AU780218B2 - Improved cardboard box for perishable products - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION *FOR A STANDARD PATENT o

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: ASSIDOMAN IBEROAMERICANA, S.A.

Actual Inventor: Emilio Mur Gimeno Address for Service: CALLINAN LAWRIE, 711 High Street, Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Invention Title: IMPROVED CARDBOARD BOX FOR PERISHABLE PRODUCTS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- 24/1 0/00,tdl 1669.cs,l

DESCRIPTION

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention refers to a cardboard box, of the type used for perishable products, a box which has been conceived and structured in order to attain a maximum mechanical resistance with a minimum use of material.

It is likewise the object of this invention to :'"attain a box which offers, aside from the properties referred to in the previous paragraph, optimum stability properties when being stacked with other identical ones, and that also ensures an optimum ventil.ation for the products contained inside, when in such a stacked situation.

It is also the object of the invention to attain that the box offers a noticeable resistance without deforming when stacked with other similar ones, loaded with products.' BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 20 The normal evolution in the design of cardboard boxes with the above-mentioned application has lead to the generalized use of monopiece boxes, -in which by means of stamped lines a bottom is defined from which, by means of folding lines, two end panels and two side panels emerge which must have mutual means of fastening in order to obtain the assembly of the box.

One of the usual solutions consists in prolonging the ends of the side panels with fins which fold around the end panels, duplicating the height of these and adding flanges to their free edge which after folding the end panel on itself, inserting the prolongations of the side panels, couple into openings located at the bottom of the box, thus attaining its assembly without adhesives, staples or any other element foreign to the laminated body of cardboard itself.

With this solution a box with reinforced end panels is obtained which, however presents two fundamental problems, a complete absence of reinforcement in the area of the side panels and an excessive use of material.

A saving of material is attained making the end panels to be single, with these having the added prolongations at the ends and folding them over the side panels, fastening these latter pieces by means of S"staples, glue, or something similar, but this solution 10 causes an absence of reinforcement in the end panels, which are precisely the elements of the box that are going to support greater stresses.

On the other hand, solutions are also known which provide a higher rigidity and a consequent resistance in the stacking between full boxes, by forming end panels, and sometimes side panels, of double and even triple walls, as well as by adding to the box triangular prismatic reinforcements in the corners. However, these type of boxes which are very resistant for stacking 20 present the inconvenience of their structural complexity, since the sheet from which the box will be obtained must be submitted to a special process to obtain all of the extensions, fins and folding lines which make it possible to carry out the assembly of the box and to make it resistant. The structural complexity of these type of boxes not only has the inconvenience of the high expense of the material and of the highly expensive machines related to them, but they also have other problems among which could be mentioned, maybe as the most important, the difficulty or assembly of the box, as well as the need of staples or other means to obtain an effective assurance of assembly.

SPECIFICATION OF THE INVENTION The cardboard box being acclaimed is of the type of those considered of high resistance, although with simpler structural characteristics than the conventional ones, allowing an assembly without difficulties, without sophisticated machinery and without the need of staples for assurance of the assembly.

More specifically, the box of the invention is of the type that are constituted from a laminated, monopiece, stampable body, preferably of cardboard, wherein is established a central and rectangular area, determinant of the bottom, as well as four sectors that 10 derive, after corresponding folding lines, from the four sides of the mentioned bottom, to constitute the two end panels and two side panels, all of this as is conventional.

Based on these characteristics, the box of the invention presents the particularity that either the end panels or the side panels are double walls, so that in each case both the internal wall as well as the external wall prolong at the ends into respective extensions which fold over to remain attached to the external surface of 20 the side panels or in its case the end panels, while the internal wall also prolongs into respective extensions with a vertical folding line in each one of them, determining two contiguous sectors, one which remains according to a diagonal plane in correspondence with the internal dihedral of each corner, and the other sector remains attached to the internal face of the side panels or in its case the end panels, fastening the extensions in every case by means of glue.

The internal wall, as well as its corresponding end extensions, whether in the event of corresponding to the end panels or in the event of corresponding to the side panels, may be of the same height as the external wall or of less height, in which second case said internal wall remains far from the bottom, that is, that it does not reach to the bottom of the box.

