GB2288791A - Shipping container - Google Patents

Abstract

A shipping container has vertical side members 46 which project outside the normal width of the container to maximise the width of the cargo space within. To enable such containers to then be close stowed, the positions of the vertical members 46 are staggered so as to not interfere with one another whichever way round the containers are orientated. <IMAGE>

Description

High capacity shipping container In the field of freight containers there is always a demand to squeeze more cargo into each container. Various series of shipping containers have been standardized over the years such that their overall dimensions are the same, and handling devices known as corner fittings fixed at the extreme 8 corners of a rectangular box shaped container define the maximum width, height and length of the container. Given these dimensions, the size of stowage cells on ships have been fixed to accommodate the containers as closed together as is practical, and where there are no cells and containers are placed side by side on deck of a ship or in a container depot, these are placed side by side closely so as not to waste space.

A shipping container typically has a roof, base, front end wall, doors at the rear, and side walls. The side walls are these days made from steel sheet corrugated into vertical members or sections, although in the past there were many container walls comprising flat sheets of aluminium, steel or other cladding supported on vertical members running from roof to base. The width of these wall constructions subtracted from the overall width of the container thus set the internal cargo width of the container. Pallets onto which cargo is placed for handling and loading into containers are today manufactured to fit this internal width almost exactly, typically being 2 pallets to one internal width of the container.

However in recent times it has been desired to increase the internal width of the containers to accommodate a larger size of cargo pallet, yet maintain structural ability of the walls and still allow containers to be closely stowed beside one another. Solutions to this problem have been devised and described in European patent application 0206542 by providing very slender door end frame members, and slender side wall structures.

The problem with the slender frame members is that when the doors of the container are open for cargo loading, the frame is very flexible and needs special care. Indeed if there is another container stacked upon the slender framed container, only one door may be opened to prevent its structural collapse. Further, the slender walls necessitate extra weight of wall, and specially shaped corrugations which have to be used are expensive to repair and manufacture.

There is also the problem of internal length. It is desirable to increase the internal length of the container too. This has been achieved in the past by making the door end frames slender as above, and setting back the position of the doors from the more conventionally accepted position. In moving the door back, problems of sealing the doors against water ingress to the flexible door end frames has become a serious problem.

It is believed that if the above problems could be overcome, more shipping lines would be interested in buying the higher cubic capacity containers. The present invention seeks to overcome the problems of special wall structures, door end frame flexibility and watertightness.

The present invention provides a shipping container having side walls characterized by vertical members which project beyond the normal plan profile of a container the position of the vertical members being such that when a first of such a container is stowed close beside and substantially in line with a second such container, the vertical members of the first container align with the space between the vertical members of the second container.

The present invention further provides a container with increased door end frame rigidity characterized by one of the 2 corner posts being slender and the other being substantially more bulky.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a typical shipping container; Figure 2 shows a plan section with enlarged detail of a typical known shipping container; Figure 3 shows a plan section with enlarged detail of the present shipping container; Figure 4 showns an end elevation of one shipping contianer upon another; Figure 5 shows a diagrammatic plan view of several of the present invented containers placed side by side in line; Figures 6A, 6B and 6C show in detailed perspective view the means to cap the vertical members which form the side or end structure of the present invention; Figure 7 shows a detailed eleveated and plan section of an alternative vertical member;; Figure 8 shows a detailed plan section taken through the door hinge of the present invention; Figures 9A, 9B and 9C show menas to make the gasket joint where the gasket closes the gap between door and adjent member; Figure 10 shows a detailed plan view of the corner of two adjacent containers.

In figure 1 there is seen a perspective view of a typical rectangular box shaped shipping container 1 having at each corner a corner fitting 2 comprising a rectangular box with handling apertures 3 formed in each of its three outer faces.

The normal plan profile of a typical shipping container is defined by vertical planes 11 (seen in figure 2) in which lie the outermost vertical faces of the fittings 2 beyond which no component part of the container would normally project.

In figure 1 there are seen walls 8 comprising vertically corrugated steel sheets which connect to top rail 4 and bottom rail 5. The front end wall 15 is again a vertically corrugated steel sheet and is supported by a peripheral frame comprising top rail 16, posts 6 and a bottom rail not seen. The roof 7 comprises a steel sheet either flat or corrugated supported by a peripheral frame comprising top rails 4, 16, 13. The door end frame comprises rail 13, 14 and corner posts 10 onto which are mounted doors 9. The floor 18 comprises timber planks or other suitable material.

