EP0000627B1

EP0000627B1 - Carriers for containers, apparatus and method for applying same to containers

Info

Publication number: EP0000627B1
Application number: EP19780300117
Authority: EP
Inventors: Michael Fred Joyce
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-07-09
Filing date: 1978-07-05
Publication date: 1982-09-01
Also published as: DE2862014D1; EP0000627A1

Description

Background of the Invention

The invention relates to multipackaging whereby containers are grouped into readily saleable quantities and fixed into a carrier to facilitate handling and carrying by the end purchaser.
Previously carriers for bottles and cans were made to surround the total group of containers with a sheet of paper board and join the ends without gluing to form a sleeve but this requires a lot of paper board and is both wasteful of world resources and it generates waste to be disposed of. Also the inconsisitency and ovality inherent in glass container making means that the sleeve must be long enough to surround the largest dimensions possible for a group. Therefore when the bottles are smaller or move around in the sleeve to prevent a narrower dimension within the sleeve the total multi- package is loose when offered for sale. Therefore the carrier described in British Patent N° 1 395 723, French Patent N° 2 155 506, United States Patent N° 3 834 750 and others, provided a considerable saving of board area approximating to 30% when used for 10 fl oz (275 ml), 50% when used for litre bottles and more for 25 fl oz (71 cI) and 1 litre bottles when comparing packs where the containers are grouped in line, which saving is more than the cost of gluing the blank disclosed for holding bottles by the neck portion only. According to the disclosure each individual bottle is held by the neck portion by a mechanical toggle lever action, the dimensions of the bottle being more consistent in that portion and the action being effected by the paper board being used in a manner such that its compressive members are stiff and its tensile members have the natural tensile strength of strong paper board. This prior art carrier is therefore formed from a blank and comprises a pair of spaced side walls each having upper and lower longitudinally extending edges, an upper wall connecting the upper edges and preventing relative displacement of the upper edges away from each other, a lower wall, said upper and lower walls having aligned openings therein, the openings in the lower wall being dimensioned to pass freely over a rib portion of the neck and engage a wider part of the container and the openings in the upper wall arranged with tabs able to pass over a rib of the container neck or its closure and engage below it, both side walls able to engage below ribs of the container and a longitudinally extending fold in at least one of the side walls adapted for engagement with the containers when said one side wall is folded inwardly, whereby said one side wall is caused to fold inwardly upon the upper and lower edges of said one side wall by the upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other to engage said adaptation below ribs of the containers when disposed between the side walls.
Apparatus according to British Patent N° 1 427 510, for applying to containers the carrier according to British Patent N° 1 395 723 comprises a pressure surface shaped to conform to the carrier upper wall and provided with apertures to admit a part of any container projecting above said upper wall, and at least one other surface situated parallel to one of the longitudinal edges of the pressure surface and able to contact a side wall of the carrier to fold it inwardly upon its upper and lower edges either simultaneously or previously to the pressure surface pressing the upper wall downwardly until the carrier is applied to the containers.
Referring to the carrier according to British Patent N° 1 395 723, French Patent N° 2 155 506, United States Patent N° 3 834 750 and others the same carrier for a double row of containers was also disclosed wherein one paper board blank is shared by two such carriers. However, whereas all of the carriers disclosed have the advantage that its natural folds allow its tubular structure to fold flat for transport (while similar prior art such as British Patent N° 902 462 require an additional fold in order to fold flat) there is the disadvantage that the said upper and lower walls must have the same width where both side walls have a longitudinal fold allowing the toggle lever action to take place on both sides of the neck. Therefore, as both upper and lower walls must be narrower than the bottle diameter, only one of these walls can be continued from one bottle row to the other alongside, so it can act as a hinge allowing the rows of bottles to strike against each other. Similarly where only one side wall has a longitudinal fold the dimensions can be arranged such that the walls can fold flat after gluing but the arrangement is dictated by the proportions of the bottle and it is not possible for both lower walls to meet and the upper walls to meet.
Again referring to British Patent N° 1 395 723 there is disclosed a form of interlock comprising tongues for joining one longitudinal edge of the blank to the other longitudinal edge of the blank and which are made to interlock along a wide line dividing the depth of a wall which is subject to compressive stress. Its ability to operate relies upon the tongues imparting stiffness across the wide line of interlock and the full depth of the wall because it can therefore have only two force components and these must remain in balanced opposition. Therefore such tongues must interlock between slits only and engage flat surface to flat surface superimposed to form a stiff double thickness. These tongues are designed to be engaged only by moving them radially one toward the other, each hinged at a fold such that the blank can only lay flat which is a limitation on the design possibilities. Therefore the tongue ends are exposed and vulnerable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new form of interlocking which is required to engage on a line of tongue edge contact with tongues of one longitudinal edge filling the gaps of the other longitudinal edge preventing lateral movement and the line is between walls allowing the introduction of a new third force component providing stability through a new structure. It is also an object of the present invention to protect the free ends of the tongues. Yet another object is to join the blank in feeding it to the machine applying it to bottles so saving a machine operation as well as allowing freedom to design the blank such that it need not be able to lay flat.

