Containers

United States Patent

<td> [72]</td><td> Inventor</td><td> Oliver Young Bewick Seaburn, Sunderland, England</td>

<td> (21|</td><td> Appl. No.</td><td> 810,936</td>

<td> [22]</td><td> Filed</td><td> Mar. 25,1969</td>

<td> [45]</td><td> Patented</td><td> June 1,1971</td>

<td> [73]</td><td> Assignee</td><td> Towers (Sunderland) Limited Framwellgate Moor, England</td>

[54] CONTAINERS 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl........................................................ 280/33.99,

108/53,280/79.1

[51] Int. Cl......................................................... B62b3/02

[50] Field of Search............................................ 280/33.99,

79.1,79.3; 108/53

[56] References Cited

UNITED STATES PATENTS

1,723,085 8/1929 Sippel........................... 280/79.IX _______________Hi] 3,582,102

2,154,839 4/1939 Franklin....................... 280/79.3UX

2,610,750 9/1952 Hulbert........................ 280/33.9TUX

2.774,503 12/1956 Moore..........................280/33.99(T)X

FOREIGN PATENTS

1,127,801 4/1962 Germany...................... 280/79.3

Primary Examiner—Kenneth H. Betts

Assistant Examiner— Milton L. Smith

Attorney—McGlew &amp; Toren

ABSTRACT: A container has a base mounted on wheels or casters and at least two opposite sidewalls which are held in position on the base by spigots which engage holes in the base. The sidewalls can thus be lifted vertically to remove them from the base for storage purposes. A number of bases can be stacked, as each base has recesses in its top surface to receive the wheels or casters of a base placed above it. Further, each base has a number of sets of spigot-receiving holes so that several sidewalls can be stored on a single base.

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PATENTED JUN 11971

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CONTAINERS

This invention relates to containers, and especially to containers provided with rotatable support elements, such as wheels or casters, for the transportation of goods from one location to another during manufacture, packaging and distribution.

Such containers may be used at one single site, or they may be used for order picking, i.e. discrete orders may be assembled in various containers of this type which are then loaded onto vans or lorries for delivery to their destination. The requirements of such containers are that they can be easily assembled, do not require elaborate locking devices to maintain them in assembled condition, and can be dismantled and stacked without difficulty.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container that will fulfill these requirements.

According to this invention, there is provided a container comprising a base mounted on rotatable support elements and side members each having at least two spigots extending from its lower region, holes in the base being arranged to receive the spigots to. support the side members. The mere provision of spigots on the side members and holes in the base is enough to maintain the side members in position in use without any further locking means because, if the user of the container takes hold of the side members and uses them as handles to push the containers in a direction parallel to the length of the side members, any component of the applied force in a direction tending to remove the side members will be resisted by the frictional forces between spigots and holes. On the other hand the side members can be easily removed by pulling them vertically upward.

In order to provide for ease of stacking the containers, a container according to this invention preferably has in its upper surface recesses positioned so as to provide lodging therein for the wheels or casters of a second base if stacked thereon and/or a plurality of sets of holes in said base, so that side members from a number of containers can all be stacked on one base.

One form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a single container;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a side;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the base;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the base; and

FIG. 5 is a detail cross section on the line A-A of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the container comprises a pair of opposite sides mounted on a base 2. Each of the sides (see FIG. 2) is of openwork construction and is formed from an outer, substantially rectangular member 8 having secured to it horizontally and vertically arranged bars, all the parts being of metal (tubing. Two of the vertical bars 6 extend so that they project beyond the lower, horizontal run of the member 8, thus providing two spigots 10.

The base 2 is rectangular and is bounded by a metal strip 12 providing two pairs of opposite sidewalls 12 and 14. Parallel cross members 16 extend between the walls 12 and divide the base into a central section 18 and side sections 20. The crossmembers 16 each comprise two superimposed top hat section bars 24 joined by tubes 26 that define holes 22 extending between the bars 24. The size of the holes and the spacing between the pitch lines of the two rows of holes are such that the spigots 10 of a side 4 can be received within them, as shown in FIG. 1. The end tubes 26 in each member 16 extend above the upper bar 24 and are flared.

One flange of each upper bar 24, together with angle bars 28 on the walls 12, provides support for a sheet of plywood flooring 30 covering the central section 18. The other flanges of the upper bars 24, together with the angle bars 32 extending along the side walls 14, support plywood flooring sheets 34 covering the side sections 20. The sheets 34 have, in the region of each of the corners of the base, a rectangular slot 36. Beneath each slot 36 is a plate 38 secured to an angle bar 32 and a flange of the adjacent upper bar 24. Below the plates 38 are fixed support plates 40 for a pair of casters 42 and a pair of non-swivelling wheels 44 on which the base is mounted.

It will be seen from the relative position of the slots 36 and the casters 42 and wheels 44 that, if a second base is placed 5 upon the base shown, its wheels and casters can be received within the slots 36 to hold the second base. A number of such bases may be stacked upon each other in this way for storage purposes. In addition, as each base is provided with a series of pairs of holes 22, a similar series of sides 4 can be stowed for storage on a single base using these holes.

When a container is prepared for use, with two sides mounted opposite each other, as shown in FIG. 1, on the end tubes 26, the enclosure of which the sides form a part can be । j completed by side pieces 5 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) which can be pivotally mounted on them. Such side pieces may be held closed by any suitable means such as clips or straps, or by further spigot and hole arrangements. Alternatively straps may be provided between the sides 4.

2q It will be seen from the foregoing description that the containers are readily collapsible and may be stored without great wastage of space and readily assembled for use to a form in which the sides are held firmly in position without the use of complicated locking means.