Locking Patents (Class 217/31)
  • Patent number: 11987428
    Abstract: A partitioned container having a plurality of individual compartments formed from mated slotted interior panels. One or more exterior panels surround the mated interior panels to form the outside of the partitioned container. The interior panels may include folding tab sections and partitioning sections, and the panels may be mated with one another through a self-locking mechanism. The various panels may be folded about fold lines to permit the assembly to be folded into a substantially flat state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: DRYIP, LLC
    Inventor: D. Rudolph Youell
  • Patent number: 11833444
    Abstract: A construction toy system including a plurality of modular assembly pieces and a plurality of pivotal-rods. Each of the pivotal-rods includes an identical engaging rod-tips on each end thereof. Each of the assembly pieces have identical thickness and a circumferential edge. A number of straight receiving grooves are formed, inwardly, at the circumferential edge, wherein the identical thickness is predesigned to fittingly fill the gap formed by the straight receiving groove. A select assembly piece is configured to interlock with another assembly piece via the straight receiving grooves of both selected assembly pieces. A selected assembly pieces may have at least one identical circular through hole formed at a central location with respect to the lateral dimension of the assembly pieces, wherein an engaging rod-tip of a selected pivotal-rod may engage with a selected circular through hole of the selected assembly piece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Inventor: Shmuel Landau
  • Patent number: 10772423
    Abstract: A storage container having a storage space, includes a partition member configured to divide the storage space of the storage container, the partition member having a first partition member movable in a first direction in the storage space, and a second partition member movable in a second direction in the storage space while crossing the first partition member, and a moving guide provided in an intersection between the first partition member and the second partition member and configured to guide a movement of the first partition member and a movement of the second partition member and to fix the first partition member and the second partition member so as not to move, the storage container may be configured to move a partition fixing portion disposed in the moving guide in a direction to contact the partition member according to the rotation of the upper portion of the moving guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jae Bok Lee, Myoung Jin Jang, Sang Chul Ryu, Kyoung-Sun Park, Sang Gyu Jung, In-Sung Hwang
  • Patent number: 10207648
    Abstract: A vehicle having a cargo area includes a first cargo panel having a first recess extending into the first cargo panel, and a second cargo panel having a second recess extending into the second cargo panel. The vehicle includes a cargo floor for supporting the first and second cargo panels in an interlocked configuration in contact with the cargo floor. In the interlocked configuration, the first and second cargo panels are disposed in upright orientations and the second cargo panel is disposed orthogonally to the first cargo panel such that the first recess interfaces the second recess. The vehicle further includes a trim panel for supporting the first and second cargo panels in a coplanar configuration such that first and second cargo panels are spaced from the cargo floor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Pattrick Loew, Kendra White, Andrew Szymczak
  • Patent number: 9914200
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magazine apparatus may include a plurality of dividing straps positioned substantially parallel with one another and a plurality of support straps positioned substantially parallel with one another. The plurality of support straps may intersect with the plurality of dividing straps to form a plurality of ware receiving channels. An upper end and a lower end of each ware receiving channel may be at least partially open. The magazine apparatus may also include a plurality of ware seats. Each ware seat may extend at least partially across a corresponding ware receiving channel proximate a lower end of the corresponding ware receiving channel. Each ware seat may provide a seat for glassware positioned in the corresponding ware receiving channel. A plurality of ware spacers may be positioned below and spaced apart from a corresponding ware seat and extending at least partially across the corresponding ware receiving channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Todd Marshall Wetherill
  • Patent number: 9389009
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for overcoming known plating deficiencies in evaporator assemblies in ice making machine. One embodiment joins the vertical and horizontal partitions together at their intersections so that all surfaces are susceptible for increased soldering/brazing by eliminating the “voids” by changing the location and design of the “weep holes” in the vertical and/or horizontal partitions. This provides more complete capillary path at the joint between the vertical and horizontal partitions and the evaporator pan allowing improved flow via capillary action of solder/brazing alloy during the joining of the assembled vertical and horizontal partition grid to the evaporator pan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Manitowoc Foodservice Companies, LLC
    Inventors: William Eugene Olson, Jr., Gerald William Wendt, Raymond Randy Haack, John-Paul James Ishioye
  • Patent number: 9072980
    Abstract: The present invention is a doll house that can be assembled and disassembled by a small child. The rooms, once assembled, can be stacked upon each other to form large multiple story houses or stacked beside each other to form castles and palaces. The rooms can be large and have large openings for fitting larger dolls and larger doll furniture. The rooms can be easily disassembled for easier storage. The rooms form structures that are safe for children because the rooms self-locate on top of the lower room section. The rooms also have a locking feature that prevents a room from sliding off a lower room by preventing relative lateral motion. These features make the doll house safe for children to build and play with.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Inventor: Martijn van Tilburg
