Patent Application
20150044012
A preferred embodiment of the invention refers to a rotating shipping and/or container and method of use.
Storing and transporting goods is essential to modern life. However, current methods leave much to be desired. Various types of containers and storage methods are used at different points in the process of packaging, unloading, and storing commodities. This process takes significant time, puts the commodities at risk of contamination at each transfer point, decreases overall yield, and decreases profitability and productivity due to lost time and goods.
Many goods are shipped from all over the world to end users in locations far removed from the goods' origin point. A large amount of shipped goods travel intermodally on standardized shipping containers. Furthermore, intermodal containers (also known as freight containers, ISO containers, and shipping containers) are no longer just an international phenomenon. Intermodal containers now transport many domestic cargoes. Overall, the current methods used to ship commodities have remained the same for many years. Furthermore, the shipping and storing methods used in shipping containers, silos, and other storage and shipping containers has also remained much the same.
The basic types of intermodal containers are flat racks, open-top, insulated, reefer, and tank containers. Open-top containers and dry-freight containers (also known as cube containers) are most often used for shipping dry goods. Open-top containers are shaped like a box and loaded from either the top or end. They are designed to carry heavy, tall, or hard to load materials such as coal or grain. Dry freight containers (or cube containers) are front loaded, completely enclosed, and suitable for general-purpose transportation.
Tank containers are built to the same standard dimensions as other ISO containers, but are made up of vessels mounted inside of a rectangular steel framework (also known as an exoskeleton). Generally, these containers have been used to transport liquid or bulk materials. Presently, tank containers are rarely, utilized for shipping and storing dry commodities.
After the goods are transported to the offload location, the commodity unloading process takes place. When the commodities are offloaded from the shipping container, the bulk commodity may remain in a pit, or may be loaded into some other storage tank, such as a silo or bin. If remaining in an open pit until needed, the commodity is exposed to wind, rain, and other elements, thus contaminating the product. If the bulk commodity is loaded into a storage bin or tank, a great deal of time and effort must again be expended to load the material into the final storage container. Additionally, the process of loading bulk material into silos and other storage tanks requires large, heavy, and expensive equipment. Furthermore, the process of loading and subsequently unloading a silo or storage tank is dangerous.
For example, filling a silo requires two tractors very close to each other, both running at full power and with live rotating shafts providing the energy. One of the tractors powers the silo blower and the other powers a forage wagon for unloading material into the blower. During the filling process, a worker must continually move around in this highly hazardous environment of spinning shafts and high-speed conveyors to check material flows, adjust speeds, and to start and stop the equipment between loads.
In addition to the actual loading, the preparation for loading a silo is very dangerous. This job requires material at the bottom of the silo to be manually removed. Thus, a worker must enter the silo and work directly below a machine weighing several tons suspended fifty feet or more overhead from a small steel cable. If the unloader were to fall, the worker would be killed instantly.
The process of unloading a silo or other storage tank is also dangerous. For one, a worker must regularly climb the silo to close or open the doors, and move the unloader chute from one door to another in the process. Since fermentation takes place in many silos, the displacement of oxygen can cause a worker in a silo to be asphyxiated by the methane, knocked unconscious, and silently suffocate to death. If the unloader mechanism becomes clogged or plugged, the worker must climb the silo and directly stand on the unloader, reaching into the blower spout to dig out the soft silage.
As noted from the foregoing, problems exist in the fields relating to commodity shipping and storage based primarily on current shipping and storage methods. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a shipping container that also functions as a storage container. Additionally, a need exists in the art for a tank container capable of storing dry bulk commodities. Additionally, a need exists in the art for a tank container having a rotator.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this Summary intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.
A preferred embodiment of a version of the invention is directed to a container. In one embodiment, the container comprises an exoskeleton, a tank positioned inside the exoskeleton, a rotator between the tank and exoskeleton, and the tank and exoskeleton attached to the rotator.
It is one purpose of an embodiment of the present invention to utilize tank containers for dry bulk commodity shipping. It is yet another purpose of an embodiment of the present invention to utilize a rigid exoskeleton, as in a tank container, to house a rotating container therein. It is yet another purpose of an embodiment of the invention to provide a shipping and storage container in one.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
In the Summary above and in this Detailed Description, and the claims below, and in the accompanying drawings, reference is made to particular features, including method steps, of the invention. It is to be understood that the disclosure of the invention in this specification includes all possible combinations of such particular features. For example, where a particular feature is disclosed in the context of a particular aspect or embodiment of the invention, or a particular claim, that feature can also be used, to the extent possible, in combination with/or in the context of other particular aspects of the embodiments of the invention, and in the invention generally.
