Integrated tank containers for the bulk storage of liquids

Claim 1

A. An integrated tank container for the bulk storage or transport of liquids at temperatures greatly differing from ambient temperature, b. said container comprising a housing of load-bearing thermal insulation supported within an outer rigid shell, said housing being built up of fluid-tight closed shallow boxes made of flexible sheet material and filled with load-bearing insulation material, said boxes being set in spaced edge-to-edge alignment to form said housing, c. said shallow boxes each having two generally parallel opposed main wall faces of large area, one being a front face and disposed toward the inside of the tank, the other being a back face, said wall faces being spaced from each other by relatively narrow continuous side wall members, d. said back faces of the respective boxes having peripheral edge portions extending out in the plane of the back faces beyond the side wall members, e. said extended portions of the back faces being attached to a support framework carried by the outer rigid shell, and to each other in liquid-tiGht fashion to provide a secondary membrane, f. said front faces having peripheral edge portions extending out beyond said side wall members, said extended portions of the front faces being attached to each other in liquid-tight fashion to provide a primary membrane, g. the sides of said container being substantially plane-faced, h. wherein those boxes providing the plane-faced portions contain fillings of said load-bearing thermal insulation, i. the corner portions of the container being provided by curved boxes which contain fillings of thermal insulation material which is of a loose or resilient nature, j. wherein the walls of the boxes include said peripheral edge portions providing the secondary membrane extending beyond said boxes, k. a set of connecting members attached to the support framework for sealing together adjacent edge portions, l. a further set of connecting members for sealing together the faces providing the primary membrane, m. each space defined between the two sets of connecting members and the adjacent boxes containing a further filling of loadbearing insulation material, n. wherein each member of the two sets of connecting members is of generally T-shaped cross-section, o. and sealing between the faces to provide the primary and secondary membranes is effected by the arms of the respective members being welded to said faces.