Patent Grant
8662333
The present invention relates to easily transportable boxes whose side walls may be folded down for transport and whose side walls comprise a special, highly stable structure which is still flat and light.
On the market place, a plurality of foldable boxes or foldable crates is available consisting of a bottom or floor and side walls which are foldable with respect to the floor so that the boxes may be folded after use by folding down their side walls in order for them to be transportable back to the location of their renewed use in a space saving and cost effective way.
As such foldable boxes may be used industrially on a large scale and for many different purposes, for example to transport fruit or vegetables from the harvest fields to the consumers, such a foldable box has to fulfill many different requirements which partially influence each other. With respect to cleaning, it is especially desirable that at least some of the exterior walls stand on their own in the up-folded state, i.e., remain in the up-folded state, as it is needed for successful and thorough cleaning that the complete interior volume of the box is easily accessible.
Especially high requirements are also directed to the stability of the boxes as the same, for example when transporting fruit and vegetables, are loaded directly at the field by field workers and the vegetables remain within the same box during the complete transport to the end consumer, i.e., the box has to survive the many loading and unloading processes during transport, if possible without getting damaged. Further, the boxes are also used several times according to their purpose which even increases requirements regarding robustness. On the one hand, it is of course very desirable that when keeping side conditions of a weight which is as low as possible, the walls and the floor of the foldable boxes are as robust as possible. Further, due to the plurality of handling processes and actions needed during the transport of such a box, it is to be ensured that normal operation is as easy as possible. It is to be guaranteed simultaneously that in case of erroneous use or operation, the used mechanical components are not destructed. In particular, foldable boxes comprise a locking mechanism by means of which the erected walls are interlocked with each other so that the up-folded box receives the needed stability. This locking mechanism should be operable as easily as possible and error-free without much force. However, additionally, the possibility of a wrong operation should be considered, i.e., that a force acts upon the locking mechanism without the same being operated. In this case, the locking mechanism should be destroyed by no means.
A further requirement to such foldable boxes should be that the hinge mechanism which produces a foldable connection between the door and the exterior walls of the foldable box may absorb large forces. The same presents, in the up-folded state, the only non-positive connection between the floor on which usually the complete load is arranged and the exterior walls at which the grip holes are usually located. Even if a robust implementation of a box is used, a destruction of individual components of the box, i.e., in particular of the floor or one of the side walls, may not be excluded in every day use. It is thus desirable that the side walls may easily be detached from the floor without the capability of carrying a high load suffering from the ease of dismantling the non-positive connection.
Some requirements here result from the aspect of transportability. Thus, it is a especially desirable for the box to have only a low stacking height in the down-folded state so that on a pallet during transport a number of down-folded boxes may be transported which is as high as possible. Further, the box ought to be as light as possible, i.e., as little material as possible ought to be used to keep the ratio of the loading capacity or useful load to the weight of the box as low as possible. Apart from this, such boxes are frequently used for the transport of food and it is needed for the interior side of the box to be as smooth or flat as possible so that no food rests will get trapped in the interior of the box. Simultaneously, the box ought to be stable, which makes the use of large flat planes difficult. Further, easy cleaning of the boxes is to be guaranteed which, on the one hand, needs flat surfaces and, on the other hand, the possibility has to be given that in automated washing systems cleaning agents or water used during cleaning may run off from the box. This requests drain holes or perforations which are, again, in contradiction to the requested high stability.
According to one embodiment, a foldable box may have four foldable exterior walls, wherein at least one of the exterior walls may have at least a first and a second spherical wall area convex with respect to an exterior side of the box, which are adjacent to each other in a horizontal direction; and a bridge arranged between the first and the second spherical surface extending across the height of the exterior wall and arranged at the exterior side of the exterior wall; at least one rib extending from the bridge to the first spherical surface area and to the second spherical surface area.
