GB2278095A - Applying suspension hook to packaging member - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus form suspension packages for merchandise wherein a blank 4 of sheet material is folded double about a predefined fold line to engage both faces of a planar foot portion of a suspension hook 7, and a hook portion of the suspension hook extends out of the folded blank through an opening situated on or adjacent the fold line. Unfolded card blanks 4 are fed sequentially along a blank feed path extending in a first direction to an insertion station 6, and suspension hooks 7 are fed sequentially to the insertion station along a hook feed path extending in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, each respective suspension hook being engageable with a blank by contacting the blank at one or more points along the fold line of the blank. After the hook contacts the blank, the hook and blank are drawn through a creasing station 12 in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, the creasing station including creasing means to fold the blank along its fold line. <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKAGING The present invention relates to packages and methods and machinery for assembling packages, and particularly concerns packages intended for attachment to merchandise and providing means to suspend the merchandise from a display rail.

Hitherto, garments such as socks and the like have been packaged by having a header card folded over the 'top' of the socks, the header being attached to the socks by sewing, or with a staple or a headed nylon filament. With such an arrangement, the provision of a suspension hook has been foreseen, and it has been proposed to provide a suspension hook having a barbed foot portion capable of being inserted into a slit or slot cut in the folded header card, resilient tines on the foot portion passing through the slit or slot to engage the inner surface of the folded card to resist withdrawal of the hook. Such hooks are inserted from the 'outside' of the card, after it has been partially or completely folded over on itself.A disadvantage of such arrangements is the relatively complicated and expensive machinery needed to fold and hold the card while the barbed foot portion of the hook is aligned with and inserted into the slot or slit in the card.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the automatic application of suspension hooks to card blanks, preferably dispensing with the need to pre-fold the cards before the hooks are applied.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple hook configuration for application to a card blank wherein the hook does not depend on fragile resilient parts for its engagement with the card.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for the application of suspension hooks to blanks of foldable sheet material to form suspension packages for merchandise wherein the sheet material is folded double about a predefined fold line to engage both faces of a planar foot portion of the suspension hook and a hook portion of the suspension hook extends out of the folded blank through an opening situated on or adjacent the fold line, wherein unfolded card blanks are fed sequentially along a blank feed path extending in a first direction to an insertion station, and suspension hooks are fed sequentially to the insertion station along a hook feed path extending in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, each respective suspension hook being engageable with a blank by contacting the blank at one or more points along the fold line of the blank, and wherein after the hook contacts the blank the hook and blank are drawn through a creasing station in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, the creasing station including creasing means to fold the blank along its fold line.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of assembling a suspension package comprising a blank of foldable sheet material and a suspension hook, wherein the blank is formed with a fold line and an opening adjacent to the fold line, and the suspension hook has a planar foot portion and a hook portion, the method comprising the steps of;; positioning the blank in a first plane at an insertion station, inserting the hook portion of the suspension hook through the opening in the blank from a first side of the first plane, engaging the hook portion with a pulling tool on a second side of the first plane and pulling the hook portion until a foot portion of the suspension hook contacts the blank on its fold line, pulling the suspension hook and the blank through a creasing station to fold the blank double with the foot portion of the suspension hook positioned between folded parts of the blank, and securing the folded parts of the blank with the foot portion of the suspension hook positioned therebetween.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a first apparatus for applying hooks to card blanks; Figure 2 is an end view of the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a card blank; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a hook intended for use with the card blank of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing an alternative configuration for a card blank; Figure 6 is a plan view of an alternative configuration of hook, for use with the blanks of Figure 3 or Figure 5; Figure 7 is a schematic side view of a second apparatus for applying hooks to card blanks; Figure 8 is a perspective view of a second card blank, intended for use in the apparatus of Figure 7;; Figure 9 is a perspective view of a hook intended for use with the card blank of Figure 8; Figures 10 and 11 show alternative types of hook to that shown in Figure 9; and Figures 11 and 12 are a perspective view and an end view, respectively, of a hook to be used with the card of Figure 3; and Figures 13 to 15 are front, end and sectional views, respectively, of an alternative hook to that of Figures 11 and 12.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown an apparatus comprising a transport bed 1, having situated at one end a hopper or magazine 2 containing a stack 3 of unfolded card blanks 4. A feed device 5 operates to remove a card blank 4 from the stack 3 and present it for transport along the transport bed 1 to an insertion station 6. The insertion station 6 comprises a supply hopper (not shown) capable of supplying a series of hooks 7 in a predetermined orientation to an insertion ram 8. The Insertion ram 8 has a gripper 9 to hold the hook securely in place, and the ram 8 is movable to advance the hook towards a card blank situated on the transport bed 1 at the insertion station 6.

