GB2266515A

GB2266515A - A box formed from a blank

Info

Publication number: GB2266515A
Application number: GB9309001A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Robert Freshwater
Original assignee: M Petrushkin Ltd
Current assignee: M Petrushkin Ltd
Priority date: 1992-04-30
Filing date: 1993-04-30
Publication date: 1993-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 2013-04-30
Also published as: GB2266515B; GB9309001D0; GB9209336D0

Abstract

A tubular box has end closures defined by end flaps 21-24 which are joined at fold lines 10, alternate flaps 22, 24 having diagonal fold lines 18. Alternatively, the regions between the fold lines 10, 18 may be removed, the resulting cut outs being covered by a paper sheet attached to the outer surface of the box blank 1. <IMAGE>

Description

A box and a blank for a box The invention relates to a box and a box blank adapted to be erected to form a box.

It is known to wrap a gift in a box and to have the box covered in a sheet of gift wrapping. It is also known for the box to be covered with the appropriately sized sheet of gift wrapping already attached to the entire outside surface of the box. A pre-covered box has the advantages that the end user does not have to buy separate wrapping paper and does not need to cut the paper to size. Unfortunately, a pre-covered box has the disadvantage that the box does not look the same as a wrapped non-pre-covered box, which is considered to be unpleasing to the recipient of the gift contained in the box. In order to circumvent this disadvantage, the sheet of wrapping paper can be attached only to the centre panels of the box and not to the end pairs of flaps.This overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantage, as the gift wrap at the ends of the box have to be manually folded, in the same way as a non-pre-covered box is folded.

GB 2202826 discloses a gift wrapped box with the gift wrapping attached to one of the two or more pairs of end flaps at each end of the box. Although the folding of the gift wrap at the ends of the box is made easier, it still requires manual dexterity for a precise finish and is not suitable for automatic box/wrapping processes.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved box and an improved box blank compared to the above-mentioned boxes and associated box blanks.

According to the present invention there is provided a box comprising a first pair of panels, a second pair of panels, a first pair of end flaps and a second pair of end flaps, each of the first panels being connected along opposite side edges at side fold lines to each of the second pair of panels thereby being adapted to form an open-ended tube, each one of the first pair of end flaps being connected to one end of a respective one of the first pair of panels along a tube fold line and each one of the second pair of end flaps being attached to one end of a respective one of the second pair of panels along the tube fold line, wherein each one of the said end flaps is substantially rectangular and is connected along an edge to at least one of the adjacent end flaps along a flap fold line, each of the first pair of flaps including at least one further fold line extending at an angle to the flap fold line from adjacent the intersection of the tube fold line and the flap fold line to the edge of the said first flap opposite the tube fold line.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a box blank a first pair of panels, a second pair of panels, a first pair of end flaps and a second pair of end flaps, each of the first panels being connected along opposite side edges at side fold lines to each of the second pair of panels thereby being adapted to form an open-ended tube, each one of the first pair of end flaps being connected to one end of a respective one of the first pair of panels along a tube fold line and each one of the second pair of end flaps being attached to one end of a respective one of the second pair of panels along the tube fold line, wherein each one of the said end flaps is substantially rectangular and is connected along an edge to at least one of the adjacent end flaps along a flap fold line, each of the first pair of flaps including at least one further fold line extending at an angle to the flap fold line from adjacent the intersection of the tube fold line and the flap fold line to the edge of the said first flap opposite the tube fold line.

The box or box blank can further comprise a second set of first and second pairs of end flaps substantially the same as, respectively, the aforesaid first and second pairs of end flaps, attached to, respectively, the bottom edge of the said first and second pairs of panels.

One side of the box or box blank may be covered with paper. The paper may be attached to the said first or the second pairs of end flaps, the paper being adapted to fold along the said fold lines of the box or box blank.

Alternatively, the paper may be attached to all the said end flaps, the paper being cut along the said fold lines between the said first and said second pairs of end flaps.

The preferred acute angle is 450, and preferably the extra fold lines extend from the points wherein the first panels, the second panels, the first end flaps and the second end flaps meet.

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a box blank in the lay-flat condition, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 shows a one end of the box blank of Figure 1 when partially erected into the open-tube condition of the box, Figure 3 shows the one end of the box of Figure 2, with one pair of end flaps folded in, Figure 4 shows an interior view of a box blank according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

(In the drawings the broken lines represent fold lines.) Box blank 1 made from cardboard has a panel 2, joined at fold line 12 to panel 3, which is joined at fold line 13 to panel 4, which is joined at fold line 14 to panel 5.

Panels 2, 3, 4 and 5 each have two end flaps 21 & 21', 22 & 22', 23 & 23' and 24 & 24' respectively. The two flaps 21 & 21', 22 & 22', 23 & 23' and 24 & 24' of each panel 2, 3, 4 and 5 are opposite one another and the flaps are limited by fold lines 15 and 16 to the respective panel 2, 3, 4 and 5. Panel 2 has an additional flap 2a, which is limited by fold line 11 from panel 2.

The box blank is adapted to be folded along the fold lines 11, 12, 13 and 14 and the additional flap 11 is adapted to fixedly attach to panel 5, thereby forming the open tube form of the box. End flap 21, 21' is similarly attached to flap 24, 24' by additional flaps 2b, 2c respectively.

The first set of end flaps 21, 22, 23 and 24 (the second set of end flaps 21', 22', 23' and 24' corresponds) is divided into 2 pairs of flaps. The first pair comprises flaps 22 and 24 and the second pair comprises flaps 21 and 23. Each end flap is limited from the adjacent end flaps by a fold line 10, as shown in figure 2. The first pair of flaps 22 and 24 have an additional fold lines 18 extending from the meeting points of fold lines 10 to 16 to the opposite edge of the said flaps 22 and 24. The fold line 18 are at an acute angle ss from the fold lines 10.

An end of the box 1 is closed by first inwardly folding the second pair of end flaps 21 and 23, as shown in figure 3. This causes the first pair of end flaps to fold along fold line 18 as each end flap 21 to 24 is connected to adjacent end flaps 21 to 24. The end is then fully closed by inwardly folding the fist pair of end flaps 22 and 24.

This provides a very neat closed end, that requires little manual dexterity to close. Therefore, the box 1 may be closed by means of suitable automatic machinery.

In a preferred embodiment, not shown, the box blank 1 is covered in gift wrapping paper. The paper may either be in the form of a continuous sheet attached to one of the pairs of end flaps 21, 23 or 22, 24, or be attached to all the end flaps 21 to 24 and be cut along the fold lines 10.

The gift wrapping may be removed in the traditional manner, before opening the box. The box blank 1 can have the socalled white-lined chip on the exterior surface directly under the sheet of wrapping paper to further increase the pleasure of opening the gift wrapped box.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, shown in Figure 4, the box blank 1 is covered in gift-wrapping paper 30 (highlighted by hatched lines) on the exterior surface of the box blank 1. Each set of end flaps 21-24, 21'-24', are not connected together and areas of each of the first pairs of end flaps 22 and 24, 22' and 24' delimitated by fold lines 18 and 10 in the first embodiment are cut out. The tension force previously transmitted through the fold lines 10 and 18 in the first embodiment is transmitted by the gift wrap 30 in the embodiment shown in figure 4. The gift wrap 30 has fold lines 10a and 18a, which correspond to fold lines 10 and 18, respectively, in the embodiment shown in Figure 1. In effect, the gift wrap 30 acts as though it is a lamina of the box blank 1 shown in Figure 1.The embodiment shown in Figure 4 is particularly advantageous in the case of larger boxes or boxes utilising thicker cardboard, as the removal of areas parts of the flaps facilitates a neater end closure and avoids extra thicknesses of material. In one embodiment, the gift wrap 30 is glued to all the end flaps 21-24 and 21' to 24'.

In an alternative embodiment pof the gift wrapped biox, not shown, the gift wrap is glued to either the first pairs of end flaps or the second pairs of end flaps, but not both first and second pairs of end flaps. In this embodiment it is not necessary to glue the gift wrap to both the end flaps of any of the pair, but it is preferred that the gift wrap is glued to both the end flaps of any pair.

Obviously, many other designs of box blanks with similarly closable ends can now be envisaged, with different numbers of panels and flaps, the shape of the flap being adapted to the shape of the cross-section of the tube region of the box.

Claims

Claims:

1. A box comprising a first pair of panels, a second pair of panels, a first pair of end flaps and a second pair of end flaps, each of the first panels being connected along opposite side edges at side fold lines to each of the second pair of panels thereby being adapted to form an open-ended tube, each one of the first pair of end flaps being connected to one end of a respective one of the first pair of panels along a tube fold line and each one of the second pair of end flaps being attached to one end of a respective one of the second pair of panels along the tube fold line, wherein each one of the end flaps is connected along an edge to at least one of the adjacent end flaps along a flap fold line, each of the first pair of flaps including at least one diagonal fold line extending at an angle to the flap fold line from adjacent the intersection of the tube fold line and the flap fold line to a free edge of the said first flap opposite the tube fold line.

2. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end flaps are each connected to both the adjacent end flaps and each first flap includes two diagonal fold lines extending from both the said intersections to the free edge.

3. A box as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the diagonal fold line extends at an angle of 45" to the respective flap fold line.

4. A box as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the box includes a layer of paper substantially covering the exterior surface of the box.

5. A box as claimed in claim 4, wherein the paper is attached to either the first pair of flaps or the second pair of flaps.

6. A box as claimed in claim 4, wherein the paper is attached to all the end flaps and the paper is cut along the flap fold lines.

7. A box as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each flap is substantially rectangular.

8. A box as claimed in any one of claims 4, 5 or 6, wherein the area between the associated flap fold line and diagonal fold line is removed beneath the paper layer of each first flap.

9. A box blank comprising a first pair of panels, a second pair of panels, a first pair of end flaps and a second pair of end flaps, each of the first panels being connected along opposite side edges at side fold lines to each of the second pair of panels thereby being adapted to form an open-ended tube, each one of the first pair of end flaps being connected to one end of a respective one of the first pair of panels along a tube fold line and each one of the second pair of end flaps being attached to one end of a respective one of the second pair of panels along the tube fold line, wherein each one of the said end flaps is substantially rectangular and is connected along an edge to at least one of the adjacent end flaps along a flap fold line, each of the first pair of flaps including at least one further fold line extending at an angle to the flap fold line from adjacent the intersection of the tube fold line and the flap fold line to the edge of the said first flap opposite the tube fold line.

10. A box blank as claimed in claim 9, wherein the end flaps are each connected to both the adjacent end flaps and each first flap includes two diagonal fold lines extending from both the said intersections to the free edge.

11. A box blank as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the diagonal fold line extends at an angle of 45" to the respective flap fold line.

12. A box blank as claimed in any one of claims 9, 10 or 11, wherein the box blank includes a layer of paper substantially covering the exterior surface of the box blank.

13. A box blank as claimed in claim 12, wherein the paper is attached to either the first pair of flaps or the second pair of flaps.

14. A box blank as claimed in claim 12, wherein the paper is attached to all the end flaps and the paper is cut along the flap fold lines.

15. A box blank as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 14, wherein each flap is substantially rectangular.

16. A box blank as claimed in any one of claims 12, 13 or 14, wherein the area between the associated flap fold line and diagonal fold line is removed beneath the paper layer of each first flap.

17. A box substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.

18. A box blank substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.