EP0575689B1 - Packaging carton for stacks of paper - Google Patents

Abstract

The lid (11) is stuck onto the two larger side walls of the lower box. It is preferably stuck onto the unfolding side face only in the upper corners. The corresponding side face (14) of the lid has a weak line (20) round the adhesive spots (19). By providing grooves on the side wall of the lid stuck to the folding side wall of the lower box it is possible to separate the lid and swivel it round the opposite edge between the lid surface and side wall.

Description

The invention relates to a packaging carton, a so-called box, for a stack of paper, for example a stack of copy paper or printer paper, which can optionally consist of several sub-stacks, each packed individually.

So far it has been common to pack such stacks of paper in boxes that have the following structure:
On the long sides of the rectangular bottom are the larger side walls, which in turn have wings on their vertical sides, each forming half of one of the narrower side walls, these wings not overlapping one another when the box is unfolded. Rectangular tabs adjoin the shorter sides of the base. When the box is unfolded, they lie against the outside of one of the smaller side surfaces of the box, each consisting of two parts.

The box is unfolded after the intended stack of paper has been placed on the base. It should be noted that for tolerance reasons (fluctuations in paper thickness, etc.) the height of the side surfaces is less than the height of the paper stack in the final state, so that the specially made lid, which is placed under pressure on the stack and the unfolded box, on the Pile of paper and not resting on the side walls of the box. The box is closed by one or two bands that are guided around it and welded to its ends, for example, by heat.

What is remarkable about the previously known boxes is that one of the two larger side walls together with the associated wings, which each form a half small side wall, is not glued to the outer tabs, which start from the narrow side of the floor rectangle, so that after cutting through the holding straps and the Removing the lid, it is possible to open the box on one of the larger side surfaces, leaving half of the smaller side surfaces free to make it easier to remove paper.

Although this packaging has become established worldwide, it has a few disadvantages: the closure straps require a separate operation when assembling the box and are a hindrance to opening for the paper consumer and subsequently an unpleasant waste due to their stiffness. Most of them If the consumer only gradually removes the packaged paper stack from the box, it is necessary to close it again after the paper has been removed, but this requires a certain skill or the help of a second person, since on the one hand the various side wall parts are in their position have to be held while, on the other hand, the lid, which has settled somewhere in the meantime, has to be gripped and fitted onto the box. After all, the empty box represents only more waste for the paper user, which has to be dismantled manually and put into the waste paper container. Another disadvantage, which is particularly important for the users of high-performance copying machines or printers, is that the box is not sufficiently tight due to the two-part construction of the smaller side surfaces, in particular against the penetration of atmospheric moisture, in order to take up a paper stack, which is enclosed by the box without intermediate packaging.

The aim of the invention is to avoid the disadvantages mentioned and to create a box which serves as packaging for a stack of paper, which is easier to handle both in terms of packaging and by the user than the previously known box, in particular the occurrence of Foreign waste should be avoided and the emptied box is available to the user for further use. In one embodiment, the possibility is to be made of being able to transport and store also unpacked paper stacks directly in the box without the quality of the paper being damaged by the ingress of moisture or other environmental influences.

According to the invention, these goals are achieved in that the specially manufactured lid is glued to the two larger box side walls, with scoring or the like on the cover side wall, which is glued to the hinged bottom side wall, the possibility is created to separate the cover along this line of weakness and to swing open the opposite edge between the cover surface and the side wall.

This measure makes the closure tape superfluous and simplifies the assembly of the box, since the lid can be glued at the same time as the bottom is glued. For the user of the box, the unpleasant fiddling with the closure band is eliminated, as is the need to put the lid down at a suitable location in the area of the copier or printer, since the lid simply remains folded up on the box. Closing the box after the paper has been removed is also considerably simplified since the lid does not have to be gripped and put on, but only has to be folded over it. Finally, due to the one-sided fixing of the lid on one side wall of the box, which is also given by the user, it is so stable and so easily accessible that it can be used as a collecting box for waste paper.

In one embodiment, in order to further simplify use as waste paper collection box, it is provided that in the lid area in the area of the side edge, along which the lid is permanently glued to the box, a recess extending essentially over the entire length of the box can be created by the user, the like, for example, by scoring. is so weakened along its periphery that it can be opened without the use of tools. This measure allows waste paper to be put into the box without having to lift the lid each time. The provision of this slot is made possible by permanently attaching the cover to one side of the lower part of the box, as this is the only way to ensure the stability of the entire box.