As is apparent from Figures 3 and 4, the card blank 4 is an elongated rectangular shape, and has a central transverse fold 41, and a slot 42 formed at the mid-region of the fold 41. The slot 42 may have a width equal to the thickness t of the hook, or may be enlarged on one side or both sides of the fold 41 for reasons to be explained below. The extent of the slot 42 in the direction of the fold 41 is arranged to be less than the width of a foot portion 71 of the hook 7, for reasons which will become clear below.

Referring now to Figure 4, the hook 7 has a suspending portion 72 and a foot portion 71. The foot portion 71 has a substantially linear upper edge 73, from which the suspending portion 72 projects upwardly. The upper edge 73 is preferably rebated at its ends, to form shoulders 74, which are preferably spaced below the upper edge 73 by a distance equal to the thickness of the card blank 4. However, the upper edge 73 may extend across the full width of the foot portion 71 of the hook without shoulders 74 being formed.

In operation of the apparatus as shown in Figure 1, the feed device 5 urges a card blank from the hopper 2 along the transport bed 1 to the insertion station 6, where the card blank 4 is positioned by abutting a stop 10. The card blanks are arranged in hopper 2 with their inside faces, i.e. the faces that will be 'inside' when the blank is folded, uppermost. Stop 10 may be provided to abut two or more edges of the card blank, to ensure accurate positioning.

When the card blank 4 is positioned against the stop 10, the ram 8 is advanced (downwardly as shown in Figure 1) to insert the hook 7 downwardly through the slot 42 in the card blank 4, i.e. from the 'inside' face of the card.

If the slot 42 in the card blank is of substantially equal thickness to the thickness t of the hook 7, then the slot is positioned so as to coincide with the central fold line 41 in the card blank. If the slot 42 is of a greater width than the thickness t of the hook, the slot may be positioned, as shown in Figure 3, with one edge extending along the fold line 41 and the open part of the slot positioned to one side of the fold line 41.In order to position the hook accurately in the slot in such a configuration, the distance separating the shoulders 74 of the hook 7 is arranged to be equal to the extent of the slot 42 in the direction of the fold line 41, so that when the hook is inserted into the slot, the shoulders 74 engage the card blank at either end of the slot 42, and the upper surface 73 of the foot portion 71 of the hook 7 lies substantially flush with the 'outside' surface of the card blank (the under surface as shown in Figure 1).

At the insertion station 6, the transport bed 1 includes an opening 11 positioned so as to be beneath the central area of the card blank 4 when the card blank 4 is in the insertion station against its stop 10.

As the insertion ram 8 is advanced downwardly, the ends of the upper edge 73 or shoulders 74 of the foot portion 71 of hook 7 engage the fold line 41 of the card blank 4 at either end of the slot 42, and continued downward movement of the hook 7 causes the card blank 4 to be folded about the fold line 41. At this point, a hot-melt adhesive may be sprayed onto the foot portion 71 of the hook, or onto the card blank 4 adjacent the fold line 41, in order to fix the hook and the card blank together.

When the insertion ram 8 has moved sufficiently downwardly, the suspension portion 72 of the hook 7 enters the nip of a pair of pinch rollers 12, situated beneath the opening 11. The pinch rollers 12 are preferably driven, and immediately grasp the suspension portion 72 of the hook 7 and draw the hook and the card blank 4 downwardly through the opening II into the nip of the pinch rollers 12. This action urges the card blank 4 and the foot portion 71 of the hook into close engagement, and creases the card blank about the fold line 41. The hot-melt adhesive previously sprayed onto the hook and/or card sets, firmly securing the hook in place in the folded card. If the pinch rollers 12 are not driven, means must be provided to draw the hook and card through the nip.

