GB2419347A

GB2419347A - Transit and display containers

Info

Publication number: GB2419347A
Application number: GB0521295A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Alexander
Original assignee: SCA Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: SCA Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 2004-10-19
Filing date: 2005-10-19
Publication date: 2006-04-26
Anticipated expiration: 2025-10-19
Also published as: GB2419345B; GB2419347B; GB0423230D0; GB0521295D0; GB2419345A

Abstract

A transit and display container comprises internal reinforcing panels 72, 76 which overlie removable wall portions of the 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 9347 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 Wontedly 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 and interconnected by a front wall reinforcement panel which may or may not be 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 associated with, e g attached to, the front and rear walls of the container and bonded to the side wall top fonning flaps to close the container It will be appreciated that this aspect of the Invention is applicable to containers other than those which have removable front wall portions as described above Indeed in a preferred embodiment, the front wall may hove an opening defined therein, the reinforcing panel lying behind and covering the opening From a further aspect, the invention provides a container having an outer wall having an opening defined therein and a removable top section, the outer wall having a panel arranged inside and overlapping said opening, the panel being hingedly attached to further panels on respective sides thereof, which further panels overlap respective further walls of the container and which are attached to said removable top section so as to be removable therewith.

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 From a yet further aspect, the invention provides a one piece blank of cardboard paperboard or other foldable sheet material, said blank having panels defining an outer wall having an opening def ned therein and a removable top section, and further having a panel arranged such that in the erected container it will lie inside and overlap said opening, that panel being hingedly attached to further panels on respective sides thereof, which further panels are arranged so as to overlap respective further walls of the container when the container is erected and which are attached to said removable top section so as to be removable therewith Some preferred embodiments 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; Figures 6A to 6D illustrate the opening of the container; and Figure 7 shows a blank for erecting into a further container in accordance with the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, a container 2 in accordance with a first embodiment of' 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 fondling 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 collinear hinge fines 36 A first line of weakness 3 8, 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 foi-i,;ing 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 cliff cult 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 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, 2G, 28 to provide stacking strength The open topped container 82 can then be filled and the top 2 of the container closetl The side top flaps 48 are first folded inwardly, and the front and rear top flaps 44, 54 then folded ] O 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 ofthe 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 A further embodiment of the invention is described with reference to Figure 7 which shows a further blank 100 The blank 100 comprises a row of panels 102, ] 04, 106, 108 Nor forming respectively the rear wall, one side wall, the front wall and the other side wall of a container These panels are connected by parallel hinge lines 110 A glue tab 112 is attached to the side wall forming panel 108 by a further such hinge line 110 Four conventional base forming flaps 114 are attached to the respective wall forming panels by hinge lines 116 The front wall forming panel 106 has a U shaped aperture 118 which will form an access opening in the erected container Side top forming flaps panels 120 are attached to the side wall panels 104, 108 by respective frangible hinge lines 122 A rear top forming flap 124 is attached to the rear wall forming panel 102 by a further frangible hinge line 126 A finger hole 128 is provided between the panels 102, 124 Each side top forming flap 120 comprises an intermediate hinge line 130 having a cut portion 132 which splits the flap 120 into a lower part 134 and an upper part] 36. Side wal I reinforcement panels 138 are attached to the upper parts 136 by hinge lines 140 A front wall reinforcement panel 142 is hingedly connected to the side wall reinforcement panels 138 by hinge lines 144 having cut out 146 formed along part of their length. A front top - forming flap 148 is hingedly connected to the front wall reinforcing panel 142 by a hinge line 150.