Brief Summary of Invention

The improvement in such carriers for containers is allowed by using a blank according to the invention supplied flat to a machine which includes apparatus according to the invention for first erecting the blank into a temporary tubelike structure and then securing it into a tubelike structure on the bottle necks by a method according to the invention.
Accordingly the invention provides a carrier of the prior art type referred to above for containers being formed from a blank and characterised in that the ends of said blank when folded to form one such carrier or two such carriers sharing one blank are interconnected by interlocking tongue extensions (21 and 22), the tongue extensions projecting beyond the extent of related walls (4a and 4b or 6a and 6a) so that when said one side wall 6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) is caused to fold inwardly about the upper (1 or 2) and lower (3 or 40) edges of said one side wall by the said upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other, said tongue extensions on at least one side of the line of interconnection are held between surfaces of the blank, and said related walls exert first and second force components on opposing sides of the interconnection and are angled less than 180° one to the other such that their combined force component due to the compressive stress experienced by them is directed against a third reaction force component provided by part of the carrier or carrier and containers (B) at the confluence of the force components thereby holding the interconnection immobile.
The invention further comprises a blank for forming the carrier according to the invention and comprising a substantially rectangular piece of foldable material such as, for example, paper board divided by longitudinally extending fold lines into four panels such that two of the panels which form carrier side walls have a third panel therebetween which forms one of the carrier upper and lower walls (5 or 7) and the third and fourth panels forming the carrier upper and lower walls have one of the carrier side walls (4 and 6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) therebetween, said upper and lower wall panels having aligned openings (10 and 14) therein dimensioned to admit a container (B) part, a further longitudinally extending fold line (16 or 15 and 16) formed in at least one of the side wall panels (6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) intermediate the width thereof which fold line is interrupted by a cut line (19) at locations corresponding to the openings (10 and 14), and means on one longitudinal edge of the blank (fig. 1 and fig. 5) attachable to means on the other longitudinal edge of the blank when the blank is folded to form one carrier or two carriers sharing one blank, characterised in that said means comprises laterally interlockable tongue extensions project beyond the extent of dimensioned and arranged such that said tongue extension project beyond the extent of related walls of the blank (4a and 4b or 6a and 6a) so that when the said one side wall (6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) is caused to fold inwardly about the said upper (1 or 2) and lower (3 or 40) edges of said one side wall by the said upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other (fig. 4 or fig. 7), said tongue extensions on at least one side of the line of interconnection are able to be held between surfaces of the blank, and said related walls are able to exert first and second force components on opposing sides of the interconnection and are provided to be angled less than 180° one to the other with their combined force component due to the compressive stress experienced by them directed against a third reaction force component provided by part of the carrier or carrier and containers (B) at the confluence of the force components thereby holding the interconnection immobile.
Apparatus is also provided in accordance with the invention for applying to containers the carrier of the invention and comprising a pressure surface shaped to conform to the carrier upper wall (5 of fig. 7 or 4) and provided with apertures to admit a part of any container projecting above said upper wall, and at least one other surface situated parallel to one of the longitudinal edges of the pressure surface and able to contact a side wall (6a/6b or 6a/6b and 4a/4b) of the carrier to fold it inwardly about its upper and lower edges either simultaneously or previously to the pressure surface (i.e. 64) pressing the upper wall downwardly until the carrier is applied to the containers, characterised by the carrier blank being erected from flat condition (fig. 5 fig. 1) by drawing between forming means (52, 54 to 60) of drawing around forming means (53) able to plough-fold the blank at its prescribed fold lines (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 40) which divide the blank into connected walls whereby the tongue extensions (21 and 22) projecting from side wall ends (6a and 6a or 4a and 4b) of the blank for interlocking are angled to allow the admission of the tongue extensions into their interlocked position (fig. 6 or fig. 2) the tongue extensions being urged together by means (60 or 55) moving relative to the carrier to interlock the tongue extensions to form a four-walled temporary structure (fig. 3) or two interconnected four-walled temporary structures (fig. 7 as broken lines).
The invention also provides a process or method for application to containers of the blank made according to the invention wherein the flat blank is folded at prescribed lines to form one or two four-walled tubular structures, each having two side walls and an upper and substantially rectangular lower wall, the longitudinal ends of the blank having tongue extensions (21 and 22) adapted to interlock and projecting from side wall parts (6a and 6a or 4a and 4b), angled relative to each other to allow the admission of the tongue extensions into their interlocked position and moved together to interlock, the necks of the containers are inserted into openings in the lower wall, the upper edge of any side wall not required to fold inwardly is engaged below a downwardly facing rib of the containers, the one side wall or both sidewalls of each structure are folded inwardly about its or their upper and lower edges and the upper wall or walls are moved downward to displace inwardly at least one side wall of each structure, the lower wall openings engaging a wide part of the container necks, the upper wall openings surrounding parts of the container necks or their closures, the upper wall locked with the side walls (6a and 4 or 4a and 6a) engaging the container necks or their closures.

