BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

THIS invention relates to a bottom discharge container, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a bottom discharge container suitable for being handled by a container handling arrangement as set but in the applicant's co-pending patent application PCT/IB2010/052755 entitled "Container Handling Arrangement", the content of which is incorporated h e rei ri by refe ren ce .

Various different containers for transporting bulk material by road or rail exist: Generally, these containers are designed to receive bulk material through an upper opening during loading, and to discharge the material through the upper opening by tilting the container, or through a discharge hatch in a front or rear wall of the container.

An alternative container arrangement has been disclosed in the applicant's prior South African patent ZA2001/8903 entitled "Container for transporting bulk material", the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. The particular container includes a dispiaceable floor that is pivotable between a raised, closed position in which it extends across the bottom of the container to form a base of the container, and a lowered, open position in which the floor is pivoted away from the bottom of the container for discharging bulk material from the container. The container is adapted to be used with a container handling arrangement in the form of a customized spreader. However, a drawback of the container configuration is that actuation means of the container handling arrangement or spreader (for example a chain) has to be manually attached to the door(s) of the container, which is not an optimal solution. !t is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a bottom discharge container that will, at least partially, address the above shortcoming.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a bottom discharge container that will be a useful alternative to existing bottom discharge containers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a bottom discharge container, suitable for being engaged by a container handling arrangement having a displaceable door actuating mechanism, the bottom discharge container including:

a pair of opposed end walls;

a pair of opposed side walls connected to the end walls so as to form an enclosure; and

an at least partially displaceable floor which is displaceable between a raised, closed position in which it extends across a bottom of the enclosure so as to form a base of the container, and a lower, open position in which at least part of the floor is displaced away from the bottom of the enclosure so as to define a discharge opening in the bottom of the container for discharging a load from the container; characterized in that the container includes a floor displacement arrangement adapted to be automatically engageable by the door actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement in order to open and/or close the displaceable floor. ln one embodiment there is provided for the floor displacement arrangement to be in the form of a flange formation extending substantially upwardly from an edge of the floor, the flange terminating in a engagement means adapted to receive a part of the actuating mechanism.

The engagement means may be in the form of an elongate channel for receiving a disc-like follower that forms part of the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement. Preferably, the elongate channel is of an arcuate configuration.

In another embodiment of the invention there is provided for the floor displacement arrangement to include at least one cable, wherein a first end of the cable is secured to the displaceable floor, and wherein a second end zone of the cable is located towards an upper part of the container in order to be displaceable by the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement.

A second end of the cable ma be secured to. the container, and the floor displacement arrangement may include a moveable carriage having a pulley for engaging the second end zone of the cable, in order for displacement of the carriage to result in displacement of the cable. The carriage may be adapted in use to receive a part of the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement, in order for displacement of the actuating mechanism to result in displacement of the carriage, and thus the displaceable floor.

Alternatively, a second end of the cable may be secured to a piston which is slideably secured to the container, with the piston being displaceable by the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement. There is provided for the cable of the above embodiments to be located inside a sidewall of the container.

Preferably, the displaceable floor comprises two opposing floor panels which extend from the side walls to a central regron of the container in the closed position, and which are arranged to be pivotable away from one another so that each floor panel depends from one of the container wails in the open position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described by way of non- limiting examples, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bottom discharge container in accordance with the invention, with the floor of the container in a closed position;

Figure 2 shows the bottom discharge container of Figure 1 with the floor having been displaced to an open position;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a bottom discharge container in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, with the floor of the container in a closed position;

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of a carriage assembly forming part of a floor displacement arrangement of the container; and Figure 5 is a cross-sectional end view of the container of Figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals indicate (ike features, non- limiting examples of bottom discharge containers in accordance with the invention are generally indicated by reference numeral 10. A first embodiment of a bottom discharge container is shown in Figures 1 and 2, and a second embodiment of a bottom discharge container is shown in Figure 3 to 5. A third embodiment is also described without reference to any of the figures. In all embodiments, the bottom discharge container 10 comprises two opposing end walls 12, and two opposing side wails 13 extending between the end wails 12 so as to define an enclosure 14 therebetween. A bottom wall of the enclosure is defined by a dispiaceabie floor 15, which may be in the form of a single dispiaceabie wall, but is preferably in the form of two opposing, pivotable floor sections that are dispiaceabie between a closed position in which the pivotable floor forms a bottom of the container, and an open position, in which the pivotable floors depends from the sidewalis 13 so as to enable the discharge of a load inside the container. Locking formations (not shown) are provided to secure the dispiaceabie floor sections 15 in a closed position.

When the dispiaceabie floor sections 15 are in a closed position, and secured in that position by way of the locking formations, the container can be loaded with a charge, such as for example bulk material, through its open upper end. The discharge of the container 10 is facilitated by using a container handling arrangement as disclosed in the applications co-pending patent application PCT/IB2010/052755 entitled "Container Handling Arrangement", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. The container handling arrangement is an apparatus adapted to displace the container to a required position, and then to facilitate the remote and controlled opening of the displaceable floor 15 of the container. In particular, the container handling arrangement includes an actuating mechanism that is used to open the door of the container, which actuating mechanism may for example be in the form of a sliding pin (for use with the container shown in Figures 3 to 5) or a piston and cylinder assembly depending from the container handling arrangement (for use with the container shown in Figures 1 and 2).

