CA1229824A

CA1229824A - Contour container

Info

Publication number: CA1229824A
Application number: CA000455544A
Authority: CA
Inventors: John Zimmermann
Original assignee: Somerville Belkin Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Somerville Belkin Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1984-05-31
Filing date: 1984-05-31
Publication date: 1987-12-01

Abstract

ABSTRACT
This invention relates to a cardboard container made from a one piece blank for packing subcontainers and designed for shipping in shipping containers that have inwardly extending ribs.
The cardboard container is comprised of contour side walls adapted to wrap around a group of sub-containers and provide an open top opening and dividers extending between opposed sidewalls to divide the container into compartments of a size to hold one subcontainer.
The transverse dimension of each divider is less than the combined width of the subcontainers on each side of it whereby, at the location of the dividers, there is an indentation in the sidewall that will accommodate a rib structure in a shipping container. At least one of said dividers has a handle formation associated therewith.

Description

This invention relates to a cardboard container for pack-i ing subcontainers in the nature of bottles and is designed for ship-ping in shipping containers. The invention has particular applica-tion to the distribution of soft drinks wherein the bottles are con-tained in containers that are carried from distribution centre to home by the consumer. The containers are in turn packaged in ship-ping containers for the purpose of shipping from the place of manu-facture to the retail distribution centre.
It is practice to manufacture soft drinks in two litre con-tainers. These containers are shipped from the manufacturing plant to the retail store in shipping containers. A shipping container us-ually holds eight two litre containers. The consumer ta~es the two litre container from the shipping container at the point of purchase completes his purchase and carries the two litre container home.
It is an object of this invention to provide a cardboard container that will hold two or more two litre containers within the shipping container so that a purchaser can, by wi-thdrawing the card-board container, take more than one two litre container from the shipping container. The cardboard container has a handle and is a convenient means for carrying the two subcontainers which contain the soft drink.
The shipping containers in which these two li~re subcon-tainers are shipped are usually formed with sides that are channel-led to fit the round cross section of the bottle. They are Eormed this way to give rigid position to the bottle within the container and also to save shipping space. The result i5 that the inside wall b~
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of the shipping container has ribs between the channels that support adjacent bottles. These ribs have made it imprac-tical to provide a cardboard container -Eor one or more bottles that can be conveniently inserted in the shipping container so that one or more bottles can be withdrawn at the poin-t of purchase.
This invention overcomes the difficulty by providing a cardboard container that follows the contour o:f the bottle around the channels in the shipping container, but which has a depression in the side wall to permit the cardboard container to e~tend over the inwardly projec-ting ribs of the shipping container.
A container according to this invention is made from a one piece blank for pac~ing subcontainers and designed -for shipping in shipping containers that have inwardly extending ribs comprising contour side walls adapted to wrap around a group of subcontainers and provide an open top opening; a divider extendin~ between opposed sidewalls to divide the container into compar~ments of a size to7 in use, hold one subcontainer each; the transverse dimension of the divider being less than the w:ldth of a subcontainer whereby, at ~he locati.on of said divider said opposed side walls converge to ~orm an indentation which serves to accornodate one o.f the rib structures of the shipping container; the divider having a handle formation associated therewith.
The invention will be clearly understood after reference to the foll.owincJ detailed specification read in conjunctil)n with the drawings.

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In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a perspective illustration of a shipping con-tainer for eight two litre containers of beverage showing two con-tainers, one in the shipping container, one as it is being withdrawn from the shipping container and the other four having been removed;
Figure 2 is an illustration of a blank ~rom which the con--tainer of Figure 7 is formed;
Figures 3,4, and 5 are illustrations showing the sequence of forming the blank of Figure 2 into a container.
Figures 6 and 7 are perspective illustrations of an assembled cardboard container according to the invention;
Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally refers to a shipping container for eight two litre bottles of softdrink.
The bottles are packaged within a cardboard container generally indi-cated by the numeral 12. It will be noted that the interior walls of the shipping container are contoured as at 14 on the sides and as at 16 at the corners and also that the provision of these contours results in ribs generally indicated by the numeral 18.
The purpose oE the contours on the interior of the wall of the shipping container is to engage with the rounded side of the bot-tle and stabilize the bottle in transit.
It is desirable to have a cardboard container such as the cardboard container 14 for the purpose of carrying more than one bot-tle, but the cardboard container heretofor available has had straight walls and a container with a straight wall could not be _~

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conveniently inserted into the shipping containe~ 10~ This inven-tion provides a cardboard container for two or more of the subcon-tainers or bottles wherein the sides of the container follow the con-tour of the bottle, but have a depression between bottles contained therein to accommodate the ribs of the shipping container.
The carboard container generally indicated by the numeral 12 is made from a blank similar to that illustrated in Figure 2.
This is a one piece cardboard blank formed with fold and cut lines so that it can be folded and glued to Eorm the cardboard container illustrated. The blank has a series of wall p~nels 22, 24 and 26 and a tab 28 which are formable into a lay-flat wrap-around side wall structure as the panel 22 is glued to the tab 2~ to form the two juxtaposed side wall panels of the container when the container is in a knocked down or flat configuration. One of the ~ide wall panels is formed by the panel indicated by the numeral 24 and the o~her is formed b~ the panels 22 and 26 as secured together by the tab 28.
The container has a divider generally inaicated by the numeral 30. The divider panel generally indicated by the numeral 30 is formed from a first divider panel 32 and a second divlder panel 34. Each of the di~ider panels has a partially cut dividing line 36 and 38 respectivel,y extending for the length thereof and a handle tab 40 and 42 respectively, that can be hinged about its upper fold line as will be apparent later. The bottom of the container is indicated by the numeral ~4. Crease 'lines 52 and 54 are loca~ed on the bottom 44 and permit t'he bottom q4 to be fitte~ around the end portion of the containers.