  • Patent number: 5361900
    Abstract: A compressor shipping carton having a sheet-like base pad provided with a plurality of depressions or compressor feet retainers in the top surface thereof arranged in a close pattern and each adapted to snugly receive the mounting feet of a compressor for preventing lateral movement thereof, a plurality of rectangular, corrugated paperboard partitions having only side and end walls and being sufficiently wide to accommodate a single compressor and its associated retainer, and being sufficiently long to accommodate at least two compressors and their associated retainers, said partitions resting edgewise and side by side on said base pad, a plurality of rectangular, corrugated paperboard dividers each having side, top and bottom, and end walls providing a substantially closed tube of relatively narrow width and affording a degree of crushability for absorbing forces generated by tilting of the compressors, laterally aligned notches in the upper wall portions of the partitions and laterally aligned slots in the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 8, 1994
    Assignee: Bristol Compressors
    Inventors: Hugh C. Stringer, Phillip S. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4917429
    Abstract: A portable divider assembly for dividing a pickup truck bed having a flat floor and spaced side walls into at least two smaller compartments without use of tools or modification of the truck bed and without attachment to the truck bed so that the divider assembly may be freely applied to compartmentalize the truck bed or removed to restore the truck bed to its non-compartmentalized condition. The portable divider assembly is formed from an elongated center divider panel and a plurality of cross member panels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 1989
    Date of Patent: April 17, 1990
    Inventor: John D. Giger
  • Patent number: 4793548
    Abstract: A carton divider is provided for dividing the interior of a carton into cells for receiving containers, and which is constructed so as to avoid scuffing of labels applied to the containers. The carton divider comprises at least one longitudinal partition, and at least one separate transverse partition which intersects the longitudinal partition and cooperates therewith to define a plurality of cells, with the cell walls thereof serving to separate adjacent containers from contact with one another. An opening is formed in at least one cell wall of each cell, with the opening being so arranged as to prevent contact of the cell wall with selected portions of the container where the label is applied to thereby prevent scuffing of the label.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 27, 1988
    Assignee: Sonoco Products Company
    Inventor: Glenn D. Ross
  • Patent number: 4728521
    Abstract: A fish storage tray is provided with several modular plastic dividers which conform to the shape of the fish and hold fish in a belly-up position in the tray for individual freezing and storing. The individual dividers are elongated plastic strips having connectors either integral or separable at opposite ends to enable the dividers to be expanded to conform to the size of a fish placed between dividers. The method of storing fish includes the step of separating a tray into a plurality of compartments using flexible conforming plastic strips interconnected to one another at alternating opposite ends to form an accordion-type divider pattern within the tray. Fish are then placed between the plastic dividers in an alternating head-to-tail arrangement and with the bellies up. The fish are then frozen and, if desired, glazed and placed in storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1987
    Date of Patent: March 1, 1988
    Inventor: Patrick J. Mitchell
  • Patent number: 4595246
    Abstract: An interlocking spacer system is provided which comprises a plurality of interlocking panels which can be arranged to divide a large space into smaller compartments. The panels are made up of wall segments joined together by webs, each web having a height not more than half the height of the wall segments. This results in relieved areas between each wall segment. The webs have two pairs of opposed grooves, one pair facilitating separation of adjacent wall segments and the second pair for receiving wall edges of adjacent wall segments in an interlocking manner thereby allowing the panels to be interlocked in an end butt relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1984
    Date of Patent: June 17, 1986
    Assignee: The Stanbel Group
    Inventor: Elly Bross
  • Patent number: 4548350
    Abstract: A carton divider of the type having interlocked partitions of identical construction, each of which has a slot extending inwardly from one edge at an angle thereto and curving back to provide a tab projecting laterally from a hinging line, and a second opening spacer beyond the slot to receive the tab of the companion partition, both openings affording aligned spaced hinging edges on the line; the slot also having a third edge inwardly of the tab, spaced out of alignment with the two hinging edges, and one end of the tab has a slit extending transversely to the tab, and the second opening also has a slit extending toward the slot parallel to, but spaced from, the hinging edges and the crest of the tab slopes inwardly toward the hinging edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1984
    Date of Patent: October 22, 1985
    Assignee: Rock-Tenn Company
    Inventors: Donald W. Engle, Roger S. Hahn
  • Patent number: 4544092
    Abstract: An interlock for a partition assembly made of paper board or the like and having interlocking longitudinal and cross partition strips that form a divider for insertion in a box for shipping items such as bottles, cans, and the like. The interlock includes a slot in each of the longitudinal and cross strips, the slots interfitting to lock the strips together but allowing them to hinge freely between collapsed and open configurations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1984
