Transport container system for goods, especially for fruit and vegetables

Abstract

The invention relates to a transport container system which is especially suitable for transporting goods such as fruit and vegetables. Said system comprises an optionally collapsable crate, and has a bottom part and four lateral wall parts that are structured in a pressure-resistant manner, and a top part for enlarging the volume of the transport container. Said top part is formed in such a way that it is complementary to the crate opening formed by the lateral wall parts of the crate, and can be placed on the upper side of said lateral wall parts. Said crate and said top part of the transport container system can be detachably engaged in such a way that the transport container system can be stacked.

Description

[0001]The present application is a Divisional Application under 35 U.S.C. § 121 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 560,487, filed 22 Feb. 2006.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a transport container system, in particular for goods, that has a stackable transport container, preferably a crate. The stackable transport container can be foldable or non-foldable. Such crates are known and are used in particular for transporting goods such as fruits and vegetables. In the framework of this invention, goods are understood to be units of goods to be transported comprising individual items with a size of at least 0.5-1.0 cm.[0003]The foldable and non-foldable transport containers that are already known for fruits and vegetables comprise cardboard, wood, or plastic. The foldable transport containers are characterized in that their lateral wall parts can be moved against the interior bottom of the transport container, this achieving a decrease in the volume ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Another advantage of the invention results from the fact that the lateral wall parts of the tops can be produced with different heights, so that the volume capacity of the transport container is optimally adapted to the variable size of the goods to be transported, in particular fruits and vegetables. The height of the lateral wall parts of the top is preferably 2-8 cm, particularly preferred 3-5 cm. At least two approximately parallel lateral wall parts preferably have the same height; particularly preferred all four lateral wall parts are equal in height.

[0010]The lateral wall parts of the top that conform in shape to the transport container can preferably detachably engage with the transport container using fastening means. The fastening means are preferably attached to and can detachably engage with the top and transport container. It is particularly preferred that the top or the transport container has a fastening means that detachably engages with the transport container or the top. The top preferably locks to an area of the lateral wall part or bottom of the transport container. Suitable for fastening means are in particular all means that provide a detachably engageable connection between transport container and top such as eyes, hooks, screw connections, etc. The transport container and the top are preferably detachably engageable using external fastening means that are not permanently attached to the transport container system, such as clamps, clips, etc. These fastening means advantageously prevent the top from being displaced relative to the transport container so that the goods contained in the transport container systems are not damaged. Another advantage of detachable engagement of the top with the transport container is that the top can be removed from the transport container with no problem at the destination site for the goods to be transported and thus there is a decrease in volume for the emptied transport container. This is particularly advantageous when using reusable transport containers.

[0011]The wall strength of the lateral wall parts of the top is preferably selected such that the transport container systems filled with the goods to be transported are stackable. The stackability of the transport container systems is preferably promoted by four lateral wall parts of the top that have the same height and that in particular it can detachably engage with the transport container and particularly preferred by a profile on the upper side of the top that preferably conforms with a profile or auxiliary profile on the underside of the bottom of the transport container. The profiles of top and transport container advantageously facilitate stacking the transport container systems and prevent the systems from shifting during transport. Therefore additional securing of the preferably stacked transport container systems is not necessary during transport. This contributes advantageously to maximum utilization of the volume of transport apparatus without damaging the goods to be transported.

[0012]The top can preferably be collapsed to a narrow strip, in particular using folding sites at the four corner edges. One advantage is the low transport volume of tops that have been folded up, which facilitates optimum use of transport means since the tops frequently have to be transported across great distances to the packaging areas for the goods, in particular harvesting regions for fruits and vegetables, and in the case of reusable tops back to the selling locations.

[0013]The frame-shaped top preferably has corner stiffeners for increasing stability. An increase in stability is furthermore attained in particular in that the top comprises one piece and is created by connecting the free ends of a band-shaped lateral wall part or particularly preferred is embodied as an extrusion profile. Alternatively, the frame-shaped top is formed by connecting the free ends of individually produced lateral wall parts.

[0014]Additional application options and advantages of the present invention result from the following description with respect to the drawings.

Problems solved by technology

One known problem during transport of goods such as fruits and vegetables thus results from the varying size of the goods to be transported for optimum filling of transport containers.

It is therefore not possible to rapidly change the size of the transport container and thus its volume capacity in the sense of optimum filling depending on the size of the goods without major logistical transport problems occurring or a complex change in the production facility and associated high costs.

The problem cited in the foregoing particularly occurs with the known transport containers when cardboard packages that are comparatively simple to produce and that are for the transport of goods such as fruits and vegetables are replaced by more environmentally-friendly reusable containers that are made of plastic or a similar material suitable for this use but that are also expensive to produce.

For the known reusable containers made of plastic, optimum adaptation of the transport containers to the size of the goods to be transported proves to be particularly complex and difficult.

The item to be transported must not project out over the upper edge of the transport container, since then the transport container would no longer be stackable and / or the item would be damaged.

What this results in is that the volume capacity of the known transport containers in many cases cannot be used optimally.

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