Intermodal Warehousing System

This patent application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 17/638,926, filed Feb. 28, 2022, which is a National Stage Application of PCT/US2020/050071 filed Sep. 10, 2020, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/898,313, filed Sep. 10, 2019, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

The present invention is directed toward an intermodal warehousing system that utilizes International Standardization Organization (ISO) shipping pallets or platforms. The invention includes improvements to the corner posts and to the platforms themselves. The purpose of the invention is to make it easier and faster to add or remove the posts and to increase the load capability of a stacked system.

International Standardization Organization (ISO) shipping pallets or platforms have been used for many years for transporting bulk items or materials. Frequently, they are used to ship goods within an ISO shipping container. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,268 which describes a typical platform and the manner in which it is used. The entire content of that document is incorporated herein by reference. As is also well known in the art, the ISO shipping containers are made of steel and are either 40 feet long or 20 feet long and are generally 8 feet wide and either 8.5 feet or 9.5 feet tall.

In some cases, the platform is loaded with equipment or material that extends substantially the entire height of the container. There are times, however, when the material on the platform extends only a relatively short height because of limitations as to how high the material can be stacked. In such cases, it becomes inefficient to ship, store or warehouse such partially loaded platforms as there would be wasted space above the material.

As shown in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,268 and in U.S. Published Application No. 2008/0210687, the ISO platforms include corner castings so that they can be secured to the ISO containers. Corner casting are, per se, well known in the art as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,722,714; 3,752,511; 6,729,098 and 9,120,618, the entire contents of all of the foregoing applications and publications are incorporated herein by reference.

When a platform is not or cannot be loaded to a full height, it has been proposed to stack two or more high so as to avoid wasted space in a container or in a storage or warehouse facility. This has been accomplished by using corner posts at each corner of the platform that are adapted to support a second platform above the first. These corner posts are preferably 4 feet in height so that two platforms with 3 or 4 feet of material carried thereon can fit into a standard ISO container. See, for example, FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,268. See, also, FIG. 9 of U.S. Published Application No. 2008/0210687.

As shown most clearly in FIG. 3A of U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,268, each corner post includes a conventional tongue or anchor at the bottom thereof and a conventional casting at the top. The tongue, of course, allows the post to connect to a lower platform while the casting permits another upper platform to be carried atop thereof. These connections are made in a conventional manner well known to those skilled in the art.

While these prior art corner posts have met with some success, they have many drawbacks. Because they have been made almost entirely from steel, they are very heavy, making it difficult for one man to carry and put into place. In addition, tools are required to assemble the posts to the platform. And, installation is labor intensive and time consuming. Even further, with conventional posts, there are left and right posts which must be properly positioned in its proper corner. This requires additional inventory of posts and adds to the installation time. It has also been noted that the second or upper platform of a stacked platform can sag under the weight of the material carried thereon. This does not occur with the bottom platform as it is supported on the ground or floor or other surface.

There is, therefore, a need for a system that includes posts that are lighter so as to be able to be carried by one man and which are substantially less labor intensive to install. There is also a need for such a system that can more easily support a second (and possibly subsequent) platform above a lowermost one.

The present invention is designed to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. It is an object of the present invention to provide an intermodal warehousing system that allows platforms to be stacked but are stronger than existing systems.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such an intermodal warehousing system that includes legs that are substantially lighter than conventional legs.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such an intermodal warehousing system that is more easily and quickly assembled or disassembled.

In accordance with the illustrative embodiments demonstrating features and advantages of the present invention, there is provided an intermodal warehousing system that includes a platform and a plurality of legs. In addition to the normal four corner castings, there are additional castings located on the long sides of the platform to help support another platform that is mounted above the lower platform.

Each of the legs includes an elongated square portion which may be extendable with an anchor located at one end and a casting located at the other, the elongated square portion and the casting being comprised of aluminum. The anchor is carried by a steel plate that is bolted to the square portion. To avoid a galvanic reaction, aluminum bushings with steel inserts are welded to the interior of the leg and steel bolts secure the steel plate to the steel inserts. An external handle includes a bolt extending into said leg and cooperating with a wedge located therein that moves the anchor up or down. The handle bolt, wedge and anchor are so constructed and arranged so that approximately a 180 degree rotation of the handle moves the anchor up or down approximately one quarter of an inch which is all that is needed to lock the leg to a casting.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals have been used throughout the various figures to designate like elements, there is shown inan intermodal warehousing system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and designated generally as. The systemincludes International Standardization Organization (ISO) rectangularly shaped shipping pallet or platformof and corner posts or legs, only one of which is shown for clarity.

