AU2010235952A1 - Container - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: CONTAINER Applicant: Nufarm Australia Limited The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 1 6067 DG 2 CONTAINER Field of the Invention 5 The present invention generally relates to a cardboard container. The invention is particularly applicable for bag-in-box (BIB) containers for agricultural chemicals and it will be convenient to hereinafter disclose the invention in relation to that exemplary application. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention is not limited to that application and may be used with other liquids 10 such as edible oils, syrups, beverage mixes or the like. Background of the Invention The following discussion of the background to the invention is intended to 15 facilitate an understanding of the invention. However, it should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application. 20 Bag-in-box containers traditionally include a protective outer box formed from a semi-rigid cardboard which houses a flexible fluid impervious bag. The flexible bag can be filled with a liquid and dispensed through a dispensing spout which protrudes through an opening in the outer box. The outer box is typically fabricated from a die cut flat sheet which is folded from the flat sheet into a 25 three dimensional hollow shell for housing the bag. Generally, the outer box completely surrounds the bag and protects the bag from impact or puncture damage. This type of container has found extensive use in the food and beverage industry for dispensing wine, syrups, edible oils and other consumable liquids. 30 A bag-in-box container provides several advantages over rigid plastic containers due to the compact configurations the container can be configured into when initially shipped and stored and then when it is disposed. C:\onwoNufam Container - complete doc 3 Additionally, voids between containers can be minimised, as compared with semi-rigid plastic containers. However, bag-in-box containers have not found wide spread use in the 5 agricultural chemical industry due to the dangerous goods requirements containers must meet to be suitable for housing chemicals. To meet dangerous good requirements in Australia, a container must satisfy the specified requirements of a drop test where a container survive with minimal damage a drop from a specified height (of 0.8m to 1.8m depending on the class of goods 10 to be held in the container), a leakproofness test, an internal pressure (hydraulic) test and a stacking test which assesses the container's resistance to deformation under load and stacking. The applicant has found that a number of existing bag-in-box containers do not meet these requirements, in particular the mechanical and structural properties required to pass the drop test. 15 It is therefore desirable to provide an alternative bag-in-box type container. Summary of the Invention 20 According to the present invention, there is provided a cardboard container for housing a flexible bag. The container includes an outer housing having a top and a base and at least one sidewall extending between the top and the base. A dispensing opening is provided in the outer housing configured to receive a dispensing section of a flexible bag. The container also includes an inner sleeve 25 configured to fit within the outer housing and extend between the base and the top of the outer housing. It is to be understood that the term cardboard covers any fibre based product which can used to form a container including but not limited to paperboard, 30 pasteboard, fibreboard, corrugated fibreboard, foldable corflute packaging or the like. The container of the present invention is a bag-in-box type container in which an inner sleeve is provided within the outer housing to enhance the mechanical C \pof\ rMNufann Contaner - completOdoc 4 and/or structural properties of the container. The inner sleeve extends between the top and base of the outer housing. In various forms, this can increase structural performance of the container including stiffness and rigidity of the sidewalls. 5 In one form, the inner sleeve is configured to extend substantially from the base to the top of the outer housing. This adds additional strength to the sidewalls between the top and base of the outer housing. This can provide particularly advantageous structural reinforcement (including rigidity and strength) to the 10 outer housing required to satisfy stacking and drop tests requirements for dangerous goods approval. The inner sleeve is preferably configured to extend adjacent to and substantially about at least one sidewall. The inner sleeve can therefore be bounded by and 15 extend within an inner surface of the sidewalls. In some cases, the inner sleeve is concentrically disposed within the sidewall(s) of the outer housing. For irregular shapes, the concentric center of the outer housing and inner sleeve correspond with the geometric centre of those shapes. 