EP2566766B1

EP2566766B1 - Single-piece foldable reinforced box

Info

Publication number: EP2566766B1
Application number: EP11723669.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Pietro Antonio Prinetti; Pietro Cazzarolli
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-05-03
Filing date: 2011-04-26
Publication date: 2014-06-04
Anticipated expiration: 2031-04-26
Also published as: ITVR20100091A1; ES2489190T3; EP2566766A1; WO2011138709A1; IT1400020B1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a single-piece foldable reinforced box, for the packing, transport and storage of products in general particularly in the fruit and vegetable and industrial sectors where the box has the characteristics of being resistant, stable, easy to stack and simple to assemble.
The present invention can be advantageously employed in the sector for the transport, storage and sale of fruit and vegetables and other goods in the food sector in the retail and wholesale distribution industry and also in the industrial sector.

BACKGROUND ART

The background art has long included boxes made entirely from corrugated cardboard and/or from composite materials for containing fruit and/or vegetables.
Boxes made from corrugated cardboard and/or composite materials are widely used in the fruit and vegetable sector and in other non-food sectors but suffer from a series of drawbacks related in general to the fact that the production process requires considerable amounts of raw material with large amounts of card being discarded as waste in order to produce the reinforced corners especially on the smaller side faces or the larger side faces of the box.
This often leads to the manufacture of boxes without side or horizontal support elements, known colloquially in the sector as "pavements", or to the manufacture of boxes with side edges with a uniform height in order to avoid considerable waste of cardboard and/or other composite materials.
A further drawback is that a box made from cardboard and/or composite materials is often supplied as a flat blank which is difficult to assemble.
By the same token, the cardboard and/or composite material boxes of the known type which are already assembled are difficult to unfold and return to their flat state necessary to facilitate storage in preparation for re-use or for recycling operations or for destruction prior to waste disposal.
Document FR-A-2236738 discloses a single piece carton formed from a blank having a bottom panel, side and end wall panels, corner connector panels intersecting edges of which are attached, respectively, to an end and side wall panel, a locking panel joined to at least one of the connector panels at each end of the carton and, optionally, one or more top panels. The connector panels have a diagonal fold line dividing the panel into a first triangular gusset section attached to an end wall panel and a second triangular gusset section attached to a side wall panel. The locking panel is joined to the second triangular section of the connector panel. In the assembled carton, the triangular sections of each connector panel are folded into face contact and disposed externally of the end wall panel with the first triangular section sandwiched between the end wall panel and the second triangular section. The locking panel extends over the upper edge of the first triangular section and end wall panel into the carton interior where it is secured in face contact with the inner surface of the end wall panel to maintain the carton in an erected position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks and disadvantages of the background art by providing a single-piece box with reinforced corners, which may advantageously be used for fruit and vegetable products, which can be stacked in a stable manner ready for transport and/or warehouse storage.
The invention also provides a single-piece box with reinforced corners of a preset height.
A further purpose of the present invention is to provide a single-piece box with reinforced corners which can rapidly and easily be assembled by the personnel who will be loading the box.
An additional purpose of the present invention is to provide a single-piece box with reinforced corners which can be manufactured with the minimum amount of raw material necessary thereby attaining an economic advantage.
These aims are achieved by a single-piece box with reinforced corners with the characteristics described in the main claim.
The dependent claims herein describe advantageous example embodiments of the invention.
The box according to the present invention comprises a folding structure, folded along preformed folding lines, entirely made from corrugated cardboard and/or composite materials, with elements suitable for providing a solid support for loads at right-angles to the bottom of the box itself.
According to the present invention, each side element has a support of the type known colloquially in the sector as "pavement".
The box assembled in this way fully and advantageously solves the problems typical to the known art.
Furthermore, the box is made as a single piece and therefore requires a minimum amount of light corrugated cardboard. At the same time it provides adequate resistance to shear stresses thanks to the mechanical characteristics of the corrugated cardboard and/or the composite materials.
This single-piece box with reinforced corners has considerable vertical stiffness and solidity, can be easily assembled and solidly stacked on similar boxes. It is also easy to unfold flat to occupy a volume which is a fraction of the space occupied by the open, assembled box.
According to the present invention, the structure comprises a base surface comprising the bottom of the box and two side surfaces with counter-opposing corners.
Each of the side elements has a lower flap and an upper flap which during assembly are inserted into corresponding slots in the bottom of the box and the pavement respectively.
In accordance with the standards specified by the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers, the pavement can be on the long side or the short side of the box.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of an example embodiment which follows with reference to the annexed drawings, given purely by way of a non-limiting example, in which:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the open box;
Figure 2 shows the box during assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EXAMPLE EMBODIMENT

