Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02213493 2002-05-06
CONTAINER WITH A MOVABLE BOTTOM
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
The present invention relates to a container which can be
intended to receive all sorts of material, though hereinafter, to
an illustrative but in no way delimiting end, the case of receipt
of waste will be discussed.
Normally, waste containers present one or more openings
located on top thereof and through which the waste can be
thrown into the container. Thereafter, as the container is to be
discharged, it must be lifted and in some way tilted to make the
contents thereof fall out, and at larger waste containers a lifting
crane is required for lifting the container and then discharging
the contents thereof onto a lorry platform or a refuse dump.
Thereby, at times it can be relatively difficult to accomplish an
effective discharge of the container, and on the whole the
handling thereof in connection with the discharge thereof is
sometimes relatively complicated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed towards the provision of a container
which remedies the abovementioned disadvantages of priority known
containers.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a
container with an openable bottom.
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCT/SE95/00175
2
Thanks to the bottom of the container according to the invention
being openable, it becomes significantly easier than it was
before to discharge the container, as it is sufficient to lift it '
straight up and then open the bottom for the discharge of the
contents thereof by means of the gravitation . Thus, it is not any '
longer necessary to execute any tilting of the container and,
therefore, neither to provide complicated means for accomplish-
ing such tilting. Furthermore, a discharge of the container
according to the invention can take place during a significantly
less duration than the one of prior containers, and the risk for
the remainder of some of the contents of the container therein
can be reduced to a minimum.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the
bottom is openable by means of a bottom part of the container
being arranged to pivot downwards in relation to the walls of the
container from a closed position, the container comprises an ar-
rangement for locking the bottom part in relation to the rest of
the container in a closed position, and the locking arrangement
presents at least one member which is reachable from outside
the container for mechanical manoeuvring of the locking ar-
rangement between a locked position and an unlocked position
which permits pivoting of the bottom part. Thanks to the
arrangement of the locking arrangement and the locking mem-
ber which is reachable from the outside for mechanical ma-
noeuvring of the locking arrangement, it is possible to easily
manoeuvre the locking member from outside, after the container
has been lifted, to make the bottom part pivot down and to
make the contents of the container fall out.
According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, .
the locking member projects beyond a wall of the container and,
during application of a compressive force, is arranged to be able ,
to move inwards towards said wall for unlocking the locking ar-
rangement from a position corresponding to the locking condi-
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCTlSE95/00175
3
tion of the locking arrangement. Thanks to this feature, dis-
charge of the container can take placE: in an even easier way,
as it is sufficient that the container is lifted and then laterally
moved so that said container wall cornes closer to a wall, for
example, or any other object extending generally horizontally,
whereby the locking member will hit this object and will be
pushed in a direction towards the container wall under release
of the bottom part for the pivoting downwards thereof.
According to yet another preferred embodiment of the: invention,
the container comprises means arranged to give the bottom
part, in its opened position, a slope in relation to the vertical
line in the direction of its closing movement as the container is
lifted generally straight upwards. Thanks to this initial slope of
the bottom part hanging downwards, the closure of the con-
tainer is significantly facilitated, becauae when the lower edge
of the bottom parts reaches the groun~~ during lowering of the
container the former will reliably be effected in a closing
direction. This implies that the outer e~~ge areas of the bottom
part as well as the whole bottom part with attachment: of the lat-
ter to the container are preserved from detrimental breaking
forces as to the rest and there is no risk for the bottom part be-
ing pivoted in the wrong way.
According to a further development of the last mentioned
embodiment of the invention, the bottorn part is arranged to be
freely pivotable at a wall of the container, and said means are
formed by the bottom part comprising pe~rtions sloping upwards,
for a pivotable connection of the bottom part to said wall at a
distance above a bottom plane of the container, and by the
weight distribution of the opening bottom part which hangs
freely. The pivoting point of the bottom part which, in this way,
is moved upwards along the container, makes it possible, with
very simple means, to see to that the bottom part which hangs
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCT/SE95/00175
4
freely will slope with the bottom surtace thereof in the required
way.
