AU663195B2 - Improved collapsible storage container - Google Patents

Description

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66315

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORXGINAL

Regulation 3.2

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S. S 55.5

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S S Name of Applicant: Rees Operations Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: James Deane Coogan Address for Services R K MADDERN ASSOCIATES, 345 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: IMPROVED COLLAPSIBLE STORAGE CONTAINER Details of Associated Provisional Application No PL 3014 dated 17th June 1992 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to

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This invention relates to an improved collapsible storage container suitable for the storage of goods, and is particularly concerned with a collapsible storage container of the type having a pallet base, a front panel or gate which is preferably removably hinged with respect to the base for folding inwardly thereonto, a pair of opposed side panels or gates hinged with respect to the base for folding inwardly thereonto, and a rear panel or gate which is also h1inged with respect to the base for folding inwardly thoreonto, and, optionally, a lid or top panel arranged to be supported on the upper edges of the four panels or gates when the container is in its erected condition so as to close of f the top end thereof, the container, when erected, being of substantially parallelepiped box shaped form.

Collapsible storage containers of the aforementioned type for use in sea and land transportation are gaining increasing acceptance. It is highly desirable for such containers to bo readily and easily collapsible while still remaining Ln essentially one piece. It is also desirable for the concainor be capable of being loaded or unloaded either from the front or one of its sides. Those design characteristics have been addressed by the applicant in its S earlier filed Australian Patent Application No0 614133.

However, the Applicant has now recognised that the w collapsible container described and illustrated in the Applicant's aforesaid Australian Patent does possess certain drawbacks with respect to its production and assembly, in that small manufacturing tolerances and careful alignment of 0 i30jthe pivot elements are required in order to assemble together the hinged panels and the pallet base. The earlier construction requires accurate location of pivot pins projecting laterally from the bottom corners of each of the panels in pin receiving holes formed in t'he corner posts of 3S the pallet base, It is the main object of the present invention to provide an improved collapsible stora~ge container which can be constructed and assembled together in a simple and Th-

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economical manner and which, when so assembled together is able to be simply and quickly folded between its collapsed and erected positions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved collapsible storage container which is designed so that at least some of the panels or gates can be detachably connected from the pallet base to thereby allow the container to be simply and quickly accessed for the purpose of loading or unloading from more than one of its four sides.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved collapsible storage container which will is allow one or both of the side panels or gatos to be detachably connected or dismantled from the pallet base whilst the remaining panels or gatos are in their erected positions.

According to one of the form of the present invention therefore, there is provided an improved collapsible storage container comprising a substantially roctangular support base having a horizontal floor, front and rear panels hinged about respective horizontal axes for folding inwardly relative to the base into a collapsed condition thereon, a pair of opposed side panels, each also hinged about a respective horizontal axis for folding inwardly relative to thle base into a collapsed condition thereon, a stub corner post of angle section fixed vertically at each of thle four corners of thle support base, each said corner poat having a height such that when the panels are in their collapsed conditions, the upper ends of the corner poets project above thle level of thle uppermost folded down panel or gate, skirting walls or members extending between at least some of the respective pairs of adjacent saiv corner posts, each said skirting wall having an upper horizontal surface located above thle floor of -2- I I 1*I

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the support base but below the upper ends of the corner post, K wherein said side panels, when in their erected condition, have their bottom edges contiguous with and supported by the horizontal upper surfaces of respective said skirting walls, the improvement wherein oach said side panel is pivotally J mounted between a respective pair of said corner posts by means of a pair of substantially non-load bearing pivot pins secured to opposite sides of tho panel adjacent the lower corners thereof, said pivot pins removably locating loosely in respective pivot pin mountings fixed to 'the upper surface of a respective said skirting wall at or near opposite ends thereofone of said mountings comprising a U-shaped saddle having opposed logs projocting upwardly from said skirting wall upper surface and defining thorobetween an upwardly opening vertical slot, the othor of said pivot pin mountings comprising an inverted U-shaped saddle which dofines a closed slot into which its associatod said pivot pin is slidably inserted laterally.

One of the pins can be rem~oved from its housing by bodily lifting the panol a short vertical distance, whilst the other pivot pin is arranged to removably slidingly locate .4 (in a sideways direction) in its inverted U-shaped housing t: dimensioned so that with the pivot pin engaged therein, the pin is restrained against any appreciable vertical lifting movement. With this arrangement, each of the side panels or gates can be quickly and conveniently assembled by firstly inserting one of its pivot pins approximately horizontally and sideways into the inverted U-shaped housing fixed on top too# of one of the side skirting walls at one end thereof (this being achieved with the side panel in a tilted position), and thereaf ter lowering the panel to engage the other pivot pin *within the U-shaped,_ housing which is fixed on top of the side skirting wall adjacent its opposite end.