According to some embodiments of the present invention, at least one of the exterior walls comprises a particularly stable structure having advantageous characteristics which is produced by the fact that per se stable, spherical wall areas convex with respect to an exterior side of the box are connected by means of an arrangement of bridges and ribs. By this, an extremely thin and stable exterior wall is provided which is stable and yet lightweight. According to some embodiments, between two spherical wall areas of the exterior wall convex with respect to the exterior side, a bridge arranged at the outside of the exterior wall extending across a height of the exterior wall is arranged . Additionally, one or a plurality of ribs passes between the spherical wall areas, wherein the ribs extend from the bridge up to each one of the spherical surface areas on both sides of the bridge. These embodiments of inventive exterior walls thus include spherical surfaces arranged adjacent to each other and connected to each other by means of an arrangement of ribs and bridges between the respectively adjacent spherical surfaces in order to increase the rigidity of coupling of the exterior wall.
The spherical surfaces have the advantage that the same are intrinsically torsion resistant up to a certain size which is caused by the curvature of the surface at its edge areas. In this respect, spherical surfaces are regarded as surfaces which rise from a plane base surface into a predetermined direction, wherein the surface does not stand out in a staircase shape from the base surface regarding the contour, but the contour goes away from the base surface in an s shape with predetermined radii. After the elevation or rise, a spherical surface area may also comprise a partial surface which is completely plane and passes in parallel to the base surface in a distance which depends on the s shaped contour at the edge of the spherical surface. If the plane or level surface within the spherical surface becomes too large, this surface, again, becomes instable, so that there are restrictions with respect to the size of an intrinsically stable spherical surface. The use of an individual spherical surface as a side wall, with extensive side walls, would thus not have a large effect supporting stability. Spherical surfaces have the advantage, however, that same are flat on both sides, comprise no edges or cracks so that same are very suitable for the transport of food, as the danger of food being caught in edges or like is not given.
With some embodiments of the present invention, several convex surface areas in a wall are used which are interconnected by an arrangement of ribs and bridges perpendicular to the ribs extending across the height of the exterior wall to connect the per se stable convex surface areas without high material expense in a very torsion resistant way, so that an all-in-all very robust structure with a low wall strength results. In some embodiments of the present invention, the bridges and the ribs are exclusively arranged on the outside of the exterior wall so that the stiffening effects are achieved without hygiene suffering by food getting caught in the sharp edges of the ribs and bridges in the interior of the box. In some embodiments of the present invention, any hinge arrangements connecting the exterior wall to the floor of the foldable box are basically arranged in areas in which the bridges are located between the spherical surfaces. As the bridges extending across the height of the exterior wall are those structures which may carry the greatest tensile stress, by the produced arrangement of the hinge elements a structure or an exterior wall is generated comprising the highest possible stability requirements also regarding power transmission or force transmission to the floor and it simultaneously only needs a thin material-saving exterior wall which is flat or smooth at the interior side and thus easy to clean.
With some embodiments of the present invention, the easy dismantling of an exterior wall from the floor of a foldable box is achieved by using a special hinge arrangement including both a shaft arranged at the floor of the exterior wall and also a cam arranged there so that only when up-folding the exterior wall a non-positive connection between the floor and the exterior wall is produced. In order to enable this, in some embodiments in the floor or in an exterior wall area which is fixed and extends from the floor in a vertical direction upwards (i.e., in the direction of the up-folded side wall), wherein the exterior wall area may also be manufactured integrally within the floor, a recess is located within which the shaft is located. Further, on the floor, a contact surface is arranged which is a surface arranged with respect to the floor in a known relative orientation. The cam, as will be explained in more detail with respect to some of the following figures, is implemented as or comprises such a three-dimensional contour that the cam, which is rigidly connected to the exterior wall when up-folding the cam wall, gets in contact with the contact surface, i.e., gets in contact with the same and is supported by the same. This support causes a translational movement of the shaft which is also rigidly connected to the exterior wall. The guide hole or opening is geometrically implemented so that the same comprises an opening section passing basically in a vertical direction (i.e., basically perpendicular to the surface of the floor) and a lateral opening section virtually perpendicular to the same passing in the lateral direction from the outside to the inside. Both the opening section and also the lateral opening section comprise a cross-section which is large enough to move the shaft in the two sections. In the down-folded state of the exterior wall the shaft is first of all arranged on the floor of the opening section of the guide opening and may be removed through the opening section in the vertical direction upwards. Thus, the shaft is not in the way of dismantling the exterior wall in the down-folded state.
