Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper
  • B65D5/42—Details of containers or of foldable or erectable container blanks
  • B65D5/54—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing
  • B65D5/5445—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing for dividing a tubular body into separate parts
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper
  • B65D5/42—Details of containers or of foldable or erectable container blanks
  • B65D5/54—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper
  • B65D5/42—Details of containers or of foldable or erectable container blanks
  • B65D5/54—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing
  • B65D5/5405—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing for opening containers formed by erecting a blank in tubular form
  • B65D5/542—Lines of weakness to facilitate opening of container or dividing it into separate parts by cutting or tearing for opening containers formed by erecting a blank in tubular form the lines of weakness being provided in the container body

Definitions

• the invention relates to a carton or sleeve for accommodating one or more articles for example cans, bottles or the like formed from one or more blanks of paperboard or other suitable foldable sheet material and more particularly to a carton capable of being formed into a sealed compartment including a cover flap with mean for releasably fastening the cover flap to the carton.
• the invention is particularly useful where it is desirable for cartons containing articles to be enclosed to protect the or each article.
• US3,078,030 illustrates a carton having integral hinged top that is reclosable.
• the top is provided by a front cover panel and a spacer panel secured to one side of the front cover panel to interfit with a mating upper portion of the front panel of a box.
• Fastening means is formed from a detached double layer portion of the front panel. However, the detached portion is attached to the inside surface of the cover flap resulting in a stepped non-flat front surface.
• a second aspect of the invention is concerned with the provisions of a frangible connection for releasably fastening the cover flap. More particularly, a tear strip arrangement is disclosed.
• tear lines are used.
• a problem with known tear arrangements is that, in certain circumstances the tear may deviate from the desired path leading to an irregular tear line path or worse, deviation from the tear line completely which may result in destroying the integrity of the carton.
• a first aspect of the invention provides a carton having a tear line comprising a plurality of perforations or short slits arranged in at least three rows
• the perforations or slits of each row is offset the perforations or short slits of the next adjacent row.
• the perforations in a row are spaced by a distance in the range of about 1mm to 5mm. More preferably, each row is spaced from the next adjacent row by a distance of about 0.5mm to 2.5mm.
• a second aspect of the invention provides a carton having a wall provided with a tear open feature which comprises a tear initiating means formed in the wall and at least three tear lines extending from the tear initiating means toward the perimeter of the wall, wherein each tear line comprises a plurality of perforations or short slits arranged in at least three rows.
• the tear open feature may comprise four tear lines extending towards the four corners of the wall respectively.
• the tear initiating means comprises a push tab struck from the wall.
• a third aspect of the invention in a carton formed from paperboard or other sheet material of like function, a tear structure which defines a join between two adjacent panels, means to grasp a panel to be torn away defined, at least in part, by said tear structure so that it can be displaced out of the plane it occupies at rest and fold lines disposed between said means and said tear structure to enhance the amount by which said tear away panel can be displaced so that shear forces exerted on the tear structure are sufficient to cause tearing at the tear structure whereby the tear away panel can be removed from the carton.
• the tear away panel provides access to the carton contents when removed.
• the tear away panel is a top panel of the carton and wherein the tear structure extends around the periphery of that panel and wherein said means for grasping the panel is disposed remote from its periphery, said fold lines extending from said means in a multiplicity of directions to meet said tear structure at a plurality of locations.
• said tear structure comprises at least two adjacent perforate lines wherein the perforations in one of said lines are disposed intermediate the perforations in the next adjacent line and wherein the spacing between said adjacent lines is no greater than the spacing between the perforations of either one of them.
• a fourth aspect of the invention provides a blank for forming a carton having a tear line comprising a plurality of perforations or short slits arranged in at least three rows.
• the perforations or slits of each row is offset the perforations or short slits of the next adjacent row.
• the perforations in a row are spaced by a distance in the range of about 1mm to 5mm. More preferably, each row is spaced from the next adjacent row by a distance of about 0.5mm to 2.5mm.
• FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming a carton incorporating the tear line arrangement according to a first embodiment of the invention
• FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the carton formed from the blank illustrated in Figure 1 in a set-up and loaded condition;
• FIGURES 3 and 4 illustrate the carton with the cover flap partially torn open
• FIGURE 4a is an enlarged view of the tear strip feature
• FIGURE 5 illustrates a blank according to a second embodiment of the invention
• FIGURE 6 illustrates a perspective view of the carton formed from the blank of Figure 5 in a set-up and loaded condition
• FIGURE 7 illustrates the carton of Figure 6 with the cover panel fully torn open.
• the carton is adapted to hold one or more articles.
• the blank 10 comprises a base panel 12, first side wall panels 14, top panel 16 and second side wall panel 18 hingedly connected together in series along fold lines 20, 22 and 24 respectively.
• opposed end wall panels 26, 30 hingedly connected to the opposed end edges of base panel 12 along fold lines 28 and 32 respectively.
• the base panel is substantially square although it is envisaged that other shapes of the base panel and/or sleeve can be adopted according to the shape and/or size of the article(s) to be contained.
• end wall panels 26 and 28 there further comprises opposed end flaps 34 and 38 hingedly connected to opposed edges of top panel 16 along fold lines 36 and 40.
• the support flaps are provided along the longitudinal edges of the side wall panel 14 and 18 respectively.
• end flaps 42c and 42d are hingedly connected to the opposed edges of second side wall panel 18 along fold lines 44c and 44d.
• a securing flap 46 hingedly connected to base panel along fold line 48, to secure the opposite ends of the blank together.
• the securing flap 46 may be provided with fold lines 50 and 52.
• One aspect of the invention provides a one or more detachable cover flaps formed in the top wall panel 16.
• the cover flaps are hingedly connected to the carton both along fold lines 22, 40, 24 and 36 respectively.
• cover flaps are frangibly interconnected together by frangible lines: so in this embodiment, cover panel 54 is frangibly connected to cover panels 56 and 60 along frangible lines 66 and 68. Likewise, cover panel 58 is frangibly connected to cover panels 60 and 56 along frangible lines 62 and 64.
• the cover flaps are, in this embodiment, triangular in shape although other polygonal shaped are envisaged without departing from the scope of invention.
• a push tab 70 which is detachably connected to the top panel.
• the tab 70 is centrally positioned at the point the frangible lines 62, 64, 66, 68 interconnect.
• frangible lines 62, 64, 66 and 68 there is provided a fold line 62a, 62b; 64a, 64b; 66a, 66b; 68a, 68b bisecting the frangible lines shown in Figure 4.
• the fold lines prevent the tearing from going beyond the ends of the frangible lines, by dissipating the tearing forces.
• FIG. 4 and 4A illustrate the preferred embodiment of tear line 68 which are formed from three or more individual rows 72, 74 76 comprising a plurality of perforations or short slits.
• a perforation is spaced from the next adjacent perforation by a distance L.
• the distance L will vary according to particular tear characteristics, although it has been found that a usable range of distance L is between approximately 1 and 5 mm.
• Each row 72, 74, 76 is also spaced from the next adjacent row by a distance C.
• the distance C will vary according to particular tear characteristics required, although it has been found that a usable range of distance C is between approximately 0.5 and 2.5 mm.
• Each row of perforations is offset the next row so that the perforations appear to have a "stair" shape as shown in Figure 4A.
• the tear line 68 has been found to be more effective than a tear strip with one or two rows of slits because the central row of perforations 74 transmits the tear along its length - the force of the tear passes through this central line. The shearing forces are then applied across one side or the other side of the central row 74 to tear the space C between the central row 74 and the outer rows 72 and 76, as the tear moves along the tear line.
• any of the embodiments of the carton of the present invention can be formed by a series of sequential folding and gluing operations, which can be formed in a straight-line machine so that the carton is not required to be rotated or inverted to complete its construction.
• the folding process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing or user requirements.
• the carton could be part constructed whereby side panel 18 and securing flap 50 are secured together to form a tubular structure before loading it with articles.
• the base wall panel 12, opposed side wall panels 14, 18 and top panels 16 are folded out of alignment along fold lines 20, 22 and 24 and are folded into a tubular structure and securing flap 46 is secured to side panels 18 by glue or other means known in the art.
