Collapsible bulk material container

Abstract

A collapsible, reusable bulk material container assembly, kit and method for assembling and using same are disclosed. Upper ring and base members are locked together by peripheral post members, forming an upright rigid framework that operatively supports a woven fabric bulk material receiving sleeve. A cover connected to the upper ring seals the container. Intermediate support bands may be attached to and along the post members to resist outwardly directed forces applied to the post members through the sleeve by contained bulk material. The container is reconfigurable to a collapsed storage or shipping module that retainably contains the post members, support bands and woven fabric sleeve. The post members may be segmentable or collapsible for containment within the collapsed module. Component parts of the container assembly are detachable, reusable and recyclable. One configuration of the container is sized to replace a conventional 55-gallon drum

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16 / 273,897, filed Feb. 12, 2019, which application is hereby incorporated in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to rigid, collapsible storage and shipping containers for bulk materials, and more particularly to a collapsible, reusable, and recyclable rigid framework shipping container particularly suitable and adapted to be supportively carried by pallets commonly used in the packaging / transport industries and collapsible to a protective modular unit suitable for storage and reshipment for reuse at a fraction of the cost of storing and shipping comparably sized non-collapsible rigid containers.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Effective, reliable, safe, and economical packaging of bulk material products into containers for handling, transport, and storage have been concerns for many years to the packaging and transport industries. Bulk pro...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The container assembly is defined by an external framework of support members that. when assembled, collectively define an internal geometric volume or shape. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the support members include top and bottom members interconnected by a plurality of peripherally spaced support posts and one or more intermediate containment support bands or rings. A flexible woven fabric bag cooperatively fits within the internal geometric volume defined by the assembled framework members and is configured for attachment to the framework members so as to hold the bag in place relative to the framework for receiving a bulk material through an upper opening thereof. An optional polymer liner can be placed within the fabric bag to provide the container with moisture imperviousness and to isolate the woven fabric bag from the bulk material contents loaded into and carried by the container. The framework components are rapidly attachable to and detachable from one another to allow use of the container assembly in assembled and unassembled / collapsed configurations. In the assembled configuration, the framework components, in combination with the woven fabric bag, collectively provide the necessary bulge resistance strength and rigidity for containing a bulk material, and the necessary rigidity and stacking strength to allow a desired plurality of such loaded containers to be safely stacked upon one another for shipping and / or storage. In the unassembled configuration, the woven fabric bag and framework members are configured for cooperative packaging within and between the base and top members, which can be fastened together to form a compact collapsed module that protects the component parts of the container during shipping and storage until reuse of the container assembly is desired. In assembled configuration, a preferred shape and size of the container resembles and replaces that of a standard cylindrical 55-gallon drum type rigid container. The top and bottom framework members of such preferred container shape are circular, enabling manual movement and handling of the container in the same way that known 55-gallon rigid drums are moved, by tipping of the container onto an outer lower edge of the bottom member and rolling the container along such edge in response to twisting motion provided to the container about its longitudinal axis. The container can also be readily handled by mechanical apparatus, such as by forklifts and commonly used container handlers such as used at container filling and emptying facilities. The woven fabric containment bag is preferably constructed of polypropylene material, and the framework components preferably comprise plastic molded parts, making all component parts of the container readily replaceable and recyclable. The collapsible feature of the container, coupled with the self-contained modularity feature of the unassembled container provides for outstanding storage of the container assembly and significant shipping cost savings when compared with rigid, non-collapsible drum containment approaches. Other significant cost savings are realized through multiple storage, reuse, and shipment cycles made available by the unique container assembly.

