US2636660A

US2636660A - Molded pulp carton

Info

Publication number: US2636660A
Application number: US736791A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lile H Brown
Original assignee: Shellmar Products Corp
Current assignee: Shellmar Products Corp
Priority date: 1947-03-24
Filing date: 1947-03-24
Publication date: 1953-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 1970-04-28

Description

April 2s, 195s MOLDED PULP CARTON Filed March 24, 1947 j? 5 j@ "I" l@ @WM/f2 jy' L. H. BROWN 2,636,660

Patented Apr. 28, `1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOLDED PULP CARTON Lile H. Brown, Thorndike, Mass., assignor to Shellmar Products Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a

corporation of Delaware Application March Z4, 1947, Serial No. 736,791

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-45) but limitations imposed by the molding process and functional requirement of the egg trade have made the development of a commercially acceptable carton a problem. Y

A principal object of this invention is to provide a molded pulp carton having a cellular arrangement which dimensionally meets the trade needs, provides room for large eggs,A protects against breakage, compensates for the reduced transverse internal space resulting from the tapering of the sides of a carton and nests closely enough for shipping purposes.

Another object is the provision of a molded pulp carton having two longitudinal rows of cells, the corresponding cells in each row being staggered or offset to allow the eggs of one row to lie in between the eggs of the other row, thereby enabling closure of the carton cover even when a large egg is placed in the carton.

A further object is to construct a carton of the type described which will accommodate long and thick eggsand still be of such dimensions as to t into a standard egg case.

These and other objects will be evident fro the following description and the drawings, in which:

- Fig. l is a plan view of the carton shown with its cover in opened position;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the carton in partially closed position showing the positioning of eggs;

and

cases to the packer, being disposed in the case in tiers of flats and fillers. The eggs are candled by the packer and placed in 2 X 6 cartons, which are then returned to the case for shipment to retail outlets. Since the cartons are packed three across in each compartment of the case and inA i'lve vertically disposed layers, the limitations as to size of the cartons are approximately as follows: height 21/2 inches, width 3% inches, and length ll, inches. It is better that the cartons be slightly under the theoretical dimensions of the case, since the latter often is warped. Thus,

`Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line` 3- 3 a well-known 2 X 6 paperboard carton now on the market has a length of only 11% inches.

One of the requirements of the pulp molding process is that the walls of an article be tapered so that it can be Withdrawn from the forming die, and also to permit the articles to be shipped in nested relation. Thus, as shown in the drawings, the cover of the present carton has a iiat top I0 and outwardly and downwardly tapered front and rear walls, Il and I2, respectively. The

cover is of generally parallelogram shape with` outwardly tapered end Walls I3 and I4, as hereinafter described in detail, and two marginal cover-locking tabs l5 are. integrally connected to the front wall Il, these being adapted to inter-` lock with the bottom section, as will also be described. The rear wall l2 is hinged to the bottom section of the carton along aline IB. l

It will be noted that the top lll of the carton is more narrow than the width of the carton along its middle, this being a condition imposed by the tapered walls. As a result, the transverse area internally of the cover reduces toward the top, i. e., there is less transverse egg carrying space in the cover than atvthe center of the carton. Since eggs are packed in a carton with their large end up, a carton having a cover of sufeient volume to accommodate large eggs positioned directly across from each other in the transverse direction may be unduly wide at the center of the carton, er, if the carton is narrow enough to nt into a 30 dozen case, it will have inadequate egg carrying space in the cover.

The bottom section of the carton shown in the drawings is 4designed to provide adequate transverse space in the cover of the carton without undue width. The bottom section has two longi-4 tudinally extending rows of egg cells each including a bottom il from which upwardly tapered walls extend. These walls include outer walls i8,

inwardly inclined cover walls I9 on each side of the outer walls, side walls 2U adjoining the corner walls, and centrally tapered, transversely angled partition-forming walls 2l. Each of the cells save those at an outermost end of each of the rows has` an inner wall 22 joining walls 2l. said outermost cells the walls 2l converge and meet.

It will be noted that the cells of each row adjoin each other along the reducedspace represented by the upwardly merging and meeting walls 2E. Walls 2i? have greater taper than the other walls of the bottom and merge somewhat below the tops of said other walls.

Between the upper margins of adjacent walls I9 are triangular platforms 23.

Along the center of the carton the walls 2! and 22 merge together to form a longitudinal partition of zig-zag shape. The cells of the rear row are positioned in longitudinally staggered relation with respect to the cells in the iront row, that is, the centers of the cells in one row are opposite the lines of merger of the cells in the other row. Furthermore, by the zig-'zag torination of the longitudinal partition, the cells of one row are laterally nested or inset into or between adjoining cells of the other row.

As shown in Fig. 3, the walls 2i and 2i. are of less height than the outer walls of the cells, but of greater height than the merging side walls 2i). At their tops, walls 2l and 22 are joined by horiu zontal, triangular platforms 2li which lie laterally abreast a cell in one rowv and between adjacent cells in the other row. Platforms iid are thus successively positioned oppositely ano*l staggered along the longitudinal partition.

Between two sets of cells, and at longitudinally spaced positions opposite the coverlocking hooks I5, the iront side of the carton is provided with hook-receiving openings iii which function in the manner shown in Fig. 3 toreceive .said hooks and retain the cover in closed position.

