DE69415061T2 - Freight forwarding containers for various goods, e.g. for packages and / or for clothes hanging on hangers - Google Patents

Abstract

Delivery (transportation) container comprising a frame (10) on legs (18) with four corner brackets (12) forming uprights on which are fastened a baseplate (14) and a top plate (16), characterised in that it comprises two closed faces (22) each including a lateral plate (24) equipped with housings (52) provided in order to receive the ends of removable support bars (30), linking means (58) being provided between the support bars and the plates. <IMAGE>

Description

The subject of the present invention is a transport container in the form of a composite container for transport companies, which is suitable for transporting hanging items of freight and/or items of clothing.

Transport by transport companies consists of moving the cargo items from one place to another using vehicles and through intermediate warehouses for storage and distribution.

It is therefore necessary to redistribute different cargo items sent to the same destination and it is understandably necessary to reduce the number of loading operations.

Furthermore, modern means of transport are equipped with containers of standardised dimensions so that they can be accommodated in all types of vehicles, in a number that depends on their capacity.

For this purpose, the known containers are provided with a bottom and two solid-walled side surfaces, which are held upright in the upper area by cross beams, and this arrangement is mounted on feet so that they can be picked up by forklift trucks.

Although these containers offer an advantage and represent some progress, they are not suitable for cargo or packaged products.

Another example of a container is described in the document EP-A-0.353.135.

Particularly in new markets, the transport of garments on hangers from the manufacturer to the retailer is sometimes carried out.

For this purpose, the vehicles are equipped with racks mounted on the inner side walls and between which transport bars are mounted on which the hangers with the garments are hung.

This procedure immediately raises a number of problems.

The first is the regrouping of the garments, as they often have to be loaded into the vehicle at the manufacturer, then unloaded in an intermediate storage facility and then loaded onto another vehicle to the dealer.

In fact, it is rare that the complete contents of a truck are sent from the manufacturer to the dealer.

Even if the entire contents of a truck come from one manufacturer and it is not necessary to go through an intermediate warehouse, it is still necessary to remove the various garments on site at each dealer during delivery, which leads to problems in re-collecting the suspension rods.

Another problem that arises is that transport is precisely coordinated with the fashion season and there are only two major periods, which makes it economically impossible to equip special vehicles exclusively for this type of transport.

Another limitation imposed by the clothes on hangers is the size of the clothes.

As regards the sizes of clothes, the loading process is not actually the same and it is not a good solution to equip the vehicles with the large crossbars held by the racks, since the bars are very long and all the clothes hung on this bar are usually not the same size.

In addition, it remains difficult to store both clothing and cargo in a single vehicle or simply to mix different types of clothing.

At the same time, it should be remembered that the garments delivered by the manufacturer ready for sale must be presented to the retailer in perfect condition and free from any trace of handling or wear.

Most of the time the garments are under plastic covers, but not necessarily, and it is definitely advisable not to tear the very delicate plastic covers.

From an economic point of view, the proposed solution must be the cheaper option in view of the very strong competition that exists in the transport sector and in particular among haulage companies.

To this end, the present invention proposes a composite transport container that can be used for cargo and/or clothing, that can be modified according to the size of the clothing, that protects the contents, that is stackable, that can be manufactured according to standard dimensions and that practically avoids any loss of usable space, that quickly pays for itself in comparison with known containers, that allows a reduction in the number of loading operations and that protects the contents particularly well against external shocks and wear.

For this purpose, a transport container according to the invention has the features defined by claim 1.

The container comprises, among other things, locking means for the rods transverse to the open sides, which locking means are firmly connected to angle profiles that form supports.

In a special embodiment of the invention, the rods have a length L which corresponds to the distance between the inner flanges of two angle profiles located on the same side.

According to a further feature of the invention, the side plates have elongated holes and are arranged at a distance l which is smaller than the length L of the rods.

The rods have pins that project radially and are designed in such a way that the distance between two pins of a rod is greater than the length l.

The pins themselves have a length that lies between the small and large diameter of the elongated holes.

According to a specific embodiment of the invention, the side plates are attached to the angle profiles by screws via an internal recess angled at 90º from the flange of the angle profiles on the closed side, so that the screws form the locking means of the rods, which are simultaneously held by an internal recess extending at 90º from the flange of each angle profile on the open side.

