EP2173624A2

EP2173624A2 - A folded box and its blank

Info

Publication number: EP2173624A2
Application number: EP08773739A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gianfranco D'amato
Original assignee: Seda SpA
Current assignee: Seda SpA
Priority date: 2007-06-27
Filing date: 2008-06-27
Publication date: 2010-04-14
Also published as: DE202007008986U1; WO2009000549A2; WO2009000549A3

Abstract

A folded box and its blank for accommodating repacked products, in particular beverage containers, comprises a bottom wall used as a support surface for the products and connected by means of fold lines to two side walls (5, 6). It further comprises a front wall (7) and a rear wall (8) so as to form a substantially liquid-resistant tray (10). A cover wall (9) is connected to at least one of said side walls (5, 6) by means of a fold line (11) and has provided therein a removal opening (12) for the products (3) through which a cooling agent (13), in particular ice, for cooling the products can be introduced in the interior (14) of the folded box (1) before said products (3) are consumed. To achieve a simple, inexpensive manufacturing and packing process and user-friendly package dimensions, also the other side wall (5, 6) is connected to the cover wall (9) and the height (h) of the tray (10) is lower than the height (H) of the side walls (5, 6).

Description

A folded box and its blank

The invention relates to a folded box and its blank for accommodating repacked products, in particular beverage containers, comprising a bottom wall used as a support surface for the products and connected by means of fold lines to two side walls, a front wall and a rear wall so as to form a substantially liquid-resistant tray, a cover wall being connected to at least one of said side walls by means of a fold line and having provided therein an removal opening for the products through which a cooling agent, in particular ice, for cooling the products can be introduced in the interior of the folded box before said products are consumed.

Such a folded box is known from the document US 6,164,526, which serves to accommodate beverage containers, such as bottles or cans. For accommodating the products, a tray is first formed by folding in a bottom wall as well as side walls, a front wall and a rear wall, which are joined to said bottom wall and which are additionally secured to one another by means of an adhesive for the purpose of stabilization. This folded box then has a vertically oriented removal opening into which the products are inserted with the aid of a gripper arm. The tray is dimensioned such that the products are fully encompassed. In addition, an upper area of the folded box is defined, which adjoins the lower tray. The upper area comprises additional foldable side walls as well as cover walls. This upper area can be collapsed and placed on top of the lower area in a flat condition so as to close the folded box. When the upper area is raised with the aid of the carrying handles, a cavity is formed above the products arranged in the tray; this cavity can be filled with ice for cooling the products. The production of the two-dimensional blank of this folded box entails a lot of waste due to the structural design predetermined by the assembled folded box. In addition, an adhesive has to be applied to the lateral surfaces so that the tray can be formed. Since this folded box provides, in addition to the cavity required for the products, a second cavity for retaining the cooling agent which is to be filled in, the folded box assumes large dimensions.

It is the object of the present invention to further develop a folded box as well as the blank for such a box of the type specified at the beginning, in such a way that a simple, inexpensive manufacturing and packing process and user-friendly package dimensions are achieved. According to the present invention, this object is achieved in that also the second side wall is connected to the cover wall, and that the height of the tray is lower than the height of the side walls. By means of a folded box implemented in this way, a simple blank is obtained, which will also minimize the non-utilizable parts of the blank. Due to the connection between the second side wall and the cover wall, the folded box can additionally be preformed at the carton manufacturer's such that the respective walls are interconnected and that a rectangular cube will be obtained, when the blank has been assembled. Due to the circum- ferentially connected blank, the folded box can be folded flat when it is being transported from the carton manufacturer to the filling plant. For horizontally filling the folded box, the open front or rear wall can be used. The horizontal insertion of the products can be realized in a fast, automated packing cycle and vertical repositioning of the product is not necessary. Hence, time and costs will be reduced during the sequence of packing operations. In addition, the front wall and the rear wall can be raised already prior to the filling operation, so that the cube will be stabilized still further.

Filling of the folded box is executed in the horizontal direction, whereas the removal of the products takes place through the removal opening provided in the cover wall. This guarantees that the cooling agent introduced prior to consumption of the products will be placed onto the products from above and that, in cases in which ice is used, the molten ice will run down on the products and the melt water will reliably be collected by and retained in the liquid-resistant tray.

