EP0608652A1 - Modular storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

Modular storage container, that is to say one capable of being joined together with any number of identical containers in order to constitute a rigid assembly which can have shape and dimensions appropriate to its end use, of the type obtained by folding a precut and scored single blank made of a semi-rigid material and joining it up using pairs of tabs and slits in order to constitute panels forming the faces of this container, this container being open on one face so as to constitute a storage space which is always accessible from the front, characterised in that the shape and cutout of the single blank made of semi-rigid material are designed so as, on the one hand, to reinforce the rigidity of the periphery of the open face, with a view to stacking these containers heightwise, whilst facilitating access thereto, and, on the other hand, to allow these containers to be joined together via their lateral faces, and also allow this assembly to be locked together. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a new modular storage volume, that is to say capable of being assembled with any number of identical volumes to constitute a rigid assembly which may have a shape and dimensions appropriate to its destination.

This volume is of the type obtained by folding and by assembly by pairs of lugs and slots, of a single blank of semi-rigid material precut and grooved to form panels forming the faces of this volume. It is open on one side, so as to constitute a storage space that is constantly accessible at the front. In other words and to simplify the present description, it can be said that it has four lateral faces, a bottom and an open face opposite the bottom.

Such a volume is known in principle, as a storage box or compartment, generally made of cardboard. The invention resides in a set of arrangements for this type of volume, in order to improve its constitution and assembly into sets.

Essentially, the invention consists in modifying and completing the shape and the cutting of the single blank in semi-rigid material so as on the one hand to reinforce the rigidity of the periphery of the open face, in view of the stacking in height of these volumes, while facilitating access, and secondly to allow the assembly of these volumes by their side faces and both the locking of this assembly.

Firstly, the means for reinforcing the rigidity of the periphery of the open face consist in providing panels folded back into the interior of the volume over a fraction of the height of each lateral face, access to the open face being facilitated by the fact that this folding is performed in two folds creating a chamfered thickness around said opening.

Secondly, the means for assembling the volumes together consist of pairs of lugs and slots distributed over the outer edge of said chamfered thickness, and the means for locking this assembly consist of lugs cut from at at least two contiguous lateral faces and folding flat towards the outside around the edge delimiting the bottom, to come behind the bottom of the following volumes, this tab comprising, cut in its surface a tongue oriented towards said edge and coming s insert into a slot in the bottom of the adjoining volume, opposing the separation of the two volumes considered.

According to a variant coming within the framework of the invention, the same locking is ensured symmetrically by a tab taken by cutting, in a lateral face of a volume and comprising two tabs oriented towards each other and coming to be inserted in two corresponding slots funds of two adjoining volumes, opposing their separation.

• La fig. 1 est une vue perspective d'un volume selon l'invention.
• La fig. 2 est une vue du flan à partir duquel est réalisé ce volume.
• La fig. 3 est une coupe suivant III - III de la fig. 1.
• La fig. 4 est une coupe suivant IV - IV de la fig. 1.
• La fig. 5 représente partiellement deux volumes assemblés.
• La fig. 6 représente la patte de vérouillage à deux languettes symétriques.
• La fig. 7 est analogue à la fig 5 avec la patte de la fig. 6.

According to a subsidiary characteristic, to prevent the excess thickness of a side wall, resulting from the presence of the chamfer of the reinforcement panel, from interfering with the insertion or the maintenance of the documents contained in the volume, this excess thickness is compensated for in the opposite part of this wall by a panel folded around the edge of the bottom. The invention will be better understood by referring to the following description of an embodiment, illustrated by the appended drawing, of which:

• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a volume according to the invention.
• Fig. 2 is a view of the blank from which this volume is made.
• Fig. 3 is a section along III - III of FIG. 1.
• Fig. 4 is a section on IV - IV of FIG. 1.
• Fig. 5 partially shows two assembled volumes.
• Fig. 6 shows the locking tab with two symmetrical tabs.
• Fig. 7 is similar to FIG. 5 with the tab of FIG. 6.

In fig. 1 the volume according to the invention is shown in its position of use, that is to say vertically, because it is preferably intended to receive document binders which are also presented vertically.

As can be seen, the volume has four so-called lateral faces, 1, 2, 3, 4, two of which are vertical 1 and 3 and two horizontal 2 and 4, a bottom 5 vertical and an open vertical face 6. It rests vertically on the horizontal face 2. It is obtained from the blank F shown in FIG. 2, by folding the different panels along pre-grooved lines to make the folding precise, and inserting the different tabs into the corresponding slots.

This manipulation of the blank F will be better understood by reference to the sections of FIGS. 3 and 4 which show the relative arrangement of the various elements after assembly.

• Le panneau (1) se prolonge par un panneau 7 qui vient se replier sur lui en étant immobilisé par des pattes 8 traversant des fentes 9, en créant le long de deux pliures 10 - 10' un chanfrein oblique II.
• De même le panneau 3 se prolonge par un panneau 12, qui vient se replier sur lui en étant immobilisé par des pattes 13 traversant des fentes 14, en créant le long de deux pliures 15 - 15' un chanfrein oblique 16.
• De même les panneaux latéraux 2 et 4 sont renforcés par des panneaux 17 et 18 se rabattant autour de deux pures respectivement 19 - 19' et 20 - 20' créant des chanfreins obliques 21 et 22.