In order to make it easier for the user to open the box for the first time, it is provided in one embodiment that the temporary gluing of the lid to the foldable side surface of the lower part of the box is only in the corner region of this side surface takes place and that the tear-open groove of the cover side surface breaks down into two separate sections, which each run around one of these adhesive points and start at a distance from one another from the horizontally running end edge of the cover wing. In this way, the part of the lid wing lying between the two starting points of the tear-off groove becomes a tab that is easy to grasp and on which the user only has to pull upwards in order to separate the lid along the tear-off groove and to open the opposite horizontal edge. A further advantage of this configuration of the tear-off groove in the recycling of waste paper is when the lid is grasped at this area of the flap and is jerkily lifted upwards, so that the entire box hangs on this flap, and the bottom part of the box is opened, which is generally wood-free Waste paper that has been collected in the box is released, but the box itself, which is not made of wood-free paper, remains on the gripping member and is thus separated.

A further embodiment of the invention relates to the possibility of widening the side wings, which form the two divided side walls, in the area in which they are not surrounded by the base plate so that the widenings overlap one another, as a result of which the box is sufficiently tight to pick up unwrapped paper. This possibility was not applicable to the previously known boxes, since the lid, which was not connected to the box, would no longer have been able to be placed on the bottom part of the box by the user with such a configuration of the side surfaces. In order to avoid an oversize of the box in the region of the side wall overlap, this oversize is preferably reduced in its thickness by pressing during the punching process in such a way that the total thickness of the overlap essentially corresponds to the thickness of the non-pressed cardboard from which the box is made .

The invention is explained in more detail with the aid of an exemplary embodiment, in which case FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a cardboard blank from which the lower part of the box is unfolded and Fig. 2 is a plan view of a cardboard blank from which the lid is folded.

The cardboard blank for the bottom part 1 of the box consists of a rectangular bottom surface 2, which is delimited by creases, the larger side surfaces 3 and 4 being arranged in one piece along the two longer sides of the rectangle and carrying the side wall wings 5 along their side edges.

In Fig. 1, the left part of such a blank is not shown to size, the following relationships apply: the bottom part 2 has the length 1 and the width b, the side surfaces 3 and 4 extend in the direction of the width b of the bottom 2 to later height h of the lower part of the box, which is smaller than the stack height of the paper stack to be packed.

. Im aufgefalteten Zustand überdeckt der Überdeckungslappen 6 den schmalen Spalt zwischen den unteren Enden der Flügel 5, im darüberliegenden Bereich überlappen einander jeweils korrespondierende Überdeckungsteile 5', die durch eine Pressung nur verminderte Dicke aufweisen.Covering tabs 6 adjoin the shorter side of the rectangular base 2, the extension of which is thus essentially the same on the one hand b and a at right angles thereto. The side wings 5, which hang on the side surfaces 3 and 4, have the width b / 2 up to approximately the height a and the width in the area above, until the height h is reached $\text{d + b / 2}$

. In the unfolded state, the overlap flap 6 covers the narrow gap between the lower ends of the wings 5; in the area above it, corresponding overlap parts 5 'overlap each other, which have only a reduced thickness due to pressing.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the lower ends of the covering parts 5 'are shown rounded, which makes it easier for the user to reclose the box. With regard to the intended field of application, the person skilled in the art has to decide whether the rounding lies above the height a, as shown, or within this height.

The part of the blank 1 that lies to the right of the axis of symmetry 7 is constructed in exactly the same way.

In the illustration, and in the further description, the slight dimensional differences necessary for the unfolding and gluing, which the outer gripping of the erected side wings 5 by the overlap flap 6 are not considered further, since they are well known to the person skilled in the carton production field and are taken into account by him in the design of each blank.

A special feature of the blank 1 is the dash-dotted crease line 8, which is easy to bend in its course parallel to the long side of the bottom 2 after its area between the bottom 2 and the cover flaps 6 is torn, which is due to a stronger weakening of the cardboard blank this section of line 8 is facilitated. The function of line 8 is explained below.

While the box is being assembled around a paper stack placed on the base 2, the side wall 3 is fixed by gluing the side wings 5 connected to it to the overlap flaps 6, while the side wall 4 is only inserted by inserting the connected wings 5 between the paper stack and the overlap flaps 6 held, but not firmly connected to the overlap. The final fixation is achieved by gluing the upper areas of the side surfaces 3 and 4 with corresponding cover surfaces.

A corresponding cover 11 is shown in a manner not to scale in FIG. 2. The cover 11 consists essentially of the actual cover surface 12 and the larger cover side surfaces 13, 14, which correspond to the corresponding side surfaces 3, 4 of the lower box part 1 and are also bonded to them. The gluing takes place between 3 and 13 in the region of the overlap between a pivot line 21 and the edge of the lid, while the gluing between surfaces 4 and 14 takes place only in the region of the corners 19 between a tear line 20 and the edge of the lid.

The lid is completed by the smaller lid side parts 16, which after unfolding are glued to wings 15, which in turn sit on the side parts 13, 14.

The parts 3, 13 on the one hand and 4, 14 on the other hand are glued after the lid has been placed on the paper stack put on and the pressure intended for this has been applied in the direction of the height of the stack, as is already the case in the prior art when the closure tape is applied.

