GB2233316A

GB2233316A - Carton

Info

Publication number: GB2233316A
Application number: GB9007379A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Solan
Original assignee: THAMES CASE Ltd
Current assignee: THAMES CASE Ltd
Priority date: 1990-04-02
Filing date: 1990-04-02
Publication date: 1991-01-09
Anticipated expiration: 2010-04-02
Also published as: GB2233316B; GB9007379D0

Abstract

In a carton blank, particularly of corrugated board, wherein to give ready opening of the erected carton the surface of the blank that will form the interior of the carton carries an adherent tear tape, perforations are made through the tape and the board of the blank. The resulting line of weakness allows opening of the carton by grasping an end of the tape from outside the carton and pulling outwards to split the board, there being a thumb or like starter tab formed by cuts through both tape and board to provide the grasped end of the tape. <IMAGE>

Description

CARTON The invention relates to cartons, particularly of corrugated board, designed for easy opening and in particular for opening to leave a tray in which contained goods can be displayed.

Numerous designs of cartons easily opened, usually by hand, for access to goods or to provide a display tray in which the goods may be displayed are known. Equally they show many disadvantages of complication and thus expense in manufacture, of undue weakness in transit or even in filling, and of untidy or even failed opening. We believe we have found a solution to these problems in a combined tear tape and reinforcement applied to the inside of the carton.

Accordingly the invention provides a carton blank wherein to give ready opening of the erected carton the surface of the blank that will form the interior of the carton carries an adherent tear tape, perforations made through the tape and the board of the blank giving a line of weakness that allows opening of the carton by grasping an end of the tape from outside the carton and pulling outwards to split the board, and there being a thumb or like tab formed by cuts through both tape and board to provide the grasped end of the tape.

The invention extends to cartons erected from the blanks and also to stock board for making the blanks, carrying the tape applied along the length of the board in manufacture in an alignment corresponding to the position of the desired line of weakness.

On opening of a carton made from the blank of the invention the tape, which until then has served as a reinforcement against premature separation of the board along the line of weakness, neatly severs the board and in particular splits the outer liner cleanly. Where the base of the carton is to be used to display goods this is of course important, a tidy edge being given and printed product identifications and the like being left undamaged. No special tools or knowledge are required for opening. Equally at the manufacturing stage the tape can be simply applied, if required in the board making machine, with no more accuracy than is necessary to ensure that the eventual perforating to give the line of weakness can be done through the tape.The appearance of the tape is unimportant as it does not show on the outside of the carton, while at the same time it gives clean and easy opening after coming out complete or itself splitting down its length, along the perforations. Similarly a starter tab is readily positioned because it can be of substantially greater width than the tape, necessarily therefore dividing it and giving, a point at which opening can start. The user's thumb is simply poked in allowing the tab itself to be grasped and pulled, complete with the tape.

The invention can be applied to a great variety of cartons but is illustrated by way of example in a standard fold flat carton of the kind made in millions every day. The blank for this carton is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 shows the whole blank, without references, and Figure 2 shows part of the blank on a larger scale.

The blank consists of diecut corrugated board and has side panels 1 and end panels 2, outer and inner base flaps 3 and 4, and outer and inner top closure flaps 6 and 7. At 8 are cut-outs allowing the erection of the carton and at 9 is the gluing position which receives the gluing tab (unreferenced, Figure 1) allowing the carton to be sent out in fold-flat form. Fold lines 10 and 11, indented into the material of the blank as seen from this, inner, side, provide for the erection of the carton.

At 12 is seen the plastics tear strip, 1 cm wide, running the full length of the blank. It is uniaxially oriented polypropylene or polyester tape, carrying a natural rubber based pressure sensitive adhesive. At 13 is a line of slits, approximately 3 mm long and 3 mm apart. The slits weaken the material for ready hand opening but without undue weakening of the board in use particularly in view of the reinforcement given by the tape. In this particular embodiment the line of slits is applied close to the edge of the tape that will be the lower edge in the erected carton. On opening it leaves a display tray, the lower edge of the tape virtually acting as a knife cutting through the substance of the board. Equally however the tape itself may split along the line of perforations. At 14 a close spaced line of perforations leaving very little strength in the board and passing across the tape defines a thumb tab 15 by which the opening is started. A full cut is an alternative.

While the particular embodiment is of a simple horizontal division of a carton into a throwaway top and a display tray the invention can of course be applied in many different ways and in particular in cartons where removal of panels or the like requires tape applied in corresponding dispositions rather than simply along the length of the board, convenient in practice though that is.

Claims

1. A carton blank, particularly of corrugated board, wherein to give ready opening of the erected carton the surface of the blank that will form the interior of the carton carries an adherent tear tape, perforations made through the tape and the board of the blank giving a line of weakness that allows opening of the carton by grasping an end of the tape from outside the carton and pulling outwards to split the board, and there being a thumb or like starter tab formed by cuts through both tape and board to provide the grasped end of the tape.

2. A carton blank according to claim 1 for a carton which opens to give a display tray for contained goods.

3. Board for making blanks according to claim 1 or 2, carrying tape applied along the length of the board in manufacture of the board in an alignment corresponding to the position of the desired line of weakness.

4. The erected carton given by a blank according to claim 1 or 2.