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
  • B65D71/00—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material
  • B65D71/40—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material comprising a plurality of articles held together only partially by packaging elements formed by folding a blank or several blanks
  • B65D71/46—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material comprising a plurality of articles held together only partially by packaging elements formed by folding a blank or several blanks formed by folding a single blank into a tubular element

Definitions

• the invention relates to a carton produced for packaging a plurality of articles, for example bottles. More particularly the invention relates to a carton of the top gripping type which attaches to the tops of the articles thereby securing the articles in an array. The invention also provides a means of restricting the movement of the bottles contained within the carton.
• top gripping article carriers which comprise apertures for receiving articles.
• the articles are often held in place by retaining tabs which are formed from material used to create the apertures.
• the retaining tabs support the bottles by engaging an underside portion of a flanged portion of the bottle top. This arrangement only supports the upper portion of the bottles and the bottoms remain free to twist and move even when contained within the top gripping carton and the tabs are weakened by the unstable nature of the bottles within the carton so reducing its effectiveness.
• a further problem is that a top gripping carton needs to be of sufficient strength to support the bottle.
• a rigid structure would address this problem but produces its own difficulties.
• a top panel and/or base panel do not provide requisite rigidity and sufficient strength to support the bottle. It is therefore desirable to have a top gripping carton which provides more support for the bottles contained within the carton. This is especially so when the bottles are contained in rows. When cartons containing two rows of bottles are lifted the bottles in one row often move with respect to the bottles held in the other row such that the two rows split away from one another which weakens the package. This can make the carton difficult to carry, often results in some of the more loosely held bottles falling from the carton and can even result in the carton tearing or ripping.
• EP0541334 A1 discloses a keel construction which is suitable for retaining and/or separating articles.
• the keels are somewhat complex to set up from a collapsed form in the carton blank.
• each keel acts to separate two articles in adjacent rows is formed from at least two separate tabs which are struck from the base of the carton which panels are required to be interlocked for example at a co-operating tab and aperture in order to form an erected keel.
• the base of the carton is formed from two overlapping base panels which are also required to be interlocked and accordingly the formation of the carton and keel structure is fairly complex.
• top gripping carton which is strong and rigid and which provides support for the articles contained within. It is also desirable to have an article carrier which restricts the movement of the articles held within the carton and which is simple to construct and requires minimum material. It is also often desirable to have a carton where a top panel protects the tops of the articles having perforable tops, for example yoghurt pots.
• Positional support is provided to maintain the bottles at a fixed spacing and to prevent the rows of bottles from splitting apart.
• the invention provides, a carton of the top gripping type, the carton comprising a plurality of main panels for forming a tubular structure, the main panels including a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall comprising container receiving apertures arranged in rows in the bottom wall for accommodating containers, retaining means for retaining the containers within the apertures, said retaining means being structured to encourage upper portions of the containers held in one row to lean towards upper portions of containers held in an adjacent row and comprising spacing means to space said upper portions of the containers held in said one row from said upper portions of containers held in said adjacent row and to resist the tendency, caused by said retaining means, for said upper portions of containers held in one row to lean towards upper portions of containers held in an adjacent row such that the containers are restricted from moving relative to one another by said retaining means co-operating with said spacing means.
• said retaining means comprises retaining tabs, at least one retaining tab being struck from the bottom wall from material taken to form each of two opposed container receiving apertures, each retaining tab being structured such that it has a shaped edge which engages an underside of an upper portion of a container thereby to urge an upper portion of that container toward an upper portion of a container held in an opposed container receiving aperture of said adjacent row.
• the or each retaining tab is hinged to the bottom wall along an arcuate fold line such that the bottom wall is deformed substantially convexly, when said retaining tab is folded out of the plane of said bottom wall along said arcuate fold line, said arcuate fold line being disposed transversely of the side walls of the carton.
• the end-to-end length of the bottom wall between the side walls, when the carton is in blank form is longer than the end-to-end length of the top wall between the side walls, thereby to further encourage the bottom wall to deform convexly.
• the bottom wall further comprises a weakened arrangement extending between adjacent rows of said container receiving apertures, said weakened arrangement comprising medial fold lines, said medial fold lines being substantially parallel with each other and with said side walls of the carton.
