Such crates have advantages over traditional cartons such as those made of cardboard or thin plastic which are not considered by those in the shipping or container industry as being strong or durable enough for shipping in a stack.

Traditional crates or boxes take time to staple together and are wasteful as they are largely not recoverable or reusable. If such traditional cartons are reusable then it is typically no more than 3 or 4 journeys before these cartons are unsteady, unstable and/or ripped or water-logged. The crates in the present invention have advantages over a one-piece, rigid unit crate as rigid crates do not allow a reduction in size (for instance folding crates of the present invention can be folded, when they are not in use). Empty rigid crates therefore take up a larger amount of space in the warehouse when being stored which is an inefficient use of resources and costs suppliers, manufacturers etc. a significant amount of money.

A second disadvantage of a one-piece, rigid unit crate is that after the contents have been delivered and decanted the empty crates must be transported back to the distributor. Since they do not reduce in size they will take up a large amount of space on the return journey and be yet a further inefficient use of resources. It is typical for the transportation logistics industry for suppliers to charge by volume, including for volume of empty crates or containers being returned to depot. This can result in excessive overheads to supplier and merchants alike in trying to ship goods around a geographic area There has been a long-felt need in transportation logistics to reduce volume of empty containers being shipped between various depot

and supply points as well creating a crate that is reusable for upwards of 30,40 or event 50 journeys in order to reduce the reliance on cardboard in the industry.

United States Patent 6,073, 790 (the'790 patent) attempts to address the aforementioned problems by disclosing a container for holding a plurality of packages for transport or storage. The container is manufactured from a rigid plastic material and includes a bottom and four sides that are connected to the bottom by hinge members. The erect side walls are connected by a snap-in connection. The container can be folded in to the return transport position in which the four side walls are folded on to the bottom by folding opposing side walls on to the bottom and then the two remaining side walls on top.

Although the container in the'790 patent does provide certain useful advantages over other prior art containers for instance over cardboard cartons, the structure can be improved. The'790 container does not have an integral lid or top covering. Lids are essential for goods such as apparel that must be transported in an environment protected from dirt and dust. Separate lids would therefore need to be transported on the return transport journey adding to the bulk of the shipment. An integral lid would make a folding container easier to use and give more efficient use of resources on the return transport journey.

The abovementioned container described in the'790 patent is also not designed to stack the containers one on top of the other. It does not have interlocking means on the tops and bottoms of the crates to allow a stack on a pallet to be built upwards in a stable configuration. The stacking of containers is essential for the efficient movement of goods when loading and unloading the means of transport. Therefore the abovementioned container could be improved by designing means to stack the containers.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In light of the above-mentioned improvement to which the prior art containers are susceptible, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel reusable, plastic, crate or container that can be folded, having an integral lid that is also capable of being stacked in a sturdy formation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a reusable, foldable, lidded crate of a larger size. This larger crate is constructed so as to permit multiple folded crates of a smaller size (the"baby"or"babies") to be inserted or slotted into the larger crate (the"mother") when the mother is in the service position. By inserting multiple, reusable crates into a larger mother crate the invention addresses the problem of the cost of the return transport journey of bulky empty crates. As mentioned briefly above, in the transport trade, the price paid to ship empty crates is dependent on the number of crates. Therefore, whether the crates are of a rigid, nested or folded design, the cost for shipping sixty crates, for example, will be identical. One of the advantages of the present invention is that this novel crate reduces the cost of shipping empty crates considerably by designing the mother crate to house a multiple of smaller crates. For example if the mother crate could house five reusable baby crates then the cost of the return transport of sixty empty crates would be merely that of transporting the ten mother crates. This would result in vast savings for the suppliers, logistics companies and ultimately the end purchaser of the goods being transported (i. e. the consumer).

Another object of the invention is to provide means for security labelling and tagging the crates to facilitate passage through customs and give evidence of tampering.

