EP3450340A1

EP3450340A1 - Tray for housing containers

Info

Publication number: EP3450340A1
Application number: EP18192324.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Bianchi; Mattia Motta
Original assignee: Parmalat SpA
Current assignee: Parmalat SpA
Priority date: 2017-09-04
Filing date: 2018-09-03
Publication date: 2019-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-03
Also published as: HRP20201034T1; IT201700098960A1; EP3450340B1

Abstract

Tray for housing containers, comprising a containing body (11; 11') provided with lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and at least a bottom wall (12; 12'); the tray comprises support elements (15) integral with the lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or the bottom wall (12; 12') of the containing body (11; 11') and formed by flaps (19, 20, 21) that are made in the lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or the bottom wall (12; 12') and that extend transversely with respect to the lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or the bottom wall (12; 12') so as to be distanced from the latter to form holding seatings (16, 16a, 16b) to house the containers (17).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a tray for housing containers, in particular a tray made of cardboard or suchlike and able to house containers for food products, dairy products or suchlike, such as for example containers or jars for yoghurt or others.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known that trays for housing containers generally comprise a containing body, formed by four lateral walls and a bottom wall, and at least one shelf, to be inserted at a certain height in the containing body and comprising a plurality of seatings, for example, circular in shape, in which the containers of food, dairy or similar products are inserted.
Generally, the containing body formed by the lateral walls and the bottom wall is formed by shaping a single blank, made of cardboard.
In a known manner, folding and forming machines can be provided, able to shape the blank, equipped with corresponding folding lines, so as to make it pass from a flat configuration to a box-like configuration.
The lateral walls and the bottom wall are normally joined together by gluing or in lock-in manner.
Subsequently, a cardboard shelf provided with seatings to house the containers is inserted to size in the containing body thus obtained, generally at a certain height with respect to the bottom wall, so as to suitably house a certain number of containers or jars.
It is obvious that the fact of laying a shelf made of cardboard or suchlike, after the containing body has been made, entails various disadvantages, including an excessive waste of cardboard or suchlike, since one blank is needed to make the containing body and at least one other blank or sheet of cardboard is needed for the shelf, which moreover must be made to measure and worked so as to make the seatings in it.
The subsequent laying of a shelf separate from the containing body can also lead to defects in the construction of the tray itself, as the shelf can also position itself in a non-optimum manner inside the tray, and can also entail, as mentioned above, a waste of cardboard and the use of a specific machine able to insert the shelf into the containing body.
There are also trays that provide housing seatings for the containers that are integral with the containing body of the tray, but these seatings must be made by adding material and therefore surfaces to the blank which will form the tray.
Moreover, these trays normally require apertures to ventilate the containers, which in general are made on the bottom wall of the box, thus entailing another working step on the blank or on the containing body.
Moreover, known ventilation apertures are often too small to allow effective ventilation.
A known tray which comprises support elements integrated on two lateral walls is described for example in document US5348218A .
Document US5348218A provides the formation of seatings for housing drinks at the four corners of the tray, while the central part of the tray is clearly unsuitable for the stable positioning of containers that have to remain upright in a vertical position, for example jars of yogurt, but also containers for drinks, bottles or suchlike.
Moreover, as can be seen from the drawings, the support elements originate from two lateral walls of the tray mainly for the purpose of forming two handles for gripping the tray.
Moreover, the tray is formed manually, therefore the folding lines, with which the support elements are provided and which, once folded, generate the handles and the seatings for housing drinks at the four corners, are not suitable for possible automatic or automated processes for forming the tray.
In fact, the disposition of the various folding lines of the support elements described in document US5348218A would cause, if the tray were formed or shaped by an automatic forming machine, phenomena of tearing and damage on the original blank.
For example, in the tray described in document US5348218A , the support element provides at least one extremely thin flap and is delimited by two very close folding lines, which are not suitable for automatic processes to fold and form the tray.