According to a further feature of the container according to the invention, the base plate, the angle profiles which are opposite one another on the opposite sides of the side plates and the side plates themselves form receptacles for storing unused rods.

The container according to the invention also has a receiving plate in the upper region of each angle profile, which serves to receive the feet of another identical container, whereby the containers can be stacked.

In addition, storage space for documents and information can be provided on the side panels.

The invention is described below using a specific embodiment of the invention, namely with reference to the following attached drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is an open side view of the container according to the invention;

Fig. 3 is a closed side view of the container according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a section through a horizontal plane at mid-height of the container according to the invention, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the fastening of the rods between the angle profiles in the transverse direction to the open side.

According to Fig. 1, the transport container according to the invention comprises a frame 10 with angle profiles 12, a base plate 14 and a cover plate 16.

The assembly is mounted on feet 18 which are intended to be placed on the floor. The container further comprises two open sides 20 and two closed sides 22.

The closed sides each have a side plate 24 which is provided with receptacles 26 for receiving the ends 28 of the cross bars 30.

The rod also comprises connecting means 32, which are described in more detail below.

The various parts will now be described in detail with reference to Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 and according to their arrangement in order to show the various parts which make up the container.

Accordingly, the angle profiles 12 have two flanges 34 on the closed side 34 and on the open side 36.

The flanges are each extended by internal recesses 38 and 40, each directed inwards, and each of them is followed by an extension 42 and 44, which is angled at 90º from the first recesses 38 and 40.

In this embodiment, the distance d separating the end of the first inner recess 40 of the open flange 36 from the end of the second recess 42 of the closed flange 34 is exactly identical to the diameter of the rods.

Furthermore, screws 46 are provided on the first recess 38 of the flange 34 of the closed side, which establish a connection between the plates 24 of the closed side 22 with the corresponding angle profiles.

The length of the screws 46 is such that the screw body extends at least to the level of the second recess 44 of the flange 36 of the open side.

In Fig. 5, a rod 30 is shown which is arranged transversely opposite the open side 20, as will be explained below.

The base plate 14 is a metal plate whose mechanical stability serves to absorb the forces acting due to the load exerted by the container and is provided with appropriate reinforcements in a known manner.

The feet 18 are attached to this plate 14 like the angle profiles in the corners of the plate.

The cover plate 16 is attached to the four angle profiles and is provided at each corner with mounting plates 48, which are designed as angle plates that are mechanically very resistant.

In its middle area, the cover plate is provided with a wooden component 50 in the form of plywood, which has the simple function of closing off the middle area of the cover plate 16.

The side plates 24, better shown in Figs. 3 and 4, are made of metal and have holes 52 regularly distributed over the entire height and width of the plate.

In the central area, the arrangement of the plate is reinforced by a rib 54, while a fold is provided on the side edges, which also forms a reinforcing rib 56.

This rib also allows the plane of this plate 24 to be arranged so as to be set back towards the interior of the container, in such a way that the distance l from one plate 24 to the opposite plate 24 is smaller than the length L of a rod which corresponds exactly to the distance between the inner sides of the flanges 34 of the closed sides of the angle profiles 12.

The holes 52 are elongated holes whose larger diameter is oriented vertically.

Each rod 30 has at its ends pins 58 which project radially from the rod and are attached to their ends in such a way that the distance between two pins 58 of a rod lies between the distance l between two plates 24 provided with holes and the length L of the rod.

In Fig. 4, a garment 60 is shown on a hanger which is suspended from one of the rods 30.

The use of such a container is described below.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the rods 30 are stored between the flanges 36 of the angle profiles 12 of the open side, and they are held in the space formed by the recesses 40 and 44 as a storage space.

When the container is used to transport the packages, the rods 30 are taken out of their storage space and, as shown in Fig. 2, some of them are arranged transversely to the open side by inclining the rod 30 and then resetting it to the horizontal in the direction of the arrow.

The rod is finally placed on the screws 46 and in particular on the bodies of the screws that project towards the inside of the angle profiles 12, and these rods are placed in the extension 42 of the recess of the flange 38, of the flange 34 on the closed side, and by the extension 44 of the recess 40 of the flange 36 on the open side.

The rod rests on two screw bodies 46 and is blocked in its movement so that it holds the packages in the container in their position on one of the open sides.

