US2774530A - Cell wall carton - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 18, 1956 H. v. BOLDING ET AL 2,774,530

CELL WALL CARTON 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 27, 1956 FI ELE." INVENToR Haager V. 50A //va Een/557 6 Gau/N5 /TZ'Ofe/VEY Dec. 18, 1956 H. v. BoLDlNG ET AL 2,774,530

CELL WALL. CARTON 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1956 INVENTORS x ERA/57 6.6044/5/1/5 ATTORNEY Dec. 18, 1956 H. V. BOLDING ET AL CELL WALL CARTON 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 27, 1956 INVENTOR S M/fr K .Bom/Ms Y wm MA a L E m E@ w United States Patent O 2,774,530 CELL WALL CARTON Hubert V. Bolding, Clarksville, and Ernest G. Gowens, Jeffersonville, Ind., assignors to The Bradley & Gilbert Company, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Application February 27, 1956, Serial No. 568,015 Claims. (Cl. 229-34) This invention relates to tray-type, spaced doublewall, collapsible cartons, preferably of the single-blank type. More specifically this invention is directed to improvements in the structure of this type carton to produce a better braced and interlocked folding box structure which results in a reduction in the amount and weight of board material used while at the same time securing the required strength and rigidity.

A considerable demand has developed in recent years for a spaced double-wall carton which can be shipped to the user in collapsed, flattened condition ready for automatic machine or hand erection involving a minimum of operative steps. These cartons are found to be of exceptional value in protecting delicate items as well as in providing insulated boxes for frozen foods and the like. A carton of this type must be easy to manufacture, shippable in flattened condition, easily erectable, and structurally sound and rigid when erected. The meeting of these requirements with a completely satisfactory double-wall carton has presented a real challenge to the industry.

The present invention meets this challenge with the provision of a double-wall carton which is made from a minimum of material, permits the use of lighter weight board, and secures the required strength and rigidity through unique structural arrangements of the bracing and operating elements.

The instant invention comprises a bottom from which extend side and end wall forming panels which are scored to provide collapsible double walls. Outer wall bellows fold means are provided for automatically erecting the double walls, the bellows fold means being arranged to fasten the side outer walls to the top inner surface of the end outer walls, thereby increasing the strength and rigidity and facilitating erection. The side inner walls are affixed to the bottom by glued panels. The double walls provide an uninterrupted cell space around lthe entire periphery of the carton. An inner wall bellows fold means or brace means is provided for rigidifying the complete structure and for providing a face-to-face abutment for the end inner walls. This abutting contact provides a positive stop as the end inner wall is brought downwardly into the erected carton and aids in positively insuring the interlocking of the lock means which maintains the carton in rigid erected condition. The end inner walls have tiap extensions which provide a double thickness to the end inner wall, and these two thicknesses in combination with the brace means, the outer wall bellows means, and the outer wall provide tive thicknesses of board at thev end of the carton; this provides added rigidity and strength. Various unique means for interlocking the elements of the box are provided.

As the carton is erected, the outer wall bellows fold means causes erection of the side walls and the bracing means for the end inner Walls are pulled up into erected condition by this action.

Various other objects and meritorious features of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating a form of a die-cut, scored and adhesively treated blank;

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Fig. 2 is a top view of a carton in collapsed condition and made from the blank in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the carton in Fig. 2 in erected condition;

Fig. 4 is a perspective sectional View taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3 with the inner end wall in position for downward movement into lock-ing position;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of an end portion of the box in Fig. 3 with certain glued portions broken apart for purposes of clarity;

Fig. 6 is a side sectional View taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is an end sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating another form of a die-cut, scored and adhesively treated blank, one end of the blank being shown, the other end being similar;

Fig. 9 is `a fragmentary perspective view of an end portion of a box made from the ,blank in Fig. 8 with certain glued portions broken apart for purposes of clarity; and

Fig. l0 is an end sectional view taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 9 with the box in full erected condition.

As seen in Fig. 1, paperboard stock is die-cut, scored, and adhesively treated to provide a rectangular bottom panel 15 from t-he side and end edges of which extend side wall forming panels 17, 13 and end wall form- ing panels 19, 20, respectively. The side wall forming panels 17, 18, are delineated by parallel score lines' to form outer walls 21, side bridging panels 2,2, side inner walls 23 and bottom panels 24 which are glued to bottom 15 by glue areas 41. The end wall forming panels 19, 20 include end outer walls 25, end bridging panels 26, and end inner wall 27.