Further advantages and advantageous features of the invention
will appear from the following description and the rest of the
dependent patent claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Hereinbelow a container according to a preferred embodiment
of the invention, given by way of example, is described with ref-
erence to the disclosed drawings, in which:
Fig 1 is a simplified perspective view obliquely from above of a
container according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,
Fig 2 is a perspective view of the container in Fig 1, from the
opposite direction,
Fig 3 is a cross-sectional view of the container in Fig 1, in
closed condition,
Fig 4 is an enlarged detailed view illustrating a locking member
of the locking arrangement of the container in a locking condi
tion,
Fig 5 is a view corresponding to the one of Fig 4, but with the
locking member in an unlocked condition,
Fig 6 is a side view of the container according to Fig 1, in a
lifted and opened condition, and
Fig 7 is an enlarged detailed view illustrating the locking
arrangement of the container according to Fig 1.
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCT/SE95/OOI75
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EM130DIMENT
OF THE INVENTION
In Fig 1 a container 1 according to the invention is shown, said
~ 5 container presenting a generally parallellepipedic form and
above all being intended for receipt of waste through two
elongated inlet openings 4 located on top in the opposite
longitudinal side walls 2, 3 of the container. The: container
presents a bottom part 5 which is formed by a generally flat and
rectangular bottom piece 6 forming the: bottom, and flange-like
portions 7 which are projecting generally perpendicularly up
from opposite short sides of said bottom piece and preferably
being in one piece with said piece, saidl portions being intended
to bear on the outside of the respective short walls 8 of the con-
tainer in the closed condition of the container. Through pivot
pins or the like the bottom part is pivotably connected to the
short walls 8 at 9 around an axle which is generally perpendicu-
lar to said short walls. The flange-like portions narrow from a
container corner 10 at which the pivoting point 9 i.s arranged
and towards the opposite container corner 11, and the reason
for this design will be explained later on.
In Fig 3 the design of the bottom part is further illustrated, and
also how the latter is locked in relation to the rest of the
container. It is pointed out that, in practice, the walls of the con-
tainer should be made of corrugated sheet, but in order to
facilitate, on the drawings they have been shown as presenting
two discs arranged with an inters pacing. It appears that the very
bottom surface 12 of the end of the bottom part which is located
nearest to the pivoting point 9 presents an arc-shad>e with the
pivoting point 9 as centre point and to~nches the lower edge 13
of the long side wall 3 of the container. The reason for this
design is that, in this way, the bottom piece 6 will seal against
L
said lower edge all the time during thc: downwards pivoting of
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCT/SE95/00175
6
the bottom part 5 in relation to the rest of the container, so that
no waste will be able to get stuck there.
At its opposite end the bottom part presents a second locking
element 14 in the shape of a recess in which a first mate '
locking element 15 is intended to engage for the inhibition of a
downwards pivoting of the bottom part around the pivoting point
9. The first locking element 15 is formed by a V-shaped devia
tion of an arm 16 of a yoke-like locking member 17 which
makes part of an arrangement for accomplishing said locking.
The constitution of this locking arrangement is more clearly
shown in Fig 7. The locking members 17 are two as to their
number and obviously formed by bent flat bars, and a first arm
18 of each locking member respectively is intended to project
out from an opening 19 in the lower region of the long side wall
2 of the container, while the second arm 16 projects through the
container wall at this opening and into the interior of the
container. At the origin of their two arms, the locking members
17 are connected to a bar 20, which, around its geometrical
axis, is pivotably received in sleeves 21 at opposite short walls
of the container. In this way, the locking members are pivotable
around an axle 22 which is generally parallel to the bottom
plane of the container, and thanks to the connection arrange-
ment accomplished by the bar 20 the positions of the locking
members are made interdependent, so that they are commonly
pivoted, and it is enough that one of the locking members is
manoeuvred to make the other execute the same movement.