    Date of Patent: October 1, 1985
    Assignee: Rock-Tenn Company
    Inventor: Willard Palmer
  • Patent number: 4499997
    Abstract: An improved tote box especially adapted for use within an automated storage and retrieval system is provided with a bumper rim a short distance from the tote bottom to reduce the moment arm created when the box engages another box or the like. Stacking stops are integrated with the bumper rim to provide additional strength, and the stops circumscribe side drains to allow fluid to be drained without flowing into a lower box in a stack. A divider grid is provided and includes intersecting crosswise and lengthwise divider plates, each Z-shaped and each having mounting slots in one edge and notches in the other. When the plates are mated by seating the slot of a lengthwise plate in the slot of a crosswise plate, the opposing bosses at the mouth of each slot of each plate seat in the notch of an intersecting plate. Tabs on each end of each plate seat in slots in the tote box walls and a ramp overlying the notch restrains the divider plate tab to secure the grid in the tote box.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 1983
    Date of Patent: February 19, 1985
    Assignee: Menasha Corporation
    Inventor: Harold E. Swingley, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4187975
    Abstract: A combination corrugated and fiberboard partition spacer in which the partitions are all slotted from one edge and in which the slots of longitudinal and transverse partitions are reversely oriented and colinearly aligned to form a multiple cell divider or spacer. The novelty of this combination corrugated and fiberboard partition resides in the provision of extra wide slots at selected slot sites of an otherwise all fiberboard partition spacer and the insertion in those extra wide slots of slotted corrugated partitions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1978
    Date of Patent: February 12, 1980
    Assignee: W. J. Bradford Paper Company
    Inventor: Charles J. Shepherd
  • Patent number: 4062166
    Abstract: Support grating for electrical equipment boxes having a format which is a multiple of basic elementary dimensions, constituted by a grid formed by cooperating frame members connected together two by two by distance pieces, wherein the frame members comprise periodic transversal cut-away parts constituted by slots or notches, an intermediate cut-away part and a lower port, the sides of the distance pieces comprise protuberances and bosses, for cooperation with the cut-away parts in a rigid assembly which is locked by the bosses in the cut-away parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1976
    Date of Patent: December 13, 1977
    Assignee: CGEE Alsthom S.A.
    Inventor: Jean Debaigt
  • Patent number: 3966111
    Abstract: Partitioning for a container having sets of spaced parallel panels that are interconnected with each other to delineate in conjunction with the container a plurality of four sided cells within the container for receipt and protective transport of articles deposited therein. The individual panels of each set of panels include an intermediate body section and a plurality of projections extending upwardly and downwardly therefrom so as to form alternating projections and cutouts on either side thereof, wherein the upwardly and downwardly extending projections of each panel are laterally offset from each other. The panels of each set are also formed with slots that extend from a panel side and that terminate within an intermediate body portion thereof for aligned engagement when the panels of respective sets are interconnected with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1975
    Date of Patent: June 29, 1976
    Assignee: Grimes Box Company, Inc.
    Inventor: Brian A. Grimes
  • Patent number: 3942837
    Abstract: A divider for use in a container, such as a corrugated cardboard box, has a network of intersecting partitions and reinforced folded structures at the ends of the partitions. The reinforcing structures are folded to the main body of the partitions, forming areas of increased thickness which increase the compressive strength of the divider and a container having the divider included therein. The partitions are slotted and interlocked together by use of the slots. The slots have relieved areas at the entrance to the slots and an interlocking protrusion. The opposite edges of the partitions from the slots have relieved areas. The relieved areas at the slot entrances facilitate entry of the strips into the slots and interlocking of the strips together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 1975
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1976
    Assignee: Clevepak Corporation
    Inventor: Donald W. Engle
  • Patent number: 3942709
    Abstract: A divider used in containers formed of cardboard or like material has intersecting partitions and a tying strip attached to the ends of the partitions and adapted to lie adjacent to the wall of a container. The tying strip holds the partitions substantially parallel so that the divider may be inserted by machine into a container and will remain in a fixed spacial relationship while the container is filled with goods by automatic casing machinery. The partitions and the tying strip have transverse cuts and are joined by interlocking the cuts into a rectilinear network. The corners of the partitions and the openings to the cuts are relieved to allow ease of assembly of the partitions and strip and of insertion of the completed divider into a container by automatic machinery. The portions of the partitions which are joined to the tying strip are folded over and glued to provide additional strengthening elements which increase the strength of the divider and boxes using the divider.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 1975
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1976
    Assignee: Clevepak Corporation
    Inventor: Richard E. Gepfer