A final object of the invention is to provide means for stacking crates vertically in order to facilitate loading and unloading crates on pallets. The invention addresses the problem of making a stable stack with two different sizes of crate. For crates of the same size a ridge on the underside of the crate fits within the rim of the lid or

within the area of the location bosses typically mounted on the front corners of the lid. For crates of different sizes the bottom of the smaller crate fits within the rim of the lid of the larger crate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in greater detail with references to the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements bear like reference numerals and wherein: FIG. 1 is side view of the crate according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention showing the side walls in the vertically upright position wherein the crate is open and the integral lid (7) is resting parallel to the outside of the back wall (6).

FIG. 2 illustrates a solid view of one of the preferred embodiments of the crate showing a ribbed outer surface (8,9) of the side (3) and front (5) walls.

FIG. 3 illustrates a further view of one of the embodiments for the mother box illustrating location bosses on the hinged integral lid.

FIG. 4 illustrates a solid view of one of the preferred embodiments with half walls (3,4, 5,6) in the erect position to show the arrangement of the hinges (11, 12, 13, 14).

FIG 5 illustrates an empty mother crate of a solid construction with guides (31) for easy insertion and manoeuvring of baby crate (s) into mother for storage and transportation purposes.

FIG. 6 is a side-on, cross-sectional view of a folded crate showing the first side wall (3) folded against the crate bottom on top of which is a second side wall (4), then the back wall (6) with folded lid (7) and lastly the front wall (5).

FIG. 7 illustrates a further view of a folded crate.

FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an open mother crate (21) housing two smaller, baby folded crates (20).

FIG. 9 illustrates a mother box with five baby crates in place ready for transportation and/or storage purposes.

FIG. 10 illustrates a stable stacking of mother crate (32) dispersed with baby crates (33).

FIGs 11 a and lib illustrates a folded crate in assembled position with a plurality of clipping mechanisms (34) FIG 12 illustrates a collapsible crate with a central hinging mechanism (35) in the front and back walls, a lid with an extended collar (36) and a twin-panel lid (37).

FIG 13 illustrates a collapsible crate illustrated in FIG 12 in its collapsed state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The folding crate (1) according to the preferred embodiment of the invention includes, as seen in FIGS 1-4, a bottom member (2), two side walls (3,4), a front wall (5), a back wall (6) and an integral lid (7).

Each of the walls (3,4, 5,6) is solid, as shown in FIG 2, but could optionally have a plurality of openings that extend therethrough in order to make the crate lighter in weight.

Each of the walls of the crate (3,4, 5,6) have ribs on the outside surface (8,9), shown in FIG 2 and a planar inner surface. The ribs are load bearing and redistribute the weight of crates stacked on top thereby strengthening the crate and minimising the risk of the walls buckling or collapsing from the weight of the stack and making the crate stacks more stable. The particular design of the ribs as indicated in FIG 2 is merely one such array or design. It will be readily apparent to a skilled person other arrays of rib design in order to provide strength through out the crate.

The side walls (3 and 4) have handle openings (10 and 11) that extend completely through the side walls. The handle openings may optionally be positioned centrally adjacent the top end of the erect box and are in substantial horizontal alignment.

The handle openings (10,11) serve as handles for lifting the crate when the walls (3,4, 5, and 6) are assembled in an upright position.

The first side wall (3) is connected to the bottom (2) by a first hinge arrangement (11) while the second side wall (4) is connected to the bottom by a second hinge arrangement (12) while the back wall (6) is connected to the bottom by a third hinge arrangement (13) and the front wall is connected to the bottom (2) by a forth hinge arrangement (14). The lid (7) is connected to the top of the back wall 6 by a hinge arrangement (15). Each of the hinge arrangements (11, 12,13, 14, and 15) has substantially the same mechanism. The hinge associated with the lid can optionally possess a moulded-in hinge feature. FIG 4 illustrates the hinge arrangements. The hinge means (13) has a plurality of spaced apart projections (16) positioned along one side of the base (2). The projections (16) have holes (17) that extend therethrough and a space (19) between the projections (16). The bottom end of the back wall (6) has a plurality of knuckles (18) with holes that extend therethrough.

