GB2139192A

GB2139192A - Flip top carton

Info

Publication number: GB2139192A
Application number: GB08411421A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Timothy John Crooker; Doreen Maud Iles
Original assignee: Allen Davies and Co Ltd
Current assignee: Allen Davies and Co Ltd
Priority date: 1983-05-04
Filing date: 1984-05-03
Publication date: 1984-11-07
Also published as: GB8411421D0

Abstract

A flip top carton is produced from a single blank which provides body forming panels and, hinged to one of them, an internal panel which projects above the top of the body in the erected carton to engage the flip top lid. For example, an internal panel 150 may extend laterally from the side of the rear body panel 112, and have hinged successive portions 160,156,160 for lying along a side panel 116, the front panel 110 and the other side panel 114 of the erected box. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Flip top carton This invention relates to a flip top carton.

Conventional flip top cartons are made out of two blanks of board material: a main blank which forms both the body and the flip top lid; and a secondary blank which fits inside the body of the carton as a sleeve or slide, projecting above the top of the body so as to engage the flip top lid frictionally when it is in the closed position. This ensures that the flip top lid stays in the closed position.

Of course, having to have two blanks in orderto make up to the carton is a considerable inconvenience.

The present invention provides a blank for forming a flip top carton having, on the one blank, body forming panels hinged to each other, flip top lid forming panels hinged to each other, at least one of the flip top lid forming panels being hinged to a body forming panel, and an internal panel arranged when the carton is erected to engage frictionally with the flip top lid so as to keep the flip top lid in the closed position, the said internal panel being hinged to one of the body forming panels of the blank.

The internal panel may be hinged to an edge of a body forming panel which is arranged to form the front of the carton when erected, and is hinged to the edge thereof which will, in the erected carton, be at the bottom of the carton, remote from the flip top lid.

Preferably, the internal panel has a wing panel hinged thereto, which in the erected carton lies against one side panel of the body, its edge remote from the internal panel bearing against the back panel of the body so as to maintain the internal panel flat against the front panel. Preferably there are two opposing such wing panels. Preferably, one wing panel has a tab which is arranged, in the erected carton, to be trapped under a glue flap which attaches two adjacent body panels.

In a second type of embodiment, the internal panel is hinged to a side edge of a body forming panel.

Preferably the arrangement is such that, in the erect carton, at least a portion of the internal panel bears against the front panel of the body so as to expose to view through the opended top of the carton a face which was provided by the same surface of the blank as the exterior of the carton. This can allow a simpler folding procedure. Furthermore it is easier to provide printing on the visible face of the internal panel, since it can be the front face of the blank (and not the rear as with the first type).

The internal panel may have tab portions which, in the erect carton, project so as to increase the frictional engagement of the lid.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank of board material for forming a flip top carton which is an embodiment of the first type; Figures 2,3 and 4 show the blank of Figure 1 at different stages of erection; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a flip top carton erected from the blank; Figures 6 and 7 are plan views of blanks of board material for forming flip top cartons which are embodiments of the second type; Figures 8 and 10 show the blanks of Figures 6 and 7 respectively in a partially erect condition; Figure 9 is a perspective view of a flip top carton erected from the blank shown in Figures 6 and 8; and Figures 11A-l iF are details of Figure 9 on a larger scale, showing alternative lug designs.

In the drawings, creases or fold lines are indicated by single dotted chain lines where the the creases are to be folded upwardly, and by double-dotted chain lines where they are to be folded downwardly.

Referring to Figures 1-5, the blank has body forming panels 10,12,14,16, of which the panel 10 will form the front of the finished carton, the panel 12 will form the back, and the panels 14,16 will form the sides of the body of the carton. The panels 10,12,14,16 are hinged to each other side by side, and the back panel 12 has a glue flap 18which, on erecting the carton, will be glued to the opposite side panel 16 to form tube.

Panels 10a,12a,14a,16a are formed as continuations of the body forming panels 10,12,14,16, and when the carton is erected these panels 10a,12a,14a,1 6a will form the flip top lid to the carton. The back panel 12a of the flip top lid is separated from the back body panel 12 by a crease line 20, whereas the other panels 10a,14a,1 6a of the flip top lid are separated from the corresponding body panels 10,14,16 by a broken cut line 22, forming a line of weakening which is easily broken by the end consumer. The line 22 is formed at a slant on the side panels 14,16, so that the front 1 0a of the flip top lid is somewhat deeper than the back 12a of the flip top lid, as is conventional for flip top cartons.

The back panel 12a of the flip top lid has a glue flap 18a which is an extension of the glue flap 18, having a slit 24 between them which is angled to match the slant of the broken cut line 22 between the panels 16 and 16a to which they will be attached.