Other limitations and disadvantages of conventional solutions and technologies will be clear to a person of skill after reading the remaining part of the present description with reference to the drawings and the description of the embodiments that follow, although it is clear that the description of the state of the art connected to the present description must not be considered an admission that what is described here is already known from the state of the prior art.
There is therefore a need to perfect a tray for housing containers which can overcome at least one of the disadvantages of the state of the art.
One purpose of the present invention is therefore to provide a tray for housing containers which comprises support elements for the containers which are integrated into the containing body, thus avoiding the use of a shelf or other support element separate from the containing body, and which can be made directly from the bottom wall and/or the lateral walls of the containing body, so as to avoid adding other material or other surfaces to the blank which will form the tray.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a tray for housing containers which provides seatings for housing the containers, distributed substantially over the whole bottom wall or base surface of the tray, so as to house the containers stably, in particular in a vertical position and each in its own seating, on the whole bottom wall of the tray.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a tray for housing containers that is quick, effective and precise to assemble, so as to obtain a plurality of seatings to house the containers.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a tray for housing containers which, in addition to integrating support elements for the containers, is also provided with effective ventilation apertures for the containers.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a blank suitable to be rapidly shaped to obtain a tray for housing containers with integrated support elements, in particular a blank which can also be used in automatic machines for forming trays.
Another purpose of the present invention is to perfect a method to make a tray for housing containers.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea.
In accordance with the above purposes, a tray for housing containers according to the present invention comprises a containing body provided with lateral walls and at least a bottom wall. According to a characteristic aspect of the invention, the tray comprises support elements integral with the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall of the containing body and formed by flaps that are made in a single body with the lateral walls and respectively the bottom wall and that extend transversely with respect to the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall so as to be distanced from the lateral walls and respectively from the bottom wall to form a plurality of holding seatings, each of which is configured to house and hold individually a respective container; the seatings are present, both in an essentially central zone, and also in lateral zones, substantially on the whole bottom wall, in order to hold, stably and each in its own specific seating, each individual container, substantially exploiting the whole surface of the bottom wall.
Advantageously, therefore, the support elements that will form the housing seatings of the containers are already an integral part of the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall of the containing body, since they are made in a single body with the walls, and therefore it is not necessary to add material or other surfaces to the blank that will form the tray.
Moreover, advantageously, the housing seatings in the present tray are made substantially on the whole bottom wall of the tray, therefore in the tray a series of individual stable seatings are made for each of the containers to be housed, stably and efficiently.
The tray can also comprise at least one housing seating of one container formed between two consecutive support elements along the bottom wall.
The seating formed between two consecutive support elements comprises at least two arcuate parts situated on opposite sides of the seating, in order to confer even greater stability in the housing of the container.
The housing seatings can be formed between the two support elements and the lateral walls of the containing body.
Advantageously, the tray according to the invention can comprise cutting lines and folding lines that define a closed contour of said flaps so that the latter can be lifted with respect to, and in physical continuity with, the bottom wall and/or the lateral walls of the containing body.
The support elements can comprise at least a first flap that is made in a single body with one lateral wall of the containing body and at least a second flap that is made in a single body with the bottom wall of the containing body; the first flap and the second flap are able to be rotated with respect to the lateral wall and to the bottom wall by means of corresponding folding lines.
The first flap and the second flap of the support element can be connected by means of a third flap connected to the first flap and to the second flap by means of corresponding folding lines.
The first flap can be part of the lateral wall of the containing body, while the second flap and the third flap can be part of the bottom wall of the containing body.
In the support element, the first flap and the third flap can be disposed horizontally and the second flap can be disposed vertically.
The support elements can be configured to form, once folded with respect to the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall, ventilation openings for the containers housed in the seatings; the openings can be made on the bottom wall and/or on the lateral walls of the containing body.
The support elements can comprise the cutting lines on first opposite sides and the folding lines on second opposite sides.
The tray can comprise windows to view the containers, made on the lateral walls of the containing body.
