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
  • B65D5/72—Contents-dispensing means
  • B65D5/721—Contents-dispensing means consisting of mobile elements forming part of the containers or attached to the containers
  • B65D5/723—Sliding elements for covering and uncovering discharge openings of containers, e.g. slide-closures

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a container provided with an opening tab.
• the container is particularly but not exclusively adapted to contain flowing products such as rice, pasta, salt, legumes and the like or liquids, such as beverages, mineral water, wine and the like.
• containers obtained from sheets of laminar material of various kinds, die-cut and assembled so as to form box-like bodies of various shapes and dimensions are already commercially available.
• Most containers currently in use have a generally rectangular prism-like shape and have, in order to allow the outflow of the contained product, a breakable portion formed by a line of perforations or a preweakening scoring that allows to fold and remove said portion and form an opening for the outflow of the product.
• the container When the container is required to have particular hermetic tightness requirements, such as for example for containing liquids, the container has a suitable auxiliary spout, which is applied by thermal bonding or gluing and is closed by a tab that is torn off by the user at the time of use.
• the aim of the present invention is to provide a container that allows to obviate the above-cited drawbacks of known containers.
• an object of the present invention is to provide a container that is highly versatile in use in relation to the type of product that it is intended to contain.
• a container provided with an opening tab which comprises a tubular body that has a polygonal cross-section and has opposite ends provided with closure elements formed by flaps that are folded and mutually joined one over the other, characterized in that the flaps that form at least one closure element are provided with openings which mutually overlap when closure is completed, the opening of a flap that is intermediate with respect to the other openings forming a seat that accommodates a slider composed of a closure panel provided with a tearable tab that lies between the adjacent flaps and can be accessed from the outside of the container, said slider, upon acting on said tab, being movable in said seat between a position in which said panel closes the remaining openings and a position in which it clears said openings in order to allow the outflow of the content from said container.
• Figure 1 is a view of a sheet of die-cut cardboard, from which the container according to the invention is obtained by means of successive folds;
• Figures 2 to 7 are views of successive steps of the folding of the die- cut sheet;
• Figures 8 and 9 are two partial perspective views, with breakage lines, of a container according to two embodiments of the invention. Ways of carrying out the Invention With reference to Figure 1, the reference numeral 1 generally designates a substantially rectangular sheet of die-cut cardboard used to produce a carton according to the invention.
• the reference numerals 2 to 5 designate four parallel scoring lines, at right angles to which there are two additional parallel scoring lines that are divided by the scoring lines 2-5 into segments designated by the reference numerals 6 to 14.
• the scoring lines 2-5 form, together with the segments 6- 14, rectangular walls 15-19, and continue at their opposite ends with respective cutting lines 20-26, which form, together with the segments 6-14, mutually separate flaps 27-35.
• the walls 15-19 compose the polygonal tubular body of the container and the flaps 27-35 constitute the end closure elements of the container.
• a substantially square opening 36 (hereinafter termed seat 36 for the sake of convenience in description) is formed in the flap 27 and has two sides 37, 38 that are parallel to the scoring segment 6 and other two sides 39, 40 that are parallel to the cutting line 20.
• the seat 36 is connected, by a passage 41 that passes through the scoring segment 6, to a slot 42 formed in the wall 15.
• the reference numeral 43 designates a T-shaped laminar slider that lies within the plane of the flap 27 and of the wall 15 and is composed of a panel 44 and a tab 45. As will become better apparent hereinafter, the panel
• 44 is designed to act as a flow control element in order to allow or block the flow of product out of the container.
• the panel 44 is rectangular and is arranged in the seat 36 so that the short sides are connected to the sides 39, 40 of the seat 36 by joining lines 46.
• the tab 45 protrudes from the panel 44 through the passage 41, with which it is rigidly coupled by joining lines 47, and its end extends into the slot 42.
