US2774490A - Shipping unit - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 18, 1956 A. K. STRONG 2,774,490

SHIPPING UNIT Filed D60. 50, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. AK. STRONG,

I MWWM A. K. STRONG Dec. 18, 1956 SHIPPING UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1954 INVENTOR. 14. K, STRONG MM. aw

United States Patent 2,774,490 v SHIPPING UNIT AllenvK. Strong, Larchmont, N. Y., assignor to American Cyanamid Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine I Application December 30, 1954, Serial No. 478,746 The terminal portion of the term of the patent subsequent to January 4, 1972, has been disclaimed 4 Claims. (Cl. 214-10.5)

This invention is directed to the lifting and moving of packaged material and ,has'for its principal object the conversion of .such packaged materials into a unit that can be lifted, moved and stacked, by a lift truck. ,A further-object is the provision of an improved lifting skid that is so inexpensive that it can economically become'a part of a packaged load so that the consignee can utilize a similar lift truck in unloading the car.

In transporting packages at a single locality such as between'a warehouse and a loading area it is now the practice to stack a number of such packages on a pallet, which is a small'platform under which the forks of a lift truck can be inserted. By this procedure a number of packages can be moved by the truck at one time without manual handling. However, such pallets are not well adapted for shipping along with the load for a number of reasons including their expense and additional weight in the; load, particularly with theextensive bracing necessary when the support of the lift truck is withdrawn and the factthat it isnot feasible to stack one palleted pile on top of another-.gltis therefore customary to lift the packages from the palletsand stack them in a box car or truckby hand and to unload the car or truck by hand at the receiving point. I v 4 Inemy eopending'application Serial No. 400,257, filed Decemben24, 1953, now Patent No. 2,698,696, I have described and claimed one form of a shipping unit made up of apile of filled bags resting on a skid consisting of a pair of "parallel lifting tubes positioned under their outer ends and connectedby a web of paper or other flexible material This arrangementsolves the problem of handling relatively large bags the length of which is equal a of the invention. a

2,774,490 Patented Dec. 18, 1956 ice The invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of one form of lifting skid provided and used in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 shows two shipping units, each consisting of interlocking courses of bags or other packages positioned on the skid of Fig. l, stacked in shipping position as in a box car. f.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic illustrations of package arrangements in one ofthe courses of Fig. 2, the liftingv tubes being. indicated by dotted, lines;

Fig. 6, is a perspective brapanic'nr embodiment wherein bags having a length equal to the width of the pile are substituted for-the web of the lifting skid, and

Fig. 7 is a detail, of the arrangement of Fig. 6, showing how the tubes are glued to' thebags in thisembodirnen t' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the lifting skid indicated generally by reference numeral 1 consists essentially of a pair of tubes 2 and 3 with a flexible web 4 attached thereto. The tubes 2 and 3 are preferably composed of spirally wound multi-layer cardboard or'other material thatis relatively light in weight but sufiiciently strong to the width of the pile, sothat the bottom bags extend from; o'neside of the pile to the other. I My present invention is directed to an improved combination that has a wider range of utility, since it can be used with bags or other packages of smaller size that do not extend through the pile or, stated otherwise, with piles which are wider than the length of the packages.

