GB2358855A

GB2358855A - Carton opening arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2358855A
Application number: GB0030478A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Mcdonald
Original assignee: David S Smith Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: David S Smith Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 1999-12-18
Filing date: 2000-12-14
Publication date: 2001-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 2020-12-14
Also published as: GB2358855B; GB9929865D0; GB0030478D0

Abstract

A carton comprises a first (14, 16 fig 2) and second pair (10, 12 fig 2) of upstanding opposed sides and opposed ends with at least one end formed by a pair of flaps 22, 24 hingedly attached to the first pair of sides, and at least one of the second pair of sides has a removable region 42 with the end of an elongate closure member 40 fixed thereto with the remainder applied over the facing edges of the flaps to secure in a closed position. Preferably the carton has two similar opposed ends with a removable region on each of the second pair of sides and where both are secured by the elongate closure member. The removable region 42 may be defined by perforations and may have a diamond shaped profile 44 with a tab 56. The elongate closure member may be a self adhesive plastics material tape and may be completely removed from the carton by pulling and separating the removable region from the carton along the perforated lines. The carton may be opened quickly and efficiently without the need of a knife or similar and allows existing taping apparatus to be used when sealing.

Description

2358855 1 Carton Opening Arrangement The present invention concerns

improvements in or relating to arrangements for opening cartons.

Probably the most popular method of sealing corrugated paper cartons which are closed by a simple arrangement of a pair of underlying flaps hingedly attached to a pair of opposed sides of the carton and covered by a pair of flaps which are hingedly attached to the remaining pair of opposed sides of the carton and whose facing edges abut or come close together along the longitudinal centre line of the top of the carton, is a strip of adhesive tape which is applied to the top of the carton over said opposed facing edges and partially down the sides of the carton.

This is a simple and economic carton closing arrangement which has been found to function efficiently but the efficiency has led to drawbacks, one of which is the difficulty encountered when the carton has to be opened. The most efficient opening procedure involves the use of a knife to cut through the tape along the longitudinal centre line of the top of the carton and across the tape at the top of the sides of the carton.

The use of a knife is often disadvantageous in that without careful use it can cut through the carton and damage its contents or, more significantly, the relatively brittle blade of the knife can break during the cutting operation and contaminate the contents of the carton. This is particularly serious if the carton contains a food product.

According to the present invention there is provided a carton including a base, a first pair of upstanding opposed sides, a second pair of upstanding opposing sides and opposed ends at least one of which is formed by at least one pair of flaps each hingedly attached to the first pair of sides, in which at least one of the second pair of sides has a removable region substantially aligned with the facing edges of the flaps and adapted to have affixed thereto the end of 2 an elongate closure member applied over the said facing edges of the flap to secure the flaps in a closed position.

Preferably the carton has two similar opposed ends both secured by an elongate member and each of the second pair of sides has a removable region.

Preferably the removable region is defined by perforations and preferably comprises an upper section and a lower section. Preferably the upper section diminishes in width towards an adjacent end of the carton. The upper section of the region may terminate at the junction of the side with the adjacent end. Preferably the upper section of the region is defined by cut lines.

Alternatively, the removable region comprises a lower section defined by perforations and an upper section the upper limit of which is defined by a line of weakness along the junction of the side with the adjacent end, the sides of the upper section being defined by tear lines in an unweakened area of the side of the carton, the tear lines extending between the ends of the perforations defining the lower section and the line of weakness along the junction.

Preferably the line of weakness along the junction extends underneath the elongate closure member. Preferably the length of the line of weakness is approximately equivalent to or greater than the width of the lower. section of the removable region at its widest point.

Preferably the line of weakness is a line of perforations. Alternatively it may be a cut line or a crease line.

Preferably an upper region of the lower section converges towards the adjacent end.

The lower section of the region preferably converges in a direction away from the adjacent end.

3 Preferably a finger receiving aperture extends from the end of the lower section.

Preferably a fold line is provided between the upper and lower sections.

