US2600439A - Collapsible container - Google Patents

Description

June 17, 1952 M. SLOANE 2,600,439

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Jan. 26, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS June 17, 1952 SLQANE 2,600,439

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Jan. 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORN EYS The top wire 23a has pivot loops which abut the undersides of the transverse top members 20 and 20a, at the junctions or bends between said transverse members 20 and 20a, and the front end-uprights Ma and Ilia. Hence the front longitudinal wall I3 cannot shift upwardly relative to the transverse walls II and II).

The intermediate wire 23a has loops which overlie and abut the respective ends of the transverse wires lfia and Ila, so that the front wall I3 cannot shift downwardly relative to the side walls Ii and In. Each wire 23a has a pivot loop at each end thereof, and said pivot loops turnably engage the front end-uprights Ida and Ma, so that the front wall I3 is turnable as a unitrelative to side walls II and Ill.

The bottom wire 23a cannot shift vertically relative to the side-walls II and I0, becausesaid bottom wire 23a is fixed to the uprights I8, which are fixed to all the wires 23a. The bottom wire 23a is thus held above the bottom ends of the end-uprights I 4a and Illa, and above the ends of the transverse bottom members I50: and I5. The rear longitudinal wall I2 comprises three horizontal rods or wires Ito, and three uprights I6. The previous description of the structure of front longitudinal wall I3 applies, since walls i3 and I4 are identical. The drawings are of an actual device and to scale, so that reference is made thereto for further disclosure.

The bottom wires 23a and IBa are in the same horizontal plane, which is above the bottom of the outer container Ca.

The uprights I8 and I6 of the front and rear walls l3 and I2 are arranged in transversely alined pairs, and the uprights I9 and I! of the side walls II and I are arranged in longitudinally alined pairs. Each rod or wire 23a is in the same horizontal plane as a respective rod orwire Ito, and the rods or wires I9a and Na are in the same horizontal plane.

In the first embodiment, the bottom wall I4 comprises five longitudinal rods or wires 23, and three transverse wires 2Ia. Each transverse wire 2Ia has a pivot loop 24 at its front end, whichturnably engages the bottom wire 23a of the front wall I3. Said bottom wire 23a may be slightly reduced at each hinge or pivot 24, so that the loops 24 cannot shift longitudinally on bottom wire 23a. verse wire 2Ia has a bent end 2i in the first embodiment. The free end-portion of each wire 2Ia abuts the bottom wire [to in the first embodiment, in the position of bottom .wall I4 of Fig. 1, with the bent ends 2| extending below bottom wire [6a.

When the bottom wall I I is horizontally located as shown in Fig. 1, the outer container is held against collapsing, because the transverse wires 2 I a are held against substantial horizontal longitudinal shifting by the uprights I6 of the rear longitudinal wall I2 and by the loop-extension of the bottom rod I60, which wholly and loosely embraces the end-upright or vertical leg lob; this is clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 at the right-hand end of the figure. Hence, although the bottom is of less length than the internal length of the walls I2 and I3, it is held against material shifting movement lengthwise of such walls when the assembly is in its set-up or erect position, being held by both such walls. When the bottom is shifted to the collapsed position, the ends 2| are released from such position,-but the condition remains with respect to wall. l the bottom and the lower rod of wall It co perat- At its rear end, each transa 4 ing in both set-up and collapsed conditions in producing this result.

The uprights I9, IS, IT, and it have top parts which extend above the top members 230. and Iiia of the respective longitudinal walls I3 and I2, and the top portion of each said upright I9, 58, I1, and I6 is bent or otherwise shaped to provide double thickness and a blunt end, like a ball or the like.

A flexible inner bag or receptacle C, made of flexible cloth or the like, has eyelets H, by means of which said bag C can be supported on the top parts of the uprights I9, I8, I1, and I6, which project above the top members of the up standing walls. The bottom of bag C may be supported on the wires or rods 23, or it may be located above said wires or rods 23.

In order to collapse the outer container, it is merely necessary to turn the bottom wall I4 upwardly to the broken line position which is shown in Fig. 3. Each side wall II and I0 is then freely turnable around a vertical axis rel ative to the longitudinal Walls I3 and I2. The width of bottom wall I4 preferably exceeds the height of the upstanding walls.

In the modification shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the bent ends 2| of the bottom transverse wires Zla are omitted.

In this second embodiment, the bottom wire Ilia of the rear wall I2 is provided with an upstanding detent 50, which is generally of inverted U-shape. This detent 56 has a horizontal leg, and it has two vertical legs which are fixed to bottom wire I 60;. This detent 50 is vertical.

When the bottom wall I4 is forced into its operative horizontal position, the detent '50 is located between the two intermediate transverse wires 2Ia. That is, Fig. 8 shows that the single intermediate wire 2Ia of the first embodiment is replaced by two intermediate wires 2Ia.

The vertical legs of detent 50 abut or are very close to the proximate faces of said intermediate wires 2Ia, when wall Hi is in its operative horizontal position.

This locks the outer container against collapsing, and it also prevents longitudinal horizontal shifting of the wall I4. It is advantageous to omit the projecting bent ends 2i, so that all the parts of the outer container are free from projecting, pointed parts.

