AU761700B2

AU761700B2 - Improvements in and relating to packaging cartons

Info

Publication number: AU761700B2
Application number: AU34026/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Neville James Queree; John Sydney Shearer
Original assignee: Amcor Packaging New Zealand Ltd
Current assignee: Unilever New Zealand Ltd; Orora Packaging New Zealand Ltd
Priority date: 1999-05-11
Filing date: 2000-05-11
Publication date: 2003-06-05
Anticipated expiration: 2020-05-11
Also published as: AU3402600A

Description

50468 P/00/011 AUSTRALIA Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

*ooo i s f Name of Applicant: ,IWI PAKAGING TONS) I MITED and UNILEVER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED Actual Inventors: 0 JOHN SYDNEY

SHEARER

NEVILLE JAMES QUEREE Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO PACKAGING CARTONS Details of Associated Provisional Application(s): Australian Patent Application No. PQ0270 Dated 11th May 1999 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: The present invention relates to a packaging carton and particularly, but not exclusively, to a packaging carton containing a bulk amount of a product from which portions may be taken progressively with the carton being reclosed between uses.

The invention is particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with packaging cartons for soap and detergent powders and the like. As such cartons are frequently left in relatively damp environments, such as the laundry, it is desirable that the carton be reclosed between each use in order to preserve the free flow properties of the :-:*"powder. Soap and detergent powders tend to absorb moisture readily and it is 10 common, when a container is left open, for the powder to become agglomerated oo and eventually difficult to extract from the carton.

For many years, it has been known to dispense soap and detergent from a substantially closed carton with a dispensing funnel being provided towards the top end of the container.

More recently, it has become common to provide bulk amounts of powder in a carton that can have a lid portion fully opened, for this allows easier access to the contents of the carton and facilitates the use of measuring scoops to remove relatively precise amounts of powder at each use. One such container is described in U.S. Patent No. 2,951,627. One significant disadvantage of such containers is that, because of the nature of the cardboard material, which tends to hold even hinged containers open, satisfactory reclosing of the carton is difficult to achieve.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton which at least mitigates the disadvantages of known cartons.

In one aspect, the invention provides a packaging carton comprising a body section and a lid section, internal panels extending upwardly of the walls of the body section to define a sealing rim over which the lid section is received, the lid section defining at least one rebate on an inner side of a wall that cooperates with the sealing rim, and the sealing rim having formed thereon a resilient flap element that projects from an upper edge of the sealing rim and is folded over outwardly 3 from the sealing rim, the flap element being received in the rebate when the lid section is in its closing position; the resilience of the flap element acting to locate and hold the lid section in position on the sealing rim but being releasable by the application of a moving force to allow the lid section to be opened.

Preferably the lid section is hingedly connected to the body section and desirably the lid section is connected to the body section by a sprung hinge which is biased to move the lid towards its open position and the flap element, when received in the rebate, provides a sufficiently strong locating force to resist this bias when the lid is closed. Preferably the carton is a rectilinear carton with a cooperating rebate/flap element arranged on each of two opposing ends of the carton.

Preferably, the flap element is made from a material having a stiffness such that the folded element is received into the rebate with an audible "clicking" sound upon OleO* closing.

Most preferably, the flap element is formed integrally with the rim panel, a line of *t weakening defining the folding position of the flap element and the degree of weakening being such that the flap will be supported at an angle of less than 900 relative to an outer face of the rim panel.

Desirably, the lid section is constructed to have at least two upper panels of material which can be left open for packaging and closed and sealed after packaging, the lid portion being released for opening, and subsequent re-opening, by removal of a release strip to separate at least a part of the lid portion from the body portion.

