SUPPORT MEANS ON A LINER FOR A CONTAINER

Abstract: Support means for a container liner for hanging and supporting the liner in a container comprises a belt (50) one end (52) of which is secured to a side face along one edge ( a ) thereof adjacent a corner of the liner and a free end (56) of which is anchored by a buckle (58) provided on another side face along an edge ( b ) thereof adjacent the corner, and a ring (64) provided at a vertex of the corner. Part of the belt (50) passes through the ring (64) to form a loop (66) of the belt (50). The loop (66) can be shortened by pulling the free end (56) of the belt (50). The loop (66) can be fixed to an inner wall of the container by a fastening ring 68. The free end (56) of the belt (50) is fixed by the buckle (58). When the free end (56) of the belt member (50) is pulled to make the loop (66) shorter the side edges and the vertex of the corner of the liner can be pulled up to eliminate or prevent slack of the liner.

Description: The invention relates to a support means on a liner for a container. In transportation with containers, liners have been used in the containers For preventing articles or goods therein from being contaminated. The liner is hung from inner walls of the container by means of hangers so as to be extended as wide as possible in the container. The articles or goods are filled into the liner and transported. Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a hitherto used liner for a container having hangers (For example disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 49-105,686). The liner shown in Figure 1 comprises an upper face 10, a bottom face 12, a rear face 14, side faces 16 and 18 and a front face 20 to form a hexahedron, and further comprises hangers 22 and 24 and dump-up fixtures 26 For connecting the liner to the inside of the container. The liner includes charging openings 28 and a small discharging opening 30. Reference numerals 32 and 34 denote a screen canvas and a skirt canvas to form the front face 20. The hangers 22 and 24 usually in the form of loops or ties are independently provided on side edges along edges of the liner, on the other hand mounting portions are provided on the inner walls of the container correspondingly to the hangers 22 and 24. In arranging and extending the liner in the container, the hangers 22 and 24 are hung on or bound to the mounting portions of the container. With such hitherto used hangers for a liner, however, it is impossible to remove or prevent slack of the liner occurring when the liner is extended in a container. In these hangers, moreover, the liner is hung from the inner walls of the container at several points along the liner, so that upon being subjected to load, it tends to cause stress concentration at the supported points of the liner resulting into damage or breakdown of the liner. In case of liners of containers, particularly, ropes are often provided on upper surfaces of the liners for preventing the slack of the liners. However, such ropes in addition to the hanging means cause a new problem of making the construction complicated. United States Patent US-3 578 213 describes a container for transporting bulk materials comprising an elongate rigid housing providing a variable volume container for a flexible liner. The interior of the housing is provided with guide rails on which the liner is supported for longitudinal movement. The variable volume chamber is formed by a bulkhead unit mounted on further guide rails within the housing. The liner is provided with a plurality of tunnel loops and straps to hang it from hanger rods secured to the bulkhead. By pulling the straps and securing them on hooks, the liner can be made to form into the shape of the chamber. According to the invention there is provided support means on a liner for a container including faces forming a corner, characterised by a belt having one end secured along one edge of a first side face of the liner adjacent the corner of the liner and a free end passing through a buckle, which anchors the belt, the buckle being along one edge of a second side face of the liner adjacent the corner, and a ring provided at the vertex of the corner, part of the belt passing through the ring to form a loop, which loop can be shortened by pulling the free end of the belt. Preferably the support means includes an auxiliary fastener comprising a cloth strip fixed along an edge of the second side face, a further ring secured to the cloth strip, a further buckle fixed to the cloth strip and spaced from the further ring, and a further belt having one end fixed to the cloth strip between the further ring and the further buckle and the other free end passing through the further buckle, which anchors the further belt, part of the further belt passing through the further ring to form a loop of the further belt, which loop can be shortened by pulling on the free end of the further belt. In hanging and extending a liner by the support means constructed as above described, the loops are directly or indirectly fixed to attaching portions of, for example, an inner wall of a container, and further the free ends of the belts are fixed by the buckles. Therefore, the side edges of one side and the other side are supported through the belts and vertices of corners of the liner are supported through the rings to distribute the supporting force, thereby enabling the