GB2320015A - Stackable and nestable container - Google Patents

Abstract

A container has a base 1 with upstanding opposed side walls 3 and 4. The side walls are hollow and tapered and provided with underlying apertures 5 and 6 in the base 1. Two containers can be assembled as a column in nested relationship (with their bases 1 close to each other) by the side walls 3 and 4 of the underlying container being received through the apertures 5 and 6 of an immediately overlying container. Pivotted support members 10 are carried on the side walls 3, 4 to be displaceable to a condition in which they project from the side walls so that two containers can be assembled as a column in stacked relationship with a first overlying container standing on the support members 10 of the underlying second container to provide wide storage spacing between the bases of the containers in the column. In a modification two containers can be assembled in nested relationship in one orientation and in a further orientation can be assembled in an intermediate nested relationship with wider spacing between their bases.

Description

TITLE "A container" TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART The present invention relates to a container particularly a container of the kind having a base and side walls upstanding from the base and which side walls are tapered and have associated therewith downwardly directed openings arranged so that two such containers when in immediately overlying relationship can form an upstanding column in which a first underlying container has its upstanding side walls at least partly received within the downwardly directed openings of the second overlying container for the two containers to be assembled in a nested relationship with the bases thereof substantially parallel and positioned closely to each other.

It will be appreciated that several similar containers of the aforementioned kind may be assembled in nested relationship to form an upstanding column for convenience of storage or transport when the containers are empty of goods. It is an object of the present invention to provide a container of the kind aforementioned with an improvement in its facility for assembly with a similar container to form an upstanding column.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES According to the present invention there is provided a container comprising a base and side walls upstanding from the base, said side walls being tapered and having associated therewith downwardly directed openings arranged so that two said containers when in immediately overlying relationship can form an upstanding column in which a first underlying container has its upstanding side walls at least partly received within the downwardly directed openings of the second overlying container for the two containers to be assembled in a nested relationship with the bases thereof positioned substantially parallel and closely to each other, and in which displaceable support means is provided on the side walls remote from the base, said support means being displaceable between a first condition in which two said containers can be assembled in said nested relationship and a second condition in which two said containers when in immediately overlying relationship can form an upstanding column in which the first underlying container has its support means in said second condition and the second container immediately overlies the first container to stand on the support means of the first container for the two containers to be assembled in a stacked relationship with the bases thereof substantially parallel to, and relatively widely spaced from, each other.

By the present invention the facility afforded by the displaceable support means provides the advantage that the container may be assembled in an upstanding or vertical column with several similar containers with the adjacent containers in the column in nested relationship with each other for convenience of storage and transport. However, by adjusting the displaceable support means to its second condition several similar containers may be assembled as an upstanding or vertical column with the adjacent containers in the column in stacked relationship to each other. In the stacked relationship the bases of the containers form a vertical array in which they are widely spaced and can be used to accommodate goods for storage or display purposes or for transport with the column. The upstanding side walls are tapered so that they can be received within the downwardly directed openings presented by an immediately overlying container in the assembly of a column and such tapering accommodates for the wall thickness of the material used in the structure of the side wall. The displaceable support means when in its first condition, preferably, is substantially unobtrusive on the side walls to permit the containers to be assembled in their nested relationship. However, when the support means are displaced to the second condition they effectively stand proud of, or project laterally from, the side walls to prevent those side walls from being received, to a substantial extent, within the downwardly directed openings of an immediately overlying container and so that that overlying container will stand on, and be supported by, the support means of the immediately underlying container to form a column with the containers in the stacked relationship.

