EP1048591A1

EP1048591A1 - Packing device

Info

Publication number: EP1048591A1
Application number: EP99972185A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Masakazu Nomura; Muneo Kameda; Tetsuya Murase
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Corp
Priority date: 1998-11-17
Filing date: 1999-11-16
Publication date: 2000-11-02
Also published as: MY134759A; CN1288436A; CN1123510C; WO2000029309A1; EP1048591A4

Abstract

The packaging device is curtailed in the number of parts necessary for packaging, is capable of packaging at a low processing cost, is excellent in working efficiency and protection when handling, and has cushioning function and storage strength by one part only.

In this packaging device, as shown in Fig. 2, a cardboard 3 having a plurality of folding lines and cutting lines is adhered and bonded to both ends of a cardboard 1 having five sides with folding lines at overlap widths 6, 7, and combined into one flat sheet piece.

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a packaging device used in packaging of products.

Background of the Invention

In a conventional packaging device, for example when the object to be packaged is an air conditioner, as shown in Fig. 8, the object to be packaged B supported at both ends by a cushioning material A formed like a tray is inserted into a tubular outer box C, and bundled by a tightening band D to complete packaging.
In the conventional constitution, however, only the both ends of the object are supported by the cushioning material, and the middle of the object is not supported. Therefore, in the conventional constitution, since the object itself is likely to be damaged by deflection of the object when impact is applied by falling or the like, and it was required to modify the shape of the cushioning material or add a partial cushioning material to prevent damage of the object. Further in the conventional constitution, since the tubular outer box is required to hold the storage strength and the cushioning material holds the function of cushioning and protecting the object from impact, the number of parts is too many including other auxiliary parts, the number of man-hours needed to be packaged increases, which has caused to increase the cost.
In addition, in the conventional constitution, when unpacking or repackaging, when taking out the object from inside of the packaging device, one side of the opening of the tubular outer box is put on the floor, and the cushioning material and outer box are drawn out from the other opening, and then the object is taken out. It was therefore very poor in working efficiency at the site of installation. Besides, the object right after drawing out the cushioning material and outer box were fixed only at one side of the cushioning material, and the object may be damaged if tipped over by mistake.
When handling the packaging device, the operator carried by putting fingers into hand holes provided at sides of the cushioning material. However, since the size of the hand hole was related with the storage strength when storing the merchandise, enough size was not provided. Since the hand holes were small, it was hard to handle.
The invention solves such conventional problems, and it is hence an object thereof to present a packaging device excellent in working efficiency and protection when handling, having both protecting function and storing function of the object, inexpensively by one part of the packaging device only.

Summary of the Invention

To solve the problems, according to the invention,
sides of first and second rectangular side panels are contiguous to both mutually facing sides of a bottom panel,
first and second top panels are contiguous to sides at anti-bottom panel side of the first and second side panels,
sides of third and fourth side panels are straddling and contiguous to the bottom panel and both other sides of the first and second side panels, and
diagonal folding lines are formed at the junctions of these third and fourth side panels and the first and second side panels.
This constitution presents a packaging device excellent in working efficiency and protection when handling, having both protecting function and storing function of the object to be packaged, inexpensively by one part of the packaging device only.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1A is a drawing of a cardboard 1 for composing a packaging device in an embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 1B is a drawing of a cardboard 3 for composing the packaging device in the embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a developed diagram of the packaging device in the embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 3A is a perspective exploded view showing an assembling method of the packaging device in the embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 3B is a perspective exploded view showing a next step of assembling method of the packaging device in Fig. 3A.
Fig. 4 is an appearance drawing of the packaging device in the embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view of A-A in Fig. 3B.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view of B-B in Fig. 4.
Fig. 7 is a perspective exploded view showing an unpacking method in the embodiment.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional packaging device.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring now to the drawings, an embodiment of the invention is described below. Herein, third and fourth side panels are composed as separate parts.

