Foldable container

Abstract

 The invention relates to a foldable container (1) having a bottom plate (2), upstanding long sidewalls (3) and upstanding short sidewalls (4) that are hinged to the bottom plate (2), and a detachable roof (5), wherein at least one of the long sidewalls (3') and short sidewalls (4) and the bottom plate (2) are connected to a balancing mechanism (6) to counteract gravity forces that act upon the at least one of the long sidewalls (3') and short sidewalls (4) when same is being lowered upon the bottom plate (2).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a foldable container having a bottom plate, upstanding long sidewalls and upstanding short sidewalls that are hinged to the bottom plate, and an optionally detachable roof.

[0002] Such a foldable container is known from US 2006/0016807.

[0003] Another such foldable container is known from the Dutch patent no. 1017159.

[0004] From the available patent literature it is clear that a quest exists looking for a suitable foldable container allowing that the volume of the container can be minimised by collapsing the container when it is empty. The objective is to economise on space and transportation costs of the empty containers.

[0005] It is the objective of the invention to provide such a foldable container which is easy to convert from the usable position in which all sidewalls are standing up and the roof is applied to the upstanding sidewalls, to a collapsed position in which the sidewalls and the roof are resting on the bottom plate.

[0006] The foldable container of the invention is to this end characterized by one or more of the appended claims.

[0007] In a first aspect of the invention the foldable container is characterized in that at least one of the long sidewalls and short sidewalls and the bottom plate are connected to a balancing mechanism to counteract gravity forces that act upon the at least one of the long sidewalls and short sidewalls when same is being lowered upon the bottom plate.

[0008] This feature very much assists in the conversion from the erect container to the collapsed container and vice versa in a manner allowing that the conversion can be carried out by a single person. The roof may or may not be detachable, and in case it is not detachable (i.e. part of the folding mechanism) the roof may or may not be balanced.

[0009] Effectively the foldable container of the invention is embodied such that the balancing mechanism comprises one or more springs and/or torsion bars. The spring or springs may for instance be helical springs or plate springs, or combinations thereof. The torsion bars may be used in a series or in a parallel arrangement or in combinations thereof.

[0010] In order to promote the container's reliability and resistance to malfunctioning it is preferable that the balancing mechanism is housed within the at least one of the long sidewalls and short sidewalls and the bottom plate. The balancing mechanism is thus effectively protected against external disturbances.

[0011] A second aspect of the invention concerns the construction of the foldable container such that in addition to the sidewalls being hinged to the bottom plate, the long sidewalls and the short sidewalls are hinged to each other and that each of the short sidewalls is divided in a lower triangular side-wall portion and an upper triangular side-wall portion and that both long sidewalls have a congruently shaped triangular portion immediately neighbouring to the short sidewalls.

[0012] This construction provides an effective and easy way to convert the container from the erect position to the collapsed position and vice versa. This feature can also be applied independently from the earlier mentioned feature that a balancing mechanism is applied to counteract gravity forces within the construction of the foldable container when effecting the conversion from the erect position to the collapsed position, or vice versa.

[0013] Hereinafter the invention will be further elucidated with reference to preferred embodiments of the foldable container of the invention and with reference to the drawing.

[0014] In the drawing:

• Fig. 1 relates to a foldable container of the invention according to a first embodiment;
• Fig. 2 shows a partly collapsed container of the invention;
• Fig. 3 shows detail view A as shown in Fig. 2;
• Fig. 4 relates to a second embodiment of the foldable container of the invention;
• Fig. 5 shows a first step in collapsing the foldable container of Fig. 4;
• Fig. 6 shows a second step in collapsing the foldable container of Fig. 4;
• Fig. 7 shows a third step in collapsing the foldable container of Fig. 4;
• Fig. 8 shows a fourth step in collapsing the foldable container of Fig. 4;
• Fig. 9 shows the fully collapsed container of Fig. 4, and
• Fig. 10 shows the collapsed container of Fig. 9 completed with the detachable roof.

[0015] Whenever in the figures the same reference numerals are applied these reference numerals pertain to the same parts.

[0016] With reference first to Fig. 1 a foldable container 1 according to a first embodiment is shown. This foldable container 1 has a bottom plate 2, upstanding long sidewalls 3 and upstanding short sidewalls 4. One of the sidewalls may at least partly be convertible to a door.

[0017] The upstanding long sidewalls 3 and the upstanding short sidewalls 4 are hinged to the bottom plate 2. Further there is a roof 5 which may be completely detachable or which may be connected with rods to the short sidewalls 4.