Preferably, the front panel or gate, when in its erected condition, has its bottom or lower edge resting on the floor of the support base adjacent one side thereof, the front panel being detachably pivotally connected to the support base by means of non-load bearing laterally projecting pivot pins carried by the panel adjacent tho lowor cornors thereof, each said pivot pin removably engaging in a U-shaped pivot pin housing or saddle fixedly secured to the vertical inner surface of a respoctive said side skirting wall adjacent the forward end thereof, the housing or saddle defining a slot formation havtng an open uppor end to allow the pivot pin to ongage thorein upon lowering of the front panel relative to tho support base.

Preferably, the roar gate or panel is attached a. permanently in position and cannot be removed from the support base, and is supported on top of a roar skirting wall.

which has a height greater than that of each of tho side skirting walls which can either be the same or different. The *I rear panel or gate is hingedly connected to the support base in a similar manner to that of each of the side panels to namely, uti~lising a pair of U-shaped pivot pin housings fixed, one inverted the other oriented with its open end directed upwardly, to the upper horizontal surface of the rear skirting wall adjacent opposite ends thereof. To prevent the rear panel (or a side panel) frumr being detached or dismantled from the support base, the U-shaped housing can be provided with a transverse lock VI~n extending between its vertical limbs, above the axis of the hingeo pin. Tite panel is thus restrained against any appreciable vertical lift.

In accordance with known art, the container is provided with latching mechanisms at each of its four upper corners for securing together adjacent pairs of panels when in their erected condition, such latching mechanisms being a 4 At substantially in accord with that described in our co-pending Australian patent application 614133.

With this invention, the manufacturing assembly of the container is greatly simplified, specifically in relation to the pivotal attachment of each of tho panels or gates to the pallet support base. In contradistinction to tho arrangement described in patent application 614133, exacting manufacturing tolerances are avoided as is tho task of having to carefully align the pivot pins of each of the folding panels or gates with their pivot pin receiving holes formed in the stub corner posts of tho pallet base.

A furthor advantage of the present invention is that It can provide a collapsible container which permits the front, and both side gatos or panels to be simply and readily detached from tho support base, which can be highly desirable during loading or unloading of the container. Furthermore, the container, can be designed so that either of the two side gates or panels and/or the front gate can be individually bodily removed or dismantled from tho support base, with the other panels or gates remaining in their erected positions.

Of course, the top or lid panel must be removed first.

in order to furthor explain the present invention, an embodiment is described hereunder with reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: Pig 1 is a perspective view of a collapsible storage container showing the front panel and the left side panel in their collapsed positions, the roar panel and right hand side panel being erected; rig 2 is a schematic fragmentary view of the pallet support base showing the skirting walls extending around three sides thereof and to which are secured the pivot pin housings which are used to pivotally attach the panels to the pallet base;

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J Fig 3 is a partly soctionod elevational view showing the z attachment of the roar panol or gate to the pallet support base; and Fig 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of tho containor showing the left hand side panel in a tilted position with one of its pivot pins disengaged from its pivot housing on top of the aido skirting wall.

In this embodiment, a collapsible storage pallet [container 10 has a rectangular pallet base 11 which is provided at each of its four corners with angle section stub corner posts 12. The base 11 has a horizontal floor 13 supported by an upper dock 14 which in turn is supporteu by a V 15 lower dock 16 by short length vortical uprights, in addition to the stub corner posts.

The base 11 is also provided with throe upwardly projecting skirting members 20, 21, 22 extending alonq the two sides and the roar of the base 11, the height of the two side skirting members 20, 22 being the same, but slightly lower than that of the roar skirting member 21. In this embodiment the front of the baseo 11 is loft open so that the upper edges of the front, rear and sides of the pallet are 2 spaced at different distances from the floor 13.

The containor 10 is providod with folding front and rear i panels 23, 25, respectoively, and a pair of folding aide *1 panels 27, 29, each of the panels comprising a peripheral metal frame of either angle or tubular section frame membere to which are securod a solid timber ply, plastics or sheet metal infill panel located on the inside of the metal frame members. In this embodiment, each of the panels is a one- Jpiece panel of rigid construction and the panels and the base 1 are dimensioned so that when the container is in a collapsed condition, the aide panels 27?, 29 do not overlap one another.

