Crate for carrying glass panels

Abstract

A crate for carrying glass panels comprises a longitudinal body frame consisting of a base, opposite side panels and opposite end panels and including supports extending vertically from the base for holding glass panels in the longitudinal direction of the frame. The supports are pivotally mounted to move between a vertical position to receive and hold the glass panels and a horizontal position in which the supports lie over the base once the glass panels have been removed. The side panels are inwardly foldable to rest over the supports once in their horizontal position. The end panels each include an upper end section inwardly foldable to rest over the side panels when folded over the supports and a fixed lower end section which is constructed to contact the end panels of superposed and underposed similarly constructed crates thereby allowing such crates to be vertically stacked when the glass supports, side panels and upper end sections of the end panels are in their folded position.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates generally to a crate for carrying glass panels, such as the curved glass windshields used in vehicles.[0002] Various containers, racks or carriers have been used in the past for storing or transporting glass panels such as windshields. For example, such apparatuses can be find described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,597 issued Jul. 5, 1977 to Boyer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,064 issued Oct. 18, 1988 to Gold. Although the carriers described in these patents are aimed to protect the windshields which have a brittle and somewhat fragile nature for transport or storage, they do not fully enclose the windshields so that they may still be damaged during their transport as well as, in some cases, during their storage.OBJECTS AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION[0003] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a crate for carrying glass panels which securely contains windshields in an enclosed manner during transport or storage.[0004] It is also an ob...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] wherein the end panels each include an upper end section inwardly foldable to rest over the side panels when folded over the supports and a fixed lower end section adapted to contact end panels of superposed and underposed similarly constructed crates thereby allowing the crates to be vertically stacked when the supports, the side panels and the upper end sections are in a folded position.

Problems solved by technology

Although the carriers described in these patents are aimed to protect the windshields which have a brittle and somewhat fragile nature for transport or storage, they do not fully enclose the windshields so that they may still be damaged during their transport as well as, in some cases, during their storage.

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