EP2951102A1

EP2951102A1 - Container and related blank

Info

Publication number: EP2951102A1
Application number: EP14717215.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Arne MOHN; Luca MORONI
Original assignee: Ipi SRL
Current assignee: Ipi SRL
Priority date: 2013-01-29
Filing date: 2014-01-22
Publication date: 2015-12-09
Anticipated expiration: 2034-01-22
Also published as: WO2014118813A1; ITRM20130052A1; EP2951102B1

Abstract

A container (10), particularly for loose materials, liquids and fluids, comprises a bottom wall (12) substantially polygonal in shape and designed to constitute a stable supporting surface for the container (10), a top wall (14) substantially polygonal in shape and substantially parallel to the bottom wall (12), a plurality of side walls (16) connected to an edge (13) of the bottom wall (12) and to an edge (15) of the top wall (14) and mutually connected to constitute a lateral surface (16) of the container (10). For each of the side walls (16), the respective edge (13) of the bottom wall (12) and the respective edge (15) of the top wall (14) differ in length.

Description

DESCRIPTION

"CONTAINER AND RELATED BLANK"

Technical field

This invention relates to a container especially designed to contain loose materials, liquids or, in more general terms, fluids, and to a related blank, that is to say, the sheet of material which is subjected to processing by a packaging machine to produce the container.

The field of application of the invention is that of packaged containers, that is to say, containers obtained by processing a preformed blank, which is usually repeated in sequence on a continuous web wound on a roll and which is cut, folded and glued/sealed to form the final three-dimensional shape of each container.

Background art

Typically, these containers are made from a blank of paper on which two or more layers of different materials are superposed by continuous rolling to give the final container the required properties of impermeability, safety, strength and, especially if used to contain foodstuffs, hygiene.

Packaged containers known in the state of the art are generally in the shape of right-angle prisms with polygonal bases substantially identical in shape, typically rectangular or square. Hence, the lateral faces of each container, typically four in number, are vertical when the container is made to stand on one of its bases and in contact with other containers aligned on a conveyor belt of a filling station of a packaging machine which fills the containers with a product. Once filled, the containers, because they are made essentially of coated cardboard, tend to puff out round the middle where there are no stiffening parts (folds and/or zones where the blank flaps are glued/sealed) leading to friction caused by mutual contact of the puffed out zones. This leads to a series of practical problems: for example, the containers are less easy to handle on a conveyor belt because they tend to be closely packed together. As a result, prior art containers must be sufficiently spaced to be easily removed from the conveyor belt. That means they occupy a greater length of the conveyor belt than simply the sum of the longitudinal extensions of their bases, which in turn means the packaging machine takes more time to fill them. Also, prior art containers have a top and bottom of the same size and a middle part which is normally larger on account of the pressure of the liquid inside, causig the middle part to puff out, with the risk of the containers toppling over when they reach buffer storage zones and leading to problems on the packaging line. In effect, the sum of the additional widths of the containers lined up in a row on the conveyor belt causes the containers to be push each other until one is eventually overbalanced and falls.

Another example of a disadvantage is when a container needs to be pulled out of its typical plastic overwrap by which a certain number of containers are held tightly together in a pack: removing a container from the pack is considerably difficult and it is usually necessary to tear off the plastic overwrap completely, which means that the remaining containers of the pack must be rearranged for storage.

Moreover, prior art containers often have folded flaps glued and/or sealed at the top of them, which means that the space available to make an opening is limited to the free space next to these flaps. Movable closing means are associated with a hole, typically a plastic spout equipped with a tab or sealing layer to cover ad protect the hole and with a cap for subsequent opening/closing after the tab has been torn or the sealing layer perforated and removed in order to pour out the contents of the container. These closing means must have specified dimensions, also in proportion to the volume of the container and, in many cases, these dimensions are not compatible with the available space left by the folded flaps which are glued and/or sealed at the top of the container. Disclosure of the invention

This invention has for its purpose to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a container which is practical to use and handle, for example when the container is in close contact with other containers, and a blank from which the container can be produced.

One aim of this invention is to provide a container with a large surface at the top of it which can be used to make openings and to apply corresponding means for adjusting the openings.

Another aim of the invention is to provide a container which is stable when full and easy to hold in one hand.

A further aim is to provide a container which can be produced by a packaging machine in a few simple steps from a packaging blank.

To achieve these aims, the object of this invention is a container and a related blank having the features set out in the accompanying claims.

Advantageously, the invention makes it possible to place a multiplicity of containers side by side in close mutual contact and to guarantee that the containers, even when full, are easy and practical to pick up, move and handle by hand or, if necessary, by an automatic machine.

Advantageously, large openings can be made in the second base, or top base, of the container to allow the container to be quickly filled and emptied. Furthermore, the openings can be made centrally in the top base so as to allow the liquid contents to be uniformly emptied from the container.