When the hook and card assembly emerges from the pinch rollers 12, it is collected by any convenient means, such as a conveyor belt, chute, or the like for packaging and storage.

It will be appreciated that the adhesive used to bond the hook to the card may be a contact adhesive pre-applied to the card blank, or to the foot portion 71 of the hook. Alternatively, the card blanks 4 may pass through an adhesive applying station (not shown) before arrival at the insertion station 6, so that a contact adhesive may be applied to the individual blanks as they make their way to the insertion station 6.

It will also be appreciated that the ram 8 may be modified or replaced by any device for inserting the hook 7 into the card 4, such as a pivoting arm or a rotor arm. The movement of the inserting device need not be a reciprocating movement, but may be a continuous rotation.

Referring now to Figure 3, the card blank 4 is shown with a slot 42 of greater width than the thickness t of the hook 7, the open area of the slot 42 lying to one side of the fold line 41. Using a card blank of this configuration, when the blank is folded about the fold line 41 with the hook 7 positioned within the folded blank, a part of the foot portion 71 of the hook 7 will be exposed through the open area of the slot 42. This part of the foot portion 71 of the hook may be used to carry information such as size indicia, related to the merchandise with which the hook and card assembly is to be used. In this way, the card blanks 4 may be printed so as to be identical, with hook and card assemblies for differently sized merchandise being discriminated by different size information applied to the hook 7.By extending the slot 42 on both sides of the fold line 41 of the card blank 4, both sides of the foot portion 71 of the hook 7 may be used to exhibit size indicia, or any other information such as house marks, colour coding information, or the like.

Figures 11 and 12 show an alternative configuration of the hook, intended for use with a card blank of the type shown in Figure 3. In the hook shown in Figures 11 and 12, the suspension portion 72 and the part 71a of the foot portion 71 visible through the open area of the slot 42 are thicker than the remainder of the foot portion 71. It is foreseen, however that the suspension portion 72 may be of the same thickness as the foot portion 71, with only the part 71a formed thicker. As a further alternative, the hook may be of uniform thickness with the part 71a offset forwardly relative to the remainder of the foot 71, as shown in Figures 13 to 15.

By making the part 71a in the same dimension as the open area of slot 42 of the card blank, the part ?la of the hook will fill the open area 42 and preferably the front surface of the part 71a will be flush with the outer surface of the folded card 4 in the finished assembly. The part 71a may be of any suitable shape, and is not limited to rectangular or straight-sided configurations. By making the offset distance S equal to the thickness of the card 4, the indicia-carrying surface of the part 71a lies flush with the outer surface of the folded card. Likewise, by increasing the offset distance S to an amount greater than the thickness of the card, the indicia-carrying surface can be arranged to be in front of the card surface, thus emphasising the visual impact of the indicia-carrying surface.

Clearly both the front and rear of the hook may be provided with indicia-carrying parts 71a raised above the remainder of the foot portion 71 of the hook, if the slot 42 in the card blank is sized and shaped to conform to the outlines of these raised areas when it is folded.

Openings 80 may be formed in the foot portion 71 to lighten the structure, thus reducing the amount of plastics used and consequently the cost. The openings 80 may also serve to accommodate excess adhesive dispensed onto the hook or card prior to assembly, thus allowing the card to be in close contact with the surfaces of the foot portion 71.

Figures 5 and 6 show alternative configurations for the card blank and hook, respectively. In Figure 5 there is seen a rectangular card blank having a centrally placed slit 43 of 'C' shape, a main part of the slit extending parallel to the central transverse axis AA of the card blank 4 and spaced therefrom by a distance t equal to the thickness of the hook to be applied to the card. The end regions of the slit 43 are curved to meet the central axis AA. Extending along the axis AA from the ends of the slit 43 to the edges of the card 4 are fold line portions 41a, formed by scoring or otherwise weakening the card.When the blank of Figure 5 is to be used in the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2, the apparatus is adjusted so that the leading end of the hook 7 strikes the area bounded by the slit 43 and the central axis AA of the blank, thus causing the card to be folded about fold line portions 41a. This folding action causes the slit 43 to open out, forming a slot through which the hook may pass until the foot portion 71 of the hook engages the fold line portions 41a, and the hook and card are carried through the rollers 12.

