The present invention relates to a collapsible container that could be extended to stand stably for holding things or collapsed to a flat state for easy storage and transport.
A container for holding things must have a fixed inner space and accordingly a fixed volume. The volume of the container is always in direct proportion to the inner space of the container.
A conventional container could not be collapsed to occupy only a small space, and accordingly requires relatively large space for storage and transport, which inevitably increases the cost of the container.
There is a box formed from pivotally connected metal wire panels. While this type of metal wire box is collapsible, it has poor structural strength and tends to sway in an extended state. Moreover, the metal wire box includes a plurality of large holes and is therefore not suitable for holding private things.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a collapsible container that could be extended to provide a structurally strong container for holding things or collapsed to occupy only a small space for easy storage and transport.
The collapsible container of the present invention includes front and rear supporting structure for the container in the extended state to stand stably without swaying.
The collapsible container of the present invention includes a top panel, a bottom panel, and two side panels pivotally connected to the top and bottom panels. The collapsible container further includes a back panel pivotally connected to a first one of the two side panels and may be pivotally turned to close a rear opening of the container.
The back panel in the closed position is fitly set in the rear opening to form a rear supporting structure thereat, preventing a rear part of the container from swaying.
The front supporting structure includes a square frame pivotally connected to a front edge of the first side panel. When the square frame is pivotally turned to fit in a front opening of the container, a front part of the container is prevented from swaying.
The collapsible container of the present invention may have a door pivotally connected to the front opening of the container, so that the container is completely closed.
It is also possible to mount rails in the collapsible container of the present invention for one or more drawers to slidably mount in the container.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 4. A collapsible container 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a top panel 10, a bottom panel 20, two side panels 30, 40 pivotally turnably connected at upper and lower edges to the top panel 10 and the bottom panel 20, respectively, and a back panel 50 pivotally turnably connected at one lateral edge to a rear edge of the side panel 40. The container 1 may be collapsed into a flat state by pivotally turning the two side panels 30, 40 about the pivotable upper and lower edges thereof relative to the top panel 10 and the bottom panel 20, as shown in
The collapsed container 1 may be fully extended into a standing frame again by pivotally turning the two side panels 30, 40 about the pivotable upper and lower edges thereof in a reverse direction relative to the top panel 10 and the bottom panel 20. The back panel 50 may be then pivotally turned away from the side panel 40 to close a rear opening of the standing frame and thereby complete the collapsible container 1 adapted to hold things therein. The back panel 50 in the closed position is fitly set in the rear opening of the standing frame with four edges of the back panel 50 abutting on the rear inner edges of the top panel 10, the bottom panel 20, and the two side panels 30, 40 to produce a supporting effect and prevent the standing frame from deformation and swaying. The top panel 10, the bottom panel 20, and the side panel 30 are provided near and along respective rear inner edge with a flange 21, 31 (the flange on the top panel 10 is not shown in the figures). These flanges 21, 31 serve as stoppers to prevent the back panel 50 from being closed too much into the rear opening of the container 1. The back panel 50 is provided at a free edge with a locking element 51 to lock the closed back panel 50 in place in the rear opening of the container 1. In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the locking element 51 is a rotatable fastening button.
A pivot plate 60 may be provided between the back panel 50 and the side panel 40 to pivotally connect at a front edge to the side panel 40 and at a rear edge to the back panel 50. With the pivot plate 60, the back panel 50 may be turned to very closely bear against the side panel 40 to further reduce an overall thickness of the fully collapsed container 1. On the other hand, when the container 1 is in an extended state and the back panel 50 is turned to close the rear opening of the container 1, the pivot plate 60 allows the back panel 50 to slightly laterally shift and be fitly set in the rear opening of the container 1 easier.
Please refer to
With the square supporting frame 70 and the back panel 50 fitted in front and rear openings of the container 1 to provide sufficient supporting strength, it is possible to stack multiple containers 1 without the risk of tilting over. The top panel 10 is provided with four small holes 12, and the bottom panel 20 is provided with four foot pads 22 corresponding to the four small holes 12. When two containers 1 are stacked, the four foot pads 22 of the upper container 1 extend down into the four small holes 12 on the top panel 10 of the lower container 1, enabling the upper container 1 to stably sit on the lower container 1.
The two side panels 30, 40 are correspondingly provided with three rows of horizontally extended slots 32, 42 each, with each row containing at least two slots 32, 42. Please refer to
Please refer to
Please refer to FIGS. 10 to 13. The top panel 10 and the bottom panel 20 are correspondingly provided near one end of respective inner front edge with two mounting holes 13, 23. A door 81 is mounted to the front opening of the container 1 by extending upper and lower pivot pins 82 provided at one lateral edge of the door 81 into the mounting holes 13, 23, so that the door 81 may be pivotally turned about the upper and lower pivot pins 82 to open or close the container 1.
As can be clearly seen from
With the above arrangements, the container 1 of the present invention is collapsible for convenient storage and transport, and can stand or be stacked stably without swaying or tilting over. Moreover, the container 1 of the present invention may have shelves, drawers, and doors optionally mounted thereto for the container 1 to be flexibly used in different manners.