Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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'aps L ' i' S .crage _.id ~ransport crate
cavable to be stacked
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This invention relates to collapsible storage and transport
crates, which can be stacked one above the other in both
collapsed and unfolded state and are intended particularly
but not exclusively to receive compressed bulding insulation
material, such as mineral wool. The crate consists of a
square bottom and two lateral pieces located directly in
front of each other,in such a manner, that the bottom is
formed so as to permit handling of the crate from all four
sides by means of, for example, a fork truck.
This type of crates in spite of its collapsibility is relat-
ively bulky and in collapsed state cannot be stacked one
upon the other, nor can they even in empty state be stacked
above each other. Stacking is here to be understood so that
the crates merely are placed one above the other, without
fixing them laterally relative to each other. The known collaps-
ible crates cannot take up great lateral forces on their
sides and, therefore, their application range is restricted.
They cannot, for example, be used for storing compressed
building insulation material, which is compressed to about
one third of its original volume and thereby applies a sub-
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stantial pressure on the sides of the crates.
Due to the characterizing features having been given tothe present invention, a collapsible storage and transport
crate has been obtained, several of which can be stacked
upon each other, at which crate the aforesaid inconveniences
are eliminated, and which opens a new field of application.
The new crates require less storage space and reduce the
transport costs compared with the conventional crates. The
crate, for example, can be loaded and unloaded rapidly on
and from trucks and goods waggons.
According to the above features of the present invention,
from a broad aspect, there is provided a collapsible storage
and transport crates capable to be stacked upon each other
and especially intended for compressed building insulation
material, such as mineral wool, each crate consisting of a
square bottom and two lateral pieces arranged straight oppo-
site to each other, which bottom is formed for handling the
crate from all its four sides, and provided in each corner
with an upwardly open pipe connecting piece which is extended
above the floor surface of the bottom by a portion of its
shell surface facing outward of the crate, and further pro-
vided with a slit extending throughout in the longitudinal
direction of the connecting piece in a plane parallel to the
lateral piece, the respective lateral piece being provided
at its lower portion with downwardly directed pins which are
axially movable in two adjacent connecting pieces, heads
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attached to said pins and extending perpendicularly to the
pins to extend into said respective slit characterized in
that the bottom ha~s lower longitudinal frame stays, extend-
ing between the lowermost ends of the connecting pieces and
the lower sides of which are on a level with planes extend-
ing through the lower end sides of the connecting pieces,
each connecting piece having a guide boss arranged with one
guide surface extending along the plane of the lateral piece
towards the opposed connecting piece and starting from the
inner edge of the upper end of the connecting piece and
obliquely upwards to a point above the upper end side of the
connecting piece lying on a horizontal plane, a downwardly
open profile of V-shape starting from the inner edge of the
respective connecting piece is arranged below and along the
respective lateral piece, walls are arranged in the profile
converging towards each other to form two downwardly open
pyramid-shaped pockets spaced from the connecting piece, the
lower edges of the profiles being on a level with the lower
end sides of the connecting pieces, each lateral piece has
on its upper edge two upwards wedge-shaped tongues extending
above the upper edge and inclined towards the center of the
crate, each intended to fit into each its pocket of a crate
placed above crates, when the crates are stacked upon each
other, the lower end sides of the connecting pieces of a
crate placed above being guided at unfolded lateral pieces
to a position resting on the upper end side of the respective
connecting piece by means of the guide surfaces of the guide
bosses and the V-shape of the profiles.
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The invention is described in greater detail in the follow-
ing by way of an embodiment, with reference to the drawing,
in which:
FIG. 1 is a section of the crate from the side;
FIG. 2 is an end view of the crate;
FIG. 3 shows a corner on an enlarged scale, and
FIG. 4 is a section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3.
The bottom of the crate consists of a frame system in two
planes 1 and 2 which is resistant to bending. The planes
are interconnected by struts 3 and hollow corner connecting
pieces 4, rendering it thereby possible to handle the crate
from all four sides, for example by means of a fork truck.
The lateral pieces of the crate are designated by 5 and
consist a.o. each of two lateral frame members 6 and an
upper frame member 7.
The respective corner connecting piece extends, as appears
from Figs. 1-3, from the plane 2 at least up to the upper
g~
or ~loor surface of the bottom. The shell surface of the
connectin~ piece 4 is extended upward above the floor side
by a por.ion 8, which faces outward from the crate and is
located in a plane in parallel wi,th the lateral piece 5
and with the portions 9,10 extending perpendicularly thereto.
That portion of the extension of the connecting piece which
faces to the opposed lateral piece, thus, will be open. The
connecting piece further is provided on the inside and on
a portion of the extension 10 with a vertical groove 11.
A guide boss 12 also is located on the inside of the extension
of the connecting piece and extends with a portion a~ove the
uppe- end of the connecting piece, as clearly appears from
Figs. 1-3.
The frame members 6 of the lateral piece 5 in question form
at the lower end a pin 13, which movably fits into the
connecting piece 4. As appears from Fig. 3, the pin is provided
downwardly with a guide head 14, which extends into and runs
along the groove 11, which defines the upward and downward
movements of the head 14 and therewith of the lateral piece 5.
The head 14 preferably is a screw head with hexagonal recess
which with a nut has been screwn firmly on the pin and been
welded thereon.
In the position shown in Fig. 3 the pins of the lateral frame
members 6 are sunk into the connecting pieces 4,and the heads
14 rest against the bottom of the groove 11. The lateral piece
5 of the crate hereby is held upright in relation to the
bottom, and the entire connecting piece together with its
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extension 8 can take up the forces acting outward on the
lateral piece.
For folding down the lateral piece 5 it is lifted so that
the head la~ds in the upper position of the groove 11, and
the lateral piece 5 is folded down against the bottom. This
is possible due to the fact that the connecting piece 4
extends only to the floor side of the bottom and has no
extension on the side facing to the centre of the crate.
The bottom is provided on the lower surface with downwardly
open angular sections 15, which extend along the plane of
the respective lateral piece, as appears from Figs. 1-3.
Within said sections 15 walls or flanges 1~ are arrangçd,
see Fig. 1, which form a pyramidal pocket. The respective
lateral piece further is provided with two tongues 17, which
are located straight above the respective pocket. The tongues
are incl~'ned slightly to the centre of the crate.
When the lateral pieces 5 are ~olded down, the guide bosses
12 reach above the geometry of the collapsed crate. A crate,
which is being placed upon said collapsed crate will be aligned
by means of the inclined edge 18 and be fixed laterally by
said bosses, which engage insidç of the connecting pieces
with the crate thereabove and simultaneously engage within
the angular sections 15.
When the lateral pieces S are erected, a crate can ~e placed
above the unfolded crate and be fixed laterally in relation
to the same, in that the tongues 17 at the lower crate will
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be g~ ded nto the pyramidal pockets of the srate thereabove.
The above description should disclose clearly the design and
function of the crate according to the invention. The crate
can be varied in different ways within the scope of the
invention. The connecting pieces, for example, may be circ-
ular in section, and the lateral frame members may corres-
pondingly be tubular.
