US3618536A

US3618536A - Crating system for sheet material or the like

Info

Publication number: US3618536A
Application number: US866324A
Authority: US
Inventors: James W Mccracken
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-10-14
Filing date: 1969-10-14
Publication date: 1971-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1988-11-09

Abstract

A substantially rectangular crate is provided for sheet material or the like having spaced-apart parallel bottom rails, a pair of ledge rails outside the bottom rails and parallel thereto, crosspieces extending between the ledge rails across the bottom rails and fixed thereto, support members on the ledge rails extending between the crossmembers, the tops of said crossmembers and support members being generally in the same plane. Metal bindings are inserted over the bottom rails, under the ledge rails and around a stack of sheets on the crate with a laminated paper angle between the binding and the edge of the stack.

Description

United States Patent James W. McCracken Leeeltburg, Pa. 15656 [21 1 Appl. No. 866,324

[22] Filed Oct. 14, 1969 [45] Patented Nov. 9, 1971 [72] Inventor [54] CRATING SYSTEM FOR SHEET MATERIAL 0R Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay Assistant Examiner-Glenn 0. Finch Attorney-Bull, Blenko & Ziesenheim ABSTRACT: A substantially rectangular crate is provided for sheet material or the like having spaced-apart parallel bottom rails, a pair of ledge rails outside the bottom rails and parallel thereto, crosspieces extending between the ledge rails across the bottom rails and fixed thereto, support members on the ledge rails extending between the crossmembers, the tops of said crossmembers and support members being generally in the same plane. Metal bindings are inserted over the bottom rails, under the ledge rails and around a stack of sheets on the crate with a laminated paper angle between the binding and the edge of the stack.

PATENTED NOV 9197: 3,618,536

o INVENTOR James W. McCrocken 2' fl glwvi. J, K

1 his ATTORNEYS CRATING SYSTEM FOR SHEET MATERIAL OR THE LIKE This invention relates to a crating system for sheet material or the like and particularly to a new crating system for heavy material such as steel sheets or the like sheet material. More particularly, this invention pertains to a new kind of crate, made of a material like wood and to a new system of crating for handling or shipping fiat sheet materials such as steel sheets having a high-grade finish, e.g. stainless steel.

It has for a considerable number of years been customary practice for manufacturers of high-grade steel sheets, such as stainless steel sheets made by cold-rolling processes and having expensive and valuable finishes, to be shipped in wooden crates. Such sheets are supplied in a variety of thicknesses and a variety of external dimensions such as 6 by 12, 4 by it), 3 by and many other such sizes. The weight of the crate and the protection which it affords to the sheets which it carries are both very important characteristics and determine the utility of the crate and the amount of steel which can beshipped in any particular time, because the heavier the crate, the less steel that can be handled in a given unit, usually because of weight limitations at the consignee s plant. In addition, it is important that the sheets be fully protected so that the valuable finish which has been given to them is not in any way impaired during shipping. Prior art crates which have been used up to the present time have been expensive to fabricate, difficult to handle and perhaps most important, did not provide the necessary protection desired, particularly on very thin sheets. Prior art crates have been generally made with spaced-apart ledge rails along the sides, held together by spaced crossrails terminating at the ledge rails and a set of side rails and end rails extending vertically above the crossrails between which the sheets are packaged. In the case of such crates, particularly when very thin sheets are involved, there was no support along the edges between the crossrails for the sheets so that the sheet tended to give or bow between the crossrails until they touched the ledge rails. This sometimes deleteriously affected the surface finish. This is quite undesirable and should be avoided. This has not been possible in the structures which are presently available.

In the crating system of the present invention a new crate and method of crating is provided having many advantages over the crates of the prior art. In my new crate the problem of sagging or bowing of strip between the crossmembers is avoided and the sheets are supported from end to end of the crate along all of their edges. In the new crate standard materials can be used with a minimum of assembly labor required. The new crate requires much less material and thus presents a far less problem in storage and handling prior to use. The new crate may be assembled from one side without the need for turning the crate over in order to complete the assembly as is the case in most of the prior art types of crate. All of the parts can be prepared in advance and the necessary crates rapidly assembled from precut parts. The crate of this invention while very light as compared to the prior art crates, is very strong and provides the necessary support for sheets so that the sheets will be protected even if the crate is dropped. For example, sheets packed on the crate of this invention have been repeatedly dropped from the height of a truck bed without breaking the crate or damaging the sheets. The practice of the present invention eliminates the need for side rails and the need for top crosspieces and permits the use of metal binding strips while protecting the binding strips against tearing and accidental breakage.