• joining lines 46, 47 are perforated or otherwise weakened in order to allow them to break when pulled.
• the elements described above i.e., the seat 36, the slot 42, the passage 41 and the slider 43, as well as the perforated joining lines 46, 47, in practice are provided by die-cutting the flap 27 and the wall 15 so that the panel 44 is separated from the upper side 37 of the seat 36 by a cutting line and is spaced from the lower side 38 of said seat by two rectangular slots 48, 49 that are laterally adjacent to the tab 45.
• the panel 44 is therefore capable of sliding in the seat 36 when, after lifting and tearing by pulling part of the joining lines 47 that retain it in the passage 41, the tab 45 is pulled so as to also break the joining lines 46.
• the die-cutting of the sheet 1 is completed by four additional openings 50, 51, 52 and 53, which are formed in the respective flaps 28, 29, 30, 31 and are slightly smaller than the openings of the seat 36.
• the openings 51-53 are arranged and orientated so that when the flaps 28-31 are mutually superimposed there is a single opening that faces the seat 36 of the flap 27.
• the walls 15-19 are folded along the lines 2-5 so as to form a tubular body 54 that has a quadrangular cross-section and in which the wall 19 is joined, for example by interposing adhesives or in other manners, to the inside face of the wall 15 ( Figure 2).
• the flaps 28 and 30 are folded together at 90° toward the inside of the tubular body 54 ( Figures 3 and 4).
• the flap 27 that supports the panel 44 is folded onto the flap 30 ( Figures 5 and 6) and finally the flap 29 is folded, completing the formation of the end closure element 55 of the container ( Figures 6 and 7).
• all the flaps are perimetrically joined to each other so as to provide a sturdy closure, which by being composed of a plurality of layers of cardboard provides adequate stiffening of the container.
• the flaps 32-35 are folded onto each other toward the inside of the container and are firmly joined to each other in order to provide a supporting bottom that is capable of keeping the container in an upright and stable position.
• the invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept.
• the flaps 28-31 can be folded onto each other into an order that is different from the one described above.
• the flap 27 that supports the panel 44 of the slider 43 can be arranged under a double covering flap instead that under a single one, as shown in the example of Figures 2-7.
• Figure 8 is a view of an embodiment in which, in order to reduce the thickness of the end closure element 55, the flap 29 does not overlap the lateral flaps 28, 30 as in the previous example but lies below the lateral flaps and is cut shorter so as to avoid increasing the thickness of the flaps 27, 31.
• FIG 9 is a view of a further embodiment in which the panel 44 of the slider 43 is arranged in a seat 56 that is formed in the wall 15.
• An opening 57 formed in the wall 19 is arranged opposite said seat.
• the flap 27 is folded over and joined to the inner face of the wall 15 and is provided with an opening 58 that lies opposite the seat 56.
• the flap 31 does not have the opening 53 and the tab 45 ends, when the container is assembled, at the edge 59 formed by the wall 19 and the flap 31.
• the tab 45 can be gripped through a slot 60 formed in the wall 19, which opens with a slit in the flaps 30 and 31.
• the openings 57 and 58 are smaller than the seat 36 in order to keep the panel 44 of the slider 43 guided during its sliding.
• the flaps and the walls are all hermetically sealed together by using heat- sealable plastic-laminated cardboard, and the opening for the outflow of the product is sealed with a film that is connected to the panel 44 and is suitable to be torn when the panel is moved into the position for opening the container.
• all the details may be replaced with other technically equivalent ones.
• the materials used, as well as the shapes and the dimensions, may further be any according to requirements without thereby abandoning the scope of the protection of the appended claims.
• the disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. BO2003A000207 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

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

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=33156323

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

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Family Cites Families (4)

• 2003
  • 2003-04-08 IT ITBO20030207 patent/ITBO20030207A1/it unknown
• 2004
  • 2004-03-26 EP EP04723563A patent/EP1611019A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-03-26 WO PCT/EP2004/003241 patent/WO2004089766A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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