Hinged to the flip top lid forming panels 10a, 12a are top end forming flaps 1 lob, 12b, together with top end tabs 14b,16b hinged to the sides 14a,16a of the flip top lid. Hinged to the bottom end of the back body panel 12 is a bottom panel 26, having a closing flap 28 with slits 30 at either side thereof, forming a conventional slit lock which co-operates with bottom tabs 32 which are hinged to the bottom ends of the side panels 14,16.

Hinged to the bottom end of the front body panel 10 is an internal panel 34. This is longer than the height of the front panel 10, though slightly shorter than the combined heights of the front panel 10 and the front 1 0a of the flip top. The edge of the internal panel 34 remote from the front panel 10 is recessed at 36. The internal panel 34 has two opposing wing panels hinged thereto, 38,40. The wing panel 40 has a tab 40a the function of which will be described in more detail later, and the wing panel 38 has an edge 38a which is parallel to and remote from the crease line which hinges the wing panel 38 to the internal panel 34.

Referring particularly to Figures 2 and 4, the carton is erected from this blank in the following manner.

First of all, as shown in Figure 2, the internal panel 34 is folded flat against the inside of the front panel 10.

To ensure that the panel 34 can lie flat against the panel 10, the fold line 42 between them is provided with a number of short slits. As can be seen from Figure 2, the wing panels 38,40 now lie over the side panels 14,16 respectively (and partially over the sides 14a,16a of the flip top lid).

Next, the back panel 12,12a and the associated flaps and panels hinged thereto are ploughed over about the line between the panel 12 and the side panel 14, to the position shown in Figure 3. Itwill be appreciated that the back panel 12,12a now lies over the side panel 14 and the wing panel 38, and partially over the internal panel 34.

A stripe of glue 44 is now applied down the free edge of the glue flap 18,18a. As can be seen from Figure 3, the next step in erecting the carton is to plough over the side panel 16, so that the stripe of glue 44 adheres the glue flap 18,18a to the side panel 16,16a, trapping the tab 40a between the glue flap 18 and the side panel 16. Of course, there is a portion of the edge of the panel 16, underthe tab 40a, to which no glue is thus applied, but the tab 40a is so positioned that the glue flap 18 adheres to the panel 16 at each side of the tab 40a so that this does not matter. The slit 24 in the glue flap 18,18a is thus brought into alignment with the slanting broken cut line 22 in the side panel 16.

The partially erected carton now formed, as shown in Figure 4, is of course still flat and is in a form suitable for storage and for sending home to the user (that is, normally, to the manufacturer of the product which is to be packaged within the carton).

When the user comes to use the carton, he erects it from the flattened form of Figure 4to a tubular form, and closes the ends (first filling the carton with the product, of course). The bottom end of the carton is closed by the panel 26, the slit lock flap 28 and the tabs 32, and these are just folded inwardly and the flap 28 inserted behind the front panel 10 and the internal panel 34, which by now covers it. The slits 30 engage with the tabs 32 and lock the bottom of the carton in a generally conventional manner. The top end of the carton is closed by folding in the tabs 14b,1 6b, and folding the end flaps 10b,12b over the top of them, securing them with glue. Again, this is a generally conventional operation.

When the end consumer purchases the carton filled with the product, he opens it by breaking the rest of the broken cut line 22 between the body of the carton and the flip top lid. The flip top lid then hinges back about the fold line 20 to allow access to the contents of the carton. When the user closes the flip top lid, it engages with the upstanding portions of the internal panel 34, which as a result of the recess 36 are particularly prominent in the front corners of the carton. This holds the flip top lid closed.

As seen in Figure 5, the edge 38a of the wing panel 38 bears against the inside of the back panel 12 of the carton in a rear corner thereof, to ensure that the internal panel 34 is held flat against the inside of the front panel 10. At the other rear corner, the tab 40a is trapped between the glue flap 18 and the side panel 16, and so serves a similar function.

It will be seen particularly from Figure 2 that the widths of the panels 34,38,40 are a little less than those of the corresponding panels 10,14,16. The reason is to allow for the fact that the carton will naturally have slightly smaller internal dimensions than external dimensions. Thw widths are selected so that when the carton is erected the internal panel 34 is snugly held flat against the inside of the front panel 10 as just described.

The crease between the wing panel 38 and the internal panel 34 is only broken when the carton is erected by the user from the flattened condition shown in Figure 4 to the erected condition. Thus, this crease is never folded through more than 90 and this ensures that in the finished carton the wing panel 38 will lie resiliently against the side panel 14 and will not foul the contents of the carton. The crease between the wing panel 40 and the internal panel 34, on the other hand, is broken and folded through 180" when the side panel 16 is ploughed over to be glued to the glue flap 18, and this is the reason why the tab 40a is trapped under the glue flap 18, to ensure that it remains flat against the side panel 16 in the finished carton.

