GB2172264A

GB2172264A - Coil package

Info

Publication number: GB2172264A
Application number: GB08506485A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keith John Rickaby
Original assignee: BICC PLC
Current assignee: Balfour Beatty PLC
Priority date: 1985-03-13
Filing date: 1985-03-13
Publication date: 1986-09-17
Also published as: GB8506485D0

Abstract

A coil package comprises a closable carton formed from a folded cardboard blank and having a pair of oppositely disposed major side walls, each of which has an aperture in axial alignment with the aperture of the other major side wall; a pair of separately formed reel flanges, each of which is in inter-facial contact with, or is adjacent to, and is restrained against movement in a direction away from, the inner face of one of the major side walls and has an aperture in axial alignment with the apertures of the major side walls; a coil of wire positioned between and bounding the apertures in the reel flanges; and, extending between parts of the reel flanges bounding the aligned apertures, a rigid hollow hub formed by a transversely folded metal strip. One or each of the end edges of the transversely folded metal strip is of such a form that the end edges interengage to prevent further convolution of the transversely folded metal strip and hence reduction in the diameter of the hub in the event of a radially compressive force being applied to the hub. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An improved coil package This invention relates to the packaging of wire or cable and more particularly to the packaging of coils of bare or insulated electric wire or cable, for example wire or cable of the kind used in house wiring systems, all such bare and insulated wire and cable hereinafter, for convenience, being included in the generic term "wire".

In the specification of our co-pending Patent Application No: 8332946 there is described and claimed an improved coil package which serves the dual purposes of a wire carton and a reel and which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. This improved coil package comprises a closable carton which is formed from at least one folded blank of cardboard or plastics material and which has a pair of oppositely disposed major side walls, each of which major side walls has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the aperture of the other major side wall; a pair of separately formed substantially flat reel flanges, each of which reel flanges is in inter-facial contact with or is adjacent to the inner face of one of the major side walls and each of which reel flanges has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the apertures of the major side walls; a coil of wire positioned between and bounding the apertures in the reel flanges; and extending between parts of the reel flanges bounding said aligned apertures, a substantially rigid hollow hub, each reel flange being restrained against movement in a direction way from its adjacent major side wall. The reel flanges constitute component parts of the coil package and serve to strengthen its major side walls and, as a consequence, the improved coil package has the important advantage that the carton can be formed of a cardboard or plastics material of a thickness such that it can be readily folded.

In a preferred embodiment of the aforesaid co-pending patent application, the rigid hollow hub is formed by a transversely folded strip of metal or metal alloy and is so secured to the major side walls that each reel flange is locked with respect to the rigid hollow hub and is detachably secured to the adjacent major side wall.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a modified coil package which, in addition to serving the dual purposes of a wire carton and a reel and being simple and inexpensive to manufacture, substantially reduces the risk of further convolution of the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub when tension is applied to wire being withdrawn from the coil to cause a radially compressive force on the rigid hollow hub or a radially compressive force is otherwise applied to the rigid hollow hub.

According to the invention, the improved coil package comprises a closable carton which is formed from at least one folded blank of cardboard or plastics material and which has a pair of oppositedly disposed major side walls, each of which major side walls has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the aperture of the other major side wall; a pair of separately formed substantially flat reel flanges, each of which reel flanges is in inter-facial contact with or is adjacent to the inner face of one of the major side walls and each of which reel flanges has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the apertures of the major side walls; a coil of wire positioned between and bounding the apertures in the reel flanges; and, extending between parts of the reel flanges bounding said aligned apertures, a substantially rigid hollow hub formed by a transversely folded strip of metal or metal alloy, each reel flange being restrained against movement in a direction away from its adjacent major side wall, wherein one or each of the end edges of the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub is of such a form that the end edges inter-engage to prevent further convolution of the transversely folded metal strip and hence reduction in the diameter of the hub in the event of a radially compressive force being applied to the rigid hollow hub.

