Reinforced spool for storing and transporting strand material and a package assembly utilizing the same

Claim 1

A package assembly for the shipping, storage and handling of wire and analogous strand material, comprising: a plurality of spool devices each having upright longitudinally extending, tubular, central barrel member and upper and lower flange members carried by said barrel member at the extremities of said barrel member, said lower flange member having a conical disc portion of substantially uniform thickness extending away from said barrel member and having a smooth frusto-conical surface for bearing the weight of strand material wound about said barrel in a plurality of layers generally parallel to the exterior surface of said barrel member; each said spool device having a support member including hollow supporting legs formed substantially integrally with said spool body as a substantially unitary structure to permit forklift transport of said spool device by itself and in combination with other similar spool devices; said support member including locating means for locating adjacent spool devices relative to one another when included in ganged side-by-side relation in a package assembly, and a recessed banding groove in said support member for locating and retaining a flexible band encircling and banding together a plurality of spool devices in ganged relation as a package assembly for a single shipping unit; a cap mounted as the upper flange of each spool device, each said cap including interlock means thereon cooperating with complimentary interlocking means as the cap of an adjacent spool device for preventing separation of adjacent spool devices when in ganged side-by-side relation in a package assembly; means in the interior of said tubular central barrel member for diametically reinforcing said barrel member; and means in the interior of said support member for reinforcing said conical disc portion to permit the weight of said wire and analogous strand material to be transferred to said hollow supporting legs.