The invention also concerns a blank, made of cardboard or suchlike, suitable to form the housing tray for containers and comprising support elements integral with lateral walls and/or a bottom wall configured to define the containing body and formed by flaps that are made in a single body with the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall and that are configured to extend transversely with respect to the walls so as to be distanced from the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall to form housing seatings for containers. The support elements, moreover, are provided substantially on the whole bottom wall so as to define, during use, housing seatings of the containers, substantially exploiting the whole bottom wall of the tray.
In the blank, each support element can comprise: a first flap made in one of the lateral walls and connected to the lateral wall by means of a first cutting line; a second flap that is part of the bottom wall and is connected to the bottom wall by a second folding line; a third connection flap between the first flap and the second flap and connected thereto, on one side and the other, by a third folding line and a fourth folding line, wherein the fourth folding line is disposed substantially in an intermediate position between the second folding line and the third folding line.
The invention also concerns a method to make a tray using said blank, comprising at least step of folding the lateral walls with respect to the bottom wall of the blank so as to form the containing body and at least a step of shaping the flaps of the support elements with respect to the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall so as to pass from a lying position, in which the flaps are coplanar to the lateral walls and/or the bottom wall, to a raised position, in which the flaps protrude from the lateral walls and/or from the bottom wall so as to form the housing seatings for the containers. In the shaping step the housing seatings for the containers are made substantially on the whole bottom wall of the tray, so that the containers can be housed, stably and each in its own seating, substantially exploiting the whole bottom wall of the tray.
These and other aspects, characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure will be better understood with reference to the following description, drawings and attached claims. The drawings, which are integrated and form part of the present description, show some forms of embodiment of the present invention, and together with the description, are intended to describe the principles of the disclosure.
The various aspects and characteristics described in the present description can be applied individually where possible. These individual aspects, for example aspects and characteristics described in the attached dependent claims, can be the object of divisional applications.
It is understood that any aspect or characteristic that is discovered, during the patenting process, to be already known, shall not be claimed and shall be the object of a disclaimer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of some embodiments, given as a non-restrictive example with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

fig. 1 is a first three-dimensional view of a housing tray for containers according to the present invention;
fig. 2 is another three-dimensional view of the housing tray in fig. 1;
fig. 3 is a plan view of a blank suitable to obtain the housing tray for containers according to the previous figures;
fig. 4 is a three-dimensional view of a variant of the present housing tray for containers;
fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank suitable to make the variant of the tray in fig. 4.

To facilitate comprehension, the same reference numbers have been used, where possible, to identify identical common elements in the drawings. It is understood that elements and characteristics of one embodiment can conveniently be incorporated into other embodiments without further clarifications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

We will now refer in detail to the various embodiments of the present invention, of which one or more examples are shown in the attached drawings. Each example is supplied by way of illustration of the invention and shall not be understood as a limitation thereof. For example, the characteristics shown or described insomuch as they are part of one embodiment can be adopted on, or in association with, other embodiments to produce another embodiment. It is understood that the present invention shall include all such modifications and variants.
Before describing these embodiments, we must also clarify that the present description is not limited in its application to details of the construction and disposition of the components as described in the following description using the attached drawings. The present description can provide other embodiments and can be obtained or executed in various other ways. We must also clarify that the phraseology and terminology used here is for the purposes of description only, and cannot be considered as limitative.
With reference to the attached drawings, see fig. 1 for example, a tray 10 according to the invention comprises a containing body 11 which can be formed, for example, by a bottom wall 12 and by four lateral walls, for example the two opposite lateral walls 13 and the two opposite lateral walls 14.
Preferably, the lateral walls 13 are substantially identical to each other, as are the lateral walls 14.
The tray 10 also comprises support elements 15, which are integrated into the containing body 11, thus connected to the lateral walls 14 and/or to the bottom wall 12.
The support elements 15 are able to form a plurality of seatings 16 and 16a, 16b to hold or house a series of containers 17, for example jars for food products or other.