The weight distribution of the locking members is made in such
a way that, at generally vertically directed walls of the con-
tainer, the gravitation seeks to pivot the V-shaped locking
element 15 towards the wall 2 to the locking position shown in
Figs 3 and 4, so that the bottom part is held locked in relation to
the rest of the container thanks to the effect of the gravitation
upon the locking members 17.
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96126138 PCT/SE95/00175
7
As one requires to discharge the container, the following
steps
' are taken. The container is lifted in a suitable way,
e.g. by
means of bringing the forks of a fork truck into one of
the inlet
' S openings 4, as illustrated in Fig 6. As the container
is lifted a
compression force is applied from outside onto one of
or both of
the two locking member arms 18 in direction towards the
container wall 2, this for example being accomplished
by the
container being driven towards a wall or a post or simply
by
anyone manually pressing one of the ~~locking arms 18
towards
the container wall. The pivoting of tihe locking members
17
thereby accomplished, clockwise according to Figs 3-5,
leads to
the first locking element 15 loosing its locking engagement
with
the recess 14, which is illustrated in Fig 5. This, in
its turn,
leads to that the bottom part 5 can pivot freely around
the
pivoting point 9, and it therefore pivots down to the
position
shown in Fig 6 while at the same time the waste located
in the
container slides out. Thanks to the pivoting point 9 being
arranged at a distance above the bottom plane of the:
container,
the bottom piece 6 of the container will present a slope
in
relation to the vertical line in the closing direction
in connection
with a possibility to free pivoting and finding of a free
position
of balance. The downwards narrowing shape of the flange-like
portions towards the down-hanging e;nd of the bottom part
contributes to the increase of this anglE:. This angle
can be fur-
ther increased by suitable weight distribution of the
bottom part,
which explains that, in Fig 6, it looks liike a state
of balance is
not obtained, even though that is the case. However, it
would
also be possible to accomplish said sloping by arranc,~ing
one or
more stop members that inhibit pivoting of the bottom
part
further than to a given position in relation to the rest
of the
container. The advantage of said sloping in relation to
the
vertical line lies in that the very lowering of the convtainer
onto
the ground or onto a floor is signific<~ntly facilitated
and the
risks for damages on the bottom part are minimized, as
the
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96/26138 PCT/SE95/00175
8
forces on the outer edge 23 of the bottom part become small,
and, furthermore, there is no risk that the bottom part 5 is
effected to pivot in the wrong direction during the lowering
thereof, that is clockwise as seen in Fig 6. The bottom piece 6
hereby forms an angle with the vertical line, which angle
suitably is more than 10°, preferably more than 20° and most
preferably more than 30°.
During the final phase of the very closing, the closing members
17 will automatically go into a locking engagement with the re-
cesses 14 in the bottom part and lock the latter in relation to the
rest of the container thanks to the fact that the first locking ele-
ment 15, by means of its downwards directed V-yoke 24,
presents an oblique surface which, as it is hit by portions 25 of
the bottom part that surround the surtace 14, will run along
these under pivoting of the locking member 17 around the axle
22 in an opening direction until the locking element 15 has
reached such a position that it falls into the recess 14, where-
after the weight distribution of the locking member 17 leads to
the latter being automatically in-pivoted and retained in its
locking position.
Of course, the invention is not in any way delimited to the
embodiment described above, but a plurality of possibilities to
modifications should be obvious to a man skilled in the art
without him or her deviating from the basic idea of the inven-
tion.
As has already earlier been mentioned, the invention includes
containers for totally different material than waste.
To accomplish the retention of the locking members in the
locking position, also a spring member can be arranged, so that
a spring force must be overcome to bring the locking members
out of the locking engagement. It would also be possible to
CA 02213493 1997-08-20
WO 96126138 PCT/SE95/DOI75
9
combine such a spring member with a certain weight distribu-
tion of the locking members to see to i,hat they are iretained in
the locking position.
Even though a container with two locking members has been
illustrated above, other numbers would of course be: possible.
For example one single locking member' could be arranged, and
then preferably at the middle of the container, or more than two
locking members could be arranged.
The pivotable arrangement of the locking members could, of
course, be done in a plurality of ways equivalent to the illus-
trated case.