Preferably the elongate closure member is a self adhesive plastics material tape.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically a rectangular prismatic corrugated paper carton incorporating an opening arrangement; Fig. 2 shows, to a different scale, a blank from which the carton is assembled; Fig. 3 shows a view similar to Fig. 1 at the first stage of an opening operation; Fig. 4 shows the carton illustrated in Fig. 1 at a further stage of an opening operation; Fig. 5 shows a blank from which a carton is assembled having an alternative opening arrangement; Fig. 6 shows the carton from Fig. 5 assembled and at a first stage of an opening operation; and Fig. 7 shows the carton from Fig. 5 assembled and at a further stage of the opening operation.

Fig. 2 shows that the carton of the present embodiment is formed by 4 using well known techniques from a blank of corrugated paper board, the blank providing a first pair of opposed sides 10, 12, a second pair of opposed sides 14, 16 each of the sides 10 to 16 having flaps 18, 20, 22, 24 hingedly attached to their upper edges and each of the sides having flaps 26, 28, 30, 32 hingedly attached to their lower edges. At one end of the blank there is provided a fixing tab 34 which, by adhesive, is, on assembly of the carton, fixed to the underside of the end of the side 10 so that the partially assembled carton takes the form of an open, rectangular cross-section tube. The base 36 and top 38, that is the ends, of the carton are formed by inwardly folding the flaps 18 to 30, with the flaps 18, 20, 26, 28 from the sides 10 and 12 underlying the flaps 22, 24; 30, 32 from the sides 14 and 16 and at least the flaps 22, 24; 30, 32 from the longer sides 14, 16 being so dimensioned that their facing edges F, on inward folding, abut or come close together so that the base 36 and top 38 may be held permanently in position by affixing an adhesive tape 40, which is preferably a self-adhesive tape, along the longitudinal centre line F of the top and the base to overlie the regions of the top and base flaps 22, 24; 30, 32 along their facing edges F, the tape 40 being continued over the shorter sides 10, 12 of the carton for a predetermined distance.

Obviously, before the top of the carton is closed it is filled with its contents.

In each of the shorter sides 10, 12 of the carton there is provided a removable region 42 which is located under one end of the tape 40 adhered to that side. The drawing shows that in this particular embodiment, the region 42 has a diamond-shaped profile, that is the section 44 of region 42 at the end 36, 38 of the carton it is associated with converges upwardly from a central wide area 4 6 effectively to a point 4 8 on the upper edge of the side 10, 12 the region in this section being defined by a line of perforations or a cut line through the side some of which underlie the tape 40. The lower section 52 of the region 42 is defined by converging lines of perforations 54 having a tab 56 at the base of the region.

It will be realised that the region 42 can be removed simply by using the tab 56 to enable the lower section 52 of the region 42 to be pulled outwardly away from the carton. Thereafter the remainder of the region can be removed by tearing it along the perforations of the upper section 44. This operation causes progressive separation of the tape 40 from the shorter si de 10, 12 of the carton on the areas of the side outside the perforation lines. Further pulling on the removed region 42 will result in removal of the entire adhesive tape, thereby enabling the box to be opened without the use of a knife or any other implement in a quick efficient manner which does not require undue force and enables existing taping apparatus to be used without modification when the carton is sealed.

The similar region 42 associated with the base of the carton over which the end of the tape fixing the base of the carton terminates can be removed in the manner described above to enable the carton to be collapsed for disposal, the collapsed carton not being contaminated by any adhesive tape whatsoever.

Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for example a removable region may be provided for only the top fixing tape. The tab 56 may be replaced by an aperture. The removable region 42 may have a fold score across its central region 46.

A particular modification is shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The blank as shown in Fig. 5 is essentially the same as before, with a removable region 142 provided in each of the shorter sides 110, 112 of the carton and located under one end of the tape 40 adhered to that side. The region 142 is partially defined by lines of perforations 154 and 160. The line of perforations 160 may alternatively be a cut line or a crease line. From a central wide area 146 the lines of perforations 154 in one direction converge to a tab 156 at the base of the region, and in the opposite direction converge to a crease line 158 which extends parallel with and spaced apart from the line of perforations 160.

