GB2093435A - Compartmented carton - Google Patents

Abstract

In a compartmented carton formed from a blank of stiff but foldable material, the partition panel(s) 5, 6 form an extension of a wall panel 4b which underlies and is attached by a lap joint to a wall panel 4a. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Compartmented carton This invention relates to a carton designed to receive a number of articles, each of which requires to be located in a separate compartment within the carton. One example of such articles is bottles. The invention also extends to a blank for forming such a carton and a method of producing a compartmented carton from the blank.

It is known to provide the separate compartments within a carton by means of internal partition means, and a carton which includes partition means to define compartments therein will herein be referred to as a "compartmented carton".

It is convenient practice to supply empty cartons to a packer in a flattened or knockeddown condition and it is thus necessary, in the case of compartmented cartons supplied as complete units to a packer, to ensure that the internal partition means knocks down with the outer walls of the carton.

There have been a number of proposals for producing such flattened compartmented cartons (see for example US Patent Specifications 3184142 and 2943763) from a single one piece blank or stiff yet foldable material, but producing these prior art cartons from the blank has involved a complicated folding operation which would require it to be done manually or with a special machine.

This invention relates to an improved form of compartmented carton which can be supplied to a user in knocked-down condition and which can be produced from a one-piece blank on a conventional folder/gluer.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a compartmented carton in which the outer walls of the carton and at least one part of the partition means delimiting each compartment within the outer walls is formed from a one piece blank, and the carton can be supplied in a knocked-down condition to a user, which is characterised in that one outer wall of the carton comprises a lap joint between wall parts adjacent to a line where the partition means is connected to the wall part underlain at the lap joint.

In the simplest embodiment, the partition means can be a single panel extending across the interior of the carton from the said line to terminate adjacent to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint. The single panel can divide the interior of the carton into substantially two equal halves. If required, the single panel can be slotted to receive one or more transverse panel(s) to further sub-divide the interior of the carton.

In a preferred embodiment of compartmented carton (e.g. for use with bottles), the partition means forms a pair of spaced-apart panels across the interior of the carton, the ends of said panels most closely adjacent being joined by a part secured to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint.

A modified compartmented carton for use with bottles has the partition means formed from two spaced apart panels one of which extends from said line across the carton to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint and the other of which extends across the carton parallel to the first and forms part of an extension of the wall part which is outermost at the lap joint.

Further aspects of the invention relate to a method of forming a compartmented carton from a one piece blank and a one piece blank of stiff yet foldable material for producing a compartmented carton and these aspects are featured in the claims included herein.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan of a blank used for producing a first embodiment of carton on a folder/gluer, Figure 2 is a plan of the blank of Figure 1 after an initial stage of folding, Figure 3 is a plan of a transverse partition for use with the blank of Figures 1 and 2, Figure 4 is a plan of a blank used for producing a second embodiment of carton on a folder/gluer, Figure 5 is a plan of the blank of Figure 4 after an initial stage of folding, Figures 6 and 7 are schematic plans of erected cartons produced, respectively, from the blanks of Figures 1 and 4, Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of a carton erected from the blank of Figure 1, and Figures 9 and 10 are schematic plans of two further embodiments of compartmented cartons in accordance with the invention.

A first embodiment of blank which can be used for forming a flattened compartmented carton is shown in Figure 1. This blank can be produced by conventional techniques in a fully automated manner and can then be fed to a folder/gluer for formation into a three-compartment carton in a simple folding operation after the areas marked with small dots in Figure 1 have been coated with a suitable glue (e.g. a PVA adhesive).

The panels 1 , 2 and 3 in Figure 1 are destined to be three of the four outer walls of the carton, the fourth outer wall being in two parts marked 4a and 4b which will form a lap joint in the erected carton. The flaps indicated 1', 2', 3', 4a' and 4b' define base flaps for the completed carton, and the flaps indicated 1", 2", 3", 4a" and 4b" define upper closure flaps for the completed carton. This is conventional practice and need not be further described here.

