Fifty three foot universal stackable container

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention is directed to a shipping container forming a rectangular box shape, comprising a pair of side walls, a front wall and a rear wall coupled to the pair of side walls, a top wall coupled to the side walls and the rear walls, a bottom wall coupled to the side walls and the rear walls. The side walls, the front wall, the rear wall and the top wall form top corners. The sides walls, the front wall, the rear wall and the bottom wall form bottom corners. The shipping container further comprises a set of top corner fitting elements disposed at the top corners of the shipping container, each top corner fitting element having an outer aperture, and a set of bottom corner fitting elements disposed at the bottom corners of the shipping container, each bottom corner fitting element having an outer aperture.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A stack of shipping containers comprising:
 a first shipping container comprising a first set of top corner fitting elements disposed at the top corners of the first shipping container, each top corner fitting element having an outer aperture;   a first set of bottom corner fitting elements disposed at bottom corners of the first shipping container, each bottom corner fitting element having an outer aperture;   a second shipping container comprising a second set of top corner fitting elements disposed at the top corners of the second shipping container, each top corner fitting element having an outer aperture; and   a second set of bottom corner fitting elements disposed at bottom corners of the second shipping container, each bottom corner fitting element having an outer aperture.   
     
     
         2 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 1  wherein the second shipping container is configured to be stacked directly on top of the first shipping container by utilizing the outer aperture of each of the top corner fitting elements of the first container and the outer aperture of each of the bottom corner fitting elements of the second container. 
     
     
         3 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 2  wherein the first shipping container is configured to be secured to the second shipping container using an attachment device. 
     
     
         4 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 3  wherein the attachment device is a semi-automatic twist lock. 
     
     
         5 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 1  wherein the first shipping container further comprises a first bottom wall and the second shipping container further comprises a second bottom wall, and wherein the first bottom wall and the second bottom wall each comprise a plurality of 75 mm height I-beams. 
     
     
         6 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 1  further comprising a vertical support frame disposed between each top corner fitting element and each bottom corner fitting element of the first container, and a vertical support frame disposed between each top corner fitting element and each bottom corner fitting element of the second container. 
     
     
         7 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 1  wherein the first shipping container and the second shipping container are 53 foot containers. 
     
     
         8 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 1  wherein the stack of shipping containers can be stacked up to seven containers high. 
     
     
         9 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 8  wherein when the shipping containers are stacked up to seven high, they can sustain a racking force of 15,240 kg. 
     
     
         10 . The stack of shipping containers of  claim 8  wherein the first shipping container and the second shipping container are configured to be shipped by vessel, truck, and rail.