As with the first form the bottom wall, of the modification is of less length than the internal length of the walls I2 and I3. However, the cooperating means between the bottom and such walls is changed to some extent from that shown in Fig. 2. As indicatedin Fig. 8, the outer transverse rods of the bottom are both positioned on the outer side of vertical rods I8 so that the latter are actually located between such end rods and will, therefore, prevent shifting of the bottom wall longitudinally of wall I3 at all times, detent 59 being operative to prevent shift relative to wall I2 when the assemblage is in its set-up condition, it being obvious that in both forms it is necessary to release wall I2 from such holding conditions when the assemblage is to be collapsed, since wall I2 must move with the ends during the collapsing movements.

Each of the five walls I3, I2, II, III and I4 is a skeleton wall, each of which comprises a plurality of connected metal members. The vertical walls I3, I2, II and Ill are turnably connected to each other at their respective common vertical edges, at which the uprights Hit, Me, 10b, and Illa are located, .At each said respec,

.5 tive common vertical edge, the vertical walls are arranged in respective pairs. At each said common edge, one of each respective pair of adjacent vertical walls is provided with a respective upright, which is turnably embraced by loops which are provided at the ends of metal members of the other vertical wall of the respective pair. These vertical walls are interlocked against vertical movement relative to each other. These loops are sufliciently loose and said metal members are sufliciently thin, so that the container Ca can be collapsed to substantially fiat condition.

I claim:

1. An open-top crate of skeleton type for re-= movably supporting laundry bags and the like with the positioned bag having its top in completely open position, said crate comprising com= plete opposing end Walls of skeleton type, opposing side walls formed of individual and parallel strands of wire in spaced relation on each side and with each wire having its end zones looped respectively to vertical members of the adjacent end walls to thereby form a body assemblage of ends and sides in articulated relation with the assemblage collapsible by movement of at least three of the four walls relative to such member of the fourth wall and in the direction of length of the wire strands of the side walls to bring the assemblage into a collapsed position in which an end wall and an adjacent side wall extend in approximate alinement and in approximate parallelism with the similarly approximately alined remaining end and side walls, and a bottom wall of skeleton type and of less length than the side walls, said bottom wall being hirrgedly carried by the lower wire strand of one of the side walls and removably supported by the corresponding wire strand of the opposite side wall for maintaining the service formation of the assemblage, said bottom wall being swingable about the hingedly connected first lower wire strand of a side wall to a position approximately parallel with the side wall carry= ing such wire strand and thereby releasing such body for its articulating movements relative to the side wall bearing such first wire to produce the collapsed parallel relationship with the bottom wall positioned in a plan-e extending internal of the collapsed assemblage, said bottom wall and one of the side walls having cooperating means for preventing material shifting movements of the bottom wall longitudinally relative to the side wall with which it is pivotally connected. each of the side and end walls of the body carrying vertically extending rods projecting above the top plane of such frames with the projecting ortions of the rods forming supports for the laundry bag when the assemblage is in service.

2. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the bottom wall includes a pair of parallel transverse rods in spaced relation intermediate the end transverse rods of the bottom, and further characterized in that the lower wire strand of the side wall opposite that to which the transverse rods are hingedly connected carries an upstanding wire member of inverted U-shape form with its legs spaced to approximately fit between such intermediate transverse rods to thereby restrict the bottom against longitudinal movement while the bottom is in service position and during movements to and from such position within the zone represented by the depth of the U- nhape member, the transverse end rods of the bottom wall being positioned in proximity to such vertically extending rods of the side wall to which the bottom wall is hinged with the end rods outside the vertical rods.

3. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the overall width of the bottom wall is greater than the vertical height or the side walls of the body of the assemblage, with the excess of the bottom wall width projecting above the top plane of the side walls and through the open top when the assemblage is in its collapsed condition.

4. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the end walls each include a border member of endless and angular type having opposing vertical portions with which the wire strands of the side walls are articulated, and further characterized in that the bottom wall includes a pair of rods extending transversely at the ends of the bottom wall with at least one intermediate rod extending parallel with the end rods, similar ends of said rods having the hinging relation with the lower wire of one of the side walls and with the bottom wall also havin a plurality of spaced wires extending in parallelism in the direction of length of the bottom wall between the outer transverse end rods, the assemblage being additionally characterized in that the vertically extending rods of the side walls include a rod carried by the respective end zones of the side wire strands, with the rods positioned in spaced relation to but in the vicinity of the vertical members of the end walls, said assemblage having its transverse rods hinged to the side lower wire strand in the vicinity of and on the same side of the neighboring side vertical rods, with one of the end rods of the bottom wall having its hinging connection with the wire strand between the adjacent vertical portion of the neighboring end wall and the adjacent vertical rod of the side wall to thereby limit the longitudinal shifting of the bottom wall to the distance between said portion and vertical rod.

5. An assemblage as in claim 4 characterized in that the endless border of each end frame includes a bottom portion in which the wire is bent upwardly toward the center of the portion at a slight angle to thereby present the corners of the body portion as having foot equivalents, the upper portion of the border having a handle formation.

MILTON SLOANE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 739,006 Johnson Sept. 15, 1903 1,171,924 Brown Feb. 15, 1916 1,384,582 Wills -July 12, 1921 1,499,665 Kaufman July 1, 1924 1,589,112 Chamberlain June 15, 1926 1,731,841 Burson Oct. 15, 1929 1,833,857 Reese Nov. 24, 1931 1,834,541 Johnson Dec. 1, 1931 2,279,247 Pope Apr. 7, 1942 2,529,267 Sloane Nov. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9.658 Great Britain 1889

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