Producing a non-positive connection is only executed when up-folding the exterior wall. During up-folding, the contour of the cam is in contact with the contact surface which guides or supports the cam. Due to the rigid connection of the cam and the shaft via the exterior wall and guiding the cam at the contact surface it is achieved that the shaft moves into the lateral opening area in the guide opening, wherein the opening area is closed upwards at least in one place, i.e., is limited in the upward direction for example by the material of the exterior wall or the fixed exterior wall area. If the shaft is thus located in the lateral opening section, the same may not be removed from the top and a configuration resulted which produces a connection between the exterior wall and the floor in the vertical direction so that the same may absorb a force or withstand a weight load. In other words, guided by the cam which is supported at the contact surface, by the shaft a swing or translational movement is executed which moves the shaft from a initial position in the lateral opening section into an end position in the lateral opening section, so that when up-folding the wall a stable connection between the exterior wall and the floor results, while in the down-folded state the shaft may be removed from the top of the guide opening and thus the wall may be dismantled.
With some embodiments, in the floor or in the fixed exterior wall area extending upwards from the floor, a further recess is located within which the cam is located. In this cam opening the support surface is arranged. In some embodiments, the support surface is formed by the exterior side wall or boundary surface of the cam opening.
In some further embodiments of the invention, the carrying capacity or stability of the resulting connection is additionally increased by the fact that the cam opening also comprises an opening section passing in the vertical direction and a lateral opening section passing in the lateral direction, wherein the cam has an exterior contour or is geometrically implemented so that in the up-folded state an element of the cam or a recess in the cam engages the lateral opening section of the cam opening during up-folding. By this, the cam is also prevented from sliding upwards out of the cam opening with a tensile stress, by the massive material of the floor located above the lateral opening section of the cam opening. Thus, the cam in the cam opening in the up-folded state may also additionally receive weight or carry an additional load which increases the stability or strength of the foldable box in this embodiment. Here, in some further embodiments of the present invention, the cam opening comprises such a cross-section in the vertical direction that the cam in the down-folded state of the side wall may be removed upwards from the cam opening so that also in the embodiment in which the cam may carry additional load, the exterior wall may be dismantled in the down folded state without any tools. In some embodiments, the geometry is selected such that both the cam opening and also the guide opening extend in the lateral direction outwards up to a common exterior wall so that the same in other words comprise identical dimensions in the lateral direction. In the direction perpendicular to the vertical and the lateral direction, the cam opening or the guide opening in some embodiments comprise dimensions which are slightly larger than the horizontal extension of the shaft or the horizontal extension of the cam in order to enable a connection free of play also in this dimension between the exterior wall and the floor or the fixed exterior wall area of the floor. In other words, the horizontal extension of the guide opening and the cam opening basically corresponds to the horizontal dimensions of the shaft or the cam, wherein the horizontal extension of the openings is slightly larger, for example by 0.5 mm or by 1 mm.
By the use of the above-mentioned hinge arrangement or by the use of a foldable box according to one of the above-described embodiments, it is possible to provide a foldable box whose exterior walls may be completely folded down and in the down-folded state may easily be removed—for example being exchanged by a spare part or for cleaning—from the foldable box—wherein the connection between the exterior wall and the floor or the fixed exterior wall area of the floor is still able to absorb a high force as it is conventionally only the case with conventional hinges which may not be dismantled.
According to some further embodiments of the invention, a foldable box is provided which comprises exterior walls which are held in the up-folded state after folding up the same, wherein an automatic down-folding of the exterior wall is also prevented. Some embodiments of the invention are based on the above described hinge arrangement comprising a shaft in a guide opening, without the guide opening necessarily having to comprise an opening area suitable for being removed in the vertical direction. It is only needed that the guide opening comprises the lateral opening section extending in the lateral direction from the outside of the fixed exterior wall area inwards, wherein the shaft may be shifted within the opening section. Here, further use of a cam is needed which is arranged in the base section of the exterior wall, wherein the cam comprises a cam contour which is implemented such that when raising up or erecting, by a contact of the cam contour to the contact surface, already when exceeding a boundary angle, the shaft is moved into the lateral opening section inwards before the side wall is completely erected.