Most desirably, the packaging carton is formed from a pre-cut blank which can be folded to achieve the desired shape, a suitable glue, for example a hot melt glue, being used to secure the folded blank in the desired shape. Most advantageously, the rebate on the inner side wall of the lid section is formed by the folding of an appropriately shaped element of the carton blank which is folded and located on the intemrnal face of the lid section.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, an embodiment of a packaging carton of the invention will now be described by way of example, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a pre-cut carton blank illustrating the fold lines for assembling a carton in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the carton blank of Figure 1, illustrating the carton in a partially folded form; •Figure 3 illustrates the carton blank of Figures 1 and 2 in an almost completely folded form, and schematically illustrates a rebate/flap element of the mechanism of the invention; Figure 4 is a schematic view illustrating opposed ends of a partially folded carton blank in a single elevation format; .:Figure 5 illustrates an alternative form of pre-cut carton blank; and Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of part of the pre-cut carton blank of Figure .ooo• S 15 As best seen in Figure 3, the invention provides a carton generally indicated at The carton comprises a body portion and a lid portion In Figure 3, the carton is illustrated in an almost completely folded and glued condition but with upper panel elements open. After filling with a product to be dispensed from the carton, for example a washing soap/detergent powder, the panel element will be folded onto and secured to opposed end flaps and and the opposing panel element will be folded likewise onto and secured to end flaps and with a portion overlapping and secured to the panel element to form a closed and sealed carton.

As will be appreciated, in the completed folded and sealed carton, the outer panels of the body section are integral with corresponding panels of the lid section and remain so until the carton is opened for dispensing of the product.

To open the carton for use, the lid portion is partially separated from the body portion by removal of a release strip As will be described further hereinbelow, the release strip is formed by the provision in the blank from which the container is made of parallel lines of weakening (10) terminating in a tab (11).

The lines of weakening (10) are formed by scoring the cardboard material of the carton to a depth that maintains the integrity of the material but allows ready removal upon pulling on the tab In the rectilinear carton illustrated in Figure 3, the release tab extends around three sides of the carton, i.e. end panel (12), front panel (13) and end panel A rear panel (15) includes a fold line (16) that defines a hinge joint between the lid portion and the body portion when the release strip has been removed to separate the remainder of the lid portion from .i the body portion.

•Do.

As can best be seen in Figure 2, the two end panels (14) and front panel (13) S" are in fact formed as double thickness panel elements; an internal element (12a), (13a), (14a) and an external panel element (12b), (13b) and (14b). The internal panels (12a), (13a), (14a) extend to a height at, or just below, the folded positions of the lid panel elements and that define the sealed top of the lid *portion Removal of the release strip separates the outer panels (12b), (13b), (14b) from the lid portion and the upper extents of the internal panels (12a), (13a), (14a) define a sealing rim over which the lid portion is received.

In a very significant development, the carton of the invention incorporates a locating mechanism generally indicated, in Figure 3, at The locating means (17) comprises a flap element (18) that projects from an upper edge (19) of each of the internal panels (12a), (14a). In the closed position of the lid portion the flap element (18) is folded outwardly of the carton to project downwardly and lie against an outer face of the panels (12a), (14a). To achieve this, the junction between the flap element (18) and the remainder of the intemal panel (12a), (12b) is provided with a line of weakening to facilitate folding of the flap element The degree of weakening in the strength of the material is selected so that, having been folded, the flap element (18) will tend to remain at an angle of less than 900 relative to the face of the internal panels (12a), (14a), but will have sufficient resilience to be biased away from the face of the internal panel (12a), (12b).

When the lid section is in position, the flap element (18) is received within a rebate (20) that is defined on an internal surface of the depending end panels (21), (22) of the lid section As can be seen best from the carton blanks shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4, the rebate (20) is formed by folding an appropriately cut flap of cardboard (23) onto the end flaps a cut-out section of the folded flaps defining the rebate.

The dimensions of the flap element (18) and rebate (20) are selected so that the flap element (18) is received within the rebate with a clean action, but is not so small relative to the size of the rebate that the flap would tend to wedge within the 10 edge of the rebate.

The stiffness of the material from which the rebate and flap elements are formed is selected so that the desired spring tension will be retained within the flap element S"and so that when the lid is closed over the flap element, an audible "click" is heard when the flap element has moved into its retaining position within the rebate.

Correct folding of all critical areas of the lid section and of the flap elements is essential. The degree of weakening provided must be sufficient to enable the audible "clicking" sound and to provide a repeatable and reliable closing of the hinged lid section. In one embodiment, it has been found that the material should be between 3 point and 4 point in width (3 point 1.07 mm). Scoring, i.e. partially cutting through the board thickness, is essential to provide optimum lid reclosing performance, as the flap elements must remain at an angle of less than 900 relative to the face of the internal flaps to enable them to be trapped when the lid portion is reclosed and therefore to keep the lid portion located in its closed position.. If the flap elements tend to project more upwardly, they interfere with lid reclosing and may be damaged during the reclosing operation.

One particular suitable material for the carton has been found to be board material having a stiffness rating (as measured by the industry-standard TABER Test) in the "grain" direction of between 625 and 1,500 (mN) and preferably with the board toughened with virgin craft fibre.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate an alternative pre-cut carton blank As will be appreciated, the carton blank (30) is very similar to the carton blank that is used to form the carton already described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 and common features do not need to be described again.

The only significant difference in the blank of Figures 5 and 6 is the provision of an alternative lid release tab The lid release tab (31) is glued to the end panel (21) when the carton is assembled. Pre-cut lines (33) allow the tab to move with the lid when the lid moves between the open and closed positions. The tab (31) provides the connection to secure the lid portions whilst allowing movement 10 about the hinge.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the appended drawings. It will be appreciated that minor variations can be made to the shape and construction of the carton without departing from the spirit of the invention disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A packaging carton comprising a body section and a lid section, internal panels extending upwardly of the walls of the body section to define a sealing rim over which the lid section is received, the lid section defining at least one rebate on an inner side of a wall that cooperates with the sealing rim, and the sealing rim having formed thereon a resilient flap element that projects from an upper edge of the sealing rim and is folded over outwardly from the sealing rim, the flap element being received in the rebate when the lid section is in its closing position; the resilience of the flap element acting to locate and hold the lid section in position on 10 the sealing rim but being releasable by the application of a moving force to allow the lid section to be opened.

52. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the lid section is hingedly connected to the body section. 3. A carton according to claim 2, wherein the lid section is connected to the 15 body section by a sprung hinge which is biased to move the lid towards its open position and the flap element, when received in the rebate, provides a sufficiently stronglocating force to resist this bias when the lid is closed. 4. A carton according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the carton is a rectilinear carton with a cooperating rebate/flap element arranged on each of two opposing ends of the carton. A carton according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the flap element is made from a material having a stiffness such that the folded element is received into the rebate with an audible "clicking" sound upon closing. 6. A carton according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flap element is formed integrally with the rim panel, a line of weakening defining the folding position of the flap element and the degree of weakening being such that the flap will be supported at an angle of less than 900 relative to an outer face of the rim panel. 7. A carton according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lid section is constructed to have at least two upper panels of material which can be left open for packaging and closed and sealed after packaging, the lid portion being released for opening, and subsequent re-opening, by removal of a release strip to separate at least a part of the lid portion from the body portion. 8. A carton according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging carton is formed from a pre-cut blank which can be folded to achieve the desired shape, a suitable glue, for example a hot melt glue, being used to secure the folded blank in the desired shape. 10 9. A carton according to claim 8, wherein the rebate on the inner side wall of the lid section is formed by the folding of an appropriately shaped element of the carton blank which is folded and located on the internal face of the lid section. A carton blank suitable for the formation of a carton according to any one of claims 1 to 9. 15 11. A packaging carton substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 12. A carton blank substantially as herein described with reference to and as Sshown in Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings. l 13. A carton blank substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 1 lth day of May 2000 KIWI rPAGKAGIN (GARfNS) LIMITED and UNILEVER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED by their Patent Attorneys SC COLLISON CO