Improvements in or relating to crates

Abstract

 A stackable crate made generally of welded wire rods comprises a base (3) supported between a pair of sidewalls (10), a rear wall (23) and a front wall (14) hingeably mounted at its upper corners between the sidewalls. The upper corner portions of the front wall (14) are formed with outwardly extended loops (16) which engage in sidewall openings (13) formed between the uppermost rods (11) and the U-shaped peripheral frame members (9). Between the uppermost rod (11) and the member (9) is formed a parallel guide (12) arranged to slideably receive the loops (16) so that the front wall may be lifted and pivoted forwardly and slid back along the guides (12) to a position where it overlies the crate and exposes the interior to enable goods to be removed or replaced even though the top of the crate is covered by another. The front wall may be closed in a plurality of different orientations by means of loops (7).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to crates into which goods may be temporarily packed for handling and transport. Such crates are commonly used, for example, for the transport of goods from a factory or warehouse to retailing premises.

[0002] A particular example of the use of such crates is in the dairy industry. Here, crates are loaded at the dairy with bottles and/or cartons of milk, cartons of cream and yoghurt, packets of butter or cheese and other dairy products, and the goods are transported to shops and supermarkets in thus-loaded crates. Preferably the crates are made stackable one on the other and a plurality of such crates can be stackably loaded onto a wheeled trolley for ease of transport. Alternatively the crates may be provided with engaging means whereby a plurality of crates may be slideably loaded into wheeled racks in a closely spaced vertical arrangement, and transported in a similar way.

[0003] When known crates are vertically stacked, either in a self-supporting way or in racks as mentioned, problems arise of access to the goods for unloading purposes. For example, it may be desired to unload goods quickly from the bottommost crate in a stack because of demand for a particular product in the supermarket. This may involve the otherwise unnecessary removal of the upper crates in order to get to the goods in the bottom crate. Furthermore, the goods in any particular crate may not be of uniform size and shape, and having regard to the fixed sizes of crates it may not be possible to load the goods snugly so that they cannot move about during transport. Excessive play for fragile goods, for example eggs or bottles may lead to breakages in the conditions of vibration and shock impact often encountered during handling and transport.

[0004] A partial solution to these requirements is found in United States Patent Specification No. 3,245,576. In this disclosure, a wire crate is provided with a retaining element which in one position extends vertically across the upper part of a front wall opening for the purpose of retaining goods in the crate. The element is slidable in respective guides formed in the crate side walls to a horizontal position overlying the crate to provide access through the front wall opening for the removal of goods. This crate however is adapted only for use with milk cartons of a particular size, and the retaining element will not serve to retain in the crate other and various items of merchandise, which would tend to drop out of the crate. Furthermore whilst the milk cartons for which the crate is designed are held snugly in the crate, no adjustment means are provided whereby goods of other sizes can be held snugly, to minimise risk of damage during transit.

[0005] It is an object of this invention to provide an open-topped crate for the carriage of goods comprising a base, a pair of opposed side walls and a front wall hingeably connected between the side walls at its upper corner portions, each side wall having extending in the region of its upper edge a longitudinal guide adapted for sliding engagement with a respective said corner portion of the front wall, in which the above mentioned difficulties and disadvantages of the prior art are overcome.

[0006] This is achieved according to the invention by providing that the front wall is hingedly movable forwardly from a generally vertical position where it encloses substantially the whole front opening of the crate to a generally horizontal position and slidable rearwardly along said guides so as to lie at least in part across the top of the crate, and also providing the front wall further with latching means selectively engageable with the main body of the crate in a plurality of positions whereby the front wall may be locked in one of a plurality of orientations to close the front of the crate.

