Poultry crate

Abstract

A collapsible poultry crate comprising a base defining a peripheral edge; a plurality of side walls, each side wall being mounted on the base along a respective portion of the peripheral edge for pivoting movement relative to the base each side wall pivoting between a closed position and an open position; each side wall having a respective top surface, two or more tabs extending from a respective top surface of the side walls; and a plurality of end walls, each end wall being mounted on the base along a respective portion of the peripheral edge for pivoting movement relative to the base; the base having a width and a length such that M poultry crates arranged in a predetermined pattern exhibit a footprint substantially the same as the footprint of N meat crates disposed in a predetermined pattern.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 493,544, filed Jun. 6, 2011, and is incorporated herein as set forth in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention is directed to a poultry crate, and more particularly, to a poultry crate capable of reuse and recycling and which is capable of being stacked in a stable manner with crates adapted for other types of products.[0003]When prepared for shipping, poultry is placed in a crate, flash frozen and then palletized directly at the processing plant and shipped to a distribution center for distribution to end user retail outlets.[0004]The prior art poultry crates are made from cardboard and chicken wire with a styrofoam or plastic tray within the crate to act as a liner and to catch any drippings to prevent passage of salmonella. These crates are satisfactory, however, they suffer from the disadvantage that because they are made of cardboard they ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]In a preferred embodiment, the wall has a width, the width of the detent is less than the width of the wall. The base is formed wit

Problems solved by technology

These crates are satisfactory, however, they suffer from the disadvantage that because they are made of cardboard they are subject to wear and tear.

Furthermore, they do not have sufficient structural integrity to allow stacking of heavier crates thereupon such as a meat crate or several layers of poultry crates.

Furthermore, they are not collapsible nor easily sterilized to be sent back to the distribution center for reuse.

These crates are formed of plastic and therefore, may be sterilized and recycled, however, they are not collapsible and therefore, shipping the crates back to a point of origin, results in the shipping of significant amount of dead air as stacks of crates are shipped around increasing the costs.

As a result, these poultry crates are only used internally prior to repackaging in the cardboard crates.

Because of the configuration and the inability for the prior art poultry crates to support other types of pallet crates such as meat crates thereupon, when creating pallets at the distribution center, they are formed entirely of poultry crates, or entirely of meat crates.

However, this inflexibility may result in two short pallets being sent to the same end user increasing cost, increasing the carbon footprint for shipping because the footprint of two pallets are required where one may do.

However, this is an unstable construction and does not solve the problems associated with using corrugated crates.

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