US3233774A - Compartmented crate - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 8, 1966 w. B. WILKINS COMPARTMENTED CRATE Filed June 4, 1963 INVENTOR WILLIAM BURDETTE WILKIN5 MWZWAAWWK AT TOR NEYS ll hhhuuw United States Patent C 3,233,774 COMPARTMENTED CRATE William Burdette Wilkins, Roxhoro, N.C., assignor to Reinforced Plastic Container Corporation, Roxhoro,

Filed June 4, 1963, Ser. No. 285,338 3 Claims. (Cl. 22021) This invention relates to a crate structure and, more particularly, relates to an improved partitioned crate having a plurality of compartments to receive the bottled commodity carried therein.

In the mechandising of bottled commodities such as soft drinks, it is customary to distribute the bottled material in cases or crates. The conventional crate for soft drinks comprises a wooden rectangular tray or fiat having a bottom and vertically disposed side and end walls. The interior of the tray is subdivided by intersecting wooden partitions into a plurality of compartments, usually square, of a size to receive a single bottle. The partitions are provided to separate adjacent bottles and to prevent damage during transit. To provide the individual compartments, however, the wooden partitions must be notched or cut out so that intersection portions can be interleaved in mating fashion.

It has been found that thenotching of the wood inevitably weakens the partitions leaving sections supported only by a cross grain of the thin wood slat. Under impact, such partitions or sections will break off and fall into the bottom of the compartment. As a result, on loading of the crate with bottles by automatic equipment, the bottles cannot be inserted to the full depth and are broken off by the automatic loading equipment, resulting in stoppage of the equipment until it can be cleared. Similar problems of breakage exist in automatic debottling equipment.

Further, the wooden structures entrap moisture as, for example, condensation from chilled bottles, leading to warpage of the crate. It is also difficult to accurately control the cell size of the compartments when constructed from wood. Further, to sustain the load within the crates and, simultaneously, to provide the necessary impact resistance, it has been found that wood must be reinforced as by steel bands.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide an improved compartmented crate having greater resistance to breakage and change of dimension in use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a crate which can be assembled in more economical fashion.

In accordance with these objects, there is provided, in a preferred embodiment of this invention, a crate having a body formed as a substantially U-shaped channel member. The body is formed of a plurality of laminations bonded together as, for example, a plurality of laminations of kraft paper bonded together with a resin such as a urea resin. The partition structure or nest is similarly formed of laminated paper reinforced at the edges by a high strength roving such as glass fibers. The partition structure is inserted within the crate body and is afiixed therein by bonding the partition structure to the side Walls of the U-shaped channel at the upper ends thereof. The partition is so dimensioned as to provide a free space between the bottom of the partition structure and the bottom of the body which extends the length of the body.

The end walls of the crate are formed by a thin composite body having a handle integrally formed therewith. This end wall and handle assembly may most conveniently be formed from a single sheet of thin steel, the upper end of which is formed about a wooden insert to form the handle. This is bonded to the partition structure and to the side Walls of the channel member. By such bonding,

3,233,774 Patented Feb. s, was

the beam strength requisite for handles for such crates is provided in a lightweight, simply assembled structure.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greater detail along with other obiects and advantages in the following detailed sections of the specification which may best be understood by reference to the accompanying figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled crate in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the handle assembly for the crate of FIG. 1 illustrating the formation thereof; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section on lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

In the figures, there is shown a crate comprising a body 10 formed as a substantially U-shaped open ended channel structure. This channel structure is formed from a plurality of laminations bonded together at the interfaces by a suitable resin. For example, i have found it preferable to form the body of a plurality of laminations of kraft paper bonded together bythermosetting urea resins. This body section is preferably formed by assembling the laminations as disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 285,375 filed June 4, 1963, for Apparatus for Wrapping and Cutting Wrapped Laminations.

The partition structure or nest 12 is preferably formed of paper laminations bonded together and comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending members 14 formed into a series of open ended squares bonded to longitudinally extending dividers 16 to form the nest of joined adjacent compartments 18. The partition structure may be formed in a mold as illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 285,374 filed June 4, 1963, for Actuated Mold and Ejector.

The partition structure is preferably reinforced at the edges by a high strength roving stock such as fiber glass roving 20 in order to improve the resistance of the partition structure to damage during insertion of the bottles and the like by automatic equipment and to strengthen the walls of the compartments. Application of the roving reinforcement may be accomplished by the apparatus disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 285,762, filed June 5, 1963 for Apparatus for Application of Reinforcing Strands to a compartmented Nest.

The partition structure is bonded to the side walls of the mold body so that the top surface of the partition structure is slightly below the top of the side walls. The partition structure, therefore, will not reach the bottom of the body portion leaving a clean open space extending the length of the crate body. By this assembly, cleaning of the crate is facilitated since there is provided uninterrupted space for the run-off of the cleaning fluids used. Further, any accumulated moisture as, for example, condensation from chilled bottles can run off freely.