Each of the seatings 16 and 16a, 16b is configured to individually house and hold a respective container 17; the seatings 16, 16a, 16b are present, both in an essentially central zone, and also in lateral zones, substantially on the whole bottom wall 12, 12', so as to hold each individual container 17 in a stable manner and each one in its own specific seating 16, 16a, 16b, substantially exploiting the whole surface of the bottom wall 12, 12'.
The seatings 16, 16a, 16b are then positioned substantially on the whole bottom wall 12 of the tray 10, so as to exploit the whole containing capacity of the tray 10 and each of them is able to house a single container 17 and hold it stably, in particular in a vertical position.
The seatings 16 and 16a, 16b are located at a certain height with respect to the bottom wall 12, so as to correctly and stably position the containers 17 in a vertical position, as shown in figs. 1 or 2.
The seatings 16 and 16a, 16b preferably comprise at least one arcuate part 41, so as to suitably and stably house containers 17 with a cylindrical, truncated cone or similar section.
The arcuate part 41 can, for example, be conformed as an arc of a circle, for example of a semicircular or similar shape.
In particular, between two consecutive support elements 15 along the bottom wall 12, the seating 16 comprises at least two arcuate parts 41 situated on opposite sides of the seating 16, so as to stably house a container 17 in a vertical position.
By means of the present support elements 15, stable seatings 16, 16a, 16b for holding containers 17 are thus formed. The seatings 16, 16a, 16b are located adjacent to one another on the whole bottom wall 12 of the tray 10, so that, as we said, each container 17 is stably housed in its own seating 16, 16a, 16b.
Moreover, the seatings 16 and 16a, 16b are preferably made by means of the support elements 15 at the same height with respect to the bottom wall 12 of the containing body 11.
The seatings 16 are made, for example, between two consecutive support elements 15, the seatings 16a are made for example between the support elements 15 and a first lateral wall 13 and the seatings 16b are made for example between the support elements 15 and the second lateral wall 13.
The number and disposition of the support elements 15 integral with the containing body 11 of the tray 10 can naturally vary with respect to what is shown here and is a function of specific storage requirements of the containers 17.
For example, in the attached drawings, see also fig. 2, there are four support elements 15 integral with the tray 10 which form six seatings 16, 16a, 16b for six containers 17.
If, for example, two support elements 15 were provided, disposed substantially in a central position in the tray 10, four seatings 16a and 16b would be obtained for four containers 17.
In general, the support elements 15 integral with the tray 10 allow to obtain the seatings 16, 16a, 16b according to a configuration such that they are disposed on two rows.
As we said above, however, the number, the disposition and also the shape of the seatings 16, 16a, 16b obtained by means of the support elements 15 can vary.
The support elements 15 integral with the containing body 11 effectively and precisely replace the traditional shelf which is inserted into traditional containing bodies of known trays.
The support elements 15 are formed from the same blank 18, see fig. 3, for example made of cardboard or suchlike, with which the containing body 11 of the tray 10 is formed.
The support elements 15 are therefore integral with the lateral wall 14 and/or the bottom wall 12 and are formed by flaps 19, 20 and 21 which are made in the lateral walls 14 and/or in the bottom wall 12 and which extend transverse with respect to the lateral walls 14 and/or to the bottom wall 12 so as to be distanced from the latter to form the seatings 16, 16a, 16b to hold or house the containers 17.
Each of the support elements 15 comprises a first flap 19, which is made in one of the lateral walls 14.
The first flap 19 is connected to the lateral wall 14 by means of a first folding line 22.
The support element 15 comprises a second flap 20 which is part of the bottom wall 12 of the containing body 11.
The second flap 20 is connected to the bottom wall 12 by a second folding line 23.
The support element 15 comprises a third flap 21 connecting the first flap 19 and the second flap 20 and connected thereto, on one side and the other, by means of a third folding line 24 and a fourth folding line 25.