liner to be hung and extended with mitigated stress concentration. Moreover, as the free end of the belts are pulled to shorten the loops of the belts, the side edges on one side and the other side of the liner and the vertices of the corners of the liner can be pulled to eliminate or prevent slack of the liner. The invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a liner for a container of previously proposed king; Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a principal part of a liner for a container including support means according to the invention; Figure 3 is a fragmentary view illustrating a detail of the support means of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating a further detail of the support means of Figure 2 in the form of an auxiliary fastener. The attached drawings for explaining the invention are schematic and therefore shapes, dimensions and positional relations between the respective components of the invention are not limited to those shown in the drawings. Figure 2 is a perspective view of a principal part of a liner for a container having support means according to one embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 2, reference numeral 38, 40 and 42 denote a front face, a side face and a top face respectively of a liner of a container to form a substantial hexahedron in the same manner as in liners of previously proposed kind. Moreover, reference numeral 44 denotes an opening of the liner, which is covered by a cover 46. Although the constitution of the liner is not limited to that shown in the drawing, the liner of this embodiment is provided with the opening 44 at the upper part of the front face 38 and with the cover 46 extending from above the opening 44. The opening 44 is opened and closed by opening and closing the cover 46. Reference numeral 48 in the drawing illustrates cooperating jointing means, for example, the material sold under the Trade Mark Velcro. Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating one embodiment of the invention. In Figures 2 and 3, a belt 50 has a fixed end 52 secured to the front face 38 adjacent the upper edge a thereof adjacent one corner of the liner. The securing means for the fixed end 52 of the belt 40 may be any suitable means, such as sewing, welding or adhering. Reference numeral 54 denotes a reinforcing cloth strip which in this embodiment is fixed to the front face along the edge a by sewing in order to reinforce the side edge of the liner. Thus, the fixed end 52 of the belt 50 is secured to the liner through the cloth strip 54. A buckle 58 is provided at the upper edge b of the side face 40 for anchoring a free end 56 of the belt 50. In the illustrated embodiment, the cloth strip 54 is also provided at the edge b and the buckle 58 is fixed to the cloth strip 54 through a further belt 60. The buckle 58 is provided with a stopper 62 (Figure 3) which is inoperative when the free end 56 of the belt 50 is pulled in the direction shown by arrow P. On the other hand, when the free end 56 attempts to move in a direction shown by arrow Q opposite to the direction of arrow P, the stopper 62 is operative to anchor the free end 56 of the belt 50. A ring 64 is located at a vertex of the corner. Part of the belt 50 passes through the ring 64 to form a loop 66 which is adjustable in size and particularly is reducible by pulling the free end 56. The "vertex of the corner" referred herein means a position at the intersection of the edges a and b at the corner and the corner itself in the proximity of the position of intersection. In the illustrated embodiment, the ring 64 is also fixed to the vertex of the corner by way of a belt. The part of the belt 50 between the fixed and free ends 52 and 56 is partially extended through the ring 64 to form the loop 66. In this embodiment, the loop 66 can be connected by way of a fastening ring 68 to an attaching portion (not shown) on an inner wall of a container. With the hanging device provided at the corner of the liner of the container as above described, when the free end 56 is pulled in the direction of arrow P, the length of the belt 50 between the buckle 58 and the fixed end 52 is shortened to make the loop 66 shorter. As a result of the reduction in the length of the loop 66, the side edges of the liner along the edges a and b are pulled toward the vertex of the corner to which the ring 64 is fixed, respectively, because the loop 66 is connected through the fastening ring 68 to the attaching portion on the inner wall of the container. Furthermore, when the free end of the belt 50 is pulled in the direction of arrow P so as to make the loop 66 shorter it causes the vertex of the corner to approach the attaching portion on the inner wall of the container. In hanging and extending the liner in a container, therefore, the loop 66 of the belt member is shortened to give tension to the liner thereby eliminating or preventing slack of the liner. Accordingly, complete support of the liner and removal and prevention of slack of the liner can be accomplished with a simple construction without requiring any slack preventing rope as used in previously proposed constructions. Moreover, as the liner is supported at locations where the buckles 58, the rings 64 and the fixed ends 52 of the belt 50 are fixed, to avoid the point support of the liner as in previously proposed constructions, it is possible to mitigate the stress concentration which would cause damage or breakdown of the liner. Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating of a lower portion of the liner shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, an auxiliary fastener 70 is provided on the liner. Corresponding parts to those shown in Figures 2 and 3 are designated by the same reference numerals. The auxiliary fastener 70 includes a ring 64 fixed to a reinforcing cloth strip 54 which is fixed to a side edge of a liner along a lower edge c of the side face 40 thereof, and a buckle 58 fixed by way of a further belt 60 to the cloth strip 54. A fixed end 52 of a belt 50 is secured to the cloth strip 54 between the buckle 58 and the annular body 64, and a free end 56 of the belt 50 is held by the buckle 58. A part of the belt 50 between the fixed and free ends 52 and 56 forms a loop 66 extending through the ring 64. In this case, the loop 66 can be connected by a fastening ring 68 to an attaching portion on the inner wall of the container. With this arrangement, when the free end 56 is pulled in a direction shown by an arrow P′, it pulls the buckle 58 toward the ring 64 provided at the vertex of the corner because the loop 66 is connected to the attaching portion on the inner wall of the container. Following the buckle 58, therefore, the side edge of the liner along the edge c is attracted to the corner, thereby applying tensile force to eliminate or prevent slack in the liner along the edge c . A direction shown by an arrow Q′ in Figure 4 is along the belt 50 and opposite to the direction P′. By providing the auxiliary fastener 70 and the hanging device in the above embodiment on any suitable corners of a liner for a container, the slack of the liner can be eliminated or prevented and the liner can simply and quickly by hung in the container. The invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, and configurations, positional relations, fixed positions and fixing means of the belts, rings and buckles may be modified as desired. For example, buckles having different construction from those of the buckles 58 shown may be used so long as the belt 50 can be pulled in one direction such as the direction P or P′, but cannot be pulled in the other direction, as the direction Q or Q′. For example, a buckle of the kind used for a belt for trousers may be used. The rings 64 may be of any closed shape so long as it is able to form a loop of the belt passing through the ring. The belts may be ribbon-shaped strap, mesh strap or other suitable belt. The invention may be applied to various kinds of cases or bags, for example, liners such as mosquito nets. Moreover, the fastening rings may be of any suitable construction without being limited to that shown in the embodiments.

Claims: Support means on a liner for a container including faces (38, 40, 42) forming a corner, characterised by a belt (50) having one end (52) secured along one edge (a) of a first side face (38) of the liner adjacent the corner of the liner and a free end (56) passing through a buckle (58), which anchors the belt (50), the buckle (58) being along one edge (b) of a second side face (40) of the liner adjacent the corner, and a ring (64) provided at the vertex of the corner, part of the belt (50) passing through the ring (64) to form a loop (66), which loop (66) can be shortened by pulling the free end (56) of the belt (50). Support means according to claim 1, wherein the buckle (58) is provided with a stopper (62) which is inoperative when the free end (56) of the belt (50) is pulled in one direction ( P ) but is operative to anchor the free end (56) of the belt (50) when the free end (56) is pulled in a direction (Q) substantially opposite to said one direction (P). Support means according to claim 1, including a fastening ring (68) through which the loop (66) passes and to be fixed to a member on which the liner is hung. Support means according to claim 1, including an auxiliary fastener comprising a cloth strip (54) fixed along an edge (c) of the second side face (40), a further ring (64) secured to the cloth strip (54), a further buckle (68) fixed to the cloth strip (54) and spaced from the further ring (64), and a further belt (50) having one end fixed to the cloth strip (54) between the further ring (64) and the further buckle (58) and the other free end (56) passing through the further buckle, which anchors the further belt (50), part of the further belt (50) passing through the further ring (64) to form a loop (66) of the further belt (50), which loop (66) can be shortened by pulling on the free end (56) of the further belt (50). Support means according to claim 4, wherein the further buckle (58) of the auxiliary fastener is provided with a further stopper (62) which is inoperative when said free end (56) of the belt is pulled in one direction (P') but is operative to anchor the free end (56) of the further belt (50) when the free end (56) is pulled in a direction (Q') substantially opposite to said one direction (P').

Inventors: HAMADA, HIROSHI KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA, SUZUKI, MITIHARU KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA, WATANABE, TAKAMITSU KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA
Applicants: KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA, LTD.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65D90
IPC codes: B65D90