Container having multiple levels of slots to facilitate movement of dunnage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9731863-B2
Application number	US-201414539115-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2014
Priority date	Nov 21, 2013
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

A container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse has a body, slotted guides attached to opposite sides of the body, and a plurality of dunnage supports extending between the guides. Outer portions of the dunnage supports may have one or more narrowed or flattened portions which enable the dunnage supports to slide along the slots. Dunnage holding parts is suspended by the dunnage supports.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a bottom, a front, a rear and two sides;
two guides, each guide being spaced inwardly from one of the container sides by multiple spacers, each of the guides being secured to one of the container sides with fasteners extending through central bores in the spacers, each of the guides having multiple slots at different vertical levels;
movable dunnage supports extending between slots at the same vertical level, each of the dunnage supports having a narrowed portion at each end, the narrowed portions of each dunnage support being engaged with and slidable along the slots to facilitate movement of the dunnage supports; and
dunnage supported by the dunnage supports.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said dunnage comprises pouches.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein each of the dunnage supports is tubular.

4. The container of claim 1 wherein the container has at least one door.

5. The container of claim 1 wherein each of the spacers is cylindrical in shape.

6. The container of claim 1 wherein each of the guides comprises a single member.

7. The container of claim 1 wherein at least one of the guides comprises multiple pieces.

8. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a bottom and two side structures;
two guides, each of the guides being supported by one of the side structures, each of the guides comprising multiple slots at different vertical levels, each slot extending through one of the guides;
dunnage supports extending between and supported by the guides, at least some of the dunnage supports having flattened portions at opposed ends thereof, said flattened portions extending through and being slidable along the slots of the guides; and
dunnage supported by the dunnage supports.

9. The container of claim 8 wherein the dunnage comprises pouches.

10. The container of claim 8 wherein at least one of the guides is made of multiple pieces.

11. The container of claim 8 wherein at least one of the dunnage supports is a unitary member.

12. The container of claim 8 further comprising at least one spacer located between each of the guides and each side structure of the container.

13. A container for holding product therein during shipment, the container comprising:
a bottom and two opposed sides;
two guides, each of the guides being spaced inwardly from one of the opposed sides of the container by spacers, each of the guides comprising multiple parallel slots at different vertical levels and being secured to one of the sides with fasteners, one of the fasteners extending through a central bore of one of the spacers and each of the slots extending through one of the guides;
a plurality of dunnage supports extending between opposed slots at the same vertical level, each of the plurality of dunnage supports having flattened portions and end portions, each of the end portions residing inside a gap between one of the guides and one of the container sides, the flattened portions being slidable along the slots of the guides; and
dunnage suspended from the plurality of dunnage supports.

14. The container of claim 13 wherein said dunnage comprises pouches.

15. The container of claim 13 wherein each of the spacers is cylindrical in shape.

16. The container of claim 13 wherein each of the plurality of dunnage supports is tubular.

17. The container of claim 13 wherein at least one of the guides is made of multiple pieces.

18. The container of claim 13 wherein at least one of the dunnage supports is a unitary member.

19. The container of claim 13 wherein each of the plurality of dunnage supports is a unitary member.

20. The container of claim 19 wherein each of the spacers is cylindrical in shape.

Assignees

• Bradford Co

Inventors

• Bradford Judson A
• Bublitz Timothy A
• Bruinsma Eric S

Classifications

• 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

• B65D2519/00621

  sidewalls directly connected to each other · CPC title

• B65D2519/0097

  through corner posts · CPC title

• B65D19/06

  with bodies formed by uniting or interconnecting two or more components · CPC title

• B65D2519/0082

  in the side wall · CPC title