EP2550203A1

EP2550203A1 - Folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape

Info

Publication number: EP2550203A1
Application number: EP11709409A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Aldo Pozzoli
Original assignee: Pozzoli SpA
Current assignee: Pozzoli SpA
Priority date: 2010-03-25
Filing date: 2011-03-21
Publication date: 2013-01-30
Also published as: WO2011117208A1; IT1399084B1; ITMI20100495A1

Abstract

A folding container (1) having a substantially parallelepipedal shape comprising an outer sheet- like element (2) which forms a bottom (3), a front face (5), a rear face (6) and a lid (7), made of a substantially rigid material and joined by folding lines (4), an inner sheet- like element (10) being coupled to the outer sheet- like element (2) and forming lateral faces (20), the inner sheet- like element (10) being monolithic and forming a bottom flap (11), a front flap (12) and a rear flap (13), respectively, which are superimposable on and jointly connected to the bottom (3), the front face (5) and to the rear face (6) of the outer sheet- like element (2).

Description

FOLDING CONTAINER HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLELEPIPEDAL SHAPE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape.

Background art

As is known, a problem that is currently widely felt is that of making folding containers or boxes that allow the possibility of having relatively rigid faces, together with the possibility of flattening the container when in storage, with the further advantage of obtaining a rapid formation of the container at the time of use.

US 317795 discloses a folding box which is made with lateral walls that are connected, with bellows-like elements, to the front face and to the rear face, with the possibility of achieving the formation of the box with a very rapid and simple movement.

This solution has the advantage of being made in one piece, but it has the drawback of needing to be made of cardboard, i.e. with a relatively reduced thickness, and so the walls of the container might not exhibit the desired resistance.

US 3837561 discloses a folding box in which an external rigid element is provided to which two inner elements are connected which make it possible to form a box that has an outer surface which is substantially rigid and is also thick, and also offering the possibility of a rapid and simple assembly, but this solution has two distinct inner elements.

EP 1740470 discloses an embodiment that is linked conceptually to the solutions examined previously, in that it discloses a box provided with an outer element obtained with heavy cardboard in order to define the several faces, which are connected to each other according to lines of articulation which in practice are obtained with a paper covering of the rigid body. Connected to this outer rigid element are two distinct inner elements which provide the rigid lateral walls by means of a bellows-type connection with the front and rear walls of the outer element.

This embodiment suffers coupling difficulties, in that the lateral elements have a central rigid portion with corners that are in practice soft in the region where the bellows are provided, with consequent difficulty in coupling.

Moreover, the two pieces that make up the lateral walls must in practice be interlocked under the paper covering of the outer sheet-like ' element.

Another problem that can be ascribed to the box described above consists in that, when the lid is opened, the box, if it is empty, tends to flatten again, because it does not assume a stable configuration.

Disclosure of the invention

The aim of the present invention is to resolve the above mentioned problems, by providing a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape which offers the possibility of having rigid faces, while requiring the coupling of only two pieces.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a folding container that, once formed, maintains a stable configuration by not closing in on itself with the opening of the lid.

Another aim of the present invention is to provide a folding container that, owing to its distinctive implementation characteristics, is capable of offering the widest guarantees of reliability and safety in use.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape that can be easily made using elements and materials that are readily available on the market and which, moreover, is competitive also from a merely economical viewpoint.

This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape, according to the invention, comprising an outer sheet-like element which forms a bottom, a front face, a rear face and a lid, made of a substantially rigid material and joined by folding lines, an inner sheet-like element being coupled to said outer sheet-like element and forming lateral faces, characterized in that said inner sheet-like element is in one piece and defines a bottom flap, a front flap and a rear flap, respectively superimposable on, and jointly connected to, said bottom, said front face and said rear face of said outer sheet-like element, bellows-like elements being further provided to connect said front flap and said rear flap to said front and rear faces.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an exploded view of the folding container, unfolded and flat;

Figure 2 is a view showing the step of coupling the outer sheet-like element and the inner sheet-like element;

Figure 3 is a view showing the folding container in the folded position;

Figure 4 is a view of the initial step of forming the box;

Figure 5 is a view of the final step of forming the box;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the formed box;

Figure 7 is a view of the closed box;

Figure 8 is a view of the closed box of figure 7, on which a rigid handle has been added.