The knuckles (18) are spaced apart the same distance as the spaces (19) between the projections (16). In that way each of the knuckles can fit between the projections.

The hinge (13), formed from the projections (16) and the knuckles (18) has a longitudinal hole that extends along a substantial portion of a length of one side of

the base (2). This is formed from the holes (17) in the projections (16) corresponding to the holes in the knuckles (18). Additionally, the hinge arrangement (13) includes a pin that extends through the longitudinally extending hole in the side of the bottom and through the holes (17) in the projections (16) and holes in the knuckles (18). The pin is encased within the hinge as the holes in the knuckles (18) at each end of the back wall (6) are closed at the outside edge. It should be understood from the foregoing that each of the hinges (11, 12,14 and 15) is substantially identical to (13).

The above described construction of the base (2), walls (3,4, 5 and 6) and hinges (11,12, 13 and 14) is advantageous as it permits the walls to be folded inwardly typically with just a single tap of the foot in order to produce a compact folded crate when the crate is stored or transported. As shown in FIGs. 1 and 2 the walls (3,4, 5 and 6) can be positioned in a substantially vertical position for receiving goods.

After the goods have been removed the side walls (3 and 4) can be folded inwardly as shown in FIG. 6. Similarly, after the side walls (3 and 4) have been folded inwardly the back wall (6) can be folded inwardly with the integral lid (7) folded so that it rests substantially parallel to the outer side of the back wall (6). Similarly, the front wall 5 can be folded inwardly. If additional strength is required in view of the nature of the goods being transported a plurality of clips, catches or hooks (34 of FIG 1 la and lib) may be used whereby said side walls can be firmly attached to the front and back walls. The folded configuration of the crate is illustrated in FIG. 6, FIG 7 and FIG. 13 depicting two variations of the crate design.

The first, second, third and forth hinge arrangements (11,12, 13 and 14) are positioned such that in the folded configuration, the side walls (3 and 4), back wall (6) with integral lid (7) and front wall (5) can lie substantially parallel to each other and to the base (2) as illustrated in FIG. 6. The walls (3,4, 5,6) and lid (7) are capable of being positioned in that manner when folded because the hinge axes about which the walls (3,4, 5 and 6) pivot or fold are at elevationally different positions. The vertical distance between the hinge axes about which the side walls (3 and 4) pivot or fold is approximately equal to the thickness of a wall (3,4, 5,6).

The vertical distance between the hinge axis about which side walls (3,4) and the back wall (6) pivot or fold is approximately equal to the thickness of two side walls.

The vertical distance between the hinge axes about which side walls (3,4), the back wall (6) and the front wall (5) pivot is approximately equal to the thickness of the two side walls (3 and 4), the back wall (6) and the integral lid (7).

The walls (3,4, 5 and 6) are held together when in an upright position by short side flaps located at each end of walls (3,4, 5 and 6) wherein the flaps are substantially perpendicular to the wall and substantially the same height as the wall. Two flaps meet at each corner one from each wall that comprises the comer. The flaps connect by a tongue and grove design or other means to hold the walls in place.

Another advantage associated with the folding crate according to the first embodiment of the present invention is that multiple folded crates can be stored in a larger crate of substantially similar design but larger dimensions. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mother crate (21) is designed so that it is large enough to accommodate five folded baby crates (20) inserted vertically, as illustrated in FIG 8 and FIG 9. When the mother crate is full the integral lid (7) can close the crate (21). The baby crates can be easily manoeuvred or slotted into the mother crate using a hand grip feature (38) as illustrated in FIG 9. In this way five empty crates can make the return transport journey in one single crate. It will be obvious to the skilled artisan that the size of the mother crate can be of any dimensions suitable for the contents being transported or stored within the mother storage container. The number baby crates does not have to be limited to five crates and can be increased or decreased as may be appropriate for the contents being shipped.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for stacking crates one on top of the other. The lid (7) of the crates has a top wall (22) (FIG. 2) having a raised peripherally extending rim section contiguous with the top wall section. The lids are designed so that a rib running close to the edge of the base of one crate can fit within the raised peripherally extending rim section (23) (FIG. 2) of another crate.