Two similar containers in accordance with the present invention can be assembled in a nested relationship or in a stacked relationship to provide the option of forming a column of containers with the bases of adjacent containers widely or closely spaced. It is possible however to modify the container so that two similar containers can be assembled as an upstanding column with the option of a third or intermediate spacing between the adjacent overlying bases - such intermediate spacing between the bases being less than the spacing when the two containers are in stacked relationship and greater than the spacing when the two containers are in nested relationship. To provide this latter facility the container is arranged so that it is assembled with a similar container in nested relationship when the overlying container is in a first orientation with respect to the underlying container and so that it can be assembled with the similar container in an intermediate nested relationship when the overlying container is in a second orientation with respect to the underlying container whereby, as the overlying container is lowered on to the underlying container, abutment means cooperate between the two containers to determine the extent or depth to which the upstanding side walls of the underlying container are received through the downwardly directed openings of the overlying container and to retain the two containers assembled with their bases at the aforementioned intermediate spacing. Usually the container will be provided with downwardly directed abutment surfaces presented by recesses, ribs, shoulders, faces or stops on or in its side walls and with upwardly directed abutment surfaces which may be presented similarly. These upwardly and downwardly directed abutment surfaces are arranged so that when two containers are in nested relationship with the overlying container in the first orientation relative to the underlying container, downwardly directed abutment surfaces of the overlying container engage with upwardly directed abutment surfaces of the underlying container in an arrangement which determines the nested relationship (that is the close spacing between the adjacent bases) and alleviates the two containers from moving together into a relationship in which they become wedged together through frictional engagement between their tapered side walls. The upwardly and downwardly directed abutment surfaces can also be arranged so that when the overlying container is in the second orientation relative to the underlying container, downwardly directed abutment surfaces of the overlying container engage with upwardly directed abutment surfaces of the underlying container in a further arrangement which determines the intermediate nested relationship. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by positioning the two similar containers in either of the first or the second relative orientations, the abutment surfaces are disposed to engage either in the nested relationship or in the intermediate nested relationship.

Typically the container will have a horizontal generally rectangular base with the abutment surfaces offset horizontally with respect to the rectangular symmetry of the base so that the first and second orientations are achieved by 1800 rotation about a vertical axis of the overlying container relative to the underlying container.

Usually the container will be manufactured as a plastics moulding with a substantially flat or planar base.

With a planar base it is preferred that the downwardly directed openings associated with the side walls are located in the plane of the base.

The support means is preferably provided by load carrying members which are pivotally mounted on the side walls to be hingedly displaceable between the first and second conditions. Alternatively however the load carrying members may be mounted on the side walls to be slidably displaceable between the first and second conditions. Retaining means may be provided to restrain displacement of the support means inadvertently from the first or the second condition as selected; with a plastics moulded container the retaining means is conveniently provided by a light pressure responsive snap engagement between the aforementioned load carrying members and the side walls.

In its most common form the container is likely to have a rectangular base and two parallel and opposed side walls upstanding from directly opposed side edges of the base. It will be appreciated however that the present invention may be applied to containers with more than two upstanding side walls and different base shapes, for example circular bases with three or more circumferentially spaced upstanding side walls. Furthermore, the side walls may be single or double skinned, the latter being generally in the nature of cavity walls so that an upstanding side wall of an underlying container is received, at least partly, within the cavity of an upstanding side wall of an immediately overlying similar container when the two containers are assembled in nested relationship. Cavity side walls are preferred for their rigidity and load carrying capacity.

DRAWINGS One embodiment of a container constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of the container; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic end elevation of two containers similar to that shown in Figure 1 in which the containers are assembled in nested relationship; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a corner region of a container similar to that shown in Figure 1 and particularly illustrates the form of a load carrying member and the manner in which that member is fitted in the container; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic end elevation of the two containers shown in Figure 2 in which those two containers are assembled in stacked relationship; Figure 5 is a perspective view of two containers similar to that shown in Figure 3 assembled in the manner shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 diagrammatically illustrates an end elevation, in part section, of two containers modified from that shown in Figure 1 and in nested relationship, and Figure 7 is a similar view of the modified containers to that shown in Figure 6 and illustrates the containers in an intermediate nested relationship.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The container illustrated is formed as a plastics moulding with a substantially flat, planar and rectangular base 1 which is predominantly of a grid-like structure.

Upstanding from the base are two substantially parallel and opposed side walls 3 and 4 located over marginal edge parts of directly opposed side edges of the base 1. Located in the plane of the base 1 and associated one with each of the side walls 3 and 4 are two elongated slots or apertures 5 and 6 which extend parallel with and adjacent to the side edges of the base from which the side walls are upstanding.

Upper ends of the side walls 3 and 4 are formed as upwardly opening channels 7 having upwardly directed bottom faces 8. The upper ends of the side walls, particularly the channels 7 and faces 8, are carried on the side walls to wholly and directly overlie the respective apertures 5 and 6 in the base and for this the side walls are effectively hollow or recessed and are tapered to converge as they recede from the base 1. This convergence is shown somewhat exaggerated in Figures 1, 2 and 4 for convenience of description.