In Figure 6, an alternative design of hook is seen, wherein the foot portion 71 is formed with shoulders 74 spaced below the upper edge 73 by a considerable distance, for example from 5 to 25 mm. Such an arrangement provides an area I on which indicia may be printed on one or both sides of the hook. When the hook is placed in the card 4 shown in Figure 5, the indicia on the hook will be visible between the folded edge of the card and the suspension element 72.

In a further alternative, the foot portion 71 of the hook 7 may be elongated below shoulders 74 to provide a second area J on which indicia may be applied. The area J is made visible if the hook is applied to a card blank 4 such as is shown in Figure 3, where a slot 42 has an open area lying adjacent the fold line 41.

Clearly, although the card blanks described above are rectangular and symmetrical about the fold line 41, the shape of the card is not to be considered as being limited thereto. Thus, card blanks 4 of elliptical, circular or other curved or polygonal shapes may be used, provided that a fold line 41 and a slot 42 or slit 43 are provided therein. Likewise, it is not necessary for the fold line 41 to extend along an axis of symmetry of the card blank 4.

Referring now to Figures 7 to 11, an alternative apparatus is shown in Figure 7 and alternative hook and card configurations are shown in Figures 8 and 11. Referring now to Figure 9, the hook 7 includes a foot portion 71 and a suspension portion 72, as before.

The foot portion 71 is formed with a card-receiving slot extending from one edge of the foot portion 71 to a point adjacent the opposite edge of the foot portion 71. A neck 77 of width N is left between the end of the slot 75 and the edge of the foot portion 71. In this embodiment, the suspension portion comprises a chelate arm defining an elongated opening 78 referred to generally as a 'Euro-slot' and communicating with the side edge of the hook 7 through a throat 79.

In the hook of Figure 9, the slot 75 opens to the same side of the hook 7 as does the throat 79.

In Figure 10 an alternative hook to that of Figure 9 is shown, similar in all respects with the exception that the throat 79 of the 'Euro-slot' 78 opens to the edge of the hook adjacent neck 77.

Figure 8 shows the card blank suitable for use with the hooks of Figures 9 to 11, the card blank having a transverse fold line 41 and a slot 44 extending along the fold line 41 from one edge of the card blank 4. Preferably, the slot 44 extends along the fold line 41 for a distance equal to the width N of the neck 77 of the foot portion 71 of the hook 7. The card blank 4 may also have an opening 45 positioned to one side of the fold line 41, as shown in Figure 6. Alternatively, an opening 45 may extend on both sides of the fold line 41, as is shown in the dotted lines in Figure 6.

Figure 7 shows an apparatus for applying the hooks shown in Figures 9 and 10 to the card blanks shown in Figure 8. The apparatus comprises a transport bed 1, along which card blanks 4 can be fed from a stack 3 of card blanks 4 in a hopper 2 by a feed device 5. At an insertion station 6, a hook 7 is held so that its slot 75 extends in the plane of the transport bed 1, the hook being so positioned that as a card blank 4 travels along the transport bed 1, it will enter the slot 75. The feed device 5 ensures that the card blank 4 is moved towards the hook 7 with its slot 44 leading, and the feed device 5 is arranged to urge the card blank into the slot 75 until the neck of the hook 7 enters the slot 44.

When the card blank reaches this position, the hook 7 and card blank 4 are urged downwardly through an opening 11 in the transport bed 1, into the nip of a pair of pinch rollers 12. As this downward movement commences, an adhesive may be applied to the hook or to the card as before, in order to retain the assembly in its folded condition.

The hook of Figure 11 may be applied to the card 4 in a manner similar to that described for the hooks of Figures 9 and 10, save that instead of the card entering a slot 75 in the foot portion 71 of the hook 7, the card 4 is fed into the throat 79 of the 'Euro-slot' 78, to a position where the slot 44 in the card 4 receives the neck 77a situated between the foot portion 71 and the suspension portion 72 of the hook 7, with the 'Euro-slot' 78 bounded by the arm 72 and the fold 41 in the card 4.

