Welding wire container

Abstract

A welding wire container has a base element, a plurality of walls which extend upwardly from the base element and circumscribe a space in which a coil of welding wire can be placed. A reinforcement post is arranged in each of the corners of the space. A spacing rod is provided between adjacent reinforcement posts.

Claims

1. A welding wire container having a base element, a plurality of walls defining corners which extend upwardly from the base element and circumscribe a space for receiving a coil of welding wire, with a reinforcement post being arranged in each corner of the base element, and a respective spacing rod being provided between adjacent reinforcement posts, wherein each of the reinforcement posts has a bottom surface which rests on a floor which is a lower surface of the base element for receiving the welding wire coil, the bottom surface having a stop which protrudes downwardly beyond the bottom surface.

2. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein each of the spacing rods extends in a plane which is parallel to a plane defined by the base element of the welding wire container.

3. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein each of the spacing rods is arranged at a distance of 1 to 10 inches from an upper end of the container.

4. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein the spacing rod is made from plastic.

5. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein each of the spacing rods is releasably connected with two of the reinforcement posts.

6. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein each of the spacing rods has a mechanical latch at its ends.

7. The welding wire container of claim 6 wherein each of the mechanical latches comprises a tooth.

8. The welding wire container of claim 7 wherein each of the mechanical latches further comprises a slot in which the tooth is arranged.

9. The welding wire container of claim 6 wherein each of the reinforcement posts is provided with a complementary mechanical latch.

10. The welding wire container of claim 9 wherein a chamfer is provided for facilitating latching to the reinforcement posts.

11. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein a plastic foil is arranged in the space for receiving the welding wire coil, the plastic foil extending between the spacing rods and the walls.

12. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein the floor is formed from a layer of cardboard, the cardboard having a cut-out into which the mechanical element protrudes.

13. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein the positioning elements are provided on the Floor for each of the reinforcement posts, each of the positioning elements comprising mechanical engagement which engages with a complementary mechanical engagement at the respective reinforcement post so as to prevent the reinforcement post from being lifted from the positioning element.

14. The welding wire container of claim 13 wherein the mechanical engagement are a catch and a corresponding recess.

15. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein the base element is a pallet made from plastic.

16. The welding wire container of claim 1 wherein the base element has a central opening for a lifting yoke.

17. A welding wire container having a base element defining a floor, a plurality of walls defining corners which extend upwardly from the base element and circumscribe a space for receiving a coil of welding wire, with a reinforcement post being arranged in each corner of the base element, and a respective spacing rod being provided between adjacent reinforcement posts, wherein a position element is provided on the floor for each of the reinforcement posts, each positioning element comprising a mechanical engagement which engages with a complementary mechanical engagement at its respective reinforcement post so as to prevent the reinforcement post from being lifted from the positioning element.

18. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein each of the spacing rods extends in a plane which is parallel to a plane defined by the base element of the welding wire container.

19. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein each of the spacing rods is arranged at a distance of 1 to 10 inches from an upper end of the container.

20. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein the spacing rod is made from plastic.

21. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein each of the spacing rods is releasably connected with two of the reinforcement posts.

22. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein each of the spacing rods has a mechanical latch at its ends.

23. The welding wire container of claim 22 wherein each of the mechanical latches comprises a tooth.

24. The welding wire container of claim 23, wherein each of the mechanical latches further comprises a slot in which the tooth is arranged.

25. The welding wire container of claim 23, wherein each of the reinforcement posts is provided with a complementary mechanical latch.

26. The welding wire container of claim 23 wherein a chamfer is provided for facilitating latching to the reinforcement posts.

27. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein a plastic foil is arranged in the space for receiving the welding wire coil, the plastic foil extending between the spacing rods and the walls.

28. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein the mechanical engagements are a catch and a corresponding recess.

29. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein the base element is a pallet made from plastic.

30. The welding wire container of claim 17 wherein the base element has a central opening for a lifting yoke.

Description

(1) The invention will now be described with reference to a preferred embodiment which is shown in the drawings. In the drawings,

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective top view of a container containing a welding wire coil;

(3) FIG. 2 shows at an enlarged scale a detail of the container of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows at a further enlarged scale the connection between a reinforcement post and a spacing rod;

(5) FIG. 4 schematically shows a lower end of a reinforcement post;

(6) FIG. 5 shoes the lower end of the reinforcement post placed on a floor of the welding wire container;

(7) FIG. 6 shows at an enlarged scale the lower end after reinforcement post resting on the floor of the container;

(8) FIG. 7 schematically shows a base of the welding wire container with positioning elements;

(9) FIG. 8 shows at an enlarged scale the positioning elements arranged in a corner of the container;

(10) FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of the base of the container;

(11) FIG. 10 shows in a perspective view the reinforcement posts with the spacing rods;

(12) FIG. 11 shows in a top view the reinforcement posts with the spacer rods;

(13) FIG. 12 shows at an enlarged scale detail XII of FIG. 10;

(14) FIG. 13 shows at an enlarged scale detail XIII of FIG. 10;

(15) FIG. 14 shows at an enlarged scale detail XIV of FIG. 11;

(16) FIG. 15 shows a cross section along lines XV of FIG. 11;

(17) FIG. 16 shows a side view of a spacing rod;

(18) FIG. 17 shows a bottom view of the spacing rod;

(19) FIG. 18 shows a second side view of the spacing rod;

(20) FIG. 19 shows the spacing rod in a perspective view;

(21) FIG. 20 shows at an enlarged scale the cross section through the spacing rod along line XV-XV of FIG. 11;

(22) FIG. 21 shows at an enlarged scale the end portion of the spacing rod;

(23) FIG. 22 shows a perspective view of the reinforcement post from the bottom side; and

(24) FIG. 23 shows a cross section through a detail of the reinforcement post.