[0018] Fig. 2 shows that one of the long sidewalls 3' is swivelled down on the bottom plate 2. During this process of lowering the long sidewall 3' to the bottom plate 2 the gravity forces that are acting upon the long sidewall 3' are counteracted by a balancing mechanism 6 which is housed partly within the long sidewall 3' on the one hand and in the bottom plate 2 on the other hand. This is more clearly shown in the detail view shown in Fig. 3.

[0019] Fig. 3 shows that the bottom plate 2 and a long side-wall 3' are connected to each other by means of a hinge 10, which in this example also serves as a torsion bar.

[0020] Upon lowering the long sidewall 3' upon the base plate 2 a spring 9 and torsion bar 10 get tensioned which counteracts the lowering movement of the long sidewall 3'. For this purpose the spring 9 is connected to a transmission mechanism 8 and a conversion pulley 7 which is connected to a belt string 11 that in turn connects to an auxiliary pulley 12 making the connection with the long sidewall 3'.

[0021] A further feature which may be employed separate from the balancing mechanism 6 or in combination with this balancing mechanism will be further shown with reference to a second embodiment of the foldable container according to the invention and with reference to Figs. 4-10.

[0022] Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of the foldable container 1 of the invention having a bottom plate 2, upstanding long sidewalls 3 and upstanding short sidewalls 4 and a detachable roof 5. The long sidewalls 3 and the short sidewalls 4 are hinged to each other by means of hinges 13. The figure shows that the forward long sidewall 3 is hinged to the bottom plate 2 by means of hinge 15.

[0023] Fig. 4 further shows that the short sidewalls 4 are divided in a lower triangular sidewall portion 4' and an upper triangular sidewall portion 4'' and that both long sidewalls 3 have a congruent shaped triangular portion 14 immediately neighbouring to the short sidewalls 4. Either the lower triangular portion 4' and/or the upper triangular sidewall portion 4" may be convertible to a door. To this end the hinge of these triangular portions is detachable by removal of the hinge-pin.

[0024] The operation of collapsing the foldable container 1 from the erect position as shown in Fig. 4 to the completely collapsed position as shown in Fig. 10 develops as follows.

[0025] In a first step Fig. 5 shows detaching of the roof plate 5. It is remarked that the roof plate 5 may be disconnected completely or remain connected to the other parts of the container with connecting rods or by other means.

[0026] As a second step Fig. 6 shows collapsing of one of the long sidewalls 3 which is possible due to the division of the short sidewalls 4 into a lower triangular sidewall portion 4' which remains upright and an upper triangular sidewall portion 4" which gives room for lowering the long sidewall 3 to the bottom plate 2.

[0027] Fig. 7 shows the final position of the first long side-wall 3 resting on the bottom plate 2 of the container.

[0028] In a next step Fig. 8 shows the folding down of the second long sidewall 3 which is allowed due to the folding inward of both the short sidewalls 4. At the completion of this step Fig. 9 shows that both long sidewalls 3 are lying flat on the bottom plate 2 while still being connected to the short sidewalls 4 resting on top thereof.

[0029] Finally Fig. 10 shows that the roof plate 5 is again placed on the collapsed construction making the collapsed container 1 ready for transportation with diminished volume and dimensions.

Claims

1. Foldable container (1) having a bottom plate (2), upstanding long sidewalls (3) and upstanding short sidewalls (4) that are hinged to the bottom plate (2), and an optionally detachable roof (5), characterized in that at least one (3') of the long sidewalls (3) and short sidewalls (4) and the bottom plate (2) are connected to a balancing mechanism (6) to counteract gravity forces that act upon the at least one (3') of the long sidewalls (3) and short sidewalls (4) when same is being lowered upon the bottom plate (2).

2. Foldable container (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the balancing mechanism (6) comprises one or more springs (9) and/or one or more torsion bars (10).

3. Foldable container (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the balancing mechanism is housed within the at least one (3') of the long sidewalls (3) and short sidewalls (4) and the bottom plate (2).

4. Foldable container (1) according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the long sidewalls (3) and the short sidewalls (4) are hinged to each other, and that each of the short sidewalls (4) is divided in a lower triangular sidewall portion (4') and an upper triangular sidewall portion (4"), and that both long sidewalls (3) have a congruently shaped triangular portion (14) immediately neighbouring to the short sidewalls (4).

5. Foldable container (1) according to claim 4, wherein the lower triangular sidewall portion (4') and/or the upper triangular sidewall portion (4") are convertible to a door.

Drawing