Reversibly foldable freight container

摘要

The present disclosure provides a reversibly foldable freight container having a roof structure, a floor structure and sidewall structures. The reversibly foldable freight container further includes a front wall and a rear wall, where the front wall includes front wall corner posts, a front door hinge on at least one of the front wall corner posts and a front door joined to the front door hinge. The rear wall includes rear wall corner posts, a hinge on the rear wall corner posts and a rear wall door joined to the hinge, where the rear wall door can pivot on the hinge to extend adjacent an exterior surface of the sidewall structure or can pivot into the volume of the reversibly foldable freight container. In an unfolded state the reversibly foldable freight container has a predefined width measured at a predetermined point on each of two of the rear wall corner posts. A plurality of jointed members in the floor structure allows the reversibly foldable freight container in an unfolded state to move toward a folded state so that the predetermined points on the rear wall corner posts do not extend beyond the predefined width of the reversibly foldable freight container in the unfolded state.

主权项

1. A reversibly foldable freight container, comprising:
a roof structure; a floor structure opposite the roof structure; sidewall structures between the floor structure and the roof structure, each of the sidewall structures having an exterior surface and an interior surface opposite the exterior surface; a front wall joined with the roof structure, the floor structure and the sidewall structures, the front wall including front wall corner posts, a front door hinge on at least one of the front wall corner posts and a front door joined to the front door hinge; a rear wall joined with the roof structure, the floor structure and the sidewall structures, where the roof structure, the floor structure, the interior surface of the sidewall structures and the rear wall define a volume of the reversibly foldable freight container, the rear wall including rear wall corner posts, a hinge on the rear wall corner posts and a rear wall door joined to the hinge, where the hinge can be locked to the rear wall corner posts in a first predetermined position so that the rear wall door can pivot on the hinge to extend adjacent the exterior surface of the sidewall structure or can be un-locked to the rear wall corner posts in a second predetermined position so that the rear wall door can pivot into the volume of the reversibly foldable freight container and extend adjacent the interior surface of the sidewall structure, and where in an unfolded state the reversibly foldable freight container has a predefined width measured at a predetermined point on each of two of the rear wall corner posts and a plurality of jointed members in the floor structure, where each of the jointed members includes:
a first elongate section having a first surface defining a first oblong opening, a first abutment member and a first member end opposite the first abutment member;a second elongate section having a second surface defining a second oblong opening, a second abutment member and a second member end opposite the second abutment member; anda fastener passing through the first oblong opening and the second oblong opening to connect the first elongate section and the second elongate section;
where the first oblong opening and the second oblong opening move relative each other and the fastener as the jointed member transitions from a first predetermined state towards a second predetermined state;where in the first predetermined state the first abutment member and the second abutment member are in physical contact and a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface are in physical contact with the fastener; anda distance between the first member end of the first elongate section and the second member end of the second elongate section provides a defined maximum length of the jointed member;where the distance between the first member end of the first elongate section and the second member end of the second elongate section does not exceed the defined maximum length as the jointed member transitions from the first predetermined state towards the second predetermined state.