Claims
- 1. A consolidation container comprising:at least one back wall stiffening panel; a double layer back wall having the back wall stiffening panel received between the layers thereof; opposed double layer side walls each having a side wall stiffening panel received between the layers thereof; a front wall comprising a plurality of stiffening panel receiving pockets; a plurality of front wall stiffening panels each received in one of the front wall stiffening panel receiving pockets; the front wall including an openable portion providing access to the interior of the consolidation container; a plurality of support member receiving pockets located in the corners between the back wall and the side walls and in the corners between the side walls and the front wall; a plurality of support members each positioned in one of the support member receiving pockets and each extending the entire height of the consolidation container; a bottom wall extending between and connected to the lower edges of the back wall, the side walls, and the front wall.
- 2. The consolidation container according to claim 1 further including a top normally extending between the upper edges of the back wall, the side walls, and the front wall and openable to provide access to the interior of the consolidation container.
- 3. The consolidation container according to claim 1 wherein each of the side walls comprises two stiffening panel receiving pockets separated by a centrally disposed vertically extending seam whereby the side walls are inwardly foldable, and wherein each of the side wall stiffening panel receiving pockets has one of the side wall stiffening panels received therein.
- 4. The consolidation container according to claim 1 wherein the front wall is comprised of two side portions each comprising one of said front wall stiffening panel receiving pockets and an openable center portion disposed between the side portions, and wherein each of said front wall stiffening panel receiving pockets has one of the front wall stiffening panels received therein.
- 5. The consolidation container according to claim 4 wherein said openable center portion of the front wall is further characterized by a fixed portion secured between the lower ends of the side portions of the front wall, and three foldable portions hingedly secured to the fixed portion and to one another and foldable between an extended position wherein the front wall is closed and a folded position overlying the fixed portion wherein the front wall is open.
- 6. The consolidation container according to claim 5 wherein each component of said openable center portion of the front wall comprises a double layer wall and further including stiffening panels received between the layers of said openable center portion.
- 7. The consolidation container according to claim 1, wherein the stiffening panels are formed from corrugated plastic.
- 8. The consolidation container according to claim 1 wherein the back, side, and front walls are substantially equal in height and wherein the height of the support members is substantially equal to the height of the walls.
- 9. The consolidation container according to claim 8 wherein the support members are formed from wood.
- 10. The consolidation container according to claim 1 wherein the stiffening panels are formed from corrugated plastic and the support members are formed from wood.
- 11. A consolidation container comprising:a bottom wall having a predetermined width and a predetermined length; a back wall having a width equal in length to the bottom wall and extending upwardly therefrom to a predetermined height; the back wall comprising at least one stiffening panel receiving pocket having predetermined dimensions; a pair of side walls equal in width to the bottom wall and extending upwardly therefrom to the same height as the back wall; each of the side walls comprising at least one stiffening panel receiving pocket having predetermined dimensions; a front wall having a width equal in length to the bottom wall and extending upwardly therefrom to the same height as the back wall; the front wall comprising a plurality of stiffening panel receiving pockets having predetermined dimensions; the front wall including an openable portion providing access to the interior of the consolidation container; a plurality of stiffening panels each received in one of the stiffening panel receiving pockets and each having predetermined dimensions substantially matched to the predetermined dimensions of the stiffening panel receiving pocket in which it is received; a plurality of support member receiving pockets located in the corners between the back wall and side walls and in the comers between the side walls and the front wall; a plurality of support members equal in height to the height of the back wall and each received in one of the support member receiving pockets; and a top wall normally overlying the back, side and front walls to close the consolidation container and openable to provide access to the interior thereof.
- 12. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein the front wall is further characterized by:a pair of side portions extending inwardly from the comers between the side walls and the front wall and each comprising one of said stiffening panel receiving pockets; a center portion disposed between the side portions; said center portion being openable to provide access to the interior of the consolidation container; and a pair of stiffening panels each received in the stiffening panel receiving pocket comprising one of said side portions of the front wall.
- 13. The consolidation container according to claim 12 wherein the center portion of the front wall is further characterized by:a fixed portion secured to the side portions and to the bottom wall; a lower foldable portion hingedly secured to the fixed portion; a center foldable portion hingedly secured to the lower foldable portion; an upper foldable portion hingedly secured to the center foldable portion; and the lower, center, and upper foldable portions being foldable between an extended position wherein the front wall is closed and a folded position wherein the lower, center, and upper foldable portions overlie the fixed portion to open the center portion of the front wall.
- 14. The consolidation container according to claim 13 further including fasteners for securing the foldable components of the center portion of the front wall in the opened and closed positions.
- 15. The consolidation container according to claim 14 wherein the fasteners are further characterized by a first set of hook-and-loop fasteners for securing the folding components of the center portion of the front wall in the closed position and a second set of hook-and-loop fasteners for securing the folding components of the center portion of the front wall in the open position.
- 16. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein each of the side walls comprises two stiffening panel receiving pockets separated by a vertically disposed seam so that the side walls are inwardly foldable, and further including a plurality of stiffening panels each received in one of the stiffening panel receiving pockets of the side walls.
- 17. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein the bottom wall, the back wall, the side walls, the front wall, and the top are all formed from panels comprising woven polypropylene fabric, and wherein the woven polypropylene fabric panels comprising the consolidation container are interconnected by sewing.
- 18. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein the stiffening panels are formed from corrugated plastic.
- 19. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein the support members are formed from wood.
- 20. The consolidation container according to claim 11 wherein the bottom wall, the back wall, the side walls, the front wall, and the top are formed from woven polypropylene fabric, wherein the stiffening panels are formed from corrugated plastic, and wherein the support members are formed from wood.
- 21. The consolidation container according to claim 11 further including a plurality of fasteners for securing the top in place over the back wall, the side walls, and the front wall, thereby closing the consolidation container.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/547,442 filed Apr. 12, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,260, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/458,362 filed Dec. 9, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,755, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/390,403 filed Sep. 3, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,198.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
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09/547442 |
Apr 2000 |
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Child |
09/753793 |
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US |
Parent |
09/458362 |
Dec 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/547442 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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09/390403 |
Sep 1999 |
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Child |
09/458362 |
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