On the other hand, the side panels, in the event that it is the end panels which have the double wall, may have less height than said end panels, with the object of determining airing windows when the boxes are stacked together. This characteristic is equally applicable to the end panels when the side panels are of double wall.

In another possible embodiment, the side panels may reach" the same height as the end panels, having, either the side panels when the end panels are of double wall, 1 0 or the end panels when the side panels are of double .wall, on the top a trapezoidal cut-out determinant of the airing windows in the stacking of boxes together.

In another possible embodiment, the end panels and/or side panels have some upper flanges added which 15 are complementary to cut-outs provided to this effect in the bottom, to obtain a dovetailing effect in the stacking, avoiding transverse movements between the stacked boxes, so that said flanges or cut-outs may be located at intermediate areas or at the ends, in which second case the configuration would be angular, affecting both the end panels as well as the side panels, thus obtaining four stabilizing points between the stacked boxes.

In another embodiment, in which the end panels are of double wall, aside from the upper flanges corresponding to the end panels, there are other sides which derive from the upper and end edge of the extension into which the end panels prolong and that fold over the external surface of the side panels.

Finally, in a last possible embodiment, the side panels are of double wall and the end panels reach a smaller height, with the internal wall of the side panels being able to be of less or equal height as the external wall. In any case, in this last embodiment the extensions derived from the side panels and which are upper corner cut with a bevel forming an oblique section which extends from the upper edge of those end panels of less height to the upper edge of the extensions themselves. In this embodiment the side panels present in each case a pair of upper flanges, complementary of the respective upper cut-outs, complementing with other cut-outs in the corners to attain the correct stabilization and transversal immobilization of the boxes when stacked together.

Although the extensions into which both the internal wall as well as the external wall prolong externally are provided to remain placed on the interior of the side panels, or in its case the end panels, thus determining a greater capacity of the box, by gaining space as a 15 consequence of the side panels, or in its case the end oeoo panels, remain more separated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To complement the description being made and with the object of assisting to have a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of a practical embodiment of it, S""enclosed as an integral part of said description are a series of drawings in which, with an illustrative and non-limiting nature, the following has been represented: Figure Shows a perspective view of a cardboard box for perishable products embodied according to the object of the present invention, where the double wall is determined in the end panels and these are of greater height than the side panels.

Figure Shows, according to a similar perspective to that of the previous figure, a box where the side panels reach the same height as the end panels.

Figure Shows another perspective view of a possible embodiment of the box represented in figure 1, in which the internal wall of the end panels does not reach to the bottom.

Figure Shows another possible embodiment of the box represented in figure 2, where the internal wall of the end panels does not reach to the bottom.

Figure Shows a perspective view of a box like that of figure 1 but with flanges, which in this latter one are provided on the upper edge and centered on all of the e'nd panels, embodied in this figure 5 according to an angular configuration corresponding with the corners.

10 Figure Shows a perspective of a possible embodiment of the box represented in figure 2 but with the variations incorporated in the one shown in figure regarding figure i.

Figure Shows a possible embodiment of the box 15 represented in figure 5 in which the end panels do not reach to the bottom.

Figure Shows a possible embodiment of the box represented in figure 6 in which the internal wall of the end panels does not reach to the bottom Figure Shows a possible embodiment of the box in which the double wall is determined in the side panels, S"with these having upper flanges complementary to cut-outs in the lower part for stabilization and immobilization in the stacking with other boxes.

Figure 10.- Shows a possible embodiment of the box represented in the previous figure in which the stabilization and immobilization flanges are materialized corresponding with the corners.

Figure 11.- Shows a possible embodiment of figure 9 in which the internal wall of the side panels does not reach to the bottom.

Figure 12.- Shows a possible embodiment of the box represented in figure 10 wherein the internal wall of the side panels does not reach to the bottom.

Figure 13.- Shows another possible embodiment of the 8 box with double wall end panels, with end extensions of these which fold over the external face of the sides, wherein the internal wall of said end panels reaches the same height as their external wall.

Figure 14.- Shows a possible embodiment of the box represented in the previous figure, wherein the internal wall of the end panels does not reach to the bottom.