A first step in asse~bling the blank oE Figure 2 is to apply glue to the divider locating panel 46 as indicated hy the hatched line, to apply glue to an edge of the wall panel 22 as indicated by the hatched line and to apply glue to an edge of the bottom 44 as indicated by the hatched line.
The divicler locating panel 46 is then swung around the fold line between it and side wall panel 24 as indicated in Figure 3 to secure the divider locating panel 46 to a side wall.
In Figure 3, it will be noted that the side wall 2~ has vertically extending crease lines 48 and 50 and that the overlylng divider loc~ting panel 46 is also formed with a partially cut line where it overlies the crease line 48.
Crease lines 48 and 50 in the side panel 24 are for the purpose of permitting the side wall to concave inwardly between the bottles as will be apparent from an examination of the container with bottles contained in it. Similar lines 21 and 20 are formed in the panels 22 and 26.
The next operation, as shown in E'igure 3, in the assembly is to fold the divider panel 34 in half about is longitudinally extending dividing line 38.
As shown in Figure 4, the next step i5 to fold panel 26 about its fold line with panel 24 to cause a portion of the divider panel 34 to adhesively secure to a portion of the divider panel 32.
Previously, adhesive is applied to the divider panel 32 as indicated by the hatched lines.
The next step in the operation is to fold the halE of clivider panel 32 about its longitudinal fold line to overlie divider panel 34 as indicated by the arrow.
The two divider panels 32 and 34 have now been laminated together and are folded about their overlying longitudinal dividi~g lines 36 and 38 respectively.

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As shown in Figure 5, the next step in the operation is to fold over the side panel 22 to unite it with the glue flap 28.
The last step in the operation is to ~old over the sling bottom 44 about its centre fold line to glue it to the composite tab 53 as indicated by the arrow.
The container is now assembled in knock down form and com-prises two juxtaposed side wall panels with a folded divider between them and a sling bottom between them.
It is opened by separating the side walls. As the side walls are separated the folded divider opens to limit their separa-tion at the upper end and the sling bottom is extended. When a con-tainer is deposited in each of the divided compartments, it is restrained by the sling bottom.
It will be noted that the width of the divider is less than the diameter of the bottle so that the side wall panels contour inwardly from the outer diameter of the bottle as illustrated in Figure 1. This inward contouring of the side wall when the con-tainer i5 filled with bottles permits the container to be loaded into the shipping container and to fit around the ribs in the ship-ping container.
The upwardly extended portions of the handle are hinged downwardly and the tabs are pushed through the opening as indicated in Figures 6 and 7 to provide a lifting device~
Embodiments of the invention other than the one illustrat-ed will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is posslble to form a container capable of holding four bottles wherein the cross-~22~3~

section is generally rectangular, but the side walls concave inward-ly due to the smaller dimension of a divider.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A cardboard container made from a one piece blank for packing subcontainers and designed for shipping in shipping contain-ers that have inwardly extending ribs comprising:
contour side walls adapted to wrap around a group of sub-containers and provide an open top opening;
a divider extending between opposed sidewalls to divide the container into compartments of a size to, in use, hold one subcontainer each;
the transverse dimension of said divider being less than the width of a subcontainer whereby, at the location of said divider said opposed side walls converge to form an indentation which serves to accomodate one of the rib structures of the shipping container;
said divider having a handle formation associated therewith.

2. A blank for a cardboard handle container for holding a plurality of subcontainers comprising:
a series of wall panels and a glue tab, said wall panels being formable into a lay flat wrap around side wall structure hav-ing two juxtaposed side wall panels;
a first divider panel having a longitudinal centre fold lines hinged to a locating panel that is in turn hinged to one of said two juxtaposed side wall panels; said locating panel being foldable about its hinged connection to the sidewall to locate the first divider for lamination with the second divider;

a second divider panel of the same configuration as said first divider panel and hinged to the other one of said two juxtapos-ed sidewalls for lamenation with the first divider panel;
a bottom panel hinged to one of said side wall panels and adhesively connectable to the other one of said two juxtapoxed side walls;
said divider panels being foldable about their respective longitudinal centre fold lines to laminate one to the other to form a composite two ply divider when said series of wall panels is form-ed into a lay flat wrap around side wall structure with two juxtapos-ed side wall panel;
said side wall structure having a length to wrap around sub-containers of a predetermined size when set up;
the width of said composite two ply divider being less than the width of a sub-container for which the handle container is designed whereby at the location of the dividers there is an indentation in the sidewall that will accommodate a rib structure in a shipping container;
said composite divider having a carrying handle associated therein.

3. A blank for a cardboard container for holding a plurality of sub-containers as claimed in Claim 2 in which said second divider panel is folded about its longitudinal fold line to form a double ply;
said double ply being adapted to overlay for adhesive securement to said first divider panel on one side of the longitudinal fold line of the said first divider panel whereby to laminate the abutting portion of the said first divider panel to the abutting portion of the said second divider panel;
the thus non-abutting portion of the said first divider panel being foldable about its longitudinal fold line for adhesive securement to the said second divider panel whereby the said first divider panel and said second divider panel can be laminated with their longitudinal fold lines overlapping each other to form said two ply divider.

4. A blank for a carboard container for holding a plurality of sub-containers as claimed in Claim 2 wherein each of the two said side walls has vertically extending crease lines whereby to facilitate said indentation in the sidewall that will accommodate a rib structure in a shipping container.