The term “comprises” and grammatical equivalents thereof are used herein to mean that other components, ingredients, steps, etc. are optionally present. For example, an article “comprising” components A, B, and C can contain only components A, B, and C, or can contain not only components A, B, and C, but also one or more other components, or can contain at least one component chosen from A, B, or C.
Where reference is made herein to a method comprising two ore more defined steps, the defined steps can be carried out in any order or simultaneously (except where the context excludes that possibility), and the method can include one or more other steps which are carried out before any of the defined steps, between two of the defined steps, or after all the defined steps (except where the context excludes that possibility).
As illustrated in
One embodiment of the present invention comprises the container 10 being a shipping container. Versions of the invention allow for various uses including, but not limited to, the shipping container being permanently fixed to a truck, train, or other transport vehicle. Another version of the invention comprises the shipping container being portable. A preferred version of the invention is the shipping container being an intermodal shipping container (also known as a freight container or ISO container). It is understood that versions of the invention may be embodied in different shapes or dimensions.
Yet another version of the invention comprises the container being fully sealable and capable of maintaining low pressure by applying vacuum.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention comprises the container 10 being for onsite storage.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises the container 10 being an intermodal container.
As illustrated in
The lower portion 33 of the tank has an offload channel 14 capable of unloading material from the tank. As illustrated in
An embodiment of a version of the invention further comprises the lower section 53 of the longitudinal body having spacers 54 attached thereto. The spacers 54 are attached to both sides of the lower section 53 of the longitudinal body 50. The spacers 54 are attached to the exterior sides of the longitudinal body lower section 53 so as to be in contact with the commodity. In one embodiment, the spacers are triangles.
In a preferred embodiment of a version of the invention, the spacers 54 are triangles having a flat bottom and a pointed top. The flat bottom is located near the open space 51 at the bottom of the longitudinal body lower section 53. The triangle top point is located farthest away from the open space 51 at the bottom of the longitudinal body lower section 53.
An embodiment of a version of the invention further comprising, the spacers 54 are staggered on each side of the longitudinal body lower section 53 such that the middle of the bottom section of a spacer 54 on one side of the longitudinal body lower section 53 is opposite the space between two spacers 54 on the opposite side of the longitudinal body lower section 53.
As illustrated in
Further shown in
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As illustrated in
The shape of the exoskeleton set forth herein is only one embodiment of a version of the invention. The exoskeleton structure set forth herein is a preferred embodiment, and includes other configurations of supporting a tank and rotator. These other configurations include, but are not limited to, support beams located in different configurations or secured at different points.
As noted in
In a preferred embodiment, the rotator 13 between the tank 12 and exoskeleton 13 comprises a front end and a back end. In one version of the invention, the front end of the rotator 13a is capable of rotating a structural rod 100. Preferably, the back end of the rotator 13b is capable of rotating the structural rod 100. In a preferred embodiment of a version of the invention the structural rod 100 runs the length of the tank. Preferably, the structural rod is connected to the tank and in contact with the front and back end rotator.
A version of the invention further comprises the tank is capable of unloading a material by a corner offload system 14 located in the bottom corner of the tank. In a preferred embodiment, the corner offload system runs the length of the tank. As illustrated in
In a preferred embodiment of a version of the invention, the exoskeleton comprises a front and a back. The front and back each have a bottom support beam. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In a preferred embodiment of a version of the invention, the rotator 13 comprises a front bearing on the front side 13a of the container and exoskeleton and a back bearing on the back side 13b of the container and exoskeleton.
As shown in
Preferably, the triangle spacers 54 have a flat bottom and a pointed top. The flat bottom is located near the open space at the bottom 51 of the longitudinal section lower body 53. The top point is located farthest away from the open space at the bottom 51 of the longitudinal section lower body 53. In a preferred embodiment, the spacers 54 are staggered on each side of the longitudinal body lower section 53 such that the middle of the bottom section of a spacer 54 on one side of the longitudinal section lower body 53 is opposite the space between two spacers 54 on the opposite side of the longitudinal section lower body 53.
An embodiment of a version of the invention further comprises the container is used for transport, onsite storage, shipping, and/or intermodal shipping.
It is understood that versions of the invention may be comprised of various materials. In a preferred embodiment, the container and elements making up the container are comprised of metal. In yet another embodiment, the container and elements making up the container are comprised of polymer. It is understood that versions of the invention may be made of various materials, both natural and synthetic.
An embodiment of a version of the invention further comprises the method of shipping and unloading the container as set forth above. As illustrated in
It is emphasized that the Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) requiring an Abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment to streamline the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
It will be readily understood to those skilled in the art that various other changes in the details, material, and arrangements of the parts and method stages which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this inventive subject matter can be made without departing from the principles and scope of the inventive subject matter as expressed in the subjoined claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/862,965, filed on Aug. 7, 2013, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61862965 | Aug 2013 | US |
