EP0619795A1

EP0619795A1 - Folding packaging of the box pallet type.

Info

Publication number: EP0619795A1
Application number: EP93902305A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Michel Lacroix
Original assignee: Continentale Du Carton Ondule Socar SA Ste; SOCAR
Current assignee: Smurfit Socar SA
Priority date: 1991-12-06
Filing date: 1992-12-07
Publication date: 1994-10-19
Anticipated expiration: 2012-12-07
Also published as: WO1993011047A1; DE69205012T2; FR2684642A1; AU3356093A; DE69205012D1; ES2076836T3; FR2684642B1; EP0619795B1

Abstract

L'invention concerne un nouvel emballage pliant comprenant un conteneur (2) en un matériau semi-rigide et une palette rectangulaire (1) en bois dont est solidaire le conteneur, ce conteneur comprenant une partie de fond (7) solidaire de la palette et un corps (3) attenant à cette partie de fond et susceptible d'être replié à plat sur la surface supérieure de la palette, le corps (3) ayant une forme parallélépipédique et comportant quatre parois articulées entre elles par des lignes de pliage qui forment des arêtes perpendiculaires à la surface, deux parois parallèles (5) de ce corps comprenant en outre une ligne de pliage médiane (6) parallèle à ces arêtes, qui les divise en deux parties égales (5a-5b), de manière à pouvoir les replier en accordéon entre les deux autres parois. La partie de fond (7) est constituée par un élément rapporté en forme de dièdre, comprenant deux volets articulés (7a-7b) formant un dièdre d'arête (10) parallèle aux parois (4) du corps, ces deux volets (7a-7b) étant attenants respectivement aux parois (4) par une partie (8a) collée ou agrafée sur ces parois (4) et articulée sur le volet (7a-7b) associé par une ligne de pliage disposée à la base de ces parois (4) et s'étendant suivant toute la longueur de cette base.The invention relates to a new collapsible packaging comprising a container (2) made of a semi-rigid material and a rectangular wooden pallet (1) with which the container is integral, this container comprising a bottom part (7) integral with the pallet and a body (3) adjoining this bottom part and capable of being folded flat on the upper surface of the pallet, the body (3) having a parallelepipedic shape and comprising four walls hinged together by folding lines which form edges perpendicular to the surface, two parallel walls (5) of this body further comprising a median folding line (6) parallel to these edges, which divides them into two equal parts (5a-5b), so as to be able to fold like an accordion between the two other walls. The bottom part (7) consists of an added element in the form of a dihedron, comprising two hinged flaps (7a-7b) forming an edge dihedron (10) parallel to the walls (4) of the body, these two flaps (7a -7b) being respectively adjoining the walls (4) by a part (8a) glued or stapled to these walls (4) and articulated on the flap (7a-7b) associated by a fold line arranged at the base of these walls ( 4) and extending along the entire length of this base.

Description

FOLDING PACKAGING OF THE PALLET CASE TYPE

The present invention relates to a new folding packaging of the pallet box type, that is to say comprising a cardboard container, corrugated cardboard or the like, generally of parallelepiped shape, the bottom of which, usually consisting of flaps adjoining the side walls , is fixed on a wooden pallet or similar. The container can be opened at its upper part and be capped with a lid. Such pallet boxes are being used more and more for the packaging and transport of multiple goods, because they are easy to manufacture, at moderate cost, and can be produced with large dimensions, the pallet of which they are provided which are suitable for easy handling using transport or lifting trolleys.

In order to facilitate their storage before use in a small volume, it has been proposed to fold the packaging body flat on the pallet, but the pallet boxes of this type generally require, after assembly, the use of vertical beams in wood, known as "candles" in the art, to ensure their satisfactory behavior, and this increases their manufacturing cost and complicates the assembly operations.

