US2243223A

US2243223A - Collapsible egg carton

Info

Publication number: US2243223A
Application number: US245979A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sandell Rudolf
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1938-05-12
Filing date: 1938-12-15
Publication date: 1941-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 1958-05-27

Description

May 2 Filed D R. SANDELL GOLLAPSIBLE EGG CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 (EW QX May 27, 1941. R SANDELL 2,243,223

' COLLAPSIBLE EGGOARTON Filed Dec. 15. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 27, 1941 air n Application December 15, 1938, Serial No. 245,979 in Sweden May 12, 1938 4 Glairns.

In order, when paclL'ng eggs, to obtain a soft and cushioning support for the eggs, many different means have been proposed. A common feature for several of them is that the eggs are placed in V-shaped troughs, which by means of transverse members or other means have been divided into cells, as a rule one for each egg. In some case the egg-holder made in this way has been made inte ral with the outer shell of the carton whereas in other cases the egg-holder: and the outer shell have been made separately so that the former has been placed loose in Le latter. In the one case a special machine is required for fixing the carton in position .1 the consumers shop (the carton being delivered by the manufacturer in a collapsed condition), whereas in the other case the manufacture of the carton in the carton factorybecom'es very tedius and expensive, much manual work being required.

According to still another arrangement, the eggs are packed in a'carton' in which the e gholder has been formed in such a way that a number of transverse partition walls have been secured to one side wall of the shell, said partition walls, when the carton is to be erected in the consurners shop, being swung outwards, whereas one part of the shell, which is -cornposed of three sections provided with cuts, is bent over so that a perpendicular wall is obtained dividing the carton into two compartments, in the outermost of which there is a diagonally running intermediate bottom and in the inner a flap that with 'its lower free end abuts against the bottom of the carton. In this arrangement the intermediate bottom 'in' the outer and the flap in the inner compartment, respectively, are supposed to serve as cushioning supports for the eggs, but in practice this object is not achieved. Unless special cutshave been provided in the intermediate bottoms in the outer compartment, the eggs will rest on the intermediate bottoms (since cardbcard'is'not "capable of elongation), and if the space is to be large enough for an egg of normal size, the total height of the carton must be very great.

While in the outer compartment th eggs will thus be lying at a great distance from the bottom, the reverse will be the case in theinner compartment, as the flaps naturally due to the weight of the eggs will be bent close along the partition wall with the result that the eggs will be resting directly on the bottom, thus pressing down the latter.

Another important drawback of the'last mentioned contruction is that the erection of a carton of this type in the consumers shop is difficult and tedious, asthe transverse cell-forming partition walls (except those nearest to the ends of the cartons) are loose at one end.

The presentinvention, which refers to an arrangement of such collapsible cartons made from cardboard or similar material, that when ready for use have two series of intercrossing partition walls forming two parallel rows of cells enclosed by a shell, has for its object to eliminate all the above drawbacks, and the invention is characterized, firstly thereby that one of the vertical edges of each of the walls forming one series of partition walls is secured to one side of the shell, whereas the opposite vertical edges of said partition walls are secured to or made in one piece with another wall that is parallel with the above mentioned side ofthe cover but independent of the shell, secondly thereby that the opposite side of the cover is secured to or made in one piece with a sheet consisting of four seat-forming-sections, with cuts corresponding to the first series of partition walls, forming the second series of partition walls and being arranged to be introduced in the form of a W in the single row of cells formed by the first series of partition walls, so that two rows of V-formed compartments are formed, in which the first mentioned series of partition wall-s intersect cuts in the second series of partition walls. The erection of the carton in the consumers shop hereby becomes very simple and the carton offers very good cushioning protection for the eggs, at the sametime being easy to manufacture in an entirely automatic machine.

Thanks to the fact that all the transverse partition walls in the first series are at both their vertical edges interconnected so that all such walls are moved when one is moved, the erection in the shop of the consumer is very much simplifled in that it is only necessary to hold one partition wall (and preferably one of those located nearest to the ends) in position to make all the others automatically assumethe same position. This may even be still further simplified by providing one of the partition walls nearest to either end with a hole or a cut through which the first finger of one hand may be introduced. For manufacturing reasons the shell and the series of transverse partition walls should be made from different rolls of material in such a way that the direction of fiber in both shell and the transverse partition wall runs'in the transverse direction of, the carton.

The invention is illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows a plan view of a sheet of card-board for a shell intended for 12 eggs together with its seat-forming extension, said blank being divided by 8 scoring lines into 9 sections. Fig. 2 is a section along the line IIII in Figs. 1 and 3. Figs. 3 and 4 are sections along the line III-III in Fig. 1, showing two different positions of the transverse partition walls. Figs. 5 and 6 show in the same way as Fig. 3 two other ways of arranging the transverse partition walls in cartons for and 6 eggs respectively. Fig. 7 shows still another way of arranging the transverse partition wall. Fig. 8 is a section along the line VIII-VIII in Fig. 3, and Fig. 9 shows an end view of Fig. 3. Fig. 10 shows on a larger scale a cross-section through the erected carton.