• said medial fold lines terminate, at each end of the bottom wall, at a pair of converging fold lines, said pairs of converging fold lines extending from said medial lines toward a free edge of the bottom wall.
• said spacing means comprises a spacing tab, said spacing tab being struck from the bottom wall from material taken to form two opposed container receiving apertures and preferably said spacing tab comprises a wide end and a narrow end.
• the spacing means further comprises first and second abutment tabs, said first abutment tab being struck from the bottom wall from material used to define one of said two opposed container receiving apertures, said second abutment tab being struck from the bottom wall from material used to define the other of said two opposed container receiving apertures, said spacing tab being hinged at said wide end to the first abutment tab and wherein said first and second abutment tabs are folded upwardly out of the plane of the bottom wall such that said spacing tab extends between the first and second abutment tabs and abuts the second abutment tab, thereby the spacing tab restricts movement of the first and second abutment tabs towards one another and thereby maintaining upper portions of the containers in the two apertures in a spaced relationship.
• each of said first and second abutment tabs is secured by securing means to the top wall of the carton thereby to improve the structural rigidity of the carton.
• the spacing means is automatically erected into a position wherein the spacing tab extends between the first and second abutment tabs.
• the invention provides a blank for forming a carton of the top gripping type, the blank comprising a plurality of main panels for forming a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall of the carton, the blank comprising container receiving apertures arranged in rows in the bottom wall of the carton for accommodating containers to be held within the carton, the blank further comprising retaining means for retaining the containers within the apertures and for urging upper portions of the containers held in one row of the set up carton towards upper portions of containers held in an adjacent row of the set up carton, the blank further comprising spacing means provided to maintain the upper portions of the containers in adjacent rows in spaced relationship such that the upper portions of the containers are urged by the retaining means against the spacing means, whereby the containers are held adjacent their tops by the retaining means and the spacing means so that they are restricted from moving relative to one another.
• the invention provides carton of the top gripping type, the carton comprising a plurality of main panels for forming a tubular structure, the main panels including a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall comprising container receiving apertures arranged in rows in the bottom wall for accommodating containers, such as bottles, the carton further comprising retaining means for retaining the containers within the apertures, the carton further comprising spacing means to maintain the upper portions of the containers in adjacent rows in spaced relationship, wherein the spacing means comprises a spacing tab struck from the bottom wall from material taken to form two opposed container receiving apertures, said container receiving apertures being respectively contained in said adjacent rows.
• said spacing means comprises first and second abutment tabs, said first abutment tab being struck from the bottom wall from material used to define one of said two opposed container receiving apertures, said second abutment tab being struck from the bottom wall from material used to define the other of said two opposed container receiving apertures, said spacing tab being hinged at one end to the first abutment tab, said first and second abutment tabs being folded upwardly out of the plane of the bottom wall such that said spacing tab extends between said first and second abutment tabs and abuts said second abutment tab, thereby the spacing tab restricts movement of the first and second abutment tabs towards one another thereby maintains upper portions of the containers in the two apertures in a spaced relationship.
• each of the first and second abutment tabs is secured by securing means to the top wall to improve the rigidity of the carton.
• said spacing means automatically is erected into a position wherein the spacing tab extends between the first and second abutment tabs.
• the invention provides a carton of the top gripping type, the carton comprising a plurality of main panels for forming a tubular structure, the main panels including a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall comprising container receiving apertures arranged in two rows in the bottom wall for accommodating containers, such as bottles, the carton further comprising retaining means for retaining the containers within the apertures, wherein the retaining means comprises retaining tabs formed from the bottom wall to define the container receiving apertures, the retaining tabs are structured such that each of the retaining tabs engages an underside of an upper portion of the container held in the associated aperture thereby to secure the containers within the carton, wherein at least two of the retaining tabs which define two adjacent apertures in the two rows respectively are hinged to the bottom wall along arcuate fold lines respectively such that the bottom wall is deformed when the two retaining tabs are folded along the arcuate fold lines, which fold lines are disposed transversely of the side walls of the carton, and wherein the deformation of the bottom
• Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming a carton for containing bottles
• Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the blank of Fig. 1 arranged around a group of bottles in preparation of constructing the carton;
• Fig. 3 is a perspective front, side and top view of a stage in the construction of a carton from the blank of Fig 1 ;
• Fig. 4 is a perspective front, side and top view of a second stage in the construction of a carton from the blank of Fig 1 ;
• Fig. 5 is a perspective front, side and top view of the carton formed from the blank of Fig. 1.
