FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10; rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Pallet Container with Improved Top Lifting Performance
APPLICANTS
Genex Science and Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
an Indian company
having its registered office at
604, Vishwananak, ICK Link Road,
Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 001,
Maharashtra, India.
INVENTOR
Mr. Naveen Kumar Jain
an Indian national
of Genex Science And Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
an Indian company having its registered office at
604, Vishwananak, ICK Link Road,
Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 001,
Maharashtra, India.
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to Pallet Containers which are be used for transportation of liquid dangerous goods and are handled from bottom using a forklift or pallet truck and also from the top using hooks and crane.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Pallet Containers are used for transportation of liquid goods. Pallet Containers consist of outer cage made out of welded hollow steel tubes fixed on a pallet and holding a replaceable inner container (plastic bottle) with one filling and one emptying opening.
During the transport of filled pallet containers - in particular with contents of high specific weight on poor roads with trucks with firm suspension, during the transport on railway or ships, the outer cage is exposed to significant stress as a result of surge force on the liquid goods. These dynamic transport loads generate significant continuously changing bending stress and torsion stress in the outer cage ultimately leading to fatigue cracks and resultant tube fracture or loose welds when exposed over respectively long periods. A top lift of a filled pallet container with cracks or loose welds in the outer cage is too dangers.
Top of outer cage:
Pallet containers are also handled by means of forklift truck or manually by means of hand trucks. Top lifting of standard pallet containers with a crane and 4 hooks is not possible because the top area of the outer cage is too weak; the standard pallet container is not designed for this purpose. The top horizontal tube is only fixed to the vertical tubes by resistance welds (29). The cross bar is holding the inner container and just fixed on the top horizontal tube and has no connection to the vertical tubes or is just fixed to the corresponding vertical tubes.

Connection outer cage to pallet:
The outer cage is permanently fixed to the pallets by bolts or screws. Those screws are just fixed to the top part of the pallets, or if they have long bolts and go through the whole pallet height there is no connection or centering between one and the other length side of the bottom of the outer cage.
Top lift test:
The top lift test for pallet containers, described in the UN Recommendations on the transport of dangerous goods is applicable for all types of IBCs, this means also for pallet containers, which are designed to be lifted from the top, as a design test. The pallet container shall be filled and the mass of the filled pallet container shall be twice the permissible gross mass. The pallet container shall be lifted: By each pair of diagonally opposite lifting devices, so that the hoisting forces are ones applied vertically and a second time toward the centre at 45° to the vertical, for a period of five minutes. The top lift test is passed if the pallet container remains safe for normal conditions of transport, there is no observable permanent deformation including the pallet and no loss of the filling good.
Prior art:
Top lifting of standard pallet containers with a crane and 4 hooks is not possible because the top area of the outer cage is too weak; the standard pallet container is not designed for this purpose. Top lifting of other composite IBCs is state of art, p.e. steel or stainless steel IBCs have 4 lifting lugs, with holes, in heavy-duty construction.
EP 585453 is the closest state of art cage/pallet connection and shows the connection of a pallet container outer cage with a pallet with extended wires of the cage grid going through the whole pallet height. The drawback of this design is the difficult insertion of the extended wires into the pallet, the missing of any centering or supporting steel inserts for the wires going through the pallet and the difficult

tightening of the as flange nuts designed base plates. The pallet container has to be turned upside-down for the flange nut tightening.
Presently the Pallet Containers available are handled by means of a fork-lifter or hand pallet truck from bottom. Lifting from top is not possible because the structure of hollow tube cage and pallets etc i.e. the top horizontal tube to the adjacent vertical tube are very weak (Fig.l) and not designed for such application. The top horizontal tube is only fixed to the vertical tube by resistance welds (29) (Fig.2). The cross bar is holding the inner container and just fixed on the top horizontal tube and has no connection to some vertical tubes. In case of top lift handling tube structure breaks and the holding between cage and pallet also comes out.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a top lift of a pallet container. The 4 crane hooks are placed symmetrically, close to the verticals and lifting the pallet container over the top horizontal tube. The top horizontal tube is just connected to the verticals by welds. Pallet containers according the state of art have a huge top horizontal tube and cross bar deformation at the UN top lift test, there are not passing the UN design type test. The steel gauge of those tubes is 0.8-1.0 mm. Figure 2 is a sectional view of the welded connection vertical tube with the top horizontal tube. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the connection cross bar with the top horizontal tube. The long flat and bended end of the cross bar is just surrounding and bolted with the top horizontal tube at both ends.
OBJECTS OF INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to obviate the above drawbacks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide Pallet Containers for transportation of liquid goods with improved top lifting performance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide Pallet Containers which are also handled from bottom using a forklift or pallet truck for transportation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
According to the present invention,
Figure - 1 shows a perspective view of a top lift of a pallet container prior art.
Figure - 2 shows a sectional view of the welded connection vertical tube with the
top horizontal tube prior art. Figure - 3 shows a sectional view of the bolted connection cross bar with the top
horizontal tube prior art. Figure - 4 shows a perspective view of a top lift of a pallet container. Figure - 5 shows an exploded view of a pallet container. Figure - 6 shows a sectional view of the welded connection vertical tube with the
top horizontal tube and the bolted connection of the cross bar Figure - 7 shows a sectional view of the welded and riveted connection vertical
tube with the top horizontal tube and the bolted connection of the cross
bar Figure - 8 shows a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube and
plastics pallet. Figure - 9 shows a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube and
vertical tube with wooden pallet. Figure - 10 shows a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube and
vertical tube with wooden pallet. Figure - 11 shows a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube and
wooden pallet.
SUMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention discloses a pallet container (1) with improved top lifting performance comprising at least one pallet; at least one inner container configured to be mounted on said pallet; and an outer cage assembly structure securely fixed to said pallet to form a support jacket and to facilitate top lifting of said pallet container wherein said outer cage assembly comprises of tube structures including

vertical tubes, horizontal tubes and cross bars fastened to one another at their intersections with more than one fastening arrangements for constituting additional rigid connections at the point of intersection of tubes and/or cross bars securing the outer frame assembly in case of failure of any one of the fastening means.
The additional rigid connections are constituted by the flat end of the cross bars configured for surrounding the top horizontal tube and for bolting along with the vertical tube.
The additional connections are also facilitated by the 90° end of the steel inserts by riveting with the bottom horizontal tube and the vertical tube.
The outer cage is connected with the pallet by fastening means in a base plate and said steel inserts covering said bottom horizontal tube also adapted as centering spacer for said bottom horizontal tube are riveted to said vertical tubes.
The U-shaped cross bar ends, the top horizontal tubes and the vertical tubes are connected with rivets in addition to bolting and welding means. The cross bar and /or the top horizontal tube of the outer cage are made out of thicker gauge steel in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm. Even the thickness of the vertical tubes with cross bar connections and the bottom horizontal tube can be selected in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm.
The cross bars (14) are configured to be located symmetrically on the top horizontal tube (10) with their flat ends (15) at the points of joining of some of said predetermined vertical tubes (13) of the outer cage (8).
The at least four crane hooks are configured to be placed symmetrically on the top horizontal tube (10), close to the vertical tubes with crossbar connection (13) to facilitate the top lifting of the pallet container (1).

