GB2419345A

GB2419345A - Transit and display containers

Info

Publication number: GB2419345A
Application number: GB0423230A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Alexander
Original assignee: SCA Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: SCA Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 2004-10-19
Filing date: 2004-10-19
Publication date: 2006-04-26
Anticipated expiration: 2024-10-19
Also published as: GB2419347B; GB2419347A; GB0521295D0; GB2419345B; GB0423230D0

Abstract

A transit and display container comprises internal reinforcing panels 72, 76 which overlie removable wall portions of a container. The panels 72, 76 extend substantially the entire height of the walls and are connected to top flaps 48 which are removed with the removable wall portions of the container when the container is opened.

Description

24 1 9345 Transit and Display Containers The present invention relates to

transit and display containers. Such containers are used to transport goods in a transit configuration and then to display the goods in a display configuration The container has a section which can be removed at the display location to display the contents of the container, this section typically being defined by lines of weakness, e.g. perforations, in one or more walls of the container, so that the section may simply be torn away by the end user. However, these lines of weakness detract from the strength, stability and robustness of the container, meaning that the container may be damaged during transit Moreover, to give adequate strength to the container, the lines of weakness may quite difficult to break cleanly, leading to an unsightly display.

The present invention seeks to avoid or at least mitigate the above problems.

From a first aspect the invention provides a container of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable lightweight sheet material, said container having a removable section defined in at least one outer wall thereof, and having a reinforcement panel arranged behind, and extending beyond, at least a part of the perimeter of the removable section, said reinforcement panel being removed from said container with said removable section.

Thus in accordance with the invention, a reinforcement panel is arranged behind a removable section of the container in order to strengthen the container, and is removed with that section when the container is opened to display the contents of the container.

In a preferred embodiment, the removable section extends over at least a portion of the front wall of the container, and the reinforcement panel is arranged behind the front wall. Most preferably the reinforcement panel extends over substantially the entire front wall of the container.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the removable section extends into two opposed side walls of the container and reinforcement panels are also provided inside those side walls Most preferably the reinforcement panel or panels extends or extend for substantially the complete height of the relevant container wall(s). This provides greater stacking strength and stability to the container.

The or each reinforcement panel may be a separate panel individually fixed, e.g. bonded, to the respective container wall. Preferably, however, where multiple reinforcement panels are provided, these panels are connected together, preferably along hinge lines which are aligned with the edges of the container.

Most preferably, however, the reinforcement panels are integrally formed with the walls of the container, and most preferably the container is formed from a one piece blank.

Most preferably the removable section of the container includes at least a part of, and more preferably the entire the top of, the container, and the reinforcement panel(s) are hingedly attached to the top of the container.

This in itself thought to be a novel arrangement for providing a reinforcing wall panel, so from a further aspect the invention provides a container having a side wall and a removable top section, the side wall having a panel arranged inside and overlapping at least a part thereof, the panel being hingedly attached to the top section of the container.

In the preferred embodiment, a reinforcement panel is hingedly attached to the top of a top forming flap, the top forming flap being formed with an intermediate hinge line about which an upper part of the flap and the reinforcement panel is folded such that the reinforcement panel overlies the inside of the side wall of the container The folded and unfolded sections of the flap are preferably bonded together face to face. This assists in retaining the reinforcing panel in position.

Preferably reinforcing panels on opposed sides of the container are provided in this manner 3 0 and interconnected by a front wall reinforcement panel which is not attached to a top flap.

The location of the side wall reinforcement panels acts to locate the front wall panel as well Preferably respective top forming flaps are provided on opposed side walls of the container and front and rear top flaps attached to the front and rear walls of the container and bonded to the side wall top forming flaps to close the container.

The container may be provided with a non-bonded base with interlocking panels to reduce the amount of bonding required However, bonded or taped base constructions are also possible.

The invention also extends to a one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or other lightweight foldable sheet material for making a container in accordance with the invention.

More particularly, from another aspect, the present invention provides a one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable lightweight sheet material, said blank having panels which define, when erected, a container having a removable section defined in at least one outer wall thereof, and having a reinforcement panel arranged such that it may be folded so as to lie behind, and extend beyond, at least a part of the perimeter of the removable section.

