CA2124467A1

CA2124467A1 - Parallelepipedic transport container

Info

Publication number: CA2124467A1
Application number: CA002124467A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Olav Foshaug
Original assignee: Dynoplast AS
Current assignee: Dynoplast AS
Priority date: 1992-01-21
Filing date: 1992-01-21
Publication date: 1993-07-22
Also published as: CA2059773C; CA2059773A1

Abstract

TRANSPORT CONTAINER WITH INTEGRAL
MARKER FASTENER MEANS

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A parallelepipedic transport container for moisture emitting goods, particularly fish, said container comprising side walls, end walls, a bottom wall, and at least one bevelled substantially vertical corner face, said corner face being provided with at least one draining outlet near the bottom wall, and the lower portion of the bottom wall of said container is externally recessed for secure stacking on top of another container.
The container includes a fastener device for attaching a daymark or the like in a simple and secure manner. In a preferred embodiment, the recess in the bottom of the at least one bevelled corner face, is formed with a drop nose and said at least one draining outlet is disposed above said drop nose of said bevelled corner face. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the container includes lifting handles and/or fork lift insertion slots.

Description

The present invention relates to a transport container which includes an integral fastener means for a daymark or the like.

One area of usage for such containers is primarily long-ldistance transport of fish, i.e. transport of fish from the unloading point for the ffshing vessel to a remote S destination. The dimensions of the container are preferably selected to provide for an optimal degree of filling within a 20 and 40 feet ship container.

A major problem with such transport containers is that the fish emits moishlre during the transport. This moisture problem will of course be increased if pieces of ice are placed in the container together with the fish. If adequate drainage of the transport 10 container is not provided for, the quality of the fish - particularly that portion lying closest to the bottom - could be severely reduced. In addition, there is a tendenc31 for water from transport containers located higher up to run down into the transportcontainers positioned lower down~ thus further aggravating the above problem.

An additional concern with transport containers of this ~ype is to attain sufflcient 15 stacking strength when a plurality of containers is stacked on top of one another. The handle openings, in particular, have contributed to diminished stacking strength for the containers.

Yet another concern with transport containers is th~t it is difficult to fasten a daymark, or similar information tags to the container in a re-usable manner which is 20 simple ~o use and yet is secure in the attachment.

It is the object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one of the abo~e-mentioned disadvantages.

The present invention provides effective drainage of liquid from the containers in a manner which prevents said liquid from running down into the container situated 25 below. At the same time, in its preferred embodiment, the container e~chibits good ~,..

stacking strength without increasing the amount of plastic needed for the p~oduction of the container.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transport container comprising: side walls; end walls; a bottom wall; a first depression in at least S one of the side walls or end walls; a fastener means comprising a boss extending outwardly from the first depression substantially perpendicular to the plane of the first depression and a retaining means on said boss and spaced from said depression.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the transport container according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the transport container of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the transport container of Figure l;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view along line IV-IV of Figure 3 through the upper 1~ part of a corner section;

Figure S is a cross-sectional view along line V-V in Figure 3 through the lower part of a corner section;

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view through the wall of a further ernbodiment of the eontainer;

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an integral fastener means in accordance with the present invention; and ~' :' ~

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the container and integral fastener means according to the invention.

A transport container according to the invention is indicated generally at 1 in Figure 1. The container has a parallelepipedic form with two side walls 2 and two end 5 walls 3 and a water-tight bottom wall 4. The container is open at the top. As is partieularly apparent from Figure 3, all of the comers are bevelled and, while not essential, this is the presently prefierred embodiment of the invention. In each of the bevelled corner faces 5, a draining outlet 6 is disposed near the bottom wall, which outlet 6 passes through the wall of the container from the inside to the outside. As is 10 apparent from Figures 4 and 5, the sides and end of the container have the horm of double walls, with an outer wall 7 and an inner wall 8. The draining outlets 6 are formed by a sleeve 9 extending from the outer wall 7 to the inner wall 8. As is particularly apparent from Figure 2, the bottom 4 is domed, i.e., it is generally convex toward the inside of the container. At each corner there is a depression 10. This domed 15 bottom and the depressed area 10 at each corner, together with the draining outlets 6, serv to prevent substantially the collection of any water in the bottom of the container.
Thus, even if some liquid were to form inside the container by the melting of ice and/or the emission of liquid from the fish, e~en the lowest lay~ of fish would rernainunsoaked in the container.

