WO2004099014A1

WO2004099014A1 - Container corner strengthening method and unit

Info

Publication number: WO2004099014A1
Application number: PCT/ZA2004/000050
Authority: WO
Inventors: Berend Jan Werkman
Original assignee: Berend Jan Werkman
Priority date: 2003-05-12
Filing date: 2004-05-12
Publication date: 2004-11-18
Also published as: WO2004099013A1

Abstract

A container corner strengthening facility in the form of a container corner strengthening unit (10) comprises a body portion (12) that is cavitateously formed by being channel shaped. The body portion (12) is fitted with intermediate strengthening ribs (18) extending in parallel with the side walls (12.3) of the body portion (12) along its hollow interior. The unit (10) may incorporates a carrier base in the form of a carrier plate (30) to which the body portion (12) is welded. The carrier plate (30) is formed to follow the curvature of a container corner to which the unit (10) is intended to be installed. The unit (10) is boltable to a container corner along apertures (34) that come into registration with apertures through the container wall.

Description

CONTAINER CORNER STRENGTHENING METHOD AND UNIT

(1) TITLE OF THE INVENTION

CONTAINER CORNER STRENGTHENING UNIT

(2) BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In the case where the cross sectional area of a container is constrained by external circumstances such as a shaft along which it is displaceable, the available load carrying ability is limited by the requirement that the container must be adequately strong. This thus requires a strong container wall that has the effect that its width limits the load carrying ability of the container. To increase the carrying ability of the container by diminishing wall width its wall and especially its corners must be strengthened in a way that does not compromise its strength. This invention thus, amongst others, deals with such strengthening technique that has the further benefit that it also counteracts metal fatigue of a container wall so arranged.

(3) FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a container corner strengthening facility of which a plurality are used in adjacent relation in performing their strengthening function in strengthening a container used for transporting material and that comprises side walls meeting in corners with such container thus being potentially outwardly deformable once exposed to a charge. The invention also relates to a method of strengthening a container and to a strengthening facility set. Although not whatsoever so limited the invention can also be usefully applied in strengthening the walls of a mining skip. (4) PRIOR ART DESCRIPTION

The walls of load carrying containers such as skips are conventionally strengthened by way of strengthening elements that extend inward between outer and inner walls forming the body of a skip, and especially in the corner areas. As such elements extend generally radially they cannot counteract the outward flexing of side walls once a container is charged thus tending to quickly result in metal fatigue of the wall of such container requiring its replacement or overhaul. (5) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings

Figure 1 shows one embodiment of a container corner strengthening facility, according to the invention, in the form of a strengthening unit, in three dimensional frontal view,

Figure 2 shows another embodiment of the strengthening unit in three dimensional frontal view,

Figure 3 shows in plan view yet another embodiment of the unit typically as employable in conjunction with a other facilities to form a rib used for circumferentially strengthening a container, and

Figure 4 shows in exploded aligned relationship the various set elements including corner units of the type of figure 3, required to form a container strengthening rib of which a plurality are required for strengthening the walls of a container.

(6) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to figures 1 to 3 of the drawings a container corner strengthening facility, according to the invention, in the form of a container corner strengthening unit is generally indicated by reference numeral 10.

The unit 10 comprises a body portion 12 that is cavitateously formed by being channel shaped and that consists of an arcuate central section 12.1 that is shaped to snugly follow the curvature along the inside of an arcuate container corner and linear opposite arm sections 12.2 that thus lie alongside adjacent side walls of such container once operatively fitted, as shown in figure 3. If the unit 10 is employable for strengthening the walls of container extending though non-continuous corners it will naturally also be correspondingly non-continuously formed. The body portion 12 is fitted with intermediate strengthening formations in the form of strengthening ribs 18 extending in parallel with while being of the same height as the side walls 12.3 of the body portion 12 along its hollow interior. The edges 18.1 of the ribs 18 thus extend uniplanar with the edges 12.4 of the body portion 12.

The inner radius 20 of the body portion 12 is of the same order of magnitude as its outer radius 22 causing its depth 24 to progressively increase in the direction of its transverse centre- line 26 In referring to figure 1 the unit 10 of this embodiment is integrally securable to a container body typically being weldable thereto along its edges 12.4 and the edges 18.1 of the ribs 18. The advantage in such securing as compared to the conventional way of strengthening is that the welding strips extend transverse to the direction of force exertion on the container body once charged thus not tending to weaken its wall endurance. When so secured the unit 10 is naturally not easily replaceable.

A unit 10 that promotes ease of replacement is shown in figure 2. In this case the unit 10 incorporates a carrier base in the form of a carrier plate 30 to which the body portion 12 is integrally secured by being welded thereto. The carrier plate 30 is formed to follow the curvature of a container corner to which the unit is intended to be installed while ending in planar end areas 30.1 intended to snugly lie against the side walls of a container.

