Patent ID: 7695234

Claim:
A device for temporarily loading, storing and unloading a container, comprising: an enclosure having a front-surface side, a rear-surface side, a left side, a right side and struts at both the left and right sides, including struts at the front-surface side and struts at the rear-surface side; a support beam mounted in a vertically movable manner between the struts at the front-surface side of the enclosure; a transporter movable horizontally on the support beam, the transporter having a pair of symmetrical retaining fingers extending from a transporter surface and defining a distance therebetween; a plurality of shelves arranged horizontally and vertically between the struts at the rear-surface side of the enclosure, with vertical spaces between the shelves in a height direction of the container, the spaces being larger than the height of the container, a length between the struts at the rear-surface side and said transporter surface being larger than the depth of the container; and a plurality of positioning pins with a fixed height protruding from the shelves so as to separate the container from the shelves; and a strain absorbing member having a tortuous, back-and-forth shape, the strain absorbing member being provided at least on one of the struts of the front-surface side of the enclosure. wherein the support beam is mounted through the strain absorbing member, and wherein the retaining fingers are movable to expand and contract the distance therebetween so as to be adapted to be inserted from right and left sides under a bottom of the container loaded on one of the shelves, and then, support right and left portions of the bottom or an underside of a flange provided on right and left side walls of the container, and thus, remove the container from said one of the shelves by lifting.