Modular container

Claim 2

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a horizontally elongated rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein, the horizontal length of said box being at least about twice the height thereof to present a relatively low center of gravity, relative to a vertically elongated container; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by one of said depending lip and said upstanding lip to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers.

Claim 3

The container of claim 1 in which at least one of said vertical walls includes near the bottom thereof a sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and at least one of said top and bottom walls has at least one margin that extends horizontally beyond said one vertical wall including said opening to protect said sealed exposed opening from damage while facilitating flush abutment of said containers.

Claim 4

The container of claim 2 in which both of said vertical end walls includes near the bottom thereof a sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and both of said top and bottom walls have an end margin that extends horizontally beyond said vertical end walls to protect said sealed exposed opening from damage while facilitating flush abutment of said containers.

Claim 5

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by one of said depending lip and said upstanding lip to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. at least one of said vertical walls includes near the bottom thereof a sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and at least one of said top and bottom walls has at least one margin that extends horizontally beyond said one vertical wall including said opening to protect said sealed exposed opening from damage while facilitating flush abutment of said containers.

Claim 6

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by one of said depending lip and said upstanding lip to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. at least one of said vertical walls includes near the bottom thereof a sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and at least one of said top and bottom walls has at least one margin that extends horizontally beyond said one vertical wall including said opening to protect said sealed exposed opening from damage while facilitating flush abutment of said containers.

Claim 7

The container of claim 4 in which both of said vertical end walls includes near the bottom thereof a sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and both of said top and bottom walls have an end margin that extends horizontally beyond said vertical end walls to protect said sealed exposed opening from damage while facilitating flush abutment of said containers.

Claim 8

The container of claims 2 or 4 in which two opposed vertical walls include said sealed exposed openings and at least one of said top and bottom walls have two opposed margins that overhang said opposed vertical walls.

Claim 9

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by its depending lip engaging against the top wall of said other container to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. said top wall includes at least one sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and said upstanding lip extends above said opening to protect the same from damage.

Claim 10

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by its depending lip engaging against the top wall of said other container to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. said top wall includes at least one sealed exposed opening therethrough for access to said storage chamber and said upstanding lip extends above said opening to protect the same from damage.

Claim 11

The container of claim 7 in which said top wall includes plural sealed exposed openings all protected by said upstanding lip.

Claim 12

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall being adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including a notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by its depending lip engaging against the top wall of said other container to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. said bottom wall includes strengthening and rigidifying ribs depending therefrom and said notch means in said depending lip have a height coinciding with the bottom of said ribs so that lift truck tines inserted into said notch means engage against said depending ribs for carrying said container.

Claim 13

A container for transporting and storing liquids and solids that can be carried by the tines of a fork lift truck, said container comprising: A. a rectangular box having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, a pair of opposed vertical end walls and a pair of opposed vertical side walls joined together to enclose a storage chamber therein; B. a peripheral lip upstanding from said top wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said upstanding lip including notch means along each of the ends and sides of said top wall being adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; and C. a peripheral lip depending from said bottom wall around at least a portion of the circumference thereof, said depending lip including a notch means along each of the ends and sides of said bottom wall in registration with said notch means in said upstanding lip and adapted to receive therethrough said tines of said lift truck for lifting said container; D. said upstanding lip and depending lip being constructed and arranged so that when one container is stacked on another container, said depending lip of said one container can mate with the upstanding lip of said other container to prevent lateral movement therebetween with said one container being carried by its depending lip engaging against the top wall of said other container to space apart the juxtaposed top and bottom walls of said stacked containers; and E. said bottom wall includes strengthening and rigidifying ribs depending therefrom and said notch means in said depending lip have a height coinciding with the bottom of said ribs so that lift truck tines inserted into said notch means engage against said depending ribs for carrying said container.

Claim 14

The container of claims 1, 4, 7 or 9 in which said upstanding lip includes perforations therethrough for carrying said container.

Claim 15

The container of claims 1, 4, 7 or 9 in which said depending lip of said one stacked container rests on the top wall of said another container to carry the weight of said stacked container on said another container and said upstanding lip of said another container surrounds said depending lip of said one stacked container.