From a yet further aspect, the present invention provides a one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable lightweight sheet material, said blank having panels which define a side wall and a removable top section of a container, and further having a panel which is foldable into a position wherein it may lie inside and overlap at least a part of the side wall forming panel, the panel being hingedly attached to a panel which defines a part of the top section of the container A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure I shows a container in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows a blank for forming the container of Figures 1; Figure 3 shows the blank of Figure 2 in a partially erected condition; and Figure 4 shows the blank of Figure 3 in a later stage of erection, Figure 5 shows the blank of Figure 2, fully erected, but before its top is closed; and Figures 6A to 6D illustrate the opening of the container Referring to Figure 1, a container 2 in accordance with the invention comprises a front wall 4, side walls 6, a rear wall 8, a base 10 and a top 12. A section 14 of the container 2 is removable, as will be described further below A cardboard blank 20 for forming the container 2 is shown in Figure 2 The blank 20 comprises a row of panels 22,24,26,28 for forming the rear wall 8, one side wall 6, the front wall 4 and the other side wall 6 of the container 2 respectively These panels are connected by parallel hinge lines 30. A glue tab 32 is attached to the side wall forming panel 28 by a further such hinge line 30. Four conventional base forming flaps 34 are attached to the respective wall forming panels 22,24,26,28 by colinear hinge lines 36.

A first line of weakness 38, formed as a cut line with spaced apart bridges 40 extends across the front wall forming panel 26 and diagonally across the side wall forming panels 24,28 to a point 42 at the top of each panel 24,28.

A front top forming flap 44 is hingedly attached to the front wall forming panel 26 by a hinge line 46. Side top forming flaps panels 48,50 are attached to the side wall panels 24, 28 by respective hinge lines 50 which extend up to the points 42 at the end of the line of weakness 38, and by frangible hinge lines 52 which extend from the point 42 out to the edge of the side wall panels 24,28. These frangible hinge lines 52 are more difficult to break than the first line of weakness 38, as they have to allow the flaps 48 to be folded down while maintaining their integrity. A rear top forming flap 54 is attached to the rear wall forming panel 22 by a hinge line 56 and by further frangible hinge lines 58. A push in tab 60 is defined in the rear wall forming panel 22 by a further line of weakness 62.

Each side top forming flap 48 comprises a cut 64 and an intermediate hinge line 66 which splits the flap 48 into an L-shaped main part 68 and a sub-panel 70 Side wall reinforcement panels 72 are attached to the sub panels 70 by hinge lines 74 A front wall reinforcement panel 76 is hingedly connected to the side wall reinforcement panels 72 by hinge lines 78 formed at the ends of rectangular cut outs 80.

The container 2 is erected from the blank 20 as follows. Firstly the reinforcement panels 72, 76 and the sub panels 70 are folded inwardly about the hinge lines 66, and the sub panels 70 glued to the underlying parts of the main flap parts 70. This stage of erection is shown in Figure 3 It will be seen that the reinforcement panels 72, 76 completely overlap the region defined above the line of weakness 38 in panels 24, 26, 28 The cut outs 80 overlie the hinge lines 30 to facilitate the subsequent stage of erection in which the part folded blank is folded about hinge line 30, and the glue tab 32 glued to the inside of side wall panel 22, as shown in Figure 4.

The blank can then be squared up, and the base flaps 34 folded in and interlocked to form an l 5 open topped container 82 as shown in Figure 5. The flaps may be glued or taped, if required.

As can be seen in Figure 5, the reinforcement panel 76 lies inside the front wall 26 and reinforcement panels 72 lie inside the front part of the side walls 24, 28. The reinforcement panels extend substantially over the whole height of the walls 24, 26, 28 to provide stacking strength The open topped container 82 can then be filled and the top 12 of the container closed The side top flaps 48 are first folded inwardly, and the front and rear top flaps 44, 54 then folded over and glued to the side top flaps 48 to close the container 2. Alternatively or additionally, the top may be taped closed, provided the tape does not extend into the region below the line of weakness 38 The sequence of opening the container is shown in Figures 6A to 6D.