The inner container (2) out of thermoplastics materials is configured to be placed on the pallet integrated with said outer frame assembly for storage and transport of liquids.
The inner container (2) can be permanently secured in the outer cage (8) by rivets (17) going through the U-shaped flat ends (15) of the cross bar (14) the top horizontal tube (10) and the vertical tube (13).
STATEMENT OF INVENTION:
Accordingly the present invention discloses a pallet container with improved top lifting performance comprising at least one pallet; at least one inner container (2) configured to be mounted on said pallet; and an outer cage assembly structure securely fixed to said pallet to form a support jacket and to facilitate top lifting of said pallet container wherein said outer cage assembly comprises of tube structures including vertical tubes, horizontal tubes, cross bars and pallet steel inserts fastened to one another at their intersections with more than one fastening arrangements for constituting additional rigid connections at the point of intersection of tubes and/or cross bars securing the outer frame assembly in case of failure of any one of the fastening means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
According to present application Pallet Container's are used for the Transportation of Liquid Dangerous Goods. Pallet Container's consist of outer cage made out of Hollow Steel Tubes fixed on a pallet holding a Replaceable bottle with one filling and one emptying opening. Pallet Container with improved top lifting performance is provided by strengthening the structure profile of the tubes by reengineering and whole structure is also reengineered and the space between the members is designed in such a way that the load gets distributed among the members and gets transferred to the base pallet. The top and /or bottom horizontal tubes of the outer

cage are made out of thicker gauge steel in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm. Even the thickness of the vertical tubes and the cross bars can be selected in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm. Top member of the outer cage is fixed at the junction of vertical and horizontal member. Top member is covering the junction and connected from bottom by nut and bolt. This complete assembly makes a ring type structure around plastic bottle for holding the members together. The horizontal and vertical member are welded to each other and also connected by a horizontal rivet for better strength. The profile of top member is also designed to hold bending moment and should not collapse under pressure.
This invention provides safe top lifting of a pallet container even in/after high transportation stress on the outer cage. The top horizontal and or the bottom horizontal tube of the cage are connected with welds with the vertical tubes in addition to some additional connections with the vertical tubes and/or some additional reinforcements.
Top of outer cage:
The top of the outer cage is reinforced. The two cross bars and four vertical tubes of the outer cage have common positions. The flat cross bar end is going around the top horizontal tube and the fixing bolt (16) of the cross bar is going through the vertical tube. In addition a rivet is selectively paced to support the connection of the top horizontal tube to the vertical tube.
Connection of outer cage to pallet:
The outer cage is connected with the pallet by the lower horizontal tube via long bolts and a base plate. In addition, a steel insert ensures that the bottom horizontal tube of the outer cage stays centered connected to the pallet. For additional strength steel insert, vertical tube and bottom horizontal tube is also riveted (28) together.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION O INVENTION
Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only, and not for the purpose of limiting the same.
According to present application Pallet Container's are used for the Transportation of Liquid Dangerous Goods. Pallet Container's consist of outer cage made out of hollow steel tubes fixed on a pallet holding a replaceable bottle with one filling and one emptying opening. Pallet Container with improved top lifting performance is provided by strengthening the structure profile of the tubes by reengineering and whole structure is also reengineered and the space between the vertical tubes is designed in such a way that the load gets distributed among the vertical tubes and gets transferred to the base pallet. The top and /or bottom horizontal tubes of the outer cage are made out of thicker gauge steel in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm. Even the thickness of the vertical tubes and the cross bars can be selected in the range of 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm. The cross bar of the outer cage is fixed at the junction of vertical and top horizontal tube. The cross bar is covering the junction and connected from bottom by nut and bolt. This complete assembly makes a ring type structure around plastic bottle for holding the members together. The horizontal and vertical tube is welded to each other and is also connected by a horizontal rivet for additional strength. The profile of the cross bar is also designed to hold bending moment and should not deform under pressure.
The bottom of outer cage is fixed with the pallet using long bolts and holding plates at specific positions so that it completes a ring type structure on the plastic bottle body and enabling a safe top lifting. This ensures that pallet with the plastic bottle stays safe;ly connected to the outer cage during top lifting.

The top lifting is necessary for offshore/onshore applications wherein Pallet Containers are shifted from one place to another by crane. The Pallet Container's normally have a volume of 800-1250 L preferable 1000 L.
Top of Outer Cage: One cross bar and the 2 vertical tubes have a common position (Fig.6 & Fig.7) at 2 locations. The fixing bolt (16) of the cross bar (14) is going through the vertical tube and in addition (Fig.6) a rivet is placed also supporting the connection of the top horizontal tube to the vertical tube (Fig.7).
Bottom of Outer Cage: The outer cage is connected with the pallet via long bolts and holding plates to ensure that during top lifting the pallet stays connected to the outer cage.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of a top lift of a pallet container (1) for liquids which is used as a single trip or as a reusable container according the invention, with an inner container (2) made out of thermoplastics material, an outer cage (8) permanently fixed on a pallet (18) as main parts. The inner container (2) is made out of plastics, has in his upper top (2) a filling opening (3) which is closable with a screw cap (4) and on his base (6) a closable discharge valve (7). The inner container (2) is secured in the outer cage (8) by two cross bars (14).
The cross bars 14 are located symmetrically on the top horizontal tube (10) with their flat ends (15) at the same positions as some vertical tubes (13) of the outer cage (8). The four crane hooks are placed symmetrically on the top horizontal tube, close to the vertical tubes with crossbar connection (13) and allowing the lifting of the pallet container (1) by the top horizontal tube (9) without observable permanent deformation.
Figure 5 is an exploded view of a pallet container (1) with plastics pallet (18) according the invention. In a assembled position of the pallet container (1), the

inner container (2) will be placed inside of the outer cage (8), locked with the two cross bars (14).The flat ends (15) of the cross bars (14) are surrounding the top horizontal tube (10) and their fixing bolts (16) are going through the vertical tubes (13). The outer cage (8) will be permanently axial connected to the plastics pallet (18) by long bolts (21) going through the whole pallet (18) height and screwed in the base plates (22). The bottom horizontal tube (11) of the outer cage (8) will be in addition centered on the pallet (18) by the two 90 ° noses (23) at the ends of the "U" shaped steel insert (19).
Figure 6 is a sectional view of the welded connection vertical tube (13) with the top horizontal tube (10) and the cross bar (14) fixing .The flat end (15) of the top bar (14) is bended around the top horizontal tube (10) of the outer cage (8) and secured by the fixing bolt (16) going also trough the vertical tube (13).This connection provides an additional hold of the top horizontal tube (10) on the vertical tube (13) of the outer cage (8) and reduces the shear stress of the vertical tube (14) welds with the top horizontal tube (10) at top lifting of the pallet container (1) and reduces also the shear stress at the welds vertical tube (14) with top horizontal tube (10) with stacked pallet container (1). In addition figure 6 is showing that the cross bar (14) is maintaining his cross section up to his touch with the vertical tube (13).This gives the top horizontal tube (10) an additional radial support against deformation during top lifting.
Figure 7 is a sectional view of the welded connection vertical tube (13) with the top horizontal tube (10) and the cross bar fixing (as fig. 6) with a rivet (17) connecting the top horizontal tube (10) with the vertical tube (13). This rivet is also reducing the shear stress of the vertical tube (13) welds with the top horizontal tube (10) at top lifting of the pallet container (1). Additional rivets (17) at other welded connections, vertical tubes (12) and top horizontal tube (10) are also reinforcing the connections and reducing the shear stress of the welds.

With a variation of fig. 7, the rivet (17) going through the u-shaped flat ends (15) of the cross bar (14), the top horizontal tube (10) and the vertical tube (13), the inner container (2) would be permanently secured in the outer cage (8).
Figure 8 is a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube (11) of the outer cage (8) and the plastics pallet (18). For insurance that the pallet (18) stays permanently fixed to the outer cage (8) of the pallet container (1) during top lifting the bottom horizontal tube (11) of the outer cage (8) is fixed on the plastics pallet (18) by long bolts (16) covering the bottom horizontal tube (11) by tube clamps (20), going through the whole pallet (180 height and screwed in base plates (22). The bottom horizontal tube (11) of the outer cage (8) will be in addition centered on the pallet (18) by one or two 90 ° noses (23) of the u shaped steel insert (19).
Figure 9 is a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube (11) and vertical tube (8) and the flat steel insert (25).With wooden pallets (24), flat steel inserts (25) have to be used. The additional connection of bottom horizontal tube (11), vertical tube (12) and flat steel insert (25) is done by rivets (27).The rivet (27) protects the welds vertical tube (12) bottom horizontal tube (11) against shear stress. Two steel inserts (25) are placed on a wooden pallet (24).
Figure 10 is a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube (11) and vertical tube (12), as figure 9, without the flat steel insert (25).
Figure 11 is a sectional view of the connection bottom horizontal tube (11) and a wooden pallet (24). With wooden pallets (24) the steel insert (25) will be flat. In addition the steel insert (25) can be fixed with additional long bolts (21) and base plates (22) in other locations per example in the pallet (24) center feet. One steel insert (25) is placed on a wooden pallet (24). The end of the steel insert (25) is U-shaped and covering the bottom horizontal tube (11) of the cage (8), replacing the tube clamp (20).

The Part Designation is as follows:
1 - pallet container
2 - inner container
3 - filling opening of 2
4 - screw cap of 3
5 - upper top of 2
6 - base of 2
7 - discharge valve of 2
8 - outer cage of 1
9 - horizontal tube of 8
10 - top horizontal tube of 8
11 - bottom horizontal tube of 8
12 - vertical tube of 8
13 - vertical tube of 8 with cross bar connection
14 - cross bar 15- flat end of 14

16 - fixing bolt of 14
17 - rivet for connection vertical tube/top horizontal tube
18 - plastics pallet of 1
19 - u shaped steel insert of 18
20 - tube clamp
21- cage/pallet fixing bolt
22 - baseplate
23 - 90° noses at end of u shaped steel insert 19
24 - wooden pallet of 1
25 - flat steel insert of 24
26 - u shaped steel insert end 27- 90° nose at end of 25

28 - rivet for the connection vertical tube/bottom horizontal tube
29 - resistance welding

The foregoing description is a specific embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that this embodiment is described for purpose of illustration only, and that numerous alterations and modifications may be practiced by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they come within the scope of the invention as claimed or the equivalents thereof.

WE CLAIM
1. The pallet container with improved top lifting performance comprising
at least one pallet;
at least one inner container configured to be mounted on said pallet;
an outer cage assembly structure securely fixed to said pallet to form a support jacket and to facilitate top lifting of said pallet container (1) wherein said outer cage assembly comprises of tube structures including vertical tubes, horizontal tubes and cross bars (14) fastened to one another at their intersections with more than one fastening arrangements for constituting additional rigid connections at the point of intersection of tubes and/or cross bars (14) securing the outer frame assembly in case of failure of any one of the fastening means.
2. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said additional rigid connections are constituted by the flat end of the cross bars (14) configured for surrounding the top horizontal tube and for bolting along with the vertical tube.
3. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said additional connections are facilitated by the 90° end of the steel inserts by riveting with the bottom horizontal tube and the vertical tube.
4. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said outer cage is connected with the pallet by fastening means in a base plate and said steel inserts covering said bottom horizontal tube also adapted as centering spacer for said bottom horizontal tube are riveted to said vertical tubes.
5. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said U-shaped cross bar ends, the top horizontal tubes and the vertical tubes are connected with rivets in addition to bolting and welding means.

6. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cross bars (14) and /or the top horizontal tubes and/or cross bars of the outer cage are made out of thicker gauge steel.
7. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cross bars (14) are configured to be located symmetrically on the top horizontal tube (10) with their flat ends (15) at the points of joining of some of said predetermined vertical tubes (13) of the outer cage (8).
8. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least four crane hooks are configured to be placed symmetrically on the top horizontal tube (10), close to the vertical tubes with crossbar connection (13) to facilitate the top lifting of the pallet container (1).
9. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner container are of thermoplastics materials are configured to be placed on the pallet integrated with said outer frame assembly for storage and transport of liquids.
10. The pallet container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner container (2) is permanently secured in the outer cage (8) by rivets (17) going through the U-shaped flat ends (15) of the cross bar (14) the top horizontal tube (10) and the vertical tube (13).
11. The pallet container with improved top lifting performance as substantially as herein described with reference to accompanying drawings.