US2194963A - Cushioning crate or box liner - Google Patents

Description

March 26, 1940. w w- 2,194,963

CUSHIONING GRATE OR BOX LINER Filed Aprl 12, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR William J White ATW March 26, 1940. w. J. WHlTE & 6

. CUSHIQNING GRATE OR BOX LINER Filed April 12, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ac ATTO NEYS Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT x OFFICE i p 2,194,963 j CUSHIONING GRATE OR BOX LINER' William White', Portland, Or eg., assignor to Crown' Zellerba'ch Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Application 'April 12, 1937, Serial No. 136,416

1 Claim.

My invention' relates particularly to cushioning liners usually employed for lining-apple boxes,`in order to enable the fruit to be' packed rmly in the box While preventing it from becomin'g bruise'd in the box by impact in the handling and ship y ping of the box.

'The liners hereto'fore used for .this purpose are unsatisfactory because they are lack'ing in softness, fiexibility and elasticity.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to provide an inexpen'sive cushioning box liner in the form of a packing strip of convenient length, both faces of which constitute similar soft cushion-like surfaces. I

It is customary in packing apples'to place a liner sheet at each side of the box, lapping the' ends of the sheets over each other at the' bottom of the box, and, after the box'is packe'd, to lap the top ends of the' liner sheet one overthe other' on top of the pack. slats are then fastened to the top' of the box over the pack and fi'rmly pressed down with' considerable force so as: 'to insure' a firmpack. 'I'n consequence, by. the pressing and nailing down of the slats covering the top of the box, the liner sheet is firmly clamped between the top layer of apples and the overlying slats of the cover, as diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. la, setting up the restrained force in the direction of the arrow m. When the box is opened to render the apples accessible, or for inspection of the pack, the sudden release of the stress imposed on the upper ends of the liner sheets frequently causes the liner to split adjacent the side edge of the box, asdiagrammatically illustrated by Fig. 2c, which represents, diagran'- matically, a vertical transverse section of abox with the cover slats unfastened, thus releas'ing the force indicated by m and causing the 1iner-' still firmly clamped between the upper layer of apples and the overlying slats-to split under the Stress imposed upon it, as indicated at lac. When this happens the appearance of the box is spoilt.

There is also danger in the ordinary handling of y the boxes before being opened that the liner will split along the edges of the sides of the box adjacent the bulging cover. A particular object of my invention is to provide a cus-hioning liner with ample inherent yield, accommodating such' liner of layers of thin sheets of paper crimped so as to have furrow-like puckers extending parallel in one direction, and .by binding said layers together by means of narrow binder-strips -firrows 'of the' crimps of said sheets.

sheets; said binde'rstrips ove'lappng the sheets andbeing Secured, andpreferably cemented, to

the edges of the outside sheets on both faces of the' pad, said strips runningtransversely to the By such constru'ction said binder strips hold the crimps' in the sheets against `spreading adjacent the i binder' strips, and thus maintainthe pucker of said sheets,` butatthe same time leave the body of the liner soft, flexible 'and elastic, so that the body 'of the liner may yield and spread transversely of thecrimps and thus accom'modate the stresses mentioned without splitting.

A'further object of my invention is toprovide a .cushioning liner of some 'thickness., `'This I accomp'lish by making an` envelope, as itfwere,

consisting of' sheets-of 'crimped paper united at u their' edges'by"narrowwbinder-strips of greater tensile' strength, as abovedescribed, ,and placing in the envelope so produced zonlor more similar thin, crimp'edsheets.` The puckers of the' faces of the filler sheet (zo-acting withthose of the sheets constituting the envelope serve to hold the filler sheets against lateral displacement.

The details of construction in my'said cushioning elastic liner are hereinafter more 'fully Vertical apples in which my liner is section of the same box, butshowing the'cover slats unfastened from the box; i

` Fig.3 is a diagrammati'c vertical transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and= Fig. 4 illustrates the crimped sheets and their binder strips' separated in order to illustrate bet- ,ter the construction of my liner.

In thedrawings, a and b indicate two sheets of soft,creped paper which constitute the twoidentical soft faces of my liner, either face or surface` of the liner being suitable for being placed in direct contact with the fruit; In many instances I have 'found itsufficientto make' my liner merely of twolayers of creped paper.` Howeveywhen greater cushioning effect is required, the number of layers may be increased as desired; 'The filler sheets are ;indicated by c. While filling, other than creped or crimped paper, may be.

placed between the two outer sheets of crimped paper constituting the envelope of my filled liner, I do not consider this practical. According to my experience all the filler sheets or layers should also be made of soft creped or crimped paper. It is important that the crimps or puckers d of all sheets should run parallel to each other and transve'sely to the length of my liner. The puckers of the soft filler sheets also function to hold these sheets from slipping out from between the outer sheets of the liner.

The edging or binding strips e and f are folded over the edges of my liner and are secured in place by adhesive to the outer faces of my liner, as above described and illustrated by Fig. 2. These binding strips are narrow s'o as to cover only a small margin at the edges of both faces of the liner and thus impose no restriction on the elasticity of the remaining portions of the creped sheets. The binding strips extend transversely to the furrows or puckers, and, being of stronger, heavier paper, provide desired strength for my liner and, furthermore, prevent my liner from being stretched longitudinally to such extent as to smooth out all the puckers or crimps. At the same time, since the binding strips cover only the edges of the soft crimped paper constituting the body of the liner, the uncovered surfaces remain fiexible and elastic. My liner is conveniently made up in any convenient width, and cut into desired lengths as used. If desired, it may be wound in rolls for shipment.

If desired, the creped paper constituting my liner may be impregnated with some preservetive such as is used for fruit wrappers. The narrow binder strips of heavy paper are suitable also for printing, coloring` or other distinctive clecoration.

The word "crimped" as used in the specification is to be understood as designating any type of folds produced in the'sheet extending in one direction, as for example, produced in' the customary "creping" of a paper sheet. i

As mentioned previously, Fig. la illustrates a sealed box of apples in which a liner is used. The liner, indicated by o, extends up next to the side g of the box and thence over on top of the fruit beneath the slats h which constitute the box cover. The cover slats h are Secured to the top of the end g' of the box by the nails z'. When the cover slats h are pulled loose from the ends g' of the box, as illustrated in Fig. 2a, in the opening of the box, the released pressure indicated by the arrow m, causes the fruit to push the cover slats and` upper layer of the fruit upward, thus causing the liner o, which is held clamped between the slats and the fruit to be split along the topedge of the sides g of the box, as indicated at Irc. With my liner, however, this could not occur, for the puckers in the crimped sheets permit the liner to Stretch, With the result that neither face-of the liner is split.

I claim:

A pack of the character described comprising a firm box-like body containing the pack and a resilient cover firmly fastened to the top of the sides of the body and exerting pressure on the pack, a flexible rectangular elongate cushion liner sheet enveloping the sides of the pack and extending beyond the tops of the sides of said body, said liner sheet made up of a plurality of superimposed sheets of softly crimped paper, the crimps of each of said sheets extending transversely to its length, and relatively narrow reinforcing binding strips firmly uniting said sheets along the edges of their long sides and retaining said crimps in said sheets, the ends of the liner sheet being lapped over each other and over the pack under said cover, whereby, when the cove` is removed, the crimps of said sheets will permit the sheet to Stretch lengthwise and thus yield to and accommodate without being ruptured the refiex strain imposed upon said lapped ends of the liner sheet by the sudden release of the pressure of said cover on the pack.

i WILLIAM J. WHITE.

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