In particular, the fourth folding line 25 is disposed substantially in an intermediate position between the second folding line 23 and the third folding line 24.
It has been found in experiments that the provision of this fourth folding line 25 in the intermediate position allows to carry out, in an effective way and without running the risk of tearing or ruining the blank 18, the forming process of the tray 10, 10' by an automatic forming machine provided with corresponding automatic shaping means, such as thrusters driven by plungers or other.
In this way, it is possible to safely and efficiently use the blanks 18 according to the present invention in automatic forming machines for the production of trays. These automatic forming machines can also produce up to 1000 trays per hour starting from corresponding blanks 18, by means of the thrusters which automatically fold and shape the support elements 15 so as to form the seatings 16, 16a, 16b, maintaining the integrity of the blanks 18.
Each of the support elements 15, in an active position of use, see figs. 1 and 2, has a substantially inverted "L" shape, with the first flap 19 and the third flap 21 disposed substantially horizontally and with the second flap 20 disposed substantially vertically.
As can be seen, the first flap 19 and the third flap 21 can be shaped to form an arcuate portion 41 of the seating 16 and 16a, 16b.
Each of the three flaps 19, 20 and 21, once lifted and disposed in an active or support position, as in fig. 1 and fig. 2, leaves an aperture 26, 27 and 28 in the containing body 11.
The apertures 26, 27 and 28 allow an ample and effective ventilation of the containers 17 of the tray 10 and are obtained directly when the support elements 15 are shaped to obtain the seatings 16, 16a and 16b.
In particular, the aperture 26 is obtained on the lateral walls 14 by rotating the first flap 19 around the first folding line 22 and from the bottom upward toward the inside of the containing body 11.
The apertures 27 and 28 are obtained on the bottom wall 12 by rotating and lifting the second flap 20 and the third flap 21 around the folding lines 23, 24 and 25 up to the situation in fig. 1 or fig. 2.
In the blank 18, as can be seen, around the three flaps 19, 20 and 21 there are cutting lines 29, suitably shaped so as to define a closed contour of the three flaps 19, 20 and 21 and allow them to pass from the flat configuration of fig. 3 to the use and support configuration of fig. 1, thus from an extended configuration to the shaped configuration.
In particular, as can be seen in fig. 3, each of the support elements 15 has on the first opposite sides the folding lines 22 and 23 and on second opposite sides the cutting lines 29. Thanks to the cutting lines 29 and folding lines 22, 23, the flaps 19, 20, 21 can be lifted with respect to the bottom wall 12 and/or to the lateral walls 13, 14, despite being in physical continuity with said walls.
Moreover, since the support element 15 is formed by several flaps 19, 20 and 21, other folding lines 24 and 25 are also made between the folding lines 22 and 23.
The blank 18 also comprises connection flaps 30 of the lateral walls 13 and 14.
The connection flaps 30 are connected on one side to one of the adjacent lateral walls, for example the lateral walls 13, by corresponding folding lines 39, while, on the other side, they are separated from the other lateral wall, for example the lateral wall 14, by a notch 40.
In general, therefore, the blank 18 in a flat configuration is folded so as to lift the lateral walls 13 and 14 and connect them by means of the connection flaps 30.
The lateral walls 13 and 14 are connected to the bottom wall 12 by means of corresponding folding lines 38.
Between the lateral walls 13 and 14 and the connection flaps 30, the application of glue or other adhesive material can be provided in order to attach them and to make the containing body 11 as shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2.
The method to make the tray 10 can therefore provide a first step of making the containing body 11 by lifting the four lateral walls 13 and 14 with respect to the bottom wall 12.
The lateral walls 13 and 14 are lifted by rotating them around the corresponding folding lines 38.
In this step it can be assumed that the three flaps 19, 20 and 21 are still associated with the corresponding walls of the containing body 11, that is, the first flap 19 may still be lying on the wall 14 and the second flap 20 and the third flap 21 may still be lying on the bottom wall 12.
