GB2252548A

GB2252548A - Easy-open handled carton

Info

Publication number: GB2252548A
Application number: GB9202342A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Joseph Wonnacott
Original assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: St Regis Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1991-02-05
Filing date: 1992-02-04
Publication date: 1992-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 2012-02-04
Also published as: GB9202342D0; GB9102497D0; GB2252548B

Abstract

A carton (40) has a top providing a reinforced carrying handle (23) and at least one reinforced tear strip (24) on side walls of the carton, the or each tear strip extending from a pull tab (24a) at one end thereof cut to partially sever said tear strip reinforcement, to a sever line (24b) or a second pull tab marking the other end thereof. The reinforcement of the or each tear strip (24) extends parallel to the reinforcement provided in the carrying handle (23), actuation of the or each tear strip (24) creating, from the top, a hinged closure flap. <IMAGE>

Description

EASY-OPEN HANDLED CARTON This invention relates to an easy-open handled carton which has particular, but not exclusive, utility for the packaging of product (e.g. soap powder) dispensed in amounts which are a small proportion of the total packaged amount of product, thereby allowing reclosure of the carton after each dispensing operation. The invention also extends to a cut and pre-creased blank of stiff but foldable material which permits erection of such an easy-open handled carton by folding and gluing.

In its carton aspect the invention comprises a carton having a top providing a reinforced carrying handle and at least one reinforced tear strip on side walls of the carton, the or each tear strip extending from a pull tab at one end thereof cut to partially sever said tear strip reinforcement, to a sever line or a second pull tab marking the other end thereof, the reinforcement of the or each tear strip extending parallel to the reinforcement provided in the carrying handle, actuation of the or each tear strip creating, from the top, a hinged closure flap.

Desirably, one edge of the closure flap is reinforced by a residue of the reinforcement of the or each tear strip.

Conveniently the carton comprises an inner liner of folded board material over which said one edge slides as the closure flap is moved into its closed position.

Preferably the carton is made from a pluri-ply paperboard material and the handle reinforcement and the reinforcement of the or each tear strip are provided by fibrous tapes incorporated between plies of the board material.

Suitably each tear strip is fabricated from a pair of lengths of longitudinally splittable fibrous tape so that a central region of each tape of the pair can be removed from the outer regions thereof to sever the board material and release the closure flap for opening of the carton.

A region of the precursor of the closure flap can overlie the or each pull tab to conceal the latter in the unopened condition of the carton.

The carton can house a flexible bag containing the product.

In its blank aspect, the invention comprises a blank of stiff but foldable board material comprising at least first, second, third and fourth panels separated by fold lines, the first of said panels including a handle reinforcement flanked by handle-defining cuts and the fourth of said panels including tear strip reinforcement terminated at at least one end thereof by a pull tab cut to partially sever said tear strip reinforcement, said reinforcements being parallel to each other and to the fold lines.

Suitably the fourth panel is attached to end flaps at least one of which includes a pull tab cut to partially sever the tear strip reinforcement.

In one embodiment, each end flap attached to the fourth panel includes a respective pull tab and there are two transverse end cuts through the tear strip reinforcement which end cuts define the boundary of the precursor of a tab on the closure flap.

In a second embodiment a second tear strip reinforcement is provided on the second panel.

Conveniently the board material is three-ply corrugated paperboard made on a corrugator with a corrugated ply interposed between plane facing plies and the reinforcements are tapes applied to a ply of the board as it is formed on the corrugator.

The handle-defining cuts can provide a wider central portion of the handle and fold lines can be provided in this central portion parallel to the handle reinforcement to allow edge regions of this central portion to be bent up to give a handle of generally U-shaped transverse crosssection.

Preferably a fifth panel is provided to underlie the first panel and close off the handle cuts from the interior of the carton.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan of a first embodiment of blank according to the invention, Figure 2 is a plan of blanks to form a pair of liners for the carton to be erected from the blank of Figure 1, Figures 3 to 6 are schematic views of how the blanks of Figures 1 and 2 are assembled to form a closed carton according to a first embodiment of the invention, Figure 7 is a view of part of the carton of Figure 6 showing the commencement of use of one of the two available tear strips, Figure 8 is a view of the first embodiment of carton shown opened, Figures 9 and 10 are modified blanks for making a second embodiment of carton, Figures 11 to 13 show the second embodiment of carton closed and open, Figure 14 is a plan of a third embodiment of blank in accordance with the invention, and Figures 15 and 16 show the blank of Figure 14 in two stages of erection into a carton about to be closed around a product to be contained therein.

The blank 10 shown in figure 1 is made from 3-ply corrugated paperboard and comprises five wall panels 11 to 15 delimited one from the other by fold lines 16 to 19.