• FIG. 1 there is shown a carton blank 10 for forming a top gripping carton made from paper board or similar foldable sheet material.
• the blank 10 comprises glue flap 12, first side panel 14, base panel 16, second side panel 18, and top panel 20, hingably connected one to the next along fold lines 22, 24, 26 and 28 respectively.
• a blank 10 is shown in Figure 1 ; the blank 10 may be formed from paperboard or other suitable sheet material that can be folded to construct a carton 100, which is shown in Figure 5.
• the carton 100 of the present embodiment is used for packaging beverage containers C, such as plastic drinking yoghurt bottles, which have flanged tops.
• the containers C are arranged in two rows of two containers each, however, the carton 100 may be appropriately dimensioned and arranged to hold a greater number or fewer containers, although preferably the containers C will be arranged in pairs.
• the blank 10 of Figure 1 comprises a series of main panels for forming the walls of the carton 100.
• the main panels include a top panel 20, first side panel 18, bottom panel 16, second side panel 14 and glue panel 12, hinged one to the next in series along fold lines 28, 26, 24 and 22 respectively.
• the bottom panel 16 is provided with four article receiving apertures 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od ( Figure 3). Each article receiving aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od is struck from the bottom panel 16 and sized to receive an upper portion or flanged top of a container C. To secure the upper portion of a container C within each article receiving aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od, an article retention structure is provided.
• Each aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od is provided with a series of retaining tabs 30a/30b/30c/30d, 32a/32b/32c/32d, 34a/34b/34c/34d, and abutment tabs 36a/36b/36c/36d and to maintain the containers C in spaced relationship, between each pair of article receiving apertures 70a/70b and 70c/70d, a spacing tab 40, 90 is provided. Together the retaining tabs 30a/30b/30c/30d, 32a/32b/32c/32d, 34a/34b/34c/34d, abutment tabs 36a/36b/36c/36d and spacing tabs 40, 90 form the retaining structure.
• FIG. 1A An enlarged view of the bottom panel 16 is illustrated in Figure 1A so that the features of the bottom panel 16 and article receiving apertures 70a, 70b, 70c, and
• 70a/70b and 70c/70d are similar, a detailed description of only one pair of article receiving apertures 70a/70b is provided, it being understood that the other pair of article receiving apertures 70c/70d is similar.
• the bottom panel 16 is additionally provided with a weakened arrangement or central portion 72 which extends between the article receiving apertures 70a/70c and
• the central portion 72 is defined by a pair of medial fold lines 56, 58, which are substantially parallel with each other and with the side walls 14, 18.
• the medial fold lines 56, 58 terminate with pairs of arcuate converging fold lines 66a/66c,
• the central portion 72 is defined by the folds 56, 58 66a/66c, 66b/66d such that it is tapered at each of its ends. In other embodiments the fold lines 66a/66c,
• 66b/66d may not be arcuate but may be more angled and square.
• the outer retaining tabs 30a and 30b are folded out of the plane of the bottom panel 16, when the carton 100 is loaded with containers C and fully constructed. In the completed carton 100, the outer retaining tabs engage an underside of the top portion or flange of a container C received in the aperture 70a, 70b.
• side retaining tabs 34a, 32a and 34b, 32b are struck from material used to form the apertures 70a and 70b and can also engage an underside of the flange of a container C placed within the aperture 70a, 70b.
• the side retaining tabs 34a, 32a and 34b, 32b remain hinged to the bottom panel 16 along arcuate fold lines 54a, 52a and 54b, 52b respectively.
• inner retaining tabs or abutment tabs 36a and 36b are provided, which are also struck from material used to form the apertures 70a and 70b.
• the inner retaining tabs or abutment tabs 36a and 36b are hinged along portions of the fold lines 56 and 58 respectively, to the central portion 72 of the bottom panel 16.
• the abutment tabs 36a and 36b are each provided with an intermediate fold line 60 and 62 respectively.