The sheet shown in Fig. 1 is divided by the 8 scoring lines l-8 into nine sections 9|'|. The section 9 forms a locking flap on the top section It). Sections l I and I3 form the sides of the carton and section 12 its bottom. Sections l4-l1 are intended, after bending to a W, to serve as seat walls for eggs. A number of transverse partition walls [8 are pivotally secured to the section II along one of their vertical edges. The opposite vertical edges of the walls l8 are pivotally secured to a sheet l9 that is parallel to the section II. cuts 28 intended to form yielding supporting flaps for the eggs. Each of these cuts are at the ends and the middle intersected at right angles by shorter cuts 2|. Between the cuts 20 there are longitudinal cuts 22 extending through two adjacent sections l4, l5 and l6, l1 respectively. The two outermost partition walls l8 have the appearance shown in Fig. 9, whereas the interior partition walls l8 are provided with

cuts

23, 24 and 25, intended to guide and center the cell-forming sections or partition walls l4-l1 when these are to be introduced into the pigeon holes formed by the transverse partition walls l8.

The interior part I8--l 9 shown in Fig. 3 is made from longitudinal strips of three rolls of cardboard. During the manufacture the strips run one above the other and are not folded until this stage, whereupon they are allowed to pass over glueing discs in order to receive stripes of glue on the requisite places for the purpose of being inter-secured. Thereafter the interior part is glued to section II as shown in Fig. 2. For the purpose of locking the carton, one or more of the transverse partition walls 3 may be provided with a cut in which a corresponding flap in the section 9 is introduced.

The erection of the carton from the plane position shown in Fig. 1 to the position necessary for introducing the eggs is effected in the following manner. At first the interior part iB-IS is swung out to a position at right angle to section II. Thereafter the extension of the shell is folded along the scoring line 3 against the bottom section I 2, and the side section 13 is bent up whereafter sections l4-l1 forming the longitudinal cell-forming partition walls are introduced in the interior part in such a way that the transverse partition walls l8 intersect the cuts 22, the partition walls [4-H then forming a W, and these partition walls rest against the

cuts

23, 24 and 25 in the transverse partition walls l8, at the

points

26, 21, 28 and 29. When the eggs are inserted the cell-forming partition walls l4-l'l are curved somewhat so that the flaps 39 formed by the cuts 202l are forced In the sections I4-l1 there are longitudinal somewhat outwards so that the eggs obtain a good and at the same time to a certain extent cushioning support, automatically adjusted to the size of each egg.

The interior part forming the transverse partition walls 68 may, as shown by Figs. 5-7, be made in a number of different ways. What is essential is, however, that these Walls are not pivotally secured to the side section II along one of their vertical edges but also that they are intersecured at the opposite vertical edge so that swinging out one of the transverse partition walls automatically means swinging out all the others. In order to simplify the erection and handling of the carton while it is being erected, one 01 both of the extreme partition walls may be provided with a finger hole 3|.

Having now particularly described the nature of my invention and the manner of its operation what I claim is:

l. A collapsible carton for eggs, comprising in combination; a sheet of foldable material having substantially parallel fold lines defining top, rear, bottom and front panels for said carton; and a collapsible compartment assembly of like material secured to said rear panel and including opposed end wall members for said carton and a front wall member for said assembly, said assembly including a plurality of transverse substantially parallel partition members each pivotally connected to the front wall of said compartment assembly and to the rear panel of said carton to form a series of elongated cells in said assembly in its erected position, said sheet having an extension integral with said front panel and longitudinal of said sheet in its collapsed position, fold lines in said extension substantially parallel with said first mentioned fold lines, said last mentioned fold lines being spaced to define a plurality of foldable and bowable sections. each of said sections containing a series of longitudinal closed slots transversely spaced to register with said partition members in their erected position, said sections being adapted to be folded and bowed into said assembly so that said slots will engage said partitions in a manner whereby the entire effective volume of said carton will be divided into a plurality of egg-supporting connected cradles having sides of approximately eoual length and having their upper portions lyin in substantially the same plane, all of said cradles extending to an approximately equal denth into said cells.

2. The combination of claim 1 that includes locking means for said carton, said locking means including an extension of said top panel providing a flap portion adapted to be inserted behind the upper outer edge of said carton, said flap portion being provided with notches positioned to engage said partition members whereby said top panel may be held in a position closing said carton.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein one of said end walls is apertured' to provide a finger grip for holding said assembly in its erected position to expedite its engagement with said sections, while said carton is being erected.

4. A collapsible carton for eggs, comprising in combination; a sheet of foldable material having substantially parallel fold lines defining top, rear, bottom and front panels for said carton; and a collapsible compartment assembly of like material secured to said rear panel and including opposed end wall members for said carton and a front wall member for said assembly, said assembly including a plurality of transverse subtions, each of said sections containing a series,

of longitudinal closed slots transversely spaced to register with said partition members in their erected position, said sections being adapted to fbe folded and bowed into said assembly so that said slots will engage said partitions in a manner whereby the entire effective volume of said carton will be divided into a plurality of longif'tudinal rows of egg-supporting connected cradles, each row having sides of substantially equal length and. having their upper portions lying in 10 "substantially the same plane, all of the cradles fin each of said rows extending to substantially an equal depth into said cells.

RUDOLF SANDELL.