CLUSTER MADE UP OF A NUMBER OF TANK CONTAINERS COUPLED TO ONE ANOTHER BY COUPLING RODS AND TANK CONTAINER SUITABLE FOR MAKING UP SUCH A CLUSTER

Abstract: A tank container comprises a tank or bin (2) and eight corner pieces (3). Two vertical plates (5, 6) of each corner piece have an edge cut-out (8) as well as a completely surrounded opening (9). In order to make a cluster of such tank containers by coupling containers located alongside one another, use is made of vertical coupling rods (10) which have a fork (11) at both ends, an opening (12) to allow the passage of a pin (13) being made in the two branches of said fork. The essential feature is that the distance between the openings (12) in the fork branches (11) at one end of a coupling rod (10) and the openings (12) in the fork branches (11) at the other end of said coupling rod corresponds to the distance between an edge cut-out (8) in a vertical plate (5, 6) of a corner piece (3) and a completely surrounded opening (9) in a vertical plate (5, 6) of a corner piece located directly below or directly above said corner piece.

Description: CLUSTER MADE UP OF A NUMBER OF TANK CONTAINERS COUPLED TO ONE ANOTHER BY COUPLING RODS AND TANK CONTAINER SUITABLE FOR MAKING UP SUCH A CLUSTER. The invention firstly relates to a tank container comprising: a tank or bin, eight corner pieces which are arranged in accordance with the corner points of a parallelepiped and which are fixed to the tank or bin and/or to a frame, wherein each corner piece comprises a horizontal plate and two vertical plates, which vertical plates have an edge cut-out intended to allow a pin to pass through, which pin can extend through openings in an end fork of a coupling rod. A tank container of this type is disclosed in NL-A 8902602. Said tank container is of such compact dimensions that it can be handled by relatively small fork-lift trucks, whilst it is possible in a simple manner to produce suitable clusters of tank containers which are entirely in line with the existing ISO container infrastructure, that is to say the clusters can be fixed to the conventional fixing points on chassis, container ships and sets of railway wagons and can be moved with the aid of the conventional container crane with yokes. The width of the parallelepiped is a fraction of the width of a container standardised in accordance with ISO standards (about 8 ft) such that coupling of a number of tank containers located alongside one another produces a cluster of the said ISO standard width (about 8 ft), whilst the length of the parallelepiped is equal to the length of a container standardised in accordance with ISO standards ( for example about 10 ft, about 20 ft, etc. ) or is a fraction thereof such that coupling of a number of tank containers located one after the other produces a cluster of the length of an ISO standard container. The width of a container standardised in accordance with ISO standards is about 8 ft; however, there are containers which have a width of 8' 4", the fixing points for which (corner fittings) are, however, in the same position as those for an 8 ft ISO container. These containers also fall under the term ISO container. One drawback of the known construction is that the coupling rods which hold tank containers alongside one another together in a cluster can break loose under rough conditions. The aim of the invention is firstly so to improve a tank container mentioned in the preamble that the linking of tank containers to one another in a cluster is more robust without detracting from the ease with which the tank containers can be linked together. According to the invention, the tank container is to this end characterised in that, in addition to the said edge cut-out, a completely surrounded opening, likewise intended to allow the passage of a pin which can extend through openings in an end fork of a coupling rod, is made in each of the vertical plates of the corner pieces. If the tank container is a container with which the tank or bin is fixed by means of retaining plates to corner pieces of a frame of parallelepiped shape which is provided, above the tank or bin, with two box sections extending between longitudinal girders of the frame for receiving the forks of a fork-lift truck, it is possible for retaining plates located only at the bottom of the tank or bin to suffice. The invention also relates to a cluster of a number of tank containers, wherein use is made of vertical coupling rods which have a fork at both ends, an opening being made in the two branches of said fork to allow the passage of a pin, for coupling tank containers located above and alongside one another. In order to prevent the coupling rods breaking loose, the distance between the opening in the fork branches at one end of a coupling rod and the opening in the fork branches at the other end of said coupling rod will correspond to the distance between an edge cut-out in a vertical plate of a first corner piece and a completely surrounded opening in a vertical plate of a second corner piece located directly below or above said first corner piece. The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the figures. Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a tank container according to the invention. Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the coupling of the corner pieces of tank containers. Figure 3 shows, diagrammatically, the points at which eight tank containers are joined to one another and to the chassis. Figure 4 shows a side view of a coupling rod which links two pairs of corner pieces to one another. The compact tank container (so-called compactainer) shown in Figure 1 comprises a frame 1 in parallelepiped form and a tank 2 which is fixed inside the frame. A corner piece 3 having three plates 4, 5 and 6 perpendicular to one another is fixed at each of the corner points of the frame. The vertical plates 5, 6 are extended by a section 7. The horizontal plate 4 has an opening for a twistlock. Each section 7 has a cut-out 8 in the horizontal edge and a completely surrounded opening 9 located some distance therefrom in the vertical direction. A cluster (for example 20 ft long and 8 ft wide) is produced by placing four tank containers (with a length of, for example, 10 ft, a width of, for example, 4 ft and a height of, for example, 4.7 ft) in a square and coupling them to one another. For transport on a chassis and for loading or unloading, a cluster of this type can be handled by means of a container crane with a standard yoke in the same way as a container standardised in accordance with ISO standards (20 ft container). Use is made of coupling rods 10 for coupling tank containers two by two. At both ends, said coupling rods have a fork 11 with an opening 12 in the fork branches. Figure 4 shows an upper and a lower set of four corner pieces 3 in the middle of a square of tank containers. Two adjoining sections 7 of the bottom set of four are coupled to one another and to two adjoining sections 7 of the upper set of four by means of a single coupling rod 10. The bottom fork 11 engages over two sections 7, the openings 12 in the fork branches being in register with the openings 9 in the section 7. A locked-off fixing pin 13 has been inserted through said openings 12 and 9 which are in register. The upper fork 11 of the coupling rod likewise engages over two sections 7, but the openings 12 in the fork branches are in register with the edge cut-outs 8 in the sections 7. A locked-off pin 10 has likewise been inserted through these openings 12 and edge cut-outs 8 which are in register. The length between the openings 12 in the fork branches at one end of a coupling rod 10 and the openings 12 in the fork branches at the other end of a coupling rod 10 corresponds to the distance between an opening 9 in a first section 7 and an edge cut-out 8 in a second section 7 which is located directly below the first section 7. In other words, a coupling rod 10 joins two pairs of sections 7, located directly one below the other, in such a way that one of the forks is joined by means of a pin 3 extending through openings 9 and 12 to one pair of sections 7 and the other fork is joined by means of a pin 13 extending through edge cut-outs 8 and openings 12 to the other pair of sections 7. What is achieved by this means is that the coupling rod can, on the one hand, easily be brought into the correct position and can be secured by means of the pins and, on the other hand, is not able to break loose under rough conditions. If - as described in NL-A 8902602 - the forks of a coupling rod are joined to the pairs of sections 7 in such a way that the fixing pins 13 run through the edge cut-outs at either end, there can be a risk under rough conditions. The tank 2 is fixed inside the frame 1 because retaining plates 4 have been welded between the four lower corner pieces 3 and the tank 2. Said retaining plates can be dispensed with at the top of the tank if horizontal forces applied to the tank are transmitted to two box sections 15 for receiving the forks of a fork-lift truck, a drip tray 16 being mounted between said forks. The box sections are fixed between two longitudinal girders of the frame. Vertical forces applied to the tank are transmitted via the retaining plates 14 and the corner pieces 3 to the frame 1. An arrangement where the frame 1 made up of straight sections is dispensed with and only eight corner pieces are fixed to the tank via retaining plates 14 is not precluded. In Figure 3 the short dashes show where 10 ft tank containers are coupled to one another and the small circles show where the two square clusters are fixed to a chassis by means of twistlocks.

