GB2130178A

GB2130178A - A container for substantially rectangular slab-shaped items

Info

Publication number: GB2130178A
Application number: GB08226682A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ho Cheuk Fai
Original assignee: KARRIE IND Co Ltd
Current assignee: KARRIE IND Co Ltd
Priority date: 1982-09-20
Filing date: 1982-09-20
Publication date: 1984-05-31

Abstract

A container for substantially rectangular slap-shaped items has a wall in which a number of push-out lever units are mounted. The units comprise rocking levers (2) mounted in housings on the rear of the wall. The ends of the lever (2) extend into the housing and the lever (2) has pivots (3, 3a, 3b) such that when one item is pushed inwards, another is pushed outwards. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A container for substantially rectangular slab shaped items The present invention relates to a container for substantially rectangular slab-shaped items.

Various designs of container for storing rectangular slab-shaped items, for example video tape cassettes, are known, but they all suffer from the disadvantage that they have to provide sufficient clearance between the items so that each of them can be gripped by human fingers since if the items are closely packed together it is very difficult to pick them out.

An object of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantage.

According to the present invention there is provided a container for substantially rectangular slab-shaped items, the container comprising a wall on which is arranged at least one push-out lever unit, each unit comprising a rocking lever which is actuatable by one of said items to push ou another of said items.

Embodiments of the invention are described below, by example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a section through one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a push-out lever; Fig. 3 is a perspective partially cut-away view of another embodiment; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the containers stacked together; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the containers of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a plan view of one wall of a container showing the positions of the push-out lever units.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a container 1 has a number of push-out lever units arranged on one wall. Each unit comprises a rocking lever 2 mounted in a housing.

The item push-out lever units are located on the bottom plate of the box container 1 so that two items are served by one push-out lever unit. At its normal position, the two arms of the lever 2 are level and the central part of the lever 2 acts as the pivot. If one item is pushed inwards the corresponding lever arm is pressed down thereby pushing out the adjacent item as a result of movement of the other lever arm.

To increase the efficiency of the lever system and make the container more commercially viable by reducing materials and costs, auxiliary pivots of appropriate length may be designed. When one lever arm is pressed down and makes contact with the auxiliary pivot 3 the length ration of the two lever arms is changed. In other words the items being pushed out travels a longer distance than the distance which its neighbour is pushed in. For example if the distance between X and auxiliary pivot 3a is half the distance between auxiliary pivot 3a and Y, then the vertical distance travelled by Y will be twice the vertical distance travelled by X. The placing of auxiliary pivots at appropriate points enables one item to be pushed out without having to push the adjacent item too much inside the container.

One of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is a container for video tape cassettes. It can hold five VHS video tape cassettes vertically and six Betamax video tape cassettes horizontally. Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings shows the perspective view of a container which can be used for video tape cassettes.

The main body 1 of the container has ribs 4 on the four inner side walls to locate and hold, for example, video tape casettes either vertically or horizontally. Five sets of item push-out lever units are located at definite positions on the bottom plate of the main body so that they can be used when the video tape cassettes are placed in either direction. The cover 5 is hinged to the main body by engaging its two pins to the two holes of the main body side walls. At the bottom of the main body there are two guide tracks 6 which can be inserted into the corresponding grooves 7 at the top of another identical container. By so doing, containers can be piled up to form a block as shown in Fig. 4. Dovetail recesses 8 are provided on the outside of the two long side walls. When two containers are placed adjacent to each other, two double-dovetail cross section slots are formed.If the two accompanying inserts 9 are pressed into these slots, the two adjacent containers will be joined together.

In order to accommodate the two popular types of video tape cassette by making the container capable to hold two items of different sizes (for example to hold five VHS video tape cassettes vertically and six Betamax video tape cassettes horizontally) deviation from the arrangement of holding cassettes in pairs as shown in Fig. 1 is necessary. The item push-out lever units would not be installed vertically or horizontally. If the units are placed say vertically, they will work only when the video tape cassettes are placed in the horizontal direction. When the video tape cassettes are placed vertically, both arms of the lever are supporting the same cassette and the lever action will be lost. It has been found that the best arrangement is to place the units at 45 degrees to the directions at which the video tape cassettes are stored.Figs. 5 and 6 shows the actual arrangement of the item push-out lever units in the main body 1.

Theoretically every two items stored in the container need only one item push-out lever unit and the container should be designed to hold an even number of items in one direction only so as to employ a minimum number of item push-out units. The preferred illustrated embodiment, however, needs five item push-out lever units although the maximum number of video tapes cassette can be stored is six. This is due to the fact that item push-out lever units A and C are located at the corners of the container. The push out force from these two units will be out of balance therefore two extra units are used to gain balanced push out forces.

In the vertical positions, video tape cassette storing position 1 and 2 (see Fig. 6 only) is a group and position 3, 4 and 5 is another group. Pushing the video tape cassette in position 1 inwards will eject the video tape cassette in position 2 and vice versa. Pushing the video tape cassette in either position 3 or 5 inwards will eject that one in position 4, pushing the video tape cassette in position 4 will eject both video tape cassettes in position 3 and 5. In the horizontal position, the six positions are divided into three groups of two each. Position 6 and 7 form the first, position 8 and 9 form the second and position 10 and 11 constitute the last one. Pushing the video tape cassette in any position inwards will eject the other one in the same group.

The application of this invention is by no means limited to container for tape cassette. It can be applied generally to storage box where similar size items are stored below the rim of the box and the items are not easily accessible for hand removal.

Claims

1. A container for substantially rectangular slab-shaped items, the container comprising a wall on which is arranged at least one push-out lever unit, each unit comprising a rocking lever which is actuatable by one of said items to push out another of said items.

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein each rocking lever comprises two ends each of which extends through a recess in the said wall into the container, whereby one of said items is pushed out when another is pushed in.

3. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein each rocking lever pivots about a different pivot point depending on which of its two ends is actuated.

4. A container according to any preceding claim wherein each rocking lever is mounted in a housing on the rear of the said wall.

5. A container according to claim 4, wherein each rocking lever is substantially in the shape of a flattened U, the base of the U having a transverse pivot pin which can slide in slots in the walls of the housing, and wherein the housing comprises auxiliary pivot points on either side of the pivot pin.

6. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the said wall is rectangular and each unit is arranged parallel to two of the edges of the wall.

7. A container according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the said wall is rectangular and each unit is arranged at an angle to the edges of the wall.

8. A container according to claim 7, wherein the angle is substantially 450.

9. A container according to any preceding claim, being box-shaped and having four closed sides and one open front, the said wall being opposite the open front.

10. A container according to claim 9, wherein the four sides have ribs such that items of a one size can be stored in one direction and items of another size stored in the other direction.

11. A container according to any preceding claim, comprising external grooves and guide tracks such that a number of containers can be stacked one on top of the other.

12. A container according to any preceding claim, comprising external dove-tailed recesses such that containers can be connected side by side using suitably shaped inserts.

13. A container according to any preceding claim, being for video tape cassettes.

14. A container for substantially rectangular slab-shaped items, substantially as herein described with reference to any of the accompanying drawings.