Attached to the flap part 4b at a line 10', is a partition means comprising slotted panels 5 and 6, an intermediate panel 7 and a distal tongue 8.

Glue is applied to the distal edge region of the flap part 4a, to the panel 7 and to the tongue 8 as the blank moves along the folder/gluer.

The blank is then folded through 1 80C about a crease 10 between the panel 1 and the part 4b and back through 1 80C about a crease 11 between the panels 6 and 7, to cause the glued area of the panel 7 to be pressed centrally on the panel 2 and leave the blank in the configuration shown in Figure 2.

To complete the carton, a third fold through 1800 is effected about a crease 12 between the panels 2 and 3, to press the glued area of the part 4a against the part 4b (and simultaneously form lap joints between parts 4a" and 4b" and parts 4a' and 4b') and simultaneously to press the tongue 8 against-the part 4a.

At the conclusion of the glueing and folding operation,a compartmented carton in knockeddown condition is obtained. This carton can be erected by pressing on opposite corners to change the cross-section from a shallow parallelogram to a rectangle and can be locked in the erected rectangular form, by folding up the base flaps 1', 2', 3' and 4a'/4b'. When the carton is erected, it has three compartments defined therein by the two panels 5 and 6. In plan, the appearance of the erected carton will be schematically as shown in Figure 6, the partition means (5, 6, 7, 8) forming a strong O-shaped element within the interior of the carton.

Figure 6 also shows three transverse partitions 20 which divide the interior into twelve compartments and these partitions 20 may be required if the carton is to be used for 1 2 bottles.

The partitions 20 are desirably flat panels as shown in Figure 3 and locate in slots 21 shown on the panels 5 and 6 in Figure 1 in a manner conventional in the art.

The partitions 20 have to be inserted manually across the panels 5 and 6, but this can be done while the carton is in a substantially knockeddown condition. The transverse partitions 20 can be produced from the region shown within the chain line at 22 in Figure 1 if they do not have to extend from top to bottom of the panels 5 and 6.

Figure 8 is a schematic representation of a completed erected carton made from the blank of Figure 1 and three partitions 20 by the described procedure.

Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of blank in accordance with the invention and for convenience a similar system of numbering to that used in Figure 1, except that the numbers are all increased by one hundred.

In the second embodiment of blank, the partition means is in two parts, one joined to each of the parts 1 04a and 1 04b. The right-hand part of the partition means comprises a panel 106 and a glueing tongue 1 07b and the left-hand part comprises a glueing panel 108, a panel 105 and a further glueing tongue 1 07a.

The pre-slotted and creased blank shown in Figure 4 is fed to the foider/gluer and glue is applied on one side of the blank to the panel 1 08 and the tongue 1 07b and on the other side of the blank to the tongue 1 07a and the distal edge region of the panel 1 04a (and the flaps 1 04a' and 1 04a").

The folding is effected simultaneously about creases 110 and 11 2, to give the configuration shown in Figure 5 and this has the result of securing the tongue 1 07b to the panel 102 and the panel 108 to the part 1 04b.

The folded blank shown in Figure 5 is finally folded about a crease 11 to complete the carton, the tongue 1 07a being bonded to the panel 102, the part 1 04a being lapped to the panel 108 and the composite flaps 1 04b"/1 04a" and 104b'/104a' being completed.

As in the previous embodiment, the completed carton leaves the folder/gluer in a knocked-down condition but can easily be erected and locked in the erected state with the base flaps. The panels 105 and 106 define integral partitions in the interior of the erected case.

As previously described, transverse partitions 120 can be slotted between the panels 105/106 (e.g. in the slots 1 21) to provide a twelve compartment case as shown in schematic plan in Figure 7.