As mentioned above, the crease 42 between the internal panel 34 and the front panel 10 is provided with a number of slits to ensure that the two panels lie flat against each other. The creases between the wing panels 38,40 and the internal panel 34 may likewise be provided with slits to ensure that they are sharp.

The invention is of course not confined to cartons as just described, and in particular there are other ways in which the internal panel 34 can be made to lie flat against the front panel 10. For example, it would be possible to apply a couple of dabs of glue to the panel 34, in the positions marked 46 in Figure 1, so as to adhere the internal panel 34 to the front panel 10 when it is folded over as shown in Figure 2.

One could then dispense with the wing panels 38,40, if desired. However, this procedure is not preferred because it adds an extra step to the erection procedure, and would be difficult to perform on conventional carton forming machinery. It will be appreciated that one advantage of the present carton is that it can be formed in exactly the same manner and an the same machinery as other kinds of cartons which are erected in the form of a tubular sleeve.

Turning now to the embodiments of the second type, the first of these is shown in Figures 6,8 and 9.

Its blank has body forming panels 110,112,114,116, of which the panel 110 will form the front of the finished carton, the panel 112 will form the back, and the panels 114,116 will form the sides of the body of the carton. The panels are hinged to each other side by side. The outer side panel 116 has a glue flap 118 which, on erecting the carton, will be glued to the rear panel 112 to form tube.

Each ofthe body forming panels 110-116 has a respective upper end panel 110a-116a at its upper edge, formed as a continuation. Likewise, there are bottom panels 110b-116b. These top and bottom panels are eventually used to form the top and bottom of the carton, in a conventional manner. A broken cut-line 122 extends directly across the front panel 110, and obliquely across the side panels 114,116. This is intended to be easily broken by the end consumer, and constitutes means for separating the flip top lid. The rear panel 112 has a hinge line 120 which is continuous with the cut-line 122, and forms a hinge for the lid. The glue flap 118 also has a hinge line 120'.

An internal panel 150 is connected to the free side edge 152 of the rear panel 112. It extends from adjacent the top of the panel 112 (adjacent the connection of panel 11 2a) for one half of the length of the panel 112 (though this length is not critical).

However, the panel 150 is separated from the body panel 112 by a slit 154, above the level of the hinge line 120. The internal panel 150 has a central portion 156 whose upper edge 158 has a conventional shape forthe mouth of an internal friction panel. On either side of the central portion 150 there are side portions 160 which are hingedly connected (and the lower one of which is hingedly connected to the body panel 112). These have widths corresponding to (or slightly less than) the widths of the side body panels 114, 116. As shown, it is preferred for the hinge lines 162 connecting the portions 160 to the central portion 156 to have flap-forming cutouts 166.

The blank may be folded into a form suitable for use by a customer (who intends to fill the carton with goods) by making three folds in the sequence as indicated by the letters A,B and C. This produces a folded blank as shown in Figure 8. It wiil stay together stably with the central portion 156 of the internal panel 150 held against the front face if adhesive means is applied as indicated at 170, on the underside as viewed in Figure 6, the adhesive means being spaced some way beneath the edge 158 since this will project out of the mouth of the carton in its final, opened state. There should also be adhesive means 172 on the glue flap 118.

The blank as shown in Figure 8 is a flattened tube.

The position of the internal flap within the tube is shown by the cross line 174. The customer can easily erect the blank into the form of a tube, and convert it into a sealed carton by means of the end panels 11 0a-1 14a and 1 10b-1 14b, after filling it with goods.

The purchaser thereof tears along the cut-line 122, and can then flip the top as shown in Figure 9. It will be seen how the internal panel projects and is embraced by the lid. Note the lugs orflaps 176 formed by the cutouts 166, to increase the frictional engagement of the lid on closure.

The construction of blanks as seen in Figure 6 is quite straightforward, and it will be appreciated that they can be stamped quite efficiently from card material. A pair of blanks can be produced with little waste of material, one of them being oriented at 180 to the one shown, with its internal panel 150 extending alongside that of the illustrated blank, to the right of it.

The operation of folding the blank to the state shown in Figure 8 can be simply achieved by conventional machinery, e.g. moving in the direction shown by the arrow X.

Figures 1 1A-1 1 F show alternative configurations of lugs 176 for frictional engagement with the lid.

Figure 9 shows a single laterally-extending lug 176 (at either side of the pack). Figure 1 1A shows three smaller lateral lugs 300 of rounded form. Figure 11 B shows a pair of small triangular lateral lugs 302.

Figures 11 C,D and E show lugs 304,306,308 rather similar to those of Figures 9,1 1A and 11 B, but extending forwardly. Figure 11 F shows the use of respective pairs of rounded lugs 310,312 extending laterally and forwardly. Of course, these and other lug configurations are easily produced by appropriately shaping the cutouts 166 (Figure 8).