The lines of perforations 160 are located centrally along part of the fold 6 line between the flaps 120, 126 and the sides 112, 110 respectively. The lines of perforations 160 have a length approximately equal to the width of the central wide area 146 of the removable region.

Figs. 6 and 7 show this modification in use. The region 142 is removed from the carton by pulling the tab 156 outwardly from the carton, in turn pulling the lower section 152 away from the carton until the whole region 152 defined by the lines of perforations 154 up to crease line 158 has been separated from the carton. This is the situation shown in Fig. 6. Further pulling of the region 152 causes the carton to tear between the ends of the crease line 158 and the line of perforations 160. This is the situation shown in Fig. 7, with the torn edges 162 of the carton and the torn edges 164 of the removable region visible.

Still further pulling of the region 152 causes the whole of the removable region 142 to separate from the carton along the line of perforations 160, leaving the removable region 142 attached to adhesive tape 40, and further pulling results in removal of the entire adhesive tape from the carton.

The advantage of this modification is that when cartons are stacked on their sides, the cartons are less susceptible to crushing since the lines of perforations do not extend from the middle of the shorter side to an edge. The material between the crease line 158 and the line of perforations 160 serves to improve the strength of the carton when stacked sideways.

The shape of the removable region can be varied but it is relatively important that the section of the region adjacent to the top/base has some form of inward convergence such that the tearing away of the tape at the commencement of the removal operation is progressive rather than sudden as this could cause the tape to fracture or the removal of tape to be less easy.

7

Claims

1. A carton includes a first pair of upstanding opposed sides, a second pair of upstanding opposing sides and opposed ends at least one of which is formed by at least one pair of flaps each hingedly attached to the first pair of sides, in which at least one of the second pair of sides has a removable region substantially aligned with the facing edges of the flaps and adapted to have affixed thereto the end of an elongate closure member applied over the said facing edges of the flap to secure the flaps in a closed position.

2. A carton as claimed in claim L, in which the carton has two similar opposed ends both secured by an elongate member and each of the second pair of sides has a removable region.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the removable region is defined by perforations.

4. A carton as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, in which the removable region comprises an upper section and a lower section.

5. A carton as claimed in claim 4, in which the upper section diminishes in width towards an adjacent end of the carton.

6. A carton as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5, in which the upper section of the region terminates at the junction of the side with the adjacent end.

7. A carton as claimed in any of claims 4 to 6 when dependent upon claims 1 and 2, in which the upper section of the region is defined by cut lines.

8. A carton as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the removable region comprises a lower section defined by perforations and an upper section the upper limit of which is defined by a line of weakness along the junction of the side with the adjacent end, the sides of the upper section being defined by tear 8 lines in an unweakened area of the side of the carton, the tear lines extending between the ends of the perforations defining the lower section and the line of weakness along the junction.

9. A carton as claimed in claim 8, in which the line of weakness along the junction extends underneath the elongate closure member.

10. A carton as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, in which the length of the line of weakness is approximately equivalent to or greater than the width of the lower section of the removable region at its widest point.

A carton as claimed in any of claims 8 to 10, in which the line of weakness is a line of perforations.

12. A carton as claimed in any of claims 8 to 10, in which the line of weakness is a cut line.

13. A carton as claimed in any of claims 8 to 10, in which the line of weakness is a crease line.

14. A carton as claimed in any of claims 8 to 13, in which an upper region of the lower section converges towards the adjacent end.

15. A carton as claimed in any of claims 4 to 14, in which the lower section of the region converges in a direction away from the adjacent end.

16. A carton as claimed in claim 15, in which a finger receiving aperture extends from the end of the lower section.

17. A carton as claimed in any of claims 4 to 16, in which a fold line is provided between the upper and lower sections.

18. A carton as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the elongate 9 closure member is a self adhesive plastics material tape.

19. A carton substantially as hereinbefore defined and with reference to Figs.

1 to 4.

20. A carton substantially as hereinbefore defined and with reference to Figs. 5 to 7.

21. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed herein, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.