It has also been proposed (see FR-A-2 054 841) to equip the container base with two half-pallets, fixed, respectively, on the flaps forming the external part of the bottom and adjoining two opposite side walls, which allows the container to be folded flat with the walls applied against each other, as well as the flaps forming the bottom, and with the half-pallets arranged on either side of the flattened packaging, outside of this one. This embodiment of a pallet box is particularly simple, but its formatting by the user is impractical, because nothing is provided to secure the half-pallets together, in position packaging mounted, otherwise ropes or straps, passing over the cover and below the bottom.

To remedy this drawback, the Applicant has proposed, in its European patent No. 0 228 971, a box of this type, that is to say one whose bottom is equipped with half-pallets, which can be delivered folded flat to the user, but whose half-pallets, both in the folded position and in the mounted position, are joined by an articulation member. For this purpose, this pallet box comprises a container of corrugated cardboard or the like, the external part of the bottom of which comprises two adjoining flaps by a fold line with two opposite parallel walls and on each of which is fixed a wooden half-pallet or similar, and it is characterized in that each of the walls to which the flaps carrying the half-pallets are not adjoining is divided into two equal parts by a fold line parallel to the vertical edges of the container, and in that the flaps carrying the pallets are assembled together so as to form a hinge or are joined by at least one element of cardboard or the like forming a hinge, which is fixed to said flaps and which comprises a fold line arranged along the connection plane of said half pallets. It is thus possible, due to the vertical folding lines of the walls of the container not adjoining the flaps carrying the half-pallets, to perform an "accordion" folding of these walls of the container in order to fold the latter flat, with the flaps carrying the half-pallets arranged in the extension of the side walls to which they are attached.

Conversely, it suffices to separate from one another the walls to which the flaps carrying the half-pallets are attached, by exerting traction on these walls or on these half-pallets, so that the pallet box is 'itself shaped, the flaps carrying the half-pallets straightening perpendicular to the adjoining walls, due to the hinge element which reunites.

The Applicant then proposed, in its French patent application No. 90 07090, a pallet box of the same

<general type than the previous one, but with a unique

5 pallet, and not two half-pallets, in order to facilitate, on the one hand, the storage of pallet boxes, with the containers folded flat and, on the other hand, their volume.

The present invention also relates to a

10 pallet box comprising a single pallet and a container foldable flat on the upper surface of this pallet, but it aims at results different from those of the pallets of the prior art.

Indeed, in these, the parts forming the

15 bottom of the container are formed by flaps or

"flaps" adjoining by fold lines to the side walls of this container, which has a double disadvantage:

- On the one hand, these flaps interfere with the flat folding of the container and, by a spring effect, tend to straighten it;

- on the other hand, the bottom part of the container is necessarily made of the same material as the side walls, that is to say made of corrugated cardboard of excellent

25 quality, having a very good resistance to compression and deformation, while these qualities are not required from the bottom.

Furthermore, the bottom parts of the pallet boxes of the prior art are glued or stapled to the upper face of the pallet or associated semi-pallets, which prevents them from being detached _{from it} easily. This is a serious drawback, in the context of environmental protection laws, which now require that the cardboard be recovered and recycled.

The present invention aims to solve these various problems by proposing a pallet box, the bottom part of which:

- is not one with the side walls of the container, but is attached and made integral with these by gluing or stapling;

- can, therefore, be made of cardboard of a different quality from that used for the side walls;