The platformis of relatively conventional construction and does not require substantial discussion. However, it does differ from conventional platforms in that it includes two additional castingsandon either long side of the platformin addition to the castings,,andthat are located at the corners thereof. The additional castingsandare located substantially equidistant between the ends of the platform. These additional castingsandallow for the use of intermediate posts or legs in addition to the normal corner posts. Substantial weight can, therefore, be carried by another platform (not shown) mounted above the shown platformwithout it sagging as the intermediate posts provide additional center support.

The posts or legs, such as legalso differ from conventional legs described above. Conventional legs are made of steel which makes them extremely heavy to the point that they cannot be easily handled by a workman. The legs of the present invention are comprised of aluminum which makes them substantially lighter than conventional legs. This includes both the elongated square tube portionand the corner casting. All of the legs are identical to each other. Accordingly, while only one leg is being show described in detail, it will be understood that the description applies to all of the legs which are constructed in the identical manner.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the tube portionof the legcan be constructed in two or more telescoping parts so that the length thereof can be adjusted as needed. As best shown in, the lower partof the leg slides into the upper part. Lower partincludes a plurality of apertureswhile the upper part includes an aperture. When the selected apertures are aligned, the lower and upper leg partsandare locked in place utilizing the locking pin.

The corner castingis similar to conventional castings but differs in several significant ways. First, as pointed out above, the casting is made of aluminum rather than steel which greatly reduces the weight thereof. Like conventional corner castings, corner castingincludes oblong openings such as shown at,,andin the vertical walls,,, andthereof. Unlike conventional castings, however, the openings, etc. are centered in their respective vertical walls, etc. As a result, there are no left or right handed posts or legs. All of the legs are interchangeable and can be used in any location on the pallet. This reduces the cost of producing the legs and also reduces the number of legs that must be maintained in inventory. It also reduces the time that it takes to install the legs as the installer does not have to take the time to select a right or left handed leg. As with conventional corner castings, each corner castingalso includes a conventional openingat the top thereof.

Each leg, such as leg, also includes an anchorat the bottom end thereof. As is well known in the art, the anchoris used to attach the legto the top of a castingorin a pallet or to substantially any other casting. The anchoris constructed and operates generally in a conventional manner. That is, the legis placed over the top opening in the casting, for example, and the entire legis then rotated 90°. The anchoris then moved upwardly to grip the interior surface of the castingto secure the legto the casting. The general manner in which this is accomplished is conventional and can be seen inof U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,268. As shown therein, a wedge is moved laterally by turning a threaded bolt. As the wedge moves, it enters a wedge shaped opening in the stem of the anchor and cams it upwardly into its locking position. Reversing the rotation of the bolt releases the anchor. Again, this general operation is conventional and well known in the art.

The present invention differs from the conventional wedgeand screw arrangementin structurally minor but significant ways. In accordance with the present invention, there are fewer threads on the threaded boltand they are spaced further apart from each other. And, obviously, the internal thread in the wedgeis complementary to the thread on the bolt. As a result of this arrangement, only a half rotational turn of the bolt, using the handle, is needed to move the wedgeup or down approximately one quarter of an inch which is sufficient to lock the anchorand, thereby the leginto place. Even further, lock washersandare located on the bolton the inside and outside of the leg. This prevents the bolt from any axial movement and allows for rotational movement only.

The present invention also includes a novel way of connecting the anchorto the leg. As with conventional anchors, the anchorand the wedgeand the other operative component parts are carried by a plate. In conventional systems, the plate is connected to the leg through the use of bolts passing through openings in the plate that cooperate with threaded tabs located on the inside of the leg. Because the legof the present invention is made of aluminum, conventional securing systems cannot be used. Aluminum bolts are not strong enough and steel bolts cannot be used as this may cause a galvanic reaction between the steel bolts and the aluminum leg.

To resolve this issue, aluminum bushingsare welded to the inside corners of the bottom of the leg. A zinc plated steel bushinghaving a knurled outer surfaceis swaged into each aluminum bushing, preferably before welding. The interior of the steel bushingis threaded to receive a threaded steel boltpassing through the platein order to hold the anchor mechanism in place.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and accordingly reference should be made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.