WO2006030225A1

WO2006030225A1 - Site boxes

Info

Publication number: WO2006030225A1
Application number: PCT/GB2005/003572
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nigel Mark Henry Nield
Original assignee: Nigel Mark Henry Nield
Priority date: 2004-09-15
Filing date: 2005-09-15
Publication date: 2006-03-23
Also published as: GB0420503D0

Abstract

A collapsible site box comprises six panels with strengthening flanges (30- 33, 34, 42, 51) along their free edges: a base 10 (with channel means 17); two sides (11, 12), a front (13), and a back (14) all hinged to the base and foldable to lie flat against the base; and a lid (15) (with wheels 57) which closes the erected box and lies flat against the base when folded, with its flanges covering the other panels. The lid may be attachable to the upper back of the erected box and to the edge of the base when folded, or attached to the upper back of the box by slider-mounted hinges. The sides fold onto the base (without overlap), the front folds over the sides, and the back folds over the front, the heights of the hinges above the base being appropriate. The front, back and sides have engagement means (40, 41) along their meeting edges. The lid and sides have handles (18, 19); the lid is slightly sloping in the erected state.

Description

Site Boxes

The present invention relates to boxes, and more specifically to the type of box known as site boxes. Boxes of this general type are also known as site stores, site safes, cube lockers, and van vaults.

In the building trade, there are many different tradesmen such as plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, and electricians who need to visit a building site, typically over a period of several days or weeks, to carry out particular operations on a building being constructed. Each person normally uses their own set of tools.

Rather than transporting their tools with them each morning and evening, they often prefer to leave the tools on site. However, it is found that they need a secure way of doing this. A type of box known as a site box is therefore often used for this purpose.

A site box is a lockable box, normally of steel. It must be capacious enough to hold most of the tools used by the various kinds of building worker, including portable work benches as used by carpenters and others. Their dimen¬ sions are therefore typically of the order of 1 m, giving a volume typically of the order of 1 m³. A suitable number of site boxes will often be provided by the main contractor for use the various tradesmen (who will generally use their own pad¬ locks), although some tradesmen may use their own site boxes. The size of the site boxes makes them very bulky to transport.

The primary object of the present invention is to alleviate or overcome this problem.

Accordingly the present invention provides a folding or collapsible site box of six panels, comprising: a base; two sides, a front, and a back all hinged to the base such that they can be folded to lie substantially flat against the base; and a lid which can close the box in the erected state and lie substantially flat against the base in the folded state. The lid may be attachable to the upper back of the box in the erected state and to the edge of the base in the folded state., or attached to the upper back of the box by hinges mounted on sliders. Substantially all free edges of the panels preferably have strengthening flanges. The ends preferably fold first onto the base, the front (or back) folds over the sides, and the back (or front) folds over the front (or back), the heights of the hinges above the plane of the base being set appropriately, preferably with the flanges of the lid substantially covering the remaining panels in the folded state and with the sides not overlapping when folded. The lid and sides may have handles; the lid is preferably slightly sloping in the erected state; the lid preferably has wheels; the the front, back and sides preferably have engagement means along their meeting edges in the erected state; and the base may have channel means attached to it.

A variety of folding boxes for other purposes are of course known. How¬ ever, it is believed that the known designs are in general unsuitable for use as site boxes.

The significant features of the present design include the following, indivi¬ dually or in combination: the manner in which the side panels fold end-to-end within the base panel; the manner in which certain panels (conveniently the front and rear panels) fold down to lie over other (conveniently the side) panels; the manner in which one panel (preferably the top panel) embraces the other panels when folded; the provision of wheels and/or handles; the manner in which the top panel is engageable with the remaining panels in two ways, either demountably or slidingly; and the manner in which the one panel (preferably the top panel) is engageable with another panel (preferably the front panel) in the unfolded state and with a different panel in the folded state. A site box embodying the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the drawings, which show various stages in the folding of the box. Specifically,

Fig. 1 is a front view of the site box in its erected state; Figs. 2 to 9 show successive stages of folding; and

Fig. 10 is a further view of the box in the folded state. It should be noted that while Fig. 1 is a front view, Figs. 2 to 9 are rear views.

Referring to Fig. 1, the box comprises a base 10, sides 11 and 12, a front 13, a back 14, and a top or lid 15, all of which are broadly panel-like. The top 15 has strengthening corners 16 as shown; similar corners (not shown) may be pro¬ vided on the other panels if desired. The panels are all generally rectangular, but the side panels 11 and 12 preferably have their upper edges slightly sloped, so that the top panel 15 is slightly sloping; this prevents rainwater from accumulating on it when the box is on a flat surface, as is usual The base 10 has a pair of channels 17 attached to it to raise the base slightly off the ground; this enables forks of a fork lift truck to be inserted beneath the box to lift it if desired. If desired, these channels may be enclosed (sealed) rather than open at the ends as shown.

Each of the side panels 11 and 12 has a handle 18 mounted on it; the top panel 15 has a pair of handles 19 mounted on its front flange or edge. Either or both of these two pairs of handles may be of the drop-down type. The handles are intended to assist in moving the box if desired; as will be seen, the handles 19 on the top 15 remain accessible when the box is folded.

In the erected state, the sides 11 and 12, the front 13, and the rear 14 are engaged together along their meeting edges by engagement means inside the box, as described in more detail below. The top panel 15 is hinged to the rear panel 14 so that the top panel can be lifted up and swung back to allow access to the interior of the box. The top panel carries a stay 25 which engages with a hasp on the front 13, so that the box may be locked by a padlock. The stay and hasp may be slightly recessed if desired, to protect them. Alternatively or additionally, a locking mechanism may be provided inside the box, on the interior of the front 13 and top 15, with a keyhole in Hie front flange of the top 15.