- is not glued or stapled to the associated pallet and can therefore be easily separated from it for recovery.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a pallet box comprising a container made of a semi-rigid material such as corrugated cardboard and a single rectangular wooden pallet to which the container is attached, this container comprising a bottom part secured to the pallet and a body adjoining this bottom part and capable of being folded flat in the plane of the upper surface of the pallet, the container body having a parallelepiped shape of cross section substantially equal to the upper surface of the pallet and comprising four walls hinged together by fold lines, which, in the use position of the pallet box, form edges perpendicular to the upper surface of the pallet, two parallel walls of this body further comprising a line of central folding parallel to these edges, which divides them into two equal parts, so that they can be folded in accordion between the other two walls also parallel to each other; this pallet box being characterized in that the body of the container is open at its lower part; in that the bottom part is constituted by an insert in the form of a dihedron, comprising two flaps articulated so as to form a dihedron of edge parallel to the walls of the body having no center fold line and arranged in the same plane that the median fold lines of the two other walls, these two flaps being respectively adjacent to the walls not having a median fold line by a part glued or stapled on these walls and articulated on the flap associated by a fold line disposed at the base of these walls and extending along the entire length of this base; in that the two flaps of the dihedral-shaped element forming the bottom part of the container further extend beyond the fold line forming the edge of the dihedron, along a strip which projects at the base of the container outside the bottom part and which is pinched between two parallel slats of the pallet, without any other means of attachment to it; and in that one of the flaps of the dihedral forming the bottom part is secured laterally, by gluing or stapling, of two angles, one branch of which rests on the pallet, perpendicular to the edge of the dihedral, along substantially the entire length of the corresponding side of the pallet, while their other branch is perpendicular to the upper surface of the pallet, so that in the position of use of the pallet box, this branch is applied laterally against the base of the walls of the body of the container having median fold lines.

The container body therefore comprises three independent elements, namely a body that can be folded flat, a bottom part in the form of a dihedral, also foldable flat, and two angles adjoining a single flap of this dihedron, these different parts being made integral from each other by gluing or stapling. As indicated above, they can therefore be made of different materials, in particular corrugated cardboard of different qualities.

Furthermore, the container thus produced being integral with the pallet only by pinching between two slats of this pallet of a part adjoining the flaps defining the dihedral which forms the bottom part, it will be easy to separate the container from the pallet , after use, to recover the cardboard from the container and recycle it.

Advantageously, as will be seen below, the walls of the container body divided into two equal positions by a middle fold line can be doubled internally by a reinforcement flap adjoining the adjoining wall by a fold line and secured by gluing or stapling the contiguous part of the wall comprising the middle fold line, the two reinforcing flaps can thus be retracted inside the container body, when the latter is folded flat, to be clamped between the two walls having no center fold line.

An embodiment of the invention will be described below, by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pallet box in the use position;

Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the folding of the container of the pallet box;

Figure 3 is a partial view of the container detached from the pallet and shown during folding; Figure 4 shows the container, detached from the pallet and completely folded;

Figure 5 is a top view of the pallet box with the container being shaped;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the pallet box, along line VI-VI of FIG. 5.

As can be seen in the drawings, the pallet box according to the invention comprises a pallet 1, having a rectangular upper surface, and a container 2 made of a semi-rigid material such as corrugated cardboard, of generally parallelepiped shape and of cross section substantially equal to the upper surface of the pallet.

The container 2 is secured to the pallet 1 by means which will be described in detail below, and it can be folded flat on the surface of the pallet, in order to facilitate storage of the pallet box before use. In the case of the drawing, the container 2 is open at its upper part and is intended to be capped by a cover, as shown, but flaps could as well be articulated in a known manner on the side walls, at their upper part, to ensure the closure of the container.

It has three separate parts, assembled together by gluing or stapling, namely: - a container body 3, which is open at its lower part and which has two longitudinal walls -4 and two transverse walls 5, hinged together by fold lines, which, after shaping the container, form edges of the container body, perpendicular to the upper face of the pallet 2, the transverse walls 5 being further divided into two equal parts 5a and 5b by a center fold line 6, parallel to said edges, to allow them to be folded in accordion between the walls 4, as shown in FIG. 2;

- A bottom part 7, comprising two rectangular flaps 7a-7b, defining an edge dihedral 10 perpendicular to the edges of the body 3 of the container and arranged in the same plane as the fold lines 6 (see FIG. 2), these flaps being adjoined by two strips 8a-8b to the longitudinal walls 4 on which the strips 8a-8b are glued or stapled, the flaps 7a-7b and the strips 8a-8b being hinged together by a fold line arranged along the entire length of the base of the walls 4;

- two angles 9, one branch of which, intended to rest on the pallet 1, along the edge of the latter perpendicular to the line of articulation of the flaps 7a-7b, is integral with the external face of one of these shutters, shutter 7a for example, so as to seal the container at the base of the transverse walls 5 and to allow the flat folding of the two shutters 7a-7b, applied one against the other, between the two angles 9 (Figure 3), then the flat folding of the body 3 of the container on the folded flaps, also between the two angles (Figures 3 and 4).

