WIRE CONTAINER

Abstract

A wire container has a bottom plate, a top plate, and a plurality of separate, vertically extending posts. The posts are releasably connected to both the bottom plate and the top plate so as to define a cylindrical receiving space for the wire.

Claims

1. A wire container having a bottom plate, a top plate, and a plurality of separate, vertically extending posts, the posts being releasably connected to both the bottom plate and the top plate so as to define a cylindrical receiving space for the wire.

2. The wire container of claim 1 wherein a pallet is provided underneath the bottom plate, the bottom plate being connected to the pallet.

3. The wire container of claim 1 wherein the posts have a circular cross section.

4. The wire container of claim 1 wherein the posts are made from metal tubes.

5. The wire container of claim 1 wherein the posts are received in receiving openings provided in the bottom plate and/or the top plate.

6. The wire container of claim 1 wherein eight vertical posts are provided which are arranged at the same radius from a central axis of the container and in equal intervals from each other.

7. The wire container of claim 1 wherein both the bottom plate and the top plate have a square outer contour, with four corner reinforcements being provided for connecting one of the corner portions of the bottom plate to the respective corner portion of the top plate.

8. The wire container of claim 7 wherein the corner reinforcements are received in receiving openings in to the bottom plate and/or the top plate.

9. The wire container of claim 1 wherein the top plate and/or the bottom plate is made from one of plywood, wood, compressed wood, cardboard, honeycomb cardboard, and plastic.

10. The wire container of claim 1 wherein the top plate has a circular center opening, the diameter of which is more than 90% of the diameter of the cylindrical receiving space.

11. The wire container of claim 1 wherein four cardboard segments are provided which form an exterior wall of the container.

12. The wire container of claim 11 wherein the cardboard segments are attached at the bottom plate and the top plate by staples.

13. The wire container of claim 1 wherein a plastic bag is provided within the posts and on top of the bottom plate.

14. The wire container of claim 1 wherein a retainer is provided which mechanically engages between the posts so as to extend radially beyond the diameter defined by the posts.

15. The wire container of claim 1 wherein a retainer is provided which is formed from a plurality of wire elements connected to each other.

16. A wire container having a pallet, a square bottom plate connected to the pallet, a square top plate, and eight posts with circular cross section made from metal tubes, the posts being releasably connect to both the bottom plate and the top plate so as to define a cylindrical receiving space for wire, the wire container further having four corner reinforcements arranged so as to extend from one of the corner portions of the bottom plate to an associated one of the corner portions of the top plate, and having four cardboard segments forming the outer walls of the wire container and being attached to both the bottom plate and the top plate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a container according to a first embodiment in a side view.

[0022] FIG. 2 shows the container of FIG. 1 in a section in plane II-II.

[0023] FIG. 3 shows the container of FIG. 1 in a top view.

[0024] FIG. 4 shows the container of FIG. 1 in a perspective view.

[0025] FIG. 5 shows the container of FIG. 1 in an exploded, perspective view.

[0026] FIG. 6 shows the container of FIG. 4 without its outer cardboard segments.

[0027] FIG. 7 shows a top view of the container, with the top plate and the vertical posts having been removed.

[0028] FIG. 8 shows a cross section in plane VIII-VIII of FIG. 7.

[0029] FIG. 9 shows at an enlarged scale the detail IX of FIG. 8.

[0030] FIG. 10 shows the container of FIG. 1 in a perspective view, with a retainer being provided in the interior of the container.

[0031] FIG. 11 shows a vertical cross section through the container of FIG. 10.

[0032] FIG. 12 shows the container of FIG. 10 without the cardboard segments.

[0033] FIG. 13 shows the retainer used in the container of FIG. 10 in a top view.

[0034] FIG. 14 shows the retainer of FIG. 13 in a side view.

[0035] FIG. 15 shows the retainer of FIG. 13 in a perspective view.

[0036] FIG. 16 shows a container with a different version of the retainer in a perspective view.

[0037] FIG. 17 shows a horizontal cross section through the container of FIG. 16.

[0038] FIG. 18 shows the retainer used in the container of FIG. 16 in a top view.

[0039] FIG. 19 shows the retainer of FIG. 18 in a side view.

[0040] FIG. 20 shows the retainer of FIG. 18 in a perspective view.

[0041] FIG. 21 shows a container according to a second embodiment in a perspective view, with the cardboard segments not being shown in order to improve the clarity.

[0042] FIG. 22 shows a container according to the second embodiment with a different retainer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0043] FIGS. 1 to 7 show a first embodiment of a container for receiving wire.

[0044] The wire can be welding wire which is received in the form of a coil in the container.

[0045] A container comprises a pallet 10 which can be a conventional pallet made of wood.

[0046] On top of pallet 10, a bottom plate 12 is arranged. Bottom plate 12 can be made from plywood, wood, compressed wood, cardboard, honeycomb cardboard, or plastic.

