GB1580023A

GB1580023A - Supporting and locating arrays of objects

Info

Publication number: GB1580023A
Application number: GB5128475A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: AG Patents Ltd
Current assignee: AG Patents Ltd
Priority date: 1975-12-15
Filing date: 1975-12-15
Publication date: 1980-11-26

Description

(54) SUPPORTING AND LOCATING ARRAYS OF OBJECTS (71) We, A.G. (PATENTS) LIMITED, a British Company of 156 St. John Street, London EC1P 1AR, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a device for supporting and locating alternative arrays of objects of alternative sizes. The invention may be used particularly though not exclusively for supporting and locating casks and drums.

At present, casks used in the brewing industry are stacked on a flat pallet for storage or transport with the aid of a base-board on which the bottom layer of casks is laid, a spacer between the layers of casks if there is more than one layer, and a top-board; the base-board, spacer and top-board being adapted to support and laterally locate the casks. The base-board, spacer and top-board may each comprise an open space-frame to which is attached a number of verticallyextending pins whose lengths are chosen so that their ends all contact a cask in use.

Alternatively the base-board, spacer and top-board may each comprise a number of vertically-extending ribs whose upper and/or lower edges are shaped to fit a layer of casks.

A disadvantage of such apparatus is that a particular base-board, spacer or top-board can only be used to support casks of a single size. It is common practice to use casks of a variety of sizes, such as Barrels of 36 imp.

gallons capacity, Kilderkins of 18 imp. gallons capacity and. Firkins of 9 imp. gallons capacity or any of a number of parallel-sided metric containers. Such a variety of casks necessitates a different set of base-board, spacer and top-board being chosen for the size of cask in use at a particular time. Each set may be adapted to stack a particular size of cask with the maximum stacking density and may, for example, support and locate 2 Barrels, 4 Kilderkins or 6 Firkins per layer of casks.

It has been proposed to provide a support for a number of casks which is capable of supporting and locating alternative layers of the same number of casks of a different size in each layer. Such known apparatus comprises a board or a space-frame carrying a number of groups of vertical supporting pins all of the same height. The spacing of the pins in each group is smaller than the diameter or length of the smallest casks yet sufficiently large to support the largest casks with adequate stability. Of course, the separation of the groups of pins is determined by the size of the largest casks, which means that there is much wasted space when casks of smaller sizes are stacked.

According to the invention there is provided a device for supporting and laterally locating, alternatively, (a) a single layer array of objects all of a first size and (b) a single layer array of objects all of a second size, the objects of said first size being of substantially the same shape as the objects of said second size and the alternative arrays containing a different number of objects, each said array containing the maximum possible number of objects of the size concerned that can be fitted substantially within the perimeter of the device, the device having upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each object individually in each of said alternative arrays.

By the use of such a device, the requirement to provide several sets of members for supporting and locating casks, for example, of a variety of sizes is eliminated.

It may be convenient to be able to bear objects of any one of three sizes. Preferably, therefore, the said device is arranged to bear as a third alternative a single layer array of a different number of objects all of a third size, the objects of the third size being of substantially the same shape as the objects of the first and second sizes, such third array again containing the maximum possible number of objects of the size concerned that can be fitted substantially within the perimeter of the device, the device having upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each object in all three of said alternative arrays. Conceivably the device could be arranged to bear, as a further alternative and in a similar manner, a fourth such array of objects.

The device is preferably made in the form of a double-sided spacer having said upstanding portions on each side. Such a spacer would be used between layers of objects in a stack to support and locate the objects, and it could also be used as a base-board or a top board when one side would be redundant, i.e. not in contact with a layer of objects.

The device may be adapted to be carried by the fork of a fork-lift truck, such as by the provision of suitable apertures, in which case the device could also function as a pallet. A considerable reduction in the number of different elements in a stacking system can thus be achieved, in that a single design of spacer device can bc used in place of pallets, baseboards, spacer and top-boards for objects of any of a plurality of sizcs.

The device is preferably adapted to support and locate two objects of a first size or four objects of a second size or six objects of a third size.

In one form of the invention. the device comprises a complete contoured surface defining said upstanding portions and may bc made of a plastics material, for example by blow-forming or rotational moulding.

In another form the device comprises a plurality of vertical ribs of which the upper and/or lower surfaces define said upstanding portions. The ribs may conveniently be joined by a plurality of rods extending transversely of the ribs. or the ribs may be mounted on a space-frame.

In yet another form the device comprises a plurality of vertical supporting pins defining said upstanding portions and connected to a space-frame.

