EP0043884A1

EP0043884A1 - Method of assembling half-assembled open boxes, and box so realised

Info

Publication number: EP0043884A1
Application number: EP80830050A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alberto De Santis; Nicola Angelastro
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-07-15
Filing date: 1980-07-15
Publication date: 1982-01-20

Abstract

The method is intended to facilitate the use of open boxes, also called plateau, for the packing of fruit and vegetable products. At present this kind of boxes are available on the market ready for use and consequently, when empty, they take up considerable room both for storing and transport. With this method, instead, it is possible to realize half-assembled boxes with a flat-plate shape, that when not used do not take up much room. The setting up for using these boxes, according to this method, is carried out by means of special clips (6) that lock together the sides of each box. For this reason the sides are joined to the bottom of the boxes through metallic stitches (3) which act also as a hinge allowing a rotation of the said sides on and off the said bottom.

Description

A method to get ready for use boxes made of rigid material that are half-assembled so as to take up a flat surface,and so half-assembled boxes.
The invention refers to a method which facilitates the use of the so-called 'open boxes' and particularly of those boxes used for the packing of fruit and vegetable products, also called plateau, made up by rigid material, that is not flexible, such as laths or panels made of mixed and compressed wooden fibres or plywood or other cheap suitable rigid material.
The normal open boxes for the packing of fruit and vegetable products, which are now used, are provided as finished products, that is ready for use, by the manufacturer; therefore they take up considerable room, even when they are empty, both for storing and transport.
To obviate this trouble, the applicants of this patent asked for an Italian Patent (ref. no. 2106. A/79 of 5/2/79 and no. 2134 A/79 of 25/9/79); their specifications,which have not been published yet and therefore not of public use, refer to two kinds of half-assembled boxes, the first one made up by laths and the second one made up by rigid panels made, for istance, of mixed and compressed material in wich the sides and the bottom of each box are joined together through metallic wires or stitches or other suitable flexible material: it is sufficient now rotating the said sides on the bottom and locking them together properly in order to obtain straight away boxes ready for use.
Even when not made of flexible material, these boxes take up -when empty- a flat surface with a thickness equal to the one of the panels or laths they are made by, and therefore both for their storing and transport they do not take up too much room and that will certainly be very advantageous both for the manufacturer and for the user, Moreover, the manufacturing costs of these half-assembled boxes is inferior to that of the ready-for-use boxes, not only because less time is required to make them, but also because it is possible to clamp the sides of the boxes to their relative bottoms using a suitable stampling machine, in a single operation.
The invention as claimed wants to generalize the method for manufacturing and assembling the boxes, as it appears in the above mentioned applications for Patents by,extending it to the different types of boxes, and at the same time it wants to provide further methods to set up for use the said boxes when the sides have no risers, that is when they are perfectly rectangular, in order to reduce sensibly the waste material.
In the drawings here enclosed, two specific embodiments of the boxes of plateau-type manufactured according to the method are shown.
Particularly:

Fig, 1 illustrates a half-worked box made up by laths ;
Fig, 2 illustrates a half-assembled box made up by panels of compressed material;
Fig, 3 illustrates box No, during the phase of its setting up for use
Fig. 4 illustrates box No. 2 ready for use;
Fig. 5 illustrates a type of clip for clamping together two sides without risers, acting also as a spacer.

As it is shown in the figures the sides (2) of the boxes are connected to the bottom (1) through stitches or wires (3), acting also as hinges, which are applied on their external surface.
The assembling of the boxes is carried out by rotating the said sides onto the bottom so that their vertical edges overlap at the corners. The final clamping of the sides in case of boxes in wich the sides have risers (2a), is carried out by means of collars (5) of suitable shape which are inserted on top of the said risers; in case, instead, of boxes made up by panels and where the sides have no risers, the clamping of the sides themselves is carried out by means of plastic clips (6) or of other suitable material. The said clips (6) whose hight^hexceeds the hight s of the sides, have a ring 6a and a stake 6b for clamping on the bottom and on the sides of each box, which has suitable cuts (4) the ring can be inserted in on the sides, and holes la in the bottom, each one corresponding to each corner, to insert the stake 6b.
On the bearing surface 6c the clips have also projecting edges 6d so that they can respectively,when placed one upon the other,clamp the boxes. They are useful to prevent the boxes from falling down in case of a piling-up that is to hinder any kind of horizontal movement of the boxes themselves,
The piling-up of the boxes is made so that the upper part 6e of the underlying box is enclosed between the edges 6d of the clip of the box placed above.
Now slipping is avoided; the exceeding hight h of the clip creates more distance between each box when they are piled up facilitating the areation of the products.
In case of mass production of the mentioned boxes, the stampling of the sides to the bottom of each box can be carried out in a single simultaneous phase, with a reduction of manufacturing costs,

Claims

1) "Method to get ready for use boxes made of rigid material that are half-assembled so as to take up a flat surface, and so half-assembled boxes", the half-assembling of the boxes being carried out through a connection of the sides with the bottom of each box by means of metallic stitches 3 or of other suitable material, which are to be put between the opposing longitudinal edges of the sides and of the bottom themselves, which are for this reason suitable shaped, the stitches having to be put on the external surface of the components of each box, so that the half-assembled box is of a flat shape and of a thickness not more than the thickness of each one of its components, characterised in that the movables means of connection, such as, for istance, collars 5 or clips 6, have been used and they can be easify and manually put and then removed without using any tool, Joining the sides together and then fixing the sides themselves to the bottom of the box when put at the four vertical corners made by the sides,that is bloking the sides at the said four corners,

2) Method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that each collar 5 for the clamping of the sides provided with risers 2a is shaped so that the tips of the two adjacent risers at each corner of the box can be inserted into the collar itself which has therefore an L- shaped section.

3) Half-assembled box according to the preceding claims, consisting of a bottom 1 and four sides 2 with or without risers 2a and made up by laths or whole panels of rigid, not flexible material, whose sides are clamped to the opposing longitudinal edges of the bottom by means of metallic stitches or other flexible material, which can allow a rotation on and off the bottom, so that the so half-assembled boxes, when not used, have a flat shape of minimum dimensions in order to facilitate the piling-up,that is the storing,the connection of the sides to get each box ready for use being carried out through means which are suitable for clamping the sides at the four vertical corners.

4) Spacing clip to clamp together the sides of the boxes according to the preceding claims, when the said sides have no risers 2a, consisting of an angle-piece to be put on each vertical corner of the box, characterized in that the spacing clip itself has a triangular plate 6e on top and a plate 6c at the bottom, the one at the bottom having projecting edges 6d, the clamping of the angle to the vertical corner of the box being carried out through a ring 6a which is to be inserted into the cuts 4 on the upper edges of the sides and through a stake 6b which is to be inserted into the hole la at each corner, the hight h of each clip exceeding the hight s of each side,