-Figures 15 and 16.- Each show perspectives corresponding to two boxes in which the double wall is materialized in the side panels, one of them reaching to the bottom and the other one not reaching to the bottom, and where the end panels are of less height with the end extensions of the side panels which fold over the external face of the end panels with their upper and internal corner forming an obliaue or beveled edge.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In view of the figures referred to, the box of the invention is constituted by a laminated and monopiece "body, preferably of cardboard, in which a central sector is defined, of rectangular configuration, constitutive of the bottom of the box, which prolongs by means of four folding lines into the end panels (3) and the side panels determining its side walls.

The end panels or the side panels are of double walls, so that in the first case the external wall of the end panels, which corresponds with the reference itself prolong into end extensions which fold down and fit onto the external wall of the side panels fastening to it by means of gluing. In the case that the side panels are the ones with double walls, the external wall of these presents respective extensions which fold down and they also attach by means of gluing onto the external surface of the end panels (3) The internal wall of the end panels, when they are of double wall, present some extensions with a double line of vertical fold, determining two sectors and the first of them to remain placed in diagonal respecting the dihedral corresponding to each corner of the box, while the second sector of those extensions remains attached and fastened by means of gluing it to the internal surface of the corresponding side panel (4) In the event that the end panels are of double wall, the internal wall of these is the one that S 1 0 presents the end prolongations with the double line of vertical fold determinant of the respective sectors and with the first one of them remaining in a diagonal position in correspondence with each corner and the second one attached to the internal face of the g 15 respective end panel.

In both one case and the other the internal wall of the end panels may be of equal height as the external wall, as represented in figures 1 and 2, or they may be of less height as represented in figures 3 and 4, being referenced in this case the internal wall with the number The same occurs with the internal wall of the side panels, which may adopt the same height as the external one, referencing it in this case with as shown in figures 9 and 10, or it may be of less height, in which case it is reference with the number as represented in figures 11 and 12.

The side panels may be of less height than the end panels as represented in figure 1, or they may be of equal height of said end panels, but in this second case affected with a trapezoidal cut-out in correspondence with its upper edge, determining both in the first case as well as in the second case, airing windows in the stacking with other boxes. The same occurs when the side panels are of double wall, that is, the end panels having less height or equal height but affected with transversal cut-outs in their upper edge.

Both the end panels when they are of double wall, as well as the side panels when they are also of double wall, present on top some vertical flanges (8) complementary of cut-outs provided to that effect in the lower part, with the object of obtaining a manner of connecting by means of dovetailing between the flanges and the cut-outs in the stacking of the boxes, 0 providing a stabilization and a transversal immobilization in said stacking.

In one embodiment, those flanges instead of being embodied in intermediate points of the upper edge of the end panels or in its case in the side panels are provided in correspondence with the corners, according to an angular configuration which logically affects the end panels and the side panels, being these angular flanges complementary of cut-outs provided in the lower part or bottom.

In this embodiment in which the tongues are of angular configuration and they are locate in -correspondence with the corners, as represented in figures 5, 6, 7 and 8, the end panels present centrally an upper cut-out (10) which cooperates in the ventilation determined Dy the windows originated either by less height of the side panels or of their cut-out in the case of reaching the same height as the end panels themselves (3) Figures 9 and 10 show the box in which the double wall is embodied on the side panels with the internal wall presenting an equal height as the external wall and with those having two sectors and which remain placed in diagonal and attached to the internal face of the end panels respectively, with these being of less height than the side panels (4) themselves, which are affected by the upper flanges (8) and the complementary and lower cut-outs to determine a stabilization in the stacking of the boxes, at the same time that the ventilation is determined by the windows which originate by the smaller height of the end panels and at the same time the cut-outs provided in the side panels contemplating that in the event that the flanges are of angular conformation and in correspondence with the corners, as shown in figure then the side panels lack the vertical and straight flanges referred to and provided in the box of figure 9.

Figures 11 and 12 show the same box configuration of figures 9 and 10 but with the internal wall of the S. 15 side panels of less height.

