GB2253836A - Packaging containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A rectilinear packaging container made from cut and creased sheet material, typically cardboard, has a body 10 and a lid 12. The lid 12 has a top and skin 58 and can be slid down relative to the body 10 which has the effect of causing folded panels 46-56 connecting the skirt 58 and body 10 to unfold and so open up the top of the lid 12 so that access to the container contents is achieved. When the procedure is reversed, the lid again closes. <IMAGE>

Description

Improvements Relating to Packaging Containers This invention relates to packaging containers, and concerns a packaging container having a novel closure feature.

Typically, packaging containers which are constructed of cut and creased materials such as cardboard have closures or lids which are opened by hinging the closure or lid relative to the remainder of the packaging container, about a hinge line which usually lies at or adjacent the top edge of the container.

The present invention is concerned with a packaging container with a novel form of dispensing closure which, upon being opened, displays and presents the contents in a novel manner.

In accordance with the invention, a packaging container of cut and creased sheet material comprises a body section and a lid section, said lid section having a skirt which surrounds the top of the body section, and is displaceable relative thereto, said lid section furthermore including panel means connected between the body section and skirt which unfold from a container closed position to enable the display and presentation of the container contents when the lid section is displaced relative to the body section in a sliding motion.

In the preferred arrangement, there are two panelled portions forming said panel means, the respective panelled portions being connected between respective sides of the skirt to respective sides of the body portion.

The body portion and lid portion preferably are of rectangular cross section, with the said panelled portions respectively connected between the top longer sides of the body portion to the top longer edges of the skirt.

Preferably the panelled portions are integral with the skirt and body portion.

In the closed position of the packaging container, respective and equal parts of the panelled portions close the top of the container and as the lid portion is displaced downwardly relative to the body portion, other parts of the panelled portions force the first mentioned parts to unfold outwardly and thereby cause opening of the container and novel presentation of the container contents.

The edge panels of the body portion may be provided with creases to define fillets at the top end thereof, so that said fillets can be tucked inwardly to allow the cross section of the body portion at the top end to be slightly reduced, to provide clearance for the relative sliding movement of the lid portion relative to the body portion as the container is moved between closed and opened positions.

With the arrangement of the invention, it will be appreciated that the packaging container can be closed and opened at will. The container is therefore re-closable simply by raising the lid portion relative to the body portion.

In a particularly preferred arrangement, a single cut and creased blank of sheet material such as cardboard is used for the formation of the packaging container. Such a blank may comprise body side panels alternating with body end panels, with the closure panels respectively being hinged to the top ends of the body side panels, and the skirt may comprise side panels and end panels, the side panels respectively being hinged to the said closure panels.

The blank may furthermore be provided with edge panels which in use are glued to the opposite side of the blank so that the container will remain in erected condition. Appropriate and any suitably designed base flaps may be provided at the lower ends of the side and end panels of the body for closing the bottom of the container.

In order to erect the blank as aforesaid, the skirt is folded initially so that its side panels overlie the closure panel.

It should be noted that this folding will be in a direction which is normally considered by those skilled in the art to be the reverse folding direction insofar as in carton packaging, packaging board is usually provided with an outer finished side and an inner unfinished side. When board is folded it is usual to fold the board so that unfinished side faces unfinished side, but in folding the blank as aforesaid, the skirt is folded so that its finished side faces the finished side of the closure panels.

Next, the thus folded blank is folded into skillet form, and the glue panels are adhered as abovementioned. The skillet form can be moved to the erected condition, the contents can be entered through the base of the container, and finally the base is closed completing the packaging. As the container is moved from skillet form to erected form, the closure panels lie to the inside of the skirt; as the skirt is moved relative to the body panel so the top parts of the closure panel move to close the top of the container.

The said parts forming the closure for the container may be held together by means of an adhesive label or the like to enhance the appearance of the packaging container, and also to provide a means for keeping the closure panels in position until the container is first opened. In order to open the container, the said label or the like is removed or cut, and then it is simply a matter of pushing the lid portion downwards relative to the body portion, to cause the closure panels to unfold as hereinbefore described.

The invention will be more clearly understood upon a consideration of a specific embodiment of same, such embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank of cut and creased sheet material which is erectible into packaging container according to the invention; Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 show in various stages the erection of the blank of Fig. 1 into the packaging container according to the embodiment; and Figs. 6 and 7 show the closuring of the container and how the closure of the container is opened by relative movement of the lid and body portions of same.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to Fig. 1 which shows the blank for forming the packaging container according to the embodiment, the blank is of cut and creased sheet material, for example cardboard, and comprises a body portion 10, a lid portion 12, and base flaps 14. The base flaps 14 are of conventional construction, and operate in a conventional manner and will not be described in further detail herein. The base flaps 14 do serve to close the end of the container when erected. Any suitable form of base closure configuration may be adopted.

The body portion 10 comprises two main side panels 16 and 18 of similar configuration, and two end panels 20 and 22. Panel 22 is of generally rectangular configuration as shown, and is provided with a transverse fold line 24, and two lines of weakening 26 and 28 which are formed by skip cuts and converge to define a triangular fillet extending between the fold 24 and the top edge of the panel 22.

Panel 20 has a fold line 30 in the same location as the fold line 24 in relation to panel 22, and a similar fillet is defined in panel 20 but by cutting the panel edge as indicated at 32 on the one hand, and providing a skip cut line 34 with a removed section 36 on the other hand.

A glue panel 38 is of generally similar configuration to panel 22, except that it is notched at 40 for a purpose which will become clear hereinafter.

Hinged to the top edges of the panels 16 and 18 are cover panels 42, 44 of the lid section 12.

Each cover panel comprises a cover portion 46, 48, and hinging portions 50, 52, 54 and 56.

The edges of the cover panels 42 and 44 are profiled as shown as are the top ends of the panels 20, 22 and 38.

The lid portion finally comprises a skirt 58 which is made up of large side panels 60, 62, end panels 64 and 66, and a glue panel 68.

In the illustration of Fig. 1 the convention of illustrating fold lines using double dotted lines has been adopted, and it will be appreciated that the blank can be folded along any of these lines, and indeed there will be folding along these lines when the blank is erected.

For the erection of the blank, reference is now made to Figs.

2 - 5.

To erect the blank from the position shown in Fig. 1, first of all the skirt 58 is folded relative to the panels 42 and 44 as shown in Fig. 2. This folding is unconventional insofar as the blank of Fig. 1 will be designed so that the unfinished side faces upwards, and the finished side is to the rear of the blank. Therefore, in folding the skirt 58 to the Fig. 2 position, the finished side of the skirt is brought face to face with the finished side of the cover panels 42 and 44. It is unusual to fold blanks in this way, and it is this step of folding that enables a container according to the present invention to be constructed from a single cut and creased blank.

In the next stage of folding as shown in Fig. 3, the whole of the blank to the left hand side of the fold line connecting panel 16 and panel 22 is folded onto the remainder of the blank.

Fig. 4 shows the next stage of folding. In such stage, the panel 38 is folded about the fold line connecting panel 38 to panel 18, and the skirt panel 68 is also folded about this line so that the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 results. Prior to this folding step, appropriate glue is applied between the panel 20 on its finished side, and the unfinished side of panel 38, and equally glue is applied between the skirt panel 64 on the unfinished side, and the finished side of the skirt panel 68 so that these are glued together, but the skirt in no way is glued to the panels 20 and 38 so that in fact it will be free to slide to a limited extent relative to the body section 10.

To assist in illustrating the finished and unfinished sides of the blank of Fig. 1, the finished side has been indicated by cross-hatching lines.

To erect the skillet form of the folded blank as shown in Fig. 4 to the erected Fig. 5 construction it is simply a matter of pushing the opposite sides of the skillet together and the blank erects. In the Fig. 5 position, it will be noticed that the cover panels 42 and 44 lie flat against the side skirt panels 60 and 62, and the lid portion 12 sits atop the body portion 10. The lid portion 12 can be pushed downwardly from the Fig. 5 position until the Fig. 6 position is reached, and during this movement, the cover panels 42 are forced to fold so that as shown the sections 46 and 48 form a cover for the interior of the container, the sections 50, 52 and 54, 56 lying in inclined planes as shown in Fig. 6.At the same time, as the lid section is moved downwardly to the Fig. 6 position, the fillets in the body side panels 20, 22 and the glue panel 38 move inwards so that there is folding about the skip cut lines and the fold lines 30 and 24, and the top of the body portion contracts to allow clearance for the lid portion to be moved relative to the body portion.

In order to open the top of the packaging container, and it will be remembered that by this time the container contents have been inserted through the base, and the base closed, it is simply a matter of displacing the skirt 58 downwards as shown by arrow 70 in Fig. 7, which has the effect of unfolding the cover panels 42 and 44 as shown in Fig. 7 in that sections 48 and 46 are forced to pivot outwards as the section 50, 52 and 54, 56 are forced upwardly and fold relatively to present an open container top as shown in Fig.

7, providing an extremely effective and novel form of packaging.

The top of the container can be closed by moving the skirt 58 in the reverse direction, when the reverse effect takes place.

It is believed that the container may be modified to provide other embodiments.

Claims (10)

1. A packaging container of cut and creased sheet material comprising a body section and a lid section, said lid section having a skirt which surrounds the top of the body section, and is displaceable relative thereto, said lid section furthermore including panel means connected between the body section and skirt which unfold from a container closed position to enable the display and presentation of the container contents when the lid section is displaced relative to the body section in a sliding motion.

2. A container according to Claim 1, wherein there are two panelled portions forming said panel means, the respective panelled portions being connected between respective sides of the skirt to respective sides of the body portion.

3. A container according to Claim 2, wherein the body portion and lid portion are of rectangular cross section, with the said panelled portions respectively connected between the top longer sides of the body portion to the top longer edges of the skirt.

4. A container according to Claim 3, wherein the panelled portions are integral with the skirt and body portion.

5. A container according to Claim 3 or 4, wherein the shorter side or edge panels of the body portion are provided with creases to define fillets at the top end thereof, so that said fillets can be tucked inwardly to allow the cross section of the body portion at the top end to be slightly reduced, to provide clearance for the relative sliding movement of the lid portion relative to the body portion as the container is moved between closed and opened positions.

6. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container is produced from a single cut and creased blank of sheet material.

7. A container according to Claim 6, wherein the blank comprises body side panels alternating with body end panels, with the closure panels respectively being hinged to the top ends of the body side panels, and the skirt may comprise side panels and end panels, the side panels respectively being hinged to the said closure panels.

8. A container according to Claim 7, wherein the blank has edge panels which are in use glued to the opposite side of the blank so that the container will remain in erected condition.

9. A packaging container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A blank of cut and creased sheet material erectable into a container according to at least one of the preceding claims.