according to claim 3, wherein the reinforcement struts are permanently fixed to the rear surface of the panel by way of a mechanical fastening means such as a rivet, screw of the like.

12. A method of assembling a bulkhead member for placement within an interior of a shipping container so as to at least partially close an opening in said shipping container to facilitate filling of said shipping container with a bulk material, comprising the steps of: providing a panel configured to extend in a substantially upright manner to span across said opening in the shipping container, said panel having a front surface that faces said interior of the shipping container and a rear surface; forming a first end portion extending from a first vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; forming a second end portion extending from a second vertically extending edge of the panel and configured to pivotally move with respect to said panel; and forming a plurality of reinforcement struts, each reinforcement strut being configured to extend between the first vertically extending edge of the panel and the second vertically extending edge of the panel, positioning each of the reinforcement struts on a rear surface of the panel such that each reinforcement strut is spaced apart and extends in a substantially parallel manner, wherein, the location of each reinforcement strut is further assessed against a key member that identifies the location of tie-down lugs and other similar projections located on an inside wall of commercially available shipping containers to avoid interference between the reinforcement struts and such tie-down lugs and other similar projections during use of the bulkhead member; and securing the reinforcement struts to the rear surface of the panel.