[0007] The ability to thus open the front of the crate whilst it is in stacked relationship with similar upper and lower crates makes it possible to extract goods from the crate without disturbing the others. Yet the front wall remains captive on the crate in its retracted position and may easily be closed again if desired. Thus the risk of misplacing the wall does not arise, as would be the case if it were detachably removable from the crate. The substantial enclosure of the whole front opening of the crate ensures that goods of various sizes may be safely stored in the crate without the risk of dropping out, even if the crate is tilted to a high degree. Furthermore the difficulty mentioned above, i.e. that of snugly packing the goods, can be met, for the adjustable positioning of the front wall effectively makes the interior space of the crate adjustable to accommodate differently sized goods. It is therefore not essential that a crate according to the invention be used only to hold a specific number of articles of predetermined sizes. Rather, the crate is universally adaptable to pack securely a wide range of articles.

[0008] The latching means may be arranged to engage with one or both side walls, but in a preferred arrangement it comprises at least, one protuberance extending from the bottom edge of the front wall and engageable in a plurality of apertures formed in the base. The apertures may be defined for instance by a plurality of wire loops welded or otherwise fixed to metal rods forming the base. The protuberance preferably comprises a loop formed in a bottom rod of the front wall.

[0009] Many arrangements for the hinged connection between the front and side walls will be apparent, but in a preferred arrangement each upper corner portion of the front wall is provided with a protruding wire loop which engages in a respective opening in the side walls formed as a continuation of the respective guide. The guides themselves may each conveniently be defined by an upper longitudinal rod of a side wall forming lattice and a top edge frame member.

[0010] The crates according to the invention are preferably made stackable one on top of the other, and to this end each sidewall may comprise a peripheral frame the base edge of which matingly engages the upper frame edge of a similar crate. For-the purpose of secure location of the crates on each other, each frame base edge may have a downwardly extending locating member adapted to engage a registering aperture formed in the upper frame edge of similar crate. Conveniently, the locating member comprises the extended end of a rod forming part of a sidewall forming lattice.

[0011] In order that the invention may be readily understood an embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a plurality of crates according to the invention stacked on a wheeled trolley;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a crate;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the crate;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the front wall of the crate (removed), and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the base of the crate.

[0012] Fig. 1 shows how four crates 1 may be stacked one on top of the other on an wheeled trolley 2. The construction of the crates is shown in more detail in the remaining figures.

[0013] Each crate comprises a base 3 which is formed'in two hingedly connected portions 4, 5 each comprising a grid of welded steel rods, and connected by loops 6. The front base portion 4 has welded thereto three closed loops 7 of steel wire for a purpose to be described. The base portion 5 is welded along two opposite edges thereof to respective flanges of 2-section strips 8, which together with U-shaped tubular members 9 of rectangular cross section form the peripheral frame of respective sidewalls 10.

[0014] The main body of each sidewall 10 is formed by a lattice of steel rods fixed to the peripheral frame. The upper longitudinal rod 11 of each lattice is parallel to, but spaced from, the upper edge of the respective U-shaped member 9 so as to form a longitudinal extending guide 12 for a purpose to be described. Furthermore the front end of each rod 11 bends downwardly at the front of the crate before its attachment to frame member 9 to form an opening 13.

[0015] The front wall 14 of the crate as seen best in Fig. 4 consistsof a substantially rectangular grid of welded steel rods the uppermost 15 of which extends beyond the grid and is bent to form outwardly projecting loops 16 at each upper corner portion. The bent rod 17 forming the periphery of the grid is bent along its bottom extent to form a further loop 18.

[0016] Referring now to Fig. 3 the operative engagement of the front wall 14 in the remainder of the crate can be seen. The loops 16 at each upper corner portion of the front wall are engaged in the respective openings 13 to provide a hinged connection. The front wall 14 is thus able to pivot substantially about the axis, horizontal in use, of the uppermost rod 15 from a closed position as seen in Fig. 2 to an open position in which the front wall 14 lies substantially horizontally. When in the horizontal position the front wall may be slid rearwardly, the loops 16 riding along the guides 12, until it reaches the rearward position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. As will be apparent, in this position goods may be removed from or placed in the crate through the front wall opening notwithstanding that the upwardly open crate is substantially entirely covered by another similar crate stacked on top.

[0017] The front wall 14 is maintained in its horizontal withdrawn position by the engagement of the loops 16 in the guides 12, the width of the guides being substantially equal to the thickness of the loops. It is also possible that the guides can taper down in the rearward direction whereby to clamp the front wall firmly in its horizontal position.