Each of the side panels 27, 29 is hingedly connected with respect to the pallet base 11 by means of horizontally aligned pivot pins 30 which laterally project from opposite sides of the panel 27, 29 adjacent its lower corners, the pins 30 being arranged to removably locate in pivot pin housings 31, 32 secured, og by welding, on top of the side skirting walls 20, 22. Pivot pin housing 31 is a U-shaped saddle formed of metal plate which defines a slot formation having an open upper end and in which the pivot pin 30 J.s slidably located when the panel is in its hingedly engaged position.

The pivot pin housing 32 is an inverted U-shaped saddle member having a closed upper end. In this instance, the associated pivot pin 30 is required to be inserted horizontally sideways in order for it to be hingedly engaged in position, Sufficient clearances are provided to enable each of the side panels 27, 29 to be detached from its pivot housings 31, 32 by firstly lifting one side of the panel to thereby disengage the pivot pin 30 fromt the open upper ended housing 31, the panel assuming a tilted position, and thereafter bodily moving the panel sideways so as to disengage the other pivot pin 30 from the housing 32.

The roar panel 25 is hingodly connected to the roar skirting wall 21 in a similar manner to that of each of the side panels 27, 29 namely by moans of pivot housings 31, 32 for receiving laterally projecting pivot pins 35, 35'. In this embodiment, however, the pivot pin 35', once engaged within its pivot housing 31 i locked in position by moans of a transverse rotentJon roll-pin 36 which extends between and locates in aligned holes in the spaeod apart legs of the Ushaped housing 31. The roar panel 25 is thus designed to be permanently attached to the pallet base 11 and, in this embodiment, cannot be removed although this need not be the case in all applications of the container, 7I The front panel 23 is hingedly supported with respect to the base by means of laterally projecting pivot pins 37 which removably engage in U-shaped housings 38 secured to the vertical inner surfaces of skirting members 20, 22 adjacent the forward ends thereof. This permits the front panel 23 to pivot inwardly to lio flat on top of the floor 13 of the base 11, but also allows the panel 23 to be bodily lifted from its pivot housings 38 and removed from the pallet base 11 and stored at a remote location. Outward movement of the front panel 23, when in its erected condition is prevented by the butting engagement between lower portions of the panel 23 and the flanges 40 of the stub corner posts 12.

In this embodiment, the pivot pins 30, 35, 37 project into respective rocossed or cut away portions formed at the S lower corners of the associated panels, so that the froe ends .i of the pins do not protrude beyond the side marginal surfaces of the panels. This allows the edges of adjacent panels, when orocted, to be in contiguous or near contiguous relationship.

When the side panels 27, 29 and the roar panel 25 are in their erected positions, their bottom edge surfaces rest on and are contiguous with the upper horizontal edge surfaces of the corresponding skirting members 20, 21 and 22 whereby any load applied to the panels is transmitted directly to the base via the skirting members and ossentially no load is borne by the pivot pins of the panuJs. The front panel 23, when erect, has its lower odge resting on the floor 13 of the base so that any load thereto is transmitted to the decking which supports the floor 13 of the base 11.

In this embodiment, the front panel 23 Is divided horizontally into two halves which are hinged together to permit the two Nlves to hinge relative to one another, whilst each of the side and rear panel is a one-piece eonstruction in this embodiment, the panels 23, 25, 27, 29 are c eonfigured and arranged so that when the container is in its fully erected condition, either one of the side panels 27, 29 can be bodily detached from the support base 11 by firstly unlocking one of the upper corner latching mechanisms (not shown), lifting one side of the panel to thereby disengage the pivot pin 30 from its associated pivot housing 31, and thereafter disengaging the other pivot pin 30 from its housing 32 by sliding the panel approximately horizontally sideways, this being achieved with the other panels remaining in their erect positions.

.0 Preferably, a vertical load bearing member or column, eg a steel tube, is fixed, eg by welding, at each end of each of the skirting members directly beneath the individual pivot housings 31, 32, in order to strengthen the loading of the skirting members.

It will be immediately apparent that the manufacture and production assembly of a cllapsible storage container according to this invention is greatly simplified by virtue 0 of the simple separable, pivot connections between each of the folding panels and the pallet support base particularly in comparison to the design construction of the container described and illustrated in our earlier filed patent application 614133.

