Cargo container

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11040825-B2
Application number	US-201916386829-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2019
Priority date	Apr 17, 2019
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a container, including: a floor; a plurality of vertical walls coupled to the floor; a ceiling coupled to the plurality of vertical walls; a first horizontal gate coupled to a first vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a first plurality of foldable portions; a second horizontal gate coupled to a second vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a second plurality of foldable portions; a third horizontal gate coupled to a third vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a third plurality of foldable portions; and a first vertical gate coupled to the ceiling and comprising a fourth plurality of foldable portions, wherein, when extended, the first horizontal gate, the second horizontal gate, the third horizontal gate, and the first vertical gate form a plurality of separate cargo volumes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A container, comprising:
a floor;
a plurality of vertical walls attached to the floor;
a ceiling attached to the plurality of vertical walls;
a first horizontal gate attached to a first vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a first plurality of foldable portions;
a second horizontal gate attached to a second vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a second plurality of foldable portions;
a third horizontal gate attached to a third vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls and comprising a third plurality of foldable portions; and
a first vertical gate attached to the ceiling and comprising a fourth plurality of foldable portions,
wherein, when extended, the first horizontal gate, the second horizontal gate, the third horizontal gate, and the first vertical gate form a plurality of separate cargo volumes.

2. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
the first horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor,
the second horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor,
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor, and
the first vertical gate is configured to latch to the floor.

3. The container of claim 2 , wherein:
the first horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling,
the second horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling, and
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling.

4. The container of claim 3 , wherein the second horizontal gate is configured to latch to the first horizontal gate.

5. The container of claim 4 , wherein:
the second horizontal gate comprises a horizontal gate extension attached to the second horizontal gate by one or more horizontal extension hinges,
the horizontal gate extension is configured to latch to the floor, and
the horizontal gate extension is configured to latch to the ceiling.

6. The container of claim 5 , wherein:
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the first horizontal gate, and
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the horizontal gate extension.

7. The container of claim 6 , wherein, when latched together, the first horizontal gate, the second horizontal gate, and the third horizontal gate form a support column in the container.

8. The container of claim 7 , wherein the first vertical gate is configured to latch to the third horizontal gate.

9. The container of claim 1 , wherein the floor comprises a plurality of pallet jack guide channels.

10. The container of claim 9 , wherein:
a first pair of pallet jack guide channels of the plurality of pallet jack guide channels is configured to guide a pallet jack to a first cargo area,
a second pair of pallet jack guide channels of the plurality of pallet jack guide channels is configured to guide the pallet jack to a second cargo area,
a third pair of pallet jack guide channels of the plurality of pallet jack guide channels is configured to guide the pallet jack to a third cargo area, and
a fourth pair of pallet jack guide channels of the plurality of pallet jack guide channels is configured to guide the pallet jack to a fourth cargo area.

11. The container of claim 1 , wherein the floor comprises a plurality of pallet recesses.

12. The container of claim 11 , wherein:
a first set of pallet recesses of the plurality of pallet recesses reside in a first cargo area in a first pallet orientation direction,
a second set of pallet recesses of the plurality of pallet recesses reside in a second cargo area in a second pallet orientation direction,
a third set of pallet recesses of the plurality of pallet recesses reside in a third cargo area in the first pallet orientation direction, and
a fourth set of pallet recesses of the plurality of pallet recesses reside in a fourth cargo area in the second pallet orientation direction.

13. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
the first horizontal gate is attached to the first vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls by a first hinge attached to a first vertical post attached to the first vertical wall,
the second horizontal gate is attached to the second vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls by a second hinge attached to a second vertical post attached to the second vertical wall, and
the third horizontal gate is attached to the third vertical wall of the plurality of vertical walls by a third hinge attached to a third vertical post attached to the third vertical wall.

14. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of the first plurality of foldable portions in the first horizontal gate comprises a first truss structure,
at least one of the second plurality of foldable portions in the second horizontal gate comprises a second truss structure, and
at least one of the third plurality of foldable portions in the third horizontal gate comprises a third truss structure.

15. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of the first plurality of foldable portions in the first horizontal gate comprises a first diagonal support structure,
at least one of the second plurality of foldable portions in the second horizontal gate comprises a second diagonal support structure, and
at least one of the third plurality of foldable portions in the third horizontal gate comprises a third diagonal support structure.

16. The container of claim 2 , wherein:
the first horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor by one or more floor latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of a plurality of floor latches attached to the floor,
the second horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor by one or more floor latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of the plurality of floor latches attached to the floor,
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the floor by one or more floor latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of the plurality of floor latches attached to the floor, and
the first vertical gate is configured to latch to the floor by one or more floor latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of a plurality of floor latches attached to the floor.

17. The container of claim 2 , wherein:
the first horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling by one or more ceiling latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of a plurality of ceiling latches attached to the ceiling,
the second horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling by one or more ceiling latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of the plurality of ceiling latches attached to the ceiling, and
the third horizontal gate is configured to latch to the ceiling by one or more ceiling latch catches configured to enable latching by one or more of the plurality of ceiling latches attached to the ceiling.

18. The container of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first loading door having a first length; and
a second loading door having a second length, different from the first length.

19. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
the first plurality of foldable portions comprises three foldable portions,
the second plurality of foldable portions comprises three foldable portions, and
the third plurality of foldable portions comprises three foldable portions.

20. The container of claim 1 , wherein:
the container has a length of approximately 8 feet,
the container has a width of approximately 8 feet, and
the container has a height of approximately 8 feet.

21.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Grip Robert Erik

Classifications

• B65D88/14

  by air · CPC title

• B65D90/0066 Primary

  Partition walls · CPC title

• B65D88/12

  specially adapted for transport (associated with vehicles, see the relevant subclasses of B60 - B64) · CPC title

• B65D90/008

  Doors for containers, e.g. ISO-containers (locking E05B83/12) · CPC title

• B65D88/54

  characterised by means facilitating filling or emptying · CPC title