In some embodiments, the contour of the cam is implemented such that the boundary angle, when erecting the exterior wall, is exceeded before the underside of the exterior wall, when erecting, will get in contact with the interior edge area of the fixed exterior wall area of the floor extending upwards. By the fact that the shaft, at the first contact of the floor of the exterior wall with internal edge area, is already located at the internal position in the lateral opening section, the shaft may absorb a force basically directed upwards.
As the shaft may already absorb this force, when further erecting the exterior wall, across the internal edge area, by the effect of the shaft rigidly connected to the exterior wall (for example via a spacer attached to the base of the interior wall), the underside of the exterior wall is pressed with a first pressing force against the internal edge area of the fixed exterior wall area. The same is larger than the second contact pressing force using which the underside of the exterior wall in the upraised vertical position, i.e., after exceeding the internal edge area, is pressed against the upper side of the fixed exterior wall area by the shaft.
In other words, moving the shaft inwards in the lateral opening section (to the internal end position) before the exterior wall gets into contact with the internal edge area will cause a force threshold to be exceeded when rising up or erecting the exterior wall. This threshold force acting onto the underside of the exterior wall after exceeding the boundary angle by the effect of the shaft, is the greatest force which acts during erecting between the underside of the exterior wall and the fixed exterior wall area of the floor. Thus, after exceeding this force, i.e., after completely erecting the exterior wall, the exterior wall is held in the upright position as the force acting in the upright position between the underside of the exterior wall and the fixed exterior wall area is smaller and the exterior wall may thus not overcome the internal edge area by simply folding down by the weight force of the exterior wall without external force.
The above described embodiments of the invention thus enable to provide a foldable box in which the exterior walls, after erecting, may not fold back automatically into the down-folded state, even if the exterior walls of the foldable box are not snapped or latched into each other in the upright state.
This may be a substantial advantage in the fully automated cleaning of the foldable boxes, which has to be repeated manually, when for example due to a wrong operation when latching the exterior walls are able to automatically fold inwards again. Also when conventionally folding up the exterior walls, a self-standing exterior wall may be a great advantage as the same, first of all, may be put up so that the remaining walls may be raised afterwards and latched or interlocked with the already up-folded walls without it having to be insured manually that the already up-folded wall stays up. Regarding the plurality of handling processes occurring in a life cycle of such a foldable box, this is a substantial advantage regarding efficiency and costs.
In particular, also the functionality that the exterior wall in the up-folded state stays up automatically may be achieved without clamps at moving parts which are conventional in standard technology like, for example, at the shafts of the hinges having to be provided through which otherwise a limitation of the movement of a hinge is achieved. Such clamps, in particular when using plastics parts, are subject to wear and tear, so that the inhibition of movement and thus the functionality of the side wall is automatically reduced over time. In the inventive embodiments the mechanism, however, it is basically free of wear as the movement of the shaft itself is completely free of wear within the lateral opening section. The force is generated without friction by an elastic tracking of the participating components so that with a correct dimensioning of the component absorbing the force, for example the bridge or spacer connecting the shaft to the exterior wall, a wear and tear free continuous functioning is guaranteed.
According to some further embodiments of the present invention, a foldable box is provided comprising two respectively opposing pairs of longitudinal and transverse side exterior walls arranged foldable with respect to the floor of the box and enabling folding down the exterior walls inwards. In the up-folded state, the four exterior walls are connected to each other mechanically or are latched in order to obtain a foldable box comprising a high stability.
To enable latching, each of the longitudinal side exterior walls comprises a protrusion at each end extending in the direction of the transverse side exterior walls in the up-folded state, wherein the protrusion restricts foldability of the transverse side exterior walls to the outside, i.e., has the effect of a stop. By the term longitudinal side, the impression is not to be given that the actually longer exterior wall has to comprise this protrusion in any embodiment. In some alternative embodiments, it is the shorter exterior walls referred to as the transverse side which comprises this protrusion so that the terms longitudinal side and transverse side may be exchanged randomly. Any of the transverse side exterior walls comprises spring-pretensioned latching mechanisms arranged at the exterior side of the transverse side exterior wall, which comprise, in the up-folded state, a snap-in or latching or locking element moveable in a vertical direction which may be latched with the protrusion of the longitudinal side exterior wall.