20 The outer housing can include any number of sidewalls between the top and base. In some embodiments, the outer housing can include one endless wall, providing the container with for example a cylindrical form. The top and the base of the outer housing could have a circular, oval or other rounded shape. In other embodiments, the outer housing includes four sidewalls. The top and 25 base of the outer housing can take the shape of a four sided polygon, preferably a regular four sided polygon such as a rectangle or square. However, it should be appreciated that the outer housing could include three sides, five sides, six sides or more. The top and base of the outer housing would then comprise a polygon having a corresponding number of sides. 30 One or more handles can be incorporated in the outer housing to allow a user to manually manipulate the container. Handles can be included to allow a user to lift, and carry the container, pour the container, or other actions a user requires to control and handle the container in use. The outer housing can include at C:\pofodNufa Contain - c plete.do 5 least one handle in the sidewall at a location that allows the user to pour liquid from the dispensing section of the flexible bag. Additionally, the outer housing can include at least one handle in at least one of the top or the base that allows a user to carry the container. At least one of the handles preferably comprises 5 a hand engagement opening which enables a user to insert at least their fingers into the opening to manually manipulate the container. A hand engagement opening can be one or more cut-out openings or apertures provided in the cardboard material of the outer housing. Where chemicals are used, a user generally has gloves over their hands. The hand engagement openings are 10 therefore preferably sized to fit a gloved hand. To meet dangerous goods requirements, the flexible bag is preferably not exposed or accessible through the outer housing. Any hand engagement openings may provide access to the flexible bag housed within the outer 15 housing. Accordingly, the inner sleeve can be configured to extend across the hand engagement openings to substantially prevent access to the flexible bag through the hand engagement openings. Additionally, where cut-out openings are used, one or more sections of the openings may not be fully cut out, leaving a flap of material in the opening that prevents casual access to the interior of 20 the outer housing. The outer housing preferably comprises a folded sheet of material. The inner sleeve can also be formed from a folded sheet of material. The material of construction of each of the outer housing and inner sleeve is a semi-rigid 25 cardboard material such as (but not limited to) a corrugated cardboard. The corrugated cardboard may include a plurality of laminated cardboard sheet layers. The cardboard may be treated with a variety of surface treatments, such as moisture resistance. The outer housing can be formed from a moisture resistant material such as a sealed or coated board to survive a wet fill 30 environment without material degradation. Additionally or alternatively, shrink wrap could be applied about the container to provide some moisture resistance. The shrink wrap would preferably comprise a polymer based material. C .vonworMufamI Contaner -cmplet.doc 6 The folded sheet of material can include sections which overlap when the outer housing is assembled to provide at least two overlapping layers of material to increase the structural properties of the container. The top and base can include at least three overlapping layers of material to increase the structural 5 properties of the top and base of the outer housing. The container of the present invention can include any suitable type of flexible bag. However, it is preferred that the dispensing section of the flexible bag includes a tray and a dispensing spout which extends through the tray. The 10 dispensing opening is preferably sized to seat the tray on at least two edges thereof to retain the tray in position on the outer housing of the container. The tray can include a recess which locates the spout below or substantially level with a top surface of the top of the outer housing. The recess in the tray preserves a uniform rectangular-box carton outer form, allowing compact 15 packing and stacking. The tray is conveniently at an upper side edge of the outer housing, to facilitate contents access-in particular contents discharge, by pouring from a tilted or upturned container. The tray can be constructed from a plastic material to allow the tray to function as a spill ledge or splash back guard. 20 The dispensing opening can be located at or adjacent to an edge between the top and the sidewall of the outer housing. This location enables a user to pour liquid contained in a flexible bag over that edge of the outer housing. Any handles or hand engagement openings used for manually manipulating the 25 container during pouring are preferably located on a sidewall location opposite to that edge. The container can be sized to hold any size of flexible bag. The flexible bag sizes can range from 5L to 11 OL, with common sizes used for liquids include 5L, 30 1 OL, 15L, 20L, 25L, 50L, 1 0OL, and 11 OL . . Most preferably, , the container is sized to hold a 15L flexible bag. This size provides the advantages of providing a container that weighs in the region of 18 to 22kg when full, which is a manageable weight for a user to lift over short distances, and to lift and pour when dispensing liquid from the container. C D- Comaine - cpem.doc 7 The container can be used to house any number of flowable materials, including oils, syrups, liquids or the like. In one exemplary embodiment, the container is used to house agricultural chemicals. 