The present disclosure relates to a shipping container for immovably and detachably supporting fragile panels, such as glass panels.
It is often necessary to ship fragile panels, such as glass panels, to different locations. For example, glass panels are often shipped to window and door manufacturers for assembly. These panels often are of varying sizes and there is a need to provide a shipping container which can accommodate and safely restrain these panels of different sizes. The glass panels also need to be disposed in a spaced-apart manner with these individual glass panels engaged with a restraining means. Often, glass panels are shipped in stack form with the panels separated from one another by cardboard spacers and the stack is then shrink-wrapped with a plastic film to hold the stack together and prevent the individual glass panels from moving with respect to one another. This form of shipment has not proven satisfactory. For instance, if a particular panel in the middle of the stack is required, many panels must be manipulated to reach the desired panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,206 describes a packaging for supporting glass panels wherein each glass panel is restrained from movement by elastic cords which are securable to span an outer corner of an associated glass panel with the aid of a support member engagable with the outer corner of the glass panels. The support members are provided with elastic restraining means to prevent the elastic cords from lateral displacement with respect thereto. These elastic cords are stretched and unstretched due to multiple uses and are also subjected to temperature variations and may consequently lose some elasticity over time. Also, the installation of these elastic cords is a slow and labor-intensive process and the elastic cords can become disconnected if the support block disengages with the corner of the glass or during the effects of shocks from a transport vehicle traveling over a rough and bumpy surface.
There is the need to provide a shipping container which can immovably and detachably support fragile panels, such as glass panels in a secured manner while overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is an aim of the present disclosure to provide a novel shipping container for supporting fragile panels.
A feature of the present invention is to provide a shipping container for immovably and detachably supporting fragile panels, such as glass panels and which prevents movement of the glass panels in the vertical or horizontal planes and wherein the glass panels are easily secured in the container.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present disclosure provides a shipping container for detachably supporting fragile panels therein, said shipping container comprising a floor and an upright panel extending upwardly in relation to said floor, panel restraining means in adjacent surfaces of said floor and said upright panel for supporting said fragile panels in spaced-apart generally parallel planes, a clamp panel adapted to be detachably connected to the shipping container and be upright and spaced apart from the upright panel with the fragile panels between the upright panel and the clamp panel, removable rigid panel connecting bars of substantially identical lengths removably connectable to a top edge of said fragile panels and held between the upright panel and the clamp panel, and resilient means to restrain said connecting bars from displacement by a compression force exerted on opposed ends of said panel connecting bars.
Further in accordance with the present disclosure, there is provided a method of detachably supporting fragile panels in a shipping container, said container having a floor and an upright panel extending upwardly in relation to said floor, said upright panel and floor having panel restraining means in adjacent surfaces thereof, said method comprising: positioning one or more of said fragile panels upright and supportingly engaged in a bottom edge and adjacent side edge thereof by said restraining means, positioning a removable panel connecting bar engaged with a top edge of an associated one of said one or more fragile panels, and restraining said panel connecting bars with compression force by connecting a clamp panel to the shipping container in such a way that the panel connection bars are held between the clamp panel and the upright panel.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to the drawings and more particularly to
The shipping container 10 comprises a floor or floor panel 12 and an upright panel 13, both of which are formed with spaced-apart grooves 14 and 15, respectively, on their adjacent surfaces 12′ and 13′. The expression panel is used for the frame portions 12 and 13, due to their overall flat and rectangular shape. The panels 12 and 13 are made of any appropriate material(s) providing suitable structural integrity in light of supporting glass panels 11, taking into account the weight of such panels 11. In an embodiment, the panels 12 and 13 are formed of polymers such as HPDE plastics with the grooves integrally formed. The upright panel 13 extends upwardly in relation to the floor 12, herein at a right angle thereto (i.e., for the rectangular shape of the panels 11), although other arrangements may be considered as a function of the shape of panels 11 being supported. The grooves 14 and 15 in the floor panel 12 and the upright panel constitute panel restraining means for transporting the glass panels 11 in spaced-apart parallel planes, as they concurrently restrain the panels 11 from out-of-plane movement. Removable rigid panel connecting bars 16, of identical lengths, are removably connected to a top edge 11′ of the glass panels 11, and have an end received in the grooves 15 of the upright panel 13.
