GB2310198A

GB2310198A - Composite packaging containers

Info

Publication number: GB2310198A
Application number: GB9603133A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Trevor Watkins; Richard David Hume
Original assignee: ASSIDOMON PACKAGING UK Ltd
Current assignee: ASSIDOMON PACKAGING UK Ltd
Priority date: 1996-02-15
Filing date: 1996-02-15
Publication date: 1997-08-20
Also published as: GB9603133D0

Description

COMPOSITE PACKAGING CONTAINERS This invention relates to composite part-reusable packaging containers.

Containers for the distribution of goods have traditionally been either disposable or returnable.

Disposables have the advantage that they can be more closely tailored to the needs of individual users, by overprinting with product information, bar codes and distinctive trade dress. They can also be manufactured in a large variety of sizes. However, superficially at least, the waste from disposable containers makes them less environmentally desirable than returnables. Even if disposable containers are made from recyclable material, they may still be simply thrown away after use. Returnable containers on the other hand tend to be heavier and more expensive than disposables.

Besides higher production costs, there is also the expense of collection, cleaning, label removal/replacement and other reconditioning. Returnables are vulnerable to breakage and theft and are not easily adapted to suit different contents on each round trip.

We have realised that a composite, part-reusable container can combine many of the advantages of both returnable and reusable containers, whilst substantially reducing their respective drawbacks. Accordingly, the present invention provides a container comprising a reusable base and a disposable sleeve which may be fitted to the base to form container walls.

The sleeve may be open ended to form an open-topped container. Alternatively, the top opening can be closed, for example by otherwise conventional closure flaps, or a separate lid, disposable or not.

The base may be in the form of a tray with relatively low sidewalls, to securely contain the packaged goods and give the container strength and rigidity. The height of a container produced using a given tray is variable at will, by selecting the height of the disposable sleeve. The sleeve can be printed with product information, advertising material, bar codes etc., which can readily be changed with each re-use of the base. Preparation of the container for re-use is thus greatly simplified and its range of possible uses increased in comparison with conventional reusable containers.

The base may comprise an upwardly open peripheral recess for reception of a lower edge of the sleeve. Locking barbs may be provided for holding the sleeve in place. Sidewalls of the base may have generally horizontally extending projections, for example collars surrounding finger or hand holes, which engage in apertures in the sleeve to retain it on the base.

The base can also include a downwardly open peripheral recess for reception of the upper end of the sleeve of another composite container. In this way several containers can be assembled in a stack.

The sleeve may be tapered, whereby the upwardly and downwardly directed recesses in the tray are laterally offset, making the tray easier to manufacture, for example from vacuum formed plastics or pressed metal. However, for maximum stacking strength, each sleeve should be right prismatic and the upwardly and downwardly open peripheral recesses in the base should vertically correspond, whereby the stacked sleeves are held in close vertical alignment. The sleeve may be provided with break-out portions, so that, together with the base, it may be used to form a display tray.

The invention and its preferred features can be further understood from the following description of an illustrative embodiment, made with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of sleeve and base components of a composite packaging container prior to assembly; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the components of Fig. 1 shown assembled; Fig. 3 shows the assembled components of Fig. 2 with a part removed for use as a display tray; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the base component of Fig.

1; Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are sectional views on lines 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7 respectively in Fig. 4; and Fig. 8 is a perspective cut away view of portions of two containers in stacked relationship.

The composite packaging container 10 comprises a returnable base 12 of plastics or metal such as aluminium or stainless steel. The base 12 has low sidewalls 14 within which a taller disposable sleeve 16 may be fitted. The sleeve 16 may be formed for example of corrugated cardboard having vertically oriented flutes to maximise stacking strength, and printed externally with advertising material, distinctive trade dress, product information, bar codes, etc.

Such material and information is automatically updated each time the base 12 is re-used, by use of fresh sleeves appropriate to the container contents. The base 12 remains entirely plain, minimising the preparation needed for its reuse.

Optionally the sleeve may carry at one or both ends a tear-out panel 18 delineated by lines of weakness 20. With panel 18 removed (Fig. 3) the container 10 acts as a display tray for use on supermarket shelves etc., in presenting its contents to customers. Conventional returnable plastics crates cannot incorporate a display function.

For supply to users or when returned for recycling, the sleeves 16 are easily folded into a compact flat form. A stack of bases 12 and a corresponding pack of flattened sleeves 16 to form containers of dimensions generally as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 will occupy less space than a nested stack of conventional returnable crates of equivalent filled volume.

The lower edge of the sleeve 16 fits into an upwardly directed peripheral groove 22 in the base 12. The sleeve edge may be retained in the groove 22 by optional inwardly projecting barbs 24, formed in the base sidewalls 14. A corresponding downwardly open recess 26 (Figs. 5 - 8) may also be provided for reception of sleeve 16 upper edges when the containers 10 are stacked.

As shown particularly in Figs. 5 and 7, the base sidewalls 14 also include inward projections in the form of collars 28 surrounding hand holes 30. The collars 28 are engageable in holes 32 (Fig. 1) formed in the sleeve 16, thereby locking it to the base 12.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A container comprising a reusable base and a disposable sleeve which may be fitted to the base to form container walls.

2. A container as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the base comprises a tray having sidewalls of lesser height than the sleeve.

3. A container as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the base comprises an upwardly open peripheral recess for reception of a lower edge of the sleeve.

4. A container as claimed in any preceding Claim comprising locking barbs operable to hold the sleeve in place on the base.

5. A container as claimed in any preceding Claim wherein sidewalls of the base comprise generally horizontally extending engageable apertures in the sleeve to retain it on the base.

6. A container as claimed in Claim 5 wherein the horizontal projections comprise collars surrounding finger or hand holes.

7. A container as claimed in any preceding Claim, comprising a downwardly open peripheral recess for reception of the upper end of the sleeve of another such container.

8. A container as claimed in Claim 7 and Claim 3 wherein the upwardly and downwardly open recesses correspond vertically.

9. A returnable base component engageable with a disposable sleeve to form a composite container.

10. A container or base component substantially as described with reference to or as shown in the drawings.