Container

An external protective shell shipping container into which is loaded a tightly closed primary container for dangerous materials. The protective container is designed to withstand crushing and impact loads in excess of those anticipated in the event of accident, and is also so designed that cracking or breaking of the external shell is taken into account to provide a part of the energy absorbing container design. The external contouring of the container shell avoids sharp corners and provides rounded and sloping surfaces for optimum shock load distribution. The illustrated container is for a long narrow load supported on shock mounts in a free float position within the shell container, the support points being inward from the ends which cantilevers the ends of both the outer shell container and the interior container. A special controlled crush structure is incorporated into the ends of the shell container, and special external contouring provides for ease of handling by fork lift vehicles. The shell container is made of identical top and bottom molded fiberglass half sections secured together after installation of the interior load into the bottom half section. Molded into the shell container sections are vertical detents for stabilization of a number of the shell containers when stacked to prevent relative shifting.

This invention relates generally to containers, and more specifically to 
large size shipping containers for safely carrying elongated heavy 
structures. 
Because of todays technology, there now exist many materials which can be 
highly dangerous both to animal life and to the environment if allowed to 
disperse into the air or the ground, such materials including for example 
highly toxic liquids which vaporize at normal pressures and temperatures 
and radioactive materials. The shipment of such substances is effected by 
confining such materials in tightly sealed containers. There exists 
however the possibility of rupture to such containers due to accidents 
which can occur during loading and unloading and actual transportation by 
truck, rail, or boat. The shipping container according to the invention is 
an external protective shell into which is loaded the tightly closed 
primary container for the dangerous material. The container is designed to 
withstand crushing and impact loads far in excess of those anticipated in 
the event of accident, and is also so designed that cracking or breaking 
of the external shell container, while not necessarily desired, is taken 
into account to provide a part of the energy absorbing container design. 
The external contouring of the container shell avoids sharp corners and 
provides rounded and sloping surfaces for optimum shock load distribution. 
The illustrated container incorporates a design for a long relatively 
narrow load supported on shock mounts in a free float position within the 
shell container, the support points being inward from the ends which 
shorten the supported beam length and cantilevers the ends of both the 
outer shell container and the interior container. This construction 
permits a calculated amount of energy absorbing movement of the shell 
container opposite ends before transmission of any loading to the interior 
container. A special controlled crush structure is incorporated into the 
ends of the shell container, and special external contouring provides for 
ease of handling by fork lift vehicles. The container is made of identical 
top and bottom molded fiberglass half sections which are secured together 
after installation of the interior load into the bottom half section. 
Molded into the shell container sections are vertical detents for 
stabilization of a number of the shell containers when stacked to prevent 
relative shifting. Also provided is a chain plate to prevent gouging of 
the shell container by hold-down chains which are secured to the 
transporting vehicle to prevent load shifting. 
A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel shipping container 
for hazardous materials contained within a separate container to be 
protectively housed within the shipping container. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel shipping container as 
aforesaid wherein the interior container is protected from rupture when 
the shipping container is subjected to severe impact loads from any 
direction. 
A further object of the invention is to provide an novel shipping container 
as aforesaid wherein the container is formed from identical top and bottom 
half sections of reinforced molded plastic.

In the several figures, like elements are denoted by like reference 
characters. 
Referring now to the drawings, there is seen a container designated 
generally as 10 in the general form of an elongated rectangular 
parallelepiped having a top section 11 and a bottom section 12, the top 
and bottom sections being identical and pullable from the same mold. The 
top and bottom are each formed by a series of spaced apart pan formations 
connected by intervening trough sections, the pan formations being 
designated as a central pan 13, a pair of intermediate pans 14 and a pair 
of end pans 15. The central pan 13 and intermediate pans 14 are connected 
by a pair of inner troughs 16, while the intermediate pans 14 and end pans 
15 are interconnected by the outer troughs 17. 
Each of the pans and troughs has a base wall connected to a pair of side 
walls, all of the base walls being connected to one another and forming 
the composite top and bottom of the container section, while the side 
walls are joined to one another and form the sides of the top and bottom 
sections. The base walls are designated by the proper reference character 
followed by the letter A, such as the base walls 15A, and the side walls 
are designated by the reference character followed by the letter B as for 
example 16B. Additionally, the end pans 15 have end walls 15C which form 
the end of the top and bottom sections. 