Panel 11 contains a handle reinforcing tape 20 flanked by cuts 21 and 22 to form a carrying handle 23. Panels 12 and 14 contain reinforced tear strips 24, 25 terminated at one end by a pull tab 24a, 25a and terminated at the other end by an end cut 24b, 25b extending transversely through the reinforcing tape of the respective tear strip. The reinforcing tapes in the panels 11, 12 and 14 are parallel but normal to the direction "A" of the flutes in the corrugated ply of the board material.

The end cuts 24b, 25b extend to the fold lines 16 and 19 and are collinear with hinge folds 26, 27 formed in panels 11 and 15.

Each panel 11 to 14 has end flaps lla to 14a on the left-hand sides thereof and end flaps 11b to 14b on the right-hand sides thereof. These end flaps combine to form the end panels of a carton 40 as can be seen from a study of Figures 3 to 6.

The blank 10 in Figure 1 forms the outer layer of the completed carton 40 and the two blanks 35a, 35b shown in Figures 2, each severed along line 36 and pre-creased along lines 37 can be bent to form a U-shaped component and, as shown in Figure 4, can together create an inner liner 35 for the carton. Figure 3 shows these liner components 35a, 35b being folded for location within the blank 10, the shaded areas on the blank 10 representing areas where adhesive (e.g. a "closed" contact hot melt glue) is applied to secure the blank 10 around the liner 35.

Figure 4 shows the panel 15 about to be folded over to underlie the panel 11 and the flaps Ila to 14a and llb to 14b making up the two end walls being prepared for folding inwards into place. In practice the folding-up process would be stopped at the stage shown in Figure 5 to allow a product 50 to be packaged to be located within the inner liner 35 before the panels 15 and 11 are closed over it.

The filled completed carton is shown in Figure 6 and it can be carried using the handle defined by the cuts 21, 22 and reinforced with the tape 20. Since the cuts 21, 22 extend into each end flap lla, llb and panel 15 is provided with edge notches 15a, the handle can bow upwardly from the plane of the panel 11 under the weight of the filled carton as the handle is used. A thicker central region of the handle will adopt a generally U-shaped cross-section when grasped by the carrying hand by virtue of the provision of fold lines 28 provided thereon.

To gain access to the contents of the carton shown in Figure 6, a tab llc (which is adhered to the component 35b of the inner liner by a multi-usable (or "open") contact adhesive 37) is peeled back to reveal the tear tabs 2a, 25a (see also Figure 7). Pulling on these actuates the tear strips 24 and 25 as far as the respective end cuts 2!,b and 25b, the tear strips then pulling free of the carton (as shown in Figure 8) and leaving a lid 41 hinged about the folds 26, 27 formed in the panels 11 and 15. Opening the lid 41 allows removal of as much of the contents as is required, and the carton 40 can then be reclosed by folding the lid 41 back over the upper end of the component 35b of the inner liner 35 and then re-adhering the tab llc to the liner 35. As can be seen from Figure 8, the handle 23 can be used to pull open the lid 41 and if the bond of the adhesive 37 is strong enough, to carry the opened carton 40 when the lid has been reclosed.

It is preferred to use a reinforcing tape for the tear strips which leaves a residue on the board material flanking each strip removed with the tabs 24a and 25a, whereby the lower edges of the lid 41, which telescope over the inner liner 35 when the lid is opened and closed, are reinforced against wear. A longitudinally splittable fibrous tape known under the trade name "SESAME" (and manufactured by Sesame Industries Ltd., of Quebec, Canada) which comprises many parallel fibres, is particularly preferred for reinforcing each tear strip and the handle.

In the case where a three-ply corrugated paperboard material is used for the blank 10, a single length of SESAME tape 20 can be incorporated between plies of the board to provide the reinforcement of the handle 23 and pairs of tapes (one on the outer surface of one outer ply and one on the inner surface of the other outer ply) can be used for each tear strip 24, 25. The five lengths of SESAME tape can be applied to the plies as they are sandwiched together on a corrugator so that the board produced already has all necessary runs of the reinforcement in it for the production of many blanks 10, each blank being cut from the board in precisely the right position to locate the reinforcing tape where it is required a) relative to the cuts 21, 22 which create the handle 23 and b) relative to the cuts which create each pull tab 24a, 25a.

The second embodiment of blank and carton has much in common with the first just described and for convenience and ease of understanding the same reference numbers but increased by one hundred, will be used in Figures 9 to 13 as have been used in Figures 1 to 8 to describe the same or equivalent parts of the two embodiments.

In the second embodiment, the closure tab lllc on the lid 111 of the carton 140 is provided as a partial cut-out in the wall panel 114. The end cuts 124b and 125b of the tear strips 124, 125 form part of the boundary of the cutout defining the tab lllc. The tear strips 124 and 125 are formed from opposite ends of a common pair of lengths of reinforcing tape.

In the third embodiment (where an addition of two hundred to each reference number is made) the inner liner 235 is formed from the panel 212 and its end flaps 235a, 235b and the fifth panel 215 overlies the handle panel 211 with the handle 223 passing through a stabilising aperture 260 in the panel 215.

A single tear strip 224 is provided across panel 214 and the end flaps 214a, 214b and has a tear tab 224a at each end. Handle accommodating recesses 215a are formed in creases 261 formed between end walls 214a, 214b and upper flaps 262a, 262b. The cut-aways arrowed at 263 in Figure 14 remove part of the inner liner 235 but have the advantage of facilitating folding-up of the blank 210 in the manner shown in Figures 15 and 16. Following filling in of contents to the partially erected carton shown in Figure 16, the flaps 262a and 262b would be folded one over the other, the panel 211 would be secured over the top of flap 262b by means of adhering down the end flaps 211a and 211b and finally the panel 215 would be adhered over the panel 211 leaving the central region of the handle 223 accessible through the aperture 260.

In each of the embodiments described, the tear tabs 24a, 25a, 124a, 125a and 224a are cut from the paperboard blank containing the runs of reinforcing tape in such a way as to partially sever the reinforcement. In this way although the full width of the applied tape run or runs will be included in the wide end of each tear tab, only a part of the run will be included in the narrow end, this narrow part determining the width of the tear strip removed from the board material on actuation of the tear strips.

Claims

1. A carton having a top providing a reinforced carrying handle and at least one reinforced tear strip on side walls of the carton, the or each tear strip extending from a pull tab at one end thereof cut to partially sever said tear strip reinforcement, to a sever line or a second pull tab marking the other end thereof, the reinforcement of the or each tear strip extending parallel to the reinforcement provided in the carrying handle, actuation of the or each tear strip creating, from the top, a hinged closure flap.

2. A carton according to claim 1, in which one edge of the closure flap is reinforced by a residue of the reinforcement of the or each tear strip.

3. A carton according to claim 2, in which the carton comprises an inner liner of folded board material over which said one edge slides as the closure flap is moved into its closed position.

4. A carton according to any one preceding claim, in which the carton is made from a pluri-ply paperboard material and the handle reinforcement and the reinforcement of the or each tear strip are provided by fibrous tapes incorporated between plies of the board material.

5. A carton according to any one preceding claim, in which each tear strip is fabricated from a pair of lengths of longitudinally splittable fibrous tape so that a central region of each tape of the pair can be removed from the outer regions thereof to sever the board material and release the closure flap for opening of the carton.

6. A carton according to any one preceding claim, in which a region of the precursor of the closure flap overlies the or each pull tab to conceal the latter in the unopened condition of the carton.

7. A carton according to any one preceding claim, in which the carton houses a flexible bag containing packaged product.

8. A carton as claimed in claim 3, in which the inner liner is created from panels of the same blank used to create said top and side walls of the carton.

9. A carton substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 3 to 8, Figures 11 to 13 or Figures 15 and 16 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A blank of stiff but foldable board material comprising at least first, second, third and fourth panels separated by fold lines, the first of said panels including a handle reinforcement flanked by handle-defining cuts and the fourth of said panels including tear strip reinforcement terminated at at least one end thereof by a pull tab cut to partially sever said tear strip reinforcement, said reinforcements being parallel to each other and to the fold lines.

11. A blank as claimed in claim 10, in which the fourth panel is attached to end flaps, at least one of which includes a pull tab cut to partially sever the tear strip reinforcement.

12. A blank as claimed in claim 11, in which each end flap attached to the fourth panel includes a respective pull tab and there are two transverse end cuts through the tear strip reinforcement which end cuts define the boundary of the precursor of a tab on the closure flap.

13. A blank as claimed in claim 10, in which a second tear strip reinforcement is provided on the second panel.

14. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 13, in which the board material is three-ply corrugated paperboard made on a corrugator, with a corrugated ply interposed between plane facing plies and the reinforcements are tapes applied to a ply of the board as it is formed on the corrugator.

15. A carton as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 or a blank as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 14, in which the handle-defining cuts provide a wider central portion of the handle and fold lines are provided in this central portion parallel to the handle reinforcement to allow edge regions of this central portion to be bent up to give a handle of generally U-shaped transverse cross-section.

16. A blank as claimed in claim 10, in which a fifth panel is provided to underlie the first panel and close off the handle cuts from the interior of the carton.

17. A blank of stiff but foldable paperboard cut and creased substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1, 9 and 14 of the accompanying drawings.