The side walls 2 and the end walls 3 are inwardly offset and recessed 11 at the bottom 12. In the prefierred embodiment, the o~et recess 11 is designed with a drop nose 13, which causes any water that might run along the outside of the container to leave the container in the form o~ drops 17.

As is apparent from the upper part of Figure 47 where the dotted line indicates 25 an additional container 1 ' which is stacked an top o~ container 1, water that drips down fr~m the drop nose 13' on container 1' will rwl along the outside of the container 1 situated below. Thus, no water will pass into a container ~rom an addi~ional container stacked thereupon. To further ensure that water will not enter the container, in the .: .. ..... ~,, ,, . ., ~ . ; ., ............ .. ~ ;

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preferred embodiment the walls are provided with an incl;ned surface 19 at the upper edge.

Another preferred aspect of the present invention is the provision of handles and/or fork lift insertion slots to ease movement of the container. In the preferred 5 embodiment, both of the features are provided as described below.

The handles 14 at each corner are formed from portions that project outwardly from the top of the bevelled faces 5 and are in fact not a load transmitting part of the container walls. Thus, there are no handle openings in the walls which could impair the stacking strength thereof. The handles 14 are disposed in the open area of the outer wall 10 of the container formed by the bevelled corners, and thus do not increase the exterior dimensions of the container.

The double walled bottom of the container is formed by an inner bottom w~ll 4 and an outer bottom wall 12 which forms a pallet section that is an integrated part of the container. In this pallet section closed fork lift insertion slots 15 and 16 are provided, 15 so tl at the container may be emptied by means of a fork lift tmck with a tilting disc, and not permitting ~he container ~o run off the fork fingers.

The draining outlet 6, described above, is moulded as an integ~ated tubular passage and thus binds the inner and outer walls securely together and, in addition, contributes substantially to the rigidity of the corners onto which the major portion of 20 the load is transfe~red.

As shown in Figure 6 the draining outlet 6 can be formed of a sleeve 20 connec~ing the adjoining inner walls 8 with the adjoining outer walls 7 of the container 1. The sleeve 20 has internal threads 21 intended for insertion of the threaded sealing plug 18.

25A threaded depression 23 is provided in the container wall above the draining outlet 6 for parking of the threaded sealing plug 18 when dmining is effected.
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, : , . ~ ., : ". .

In Figures 7 and 8 a further depression 24 in a container wall is depicted. One or mo~e such depressions 24 can be fiormed in the container walls. Each depression 24 includes fastener means 26 for insertion of marking means 25 such as a daymark or tag.
The tag provides information of the datum the goods were caught, type of goods, e~c.

As best seen in Figure 7, in its presently preferred embodiment fastener means 26 is substantially cylindrical and extends outwardly from the centre of depression 24.
The end of fastener means 26 which is distal the cont~iner wall includes a radially extending rib 27. Marking means 25 includes a central aperture which is forced over fastener means 26 and into depression 24. Rib 27 serves to maintain marker means 25 10 in place on fastener means 26 which serves in turn to maintain marker means 25 in depression 24.

A further depression 28 is provided to aid in removal of a marker means 25.
Depression 28 allows a finger, or other suitable instrument, to access an edge of marker means 25 so that it may be slid out along fastener means 26 and pulled over rib 27.

The above described depressions 23, 24 and the sleeve 20 provide fur~her strength and rigidity to the container in that the inner and outer walls of the container are interconnected at additional locations. These fieatures increase the ability of the con~iners to be stacked in height with heavy loads without deforming the container.

~'

Claims

1. A transport container comprising:
side walls;
end walls;
a bottom wall;
a first depression in at least one of the side walls or end walls;
a fastener means comprising a boss extending outwardly from the first depression substantially perpendicular to the plane of the first depression and a retaining means on said boss and spaced from said depression.

2. A transport container as claimed in claim 1 wherein the end of said boss distal the first depression does not extend beyond the surface of said at least one of the side walls or end walls to inhibit damage to said boss.

3. A transport container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said boss means is a cylindrical member extending longitudinally from said first depression.

4. A transport container as claimed in claim 2 wherein said boss means is a cylindrical member extending longitudunally from said first depression.

5. A transport container as claimed claim 3 wherein said retaining means comprises at least a first protrusion extending radially from said boss.

6. A transport container as claimed claim 4 wherein said retaining means comprises at least a first protrusion extending radially from said boss.

7. A transport container as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 further including a second depression adjacent said first depression, said second depression sized to receive an instrument to engage an edge of a marker mounted on said fastening means to facilitate removal of said marker.

8. A transport container as claimed in claim 7 wherein said second depression is sized to receive a fingertip.