The apertures 5 and 6 are directed downwardly from the container and these together with the tapering of the side walls 3 and 4 are arranged so that two identical containers (shown at A and B in Figure 2) in immediately overlying relationship can form a vertical column by the upstanding side walls 3, 4, of the container B being partly received through the downwardly directed apertures 5, 6 in the base 1 of container A and thereby within the rebated side walls 3, 4 of the container A. This assembly of the containers A and B provides a nested relationship between the containers where the bases of the containers are substantially parallel and positioned adjacent to or closely spaced from each other. In Figure 2 (and in Figures 4 and 5) the references for the containers A and B which are the same as the references shown in Figure 1 have been accorded the suffixes "a" and "b" respectively. By assembling several empty containers in nested relationship as shown in Figure 2 the column of containers thus formed provides a compact structure convenient for storage or transport.

Located in the channels 7 on the upper ends of the side walls 3 and 4, one at each of the corner regions of the container, are four support members 10. The support members 10 are identical and Figure 3 shows such a support member prior to it being fitted as part of the container.

The member 10 is conveniently formed as a plastics moulding and is bifurcated to present legs 11 carrying outwardly and oppositely directed feet 12. The support member 10 is to be fitted within a channel 7 for which purpose opposed side walls of the channel 7 are provided with directly opposed holes or sockets 13. The feet 12 of the support member 10 are snap engaged one into each of the sockets 13 (into which engagement they are biased by the natural resilience of the plastics legs 11). The feet 12 provide trunnions on which the support member 11 can pivot relative to the side wall 3 or 4 which carries it from a first condition to a second condition. In the first condition the support member 10 is located fully within the channel 7 wholly to overlie the aperture 5 or 6 associated with the side wall on which that support member is carried.

In the second condition the support member 10 abuts the upper face 8 to stand proud of, or extends outwardly and laterally from, its associated side wall as shown in Figure 4. The four support members 10 are all shown in their first condition in Figure 1 and in this condition they may be accommodated wholly within the respective channels 7 to be substantially unobtrusive on their respective side walls. To permit several containers to be assembled as a column in nested relationship as shown in Figure 2 it is necessary for the support members 10 of those containers to be located in their first conditions as shown in Figure 1.

The support members 10 are pivotally displaceable about their feet 12 substantially in the plane of the side walls on which they are respectively carried from their first condition to their second condition as shown in Figure 4. In the second condition parts of the support members 10 will abut the upwardly directed faces 8 of the side walls 3, 4 on which they are carried, usually so that when the base 1 is horizontal, the support members 10 will extend generally horizontally from their feet/trunnions 12 with the four support members located substantially in the same horizontal plane.

With the support members 10 in their second condition the two identical containers A and B in immediately overlying relationship can form a vertical column with the overlying container A standing on and being supported by the four support members 10b of container B so that the two containers are assembled in a stacked relationship with the bases 6a and 6b thereof substantially parallel to, and relatively widely spaced from, each other. In Figure 4 the support members 10a are shown in their second condition for the purpose of receiving a third container in stacked relationship to increase the height of the column. It will be apparent that the wide spacing between the bases 6a and 6b of containers in stacked relationship in a column permit goods to be carried on those bases (as indicated in Figure 5) for display, storage or transport purposes.

When in its second condition each support member 10 presents an upper face 15 on which a bottom edge 1' of an immediately overlying similar container in stacked relationship therewith is supported. Flanges or ribs 16 may be provided upstanding on the support face 15 to securely locate a bottom rim 1' of the aforementioned immediately overlying container on the support member 15 and thereby provide a stable column of containers in stacked relationship.

In Figure 1 and predominantly for convenience of description, the side walls 3 and 4 are shown hollow or recessed and formed as a single skin structure. Usually however, the side walls will be of a cavity wall structure (as shown in Figures 3 and 5) in which the cavity of the wall is defined between opposed inner and outer skins 20 and 21 between which the side wall of an immediately underlying container is received when assembled in nested relationship. The cavity side walls as shown in Figures 3 and 5 are preferred as providing relatively rigid and efficient load bearing structures both for when the side walls are used as handles for the carriage of goods on the base 1 and for when the side walls support the vertical loading from one or more containers assembled thereon in stacked relationship.