In use, the container handling arrangement is secured to the container 10, and the actuating mechanism is subsequently operatively linked to the displaceable floors 15 of the container 10 in a manner which is described in more detail below. It is an important feature of this invention that the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement automatically engages a floor displacement arrangement 20 of the container 10, in that no manual intervention is required. More particularly, the floor displacement arrangement 20 is adapted automaticaliy to receive a part of the actuating mechanism without the need for manual intervention. This is achieved by utilizing suitable door displacement arrangements 20 as is described in more detail below.

In the embodiment of the Figures 1 and 2, the door displacement arrangement 20 includes a flange 21 which extends from an edge of each displaceable floor 15, and which flange in turn includes a engagement means 22 for receiving a disc-like connector 40 forming part of the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement. The flange is substantially perpendicular relative to the floor 15, and overlies an outer surface of a sidewall 13.

In this embodiment the engagement means 22 is in the form of an elongate channel, and more particularly an arcuate elongate channel. An edge of the disc-like connector in use nests inside the channel. The arcuate configuration of the channel 22 is important in that it reduces the required stroke of a piston and cylinder assembly of the actuating mechanism. The channel 22 and the disc-like connector 40 effectively define a cam and follower arrangement, and displacement of the actuating mechanism allows the floor 15 to be opened under the influence of gravity. Inverse displacement of the actuating mechanism in turn displaces the floor 15 to a closed position. A floor displacement arrangement 20 is provided at each end of each displaceable door section 15. Due to the design of the container handling arrangement, the disc-like connectors 40 are biased towards the sides of the container, which results in automatic engagement of the channels 22 once the disc-like connectors 40 have been displaced to a level belovv the edges of the channels. Referring now to the embodiment of Figures 3 to 5, a further embodiment of the container 10 in accordance with the invention consists of a similar structure to that described above, but utilizes an alternative door displacement arrangement 20. In this embodiment the door displacement arrangement comprises an internal cable 27 and pulley 26 configuration which is linked to a carriage 25 located in an upper zone of the container 10. A first end 28 of the cable 27 is secured to the displaceable floor 15, and a second end 29 of the cable 27 is fixed relative to the container 10. The carriage 25 engages the cable 27 by way of a pulley 25.3 (which is displaceable with the carriage), and displacement of the carriage 25 results in corresponding displacement of the first end 29 of the cable 27, which allows the floor 15 to be displaced to an open position under gravity. It follows that controlled displacement of the carriage will allow the floor 15 to be displaced from a closed to an open position.

The carriage 25 comprises a body 25.1 which is slideably displaceable relative to a wail of the container 10. As mentioned above, the carriage 25 also includes a pulley 25.3 for receiving the cable 27. The carriage 25 therefore defines a displaceable pulley that serves to selectively increase or decrease the effective length of the cable in order to provide the opening and closing functionality described above. A locking arrangement 25.4 is provided, and prevents the carriage 25 from being displaced when not engaged by the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement. An important feature of the carriage 25 is that it furthermore includes an engagement aperture 25.2 for receiving a part of the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement, and more particularly a sliding pin (not shown) forming part of the container handling arrangement. The sliding pin is adapted to be transversely displaceable relative to a frame of the container handling arrangement, and displacement of the sliding pin consequently results in displacement of the carriage, and hence opening or closing of the floor Significantly, when the container handling arrangement is lowered onto the container 10, the sliding pin will engage the engagement aperture 25.2 without the need for any manual intervention.

A third embodiment of the container in accordance with the invention also uses a cable arrangement, but utilizes an actuating mechanism which is vertically displaceable (similar to that used for the container of the first embodiment described above). In this embodiment, a first end of a cable is attached to the displaceable floor, and the second end of the cable is directly engagable by the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement. Vertical displacement of the actuating mechanism therefore results in the upward or downward displacement of the displaceable floor, without the use of the carriage system described in the second embodiment above. One way in which this can be achieved is by securing the second end of the cable to a piston that is slideab!y securable to the container. Displacement of the piston therefore results in equal displacement of the cable. The piston may be directly engaged by the actuating mechanism of the container handling arrangement, and the upper end of the piston may terminate in a standard twist iock configuration to facilitate this mode of engagement.

It should be noted that reference is made to the singular form of 'cable' in the specification. However, it would be appreciated that the number of cables will depend on the particular configuration of the disp!aceable floor, and multiple cables will be utilize where necessary - for example where the displaceable floor comprises two opposing doors. In addition, cables may be provided at one or both ends of the container. Furthermore, the term cable is used synonymously with chain, rope, or any other elongate load transmitting device.

It will be appreciated that the above are only three embodiments of the container in accordance with the invention, and. that there may be many variations without departing from the spirit and/or the scope of the invention. The salient requirement is that the container must include a door displacement arrangement that is adapted to be engaged by an actuating mechanism Of a container handling arrangement without the need for any manual intervention. The different arrangements used to achieve the same are further novel and inventive aspects of the invention, but which all share the above common denominator.