Brief Description of Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank for a carrier according to the invention for a single row of bottles and divided by a broken line arrowed to show the line of section shown by fig. 4 and 66% of the scale of fig. 4.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view in end elevation of the blank of fig. 1 being erected into a temporary four-walled structure by apparatus according to the invention and 66% of the scale of fig. 4.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the blank shown by Fig. 1 after it has been erected into a temporary four-walled structure.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view in end elevation of the blank shown in fig. 1 secured to the bottles to form a carrier.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank for a carrier according to the invention for a double row of bottles shown by fig. 7 and 40% of the scale of fig. 7.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view in end elevation of the blank of fig. 5 being erected into a temporary four-walled structure by apparatus according to the invention and 80% of the scale of fig. 7.
Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the blank shown by fig. 5 secured to a double row of bottles, one row in section to the centre line of a bottle. It additionally shows side support, the position of the blank prior to application and apparatus embodying the method for its application.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The embodiment illustrated in figs. 1 to 4 is a carrier intended to carry a single row of bottles. The blank shown by fig. 1 is for three bottles so that the blank formation for one bottle is repeated three times and is a substantially rectangular piece of foldable sheet material such as, for example, paper board divided by longitudinally extending fold lines 1, 2, 3 and 40 into four panels 4a and 4b, 5, 6a and 6b, and 7. The panels 4a and 4b represent one side wall and 6a and 6b represent a second side wall and 4a has panel 7 between it and panel 6a and 6b, 7 represents the carrier lower wall. The fourth panel 5 represents the carrier upper wall and is joined to the upper edge of the side wall part 4b by a line of fold. Its other longitudinal edge carries tongue extensions 22 able to interlock at openings 24 between tongue extensions 21 projecting from wall 4a to form a temporary four-walled closed structure fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows apparatus wherein the blank is drawn along by flight 50 between folding bars and around a former 53 which allow folding bars 54 to raise panel 4a and bend tongues 21 backward upon fold lines 15 and upon cut lines 18. The cut lines 18 are important as they not only define an edge 23 for later engaging the bottles they also prevent the return of 21 after being bent backward due to the tightness inherent in die cutting. Therefore the bar 54 is curved to fold 4a in the direction of its related arrow fig. 2, with 21 bent backward and tongues 22, bent forward upon fold 1, to enter at cut edge 24 by folding bar 55 curved to meet wall 5 which on meeting its curve will fold over, in the direction of its related arrow fig. 2, with tongues 22 behind guide 56 to enter tongues 22 between tongues 21 at cut edge 24 to form a temporary closed structure as shown by fig. 3. The structure is then placed over the necks of the bottles to be held and the fold 16 is held inward in relation to folds 2 and 3, and folds 15 are held inward in relation to folds 1 and 40, and with tongue 21 making an inside angle of less than 90° with wall 5 as fig. 3, the wall 5 is moved downward to displace 15 and 16 inwardly such that tongue 19 will engage below rim "R" of the bottles "B" fig. 3 and upper wall 5 will lie against side wall part 6b with openings 14 seated on the shoulder of the bottles. Also edge 23 associated with tongue 21 will engage below rim "R" on the other side of the bottle "B" while 15a of 4b will engage with the outside 15 of tongue 21 and preferably its outer edge 1b will engage the inside of fold 1. Therefore upper wall 5 and side wall 4b will enclose tongues 21 between them. The tabs 12 will also engage below rim "R" to lock upper wall 5 in position and so maintain the toggle lever locking action of lever walls 4b and 6b. Thus 4b and 6b are in compression, as are the remainder of the side walls 4a and 6a, therefore as it would mean these walls being compressed a great deal more if they were to return to their in-line position and they are prevented from moving further inward, to relieve their stress, due to the bottle neck and upper wall being unable to move, the structure must remain secured, as fig. 4. It is relevant at this stage