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Claims (8)

1. An improved collapsible storage container of the kind comprising a substantially rectangular support base having a horizontal floor, front and rear panels hinged about respective horizontal axes for folding inwardly relative to the base into a collapsed condition thereon, a pair of opposed side panels each hinged about a respective horizontal axis for folding inwardly relative to the base into a collapsed condition thereon, a stub corner post of angle Pection fixed vertically at each of the four corners of the support base, each said corner post having a height such that when the panels are in their collapsed conditions, the upper I onds of the corner posts project above the level of the uppermost folded down panel, skirting walls or members extending between at least some of the respective pairs of said corner posts, each said skirting wall having an upper horizontal surface located above the floor of the support base but below the upper ends of the corner post, have their bottom edges contiguous with and supported by the 2'horizontal uppor surfaces )f -respective said skirting walls, wherein the imiprovement comprises each said side panel being pivotally mounted between a respective pair of said corner poste by means of a pair of subatantially non-load bearing pivot pins secured to opposite sides of the panel ndjacent the lower corners thereof, said pivot pins removably locating loosely in respective pivot pin mountings fixed to the upper surface of a respective said skirting wall at or near opposite ends thereof, one of said mountings comprising a U- shaped saddle having opposed lego projecting upwardly front said skirting wall upper surfa~ a and defining thorobotweon an upwardly opening vertical slot, the other of said pivot pin mountings comprising an inverted U-shapod saddle which defines a closed slot into which its associated said pivot pin is slidably inserted laterally.

2. The improved container according to claim I wherein said %T rear panel is pivotally mounted between a respective pair of Wii I said corner posts in a manner substantially identical to that of said side panels.

3. The improved container according to claim 2 wherein said 4 5 U-shaped saddle associated with said rear panel is provided with a transverse lock pin secured to and extending between the opposed legs thereof above the axis of the pivot pin which is thereby restrained against any appreciable vertical displacement.

4. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the front panel, when in its erected condition, has its bottom or lower edge resting on the floor of the support base adjacent the front edge thereof, said front panel being dotachably pivotally connected to the support base by means of non-load bearing laterally corners thereof, each said pivot pin of the front panel *4',romovably slidably engaging in a U-shaped pivot pin saddle fixedly secured to the vertical inner surface of a respective said side skirting wall adjacent the forward end thereof, **each said saddle defining a slot formation having an open $01: uppor and to allow its associated pivot pin to engage therein upon lowering of the front panel relative to the support base. S. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said pivot pin saddles are formed of metal plate. The improved con t.ainar according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each said pivot pin saddle is secured LU a respective said skirting wall by weld means.

7. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the lower corners of each said panel is recessed or cut Away such that each of its pivot pins do not project laterally beyond the vertical margins of Lte panel.I

8. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the side and rear panels is a one piece panel of rigid construction, each comprising a peripheral metal frame of angle or tubular section frame members to which are secured a solid timber ply, plastics or sheet metal infill panel located on the inside of said metal frame members.

9. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said front panel is divided horizontally into two halves hingedly connected together so as to allow the two halves to hinge relative to one another. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each said skirting wall or member is formed of sheet metal having a channel or tubular cross- sectional shape.

11. The improved container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the height of the two side skirting walls or members is the same, Lut less than that of the rear skirting wall or member, whereby the side and rear panels are supported along their lower edges at different distances above the floor of the support base. S' 12. An improved collapsible storage container substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Its Dated this 25th day of July, 1995. REES OPERATIONS PTY LTD 4 By its Patent Attorneys I 2,YD I~S 2 Ilw~ 12 ABSTRACT This invention relatis to improvements to a collapsible storage container (10) of the type comprising a support base two pairs of opposite sida panels (23, 25, 27, 29) each hinged about an horizontal axis for folding inwardly relative to the base (11) in a collapsed condition thereon, and stub corner posts (12) of angle section fixed vertically at each of the four corners of the support base wherein at least one of the side panels, when in its erected condition, has its bottom edge contiguous with and supported by an horizontal upper surface of a skirting wall (21, 22) and wherein the panel is pivotally mounted between a respective S pair of said corner posts by co-operable separable hinge elements which comprise laterally projecting pivot pins (30, 31, 35) fixed to the panel adjacent opposite lower corners thereof and pivot pin receiving saddles (31, 32) for receiving and locating Jaid pivot pins, the saddles being fixed to and located at opposite ends of a respective ski ting wall. I