Brief description of the drawings

Further aims, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of it, and of a variant thereof, provided purely by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a container according to the invention; - Figures 2 and 3 are, respectively, a front view and a side view of the container of Figure 1 ;

- Figure 4 is a top view of a packaging blank from which the container of Figure 1 can be produced;

- Figure 5 is a top view of a packaging blank from which a variant of a container according to the invention can be produced;

- Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view of a container according to the invention produced from the blank shown in Figure 5.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

With reference to Figures 1, 2, 3 and 6, the numeral 10 denotes a container in its entirety , especially a container for loose materials, liquids and fluids, produced from a packaging blank, usually of the multilayer type, denoted in its entirety by the numeral 30 (Figures 4 and 5).

The container 10 produced comprises a bottom wall 12 substantially polygonal in shape, designed to constitute a stable supporting surface for the container 10, and a top wall 14 substantially polygonal in shape and defining the top surface of the container 10. Preferably, the top wall 14 is parallel to the bottom wall 12.

The bottom wall 12 and the top wall 14 are each delimited by a plurality of edges 13 and 15.

The container 10 also has a plurality of side walls 16, each connected to a first edge 13 of the bottom wall 12 and to a second edge 15 of the top wall 14. The side walls 16 are mutually connected along longitudinal edges 17 to define the volume of the container 10.

Advantageously, the edges 13 of the bottom wall 12 and the edges 15 of the top wall 14 differ in length. More specifically, the first edge 13 of the bottom wall 12 and the corresponding second edge 15 of the top wall 14, when they delimit the same side wall 16, differ in length.

Thus, the side walls 16 are non-rectangular in shape and are not perpendicular to the bottom and top walls 12, 14. Preferably, also, the pairs of edges 13, 15 of the bottom and top walls 12, 14 connected to the same side wall 16 are parallel to each other.

Further, in this configuration, the side walls 16 have a planar, trapezoidal shape and are also substantially oblique. In effect, the side walls 16 are delimited at the top and at the bottom by edges 15, 13 which differ in length and which, when the container 10 is in the erect position, are also horizontally offset and hence are not directly above each other. This configuration means, advantageously, that the lateral surface of the container does not have edges 17 which are substantially vertical and therefore when the containers are full and in mutual contact, the respective edges of their second bases are not packed together.

Preferably, the bottom wall 12 is square or rectangular in shape. Thus, the bottom wall 12 has respective pairs of opposite parallel edges 13.

Preferably, the top wall 14 is also square or rectangular in shape. Thus, the top wall 14, too, has respective pairs of opposite parallel edges 15. Further, the top wall 14 is oriented in space (while remaining parallel to the bottom wall 12) in such a way that its edges 15 are parallel to the edges 13 of the bottom wall.

Thus, the bottom wall 12 might, for example, be square and the top wall 14 rectangular or vice versa.

The bottom and top walls might have different shapes from those described above, preferably provided they have corresponding edges 13, 15 (that is to say connected to the same side wall 16) which are parallel to each other. Figures 1-3 and 6 show example embodiments of a container according to the invention.

In Figure 1, the bottom wall 12 is rectangular while the top wall 14 is square. Also, according to this solution, the length of the side of the square top wall 14 is a length between the length of the short edges and the length of the long edges of the rectangular bottom wall 12. In this situation, two opposed side walls 16 are convergent towards the bottom wall 12 while the other two side walls 16 are convergent towards the top wall 14.

This configuration is apparent from the two views of Figures 2 and 3 which show that contiguous sides of the container 10 converge in opposite directions (towards the top in Figure 2 and towards the bottom in Figure 3).

Figure 6 shows a different embodiment, where the bottom wall 12 and the top wall 13 are both rectangular and while remaining parallel to each other, are oriented in space in such a way as to be angularly offset by 90° from each other (in their respective planes). In other words, the long edges of the bottom wall 12 are parallel to the short edges of the top wall 14.

In this embodiment, the bottom and top walls 12, 14 may be identical in size. Preferably, in the container 10 according to the invention, all the side walls 16 are substantially oblique and, still more preferably, are all trapezoidal in shape.

Preferably, also, the container 10 has pairs of side walls 16 which are equal and opposite and the side walls 16 of each pair have the same inclination (equal in modulus, but opposite) relative to the bottom wall 12 and the top wall 14.

The invention also has for its object a blank 30 for producing the container 10 described above.

