Suspension Device for a Container

The innovation relates to a suspension device for containers, which contain a wound picture or sound recording carrier, more particularly, a suspension device for an essentially rectangular container consisting of base and lid parts with circulating rims, front walls lying in between, and rear part, for a wound tape-shaped picture and sound recording carrier.

Such a device is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,896, wherein an extrusion-blown double-walled container is described, one of whose face walls comprises a recess which is provided as a hooking element for a rail of L-shaped profile fixed to a wall. The free end of the rail thickens upwards. A flip-up U-shaped handle is attached to the back-side of the container lying opposite the suspension device for secure gripping and picking up or taking down of the container. This container is expensive to construct and does not offer sufficient convenience of gripping and placing in archives. A further disadvantage is that the container does not satisfy the standard measurements for video cassette containers that have emerged in the last few years.

Containers of this kind are described for example in DE-OS 29 13 812, 33 35 558, 35 02 536, the EP O 177 415, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,876,071, 4,011,940, 4,363,403, 4,365,711 and the U.S. Pat. Des. No. 262,414. They are generally book-shaped and consist of a base part and a lid part with a rim on the front and side walls and are connected via a rear wall by means of groove-shaped hinges, which are of lower strength compared with the construction parts otherwised used. The containers, called "Hardbox", may contain the VHS, Beta or U-matic video cassettes known to every person skilled in the art.

For putting these cassettes into archives, for example in broadcasting and television institutions, there is an urgent need for a simple and secure handling of the containers containing these cassettes, especially where these are present in large quantities.

For this reason the object consisted in finding a suspension device for the aforementioned containers, which is easy to handle and allows the inexpensive manufacture of the containers.

The object was solved according to the innovation by a suspension device with the characteristic given in the characterising part of the claims.

Closer details of the innovation emerge from the description and the drawings. In the following the innovation will be explained in greater detail by means of the diagrams in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective partial view of an embodiment of the suspension device according to the innovation and two forms of embodiment of wall-side hooking elements,

FIG. 2 shows a cross-section of the suspension device according to FIG. 1

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a different embodiment and a wall-side attachment

FIG. 3a shows a perspective view of a hooking element according to FIG. 3

FIG. 3b shows an enlarged partial view of FIG. 3

FIGS. 4-6 show cross-sections through further embodiments of the suspension device according to the innovation

FIGS. 7-8 show perspective views of wall-side attachment elements for the suspension devices according to the innovation.

A container, which contains the suspension device according to the innovation, possesses according to FIG. 1 a base (1) and a lid part (2) with a rim at the front and sidewalls (11,11') the facewalls (3,4) lying inbetween and the back part (6). A bolt (5) for unbolting and opening the container is provided in the front facewall (4). The container can be one-piece injection moulded out of polypropylene.

According to the innovation a bracket (7) is injected at the face wall (3) between the front face wall (4) and rear part (6) in the region of the generally rounded-off edge connecting both face walls. This bracket is bent at its open end in the shape of a U and is hinged at the place of injection (8) (FIG. 2). In the flipped-up state (FIG. 1) of the bracket (7) the container can be suspended either from a bar (9), which may for example be round in profile, or from a rail (10) of U-shaped profile. These suspension devices (9,10) are attached to a wall, a frame or similar in customary fashion. The length of the bent bracket (7) is calculated not to project beyond the rim (11,11') of the base or lid part in its flipped-down state (FIG. 2). A step-shaped recess (13) is therein present in the upper part of the face wall. The free end of the bracket may comprise a rib (12), which snaps into an undercutting of the recess (13).

In another embodiment the bracket (7') (FIG. 3, 3a) is a separate part, which is inserted with the axle of rotation (14) into a hollow (15) of the face wall (3) with the container in its open state. The axle of rotation and hollow may contain pegs or grooves that are assigned to each other in such a manner that the bracket has a locking position in its flipped-up state (FIG. 3, 3b). The bracket is therein suspended from an affixing device (16), which is affixed to a wall (17) and whose upper free end (18) points at an acute angle away from the wall (FIG. 7). Other affixing devices, for example according to FIG. 8 are of course also conceivable. The bracket (7') consists preferably of an impact and flection-resistant synthetic material, for example macrolon.

FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of the suspension device according to the innovation. The front face wall (4) is therein interrupted in the region of the upper edge and replaced by a recess (13') with a slanting step (19), so that the upper part of the face wall (4) joining the edge forms a projecting spur (20) pointing downwards, that serves as a hooking element. A similar embodiment is shown in FIG. 6. The rail (21), bent repeatedly at an obtuse angle, may therein be used as a wall-side affixing element, whose lower part lies against the face wall (4) and whose upper free end (22) penetrates the recess (13') and grasps the spur (20) from behind. Another particularly preferred affixing element for the suspension devices represented in FIGS. 5 and 6 is the rail represented in FIG. 8, which possesses bay-like projections (23), against whose front surfaces (24) the face wall (4) of the container lies in the region of the recess (13') and whose lateral surfaces (25,25') lie against the projecting rims (11,11') of the container, so that each container is suspended without sliding from a projection (23).

Finally, FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment of the suspension device according to the innovation. Here too a spur (20') pointing downwards is present in the region of the edge, which, however, is not connected in one piece with a face wall of the container. Rather, the upper part of the facewall (4) is double-walled and a sliding rail (30) in the inner space (27) between the exterior side (28) and the interior side (29) is connected in one piece with the spur (20'). Various locking positions for the suspension device result from matching bumps and grooves formed on the inside of the exterior side (28) and on the side of the rail (30) adjacent thereto. The sliding region of the suspension device is therein limited by a recess (31) on the inside of the interior side (29) and a spur (32) on the side of the rail adjacent to the interior side, which engages with the recess. The suspension device described may be inserted when the container is open.

The suspension devices according to the innovation described above allow extraordinarily simple and comfortable handling during archiving and are in addition simple to manufacture and are, further, robust in use and combinable with a large number of wall-side affixing devices.