ES2927920T3 - Container for spherical products, in particular fruit - Google Patents

Abstract

Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, which is designed to store pieces of fruit with an almost spherical configuration, made up of a rectangular laminar body of cardboard, paper or cardboard that defines a main central sector (1), as well as two lateral sectors. (2) which are defined by respective longitudinal fold lines (3), the main sector (1) comprising a closure tab (7) at one of its ends to roll said sector over the pieces of fruit (4) contained in the itself and fix it to the opposite end thereof, the lateral sectors (2) comprising arched folding lines (9) as well as adhesive areas (12) to fix their ends to the central sector (1), with said arched folding lines (9) being determined ) side walls for retaining the fruits contained therein when the container is unfolded, with the particularity that the container includes punching and/or perforation lines for opening the closed container. rado. (Automatic translation with Google Translate, without legal value)

Description

DESCRIPTION

Container for spherical products, in particular fruit

technique field

The present invention refers to a container for spherical products, in particular fruit, and more specifically to a container for storing a group of a determined number of pieces with an almost spherical configuration, such as oranges, tangerines, apples, kiwis, balls, etc.

The aim of the invention is to provide a container that can be easily used by anyone, including children, when they need to easily and comfortably transport various pieces of fruit, for example, that the user can eat later, all while occupying a minimum volume, and that makes it possible to obtain a "pocket", "adjustable" and portable container, with a size relative to the diameter of the pieces of fruit that will be stored inside, in order to obtain a closed container with the dimensions minimum possible at all times, and also obtain a large printing surface, being able to customize the container 100%.

Background of the invention

Numerous types of fruit containers are known, which are used to market this type of product, so the volume of the container is not a determining factor when designing this type of container.

Known containers are described, for example, in DE 202004007626 U1, US 256064 A and US 558 244 A.

However, the scope of application of the invention is focused on the consumer who, after obtaining a certain volume of fruit, needs to transport a smaller volume of fruit, for example, three pieces of fruit, to eat them later, therefore requiring a container that takes up little space (preferably a pocket container) and that is disposable and recyclable.

Currently known containers are not designed to optimize space in relation to the almost spherical configuration of certain types of fruit, such as tangerines, oranges, apples, kiwis, so they have excessive volume that makes it difficult to transport them in a pocket, or in a similar place, and also have a structure that is not fully recyclable.

In addition, this type of container has a fixed volume that prevents it from adapting optimally to the dimensions of the corresponding pieces of fruit in each case, which is why they take up excessive volume, without having systems that allow users to open the container. easily.

Explanation of the invention

The described container for spherical products, in particular fruit, completely solves the aforementioned drawback with a simple but effective solution.

To this end, the container of the invention according to claim 1 is obtained from a rectangular sheet of cardboard, paper or cardboard that comprises two longitudinal folding lines that define three sectors, a main central sector and two lateral sectors, so that these lateral sectors each comprise, on the one hand, two arched folding lines and, additionally, an adhesive is applied to the outer areas of said lines to fix them to the inner face of the main central sector, in order to market the container that adopts a folded, laminar configuration, and makes it possible to unfold the container when it is going to be filled with the corresponding pieces of fruit. One of the ends of the main central sector is extended by a trapezoidal tab, which is used to close the container once it has been unfolded and the fruit has been stored inside, so that the lateral sectors act as side walls to contain the the pieces of fruit when the container is unfolded, said walls that are arranged transversally on the main central sector, so that said main central sector is designed to be rolled up, forming a kind of cylinder that surrounds the fruit, which is held by the aforementioned tab above that it is provided with an adhesive sheet with its corresponding protective tape, or alternatively, in a simpler version, said tab could be fixed by means of adhesive tape or any other known adhesion means, such as for example a label with information about the product, for example.

In this way, the container adapts perfectly to the different diameters that the pieces of fruit contained inside may have, since the final closing tab does not have a fixed closing position, but can be fixed at different distances from the opposite end. of said central sector in a fast, comfortable and simple way. The main sector will comprise die-cuts in its central section, which determine ventilation windows that allow the pieces of fruit to be preserved in optimal edible conditions for as long as possible.

Additionally, two possible solutions have been designed for opening the closed container:

On the one hand, a double perforation line can be included, which corresponds to the area where the closure tab joins the main sector, so that, when said tab is broken, the container is automatically disassembled, opening completely automatically. tray and providing access to each and every one of the pieces of fruit contained inside.

The second option, which can be combined with the first or provided independently, includes a pair of divergent perforation lines that correspond to the central section of one of the lateral sectors and that extend to the foldable area of the same, so that so that eliminating said stamped trapezoidal sector will open the corresponding end of the cylinder formed by the container, making it possible to extract the pieces contained inside one by one through said end.