Different lug configurations may be preferred depending on the qualities (such as caliper, strength and roughness) of the board material, e.g. to avoid bulges on the outside of the finished pack, and to achieve a suitable degree of frictional engagement with an adequate lifetime.

Figures 7 and 10 are views analogous to Figures 6 and 8 for a second embodiment of the second type.

They actually show the blank for a smaller carton but of course this need not be the case. Corresponding elements are designated by corresponding numerals but raised by 100. It differs from the first embodiment primarily in that the internal panel 250 is connected at the other end of the blank, that is, to the glue flap 218 (which, incidentally, has associated upper and lower panels 218a and b). Therefore, the internal panel 250 has an additional portion 280 which, in the erect carton, overlies most of the width of the rear panel 212. (Ther rest of the width thereof is overlaid by the glue panel 218.) Conveniently there are three adhesive means, all on the reverse side of the blank (which provides the outer face of the carton).These are a main glue strip 272 on the glue flap 218; a strip of glue 282 across the portion 280 of the internal panel which overliesthe rear panel 212; and (analogously to the adhesive means 170) on the middle portion 250 of the internal panel.

Once again, the initial folding of the blank is effected by three folds A,B, and C, to produce the folded blank shown in Figure 10. Again, part of the internal panel is indicated there by cross-lines 274.

This second embodiment can give a very neat package. However, it is slightly extravagant in terms of material, owing to the need to extend the internal panel (including a portion of the glue flap 272) right round the interior of the carton. The first embodiment can thus be more economical, but some potential customers may object to the glue flap 118 which overlies a portion of the rear face of the erect carton. Of course, this slightly unsightly feature could be removed by extending the flap 118 so that it completely covered the rear face of the panel 112.

This would lead to a very strong carton, but of course will again be rather extravagant in material.

It will be appreciated that the specific embodiments are described by way of example only, and much variation is possible. For example, features described in connection with one embodiment (e.g.

the friction lugs 176,300-312) may be applied to other embodiments, mutatis mutandis.

Claims

1. A blank for forming a flip top carton having, on the one blank, body forming panels hinged to each other, flip top lid forming panels hinged to each other, at least one of the flip top lid forming panels being hinged to a body forming panel, and an internal panel arranged when the carton is erected to engage frictionally with the flip top lid so as to keep the flip top lid in the closed position, the said internal panel being hinged to one of the body forming panels of the blank.

2. A blank according to claim 1 wherein the internal panel has a wing panel hinged thereto, which in the erected carton lies against one side panel of the body, its edge remote from the internal panel bearing against the back panel of the body so as to maintain the internal panel flat against the front panel.

3. A blank according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the internal panel is hinged to an edge of a body forming panel which is arranged to form the front of the carton when erected, and is hinged to the edge thereof which will, in the erected carton, be at the bottom of the carton, remote the flip top lid.

4. A blank according to claim 3 as appendant on claim 2 wherein there are two opposing wing panels.

5. A blank according to claim 3 or claim 4 wherein a said wing panel has a tab which is arranged, in the erected carton, to be trapped under a glue flap which attaches two adjacent body panels.

6. A blank according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the internal panel is hinged to a side edge of a body forming panel.

7. A blank according to claim 6 wherein the arrangement is such that, in the erect carton, at least a portion ofthe internal panel bears againstthe front panel of the body so as to expose to view through the opened top of the carton a face which was provided by the same surface of the blank as the exterior of the carton.

8. A blank according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the internal panel comprises: an intermediate panel portion hinged to a side edge of the panel which is arranged to form the rear of the carton when erected; and a front panel portion hinged to the opposite side ofthe intermediate panel portion, the arrangement being such that in the erected carton the front portion lies along the front panel of the body, and the intermediate portion lies along a side panel of the body.

9. A blank according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the internal panel comprises a front panel portion; hinged thereto a side panel portion; and, hinged to an opposed side thereof, a rear panel portion, whereof an opposed side is hingedly connected (directly or via an intermediate glue flap) to a side edge of a body panel which is arranged to form a side of the carton when erected, so that in the erected carton the internal panel lies along three faces of the carton.

10. A blank according to claim 9 wherein a body side panel has a glue flap hinged to it for adhesion to the inner face of at least the body rear panel, the rear panel portion being hinged to this glue flap.

11. A blank according to any preceding claim wherein the internal panel has tab portions which, in the erect carton, project so as to increase the frictional engagement of the lid.

12. A blank sunstantially as any herein described with reference to or as illustrated in Figures 1-5, in Figures 6,8 and 9, in Figures 6,8 and 9 as modified by any of Figures 1 to F, or in Figures 7 and 10 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A carton produced from a blank according to any preceding claim.