Apparatus and process for shoring packages in shipping compartments

Sept. 2, 1969 l. e. latter 3,464,367

APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SHORING PACKAGES

IN SHIPPING COMPARTMENTS

Filed Jan. 25, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 1

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Sept. 2, 1969 l. e. latter 3,464,367

APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SHORING PACKAGES

IN SHIPPING COMPARTMENTS

Filed Jan. 25, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2

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Sept. 2,1969 ι_. e. latter 3,464,367

APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SHORING PACKAGES

IN SHIPPING COMPARTMENTS

Filed Jan. 25, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 3

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3,464,367

Patented Sept. 2, 1969

United States Patent Office

3,464,367 APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SHORING PACKAGES IN SHIPPING COMPARTMENTS

Lionel E. Latter, Oakville, Ontario, Canada, assignor to

Canadian International Paper Company, Montreal, 5

Quebec, Canada, a corporation of Quebec

Filed Jan. 25,1967, Ser. No. 611,666

Int. CI. B61d 45/00; B65d 5/58

U.S. Cl. 105—369 3 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A dunnage or package shoring assembly for fitting between stacked shipping packages stored in a transporta- 15 tion vehicle, such as a freight car. One part of the assembly is a relatively long narrow cap or open-sided box of corrugated board with parallel protruding flaps along the closed side for insertion between two shipping packages. The other part is an accordion folded insertable pad also 20 of corrugated board for fitting into the open side of the box. The insert is placed within the cap and between the cap and a car wall or between two caps associated with spaced stacks of packages.

Background of invention

This invention is in the category of load bracing for vehicles, particularly freight cars, although large trucks are also contemplated as well as ship’s holds, both ocean and air, and other carrier containers.

In most cases a cargo of discrete elements does not completely fill the freight space so some kind of bracing _ormeans is required. If the cargo is packaged, package shoring members or dunnage devices are used. In the past, this dunnage has been mostly of wood such as timber braces, plywood pads, etc. The braces usually require nailing into frames and later dismantling as part of the un- 40 loading procedures.

Summary

In order to overcome the difficulties attendant upon using wooded shoring or dunnage, it is proposed to make the dunnage in fittable portions of corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or other strong and relatively rigid but lightweight material. Accordingly, the portions designed to fit against the load are open-ended boxes or caps having protruding flaps or fins for insertion be- _gotween packages of merchandise. Each cap houses the end of an accordion folded pad of fiberboard or the like. If the package is situated near the freight car wall, the pad fits against the wall. If, on the other hand, the dunnage is between two stacks of packages, there is a cap With its 55 fins inserted between each stack with a pad fitted between them with its ends in their open sides.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the ensuing particular disclosure of one of its embodiments, as illustrated by the appended drawing. θθ

Brief description of drawing

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a complete dunnage assembly;

FIG. 2 shows a cap member in perspective from the ₆₅flap viewpoint;

FIG. 3 shows in perspective a pad folded for insertion into a cap or caps;

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation showing the dunnage assembly in place between shipping packages and also the -.θ use of one cap and pad between a package and the car wall;

FIG. 5 shows in a section of a freight car how the assemblies may be used horizontally;

FIG. 6 is a view like FIG. 5 showing the use of the dunnage devices vertically; and

FIG. 7 is a developed view of a cap.

Description of preferred embodiment

As shown in FIG. 1, the end boxes or caps 10 and 11 are fitted over the respective ends of the accordion pleated pad 12. Each box has protruding flaps or fins 13 and 14, respectively. The boxes may be made of corrugated fiberboard and advantageously are of such material.

As may be better seen in FIG. 2, the box has locking tabs 15 and 16 on its flap side. The corrugations of the pad shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 are parallel to the fold lines of the accordion folds which direction may be designated as pad length. The locking tabs 15 and 16 have reduced end portions 15-&lt;z and 16-a that are inserted in adjacent slots 17 and 18, respectively, in the box side pieces. The flaps such as 14 in FIG. 2 are in paralleled face to face relation and in use are held thus by pressure from the package walls between which they are inserted. This tab and dual flap construction plus the accordion-pleated construction of the pad or spacer assures a firm bracing member when in use. The boxes are made from a one piece blank as shown in FIG. 7 in which the reference characters are for cap 11 as in FIG. 2. The caps 1» and 11 have one side seam which is secured by means of suitable adhesive tapes 19 and 29.

The fractional view of FIG. 4 shows six packages 20-1 to 20-6 arranged in groups of four and two each in tiers and in rows. The group of four has a cap 11 with its flaps 14 between the upper carton 20-1 and the lower one 20-3. The pad 12 is nested in the box or cap 11 and rests against the side wall 21 of, say, a freight car.

Cartons 20-2 and 20-4 are stacked and rest respectively against cartons 20-1 and 20-3. This makes a tier and row combination which obviously may be repeated along the length of the car. The flaps 13 of a cap 10 are sandwiched between the cartons 20-2 and 20-4. One end of the pad 12 fits within the cap 10 and the other end within the cap 11. The flaps 14 of the cap 11 fits between the upper and lower cartons 20-5 and 20-6. Only two dunnage devices have been shown in FIG. 4, but obviously more may be used as required.

Because the pads may be trimmed off, different spacings between shipping packages may be accommodated. Thus a supply of caps of a given size may be used with pads of some maximum length that can be trimmed in length to fit various spacings.

The arrangement illustrated in FIG. 5 shows the dunnage devices placed horizontally with the flaps between upper and lower packages on opposite sides of the space between them.

The illustration of vertical orientation of the devices in FIG. 6 is with the row of packages on the viewer’s side removed. The back fins of the dunnage devices are between laterally spaced packages and the front fins are shown on the face of the end caps.

It may be in some instances, due to the distribution of packages in a shipping compartment, that both vertical and horizontal orientation may be used.

Sometimes the packages will be placed against the compartment wall and no dunnage used around the periphery of the package array. In this case only double cap devices would be used between suitable package groups.

The foregoing description of a particular embodiment of the invention is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

3,464,367