GB2321238A

GB2321238A - Openable carton

Info

Publication number: GB2321238A
Application number: GB9800887A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Glover
Original assignee: David S Smith Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: David S Smith Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1997-01-21
Filing date: 1998-01-16
Publication date: 1998-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2018-01-16
Also published as: GB9800887D0; GB2321238B; GB9701186D0

Abstract

A carton formed from a blank has an openable portion 9 formed in a panel thereof, the openable portion being frangible from the remainder of the panel along at least a major part of the periphery of the portion. The openable portion 9 comprises at least two sections 10, 11, at least one of said sections being separately openable to form a first opening in said carton and both or all of the sections together being openable to form a second opening, larger than the first opening. In this way, the user has the option to operate only one section, for example when the carton contains small items, or both or all sections to form an opening through which larger items can be removed.

Description

OPENABLE CARTON The present invention relates to an openable carton.

An example of a proposed use of the carton of the invention is the delivery of goods to a mail order house. When orders are made up comprising different items which are contained in separate cartons, it is desirable that the items can be retrieved one at a time from respective cartons.

The present invention provides an openable carton formed from a blank of stiff but foldable board material, the blank comprising panels connected together at fold lines, the carton having an openable portion formed in a panel thereof, the openable portion being frangible from the remainder of the panel along at least a major part of the periphery of the portion, wherein the openable portion comprises at least two sections, at least one of said sections being separately openable to form a first opening in said carton and both or all of the sections together being openable to form a second opening, larger than the first opening. In this way, the user has the option to operate only one section, for example when the carton contains small items, or both or all sections to form an opening through which larger items can be removed.

The openable portion may be frangible from the remainder of the panel by means of perforations. The perforations may extend along the entire periphery of each section to render the section removable. Alternatively, the perforations may only extend along a major part of the periphery of each section (for example, along three sides of a rectangular section), so that the section can be opened by folding along the unperforated part of the periphery.

In an embodiment of the invention, the openable portion is frangible from the remainder of the panel at least partly by means of one or more tear strips. For example, a tear strip may extend around the entire carton, and constitute an alternative means for opening the carton by removing a lid thereof, a portion of the tear strip also forming a part of the periphery of the openable portion.

Preferably, the carton is in the form of a right parallelepiped.

The present invention also provides a blank for forming an openable carton as described above.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan of a blank for forming a carton according to an embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 is a perspective view of a carton assembled form the blank of Figure 1.

Figure 1 shows, from the inside, a blank for forming a parallelepiped carton. The blank is cut and creased preferably from a sheet of double-faced corrugated paperboard, and has end panels 1, 2, side panels 3 , end flaps 4, side flaps 5, and a join flange 6.

A tear strip 7 runs along the length of the blank through the panels 1, 2, 3. The tear strip may be made in any conventional manner, but is conveniently formed by a length of reinforced material which may, for example, be made of an lina wide strip of "Sesame" tape (trade mark of Sasame Industries Ltd, Quebec, Canada) located between the outer facing sheet of the board and the corrugated ply and another llmm wide strip located on the face of the inner facing sheet which faces away from the corrugated ply to lie symmetrically behind the first mentioned strip. The length of reinforced material is cut at a position near one corner of the end panel 1 so that the tear strip 7 is formed in two parts, and a pulling tab 8 is formed at that position.

A portion of the tear strip 7 forms one side of an openable portion 9 formed in the end panel 1. In this example, the openable portion is substantially trapeziform and has two radiused corners. The periphery of the openable portion 9, other than the part defined by the tear strip 7, is defined by a line of perforations. The openable portion 9 is divided into two sections, a first section 10 being partly defined by the part of the tear strip 7, and a second section 11 being wholly defined by a perforated periphery.

An intermediate dividing line of perforations 12 separates the two sections.

Figure 2 shows a carton which has been assembled from the blank of Figure 1 by foldlng along the various fold lines, securing the join flange 6 to the inside of the end panel 2 for example by gluing and securing together the respective end flaps 4 and sides flaps 5, filling the carton with the items to be contained before the final flaps 4,5 are secured.

If the carton has been filled with small items which are to be retrieved one at a time, only the first section 10 of the openable portion 9 is removed. This is done by tearing the tear strip 7, using the pulling tab 8, only as far as the width of the openable portion 9, and then removing the perforated first section 10 by pressing it inwardly or pulling it outwardly, tearing around its perforations including the intermediate line 12. Because only a small opening is made in the carton the risk of items falling out is reduced.

If the carton contains larger items, the entire openable portion 9 can be removed by firstly tearing the tear strip 7 as described above and then tearing around the entire perforated periphery of both sections 10, 11, but not the intermediate line 12.

The tear strip 7 provides a further alternative method of opening the carton. If the strip is torn along its entire length, a lid or upper portion of the carton can then be lifted off.

Claims

1. An openable carton formed from a blank of stiff but foldable board material, the blank comprising panels connected together at fold lines, the carton having an openable portion formed in a panel thereof, the openable portion being frangible from the remainder of the panel along at least a major part of the periphery of the portion, wherein the openable portion comprises at least two sections, at least one of said sections being separately openable to form a first opening in said carton and both or all of the sections together being openable to form a second opening, larger than the first opening.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1, wherein the openable portion is frangible from the remainder of the panel by means of perforations.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 2, wherein the perforations extend along the entire periphery of each section.

4. A carton as claimed in claim 2, wherein the perforations only extend along a major part of the periphery of each section.

5. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the openable portion is frangible from the remainder of the panel at least partly by means of one or more tear strips.

6. A carton as claimed in claim 5, wherein a tear strip extends around the entire carton, and constitutes an alternative means for opening the carton by removing a lid thereof, a portion of the tear strip also forming a part of the periphery of the openable portion.

7. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim which is in the form of a right parallelepiped.

8. An openable carton substantially as described herein with reference to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A blank of stiff but foldable board material for forming an openable carton, the blank comprising panels connected together at fold lines, at least one of the panels having an openable portion formed therein, the openable portion being frangible from the remainder of the at least one panel along at least a major part of the periphery of the portion, wherein the openable portion comprises at least two sections, at least one of said sections being separately openable to form a first opening and both or all of the sections together being openable to form a second opening, larger than the first opening.

10. A blank for forming an openable carton, substantially as described herein with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.