. 1 In the shipping unit of the present invention a lifting skid consisting essentially of a pair of parallel tubes and a connectingweb is located longitudinallyunder a pile to support the weights applied thereto, as will subsequently be explained. Their length is preferably equal to the length of the pile of bags or other packages to be moved, as shown in Fig. 6, and the diameter of their central openings 5 and 6 is such as to permit easy entrance of the forks of a lift truck. The web portion 4 consists of a sheet of paper or other similar flexible material having its ends looped around the-'tubesand joined together, either by a seam or glued joint 7 or by gluing or stapling to its adjacent surface, The outer surfaces of the tubes '2 and 3 may be glued or otherwise attached to the web but this it not usually necessary. The width of the web 4, corresponding to the distance between the centers of the tubes 2 and 3, is so calculated as to impart maximum stability to the shipping unit, as will subsequently be excourse contains -,one longitudinally disposed packages 8 .of bagsv or :other oblong packages having a certain definite arrangement with respect thereto, instead of being outside thespile as in my earlier invention.-- I have. found that a stable unit, capable of being transported without disintegration by such a lifting skid, is obtained by arranging the packages of the pile as interlocking-layers in .theform of oppositely disposed courses, each course having a longitudinally disposed package at one side of the pileand adjacentcourses having a longitudinally disposed package on opposite sides of the pile, when the tubes of the lifting skid are located centrally under these longitudinally disposed packages. In this arrangement the transversely disposed packages of all the, intermediate courses are 'heldinplace'by-the weight of thelongi- ,tudinally extending packages above them, and therefore the web connecting the tubes needf'only besufliciently .z jst'r'onggto keep the unbalanced transversely extending bags ioflthe'l'bottor n'coursefrom working loose. This permits tlieiweb to be-made of relatively. light and cheap material such as papenburlap and the like.

and one transversely disposed package 9 in abutting relationship and Fig. 5 shows a course consisting of two longitudinal packages 8 laid end to end along the length of the pile and three transverse packages 9 laid side by side with their ends against the'first, two. It will be'noted that a pile composed of the courses of Fig. 3 is relatively more stable than are piles wherein the courses are arranged as in Figs. land 5, since in Fig. 3 there is one bag. in each courseextending from one side of the pile tothe other. However in'all three cases thereis not suflicient transverse strength'or rigidity at the center of the pile to enable it to behandledfby lift fork-engaging tubes under the outer side corners thereof, as described inmy ,copending application, because of the break between the bags in the'central portion of the pile. I have found,howeverfthat'stacks or pilescomposed of courses of the above and similar types,'wherein :the width of the pile contains two'fpackages laid side by side, side to end, or end to end, can be handled successfully'by locating'a lifting tubeunder the center of gravity of one or more .of thebags of one set of courses,"the other tube being "located an' 'equal distance fromthe-opposite side of the pileandtherefore b'eingdocated; nder f the center ;,of

gravity of the corresponding bag or bags of the alternate courses.

When the bottom course of the pile is similar to the remaining courses, as is usually the case and as is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the transverse bags 9 of this course are not properly balanced on one or both of the lifting tubes and would therefore tend to work loose if not properly supported. When this condition exists the concerning web 4 of Fig. 1 is necessary to hold the unbalanced ends of the bottom bags in place. In the great majority of cases, therefore, a complete liftingski'd of the type shown in Fig. 1 will be necessary and will be employed. Fig. 6 of the drawings illustrates 'a special case, however; wherein the width of the pile is not greater than the length of the bags or other oblong packagesnndthe package arrangement of Fig. 3 is used in the upper courses; under these circumstances the lowermosbcourse of the pile can consist entirely of packages 1'0 laid side by side across'the pile and the tubes can be attached tov the bottom surfaces of these packages by a layer of glue 111 as shown in Fig. 7. In this arrangement 'the .bottom course of the packages, wherein each package it) extends across the pile from one side to the other, serves the same purpose that is effected by tle web 4 in other piles, and therefore in this arrangement a separate web can be dispensed with.

The oblong packages illustrated in the drawings are filled bags such as the multi-layer paper bags used in packaging granular materials such as granular phthalic anhydride, crystalline melamine and urea, Wood flour, grain and other similar materials. Packages of these materials are usually from SJlbs. to 100 lbs. net; a typical 50 1b. bag is 28% inches long, '15 inches wide and 5 inches thick when filled. Atypical class of larger bags is 37% inches long, 18 /2 inches wide and 5 inches thick when filled. Bags of these and similar types are customarily arranged in piles about 50 to 60 inches square, when the pinwheel arrangement of Fig. 4 is used, or of comparable dimensions using the arrangements of Fig. 3, Fig. 5 and the like.

