GB2196608A

GB2196608A - Collapsible tray

Info

Publication number: GB2196608A
Application number: GB08623620A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ronald Sidney Payne
Original assignee: Reed Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: Reed Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1986-10-01
Filing date: 1986-10-01
Publication date: 1988-05-05
Also published as: GB8623620D0

Abstract

A tray made from a one-piece blank of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material is substantially rectangular in plan with a base 1 and for interconnected side walls 2-4 which are collapsible relative to the base. A corner post 10 formed from the blank is provided at each of the four corners of the tray, the corner posts being collapsible together with the said side walls. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Collapsible Tray This invention relates to trays made of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, particularly but not exclusively for holding produce such as flowers or fruit. It is desirable that such trays should be stackable one upon another when in use, and with this in mind it is known to provide them with loadbearing corner posts. It is also desirable that such trays should be supplied for use in a collapsed, substantially flat, condition to facilitate their transportation or storage.

Viewed from one aspect the invention provides a tray made from a one-piece blank of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, the tray being substantially rectangular in plan with a base and four interconnected side walls which are collapsible relative to the base, and a corner post formed from the blank being provided at each of the four corners of the tray, the corner posts being collapsible together with the said side walls.

Such trays are sometimes used in circumstances where the said corner posts are not required, and in those circumstances the corner posts will take up space in the tray which could be more usefully employed. In accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, therefore, the said corner posts are arranged to collapse laterally into their respective corners of the tray when their ioadbearing function is not required.

Preferably the corner posts are rectangular in horizontal section, with two adjacent sides contiguous with the respective adjacent side walls of the tray and the other two sides protruding inwardly into the storage space in the manner of an internal corner buttress. Then, when the corner posts are to be laterally collapsible as aforesaid they may be made square in horizontal section and arranged to collapse by pressing their said other two sides into the corner, into face to face relationship with their first mentioned two sides.

The corner posts may conveniently be formed, in accordance with a further preferred feature of the invention, from panels hingedly connected to the ends of at least two of the side walls of the tray.

It should be clearly understood that the scope of the invention extends to trays as set forth above both in their erected and their collapsed conditions.

The scope of the invention also extends to a one-piece blank formed of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, for making a tray as set forth above.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a one-piece blank for making a tray according to the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of one end of the tray in its erected condition, the other end being identical; Figure 3 shows how the side walls and corner posts of the tray are folded flat for transportation or storage; and Figure 4 shows how the corner posts of the erected tray are collapsible in another manner.

The blank of Fig. 1 comprises a base panel 1, two side wall panels 2, two side wall reinforcing panels 3, and two end wall panels 4.

The side wall panels 2 extend beyond their reinforcing panels 3 at their ends and are there formed with gusset fold lines 5. A series of four hingedly interconnected panels 6 to 9 for making a corner posts is provided at each end of each of the end wall panels 4.

To form the tray the corner post panels are folded inwardly and the terminal one, 9, in each case is glued to the inside face of the wall panel 4 to thereby form corner posts 10.

The side wall reinforcing panels 3 are folded inwardly and glued to the side wall panels 2 to form double thickness side walls. These walls are then folded inwards and the outsides of the corner post panels 6 are glued to the triangular end regions of the side wall panels 2, i.e. outwardly of the gusset fold lines 5, to secure the walls together, so forming the collapsed tray shown in Fig. 3. The tray is supplied to a user in this condition, ready to be erected simply by pulling up on the end walls 4. Fig. 2 shows the erected tray.

The corner posts may if desired be further strengthened by means of removable rigid insert blocks or tubes of, for example, wood or plastics.

When the corner posts are not required in the erected tray they may be collapsed as shown in Fig. 4, by pushing in the panels 7 and 8, into engagement with the panels 6 and 9. As well as moving the corner posts out of the way this also has the effect of reinforcing the corners of the tray.

It will be noted from Fig. 1 that where, as in this embodiment of the invention, side wall reinforcing panels 3 are provided, the necessary panels 6 to 9 for forming the corner posts may be provided without increasing the area of the blank. It will be appreciated, however, that corner posts can still be provided in the same manner if the panels 3 are not included.

It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or de leted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon.

Claims

1. A tray made from a one-piece blank of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, the tray being substantially rectangular in plan with a base and four interconnected side walls which are collapsible relative to the base, and a corner post formed from the blank being provided at each of the four corners of the tray, the corner posts being collapsible together with the said side walls.

2. A tray as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said corner posts are arranged to collapse laterally into their respective corners of the tray when their loadbearing function is not required.

3. A tray as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the corner posts are rectangular in horizontal section, with two adjacent sides contiguous with the respective adjacent side walls of the tray and the other two sides protruding inwardly into the storage space in the manner of an internal corner buttress.

4. A tray as claimed in claims 2 and 3, wherein the said corner posts are square in horizontal section and arranged to collapse by pressing their said other two sides into the corner, into face to face relationship with their first mentioned two sides.

5. A tray as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the said corner posts are formed from panels hingedly connected to the ends of at least two of the side walls of the tray

6. A tray as claimed in claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7. A tray as claimed in any preceding claim, when in its collapsed condition.

8. A one-piece blank made of cardboard, corrugated board, or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, adapted to form a tray as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7.