The snap-in element may thus snap directly into the protrusion or into an object connected to the protrusion or may latch with the same. By the vertical movement of the snap-in element it is achieved that the snap-in element may be moved virtually without force, i.e., when opening the snap-in element or the latching only the spring force of the spring of the spring pre-tensioned latching mechanism has to be overcome in order to thus be able to release the latch in a simple way in normal operation. By this, the transverse side exterior wall is separated from the longitudinal side exterior wall so that the same may be folded down. Snapping in and out in a vertical direction has the advantage with respect to conventional solutions in which snapping in or out is executed in a lateral folding direction or in a horizontal direction and locking or unlocking takes place in one direction in which the connection between the side walls does not have to absorb a force, so that no high force has to be used in order to lock or unlock the snap-in element. With locking methods in which locking or latching takes place in one direction into which the exterior wall is moved by opening or closing, it is definitely needed in normal locking or unlocking to overcome the high closing or clamp force of the lock in order to achieve a unlocking. This leads to losses regarding speed and reliability of handling which may be prevented by vertical locking mechanisms.
According to the embodiments of the locking mechanisms described in the following, the protrusion and/or the snap-in element in the up-folded state additionally comprises, with respect to the vertical direction, contact surfaces which are inclined such that the locking mechanism opens against its spring preload when exceeding a predetermined force directed inwards acting upon the transverse side exterior wall. The flanks or edges of the locking tabs or catches or the protrusion where the snap-in element and the locking tab of the protrusion or the protrusion itself slide along each other are inclined with respect to each other so that depending on the inclination, when force acts from the outside of the foldable box onto the transverse side exterior wall, also a force component acts in the vertical direction, i.e., against the spring preload onto the snap-in element. Thus, so to speak, an emergency release may be achieved when, for example by a wrong operation a high force acts on the transverse side exterior wall. Thus, the locking mechanism is not destroyed which would lead to a replacement of the box or a side wall.
By the inclination of the snap-in element with respect to the protrusion or a locking hook attached to the protrusion, the predetermined force where the emergency release occurs or where the locking mechanism opens against spring pretension may be sat randomly over a wide range. Here, in contrast to conventional methods the size of the predetermined force, at which the locking automatically opens, has no influence on the force to be exerted, which is needed when the locking mechanism is in normal operation, i.e., occurs by manually operating the snap-in element in the vertical direction. The embodiments of the present invention thus enable both, a comfortable and regular operation and an additional securing against wrong operation without the parameters of one of the two operating methods—the regular one and the wrong operation—being dependent on each other. Thus, embodiments of the inventive foldable boxes may even be manufactured so robust that the latching in continuous operation may not only be opened by a conventional manual operation of the snap-in elements but also by hitting or stepping onto the transverse side exterior wall without damage of the box or the snap-in mechanism occurring.
In the following, some embodiments of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The foldable box of
As already mentioned above,
The directional information lateral and horizontal respectively refer to the currently regarded exterior wall. The horizontal direction is the direction along the greatest longitudinal extension of the considered side wall, so that the horizontal direction with respect to the exterior wall 6b, for example, results as indicated by arrow 11. The lateral direction refers to the direction between the exterior side and the interior side or internal side of the walls in the up-folded state so that, for example, for the exterior wall 6b the lateral direction designated by reference number 12 results. The corresponding application of this definition to the transverse side exterior wall 4b leads to a horizontal direction 14 and a lateral direction 15. In the up-folded state of the box, thus with respect to each exterior wall, the lateral, the vertical and the horizontal direction define a basic rectangular coordinate system. Apart from this, when doubts of interpretation result with respect to position or orientation information, the information is to be regarded as relating to the box in the up-folded state illustrated in
As it may be seen with respect to
This is achieved in the embodiments described here by the exterior wall consisting of spherical wall areas 20a, 20b, and 20c convex with respect to the outer or exterior side, wherein the areas are connected to each other by means of an arrangement of ribs and bridges. Up to a certain size, the spherical wall areas are intrinsically stable due to their shaping, as already indicated above. As illustrated in
The use of bridge and rib arrangements connecting the spherical surface elements additionally enables to punch the spherical surface elements or provide the same with a plurality of perforations to save material and be able to clean the wall thoroughly. The perforation weakening the structure of the spherical surface areas may here be accepted as by the use of bridges and ribs between the spherical surface areas the overall stability may still be maintained. In
In other words, a further embodiment of the invention only comprises the bridges 22 and 30 between the spherical surface areas 20a, 20b, 20c. For a further increase of the stability of the overall construction, hinge arrangements using which the exterior wall is foldably connected to the floor 2 or to the fixed exterior wall area 18 are only arranged in those areas at the base of the exterior wall 6b (at the end of the exterior wall 6b facing the floor 2) in which the bridges extend up to the base area of the exterior wall. Any of the hinge arrangements or hinge mechanisms 40a, 40b, 40c and 40d which are only indicated briefly here are located, in the embodiment indicated in
A bridge which is capable to do this is generally a material protruding from the surface of the exterior wall in the lateral direction which extends beyond the heights of the exterior wall. In an equivalent application of this definition, the ribs also extend in the lateral direction from the surface of the exterior wall, wherein the ribs pass basically along the horizontal orientation. With some other embodiments, the ribs do not pass horizontally but in a different orientation, wherein it is to be guaranteed that at least one rib extends from the bridges, also in a different orientation, up to the spherical surface areas adjacent to the bridges.
Apart from that, in
As it may be gathered from
Likewise, the cam opening 56 comprises an opening section 56a extending basically in the vertical direction. The cam opening 56 also comprises a lateral opening section 56b extending in the lateral direction from the outside or from the exterior side border or restriction of the cam opening 56 inwards. The different opening sections may be identified best in the sectional view of
In the down-folded state, the exterior wall 6b may easily be dismantled without any tools which facilitates exchanging a possibly damaged exterior wall. For down-folding the exterior wall, both the guide opening 54 and also the cam opening each comprise an interior side breakthrough or perforation 70 or 72 in the interior or internal boundary wall of the openings 54 and 56, in which the spacer 64 of the shaft or the part of the cam 52 serving for mounting a cam 52 to the base 66 of the side wall 6b may be moved.
In contrast to conventional hinge mechanism, thus the connection between side wall and fixed exterior wall area in the down-folded state may be undone without any tools, i.e. a force acting in the down-folded state in the vertical direction onto the exterior wall 6b is not absorbed by the hinge arrangement or transferred to the floor 2, as it is needed in order to be able to load the box in the up-folded state.
The traction or adhesion in the inventive embodiment is only produced when erecting the exterior wall 6b, in which respect the cam 52 and the shaft 50 cooperate as follows. In the down-folded state illustrated in
The contour of the cam 52 in the embodiment illustrated here is not basically radial like the contour of the shaft, but L-shaped with an edge 74 applied to or contacting the exterior side of the CAM opening 56. The exterior wall or exterior side 76 of the cam opening 56, when erecting or raising the exterior wall 6b acts as a contact surface at the fixed exterior wall area 18 where the cam 52, when erecting the exterior wall 60, so to speak, is supported. By the L-shaped contour of the cam with the edge 74, thus directly after starting erecting a force directed inwards acts upon the side wall 6b which leads to the shaft 50 in the lateral opening section 54b to be moved inwards, so that already when exceeding a predetermined threshold angle or boundary angle, the same is located within the lateral opening section 54b (at an interior side end position in the lateral opening section 54b), as it is illustrated in
Generally speaking, thus the cam 52 comprises a cam contour which is implemented such that the cam contour, when erecting the exterior wall, gets into contact with a contact surface 56 such that the shaft 50 is moved inwards in the lateral opening section 54b. The shape of the contact surface is not important here, the plane contact surface illustrated in the figures is only to be regarded as an example for any geometry of the contact surface, which leads to a force being exhibited onto the cam. For example, the contact surface may also be inclined with respect to the vertical direction 8, which, in combination with a basically circular cam contour with respect to the contact surface 56 also leads to the fact that during aligning the shaft is moved inwards. This embodiment also makes clear that the geometry of the cam may virtually be random, as long as the cam contour is implemented such that the cam contour gets in contact with the contact surface such that the shaft 50 is moved inwards.
