Vacuum discharge bin for bulk materials

A rectangular bin body having a top wall, front and back walls, side walls and bottom wall with an inlet opening in the top wall and a discharge opening in the front wall at the juncture of the front wall with the bottom wall and one of the side walls. The discharge opening is aligned with an internal corner of the bin at the juncture of the back and bottom walls with the one side wall so that when the bin is tipped upwardly about a generally horizontal axis located to one side of the bin and inclined with respect to the back the one side wall, the internal corner is located at an elevation below the remainder of the interior of the bin. In this position of the bin, the side walls, the back wall and the bottom wall function as a hopper to direct the bin contents to the internal corner so that the entire contents of the bin can be emptied by directing a suction tube inwardly of the bin straight through the discharge opening and into the internal corner. A discharge tube in the interior of the bin aligned with the discharge opening and directed toward the internal corner from which the bin is emptied, facilitates the insertion of the suction tube into the bin and ultimately into the internal corner of the bin from which the contents are removed. A valve assembly in the front wall of the bin enables samples of the bin contents to be removed without fully opening the bin.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Large metal bins are commonly used for transporting and storing bulk 
granular materials which are vacuum discharged from the bin. Examples of 
bins that are usable for this purpose are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 
2,648,428, 3,130,855 and 3,647,106, owned by the Assignee of the this 
application. Good examples of granular materials stored and transported in 
such bins are granular plastic materials such as polyethelene, polystyrene 
and PET. 
One of the problems with conventional bins or cartons that are used for 
these purposes is that the bottom walls of the containers are flat for the 
purpose of achieving maximum volume in the interior of the container and 
it is difficult to fully evacuate all of the bin contents from such a 
container. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to 
provide a bin which is constructed to facilitate thorough vacuum discharge 
of the bin contents without sacrificing any of the interior capacity of 
the bin. 
In the bin of this invention, a hollow body of generally rectangular shape 
is provided having a top wall, front and back walls, side walls and a 
bottom wall. An inlet opening is formed in the top wall and a discharge 
opening is formed in the front wall at the juncture of the front wall with 
the bottom wall and one of the side walls, the discharge opening being 
aligned with an internal corner of the bin at the juncture of the back and 
bottom walls with the one side wall. 
As a result, when the bin is tipped upwardly about a generally horizontal 
axis located to one side of the bin and inclined with respect to the back 
and side walls the internal corner is located at an elevation below the 
remainder of the interior of the bin. As the bin is emptied, the bin 
contents are naturally directed into the internal corner by the bin walls. 
Thus, a suction tube can be directed inwardly of the bin straight through 
the discharge opening and into the internal corner for fully emptying such 
a bin of its contents. 
A discharge tube in the bin is positioned so that it is parallel to the 
bottom wall and located in close proximity to the bottom wall in 
substantial alignment with the discharge opening and the internal corner. 
The discharge tube guides the suction tube into position at the internal 
corner to facilitate emptying of the bin. 
The result is a bin which can readily be utilized to store and transport 
bulk material and which can also be manipulated at the point of use of the 
stored and transported material to facilitate vacuum discharge of the bin.

With reference to the drawing, the improved bin of this invention, 
indicated generally at 10, is shown in FIG. 1 as consisting of an upright 
body 12 that is of rectangular shape in cross section and has a front wall 
14, side walls 16 and 18, a back wall 20, a top wall 22 and a flat bottom 
wall 24 that is horizontal in the transport and storage positions of the 
bin shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the illustrated embodiment of the 
invention, the bottom wall 24 is mounted in a rectangular reinforcing 
cradle 26 provided with downwardly extending supporting legs 28. 
The bin 10 has an opening 30 in its top wall 22 which functions as an inlet 
during filling of the bin and a hinged cover 32 that is operable to close 
the opening 30 after the bin has been filled. The bin 10 also has a 
discharge opening 34 in its front wall 14 at a position adjacent the 
juncture of the front wall 14 with the side wall 16 and the bottom wall 
24. An internal tube 36 in the interior of the body 12 is aligned with the 
opening 34 and has its outer end 38 secured to the front wall 14 at a 
position in alignment with the discharge opening 34. The inner end 40 of 
the bin tube 36 is inclined downwardly and forwardly at an angle of about 
45.degree. and is open. A removable closure plug 42 normally closes the 
outer end 38 of the tube 36. 
The tube 36 is aligned with the back corner 44 of the bin 10 at the 
juncture of the rear wall 20 with the side wall 16 and the bottom wall 24. 
This arrangement of the tube 36 within the container body 12 facilitates 
the insertion of a wand or vacuum tube 48 into the interior of the bin 
through the discharge opening 34 to facilitate emptying of the bin 
contents. The wand 48 is conventionally connected to a hose 50 which is 
capable of creating suction in the wand 48 for withdrawing the contents of 
the bin. 
The above described structure of the bin 10 facilitates mounting of the bin 
10 on a tipping assembly 52 (FIG. 4). The apparatus 52 is capable of 
tipping the bin rearwardly and upwardly about an axis 54 which is 
generally horizontal and is positioned to one side of the bin 10 at a 
position adjacent the corner 44. As shown in FIG. 4, this positions the 
corner 44 at the lowest elevation so that the bin walls function as a 
hopper to direct the bin contents into the corner 44 so that the bin can 
be readily emptied through the wand 48 and the tube 50. 
The tipping assembly 52 is described in detail in co-pending application 
Ser. No. 152,149 filed 2-4-88 assigned to the assignee of this 
application. The disclosure in said application in incorporated herein by 
reference. 
A conventional butterfly valve assembly 60 is mounted in an elliptical 
opening 62 in the front wall 14 to enable easy sampling of the bin 
contents when the bin 10 is in the tipped position illustrated in FIG. 4. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the movable valve member 64 in the assembly 60 is 
mounted in a tubular housing 66 which extends upwardly and inwardly in the 
storage and transport position of the bin. However, when the bin is in its 
discharge position, the housing 66 is more nearly horizontal so that an 
access door 68 for the valve assembly 60 can be opened and a sample of the 
bin contents removed without spillage of the bin contents at the valve 
assembly 60. 
Vertically spaced sightglass assemblies 70 are mounted in the side wall 16 
so that the product level in the bin can be monitored.