The first stage in folding the box is to open the lid or top 15 to its fullest extent, as shown in Fig. 2. (As noted above, the box is now seen from the rear.) As seen in Fig. 2, the top 15 has flanges 30-33 around all four sides, with flange 32 carrying the handles 19 and the stay 25. (The other panels have similar but narrower flanges.) The free edge of the flange 30 is hinged to the rear panel by hinge means 34, located on the panel 14 at a distance below its top edge matching the depth of the flanges 30-33. (For normal use, stay means (not shown) may be provided to limit the opening of the top and to hold the top in the normally open state when desired. Such stay means must of course be disengageable for fold¬ ing.)

The hinge means 34 are separable such that the top panel 15 can now be separated from the panel 14, eg by sideways movement. If desired, the hinge means may include locking means (not shown) located on the inside of the rear panel 14, so that the top remains attached to the rear panel until the locking means are operated to allow the release and removal of the top.

The box is now in the state shown in Fig. 3. The front and rear panels each carry on their inner sides a pair of channels 40 and the sides 11 and 12 each carry a pair of locking means 41 on each upright edge. The locking means 41 normally engage with the channels 40 to hold the sides 11 and 12 and the front 13 and rear 14 firmly together. The sides 11 and 12 fit inside the flanges 42 along the rising sides and top edges of the front and back 13 and 14.

The next stage in folding the box is to release these locking means 41. This allows the front and back panels 13 and 14 to fold outwardly, as shown in

Fig. 4. The side panels 11 and 12 can now fold inwardly as shown in Fig. 5, to lie flat against the base 10. The length of the box should be at least twice its height, to avoid the sides 11 and 12 overlapping when so folded down. (Alternatively, the box may be roughly cubical, with the sizes of the sides being slightly staggered so that one lies over the other when folded.) The flanges 45 on the sides 11 and 12 can all conveniently be the same width, with the flanges 46 along the ends of the base 10 to which the sides 11 and 12 are hinged being also of the same width; the flanges on the front and back 13 and 14 are also conveniently of this width. (These and other hinges are preferably high-security hinges.) The sides 11 and 12 thus lie within the height of the flanges 46 of the base 10.

The next stage is to fold the front panel 13 over the base 10, as shown in Fig. 6. The front 13 is hinged to flange 50 of the base; this flange 50 is twice the width of the flanges 46, so that the front panel 13 lies snugly above the folded side panels 11 and 12. The next stage is to fold the rear panel 14 over the base 10, as shown in Fig. 7. The rear 14 is hinged to flange 51 of the base; this flange is three times the width of the flanges 46, so that the rear panel lies snugly over the folded front panel. . The hinges attaching the front and rear panels 13 and 14 to the base panel 10 can conveniently be concealed and arranged to limit the extent to which the front and rear panels can be opened outwardly (as shown for the front panel 13 in Fig. 5).

The final stage is refitting the top panel 15, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The bottom edge of flange 50 of the base 10 is provided with hinge means 55 which match the portions of the hinge means 34 on the rear panel 14. These can there- fore engage with the portions of the hinge means 34 on the top 15, so engaging the top 15 with the base 10 as shown in Fig. 8. The top can then be folded down over the base as shown in Fig. 9. The base may be provided with a hasp 56 (matching hasp 55), or with locking means matching those on the inside of the rear panel 14, so that the top can be locked to the base, thus securing the box in its folded state. As an alternative to the separable attachment of the top 15 to the rear panel 14, the attachment may consist of hinges on the top mounted on slides which are in turn mounted on the rear 14, so that the top may be slid between the Fig. 1 and Fig. 8 positions.

Fig. 10 shows the folded box raised to stand on edge. Wheels 57 are provided on the flange 50 of the base 10 to allow the box to be moved easily. Either or both wheels may be on castor mountings. If desired, the wheels may instead be mounted on the main part of the base 10, eg within the channels 17 or adjacent to those channels (which may be cut back to accommodate the wheels), so that the wheels do not protrude so far.

In the claims, all references in parentheses to technical features are references within the meaning of EPC Rule 29(7), whether the reference are to individual features within specific figures or to complete figures, and are not to be taken as implying reliance on those features within the meaning of Rule 29(6).

Claims

1 A collapsible site box of six panels, comprising: a base (10); two sides (11,12), a front (13), and a back (14) all hinged to the base such that they can be folded to lie substantially flat against the base; and a lid (15) which can close the box in the erected state (Fig. 1) and lie substantially flat against the base in the folded state (Fig. 10).

2 A site box according to claim 1 wherein the lid is attachable to the upper back of the box in the erected state and to the edge of the base in the folded state.

3 A site box according to claim 1 wherein the lid is attached to the upper back of the box by hinges mounted on sliders.

4 A site box according to any previous claim wherein substantially all free edges of the panels have strengthening flanges (30-33,34,42,51).

5 A site box according to any previous claim wherein the ends fold first onto the base, the front (or back) folds over the sides, and the back (or front) folds over the front (or back), the heights of the hinges above the plane of the base being set appropriately.

6 A site box according to claim 5 wherein the flanges of the lid substantially cover the remaining panels in the folded state.

7 _ A site box according to claim 5 wherein the sides do not overlap when folded. S

8 A site box according to any previous claim wherein the lid and sides have handles (18,19).

9 A site box according to any previous claim wherein the lid is slightly sloping in the erected state.

10 A site box according to any previous claims wherein the lid has wheels (57).

11 A site box according to any previous claim wherein the front, back and sides have engagement means (40,41) along their meeting edges in the erected state.

12 A site box according to any previous claim wherein the base has channel means (17) attached to it.

13 Any feature of novelty or combination thereof within the meaning of Article 4H of the International Convention (Paris Convention).