In the completely upfolded state illustrated in
The embodiment illustrated here further comprises a further optional implementation or functionality of the cam 52. In the case illustrated here, the cam contour is L-shaped at the position in which the lateral opening section 56b of the cam opening 56 is limited upwards by material of the fixed exterior wall area 18 (at the positions of the overhangs 82a and 82b), so that, as it may be gathered from
As described above, also by the functional cooperation of a cam 52 with a contact surface 76 and a shaft 50 arranged in a guide opening 54, according to the invention, a hinge arrangement may be provided which may be dismantled in the downfolded state and is able in the upfolded state of the exterior wall 6b to transfer the needed forces to the floor 2.
A further embodiment of the present invention is also discussed in the following with reference to
Then, the shaft 50 may already before that absorb a force acting in the vertical direction so that it is possible to dimension the distance of the interior edge area 90 to the shaft 50 such that when moving the exterior wall 6b over the edge 90, i.e. when exceeding the boundary angle 68 by the effect of the shaft 50 the underside 66 of the exterior wall 6b is pressed against the interior edge area 90 with a contact pressing force which is larger than a second contact pressing force using which the underside 66 of the exterior wall 6b is pressed, in the upright vertical position, against the upper side of the fixed exterior wall area 18 by the effect of the shaft 50. In an alternative embodiment which is not illustrated, the interior side of the cam contour may be implemented such that when exceeding the edge 90, the contact pressing force is achieved by the effect of the cam 52, when the same is for example already in contact with the material 82b of the cam opening 56 limiting the cam opening 56 toward the top.
Generally speaking, the upfolded wall is held in the upfolded state when the cam contour is implemented such that the cam contour, when erecting the exterior wall 6b gets into contact with the guide surface 76 such that when exceeding a boundary angle or threshold angle 68 the shaft 50 is moved inwards into the natural opening section 54b, so that after exceeding the boundary angle 68 by the effect of the shaft 50 or the cam 52 an underside 66 of the exterior wall 6b is pressed with a first contact pressing force against an interior edge area 90 of the fixed exterior wall area 18. This first contact pressing force is higher than a second contact pressing force using which the underside 66 of the exterior wall 6b, in the upright position, is pressed into the upper side of the fixed exterior wall area 18 by the effect of the shaft 50 or the cam 52.
The exterior wall area whose resistance has to be overcome when upfolding, does not have to be formed by the complete length of the interior edge 90 of the fixed exterior wall area 18. It is rather also possible, for example in order to influence the needed force, to bring only geometrically delimited areas of the interior edge 90 in contact with the exterior wall 6b during opening. In this respect, for example at the internal edge 90 of the external wall, protrusions extending inward may be formed so that the exterior wall 6b only has to overcome the resistance caused by these protrusions. This may, for example, serve to set the force needed when erecting the exterior wall 6b and to thus adapt the same to the requirements of the user.
In some embodiments, the center of the shaft 50 in the lateral direction 12 after moving the shaft 50 inward is further in the direction of the exterior side of the foldable box 1 than the interior edge 90 which causes the distance between the internal edge 90 and the shaft 50 to be greater than the distance between the top side of the fixed exterior wall area 18 and the shaft 50. This automatically causes the force ratios described above. As with all embodiments of the invention the exterior wall 6b is held upright by elastic deformation of the material and not by friction in the form of a retarded shaft or the like, as is conventionally the case, by the inventive embodiments mechanics may be provided which causes, without wear, the upfolded exterior walls 6b to remain in the upfolded state by themselves.
