US2868437A

US2868437A - Packing tube

Info

Publication number: US2868437A
Application number: US424947A
Authority: US
Inventors: Groenhuis Harm
Original assignee: US Philips Corp
Current assignee: US Philips Corp; North American Philips Co Inc
Priority date: 1954-04-22
Filing date: 1954-04-22
Publication date: 1959-01-13
Anticipated expiration: 1976-01-13

Description

Jan. 13, 1959 H. GRoENl-luls 2,868,437

PACKING TUBE Filed April 22, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a 6 /o I 6' ,s 6 e f 6 s $.1NVENTOR HARM GRoENHuIs Jan. 13, 1959 H. GRoENHUls PACKING TUBE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1954 I7 if INVENTOR AGENT United States Patent 2,868,437 Patented Jan. 13, 1959 PACKING TUBE Harm Groenhuis, Eindhoven, Netherlands, assigner, by

mesne assignments, to North American Philips Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Dela-` The present invention relates to a packing tube for containing spaced fragile objects.

The transport of eggs from the egg market to the wholesale dealer and from there to the retail trader is usually effected in boxes in which the eggs are packed on racks of fibrous material. Thus a very satisfactory lling factor of the boxes is obtained and the shape of the racks reduces breakage of the eggs to a minimum. With the aid of these racks the retailer can take the eggs out of the box and store them on stands in his shops. With this packing method the shopkeeper supplies the eggs to this customer usually without packing. Since these racks are relatively costly due to their material and shape, they have a certain commercial value after having been used; this may give rise to complications, for example the return of the packing material.

Packing tubes for eggs, made from a folded sheet of 9 corrugated paper, the ridges of which extend lengthwise inside the tube, are known, it is true, but they are never used on a large scale. Although this kind of packing is cheaper than the first-mentioned racks, it has never been used intensively probably since breakage of the eggs may occur.

The present invention has for its object to provide a construction of this kind of packing tube, which is extremely simple and in which the eggs can be transported substantially without the risk of breakage, as has been proved by experiments. ln this case, the eggs may be handed over to the customer in their packing; the return of packing material may then be omitted, since the packing used is extremelly cheap.

The packing tube of the aforesaid kind, which may be used not only for eggs but also for other damageable objects, has the feature that at `the area of each of the objectsstored in the tube the corrugated paper layer has a strip-shaped part extending transversely to the longi-` tudinal direction of the tube, the corrugations of which have a smaller height and preferably also a smaller pitch than the corrugations on either side of such a strip-shaped part. At the boundary area between such a strip-shaped part of corrugations of smaller height and the adjacent tube parts having higher corrugations is formed a number of supporting points forming together a contact surface extending transversely to the direction of length of the tube. The stored object is then supported on this surface. Due to the fact that on the other side of such a strip-shaped part a similar contact surface is formed in opposite direction, the stored object is supported in two directions; if the tube surrounds the stored object intimately, this is found to be suicient for the object to be held rigidly in the packing. The nature of the packing material also provides an elastic support for the stored objects at the area of the lower ridges.

If the stored objects are more or less cylindrical, and hence have more or less distinct end surfaces, the width of such a strip-shaped part may be chosen to be equal to the distance between two contact surfaces of the object. However, if the stored objects are more or less spherical or oval, it is advisable, in accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the invention, to provide a dimension of the strip-shaped parts having ridges of smaller height in the direction of length of the tube which is smaller than the dimension of the object stored in the tube at the 4area of the said part, measured, also in the direction of length of the tube.

If the packing tube according to the invention is used for storing eggs, it is advisable, since the tubes filled with eggs are arranged vertically in an egg case, to arrange the eggs with their direction of length at right angles to direction of length of the tube. In this case, in the normal position of the case the eggs are thus not pointing downwards. v

if the packing according to invention is used for storing a plurality of similar objects, of which the dimensions transverse to the direction of length of the tube are different, it is advisable in another embodiment of the packing according to the invention, to cut in at least one of the edges of the sheet of corrugated paper from which the tube is made at the area of the closing edge between two stored objects. Thus at. one or at both edges serving as closing edges of the packing, between the cuts or slots, tongues are formed, which may be used for closing the packing. By means of these cuts the packing may be applied intimately to each packed object.

