GB2146622A - Nestable containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A nestable container for retailing a fast food product is fabricated from a one-piece cartonboard blank to have a base 12 and an upwardly and outwardly tapering side wall 13. The side wall 13 has two longitudinally extending seams at which inner and outer marginal regions of the cartonboard are overlapped and attached together. The outer marginal region of each seam carries a projecting tab 26 adjacent to the container mouth for preventing overnesting of adjacent nested containers. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Nestable containers This invention relates to containers which are capable of being nested together for transport and storage, in particular (but not exclusively) nestable containers for the marketing offastfood products such as chicken pieces.

In order to prevent overnesting of nestable containers so that the containers can be easily separated when required, it is well known to form the container side walls with beads, shoulders, castellations or like formations which extend continuously or discontinuously around the side walls and which act as limiting stops to nestine movement of the containers into one another.Formations of this kind can be moulded with resonable facility in the side walls of one-piece plastics containers made, for example, by thermoforming, but if for any reason the container side wall requires to be fabricated from sheet material (rather than being moulded in tubular form), the known denesting formations may be difficult or impracticable to incorporate, and a need therefore exists for a simple yet effective denesting formation for a nestable container of which at least the side wall is fabricated from sheet material and which accordingly has at least one longitudinally extending seam at which overlapping marginal regions of the sheet material are attached together.

According to the present invention from a first aspect there is therefore provided a nestable container having a base, and a side wall upstanding from the base and extending to a mouth-defining free edge, the side wall being fabricated from sheet material and having a longitudinally extending seam where inner and outer marginal regions of the sheet material are overlapped and attached together, there being provided a denesting tab which extends from the free edge of the outer marginal region adjacent said mouth-defining free edge of the side wall and which is arranged so as when the container is nested within a further such container to provide an underneath free edge which engages over the mouthdefining free edge of the further container to prevent overnesting of the two containers.

The invention is of particular, but not exclusive, application to containers fabricated from cartonboard and similar paper-based sheet materials, and in the embodiment particularly described is applied to a liddable, bucket-like container for fast food products such as chicken pieces. The container is fabricated from a one-piece cartonboard blank by the cartonboard converter, and transported in stacks of nested containers to the fast food retailer. The blank has a base panel to form the container base, and two side panels attached to opposite sides of the base panel and arranged to form the container side wall in combination. Two seams are accordingly formed in the container side wall, and denesting tabs for the two seams are provided by one of the side panels, as projections from its side edges.The other side panel has glue tab extensions providing the inner marginal regions of the seams.

In accordance with the invention from a second aspect there is provided a one-piece blank of sheet material, adapted for forming a nestablecontainer as defined in the penultimate paragraph.

These and other aspects and features of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bucket-like container in accordance with the invention, as seen when fitted with a lid; Figure 2 is a plan view of the lid; Figure 3 shows the carton board blank from which the container is fabricated; and Figure 4 shows a detail of the container when nested within another such container.

Referring now to Figure 1, a pack for fast foods such as chicken pieces comprises a bucket-like container 10 and a recessed lid 11. The container and lid are each made from clay-coated cartonboard, the clay coating being on the exterior surface of the pack and carrying promotional and/or informative printing as desired. The container has a flat hexagonal base 12 to provide a standing surface for the pack, and an outwardly and upwardly tapering side wall 13 terminating in a circular mouth which is closed by the lid 11 at a small distance below the free top edge 14 of the container.

The lid is flat, unfolded and uncreased. As shown in Figure 2, it is cicular, with the exception of four regularly spaced and indentical locating lugs 15 which project from its periphery.

The container 10 is fabricated from the blank which is depicted in Figure 3 and which is seen to be symmetrical in relation to a centre line YY. The blank has a hexagonal base panel 20 to form the container base 12, and two wing-like side panels 21,22 which are destined to form the container side wall 13 and which are accordingly arcuate and have their remote edges denoted 14. The side panels are attached by creased hinge lines 23,24 to opposed sides of the base panel 20. They have the same overall height, and are of the same width but for the provision of two glue tab extensions 25 along the side margins of the side panel 21, one each side of the centre line YY.