A step of shaping the first flap 19 can therefore be provided, thanks to the cutting lines 29 and the folding line 22. In particular, as we said, the cutting lines 29 will be on two opposite sides of the first flap 19.
The first flap 19 is folded upward and toward the inside of the containing body 11, so that it assumes the position shown in fig. 1.
Similarly, thanks to the cutting lines 29 and the folding line 23, the second flap 20 can be lifted with respect to the bottom wall 12 so that it moves into the position shown in fig. 1.
Consequently, the third connection flap 21, rotating around the third folding line 24 and the fourth folding line 25, is disposed as in fig. 1. The third flap 21 also has cutting lines 29 on two opposite sides.
At least two of the lateral walls, for example the lateral walls 13, can be shaped so as to provide a window 31 able to optimally view the containers 17 inside the tray 10.
Between each pair of adjacent lateral walls 13 and 14 of the containing body 11, a protrusion 32 is made, able to be inserted into a suitable seating 33 made on the lower edges of the containing body 11 of another tray which would be disposed above the tray 10 shown in fig. 1, so as to allow a possible convenient stacking of several trays 10.
The protrusions 32 can generally have a right-angle shape and comprise a part 34 associated with a first lateral wall and a part 35 associated with a second lateral wall.
Fig. 4 shows a variant of the present tray 10'. In this variant, substantially, the lateral walls 13' and 14' have a rectangular shape, while the support elements 15 are completely similar to what has been seen previously.
In order to stack several trays 10', flaps 36 protruding from the lateral walls are used, for example the lateral walls 13', able to be inserted into corresponding notches 37 made in correspondence with another tray which would be disposed above the tray 10' shown in fig. 4.
Fig. 5 shows the blank 18', by means of which, the tray 10' can be made, with suitable folding operations similar to those described for the blank 18.
Also in the embodiment of the containing body 11' of the tray 10', the lateral walls 13' and 14' can be connected to the corresponding connection flaps 30' by gluing or similar, as for the tray 10.
As an alternative to what has been described, both the trays 10 and 10' could provide lateral walls 13, 13', 14, 14' able to be reciprocally connected, in the configuration of use shown in fig. 1 and fig. 4, by means of lock-in elements or suchlike, instead of by gluing, or a combination of both.
It is clear that modifications and/or additions of parts or steps may be made to the tray for housing containers, the blank and the method to produce the blank as described heretofore, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention.
It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific examples, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of trays for housing containers, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.
In the following claims, the sole purpose of the references in brackets is to facilitate reading: they must not be considered as restrictive factors with regard to the field of protection claimed in the specific claims.

Claims

Tray for housing containers, comprising a containing body (11; 11') provided with lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and at least a bottom wall (12; 12'), characterized in that said housing tray comprises support elements (15) integral with said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and said bottom wall (12; 12') of the containing body (11; 11') and formed by flaps (19, 20, 21) that are made in a single body with said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and respectively said bottom wall (12; 12') and that extend transversely with respect to said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and respectively said bottom wall (12; 12') so as to be distanced from said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and from said bottom wall (12; 12') to form a plurality of holding seatings (16, 16a, 16b), each of which is configured to house and hold individually a respective container (17), said seatings (16, 16a, 16b) being present, both in an essentially central zone, and also in lateral zones, substantially on the whole bottom wall (12, 12'), in order to hold, stably and each in its own specific seating (16, 16a, 16b), each individual container (17), substantially exploiting the whole surface of said bottom wall (12, 12').
Tray as in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one housing (16) seating of a container (17) formed between two consecutive support elements (15) along said bottom wall (12, 12').
Tray as in claim 1, characterized in that said seating (16) formed between two consecutive support elements (15) comprises at least two arcuate parts (41) situated on opposite sides of the seating (16).
Tray as in claim 1, characterized in that said housing seatings (16, 16a, 16b) are formed between said two support elements (15) and said lateral walls (13; 13') of said containing body (11).