Figure 9 shows, in plan a two compartment container with a single panel 205 forming the partition between two halves of the carton. A lap joint 204' is formed in one outer wall and a flap 207 secures the panel 205 in place. Figure 10 is similar to Figure 9 but has a lap joint 201' in a long wall of the carton. Transverse partitions can be used with both the Figure 9 and 10 embodiments. Top and bottom closing flaps have not been shown in Figures 9 and 10.

The cartons described are preferably made from double faced corrugated paperboard, the flute direction being represented by the double-headed arrow in Figures 1 and 4.

The precreasing of the blanks provides for upward folding along all the dashed lines shown in Figures 1 and 4. Those creases marked with a chain line are capable of reverse folding and are suitably produced by slit-score lines.

By providing the slots 21 and 121 as V-slots followed by straight cuts, the partitions 20, can be similarly slotted and cut and following insertion of the partitions 20, 120 in the panels 5, 6, 105, 106, it is the straight cuts in each partition/panel which are in interengagement thus ensuring a secure engagement.

Claims (14)

1. A compartmented carton as hereinbefore defined in which the outer walls of the carton and at least one part of the partition means delimiting each compartment within the outer walls is formed from a one piece blank, and the carton can be supplied in a knocked-down condition to a user, is characterised in that one outer wall of the carton comprises a lap joint between wall parts adjacent to a line where the partition means is connected to the wall part underlain at the lap joint.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1, in which the partition means is a single panel extending across the interior of the carton from the said line to terminate adjacent to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 2, in which said single panel divides the interior of the carton into substantially two equal halves.

4. A carton as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, in which said single panel is slotted to receive one or more transverse panel(s) to further sub-divide the interior of the carton.

5. A carton as claimed in claim 1, in which the partition means forms a pair of spaced-apart panels across the interior of the carton, the ends of said panels most closely adjacent being joined by a part secured to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint.

6. A carton as claimed in claim 5, in which the end of the panel of the pair not connected to said line is secured to the wall part which overlies the lap joint at a position spaced from said line.

7. A carton as claimed in claim 1, in which the partition means comprises two spaced-apart panels one of which extends from said line across the carton to the wall of the carton which is facing the wall that includes the lap joint and the other of which extends across the carton parallel to the first and forms part of an extension of the wall part which is outermost at the lap joint.

8. A carton as claimed in claim 5, 6 or 7, in which said pair of panels divide the interior of the carton into three substantially equal volumes.

9. A carton as claimed in any of claims 5 to 8, in which each of said spaced-apart panels is slotted to receive one or more transverse panels to further sub-divide the interior of the carton.

10. A method of forming a compartmented carton as hereinbefore defined from a one piece blank of stiff yet foldable material comprises providing a blank comprising a row of interconnected wall panels and a partition-forming extension at one end of said line of wall panels and passing said blank though a folder/gluer whereby in a first folding/glueing operation a part of said extension is glued to one of the wall panels and in a final folding/glueing operation the wall panels then outermost in the row are joined together in a lap joint to produce a compartmented carton in knocked-down condition.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 in which said partition-forming extension provides two parallel partition panels in the erected carton and a bridging panel between said two parallel panels is glued to one of the wall panels in the first folding/glueing operation.

12. A method as claimed in claim 10, in which a partition-forming extension is formed at each end of said row and both extensions are folded over in the firstfolding/glueing operation.

13. A one piece blank of stiff yet foldable material for producing a knocked-down compartmented container as hereinbefore defined during a single passage of the blank through a folder/gluer, which blank comprises a row of wall panels for the carton which row has at its two opposite ends partial wall panels that have a combined length, in the elongate direction of the row, which is longer than that of the wall panel which will oppose them in the erected carton, at least one of said partial wall panels including a partition-forming extension which, in the erected carton will extend across the same to the opposing wall panel.

14. A carton substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in Figures 1,2, 3, 6 and 8; Figures 4,5 and 7; Figure 9 or Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A method of forming a compartmented carton substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A blank substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.