Units 10 of the figure 2 embodiment are securable to the side wall of a container by being boltable thereto via apertures 34 that come into registration with apertures through the container wall (not shown in figure 2). While the units 10 can be independently used to strengthen the corners of a container they often combine with linearly extending matchingly channel profiled side wall strengthening members 36 (as shown in broken lines in figure 3 and in full lines in figure 4) in forming ribs for circumferentially strengthening the side wall of a container.

When the units are of the kind shown in figure 1 and even figure 2 the linear members 36 and the units 10 are simply end on welded to one another. Both the units 10 and the ribs 36 can however be arranged to be releasably securable to a container. In such case the locations of inter-unit to linear member contiguity must ensure a proper locking between units 10 and adjacent members 36. To achieve this while referring to figure 3 the opposite ends 10.1 of the units 10 are bevelled to the extent of matching the bevelling of the ends of linear members 36 (shown in broken lines in figure 3) that come to lie contiguously against units 10 once used to form a strengthening rib. This has the effect that the members 36 exerting a wedging effect on the unit 10 once the units 10 and members 36 are installed into forming a container strengthening rib.

Release of such rib is achieved by simply lifting the members 36 away from a container wall once unbolted leaving the units 10 available for simple removal. To even further promote relatively non-displaceable locations of inter-unit to linear member contiguity once assembled into forming a rib the opposite ends of a unit 10 are formed to overlap the contiguous end of adjacent members 36. To this effect opposite ends of each unit 10 are formed with lips 38 extending the axial direction of the unit 10 be Dnd its bevelled end faces. The lips 38 are receivable along recesses 40 in the members 36 while the ends of the members 36 are likewise formed with lips 42 that are receivable along recesses 44 extending inwardly from the opposite ends of each unit 10. As the lips 38, 42 bridge locations of inter-unit to linear member contiguity once the unit 10 combines with linear members 36 a strong link is obtained at the locations of inter-unit to linear member contiguity that is enhanced by the bolting of both the units 10 and the members 36 to a container wall also taking place though the locations of overlapping at the locations of inter-unit to linear member contiguity.

When the units 10 are thus used in conjunction with members 36 in forming strengthening ribs their opposite arm sections 12.2 are dimensioned to couple with members 36 adjacent locations of contra flexure of container side walls to promote container side wall endurance.

While referring specifically to figure 4 the invention also extends to a set comprising units 10 and member 36 to the extent of forming an adequate plurality of ribs extending circumferentially within the side walls of container about it central axis to desirably strengthen the container.

Claims

(7) CLAIMS

(1 ) A method of strengthening a container used for transporting material and that comprises side walls meeting in corners thus being potentially outwardly deformable once exposed to a charge, as being conventionally chargable and dischargable, that comprises snugly and securely fitting each of the corners with a series of spaced cavitateously formed corner strengthening facilities (10) formed to extend through the corners and extending by way of opposite arm sections (12.2) some distance along adjacent container side walls at least in the case of a non-curvingly extending container corner; characterised in that each facility (10) is at least indirectly secured to the container, in addition to via its facing inner edges (12.4) as contiguously following the curvature of the appropriate container corner, also via at least one intermediate strengthening formation (18) extending within the hollow of the facility (10) through at least the relevant corner of the container if not also some distance along its arm sections (12.2).

(2) A method as claimed in claim 1 that comprises integrally securing the strengthening facilities (10) inclusive of the strengthening formations (18), as thus forming part of the facilities (10), to the container corners.

(3) A method as claimed in claim 2 that comprises welding the strengthening facilities (10) via their inner edges (12.4) and the inner edge (18.1 ) of the strengthening formation (18) to the container. (4) A method as claimed in claim 1 that comprises releasably securing the strengthening facilities (10) to the container by way of a discrete securing technique.

(5) A method as claimed in claim 4 that comprises releasably securing the strengthening facilities (10) to the container by bolting them thereto, the latter as thus being formed with appropriately spaced registerable bolting apertures. (6) A method as claimed in claim 5 that comprises releasably securing the strengthening facilities (10) to the container by bolting them thereto via carrier bases (30) forming part of the strengthening facilities (10) and to which the cavitateous parts of the facilities are integrally secured and which bases (3) are formed to snugly follow the shape of the relevant corners of the container thus also serving in combination with the carrier bases (30) of adjacent strengthening facilities (10) to at least partly line the container in the case where the strengthening members are secured along the inside wall of the container. (7) A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims that comprises also fitting the spacings between facing strengthening facility ends, as thus in alignment being secured along their relevant container corners, with side wall following strengthening members (36) as each thus secured to the adjacent container side wall as well as end on to the adjacent corner strengthening facilities (10) into forming container circumferentially extending strengthening ribs.

(8) A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims that comprises securing at least the majority of the corner strengthening facilities (10) and thus also the side wall following strengthening members (36) in the case where involved, along the inside wall of the container.

