Modular insulated intermodal container construction
First Claim
1. An insulated intermodal shipping container primarily constructed of reinforced plastic composite material, said container comprisinga frame including a pair of upper longitudinal members, a pair of lower longitudinal members parallel to said upper longitudinal members, a plurality of lateral members including stacking posts extending vertically between said upper and lower longitudinal members, each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being a hollow pultrusion, an insulating material in the interior of at least some of said pultrusions, and a plurality of lock receiving fittings each positioned at the intersection of one of said longitudinal members and one of said stacking posts,a plurality of walls, each of said walls including a plurality of panels adjoining one another in series relation, each of said panels including a hollow integrally formed panel member, said panel member being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and said panel member including a pair of spaced apart sheet members, and a pair of spaced apart webs interconnecting said sheet members, and insulating material in the interior of said panel member, andmeans for attaching said walls to said frame.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A modular insulated intermodal freight container or other vehicle body constructed primarily of lightweight non-metallic composite material. The container includes a frame constructed substantially of pultruded composite frame components, and modular panels including pultruded composite panel members that are adhesively bonded together to form top, bottom and side walls. The walls are adhesively bonded to the frame to provide a substantially fastenerless container construction having light weight and good thermal and structural properties.
107 Citations
10 Claims
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1. An insulated intermodal shipping container primarily constructed of reinforced plastic composite material, said container comprising
a frame including a pair of upper longitudinal members, a pair of lower longitudinal members parallel to said upper longitudinal members, a plurality of lateral members including stacking posts extending vertically between said upper and lower longitudinal members, each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being a hollow pultrusion, an insulating material in the interior of at least some of said pultrusions, and a plurality of lock receiving fittings each positioned at the intersection of one of said longitudinal members and one of said stacking posts, a plurality of walls, each of said walls including a plurality of panels adjoining one another in series relation, each of said panels including a hollow integrally formed panel member, said panel member being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and said panel member including a pair of spaced apart sheet members, and a pair of spaced apart webs interconnecting said sheet members, and insulating material in the interior of said panel member, and means for attaching said walls to said frame.
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2. An insulated intermodal shipping container primarily constructed of reinforced plastic composite material, said container comprising
a frame including a pair of upper longitudinal members, a pair of lower longitudinal members parallel to said upper longitudinal members, a plurality of lateral members including stacking posts extending vertically between said upper and lower longitudinal members, each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, a plurality of lock receiving fittings each positioned at the intersection of one of said longitudinal members and one of said stacking posts, and a metal door frame, a plurality of walls including a top wall and opposite side walls, each of said walls including a plurality of panels adjoining one another in series relation, each of said panels including a hollow integrally formed panel member, said panel member being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and said panel member including a pair of spaced apart sheet members, and a pair of spaced apart webs interconnecting said sheet members, and insulating material in the interior of said panel member, and wherein each of said top and side walls includes non-thermally conductive means associated therewith for tying said door frame thereto, each of said non-thermally conductive means for tying including an interfacing member interfitting with the rearmost panel of the associated one of said top and side walls, and being adhesively bonded thereto, and said interfacing member overlapping said metal door frame along an interior surface thereof, and means for attaching said walls to said frame.
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3. An insulated intermodal shipping container primarily constructed of reinforced plastic composite material, said container comprising
a frame including a pair of upper longitudinal members, a pair of lower longitudinal members parallel to said upper longitudinal members, a plurality of lateral members including stacking posts extending vertically between said upper and lower longitudinal members, each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and a plurality of lock receiving fittings each positioned at the intersection of one of said longitudinal members and one of said stacking posts, a plurality of walls, each of said walls including a plurality of panels abutting one another in end-to-end series relation, each of said panels including a hollow integrally formed panel member, said panel member being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, and said panel member including a pair of spaced apart sheet members, and a pair of spaced apart webs interconnecting said sheet members, and insulating material in the interior of said panel member, and each of said walls including planar interior and exterior surfaces, each of said sheet members of said panel members of one of said walls forming a portion of one of said interior and exterior surfaces thereof, a wall thickness defined between said interior and exterior surfaces, and means confined between said interior and exterior surfaces for bonding together abutting ones of said panels such that the wall thickness is not increased by said means for bonding together abutting ones of said panels, and means for attaching said walls to said frame.
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10. An insulated intermodal shipping container primarily constructed of reinforced plastic composite material, said container comprising
a frame including a pair of upper longitudinal members, a pair of lower longitudinal members parallel to said upper longitudinal members, a plurality of lateral members including stacking posts extending vertically between said upper and lower longitudinal members, each of said longitudinal members and said lateral members being a pultrusion and including an associated longitudinal pultrusion axis, and a plurality of lock receiving fittings each positioned at the intersection of one of said longitudinal members and one of said stacking posts, a plurality of walls, each of said walls including a plurality of panels adjoining one another in series relation, each of said panels including a hollow integrally formed panel member, said panel member of each of said panels being a pultrusion including an associated longitudinal pultrusion axis, and said panel member of each of said panels including a pair of spaced apart sheet members, and a pair of spaced apart webs interconnecting said sheet members, and each of said panels including an insulating material in the interior of said panel member thereof, each of said longitudinal members, said lateral members and said panel members being made of a reinforced plastic composite material, wherein said reinforced plastic composite material of which each respective one of said longitudinal members, said lateral members, and said panel members is made includes means for restricting thermal flux across the respective one of said members in a direction transverse to said longitudinal pultrusion axis thereof, said means for restricting thermal flux across each respective one of said members including a filamentary material dispersed throughout the cross section of said respective member, said filamentary material being oriented predominantly in a direction parallel to said longitudinal axis thereof, and means for attaching said walls to said frame.
Specification