EP0091893A1

EP0091893A1 - A container

Info

Publication number: EP0091893A1
Application number: EP83850092A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gustaf Gerhard Löfberg
Original assignee: Supra AB; Hydro Supra AB
Current assignee: Supra AB; Hydro Supra AB
Priority date: 1982-04-13
Filing date: 1983-04-11
Publication date: 1983-10-19
Also published as: EP0091893B1; FI76539C; ATE20657T1; SE8202316L; FI831205L; FI831205A0; DE3364420D1; SE455084B; FI76539B

Abstract

A sack-like container, particularly intended for pourable goods, comprises a hose-like casing (10) of flexible material and a rope (15) which has one end thereof joined to a first end-part of the casing, said first end-part being gathered to form a bottom (12) of the container, and extends from the bottom through the container space (14) and slideable out through a second end-part (17) of the casing, said second end-part being gathered to form an upper part (11) of the container. The other end of the rope (15) is bound around the second end-part of the casing and a portion of the rope surrounded by the second end-part. Between the binding location and the location (16) at which the rope exits from the second end-part (17) of the casing, the rope forms a U-shaped lifting loop (19), intended for receiving a lifting hook or like device for lifting the container together with its contents. The aforementioned other end of the rope (15) forms a self-tightening knot (18) so arranged as to permanently lock the aforesaid rope portion against sliding relative to the surrounding end-part (17) of the casing when the lifting loop (19), with the container filled with the intended load and suspended from the loop, is subjected to a load which substantially exceeds, preferably by 1 - 2.5 times, the load exerted on the lifting loop (19) by the suspended, filled container in a static condition.

Description

The present invention relates to a container, particularly intended for pourable goods, of the kind which includes a hose-like casing of pliant material and a rope which has one end thereof joined to a first end-part of the casing, said first end-part being gathered to form a bottom of the container, and extends from said bottom up through the container space and slideably out through a second end-part of the casing, said second end-part being gathered to form an upper part of the container, and the other end of which rope is bound around said second end-part of the casing and a portion of the rope surrounded by said second end-part, said w rope forming between the bindning location where it is bound around said second end-part and the opening for its passage out through said second end-part of the casing a U-shaped lifting loop intended for receiving a lifting hook or like device for lifting the container together with its contents.
Containers of this kind are known, inter alia, from US Patent Specifications Nos. 3 973 609, 4 069 852 and 4 222 422. When lifting such containers, together with their contents, by means of a lifting hook or like device which is inserted in the lifting loop and which permits such sliding of the rope that the stresses therein are distributed substantially uniformly over both parts of the loop, these stresses, as a result of the ability of the rope to slide in said second end-part of the casing, are advantageously transmitted to,. and distributed substantially evenly between the upper part and the bottom of the container.
When handling such containers together with their contents, for example when moving a container, suspended from a hook passed through the lifting loop, between filling station and store, from store to truck, and vice versa; from truck to boat, and vice versa; and between store and consumer station, the container is constantly subjected to dynamic stresses, i.e. the load acting between lifting loop and lifting hook constantly varies and can reach peak levels which exceed several times the load exerted under static conditions on the rope of a filled container suspended from a hook. Depending on different circumstances, the time interval between these peak values may vary from one third of a second to one second which means 60-180 load peaks per minute. If it is assumed that a filled disposable container can be handled, in accordance with the above, up to 30 times in its useful life, and that each handling period covers a duration of one minute, the filled container may thus be subjected to 1800-5400 load peaks. In the case of the known containers of the aforedescribed kind, each such loading peak can cause the rope to slip slightly relative to the surrounding casing material at the upper part of the container, resulting in wear and in the risk that the casing material may be worn away. As a result of the ability of the rope to slide freely relative to the casing material in the known containers of the aforedescribed kind, the rope is able to slide extensively relative to the casing material at the upper part of the container, often resulting in an undesirable change in the shape of the filled container when it is lifted from or lowered on to a resting place, such as the floor of a storeroom, the platform of a lorry etc.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel and useful container construction with which the aforementioned disadvantages are at least substantially eliminated.
To this end it is proposed that in a container of the kind described in the introduction said other end of the rope forms a self-tightening knot so arranged that it permanently locks said rope portion against sliding relative to the surroudning end-part of the casing, when the lifting loop, with the container filled with the intended load and suspended from said loop, is subjected to a load which substantially exceeds, preferably by 1 - 2.5 times the load exerted on the lifting loop by the suspended, filled container in a static condition. As a result of this arrangement, that portion of the rope passing through the upper part of the container will be locked relative to said upper part when the lifting loop is subjected to dynamic loads, when the loads acting on the upper part and the bottom of the container casing are substantially equally as great and the container, together with its contents, adopts a substantially optimal shape. The container proposed in accordance with the invention has been found to be equally as strong as the known containers in which no provision is made for locking the rope relative to the upper part of the container, while substantially reducing the risk of wearing the casing material away at the upper part of the container, and providing advantages with respect to the shape taken by the container when filled.
In accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the rope may extend out through an opening formed in said second end-part of the casing, above said binding location, said end-part of said casing suitably being folded over in the region of the opening for passage of the rope out therefrom, and is preferably bound by means of a single or double sheet bend or some other corresponding, self-tightening knot.
The durability of the connection between the rope and said second end-part of the casing can be improved to some extent when the rope, in accordance with a suitable embodiment of the invention, is a double-stranded or, preferably, a single-stranded rope.
To provide, inter alia, protection against wear on the casing, the container may advantageously be provided between said rope portion and said second end-part of the casing with a tubular part which surrounds the rope and which comprises a soft, flexible, preferably liquid-tight material, and which accompanies the rope out through said opening and extends along at least a portion of that part of the rope located outside the casing.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to a number of exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawing, further characterizing features of the invention and advantages afforded thereby also being made apparent.