[0018] The front wall 14 is fastened closed by the engagement of the loop 18 in a selected one of a plurality of apertures formed by the closed loops 7. It will be seen that there are seven different fastening positions, spaced for example by 1 cm each, and therefore seven different angular orientations of the front wall 14, of which three are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. In this way the effective storage space in the crate is made adjustable, and thus different unit sizes of goods may be accommodated yet packed snugly for transport so as to minimise breakage risk in transit.

[0019] The crates are designed so as to be stackable. Lateral location of one crate on another is provided by the mating engagement of the top frame edges of a lower crate into the Z-shaped lower frame edges of an upper crate. Longitudinal location is provided by an extended end 19 of a vertical rod of each sidewall which engages in a registering aperture 20 formed in the upper frame edge of a lower crate.

[0020] Angle brackets 22 are welded to each side wall frame at the rear of the crate, adapted to receive hooks or the like for mechanical handling of the crate. The rear wall of the crate is formed by two tubular rods 23 welded to the U-shaped members 9.

[0021] It will be appreciated that the crates described are readily stackable in firm stacks for convenience and ease of transportonawheeled trolley. Yet it is not necessary for the crates to be unstacked in order to removed goods packed therein or to add further goods. This is made possible by the feature of the pivotable and retractable front wall of the crate, which may be withdrawn to a position where it overlies the top of the crate while the front of the crate is open. Once such goods have been removed or added, the front wall may be drawn forwards and reclosed in a number of different positions to ensure the snug packing of the goods in the crate. It is also possible to provide two or even more walls one behind the other in the same crate in order to have goods of different nature split over different compartments. Such walls may be perpendicular to the front wall, or may be parallel thereto. In the latter case, the wall(s) will preferably be hingedly connected at the upper corners to a secondary guide so that the wall(s) may be slid rearwardly in a horizontal position in a similar manner to the front wall.

Claims

1. An open-topped crate for the carriage of goods comprising a base, a pair of opposed sidewalls and a front wall hingeably connected between the sidewalls at its upper corner portions, each sidewall having extending in the region of its upper edge a longitudinal guide adapted for sliding engagement with a respective said corner portion of'the front wall, characterised in that that the front wall (14) is hingedly movable forwardly from a generally vertical position where it encloses substantially the whole front opening of the crate (1) to a generally horizontal position and slidable rearwardly along said guides (12) so as to lie at least in part across the top of the crate, and in that the front wall (14) is further provided with latching means (7,18) selectively engageable with the main body of the crate in a plurality of positions whereby the front wall (14) may be locked in one of a plurality of orientations to close the front of the crate.

2. A crate according to claim 1, characterised in that the latching means comprises at least one protuberance (18) extending from the bottom edge (17) of the front wall (14) and engageable in a plurality of apertures (7) formed in the base (3).

3. A crate according to claim 2, characterised in that the apertures (7) are defined by a plurality of wire loops welded or otherwise fixed to metal rods forming the base (3).

4. A crate according to claim 3, characterised in that the protuberance comprises a loop (18) formed in a bottom rod (17) of the front wall (14).

5. A crate according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that each upper corner portion of the front wall (14) is provided with a protruding wire loop (16) which engages in a respective opening (13) in the side walls (10) formed as a continuation of the respective guide (12).

6. A crate according to claim 5, characterised in that each guide (12) is defined by an upper longitudinal rod (11) of a side wall forming lattice and a top edge frame member (9).

7. A crate according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that each side wall (10) comprises a peripheral frame the base edge (8) of which is adapted to matingly engage the upper frame edge (9) of a similar crate so as to render a plurality of such crates stackable.

8. A crate according to claim 7, characterised in that each frame base edge (8) has a downwardly extending locating member (19) adapted to engage a registering aperture (20) formed in the upper frame edge (9) of a similar crate.

9. A crate according to claim 8, characterised in that each locating member (19) comprises the extended end of a rod forming part of a sidewall forming lattice.

Drawing