GB2185461A

GB2185461A - Stacking aid

Info

Publication number: GB2185461A
Application number: GB08629606A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Mcintosh
Original assignee: SONOFIT CONTAINERS Ltd
Current assignee: SONOFIT CONTAINERS Ltd
Priority date: 1986-01-15
Filing date: 1986-12-11
Publication date: 1987-07-22
Also published as: GB2185461B; GB8629606D0; GB8600876D0

Abstract

To ensure stability of a stack of articles, such as drums 19, a stacking aid 10, which is interposed between successive layers of the articles, comprises a web having an edge margin 12 around part of its periphery turned in one direction (upwards) and an edge margin 13 around the remainder of its periphery turned in the opposite direction (downwards). The aid 10 is preferably produced from a one-piece blank and is especially advantageous as any spilled liquid rapidly drains from the downturned margins 13. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Stacking aid This invention concerns a stacking aid.

It is conventional to interpose a substantially rigid or semi-rigid sheet of material between each successive layer when stacking articles, such as cans or drums, for transport, storage or display purposes. Indeed, the articles are often packed into cardboard or fibreboard trays with upstanding rims and the filled trays are then stacked on top of each other. With flat sheets of material or with trays with upstanding rims instability may arise when a stack exceeds a certain height or a certain number of layers due to slight misalignment of some layers relative to the next adjacent layers.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved stacking aid which ensures stability of a stack even when it reaches a considerable height.

With this object in view the present invention proposes a stacking aid comprising a rigid or semi-rigid web having an edge margin around part of its periphery turned in one direction out of the plane of the web and an edge margin around the remainder of its periphery turned in the opposite direction out of the plane of the web.

Preferably, the web is substantially rectangular and has the edge margin of two adjacent sides standing perpendicular to the plane of the web in one direction, whilst the edge margin of the remaining two adjacent sides stands perpendicular to the plane of the web in the other direction. In use, of course, one edge margin projects upwardly, whilst the other edge margin projects downwardly, assuming that the web is substantially horizontal.

At the corners, the edge margins of each pair of adjacent sides should be firmly attached to impart rigidity to the structures.

The stacking aid is advantageously produced from a one-piece blank. Thus its manufacture is simple and inexpensive.

The stacking aid is conveniently made of fibreboard and advantageously has a substan tiaily waterproof/liquid-proof layer, such as polythene coated paper, applied to one surface.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank for producing a preferred embodiment of the stacking aid of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the stacking aid of the invention as produced from the blank of Fig. 1; and Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the use of a number of stacking aids as shown in Fig. 2.

A preferred practical embodiment 10 of the stacking aid of the invention is pallet-sized and is used for stackingy layers of articles, such as drums, upon a pallet. As shown in Fig. 1, such an aid 10 comprises a large, substantially flat, rectangular fibreboard web 11.

The web has edge margins 12a, 12b at two adjacent sides which stand perpendicular to the plane of the web 11 in one direction and edge margins 13a, 13b at the other two adjacent sides which stand perpendicular to the web 11 in the opposite direction.

When a blank for this stacking aid is produced, as shown in Fig. 1, lines 14 may be scored to delimit the base web 11 from the edge margins 12, 13 and to facilitate later bending of the edge margins 12, 13 relative to the base web 11. At two opposing corner regions, as at 15a, 1 5b, a section is removed completely, whilst at the other two opposing comer regions cuts 16a, 16b and score lines are made to provide flaps 17a, 17b whereby the adjacent edge margins of each pair 12a, 12b; 13a, 13b (which will be bent in the same direction) may be firmly secured together, e.g. by glue or stapling.

Polythene coated paper is applied to one surface of the blank prior to erection of the finished device.

In use, as illustrated in Fig. 3, a first layer or, say, thirty drums 19, may be placed in a conventional tray 18 with an entire upturned rim, which tray 18 is, in turn, located on a pallet 20. A stacking aid 10 as described above is then placed on top of this layer of drums 19. A further layer of drums 19 is placed on top of the web 11 of the stacking aid 10 and another stacking aid 10 of the same size is placed on top of that and so on, with a stacking aid 10 interposed between each layer of drums 19. In each case, the downturned edge margins 13a, 13b of a stacking aid 10 partially surround the lower layer of drums 19, whilst the upturned edge margins 12a, 1 2b partially surround the layer above. In this way slight misalignment of successive layers are avoided and the overall stack is extremely stable.

At the top of the stack a further inverted conventional tray 18 may be placed over the top layer of the drums 19.

The stacking aids 10 are preferably used with the polythene surface uppermost. If there is a leak or spillage of liquid from one of the drums 19 the liquid cannot seep through to lower layers of drums 19 to spoil the appearance of same. Moreover, with the polythene surface uppermost, the fibreboard of the particular stacking aid on which the leaking drum is located should not be wetted or spoiled and any spilt liquid should quickly drain away over the downturned edge margin 13a, 13b of the relevant stacking aid 10 and down the outside of the stack.

Other embodiments, particularly smaller sizes of stacking aids can also be produced for use, for example, in stacking layers of 12 or 24 cans of standard size. In such cases the upturned and downturned edge margins may only be a few centimetres high. Other variations are possible, it being understood the foregoing is illustrative and not limitative of the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A stacking aid comprising a rigid or semi-rigid web having an edge margin around part of its periphery turned in one direction out of the plane of the web and an edge margin around-the remainder of its periphery turned in the opposite direction out of the plane of the web.

2. A stacking aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the web is substantially rectangular and has the edge margins of two adjacent sides standing perpendicular to the plane of the web in one direction, whilst the edge margins of the remaining two adjacent sides stand perpendicular to the plane of the web in the other direction.

3. A stacking aid as claimed in claim 2 wherein the edge margins of each pair of adjacent sides are firmly attached to each other at the corners.

4. A stacking aid as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 and produced from a one-piece blank.

5. A stacking aid as claimed in any preceding claim which is made of fibreboard with a waterproof/liquid-proof layer on one surface.

6. A stacking aid as claimed in claim 5 wherein the waterproof/liquid-proof layer is polythene coated paper.

7. A stacking aid substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.