GB1559824A

GB1559824A - Boxes

Info

Publication number: GB1559824A
Application number: GB29846/75A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: BRDR Schur International AS
Current assignee: BRDR Schur International AS
Priority date: 1975-07-16
Filing date: 1975-07-16
Publication date: 1980-01-30
Also published as: FI61160B; BR7604623A; DE2631963A1; DE2631963C2; JPS60136924U; MX144655A; SE7608102L; FR2318073B1; JPS5212086A; SE412210B; JPS6116999Y2; FR2318073A1; NL183818B; DK147374C; BE844195A; NO762468L; FI61160C; CH608453A5; NL7607892A; NL183818C

Abstract

The sales and dispensing box is provided with a base (4) and a dispensing opening (20) arranged in the cover (2) of the box. Said dispensing opening can be closed with the aid of a slide (18) which is located essentially inside the box and can be moved from a position in which the dispensing opening (20) is released into a position closing the same, and vice versa. In this arrangement, an edge of the slide (18) located outside the box is connected to an edge of an end-side lug, with the result that the slide (18) is moved when the lug is pivoted. At least one side edge of the slide (18) is arranged in the vicinity of the adjacent box side wall (8, 10, 12, 14) and is provided with a side lug (28). This is bent into a position in which it rests on the side wall (8, 10), the side lug (28) having a front edge (42) which points in the direction of the box end side (26), interacts with a rigid box stop (42) and delimits the forwardly directed movement, releasing the dispensing opening (20), of the slide (18). <IMAGE>

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO BOXES (71) We, BRDR. SCHUR INTERNATIONAL A/S, of Englandwej, 8700 Horsens, Denmark, a company organised under the laws of Denmark, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to a box having a top panel with a dispenser opening normally covered by a closing plate portion arranged generally inside the box and being displaceable to uncover and recover the dispenser opening, said closing plate portion having an outer edge connected with one edge of a box front end flap, the opposite edge of which is hinged to a box bottom panel whereby the end flap may be pivoted so as to displace the closing plate for opening and closing the dispenser opening.

Boxes of this type may be used for pellets, drawing pins and the like and are operable by one hand, since for opening the box it is sufficient to hold it in one hand and e.g. by means of a thumb push or pull the closing plate into an open position whereafter the desired portion of the contents of the box is poured out into the other hand and the box is reclosed by moving the closing plate back to its closing position.

It should already here by emphasized that the above terms "top panel", "bottom panel", and "front end" should of course in no way involve any limitation with respect to the orientation or dimensioning of the box, but it will highly facilitate the present disclosure if the box is generally looked upon in the way that it has a top side in which the dispenser opening is provided and beneath which the closing plate is arranged so as to be operable from the front end of the box. Herewith also the bottom-, side- and rear end panels will be defined.

Known boxes of the type referred to have involved problems with respect to the guiding of the closing plate for obtaining that this plate portion inside the box is located reasonably flat against the lower side of the top panel, i.e. without taking up unnecessary space in the box and without abutting the contents of the box by its opening and especially closing movement.

According to the present invention there is provided a box having a top panel with a dispenser opening normally covered by a closing plate portion arranged generally inside the box and being displaceable to uncover and re-cover the dispenser opening, said closing plate portion having an outer edge connected with one edge of a box front end flap, the opposite edge of which is hinged to a box bottom panel whereby the end flap may be pivoted so as to displace the closing plate for opening and closing the dispenser opening, at least one side edge portion of the closing plate being located near the adjacent side panel of the box and provided with a side flap which is folded down along said side panel and slidingly supported by an elongate carton portion so as to support the closing plate slidingly against or near to the inner or lower side of the top panel provided with said dispenser opening, while said side flap or another side flap with which the closing plate is provided has a front edge facing the front end of the box and cooperating with a rigid stop portion of the box so as to form a stop edge effectively limiting the forward opening movement of the closing plate.

Due to the location of the said side flap or flaps immediately adjacent the side panels of the box the side flaps themselves will not interfere with the con tents of the box during movement of the closing plate, and they are able to both support the closing plate as desired and constitute stop means limiting the retraction of the closing plate as desired. The side flaps are easily provided as integral portions of the carton blank, and as it will appear from the following that the box may be designed so as to present additional advantages with respect to automatic erection, filling and closing and with respect to the provision of a so called guarantee seal, i.e. a box closure requiring to be broken for enabling the filled box to be opened.