Finally, it should be noted that although the container has been designed so that the user can manually carry out the packaging process when needed, it is also contemplated that said process can be carried out on an industrial scale in an automated/mechanized manner.

In this way, a very economical container is obtained, totally recyclable, easily disposable, easy to use, with a minimum volume, and which can be easily adjusted to the diameter of the pieces of fruit, for example, to be contained inside.

Brief description of the figures

To complete the invention described below and in order to offer a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred embodiment thereof, this description is accompanied by a set of drawings, in which the figures shown have been represented. described below, for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting:

Figure 1.- Shows a plan view of a container for spherical products, particularly fruit, designed according to the objective of the present invention.

Figure 2.- Shows a perspective view of the container of the invention as supplied, that is, as a stackable laminar element.

Figure 3.- Shows a perspective view of the container in an initial phase of unfolding the container and inserting the pieces of fruit inside.

Figures 4 and 5.- Show respective perspective views of the container at the moment it is being rolled up to close it.

Figure 6.- Shows a perspective view of the container when it is being opened by means of one of the two means provided for opening the container.

Figure 7.- Shows a perspective view of the configuration of the open container after being opened using the opening means shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8.- Shows a perspective view of the second opening means provided for the container, when used.

Figure 9.- Finally, it shows a perspective view of the way in which the pieces of fruit are extracted when the container is opened using the means shown in Figure 8.

Preferred embodiment of the invention

In light of the drawings described above, it can be seen that the container for spherical products, particularly fruit, comprises a rectangular laminar body of cardboard, paper or cardboard that defines a main central sector (1), as well as two sectors (2 ) sides that are defined by respective longitudinal folding lines (3). The main sector (1) defines a hollow cylindrical body to house inside the pieces of fruit (4), which includes ventilation windows (5).

Said central sector (1) comprises a trapezoidal closure tab (7) at one of its ends, which comprises a pair of perforation lines (6) in correspondence with the section that converges with said central sector (1) to open the longitudinally closed container, said tab (7) that is provided with an adhesive surface (8) with the corresponding protective layer thereof that is removed when the container is used, which is designed to be fixed on the opposite edge of the sector (1 ) central after forming the cylindrical body and adjusting it to the diameter of the pieces of fruit (4) contained inside.

In addition, the lateral sectors (2) comprise some arcuate folding lines (9) in the central section, said lateral sectors that are fixed to the central sector (1) at their lateral ends by means of adhesive areas (12), so that the central section of the lateral sectors (2) defines lateral retaining walls (11) for the pieces of fruit (4), comprising a pair of divergent punch lines (10) that allow the container to be opened on one of the bases or sides thereof. Therefore, as shown in Figures 3 to 5, the container is unfolded so that the lateral sectors (2) define the mentioned retaining lateral walls (11) for the pieces of fruit (4), the sector (1) central section that can be rolled over the pieces of fruit and adapted to their diameter, perfectly stabilizing the folded tab (7) at the opposite end of said central sector (1).

When it is necessary to open the container, said container can be opened using the double perforation line (6), leaving the fruit accessible as shown in Figure 7, or alternatively using the pair of divergent punch lines (10), as shown in Figure 8, with the fruit being removed laterally one by one, as shown in Figure 9.

The perforations in the form of windows (5) can be blocked by a sheet of transparent material, depending on the needs of the product to be packaged.

As previously mentioned, the container (1) can also be used to pack any spherical product, such as tennis balls, etc.

Claims (5)

1. Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, which is designed to store pieces with an almost spherical configuration, in which it is made up of a rectangular laminar body of cardboard, paper or cardboard that defines a main central sector (1), as well as as two lateral sectors (2) that are defined by respective longitudinal folding lines (3), the main sector (1) comprising a closure tab (7) at one of its ends to roll said sector over the pieces of fruit (4 ) contained therein and fix it to the opposite end thereof, the lateral sectors (2) comprising adhesive zones (12) to fix their ends to the central sector (1), where the container comprises punching and/or perforation lines to the opening of the closed container, characterized in that the side sectors comprise arched folding lines (9) that determine side walls for retaining the fruits contained inside when it is unfolded the container. 2. Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the tab (7) includes a pair of perforation lines (6) in the section thereof with the central sector (1) to open longitudinally. the closed container. 3. Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, according to claim 1, characterized in that a pair of divergent punch lines (10) are defined in the central section of the lateral sectors (2), which define lateral opening means. of the closed container. 4. Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the closure tab (7) comprises an adhesive surface (8) with its corresponding protective sheet that is removed when the container is used. 5. Container for spherical products, particularly fruit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the central sector (1) includes ventilation windows (5).