Container having sliding support member assemblies for supporting dunnage

Abstract

The present invention provides a container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse that has a body, tracks attached to opposite sides of the body, and a plurality of support members extending between the tracks. Sliders are located at the ends of tubular supports, the sliders being slidable in the tracks to move the support members. The support members support dunnage for supporting products for storage or shipment.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 122,686, filed May 5, 2005 entitled “Container Having Sliding Support Members”, which is fully incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to containers for use in shipping, and more particularly, to containers with movable members for supporting product. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] A large number of different container structures are utilized by manufacturers to ship a variety of different products to end users, which may be, for example, assembly plants. In the automobile industry for example, an assembly plant assembling a particular automobile might utilize a number of different parts from different manufacturers. These manufacturers ship their respective parts to the assembly plant in container structures where the parts are then removed from dunnage or support members inside the container struct...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a container for holding and shipping products that can be collapsed for easy transportation. The container has a body with tracks or retainers for supporting product and a plurality of support members that can slide or move along the tracks or retainers. The support members have rollers or other components to allow for easy movement and can be attached to the container in different ways. The container also has space limiters to prevent the support members from moving too far from each other. The container allows for efficient and safe removal or insertion of products without unnecessary stress or strain on the unloader or loader. The product receptacles are located at or near the top of the support members, making it easy to access the products. In some embodiments, the container may not have any rollers or other components to allow for movement of the support members.

Problems solved by technology

Some existing containers are difficult to access which makes removal of the parts therein difficult and time consuming.

Any delay in access and removal of the part from the container is undesirable.

The size and / or weight of the parts or work pieces may cause stress or strain on the line worker, and more particularly on the back of the worker when inserting or removing parts from such a container.

Such ergonomically unfriendly movements may cause physical trauma, pain, and other injuries that may lead to lost production time.

This requires space around the container which may not be available, depending on the physical layout of the plant or facility.

The length (front to back) of certain containers may be limited because the container manufacturer needs to eliminate the need for a line worker to walk around the container to remove product from inside the container.

The more containers needed to ship a predetermined number of parts, the greater the cost to the shipper.

This movement by the line worker is ergonomically unfriendly because the line worker must lean forward and bend down into the container to insert or remove a part or work piece from the bottom of the container.

Depending upon the number of times the line worker repeats this unnatural motion into the interior of the container, strain in the back, legs and arms may result.

The size and / or weight of the parts or work pieces may increase the strain on the line worker.

Thus, simply removing multiple parts during a work day may cause physical trauma, pain, and other injuries that may lead to lost production time.

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