In the following the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : - Fig. 1 is a plane view of a carton blank for a box according to a first embodiment of the invention, Figs. 2-7 are perspective views illustrating various steps of erecting the box and opening the filled and closed box, Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a closed box according to a second embodiment of the invention, Figs. 9 and 10 are perspective views of a third and fourth embodiment, respectively, shown in partly erected positions, Fig. 11 is a plane view of a blank for a box according to a fifth embodiment of the invention, Figs. 12-14 are perspective views of this blank in various conditions of erection, and Figs. 15 and 16 are perspective views illustrating a box member according to still a further embodiment of the invention.

The carton blank shown in Fig. 1 com- prises a top panel 2, a bottom panel 4, a rear end panel 6, two inner side panels 8 and 10, two outer side panels 12 and 14, two front end flaps both designated 16, and a closing plate 18 having a hole 20.

The rear end panel 6 is provided with two corner lock flaps 22 adapted in well known manner to cooperate with locking slots 24 in the inner side panels 8 and 10. The closing plate 18 is hinged to the bottom panel 4 through a front end flap 26, and adjacent its outer end the closing plate 18 is at both sides provided with side flaps 28, the cross dimensions of which are smaller than the cross dimensions of the side panels 8, 10, 12 and 14. Adjacent its free end the top panel 2 has a projecting front end flap 30, and while there is provided folding lines between the other respective panel and flap portions as indicated by dot-and-dash lines, there is between the top panel 2 and the front end flap 30 provided a perforation line 32. In the outer end portion of the top panel 2 is defined a tear off portion 34 to be torn off along a further perforation line 36.In the lower left hand corner it is illustrated that the tear off portion 34 has a gripping flap 38 to be described below. The outer edges of the inner side panels 8 and 10 are each provided with a recess 40 having a front limit edge 42 at the recess ends adjacent the closing plate 18.

The box is erected from the blank first as shown in Fig. 2, where the side and end panels at all sides of the bottom panel 4 are folded up and locked, partly by a well known locking engagement between the corner lock flaps 22 and the locking slots 24 in the inner side panels 8 and 10 and partly by folding in the front end panel flaps 16 and folding up the front end flaps 26 and the closing plate 18, without the portions 16 and 26 being glued or otherwise joined to each other. In this position the box mem ;ber is ready to pass a filling device (not shown) filling the box with the desired contents.

Thereafter the box member is brought to pass through a box closing station which in a manner not shown but otherwise elementary to those skilled in the art, operates to fold down the closing plate 18 over the filled box, see Fig. 3, and thereafter to fold down the top panel 2. Finally the outer side panels 12 and 14 and the front end flap 30 projecting from the top panel 4 are folded down along the box sides and joined, by gluing or otherwise e.g. by heat sealing to the respective inner side panels 8 and 10 and the front end flap 26, whereby the box is brought into a closed position as shown in Fig. 4. The projecting side flaps 28, Fig.

3, will automatically be folded down about the top edges of the respective side panels 8 and 10 when the outer side panels 12 and 14 on the top portion 2 are folded down.

During the joining of the respective side panels care should be taken that the joining is effected only along a lower area of the inner side panels 8 and 10, underneath the lower edge of the folded down side flaps 28, so as to ensure that the downwardly projecting side flaps 28 are movable longitudinally in the upper space between the inner and outer side flaps respectively. Thus, in case of gluing, glue should be supplied only along the area A or the area B indicated in Fig. 3.

In the closed box, Fig. 4, despite the said movability of the side flaps 28, the closing flap 18 is locked against displacement by virtue of the front end flap 30 of the top panel 2 being secured to the front side of the end flap 26, i.e. the box is closed in a sealed manner.

When it is desired to open the box the gripping flap 38 which projects slightly from the front top edge of the box is gripped and the entire tear off portion 34 between the perforation lines 32 and 36 is torn off, whereafter the box appears as illustrated in Fig. 5. Along the upper front edge thereof remain carton protrusions 44 left on the top edge of the front end flap 30. this flap now consituting a passive portion joined to the end flap 26. By the removal of the tear off portion 34 the top side of the front portion of the closing plate 18 is exposed, and it is now possible e.g. by means of a thumb to push the closing plate 18 outwardly of the box, whereby the protrusions 44 serve to facilitate the pushing engagement.

In Fig. 6 the box is shown slightly open with the front edge of the hole 20 in the closing plate 18 just visible in front of the edge portion 46 which by the removal of the tear off portion 34 has been formed on the top panel 2. The end flap 26 correspondingly has started swinging outwardly about the lower box front edge. In Fig. 7 the box is shown in fully opened condition in which the entire or almost the entire hole 20 is exposed in front of the said top edge portion 46, whereafter any desired portion of the contents of the box may be poured out through the hole 20. The side flaps 28 on the closing plate 18 have been moved so far forwardly along the recess edge 40 that their front ends abut the front limit edges 42 so as to clearly indicate full opening of the box and prevent excessive extension of the closing plate from the box.The box is reclosed simply by a light inward push on the outer edge of the end flap 26.

It will be appreciated that the closing plate 18 inside the box is supported closely underneath the top panel 2 by means of the side flaps 28 and that these flaps moreover form a retraction stop for the closing plate 18. The tear off portion 34 constitutes a guarantee seal after filling and closing of the box, and the box is well suited for automatic erection, filling and closing as described.

The sealed closing of the box is obtainable without the use of the front end flap 30, since alternatively the panel portion 34 may be joined to the underlying portion of the closing plate 18 e.g. by means of a spot of glue; for opening the box it will then be necessary either to tear off the portion 34 along the perforation line 36, breaking the said glue or other connection between the portions 34 and 18, or to exert a vertical pressure along the perforation line 36 in order to release the portion 34 from its connection with the top panel 2, whereafter the box may be opened with the portion 34 remaining joined with the closing plate 18. If the box should not be closed in a sealed manner the blank may be designed without the flap portion 30 and the tear off portion 34, somewhat as shown in Fig. 5, except for the passive flap portion 30.

When the front end flap 30 is present the perforation line 32 may extend down on this flap as shown in Fig. 8, which the front end flap 30' is provided with a slot 48, the upper edge of which serves as a gripping edge for tearing off the portion 34' together with the adjoining upper portion of the front end flap 30'. Fig. 8 additionally illustrates that the hole 20' in the closing plate may be located so as to cooperate with a special dispenser opening 50 in the top panel 2.

Fig. 9 shows a modified embodiment in which the top panel 2 is hinged to a side edge of the bottom panel 4 through a side panel 8', and in which the closing plate 18' is monolaterally supported by means of a single side flap 28'. Upon folding down of the top panel 2 and further folding down of the outer side panel 12' thereof to be joined to the inner side panel 10' along the lower area A the box member thus folded may be filled through its open rear end which may thereafter be closed in any conventional manner. The box of Fig. 9 is not provided with guarantee closure means, but of course it may have such means just as the boxes according to Figs. 1-8. A side flap folded down from a side edge portion of the closing plate may be used for supporting the closing plate otherwise than by being supported on the top edge of the inner side panel 8, 10, 10'. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig.10 in which the side flaps are designated 28" and extend inside the box down to the bottom panel 4. It is readily seen that these side flaps 28" provide full and sliding support for the closing panel 18" by slidingly engaging the outer edge area of the bottom panel 4, and that moreover they will form an extension stop for the closing plate by their edges facing the box front end abutting the inner side of the rigid front end panel of the box when the closing plate is fully extended. Also in this embodiment the side flaps 28" are located immediately adjacent the side panels of the box whereby they are movable without interfering with the contents of the box.

It will be readily understood that even the box according to Figs. 1-7 might alternatively be provided with bottom supported side flaps 28' as in Fig. 10, instead of the narrow side flaps 28, whereby the edge recess 40 would be superfluous. However, during rapid automatic handling of the box member for erecting, filling and closing thereof it may be difficult to fold the relatively broad side flaps 28" and guide them into the position inside the box as shown in Fig. 10 by the folding down of the closing plate 18. It is possible, however, to design the box so as to avoid these problems, and such a box its illustrated in Figs. 11-13 in which for similar box portions there are used the same reference numerals as in Figs.

1 and 10, respectively.

The box blank shown in Fig. 11 has its bottom panel 4 hinged to the side of the top panel 2 through a side panel 8', and the closing plate 18 with the end flap 26 projects from the front end of the top panel 2. A flap portion 27 is located between the top panel 2 and the end flap 26 and has the same dimensions as the end flap 26. The front end portion of the top panel 2 is provided with the perforation line 36.Preparatory to the erection of the box closing plate 18 and the end flap 26 as a whole are folded rearwardly about the folding line a between the flap portions 26 and 27 and is laid plane against the top panel 2 as shown in dotted lines, a glue spot L being applied for securing the closing plate to the top panel 2 in the area inside the perforation line 36; alternatively the same joining may be ob tained by heat sealing if the blank is prepared accordingly. Thereafter the blank is ready for initial erection as shown in Fig.

42, i.e. with the top panel 2 temporarily consistuting the bottom of the box member.

When the side panels 8' and 10' are folded upwardly the side flaps 28" of the closing plate will automatically be folded up to a position inside the box member, and upon folding of the various end flaps the box member may be filled and thereafter closed by folding down the bottom panel 4 and by further folding down the side and end flaps thereof and joining these to the respective exterior sides of the lower part of the box member.By the initial erection the front end panel flaps 16 are folded inwardly and the doubled end flap portion 26, 27 is folded upwardly against the exterior side of the flaps 16 without being secured thereto, while by the final closing the front end flap 30' is joined to the exterior side of the doubled flap 26, 27 by gluing or otherwise, Alternatively the box may be erected to the position shown in Fig. 13 in which the rear end flaps are not closed, whereby the box may be filled through the rear end and thereafter finally closed.

For opening the box it is sufficient to break the perforation line 36 by a vertical pressure on the panel portion 34, whereafter the box can be opened and closed just as described above, the closing plate 18 being retractable by pivoting the doubled end flap 26, 27 and the associated front end flap 30'. The panel portion 34 confined by the perforation line 36 remains joined to the top side of the closing plate 18.

In Fig. 11 it is indicated by a dotted line that it may be possible to avoid the side flap 28" at one side of the closing plate 18, this being of relevance in connection with the embodiments described in the following.

It is possible for the blank according to Fig. 11 to be pre-folded into a flat tubular shape by folding the side panel 10' flat against the top panel 2 as shown in Fig.

14 and thereafter folding the bottom panel 4 about the folding line b between this panel and the side panel 8', without folding of the various end flaps, whereby the blank may be pre-folded in the box factory into said flat tubular shape with the outer panel 12' of the bottom panel 4 secured to the side panel 10'. In the filling factory it will then be sufficient to erect the box member into a tubular shape, close one end thereof, fill it through the opposite end and finally close this opposite end.

During the erection of the flat tubular box member shown in Fig. 14 the visible side flap 28" will be folded in such a manner that by its natural resiliency it will force itself against the erected side panel 8' and thus present no risk of engagement with the contents of the box. At the opposed side of the box member a corresponding side flap 28", if used would already be folded flat against the closing plate 18, and would be liable to remain in its folded condition so as to not entirely follow the erection of the side panel 10', i.e. it would be liable to extend into the space inside the erected box, whereby it might engage the contents of the box by the movements of the closing plate. For this reason it may be desirable to entirely avoid the side flap at this edge of the closing plate.

Fig. 14 moreover serves to illustrate that the closing plate 18 need not necessarily have a hole for cooperating with the dispenser opening of the top panel 2, since it may be sufficient that the free edge of the closing plate may cover and uncover an outlet opening in the top panel 2 or the edge of such an opening.

As already mentioned it would be undesirable to provide the closing plate 18 of Fig. 14 with side flaps 28" at both sides, since a flap underneath the sharply folded side panel 10' would be difficult to respect entirely when the tubular member is erected.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 14 it is not possible to use an edge supported flap 28, Fig. 1, or 28', Fig. 9, but such use is possible if the manner of folding the blank illustrated in Figs. 15 and 16 is adopted. In this embodiment is added a narrow side flap 28' opposite to the flap 28".

The bottom panel 4 is folded down, whereby the flap 28' as shown in Fig. 16 will be located projecting from the outer edge of the side panel 12'. Thereafter the side panel 10' is folded as indicated by arrows and secured to the top side of the panel 12' along its outer edge portion. By uthis folding the flap 28' will be folded in a compulsory manner as also indicated by arrows, and it will remain non-joined to the adjacent carton portions. The box member now assumes its pre-folded flat tubular shape from which it is later erected in the filling plant, and by this erection the flap 28" will be compulsorily folded just as in Fig. 14.Also the flap 28' will be folded in a compulsory manner, because it is interposed between the side panels 10' and 12', so irrespective of its tendency to re-fold into the box it will remain in its position corresponding to Fig. 7. Figs. 15 and 16 -additionally serve to illustrate that the flap 28' need not necessarily cooperate with a recess in the edge of the side panel 12', as the flap 28" forms a stop for the closing plate.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A box having a top panel with a dispenser opening normally covered by a clos dng plate portion arranged generally inside the box and being displaceable to uncover and re-cover the dispenser opening, said dosing plate portion having an outer edge connected with one edge of a box front end flap, the opposite edge of which is hinged to a box bottom panel whereby the end flap may be pivoted so as to displace the closing plate for opening and closing the dispenser opening, at least one side portion of the closing plate being located near the adjacent said panel of the bix and provided with a side flap which is folded down along said side panel and slidingly supported by an elongate carton portion so as to support the closing plate slidingly against or near to the inner or lower side of the top panel provided with said dispenser opening, while said side flap or another side flap with which the closing plate is provided has a front edge facing the front end of the box and cooperating with a rigid stop portion of the box so as to form a stop edge effectively limiting the forward opening movement of the closing plate.

2. A box according to claim 1, in which said other side flap is located at the opposite edge of the closing plate to the first-mentioned side flap.

3. A box according to claim 2, in which both of the side flaps serve to support the closing plate as well as to form said stop edge.

4. A box according to any preceding claim, in which the side flap, or at least one of the side flaps, is bent downwardly over the top edge of an inner side panel portion folded up from the bottom panel of the box, the or each such flap projecting only partially down along the outside of the inner panel portion and being covered by an outer side panel portion folded down from a side edge of said top panel and fastened to the inner panel portion outside the area through which the or each such side flap is moved when the closing plate is displaced between open and closed position.

5. A box according to claim 4, in which the or each said top edge of an inner side panel portion is provided with an elongate recess along which the or each such side flap is slidable, the front end edge of said recess forming said stop portion cooperating with the stop edge of the or each such side flap to limit the opening movement of the closing plate.

6. A box according to any of claims 1 to 3, in which the side flap, or at least one of the side flaps, is folded down along the interior side of the adjacent side panel of the box and projects to the bottom panel so as to have its lower edge slidingly supported by the outer edge area of the bottom panel.

7. A box according to claim 6, in which the front end of the side flap, or at least one of the side flaps, facing the box front end constitutes the stop edge for limiting the opening movement of the closing plate by cooperating with the inner side of a rigid, end panel located inside the pivotable end flap associated with the closing plate.

8. A box according to claim 1, in which a front end flap of the top panel is folded down along the pivotal box front end flap and fastened thereto, a perforation line or a tear-off portion being provided across the box between said front end flap and said top panel, whereby a breakable guarantee seal is provided.

9. A box according to claim 8, in which the perforation line or tear-off portion is located adjacent the front end of the top panel, spaced from the front edge thereof, so as to define an edge of said dispenser opening when broken or torn off.

10. A box according to claim 1, in which the closing plate is an endwise extension of the top panel folded so as to define a double layer front end flap and continuing rearwardly in the box as said closing plate, the exterior layer of said front end flap being connected with the top panel through a transverse perforation line or tear-off portion and being covered by and fastened to an end flap portion folded up from the bottom panel.

11. A box according to claim 10, in which the side flap of the closing plate adjacent said side panel interconnecting the top and bottom panels is of the type defined

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. the adjacent carton portions. The box member now assumes its pre-folded flat tubular shape from which it is later erected in the filling plant, and by this erection the flap 28" will be compulsorily folded just as in Fig. 14. Also the flap 28' will be folded in a compulsory manner, because it is interposed between the side panels 10' and 12', so irrespective of its tendency to re-fold into the box it will remain in its position corresponding to Fig. 7. Figs. 15 and 16 -additionally serve to illustrate that the flap 28' need not necessarily cooperate with a recess in the edge of the side panel 12', as the flap 28" forms a stop for the closing plate. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A box having a top panel with a dispenser opening normally covered by a clos dng plate portion arranged generally inside the box and being displaceable to uncover and re-cover the dispenser opening, said dosing plate portion having an outer edge connected with one edge of a box front end flap, the opposite edge of which is hinged to a box bottom panel whereby the end flap may be pivoted so as to displace the closing plate for opening and closing the dispenser opening, at least one side portion of the closing plate being located near the adjacent said panel of the bix and provided with a side flap which is folded down along said side panel and slidingly supported by an elongate carton portion so as to support the closing plate slidingly against or near to the inner or lower side of the top panel provided with said dispenser opening, while said side flap or another side flap with which the closing plate is provided has a front edge facing the front end of the box and cooperating with a rigid stop portion of the box so as to form a stop edge effectively limiting the forward opening movement of the closing plate.

in claim 6.

12. A box substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 10, Figures 11 to 14, or Figures 15 and 16 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A box according to claim 10, in which an additional side flap is provided at the opposite side of the closing plate, this side flap being of the type defined in claim 4.