First, a user pushes in the tab 60 in the rear wall 22 and pulls upwardly as shown in Figure 6A. This breaks the frangible hinge lines 58 and the frangible hinge lines 52 Further pulling breaks the bridges 40 in the line of weakness 38 to remove a section 14 of the container 2.

This removable section includes all the top flaps 54, 48, 48, 44, the reinforcement panels 72, 74 and those parts of the side walls 6 and front wall 4 above the line of weakness 38. This leaves a tray 84 as shown in Figure 6C displaying the container's contents.

It will be seen from the above that the provides a container which is sufficiently robust to withstand transportation, but which readily converts to a shelf ready configuration. The reinforcement panels add to the strength of the structure but are easily and automatically removed when the container is opened. As the reinforcement takes much of the load during transportation, the line of weakness provided in the front ends side walls may be made sufficiently weak that it separates easily to leave a clean edge.

It will be appreciated that changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the shape of the removable section may be changed. In this regard, the line of weakness 38 need not be diagonal in the side walls 6. It could, for example have just vertical and horizontal components. Also, the shape of the box may vary.

Claims

Claims 1. A container of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable

lightweight sheet material, said container having a removable section defined in at least one outer wall thereof, and having a reinforcement panel arranged behind, and extending beyond at least a part of the perimeter of the removable section, said reinforcement panel being removed from said container with said removable section.
2. A container as claimed in claim I wherein the removable section extends over at least a portion of the front wall of the container and the reinforcement panel is arranged behind the front wall.
3 A container as claimed in claim 2 wherein the reinforcement panel extends over substantially the entire front wall of the container.
4. A container as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the removable section extends into two opposed side walls of the container and reinforcement panels are also provided inside those side walls.
5. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the reinforcement panel or panels extends or extend for substantially the complete height of the relevant container wall or walls.
6. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the or each reinforcement panel is panel separate to the respective container wall.
7 A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein multiple reinforcement panels are provided and these panels are connected together.
8 A container as claimed in claim 7 wherein the panels are connected along hinge lines which are aligned with the edges of the container.
9. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the reinforcement panel or panels is or are integrally formed with the container.
10. A container as claimed in claim 9 wherein the container is formed from a one piece blank.
1 1. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the removable section of the container includes at least a part of the top of the container and the reinforcement panel or panels is or are hingedly attached to the top of the container.
12 A container having an outer wall and a removable top section, the outer wall having a panel arranged inside and overlapping at least a part ofthe wall, the panel being hingedly attached to the top section of the container
l 3 A container as claimed in claim I I or 12 wherein a reinforcement panel is hingedly attached to the top of a top forming flap, the top forming flap being formed with an intermediate hinge line about which an upper part of the flap and the reinforcement panel are folded such that the reinforcement panel overlies the inside of the side wall of the container.
14. A container as claimed in claim 14 wherein the folded and unfolded sections ofthe flap are bonded together face to face.
15. A container as claimed in claim 12, 13 or 14 wherein reinforcing panels are provided on opposed sides of the container and are interconnected by a front wall reinforcement panel which is not attached to a top flap.
16. A container as claimed in any of claims 13 to 15 wherein respective top forming flaps are provided on opposed side walls of the container and front and rear top flaps attached to the front and rear walls of the container and bonded to the side wall top forming flaps to close the container.
17. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the container is provided with a non-bonded base with interlocking panels.
18. A one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or other lightweight foldable sheet material for making a container as claimed in any preceding claim.
19. A one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable lightweight sheet material, said blank having panels which dehme, when erected, a container having a removable section defined in at least one outer wall thereof, and having a reinforcement panel arranged such that it may be folded so as to lie behind, and extend beyond, at least a part of the perimeter of the removable section
20. A one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar foldable lightweight sheet material, said blank having panels which den ne a side wall and a removable top section of a lO container, and further having a panel which is foldable into a position wherein it may lie inside and overlap at least a part of the side wall forming panel, the panel being hingedly attached to a panel which den nes a part of the top section of the container.