US-12617581-B2 - System using clips for joining container sleeves

US12617581B2US 12617581 B2US12617581 B2US 12617581B2US-12617581-B2

Abstract

An increased volume palletized container comprising upper and lower foldable, four walled sleeves which are joined to one another in a substantially edge to edge stacked relationship using molded plastic clips some of which receive and can be locked to a notched adjacent mating edge of the stacked sleeves to join the sleeves together in a gapless fashion. At least some clips have an H configuration with a center rib that separates and prevents direct contact between the adjacent edges of the two sleeves.

Inventors

Jeffrey C. Jurcak
Kevin T. Smith
Nenad Ilijeski

Assignees

SHUERT TECHNOLOGY, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240607

Claims (3)

1 . A large capacity container for use with a pallet base comprising first and second foldable four walled sleeves each having top and bottom edges, and a plurality of molded plastic clips joining a top edge of a lowermost of the sleeves to the bottom edge an uppermost sleeve; wherein said clips have an H configuration with upper and lower volumes defined by two parallels outer walls and an integral center rib wherein the upper volume of the H configuration receives an edge portion of one sleeve and the lower volume of the H configuration receives an adjacent edge portion of the other sleeve, and said center rib lies contactingly between the two edge portions.
2 . The container described in claim 1 wherein said some of the clips have an interior tab formed integrally with one of the wall portions and extending partially toward the other parallel wall portion and a sleeve wall has a slot formed therein in an area designed to receive a clip such that a tab in the clip wall fits into the slot in the sleeve wall.
3 . A container as described in claim 1 wherein said clips join the side panels of container sleeves together essentially edge to edge and comprise a body having integral upper and lower walled and open-ended volumes separated by and interior rib wherein the upper volume is tapered from an open top of larger dimension to the interior rib to assume a cup shape whereas the lower volume is of constant cross-sectional size and shape.

Description

INTRODUCTION In our U.S. Pat. No. 11,542,061 issued Jan. 3, 2023 we show a shipping container for bulk goods comprising the combination of a four-walled accordion-foldable composite sleeve that can be joined to a molded plastic pallet wherein the sleeve is joined to the pallet by means molded plastic clips the edges of which fit into a groove in the pallet base and, where used, a molded plastic cover. U.S. application Ser. No. 18/665,610 filed May 16, 2024 shows how such a sleeve may be joined to pallets which have no sleeve-edge-receiving groove by the use of an adapter which can also be used as a cover to provide the advantage of allowing two fully assembled containers to be stacked one atop the other. In this document we show how sleeves usable in creating palletized containers can be joined edge to edge one on top of the other to increase the size and load capacity of the resulting container wherein clips of various designs are used on the sleeve edges to join the sleeves together and to join the lower sleeve to a pallet base. This sleeve stacking or joining technology may be used with grooved base pallets in accordance with our aforementioned patent as well as with ungrooved pallets requiring the use of the aforesaid adaptor as described in our above identified application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The various features, advantages and other uses of the present apparatus will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description and drawing in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an increased volume container structure wherein two sleeves are designed to be joined together in stacked relationship and an adaptor is used to join the lower of the two sleeves to a pallet base; FIG. 2 is a close up of portions of the edges of the two sleeves of FIG. 1 showing the manner in which the sleeves are joined using clips of various designs; FIG. 3 is a perspective view looking down at one of the clips on the lower sleeve of the combination shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the joinder of upper and lower sleeves by means of one of the clips shown in the previous figures; FIG. 5 is a partial view of a clip joining two sleeves; FIG. 6 is a view of the bottom edge of a sleeve front panel; FIG. 7 is a view of a bottom edge of a sleeve side panel; FIG. 8 is a view of a top edge of a sleeve front panel; and FIG. 9 is a view of a top edge of a sleeve side panel. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE REPRESENTATIVE EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown in exploded form the stacked/stackable combination of two identical accordion-foldable, composite four walled sleeves 10 and 12 wherein the lower sleeve is configured and equipped to be joined to a base pallet 14 of molded plastic construction as described in our aforesaid provisional application; i.e. the lower sleeve 12 is joinable to the molded plastic pallet 14 by way of an adaptor 16 which, when inverted, also serves as a cover 18 for the top most sleeve 10. Where the pallet base is grooved to receive the bottom edge of the lower sleeve, the adapter 16 is not needed but the cover 18 may still be required. Each sleeve 10, 12 has an internal fold hinge 15 in the center of a side panel as well as corner hinges so a sleeve may be folded flat accordion style for storage or return shipping. As best illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 6-9, the upper and lower edges of each of the sleeves 10 and 12 are configured with a pattern of notches and tabs to receive clips 20, 21 and 24 having different functions. Clips 20 and 21 are designed to join the sleeves 10 and 12 together and to “lock” onto at least one of the sleeves by way of a tab and slot combination as hereinafter described. Clips 20 are attached to the lower sleeve 12 as shown in FIG. 2 and are configured with a flared top to receive the slotted tab 19 on the bottom edge of the upper sleeve 10 whereas clip 21 is joined to the bottom edge of the upper sleeve 10 by means of a tab/slot combination. The clip 20 is again shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to have an H shaped cross section with upper and lower spaces to receive upper and lower sleeve edges portions as well as a central rib 23 that the sleeve edges contact when fully inserted into the clip. In that regard, the entire lengths of the mating sleeve edges do not come into direct contact with one another. Rather, a large portion of the edge length has clip material between the mating edges to prevent exteriorization of the sleeve edges by rubbing contact. Int the examples shown, only edge portions near the corners of the sleeves come into direct contact with one another. However, the use of notches in the sleeve walls at the clip mounting locations prevents the formation of gaps between the sleeve edges at the mid-point mating area. The clips 21 are joined to the upper sleeve 10 by way of a tab and slot combination 32 simply by placing the clip on the top edge of the lower sleeve 12. The top half of the H shaped combination receives