GB2211174A

GB2211174A - Cartons

Info

Publication number: GB2211174A
Application number: GB8829397A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Joseph Wonnacott
Original assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1987-12-18
Filing date: 1988-12-16
Publication date: 1989-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 2008-12-16
Also published as: GB8729577D0; GB8829397D0; GB2211174B

Abstract

A contents-viewing aperture (50) of a carton blank (100) of stiff but foldable sheet material is reinforced by lengths (125, 126) of reinforcing material stuck on or incorporated in the sheet material to flank the aperture in the erected carton. <IMAGE>

Description

CARTONS This invention relates to a packaging carton erected from a blank of stiff but foldable board material in which at least one side provides perimeter regions of an aperture through which the contents of the carton can be viewed.

Such a carton will herein be described as a contents-onview carton".

Contents-on-view cartons are popular for the retailing of certain types of merchandise (e.g. cans of drink) and cartons which package such merchandise and leave two opposite sides of the carton substantially open are well known. One example of such a contents-on-view carton can be seen in Figure 4 of GB-A-2186550 and one example of a blank from which a contents-on-view carton can be erected is shown in Figure 2 of the same document.

A problem with such contents-on-view cartons is that with prior art constructions, the provision cf the aperture weakens the package and makes it possible for the carton to be torn adjacent to the aperture if the latter is used as a handle (e.g. to pull a filled carton across a shelf) or for contents to be removed, via the aperture, by deforming or tearing the board material defining the perimeter of the aperture. This invention seeks to obviate the aforementioned problem and provides a more secure containment of the contents in a contents-on-view carton as herein defined.

According to the invention at least one of the said perimeter regions of a contents-on-view carton as hereinbefore defined or a blank of stiff but foldable board material from which such a contents-on-view carton can be erected, is reinforced with an elongate member of greater resistance to tearing than said material, which elongate member extends completely across said at least qne side.

Desirably the elongate member is a tape-formed member stuck on, or incorporated in, the board material from which the carton or blank is made. A hot-melt adhesive-coated fibrous tape is particularly preferred (e.g. the tape known under the Trade Mark Sesame" and made by Sesame Industries Ltd. of Quebec, Canada) since this can be incorporated in multi-ply board material (e.g. double-faced corrugated board) as the plies of the latter are being joined together. However, it is also possible to have a tape of reinforcing material bonded to a wider strip of paper and to adhere the strip to that side of the board material defining the inside of the carton.

The invention is expected to find particular utility in situations where a handled contents-on-view carton is being fabricated from a blank of stiff but foldable board material, the handle region of the blank being reinforced with a first length of reinforcing material, and a second length of reinforcing material being used to flank the aperture-defining region of the blank. The first and second lengths of tape Scan conveniently be of similar material although the second length could be narrower than the first. Where a contents-on-view carton is provided with two opposite sides each formed from flaps which define perimeter regions of a respective aperture, second and third lengths of reinforcing material can be provided, one for each of the two sets of flaps defining perimeter regions of an aperture.

Where the contents-viewing aperture is punched out of a panel of the blank, second and third spaced-apart reinforcing strips can be incorporated in the board material of the blank on opposite sides of the aperture.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of blank in which opposite sides of the carton are provided by flaps which define perimeter regions of contents-viewing apertures, and Figure 3 shows a second embodiment of blank in which a contents-viewing aperture is punched out of one panel of the blank and is flanked below and above by reinforcing strip material.

The blank 10 of Figure 1 is designed for packaging six 440 ml cylindrical cans of drink (e.g. beer or lager). It comprises a base wall 11, two end walls 12 and 13, a top wall 14 and four flaps 11a-14a and 11b-14b to provide frame or perimeter regions of apertured side walls in the erected carton. A securing flap 15 is formed along one edge of the end wall 12 and is attached to the underside of the top wall 14 as the blank is folded around six cans arranged in two rows of three, the central or median plane between the two rows of cans being shown at 17. In wrapping the blank around the collated array of six cans, the flaps 12a, 13a underlie the flaps 11a and 14a to make one apertured side wall and the flaps 12b, 13b underlie the flaps 11b and 14b to make the other apertured side wall.

The folding and gluing (or other fixing method) used to form a carton from the blank illustrated are well known procedures which need not be described in detail here.

When the blank is of double-faced corrugated fibreboard the flutes of the corrugations run in the direction of the arrows A. The pre-formed creases that delimit the walls 11, 12 and 13 and their flaps (11a, 12a, 13a, 11b, 12b, 13b and 15) are conventionally formed and all fold downwardly as shown in the drawing.

Embedded between layers of the board material from which the blank is made is a first reinforcing tape 18 (e.g. a hot melt adhesive-coated polyester fibre tape made by Sesame Industries Ltd. of Quebec, Canada). This tape 18 is centrally located across all four walls 11-14 and is flanked by two parallel cuts 19a and 19b on each side of the tape 18, as the tape 18 crosses the end wall 13, to define a carrying handle 20. Cut-outs 21 provide finger access to the handle to lift it clear of the end wall 13, when the filled carton is to be carried. The cuts 19a and 19b also extend somewhat into the walls 11 and 14 and allow the ends of the handle 20 to move inwardly as the central region of the handle 20 lifts clear of the end wall 13.