Certain embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows outlines of a bellied cask and a parallel-sided cask and indicates the principal dimensions; Figure 2 is a plan view showing the cask stacking arrangements of a variety of sizes of bellied casks on a common size of pallet; Figure 3 is a more detailed plan view showing to scale one-quarter of a pallet on which the profiles of the casks of Figure 2 have been superimposed; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a baseboard according to the invention for bearing the casks shown in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 and showing contours of equal altitude of the surfaces of respective pairs of casks; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a spacer according to the invention;; Figure 7 is a section on the line VII-VII of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a section on the line VIII-VIII of Figure 6; Figure 9 is a perspective view of another spacer according to the invention; figure 10 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 and showing the position and height of supporting pins in another spacer according to the invention; Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing one-quarter of a pallet on which the profiles of three sizes of parallel-sided cask have been superimposed; Figure 12 is a perspective view of another base-board according to the invention for bearing the casks of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a view similar to that of Figure 11 and showing contours of equal altitude of the surfaces of respective pairs of casks; Figure 14 is a perspective view of another spacer according to the invention; Figure 15 is a section on the line XV-XV of Figure 14; ; Figure 16 is a section on the line XVI-XVI of Figure 14; and Figure 17 is a view similar to that of Figure 11 and showing the position and height of supporting pins in another spacer according to the invention.

It is to be understood that the invention may be applied to objects of a variety of shapes. There will be described embodiments of the invention applicable to two shapes of substantially cylindrical container, namely bellied casks and parallel-sided casks or drums.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows the outline in plan of two exemplary forms of container to which the invention may be applied. The containers are a bellied cask and a parallel-sided cask and the principal dimensions are given in the following table:

Bellied Parallel-sided Container Barrel Kilderkin Firkin - - Capacity, Imp. gall., approx. 36 18 9 18 10 5 Height, h, ins 29.6 24.4 18.4 24 19.3 17.5 Max. diam, D, ins. 24.8 19.4 16.8 20 16 12 Min. diam, d, ins. 20.2 16.0 13.6 - - TABLE - CONTAINER DIMENSIONS Figure 2 shows a standard flat pallet 1 and the arrangement of a variety of sizes of casks on the pallet. The casks shown are a Barrel 2 of 36 imperial gallons capacity, a Kilderkin 3 of 18 imperial gallons capacity and a Firkin 4 of 9 imperial gallons capacity. The pallet is one commonly used in the food industry in which the length of the side 5 is approximately 40 inches and the length of the side 6 is approximately 48 inches and the casks are arranged on the pallet 1 in a horizontal layer with the maximum stacking density, i.e. the number which will fit on the pallet in a horizontal layer.

Figure 3 shows one-quarter of the pallet 1 on which have been superimposed the profiles of one-half of a Barrel 2, a Kilderkin 3 and one-and-one-half Firkins 4.

Figure 4 shows a base-board 10 for the various casks of Figure 2. The surface of the base-board 10 defines recesses 7 for supporting and locating two Barrels 2, recesses 8 for supporting and locating four Kilderkins 3 and recesses 9 for supporting and locating six Firkins 4 and the intersection of the recesses 7, 8 and 9 define upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each individual cask. The shape of the surface of the baseboard 10 may be imagined to be the result of impressing in a slab of mouldable material the various casks in the arrangements shown in Figure 2. However, it may be found that after, say, the recesses 7 and 8 have been formed by impressing the Barrels 2 and the Kilderkins 3, the surface is so modified by impressing the Firkins 4 that it will no longer support the Barrels 2 or Kilderkins 3 with adequate stability.To overcome this problem, the depth of impression of the various casks, and to some extent their horizontal positions, may be varied until a suitable surface is formed.

It is preferred, however, to find the shape of the surface numerically and this may be done for example by finding "contours" of equal altitude on the surfaces of the casks as shown in Figure 5. These "contours" are the projection onto a horizontal plane of the loci of points of equal altitude on the surfaces of pairs of casks of different sizes (if they are imagined to be simultaneously in the positions shown in Figure 5). The lines 11 are lines along which the surfaces of the Kilderkin 3 and the Firkins 4 have equal altitude.

lines 12 are lines along which the surfaces of the Barrel 2 and the Firkins 4 have equal altitude.and along line 13 the Barrel 2 and Kilderkin 3 have equal altitude. The lines 11.

12 and 13 may be found by describing the height of any point on the surface of the casks in terms of coordinates in a horizontal plane and determining numerically the coordinates of points of equal altitude for pairs of the casks lying in a predetermined juxtaposition.

The physically impossible lines (such as those contours falling inside one of the casks) are excluded and this has been done in Figure 5.

The remaining lines may then be used to locate the upstanding portions in the surface of Figure 4, i.e. to locate the lines which support casks of two different sizes. The effect on the shape of the surface of varying the relative heights and positions of the casks may be investigated by suitable substitution in the calculations.

It should be noted that Figure 5 is drawn to scale to indicate the actual positions of the lines 11, 12 and 13 on one-quarter of a pallet having dimensions 24 inches by 20 inches as shown in the Figure (i.e. a pallet whose total dimensions are 48 inches by 40 inches).

Figure 6 shows a spacer 14 which has a supporting and locating surface each side.

The spacer may be made in a plastics material, for example by blow-forming or rotational moulding, and may be filled with a foam material for strength. The spacer 14 is provided with apertures 15 to receive the forks of a fork-lift truck.

Another spacer 16 is shown in Figure 9. It comprises a plurality of vertical ribs 17, 18 fixed to rigid rods 19. The ribs 17, 18 are provided with apertures 20 to enable the spacer 16 to be lifted by a fork-lift truck.

Each rib 17, 18 is shaped as a section through the spacer 14 of Figure 6 and it will be seen that the ribs 17 are shaped as the section of Figure 8. The two faces of each rib 17, 18 differ slightly in shape and the top and bottom edges 21 and 22 of the ribs define upstanding portions for laterally locating the casks. It will be seen that the slope of the edges 21 and 22 relative to the rods 19 is not constant and may even reverse its direction.

In the example shown, the separation of the ribs 17 is about 36 inches and the separation of the ribs 18 is about 5 inches. The ribs 17, 18 may alternatively be mounted on a spaceframe.

Figure 10 illustrates one quarter of another spacer in which a plurality of supporting pins 23, 24 are mounted on a spaceframe, the heights of the pins being chosen so that the ends of the pins contact the surfaces of the casks in use. As may be seen by comparing the positions of the lines 11 12 and 13 in Figure 5 with the positions of the pins in Figure 10, each pin is positioned so that it aids in supporting and locating more than one size of cask, the ends of the pins 23 defining upstanding portions which contact two sizes of cask and the ends of the pins 24 defining upstanding portions which contact all three sizes of cask. The heights in inches of one possible set of pins are shown in Figure 10. The spacer may comprise a space-frame having a plurality of intersecting elongate members extending across its length and width, the supporting pins conveniently being of rectangular section and attached to the junctions formed by the intersecting elongate members.

Figure 10 is drawn to scale to show the actual positions of the pins on one-quarter of a pallet having dimensions 24 inches by 20 inches as indicated in the Figure (total dimensions 48 inches by 40 inches).

Figures 11 to 17 are similar to Figures 3 to 8 and 10 and the same reference numerals have been used for equivalent integers. The apparatus shown in Figures 11 to 17 is of course adapted to bear, alternatively, 2, 4 or 6 parallel-sided casks of the sizes given in the table above. Figures 13 and 17 are drawn to scale, like Figures 5 and 10.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A device for supporting and laterally locating, alternatively, (a) a single layer array of objects all of a first size and (b) a single layer array of objects all of a second size, the objects of said first size being of substantially the same shape as the objects of said second size and the alternative arrays containing a different number of objects, each said array containing the maximum possible number of objects of the size concerned that can be fitted substantially within the perimeter of the device, the device having upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each object individually in each of said alternative arrays.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 arranged to bear as a third alternative a single layer array of a different number of objects all of a third size, the objects of the third size being of substantially the same shape as the objects of the first and second sizes, such third array again containing the maximum possible number of objects of the size concerned that can be fitted substantially within the perimeter of the device, the device having upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each object in all three of said alternative arrays.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in the form of a double-sided spacer having said upstanding portions on each side.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 provided with apertures whereby it can be carried by the forks of a fork-lift truck.

5. A device as claimed in claim 2 or in claim 3 or 4 when dependent on claim 2 adapted to support and locate two objects of a first size or four objects of a second size or six objects of a third size.

6. A device as claimed in any preceding claim comprising a complete contoured surface defining said upstanding portions.

7. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 comprising a plurality of vertical ribs of which the upper and/or lower surfaces define said upstanding portions.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the ribs are joined by a plurality of rods extending transversely of the ribs.

9. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the ribs are mounted on a space frame.

10. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 comprising a plurality of vertical supporting pins defining said upstanding portions and connected to a space frame.

11. A device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein all of the objects which the device if adapted to support are substantially cylindrical objects laid on their sides.

12. A base-board substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 4 and 12 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A spacer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 6, 7, 8, 14,15 and 16 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A spacer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 9 of the accompanying drawings.

15. A spacer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 10 and 17 of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. the junctions formed by the intersecting elongate members. Figure 10 is drawn to scale to show the actual positions of the pins on one-quarter of a pallet having dimensions 24 inches by 20 inches as indicated in the Figure (total dimensions 48 inches by 40 inches). Figures 11 to 17 are similar to Figures 3 to 8 and 10 and the same reference numerals have been used for equivalent integers. The apparatus shown in Figures 11 to 17 is of course adapted to bear, alternatively, 2, 4 or 6 parallel-sided casks of the sizes given in the table above. Figures 13 and 17 are drawn to scale, like Figures 5 and 10. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A device for supporting and laterally locating, alternatively, (a) a single layer array of objects all of a first size and (b) a single layer array of objects all of a second size, the objects of said first size being of substantially the same shape as the objects of said second size and the alternative arrays containing a different number of objects, each said array containing the maximum possible number of objects of the size concerned that can be fitted substantially within the perimeter of the device, the device having upstanding portions arranged to laterally locate each object individually in each of said alternative arrays.