It is to be noted that no part of the container projects outside the rectangular envelop formed by the horizontal and vertical planes in which the 3 outermost faces of the corner fittings 2 lie. The width of major frame of the container 1 is defined by the outermost faces of the top rails 4 and bottom rails 5 which in most containers falls just inside the overall width defined by the corner fittings 2, but in some other containers might lie outside the overall width defined by the corner fittings 2.

In figure 2 a plan section of the typical shipping container 1 is seen with details enlarged. The wall 8 and end wall 15 can be seen to lie recessed back from the plane 11 which contains the outer vertical faces of fittings 2. The internal width is denoted by arrow W and internal length by arrow L. Post 6 comprises a pressed section to which wall 8 and end wall 15 are welded. The shape of wall 8 seen in section is a typical trapezoidal corrugation having peaks 12 and valley shaped spaces 17 between peaks 12. The door end post 10 has attached to it door 9 via hinges 20. To lock the doors 9 against the rail 14 and rail 13 there are locking bars 21 which engage with known keepers 19 (seen in figure 1) attached to rail 14 and rail 13.

In figure 3 we see a comparative view to figure 2 of the present invention. The wall 28 is similar in shape being formed from trapezoidal corrugations comprising vertical members 46 having peaks 22 and spaces 27 formed within the steel (or other material) sheet which is wall 28. However it can be seen that the peaks 22 project outside the plane 11 containing the outer vertical faces of fittings 2. The internal width W' is now greater than W.

The front panel 25 is seen in this embodiment as a flat sheet and thus internal length L' is already greater than length L. The shape of post 26 is formed to suit the new mating position of front panel 25 and wall 28 and optimize internal cargo space.

At the door end there is seen a left-hand post 30, right-hand post 31 and two doors 29. The doors 29 are connected to the posts 30, 31 by a hinges 23 which have two pivots 32, 33. This will be described in detail later.

At this point it will be seen that the hinge 23 allows the door 29 to be set further outwards closer to the plane 24 of the fittings 2 and thus increase the internal length L'.

The left hand post 30 is seen to be relatively wide yet when the door 29 is closed as shown, the depth D of the post 30 does not substantially project into the cargo space beyond the inner face of the closed door 29.

Thus a pallet 34 shown as dotted line of almost half the width W' can be placed inside the container and the door 29 closed and occupy the full half width W' without be restricted by the size of the post 30. The right hand post 31 is of a more slender shape than that of the left hand post 30. To load a second pallet 35 next to pallet 34, pallet 34 is placed inside the container first and moved to the left past post 30.

Pallet 35 can then be loaded through the remaining half width of W' which exists substantially between pallet 34 and post 31 accepting that there is a small restriction caused by the position of post 31 being inboard of the wall 28. This is normally acceptable since the majority of pallets 36 will have already been loaded into the main body of the container where there is full width W'.

In figure 4, there is seen a diagrammatic view of the door end frame 38 comprising rail 13 rail 14, left hand post 30, and right hand post 31 with doors 29 open. If there should be any racking force denoted by arrow R such as might be caused by the stacking of a container 37 on top of the present container placed on sloping ground, then the door end frame 38 tends to deflect as illustrated by dotted line 38' making operation of doors 29 difficult. However to stiffen the door end frame 38 against such movements, the posts 30, 31 would ideally be made as rigid and bulky as conventional container corner posts 10 which are known to prevent the deflection from being too great for manual operation. The space requirements of the present invention prohibit the posts 31 from being as rigid as desired.However this can be overcome by making left hand post 30 of greater depth as viewed in plan across the width of the container this can compensate for the slender and potentially more flexible right hand post 31.

In figure 5 we see a diagrammatic plan view of several containers 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 of the present invention placed side by side substantially in line as they might be in an efficient stow. There are typical norms for the degree to which containers may be stowed out of line before contact of one container against another might be expected. Misalignment might typically be 25mm and thus the space 27 between vertical members 46 would allow for such misalignment. Known containers of shorter or longer lengths have handling fittings 2 positioned at their ends or at intermediate positions. Thus when these containers are lined up with each other, it is at least one pair of the corner fittings 2 towards one end of the contianer which would be located substantially in line with adjacent containers.

Each has a left-hand wall 28, and right-hand wall 28'. The position of the peaks 22 of wall 28 of container 41 are offset in relation to the peaks 22 of wall 28' of container 42 with door end frame 38 both at the same end such that the peaks 22 of container 41 align with the spaces 27 of container 42 and vice versa. As the containers are positioned closer together, the peaks 22 of one container pass those peaks 22 of an adjacent container until ultimately contact is made one container to another.