Outer wall bellows fold means 28, 2S, 29, 29 interconnect the adjacent vertical edge portions of the outer walls 21, 21, 25, 25. Fig. l shows two arrangements' for forming the bellows fold means. At the left-hand side of Fig. l, each of the bellows fol-d means 28, 2S comprises a panel which is hinged to a vertical side edge of a side outer Wall 21. Each of the bellows fold means panels is' divided by a diagonal score line (at 45 degrees) into a first portion 30 extending from the side outer wall 21 and a second port-ion 31 which is attached by glue area 32 in face-to-face engagement with the end outer wall 25. At the right-hand side of Fig. l, each outer wall bellows fold means 29, 29 differs from bellows fold means 28, 28 discus'sed above in that the second portions 32, 32 are hinged to the `side edge of end outer wall 25.

The side inner walls 23, 23 have brace means extending from their side edges, these brace means including inner end braces 33 and means such as anchor tabs 34 for xedly positioning the inner end braces 33 in proper position. The -anchor tabs 34 are afiixed as by glue areas 35 in face-to-face engagement with bottom 15. The inner end braces are diagonally scored v(at 45 degrees) to 4allow collapsing, as will be further explained. The hinge line or joint between each inner end brace 33 and its respective side inner wall 23 is cut to provide a lug hole cut 45 which upon bending of the hinge joint forms a lug receiving slot 36 (Figs. 4 and 7). The side edges of the end inner w-alls 27 have extensions 42 which are folded back and adhered to the surface of the inner end walls Y27 to strengthen the same, the fold lines having lug cuts 37 whereby Ilugs 3S are formed upon the folding of the extensions. Lugs 3S are designed to engage and llock in their respective slots 36 to hold the box in erected condition.

In Fig. 2 the carton of Fig. 1 is shown in glued and collapsed condition. It will be appreciated from Fig. 2 that standard machinery can be used to accomplish the cutting, scoring, gluing and folding operations to produce the carton of Fig. 2 from the blank of Fig. l.

In erecting the carton from the collapsed condition shown in Fig. 2 t-o the erected condition shown in Fig. 3, the end walls 25, 27 are lifted thereby bringing the side walls 21, 23 to vertical position with the side inner walls 23 spaced from the outer side walls. The end inner walls 27 are then moved downwardly (Fig. 4) into the box and the lugs 3S will then automatically lock in the lug receiving slots 36 when the end inner walls 27 reach vertical position. The inner end braces 33 of the brace means are moved into vertical position as the side walls 21, 23 are erected as shown in Fig. 5 wherein certain glue joints have been broken to show the structure more clearly. The inner end braces 33 are then in position -for receiving the end inner walls 27 when the end inner wall is moved downwardly between the side inner walls 23. It will be noted that the inner end braces 33 have anchor tabs 34 extending from their bottom hinge lines which are aflixed in face-to-face engagement with the bottom 15. In Figs. 3 and 5 these anchor tabs 34 extend outwardly toward the end outer walls 25. In the slightly modiiied structure shown in Fig. 4, one of these anchor tabs extends inwardly toward the center of the box.

Figs. 6 and 7 show the advantageous bracing feature of the instant invention whereby a substantial portion of the surface of end inner wal-l 27 is strongly supported by a face-to-face engagement with the inner end braces 33. The provision of this desirable rigidifying structure is accomplished without causing the addition of steps to the carton erection procedure and without prohibitively increasing the cost of material and manufacture.

The blank and carton structure shown in Figs. 8-10 is of a basic design similar to that of Figs. l-3 and includes the outer wall bellows fold means 28 which enables automatic erection of the double side walls 2l, 23 as the end walls 25, 27 are moved to a vertical position.

The brace means of Figs. 8-10 differs from that of Figs. 1e7. As seen in Figs. 8 and 9, the inner end braces 50 have bottom tabs 51 extending therefrom which overlie the bottom l5. Extending from the bottom tabs 51 are end wall tabs 52 which are axed in face-to-face engagement with end outer wall 2S by means of glue areas 53. The inner end braces 50 and their respective bottom tabs 51 are cut at their common hinge lines 54 to form depending lugs 55.