5 Brief Description of the Drawings The present invention will now be described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate particular preferred embodiments of 10 the present invention, wherein: Figure 1 is a photographic side view of a container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 15 Figure 2 is a photographic top view of the container shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a plan view of a pre-cut sheet of material to be folded to form an outer housing for the container shown in Figure 1. 20 Figure 4 is a plan view of a pre-cut sheet of material to be folded to form an inner sleeve for the container shown in Figure 1. Detailed Description 25 Figures 1 to 4 show various views of a cardboard container 10 according to the one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The container 10 is a bag in-box (BIB) type containers housing a liquid fillable flexible bag 12 (shown in Figure 2) which in this case is designed to contain agricultural chemicals. The container 10 is formed from two separately formed sections. The first outer 30 section (shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3) is an outer housing 14 which forms the external body for the container 10. The outer housing 14 has a square shaped top 16 and a square shaped base 18 and four rectangular shaped sidewalls 20 which extend between the top 16 and the base 18. The outer housing 14 also includes a rectangular dispensing opening 22, which in Figures 1 and 2 has a C:\fOrd\Nufann Containfe - omplete.doc 8 dispensing section 24 of the flexible bag 12 seated therein. The dispensing opening 22 is located at a front edge of the outer housing 14 between the top 16 and the front sidewall 20A of the outer housing 14. 5 The container 10 also includes an inner sleeve 28 (shown in Figures 2 and 4) which is configured to fit within the outer housing and extend substantially from the base 18 to the top 16 of the outer housing 14. The inner sleeve 28 is provided within the outer housing 14 to enhance the mechanical properties of the container 10 adding additional strength to the sidewalls 20 between the top 10 16 and base 18 of the outer housing 14. This can be particularly advantageous in stack and drop tests for dangerous goods approval, as the added rigidity and strength can aid the container 10 satisfying the requirements of those tests. The illustrated container 10 includes JERRIBOXTM type fitting 30 as its 15 dispensing section 23 and flexible bag 12. The JERRIBOXTM fitting 30 is available from Scholle Packaging, a company based in the United States of America. The JERRIBOXTM fitting 30 is a cartridge that includes a plastic drip tray 32, a threaded spout and closure 34 which extends through the tray 32 and a fluidly connected flexible bag 12. The tray 32 is recessed to locate the spout 20 and closure 34 below the level of the top surface of the top 16 of the outer housing 14. This preserves a uniform rectangular-box carton outer form, allowing for compact packing and stacking. The tray 32 and spout 34 is located at an upper side edge of the outer housing 14, to facilitate contents discharge by pouring from a tilted or upturned container 10. The flexible bag 12 of the 25 illustrated container 10 is sized to carry 15L of agricultural chemicals. However, it should be appreciated that the flexible bag 12 could be of any size, with the outer housing 14 and inner sleeve 28 of the container 10 being resized accordingly to accommodate a smaller or larger sized flexible bag 12. 30 The JERRIBOXTM fitting 30 is shipped flat to save space and thereby provide savings in both shipping and warehousing costs. The container 10 and the cartridge 12 can then be assembled by assembling the container 10, placing the cartridge containing the flexible bag 12 and spout 34 into the dispensing opening 22, applying a short pulse of air through the spout 34 into the flexible CApo\worMNufam Container - cmplete.doc 9 bag 12 breaks the seal and releases bag within container 10, inflating the flexible bag 12 with a low-pressure gas to line the inside of the container 10, and then filling the flexible bag 12 with product. 5 The outer housing 14 includes three handle positions in the form of cut-out hand openings 36, 38 and 40 which allow a user to manually manipulate the container 10. Top hand opening 36 and base hand openings 40 are provided in the respective top 16 and base 18 of the outer housing 14 to allow a user to lift, and carry the container 10. Two parallel spaced apart side hand openings 38 10 are provided in the rear sidewall 20B to enable a user to pour liquid from the dispensing opening of the container 10. As best shown in Figure 2, the inner sleeve 28 is configured to extend across the side hand openings 38 to prevent access to the flexible bag 12 through these openings 38. Similarly, as best shown in Figure 3, an incomplete cut is made to one part of the cardboard on a 15 section of a flap forming the top 16 and base 18 of the outer housing 14 to leave a flap of material 37 and 41 respectively (refer to Figure 3) in each of the hand opening 36 and 40. As shown in Figure 3, the top hand hole 16 is perforated, allowing the hole 16 to open up when a user inserts their fingers through the hole 16. However, the base hand hole 18 is not configured to be fully cut open. 20 As shown in Figure 3, the layers of cardboard creating this base hole 18, has only one cut out hole which gives a guide for the hand to hold the bottom of the container 10, the users finger are not able to fully extend through the base to touch the flexible bag 12. 