'My invention is particularly well adapted for use with such bagged material, since the tubes 2 and 3 become indented or impressed into the yieldable surfaces of the bags, usually by displacing laterally some of the overlying granular or powdered material, and therefore the tubes do not have to sustain the full weightof the load. Experience has shown, in fact, that with most bagged materials the tubes 2 and 3 need only be suflicientlyrigid to sustain about 25% of the weight of the pile when they are resting on a solid and unyieldable surface such as the floor of a box car or truck, since the tubes become impressed into the bags as shown on Fig. 7 of the drawings and the remainder of the weight of the pile is transmitted to and carried by the supporting surface. When the piles are stacked on each other, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the weight carried by the tubes above the bottom unit is even less, since these tubes are impressed into the upper surfaces of the underlying pile as well asinto the bottom surfaces of the course immediately above. It'will be understood, however, that the inventionin itsbroader aspects is not limited to bagged material, since the principles thereof can be applied with success to oblong cartons, bales and other packages that are conveniently stacked in courses and handled as unit loads.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that .my present invention provides both a novel lifting skid for pile of oblong packages, characterized by such lightweight and low-cost that it can be shipped aspartof the load and utilized forgunloading the car or.truck by the consignee, and alsoa shipping unit wherein this lifting skid constitutes an essential element. In this unit one ormore longitudinally extending packages of alternate courses are located directly over one of the'tubes of the skid with the 'en ds of transversely extending packages pf intermediate courses between them. When the pile is lifted the longitudinal packages are therefore balanced on the tube and their weight holds the transverse packages in place in all the intermediate courses. This occurs on both sides of the pile and therefore a stable unit is provided in which only the unbalanced transverse packages of the bottom course require additional support, which is preferably obtained from the flexible 'web of the skid.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with reference to certain specific embodiments it will be understood that variations and substitutions of equivalents may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shipping unit comprising in combination a pile composed of laterally unsupported courses of filled bagsv of oblong shape each course'containing at least one bag disposed longitudinally along one side of said pile and another bag disposed between the inner side thereof and the oppositeside of the pile and adjacent courses having a longitudinally disposed bag on opposite sides of said pile and a lifting skid located under the bottom course of the pile, said skid consisting essentially of a pair of parallel hollow members extending longitudinally under said pile and located centrally under said longitudinally disposed packages and having walls sufficiently rigid to support at least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal size sufficient to receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible web connecting said hollow members and having a length such as to support the central area of said bottom'course when they are lifted.

2. A shipping unit according to claim 1 wherein the hollow members are tubes composed of cardboard and the web is a sheet of paper having its opposite ends looped around said tubes and connected together.

3. A lifting skid for transporting a pile composed of courses of oblong packages wherein each course contains at least one package disposed longitudinally along one side of the pile and a transversely disposed package between the inner side thereof and the-opposite side of the pile and adjacent courses have longitudinally and transversely disposed packages on opposite sides of the-pile, said skid consisting essentially of a pair of parallel hollow members having walls sufiiciently rigid to support at least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal size sufficient to receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible web connecting said hollow members and having a-length-such that the hollow'members are located centrally under'the I longitudinally disposed packages when the web is supporting the central area of the pile.

4. A lifting skid for transporting a pile composed of courses of oblong packages wherein each course contains at least one package disposed longitudinally along one side of the pile and a transversely disposed package between the inner side thereof and the opposite side of the pile-and adjacent courses have longitudinally and transversely disposed packages on opposite sides of-the pile, said skid'consisting essentially of a pair of parallel tubes having walls sufficiently rigid to support at least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal size sutficient to receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible web comprising a sheet of paper having its opposite ends looped aroundsaid tubes and connected together, the length of said webbeing such that the tubes are located centrally under'the longitudinally disposed packages when the we'bis supporting the central area of the pile. i

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