Collapsible cart

A collapsible load handling trolley comprising a box-like receptacle formed by a sleeve and base of corrugated fibreboard, the sleeve being formed with creases which delimit four wall portions and which render the sleeve capable of being folded flat and the base being dimensioned to fit snugly within the sleeve, a frame for supporting the base, a set of ground engaging castors mounted to depend from the frame, and means for releasably securing the sleeve to the frame. SP This application is a Continuation-In-Part of my copending application Ser. No. 574,635, filed May 5 1975, now abandoned.

This invention relates to load handling trolleys for storing or 
transporting goods. 
For such purposes, trolleys have been used of which the base and the side 
and end walls are of steel, often steel wire mesh, or glass fibre 
reinforced plastics. Such trolleys are often heavy and dificult to 
manoeuver, and are inevitably expensive to produce. 
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,152,217 (Shaw) to provide a box hand truck 
of the same general kind as that which is the subject of the present 
invention, but this prior art arrangement is essentially a heavy steel 
structure which is incapable of ready disassembly into components 
occupying a minimum of space. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a load handling trolley 
which is lighter and therefore more manoeuvrable than the afore-mentioned 
conventional trolleys, and which is also less expensive to produce. A 
further important object of the invention is to provide a load handling 
trolley which is readily collapsible for ease of storage and the like. 
Accordingly, the invention provides a collapsible load handling trolley 
comprising a box-like receptacle formed by a sleeve and base of corrugated 
fibreboard, the sleeve being formed with creases which delimit four wall 
portions and which render the sleeve capable of being folded flat and the 
base being dimensioned to fit snugly within the sleeve, a frame for 
supporting the base, a set of ground engaging castors mounted to depend 
from the frame, and means for releasably securing the sleeve to the frame. 
The frame is preferably of timber, so that the fibreboard base can be 
nailed thereto. For this purpose aluminum flanged nails, such as those 
supplied to Triwall Corporation, are particularly suitable, since the head 
of each nail can be driven below the surface of the fibreboard and yet not 
penetrate through the board. 
The corrugated fibreboard may be single, double or triple fluted, depending 
on the robustness required of the trolleys in use. Triple fluted 
corrugated fibreboard is preferred, since it is stronger. Such triple 
fluted corrugated fibreboard may be that sold by Triwall Corporation and 
known as "Tri-wall Pak". The fibreboard may be coated or impregnated with 
a hardening or waterproofing material, for example if the trolley is to be 
used in humid conditions. A curable synthetic resin is an example of a 
suitable hardening material.

Referring to the drawings, a collapsible load handling trolley comprises an 
open-topped box-like storage receptacle formed by a rectangular base 1 and 
pairs of side and end walls 8 and 9 respectively of corrugated fibreboard 
which walls together constitute an upstanding rectangular sleeve generally 
designated by the reference numeral 2. The marginal portion of the base 1 
is supported on a rectangular timber frame 3 and is secured thereto by 
suitable means, e.g. nails. Castors 4 depend from the corners of the frame 
3 and are secured thereto, e.g. by screws. 
The sleeve 2 is releasably secured to the frame 3 by means of coach bolts 7 
carrying load spreading members 6 which are L-shaped in cross-section so 
as to engage the sides and the lower edge of the sleeve, the bolts passing 
through bores 11 in the sleeve and corresponding bores 12 in the frame and 
being secured in position by wing-nuts 10. The upper edge of the sleeve is 
terminated by straight channel section members 14 which are resiliently 
engaged within the sleeve, the corners of the upper edge of the sleeve 
being provided with snap-on corner pieces 15, also of the channel section. 
The members 14 may be aluminum extrusions and the members 15 may be of 
plastics. 
The trolley is fitted with metal handles 5, which are bolted to the sleeve. 
The handles may alternatively be of rope or other material, or may be 
cut-out of fibreboard. 
An exemplary method of manufacturing the trolley described above will now 
be described: 
A sleeve of suitable dimensions is prepared from a strip of fibreboard by 
transverse bending or creasing to form a rectangular configuration and 
stitching or otherwise securing the ends of the strip together. A 
rectangular base of fibreboard dimensioned to fit snugly within the sleeve 
is nailed to the rectangular timber frame and castors are screwed to the 
corners of the frame either before or after the base is nailed thereto. 
The sleeve is releasably secured to the frame by means of the coach bolts 
to form a rigid open-topped box-like wheeled receptacle, which can be 
readily disassembled by removing the coach bolts whereupon the sleeve can 
be folded flat to occupy the minimum of space. 
A trolley manufactured as described above is sufficiently cheap for the 
corrugated fibreboard sleeve to be regarded as expendable and thrown away 
when damaged. The base, frame and attached castors can of course be reused 
with a new sleeve.