It is convenient in manufacture to make the assembly of wall 28 the same as wall 28' and thus in the present example, the walls 28, 28' are seen to be roughly asymmetrical about the longitudinal centre line 66 of the wall. Thus those peaks 22 and spaces 27 of all the containers 41 to 45 whichever way they might be orientated door end frame 38 to front end frame 40 and vice versa likewise nest with those of its adjacent container. Thus such containers 41 to 45 with such a pitch of peaks 22 and spaces 27 can be placed closely side by side without touching yet have vertical members 46 of sufficient amplitude from peak 22 to space 27 to provide high strength and not encroach on the valuable cargo space within the container.

Where the peaks 22 and spaces 27 of the vertical members 46 meet the top and bottom rails 4, 5 various configurations are envisaged. In figure 5, is clear that the peaks 22 of container 43 must not encounter any projection on container 42, 44 at their spaces 27. In figure 6A, 6B, 7 various solutions to this connection where walls 28, 28' meet top rails 4, and bottom rails 5 are seen.

It is common for there to be containers of nominal length 40ft mixed with containers of 20ft and less common to be mixed with containers of lOft and 30ft long. Newer types of containers of other lengths are also emerging. Thus the position of vertical members 46 has to be selected to enable containers of different lengths to be positoned with their ends lined up and be compatible with one another these contianers being positoned in orientations front adjacent front, front adjacent rear etc.

In figure 6A the top rail 4 is seen in part detail in perspective view and comprises a strong bar or pressing with capping pieces 48 to terminate and shield the peaks 22 should the rail 4 impact another container or the like which would otherwise damage the thinner wall sheet 28. Bottom rail 5 might be shaped with similar capping pieces 48 where wall 28 meets rail 5. The projections might be formed as part of the rail 4, 5 or fixed on to a separate pressing 4, 5. The capping pieces 48 might be integrated with a buffer 59 to deflect away an impacting rail from the wall 28 of the container.

In figure 6B the vertical members 46 taper off toward the rail 4 so that the whole of the rail 4 remains back from the peaks 22 of an adjacent container such as container 43 might be to container 44. A similar connection might be made to the bottom rail 5. A capping piece might comprise a reinforcing plate 60 fixed to the sloping part of member 46 to resist damage to peak 22 especially where the vertical member is pressed as part of a thin sheet of steel forming the wall 28.

In figure 6C the vertical member 46 is capped off using a forged or pressed capping piece comprising buffer 61 which is wedge shaped to guide off any impacting member. As a hot forging the buffer 61 is conveniently formed with a lip 62 shown in dotted line which is self locating within the trapezoidal shaped vertical member. The buffer 61 has a bottom plate also denoted by dotted line 62 which closes off that which would otherwise be a cavity formed between sloping face 63 and rail 4, 5.

Alternatively the buffer 61 might be made from solid material.

In figure 7 there is illustrated another form of wall comprising a flat sheet 50 which might be of steel, aluminium , plywood or other suitable material, fixed to top rail 4 and bottom rail 5 by rivets not shown or welding, or other means. The sheet 50 itself is not entirely strong enough for operational use in the shipping container environment, so additional vertical members 51, in this example not formed as part of the sheet 50, are provided for additional support. The vertical members 51 comprise for example pressed steel or extruded aluminium sections which can either be fixed by welding, rivetting, adhesive or other known means or be free from fixing to the panels 51. The vertical members 51 are fixed to the rails by welding, rivetting or other known means.The shape of the member is seen to taper off near the rails 4, 5 so as to not present an abutment to any obstructions or other container being moved into position adjacent to it.

In figure 8 there is seen a detailed plan view of the double hinge 23 with the door 29 in the closed position. There are 2 pivot points 32, 33.

Pivot 31 allows the hinge 29 to rotate freely out through about 270 degrees. Pivot 33 however is restricted in its motion and the door 29 can only rotate outwards through angle A until door 29 or an abutment attached to door 29 engages stop 52 and back again until it engages stop 53. The purpose of stops 52, 53 is to ensure that the door gasket 39' encounters the post 30, 31 at the right angle during closing of the door 29. When full open as in the position indicated by dotted line 29', the hinge 23 has sufficient degree of freedom to allow the door 29' to fold right back against wall 28.

The double hinge 23 is not essential to the invention but illustrate a means of further increasing the internal length L'. A conventional hinge 20 as in figure 2 might suffice for some applications.