(9) A container corner strengthening facility of which a plurality are used in adjacent relation in performing their strengthening function in strengthening a container used for transporting material and that comprises side walls meeting in corners with such container thus being potentially outwardly deformable once exposed to a charge, that comprises a facility body (12) that is cavitateously formed to the effect of causing its following the shape of a container corner along which it is intended for use by fitting at least laterally body hollow closing off fashion along such corner and which facility (10) is at least indirectly securable to such container via its lateral edges (12.4); characterised in that the facility (10) incorporates at least one intermediate strengthening formation (18) extending suitably within the hollow to also cause its extending along a corner while snugly lying against the body of such container once the latter is operatively fitted with the facility (10), that at least in the case of being constituted to be used for strengthening a non-continously formed corner being arranged to extend some distance along the contiguous side walls of such container while the intermediate strengthening formation (18) does not necessarily extend the full cavity defining distance of the body (12), the facility (12) also being securable to such container via the intermediate strengthening formation (18) once located there against.

(10) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in claim 9 in which the facility body (12) is formed to extend along contiguous side walls of a container up to the locations of contra flexure of such side walls.

(11 ) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in claim 10 or claim 11 in which the strengthening formation is in the form of a strengthening rib (18). (12) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 11 in which the body (12) is fitted with a plurality of strengthening formations (18).

(13) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 in which the facility body (12) is channel shaped. (14) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 13 in which the facility body (12) is formed to strengthen curvedly extending container corners.

(15) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 14 in which the facility body (12) is formed to be fitted along the inside of a container corner.

(16) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in claim 15 in which the inner radius (22) of the facility body (12), when channel shaped, is at least generally of the same order of magnitude as its outer radius (20) causing its depth (24) to progressively increase in the direction of its transverse centre line (26).

(17) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in any one of claims claim 9 to 16 that incorporates a carrier base (30) to which the facility body (12) is integrally secured and which base is formed to flushly extend along a container corner in conjunction with which the facility (10) is intended to be used and via which base (30) the facility is operatively securable thereby to serve in conjunction with the carrier bases of adjacently situated operatively fitted facilities (10) the function of lining the wall of a container in the case of the facility being configured to used on the inside of a container corner. (18) A container corner strengthening facility as claimed in claim 18 that is arranged to be bolted to a container wall via apertures (34) as appropriately patterned along the carrier base to match apertures though the wall of such container.

(19) A container corner strengthening facility set comprising an adequately plurality of container corner strengthening facilities (10) to appropriately strengthen the corners of a non- circular container of which the side walls are thus potentially outwardly deformable once exposed to a charge, and a number of side wall strengthening members (36) formed to bridge the distance between facing ends (10.1 ) of strengthening facilities (10) once the latter are operatively and in aligned end on relationship secured to side wall corners and which members (36) are securable to the side walls of such container and to the adjacent ends (10.1) of container corner strengthening facilities (10) in forming rib formation of which a plurality are formable in strengthening the wall of such container, the facilities (10) each comprising a facility body (12) that is cavitateously formed to the effect of causing its following the shape of a container corner along which if is intended for use by fitting at least laterally body hollow closing off fashion along such corner while being at least indirectly securable to such container via its lateral edges with the facilities each also incorporating at least one intermediate strengthening formation (18) extending suitably within the hollow there along to also cause its extending along a corner while snugly lying against the body of such container once the latter is operatively fitted with the facility, that at least in the case of being constituted to be used for strengthening a non-continuously formed corner being arranged to extend some distance along the contiguous side walls of such container while the intermediate strengthening formation (18) not necessarily extends the full distance of the body, the facility also being securable to such container via the intermediate strengthening formation once located there against.

(20) A set as claimed in claim 20 in which the facility body (12) of each facility is formed to extend along contiguous side walls of a container up to the locations of contra flexure of such side walls.

(21 ) A set as claimed in claim 19 or claim 20 in which the strengthening formation (18) of each facility (10) is in the form of a strengthening rib (30).

(22) A set as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 21 in which the body (12) of each facility is fitted with a plurality of strengthening formations (18).

(23) A set as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 22 in which the facility body (12) of each facility is channel shaped. (24) A set as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 23 in which the facility body (12) of each facility is formed to strengthen curvedly extending container corners.

(25) A set as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 24 in which the facilities (10) and the side wall strengthening members (36) are formed to be fitted along the inside of a container corner

(26) A set as claimed in any one of clams 19 to 25 claim 25 in which the inner radius (22) of each facility body (12), when channel shaped, is at least generally of the same order of magnitude as its outer radius (20) causing its depth (24) to progressively increase in the direction of its transverse centre line (26).

(27) A set as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 26 in which the facilities (10) and the side wall strengthening members (36) incorporate integrally formed carrier bases (30) via which they are respectively securable to container corners and side walls while being formed to flushly extend there along and via which the facilities (10) and the members (36) are operatively securable thereby to serve in conjunction with the carrier bases (30) of adjacently situated operatively fitted facilities (10) and members (36) the function of lining the wall of a container in the case of the facilities (10) and the members (36) being configured to used along the inside of a container corner.

(28) A set as claimed in claim 27 in which the facilities (10) and the members (36) are arranged to be bolted to a container wall via apertures as appropriately arranged through their carrier bases and as matching apertures though such wall.