GB2244260A

GB2244260A - A container

Info

Publication number: GB2244260A
Application number: GB9109491A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Barry Mccormick
Original assignee: SHIELDTONE Ltd
Current assignee: SHIELDTONE Ltd
Priority date: 1990-05-02
Filing date: 1991-05-02
Publication date: 1991-11-27
Also published as: GB9009847D0; GB9109491D0

Abstract

A container, suitable for carrying refrigerated food, has side members having integral receiver or engager formations 32, 34 on opposite side edges said side members interlocking by mutual engagement of said receiver and engager formations of adjacent side members. The container may additionally comprise a pallet base and securing bands. <IMAGE>

Description

A CONTAINER The present invention relates to a container. The container finds particular, but not exclusive, use as a bulk freezer or refrigerated container.

Frozen food products are currently transported in wooden or cardboard containers. These tend to have a short life, as they may become contaminated, water-logged, or even damaged during transit or storage. They also have a tendency to bulge and consequently make less efficient use of the space in refrigeration or freezer units. It is also known to make refrigeration or freezer containers from steel. However, these tend to be expensive to make, heavy to use and there is a risk of food contamination on rusting.

Accordingly, at its broadest, the present invention provides a bulk freezer or refrigeration container made from a tough plastics material. The most preferred plastics material for this is polyethelyene.

Containers made of this material have been found to have much longer lives than other, known containers.

Additionally, they make much more efficient use of the refrigerated space and they can also be decontaminated by, for example, steam cleaning.

The container preferably incorporates a pallet so that it can be readily handled by fork-lift trucks.

In a preferred form there is provided a container comprising a base and side panels which can be readily assembled to form the container and readily separated for cleaning and for transport when empty. Generally the base will also act as a pallet. Suitably the side panels are made up of at least two but more preferably four separate sections. Some or each section may also have a floor panel which covers at least part of the upper surface of the base unit. Suitably, there are.cfr identical side panel sections in each container. This enables damaged panels to be replaced by borrowing from spare containers.

Alternatively, one panel may comprise more than one part which can be assembled vertically above one another. This facilitates loading of the container, espeially at its early stages.

The side panels may be held together by interlocking corners and/or by bands which surround the four panels. Optionally the container may also have a lid which fits over the top of the panels.

The container may also be provided with a sliding sleeve which fits over the side panels. This enables the height of the container to be altered so that a defined refrigeration space or cargo area can be fully utilised.

The base may comprise a solid platform having a sill to restrain the lower parts of the side panels, the solid section having two conventionally known apertures for the tines of a fork-lift truck. Alternatively the base may comprise a castellated platform, the castellations defining passages for the tines of a fork-lift truck.

If containers made in accordance with the present invention are designed to stack, then the lids and bases for the containers may be provided with corresponding projections and recesses which help to position containers in a stack and ensure maximum use of space.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 shows a container according to an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a base for the container of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows the underside of the base of Fig. 2: Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of a side section for the container of Fig. 1; Figs. 5 to 7 show the assembly of side sections in the base; Fig. 8 is an exploded view of the joint between the two side pieces: Fig. 9 is an exploded view of the edge of one side showing a lug; Figs. 10 and 11 show a band being fitted onto lug shown in Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is an exploded view of an assembled container; Fig. 13 is a view of an assembled container from above; and Fig. 14 is a cross-section through a side panel of a second embodiment.

Referring to the first embodiment, Fig. 1 shows a container 10 which has a base 12, four side panels 14a-d, a lid 16 and 2 and bands 18, 20.

The base 12 is best seen in Figs. 2 and 3. It comprises a castellated platform 22 around the edge of which is a sill 24. The base 22 has nine protrusions, 26 arranged on the underside in three rows of three. The tines of a fork-lift truck can slide along the passages between the protrusions 26 in either direction. The four protrusions in the corners are diagonally cut away to provide recesses 28. These will be discussed further below.

Turning now to Fig. 4, a side panel unit 14 comprises a wall panel 14a and a triangular floor panel 30.

Along either side of the floor panels 30 are joint members 32,34. These are U-shaped channels. Channel 32 is slightly smaller than channel 34 and channel 32 of one panel unit is capable of fitting inside channel 34 of an adjacent panel unit (see fig. 8). At the outer edge of channel unit 32 is a flange 36 which has two lugs 38,40.

As shown in figs 5 to 7, the container is assembled by placing a first panel unit 14a on the platform 22 of the base within the sill 24. A second panel 14b is then also installed on the base 12 and arranged so that adjacent channels 32,34 are interlocked. A third panel 14c is then similarly moved into position before a fourth panel (14d - not shown) is added to complete the container.

The two lugs 38,40 are designed to support securing bands 20,18 respectively. Figs. 10 and 11 show band 18 being lowered onto lug 40. Lug 40 is slightly smaller than lug 38. Band 20 has recesses in its corner parts to enable the band which is placed on the container from above, to be moved past the lugs 40 so that it rests on lugs 38.

As can be seen from Fig. 13, when the side panel units are assembled together the triangular floor fit together to form a complete floor on the base unit 12.

Fig. 14 shows a cross-section through an alternate side panel unit 50. This has ribs 52. This can be used in place of side panel unit 14 described previously.

When the lid is placed over the top of the container then there are effectively four bands holding the assembly together. The lid 16 has a turret 42 in each corner. Tense are triangular in shape and fit into the recesses 2b at each corner of the base 12. This interlocking helps in stacking containers and prevents sideways and dangerous slipping of the stack.

This embodiment can be modified so that a sliding sleeve is located over the top of the container. This can be moved to vary the height and hence the capacity of the container and to ensure that the vertical height of the entire container is such that the refrigeration unit in which the container is to be placed is completely filled and that there is no wasted space.

An alternative modification, which facilitates loading the container, uses a panel unit which is divided in half laterally (not shown). The two parts are not hinged together although this is a possibility in other embodiments. When using a panel unit of this type, the container is assembled as before except that only the lower part of the last panel (14d) is used initially. The lower half of the container is then loaded before the top part of the panel is put in place and the container filled. The sliding sleeve can also be used with this embodiment.

Claims

1. A container, suitable for carrying refrigerated food, said container having side members having integral receiver or engager formations on opposite free edges, said side members interlocking by mutual engagement of said receiver and engager formations of adjacent ones thereof.

2. A container accordng to claim 1, wherein at least some of said side members have projections co-operating to provide a base.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2 in which each said projection is an isosceles triangle.

4. A container according to any preceding claim in which each joint member has a receiver on one vertical edge and an engager on an opposite edge.

5. A container according to any preceding claim wherein each said engager formation is an elongate ridge to fit in an elongate recess of a said receiver formation.

6. A container according to claim 5 in which the engager and the receiver are each of channel-section.

7. A container according to any preceding claim comprising four substantially identical joint members.

8. A container according to claim 7 with claim 6 wherein the channel section of the engager and receiver of each side member face in substantially mutually perpendicular directions.

9. A container according to any peceding claim, wherein one of the side members has a removable upper part.

10. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 9 having a platform, an upper part of which has a sill to receive the side members.

11. A container according to claim 10, wherein the platform has underside formations to accept the tines of a fork lift truck.

12. A container according to claim 11 having a lid provided with formations to engage with said undersidt formations of the platform of another container.

13. A container according to any preceding claim, in which at least some of the side members have outwardly facing lugs to support a securing band about the container.

14. A container according to any preceding claim, made of a plastics material.

15. A container according to claim 14 made of polyethylene.

16. A container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.