Figure 4 shows the blank 30 used for producing the container 10 of Figures 1-3, while the blank 30 of Figure 5 is used for producing the container 10 of Figure 6. The blank 30 has fold lines 32, drawn with dashed lines, and foldable connecting flaps 34 juxtaposed with and/or superposed on each other, as is known in the prior art, and connectable to each other by gluing and/or sealing to define the shape and final volume of the container 10 by a sequence of operations on the blank 30. The folding, gluing and/or sealing operations performed by a packaging machine are substantially known and are not further specified here because they can be easily inferred by an expert in the trade. More in detail, the fold lines 32 comprise longitudinal fold lines 32', which will form the edges 17 delimiting the side walls 16 of the container 10 when the blank 30 is folded for the purpose, and transversal fold lines 32", which will form the first edges 13 and the second edges 15 delimiting the bottom wall 12 and the top wall 14 of the finished container 10, respectively.

More specifically, the longitudinal fold lines 32' delimit, in the blank 30 of Figures 4 and 5, side panels 19 which, when the container 10 is finished, form the external side walls 16 (that is to say, the walls normally visible) of the container 10, while the transversal fold lines 32" delimit, in the blank 30, base surfaces 20' and 20" which, when the container 10 is finished, form the bottom wall 12 and the top wall 14. The side panels 19 do not define the foldable connecting flaps 34 because the latter are folded inwards and their shape is of no relevance to the outside shape of the container 10.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, all the longitudinal fold lines 32' are inclined to a direction of extension (for example, the axis 30a) of the blank 30 and are convergent in pairs towards a respective one of the transversal fold lines 32". In other words, the longitudinal fold lines 32', considered in pairs, are convergent towards one or the other of the transversal fold lines 32" depending on the direction of convergence of the side wall 16 they define between them.

The transversal fold lines 32" lead to the nodes 33 defined by the points where the longitudinal fold lines 32' meet the transversal fold lines 32". In other words, the longitudinal fold lines 32' are neither parallel to each other nor parallel to a longitudinal axis of symmetry of the blank 30. This configuration means, advantageously, that the lateral surface of the container does not have edges which are substantially vertical and therefore when the containers are full and in mutual contact, the respective edges of their second bases are not packed together.

With reference in particular to the blank 30 illustrated in Figure 4, it should be noted that the bases differ in shape and, more specifically, that the bottom wall 12 is rectangular in shape, while the top wall 14 is square in shape.

Also, the blank 30 of Figure 4 has a mainly longitudinal extension along an axis 30a and an elongate shape, with foldable connecting flaps 34 located at the base surface 20' defining the supporting bottom wall 12 and at two side panels 19 defining the side walls 16 which are opposite each other when the container 10 is finished.

In other words, in the first configuration of it, shown in Figure 4, the side walls 16 of the blank 30, opposite each other when the container is finished, which are aligned longitudinally along the axis of extension 30a and which are separated from each other by the base surface 20" defining the top wall 14.

This longitudinally extending configuration of the blank 30 thus makes it possible for the top wall 14 to have a surface without foldable connecting flaps 34, which in turn means that this surface can be coated, decorated and/or perforated ideally to combine excellent aesthetic appeal with ease of production. The surface of the top wall 14 is provided in the central part of it with an opening 18 giving access to the inside of the container 10 and which, typically, has associated with it movable closing means for opening and closing the opening 18 itself, and comprising, for example, a plastic spout glued and/or sealed near the edges of the opening 18 and equipped with a screw cap, these means being, for convenience, not illustrated because they are of substantially known type. Advantageously, placing the opening centrally means that the opening can be made in a size such as to use most of the base surface, thereby improving inflow and outflow of container contents so that the container can be quickly filled and emptied.

The blank of Figure 5, too, has fold lines 32 comprising longitudinal fold lines 32' and transversal fold lines 32".

In this case, too, the longitudinal fold lines 32' are substantially convergent, in particular slightly convergent on each other and lead to nodes 33 defined by the poimts where they meet the transversal fold lines 32". Also in the case of this variant embodiment, the folding, gluing and/or sealing operations performed by a packaging machine to produce the finished container are substantially known and are not further specified here because they can be easily inferred by an expert in the trade.

The blank 30 of Figure 5 has a substantially transversal extension, with the side panels 19 side by side along the longitudinal fold lines 32'.

The foldable connecting flaps 34 are located at a side panel 19, defining a side wall 16 or a part thereof when the container is finished, and at both of the base surfaces 20' and 20", defining the bottom and top walls 12 and 14 of the container

10.

The container produced from this blank is illustrated in Figure 6 and, as in the preceding case, has first edges 13 of the bottom wall 12 which differ in length from the corresponding second edges 15 of the top wall 14 when each first edge 13 and each second edge 15 delimit the same side wall 16. Similarly, the side walls 16 are substantially oblique and, in particular, trapezoidal in shape.

In this case, as may be seen in Figure 6, both the bottom and top walls 12 and 14 have the connecting flaps 34 on their respective surfaces.