Preferably, at one end of the metal strip a notch is cut in each side edge of the strip to form a transversely extending shoulder against which the other end edge of the metal strip will abut when the strip is transversely folded, thereby to prevent further convolution of the transversely folded strip.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the aperture in each major side wall is formed from an area of weakness defined by a plurality of radially extending petals which are folded inwardly of the carton and are gripped between the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub and the boundary wall of the aperture in the adjacent reel flange, the inwardly folded petals from the apertures in the major side walls serving to prevent overlapping longitudinally extending edges of the transversely folded metal strip from damaging the inner layer or layers of wire of the coil. End parts of the transversely folded metal strip preferably are so rolled radially outwardly or are otherwise so distorted that their extreme edges bite into or are otherwise secured to the outer faces of the major side walls.To facilitate stacking of improved coil packages, preferably the major side walls are distorted to such a dish-like shape that no parts of the hub protrude beyond the planes containing the boundary edges of the major side walls.

In a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the aperture in each reel flange has a radius less than the radii of the apertures of the major side walls and end parts of the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub are so rolled radially outwardly or are otherwise so distorted that their extreme edges bite into or are otherwise secured to the outer faces of the reel flanges. In this case, movement of each reel flange in a direction away from its associated major side wall will be restrained, at least in part, by the coil of wire and, additionally, by the tendency of the transversely folded metal strip to expand radially outwardly to bear against the radially inner surface of each flange bounding its aperture.Further restraint against movement of each flange in a direction away from its associated major side wall is provided by a tendency for the end portion of the transversely folded metal strip overlying the other end portion of the strip to bow radially outwardly over a part of the axial length of the rigid hollow hub intermediate of the reel flanges. Preferably, the aperture in each reel flange is formed from an area of weakness defined by a plurality of radially extending petals which are folded inwardly of the flange and overlie the circumferential outer surface of the rigid hollow hub and, as in the first preferred embodiment, the inwardly folded petals serve to prevent the edges of the overlapping end portions of the transversely folded metal strip from damaging the inner layer or layers of wire of the coil.

The improved coil package of the present invention may also include one or more of the optional features of the coil packages described in the Specifications of our co-pending Patent Applications Nos: 8332946 and 8419712.

The invention is further illustrated, by way of example, by the accompanying informal drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the unfolded metal strip used to form the rigid hollow hub of the preferred coil package; Figure 2 is an isometric view of the preferred coil package, and Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of the rigid hollow hub of the preferred coil package shown in Fig. 2.

Claims

1. A coil package comprising a closable carton which is formed from at least one folded blank of cardboard or plastics material and which has a pair of oppositely disposed major side walls, each of which major side walls has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the aperture of the other major side wall; a pair of separately formed substantially flat reel flanges, each of which reel flanges is in inter-facial contact with or is adjacent to the inner face of one of the major side walls and each of which reel flanges has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the apertures of the major side walls; a coil of wire positioned between and bounding the apertures in the reel flanges; and, extending between parts of the reel flanges bounding said aligned apertures, a substantially rigid hollow hub formed by a transversely folded strip of metal or metal alloy, each reel flange being restrained against movement in a direction away from its adjacent major side wall, wherein one or each of the end edges of the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub is of such a form that the end edges inter-engage to prevent further convolution of the transversely folded metal strip and hence reduction in the diameter of the hub in the event of a radially compressive force being applied to the rigid hollow hub.

2. A coil package as claimed in Claim 1, wherein at one end of the metal strip a notch is cut in each side edge of the strip to form a transversely extending shoulder against which the other end edge of the metal strip will abut when the strip is transversely folded, thereby to prevent further convolution of the transversely folded strip.

3. A coil package as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the aperture in each major side wall is formed from an area of weakness defined by a plurality of radially extending petals which are folded inwardly of the carton and are gripped between the transversely folded metal strip forming the rigid hollow hub and the boundary wall of the aperture in the adjacent reel flange, the inwardly folded petals from the apertures in the major side walls serving to prevent overlapping longitudinally extending edges of the transversely folded metal strip from damaging the inner layer or layers of wire of the coil.

4. A coil package as claimed in Claim 3, wherein end parts of the transversely folded metal strip are so rolled radially outwardly or are otherwise so distorted that their extreme edges bite into or are otherwise secured to the outer faces of the major side walls.