With respect to
In the following, a snap-in element is to be discussed with reference to the corner 20 illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated here, the protrusion 22 comprises a locking hook 106 extending inwards which is basically parallel to the longitudinal side exterior wall 6a, wherein the hook includes a first contact surface 108 directed inwards and a second contact surface 110 directed outwards. When upfolding the transverse side exterior wall 104 in the upfolding direction 113, the longitudinal side exterior wall 6b and with the same the protrusion 22 and the locking hook 106 attached to the protrusion 22 are in a fixed position. When upfolding, together with the transverse side exterior wall 4b, the snap-in element 100 connected to the transverse side exterior wall is moved relative to the locking hook 106 in the upfolding direction 113 illustrated in
The snap-in element 100 and the spring preloaded locking mechanism are implemented integrally in the embodiment described here and thus provided with the same reference numerals. Also, the spring preload or pretension in the embodiment of the invention discussed here is achieved by spring elements 120a and 120b formed integrally with the locking mechanism, wherein the spring elements exert the spring force onto the locking mechanism 100 due to their elasticity and shaping. If the snap-in element 100 is in the locked position in the locking tap 106, the longitudinal side sidewalls 6a and 6b and the transverse side sidewall 4b are mechanically latched or interlocked and connected so that the box has a high stability. The locking may here be released in a simple way by actuating the locking mechanism 100 in the vertical direction upwards which may be executed in a simple way and even at the same time when lifting the box due to the shape of the locking mechanism having a grip area 106 arranged below the carrying opening 128.
As locking and unlocking is executed in the vertical direction 8 and in this direction no force has to be absorbed by the connection between the longitudinal side exterior walls 6a, 6b and the transverse side exterior wall 4b, for locking and unlocking no large force has to be used and the mechanism may be operated easily and reliably. According to the embodiments of the present invention, also the second contact surface 110 of the locking hook 106 directed outward is inclined with respect to the vertical direction 8 and/or the first contact surface 112 of the locking or snap-in element 100 directed inward is inclined. Here, in the embodiments of the present invention, the average inclination of the first contact surface 108 of the locking hook directed inward is larger than the average inclination of the second contact surface 110 of the locking hook 106. As also the first contact surface 110 of the locking hook 106 directed outward is inclined relative to the second contact surface 112 of the snap-in element 100 directed inward, a force component acts upward upon the snap-in element 100 even if a force is exerted on the transverse side exterior wall 4b from the outside.
By this, the spring preloaded locking mechanism automatically opens without being destroyed when a predetermined force is exceeded. This force may be set randomly by adapting the relative inclination between the second contact surface 110 of the locking hook 106 directed outward and the first contact surface 112 of the snap-in element 110 directed inward, considering the spring pretension. By this, in the described embodiments of the present invention, it is prevented that the locking mechanism is destroyed when an operating error occurs, although the same is implemented so that it locks perpendicular to the direction of movement.
Although in the embodiment described in
Although each spring preloaded locking mechanism 100 and the snap-in element in the embodiment described in
Any of the above embodiments were described with respect to foldable boxes used here for the transport of vegetables or the like. Of course, foldable boxes according to the invention are not restricted to this field of application. Rather, there is also the possibility to execute different transport tasks, like the transport of bottles or the like using similar foldable boxes, wherein in particular the contour of the floor-shape or the internal exterior walls may be changed to be adapted better to the specific task.
Also with reference to the selected materials any combinations are possible. Thus, for manufacturing inventive foldable boxes, for example plastics, metal or wood may be used. Due to the especially robust implementation, here also heavy loads may be transported securely and reliably, as it is for example the case in catering when transporting dishes or cutlery or the like. As the use of one of the above-described embodiments leads to foldable boxes which are hygienic, easy to clean, very robust, compactly foldable and extremely simple and efficient in handling, there are no limitations regarding the field of application of inventive foldable boxes, as the same are suitable for virtually any use due to the plurality of positive characteristics.
While this invention has been described in terms of several embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents which fall within the scope of this invention. It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and compositions of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutations and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2009/002760 | Apr 2009 | WO | international |
| 10 2009 034 452 | Jul 2009 | DE | national |
| 10 2009 049 185 | Oct 2009 | DE | national |
This application is a continuation of copending International Application No. PCT/EP2010/054897, filed Apr. 14, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and additionally claims priority from International Application No. PCT/EP2009/002760, filed Apr. 15, 2009, and German Applications Nos. DE 102009034452.7, filed Jul. 23, 2009 and DE 102009049185.6, filed Oct. 13, 2009, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | PCT/EP2010/054897 | Apr 2010 | US |
| Child | 13273616 | US |