Figures 13 and 14 show a box with double wall in the end panels so that in the box of figure 13 the S" internal wall of those end panels reaches the same height as the external wall while in figure 14 the box presents the internal wall of the end panels with less height than the external wall, showing in both S*.I cases how the side panels reach the same height as the end panels and they are affected with a cut-out (7) to determine the airing windows in the stacking of the boxes, contemplating in this case that aside from the flanges of the end panels there must also be flanges in the upper end edges of the extensions into which the end panels prolong and that fold over and attach onto the external face of the side panels Figures 15 and 16 show an embodiment of the box in which the side panels are of double wall, the end panels being of less height than those side panels with figure presenting the internal wall of the side panels of equal height as the external wall, while in figure 16 the internal wall is of less height in both cases the sectors and which remain located on the inside, in correspondence with the corners, the first of them in diagonal and the second attached to the internal face of the corresponding end panel (3) In this possible embodiment of figures 15 and 16 the side panels present a double upper flange (8" complementary of cut-outs provided in the bottom or lower' part, with the particularity in this case that the extensions which attach co the external face of the 10 end panels present a beveled cut that determines an inclined plane (11) which extends from the upper edge of *.the end panel itself, to the upper edge of the respective extension (6)

Claims (4)

1. A cardboard box for perishable products, which is constituted from a laminated, monopiece, stampable body, in which a central sector is established constitutive of the bottom from which are derived, by means of respective folding lines, four other sectors determinant of the two end panels and of the two side panels, wherein either the end panels or the side panels are of double wall, with the particularity that the internal wall of the end panels or in its case the internal wall of the side panels, present externally some extensions with a double line of vertical fold determinant of two sectors for the end panels and for the side panels, with said sectors remaining placed on the internal part and in correspondence with the dihedrals of the box, in such a way that the sector of the internal wall or of the end panels, or the sector of the internal wall or of the side panels, remains in a diagonal position with each corner, while the sector remains attached to the internal face of the corresponding side panel or in its case of the end panel; having contemplated that the 15 external wall prolongs into external extensions for the end panels and for the side panels, which attach to the external face of the side panels themselves or in its case of the end panels themselves, performing the fastening, the same as for the sectors, by means of gluing. o° 2. The cardboard box for perishable products according to claim 1, wherein 20 the internal wall of the end panels or of the side panels, as well as their respective S extensions, present an equal height as the external wall of the respective end panel and of the external wall of the respective side panel.

3. The cardboard box for perishable products according to claim 1, wherein S the internal wall of the end panels or of the side panels, as well as their respective extensions present a smaller height than the external wall of the end panels and than the external wall of the side panels, respectively.

4. The cardboard box for perishable products according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the side panels, in boxes of double wall end panels, or those in the boxes of double wall of the side panels themselves, are of less height to determine airing windows in the stacking of the boxes, being susceptible of attaining said smaller height by means of cut-outs provided to that effect in the side panels or in its case in the end panels, in which case the rest of the side panels and end panels reach the same height. The cardboard box for perishable products according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein in correspondence with the central area of the end panels in the 12/01/05,eh I 1669.spc, 13

14- boxes of double walls of these, or in its case of the side panels in the case of boxes with double wall in said side panels, intermediate flanges have been provided projecting from the upper edge of said end panels or side panels, complementary of cut-outs established to that effect in the lower part to attain a dovetail fitting of said flanges in the cut-outs when stacking the boxes, assuring a stabilisation and immobilisation of them. 6. The cardboard box for perishable products according to claim 5, wherein the flanges and their complementary and lower cut-outs are established in correspondence with the corners, according to an angular configuration which affects both the side panels as well as the end panels. 7. The cardboard box for perishable products according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the extensions of the end panels and the side panels remain located on the exterior and the interior, respectively, of the side panels and of the end panels and fastened by means of gluing; having contemplated that these extensions are •1 susceptible of each remaining located in the interior of the side panels or of the end panels, 15 endowing the box with a greater capacity. The cardboard box for perishable products according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein in boxes whose double wall corresponds to the side panels, the end panels are of less height than those and the external extensions of the side panels present a bevel determinant of an inclined plane which extends from the upper edge of the 20 end panels to the upper edge of those external extensions, contemplating as well that in correspondence with the upper edge of the side panels there are pairs of flanges complementary of cut-outs in the lower part, to obtain the stabilisation and transversal Simmobilization in the stacking of the boxes. 9. A cardboard box for perishable products, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 12 th day of January, 2005 ASSIDOMAN IBEROAMERICANA S.A. By Their Patent Attorneys CALLINAN LAWRIE S/€/9W. 12/01/05,eh 11669.spc, 14