EP0291610A1 - Container for the transport and handling of liquids or other products - Google Patents

Abstract

The container is produced from a moulded synthetic material and has the form of a rectangular parallelepiped with a square or rectangular horizontal cross-section. It comprises two opposite lateral faces 3, 4, each having, at the same level, a notch 5, 6 extending in a horizontal plane over the entire length of the lateral face. These notches are designed to receive the gripping forks of a forklift truck. At its upper part, the container has an emptying and filling plug 11. The container can receive liquids or, alternatively, powdered or granular products and is designed so that it can be handled by means of conventional forklift trucks. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a container for transporting and handling liquids or other products.

For this transport, cylindrical barrels are generally used, most often made of metal. The gripping of these barrels, once full, cannot be carried out by conventional fork-lift trucks and it requires specific equipment, including for example jaws in an arc of a circle adapted to ensure the clamping of the barrel without deformation of the wall of it, the purchase of which involves significant capital expenditure. Most often, for example to ensure the transport of chemicals from their place of manufacture to their place of use, these drums are placed on pallets before filling them, then, once full, the drums grouped on each pallet are strapped together and sometimes shrouded before the pallet and its contents are loaded onto the bed of a truck or trailer using a forklift. These known drums thus have the disadvantage, to ensure their loading for transport, of requiring the storage and use of pallets, strapping members and covers, which results in an investment in material, a loss storage space due to these elements and a waste of time in handling. In addition, when these cylindrical drums are normally arranged tangentially to each other on the pallet, then loaded onto the truck's platform, they provide large void spaces between them which constitute a substantial lost surface on the platform or the platform. transport.

The object of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks mentioned above of conventional cylindrical drums and for this purpose it offers a large-capacity container which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, the grip of which, in particular for its loading on the platform of a truck or platform, does not require prior palletizing, and which ensures almost complete occupation of the transport surface on which it is loaded, without there being lost space.

According to the invention, the container has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped with a square or rectangular horizontal section, produced by molding a synthetic material, and it has on at least two opposite lateral faces, at the same height, two parallel notches arranged over the entire length of the side and which are intended to play the role of slides to accommodate the forks of a conventional forklift.

The container of the invention is molded in such a way that the side walls thereof have sufficient thickness and solidity to ensure perfect rigidity of the container when it is filled, despite the notches made in the opposite side faces. . Advantageously, the container is produced by rotational molding of powdered thermoplastic resins, for example polyethylene.

The upper face of the container according to the invention has a frustoconical shape oriented towards the outside and terminated centrally by a drain and filling plug. Advantageously, the lower face of the container has a shape exactly conjugated with the upper face and oriented inwards so that, when empty, the containers can be easily stacked to form a stack which, taking into account the shape of the containers, is very stable.

It is then understood that the container according to the invention, which can have a capacity of 500 liters without this indication being in any way limiting, can after filling be easily gripped by a conventional forklift truck with forks and be brought in, without palletizing operation, in a storage or transport area. This gripping is easily carried out by bringing the forklift truck facing the container, by elevating the forks of the carriage at the level of the lateral notches of the container, then by advancing the carriage so that its forks engage over the entire length of said notches , in width, protrude outwards, and finally by lifting the forks thus loaded.

We also understand that the rectangular or square section shape of the container according to the invention allows loading rational and optimal platform, generally rectangular, of a truck or a transport trailer, without wasted space unlike what is the case with the palletized cylindrical drums used until now.

The container according to the invention, in addition to allowing, compared to the use of conventional cylindrical barrels, to eliminate a quadruple storage of pallets, barrels, straps and covers, the related handling stations and a large part handling operations, still brings the following advantages:
- possibility of empty transport of containers in stacked position, making it possible to reduce the means of transport used,
-high safety of use because the container does not roll, centers itself automatically and achieves a self-locking superposition, is very stable in handling by its grip at mid-height, and allows a good visualization of the grip,
- saving time during filling,
-possibility of adapting all types of drain valves,
- easy centering of the forklift forks.

• la figure 1 est une vue perspective montrant un réci­pient selon l'invention saisi et soulevé par les fourches d'un chariot élévateur conventionnel ;
• la figure 2 est une vue de face, en coupe verticale, du récipient de la figure 1 ; et
• la figure 3 est une vue de côté de ce récipient.

To clearly understand the container according to the invention, a preferred embodiment will be described below, by way of example without any limiting character, with reference to the appended schematic drawing in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a container according to the invention gripped and lifted by the forks of a conventional forklift;
• Figure 2 is a front view, in vertical section, of the container of Figure 1; and
• Figure 3 is a side view of this container.