Co-operating studs, ribs, recesses or the like (not shown) may be provided between the support member 10 and the side wall 3, 4 on which that member is mounted so that such ribs or recesses or the like can be urged into snap engagement in either the first condition and/or the second condition of the support member as selected so that such snap engagement will retain the support member in its selected condition until the alternative condition is desired and the support member may be released from the snap engagement and pivotally displaced as appropriate by firm manual pressure.

The modified container A, B shown in Figures 6 and 7 has on each of its end walls 4 and 5 two vertically extending reinforcing struts 20 and 21 the bottom ends of which present downwardly directed abutment surfaces 22 and 23 respectively. An upper face of each of the end walls 4 and 5 presents an upwardly directed abutment surface 24 which overlies the abutment surfaces 22 and 23. Located in each of the abutment surfaces 24 are two recesses 25 and 26 having bottom faces which present upwardly directed abutment surfaces 27 and 28 respectively. The upwardly directed abutment surface 27 vertically overlies the downwardly directed abutment surface 22 and the upwardly directed abutment surface 28 vertically overlies the downwardly directed abutment surface 23. The opposed side walls 3 and 4 have their abutment surfaces 22, 23, 27 and 28 directly opposed so that the side wall 4a, 4b is the mirror image of the side wall 3a, 3b respectively as shown for the containers in Figure 6. The container has a central plane X which extends perpendicularly relative to the plane of the drawing in Figure 6 and a particular feature of the modified container is that the abutment surfaces 22 and 27 are assymmetrical about the plane X with respect to the abutment surfaces 23 and 28. More particularly it will be seen that abutment surfaces 23 and 28 are offset at a greater distance from the central plane X than are the abutment surfaces 22 and 27.

With the four support members 10 pivotted to their unobtrusive first condition and with the modified container A overlying the modified container B and orientated similarly to the modified container B (in the sense that the corresponding side walls on the two containers respectively overlie each other), the two containers are assembled in nested relationship as shown in Figure 6 (in a similar manner to that shown in Figure 2). In this relationship, which may be regarded as fully nested, the bottom ends of the struts 20a and 2la are received in the recesses 25b and 26b respectively so that the abutment surfaces 22a and 23a of the overlying container engage/stand on the abutment surfaces 27b and 28b respectively of the underlying container. This engagement between the abutment surfaces determines the maximum depth over which the side walls 3b and 4b of the underlying container B can be received through the apertures 5a and 6a of the overlying container and will usually serve to alleviate the possibility of the tapered side walls of the two containers from becoming wedged together.

If the modified container A is arranged to overlie the modified container B in an orientation in which the container A as shown in Figure 6 is rotated through 1800 about a vertical axis relative to the container B, the two containers can be assembled in an intermediate nested relationship as shown in Figure 7. In this latter relationship it will be seen that on each of the side walls the struts 20a and 21a are offset horizontally from the recesses 25b and 26b so that the abutment surfaces 22a and 23a engage/stand on the abutment surface 24b which is at a higher level than the abutment surfaces 27b and 28b.

Accordingly when the two containers A and B are in their intermediate nested relationship (Figure 7), the parallel bases la and lb are spaced to a lesser extent than the spacing between the bases when the containers are in their stacked relationship (Figure 4) and to a greater extent than the spacing between the bases when the containers are in their fully nested relationship (Figure 6). In the arrangements shown in Figures 6 and 7 the difference in spacing between the bases of the containers when in the fully nested relationship as compared with that when in the intermediate nested relationship is determined by the depth of the recesses 27 and 28. This difference in spacing may be small but nevertheless adequate for goods to be accommodated within a column of containers assembled in intermediate nested relationship to avoid wastage of storage space by use of containers assembled in stacked relationship (which may otherwise be necessary).

Claims (25)

1. A container comprising a base and side walls upstanding from the base, said side walls being tapered and having associated therewith downwardly directed openings arranged so that two said containers when in immediately overlying relationship can form an upstanding column in which a first underlying container has its upstanding side walls at least partly received within the downwardly directed openings of the second overlying container for the two containers to be assembled in a nested relationship with the bases thereof positioned substantially parallel and closely to each other, and in which displaceable support means is provided on the side walls remote from the base, said support means being displaceable between a first condition in which two said containers can be assembled in said nested relationship and a second condition in which two said containers when in immediately overlying relationship can form an upstanding column in which the first underlying container has its support means in said second condition and the second container immediately overlies the first container to stand on the support means of the first container for the two containers to be assembled in a stacked relationship with the bases thereof substantially parallel to, and relatively widely spaced from, each other.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1 in which the base is substantially flat and planar and the downwardly directed openings are substantially in the plane of the base.