25 These flaps 37, 41 prevent casual access to the flexible bag 12 through the hand openings 36 and 40 in the top 16 and base 18 of the outer housing 14. Each of the hand openings 36, 38 and 40 are sized to fit a gloved hand, and enable a user to insert at least their gloved fingers into the openings 36, 38, 40 30 to manually manipulate the container 10. This is important where chemicals are used, as a user generally wears gloves on their hands for safety purposes. The illustrated hand engagement openings have a minimum width of 35mm and a maximum width of 60mm and are between 100mm to 120mm long. The cardboard of the outer housing 14 is also specified to allow each handle to C:\I.vrdNfarm Container oorripete doc 10 support the container (at a maximum weight of 21kg) being carried over a distance of at least 50 metres without tearing, buckling or significantly sagging. Figures 3 and 4 show the flat pre-cut cardboard sheet forms of the outer 5 housing 14 and the inner sleeve 28. Each sheet has been pre-cut as shown by the solid lines and will be folded along the dotted lines, glued in the overlapping sections so as to form the three dimensional forms of the outer housing 14 and the inner sleeve 28 used in the container 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2. Each of outer housing 14 and inner sleeve 28 comprise a folded sheet of material such 10 as a semi-rigid cardboard material such as a corrugated cardboard. The cardboard may be treated with a variety of surface treatments, such as moisture resistance. This folded configuration allows the container 10 to be stored in a flat pack configuration prior to assembly. 15 The fold pattern of the inner sleeve 28 shown in Figure 4 is a simple four way fold to form a rectangular tube which fits inside the assembled body of the outer housing 14. In comparison, the outer housing 14 has an intricately designed folding pattern which results in overlapping layers of material which increase the structural properties of the container 10. As shown in Figure 3, each of the top 20 16 and base 18 of the outer housing 14 include three overlapping layers of material formed from flaps 16A to 16D and 18A to 18D respectively that extend from each of the sidewalls 20 of the outer layer 12. Each of these flaps 16A to 16D and 18A to 18D also include the appropriate openings for each of the respective hand openings 36 and 40 in the top 16 and base 18 and the 25 dispensing opening 22 in the top 16. Various sections of the overlapping layers are glued together to hold the outer housing 14 and the inner sleeve 28 in their three dimensional forms. The rigid two section structure provided by the outer housing 14 and inner 30 sleeve 28 enable the container 10 to be formed from a relatively standard cardboard fibre sheet and still meet dangerous good requirements in Australia. The illustrated container 10 meets the dangerous goods certification standards for packaging goods PG 111. Here, the container 10 satisfied the specified requirements of a drop test where the container 10 survived a drop of 0.8m with C ofordufam Container - omplete.doc 11 minimal damage, a leakproofness test, an internal pressure (hydraulic) test and a stacking test. The use of the container 10 as a bag-in-box container system provides 5 significant cost savings compared to other rigid containers including: " Use of low-cost materials offer savings over rigid plastic or tin packaging; * Flat packaging eliminates the need for storage areas required for the empty containers prior to filling and during disposal of the containers. There is no "empty space" being stored. The amount of space required to store empty 10 traditional rigid packaging is nearly twice that of storing these types of flat packed containers; " The cardboard outer housing 14 and inner sleeve 28 can be recycled, depending on the recycling laws in the country and jurisdiction that the container 10 is used. This reduces the environment impact (carbon 15 footprint) of this type of container 10 compared with traditional rigid packaging; and * Use of a flexible bag 12 and in particular the JERRIBOXTM fitting provides better pouring characteristics. Fluid dispensed from a flexible bag does not "glug". The illustrated flexible bag and spout system ensures that the fluid 20 product flows evenly and smoothly out from the spout during dispensing. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. It is understood that the invention includes all such variations and 25 modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Where the terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprised" or "comprising" are used in this specification (including the claims) they are to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components, 30 but not precluding the presence of one or more other feature, integer, step, component or group thereof. CAPOI~mrVufarn, Contuer - compee doc