Embodiment 1

Fig. 1A shows a cardboard 1 for composing the embodiment. The cardboard 1 has five sides with folding lines, being composed of a side (bottom panel)1-a for supporting and covering the back side of the object to be packaged 2, sides (first and second side panels)1-b for covering the top and bottom, side (first top panel)1-c for supporting and fixing the front side, and side (second top panel) 1-d. The broken line in Fig. 1A denotes the folding line.
Fig. 2B shows a cardboard 3 for composing the embodiment. The cardboard 3 is for closing both openings made when the object 2 is rolled in by the cardboard 1 and formed into a tubular outer box, and it has a plurality of folding lines or cutting lines. The cardboard 3 corresponds to third and fourth side panels.
This cardboard 3 having a plurality of folding lines or cutting lines is composed of a panel 3-a for closing the opening of the tubular outer box formed by the cardboard 1 and for supporting the side surface of the object 2, and panels 3-b and 3-c for supporting the top and bottom of the object 2. The panel 3-a and panel 3-b are partitioned by a folding line 4, and the panels 3-b and 3-c are partitioned by a folding line 5 having a cutting line.
For adhering and bonding to the cardboard 1, overlap widths (lower overlap portions) 6, 7 are provided. Folding line 8 is disposed at the boundary of the panel 3-1 and the overlap width 6. Folding line 9 is disposed at the boundary of the panel 3-c and the overlap width 7. In addition, at the facing side of the overlap width 6, there is an overlap width coated with an adhesive (upper overlap portion) 10, and folding line 11 is disposed at the boundary of the panel 3-a and this overlap width 10.
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the packaging device having the members shown in Fig. 1A, Fig. 1B of the embodiment adhered and bonded integrally. At both ends of the panels 1-a and 1-b of the cardboard 1 having five sides with folding lines, the cardboard 3 is adhered and bonded at overlap widths 6, 7 provided in the cardboard 3 having a plurality of folding lines or cutting lines. As a result, the packaging device of the embodiment is one developed sheet.
When packaging, as shown in Fig. 3A, the cardboard 3 adhered and bonded to the both ends of the cardboard 1 having five sides with folding lines is bent upright from the folding lines 8, 9. Between the upright portions of the cardboard 3, the object 2 is inserted, and the both sides of the object 2 are supported by the panel 3-a of the cardboard 3.
Next, as shown in Fig. 3B, the panel 1-b of the cardboard 1 is bent along the folding line to cover the top and bottom of the object 2. At this time, the panels 3-b and 3-c of the cardboard 3 are folded along the folding lines 4, 9 and folding line 5 having a cutting line. As shown in Fig. 5, the panels 3-b and 3-c are adjacent to each other, thereby forming thick cushioning parts for supporting and fixing the top and bottom of the object 2.
Then, the overlap width 10 provided in the cardboard 3 is folded to the reverse side of the object 2 as shown in Fig. 6, and the panel 3-a for supporting and covering both sides of the object 2 of the cardboard 3 from the end panel of the cardboard 1 is formed at the inner side. Finally, the overlap width 10 provided in the cardboard 3 and the panels 1-c and 1-d of the cardboard 1 bent along the folding line are adhered and bonded on the top of the packaging device, and the package is completed as shown in Fig. 4.
In addition, when unpacking or repackaging the packaging device, as shown in Fig. 7, the panel 1-c of the cardboard 1 having five sides with folding lines is peeled off from the overlap width 10 of the cardboard 3, so that the object 2 can be put in and out.
In this constitution, by the part adhering and bonding the cardboard 1 and cardboard 3, the packaging device having a cushioning function to protect the object 2 and a storage strength necessary when storing the merchandise is realized, and the number of parts is decreased and the number of man-hours needed to be packaged is saved, and hence the entire packaging cost can be reduced.
After unpacking the packaging device, as shown in Fig. 2, it becomes a single flat sheet, and it is easy to discard, not requiring peeling or sorting process from other parts. In addition, the material storing space before packaging is saved.
Moreover, since the panel 3-a for supporting and covering both sides of the object 2 is formed at the inner side of the end panel of the cardboard, the packaging device can be handled from any direction of four sides at both ends of the cardboard 1. Also the operator's handling area is increased when carrying the packaging device, and the ease of handling is enhanced.
Moreover, since the panel 3-a for supporting and covering the sides of the object 2 is tapered, the object 2 can be supported securely from both ends along its side outline shape, and damage due to move of the object in the packaging device can be prevented due to impact or vibration during transportation.
The panels 1-a, 1-b, 1-c, 1-d of the cardboard 1 used as hand hooks are adhered and bonded to the overlap widths 6,7, 10 of the cardboard 3 in double structure, so that the strength is enhanced.
The sealing joint portion of the packaging device is disposed at the top panel end side, and therefore by peeling the panel 1-c of the cardboard 1 from the overlap width 10 of the cardboard 3 and opening, the object 2 can be easily put in and out from the longitudinal side of the packaging device. Therefore, repackaging and unpacking procedure is easy, and the working efficiency is enhanced. Since the object 2 can be taken out in stable state, the object may be protected from the damage due to falling or tumbling of the object by mistake when unpacking.
In addition, the area of the panel 1-c is set smaller than the area of the panel 1-d, and when the panel 1-c of the cardboard 1 is peeled and opened from the overlap width 10, the developed area of the entire packaging device is smaller, and it is easy to repackage or unpack in a limited narrow place for installation.
In the above explanation, the cardboard 3 is a separate part and is bonded to the cardboard 1, but they may be composed of one sheet only.
As the object 2 to be packaged, a relatively lightweight and nearly rectangular parallelepiped structure is suited, and the indoor unit of an air conditioner weighing about 10 kg is most appropriate.