(25) In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a container 10 for receiving welding wire is shown. Container 10 comprises a floor 12 which is made from a layer of cardboard resting on a base element. The base element will be explained later.

(26) Within container 10, a coil 14 is placed, coil 14 being formed from of windings of welding wire. The length of the welding wire forming coil 14 can be several kilometers, and the weight of the coil can range from some 10 kilograms up to 400 kilograms and more.

(27) On top of welding wire coil 14, a retainer plate 15 is arranged which prevents unintended entanglement of the welding wire turns during wire withdrawal. Retainer plate 15 rests under its proper weight on the upper surface of coil 14 and floatingly descends downwardly when the welding wire is being consumed.

(28) In the shown embodiment, the container 10 has a square cross section. Thus, there are four walls 16 which circumscribe the space in which welding wire coil 14 is placed.

(29) At each corner of the space for receiving coil 14, a reinforcement post 18 is arranged. Viewed in the cross section, each reinforcement post 18 has a drop shaped cross section, with the tip of the drop being placed in the corner formed between adjacent walls 16.

(30) At their lower ends, reinforcement posts 18 are connected to the base element of the welding wire container 10 as will be described later. Close to their upper ends, a plurality of spacing rods 20 is provided. Each spacing rod 20 extends between adjacent reinforcement posts 18 and is capable of absorbing forces which tend to push reinforcement posts 18 closer together.

(31) As can be seen in more detail in FIG. 3, each end of each spacing rod 20 is provided with a latch element 22 which engages at a complementary latch element 23 provided at reinforcement post 18. This allows to easily mount and disconnect spacing rods 20 to the reinforcement posts 18.

(32) As can be seen in particular in FIG. 2, a plastic foil 24 is arranged inside container 10 between welding wire coil 14 and walls 16. Plastic foil 24 serves as a barrier for humidity. As can be seen in particular in FIG. 3, plastic foil 24 extends in-between wall 16 and spacing rod 20. This guarantees that plastic foil 24 cannot fall into the reception space for welding wire coil 14.

(33) At its lower end, reinforcement post 18 as provided with a stop element 30 which protrudes over a bottom surface 32 with which reinforcement post 18 rests on floor 12 of welding wire container 10. As can be seen in particular in FIG. 6, floor 12 is provided with a cut-out 34 into which stop element 30 of reinforcement post 18 engages. Thus, stop element 30 extends below the surface of floor 12 on which welding wire coil 14 rests. This prevents individual windings of welding wire from becoming pinched between bottom surface 32 of post 18 and floor 12.

(34) For positioning reinforcement posts 18 in the corners of the reception space of welding wire container 10, positioning elements 40 are arranged on base element 50, in particular so as to clamp floor 12 between the four positioning elements 40 and base element 50.

(35) Positioning element 40 can be connected to base element 50 by means of a plurality of attachment elements 42 such as nails, bolts, screws, or rivets.

(36) Each positioning element 40 is provided with at least one engagement configuration 44 which is adapted to engage at a complementary engagement configuration at the lower end of reinforcement post 18. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, engagement configurations 44 are in the form of catches which are arranged at the side surfaces of positioning element 42 and at the end face which is oriented towards the center of the reception space for the welding wire coil. The complimentary engagement configurations in the bottom of reinforcement posts 18 are recesses 46.

(37) When the reinforcement post 18 is placed on positioning element 40, the engagement configurations 44, 46 engage into each other, thereby latching reinforcement post 18 at positioning element 40. It is thus not possible that reinforcement post 18 is unintentionally lifted upwardly.

(38) As can be seen in particular in FIG. 9, base element 50 is in the form of a pallet and is made from plastic. It is provided with a centrally arranged opening 52 through which a lifting yoke 54 can extend. Lifting yoke 54 has a plurality of lifting arms 56 which extend below the central portion of base element 50 and carries the weight of the welding wire coil 14 when container 10 is being lifted and handled.

(39) Details of the reinforcement posts 18 and the spacing rods 20 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 23.

(40) Reinforcement posts 18 are formed from plastic. As can be seen in particular in FIGS. 10 and 22, reinforcement rods 18 are made in a skeleton manner, with several portions of reinforcement posts 18 directed towards walls 16 of the container being omitted. In order to achieve a high rigidity, the circumferential surface of reinforcement posts 18 is formed in a closed manner at the upper end and at the lower end of each reinforcement post.

(41) Spacing rods 20 have the shape of an H-beam with two flanges 20A, 20B, and an intermediate web 20C.

(42) Latch element 22 provided at each and of spacing rod 20 is formed as an elastic slot 60 which have a latching tooth 62 at its forward end. Latching tooth 62 is formed with a chamfered front surface 64 which extends at an angle with respect to a reward surface of latching tooth 62. Angle is in the order of 45 degrees.

(43) The complementary latch element at the side of the reinforcement posts is formed by a plate 70 in which an opening 72 is formed. Each spacing rod can be connected to plate 70 so as to engage with teeth 62 into opening 72. Pushing forces tending to move the reinforcement posts closer together, can be absorbed by bottom surface 66 of the slot 60 abutting at an outer, vertical edge 74 of plate 70.

(44) As can be seen in particular in FIG. 20, the extension of flange 20A forming one of the borders of slot 60 is provided with a chamfer 69 so as to facilitate the process of mounting spacing rods 20 at reinforcement posts 18.