As will clearly be understood by those skilled in the art, the assembly of the hooks to the cards 4 may be achieved by transporting the card blanks to an insertion station, and holding the card stationary while the hook 7 is moved into its engagement pdsition. Adhesive may then be optionally applied and the assembly passed through pinch rollers as before.

As with the first embodiment described above, the optional opening 45 in the card blank 4 serves to reveal indicia 76 previously applied to the foot portion 71 of the hook 7. Likewise, adhesive may be applied to the card blank 4 during its movement from the hopper 2 to the insertion station 6, and such adhesive may be contact adhesive, or may be part of a two-part adhesive, the other part of the adhesive being applied to the hook 7.

While the apparatus has been described with the card blanks 4 moving along a horizontal transport bed in a horizontal plane, and the hooks being delivered to the insertion station in a vertically downward direction, it will be appreciated that in the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 4, the card may be delivered in a horizontal direction but positioned in vertical plane, so that the hooks may be delivered horizontally for movement through the card blanks and between the pinch rollers 12, which will have their axes arranged horizontally. Likewise, the apparatus shown in Figure 5 may be modified to work in different orientations, for example the card blanks 4 may be dropped vertically into the slots 75 of hooks 7, and thereafter the hooks 7 may be moved horizontally between a pair of vertical axis pinch rollers 12.Additionally, a modified apparatus is foreseen wherein the card blank may be pre-folded into a 'V' or an inverted 'V' configuration, prior to assembly of the hook onto the card.

As an alternative to pinch rollers, the hook and card assembly may be brought between a pair of platens which are then urged together to compress the card and hook assembly. Releasing the platens will allow the finished assembly to drop out or be removed therefrom.

It may be possible to make a continuous apparatus for applying hooks to cards, by causing the hooks and cards to move along converging paths and by arranging the relative movement of the hooks and cards such that the hooks 7 may enter the slots 42 or 44 of the card blanks 4 before passing the assembly through pinch rollers such as 12. For example the hooks may be held in radial arms of a rotor or rotating carousel, while cards are fed in a direction tangential thereto in synchronism with the carousel rotation. A stripper device may then draw the hooks off the carousel, through the card blanks, and may then transport the hook/card assembly through a pinch means to crease the card and complete the assembly.

While the description above is directed to a specific embodiment of the invention wherein the hook is applied to a folded header card, it will readily be appreciated that the merchandise may be received in a container of which a folded header card forms a part. The insertion apparatus may form part of a larger carton-forming or other package forming apparatus which, either before or after the hook is applied to a carton or package blank, forms the blank into a package. While it is preferred that the hook is received between two layers of card joined by a fold, the hook may be applied to a carton blank and adhered to one inside surface of the carton blank adjacent an edge of the carton, so that the foot portion of the hook lies within the carton adjacent the edge, and the suspension portion of the hook extends out of the carton through a slot formed at the edge of the carton.The carton or package may be a closed container, such as a parallelipipedal box. Alternatively, the packaging may comprise a top wall and depending side walls, with the hook extending through the top wall adjacent an edge thereof, and the merchandise fixed within the package and extending out of the open end of the package.

It is further foreseen that the hook inserting apparatus may form part of a larger machine which attaches hooks to package blanks, forms the blanks into packages, and thereafter inserts merchandise into, or otherwise packs merchandise in or to the packages.

While the apparatus has been described in relation to the packaging of items of hosiery or clothing, it is to be understood that the apparatus and the hook may be applied to the packaging of any merchandise intended for display by suspension from a rail.

Furthermore, the material of the packaging blanks need not be card, but may be flexible self-supporting plastics material, flexible plastics film, or any other suitable foldable material.