The larger, mother crates have been designed so that the entire base of the smaller crates can fit within the raised peripherally extending rim section of the mother crate or if required as in FIG 3 raised location bosses (30) can be used to ensure stable stacking. The invention ensures that a stable stack can be created from larger and smaller crates intermixed within the stack (FIG 10). The integral lid is hinged to the top wall (22) or is otherwise connected to the side walls of the crate. Other options would include moulded-in hinging, water run-off area and water barrier near the moulded-in hinges to prevent water running into the container. As a further option if stacking of crates is not at issue, but the requirements of a reusable folding container is still of utmost importance, is to have a crate as described in the present invention having only a base and side walls (i. e. no lid required) but otherwise the concept and the applicable benefits of the mother and baby storage design would be present (i. e. such as transportation cost savings, easy assembly and disassembly, compact storage of crates and reusable nature and sturdiness of the crates.

It is a further option of the present invention that the lid can be of twin panel design (37) forming, for example, a saw tooth pattern as illustrated in FIG 12. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that a twin panel design will require each lid panel to be attached, preferably by a hinged arrangement to the relevant walls of the crate whereas a single panel lid will have a single hinged arrangement (39) typically attached to the back wall (FIG 3).

The mother crate can be optionally of a non-folding or non-collapsible design comprising a base and back, front and side walls of such a construction that the support bearing ribs tie into the edges or corners of the walls (45) creating a solid crate structure. Inside the mother crate can optionally be found guides or slats for manoeuvring the baby crates and for ease of storing the baby crates. The integral lid can possess reinforcing ribs for additional strength and prevention of warp to the lid. The integral lid is hinged or otherwise connected to the back wall and may optionally possess a water run-off area and water barriers near the hinges to prevent water entering the crate. The lid can also possess a rolled lip for extra strength and to add an extra barrier to water entering the crate. The lid can also possess location

bosses (30 of FIG. 3) to enable the easy and stable inter-stacking of baby crates (33) with mother crates (32) as per FIG. 10. Security mechanisms can also be introduced as well as had grips (43).

A further embodiment of the present invention is a"collapsible"crate as illustrated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13. Such a crate is easily assembled from its collapsed state by lifting an outer collar (36) located on the lid and front and back walls each having a hinge (35) located approximately central or in the middle to each of the front and back walls (the hinge running the length of each of the front and back walls) thereby allowing the walls to be folded outwards-or if collapsing the crate the front and back walls fold in on itself in an accordion fashion. The side walls (40) pivot from a hinged arrangement (44) on the outer collar (36) of the lid whereby a plurality of clips or catches located on the front and back walls (as illustrated in FIG 11 a and lib) thereby allowing the front, back and side walls to be clipped into the desired service position. The lid can be a single panel design or a twin panel design. The embodiment of FIG 12 (service state) and FIG 13 (collapsed state) illustrates a twin panel design. Shaped hand grips (41) can be optionally included on all sides or on only two sides (e. g. side walls) as required. Water drainage (42) can also be included.

Means for security tagging the crates is provided by slots in the lid and any one of the walls through which a labelled security tag can be threaded through thereby linking the lid to the wall of the crate so that the crate cannot be opened unless the tag is broken. The breaking of the tab provides evidence of tapering. The tag will facilitate the passage of the crate through customs and recording of loaded and unloaded crates.

The folding crates of the preferred embodiments of the present invention are preferably manufactured from polypropylene, although other types of material such as polyphylene-oxide and polycarbonate could be employed. The two sizes of crates are preferably in two different colours or shades of colour to distinguish them easily when assembling the crates for storage or the return transport journey.

The principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. However, the invention which is intended to be protected is not to be construed as limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. Further the embodiments described herein are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Variations, changes and equivalents may be made by others without departing from the scope of the invention.