As best seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the base walls of the pans and troughs 
are connected by rounded contour transition sections 18, and as best seen 
in FIG. 5 the side walls of the pan and trough sections are interconnected 
by smoothly contoured transition sections 19. As also best seen FIGS. 1 
and 5, the side walls of all the troughs are substantially coplanar and 
coplanar with portions of the side walls of the pans, which latter are 
designated by the letters D, while other portions of the side walls of the 
pans extend to a widthwise greater extent and define the maximum width of 
the top and bottom sections, these portions of the side walls being 
designated by the letter E. 
The lateral distance between the widthwise extent of the trough side walls 
16B and 17B on the one hand and the maximum width of the section 
corresponding to the maximum width pan side walls is occupied by the 
bolting flange 20 which extends completely around the periphery of the top 
and bottom sections in the indicated regions. A sealing gasket of rubber 
or other suitable material 21 is disposable between the flanges 20 to 
render the interior of the container water and vapor tight. 
As best seen from FIGS. 1, 4 and 6 the transverse shape of the top and 
bottom sections 11 and 12, whether through one of the troughs or one of 
the pans, is seen to be trapezoidal with the smaller base being located at 
the base wall and the larger trapezoidal base being at the flange 
position. Similarly, as best seen in FIG. 5, the interconnections between 
the base walls of the pans and the troughs cause the pans to be also 
trapezoidal in longitudinal section and at the end pan end walls. The 
contouring of the side walls and the transitions between the base walls of 
the pans and troughs provide greatly increased compression and anti-twist 
resistance to the container, while causing the bolting flange 20 to be 
effectively recessed into the side wall. This protects the flange from 
break-off resulting from side faced impacting because substantially all of 
the impact is taken along the extended widthwise faces of the pan 
sections. The trapezoidal cross-sections and rounded corners also provide 
needed strength for impact resistance and shock distribution. 
The base wall of each of the end pans 15 is formed with a rectangular array 
of two raised pads 22 and two depressed dishes 23, the pads being along 
one diagonal of the rectangle and the dishes being along the other 
diagonal of the rectangle. From FIG. 1 it is seen that the pads 22 are 
oriented along the same diagonal of the rectangle at both end pans 15, and 
similarly the dishes 23 are oriented along the opposite diagonal. 
Accordingly, as is shown in the section of FIG. 3, the pads 22 on the 
bottom section 12 occupy the same positions as the dishes 23 of the top 
section 11, while the dishes 23 of the bottom section 12 occupy the same 
positions as the pads 22 of the top section 11. This provides an 
interfitting nesting arrangement between the pads 22 and dishes 23 of 
stacked containers 10, locking the stacked containers against relative 
lateral shifting. 
As best seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, each of the intermediate pans 14 has a 
pair of rectangular depressions 24 formed in the base wall 14A. These 
depressions accept rectangular steel plates 25 shown in FIG. 3, these 
plates acting as large area reinforcements for shock mounts 26 which are 
seen in FIGS. 3 and 6. The shock mounts 26 and reinforcing plates 25 are 
securely bolted together through the wall of the rectangular depressions 
24, and the upper face of the shock mount 26 is securely bolted to a steel 
frame 27 which latter is rigidly secured to the interior container 28, the 
container 28 being that for which the protection is intended. The shock 
mounts 26 support the container 28 with whatever clearance is desired 
above the inside faces of the trough base walls 16A and 17A, clearances of 
one-half inch to one inch being typical. As best seen from FIG. 3, the 
rigid securements between the interior container 28, steel frame 27, shock 
mounts 26 and the bottom section container pans 14 materially rigidifies 
the container bottom section 12 for the entire span between the shock 
mounts, and hence rigidifies the entire container including the top 
section 11 when the top and bottom sections are bolted together through 
the bolting flange 20 as by means of the bolts 29. The ends of the 
interior container 28 which lie outward beyond the shock absorbers 26 and 
extend into the end pans 15 are free end cantilevered. 
The end structures formed by the end pans 15 of the top and bottom sections 
11 and 12 are specially designed to withstand severe impact loads to 
protect the interior container 28. The kinds of stresses which the 
container pan must be capable of absorbing while protecting the interior 
container 28 are best understood by considering the typical size and 
weight conditions of the containers. The interior container 28 may be 
approximately fifteen and a half feet long by twenty inches wide by 
thirteen inches high and weigh approximately two thousand pounds. The 
outside container 10 may be approximately seventeen and a half feet 
overall in length and thirty inches wide and twenty-four inches high at 
maximum dimensions which would be through the pan sections. The inside 
dimensions would be approximately twenty-two inches wide and fifteen 
inches high between the base walls of the trough sections so that there 
exists about one inch clearance between the outside top and bottom and 
side faces of the container 28 and the inside proximate surfaces of the 
container 10. 