Claims (16)

1. An apparatus for the application of suspension hooks to blanks of foldable sheet material to form suspension packages for merchandise wherein the sheet material is folded double about a predefined fold line to engage both faces of a planar foot portion of the suspension hook and a hook portion of the suspension hook extends out of the folded blank through an opening situated on or adjacent the fold line, wherein unfolded card blanks are fed sequentially along a blank feed path extending in a first direction to an insertion station, and suspension hooks are fed sequentially to the insertion station along a hook feed path so as to move relatively to the blanks in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, each respective suspension hook being engageable with a blank by contacting the blank at one or more points along the fold line of the blank, and wherein after the hook contacts the blank the hook and blank are drawn through a creasing station in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction, the creasing station including creasing means to fold the blank along its fold line.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hook feed path is convergent with the blank feed path, and the hooks are fed along the hook feed path in synchronism with the blanks moving along the blank feed path so that the movement of each of the hooks relative to its respective blank is in a direction perpendicular to the blank feed path.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the second and third directions are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the first direction.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the third direction is the continuation of the second direction.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the second and third directions are perpendicular to each other and to the first direction.

6. An apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the blanks are each formed with a cutout through which a part of the hook may pass, the fold line of the blank passing across, or along one edge of, the cutout, and wherein at the insertion station at least a part of the hook portion of each hook is passed through the cutout of a blank.

7. An apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the blanks are each formed with a cutout through which a part of the hook may pass, the fold line of the blank passing across, or along one edge of, the cutout, and wherein at the insertion station the hook portion of each hook is passed through the cutout of a blank until the foot portion of the suspension hook engages the blank along its fold line.

8. An apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the blanks are each formed with a slit having a central part extending parallel to the fold line and end parts extending perpendicularly to the central part to reach the fold line, the slit forming an opening when the blank is folded about its fold line, and wherein at the insertion station each blank is partially folded and at least a part of the hook portion of a hook is passed through the cutout in the blank.

9. An apparatus according to any of claims 5 to 8, wherein after a part of the hook has passed through the cutout the hook is engaged by a transport device which draws the hook through the creasing station.

10. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the blanks are each formed with a slot extending from one edge of the blank along the fold line, and the hooks each include a hook portion and a foot portion joined by a bridge, the foot portion having a shoulder facing towards the hook portion and extending to one side of the bridge, the blank feed path and the hook feed path being so arranged that as the blanks and hooks move along their respective feed paths, the hooks move relatively to the blanks in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and the bridge of each hook enters the slot of a respective blank.

11. A method of assembling a suspension package comprising a blank of foldable sheet material and a planar suspension hook, wherein the blank is formed with a fold line and a cutout adjacent to the fold line, and the suspension hook has a foot portion and a hook portion, the method comprising the steps of;; initially positioning the blank in a first plane, and the suspension hook in a second plane perpendicular to the first, at an insertion station, inserting the suspension hook through the cutout in the blank to a position wherein the hook portion is at least partially on a first side of the first plane and the foot portion is on a second side of the first plane, engaging the hook portion with a pulling tool on the first side of the first plane and pulling the hook portion until the foot portion of the suspension hook contacts the blank on its fold line, pulling the suspension hook and the blank in a direction away from the first plane to pass the suspension hook and the blank through a creasing station to fold the blank double with the foot portion of the suspension hook positioned between folded parts of the blank, and securing the folded parts of the blank with the foot portion of the suspension hook positioned therebetween.

12. A method of assembling a suspension package according to claim 11, wherein the suspension hook is initially positioned by inserting a part of the hook portion through the cutout in a direction perpendicular to the first plane.

13. A method of assembling a suspension package according to claim 11, wherein the cutout in the blank is open at the intersection of the fold line and an edge of the blank, and the suspension hook is initially positioned by inserting the suspension hook through the open portion of the cutout in a direction parallel to the first plane.

14. A method of assembling a suspension package according to any of claims 11 to 13, wherein an adhesive is applied to the blank or to the foot portion of the suspension hook prior to passing through the creasing station to secure the folded parts of the blank.

15. A method of assembling a suspension package according to claim 14, wherein the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive.

16. A method of assembling a suspension package according to any of claims 11 to 13, wherein a fastener is applied to the blank and/or to the foot portion of the suspension hook to secure the folded parts of the blank.