JP2008534395A - Carton with removal function - Google Patents

Abstract

A carton for containing articles is of substantially tubular structure comprising a base panel (4), a top panel (2) and side wall panels (3, 5). The articles (B) are arranged within the carton such that a lowermost row of articles is in rolling contact with the base wall panel. The carton comprises end walls which at least partially close each end of the carton. One of the ends of the carton comprises at least two detachable portions (10, 11), each formed from sections of the end wall and adjacent side wall. One of the end walls comprises an aperture juxtaposed the detachable portions to facilitate their removal. The removal of the detachable portions facilitates access to the endmost articles for removal whilst remaining portions of the one end wall substantially prevent unintended shedding of the remaining articles from the carton.

Description

  The present invention relates to a carton, and more particularly, to a carton that accommodates a plurality of articles having a take-out portion that restricts take-out of individual articles.

  Cartons containing various items are useful for consumers to individually procure and transport a desired amount of items such as soft drinks and other beverages. When obtaining a box containing a large number of such items, the consumer often needs to remove the items one by one. For this reason, it is natural that a carton having a take-out function that can easily take out one article at a time from the carton is desirable.

  If the articles contained in the carton are cylindrical or substantially cylindrical and are placed on the side in a carton, the remaining articles will not roll out of the take-out section when one of them is taken out. It is important to restrain the article. Therefore, when handling an article, it is naturally desirable to have a carton having a take-out portion from which individual articles can be taken out while restricting the articles from accidentally exiting the carton. It is also important to provide a situation in which the take-out part can easily handle the article. In cartons containing dairy products such as bottled yogurt, it is also desirable to allow air to circulate in the box in order to keep the product contained in the carton at a low temperature.

Such a carton is known, for example, from US Pat. Patent Document 1 discloses a tubular carton that accommodates a can, and the carton is provided with an integral cut-away portion that constitutes a part of an upper wall, a side wall, and an end wall of the carton. Yes. The remaining lower portion of the end wall serves to prevent the lowest row of articles from rolling freely out of the carton. However, cans held in the upper row of cartons cannot prevent accidental free rolling from the carton, which can be very inconvenient for the consumer. This is especially true when the carton needs to be placed in a refrigerator and stored compactly and function as a carton for removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,242

  The present invention aims to avoid or at least mitigate the above problems and other problems of the prior art.

  One aspect of the present invention is a carton having a generally tubular structure including articles arranged in an array, comprising a bottom panel, a top panel, and a sidewall panel, wherein the article is a bottom row of bottles. Arranged in a carton so as to be in rotational contact with the bottom panel, the carton including an end wall provided at least partially for closing the end of the carton, the carton being formed at the end of the carton Including article take-out means, wherein the article take-out means includes an end wall and a cut-away portion of an adjacent side wall, and removal of the cut-away portion facilitates access to an article disposed adjacent to the end wall. The end wall retainer is formed after removal of the cuttable portion, and one of the remaining portions prevents the bottom row of articles from inadvertently coming out of the carton. To extend upward from the bottom panel, and the other of the holding parts is formed on the top panel to prevent the articles arranged in the top row from inadvertently coming out of the carton. To provide the carton.

  Preferably, the article removal means includes at least two cutable portions formed from an end wall and a portion of an adjacent side wall, and the end wall includes an opening juxtaposed with the cutable portion that is easy to remove. .

  Preferably, each cleavable portion is formed by a single line of weakness starting and ending with an opening provided in the end wall panel.

  Preferably, the other of the holding parts can be moved sufficiently while the article is intentionally removed.

  Preferably, the other of the holding portions can return to the same plane as the end wall after intentionally taking out the article.

  Preferably, the cut-away portion of the adjacent side wall is shaped to fully expose the end, and the article is disposed adjacent to the end wall, but the article disposed adjacent to the end wall. However, when the cleavable portion is removed, it is prevented from accidentally coming out of the carton through the opening formed in the adjacent side wall panel.

  Preferably, the carton includes two rows of articles and two cutouts.