Industrial Applicability

As clear from the embodiment, according to the constitution of the invention, since one part has the cushioning function for protecting the object and storage strength at the time of storing, the number of parts of the packaging members is saved, and it is inexpensive and working efficiency is improved. Moreover, when discarding the packaging members, it is easy to work and discard.
According to the constitution of the invention, the packaging device can be held from any direction of four sides of the opening of the tubular outer box, and the hand hook area for the operator on the packaging device is increased, and handling efficiency is enhanced.
According to the constitution of the invention, the object can be put in and out easily when unpacking or repackaging without dismembering the entire packaging device, so that the working efficiency is enhanced. Since the object can be taken out and put in in stable state, the object may be protected from the damage due to falling or tumbling of the object by mistake.
According to the constitution of the invention, when putting the object in and out of the packaging device, the developed area of the entire packaging device is smaller, and it is easy to unpack or repackage in a limited narrow place for installation.
According to the constitution of the invention, since the packaging members are overlapped at the bottom and top panels of the both openings of the tubular outer box in a double structure, the strength of the hand hook is enhanced.
According to the constitution of the invention, the length is different between the lower overlap portion and upper overlap portion, and the third and fourth side panels of the packaging device are tapered side panels, and therefore it is possible to support and fix along the slope of the object in the packaging device, thereby preventing moving and damaging of the object due to impact or vibration applied during transportation or handling.
According to the constitution of the invention, since the third and fourth side panels are separate parts and adhered and bonded, the material can be shaped effective, and wasteful materials can be reduced.

Reference Numerals

1: cardboard
2: object to be packaged
3: cardboard
4: folding line
5: folding line having a cutting line
6: overlap width
7: overlap width
8: overlap width
9: folding line
10: overlap width
11: folding line
A: cushioning material formed like a tray
B: object to be packaged
C: tubular outer box
D: tightening band

Claims

A packaging device, wherein sides of first and second rectangular side panels are contiguous to both mutually facing sides of a bottom panel, first and second top panels are contiguous to sides at anti-bottom panel side of the first and second side panels, sides of third and fourth side panels are straddling and contiguous to said bottom panel and both other sides of said first and second side panels, and diagonal folding lines are formed at the junctions of these third and fourth side panels and said first and second side panels.
A packaging device of claim 1, wherein lower overlap portions overlapping with the bottom panel and first and second side panels when folded are formed on the third and fourth side panels, and the third and fourth side panels, when assembled, are positioned inside of the square tubular outer ends composed of the bottom panel, first and second side panels, and first and second top panels.
A packaging device of claim 1, wherein the first top panel and second top panel composing the top panel when assembled do not overlap each other.
A packaging device of claim 1, wherein the size of the first top panel and second top panel is different from each other.
A packaging device of claim 2, wherein upper overlap portions overlapping with the first and second top panels when assembled are provided at opposite sides of the lower overlap portions of the third and fourth side panels.
A packaging device of claim 5, wherein the third and fourth side panels are formed obliquely when assembled by varying the length of the lower overlap portions and upper overlap portions.
A packaging device of claim 1, wherein the third and fourth side panels are composed of separate parts and adhered and bonded to the bottom panel and first and second side panels.
A packaging device of claim 2, wherein the third and fourth side panels are composed of separate parts and adhered and bonded to the bottom panel and first and second side panels.
A packaging device of claim 1, wherein the object is an air conditioner.