Figure 1 is an axial sectional view of the upper and lower part of a first embodiment of a container according to the invention.
Figures 2 - 4 are axial sectional views of the upper part of a second, a third and a fourth embodiment respectively of the container according to the invention.

Corresponding elements of the various embodiments have been referenced by the same numerals in the various Figures of the drawing.
The sack-like container illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a casing 10, which has the form of a hose made from a flexible, for example woven plastics material, and the mutually opposite end-parts of which are gathered together to form the upper part 11 and the bottom 12 of the container. The casing is held gathered at the bottom 12 by means of a suitable holder means 13, such as a rope, a clamp or the like. The casing 10 encloses a container space 14, which is filled with pourable goods, such as pulvurent or granulated fertilizer, cement or seeds, as illustrated in dotted fashion.
One end of a rope 15 is joined to the lower end-part of the casing 10 gathered by the holder means 13, and extends up through the container space 14 and slideably out through an opening 16 formed in the gathered upper end-part 17 of the casing 10. The opposite end of the rope 15 is bound or tied around the upper end-part 17 of the casing, at a binding location beneath the opening 16, in a manner to obtain a self-tightening knot 18, the rope-part located between the binding location and the opening forming an external U-shaped lifting loop 19, intended to receive a lifting hook or like device which is intended for lifting the container together with its contents and which permits the rope 15 to slide relative to the loop. The knot 18 is so formed that when the filled container is lifted initially, the rope 15 is able to slide axially within the end-part 17 of the casing, so that the loads acting on the upper part 11 and the bottom 12 of the casing 10 are distributed substantially uniformly, via the rope 15, between said upper container part and said bottom, such that the container will take a favourable shape with respect to the loads exerted thereon. When the filled container, suspended from the loop 19, is subjected to a dynamic load which substantially exceeds, preferably 1 - 2.5 times the load exerted by the filled container on the lifting loop when the suspended, filled container is stationary, the knot 18 tightens and locks the part of the rope 15 embraced by said casing end-part 17 relative to said end-part 17.
In the Figure 1 embodiment the casing 10 is provided with a liner or inner casing 20 in the form of a substantially hose-like part of soft, flexible, liquid-tight plastics material, the bottom part of which is gathered between the casing 10 and the rope 15 by means of holder means 13 and which, by means of a similar holder means 21 is held gathered around the rope 15 at the upper part of said inner casing, via a sleeve 22 arranged for displacement along the rope 15. With the illustrated arrangement, the inner casing 20 will be effectively supported by the casing 10 and will automatically adopt a position in which the loads thereon are minimal. The inner casing 20 is provided with a so-called filling valve 23 which, in order to facilitate filling of the container, can be pulled out through an axial slit 24 in the outer casing 10, and then re-inserted into the outer casing, to be protected thereby. The reference 25 identifies a means for closing the valve 23.. The reference 26 identifies a connection or bond between the casings 10 and 20 which is obtained, for example with the aid of an adhesive and which limits the extent to which the upper part of the inner casing 20 can move relative to the rope 15 and relative to the upper part of the outer casing 10 respectively.
Arranged between the end-part 17 of the casing and the portion of the rope 15 embraced thereby is a tubular member 27 which encloses the rope and which is made of a soft, pliant material and accompanies the rope some distance out through the opening 16. The tubular member 27 may advantageously comprise a liquid-tight material and may be gathered externally of the opening 16 around the rope 15, or be caused to lie close to the outside of the rope 15, in a manner to prevent the passage of moisture and water between said tubular member and said rope into the interior of the container. The tubular member 27, illustrated in side view, which protects the end-part 17 of the casing against wear by the rope 15, is flared internally of the casing 10, to form a bell-shaped cape 28, shown in axial section, which covers and protects the upper part of the inner casing 20. The material from which the cape 28 with associated tubular member 27 is made may be provided with additives capable of absorbing or reflecting radiation harmful to the inner casing 20, such as UV-radiation. The cape 28 can be reached through the slit 24, to enable the bottom-edge part of the cape to be drawn up, to expose the valve 23 when filling the container, and then lowered again to the illustrated position. The reference 29 identifies a bowl-shaped protective insert made of a soft, pliant material, which is connected at its upper end 30, for example with the aid of an adhesive, to the outer and/or " inner casing 10 and 20 respectively; the insert is open at the bottom thereof and, by means of the holder means 13, is held gathered around the rope between the gathered lower end-parts of the casings 10, 20. The insert 29 may also be placed within the inner casing 20.
The container illustrated in Figure 2 is not provided with an inner casing, and it is assumed that the casing 10 is made from a liquid-tight material. For example, the casing 10 may consist of a hose formed from a woven plastics material coated internally with a water-tight plastics layer. Arranged in the upper part 11 of the illustrated container is a filling valve 23. The upper end-part 17 of the casing is shown to be gathered and folded over in the region of the opening 16, and bound by means of a self-tightening knot 18 formed with the aid of the rope 15 which forms the lifting loop 19 and extends through the container space. That portion of the rope 15 which is embraced by the casing end-part 17 is embraced by the tubular member 27 of soft, flexible material located between said rope and said end-part 17. The tubular member 27 comprises the upper part of a liquid-tight tube 31 which extends down through the whole of the container space 14, to form a liquid-tight shield between said space and that part of the rope 15 extending therethrough.
Arranged in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3 is an inner casing 20 having a container-filling valve which extends through the slit in the upper part 11 of the outer casing 10. The rope 15 extends up through the container space 14, and out through the opening 16 in the gathered end-part 17 of the outer casing. The rope forms a lifting loop 19 above the casing 11, and the rope 15 is bound around the folded end part 17, to form a self-tightening knot 18. The tube 25 embracing the rope 15 in the region where it passes through the gathered end-part 17 is formed by an upper end-part of.-reduced diameter of the inner casing 20.
The embodiment illustrated in Figure 4 is substantially the same as that illustrated in Figure 1 and will not therefore be described in detail. The only difference between the Figure 4 embodiment and the Figure 1 embodiment is that the cape 21 is omitted and that the tubular member 27 embraces, within the container, the upper end-part of the inner casing 20 gathered around the sleeve 22. The lower end of the tubular member 27, shown in axial section, is secured by means of the holder means 21. In this embodiment, the tubular member 27 restricts the extent to which the inner casing 20 can move along the rope 15, and hence the bond 26 illustrated in the Figure 1 embodiment can also be omitted.
The invention is not restricted to the embodiments described with reference to the drawing, and the design of the container according to the invention can naturally be modified in various ways within the scope of the following claims. The knot 18 can be caused to lock the end-part 17 of the casing relative to the rope 15, under controlled conditions, in conjunction with filling the container, by purposely subjecting the container suspended from the lifting loop 19 to movements of such nature as to cause the lifting loop 19 to be subjected to dynamic loads of sufficient magnitude to tighten said knot.

