NZ530327A - A container with tapered upper portion particularly suited for keeping bottles still or asparagus in a particular orientation - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a container made from a blank of foldable material. The blank has side walls with triangular corner gussets between adjacent side walls. Such gussets extend from the top of the side walls to part way down the side walls, and do not meet in the middle of the top of the side walls. Once folded, the gusset allows the upper portion of the box to taper towards the center. Such containers are particularly suitable for holding items such as bottles or asparagus in a particular orientation to assist with effective and safe storage and transport.

Description

53 0 3 2 7 l A TAPERED CONTAINER AND BLANK THEREFOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a container and a blank for making the container.

A variety of container configurations have been proposed in the past. Where those containers are intended to receive a plurality of long necked bottles or the like, there is a tendency for the bottles within the container to move about within the 10 container unless they are separated or restrained in some way. This movement may cause unnecessary noise during transport of the container and may lead to breakages of the bottles. Where a plurality of containers are stacked upon one another and a bottle within one of the plurality of containers is broken, the contents within that bottle is then free to spoil those containers adjacent to or below the container within 15 which the breakage has occurred. This is undesirable.

In an attempt at eliminating or minimizing breakages within containers, it has been proposed to provide partitions between adjacent bottles within the container. The provision of partitions substantially eliminates or minimizes the risk of breakages and the resultant spoiling of containers. However, the provision of 20 partitioning within a container adds to the resultant cost of the packaging. Some produce such as asparagus tends to continue to grow after harvesting and if asparagus is placed horizontally within a container there is a tendency for continued growth to occur in undesirable directions during shipping.

Containers for asparagus currently do not ensure that the asparagus is 25 held in an orientation that minimizes continued growth in an undesirable direction during shipping.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a container and a blank for making the container which at least minimizes the difficulties referred to 3 0 above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect, the invention provides a container made from a blank of foldable material, the container having a plurality of side walls hinged to INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z 2 h MAY 200^ one another by fold lines, bottom closure flaps hinged to lowe^edg&s«©fe€h©«s-ie and a triangular corner gusset between each adjacent pair of side walls and extending from upper edges of the side walls to part way between the upper edges and lower edges of the side walls, wherein each gusset is spaced apart from the other gussets, 5 whereby, upper zones of each of the side walls extend inwardly towards one another. Preferably, the container has top closure flaps hinged to upper edges of the side wall.

The blank from which the container of the invention is made may be configured to be either machine erected or hand erected. The blank may be made from any suitable material. For example, the blank may be made from solid or 10 corrugated fibre board material. If the blank is made from corrugated fibre board material, it is preferred that double faced corrugated material be employed.

In one embodiment, the corrugations in the fibre board material extend in a direction between the lower and upper edges of the side walls. Where the blank is intended to be machine erected, the blank may be configured as a right slotted 15 container (RSC) with a joinder flap provided along one free edge of a side wall for attaching to a zone extending along a free edge of the side wall at the opposite end of the blank. Any suitable means may be used to attach the joinder flap to the opposite side wall. For example, the joinder flap may be attached by use of staples, adhesive or adhesive tape.

In another embodiment of machine erectable blank, the blank may be configured to have a centre panel glue lap and in this configuration, the blank has opposed side wall portions which together provide one of the side walls of the container and allow for the centre panel glue lap to be formed.

As mentioned above, the blank may be configured for hand erection. 2 5 The triangular corner gussets referred to above extend part way along the side walls. If these corner gussets extend for a distance along the side walls representative of a third of the height of the resultant container then the upper third of that container will have inwardly sloping opposed side wall portions. If it is desired to have inwardly sloping side wall portions of a greater or lesser extent than this, then the gussets may 30 be provided extending either a shorter or a longer distance along the side walls of the container.

The gussets may be separated from the side walls by fold lines, crease lines or lines of perforation so that the gussets may be folded about these lines when a 3 container is made from the blank. Since the resultant container made from the blank referred to above has inwardly sloping upper side wall portions, bottles or other fragile containers placed within the container have the inwardly sloping side wall portions closely adjacent the necks thereof and are suitably held by those inwardly sloping side 5 wall portions so that movement or rattling of the bottles is eliminated or minimized.

When the container of the invention is used to contain asparagus, it is possible to retain the asparagus in an upright position. The inwardly sloping side wall portions securely retain the asparagus in this orientation and thus any continued growth is in the longitudinal direction of the asparagus and not in an undesired 10 direction.

SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS Particular preferred embodiments of the container and blanks therefore of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view of a blank according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a view of a blank for forming a container according to a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a view of a blank for forming a container according to a 2 0 third embodiment of the invention; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of a container made from the blank of figure three.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in Figure 1, the blank 10 of that embodiment has a plurality 2 5 of side walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 hinged to each other about fold lines 15, 16 and 17. These side walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 are provided with apertures 18, 19, 20 and 21 for ventilation purposes. Side wall 14 has a flap 22 hinged to it by fold line 23. Apertures 24 and 25 are provided at spaced locations along the fold line 23. The free edge 26 of side wall 11 is provided with spaced locking tabs 27 and 28. These tabs 30 are received by apertures 24 and 25 when the blank 10 is formed into a container.

Closure flaps 30, 31, 32 and 33 are hinged to adjacent side walls by fold line 34. These closure flaps 30, 31, 32 and 33 close off the bottom of the container. Closure flaps 35, 36, 37 and 48 are hinged to the side walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 by a fold line 39.

The blank 10 is provided with triangular corner gussets 40, 41, 42 and 43. Gussets 40, 41 and 42 are present between adjacent side walls whereas gusset 43 is provided between side wall 14 and flap 22. The gussets 40, 41, 42 and 43 are 5 hinged to the remainder of the blank by fold lines, crease lines or lines of perforation and the gussets extend part way along the side walls such that the side walls have an upper portion extending from the fold line 39 to the lower extremity of the gusset and that upper portion of the side walls form inwardly sloping side wall portion of the resultant container.

The blank 10 of figure 1 is indicative of a blank adapted for hand erection into a container. The particular closure flap configurations and locking tabs and apertures are given by way of example only.

Figure 2 shows a blank 50 according to another embodiment of the invention. The blank 50 has side walls 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55. Side walls 51 and 55 15 are joined to one another in the resultant container and provide a centre panel glue lap. Side walls 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55 are hinged to each other by fold lines 56, 57, 58 and 59.

Bottom closure flaps 60, 61, 62, 63 and 64 are hinged to adjacent side walls by fold line 65. Top closure flaps 66, 67, 68, 69 and 70 are hinged to upper 2 0 edges of the side walls by fold line 71. Triangular corner gussets 72, 73, 74 and 75 are present at a location near the upper portions of the side walls and between adjacent side walls. The corner gussets are separated from the side walls by fold lines, crease lines or lines of perforation. The corner gussets extend part way along the side walls and the side walls have upper portions which extend from the fold line 71 to the lower 2 5 extremity of the gussets. In a container made from the blank 50 of Figure 2, the upper portions of the walls provide inwardly sloping side wall portions.

The blank 80 of figure 3 has side walls 81, 82, 83 and 84 hinged to each other by fold lines 85, 86 and 87. A joinder flap 88 is hinged to an edge of side wall 84 by fold line 89. When a container is formed from the blank 80 of Figure 3, 30 the joinder flap 88 is secured to a zone adjacent the free edge of side wall 81. The joinder flap 88 may be secured to the side wall 81 in any suitable way such as by adhesive tape, staples or glue.

Bottom closure flaps 91, 92, 93 and 94 are hinged to the side walls by a fold line 95 and in the container made from the blank 80, these closure flaps close off the bottom of the container. Stop closure flaps 96, 97, 98 and 99 are hinged to fold line 100 and in a container made from the blank 80, these closure flaps close off the top of the container. The blank 80 has triangular corner gussets 101, 102 and 103.

These gussets are separated from the remainder of the blank by fold lines, crease lines or lines of perforation. Corner gussets 101, 102 and 103 are located between adjacent side walls. Corner gusset 104 is located between side wall 84 and the joinder flap 88. The corner gussets extend from fold line 100 to a location spaced from a fold line 100. That portion of the side walls between the fold line 100 and the lower point at 10 which the corner gussets terminate provide upper side wall portions., In the resultant container made from the blank 80 those upper wall portions provide inwardly sloping side wall portions.

Figure 4 shows the container made from blank 80 of Figure 3. The container in Figure 4 has lower side wall portions which extend substantially at right 15 angles to the base of the container and upper side wall portions which slope inwardly when the corner gussets (only corner gussets 101 and 102 are visible in this view) are folded to over lie side walls 81 and 83.

The container of Figure 4 and the containers resulting from the blanks of Figures 1 and 2 all have upper inwardly sloping side wall portions which extend 2 0 closely adjacent upper portions of bottles or the like placed within the container and in this way, the bottles are restrained against movement and damage. The container may be used to pack asparagus and the tapered configuration ensures that the asparagus is maintained in a vertical orientation. 6

Claims (9)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A container made from a blank of foldable material, the container having a plurality of side walls hinged to one another by fold lines, bottom closure flaps hinged to lower edges of the side walls, and a triangular corner gusset between 5 each adjacent pair of side walls and extending from upper edges of the side walls to part way between the upper edges and lower edges of the side walls, wherein each gusset is spaced apart from the other gussets, whereby, upper zones of each of the side walls extend inwardly towards one another.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein the triangular corner gussets extend 10 along the side walls for a distance corresponding to almost one third of the height of the container.

3. The container of claim 1 or 2 wherein the container is machine erectable.

4. The container of claim 1 or 2 wherein the container is hand erectable. 15

5. The container of claim 3 having a centre panel glue lap with the blank having opposed side wall portions which together provide one of the side walls of the container.

6. The container of claim 3 wherein the blank has a joinder flap along a free edge of one of the side walls. 20

7. The container of any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein two opposed said side walls have said zones which taper towards one another.

8. The container of any one of claims 1 to 7 including top closure flaps hinged to upper edges of the side walls.

9. A container substantially as herein described made from a blank 2 5 substantially as herein described with reference to figure 1, 2 or 3 of the drawings. 2 k \hl'; 2C04 I recbv£P i ABSTRACT A container made from a blank of foldable material is disclosed. The blank has side walls with triangular corner gussets between adjacent side walls. The container has side walls with upper zones which extend inwardly to provide a container having an inwardly tapered upper portion. °^CE Of"ffpHTY I 22^C2!03 /