• the abutment tabs 36a and 36b are folded about fold lines 60 and 62 when the blank 10 is erected into the carton 100.
• the retaining tab fold lines 50a, 50b 52a, 52b, 54a, 54b and the portions of fold lines 56 and 58 define edges of the apertures 70a and 70b which are substantially oval in shape.
• the article receiving apertures 70a, 70b may be alternatively shape, for example more rounded and substantially circular or indeed more angled and substantially hexagonal.
• the inner retaining tab 30a shares common edges 65 and 67 with the adjacent side retaining tabs 34a and 32a.
• the abutment tab 36a shares common edges 61 and 63 with the side retaining tabs.
• aperture 70a all of the material used to form the aperture 70a is utilised for forming the retaining tabs 30a, 32a, 34a and the abutment tab 36a, although it is envisaged that the aperture 70a and retaining tabs may be sized differently to accommodate containers C of a variety of shapes and sizes.
• the spacing tab 40 is formed between the article receiving apertures 70a and 70b.
• the spacing tab 40 extends between the intermediate fold line 62 of abutment tab 36b of one article receiving aperture 70b and the intermediate fold line 60 of the abutment tab 36a of the other article receiving aperture 70a.
• the spacing tab 40 is shaped such that a narrower arm portion 43 is struck from the abutment tab 36a and central portion 72.
• a wider portion 41 is struck solely from the opposing abutment tab 36b and has shoulder portions 47. The wider portion 41 remains hinged along the intermediate fold line 62 to the abutment tab 36b.
• the narrower end 43 of the spacing tab 40 is defined by cut line 45.
• the other pair of article receiving apertures 70c and 7Od is similar to the apertures 70a and 70b as described above with the exception that the spacing tab 90 is oriented oppositely to spacing tab 40.
• the wide part 91 of spacing tab 90 is therefore hinged to intermediate fold line 82.
• a series of sequential folding and gluing operations are required, which preferably can be performed in a straight line machine, so that the carton 40 and/or blank 10 are not required to be rotated or inverted to complete the construction.
• the folding process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing requirements.
• the first step in constructing the carton involves arranging the containers C, which are to be held within the carton, into an array such that the tops of the containers can be aligned with an article receiving aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 70d of the blank 10.
• An arranged array of containers C is illustrated in Figure 2.
• the blank 10 is placed on top of the array so that the top of each article is aligned with an article receiving aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, and 7Od.
• the bottom panel 16 is then lowered onto the arranged containers C such that the upper portions of the containers C are pushed through the article receiving apertures 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od thus causing the tabs 30a/32a/34a/36a, 30b/32b/34b/36b, 30c/32c/34c/36c, 30d/32d/34d/36d of each article receiving aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od to fold about their respective hinge lines 50a/52a/54a/56a, 50b/52b/54b/56b, 50c/52c/54c/56c and 50d/52d/54d/56d, out of the plane of the bottom panel 16 and outwardly with respect to the centre of the aperture 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od.
• the insertion of the containers C into the article receiving apertures 70a, 70b, 70c, and 7Od also causes the spacing tabs 40, 90 to be automatically folded out of the plane of the bottom panel 16, as shown in Figure 3. Ends of the narrower portions 43 and 93 of the spacing tab 40 and 90 are pushed up by the containers C being inserted into diagonally opposite article receiving apertures 70a and 7Od. Insertion of a container C into each of the other apertures 70b and 70c causes the wider portions 41, 91 of the spacing tabs 40, 90 to also be folded upwardly with respect to the bottom panel 16 and toward the opposite aperture 7Od, 70a respectively.
• the upper portions of the containers C are pushed further into the apertures 70a, 70b, 70c, 7Od as the bottom panel 16 is lowered further towards the bottom of the containers C as illustrated in Figs 3 and 4.
• the side retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d are folded about the arcuate fold lines 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d and 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d the bottom panel 16 is caused to deform or bend.
• the bending or deforming of the bottom wall 16 is steered along the arcuate fold lines 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d and 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d such that the bottom panel 16 bends upwardly and convexly.
• the bending of the bottom wall 16 can be seen most clearly in Figure 4.
• the length of the arcuate fold lines and the length of side retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d causes the bottom wall 16 to deform.
• the arcuate fold lines extend from the edge between the side wall and the bottom wall to the central portion 72.