A particularly advantageous further development of the present invention is so conceived that the side walls are connected to foldable corner flaps so as to form a particularly liquid- resistant tray by the inwardly folded corner flaps. The height of the corner flaps is lower than the height of the side walls so as to realize a compact structural design of the folded box.

It will be of advantage when the height of the tray is dimensioned such that the tray will be able to accommodate at least the volume of the liquefied cooling agent, so as to prevent an overflow of the liquid from the tray. This will also improve the liquid-resistant characteristics of the folded box.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the height of the tray, i.e. the amount of cooling agent that can be filled in, can be determined as difference between the folded box volume and the accumulated volume of the products filled in. This allows an optimization of the accommodating volume of the cavity in the interior of the folded box. The dimension is therefore particularly consumer-friendly and guarantees easy handling of the folded box.

The present invention provides a solution for conflicting aims. First and foremost, the folded box according to the present invention is restricted to a comparatively small blank, in the case of which the various parts are, moreover, interconnected in an advantageous manner. Secondly, it represents in the flat as well as in the raised condition a compact unit, which can easily be transported from the carton manufacturer to the filler. This will reduce transport costs. Last but not least, the folded box, when assembled, also comprises a liquid- resistant tray having dimensions which are slightly larger than those required for accommodating the liquefied cooling agent. This will save material and space once more. It follows that the present invention combines advantages with regard to production, filling as well as with regard to the consumption of the cooled products.

Further advantageous developments of the present invention are defined in the subclaims.

In the following, an embodiment will be described in detail making reference to the drawings enclosed, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a top view of a blank for the folded box according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 shows the bottom view of the blank of Fig. 1 in a perspective view,

Fig. 3 shows a first step of folding the blank in the course of which a top and a side wall are raised,

Fig. 4 shows a further step of forming the folded box, in the case of which a cover wall is joined to a side wall, e.g. by an adhesive, and the resultant structure is formed as an essentially two-dimensional preformed body which is ready for dispatch, Fig. 5 shows the preformed body of Fig. 4 with raised side walls,

Fig. 6 shows the preformed body of Fig. 5 with side walls raised at right angles to a bottom wall,

Fig. 7 shows the preformed body of Fig. 6, in a condition in which the front wall is partially closed, whereas the rear wall is still open,

Fig. 8 shows a further step for fully assembling the preformed body of Fig. 7, in a condition in which the lower front wall 7a has been folded up, whereas the upper front wall 7b has not yet been closed and the rear wall is still open so that the products intended for the folded box according to the present invention can be inserted,

Fig. 9 shows a further step for fully closing the folded box, in a condition in which the front and rear walls are essentially closed,

Fig. 10, 11 , 12 show the steps of closing the folded box with insertion of plug-in tongues into complementary plug-in slots of the front and rear walls,

Fig. 13 shows a perspective, simplified view of the folded box according to the present invention, in a condition in which the removal opening is partially open and the beverage containers, e.g. bottles or cans, contained therein can be seen,

Fig. 14 shows a further perspective view of a folded box according to the present invention, in a condition in which said folded box is open at the top and ice cubes are introduced as a cooling agent, and

Fig. 15 shows a representation of the folded box according to the present invention, in a condition in which said folded box is open at the top and the beverage bottles project from the ice. The present invention relates to a folded box 1 for accommodating repacked products 3. Folded boxes are known from the prior art and are normally also used for accommodating foodstuffs and beverages. This applies in particular to beverage cans.

The folded box 1 is provided with a bottom wall 4 used as a support surface for the products, e.g. the cans. Side walls 5 and 6 as well as a front wall 7 and a rear wall 8 are arranged such that they adjoin said bottom wall 4. All these walls are materially interconnected via fold lines. On the basis of the material interconnection, they define together a substantially liquid-resistant tray making use of fold lines; when beverage containers are cooled within the folded box, said tray serves to accommodate the cooling agent, e.g. the ice, and the melt water, respectively. Hence, the tray should at least be water resistant and it should accommodate the ice or the resultant liquid until the content of the folded box has been consumed. For this purpose, it is not necessary to make the tray liquid tight, but it will suffice to use for the folded box e.g. a paper board which is capable of resisting the ingress of water for a certain period of time. An example for such a material is compacted paper or e.g. kraft board.

