US141389A - Improvement in fruit-crates - Google Patents

Description

L. SELLING.

Fruit Crates.

Patented July 29,1873.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS SELLING, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUlT-CRATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,389, dated July 29, 1873 application filed June 27, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs SELLING, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Packing Grates and Boxes; and I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon and being a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved crate. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same unfolded. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the same folded for reshipment.

Like letters refer to like parts in each figure.'

The nature of this invention relates to the peculiar construction of crates, such as are used for packing crockery, so arranged that, after having been used and shipped, they may be folded into a small space and returned for repacking and reshipment, as may be required.

The rapid consumption of lumber and the consequent yearly increase in value renders it important to so make packing-cases, crates, 850., that they may be employed overand over again, thereby reducing cost to both manufacturer and consumer. Ordinarily the practice is for the manufacturer and shipper to charge the cost of cases and crates to the purchaser of their contents. On receipt of such cases, after being unpacked, they are usually destroyed, or, it preserved, they are usually thrown out of doors, where exposure to the weather soon ruins them for further use. With this construction an arrangement can be made by means of which the purchaser may return them to the shipper,.to be credited to his account, less the small amount charged for return freight; or, if the purchaser desires to retain the package for future use, he can fold the same up and store, at a small expense of storage-room, under cover from the weather.

This invention is designed, also, to be an improvement 011 the constructlon of packingcases as secured to me by Letters Patent dated December 17, 1872.

In the accompanying drawings, A is the bottom of the crate, to which the sides B O are secured by rings a, or by staples, hinges, or other analogous devices. Preferably, flattened rings, broad enough to till the spaces between the outer rods b and the adjacent rods 0, are used, so that the rings will form rollers to facilitate the moving of the crate when heavily packed. These rings may be made of short sections of spiral springs, which would add to the elasticity of the crate and lessen the risk of damage to its contents, if allowed to fall from any height in shipping. D is the top, secured at one side in a similar manner to the side 0. The ends E are secured one at each end ofthe sideB by staples, hinges, or otherwise, so that they will, when required, fold in upon the side and toward each other. The parts being constructed and secured together, as described, are then folded into the form shown in Fig. 1, whose ends are secured to. the top, bottom, and side 0 by means of the small bolts (1, the number used being governed by the size of the crate; and the top D is fastened by similar bolts to the top of the side A when the whole is complete.

To fold up for reshipment, the bolts are all removed, and the whole folded into the shape and form shown in Fig. 3. When in this shape it may be forwarded at the cost of shipping an equivalent number of feet of lumber.

What I claim as my invention, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the bottom A, sides B 0, top D, and ends E with the rings a and bolts d, when the parts are arranged as and for the purposes set forth.

LOUIS SELLING.

Witnesses:

THos. S. SPRAGUE, GHAs. E. HUEs'rIs.

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