The lines 22a, 22b are perforated or slit-score lines which define access flaps 23, 24. To dispense cans from a carton erected from the blank shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, one of the access flaps 23, 24 can be pulled back away from the handle 20 so that the board material is torn along the respective pair of lines of weakness exposing the ends of the cans in one row.

The blank shown in Figure 1 is very similar to that shown in Figure 2 of GB-A-2186550 and reference can be made to that application to understand how cans are dispensed from the erected carton.

Two additional reinforcement tapes are employed on the blank 10 shown here compared to the blank of Figure 2 of GE-A-2186550 and these are shown at 25 and 26.

The chain lines 28 and 27 indicate that more, or less, board material can be employed in the vicinity of the chain lines so that the lengths of the walls 14 and 11 can be varied depending on whether the carton is designed to hold eight, ten or twelve cans of drink or to be reduced in size to hold just four cans.

The precise position of the tapes 25, 26 in the flaps 11a-14a; 11b-14b can be changed but in general it is preferred if they are as close as reasonable to the long cut edge of the respective flap. The tapes 25 and 26 are applied in continuous runs to the board material from which the blank illustrated is cut, but small regions thereof are clearly removed between the adjacent flaps 12a-11a; lia- 13a; 13a-14a; 12b-11b; 11b-13b and 13b-14b, when the blank 10 is cut from the sheet material.

If the flaps on one side of the carton, e.g. flaps 11a-14a were increased in depth so that an aperture was not provided on that side of the erected carton, the tape length 25 would not be needed.

The tape 18 could be some 11 mm wide and the tapes 25, 26 of approximately half that width.

Incorporating the reinforcing tapes 18, 25 and 26 into a corrugated board material by inserting it between layers of the board material fed to the corrugator on which it is fabricated, is a preferred method but it is possible to use a reinforcing tape which is supplied with a wider backing strip of fibrous material (e.g. cloth or paper) and to adhere the backing strip to the layer of board material destined to define the inside of the carton so that the tape is sandwiched between the backing strip and the board material.Using a suitable hot-melt adhesive it is still possible to apply the reinforcing tape on the corrugator although with strip-backed tape, the reinforcement for the at least one perimeter region can be effected as a stage in the manufacture of the board material after all the layers of board material have been placed together and prior to the final heating of the board material. A Kraft paper strip of between 5 and 10 mm wide (e.g. 6 mm) supporting a narrower fibrous reinforcing tape (e.g. 3 mm) would be suitable.

-Figure 2 shows a second embodiment of blank 100for a contents-on-view carton and the reference numerals used in Figure 2 are one hundred plus those used in Figure 1 (where they designate similar integers).

The main feature of difference between the Figures 1 and 2 embodiments is that in Figure 2, the aperture (50) is formed in one wall panel (113) and the flaps 111b...114b and 111a...114a define fully closed walls of the erected carton.

Although Figure 2 shows a corrugated blank (note the arrows A) it need not be of corrugated board material.

-The Figure 2 blank is designed to house 8 cans, but a larger blank could house 10 or 12 cans and a smaller blank 6 or 4 cans. Strip-backed tape can be used for the lengths of reinforcing tape 125, 126.

Claims

1. A contents-on-view carton as hereinbefore defined or a blank of stiff but foldable board material from which such a contents-on-view carton can be erected, has at least one of the perimeter regions reinforced with an elongate member of greater resistance to tearing than said board material, which elongate member extends completely across said at least one side.

2. A contents-on-view carton or a blank as claimed in claim 1, in which the elongate member is a tape-formed member stuck on, or incorporated in, the board material from which the carton or blank is made.

3. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in claim 2, in which a hot-melt adhesive-coated fibrous tape is employed as the elongate member.

4. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in claim 3, in which the fibrous tape is backed by a wider strip of paper and said strip of paper is secured to the board material on that side destined to define the inside of the carton.

5. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in claim 3, in which the fibrous tape is incorporated between layers of a multi-ply board material from which the carton or blank is made.

6. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in any preceding claim, in which a carrying handle is provided, the carrying handle being reinforced with a first length of reinforcing material, and a second length of reinforcing material being used to flank the at least one aperture of the carton or blank.

7. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in claim 6, in which the first and second lengths of tape are parallel and are of similar material.

8. A contents-on-view carton or blank as claimed in claim 7, in which the second length is narrower than the first.

9. A contents-on-view carton as claimed in claim 1, provided with two opposite sides each formed from flaps which define perimeter regions of a respective aperture, and with two separate lengths of reinforcing material provided, each one defining an elongate member for the set of flaps defining the perimeter regions of each respective aperture.

10. A contents-on-view carton as claimed in claim 9, in which a third length of reinforcing material is located between the other two, said third length reinforcing a carrying handle of the carton.

11. A blank of stiff but foldable sheet material from which a contents-on-view carton is to be formed, the contents-viewing aperture being punched out of a panel of the blank, and two spaced-apart reinforcing strips are incorporated in the board material of the blank on opposite sides of the aperture.

12. A blank substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in,Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A contents-on-view carton formed from a blank as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12.