Container having movable support member assemblies for supporting dunnage and movable door

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9004307-B2
Application number	US-201213616635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Sep 14, 2012
Publication date	Apr 14, 2015
Grant date	Apr 14, 2015

Abstract

A container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse has a body, horizontal and vertical tracks attached to opposite sides of the body, and a plurality of support member assemblies extending between the tracks. Each support member assembly includes sliders or end members located at the ends of tubular supports, the sliders being movable in the tracks. The support member assemblies support dunnage for supporting products for storage or shipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a base and two side walls;
generally L-shaped stationary tracks secured to the side walls of the body, each of the generally L-shaped tracks having a substantially horizontally oriented portion and a substantially vertically oriented portion extending towards the base from one end of the substantially horizontally oriented portion;
a front frame having two side posts, each side post having multiple slots;
a movable door having pins movable in the slots of the front frame, the door being movable between a raised and locked position and a dropped position;
a plurality of movable support member assemblies generally inside the container, each of the support member assemblies comprising a pair of sliders slidable along the tracks and a support extending between the sliders; and
dunnage supported by the support member assemblies.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein at least one of the slots of each side post has a curved upper portion.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein the dunnage comprises pouches.

4. The container of claim 1 wherein the front frame is secured to the base and side walls of the container.

5. The container of claim 3 wherein the pouches are connected.

6. The container of claim 1 wherein each of the sliders has a pair of heads, one of the heads being inside the track and the other head being outside the track.

7. The container of claim 1 wherein each side post of the front frame has at least one candy-cane shaped slot.

8. The container of claim 1 wherein the support is a tube.

9. The container of claim 1 wherein the container has an opening above the movable door when the movable door is in its dropped position thereby enabling movement of products through the opening.

10. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a base and at least two walls extending upwardly from the base;
tracks secured to opposed walls of the container, each of the tracks comprising a generally horizontally oriented portion and a generally vertically oriented portion, said generally vertically oriented portion extending towards the base from the substantially horizontally oriented portion;
a movable door movable between a raised and locked position and a dropped position;
at least one stop secured to the door;
support member assemblies supported by the tracks and extending therebetween, each of the support member assemblies comprising a pair of end members engaged with and movable along the tracks and a support extending between and connected to the end members; and
dunnage supported by the support member assemblies wherein the at least one stop prevents the support member assemblies from moving into the generally vertically oriented portions of the tracks from the generally horizontally oriented portions of the tracks when the movable door is in its raised and locked position.

11. The container of claim 10 wherein the container has an opening above the door when the door is in the dropped position thereby enabling movement of products through the opening.

12. The container of claim 10 wherein the container has multiple stops secured to the door.

13. The container of claim 10 wherein the dunnage comprises pouches.

14. The container of claim 13 wherein the pouches are connected.

15. The container of claim 10 wherein each of the tracks has a rounded corner.

16. The container of claim 10 wherein each of the tracks comprises multiple pieces.

17. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a body having a base;
at least one movable door, each door being movable between a raised and locked position and a dropped position;
stationary tracks supported by the body, each of the tracks comprising a generally horizontally oriented portion and at least one generally vertically oriented portion extending downwardly towards the base from one end of the generally horizontally oriented portion and terminating proximate the base; and
a plurality of movable support member assemblies engaged with the tracks, each of the support member assemblies comprising a tubular support extending between two sliders engaged with the tracks, the sliders being adapted to move in the tracks; and
dunnage suspended by the support member assemblies.

18. The container of claim 17 wherein the dunnage comprises pouches hanging from the support member assemblies.

19. The container of claim 17 wherein at least some of the tracks have openings for removal of at least some of the support member assemblies.

20. The container of claim 17 wherein each door is a slidable door.

21. The container of claim 17 wherein one of the support member assemblies may extend between the generally horizontally oriented portions of the tracks and an adjacent support member assembly may extend between the generally vertically oriented portions of the tracks to facilitate movement of products through an opening when the door is in its dropped position.

22. The container of claim 17 wherein each door has multiple segments, each of the segments being vertically movable.

23. The container of claim 17 wherein each of the tracks has a rounded corner.

24. The container of claim 17 wherein each of the tracks comprises multiple pieces.

25. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a body having a base;
a door movable between a raised and locked position and a dropped position;
stationary tracks supported by the body, each of the tracks comprising a generally horizontally oriented portion and at least one generally vertically oriented portion extending downwardly towards the base from one end of the generally horizontally oriented portion and terminating proximate the base; and
a plurality of movable support member assemblies engaged with the tracks, each of the support member assemblies comprising a tubular support extending between sliders, the sliders being adapted to move in the tracks; and
pouches suspended by the support member assemblies wherein one of the support member assemblies supporting one of the pouches may extend between the generally horizontally oriented portions of the tracks and an adjacent support member assembly supporting the pouch may extend between the generally vertically oriented portions of the tracks to facilitate movement of products through an opening above the door when the door is in its dropped position.

26. The container of claim 25 further comprising a front frame secured to the body of the container.

27. The container of claim 26 wherein the door is located outside a stationary shield when the door is in its dropped position.

28. The container of claim 26 wherein the front frame has two side posts, each side post having multiple slots and the door having pins movable in the slots of the front frame.

Assignees

• Bradford Judson A
• Burns Allen L
• Sanger Matthew S
• Dobrinski Brian T
• Bradford Co

Inventors

• Bradford Judson A
• Burns Allen L
• Sanger Matthew S
• Dobrinski Brian T

Classifications

• B65D25/04 Primary

  Partitions · CPC title

• B65D25/005 Primary

  Side walls formed with an aperture or a movable portion arranged to allow removal or insertion of contents (B65D5/16, B65D7/40 take precedence) · CPC title

• B65D88/546 Primary

  Devices for loading or unloading and forming part of the container, e.g. rollers, conveyors (loading or unloading vehicles B65G67/20) · CPC title

• B65D88/10

  parallelepipedic (B65D88/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65D2585/6887

  body parts, e.g. doors, body panels · CPC title