Private pallet-box cargo shipping system
First Claim
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.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A container for shipment and warehousing of goods, documentary materials and agricultural products comprising in operative combination:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Alignment and hanger assembly for underslung transport of containers by truck trailers comprising in operative combination:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Method of increasing the carrying capacity of truck trailers comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification