GB2250010A

GB2250010A - Packaging-components

Info

Publication number: GB2250010A
Application number: GB9200779A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Douglas Hoy
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-05-26
Filing date: 1992-01-15
Publication date: 1992-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2012-01-15
Also published as: GB2250010B; GB9200779D0

Abstract

A cardboard packaging-component for protecting an edge surface of a slab-shape product 35 and cushioning it with a polystyrene element 32, has spaced pairs of opposed tabs or fingers 30 that hinge up from a base-portion 31. The tabs or fingers 30 grip the product 35, a rubber band 33 being looped round the two fingers 30 of each pair to provide resilience of grip. A corner-box section 37 (Fig 4, not shown) may be added. <IMAGE>

Description

Packavinq-Components This invention relates to packaging-components, and particularly to packaging-components for use in protecting edge surfaces of slab-shape articles during their storage and transit.

According to the present invention, there is provided a packaging-component for protecting an edge surface of a slab-shape article during storage or transit, wherein an elongate base-portion for providing abutment with the edge surface of the article has a series of pairs of opposed tabs or fingers that hinge up from the base-portion at intervals along a part, or the whole, of its length, and the tabs or fingers of each pair are intercoupled with one another resiliently by rubber or other elastic bands looped round the tabs or fingers.

The packaging-component of the present invention is of especial advantage in the packaging for storage and transit of products such as for example, doors, centralheating radiators, double-glazing units, knock-down furniture panels, kitchen and other worktops, and other constructional and building panels and boards. The component is simply fitted to the edge to be protected with the base-portion providing abutment with the edge surface, and the tabs or fingers of each pair gripping the margin of the article between them under the action of the elastic bands.

Although applicable where straight edges are to be protected, the packaging-component of the invention is of particular advantage for the protection of curved or otherwise-contoured edges at the ends and sides of an article, in that the intervals between the tabs or fingers allow the base-portion to be readily bent to follow the contour. The intervals and dimensioning of the tabs or fingers may be chosen to enable the component to be bent around angles of ninety degrees or more, so as to allow it to be used for corner and other sharp-angle protection.

The packaging-component may be of cardboard, for example corrugated cardboard, that is cut (for example, die-cut) and creased to delineate the tabs or fingers as areas of the cardboard folded up from the base-portion. One or more shock-absorbing elements, for example of expanded polystyrene, may be included in the component to lie on the base-portion within the upstanding tabs or fingers.

Packaging-components according to the present invention have the advantage that to a certain extent they readily adapt, or are adaptable, to the product being protected, and by virtue of the resilient intercoupling between the opposed tabs or fingers of each pair, hold themselves to the product when once established. Moreover they have the advantage that they can be readily stacked within one another for transportation and storage ready for use, without damage to the components themselves and without undue waste of space. The elastic intercoupling involved in the packaging-components of the present invention, has the advantage that a significant degree of stacking of the components within one another can readily be achieved, with consequent saving of space.

An example of a packaging-component in accordance with the present invention, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a cardboard blank and a shock-absorbing element that are used in the provision of the packaging-component; Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating assembly of the packaging-component from the items of Figure 1; Figure 3 illustrates use of the packaging-component of Figure 2; and Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of the packagingcomponent of Figures 1 to 3.

Referring to Figure 1, a cardboard blank is cut and creased to delineate a multiplicity of spaced tabs 30 that extend outwardly in both lateral directions, and in register one with another, from an elongate base-portion 31. The cardboard is a laminate of corrugated cardboard faced with plain cardboard sheets, and the blank is cut out to have the corrugations running laterally of the blank. A rectangular element 32 of expanded polystyrene is, as illustrated, placed on the base-portion 31, and the tabs 30 are then folded upwardly against it, as shown in Figure 2.

Referring to Figure 2, rubber bands 33 are looped round the respective pairs of opposed tabs 30 across the element 32. The bands 33 intercouple the tabs 30 elastically in pairs, pulling the two tabs 30 of each pair in towards one another against the sides of the element 32. This ensures that the element 32 remains in place on the base-portion 31, and that the tabs 30 grip the margin of any product to which that component is applied for protection.

Use of the packaging-component of Figure 2 to protect the curved edge surface of, for example, a kitchen worktop, is illustrated in Figure 3. In this regard, the packagingcomponent of Figure 2 is capable of being bent to conform to substantially any shape, but can equally well be used for protection of straight surfaces.

Referring to Figure 3, the packaging-component is fitted on the product 34 with the element 32 against the surface 35 to be protected. In particular, the packaging component is fitted such that the tabs 30 grip the product on its two major faces under the resilient bias towards one another, provided by the elastic bands 30. This gripping serves to retain the packaging-component in place during transport and storage.

The tab-form of packaging-component described above with reference to Figures 1 to 3 may be modified to include a corner-box section for specific protection of a corner of a product. Such a modification is illustrated in Figure 4 in which a product 36 is protected by a component that has a corner-box section 37 engaged with a right-angle corner of the product 36.

The corner-box section 37 corresponds in construction to one of the ends of the packaging-component described in parent Patent Application No 8912079.4 (2 218 961) with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of that application. It is constructed in the present case integral with a spine 38 from which tabs 39 project in the manner of the tabs 30 from the spine 31 of the packaging-component described above with reference to Figures 1 to 3.

A rectangular cushioning-element 40, which extends from within the corner-box section 37 along the length of the spine 38, abuts the edge surface of the product 36, and with the remainder of the component is held in place resiliently by the action of the corner-box section 37 and the pairs of tabs 39.

The packaging-component described above, whether of the modified form or otherwise, may be provided in a variety of lengths and widths to accommodate varying requirements.

Additionally, it may conveniently be supplied in one, or a few, standard lengths, from which the length needed for any particular application may be cut as and when the need arises. Supplies of the packaging-components can be readily stacked one within the other for transportation and storage ready for use, without damage to the components themselves and without undue waste of space.

The elastic intercoupling of the tabs enables them to be deflected outwardly of one another for receiving the baseportion of the next such component stacked on it.

Claims

Claims:

1. A packaging-component for protecting an edge of a slab-shape article during storage or transit, wherein an elongate base-portion for providing abutment with the edge surface of the article, has a series of pairs of opposed tabs or fingers that hinge up from the base-portion at intervals along a part, or the whole, of its length, and the tabs or fingers of each pair are interconnected with one another resiliently by rubber or other elastic bands looped round the tabs or fingers.

2. A packaging-component according to Claim 1 wherein the resilient interconnection of the tabs or fingers of each pair is by means of a said rubber or other elastic band individual to, and looped round, that pair.

3. A packaging-component according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 made principally of cardboard.

4. A packaging-component according to any one of the preceding claims wherein one or more polystyrene or other shock-absorbing elements lie on the base-portion within the upstanding tabs or fingers.

5. A packaging-component substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.