Collapsible Container with Pivotable Bail Arm for Oil Bottles
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cardboard boxes used for delivering liquid containers like oil bottles are often damaged during shipping and cannot be reused, leading to inefficiencies in storage and handling.
Innovation Solution
Development of collapsible and nestable reusable containers with pivotable and retractable features, such as bail arms and lids, that allow for secure storage and efficient stacking, reducing damage and optimizing space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cardboard boxes are used for delivering bottles, then the boxes are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, but they become damaged during shipping and cannot be reused
Solution Approach 1:
The container employs dynamic elements including pivotable side walls that can rotate between extended and retracted positions, collapsible end walls that can fold inward, and a bail arm that pivots between deployed and retracted positions. These dynamic features allow the container to adapt its structure for both protection during shipping and compact storage when empty, resolving the contradiction between durability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is divided into multiple separable components: a base, four side walls (with opposed pairs), four end walls, and a bail arm. Each component is connected through pivot points allowing independent movement. This segmentation enables the container to maintain structural integrity during shipping while allowing individual parts to collapse or retract, reducing overall complexity and enabling reuse.
2Productivity
If reusable containers with pivotable and retractable features are designed, then damage during shipping is prevented and storage efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container design allows end walls to collapse inward and bail arms to retract into the container's interior space. When empty, the container can be nested within another container of the same type, with the bail arm fitting into a recess in the container wall. This nesting capability dramatically improves storage efficiency and productivity by reducing the volume of empty containers, while the collapse mechanism itself manages the complexity through space-efficient design.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is designed to be reused multiple times rather than discarded like conventional cardboard boxes. The pivotable and retractable features are recovered positions that enable the container to return to a compact state after use. This recovery mechanism allows the same container to be deployed for shipping, then collapsed for storage or nesting, improving productivity through repeated use while the structural design manages the inherent complexity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If bail arms are deployed to secure bottles, then bottle stability is improved, but the container volume occupied by the bail arm increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bail arm is designed as a dynamic element that can pivot between a deployed position where it extends across the container interior to secure bottles, and a retracted position where it folds back against the container wall. This dynamic positioning allows the bail arm to provide bottle stability when needed while minimizing its volume occupation when not in use, resolving the contradiction between stability and volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The bail arm is pre-configured with a pivot connection to the container wall and a geometry that allows it to automatically assume the correct positioning. When deployed, it naturally arcs over the bottles to provide stability. The preliminary design of its pivot point location and arm length ensures that when retracted, it occupies minimal space, thus managing the volume-stability trade-off through careful preliminary configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
A collapsible container having a base, an upper frame, and a pair of opposed side walls pivotably connected to side edges of the upper frame. Each of the side walls including an upper panel hingeably connected to a lower panel. The lower panel is hingeably connected to the base. A pair of opposed end walls are pivotably connected to end edges of the upper frame. The end walls are pivotable between an upright position extending from the upper frame to the base between the side walls and a retracted position within the upper frame. A lid is pivotably secured to the upper frame. Other embodiments are also disclosed.