The interior container 28 must be protected from damage under the 
conditions where the entire package experiences a long drop onto a very 
hard surface, a drop of perhaps thirty feet. It is not important that the 
outer container 10 remain intact and undamaged after such a drop, but that 
the interior container 28 remain undamaged. Accordingly, the end structure 
of the container 10 is designed to withstand impact loads which would be 
experienced under such conditions. Referring particularly now to FIGS. 3,4 
and 5, there is seen a specially constructed shock absorbing end section 
which consists of a fiber glass reinforced wood plate 30 spaced slightly 
in from the end face 15C of each of the end pans 15, rigid polyurethane 
foam 31 formed in place between the plate 30 and the pan end wall 15C, 
three sections of honeycomb material 32 each approximately three inches in 
length with the cell axis of the honeycomb oriented lengthwise of the 
container 10, a fiberglass reinforced wood plate 33 at the inward end of 
the honeycomb structure 32, and a steel plate 34 secured to the wood plate 
33, this entire structure being locked in place by a layer of fiberglass 
reinforced plastic. The polyurethane foam 31 while being rigid, as 
distinguished from a pliable foam, is nevertheless crushable under impact. 
The honeycomb material 32 is suitably made of kraft fiber phenolic resin 
impregnated, with a cell diameter on the order of one half inch. 
As best seen in FIG. 3, a clearance space 35 is arranged between the end of 
the interior container 28 and the steel plate 34, this clearance space 
being on the order of one half inch to one inch. The space should be large 
enough so that some end deformation of the container 10 can occur before 
pressure is brought to bear on the end of the container 28, but the space 
should not be so great that a high impulse force will be exerted on the 
end of the container 28 by the steel plate 34. The end loading is 
basically absorbed by the container casing and the honeycombs 32, the 
latter being intended to crush and absorb the energy of impact. 
As best seen in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, the end pans 15 are also provided with 
foamed polyurethane 36 in the spaces between the base wall and side walls 
of the pan to a depth approximately coplanar with the inside surfaces of 
the base walls 17A of the outer troughs 17. The foamed urethane pads 36 
spread the stress along the top or bottom faces of the interior container 
28 in the event that the outer container 10 impacts at a non-vertical or 
non horizontal angle, and prevents the portion of the end pans 15 which 
lies outward of the end of the interior container 28 from shearing off and 
exposing the end of the interior container to subsequent impact. If 
desired, plastic foam or other shock absorbent material could be placed in 
the hollows of the central and intermediate pans 13 and 14, although this 
is not as significant as the placement of the foam 36 into the end pans 
15. 
Each of the troughs 16 and 17 and the central and intermediate pans 13 and 
14 is approximately twenty-three inches in length while the end pans 15 
are slightly longer. The lengths of the troughs and pans are established 
to readily accomodate the blades of a fork-lift truck on opposite sides of 
the central pan 13 in the spaces beneath the inner troughs 16, the 
out-to-out spacing of fork-lift blades being approximately four feet. The 
length of the troughs is sufficient to accomodate position variance and 
angled approach by the fork-lift operator. The vertical distance between 
the base walls of the troughs and the base walls of the pans is 
approximately four inches to provide the needed vertical clearance so that 
the fork-lift operator can avoid running the fork-lift blades into the 
sides of the container 10. 
A pair of chain plates 37, contoured to overlie the troughs 17, are bolted 
to the top section 11 with the same bolts as secure the top and bottom 
sections together through the bolting flange 20. The plates 37 may 
suitably be made of 1/8" to 3/16" steel and prevent gouging and abrasion 
of the plastic container by hold-down chains used to secure the containers 
to the transporting vehicles. 
The container 10 is preferably made of molded reinforced plastic such as 
polyester resin with glass cloth and chopped fibers, the wall thickness 
being suitably from about 3/16" to 5/16", and may be reinforced if desired 
in suitable places with formed metal inserts or carbon boron fibers. 
Having now described my invention in connection with a particularly 
illustrated embodiment thereof, modifications and variations of my 
invention may now naturally occur from time to time to those persons 
normally skilled in the art without departing from the essential scope or 
spirit of the invention, and accordingly it is intended to claim the same 
broadly as well as specifically as indicated by the appended claims.