Claims

1. A sack-like container, particularly intended for pourable goods, of the kind which includes a hose-like casing (10) of pliant material and a rope (15) which has one end thereof joined to a first end-part of the casing, said first end-part being gathered to form a bottom (12) of the container, and extends from said bottom up through the container space (14) and slideably out through a second end-part (17) of the casing, said second end-part being gathered to form an upper part (11) of the container, and the other end of which rope (15) is bound around said second end-part of the casing and a portion of the rope surrounded by said second end-part, said rope forming between the bindning location where it is bound around said second end-part and the opening: (16) for its passage out through said second end-part (17) of the casing a U-shaped lifting loop (19) intended for receiving a lifting hook or like device for lifting the container together with its contents, characterized in that said other end of the rope (15) forms a self-tightening knot (18) so arranged that it permanently locks said rope portion against sliding relative to the surrounding casing end-part (17) when the lifting loop (19), with the container filled with the intended load and suspended from said loop, is subjected to a load which substantially exceeds, preferably by 1 - 2.5 times, the load exerted on the.lifting loop (19) by the suspended, filled container in a static condition.

2. A container according to Claim 1, characterized in that the rope (15) extends out through an opening (16) formed in said casing end-part (17) above said binding location.

3. A container according to Claim 2, characterized in that said second end-part (17) of the casing is folded over in the region of said opening (16) for passage of the rope (15) out therefrom, and is preferably bound by means of a single or double sheet bend.

4. A container according to any one of Claims 1 - 3, characterized in that the rope (15) is a double-stranded or single-stranded rope.

5. A container according to any one of Claims 1 - 4, characterized in that said container, between said rope portion and said second end-part (17) of the casing, is provided with a tubular member (27) which surrounds the rope (15) and which is made of a soft, pliant, preferably liquid-tight material, and which accompanies the rope out through said opening (16) and extends along at least a portion of that part of the rope located outside the casing.

6. A container according to Claim 5, characterized in that said tubular member (27) is gathered around the rope (15) externally of said opening (16).

7. A container according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, characterized in that said tubular member (27) comprises the upper part of a liquid-tight tube (31) which extends down through the whole of the container space (14) to form a liquid-tight shield between said space and that part of the rope (15) extending therethrough.

8. A container according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, characterized in that said tubular member (27) is flared within the container, to form a cape (28).

9. A container according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, characterized in that said tubular member (27) comprises an upper end-part of reduced diameter of an inner casing (20) enclosed by the firstmentioned casing (10).

10. A container according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, characterized in that said tubular member (27) surrounds, within the container, a gathered upper end-part of an inner casing (20) enclosed by the firstmentioned casing (10).