US3097741A

US3097741A - Ingot and package utilizing same

Info

Publication number: US3097741A
Application number: US186529A
Authority: US
Inventors: Earl S Schwartz
Original assignee: H KRAMER AND CO
Current assignee: H KRAMER AND CO
Priority date: 1962-04-10
Filing date: 1962-04-10
Publication date: 1963-07-16
Anticipated expiration: 1980-07-16

Description

July 16, 1963 E. s. SCHWARTZ 3,097,741

INGQT AND PACKAGE UTILIZING SAME Filed April 10, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

afivr/vzegd E. s. SCHWARTZ 3,097,741

INGOT AND PACKAGE} UTILIZING SAME Filed April 10, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill" s lll TOR.

i M W Unite States Patent 3,097,741 INGOT AND PACKAGE UTILIZING SAME Earl S. Schwartz, Chicago, Ill., assignor to H. Kramer & Co., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 10, 1962, Ser. No. 186,529 8 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) The present invention relates generally to ingot packages, and more particularly to ingot packages including a minimum of expendable or returnable material, and to ingots for use as a base in a platform for supporting a stack of ingots contained in the package.

Basically, the present invention relates to a package of stacked ingots, each of which may typically be composed of copper-base alloys such as brass and bronze or other non-ferrous alloy cast into elongated configurations of a weight readily susceptible to manual handling. All the ingots in a stack are of the same composition and the stack is secured to and supported by a platform or pallet, heretofore typically of wooden construction, and having a configuration which facilitates handling by material handling equipment such as fork lift trucks. Such wooden pallets are relatively expensive, and must be returned by the ingot purchaser to the ingot packager for reuse. However, many of these pallets are not returned and this increases the cost of packaging. With respect to those which are returned, the ingot packager must pay the return freight and this also results in increased packaging expense. Of-tentimes the pal-lets are subjected to relatively abusive handling which damages them and requires early replacement. Even with regular relatively unabusive handling the wooden pallets wear out and require frequent replacement. All of these factors render a stack of ingots supported on a wooden pallet relatively expensive to package.

In a package in accordance with the present invention, the wooden pal-let, with all its disadvantages, is replaced with an inexpensive expendable platform comprising a plurality of spaced base ingots each having a longitudinally-slotted bottom and a planar member resting atop the slotted base ingots. The stack of ingots rests atop the planar member, with the stacked ingots extending lengthwise in a direction transverse to the lengthwise direction of the base ingots. A plurality of strapping means are provided, each of which is received within a slot in a respective one of the base ingots and extends around the stack of ingots to secure the stacked ingots, the planar member, and the base ingots into a unitary package readily capable of handling by fork lift trucks and the like. The only expendable items in the entire package are the planar member, which may be of relatively inexpensive wood, or the like, and the strapping. No element of the package need be returned. The cost of the expendable items is substantially less than the return freight and replacement costs for the wooden pallets heretofore used.

In the secured package, the slots in the base ingots keep the strapping means in place and prevent slippage of the strapping means in a direction transverse to the direction in 'Whichthe slot extends. Accordingly, slippage of the strapping means in a direction which lessens the binding eifect of the strapping means and which causes the package to break up is minimized.

The longitudinally extending slot in each base ingot has longitudinal sides which taper inwardly to facilitate removal of the ingot from the bottom-ridged mold in which the base ingot is cast, and to [facilitate introduction of strapping means into the slot, said tapered sides acting as guides to direct the strapping means into the desired position.

An important feature of the present invention is that the base ingots are of the same size and heat as the stacked ingots. Accordingly, the base ingots may be used by the package purchaser just as the stacked ingots. Furthermore, bottom-slotted ingots in excess of those needed for the package base may be incorporated into the stack, thus eliminating maintaining surplus base ingots in inventory until a subsequent stack of ingots having the same generic composition is ready to be packaged; but even in this case the base and stacked ingots are not from the same heat.

By providing a base ingot having the same size as the ingots in the stack, the cos-t and complexity of the operation and equipment for making the base ingots are minirnized. For example, in a typical ingot casting operation, the ingots are cast in a continuous procession of ingot molds which are cyclically subjected to a number of steps including a pouring operation in which the molds receive molten metal, a cooling operation in which the molds are subjected to a cooling medium such as a spray of water to facilitate solidification of the molten metal in the mold, and an inverting operation in which the solidified ingots are dumped from the molds, following which the molds are recycle-d back to the pouring operation. ingots for the stack have a specified size generally uniform throughout the ingot making industry and most ingot making plants include equipment designed and constructed to handle ingot molds of a size which produces said conventionally sized ingots. By utilizing a base ingot having the same size as that of the conventional ingot in the stack, the molds used to cast the base ingot are of the same size as those used to cast the ingots in the stack, and thus may be handled, with a minimum of expense and bother, by the same equipment already being utilized in casting ingots for the stack.

If the base ingot were of a size other than that of the ingots in the stack, special equipment would have to be constructed to handle the ingot mold, or in the alternative, the ingot would have to be cast by hand, either alternative being substantially more expensive than if the base ingot were of the same size as the ingots in the stack.

Other features and advantages are inherent in the structure claimed and disclosed or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying diagrammatic drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an enlarged perspective view of an embodiment of a base ingot in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevation-a1 View of an embodi- 'ment of an ingot package constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the package of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the package. 7

Referring initially to FIGURE 1, there is shown an embodiment of a base ingot 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention. Ingot 10 has an elongated configuration and includes a longitudinally extending slot in the ingots bottom surface 18, said ingot being illustrated in an inverted position in FIGURE 1.

Base ingots 10 constitute a portion of a platform for supporting a stack of ingots, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. More particularly, base ingots 10 are arranged in spaced parallel relation, and the top surfaces 20 of base ingots 10 support a planar member 11 composed of relatively inexpensive wood, plastic, or the like. Base ingots 10 and planar member 11, constitute a platform 23 for supporting an ingot stack 12 composed primarily of conventional unslotted ingots 13. However, becausebase ingots 10 are of the same size and composition as ingots 13, any ingots 10 in excess of the number required to support ingot stack 12 may be incorporated into the ingot stack, as illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 4.

Bottom slots 15 in base ingots 10 each receive a respective one of a plurality of conventional strapping means 14 3 which extend around ingot stack 12, and are tightenable to bind ingot stack 12, planar member 11 and base ingots into a secure unitary package readily capable of being handled by fork lift trucks or the like. Additional strapping means 24, extending beneath member 11 and around ingot stack 12, may be utilized to help secure ingot stack 12 to platform 23. Slots 15 in base ingot-s 10 hold strapping means 14 in position and prevent sidewise slippage thereof, which in turn prevents loosening of the package bindings and keeps the package from falling apart during handling. Suitable paper or transparent plastic covers (not shown) may be placed over the assembled package, if desired.

Referring again to FIGURE 1, and describing the illustrated embodiment of base ingot 10 in greater detail, the ingot includes, in addition to bottom 18 and top 20, a pair of tapered ends 16 and a pair of tapered sides 17. Slot 15 includes a pair of inwardly tapering longitudinally extending sides 19 which act as guides to direct newly introduced strapping means 14 into the desired position on the top surface 22 (FIGURE 1) of the slot. In addition, tapered sides 19 facilitate removal of the ingot from a bottom-ridged mold after the base ingot 10 has solidified in the mold.

As previously indicated, base ingot 10 is cast to the same size as conventional ingots 13. Accordingly, except for the molds, the equipment used in casting base ingots 10 is virtually the same as that used in casting ingots 13 and both

ingots

10 and 13 may be cast at the same time. This enables base ingots 10 to be produced with a maximum of convenience and a minimum of expense.

Planar member 11 and strapping means 14 are expendable, and need not be returned to the ingot packager. These two items are relatively inexpensive and the cost of these materials does not substantially increase the cost of the package. Furthermore, the savings resulting from elimination of paying return freight on non-expendable platforms and elimination of replacing unreturned or worn out non-expendable platforms is substantial.

The Purchaser of an ingot package prepared in accordance with the present invention need not be bothered with returning non-expendable platforms, or with accumulating a substantial quantity of non-expendable platforms prior to returning them to the packager.

Furthermore, most of platform 23, in the form of base ingots 10, may be used just as the ingots in stack 12 because base ingots 10 are of the same composition as the ingots in the stack.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is: 1. An ingot package comprising: a plurality of laterally spaced rows of base ingots; a planar member resting on said spaced rows; a stack of ingots on said planar member; each of said rows including a plurality of elongated base ingots extending lengthwise in end-abutting relation;

said stack including a layer having ingots extending lengthwise in a direction transverse to the lengthwise direction of said base ingots;

each of said base ingots having a slot extending along the length of said ingot from ingot end to ingot end at the bottom of the ingot;

said slot extending inwardly from the bottom surface of said ingot;

each slot being longitudinally aligned with a corresponding slot in an adjacent base ingot in the same row;

and a plurality of strapping means each extending longitudinally within the aligned slots in a respective row of base ingots, and each extending around said stack of ingots to bind the stack of ingots, the planar memher and the 'base ingots into a unitary package;

each slot including an innermost surface having a configuration conforming to the configuration of said strapping means for receiving said strapping means;

each slot having a width, at said innermost surface, sufiicient to accommodate said strapping means and narrow enough to prevent substantial lateral movement by the strapping means;

said received strapping means being located above the bottom surface of the base ingot.

2. An ingot package as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said base ingots and said ingots in the stack are all of substantially uniform size;

a pair of adjacent rows of base ingots are spaced apart laterally a distance exceeding the length of an ingot;

and said package further comprises a plurality of additional strapping means each located between an adjacent pair of said first-recited plurality of strapping means, and each extending around said planar mem- 'her and said stack of ingots to help bind the planar member and the stack of ingots into said unitary package.

3. An ingot package as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said transverse ingot layer is the top layer in said stack.

4. An ingot package as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said base ingots and said ingots in the stack are all composed of copper-base alloy from the same heat.

5. An ingot package as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said layer of transverse ingots in the stack includes a transverse row having a plurality of ingots extending lengthwise in end-abutting relation;

and said package comprises a row of base ingots for each ingot in said transverse row with each row of base ingots underlying a respective ingot in said transverse row.

6. An ingot package as recited in claim 5 and comprisplurality of additional strapping means each located between an adjacent pair of said first-recited plurality of strapping means, and each extending around a respective ingot in said transverse row;

each transverse ingot being bound by a pair of strapping means, one from said first-recited strapping means and one from said additional strapping means;

each of said pair of strapping means extending around said transverse ingot at a location spaced inwardly from a respective end of the transverse ingot substantially the same as the spacing of the other of said pair of strapping means from its respective ingot end.

7. In an ingot package:

a plurality of laterally spaced rows of base ingots;

a planar member resting on said spaced rows;

each of said rows including a plurality of elongated base ingots extending lengthwise in end-abutting relation;

said slot extending inwardly from the bottom surface of said ingot;

and a plurality of strapping means each extending longitudinally within the aligned slots in a respective row of base ingots, and each extending around said planar member;

8. A base ingot for use with strapping means in an ingot narrow enough to prevent substantial lateral movement by the strapping means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Grodin May 14, 1946 Frear Oct. 22, 1946 Friesner May 6, 1952 Reed Mar. 3, 1953 Baumer Jan. 20, 1959 Johnson Dec. 217, 1960

Claims

1. AN INGOT PACKAGE COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY SPACED ROWS OF BASE INGOTS; A PLANAR MEMBER RESTING ON SAID SPACED ROWS; A STACK OF INGOTS ON SAID PLANAR MEMBER; EACH OF SAID ROWS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED BASE INGOTS EXTENDING LENGTHWISE IN END-ABUTTING RELATION; SAID STACK INCLUDING A LAYER HAVING INGOTS EXTENDING LENGTHWISE IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO THE LENGTHWISE DIRECTION OF SAID BASE INGOTS; EACH OF SAID BASE INGOTS HAVING A SLOT EXTENDING ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID INGOT FROM INGOT END TO INGOT END AT THE BOTTOM OF THE INGOT; SAID SLOT EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF SAID INGOT; EACH SLOT BEING LONGITUDINALLY ALIGNED WITH A CORRESPONDING SLOT IN AN ADJACENT BASE INGOT IN THE SAME ROW; AND A PLURALITY OF STRAPPING MEANS EACH EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN THE ALIGNED SLOTS IN A RESPECTIVE ROW