Thermal Insulation of Shipping Containers
AssigneeTrans Ocean Liquid Technologies (Pty) Ltd
InventorsAlec McAndrew, Imraan Bowers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liner (22) for a shipping container is disclosed which includes a roof panel (28), an end panel (30) and side wall panels (26). Cords (24) are attached to the liner in the viscinity of the end wall panel (30) and extend through loops along the top edges of the wall panels (26). Hooks, carried by the parts of the cords (24) between the loops, are provided for attaching the cords to sets of lashing points of the shipping container. The cords can be anchored and then tensioned, in a temporary manner, to pull the top edges of the side wall panels (26) towards the lashing points to facilitate cargo loading. When the cords (24) are permitted to become slack, the roof panel (28) drops down onto the loaded cargo.
Claims16
A liner for a shipping container, the liner comprising;
- a roof panel;
- two side wall panels extending downward from the roof panel;
- an end wall panel;
- cords anchored to the liner adjacent said end wall panel;
- loops at intervals along the length of the liner in proximity to the zones where the side wall panels intersect the roof panel, said cords passing through said loops;
- hooks on said cords and attachable to lashing points along the container close to the intersection between its sidewalls and its roof;
- and
- means for temporarily tensioning the cords to pull the top edges of the sidewall panels up towards the lashing points.
A liner as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said means for temporarily tensioning the cords comprises an element to which the end of the cord is tied, and a guideway through which a part of said cord remote from said end passes.
A liner as claimed in any preceding claim and including a flap which closes the end of the liner, there being a sliding clasp fastener for securing the edges of the flap to the remainder of the liner, the sliding clasp fastener including two sliding clasps which can be secured together to prevent opening of the container.
A method of heat insulating a shipping container which comprises;
- providing a liner having a roof panel, an end wall panel and two side wall panels with cords extending from the vicinity of the end wall panel along the liner through loops provided where the roof panel joins the side wall panels;
- attaching the cords to sets of lashing points provided where the roof of the shipping container joins its side walls;
- temporarily anchoring and tensioning said cords to pull the top edges of the side wall panels up towards the lashing points;
- loading cargo into the liner;
- and
- slackening the cords so that the roof panel of the liner drops down into the cargo.
A jacket for minimising heat loss from a shipping container, the jacket comprising a roof panel, two elongate side wall panels extending downward from the roof panel, an end wall panel spanning between said side wall panels at one end thereof, and a second end wall panel configured to provide access to the inside of the shipping container, the jacket being sized so that it can fit over the shipping container with the side wall panels extending downward adjacent to the outside surfaces of the elongate side walls of the shipping container, the end wall panels extending down adjacent to the outside surfaces of end walls of the shipping container and the roof panel of the jacket extending across the roof of the container, there being means for ensuring that there is an air gap between the jacket and the container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.