As seen in Figure 3, the flaps 7a-7b extend beyond the fold line 10 by two lla-llb strips (Figure 6), whether or not assembled together, these two strips being pinched between two contiguous slats 12a-12b of the middle part of the pallet, so as to make the container and the palette. No other means of securing is used and it is thus easy to separate the container from the pallet, after use, to recover the container and recycle the cardboard, as required by laws relating to environmental protection.

Tabs 13 extend the flap 8a beyond the edge 10, so as to bear on angles 9 and on the upper face of the pallet (see Figures 2 and 3). It will be noted that the bottom part, the angles and the body of the container being separate organs from each other, assembled by gluing or stapling, it will be possible to use, for each of them, the semi-rigid material the more suitable, in particular corrugated boxes of different quality, which minimizes the cost of producing the pallet box.

In order to reinforce the transverse walls 5 of the body 3 of the container, these will advantageously be doubled inside by a flap 12, adjoining by a fold line to one of the longitudinal walls 4 contiguous and laminated against the internal face of the part 5b of the wall 5 contiguous to this same longitudinal wall. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the flaps 12 are not opposed to the flat folding of the container, but, on the contrary, are retracted after folding between the two longitudinal walls 4.

Alternatively, it is possible to separate the angles 8a-8b from the container and fix them on the pallet.

Claims

1. Pallet box comprising a container (2) of a semi-rigid material such as corrugated cardboard and a single rectangular wooden pallet (l) to which the container is attached, this container comprising a bottom part (7) attached to the pallet and a body (3) adjoining this bottom part and capable of being folded flat in the plane of the upper surface of the pallet, the body (3) of the container having a parallelepiped shape of cross section substantially equal to the upper surface of the pallet and comprising four walls articulated together by fold lines which, in the position of use of the pallet box, form edges perpendicular to the upper surface of the pallet, two parallel walls (5) of this body further comprising a central fold line (6) parallel to these edges, which divides them into two equal parts (5a-5b), so as to be able to fold them in accordion between the two other walls also also parallel to each other; this pallet box being characterized in that the body (3) of the container is open at its lower part; in that the bottom part (7) is constituted by an insert in the form of a dihedral, comprising two articulated flaps (7a-7b) so as to form a corner dihedron (10), parallel to the walls (4) of the body having no center fold line and arranged in the same plane as the center fold lines (6) of the other two walls (5), these two flaps (7a-7b) being adjacent to the walls (4) respectively comprising no middle fold lines by a part (8a) glued or stapled to these walls (4) and articulated on the flap (7a-7b) associated by a fold line disposed at the base of these walls (4) and s' extending along the entire length of this base; in that the two flaps of the dihedral-shaped element forming the bottom part of the container further extend beyond the fold line forming the edge of the dihedral, along a strip (lla-llb) which projects at the base of the container outside the bottom part and which is pinched between two parallel slats (12a-12b) of the pallet, without further means of joining thereto; and in that one of the flaps (7a-7b) of the dihedral forming the bottom part (7) is secured laterally, by gluing or stapling, of two angles (9) one branch of which rests on the pallet, perpendicular to the the edge (10) of the dihedral, along substantially the entire length of the corresponding side of the pallet, while their other branch is perpendicular to the upper surface of the pallet, so that in the position of use of the pallet box, this branch is applied laterally against the base of the walls (5) of the body of the container having median fold lines (6).

2. Pallet box according to claim 1, characterized in that the walls (5) of the container body divided into two equal parts (5a, 5b) by a median fold line (6) are lined internally by a reinforcement flap (12), adjoining the adjoining wall (4) by a fold line and secured by gluing or stapling the adjoining part (5b) of the wall (5) comprising the median fold line (6).

3. Variant of the pallet according to claim 1, in which the angles (8a-8b) are fixed on the pallet (1), and not on the container (2).