Claims: Claims 1. Tank container comprising: a tank or bin (2) , eight corner pieces ( 3 ) which are arranged in accordance with the corner points of a parallelepiped and which are fixed to the tank or bin and/or to a frame ( 1 ) , wherein each corner piece comprises a horizontal plate (4) and two vertical plates (5, 6), which vertical plates have an edge cut-out (8) intended to allow a pin (13) to pass through, which pin can extend through openings (12) in an end fork (11) of a coupling rod (10), characterised in that in addition to the said edge cut-out ( 8 ) , a completely surrounded opening ( 9 ) , likewise intended to allow the passage of a pin (13) which can extend through openings (12) in an end fork (11) of a coupling rod (10), is made in each of the vertical plates (5, 6 ) of the corner pieces ( 3 ) . 2. Tank container according to Claim 1, wherein the tank or bin ( 2 ) is fixed by means of retaining plates (14) to corner pieces (3) of a frame (1) of parallelepiped shape which is provided, above the tank or bin (2), with two box sections (15) for receiving the forks of a fork-lift truck, which box sections extend between longitudinal girders of the frame, characterised in that said plates ( 14 ) are located only at the bottom of the tank or bin (2 ) . 3. Cluster of a number of tank containers according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein use is made of vertical coupling rods (10) which have a fork (11) at both ends, an opening (12) being made in the two branches of said fork *-o allow the passage of a pin ( 13 ) , for coupling tank cor -iners located alongside one another, characterised in that .he distance between an opening (12) in the fork branches (11) at one end of a coupling rod (10) and the opening (12) in a fork branch (11) at the other end of said coupling rod (10) will correspond to the distance between an edge cut-out (8) in a vertical plate (5, 6) of a first corner piece ( 3 ) and a completely surrounded opening ( 9 ) in a vertical plate (5, 6 ) of a second corner piece (3) located directly below or above said first corner piece.

Inventors: VAN DEN ENGEL HENDRIK BERNARDU, VAN DEN ENGEL, HENDRIK, BERNARDUS, BASTIAAN
Applicants: DEN ENGEL HENDRIK BERNARDUS BA, VAN DEN ENGEL, HENDRIK, BERNARDUS, BASTIAAN
Application year: 1997
Main classification: B65D88
IPC codes: B65D88, B65D90