(UT) Dimensions of Shipping Container (TL9)

[Ninja Monkey]

Has anyone determined what the dimensions are for a Shipping Container (TL9) from Ultra-Tech? Can't work out the specifications for a Distortion Chip without it?

Based on capacity and weight, these are smaller than a Conex container, but still sufficiently big enough to hide up to four people in the hidden compartment.

[Varyon]

A generic rule of thumb can be found on B74, under Payload - every 20 lb is equivalent to 1 cubic foot (this corresponds to something around 1/3 the density of water). So a 5-ton capacity would correspond to 500 cubic feet.

That's almost certainly not right, however. With a spacious 6'x3'x3' allotment for each passenger, 500 cf would give you nearly enough space for 10 people! As the above would call for 216 cf for 4 passengers, I'd be inclined to say it's simply 200 cf and things are a bit more cramped than the above.

[johndallman]

Well, it weighs 11,000 lbs when full, and most containers will float in water when loaded, just about. That weight is just about 5,000kg, which means it's approximately 5 cubic metres. So it's quite a lot smaller than a standard container.

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A generic rule of thumb can be found on B74, under Payload - every 20 lb is equivalent to 1 cubic foot (this corresponds to something around 1/3 the density of water). So a 5-ton capacity would correspond to 500 cubic feet.

That's almost certainly not right, however. With a spacious 6'x3'x3' allotment for each passenger, 500 cf would give you nearly enough space for 10 people! As the above would call for 216 cf for 4 passengers, I'd be inclined to say it's simply 200 cf and things are a bit more cramped than the above.

The four people are said to fit in the hidden compartment, which is only 10% of the total container. That's 250 lbs. per person. Strictly speaking, you can cram a 250 lbs. person into less than five cubic feet of space, but they won't be happy about it. A more typical densely packed space would be 10 cubic feet per person (1.5 square feet of floor per person is recommended for elevators, which gives 10 cubic feet with a 6'8" ceiling). At 10 cubic feet per 250 lbs. the entire container would have an internal volume of 400 cubic feet. That's only around a third the size of a modern 20' container, but five tons is lot less than one third the maximum loaded weight of such a container. A heavily loaded container might have over 40 lbs. of cargo per cubic foot, which would be very cramped but just about viable for passengers.
The stealth luggage described alongside the stealth cargo container holds 10-20 lbs. per cubic foot. So the lower bound is around 10 lbs./cf and the upper about 45 lbs./cf; 25 lbs./cf seems like a reasonable 'average'.
If these containers are designed for use in space, it would make a certain degree of sense to maximise volume to area ratio, so they could be fairly close to cubes. A 7'5" box would be about right, and large enough to fit most goods.

[Ninja Monkey]

Thanks all.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Well, it weighs 11,000 lbs when full, and most containers will float in water when loaded, just about. That weight is just about 5,000kg, which means it's approximately 5 cubic metres. So it's quite a lot smaller than a standard container.

A standard '20-foot' shipping container is 19' x 8' x 8.5' (lxwxh), weighs 2.245 tons (short) empty, with a maximum gross weight of 33.6 tons. Internal volume is 1,169 cubic feet. That gives a density of 57.48 pounds/cu. ft., or about 90% of sea water - they float almost submerged, which is why containers that fall off ships are such a menace to small ships (like private yachts).

Note that 40-foot and 40-foot 'high-cube' containers, despite being much longer (and somewhat higher in the case of the high-cube) have the same gross weight - they are useful for shipping bulkier objects, but not heavier ones.

The UT shipping container, assuming a similar loading to a standard intermodal one, would have ~190 cubic feet of interior space - calling it 200 cubic feet all up would work. It sounds like the hiding space is cramped, and 10% of 190 cu. ft. is consistent with that - you can fit four people into that (barely), but they won't be moving, and won't have much spare space. I doubt they'd be up to much for a while after crawling out of that.

As for the container's dimensions, something like 8' x 5' x 5', perhaps. If you want a cube, 6' on each side is also about right.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Rupert

A standard '20-foot' shipping container is 19' x 8' x 8.5' (lxwxh), weighs 2.245 tons (short) empty, with a maximum gross weight of 33.6 tons. Internal volume is 1,169 cubic feet. That gives a density of 57.48 pounds/cu. ft., or about 90% of sea water - they float almost submerged, which is why containers that fall off ships are such a menace to small ships (like private yachts).

Last I heard, Stan Rogers fans have a floating intermodal container as the favourite for sinking the Jeanie C.

[doctorevilbrain]

I don't understand that reference. Who's he?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

I don't understand that reference. Who's he?

Jeannie C is a boat that is sunk in a song by singer Stan Rogers. The song doesn't say what she hit, just that

But no leak I found from bow to hold.
No rock it was that got her.
But what I saw made my heart stop cold,
For every seam poured water.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

I don't understand that reference. Who's he?

He was a Canadian folk singer who died in an airplane accident. I didn't catch the reference in the OP post, but it apparently refers to song lyrics about the wreck of sailboat. Floating shipping containers are a serious hazard to navigation, especially for smaller vessels. That's unlikely to be a problem for the Ultratech version, however.