• the article(s) is loaded into the carton by known packaging means.
• the support flaps 42 are folded inwardly along fold lines 44 and the opposing ends are constructed by folding end wall panels 26 and 30 upwardly along fold lines 28 and 32 respectively.
• the end flaps 34 and 38 are folded downwardly along fold lines 36 and 40 and the outer face of the end flaps 34 and 38 are secured to the inner face of end wall panels 26 and 30 by glue or other means know in the art.
• the carton is in a set up and loaded condition as shown in Figure 2.
• the push tab 70 is depressed inwardly by the user to reveal an edge 71 which is gripped by the user to tear one of the cover flaps 56 in an upward and outward direction as shown in Figure 3.
• the tear lines 64 and 66 tear to reveal an access aperture A.
• the tearing process corresponds to that described above and illustrated in Figures 4 and 4A.
• FIG. 5 A second embodiment is illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7, which embodiment shares many identical panels and fold lines so like parts have been designated by the same reference numerals with the prefix ' 1 '. Therefore, only the differences will be described in any greater detail.
• the carton blank 110 is provided with a unitary cover panel 116 hingedly interconnecting side wall panels 114 and 118.
• the unitary cover panel 116 is substantially square in shape being defined along its edges by tear lines 162, 164, 166 and 168.
• a push tab 170 is provided in the central region of the cover panel 116, although in other embodiments it could be positioned close to one corner of the cover panel to help with starting the tearing off from that corner.
• the push tab 170 is depressed to reveal an aperture. Thereafter the user inserts a finger into the aperture and pulls the cover flap 116 which is then detached from the remaining panels of the carton by tearing along tear lines 162, 164, 166 and 168, as shown in Figure 7.
• tear lines 162, 164, 166 and 168 tear lines 162, 164, 166 and 168.
• the embodiments of the invention hereinbefore described provided a structure that is sufficiently strong to retain articles and to provide an integral sleeve or enclosed carton.
• the use of paperboard material provides an environmentally alternative to cartons made from plastic material and the sleeves made from paperboard can include printed matter for marketing purposes.
• top, bottom, side, “end”, “upper” and “lower” with respect to the panels of the carton (or carton blank) are relative terms, and that the carton (formed from the blank) may be re-oriented as necessary or as desired. It will be further recognized that rather than the bottom wall being formed from the interlocked panels, the carton blank may be rearranged whereby some other wall such as a top wall or a side wall is formed from the interlocked panels.
• hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only: indeed it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or more of one of the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line, without departing from the scope of invention.
• the invention and its preferred embodiment relate to a carton or a sleeve which is shaped to provide satisfactory rigidity to hold items such as information discs for example floppy or zip discs or foodstuff with a degree of flexibility.
• the shape of the blank minimizes the amount of paperboard required for the carton.
• the carton can be constructed from a flat collapsed condition to position of use and/or loaded by hand or automatic machinery. It is anticipated the invention can be modified without departing from the scope of the invention: for example, side and end panels can be increased in height or width to provide a carton to receive one or more articles of different shapes and/or sizes.
• the tear lines shown in the various embodiments can be applied to other known carton types, for example a fully enclosed carton or wraparound cartons for beverage containers or for foodstuffs, without departing from the scope of invention.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Cartons (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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ID=9930713

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

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• 2002
  • 2002-02-08 GB GBGB0203005.4A patent/GB0203005D0/en not_active Ceased
• 2003
  • 2003-02-10 WO PCT/US2003/004146 patent/WO2003066452A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-02-10 JP JP2003565844A patent/JP2005536405A/ja active Pending
  • 2003-02-10 MX MXPA04007587A patent/MXPA04007587A/es unknown
  • 2003-02-10 AU AU2003217380A patent/AU2003217380A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-02-10 BR BR0307509-5A patent/BR0307509A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-02-10 KR KR10-2004-7012268A patent/KR20040093714A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-02-10 CA CA002475464A patent/CA2475464A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-02-10 EP EP03713424A patent/EP1472146A2/en not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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