In addition, two small tabs 26 are provided on the side panel 22 immediately adjacent its free edge 14 for the purpose to be described later. Other than at the tabs 26 the side edges of the side panel 22 are denoted by the reference numeral 27.

The glue tab extensions 25 are partially segrated from the remainder of the side panel 21 by creased hinge lines 30 which extend approximately twothirds of the way up the side panel from its bottom free edge 27. Further creased hinge lines 31 extend about one-third of the way up the side panels 21,22 from the ends of the hinge lines 23,24. It will be understood from Figure 1 that in the erected container 10 the hinge lines 30,31 will assist the smooth transition of the side wall 13 from its hexagonal configuration at the base 12 to its circular configuration at the container mouth.

For the erection of the container the blank of Figure 3 includes, in addition to the glue tab extensions 25 of the side panel 21, rounded glue tabs 32 which are individually attached by creased hinge lines 33 to the four sides of the base panel 20 other than those to which the side panels 21,22 are attached. In the erected container (Figure 1) the glue tab extensions 25 are each glued to the appropriate margin of the side panel 22 on the inner surface of the latter, and the glue tabs 32 are each glued to the outer surface of the appropriate side panel 21 or 22 as shown. The container 10 is accordingly substantially leak-resistant and of pleasing appearance. In passing it is to be noted that two seams are formed down the container side wall 13, at which the side panel 22 presents its free edges 27 and tabs 26 to the exterior of the container.The free edges 27 are diametrically opposed in relation to the side wall.

For locating and releasably securing the lid 11 on the container 10 the side panels 21,22 are formed with elongate slots having the same peripheral length as the lugs 15 of the lid and spaced from the free edges 14 of the side panels so that the fitted lid is recessed by the required distance within the container. The slots 40 of the side panel 21 are open to the free edge 14 except at small ears 41 at either end. The slots 42 of the side panel 22 are, in contrast, closed.

Lidding of the erected and filled container by the fast food retailer is effected simply, by manipulating the lid to insert two of the lugs 15 into the closed slots 42, and then downwardly tilting and applying pressure to the lid to snap-engage the remaining lugs 15 into the open slots 40, the ears 41 deforming to allow this snap-engagement to occur. In a similar manner the lid can be used by the consumer as a reclosure after part of the contents has been removed. The periphery of the fitted lid closely engages the interior of the container side wall 13 for heat retention, hygiene and rigidity.

If desired, the locating and retaining arrangement which is provided for the lid can be variously modified by: transposing the open slots 40 and closed slots 42 as between the side panels 21,22; providing one slot of one kind (i.e. open or closed) and three slots of the other kind (i.e. closed or open); or providing four open slots and no closed slots.

Numbers of slots other than four, e.g. 3 or 5, may also be used, and lid locating/retaining formations other than slots and cooperating lugs are possible.

Although not preferred, it is possible to omit any specific lid locating/retaining features and, for example, to locate the lid merely by engagement with the interior of the container side wall 13.

The containers 10 are erected by the cartonboard converter and dispatched to the fast food retailer in nested stacks. Figure 4 shows a detail of two adjacent containers in such a stack, from which the purpose and function of the tabs 26 will be apparent.

For identification purposes, the reference numerals of the lower container are primed. The tabs 26 are attached to the remainer of the side panel 22 of the blank of Figure 3 along lines 43 which are creased so that the tabs project outwardly by a small angle from the erected container (Figure 1). Therefore when, as shown in Figure 4, one container is stacked on another, the tabs 26 of the upper container engage over the free edge 14' of the lower container to limit the entry of the upper container into the lower one.

