CA2113287C - Collapsible pallet container - Google Patents

Abstract

A collapsible container includes a pair of trays which cooperate to form a compact closure, and a tubular member which may be folded to fit into the compact container. When expanded, the tubular member fits cooperates with the trays to form an expanded closure which may be filled with goods. A
pallet is attached to one of trays.

Description

A COLLAPSIBLE PALLET CONTAINER
BACKGROUND OF TIE INiTENTTON
a. FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention pertains to a collapsible container which can be shipped in a compact package, and then expanded several fold in volume to hold goods.
b. DESCRIPTION OF THE FRIOR ART
Collapsible containers are known for example from U.S. Patent Nos. 4,085,847; 4,760,922;
4,606,461 and 4,927,026. All these references disclose containers with convoluted bodies including flaps or flanges. Accordingly, these bodies must be formed from a scored and cut cardboard sheets requiring complex manipulations.
Thus, the collapsible containers presently known axe difficult and time-consuming to make and hence are expensive. Moreover they require convoluted assembly steps and hence are difficult to handle at the filling site.

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OBJECTIVES AND SU~RY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the abovementioned disadvantages of the prior art, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a collapsible container which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.

A further objective is to provide a collapsible container which is readily shipped and easy to assemble for filling.

Yet another objective is to provide a container which is readily assembled and integrally formed with a pallet.

Other objectives and advantages of the invention shall become apparent form the following description.

A collapsible container constructed in accordance with this invention includes a top tray;

bottom tray cooperating with said top tray to form a compact enclosure; and a tube without flaps formed of a first pair of opposed sidewalls without folds and a second pair of opposed sidewalls with folds for folding said second pair of opposed sidewalls between said first pair of opposed sidewalls to form a collapsed tube which fits into said compact closure. The sidewalls of the tube cooperate to form an expanded closure. y BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGURE 1 shows an orthogonal exploded view of the collapsible container of the invention in the collapsed mode;

FIGURE 1A shows an orthogonal view of the container of FIGURE 1 when closed;

FIGURE 2 shows an orthogonal exploded view of the container in the expanded mode;

FIGURE 3 shows an orthogonal view of the container of Figure 2 when closed:
FIGURE 4 shows a plan view of the container top prior to folding;
FIGURE 5 shows a plan view of the container bottom prior to folding:
FIGURE 6 shows a plan view of the bottom after folding;
FIGURE 7 shows an orthogonal view of a pallet member;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to the drawings, a collapsible container 10 constructed in accordance with this invention includes a tap tray 12, a bottom tray 14 and a collapsible tube 16. Preferably the bottom tray is secured with an adhesive, or by stapling to a pallet 18. The top and bottom trays 12, 14 cooperate to form a storage space for tube 16 when the tube is in the collapsed mode as shown in Figure 1. For this purpose, tray 12 is slightly larger than tray 14 so that it fits over said bottom tray to form a compact package shown in Figure 1A. In this manner the collapsible container may be stored in a relative small spaced and shipped easily o a filling site.
At the filling site, top tray 12 is removed, and tube is expanded as shown in Figure 2. For this purpose, tube 16 consists of two opposed straight sidewalls 20, 22. The tube 16 further includes two other sidewalls 24, 26 which are pivotably attached .. .
to sidewalls 20, 22 at the four corners of tube 16.
In addition sidewalls 24, 26 are also articulated so that they can be folded inward in two along pivoting lines 28, 30 respectively. Preferably the ~1~328~

width of sidewalls 24, 26 does not exceed the width of sidewalls 20, 22 so that sidewalls 24, 26 may each be folded into two without interference. By folding sidewalls 24, 26 slang lines 28, 30, the tube 16 is easily collapsed into a flat configuration as shown in Figure 1. Tube 16 may be made from a single strip of a rigid material such as corrugated cardboard which has been creased so that it can be folded as described. The ends of the strip may be glued together, for example along one of the corners, such as corner 32.

Importantly, tube 16 does not have any end flaps or flanges.

The bottom tray 14 has a plurality of sidewalls 34, 36, 38 and 40. Preferably the tube 16 is dimensioned so that in its fully expanded mode shown in Figure 3, tube 16 forms an interference fit with the sidewalls of the bottom tray 14, whereby tube 16 is maintained in the expanded mode while the container 10 is filled up. After the container 10 is filled up with goods, top tray 12 is positioned on top of tube 16 thereby closing it, as shown in Figure 3. Preferably an adhesive tape is applied to the top tray 12 and tube 16 to keep them together during shipping.

Top tray 12 is made from a single sheet of cardboard which is slit at the four corners as at 50 to form tabs 52. The tabs as well as the sidewalls such as sidewall 54 are coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive 56. The sidewalls are then folded at 90 with respect to wall 58 and the tabs 52 are attached to an adjoining sidewall 54 by adhesive 56 to form the tray 12.

Tray 14 is formed in a manner similar to tray 12, as indicated in Figure 5. Tray 14 has a bottom wall 60 which is attached by an adhesive or by staples to three elongated members 62. Members 62 extend underneath bottom wall 60, in parallel to each other. The members 62 are spaced to permit 5 the thines of a lifting mechanism to slip under bottom wall 60 and lift the container 10.
Preferably each member 62 is formed from a plurality of corrugated cardboard strips 64 built up by gluing the strips in a superposed relationship to result in the parallelipedal shape shown in Figure 7.
Finally, a bottom pad 70 also of cardboard is secured to the bottom of the members 62 for protection. Thus, pad 70 and members 62 cooperate to form the pallet 18 for the container.
Obviously numerous modifications can be made to this invention without departing form its scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A collapsible container comprising:
a top tray:
bottom tray cooperating with said top tray to form a compact enclosure; and a tube without flaps formed of a first pair of opposed sidewalls without folds and a second pair of opposed sidewalls with folds for folding said second pair of opposed sidewalls between said first pair of opposed sidewalls to form a collapsed tube which fits into said compact closure;
said sidewalls cooperating to expand said tube to an expanded mode wherein said tube cooperates with said bottom and top tray to form an expanded closure.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said sidewalls, and trays are made of corrugated cardboard.

3. The container of claim 1 further comprising a pallet attached to said bottom tray.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said bottom tray includes a bottom wall and said pallet includes a plurality of elongated members built up of cardboard strips and attached to said bottom wall.

5. A collapsible container comprising:
a top tray with top tray sidewalls;
a bottom tray with a bottom wall and bottom tray sidewalls attached to said bottom wall, said bottom tray cooperating with said top tray to form a compact enclosure;

a tube without flanges and having a first pair of opposed tube sidewalls and a second pair of opposed tube sidewalls, said tube sidewalls cooperating with said top and bottom tray to form an expanded enclosure, said second pair of sidewalls including a fold for folding said set of second opposed sidewalls in opposed direction toward each other to collapse said tube into a collapsed mode, said tube in said collapsed mode fitting into said compact enclosure; and pallet means attached to said bottom tray.

6. The container of claim 5 wherein said pallet means comprises a plurality of parallel elongated members substantially coextensive with said bottom tray.

7. The container of claim 5 wherein said sidewalls and trays are made of corrugated cardboard.

8. The container of claim 6 wherein said members are built up of strips of cardboard.

9. The container of claim 8 wherein said pallet means further comprises a pad secured to the bottom of said members.

10. The container of claim 9 wherein said pad is substantially coextensive with said bottom tray.