The part of the cover side surface 14 which lies between the corners 19 or the inner ends of the two-part tear line 20 can be easily gripped by the user, the cover blank 11 tearing off along the weakening line 20 around the adhesive corners 19 when this region is pulled upwards and can be pivoted around the pivot line 21, the angled end regions of the pivot line 21 tearing open.

If high-performance copiers or printers are to be filled at once with the entire stack of paper stored in the box without further packaging, the box is lifted by the user after the lid is flipped up and the loose side surface 4, including the wings 5 attached, is tilted forward so far drawn over the contact surface that the line 8 of the base surface 2 no longer rests on the support surface of the box, but protrudes beyond the edge thereof, whereupon the base surface is bent along the weakening line 8 by applying pressure downwards onto the side surface 4, the legs of which lie between the base part 2 and the tab 6, tear.

The ends of the tabs 6 facing the user can then be bent outwards and backwards with ease along the continuation of the weakening line 8 in the flat state of the blank, so that the front part of the paper stack protrudes freely from the box. The entire stack, which now protrudes above the base 2, can then be placed on a corresponding loading surface of the copying machine or printer and loaded in one operation.

If the box is empty, the user can press the lid area between the creasing 18 and the side surface 13, so that an insertion slot is created for faulty copies or printed pages or other waste paper. When thrown in, the paper is deposited in the box with sufficient uniformity to fill it satisfactorily.

The box filled with waste paper comes to the collection point, where it is gripped, for example with a gripper, on the tab part of surface 14 and pulled upwards. As a result, the lid opens, as a result the loose side 4 of the lower part of the box and the contents fall out of the box. The content is usually made of wood-free paper, which allows a higher quality reuse than the wood sanding paper of the box. This simple separation takes into account the basic idea of waste separation.

The invention is primarily intended for the transport and storage of copier or printer paper in the usual formats from A4 to A3, but it is easy for the person skilled in the art, knowing the invention, to adapt it for his purposes.

Thus, in the case of the lower box part, the wings 5, 5 'can be reduced in size, similar to those of the cover 15, at the expense of the tabs 6, until finally, in extreme cases, the distance a becomes h, so that no sealing problems are to be feared. In this case, however, larger waste is to be expected. A change in the other direction is also conceivable, with a approaching zero and the overlap area of the two overlap parts practically extending over the entire height h.

The various additional measures (tear-off tab, overlaps, insertion slot, loading edge, etc.) can be provided in any combination and are only possible due to the increased stability of the entire box.

The specialist in the field of cardboard packaging can take all known measures such as coating, reinforcing, e.t.c. combine with the invention.

Claims (7)

1. A packaging carton or box, for a stack of paper, for example a stack of copier paper or printer paper, which may optionally comprise a plurality of individually packaged sub-stacks, consisting of a lower part (1) with a rectangular bottom surface (2) and lateral surfaces (4,5,6), of a lid (11) with a lid surface (12) and lateral surfaces (13,14), wherein one lateral surface (4) of the bottom part can be folded down outwards, optionally with parts (5) of the lateral surfaces adjacent thereto, characterised in that the lateral surface (4), which can be folded down, and the lateral surface (3) situated opposite thereto are adhered to corresponding lateral surfaces (13,14) of the lid (11).
2. A box according to Claim 1, characterised in that the adhesion on the foldable lateral surface (4) only takes place in the vicinity of its upper corners (9) and the corresponding lid lateral surface (14) has a respective weakening line (20) around the adhesive locations (19).
3. A box according to Claim 2, characterised in that the weakening lines (20) extend at a distance apart from the edge of the lid lateral surface (14).
4. A box according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which the foldable lateral surface (4) and the lateral surface (3) situated opposite thereto are provided on their edges, which extend vertically in the folded-up condition, with flaps (5) which form the two remaining side walls, tabs (6) also being disposed on the corresponding sides of the bottom surface (2), which tabs (6) outwardly embrace and retain the flaps (5), characterised in that in the regions not covered by the tabs (6) the flaps (5) have overlapping portions (5').
5. A box according to Claim 4, characterised in that the overlapping portions (5') are of reduced thickness with respect to the flaps (5).
6. A box according to either Claim 4 or Claim 5, characterised in that a scored line (8) is provided in the bottom surface (2) substantially parallel to the fold line for the foldable side wall (4), which scored line continues in a straight line into the tabs (6) and in the vicinity of the fold lines between the bottom surface (2) and the tabs (6).
7. A box according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that a weakening line (18) is provided in the lid surface (12), substantially parallel to the fold line for the foldable side wall (4), which is permanently adhered to the fixed side wall (3), which weakening line (18) continues obliquely at its ends into the region of the associated corners of the lid surface (2) and enables an insert slot to be provided in the lid surface (12).

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