The cover wall 9 of the folded box 1 is connected to at least one of the side walls 5, 6 by means of a fold line 11. The cover wall is provided with an removal opening 12 through which the beverage containers can be removed later on. This removal opening 12 can essentially occupy the area of the cover wall 9 and it can be provided with a tear tab so that it can be opened more easily. The size of the removal opening is determined by a wall portion 33, which is releasably connected to the cover wall, e.g. by a perforated line 34. The wall portion can be fixedly connected to the cover wall in an area 35 so that, when the wall portion has been removed by drawing, the removal opening will be open, but the wall portion will still be connected materially to the cover wall. Further, it can be folded back.

The removal opening serves to introduce a cooling agent, e.g. water ice, dry ice, etc., before the products are removed. As can be seen from Fig. 13, 14 and 15, said cooling agent can be introduced from above and placed onto the products contained in the folded box. The ice enters the spaces between the products, e.g. beer cans, and cools them from above. Whereas in the case of the embodiment shown, the cover wall is connected integrally and materially to a neighbouring side wall 5, it can, by suitable means, be connected to the other side wall as well, so as to form a completely circumferentially extending folded box envelope. This can be accomplished e.g. through adhesive tapes 36 or mechanical connection means, such as clips, etc.. When the two side walls 5 and 6 of the folded box are each connected to the cover wall 9, a preproduct will be obtained which, in a flat condition, can be dispatched from the manufacturer of the folded box to the filler of the same. Fig. 2, 3 and 4 show the manufacturing steps of this ready-for-dispatch preproduct.

In Fig. 2 the lower surface of the blank of Fig. 1 can still be seen, in Fig. 3 one side wall 6 and the cover wall 9 have already been raised, in Fig. 4 the cover wall 9 has already been materially connected to the other side wall 6 with the aid of an adhesive portion 36 so that the above-mentioned envelope or a rectangular cube is obtained. Making use of the body lines, the envelope is laid flat in Fig. 4 in such a way that it can be dispatched to the actual filler of the folded box in a condition in which the transport volume has been minimized.

Fig. 5 to 12 show the steps carried out by the filler, i.e. the customer of the folded box manufacturer.

In Fig. 5, the side walls 5 and 6 have already been raised in comparison with the representation according to Fig. 4, the bottom wall 4 being still below.

Fig. 6 shows the side walls 5, 6 in a condition in which they have been raised completely at right angles to the bottom wall 4.

In Fig. 7, the front wall 7 can be seen. It consists of a flap in the form of a lower front wall 7a and an upper counterflap 7b, said two flaps representing together the front wall. The front wall 7 and the rear wall 8 have arranged between them corner flaps 15; in the raised condition shown in this embodiment, the height h of these comer flaps 15 essentially corresponds to half the height H of the side walls 5, 6, said corner flaps being materially connected to the front and rear walls. Fold lines 16 extend from body corners 17, 18, 19, 20 diagonally, i.e. at 45° to the vertical, said fold lines serving to facilitate the folding up of the lower front wall 7a and of the lower rear wall 8a, respectively, as well as the folding down of the upper front wall 7b and of the upper rear wall 8b, respectively. Due to the material con- nection of the corner flaps between the flaps of the front and rear walls, it will suffice to move the respective comer flaps of these walls inwards to the closed position so as to automatically fold said corner flaps also inwards through the diagonal fold lines.

The side walls 5 and 6 of the folded box, together with the lower front wall 7a and the lower rear wall 8a as well as the corner flaps 15, define the substantially liquid-resistant tray 10 which has already been mentioned hereinbefore. The height h of the tray should be dimensioned such that, in the fully liquefied state of the cooling agent, the tray is still higher than the liquid level of the molten cooling agent. Hence, the height h of the tray 10 is lower than the height H of the side walls. The height h of the tray 10 is dimensioned such that it corresponds to the amount of cooling agent filled in, said amount representing a difference between the folded box volume V_F to the accumulated volume V_P.

The lower front wall 7a shown in Fig. 7 as well as the lower rear wall 8a are connected to the bottom wall 4 via fold lines. Likewise, the upper front wall 7b and the upper rear wall 8b are integrally connected to the cover wall 9. The fold lines allow easy pivoting of the upper and lower front and rear walls 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b.

As can be seen from Fig. 6 and 7, the lower front wall 7a and the lower rear wall 8a have the same height as the corner flaps 15 and the tray, respectively; hence, these corner flaps 15 will, with their connection to the side walls 5, 6, project farther, when the front wall and the rear wall have been raised. In the case of the present embodiment, the lower front wall 7a closes approximately half the height of the front wall, whereas the upper front wall 7b has a lower height than the front wall 7a.