[0013]While the invention is described herein primarily with reference to a cylindrical drum container configuration with a 55-gallon capacity, the shape and size of the container can be readily changed. By way of example only, smaller drum configuration containers of from 20-30-gallon sizes, as well as larger drum configurations of, for example 210-310-gallon sizes, can readily be configured using the basic principles of this invention. Similarly, the geometric shape of the internal volume and outer shape of the container need not be cylindrical, but can readily comprise other geometric configurations. A simple manner of changing the external shape and internal geometric volume of the container is to alter the shape of the bottom footprint, top, and / or intermediate members. The bottom or base footprint shape is dictated primarily by the particular industry in which the container will be used, by the type of bulk material carried by the container, and by the standard industry sizes of the support pallets on which the containers are supported for storage and transport. Container base members could, for example, be of circular, rectangular, polygon, oval, or other geometric shapes. Similarly, the height dimensions of the containers can be readily adjustable, as well as the number of posts of the framework and their respective support specifications required to satisfy desired container stacking or load requirements. All of these considerations will be apparent to those skilled in the art when applying the principles of this invention.

[0014]The rigid compact parts of the container assembly of this invention are preferably formed using injection molding and heavy gauge twin sheet thermal forming methods which provide for highly durable and strong components that can be manufactured in high volumes, provide for flexibility in creating imaginative shapes and designs such as grid-like patterns that offer improved strength using less material, and allow the members to cooperatively engage, mate, lock, snap together, and protrude from one another in the manners in which they are intended and designed to provide the unique functional aspects of this invention.

Problems solved by technology

Since such materials have a tendency to move or flow, containment of them for shipment handling and storage raises many challenges.

The flowing nature and weight of bulk products present unique packaging issues for a drum container.

Movement or shifting of contained bulk materials during transport can cause deformation of the drum container that can result in load shifting and instability and possible bursting of the drum, often with enough force to damage or destroy the drum container.

The result is loss or damage to drum container contents and undue clean-up and environmental concerns.

If the drum container board wall strength and / or thickness is reduced in order to cut costs, the contained bulk material pressure exerted against the thinner drum container walls generally causes the drum container wall to bulge outwardly and can result in the drum container having a marginal safety factor that can lead to costly drum container failures during shipment.

Corrugated drum containers that are subjected to high-humidity and moisture environments can cause the corrugated board material to weaken since they are manufactured from paper.

However, usefulness of the coatings are limited since the base material of the container is paper.

Further, such treatments significantly add to the cost of the corrugated drum container.

Corrugated drum containers are also subject to damage caused by movement of the container.

As a person rolls the drum to move the container, the weight of the container's contents can crush the container's lower angled corners, compromising the strength and reliability of the container.

However, used corrugated containers are generally recollapsible and can be reused if desired.

Because of the cost of sewing operations during manufacture and the costs of any rigidity enhancing inserts used in these types of containers, they typically result in a more expensive container than the corrugated drum containers.

Without rigid bottoms, the inserts are susceptible to significant deformation from their intended footprint configuration during loading of the drum container or from subsequent shifting of the contained bulk material during transport, resulting in a misshaped containment system that is unstable before and during shipment.

To address this problem, separate solid bottoms can be inserted into the fabric container or attached to the outside surface of the base of the drum container with adhesive or sewing, thus adding additional cost to the container.

As with the corrugated containers, such inserts are susceptible to degradation and deformation when subjected to moisture or environments of high humidity.

If wood or plastic inserts are used, further cost is added to the construction of the woven fabric type of drum container.

However, the materials used to manufacture the entire drum surface are more costly than those of the corrugated or woven fabric containers, especially for the steel and plastic versions of these rigid containers.

Because of the rigidity of the fiber, plastic, and metal containers, they do not collapse to a flat configuration, and the storage and shipping costs are considerably higher as compared to the collapsible corrugated and woven fabric drum containers.

Such shipping costs are incurred both before and after use of the rigid containers.

The considerable higher shipping costs are due to the fact that their rigidity causes them to take more space in a transport vehicle as compared to the collapsible drum versions.

In many cases, although a rigid drum is capable of being used a number of times, the costs of shipping the empty containers after use makes it infeasible to reuse the drum due to the expense that would be required to ship the empty containers back to a bulk material loading facility.

Further, if cleaning of the containers for reuse becomes necessary, because of their rigidity and solid bottoms, additional cleaning processes and steps are required, resulting in higher costs associated with their use.

Further, the costs of disposing of rigid type drum containers is greater than that of the collapsible versions since the rigid containers are more difficult to break down and need to be crushed, particularly the steel version.

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