The container shown in the drawing has the shape of a parallelepiped with a square horizontal section having, in the example shown and without this having any limiting nature, a capacity of 500 liters and the following overall dimensions:
- length: 0.76 m
- width: 0.76 m
- height: 1.07 m

The container is made of rotomolded polyethylene by performing the following operations:
- introduction of the material to be transformed into a mold which represents in its internal form the exact image of the container to be produced,
- arrangement of the mold in a heating chamber brought to the melting temperature of the material to be transformed, and rotation of the mold in the horizontal plane and in the vertical plane to describe a perfect sphere in space,
- after a predetermined cycle, extraction of the mold from the heating chamber and transfer of this into a cooling chamber to gel the material contained in the mold,
- opening of the mold at the end of the cooling cycle and extraction of the molded container.

In the drawing there is shown in 1 and 2 the front and rear faces of the container and in 3, 4 its side faces. As can be seen in the drawing, the lateral faces 3, 4 each have approximately halfway up, a notch respectively 5, 6 extending in a horizontal plane over the entire length of the lateral face, the notches 5, 6 opposite being located exactly on the same level. The notches 5, 6 are produced at the standard dimensions of the forks of the forklifts on the market so that, as seen in FIG. 1, the forks 7, 8 of a forklift can be introduced 9 notches 5, 6 forming slides to grasp the container and lift it without difficulty by actuating the lifting system of the carriage.

The upper face 10 of the container has a frustoconical shape turned towards the outside, which ends centrally by a drain 11 for draining and filling, normally closed by a plug 12. The lower face 13 of the container has an exactly conjugate shape of its upper face 10 allowing, when empty, the stacking of several containers with excellent stability.

As explained, the gripping of the container is carried out by engagement, in its lateral notches 5, 6 of the forks 7, 8 of the carriage 9 and the container thus seized can be loaded on the platform of a truck or a trailer. Of course, depending on the length of the forks used, it will be necessary in certain cases to have recourse to fork extensions, in particular for the storage of containers in three rows across the width of a truck bed.

The purpose of the 500-liter container, more particularly described in the example shown, is to replace, in the most conventional cases, the assembly consisting of a pallet accompanied by four 220-liter cylindrical metal drums, strapped and sometimes covered.

By way of example, the payload that can be placed on a semi-trailer truck of length 12.20 meters and width 2.40 meters is compared, depending on whether the product to be transported, assumed to have a density equal to 1, is contained in 220 liter cylindrical metal drums loaded on pallets, or 500 liter containers according to the invention.

Each pallet having a standardized dimension of 1.10 m x 1.20 m, 20 pallets can be loaded on the truck, i.e. 20 x 4: 80 drums and therefore: 80 x 220 = 17.6 tonnes.

Given the dimensions of the container according to the invention with a capacity of 500 liters, 3 rows of 15 containers can be loaded, that is to say 45 containers, which corresponds to a payload of 45 x 500: 22.5 tonnes. In this case the use of containers according to the invention, in addition to the ease of handling, therefore allows a payload improvement of 28%.

It will be understood that the above description has been given by way of example, without limitation, and that additions or constructive modifications could be made without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the claims which follow. It will be understood in particular that the dimensions and the capacity of the container given in the description above have been given for information only and that, according to the invention, it is possible to produce containers having other dimensions and capacity. We will note that, to avoid the risk of a separation of the forks 7.8 of the forklift 9 during the lifting of the container, under the action of the weight of this container, provision may be made to place at the base of the forks a flat iron separating those -ci of the optimal width separating the notches 5,6 and against which the forks are constrained by screwing.

The structure of the container is particularly designed for gripping the latter when it is placed in a stack and surrounded on each side by other containers. Indeed the forks of the forklift which are introduced from the front into the notches of the container do not project laterally relative to the container (as seen in Figure 1). This allows the container to be lifted without being hindered by those placed on both sides, which would otherwise be struck by the projecting part of the forks by hampering or preventing the lifting and removal of the container.

Claims (3)

1. Container for the transport and handling of liquids or other products, made of molded synthetic material and having the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped with square or rectangular horizontal section, at least two opposite lateral faces (3, 4) of the container each having at the same level a notch (5, 6) extending in a horizontal plane over the entire length of the lateral face, characterized in that said notches (5, 6) are produced at the standard dimensions of the forks of the forklift of the market so that said forks can be housed completely in width inside the notches. 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that it is produced by rotational molding. 3. Container according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that its upper (10) and lower (13) walls have exactly conjugated shapes to allow stable stacking of empty containers for storage or transport.

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