Figure 9 is a view of the box according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Ways of carrying out the invention

With reference to the figures, the folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape, according to the invention, which is generally designated with the reference numeral 1, comprises an outer sheetlike element 2 which defines a bottom 3 which is connected, by means of folding lines 4 arranged on the mutually opposite edges, respectively with a front face 5 and a rear face 6 to which is connected, by means of a folding line, also indicated with 4, and parallel to the preceding folding lines, a lid 7 to which a closure edge 8 is connected by means of a folding line, also indicated with 4.

The outer sheet-like element 2 may be provided with a handle, which may be made of either a rigid material or a flexible material. The handle may be provided at the front face 5.

The outer sheet-like element 2 is advantageously made from substantially rigid elements, for example heavy cardboard, which are mutually joined together by a covering of paper-like material which in practice provides the folding lines 4.

An inner sheet-like element, generally designated with the reference numeral 10, is coupled to the outer sheet-like element 2 and has the function of defining the lateral faces of the container.

The sheet-like element 10, as shown in Figure 1 , is made in a single piece and defines a bottom flap 11, a front flap 12 and a rear flap 13 which are connected by means of folding lines, indicated with 14.

At the front flap 12 and at the rear flap 13 a front fold 15 and a rear fold 16 are provided which fold over by means of the folding lines, also designated with 14 and parallel to the preceding folding lines.

Connected to the bottom 11 are the mutually opposite lateral walls, which are generally designated with the reference numeral 20 and are constituted, for each side, by a first lateral flap 21, connected to the bottom 11 , by a second lateral flap 22 connected to the first flap 21 and by a third lateral flap 23 connected to the second flap 22.

The three lateral flaps 21 , 22 and 23 can be folded together, by means of transversal folding lines, over each other in such a way as to triple the thickness and make the lateral walls substantially rigid.

At the front faces 12 and 13 there are bellows 30 with median folding lines 31 that connect the first flaps 21 respectively with the front faces 12 and 13, so as to allow the folding of the lateral walls onto the bottom, as designated schematically in Figures 2 and 3.

With this arrangement, by rotating the flaps 12 and 13 with respect to the bottom, the raising of the lateral walls 20 is automatically achieved, thanks to the connection of the bellows-like elements.

It should be added that, in order to maintain the box in the closed position, at the folded flaps 15 and 16, on the three free coupling sides there are lateral folds 40, arranged mutually opposite, and a central grip fold 41 on the long side.

The folds 40 with the box in the mounted position in practice interlock in recesses 45 which are formed by the second flap 22 and by the third flap 23 which are then positioned on the inner surface of the lateral walls.

In this way, when forming the box, when the folds 15 and 16 are brought into the inside of the box, the lateral folds 40 interlock in the recesses 45, while the central fold 41 is positioned at the bottom and acts as a grip element, if it is desired to collapse the box again in order to have it in the flattened configuration.

In order to form the container, the sheet-like element 10 is jointly connected to the outer sheet-like element 2 by means of joining, by gluing or similar of the bottom flap 11 onto the bottom 3, of the front flap 12 onto the front face 5, and of the rear flap 13 onto the rear face 6.

With reference to figure 8, the front face 5 may be also provided with a handle 58, which is made of plastics. Handle 58 may be already attached to the front face 5 before folding (figure 1) or may be attached to the final box.

In a second embodiment of the invention, shown in figure 9, the folding container 1 is identical to the one depicted in figures 1 to 7, described above, and is obtained in the same way. The only difference with respect to the container 1 of figures 1 to 7 resides in the closure edge 81, which is substantially as large as the front face 5 so as to completely cover such front face 5 when the box is closed. Such closure edge 81 comprises a window 82, through which a handle 85 fastened to the front face 5 can pass. The handle 85 may be flexible, e.g. it may be made of paper or cardboard, but it may also be a rigid handle such as the one indicated with 58 in figure 8.