With reference to the annexed drawings, the numeral 10 indicates in its entirety a single-piece box comprising a structure with reinforced corners folded along preformed folding lines 11 indicated by dotted lines in the figure, entirely made from corrugated cardboard or composite materials.
The knife cutting lines 12 are indicated in the figure as full, unbroken lines.
A characteristic of the invention is that the smaller sides have two folding flaps comprising a first middle flap 13 and a second outer flap 14.
The outer flap 14 in turn comprises side flaps 15 and 16 which are divided by side walls 17 of a variable, preset width which, when the box is assembled, form the reinforcing internal corner sections of the box.
A further characteristic of the present invention is that the side flaps 15 and 16 are divided by folding lines 18 from corner sections 19 which have a cut 20 located along the folding line 21 at an angle of 45°.
The outer flaps 14 have tabs 22 which are slotted into corresponding receptacles 23 located on the opposing edges of the central surface of the cuts 23' which provide flexibility. The tabs have a height which is equal to the thickness of the material used.
The side flaps 15 and 16 also have further tabs 24, which slot into the receptacles 23 whose dimensions are calculated as double in order to enable insertion of the tabs 22 and 24.
There are further receptacles 25 made along the folding lines 21, angled at 45°.
To assemble this box it is sufficient to fold the outer flaps 14 onto the middle flaps 13 which in turn are folded on the vertical with respect the central surface and raising the side shoulders 26 at the same time.
In this way, the side flaps 15 and 16 fold towards the inside so that the tabs 24 can enter the receptacles 23.
The side walls 17, when the box is assembled, form the reinforcing internal corner sections of the box and for this reason are deflected through 45° with respect to their folding lines 11 so that they rest on the side shoulders 26.
During assembly, the corner sections 19 are moved into the vertical position to allow the folding lines 21 to move towards the inside and so that the cuts 20 remain included in the reinforcing side walls 17 so that they are kept closed by these.
A box according to the invention is therefore characterised in that it is very rapid to assemble even by hand, and is, above all, very resistant to compression once it has been assembled.
The resistance to compression is provided by the side walls 17 which once in position form the reinforcing internal corner sections of the box.
In addition, the box according to the present invention can be made with materials with lower grams per metre than that for current materials while maintaining the same mechanical performance.
The box according to the present invention can be made limiting the offcuts and waste to the minimum necessary to prepare the box.
In addition, the volume is the same as that for the original material when it is flat. The solution according to the present invention enables a considerable reduction in costs throughout the production process and use in comparison the traditional means; assembly by hand is the same as assembly by machine.
The solution according to the present invention makes it possible to dispense with the use of paraffin and glue for assembly operations.
The product of this design can be constructed from any type of cardboard.
The system of slotting provides a resistance to "twisting" which is the same as that for comparable glued products.
Naturally, while the principle of the invention remains the same, the details of construction and the embodiments may vary with respect to what has been described and illustrated purely by way of the example, without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

A reinforced, folding box (10), comprising a folding structure folding along preformed folding lines (11), wherein the box is entirely made from corrugated cardboard and/or composite materials and is designed to provide a support for loads at right angles to the base, whereby the entire box is made as a single-piece starting from a single blank and has side shoulders (26) extending on two opposite edges of the base, first middle flaps (13) extending from the two other edges, second outer flaps (14) extending from said first middle flaps (13), side flaps (15, 16) which are divided by folding lines (18) from corner sections (19) which connect said side shoulders (26) to said first middle flaps (13), the side flaps (15, 16) extending from the corner sections (19) on both sides of the second outer flaps (14), whereby the blank from which the box is erected can be folded thanks to fold lines (21) which extend at 45° into the corner sections, and where the side flaps (15, 16) have tabs (24) which during assembly are slotted into corresponding receptacles (23) characterised in that said receptacles (23) have elastic cuts (23') present on the corner section of the base, and in that said receptacles accomodate additional tabs (22) present on the central outer flaps (14), and in that said receptacles are double-sized such as to accomodate pairs of these tabs (22, 24).
The reinforced, folding box (10) according to the previous claim, characterised in that the supports can be made on the long sides or the short sides of the box.
The single-piece box according to claim 1, characterised in that the side flaps (15, 16) are divided by folding lines (18) from the corner sections (19) which have a cut (20) located along the folding line (21) at an angle of 45°.
The single-piece box according to claim 1, characterised in that the folding lines (18) comprise cut crease lines or crease lines or half cut lines.
The single-piece box according to claim 1, characterised in that the tabs (22, 24) have a height which is equal to the thickness of the material used.
The box according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that there are further receptacles (25) made along the folding lines (21), angled at 45°.
The box according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that during assembly of the box the machine automatically performs the folding of the long sides and then raises the heads (13, 14) so that the tabs (22, 24) can be inserted in the receptacles (23) above the corner section (19).
The box according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the side flaps (15, 16) fold towards the inside so that the tabs (24) slot into the receptacles (23).
The box according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that during assembly the corner sections (19) are moved into the vertical position to allow the folding lines (21) to move towards the inside and to allow the cuts (20) to remain included in the reinforcing side walls (17) so that they are kept closed by these.