Tray as in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises cutting lines (29) and folding lines (22, 23, 24, 25) that define a closed contour of said flaps (19, 20, 21) so that the latter can be lifted with respect to, and in physical continuity with, said bottom wall (12; 12') and/or said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') of said containing body (11; 11').
Tray as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said support elements (15) comprise at least a first flap (19) that is made in a single body with one lateral wall (14; 14') of said containing body (11; 11'), and at least a second flap (20) that is made in said bottom wall (12; 12') of said containing body (11; 11'), said first flap (19) and said second flap (20) being able to be rotated with respect to said lateral wall (14; 14') and to said bottom wall (12; 12') by means of corresponding folding lines (22, 23).
Tray as in claim 6, characterized in that said first flap (19) and said second flap (20) of said support element (15) are connected by means of a third flap (21) connected to said first flap (19) and to said second flap (20) by means of corresponding folding lines (24, 25).
Tray as in claim 7, characterized in that said first flap (19) is made in said lateral wall (14; 14') of said containing body (11; 11') while said second flap (20) and said third flap (21) are made in said bottom wall (12; 12') of said containing body (11; 11).
Tray as in claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, in said support element (15), said first flap (19) and said third flap (21) are disposed horizontally and said second flap (20) is disposed vertically.
Tray as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said support elements (15) are configured to form, once folded with respect to said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12'), ventilation openings (26, 27, 28) for the containers (17) housed in said seatings (16, 16a, 16b), said openings (26, 27, 28) being made on said bottom wall (12; 12') and/or on said lateral walls (14; 14') of said containing body (11; 11').
Tray as in claim 5, characterized in that said support elements (15) comprise said cutting lines (29) on first opposite sides and said folding lines (22-25) on second opposite sides.
Tray as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that it comprises windows (31) to view the containers (17), made on said lateral walls (13; 13') of the containing body (11; 11').
Blank for making a tray (10; 10') as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that it comprises support elements (15) integral with said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12') configured to define a containing body (11; 11') and formed by flaps (19, 20, 21) that are made in said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12') and that are configured to extend transversely with respect to said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12') so as to be distanced from said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12') to form housing seatings (16, 16a, 16b) for containers (17), wherein said support elements (15) are provided substantially on the whole bottom wall (12, 12') so as to define, during use, housing seatings (16, 16a, 16b) of the containers (17), exploiting substantially the whole bottom wall (12, 12') of the tray (10; 10').
Blank as in claim 13, characterized in that the support element (15) comprises: a first flap (19) made in one of the lateral walls (14) and connected to said lateral wall (14) by means of a first cutting line (22); a second flap (20) that is part of the bottom wall (12) and is connected to said bottom wall (12) by a second folding line (23); a third connection flap (21) between said first flap (19) and said second flap (20) and connected thereto, on one side and the other, by a third folding line (24) and a fourth folding line (25), wherein said fourth folding line (25) is disposed substantially in an intermediate position between said second folding line (23) and said third folding line (24).
Method to make a tray using a blank (18; 18') as in claim 11, characterized in that it comprises at least step of folding said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') with respect to said bottom wall (12; 12') of the blank (18; 18') so as to form said containing body (11; 11'), and at least a step of shaping said flaps (19, 20, 21) of the support elements (15) with respect to said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12') so as to pass from a lying position, in which said flaps (19, 20, 21) are coplanar to said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or said bottom wall (12; 12'), to a raised position, in which said flaps (19, 20, 21) protrude from said lateral walls (13, 14; 13', 14') and/or from said bottom wall (12; 12') so as to form said housing seatings (16, 16a, 16b) for the containers (17), wherein in said shaping step said housing seatings (16, 16a, 16b) for the containers (17) are made substantially on the whole bottom wall (12, 12') of the tray, so that said containers (17) can be housed, stably and each in its own seating (16, 16a, 16b), substantially exploiting the whole bottom wall (12, 12') of the tray.