Private pallet-box cargo shipping system

• US 20030123965A1
• Filed: 12/27/2002
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VerdaSee Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Private Pallet Security Systems LLC
• Inventors: Dulin, Jacques M., Kossnar, Dennis J., Brackmann, Rogers F., Brackmann, Jay R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,011,214 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 414/467
• CPC Class Codes: B60P 3/03 for transporting money or other valuables
• CPC Class Codes: B60P 3/14 the object being a workshop for servicing, for maintenance, or for carrying workmen during work lifting devices for movable platforms or cabins for workmen B66F11/04

Abstract

A cargo transportation system comprising secure (fully closeable and lockable), sealable, stackable, trackable, universal, auto-latching “pallet boxes” that may be used in two main ways: 1) secured to the undercarriage transverse I-beams of over-the-road semi-trailers by means of loading alignment and hanger assemblies that provide positive locking-in-place; and 2) stackable, up to three or more high, inside the trailer bodies. The inventive pallet boxes are designed to be secured by auto-latching hanger assemblies that are retrofittable on individual types of semi-trailer undercarriages, both US and metric (European, Central and South American, and Asian) standard dimensions. The pallet boxes include vertical sidewall load-bearing channel members permitting stacking fully-loaded pallet boxes three or more high. The pallet boxes may be refrigerated, insulated, or atmospherically controlled, e.g., chargeable with preservative, security or disinfecting gases, during shipping.

Claims

1. A container for shipment and warehousing of goods, documentary materials and agricultural products comprising in operative combination:

a) a unitary bin having two pairs of opposed, spaced generally planar side walls and a bottom;

b) said bottom including feet providing four-way forklift access thereunder;

c) a generally planar, openable lid including a margin having a lip for engaging said walls;

d) an external structural skeleton of load bearing members extending across said lid, down at least one pair of opposed vertical side walls and across said bottom;

e) said external skeleton side wall members including hanger engaging members for carrying the loaded weight of said bin;

f) said top portion of said structural skeleton include retaining members for engaging cooperatingly aligned receiving elements on at least one vertical side member of said structural skeleton;

g) said structural skeleton members that extend vertically down said sides and under said bottom provide a continuous sling structure for carrying the suspended weight of said bin; and

h) said bin and external structural skeleton are adapted for stackability and with load-carrying members for substantially quick release support and retention to the undercarriage I-beams of a truck trailer for under-slung transport.

2. Container as in claim 1 wherein said lid and said top structural members include hinges on one side.

3. Container as in claim 2 wherein said bin is constructed of high strength material.

4. Container as in claim 3 wherein said external structural skeleton vertical side members are generally channel-shaped in cross section, and said quick release members include a generally horizontal pin spanning the walls of said channel.

5. Container as in claim 4 wherein at least one of said retaining members includes a hole and said receiving element is a locking pin.

6. Container as in claim 1 wherein at least one gases input/exhaust port is provided in at least one of said walls, said lid and said bottom, and said container walls or lid includes a hermetic sealing element so that container can be at least partly evacuated or pressurized with a special, selected gas atmosphere.

7. Container as in claim 1 wherein at least one side wall of said bin includes at least a partial door for easy access to the interior of said bin and said lid includes recesses to receive the feet of a bin stacked thereon.

8. Container as in claim 1 wherein said bin walls and floor are integral.

9. Container as in claim 8 wherein said bin is constructed of high strength polymeric material, and said external structural members are steel.

10. Container as in claim 1 which includes at least one of a unique identification element and a location tracking device.

11. Alignment and hanger assembly for underslung transport of containers by truck trailers comprising in operative combination:

a) a pair of spaced vertically orientable guide panels having horizontal flanges for engaging selected bottom flanges of I-beams of a trailer undercarriage;

b) at least one cross-brace joining said guide in preselected spaced relationship, said cross brace providing a stop for said container during positioning under said truck undercarriage;

c) at least one clamp member for each of said guide panels to secure said guide panel to a selected trailer undercarriage I-beam inboard of a side of said trailer body;

d) a pair of spaced, vertically orientable support panels securable to said guide panels clamps and extending outwardly short of said trailer body side;

e) at least one clamp member for each of said support panels to secure said support panel to a selected trailer undercarriage I-beam adjacent said trailer body side; and

f) at least one hanger member for releasably engaging and retaining the loaded weight of a container slung under said trailer undercarriage during transport.

12. Underslung container transport assembly as in claim 11 wherein each said support panels includes at least one J-hook for engaging load-carrying pins on a container.

13. Underslung container transport assembly as in claim 12 wherein said J-hook includes an actuating rod having an accessable locking lever at an outboard end thereof, and said actuating rod is journaled to said support panel and includes a biasing spring to bias said J-hook in a locked position.

14. Underslung container transport assembly as in claim 13 wherein each said guide panel includes a lower portion extending downwardly below the lower margin of said support panel, said lower portion includes a flared flange on the outboard end thereof to assist in orienting and guiding a container into proper position therebetween for engagement with said hanger members.

15. Underslung container transport assembly as in claim 14 which includes at least one vertical backing plate secured to said cross brace and a clamp member for securing said backing plate to an I-beam of said trailer undercarriage intermediate of said guide panel I-beams.

16. Method of increasing the carrying capacity of truck trailers comprising the steps of:

a) mounting a load carrying, substantially quick-release support and retention assembly to the undercarriage I-beams of a truck trailer;

b) providing a plurality of universal, self-contained containers having load-carrying structural elements for matingly engaging said quick-release attachment assembly;

c) loading said containers under the undercarriage of said trailers by engaging the load-carrying elements thereof to said support assembly; and

d) transporting said containers in an underslung mode under the trailer undercarriage.

17. Method as in claim 16 wherein said containers are stackable, and sized both for said underslung transport mode and for transport stacked in the interior of said trailer body.

18. Method as in claim 17 wherein said containers are integrated and lockable for reduced tampering and theft during warehousing and transport activities.

19. Method as in claim 18 which includes the step of charging said containers with a gas selected from a product enhancing gas, a security gas and a disinfecting gas.

20. Method as in claim 19 wherein said containers include at least one of identification elements and location tracking devices.