The foregoing general description of my invention outlines certain objects, purposes and advantages of the invention. Other purposes, objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

Flt]. l is a plan view ofa crate according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side-elevational view of the crate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view of a crate and assembled sheet puck according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line lV-IV ofFlG. 3.

ans:

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated a crate having a pair of spaced'apart main bottom rails 10 and 11. A pair of

ledge rails

12 and 13 are spaced outside the bottom rails 10 and 11, crosspieces 14 extend across the main rails 10 and 11 and the

ledge rails

12 and 13 and are fastened thereto. The ledge rails 12 andl 3 and the main bottom rails 10 and 11 are parallel to one another and each of the crosspieces is parallel one with the other. Each of bottom rails and the ledge rails and crosspieces are preferably made of a single piece of highgrade high-strength lumber such as oak preferably of standard sizes. Support sections 15 are placed on the

ledge rails

12 and 13 between each of the crosspieces 14. These support members are also preferably made of standard size lumber preferably of oak and fastened to the ledge rails. The

ledge rails

12 and 13 preferably extend outside of the ends of the crossmembers l4 and the support members 15 to provide a slight ledge 11a which is of advantage if side or end rails are desired, however it can be omitted. Sheets 20 to be crated are placed on the crossmembers with their edges resting on the support member 15. A laminated angular member formed of paper 16 is placed along each of the edges of the sheet 20 and metal bindings 17 are placed beneath the

ledge rails

12 and 13 and over the bottom rails 10 and 11 and around and over the sheets 20 and the comer-laminated protectors 17. This protects the sheet steel against flexing and bending and protects the edges against damages.

Sheet material to be shipped such as stainless steel sheets 20 are placed on the bottom crossrails and the support members as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The sheets 20 are shown schematically since they may vary materially in thickness from load to load depending upon the product of the particular mill. For some surface finishes it may be desirable to interleave between each of the sheets of metal 20 a sheet of paper 21 to protect the sheets against intrusion of weather or dust and dirt.

The assembly completed as above described with the material shipped therein presents an economical and satisfactory crate which has a very attractive appearance, a high salvage value and a very low cost as compared with prior art crating systems. At the same time, it keeps the metal sheets flat and protected, prevents the sagging of the sheets between the crosspieces and materially increases the weight of metal that can be shipped in the crate for any given dimension and total weight of shipment and thus solves the problem which has long existed in this particular art.

While I have described certain preferred embodiments and practices of my invention in the foregoing specification, if will be understood that this invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

Iclaim:

l. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material comprising in combination, a pair of spaced-apart parallel main bottom support rails, a pair of spaced-apart ledge rails outside the main bottom rails and parallel thereto one on each side of the main bottom rails, said ledge rails having a vertical dimension less than the main bottom rails, a plurality of spaced-apart parallel crosspieces extending between the ledge rails, across the bottom rails, and fixed thereto, support members on the ledge rails extending between the crossmembers, the tops of said crosspieces and support members being generally in the same plane.

2. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the ledge rails extend beyond the ends of the crossmembers and beyond the sides of the support members.

3. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the main bottom support rails extend beyond the crosspieces at each end.

4. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the main bottom support rails are thicker than the ledge rails whereby the ledge rails are raised above a plane common to the bottom of the bottom rails.

5. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material as claimed in claim 1 wherein a metal binding strip passes over the main bottom support rails and under the ledge rails.

Claims

1. A substantially rectangular crate for sheet material comprising in combination, a pair of spaced-apart parallel main bottom support rails, a pair of spaced-apart ledge rails outside the main bottom rails and parallel thereto one on each side of the main bottom rails, said ledge rails having a vertical dimension less than the main bottom rails, a plurality of spacedapart parallel crosspieces extending between the ledge rails, across the bottom rails, and fixed thereto, support members on the ledge rails extending between the crossmembers, the tops of said crosspieces and support members being generally in the same plane.