Fig. 1 , 7 and 13 show the slanted fold lines 25, 26, 27, 28 arranged in the upper area of the folded box and extending at a body edge of said folded box such that they are directed towards the interior of the body. In the closed condition of the folded box, these slanted body edges cause the formation of a slanted upper front wall 7b and of a slanted upper rear wall 8b.

Fig. 9 shows the areas 31 arranged on the upper front wall 7b and on the upper rear wall 8b and provided with plug-in tongues 32. As can be seen in Fig. 8, the front wall 7 and the rear wall 8 have attached thereto areas 29 provided with plug-in slots 30 into which said plug-in tongues 32 can be introduced so as to close the folded box. This closing mechanism allows the user to open and close the folded box an arbitrary number of times.

Claims

1. A folded box (1) and its blank (2) for accommodating repacked products (3), in particular beverage containers, comprising a bottom wall (4) used as a support surface for the products and connected by means of fold lines to two side walls (5, 6), a front wall (7) and a rear wall (8) so as to form a substantially liquid-resistant tray (10), a cover wall (9) being connected to at least one of said side walls (5, 6) by means of a fold line (11) and having provided therein an removal opening (12) for the products (3) through which a cooling agent (13), in particular ice, for cooling the products can be introduced in the interior (14) of the folded box (1) before said products (3) are consumed, characterized in that also the other side wall (5, 6) is connected to the cover wall (9), and that the height (h) of the tray (10) is lower than the height (H) of the side walls (5, 6).

2. The folded box according to claim 1 , characterized in that the side walls (5, 6) are connected to foldable corner flaps (15) whose height (h) is lower than the height (H) of the side walls.

3. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the height (h) of the tray (10) is dimensioned such that said tray (10) is able to accommodate at least the volume of the liquefied cooling agent (13).

4. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the height (h) of the tray (10), i.e. the amount of cooling agent that can be filled in, can be determined as difference between the folded box volume (V_F) and the accumulated volume (V_P) of the products filled in.

5. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the height (h) of the corner flaps (15) in the raised condition essentially corresponds to half the height (H) of the side walls (5, 6).

6. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the corner flaps (15) are integrally connected to a lower front wall (7a) and a lower rear wall (8a), respectively, as well as to the respective adjoining side wall (5, 6).

7. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the corner flaps (15) are provided with at least one diagonal fold line (16).

8. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fold line (16) extends from a body corner (17, 18, 19, 20) of the assembled folded box (1) at 45° relative to the vertical.

9. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front wall (7) and/or the rear wall (8) are vertically divided and define a foldable upper front wall (7b), a foldable lower front wall (7a), a foldable upper rear wall (8b) and a foldable lower rear wall (8a).

10. The folded box according to claim 9, characterized in that the lower front wall (7a) and/or the lower rear wall (8a) is/are connected to the bottom wall (4).

11. The folded box according to claim 9, characterized in that the upper front wall (7b) and/or the upper rear wall (8b) is/are connected to the cover wall (9).

12. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the corner flaps (15) with their connection to the side walls (5, 6) project farther than the lower front wall (7a) and the iower rear wall (8a), respectively.

13. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, at an upper end of a body edge of the folded box, a slanted fold line (25, 26, 27, 28) is provided, which is directed towards the interior of the body.

14. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front wall (7) and the rear wall (8) have attached thereto areas (29) with plug-in slots (30).

15. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper front wall (7b) and/or the upper rear wall (8b) is/are provided with an attached area (31) with plug-in tongues (32) which are adapted to be inserted in said plug-in slots.

16. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the removal opening (12) is accessible, when a partially removable wall portion (33) has at least been detached.

17. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shape and the size of said wall portion (33) is defined by a perforated, circumferen- tially extending line (34) in the wall.

18. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wall portion (33) is connected to the wall at least in an area (35).

19. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wall portion (33) is arranged in spaced relationship with the front and/or rear wall (7, 8).

20. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cover wall (9) comprises an adhesive portion (36) which is arranged on the body edge extending on the side opposite to the side wall that is formed integrally with the cover wall (9).

21. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the folded box (1) consists of paper board.

22. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the folded box (1) consists of a kraft board.

23. The folded box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the folded box material is coated, especially with plastic material, on at least one surface thereof.