3. A container as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2 in which the support means when in said first condition are substantially unobtrusive on the side walls.

4. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the support means comprise at least one load carrying member mounted on the side walls to be pivotally displaceable between said first and second conditions.

5. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the support means comprises at least one load carrying member mounted on the side walls to be slidably displaceable between said first and second conditions.

6. A container as claimed in either claim 4 or claim 5 in which the load carrying members when in their first condition are accommodated in recesses or channels in the side walls.

7. A container as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6 in which the load carrying members when in their second conditions are supported by upwardly directed faces of the side walls to accommodate the load thereon from an overlying container in stacked relationship therewith.

8. A container as claimed in claim 4 or in any one of claims 5 to 7 when appendant to claim 4 in which the pivotally displaceable load carrying member is bifurcated to present legs having feet which are spring loaded by said legs to be biased into engagement with sockets in the side walls on which they are respectively mounted and said engagement of the feet with the sockets provides the pivotal mounting.

9. A container as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8 in which the base is planar and said load carrying members when in their second condition are located in a plane substantially parallel with that of the base.

10. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the side walls are substantially hollow or recessed and the downwardly directed openings associated therewith are presented by apertures in the base through which apertures upstanding side walls from a similar underlying container are received for assembly in nested relationship when forming an upstanding column.

11. A container as claimed in claim 10 in which the side walls are of a cavity wall structure having opposed skins between which the upstanding side wall from a similar underlying container is received for said assembly in nested relationship.

12. A container as claimed in either claim 10 or claim 11 in which the support means when in said first condition wholly overlies the apertures in the base.

13. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the base is substantially rectangular and two substantially parallel and opposed side walls are provided upstanding from directly opposed side edges of the base.

14. A container as claimed in claim 13 when appendant to either claim 4 or claim 5 and comprising four load carrying members located substantially one at each of four corner regions of the container.

15. A container as claimed in either claim 13 or claim 14 in which the support means on the respective side walls is displaceable between said first and second conditions substantially in the plane of the respective side wall on which it is provided.

16. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and comprising retaining means to restrain inadvertent displacement of the support means from the first or second condition of the support means as selected.

17. A container as claimed in claim 16 in which the retaining means comprises snap engaging means between the support means and the respective side wall on which the support means is carried.

18. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and arranged so that said nested relationship of the two said containers is a fully nested relationship resulting from assembly of the two containers with the overlying container in a first orientation relative to the underlying container, and wherein with the overlying container in a second orientation relative to the underlying container the two said containers can be assembled with the upstanding side walls of the underlying container being at least partly received within the downwardly directed openings of the overlying container to provide an intermediate nested relationship in which the bases of the two containers are spaced to a greater extent than their spacing in the fully nested relationship and to a lesser extent than their spacing in the stacked relationship.

19. A container as claimed in claim 18 and provided with downwardly and upwardly directed abutment surfaces which are arranged to co-operate between the two containers when assembled in the intermediate nested relationship to determine the depth to which the upstanding side walls of the underlying container are received through the downwardly directed openings of the overlying container.

20. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and provided with downwardly and upwardly directed abutment surfaces on its side walls which are arranged so that when said two similar containers are in said nested or fully nested relationship downwardly directed abutment surfaces of the overlying container engage with upwardly directed abutment surfaces of the underlying container in an arrangement which determines the nested or fully nested relationship and alleviates the two containers from moving together into a relationship in which they become wedged together by engagement between their tapered side walls.

21. A container as claimed in either claim 19 or claim 20 in which the abutment surfaces are presented by recesses, ribs, struts, shoulders or stops on or in the side walls.

22. A container as claimed in claim 18 or in any one of claims 19 to 21 when appendant to claim 18 in which with the bases of the said two containers substantially horizontal, said second orientation is derived by rotating the overlying container about a substantially vertical axis relative to the underlying container and from said first orientation.

23. A container as claimed in claim 18 when appendant to claim 13 or in any one of claims 19 to 22 when appendant to claims 18 and 13 in which the second orientation is determined by rotating the overlying container through 1800 relative to the underlying container and from the first orientation.

24. A container substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 of the accompanying illustrative drawings.

25. A container as claimed in claim 24 and modified substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 6 and 7 of the accompanying illustrative drawings.