Thus, first considering the stiffness reinforcement of the open face 6, we see that:

• The panel (1) is extended by a panel 7 which folds back on it while being immobilized by lugs 8 passing through slots 9, creating along two folds 10 - 10 'an oblique chamfer II.
• Likewise, the panel 3 is extended by a panel 12, which folds back on it while being immobilized by lugs 13 passing through slots 14, creating an oblique chamfer 16 along two folds 15 - 15 '.
• Likewise, the side panels 2 and 4 are reinforced by panels 17 and 18 which fold over around two pure panels 19 - 19 'and 20 - 20' respectively creating oblique chamfers 21 and 22.

The set of panels 7 - 12 - 17 - 18 constitutes a reinforcement for the open face 6, and the oblique chamfers 11 - 16 - 19 - 20 facilitate access to this open face.

The four lateral faces 1 - 4 are assembled with the bottom 5 in the following manner:
The faces 1 and 3 being raised vertically on the sides of the bottom 5, lugs 23 of the edge of the face 2 are inserted into slots 24 formed on the edge 25 of the panel 1 and of a panel 26, while tabs 27 of panel 4 are inserted into slots 28 formed on the edge 29 of panel 1 and of a panel 30. The side panels 2 and 4 are therefore reinforced over their entire length by the panels 26 and 30. The panels 17 and 18 cover the said panels 26 and 30.

The edge 31 of the panel 4 opposite the panel 18 is extended by a panel 32 which hooks to the bottom 5 by a tab 33 which is inserted into a slot 34.

Similarly, the edge 35 of the panel 2 opposite the panel 17 is hooked to the panel 26 by a panel 36 which is inserted in a slot 37 of this panel 26. In this case the panel 36 is articulated to the panel 2 by two folds 38 - 38 ', creating a chamfer 39, the thickness of which compensates for the thickness of the chamfer 21 located at the lower part of the open face 6, so that the documents placed in this storage volume are classified well vertically and not obliquely, due to the reinforcement of the open face.

For the assembly of two adjoining storage volumes, two series of means are provided.

Firstly, tabs 40 are provided along the outer edge 41 of the panel 1, and are inserted into slots 42 of the outer edge 43 of the panel 3 of the adjoining volume. Similarly, for the stack assembly of these volumes, tabs 44 along the lower edge 45 of the open face 6 are inserted into slots 46 of the upper edge 47 of the open face of the volume located below.

To lock this assembly, tabs 50 - 50 'are cut respectively in the faces 1 and 2 and folded back, that is, behind the face 5 of the adjoining volume. In these tabs 50 - 50 'are cut tabs 51 - 51', which are inserted into corresponding slots 52 - 52 'formed in said face 5 of the adjoining volume. These tabs are oriented towards the other corresponding volume, so that they oppose the separation of the two assembled volumes, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Alternatively, a tab tab 50 - 51 can be replaced, as illustrated in FIG. 6 by a single piece constituted by a pair of tab-legs 150 pre-cut in a lateral face, invisible to the assembly, such as 2, and used to lock two volumes each comprising a slot in its bottom 5. In this case the single tab 150 comprises two tabs 151 - 151 A, facing each other and coming to be inserted in slots 152 - 152 A of bottoms 5 and 5 A of two adjoining volumes, keeping them locked against each other, as shown in fig. 7.

To create each tab such as 40, 44, 50 or 50 ', this tab is precut in the corresponding face with the exception of an attachment point which is enough to break to fold the tab.

Claims (5)

Modular storage volume, that is to say capable of being assembled with any number of identical volumes to constitute a rigid assembly which may have a shape and dimensions appropriate to its destination, of the type obtained by folding and by assembly by pairs of legs and slots, of a single blank of semi-rigid material precut and grooved to form panels forming the faces of this volume, open on one side, so as to constitute a storage space which is constantly accessible at the front, characterized in that the shape and the cut of the single blank in semi-rigid material are arranged so as to, on the one hand, reinforce the rigidity of the periphery of the open face, with a view to stacking these volumes in height, while facilitating access, and secondly to allow the assembly of these volumes by their lateral faces and both the locking of this assembly. Volume according to Claim 1, characterized in that the means for reinforcing the rigidity of the periphery of the open face consist of providing panels folded into the interior of the volume over a fraction of the height of each lateral face, the access of the open face being facilitated by the fact that this folding is performed in two folds creating a chamfered thickness around said opening. Volume according to one of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the means for assembling the volumes together consist of pairs of legs and slots distributed over the outer edge of said chamfered thickness, and the means for locking of this assembly consist of tabs cut in at least two contiguous lateral faces and folding flat outwards around the edge delimiting the bottom, to come behind the bottom of the following volumes, this tab having, cut in its surface a tongue oriented towards said edge and coming to be inserted into a slot in the bottom of the adjoining volume, opposing the separation of the two volumes considered. Volume according to Claim 3, characterized in that the locking is ensured symmetrically by a tab taken by cutting, in a lateral face of a volume and comprising two tabs oriented towards each other and coming to be inserted in two corresponding slots funds of two adjoining volumes, opposing their separation. Volume according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, in order to avoid that the excess thickness of a side wall, resulting from the presence of the chamfer of the reinforcement panel, hinders the insertion or the maintenance of the documents contained in the volume, we compensate this extra thickness in the opposite part of this wall by a panel folded around the edge of the bottom.

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