  A second aspect of the present invention is a blank comprising a generally tubular carton, the carton comprising articles arranged in alignment, comprising a bottom panel, a top panel, and a side panel. Article removal means comprising a series of end panels forming end walls including end panels forming each end wall for at least partially closing each end of the carton, the end wall comprising a cut-away portion of the end wall and an adjacent side wall And removing the cuttable portion to facilitate access to an article disposed adjacent to the end wall, wherein the end wall holding portion is formed after removing the cuttable portion, One of the remaining portions extends upward from the bottom panel to prevent the bottom row of articles from inadvertently coming out of the carton, and the other of the holding portions is arranged in the top row. And are articles in order to prevent the coming out accidentally from the carton, to provide a blank that is formed in the top panel.

  Preferably, the article removal means includes at least two cutable portions formed from an end wall and a portion of an adjacent side wall, and the end wall includes an opening juxtaposed with the cutable portion that is easy to remove. .

  Furthermore, the cuttable part is formed by a single line of weakness starting and ending with an opening provided in the end wall.

  Corresponding features are indicated by the same reference numerals in the figures.

  The present invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1-7 illustrate an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a blank 1 in which the cartons of FIGS. 2 to 7 are assembled. As shown in FIG. 1, the blank 1 is elongated in the vertical direction and is formed of cardboard. However, the blank 1 may be formed of other foldable materials such as a plastic sheet. Blank 1 is designed to wrap articles of the same shape, such as beverage bottles arranged in two rows. It is envisioned that the article is a can or other cylindrical object that can be placed in more than two rows.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a blank 1 has a top wall panel 2, a first side wall panel 3, a bottom wall panel 4, and a second side wall panel 5, which are four main panels forming a carton wall. The main panels are sequentially connected so as to be foldable along the fold lines 12, 13, and 14. The bonding flap 21 is connected to the upper wall panel 2 so as to be foldable along the fold line 31. Reference numerals 22, 22a, 23, 23a, 24, 24a, 25, 25a are ends of the main panels 2, 3, 4, 5 by fold lines 32, 32a, 33, 33a, 34, 34a, 35, 35a. The end flaps connected in a hinge manner are shown in FIG.

  In order to form an assembled carton from the blank 1, the side wall panel 3 is laid flat and the upper wall panel 2 is folded along the fold line 12. Adhesive is applied to the adhesive flap 21, and then the bottom wall panel 4 is laid flat and the second side wall panel 5 is folded along the fold line 14. In this way, the second side wall panel 5 is bonded to the bonding flap 21. The adhesive flap 21 is then folded inward along the fold line 31 and the bottom wall panel 4 is folded inward along the fold line 13 to form a tubular carton having an open end.

  When stuffing into a carton for removal, the carton is placed with its second side wall 5 on the bottom surface, the first side wall 3 is the top wall, and the top wall panel 2 and the bottom wall panel 4 are the sides of the carton 50. The articles are put in two rows from the open end of the carton 50 so that the circular end of the can comes into contact with the first side panel 3 and the second side panel 5. After closing the bottle from one or both open ends of the carton, end flaps 22, 22a, 23, 23a, 24, 24a, 25, 25a, 26, 26a, to close the front and rear ends of the carton Bend 27 and 27a. The end flaps are then folded and bonded to form the front and rear end walls that close the carton.

  In order to close the rear end of the carton, the end flap 23 is first folded towards the second side panel 5 at the fold line 33. When the end flap 23 is folded, the adjacent web or reinforcing end flaps 24, 27, 22, 26 are automatically folded inside the carton end. Next, the end flap 25 is folded upward along the folding line 35. The end flaps 23, 25 are then secured together using an adhesive or other securing means to form the rear end wall. Each of the end flaps 23 and 25 is shaped so that an opening is formed in the end wall when the two end flaps are fixed to each other. In other embodiments, the structure of the composite rear wall may be different, for example, reinforcing panels 26, 27 may not be required, and the rear wall end flaps 23, 25 may have different shapes of openings or dimensions. May form a small opening, or the opening may not be formed in the rear wall.