By acting as limiting stops in this way, the tabs enable the two containers to be readily separated by the fast food retailer for product filling and lidding, and it will therefore be understood that the contain ers of a stack may be taken one-by-one off the top of the stack at high speed and with little or no need to restrain the stack from lifting or rocking as each container is removed.

The hexagonal shape of the base 12 of the container provides a ready means for the container manufacturer to orientate the containers of a stack in relation to one another for the formation of the stack with the tabs 26 aligned with one another along the stack and the slots 40,42 likewise in alignment.

The bottom edges 44 af the tabs 26 are rectilinear but angled downwards in the direction away from the crease. Therefore, any pressure tending to force the containers of a stack into one another will reinforce the limiting engagements of the tabs with the containers below, by driving the free edges 14' of the lower containers to move by cam action along the tabs 26 towards their crease lines 43 and correspondingly to pivot the tabs outwardly. In addition, the tabs are rounded at their top outer extremities 45 to prevent or reduce the possibility of interference of each tab with the tab above it in the stack.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the tabs 26 provide a simple but effective means for preventing overnesting of containers 10 in a stack. In the arrangement shown their width (i.e. in the direction perpendicular to the centre line YY) need be no greater than that of the glue tab extensions 25, and accordingly they may often be provided at little or no extra material cost. Their location on the exterior of the side wall leaves the container interior free for product, and assists their denesting function because they can more readily stand out from a convexly curved face than the concavely curved face which would be provided by the interior of the side wall.

The invention is not limited in application to bucket-like containers for fast food retailing as particularly described. It may have wide application to nestable containers fabricated from cartonboard, plastics, metal or other sheet material, whether with lids or unlidded. The containers may be other than hexagonal/circular in cross-section.

Claims (14)

1. A nestable container having a base, and a side wall upstanding from the base and extending to a mouth-defining free edge, the side wall being fabricated from sheet material and having a longitudinally extending seam where inner and outer marginal regions of the sheet material are overlapped and attached together, there being provided a denesting tab which extends from the free edge of the outer marginal region adjacent said mouth-defining free edge of the side wall and which is arranged so as when the container is nested within a further such container to provide an underneath free edge which engages over the mouth-defining free edge of the further container to prevent overnesting of the two containers.

2. A nestable container according to claim 1, having its side wall fabricated from two parts and having two said seams at each of which the parts are joined to one another at overlapped marginal portions.

3. A nestable container according to claim 2, wherein one of the said parts provides the outer marginal regions of both said seams and is formed within a said denesting tab for each seam.

4. A nestable container according to claim 3, wherein the said free edges of the outer marginal regions of the said one part are disposed so as to be diametrically opposed in relation to the container side wall, the other said part of the side wall providing glue tabs which form the inner marginal regions of the seams.

5. A nestable container according to any preceding claim, wherein the said underneath free edge of the or each denesting tab is inclined downwardly in the direction away from its connection with the side wall.

6. A nestable container according to any preceding claim, wherein the top outer extremity of the or each denesting tab is rounded to reduce or prevent interference with a said denesting tab of a further container nested within it.

7. A nestable container according to any preceding claim, wherein the or each denesting tab is outwardly inclined in relation to the side wall along a hinge line at which it is attached to the side wall.

8. A nestable container according to any preceding claim, having its mouth closed by a lid which is disposed in recessed relation to the said mouthdefining edge of its side wall, the lid and side wall having interengaged formations by which the lid is located and held releasably in position.

9. A nestable container according to claim 8, wherein the lid is peripherally formed with project ing lugs, and the side wall is correspondingly formed with slots to receive the lugs.

10. A nestable container according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the slots is open to the said mouth-defining free edge of the side wall, and a said lug of the lid is snap-engageable into it.

11. A one-piece blank of sheet material, adapted for forming a nestable container as claimed in any preceding claim.

12. A one-piece blank as claimed in claim 11, which has a base panel to form the container base, and two side panels which are attached to opposite sides of the base panel and adapted to form the side wall in combination.

13. A nestable container, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A blank for a nestable container, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.