• the bending or deformation of the bottom wall 16 is also encouraged by the parallel fold lines 56, 58 of the central portion 72 and convergent fold lines 66a, 66b, 66c, 66d.
• the deformation of the bottom panel 16 may also be encouraged by the bottom panel 16 being slightly longer than the top panel 20/12 when the carton is fully erected.
• As the bottom panel deforms upper portions of the containers (C) may be encouraged to lean towards each other.
• the shape of the side retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d may also encourage the upper portions of the containers (C) to lean towards each other.
• the side retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d have an upper edge which engages the underside of an upper portion or flange of the bottle neck.
• the spacer tabs 40 and 90 are disposed in between opposite pairs of article receiving apertures and extend horizontally therebetween.
• the narrower portions 43, 93 of the spacing tabs 40, 90 are pushed into apertures formed in the abutment tabs 36a and 36b respectively.
• the narrower portions 43 and 93 reach the limit of their travel.
• the wider portions 41 and 91 of the spacing tabs 40 and 90 abut the corresponding abutment tab 36a and 36b.
• the carton 100 is completely erected around the group or array of containers (C) by applying adhesive to upper folded portions of the abutment tabs 36a, 36b, 36c and 36d and to folded glue panel 12. Top panel 20 is then folded about fold line 28 so that it overlays the tops of each container C, and so that it becomes secured to each positioned inner retaining tab and the glue panel 12.
• a fully erected carton 100 is shown in Figure 5.
• the carton 100 may then be lifted by grasping the top wall 20 and the containers (C) will each depend from the carton 100, held securely and rigidly.
• Upper portions of the containers (C) held in one row are, to some extent, encouraged to lean towards containers held in the other row. This tendency is opposed or restricted by the spacing tabs 40, 90 which serve to maintain separation between the container tops. Additionally, the upper portions of the containers in each row are restricted from moving away from each other by the side wall panels and by the side retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d which are inclined at their outer edges and in fact encourage the containers to move in the opposite direction.
• the nature of the deformation of the bottom panel 16 and the central portion 72 restricts the bottom panel from creasing along an axis between containers held within the same row i.e. the carton cannot easily be bent along a notional line perpendicular to the side walls 14, 16 and fold lines 56, 58 and this can restrict any movement of the containers held in one row relative to another container (c) held within the same row.
• the carton of the present invention can therefore accommodate a plurality of containers, such as bottles and hold the bottles rigidly and securely. By restricting the movement of the bottles the strength and rigidity of the carton is preserved.
• the carton is further strengthened by the inner retaining tabs being secured to the top panel.
• the size and shape of the panels may be adjusted to accommodate articles of differing size or shape.
• the bottom panel may be provided with more or less article receiving apertures to accommodate a different number of bottles and indeed the apertures may be arranged in a greater number of rows.
• Other variations may also be made within the scope of the invention.
• spacing tabs may be provide only between every other opposed pair of apertures and the spacing tabs may be arranged in the same orientation.
• inner retaining tabs 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and 34a, 34b, 34c and 34d may be shaped differently and the hinge lines 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d and 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d may be more angled rather than substantially arcuate.
• 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 the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line without departing from the scope of the invention.
• a carton of the top gripping type comprising a plurality of main panels for forming a tubular structure, the main panels including a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall comprising container receiving apertures arranged in rows in the bottom wall for accommodating containers, such as bottles, the carton further comprising retaining means for retaining the containers within the apertures and for urging upper portions of the containers held in one row to towards upper portions of the containers held in an adjacent row, the carton further comprising spacing means to maintain the upper portions of the containers in adjacent rows in spaced relationship such that the upper portions of the containers are urged by the retaining means against the spacing means whereby the containers are held adjacent their tops by the retaining means and the spacing means so that they are restricted from moving relative to one another.

Landscapes

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

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=34586799

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (10)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 2005
  • 2005-04-06 GB GBGB0506985.1A patent/GB0506985D0/en not_active Ceased
• 2006
  • 2006-04-06 US US11/910,908 patent/US20080202946A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2006-04-06 EP EP06749413A patent/EP1879811A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-04-06 WO PCT/US2006/012809 patent/WO2006108098A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events