The packing is preferably closed by adhesion; in order to obtain a satisfactory adhesion of the paper sheet it `is advantageous to latten a few corrugations in the prox-` imity of one of the edges of the corrugated sheet in the direction of the edge concerned and to secure the ilattened part to the outer side of the opposite edge vof the cor-`V rugated sheet.

Although the starting material for the packing could be made by securing to a smooth substratum side by side strips having a higher and lower ridges, the latter strips having, moreover if desired, a smaller pitch between the corrugations, it is to be preferred, in accordance with the invention, to pass a uniformly corrugated broad strip or paper over a tinted roller constructed in a manner such that it has teeth in one or more parts of its length, the pitch of these teeth being a whole fraction of the pitch of the other parts of the roller.

The packing of the present invention is suitable not only for eggs, but also for other damageable objects, forA example glass lenses and turntables for sound equipment (the surfaces of which are to be protected from damage), polished objects and the like. In transporting damageable objects it is advantages to have a cheap, simple packing available, which protects the packed objects from damage.

in order that the invention may be readily carried into effect, it will not be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is an exploded view of a sheet of corrugatedi Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a iluted roller on which ready made corrugated paper may i be provided with the strip-shaped parts having a smallerfV pitch; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the roller of Fig. 7 taken in the plane VIII-VIII of Fig. 7.

The sheet of packing material shownin Fig. l

is made. t

of corrugated paper, the corrugations 1 of which are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tube to be formed. Since this packing is intended for six eggs, the corrugated inner side of the packing exhibits at six areas astrip-shaped part 2, the corrugations 3 of which (see Figs. 2 and 3) have a smaller height h from the smooth paper surface 4 than the corrugations 5 of the tube parts 6 lying Von either side of the strip-shaped parts 2; the height or' the corrugations 5 from the smooth paper surface being designated h1. Thus the head surfaces ot' the corrugations having the height h1 constitute supporting points for the object stored in the packing. The contact surfaces thus formed are shown in a front view in Fig. 2 andl in a lateral View in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows, moreover, an object '7 stored in the packing; it is evident that due to the contact surfaces 5 this object is stored immovably in the direction of length P of vthe tube and due to the corrugations 3 having the height h it is supported elastically. Due to the pressure exerted by the object '7 on the head surfaces of the corrugations 5, these head surfaces are slightly bent over and, as is shown diagrammatically in Figs. 2 and 3, form a system 5a of slanting surfaces.

Fig. 4 is the front view of a closed tube. From the section between the lines AA and BB it is evident how the eggis supported along its largest dimension' from the corrugations 3 having the smallest height. From the other part of the periphery the peaks of the corrugations 5 of greater height thus project and engage the largest sectional area of the egg. The packing shown in Fig. 5 is closed by superposing one of the tongues 8 or 9 on the other in a manner such that the egg is engaged intimately, and that the inner side of the tongue 8 engages the outer side of the tongue 9. `The tongues S and 9, which are shown in the exploded view of Fig. l, are formed by means of cuts or slits 10 and 11 in the material. In order to suppress the elasticity of the folded edge, the corrugations of the Zone C of the tongue 8 are attened towards the edge of the packing. It would also besuicient to provide cuts only in one of the closing edges.

It is known that eggs are sorted and sold by weight; this does not mean that eggs having the same weight have the same external dimensions; differences in length of to 20% are frequent. However, the cuts 10 and 11 in the starting material of the packing permit the rigid packing of each of the eggs of different lengths in one and the same packing; each set of the associated tongues 8 and 9 may be pressed so as to engage intimately the egg concerned. This is evident from the lateral view of the packing shown in Fig. 5; the sections b contain eggs which are longer than the eggs contained in the sections a. The aforesaid egg packing has another advantage in that the use of corrugated paper guarantees an excellent ventilation. In order to facilitate opening of the packing, a string may be stuck in one of the corrugations, this string projecting at one end from the tube and extending throughout the length of the tube.

The embodiment of the packing shown in Fig. 6 contains three identical asks 16. In this packing, the starting material has corrugations of a height k in the stripshaped parts 17, this height being smaller than the height k1 of thecorrugations of the other strip-shaped parts 12 of the packing. In this packing, the more or less abrupt transition between the bottom portion 13 or the top surface 14 and the cylindrical part 15 of each ask is utilized to adapt thereto'the length of the strip-shaped parts 17. Furthermore, in this case, cheap packing material provides an extremely efficient packing, in which the stored asks areV held immovably. Both in the packing shown in Fig; 4 and in that shown in Fig. 6 the packing material may, if desired, be cut between two stored objects, one object being thus severed in the packing from the other,

' While nevertheless all objects remain in place in the associated packing material.

From Fig. 2 it is particularly evident that for the packing material according to the invention corrugated material of which the corrugations of the strip-shaped parts have only a smaller height and not a smaller pitch than the other parts of the material, may suffice.

The roller shown in Figs. 7 and 8 has ribs 20 extending throughout its length and having a pitch m, which is equal to the pitch of the uniformly corrugated material to be fed to said roller. At six areas distributed over the length of the roller, between each pair of teeth of the corrugation 2t), in the grooves 21, provision is made of knives 22 in a manner such that a corrugation having half the pitch of the corrugation of the other roller portion is produced at six areas 23 throughout the periphery of the roller. `When the corrugated paper is supplied to the roller, the strip-shaped parts of smaller pitch are formed at the area of the zones 23.

While the invention has been described by means of a specific example and in a specific embodiment, l do not wish to be limited thereo, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A packing tube of a given longitudinal dimension for containing spaced fragile objects comprising a rolled corrugated sheet, a rolled smooth sheet having a reference surface contacting said corrugations, the corrugations in said sheet being substantially parallel with said longitudinal dimension and having a given maximum height measured from said reference surface and a given pitch dimension, the corrugations being rolled on the inner surface of said tube and each corrugation having indentations at selected areas thereon to form a strip-shaped indented part, each of said strip-shaped parts being located in a direction substantially transverse to said longitudinal dimension and forming a compressible contacting rim on the inner surface of said tube, said indented parts including corrugations having over their entire length a smaller maximum constant height measured from said reference surface and a smaller pitch dimension than the corresponding maximum height and given pitch dimension respectively of the corrugations on either side of said strip-shaped indented parts.

2. A packing tube as claimed in claim l in which the Y substantially parallel with said longitudinal dimension," said corrugations being rolled on the inner surface of said tube and having a given pitch dimension and a given maximum height measured from said reference surface, each of said corrugations on the inner surface of said tube having indentations at selected areas thereon to form a strip-shaped indented part, each of said strip-shaped parts being located in a spaced relation to another of said parts in a direction transverse to said longitudinal dimension and forming a compressible contacting rim on the inner surface of said tube, said indented parts includin-g corrugations having over their entire length a smaller maximum constant height measured from said reference surface and a smaller pitch dimension than theA corresponding maximum height and given pitch dimension of said corrugations on either side of the strip-shaped indented parts, and at least one of said edges having slits therein extending substantially transversely to said longitudinal closure means for containing objects of different shape.

5 4. A packing tube for containing spaced fragile objects of different shapes as claimed in claim 3 in which said strip-shaped indented parts are spaced in said longitudinal direction and having cormgations of smaller height alterl nating with corrugations of greater height.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,013,143 Fairchild Jan. 2, 1912 6 Morton July 27, 1915 Cassell Nov. 1, 1932 Kopplernan Dec. 19, 1933 Mascareuhas July 14, 1936 Weber Mar. 8, 1938 Koppleman Nov. 1, 1938 Zimmerman Nov. 7, 1939 Conkle i Sept. 23, 1952 White Ian. 13, 1953