The container is then loaded with the arrangement of packages it is to contain and then the same operation is repeated with the bars on the other open side so that any movement of the packages out of the container through the open side is prevented and avoided.

The plates 24 prevent any transverse movement of the packages.

When the container is to be used for transporting garments on hangers, the rods 30 are inserted transversely between the two plates 24 of a container and, for this purpose, the rod 30, as shown in Fig. 2, is inserted transversely into a hole 52 chosen according to the length, width and thickness of the garments it is intended to support.

The rod 30 is inserted transversely into the hole 52 until the pin 58 reaches the outside of the plate, and then the rod 30 is moved straight ahead in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2 until the first pin 58 hits the outside of the corresponding plate 24 and the other pin 58 at the other opposite end has passed the hole 52 opposite the first hole 52.

In this way, the rod lies horizontally and the two pins 58 block any movement of the rod in the transverse direction.

Finally, the pins 58 are located on the outside of the two plates 24 and prevent any movement of the rod.

When the bar is loaded, upward movements are impossible.

The garments hung on hangers are hung on different bars at different heights so that they fill the entire container, and bars 30 can be arranged transversely to the open sides, like the bars for the packages, so that any swinging movement of garments out of the container is prevented.

It should be noted that, because the bars are attached to the plates 24 at a distance l from each other, they do not exceed the external dimensions of the entire container, which makes it possible to place the containers side by side without any risk of them getting caught.

The movement of the containers by forklifts is facilitated by the mounting on feet, and the reinforcing plates 48 allow the containers to be stacked on top of one another during storage or relocation, since the feet 18 are intended to engage the reinforcing plates 48 mounted on the cover plates 16.

According to an embodiment of the invention, it is possible to attach document holders to the side panels by means of the number of holes provided there, so that transport documents, labels for belonging together and for identifying the different containers can be attached there.

At the same time, it should be noted that the containers do not have to be made with side panels or bars and can be used in the usual way like a simple parcel container and, depending on the development or the markets, it is therefore sufficient to create panels screwed onto the angle profiles provided for this purpose and to provide the bar system.

It is therefore possible to adapt the container fleet to the markets through low investments and very short assembly times.

The container according to the invention offers a very important versatility in its use, which makes it very attractive for modern means of transport.

In order to increase the loading capacities, the rods 30 can have an oval cross-section so that their rigidity is increased by improving the absorption of the vertical forces.

This is important considering the vertical movements caused by the road surface and the considerable weight of certain items of clothing.

In addition, the container is designed for transporting heavy items of clothing, which contributes to the optimal loading of these containers.

Claims (10)

1. Transport container with a frame (10) with feet (18) and four supports (12) to which a base plate (14) and a cover plate (16) are attached, and on the other hand detachable support rods (30), characterized in that the container comprises two closed sides (22) and at least one open, closable side (20), that the two closed sides (22) each have a side plate (28) which are provided with receptacles (52) for receiving the ends of the detachable support rods (30), that the length (L) of the support rods (30) is greater than the distance (l) between the two side plates, and that connecting means (58) are provided between the support rods and the plates. 2. Transport container according to claim 1, characterized in that the supports (12) have means for blocking the rods (30) transversely to the open sides (20). 3. Transport container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rods (30) have a length (L) which is equal to the distance between the interior of the flanges (34 or 36) of the two opposite supports (12). 4. Transport container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side plates (24) have elongated holes (52) which form the receptacles for the support rods. 5. Transport container according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the rods (30) have pins (58) which form the means for connecting the support rods to the plates, which pins project radially and are designed such that the distance between two pins of a rod is greater than the distance (l) between two side plates. 6. Transport container according to claim 5, characterized in that the pins have a length between the small and the large diameter of the elongated holes. 7. Transport container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side plates (24) are attached to the supports (12) by screws (46) via an internal recess (38) angled at 90º and extending the flange (34) on the closed side, such that these screws (46) form the locking means of the rods in cooperation with an internal recess (40) of 90º extending the flange (36) of the supports (12) on the open side. 8. Transport container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base plate (14), the supports (12) which are opposite one another on both sides of the side plates (24), and these side plates themselves form receptacles for unused rods. 9. Transport container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each support (12) has the upper region of a receiving plate (48) for feet (18) of a similar container which is placed on the first container. 10. Transport container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has means for holding documents and information on the side panels (24).