Along the front wall of the bottom section is joined a cover-bracing flap 2li which normally extends outwardly as shown in Fig. l. It preferably is joined to the bottom section along a weakened hinge line to facilitate bending. It Will be noted that this cover bracing flange backs up the openings 25 and aids in strengthening the sides of. the latter so as to make itl more difiicult to displace hooks lo inadvertently from their engagement with the openings.

In utilizing the carton, eggs are placed in the cells in the manner shown in Fig. 2,. These eggs are staggered and an egg in'one row will be able to extend into the space between eggs in merging cells of the other row, thus taking advantage of the round shape or" the eggs and cells to provide transverse space in the carton. Lacking this staggered positioning, in the oase oi large eggs the width of the cover is not great enough to accommodate the eggs without undue distortion of the cover or breakage oi the eggs.

In closing the cover, the flange 26 is rotated upwardly and inwardly to a position within the.

cover, and the cover rotated over into the position shown in Fig. 3. The hooks liare then pressed into the openings 25 from the outside of the cartons. If there are large eggs in the carton, closure of the tapered cover tends to press the tops of the eggs `toward they center of the carton; that is, they tend to lean over tc- Ward the opposite row of eggs, and since they can be accommodated in the space between adjacent eggs in said opposite row, there is less tendency for them to be crushed than where the eggs in the two rows are oppositely posi tioned. Also, even though eggs in the opposite rows come in contact, the staggered disposition places their contact point in a tangential line at an angle to the transverse line oi application of crushing force, hence reduces the tendency for breakage.

As the eggs lean over (Fig. 2) 'their longitudinal axis is at an angl-e, and therefore, the eggs also occupy less vertical space in the carton, which is of particular value in the case of long eggs. Thus the staggered positioning ci the merging cells provide for both transverse and vertical space in the carton.

By arranging the cells in staggered relation,

i pend upon such factors as the amount of room it is desired to gain transversely of the carton and the distance between cell centers in each row. Thus, for a carton of the same overall length as that shown in the drawings, but with cells which are wider spaced, less than a full stagger will be desired.

The above described carton has the advantage that, when the cartons are crated in a 30 dozen carton, the cartons of alternate layers are at right angles and in closing' relation, themajority of eggs in any layer will 'be so positioned that the vertical axis thereof does notfcoincide with the vertical axis of, the corresponding egg in the layer therebeneath. Thus direct transmission of vertical crushing stress is minimized.

The particular shape of the carton cells andv the wall structure may be changed variously from the form shown in the drawings. For in* stance, provision may be made for divisibility. of the carton into half dozen sizes. All such modications are intended to be included in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A molded paper pulp carton comprisingA cover and bottom sections of elongated generally, parallelogram-shaped outline in plan, said sec-f tions being laterally enclosed around opposedi side and end margins thereof and being integrally hinged to one another along one longitudinal side margin to bring the sections into ver-g tical register in the closed condition of the Carv ton, said bottom section being provided with internal opstanding formations, all of heighty less than that of said bottom section margins, arranged to subdivide the same into parallel rows of inclined wall cells which are in staggered, longitudinally and axes 'of eggs disposed in adjoining longitudinally extending rows may readily be disposed in upm wardly convergent angular relationship by the.`

transverse overlapping of the rounded inner surfaces of the eggs, and a flange of substantial area integrally connected to the freev margin of said bottom section and disposed, in said closed conv dition, in upright, vertically bracing relationto said cover section within the free margin of the latter, said flange at one end `.thereof longitu-V laterally enclosed around opposed side and endmargins thereof and being integrally hinged to one another along one longitudinal side margin to bring the sections into vertical register in the f closed condition of the carton, said bottom sec# 1 tion being provided with internal upstanding formations, all of height less than that of said bottom section margins, arranged to subdivide the sameinto parallel rows of inclined wall cells transversely nested. relation to one another, wherebythe respectivey which are in staggered, longitudinally and transversely nested relation to one another, whereby the respective axes of eggs disposed in adjoining longitudinally extending rows may readily be disposed in upwardly convergent angular relationship by the transverse overlapping of the rounded inner surfaces of the eggs, and a flange of substantial area integrally connected to the free margin of said bottom section and disposed, in said closed condition, in upright, vertically bracing relation to said cover section within the free margin of the latter, said ilange at one end thereof longitudinally over-extending the corresponding end of the opposite, hinged side margin of the bottom section to support the cover section in this zone, the ends of said bottom section having inwardly extending abutments engageable by the cover section ends to prevent vertical telescoping of the sections in these zones.

3. A molded paper pulp carton comprising cover and bottom sections of elongated generally parallelogram-shaped outline in plan, said sections being laterally enclosed around opposed side and end margins thereof and being integrally hinged to one another along one longitudinal side margin to bring the sections into vertical register in the closed condition of the carton, said bottom section being provided with internal upstanding formations, all of height less than that of said bottom section margins, arranged to subdivide the same into parallel rows of inclined Wall cells which are in staggered, longitudinally and transversely nested relation to one another, whereby the respective axes of eggs disposed in adjoining longitudinally extending rows may readily be disposed in upwardly convergent angular relationship by the transverse overlapping of the rounded inner surfaces of the eggs, and a member of substantial area integrally hinged to the other longitudinal side margin of said bottom section and disposed, in said closed condition, in upright.

vertically bracing relation to said cover section within the free margin of the latter.

LILE H. BROWN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS