GB2029369A

GB2029369A - Labelling of Containers

Info

Publication number: GB2029369A
Application number: GB7928325A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Unilever PLC
Current assignee: Unilever PLC
Priority date: 1978-08-14
Filing date: 1979-08-14
Publication date: 1980-03-19
Also published as: GB2029369B

Abstract

A container having a reclosable lid 17 has a label in the form of a tubular sleeve adapted to slidably fit over the lid so that the lid can be opened and reclosed without damaging the label. The lid of the container can have inward projections, e.g. as in an egg carton, which engage in apertures in the sleeve to locate the sleeve in position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Labelling of Containers This invention relates to the labelling of cartons, boxes and the like and particularly to the labelling of lidded containers.

The lids of containers are commonly printed or otherwise provided with decorative and/or descriptive material applied directly to the lids. It is however relatively difficult and expensive to change the material so applied at short notice as may be required when the applied material includes references to calender dates or size or quality of the goods to be contained. In such instances it is desirable to be able to provide the labelling at the point at which the goods are packed in the container rather than at the point of manufacture of the container.

An instance of this requirement is the packaging of eggs. To overcome this problem it has been proposed to provide an egg carton with a sleeve fitting around the closed carton, the sleeve being printed to form a label. The printing on the sleeves can be more readily changed than that on a carton and because the sleeves are applied after the carton has been packed the label can relate exactly to the goods contained in the carton. Both the flesibility and cost of packaging are thereby improved. It has been found however that with goods such as eggs the housewife prefers to open the carton before making a purchase in order to examine the contents. To open the carton the sleeve must be torn or removed and this results in numbers of the cartons with torn or removed labels being left on the shop display.

According to the present invention there is provided a container having a reclosable lid and a label in the form of a tubular sleeve adapted to slidably fit around the lid. The lid can thereby be opened and reclosed on the container without the label being damaged or removed. The amount of material required to form the sleeve is reduced further reducing the packaging cost.

The lid is preferably hinged to the container.

This ensures that the lids after being opened cannot be replaced on the wrong container. The lid can have a top wall and downwardly extending side walls, the label sleeve contacting the inner surfaces of two of the side walls and the top wall.

The sleeve can therefore be large enough to slide onto the lid and follow the internal contour of the lid without restricting the internal volume of the container.

The lid can have projections extending inwardly into the container in the closed position, e.g. to provide compartments within the lidded container as in an egg carton, apertures in the sleeve engaging the projections. The apertures locate the sleeve with respect to the lid and ensure that the printed material on the sleeve is correctly positioned with respect to the lid.

Crease lines can be preformed in the tubular sleeve to coincide with the edges of the lid. This can assist in forming the sleeve around the lid and also in locating the sleeve with respect to the lid.

Two of the preformed crease lines are preferably equally spaced apart from one another to allow the tubular sleeve to be collapsed flat prior to or after removal from the container lid.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank for a tubular label sleeve; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a lidded carton provided with a label sleeve; and Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of the lid of Figure 2 in the direction of arrows Ill-Ill.

Referring to Figure 1 the blank 1 for the label sleeve is rectangular and of flexible foldable paper. The blank is divided by parallel pre-formed crease lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 into a glue flap 8, outer side wall panels 9 and 10, inner side wall panels 1 and 12, an outer top panel 13 and an inner top panel 14. The inner top panel is provided with two apertures 1 5 and a series of cuts 1 6 extending in a radial direction from each of the apertures 15.

The distances between the fold lines of the blank as shown in Figure 1 is such that the panels 9, 10, 11 and 12 are each of the same size. To form the blank into a tubular sleeve the glue flaps 8 and panel 11 are folded over along fold line 3 and then the panels 12 and 14 are folded over along fold line 6 so that the distal edge of panel 14 overlies the glue flap 8 to which it is adhesively secured.

Because the panels 9, 10, 11 and 12 are of equal size and the inner and outer top panels are of equal size the sleeve could also be formed by folding the blank along either fold lines 2 and 5 or fold lines 4 and 7.

If it is desired to make the inner panels 11 and 12 of a different size to the outer panels 9 and 10 then it would be necessary to fold the blank along one of the latter pairs of fold lines unless the size of the inner top panel is varied relative to the size of the outer top panel.

Figure 2 shows the tubular sleeve formed from the blank of Figure 1 fitted around a lid 1 7 hinged at 1 7a to an egg carton 18 with the lid in the closed position. It will be appreciated that although not illustrated the outer top panel 13 and the outer side panels 9 and 10 which are visible in the condition shown in Figure 2 may be printed or have applied thereto in any convenient manner such advertising matter or information as is desired.

The sleeve can be fitted onto a lid by sliding the sleeve into position with the outer top panel 13 overlying the top 1 9 of the lid 1 7. The inner top panel 14 can then be pressed into contact with the underside of the top 1 9 thus bringing the inner and outer side wall panels 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the sleeve into their desired positions with respect to the downwardly extending side walls 20 of the lid. As can be seen in Figure 3 the inside of the top 1 9 of the lid is provided with inwardly extending projections 21 which co-operate with the shape of the base of the carton 18 to form compartments therein.The cuts 16 in the inner top panel 14 of the sleeve allow the inner top panel 14 to contact the underside of the top of the lid and the material 22 of the sleeve between the cuts 1 6 lies around the projections 21 substantially as shown thereby assisting in locating the sleeve in position without restricting the internal volume of the carton.

As shown in Figure 3 the sleeve fits snugly about the lid. It will of course be appreciated that as described above the inner and outer top panels 14 and 1 3 respectively of the sleeve are equal in size and only a single fold line 3 and 6 is provided between the inner and outer side wall panels of the sleeve. Thus some additional folding of the sleeve can take place as the sleeve is applied to the lid to fit it snugly in position. This has been found to be quite satisfactory with a sleeve of flexible material such as paper or thin plastics.

Alternatively the sleeve can be provided with additional fold lines 3a and 6a as indicated in Figure 3 thereby facilitating the sleeve to conform more closely to the lid with an inner top panel smaller that the outer top panel whilst still allowing the sleeve to fold flat along fold lines 3 and 6.

The tubular sleeve can be of any desired length but to assist the location of the sleeve on the lid it is preferably of a length such that the free edges of the inner top panel 14 coincide with the junction of the top of the lid with the respective downwardly extending side walls of the lid.

Thus there is provided a reclosable container and label, the label being readily adaptable to the goods to be contained and in a form which allows the contained goods to be inspected by opening the container without damaging the label.

Claims

1. A container having a reclosable lid and a label in the form of a tubular sleeve adapted to slidably fit around the lid whilst allowing the lid to be removed and reclosed.

2. A container according to Claim 1 in which the lid is hinged to the container.

3. A container according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the lid has a top wall and downwardly extending side walls, the label sleeve contacting the inner surfaces of two of said side walls and the top wall.

4. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the lid is provided with projections extending inwardly into the container in the closed position, apertures in the sleeve engaging the projections.

5. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the tubular sleeve is provided with preformed crease lines substantially coinciding with edges of the lid.

6. A container according to Claim 5 in which two of the preformed crease lines are equally spaced apart from one another to allow the tubular sleeve to be collapsed flat.

7. A container having a reclosable lid and a label in the form of a tubular sleeve substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.