Shipping container fastener and method

An apparatus fastened to an ISO container and a supporting structure that transports the container, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a lock plate having at least one slot with a slot width, wherein the at least one slot is defined by a lock plate sidewall near a first lock plate end, wherein the lock plate has a gap with a gap width, which gap extends through the lock plate sidewall from the first lock plate end to the at least one slot;
• (b) a threaded shaft, having a shaft width, extended through the at least one slot, wherein the shaft has a head near one end with a head width that is greater than the slot width and the gap width, and wherein the gap width and the slot width are at least as large as the shaft width, thereby permitting movement of the shaft through the gap and into the at least one slot;
• and
• (c) an elongated nut disposed on the shaft and disposed in a corner casting of the container, the nut having a longitudinal axis oriented transverse to a longitudinal axis of an elongated aperture, having an aperture length that is greater than an aperture width, of the corner casting to resist removal of the nut from the corner casting.

A method of fastening an ISO container to a supporting structure, the method comprising:

• (a) aligning a longitudinal axis of an elongated nut, which is disposed on a shaft, substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of an elongated aperture of a corner casting on the ISO container;
• (b) extending the nut through the elongated aperture while maintaining the substantially parallel relationship;
• (c) rotating the nut, after the nut has passed through the elongated aperture, until the longitudinal axis of the nut is oriented transverse to the longitudinal axis of the elongated aperture to resist removal of the nut from the corner casting;
• (d) extending the shaft through a gap formed in a first end of a lock plate, and then continuing to extend the shaft into a slot formed near the first end and contiguous with the gap;
• and
• (e) attaching a second, opposite end of the lock plate to the supporting structure.