leach lower part 134 of the side top forming panels 120 includes a line of weakness 152 extending across its entire length. The strip 154 defined between the line of weakness 152 and the hinge line 126 can act as a tear strip as will be described further below A container 2 is erected from the blank 100 as follows Firstly the side wall reinforcement panels 138 and the upper parts 136 of the side top wall forming panels 120 are folded inwardly about the hinge lines 130, and upper parts 136 glued to the underlying lower parts of parts of the of the side top wall forming panels 120 At this stage, the side wall reinforcement panels 138 substantially completely overlap the regions of the side wall panels 104108adJacentthefrontwallformingpanell06 Furthermore, thefrontwallreinforcement panel 142 substantially overlaps the inner surface of the front wall panel 106 The part folded blank is folded about hinge lines 1 10, and the glue tab 1] 2 glued to the inside of side wall panel 102 to form a tubular body. The blank can then be squared up, and the bottom flaps glued or taped to one another in a conventional manner to form an open topped container The product can then be filled into the container through the open top and the top flaps closed and glued in a conventional manner In particular, the double thickness side top flaps 120 can be folded in and glued to underlying rear and front top forming flaps 124,148 The rear top forming flap only adheres to the lower part 134 of the flap] 20 To open the container, a user may insert a finger through the finger hole 128 and pull upwardly This breaks the hinge line 126 Continued pulling breaks the hinge line 126 This pulls away the side wall reinforcing flaps 138 and the front wall reinforcing flap 142 which is attached to those flaps 138, exposing the opening 1 18 In the front wall panel 106 Alternatively, the user may grasp the tabs 156 defined at the rear of the respective tear strips 154 and tear the strips away, thereby separating the top from the side wall panels 104, 108 The user may then break the hinge line 126 and remove the top as before

Claims

Claims I 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 of the wall, the panel being hingedly attached to the top section of the container and removable therewith 2 A container as claimed in claim I wherein said outer Wall is a side wall and said panel is a side wall reinforcing panel.

3 A container as claimed in claim 2 wherein a reinforcement panel is hingedly attached to the top of a top forming [lap, 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 ]5 4 A container as claimed in claim 3 wherein the folded and unfolded sections of the flap are bonded together face to face A container as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein reinforcing panels are provided on opposed sides of the container and are interconnected by a front wall reinforcement panel.

6 A container as claimed in claim 5 wherein said front wall reinforcement panel is not attached to a top flap of the container.

7 A container as claimed in claim 5 wherein said front wall reinforcement panel is attached to a top flap of the container.

8 A container as claimed in any of claims 5 to 7 wherein respective top forming flaps provided on opposed side walls of the container are bonded to respective front and rear top flaps to close the top of the container.

9 A container as claimed in any of claims 5 to 8 wherein said front wall comprises an opening which is covered by said front wall reinforcement panel.

O A container as claimed in of claims 1 to 8 wherein said front wall has a removable section, and said front wall reinforcement panel Is removable from said container with said removable section 11 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 pane] being removed from said container with said removable section 12 A container as claimed in claim 10 or 1 I wherein the removable section extends over at least a portion of the *ont wall of the container and the reinforcement panel is arranged behind the front wall 15] 3 A container as claimed in claim 12 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 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 16. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the or each reinforcement panel is separate to the respective container wall.

17. A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein multiple reinforcement panels are provided and these panels are connected together 18 A container as claimed in claim 17 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 A container as claimed in claim 19 wherein the container is formed from a one piece blank.

21 A container as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the container is provided with a non-bonded base with interlocking panels ] 0 22 A container having an outer wall having an opening defined therein and a removable top section, the outer wall having a panel arranged inside and overlapping said opening, the panel being hingedly attached to further panels on respective sides thereof, which further panels overlap respective further walls of the container and which are attached to said removable top section so as to be removable therewith 23 A one piece blank of cardboard, paperboard or other lightweight foldable sheet material for making a container as claimed in any preceding claim 24 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.

25 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 Conning panel, the panel being hingedly attached to a panel which defines a part of the top section of the container.

26 A one piece blank of cardboard paperboard or other foldable sheet material, said blank having panels defining an outer wal] having an opening defined therein and a removable top section, and further having a panel arranged such that in the erected container it will lie inside and overlap said opening, that panel being hingedly attached to further panels on respective sides thereof, which further panels are arranged so as to overlap respective further walls of the container when the container is erected and which are attached to said removable top section so as to be removable therewith