With this arrangement it is possible to provide a folding container that has outer faces which are substantially rigid, in that four faces are formed directly by the outer sheet-like element and the other two faces are formed by the inner sheet-like element which advantageously is made of covered cardboard and which, in order to give the desired rigidity to the lateral walls, gives the possibility of folding the walls over themselves three times, so as to obtain the desired rigidity.

For the sake of completeness of description it is noted that, advantageously, at the closure edge 8 of the outer sheet- like element there can be permanent magnets 50 or other similar elements to render the closure stable by means of corresponding ferromagnetic elements 51 provided on the front face.

From the foregoing it can thus be seen that the invention achieves the intended aim, and in particular attention is drawn to the fact that a folding container having a substantially parallelepipedal shape is provided, which offers the possibility of being substantially rigid and of being formed with extremely rapid and simple operations, thanks to the fact that the inner sheet-like element which is used is constituted by a single piece of cardboard that can be easily folded and connected to the outer sheet-like element.

Moreover another important feature of the invention consists in that the box thus provided stably keeps the configuration assumed, even with the lid in the open position.

The invention, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

Moreover, all the details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In practice the materials employed, provided they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions and the contingent shapes, may be any according to requirements.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2010A000495 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. A folding container (1) having a substantially parallelepipedal shape, comprising an outer sheet-like element (2) which forms a bottom (3), a front face (5), a rear face (6) and a lid (7), made of a substantially rigid material and joined by folding lines (4), an inner sheet-like element (10) being coupled to said outer sheet-like element (2) and forming lateral faces (20), characterized in that said inner sheet-like element (10) is monolithic and forms a bottom flap (11), a front flap (12) and a rear flap (13) respectively superimposable on, and jointly connected to, said bottom (3), said front face (5) and said rear face (6) of said outer sheet-like element (2), bellows-like elements (30) being further provided to connect said front flap (12) and said rear flap (13) to said front face (5) and said rear face (6).

2. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that said bottom (3), said front face (5), said rear face (6), and said lid (7) are made of substantially rigid heavy cardboard and are joined by a paper-like element that defines said folding lines (4).

3. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that said inner sheet-like element ( 10) is made of cardboard.

4. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a closure edge (8) connected through said folding line (4) to said lid (7) at the opposite side with respect to the edge for connection to the rear face (6).

5. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said inner sheet-like element (10) defines a front fold (15), which is associated with said front flap (12), and a rear fold (16) which is associated with said rear flap (13).

6. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said side walls (20) are formed by said inner sheet-like element (10) by a first lateral flap (21), connected to said bottom (11), and a second lateral flap (22), connected to said first lateral flap (21), and a third lateral flap (23) connected to said second lateral flap (22) and are foldable together to be superimposable, said lateral flaps (21 , 22 and 23) being provided on the mutually opposite edges of said bottom flap (11) that are not affected by said front flap (12) and said rear flap (13).

7. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has means for keeping said container in the formation position, said means being constituted by lateral folds (40) which are connected on the end edges of said front fold (15) and said rear fold (16), said lateral folds (40) being adapted to interlock within recesses (45) defined by said second lateral flap (22) and by said third lateral flap (23).

8. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a central grip fold (41) provided at the long sides of said front fold (15) and said rear fold (16).

9. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises, on said closure edge (8), means for closing said container.

10. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said closure means have permanent magnets (50) associated with said closure edge (8), and ferromagnetic elements (51) connected on the front face (5) of said outer sheet-like element (2).

11. The container according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein said outer sheet-like element (2) comprises a handle (58, 85).

12. The container according to claim 11 , wherein the handle (58, 85) is fastened to said front face (5).

13. The container according to claim 11 or 12, wherein said closure edge (81) comprises a window (82) through which said handle (58, 85) can pass.