The end inner wall 27 of Figs. S-lO has a tuck panel 57 extending therefrom which is sandwiched between the bottom tabs 51 and the bottom 15 when the box is in erected condition. Two modifications are shown in Figs. 8-10 for forming slots which house lugs 55, the slots being formed by cuts at the common hinge line of the end inner walls 56 and the tuck panel 57. The modification on the left side of Figs. 8 and 10 involves a completely cut out portion, while the modiiication on the right-hand side involves a partially cut portion which presents the desirable nished appearance as seen in Fig. l0.

Extensions 42 of the inner end walls 27 are shown as being of the web style, that is, integrally hinged to the side edges of the end inner walls 27. lt will be appreciated that non-web styles may be employed if desired.

To aid in clearly defining the instant invention, the terms bottom, side, vertieaL end and the like have been used throughout. It will be readily appreciated that the carton of the instant invention is readily usable as a cover or side structure in which case the various elements would be more properly designated by other terms. The terms of the specification and claims are therefore to be broadly interpreted and not restricted to the narrow meaning of the terms which have been used only for purposes of clarity.

Having described certain preferred embodiments of the invention, various modications falling within the basic concept may be apparent to those skilled in the art, and for that reason we wish to limit ourselves only within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

l. A tray-type double-wall box structure which in erected condition comprises a rectangular bottom, side and end wall forming panels extending from the side edges and end edges respectively of said bottom and forming spaced double walls, each of said side end wall form-ing panels being delineated by hinge lines to define an outer wall, a bridging panel, and an inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the inner walls of the end wall forming panels being end inner walls, the inner walls of the side wall forming panels being side inner walls, means for maintaining the bottom hinge lines of said side inner walls in xed relation to said bottom, bellows fold means interconnecting the adjacent vertical edge portions of said outer walls to facilitate erection and collapse of said carton, brace means including inner end braces each of which being hinged to its respective vertical edge of said side inner walls and positioned between its respective end outer wall and end inner wall in face-to-face bracing engagement with an adjacent predetermined portion of its respective end inner wall, said brace means including means for xedly positioning the bottom hinge edges of said inner end braces adjacent said bottom and parallel to the end edges of said bottom on lines substantially directly under the inner horizontal hinge line of their respective end bridging panels, each of said inner end braces having a fold line extending diagonally upwardly from its outermost bottom corner portion to facilitate collapse and erection of said end braces, and means on said end inner walls operatively engaging said brace means to hold the erected carton in braced and interlocked erected condition.

2. A tray-type double-wall box structure in accordance with claim l and wherein said means for iixedly positioning the bottom hinge edges of said inner end fraces adjacent said bottom comprise anchor tabs extending from said inner end braces and being iixed in face-to-face engagement with said bottom, said inner braces and said side inner walls being cut at their common vertical hinge lines to provide slots, and said means on said inner end walls include lugs extending from their vertical edges which engage and lock in said slots to hold the carton in erected condition.

3. A tray-type double-wall box structure in accordance with claim 2 and wherein said bellows fold means comprises bellows fold panels hinged to the vertical edges or one pair of opposed outer walls, each of said bellows fold panels being divided by a diagonal score line into a first portion and a second portion, said second portion being fixed in face-to-face engagement with its respective one of the second pair of opposed outer walls.

4. A tray-type double-wall box in accordance with claim 1 and wherein said means for tixedly positioning the bottom hinge edges of said inner end braces adjacent said bottom comprise bottom tabs extending from said inner end braces and end wall tabs extending from said bottom tabs, said end wall tabs being in fixed face-to-face engagement with their respective end outer walls, said inner end braces and said bottom tabs being cut at their common hinge lines to form depending lugs, and said means on said end inner walls include tuck panels extending from said end inner walls and sandwiched between their respective bottom tabs and bottom, said end inner walls and said tuck panels being cut at their common hinge lines to provide slots which house said lugs to hold the carton in erected condition.

5. A tray-type double-wall box structure in accordance with claim 4 and wherein said bellows fold means comprises bellows fold panels hinged to the vertical edges of one pair of opposed outer walls, each of said bellows fold panels being divided by a diagonal score line into a first portion and a second portion, said second portion being fixed in face-toface engagement with its respective one of the Vsecond pair of opposed outer walls.

No references cited.

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