Returning to figures 2 and 3, we see the doors 9, 29 shown in the closed position with locking bars 21 engaged with rail and rail 13, 14. To weather seal the doors 9, 29 against the door end frame 38 there is typically a rubber gasket 39 which runs round the periphery of a door 9 on its outer edge as seen in figure 2. Gasket 39 seen in section comprises a channel section with inner lip and outer lip 54. The outer lip laps over the surface of mating sections such as post 10, rail 14.

However to make the door locking bars 21 and door 29 more compact to increase internal length L gasket 39' in figure 3 must take a different route from gasket 39. The locking bars 21 might be recessed within the door frame itself as illustrated on the left hand door, or the door made slimmer adjacent the locking bars 21 compared to the vertical members 64 of the door 29.

In figure 8 an enlarged detail of the gasket 39' can be seen with outer lip 54' contacting seal surface 55 of post 30. In figure 9A there is seen a perspective view of a bottom corner fitting 2 with rail 14 connecting to post 31. The door 29 is open and not seen. What is seen is seal surface 55 of post 31 and seal surface 56 of rail 14 which do not lie in the same vertical plane. This discontinuity of seal surface complicates the shape and routing of a gasket 39' at this junction.

Figure 9B shows means whereby the post 31 is shaped to provide a sloping seal surface 57 which allows connection and continuity of surface for outer lip 54' of gasket 39'.

Figure 9C shows means whereby the rail 14 is shaped to provide a sloping seal surface 58 which allows continuity of seal surface from post to rail.

At the vertical joint where the 2 doors 29 meet, similar sloping surfaces in the other structural members of the container such as the door 29, rail 13, or rail 14 can be formed to provide a substantially continuous seal surface from one seal surface to another. Likewise rail 13 and posts 31, 30 might have similar arrangements.

In figure 10 there is seen in detailed plan view rails 4 and corner fittings 2 or 2 containers standing closely adjacent in line with one another. The rails 4 (and or rail 5) are seen to be wider than plane 11 as required in some types of extra wide containers. The vertical members 47 align as before with the spaces 27 of the adjacent containers.

It is further envisaged that the end walls might be formed in similar fashion to the side walls to enable containers to be close stowed yet embody vertical members projecting. Thus in this regard, end wall might be read as side wall and side by side might be understood to include end to end.

Some other types of containers are envisaged making use of the features of the present invention. These containers might have removable curtain 'walls' supported by removable vertical members, be cylindrical tank containers with stiffening rings which at some point the rings might project beyond the normal plan profile of the container, be platform based containers with no wall at all but have lashing devices such as removable stakes sitting in stake pockets as vertical members which might advantageously project beyond the normal plan profile of the container to increase the internal cargo space of the platform.

Claims (17)

Claims

1. A shipping container having one or more walls characterized by one or more vertical members which project beyond the normal plan profile of a container the position of the vertical members being such that when two or more said containers are stowed wall by wall and substantially in line with each other, the vertical members of the container viewed in plan view align with the space between vertical members of a second container.

2. A container as in claim 1 in which one or more of said containers may be of different length andlor stowed orientation.

3. A container as in claims 1 and 2 in which the position of the vertical members on the left-hand wall is asymmetrical to the position of the vertical members on the right-hand wall.

4. A container as in claims 1 to 3 in which the vertical members comprise sections fixed to the wall sheet and/or the top and bottom rails.

5. A container as in claims 1 to 4 in which the vertical members are formed as part of the wall sheet.

6. A container as in claims 1 to 5 in which the vertical members taper towards at least one of their upper or lower ends.

7. A container as in claims 1 to 6 in which the vertical members terminate at top and bottom within the normal plan profile of the container.

8. A container as in claims 1 to 7 in which the vertical members are terminated with a capping piece.

9. A container as in claim 8 in which the capping piece comprises a forged wedge shaped block.

10. A container as in claim 8 in which the capping piece comprises a plate covering the profile of the vertical member fixed to or formed as part of the top and! our bottom side rail.

11. A container characterized by one of the 2 corner posts being slender and the other being substantially of greater depth.

12. A container characterized by one or both door end corner posts not projecting substantially within the cargo space beyond the inner face of the doors.

13. A container in any claim herein in which the seal faces of the structural members of the container are made substantially continuous by the provision of a sloping face running from one surface to another.

14. A container in claim 1 to 11 which the side rails are project outside the normal plan profile of the container and the vertical members project beyond the side rails.

15. A container in claims 1 to 10 and claim 14 in which a door is hinged to the post by a double hinge.

16. A container in any claim herein and which falls within the claims of European patent application 0206542.

17. A container substantially as described herein with reference to figures 1 to 10 of the accompanying drawings.