to understand the integers comprising the join. Firstly if the interlocking part of the tongues could be cut away after the carrier structure is secured to bottles it would not open or become slack. However, it would be possible to twist it because a twisting action on a tube with a longitudinal cut will cause the edges of the cut to move one against the other. Therefore conversely the said interlock of tongues fitting tightly will prevent twisting, they also serve to retain the form of the temporary structure as fig. 3. The join attachment is imposed on a longitudinal hinge line which is necessary to the normal working of the carrier such as a fold within the side wall of a fold connecting one wall to another and the join is held in position due to the compressive stress experienced by the side walls on each side of the join being angled together to exert, at their confluence, a combined force component which is resisted by a part of the carrier or in the embodiment described, by the underside of the upper wall 5 and the neck of the bottles against which 4a is pressing and which together provide an equal and opposite reaction to complete a situation which could be represented by a triangle of forces.
The blank shown by fig. 5 offers a similar situation adapted for a twin row of bottles and wherein like reference figures have like meaning. Therefore the part of the blank between each fold 3 is a mirror image (excepting for 26 and 25) each side of the central broken line above which tongues 21 and 22 will meet to form the join. Fi^g. 6 shows apparatus according to the invention and the blank of fig. 5 being drawn along by flights 50 between folding bars 52 and around a former 53 which allows folding bars 57 to raise and fold panel (6a left hand) over to break it prescribed crease (3 left hand) in doing so and hold tongue 21 against 53 with the cut edge 24 open to receive parts 23 associated with tongue 22 and for entering cut opening 24. Panel (6a right hand) is folded over former 53 by folding bar 58 without breaking the prescribed crease (3 right hand) and which is guided by folding bar 59 to lay tongue 22 over tongue 21, the action of the blank meeting curved folding bar 60 will then move the blank in accordance with its related arrow and move part 23 through cut edge 24 to form a double blank into a temporary closed tubular structure. Fig. 7 shows the blank of fig. 5 in broken lines indicated with broken line arrows 5, 6b, 6a and in full lines 4 and 7 wherein it has been further ploughed into shape and while retained by guide rails has moved relative to the bottles "B" whereby the side walls 4 have clipped under downwardly facing ribs "R" to retain walls 4 temporarily. Rollers 62 of the vertically moving (shown by white arrows) head of the apparatus will then move down to hold the upper edges of walls 4 slightly clear of the engaging ribs "R" so that folds 1 are free to move inward when pressure surface 64 is moved downward from head 63 (and shown by the black broad arrow). The pressure surface 64 is shaped to substantially conform to the shape of the carrier upper walls or wall 5 and it is provided with apertures 66 to admit a part of any container projecting above the said upper wall 5. The bar 65. plays an important part because it both holds the three layers of board 22, 21 and 7 together down against the shoulders of the bottles, it also holds the folds (16 right and left) further apart than folds (2 right and left) and folds (3 right and left), it also holds cut edges (23 right and left) in contact with the bottles "B" to maintain the position of folds (3 right and left). The bar 65 is itself held by one end only so that the carrier when secured to bottles can pass off the end of it. Therefore the pressure surface 64 will press the upper wall or walls 5 downward so that the walls 6a will buckle toward the bottles and walls 6b will lie against the underside of walls 5 and remain there with tabs 12 locked beneath the downwardly facing rib "R". The leverage of walls (6b and 5 right and left) will stretch the upper edge of walls 4 tightly around "B" beneath "R" for a better hold. It will be understood that effectively any head apparatus, which includes the features herein disclosed and thereby able to ease the movement of folds 1 inwardly and the upper walls 5 downwardly after one fold 16 in each side structure has been displaced inwardly (relative to each side structure) upon its upper and lower edges 2 and 3 respectively, will conform with the invention.
It will also be understood from the examples of embodiments given that many other embodiment of the invention can be useful to the many different designs of this type of structure for economic and design advantage.

Claims

1. A carrier for containers such as bottles (B) with a neck portion having a downwardly facing rib (R) on the container neck or its closure (C) and a wider part of the container below, said carrier being formed from a blank comprising a pair of spaced side walls (4 and 6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) each having upper (2 or 1) and lower (3 or 40) longitudinally extending edges, an upper wall (5) connecting the upper edges and preventing relative displacement of the upper edges away from each other, a lower wall (7), said upper and lower walls having aligned openings therein, the openings (14) in the lower wall being dimensioned to pass freely over the rib portion and engage a wider part of the container and the openings (10) in the upper wall arranged with tabs (12) able to pass over the rib of the container neck or its closure and engage below it, both side walls able to engage below the ribs of the containers and a longitudinally extending fold line (15 or 16) in at least one of the side walls adapted (23) for engagement with the containers when said one side wall is folded inwardly, whereby said one side wall is caused to fold inwardly about the upper (1 or 2) and lower (3 or 40) edges of said one side wall by the said upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other to engage said adaptation (23) below the ribs of the containers when disposed between the side walls, characterised in that the ends of said blank when folded to form one such carrier or two such carriers sharing one blank are interconnected by interlocking tongue extensions (21 and 22), the tongue extensions projecting beyond the extent of related walls (4a and 4b or 6a and 6a) so that when said one side wall (6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) is caused to fold inwardly about the upper (1 or 2) and lower (3 or 40) edges of said one side wall by the said upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other, said tongue extensions on at least one side of the line of interconnection are held between surfaces of the blank, and said related walls exert first and second force components on opposing sides of the interconnection and are angled less than 180° one to the other such that their combined force component due to the compressive stress experienced by them is directed against a third reaction force component provided by part of the carrier or carrier and containers (B) at the confluence of the force components thereby holding the interconnection immobile.

2_: A carrier according to claim 1 wherein interlocking tongues (21 and 22) are adapted to include means (23) for engaging with a part of the container (B).