With additional reference to
The clamp wall 17 may also be provided with pivotal connecting arms 21 secured adjacent to each corner of the clamp wall 17 on a pivot connection 22 secured to the frame 18 vertical side edges. Only the two of these pivotal connecting arms 21 are shown in
Referring again to
The latch mechanism 23 is herein defined by a pair of pivoting tongues 40 secured to a vertical side post 39 of the frame 38 on which the floor panel 12 and the upright panel are secured. Each of the pivoting tongues 40 are displaceable on a pivot pin 41. The pivoting tongues 40 are also provided with a connecting pin 42 spaced from the pivot pin 41 and on which the hook end formation 43 of an associated pivotal connecting arm 21 is engaged. The pivoting tongues 40 may be pivotally connected to one another by a link rod 44. A handle 45 is used to displace the lower pivoting tongue 40 and consequently the upper pivoting tongue via the link rod 44, to position the connecting pins 42 substantially aligned with the vertical side post 39, whereby the hook end formation 43 of the pivotal connecting arms 21 can be engaged with the connecting pins 42. At this position, the outer surface of the sheet 20 of compressible material lies against the free ends 16′ of the panel connecting bars 16 or very close thereto. The latch mechanism 23 is then clamped engaged by displacing the latch arm 45 downwardly in the direction of arrow 50 to draw the pivotal connecting arms 21, whereby the clamp wall 17 is displaced forwardly towards the upright panel 13 with the free end 16′ of the panel connecting bar 16 penetrating into the resilient material 20′ (about ¼ inch) as shown in
The present disclosure also contemplates a method of immovably and detachably supporting fragile panels in the shipping container 10. The method contemplates the steps of positioning one or more of the fragile panels, herein glass panels 11, upright and supportingly engaged via their opposed side and bottom edge thereof by the panel receiving grooves 14 and 15, as previously described. The method further contemplates positioning the removable panel connecting bars 16 engaged over the top edge of each of the fragile panels 11 and then restraining the panel connecting bars. In positioning the panel connecting bars 16, the slide blocks 25 and/or 25′ are slid along the panel connecting bars 16, as a function of the size of the panels 11, for the slide blocks 25 and 25′ to respectively cover a generally central portion of the top edge 11′ and the corner 32 thereof, and securing the slide blocks and 25′ in the appropriate position along the panel connecting bars 16. The step of restraining the panel connecting bars 16 is done by applying the compressible material sheet 20 against the free end 16′ of panel connecting bars by clampingly displacing the clamp wall 17 against the free ends 16′ of the panel connecting bars 16 to urge the compressible material 20 against the free end 16′ of the connecting bars 16, to retain the connecting bars 16 from displacement between the panel 13 and the clamp wall 17 by compression. The clamp wall 17 is latched and tightened to the panel 13 for transportation.
Still in accordance with the method, once the clamp wall 17 is removed from a remainder of the shipping container 10, the connecting bars 16 may be removed, with the panels 11 remaining in an upright position by engagement in the grooves 14 and 15. As the clamp wall 17 is removed, lateral access to all panels 11 is provided. In other words, a person or equipment standing to the right-hand side of the container 10 in
It is within the ambit of the present disclosure to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment described herein provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims. For instance, the resilience may be provided by a plug at either or both ends of the connecting bars 16 instead of by the resilient material sheet on the clamp wall 17. Likewise, strips of resilient material may be provided in the grooves 14 and 15. In the case of strips of resilient material in the grooves 15, such strips could provide the elasticity required to clamp the connecting bars 16 between the panel 13 and the clamp wall 17.
The panels 12 and 13, described and shown as solid wall components with grooves 14 and 15 defined therein, could have other configurations as well. For instance, the panels 12 and 13 could be rectangular frames with elongated troughs define the restraining grooves 14 and 15. As yet another alternative, the panels 12 and 13 could have generally planar contact surfaces, with pins or like restraining members projecting from the contact surfaces to restrain the panels 11 from out-of-plane movement. These are just a few configuration among many others.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61699514 | Sep 2012 | US |