Private pallet-box cargo shipping system
First Claim
1. Alignment and hanger assembly for underslung transport of containers by truck trailers comprising in operative combination:
- i) a pair of spaced vertically orientable guide panels having horizontal flanges for engaging selected bottom flanges of I-beams of a wailer undercarriage;
j) at least one cross-brace joining said guide panels in preselected spaced relationship, said cross brace providing a stop for said container during positioning under said truck undercarriage;
k) 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;
l) a pair of spaced, vertically orientable support panels securable to said selected bottom flanges of I-beams of a trailer undercarriage outboard of said guide panels clamps and extending outwardly short of said trailer body side;
m) 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
n) at least one hanger member associated with said support panel for releasably engaging and retaining the loaded weight of a container slung under said trailer undercarriage during 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.
41 Citations
10 Claims
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1. Alignment and hanger assembly for underslung transport of containers by truck trailers comprising in operative combination:
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i) a pair of spaced vertically orientable guide panels having horizontal flanges for engaging selected bottom flanges of I-beams of a wailer undercarriage; j) at least one cross-brace joining said guide panels in preselected spaced relationship, said cross brace providing a stop for said container during positioning under said truck undercarriage; k) 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; l) a pair of spaced, vertically orientable support panels securable to said selected bottom flanges of I-beams of a trailer undercarriage outboard of said guide panels clamps and extending outwardly short of said trailer body side; m) 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 n) at least one hanger member associated with said support panel for releasably engaging and retaining the loaded weight of a container slung under said trailer undercarriage during transport. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. 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, container engagement, support and retention assembly to the undercarriage I-beams of a truck trailer to provide a container docking space extending from an outboard side of said trailer to about a centerline of said trailer; b) providing a plurality of universal, self-contained containers having load-carrying structural elements in at least two opposed sidewalls thereof for auto-latchingly, matingly engaging said quick-release container support assembly, the depth of said container being selected to be less than half the width of the trailer to permit retaining said containers in said docking space to one or the other side of said trailer undercarriage centerline; c) loading said containers under the undercarriage of said trailers by engaging the load-carrying elements thereof to said container support assembly; and d) transporting said containers in an underslung mode. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification