Seec, Inc.

Daniel J Halvorson

Stewart E Erickson

A collapsible container for hauling certain bulk materials in freight vehicles. The container includes a generally flexible barrier that defines a collapsible cavity in which bulk materials may be controlled during transportation. The flexible barrier includes at least one port for passing material into and out of the cavity, as well as a cover for closing the port. To assist in the loading and unloading, the container includes a lifting member for engagement with a crane, a strap attached to the lifting member and the barrier, and a ring attached to the lower portion of the barrier. The strap provides support to the barrier as it is lifted and suspended during loading and unloading from a freight vehicle. The ring is provided to hold the container in place as it is inverted to discharge the materials from the cavity.

Collapsible container for hauling bulk materials

The present invention provides a nestable intermodal container for hauling materials. In one embodiment, this container includes a bottom wall; a plurality of sidewalls sloped generally outwardly from the bottom wall, the sidewalls and bottom wall defining an interior of the container, and the sidewalls having an upper perimeter defining an opening that is larger that the bottom wall; lifting members attached to at least two opposing sidewalls, each of the lifting members being adapted to engage a crane and a vertical wall of a rail car. The bottom wall, sidewalls and lifting members are desirably configured so that the container may be substantially received in another substantially similar container. In a method of the invention, a number of such containers can be used. These containers are filled at a collection site, transported to a processing site located remotely from the collection site for at least a distance on the back haul leg of a rail route and emptied at the processing site. The empty containers are nested together at the processing site so that several containers may be carried on a single rail car, and the nested containers are hauled on a minority of rail cars of a train and non-waste material is hauled on a majority of rail cars of the train back to the collection site.

Growing community of inventors

Eagan, MN, United States of America

Daniel J Halvorson