3. A blank for forming the carrier as claimed in claim 1 the blank comprising a substantially rectangular piece of foldable material such as for example, paper board divided by longitudinally extending fold lines into four panels such that two of the panels which form carrier side walls have a third panel therebetween which forms one of the carrier upper and lower walls (5 or 7) and the third and fourth panels forming the carrier upper and lower walls have one of the carrier side walls (4 and 6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) therebetween, said upper and lower wall panels having aligned openings (10 and 14) therein dimensioned to admit a container (B) part, a further longitudinally extending fold line (16 or 15 and 16) formed in at least one of the side wall panels (6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) intermediate the width thereof which fold line is interrupted by a cut line (19) at locations corresponding to the openings (10 and 14), and means on one longitudinal edge of the blank (fig. 1 and fig. 5) attachable to means on the other longitudinal edge of the blank when the blank is folded to form one carrier or two carriers sharing one blank, characterised in that said means comprises laterally interlockable tongue extensions (21 and 22), the blank being dimensioned and arranged such that said tongue extensions project beyond the extent of related walls of the blank (4a and 4b or 6a and 6a) so that when the said one side wall (6a/6b or 4a/4b and 6a/6b) is caused to fold inwardly about the said upper (1 or 2) and lower (3 or 40) edges of said one side wall by the said upper and lower edges being displaced one toward the other (fig. 4 or fig. 7), said tongue extensions on at least one side of the line of interconnection are able to be held between surfaces of the blank, and said related walls are able to exert first and second force components on opposing sides of the interconnection and are provided to be angled less than 180° one to the other with their combined force component due to the compressive stress experienced by them directed against a third reaction force component provided by part of the carrier or carrier and containers (B) at the confluence of the force components thereby holding the interconnection immobile.

4. A blank according to claim 3 wherein interlocking tongues (21 and/or 22) are adapted to include means (23) for engaging with a part of the container (B).

5. Apparatus for applying to containers the carrier as claimed in claim 1 and comprising a pressure surface shaped to conform to the carrier upper wall (5 of fig. 7 or 4) and provided with apertures to admit a part of any container projecting above said upper wall, and at least one other surface situated parallel to one of the longitudinal edges of the pressure surface and able to contact a side wall (6a/6b or 6a/6b and 4a/4b) of the carrier to fold it inwardly about its upper and lower edges either simultaneously or previously to the pressure surface (i.e. 64) pressing the upper wall downwardly until the carrier is applied to the containers, characterised by the carrier blank being erected from flat condition (fig. 5 fig. 1) by drawing between forming means (52, 54 to 60) or drawing around forming means (53) able to plough-fold the blank at its prescribed fold lines (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 40) which divide the blank into connected walls whereby the tongue extensions (21 and 22) projecting from side wall ends (6a and 6a or 4a and 4b) of the blank for interlocking are angled to allow the admission of the tongue extensions into the interlocked position (fig. 6 or fig. 2) the tongue extensions being urged together by means (60 or 55) moving relative to the carrier to interlock the tongue extensions to form a four-walled temporary structure (fig. 3) or two interconnected four-walled temporary structures (fig. 7 as broken lines).

6. A process or method for application to containers of the blank made according to claim 3 wherein the flat blank is folded at prescribed lines to form one or two four-walled tubular structures, each having two side walls and an upper and substantially rectangular lower wall, the longitudinal ends of the blank having tongue extensions (21 and 22) adapted to interlock and projecting from side wall parts (6a and 6a or 4a and 4b), angled relative to each other to allow the admission of the tongue extensions into their interlocked position and moved together to interlock, the necks of the containers are inserted into openings in the lower wall, the upper edge of any side wall not required to fold inwardly is engaged below a downwardly facing rib of the containers, the one side wall or both sidewalls of each structure are folded inwardly about its or their upper and lower edges and the upper wall or walls are moved downward to displace inwardly at least one side wall of each structure, the lower wall openings engaging a wide part of the container necks, the upper wall openings surrounding parts of the container necks or their closures, the upper wall locked with the side walls (6a and 4 or 4a and 6a) engaging the container necks or their closures