Crate
AssigneeTeknol Holdings, Inc.
InventorMichael J. Warwick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A crate has a thin-walled body defining a cavity for receiving a plurality of containers and a base on which the containers can be supported. The crate also has a crate insert located wholly or substantially wholly in the cavity of the body. The insert provides a spacer arrangement suitably above the floor of the body for separating containers in the crate from one another in normal use. The crate insert has load-bearing pillars for forming part of a composite load bearing pillar construction with pillars of lower and higher crates of a substantially identical construction when the crate is located in a stack of crates. The insert may be secured to the crate body by locating formalities.
Claims17
A crate having a body defining a cavity for receiving a plurality of containers and including a base defining a floor on which the containers can be supported and a plurality of support platforms spaced above and connected to the floor so as to define downwardly opening recesses;
- the crate also including a removable crate insert located wholly or substantially wholly in the cavity of the body and providing a spacer arrangement suitably above the floor of the body for separating containers in the crate from one another in normal use, the crate insert having a plurality of load-bearing pillars which rest on and extend upwardly from upper surfaces of the support platforms for the entire or substantially the entire height of the body, the load-bearing pillars and the body being configured such that when the crate is located in a stack of such crates, the upper ends of the load-bearing pillars of a subjacent crate are received in said downwardly opening recesses and abut the lower surfaces of the support platforms so as to form a composite load-bearing pillar construction in which the load-bearing pillars of the crates in the stack are longitudinally aligned.
A crate body having a body defining a cavity for receiving a plurality of containers and including a base defining a floor on which the containers can be supported, and a peripheral wall structure extending upwardly from the base;
- the crate also including a removable crate inset located wholly or substantially wholly in the cavity of the body and providing a spacer arrangement suitably above the floor of the body for separating containers in the crate from one another in normal use, the crate insert having load-bearing pillars for forming part of a composite load-bearing pillar construction with pillars of lower and higher crates of a substantially identical construction when the crate is located in a stack of such crates, the body and the insert being provided with complementary interlocking locating formations, the locating formations on the body protruding inwardly from the inner surface of the wall structure and being arranged to define upwardly extending transversely opening grooves, and the locating formations of the insert including corresponding transversely extending shoulders on at least some of the load-bearing pillars, the shoulder being received and held captive within the grooves, thereby to locate the pillars relative to the wall structure and to reinforce the wall structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.