Shipping container

Claim 1

A SHIPPING CONTAINER FOR NESTABLE SETS OF SINGLEBEND, UNIFORM CALIPER, U-SHAPED TUBES OF THE TYPE USED IN FABRICATING HEAT EXCHANGE UNITS, SAID CONTAINER COMPRISING: (A) A BOTTOM, A PAIR OF END WALLS AND A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS FIXEDLY JOINED TO DEFINE AN ELONGATED RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE; (B) A PLURALITY OF SETS OF U-SHAPED TUBES OF UNIFORM EXTERNAL CALIPER NESTED IN SAID ENCLOSURE, EACH OF SAID TUBES HAVING ONLY A SINGLE BEND AND HAVING A PAIR OF ELONGATED LEGS AND EACH TUBE IN ANY PARTICULAR SET HAVING THE SAME BEND RADIUS AS ALL OTHER TUBES IN THAT PARTICULAR SET; AND (C) A PLURALITY OF SPACING AND ALIGNING MEANS POSITIONED AT SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM INTERVALS ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE CONTAINER, EACH OF SAID SPACING AND ALIGNING MEANS COMPRISING (1) A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY SPACED, VERTICALLY EXTENDING SPACERS ARRANGED IN A ROW TRANSVERSE THE LENGTH OF SAID RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE AND SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL DIVIDED IN NUMBER BY (2) A CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER HAVING A WIDTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE INNER BEND RADIUS OF THE U-SHAPED TUBE HAVING THE SMALLEST BEND RADIUS AND POSITIONED ASTRIDE A CENTRAL VERTICAL PLANE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH SAID ENCLOSURE, (3) SAID SPACERS BEING POSITIONED NON-SYMMETRICALLY TO SAID CENTRAL VERTICAL PLANE (A) TO DEFINE ON A FIRST SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER AN INNERMOST SINGLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACE AND A PLURALITY OF DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACES POSITIONED IN SEQUENCE DIRECTLY FROM SAID INNERMOST SPACE TOWARD ONE SIDE WALL AND (B) TO DEFINE ON THE SECOND SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER AN INNERMOST DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACE AND A PLURALITY OF ADDITIONAL DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACES POSITIONED IN SEQUENCE DIRECTLY FROM SAID INNERMOST DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACE TOWARD THE OTHER SIDE WALL, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACES ON SAID SECOND SIDE BEING AT LEAST EQUAL IN NUMBER TO THE NUMBER OF DOUBLE CALIPER-WIDTH SPACES ON SAID FIRST SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER; (D) SAID NESTED SETS OF U-SHAPED TUBES BEING POSITIONED AND ALIGNED BY SAID POSITIONING AND ALIGNING MEANS SO THAT ALL TUBES OF THE SAME BEND RADIUS IN SAID NESTED SETS ARE IN A SINGLE VERTICAL STACK, SO THAT THE LEGS OF EACH TUBE ARE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER FROM ONE ANOTHER AND ARE POSITIONED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID CENTRAL VERTICAL PLANE, AND SO THAT LEGS OF ADJACENTLY-SIZED TUBES ARE IN CONTACTALONG THEIR LENGTH ON ONE SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER AND ARE SPACED APART FROM EACH OTHER BY A SPACER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PACKING MEMBER.