GB2243287A

GB2243287A - Improved can-carrying pack and blanks therefor

Info

Publication number: GB2243287A
Application number: GB9009225A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Joseph Wonnacott
Original assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1990-04-25
Filing date: 1990-04-25
Publication date: 1991-10-30
Anticipated expiration: 2010-04-25
Also published as: GB2243287B; GB9009225D0

Abstract

A can-cluster-carrying pack (10) has a reinforced carrying handle (12) delimited from a top wall (13) by handle cuts (12a, 12b); an 8-sided base (16) supporting the cluster of cans (11); first and second side walls (14, 15) linking the base and top wall; perimeter walls (17, 18) integral with the base; and a pair of removable access flaps (20) delimited by the handle cuts and by lines of weakness (14a, 14b, 15a, 15b) extending between handle and perimeter wall. The pack is folded-up from a blank of double-faced corrugated paperboard with reinforcing tape(s) (31) between the corrugated core and one of the facing plies. The tape extends normal to the direction of the flutes (A). To reduce board waste, blanks cut from the corrugator output are alternated in orientation (Fig 5, not shown). <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVED CAN-CARRYING PACK AND BLANKS THEREFOR This invention relates to an improved pack for the retailing and subsequent carrying of a cluster of cylindrical cans. It is known to retail cans of drink (e.g.

alcoholic, low-alcohol and non-alcoholic) in clusters and one commonly used method employs an apertured sheet of plastics material designed to embrace the upper ends of the cans in the apertures and to provide a finger hole between the upper ends whereby the cluster can be carried as an entity, cans being removed, as required, by pulling the cans, from below, from the encircling rim of the sheet holding the cans in the cluster. For environmental reasons, such known cluster packs are becoming increasingly unacceptable since the plastics material used is not biodegradable and can represent a hazard to wild life.

Cluster packing of cans of drink has advantages to both retailers and users of the cans and efforts are being made to find more environmentally-friendly ways of retaining the advantages and convenience of a cluster pack without the disadvantages of the known method.

Carrying packs for clusters of cans based on blanks of paperboard material are also known and this invention relates to such packs in which a carrying handle is provided by incorporating one or more lengths of reinforcing material in the paperboard material and cutting a blank from the paperboard material so that the said length or lengths are located where they reinforce the carrying handle and provide the strength required for safely carrying the weight of the cans in the cluster.

Examples of paperboard packs can be seen from our prior European patent application 0260813 and packs of this kind have achieved wide acceptance. There is a growing need for a cheaper pack which uses less paperboard material and this invention seeks to meet that need.

According to one aspect of the present invention a can-cluster-carrying pack comprises a folded-up blank of paperboard material having one or more lengths of reinforcing material applied thereto and with handle cuts flanking the said length(s) to provide a reinforced carrying handle in a top wall of the pack; a base of octagonal shape supporting the cluster of cans; first and second side walls linking the base and top wall; perimeter walls integral with the base, extending between the side walls and closely confining only the lower ends of at least the outermost ones of the cluster of cans resting on the base; and a pair of removable access flaps each delimited by a respective one of the handle cuts and by a pair of lines of weakness extending one from each opposite end of the respective handle cut to the adjacent top of the perimeter wall.

By arranging for the base of the erected pack to be surrounded on six sides by the two low perimeter walls and on the other two sides by the first and second side walls it is ensured that the cluster of cans is held on the base against lateral displacement by the perimeter and side walls, and by ensuring that each access flap terminates at the level of the top of the perimeter wall it is ensured that even when both access flaps are removed the lower ends of the cluster of cans are still supported laterally on the base by the perimeter walls making it possible to safely carry an opened pack.

We prefer to use corrugated paperboard (e.g. doublefaced corrugated paperboard) for making the blank and to have the at least one length of reinforcing material extending normal to the direction of the flutes in the corrugated material. Particularly preferred is doublefaced corrugated paperboard with a reinforcing tape sandwiched between the corrugated core and one of the facing plies of the board.

Suitably the height of the perimeter walls is between one third and one tenth of the length of each can in the cluster, preferably between one quarter and one tenth, and desirably between one fifth and one tenth of such length.