  Similar folding, bonding and closing operations are performed at the front end of the carton. When the end flap 23a is bent downward toward the second side panel 5, the reinforcing panels 26a and 27a are bent inward, and the end flaps 22a and 24a are also bent inside the carton end. Then, when the end flaps 23a, 25a are secured to each other using an adhesive or other bonding means, the end flaps 25a partially overlap the end flaps 23a, so that the two panels are both open. To form a composite end wall. In other embodiments, the opening 40 can be shaped and dimensioned differently than shown in the figures. The assembled and closed carton 50 is shown in FIG.

  When used as a take-out carton, the bottom wall 4 is opposed to the bottom surface of the carton and the top wall 2 is opposed to the top surface of the carton 50. For this reason, in FIG. 3 to FIG. 7, the bottle B is shown lying down in two stages or two rows.

  In the assembled carton 50 shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, a take-out function part composed of two parts formed integrally with the front end part of the carton is shown. The take-out function part consisting of two parts is used to make it possible to suppress the take-out of the articles contained in the carton. The take-out function part has two cutable parts 10, 11 formed by a single perforation or fragile coupling part 6, 7. Each fragile connection 6, 7 starts and ends at an opening 40, which is juxtaposed with the cutable parts 10, 11. Removing each removable portion facilitates removal of the farthest bottle in the carton 50, while the remaining portion of the front end wall substantially prevents the remaining articles from being inadvertently removed from the carton. To do.

  The take-out function part is integrally formed in the end flaps 23 a and 25 a and the side walls 3 and 4. The opening 40 through which the bottle B can be removed from the carton 50 is formed by a hole or opening formed between the two weak lines 6, 7 and the end flaps 23a, 25a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first line of weakness 6 forms a removable region 10 (shown in FIG. 3) of the end flap 23a and the second side wall 5, which is shown in FIG. Can be removed to remove the item in the carton. Similarly, the second line of weakness 7 forms a detachable region 11 (shown in FIG. 3) formed from the end flap 25a and the adjacent portion of the second side wall 3, which detachable region 11 is The bottle B contained in the cardboard 50 can be removed for removal. Inserting a finger into the hole or opening 40 provided between the end flaps 23a, 25a helps the consumer to remove the two removable areas 10,11. In this way, the user can handle the removable part with sufficient force to break the fragile connecting parts 6, 7 by placing a finger on the inner surface of the cutable parts 10, 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the removable regions 10 and 11 are removed, the bottle B at the endmost portion accommodated in the carton 50 is partially exposed. After removal of the removable areas 10, 11, the lower part 9 of the front end closure part of the end flaps 23 a, 25 a, 24 a, 27 a, which overlaps the web or reinforcement panel 27 a, is the rest of the carton 50 Forming means for holding the bottles contained in the bottom row and remaining in one piece.

  The remaining second part of the take-out function part is the holding part 8 formed by the upper part of the end flaps 23a and 25a. The holding unit 8 sufficiently holds the uppermost bottle B accommodated in the carton 50 and prevents the bottle from being inadvertently removed from the carton 50. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the holding portion 8 can be moved sufficiently so that the article can be intentionally taken out from the carton.

  After the uppermost article is taken out, the holding unit 8 returns to the normal position, so that each front surface of 8 is flush with the holding unit 9 again. In this way, the bottle can be easily taken out from the uppermost stage while restricting, and the contents are prevented from coming out of the carton 50 inadvertently. FIG. 6 shows that, as explained in the previous paragraph, after taking out the uppermost article at the extreme end, the article is lifted onto the holding section 9 and pulled past the movable holding section 8, It shows that the article at the lowest end can be removed.

  Of course, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for example, the dimensions and shape of the panels can be adjusted to accommodate articles of different sizes and shapes. More than one cut-away portion can be provided, and both the cut-away portion and the opening in the end wall can be selectively shaped to match those described herein. Other variations are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, a handle can be provided on the top panel, and the take-out function described can be provided at one or both ends of the carton.

  In this specification, direction indications such as “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “back”, “end”, “inside”, “outside”, “upward”, and “downward” limit each panel to such a direction. It is not a thing, it merely serves to distinguish these panels from each other. References to a hinged connection should not necessarily be construed as referring to only a single fold line; in fact, a hinged connection does not depart from the scope of the present invention, It can be formed from one or more of a fragile line or a fold line.