[0047] Bottom plate 12 has a square shape and a thickness ranging from a few millimeters up to 25 mm.

[0048] Bottom plate 12 is connected to pallet 10 by means of suitable attachment means. Here, a couple of nails 14 are used. The nails can be placed adjacent the corners of bottom plate 12.

[0049] Bottom plate 12 is provided with a plurality of receiving openings 16 which each receive one of a plurality of vertical posts 18.

[0050] Each of posts 18 is here formed from a tube made of metal. It has a diameter in the range of one centimeter to a few centimeters.

[0051] Posts 18 are arranged at the same radius from a center C of the container, and they are in circumferential direction equally spaced from each other. They define a receiving space of which the outer contour is shown in FIG. 7 with reference numeral 20.

[0052] The container also comprises a top plate 22 which has receiving openings 24 for posts 18 in the same configuration as the bottom plate 12 has receiving openings 16 for posts 18.

[0053] As can be seen in FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, top plate 22 is arranged at a distance from bottom plate 12 such that the upper ends of posts 18 slightly protrude over the upper surface of top plate 22.

[0054] Top plate 22 can also be formed from plywood, wood, compressed wood, cardboard, honeycomb cardboard, or plastic. It has the same outer, square contour as bottom plate 12. However, top plate 22 has a circular center opening (the inner circumference of which is designated with reference numeral 26 in the drawings), which provides for access to the receiving space within the container.

[0055] The container further comprises four cardboard segments 28 which form the outer sidewalls of the container. Cardboard segments 28 are connected to bottom plate 12 and top plate 22 by means of a plurality of staples 30.

[0056] Cardboard segments 28 can be integrally connected to a floor 32 also made from cardboard.

[0057] For assembling the container, cardboard segments 28 together with floor 32 are placed on pallet 10. Then, bottom plate 12 is placed in the interior of the space defined by cardboard segments 28, and is connected to pallet 10 with nails 14.

[0058] Staples 30 are used for connecting segments 28 to bottom plate 12.

[0059] As a next step, posts 18 are inserted into receiving openings 16 of bottom plate 12. Then, top plate 22 is placed within the space defined by cardboard segments 28 so that the upper ends of posts 18 slightly extend beyond the upper surface of top plate 22. When top plate 22 is placed at the desired height, it is fixed with staples 30 to cardboard segments 28.

[0060] Posts 18 define the receiving space for the wire in a radial direction. In a vertical direction, the receiving space is limited by bottom plate 12 and top plate 22, while in practice not the entire height of the receiving space will be used for wire.

[0061] The pressure which the wire exerts in a radial direction on posts 18 is supported by bottom plate 12 and top plate 22. These prevent posts 18 from being pushed apart.

[0062] A rotation or transverse displacement of top plate 22 with respect to bottom plate 12 is prevented by the stability of cardboard segments 28.

[0063] On top of a wire coil received within the container, a retainer can be placed in order to prevent unintended entanglement of the windings of the wire and for facilitating smooth withdrawal of the wire from the container. An embodiment of such retainer is shown in FIGS. 10 to 15.

[0064] Retainer 40 here has an annular shape with a central opening delimited by the inner circumference 42 of retainer 40.

[0065] The outer circumference of retainer 40 consists of portions 44 which define a diameter which corresponds to the diameter of receiving space 20. Further, larger diameter portions 46 are present at the outer circumference of retainer 40. Larger diameter portions 46 form protrusions which in a mounted condition extend between adjacent posts 18 (please see in particular FIG. 12).

[0066] A retainer 48 according to a second variant is shown in FIGS. 16 to 20.

[0067] Retainer 48 is formed as an annular ring which is slightly truncated (please see FIG. 19). The outer diameter of retainer 48 corresponds to the diameter of receiving space 20.

[0068] A second embodiment of the container is shown in FIG. 21.

[0069] The second embodiment corresponds largely to the first embodiment, with the difference being that four corner reinforcements 60 are provided which are connected to bottom plate 12 and top plate 22 in the same manner as posts 18. Corner reinforcements 60 provide additional stability for cardboard segments 28 adjacent to the corners of bottom plate 12 and top plate 22.

[0070] The retainer corresponds to the one shown in FIGS. 13 to 15.

[0071] In FIG. 22, a container according to the second embodiment is shown, with a different retainer 70 being used. It consists of three concentric rings 72 formed from wire, which are connected to each other by a plurality of connecting elements 74. These extend beyond the outermost ring and there have the function of the larger diameter portions 46 of the retainer shown in FIGS. 13 to 15.

[0072] Connecting elements 74 can be welded or soldered to rings 72.

[0073] After the entire wire has been withdrawn from the container, the cardboard segments 28 are removed, and the top plate 22 and the posts 18 can be disassembled without using any tools. Pallet 10 and bottom plate 12 can be recycled or otherwise be disposed.