It should be noticed that according to the different embodiments of the container 10 falling within the scope of the inventive concept, the bottom wall 12 has a surface which extends in space differently from the surface of the top wall 14. The expression "extends in space" in this document means both extension in a certain space direction and the related angular orientation relative to any axis of rotation in space.

These features give the container according to the invention properties which make it more dynamic in space and easier to grip, and hence more practical to use, and which, at the same time, prevent it from adhering to identical containers placed in close contact therewith, when full, on a conveyor belt of a packaging machine.

Indeed, the substantially oblique and, in particular, trapezoidal side walls 16 of the container 10 are such that the middle section of the container 10, which may be puffed out on account of the pressure of the liquid inside it, does not press against the next container in the row as they are pushed forward at their bases on the conveyor belt, thus avoiding the risk of them toppling over and the consequent problems on the packaging lines.

Advantageously, the oblique side walls 16 delimited by the longitudinal edges 17, which are in turn inclined, impart high structural rigidity to the container 10, preferably along the longitudinal axis of the container.

Advantageously, the surface of the bottom wall 12 differs substantially in size from the surface of the top wall 14 so as to have a container 10 which is stable when it rests on its bottom wall 12, which has a streamlined form and is thus easy to hold, and which does not tend to be tightly packed against similar and/or identical containers placed side by side therewith and when full.

Advantageously, the good structural rigidity of the container 10 allows packaging in packs or cases which can be stacked on top of each other in quantities greater than hitherto known.

Advantageously, their prismatic shape and oblique trapezoidal walls of allows the containers 10 to be more easily grouped together in a packaging case and to easily extract a single container 10 from the case.

Preferably, the container 10 according to the invention can be packaged in a case consecutively alternating the vertical position and hence the supporting base of the container 10 with the next adjacent one/ones.

It will be understood that the packaged container and the packaging blank according to the invention can be modified and adapted in several ways which an expert in the trade will easily infer and also that the details described above may be embodied in different ways and substituted for technically equivalent elements.

Claims

1. A container (10), particularly for loose materials, liquids and fluids, comprising:

- a bottom wall (12) substantially polygonal in shape designed to constitute a stable supporting surface for the container (10),

- a top wall (14) substantially polygonal in shape and substantially parallel to the bottom wall (12)

- a plurality of side walls (16) connected to an edge (13) of the bottom wall (12) and to an edge (15) of the top wall (14) and mutually connected to constitute a lateral surface (16) of the container (10),

characterized in that for each of the side walls (16), the respective edge (13) of the bottom wall (12) and the respective edge (15) of the top wall (14) differ in length.

2. The container (10) according to claim 1, wherein the side walls (16) are trapezoidal in shape.

3. The container (10) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the side walls (16) are planar.

4. The container (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein for each of the side walls (16), the respective edge (13) of the bottom wall (12) and the respective edge (15) of the top wall (14) are parallel to each other.

5. The container (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the side walls (16) are oblique to the bottom wall (12) and to the top wall (14).

6. The container (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bottom wall (12) has a surface which extends in space differently from the surface of the top wall (14).

7. The container (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bottom wall (12) and the top wall (14) are parallel to each other, have a rectangular shape and are angularly offset by 90° from each other in their respective planes.

8. The container (10) according to claim 7, wherein the bottom wall (12) and the top wall (14) are the same.

9. The container (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the bottom wall (12) has a geometrical shape which is substantially different from the geometrical shape of the top wall (14).

10. The container (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the surface of the top wall (14) is without folded connecting flaps (34) of a respective blank (30).

11. The container (10) according to the preceding claim, comprising an opening (18) for access to the inside of the container (10) and located substantially in the central part of the surface of the top wall (14).

12. The container (10) according to claim 11, comprising movable closing means associated with the opening (18) and used for the opening and closing thereof.

13. A blank (30) for making a container according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of panels (19) defining external side walls (16) of the container (10), the panels being delimited from each other by longitudinal fold lines (32') which form edges (17) which connect the side walls (16) of the container (10) to each other, the blank (30) also having transversal fold lines (32"), delimiting base surfaces (20', 20") which form first edges (13) and second edges (15), delimiting the bottom wall (12) and the top wall (14) of the container (10), respectively, and foldable connecting flaps (34) defining the shape and final volume of the container (10), characterized in that all the longitudinal fold lines (32') are inclined to a direction of extension of the blank (30) and converge on each other in pairs towards a respective one of the transversal fold lines (32").

14. The blank (30) according to claim 13 extending along a longitudinal axis (30a), such that the side panels (19), defining opposite walls (16) of the container (10), are aligned along the longitudinal axis (30a) and separated from each other by a base surface (20") defining a base wall (12, 14), preferably the top wall (14), of the container (10).

The blank (30) according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the side panels (19) are side by side and are separated only by the respective longitudinal fold lines (32').