Claims (26)

1. A cardboard container for housing a flexible bag, the container including: an outer housing including a top and a base and at least one sidewall 5 extending between the top and the base, the outer housing including a dispensing opening configured to receive a dispensing section of a flexible bag; and an inner sleeve configured to fit within the outer housing and extend between the base and the top of the outer housing. 10

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the inner sleeve is configured to extend substantially from the base to the top of the outer housing.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inner sleeve is 15 configured to extend adjacent to and substantially about the at least one sidewall.

4. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the sidewalls include an inner surface and the inner sleeve is bounded by and extends within 20 the inner surface of the sidewalls.

5. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner sleeve is configured to provide supplemental strength to the sidewall(s) sufficient to satisfy drop test requirements for dangerous goods testing. 25

6. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer housing has four sidewalls.

7. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer housing 30 includes at least one handle which allows a user to manually manipulate the container. CAponfwornNufarm Contaner - olete.doc 13

8. A container according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the handles comprises a hand engagement opening which enables a user to insert at least their fingers into the opening to manually manipulate the container. 5

9. A container according to claim 8, wherein the hand engagement openings are sized to fit a gloved hand.

10. A container according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the outer housing includes at least one handle in the sidewall at a location that allows the 10 user to pour liquid from the dispensing section of the flexible bag.

11. A container according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the outer housing includes at least one handle in at least one of the top or the base that allows a user to carry the container. 15

12. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner sleeve is configured to extend across the hand engagement openings to substantially prevent access to the flexible bag through the hand engagement openings. 20

13. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer housing is formed from a folded sheet of material.

14. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner sleeve is formed from a folded sheet of material. 25

15. A container according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the folded sheet of material of the outer housing of claim 13 or the inner sleeve of claim 14 includes sections which overlap when the outer housing is assembled to provided at least two overlapping layers of material. 30

16. A container according to claim 15, wherein the top and base of the outer housing include at least three overlapping layers of material. C:\pofwrd\Nufam Container - omplete.doc 14

17. A container according to any preceding claim, including a flexible bag and wherein the dispensing section of the flexible bag includes a tray and a dispensing spout which extends through the tray. 5

18. A container according to claim 17, wherein the tray includes a recess which locates the spout below or substantially level with a top surface of the top of the outer housing.

19. A container according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the tray is formed of a 10 plastic material to provide a splash or spill guard for the outer housing.

20. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the dispensing opening is located at or adjacent to an edge between the top and the sidewall of the outer housing. 15

21. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the container is sized to hold between 5L to 11 OL flexible bag, preferably a 15L flexible bag.

22. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the container is 20 for housing agricultural chemicals.

23. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer housing is formed from a moisture resistant material. 25

24. A container according to any preceding claim, including a shrink wrap about the container.

25. A container according to claim 24, wherein the shrink wrap is a polymer based material. 30

26. A cardboard container for housing a flexible bag substantially as herein described in accordance with the accompanying drawings. C:\pOfvwvoNufarm Container - compete doc