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US 12,649,405 B2Granted
Cylindrical semi-trailer
AssigneesTitan Trailers Inc., James Bult
InventorsMichael Kloepfer, James Bult, Andrew Joseph Maertens
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AssigneesTitan Trailers Inc., James Bult
InventorsMichael Kloepfer, James Bult, Andrew Joseph Maertens
Estimating the term…
A cylindrical cargo container is formed of longitudinal, extruded arcuate panels joined pairwise at abutting edges to form a cylindrical tube. The container is mountable on a separate wheeled chassis to form a semi-trailer or railcar, or a chassis integral with a truck. The container may be substantially smooth on inner and outer surfaces, to provide optimal aerodynamics and freedom of motion of cargo within the container. The panels may have inner and outer skins bridged by multiple webs. Such structure may provide protection from punctures to the outer or inner skins. The container is useful to transport waste including municipal or industrial waste, and may be part of a tipper trailer. The container, trailer, truck, or railcar may be used with a compactor for compacting the waste within the container.
An extruded panel for construction of a cylindrical cargo container, the extruded panel comprising an inner skin and an outer skin sandwiching a plurality of webs bridging a space between the inner skin and the outer skin, wherein a cross-section of the panel perpendicular to an extrusion axis of the panel has a curved shape wherein the panel describes an arc, the extruded panel further comprising a tongue provided at a first edge of the panel extending parallel to the extrusion axis and a groove at a second edge of the panel opposite the first edge and extending parallel to the extrusion axis, wherein the tongue and the groove are respectively sized and shaped to fittingly mate the tongue of a first instance of the extruded panel with the groove of a second instance of the extruded panel, and wherein a cross-section of the tongue in a plane perpendicular to the extrusion axis has a generally rectangular shape.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.