Shipping containers are used extensively in transporting a broad range of goods ranging from manufactured articles to fresh produce, and typically serve to protect the articles from shipping damage as well as facilitate their handling.
To perform its primary role of protecting the goods contained within it, it is important that the container be strong enough to withstand any loads which may be encountered in shipping. In some cases, the nature of the goods being transported and/or their mode of transportation may permit the use of relatively light containers fabricated of low-cost materials, which may be discarded or recycled after delivery. However, where heavier, more robust shipping containers are required, simply discarding the container after only one use may not be economically viable. In these cases, returning the containers to their point of origin for re-use is frequently a more attractive option.
However, containers are bulky items and most transportation modes employed in shipping goods are volume-constrained rather than mass-constrained. Thus, the number of empty containers which can be accommodated in a vehicle such as a truck, railcar or airplane is no greater than the number of loaded containers which can be accommodated in a like vehicle despite the significantly lower weight of the empty containers. This may impose a significant transportation cost burden on re-use of shipping containers.
One approach to addressing this issue has been to design containers whose geometry is capable of reversible modification so that it may be compacted to occupy a significantly smaller volume when empty while retaining the ability to be reconfigured to its original, full volume when required.
One design for reconfigurable shipping containers introduces fold lines into the container along which the container material may be folded and unfolded to achieve reconfiguration. This approach however limits the range of materials from which the container may be constructed to those which are capable of reversibly folding and unfolding without sustaining or accumulating damage to the material, which would limit its life. In addition, the fold locations must be weaker than the unfolded container locations to force folding to occur in only those desired fold locations.