It is a top view of the carton blank by a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the front wall of the carton assembled from the blank of FIG. 1, a side wall, and an upper wall. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a front wall, a side wall, and an upper wall of the carton of FIG. 2 with a first take-out function portion removed. Fig. 4 shows the carton of Fig. 3 with the removal function completely removed. FIG. 5 shows the carton of FIG. 4 preventing the top row of articles from coming out while the top row of articles is being removed. FIG. 6 shows the carton of FIG. 5 being returned so that the top row of articles does not come out after the articles have been completely removed from the top row. FIG. 7 shows the carton of FIG. 6 with all items in the top row removed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Blank 2 Upper wall panel 3 1st side wall panel 4 Bottom wall panel 5 2nd side wall panel 6 Fragile connection part 7 Weak connection part 10 Trimmable part 11 Trimmable part 12 Folding line 13 Folding line 14 Folding line 21 For adhesion Flap 22 End flap 22a End flap 23 End flap 23a End flap 24 End flap 24a End flap 25 End flap 25a End flap 26 Reinforcement panel 26a Reinforcement panel 27 Reinforcement panel 27a Reinforcement panel 32 Folding line 32a Fold Line 33 Fold line 33a Fold line 34 Fold line 34a Fold line 35 Fold line 35a Fold line 40 Opening 50 Carton B Top bottle

Claims (9)

A carton containing a plurality of articles arranged in a plurality of rows,
A bottom panel;
A top panel;
A substantially tubular structure including a pair of side wall panels, wherein the bottom row of articles are in rolling contact with the bottom panel when the articles are placed in the carton, and at least partially one end of the carton A closed end wall;
Article removal means formed at one end of the carton;
Including
The article take-out means includes a plurality of cutable portions formed from the end wall and the pair of side wall panels,
By removing the cuttable part from the carton, a plurality of holding parts are formed from the end wall, and an article placed adjacent to the end wall can be taken out,
One holding portion of the plurality of holding portions extends upward from the bottom panel so that the bottom row of articles does not accidentally come out of the carton,
The other holding part of the plurality of holding parts is a carton that extends downward from the top panel so that the top row of articles does not accidentally come out of the carton.   The article take-out means has at least two cutout portions formed from a part of the end wall and a part of the pair of side wall panels, and the end wall facilitates removal of the two cutout parts. 2. A carton as claimed in claim 1 having an opening juxtaposed with said cut-away portion.   A carton according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each of the cuttable portions is formed by a single line of weakness extending from the opening and terminating at the opening.   The other holding portion is moved outward from an initial position in the same plane as the end wall while the article is intentionally removed, and returns to the initial position after the article is intentionally removed. The carton according to claim 3.   When the cleavable portion is removed, the end portion of the article disposed adjacent to the end wall is sufficiently exposed, and the cleavable portion of the cleavable portion is prevented from unintentionally coming out of the carton. The carton according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the shape is set.   6. A carton according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the carton has two rows of articles and two cutouts. A blank for forming a substantially tubular carton that houses a plurality of articles arranged in a plurality of rows,
The blank is
A series of main panels including a bottom panel, a top panel and a pair of sidewall panels;
A plurality of end panels forming end walls that at least partially close both ends of the carton when the carton is assembled;
An article take-out means having a plurality of cut-away portions formed from one of the end walls and the pair of side wall panels;
Have
When the carton is assembled, removal of the cut-away portion facilitates removal of an article disposed adjacent to the one end wall, and removal of the cut-away portion from the one end wall. A plurality of holding portions are formed, and one holding portion of the holding portions extends upward from the bottom panel so that a bottom row of articles does not accidentally come out of the carton, and the other holding portion of the holding portions is held. The section is a blank that extends downward from the top panel so that the top row of articles does not accidentally slip out of the carton.   The article take-out means has at least two cutable portions formed from a part of the end walls and a part of the pair of side wall panels, and the one end wall can easily remove the two cuttable parts. The blank according to claim 8, further comprising an opening juxtaposed with the cuttable part.   The blank of claim 9, wherein the cuttable portion is formed by a single line of weakness extending from the opening and terminating at the opening.

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