Suitably the shape of the top reflects the octagonal shape of the base. Conveniently, the top has a width (i.e.

the dimension measured in the elongate direction of the handle) which is some 10% greater than the width, (measured in the same direction) of the base, so that in the erected pack the top can adopt a slightly roof-shaped configuration over the tops of the cluster of cans, this roof-shaped configuration accommodating the inwardly tapered top construction of many seamless aluminium can bodies while leaving the side walls of the pack parallel.

Conveniently, the centre region of the handle is marked by a finger hole formed in each access flap, such holes facilitating the tearing away of the access flaps when the pack is to be opened.

A further aspect of the present invention is a blank of stiff but foldable material incorporating handle reinforcement which can be erected to form a pack as previously defined.

The preferred paperboard material for a pack or blank as defined above would have lengths of reinforcing tape incorporated between paper webs on a corrugator, so that the full width of the board produced on the corrugator would include a plurality of uniformly spaced-apart tape runs across such width. Since the perimeter walls are integral with the base this means the base region of a cut blank is wider (in the direction normal to the tape run) than the top region of the blank, meaning that more board material is wasted than would be desirable.

According to a further feature of the invention, therefore, the spacing apart of the tape runs on the corrugator is made to be less than the maximum width of the base region of blanks to be cut therefrom by alternating the orientation of the blanks cut on adjacent tape runs, the widest region of blanks cut on one run thereby coinciding with the narrowest region of blanks cut on the (or both the) adjacent run(s).

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a can-clustercarrying pack according to the invention for six cans of drink, Figure 2 is a view of the pack of Figure 1 with both access flaps removed, Figure 3 is a plan of the blank of paperboard material from which the pack of Figure 1 was erected, Figure 4 is a plan of a blank similar to that shown in Figure 3 for a 4-can cluster, and Figure 5 is a schematic diagrammatic view of how blanks of the kind shown in Figure 3 or Figure 4 can be interdigitated on board from a corrugator to reduce the waste material created on stamping out blanks from the board.

The pack 10 shown in Figure 1 is designed to provide convenient retailing of six 440 ml cans 11 of drink. The pack has a reinforced carrying handle 12 delimited from a top wall 13 and adjacent first and second side walls 14, 15 by handle cuts 12a, 12b. The six cans 11 are supported on an eight-sidea base 16 which is linked to the top wall 13 by the pair of side walls 14, 15. Integral with the base 16 are two perimeter walls 17, 18 each of which contacts the outermost two cans 11 on each side of the pack to closely confine those cans over the lower ends only of the cans and thus retain all six cans of the cluster on the base 16. The top wall 13 has ears 13a, 13b which give the top wall an eight-sided shape that reflects the shape of the base 16.The top wall has a roof-shaped configuration, by virtue of mitred edge regions 13c, 13d (where the top wall connects to the respective side wall 14, 15), which allow the side walls to be parallel while the edge regions 13c, 13d of the top wall match the tapered end region 11a of each can 11.

An access flap 20 is formed on each side of the handle 12 these access flaps being delimited by a respective one of the cuts 12a, 12b and by lines of weakness 14a, 14b; 1spa, 15b formed in the side walls. Easy access to the flaps 20 is provided by arcuate holes 19 formed adjacent to the centre of the handle 12.

Figure 2 shows the pack of Figure 1 after both these access flaps 20 have been torn away along the lines of weakness 14a...15b. Since each line of weakness terminates at about the level of the top of the respective perimeter wall 17, 18, removal of the access flaps leaves unaffected the structural stability of the base region of the pack whilst making removal of the four outermost cans 11 possible by simply lifting a can off the base 16.

The reinforcement of the handle 12 (see Figure 3) extends throughout each side wall 14, 15 and across the base 16 so that the cluster of cans 11 is surrounded by a loop of tape, the integrity of this loop being unaffected by the removal of the access flaps.

The height of the perimeter walls 17 and 18 is some 15% of the height of the cans 11 but this is not a critical dimension. Greater wall heights are clearly possible although too large an increase will be at the expense of a greater waste of board material. Small wall heights are also possible but anything less than 5% is unlikely to provide adequate security of retention of cans in the pack.

Figure 3 shows a blank 30 from which the pack 10 of Figures 1 and 2 was erected by folding and gluing. For convenience the same reference numerals have been used in Figure 3 to indicate similar parts. The reinforcing tape 31 which strengthens the handle 12 is shown by chain lines and the areas secured together by adhesive are shown shaded. Each perimeter wall is constructed from three parts 17a, 17b, 17c and 18a, 18b, 18c. The mitred edge regions 13c, 13d are created by two pairs of crease lines 32, 33, of which line 33 is spaced from crease line 34 (demarking the lower end of side wall panel 14) and cut edge 35 (demarking the lower end of side wall panel 15) by a distance corresponding to the height of a can 11.

The circles 36 shown on the base 16 indicate the location of the bottom ends of the six cans of the packed cluster in the erected pack, it being noted that the tape 31 passes centrally below the two centre cans of the cluster.

The preferred board material for the blank 30 is double-faced corrugated board and to permit the tape 31 to be located between the corrugated web and one of the facing plies of the board, the flutes of the corrugated web should run in the directions of the arrows A in Figure 3.

Figure 4 shows a blank 40 for a four-can cluster pack, the same reference numerals being used in Figure 4 as have been used in Figure 3. It will be noted in Figure 4 that the loop of tape 31 which surrounds the cans is intersected by the median plane between the two pairs of outermost cans.

Because the base region (formed by base 16 and perimeter wall parts 17 and 18) of each of the blanks 30 and 40 is the widest part of the blank, with blanks cut side by side on the output of a corrugator, there would be considerable board waste .in the vicinity of each side wall and each top wall, while the runs of tape 31 would be spaced apart the full width of the base region.

By the simple expedient of alternating blanks (as shown schematically in Figure 5) it is possible to reduce waste of board material since the spacing of the runs of tape 31 are now "d" which is less than the width "D" of the widest part of any one blank.

Claims

1. A can-cluster-carrying pack comprising a folded-up blank of paperboard material having one or more lengths of reinforcing material applied thereto and with handle cuts flanking the said length(s) to provide a reinforced carrying handle in a top wall of the pack; a base of octagonal shape supporting the cluster of cans; first and second side walls linking the base and top wall; perimeter walls integral with the base, extending between the side walls and closely confining only the lower ends of at least the outermost ones of the cluster of cans resting on the base; and a pair of removable access flaps each delimited by a respective one of the handle cuts and by a pair of lines of weakness extending one from each opposite end of the respective handle cut to the adjacent top of the perimeter wall.

2. A pack according to claim 1, in which the base of the erected pack is surrounded on six sides by the two low perimeter walls and on the other two sides by the first and second side walls.

3. A pack according to claim 2, in which each access flap terminates at the level of the top of the perimeter wall.

4. A pack according to any one preceding claim in which the blank is made of corrugated paperboard and the at least one length of reinforcing material extends normal to the direction of the flutes in the corrugated material.

5. A pack according to claim 4, in which double-faced corrugated paperboard is used with a reinforcing tape sandwiched between the corrugated core and one of the facing plies of the board.

6. A pack according to any preceding claim, in which the height of the perimeter walls is between one third and one tenth of the length of each can in the cluster.

7. A pack according to claim 6, in which the height of the perimeter wall is between one fifth and one tenth of the length of each can.

8. A pack according to any one preceding claim, in which the shape of the top reflects the octagonal shape of the base.

9. A pack according to claim 8, in which the top has a width (i.e. the dimension measured in the elongate direction of the handle) which is some 10% greater than the width (measured in the same direction) of the base.

10. A pack according to any one preceding claim, in which the centre region of the handle is marked by a finger hole formed in each access flap, such holes facilitating the tearing away of the access flaps when the pack is to be opened.

11. A can-cluster-carrying pack substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A blank of stiff but foldable material incorporating handle reinforcement which can be erected to form a pack as claimed in any one preceding claim.

13. A blank for forming a pack as claimed in claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A method of producing blanks as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13, in which board produced on a corrugator is used with handle reinforcements provided by lengths of reinforcing tape incorporated between webs on the corrugator wherein the spacing apart of the tape runs on the corrugator is made to be less than the maximum width of the base region of the blanks to be cut therefrom by alternating the orientation of the blanks cut on adjacent tape runs, the widest region of blanks cut on one run thereby coinciding with the narrowest region of blanks cut on the (or both the) adjacent run(s).