Shipping container construction fastening system
OwnerEvan Glickmaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bracket system creates a cost-effective way to build large clear spans in shipping container structures. The system efficiently joins four shipping containers along the longitudinal corner edges, with the containers set adjacent one another, to create a compound beam made by combining or coupling both top rails of the two lower containers and bottom rails of the top containers. A single T-bracket mounts onto pre-installed angle brackets on the raised containers, and a fastener is set through the lower plate to the T-bar joining the lower containers. The bracket system may be iterative and used to combine multiple pairs, or single, containers on top of or beside the initial set.
Claims21
A system for joining a first base container, a second base container, and a third raised container and fourth raised upper container, wherein each of the first second and third containers contain structural longitudinal bars;
- said system comprising:
- a. the first base container having a first upper longitudinal bar, the second base container having a second upper longitudinal bar, said first base container positioned adjacent the second base container to position the first upper longitudinal bar along the second upper longitudinal bar;
- b. the third raised container having a third lower longitudinal bar, said third raised container positioned over the first base container to position the third lower longitudinal bar along the first upper longitudinal bar;
- and
- c. a unitary body fastener coupled to the first upper longitudinal bar, the second upper longitudinal bar, and the third lower longitudinal bar.
A fastening system for joining four adjacent containers, two raised containers positioned above two base containers, wherein each of the containers comprises an adjacent longitudinal bar along the relative shared corner, said system comprising:
- a. a first T-bracket comprising a horizontal cap plate and a vertical spine plate;
- b. a first extending plate fastened to a first lower longitudinal bar of at least a first raised container;
- c. at least a first portion of the horizontal cap plate positioned over the first extending plate, said horizontal cap plate coupled to said first extending plate via a first fastener;
- d. a second fastener coupling said spine plate to both of the two base containers.
A method for fastening stacked adjacent containers with a first and second base container set along a ground surface with longitudinal sides set adjacent one another and a third raised container positioned on top of at least one of the base containers, the base containers each having upper longitudinal bars in parallel one another, the upper longitudinal bars positioned adjacent or near adjacent one another, and the third raised container including a lower longitudinal bar positioned above and parallel at least one of the upper longitudinal bars, said method comprising the steps of:
- a. positioning a T-bracket so that at least a first portion of a cap plate of the T-bracket is above and adjacent an extending plate extending horizontally from the lower longitudinal bar;
- b. positioning a spine plate of the T-bracket between and adjacent the two upper longitudinal bars;
- c. fastening the spine plate to the two upper longitudinal bars by setting a fastener through the upper longitudinal bars and the spine plate;
- and
- d. further fastening the cap plate to the extending plate via a second fastener from above the two base containers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.