BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION It is well known to provide a four sided rigid container comprised of a base with upstanding opposed pairs of side and end panels to house a plastic film liner bag for commodities or liquids. It is commonplace for a container liner bag to house liquids to have a discharge nozzle to project from the container adjacent the container base. Discharge of liquid from the liner bag through the discharge nozzle is by gravity and despite the provision of a discharge nozzle feeding trough in some forms of container base an unacceptable amount of liquid remains in the liner bag after gravity discharge ceases. It is known to tilt containers to speed up gravity discharge, particularly where the liner bag holds liquids which have slow-flow characteristics.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is the object of this invention to provide an effective apparatus to tilt a container to improve the rate of discharge and/or efficiency of gravity discharge

of liquid from a container and to minimise the amount of liquid remaining in the liner bag after discharge flow from the liner bag nozzle ceases.

BROAD STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION A tilting apparatus for containers, said tilting apparatus comprising a mast with ground engaging portions to support the mast in an upright condition and a container lifter including a carriage on a front face of the mast provided with container engaging means, said carriage being movable towards and away from said ground engaging portions on track means on the mast, and means to apply a predeterminable amount of upward movement inducing bias to the carriage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of one form of the container tilter according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the tilter of Fig. 1 when engaged with a container to be tilted, Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the container tilted, Fig. 4 is schematic perspective view of a second form of the tilter according to the present invention, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an alternate form of mast for the tilter of the present invention adapted for

elevation to accommodate a container on a raised support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.

Referring first to Fig. 2, this shows a commercial form of container, identified generally by the numeral 1, with which the tilter of this invention would be used.

The container 1 has a four sided base 2 and two oppositely disposed upstanding sides 3 and two oppositely disposed upstanding end panels 4 and 5 which are respectively a rear end panel and a front end panel.

The base 2 is of the four way entry type suitable for movement by a fork lift truck or hand truck. The broken line 6 in the container indicates the floor of a channel in the surface of the base 2, the channel increases in depth in the direction of the front end panel 5. The channel is deepest adjacent a liner bag nozzle opening through the container front end panel 5, not shown.

The container tilter proposed by this invention is indicated generally by the arrow 9 in the drawings. In a first form of the invention, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the tilter includes a mast 7 with two ground engaging portions supporting the mast 7 in an upright condition.

The ground engaging portions in Fig 1 are in the form of arms 8 which extend forward of the front face of the

mast 7 and are spaced apart sufficiently to accept the container 1 there between. There are wheels on the arms 8. As will be seen from Fig. 1 the mast 7 is basically a triangular space frame with the converging upstanding side members 10 of the space frame joined at the apex 11.

Two parallel rails 12 are mounted on the mast 10 and there is a carriage 13 slidably mounted on the rails through rail embracing bearings 14. The carriage 13 is connected by tension springs 15 to a spring header 16 connected through a cable 17 to a winding device 18 fixed to the mast at the apex 11. The winding device would normally including a ratchet or like releasable rotation permitting/preventing means for the cable drum of the device 18.

The carriage 13 has two spaced apart forwardly extending container engaging hooking members 22, examples of which are best seen in Fig. 4. Upstanding from the carriage 13 and fixed thereto there is a carriage stabilising rod 23 slidably housed in a bearing 24 at the apex 11 of the mast 10.

In a first stage of an operating sequence, with the carriage 13 in its lowermost position, the tilter 6 will

be wheeled up to a container 1 which will be received between the arms 8 of the mast with the hooking elements 22 entering into the base 2 of the container. In most cases the hooking elements will project sufficiently into the pallet like base 2 of the container to engage behind a batten or like member of the pallet base 2.

The second stage of the operating sequence involves applying a carriage lifting bias and this is done by tensioning the springs 15 by winding the cable 17 onto the winding device 18, the bias provided by the spring tension is resisted by the weight of the full container.

The spring tension is calculated to be such that when the container is approaching the empty condition the spring exerted force will be sufficient to raise the back of the container. The tilting promotes the flow of the liquid remaining in the liner bag towards the front end panel and the liner bag discharge nozzle.

As will seen from Fig. 3 the tilting of the container is accompanied by upward sliding movement of the carriage stabilising rod 23 through the bearing 24.

The amount of tilt required to promote substantially complete emptying of the liner bag is quite small, as will be seen from Fig. 3.

The winder assembly 18 and cable 17 can be replaced by other tensioning means as desired. For example, they can be replaced by a piston and cylinder arrangement with the withdrawal of the piston into the cylinder causing the springs 15 to be tensioned. The piston and cylinder arrangement could be pneumatic or hydraulic in nature.

If desired arms can be provided which extend both away from the front face of the mast and the rear face of the mast, the ground engaging members being then in an"H" form with wheels mounted on the several arms.

Fig. 4 shows another form, and presently preferred form, of the invention. The springs and the spring tensioning means have been replaced by a piston and cylinder combination with the cylinder 25 connected at 26 to a cross-bar 27 of the mast and the piston rod 28 coupled to the carriage 13. The piston and cylinder combination is of the pneumatic type with connections to the cylinder as required to allow the cylinder to be pressurised to the extent needed to achieve operation of the tilter. The pressurisation is such that it is insufficient to raise a loaded container but able to tilt a near empty container. The carriage upward

movement is limited either by controlling the pressure in the cylinder or by providing a travel limit stop for the piston rod 28 or the carriage. The carriage supporting the empty container is lowered by allowing the pressurising air to be exhausted from the cylinder.

As will be understood the degree of pressurisation can be automatically controlled by suitable control devices such as pressure relief valves and the like.

In a variation of the pneumatic arrangement the piston and cylinder can be hydraulic with the operation of the piston in the cylinder controlled by pressure sensing means and relief valves in a hydraulic circuit.

In a further form of the invention, the cylinder may house a compression spring acting on a piston in the cylinder with the spring being compressed by the weight of the container and expanding, when the weight of the container is reduced, to cause tilting of the container.

Fig. 5 illustrates a form of mast for the container tilter adapted for use where the container to be tilted is supported in a raised platform, as is not uncommon in industry where the container discharges directly into a machine or other received. In Fig. 5 mast wheels are mounted on posts 29 slidably housed in sockets 30. Pins

(not shown) are passed through holes 31 in the posts 29 and holes 32 in the sockets 30 when the posts are positioned as required.

As will be understood, variation of the specific arrangements described and/or illustrated may be made without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein.