A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a bulk container for shipping and storing various goods, and more particularly to a fiber container which can be made to be dismantled, or collapsed, and reassembled at will when not in use, to save space.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Containers are the predominant means of shipping various goods, including materials in a liquid, or semi-liquid or powder form. Recently, it has been discovered that containers made of several laminated fiber layers are particularly useful for this purpose because they are relatively light, yet strong enough to hold various kinds of materials securely. Moreover, several such containers can be stacked vertically. In particular, fiber drums having substantially rectangular cross-sections with rounded corners have been found to be very advantageous, because this shape makes the containers very strong. A further advantage of these containers is that their tops can be easily stored therein without distortion, while the containers are not in use.
One problem with the containers presently used in the industry is that when they are empty they occupy a large amount of space, they are difficult to handle, and expensive to ship. Although metal drums and other types of containers are known which can be disassembled, so far no collapsible fiber containers have been suggested in the art which have proved to be satisfactory.