The ends of the crates are enclosed by a side wall and handle structure 22. The structure 22 is preferably formed of thin sheet stock such as sheet steel, the upper ends of which are folded around a wooden insert 24- to form a reinforced handle convenient to grasp. The underside 31 of the handle is angled to follow the taper of the insert 24 to provide an easily gripped, secure handle. The handle and wall structures are inserted and tabs 26 thereof affixed to the side walls by bonding, the strength of which may be augmented by rivets 28 extending therethrough. The flat face 30 of the structure 22 is bonded to the end of the partition structure.

Alternatively, the structure 22 may be formed using sheet stock of aluminum or sheet plastic, reinforced if necessary. Also, the structure may be extruded to finished form from a suitable plastic.

In this manner, a simple and economical handle structure may be fabricated from materials which are capable of being imprinted with advertising slogans and the like.

v In addition, the handle and end wall structure provide the requisite structural strength. For example, it is common practice to stack the crates when loaded to heights of five or six crates and to pick up the entire stack with a loader which grasps the handles of the bottom crate. The flat face 30 of the handle assembly 22 provides the necessary beam depth to sustain such loads. Buckling failure of this thin beam section is prevented by bonding thereof to the partition wall.

In order to prevent entrapment of moisture under the bottom of each bottle, strips 32 are provided on the bottom of the body, which strips are ofi'set from the nest compartments.

In this manner, there is provided a structure which is both strong and resilient. The resiliency of the nest cushions impacts preventing bottle breakage and breakage of the nest. The materials used enable more accurate control of the cell size of the nests as well as more accurate control of the overall size of the crate. The crate can be made smaller by about a /2 inch in length and a /2 inch in width over the corresponding wooden crate without change of the capacity of the crate. The material is, of course, not subject to warpage as is wood and is much easier to clean. Additionally, of course, the assembly is lighter and can be assembled in operations which are more compatible with automatic assembly equipment.

Furthermore, the crate is compatible with existing wooden crates enabling intermixing thereof.

The nest may be omitted in those application in which the crate is used to transport bottled commodities packaged in paper containers. Although the buckling resistance of the Wall 30 is reduced without the reinforcement of the nest, this application does not require the same strength of handle.

This invention may be variously modified and embodied Within the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A compartmented crate for bottled soft drinks comprising:

a crate body, said crate body being formed from a plurality of laminations bonded together to form a U-shaped, open ended body,

a nest, said nest being formed of a plurality of paper laminations formed into a plurality of adjacent compartments, each of said compartmentsv being dimensioned to receive a single bottle, said nest being inserted into said body just below the top of said body and secured therein by bonding of the nest to the side walls of said crate body, said nest having a depth less than said body to provide an uninterrupted clear space between the bottom of the nest and the bottom of said body for the entire length of said nest, and an end wall and handle assembly for each end of said crate, each of said end wall and handle structures comprising a flat piece of sheet stock the top of which is formed into a handle and the sides of which are formed into tabs, each of said assemblies being inserted within one end of said body and secured therein by bonding the fiat surface thereof to the nest structure and bonding the tabs to the side walls of said body, the depth of said assemblies being less than the depth of said body thereby to continue the open uninterrupted spacing under said nest to the ends of said crate. 2. A crate in accordance with claim 1 which includes a wooden insert within the formed handle.

3. A crate inaccordance with claim 1 in which said nest is reinforced by roving extending along and bonded to the top edges of said nest.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 137,791 4/1873 Mueller 21723.9

183,778 11/1876 Ryerson 217-23.18 2,778,524 1/1957 Bock 2208395 2,950,852 8/1960 Hutchison 22923 3,001,900 9/1961 Frieder 22083 3,138,507 6/1964 Wiltshire 22083 FOREIGN PATENTS 753,594 7/ 1956 Great Britain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A COMPARTMENTED CRATE FOR BOTTLED SOFT DRINKS COMPRISING: A CRATE BODY, SAID CRATE BODY BEING FORMED FROM A PLURALITY OF LAMINATIONS BONDED TOGETHER TO FORM A U-SHAPED, OPEN ENDED BODY, A NEST, SAID NEST BEING FORMED OF A PLURALITY OF PAPER LAMINATIONS FORMED INTO A PLURALITY OF ADJACENT COMPARTMENTS, EACH OF SAID COMPARTMENTS BEING DIMENSIONED TO RECEIVE A SINGLE BOTTLE, SAID NEST BEING INSERTED INTO SAID BODY JUST BELOW THE TOP OF SAID BODY AND SECURED THEREIN BY BONDING OF THE NEST TO THE SIDE WALLS OF SAID CRATE BODY, SAID NEST HAVING A DEPTH LESS THAN SAID BODY TO PROVIDE AN UNINTERRUPTED CLEAR SPACE BETWEEN THE BOTTOM OF

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