US2516405A - Shipping container - Google Patents

Description

July 25, 1950 w. L.- MORRISON swarms comma 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' Filed April 15, 1946 r .8 MM w m P m h y 5, 1950 w. L. MORRISON 2,516,405

SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed April 15, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 25, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHIPPING QONTAINER, Willard L. Morrison, Lake Forest, n1. v

Application April 15, 1946, Serial No. 662,206

I 1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to an improvement in shipping containers and has for one purpose to provide an improved means of insulating a container having an inner and an outer chamber with insulating space between the chambers.

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the shipping container with part of the outer container broken away and the cover separatedfrom the container with its top surface also partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a section along the line 22 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detail illustrating means for varying or controlling the tension of the supporting elements;

Figure 5 is another detail illustrating said tensioning means; and

Figure 6 is a view taken on the line 66 of Figure 2.

Referring to the Figure 1, I represents the bottom floor of the outer container and 2 the supporting means so that a platform lift can be slipped under the container to transport it. The side walls 3 are shown broken away at 4 so as to give a better view of the inner container 5 and the supporting means I. The inner container is of a size to allow adequate insulation 6 between the inner and outer containers. The amount of insulation may vary according to the use to which this device is put. It is shown only locally, but in use may fill all or most of the space between the inner and outer containers. The inner container is held in place by plywood strips which may be of any suitable size but I are shown as approximately 12 inches wide and of an inch thick, running diagonally through the insulation and in alternate arrangement, some extending from the bottom edge of the inner container to the upper edge of the outer container as illustrated by la, and others from the upper edge of the inner container to the bottom edge of the outer. container as illustrated by 11), all being embedded in the insulation 6.

In theside walls, the diagonal strips are placed in an upright position and in the bottom wall the diagonal strips are placed ina longitudinal position. These plywood strips ,are fastened securely at their ends to theinner and outer containers, thus giving a strong and rigid support to the inner container.

The cover 8 has insulation 6a between its upper and lower surfacesx which surfaces are held apart by suitable spacing means, such as hard paper tubes 9. The-lower surface of cover 8 and the upper surface [0 of the insulation .of the container are covered with a thick .piled carpet or suitableflexible or compressible member, I I, so that when the cover is lowered into place the piles or surfaces of the two members engage together and form a snug contact, so that the cold air within cannot escape; Referring toFigures 2 and 3, I illustrate my invention as applied to a freight car. The longitudinal beams or sills of the freight car are indicated at H and the freight car floor at l2. The freight car ceiling or inner roof element is indicated at l3 and the freight car sides at I4. l5 indicates an inner container which may be supported by a plurality of slats or tension members l1, corresponding to the supports la and lb of Fig. 1, and similarly arranged. The sides of inner container [5 may be of corrugated metal to add stiffening strength. The space l6 between the inner container [5 and the floor, walls and roof of the car is filled by any suitable insulation, such as the insulation 6 of Fig. 1, the cross tensional supports I! being embedded therein. It will be understood that the type of insulation employed is soft yielding and flexible or compressible.

In the form of Fig. 1 and also Figs. 2 and 3 it may be advantageous to provide means for varying or controlling the tension of the individual supports. Applying such control means to the supports 11, I illustrate stirrups or connectors l8 to which are secured bolts H! which may pass through any suitable supporting members 20, forming part of the car of Figs. 2 and. 3 or of the outer container of Fig. 1. Nuts 2| may be employed to vary or control the tension.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

In shipping frozen food or other perishable articles, it is possible to retain the food in its frozen state for considerable periods by packing it in a container that is adequately insulated. To achieve this adequate insulation I use two chambers one fitting within the other and allowing a suitable distance, which may for example be approximately five inches, between the two chambers, for insulation. This distance between the chambers may vary to suit the purpose. In a freight carer motortruck bodythe space for insulation would be greater. Since the: means of supporting the inner chamber and holding it securely forms a thermal path through the in.- sulation between the inner and outer container, my invention employs plywood stripszlor :otlier suitable material, placed diagonally in an elongated position so that the thermal'pathbetween the inner and outer container'is inoreased considerably in length. This lessens the amount of heat that can penetrate from the outside. The plywood strips are secured tautly so as to hold the Tnnerconta lnerina rigid-position. In some cases miitable tightening members can be introduced to tighten the various strips in order to equalize the in all members. The ply-woodstrips i'n theiralt'ernatediagonal position are used in 'sufllcient quantity so= thatthe inner container can cm; considerable weight; I

It 'isunderstood that my invention 'canbe mdapteel to 'varibus'u'ses. It" can bea sh ipper con- 'tainer'eomplete in itself as the'one I illustrate. Or it can be the' insulatingmeans incorporated into'a'fi e'i'ghtcar, truck, airplane or any" other meanest transportation or storage. I','I haveillustrated ashi'pping conmmqrwmcnmay beshipped as a unit, the bottom upp-ms: being-so; formed as to'permit the container'togbe'raised byor' on any suitabl'e' 'supporting or elvating platform. In Figs. '2"an d 3, I 'ill'ustratmny mv'enuenes applied to'a f-reight ear. It will be understdod that-it can be applied to a wide variety of transporting means.

It will"turthen-be' understbod that whereas-I illustrate -plywood supports =or slats Ta and- 1b "the car sides 14 and the inner container l5. At

talic-central area where the section Fig. 3 is taken, .all the supports [1 are shown as extending trans- 'versely of instead of longitudinally along the car.

I claim:

A shipper container comprising outer and inner housings having parallel adjacent walls, the inner housing being of smaller volumetric capacity than the" outer, means 161* supporting the il'IIlQFhQUSlHgiH theouterand holding it in position. therein co prisinga 'piurant' of" thin,

flat strips located between adjacent walls, adjacent strips being oppositely-"inclined; each strip being anchoredUa'tfine'end 'tUthe Wa'I-YTH one container and at the other end tothe wallofthe other whereby-lateral strips are attached to the lower wall of one container and the upper wall of the "other, said strips being'ofsuch thickness that they support the: load in tension much more L. MORRISON.

REFERENCES: crrsn The vfoll'ovving.references are otreCord in the the of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date I 6 ,810 Lamasney et a1 May 3,1910 1,866,517 'Heylanot July'5, I932

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