US2893619A

US2893619A - Egg cartons

Info

Publication number: US2893619A
Application number: US637843A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walter J Schwertfeger
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-02-01
Filing date: 1957-02-01
Publication date: 1959-07-07
Anticipated expiration: 1976-07-07

Description

July 7, 1959 w. J. SCHWERTFEGER EGG CARTONS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Fe -b. 1. 1957 INVENTOiQ.

ATTOKIYLK y 7, 1959 w. .1. SCHWERTFEGER 2,893,619

EGG CARTONS 2 Shets-Sheet 2' Filed Feb. 1. 1957 I II I I Mill-l A INVENTOR.

EGG CARTONS Walter J. Schwertfeger, Englewood, NJ.

Application February 1, 1957, Serial No. 637,843

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-29) The object of this invention is to simplify retail egg cartons for holding, for example, one dozen eggs. In the packing of eggs for wholesale distribution, it is general practice to pack the eggs in molded pulp containers each customarily holding two dozen and one half, in rows, each row of six eggs. These filled molded pulp containers are superimposed in a wood box, to make up the multiple desired for wholesale distribution of the packed assembly. For retail sale it has been customary to take the eggs from the molded pulp containers and repack them in cardboard cartons usually of one dozen each, and these cartons require strong internal division walls for holding the eggs spaced from each other. The cost of carton and assembly adds materially to the retail cost of the eggs. The molded pulp containers are of inexpensive blown pulp and after repacking are discarded or sometimes shipped in bulk to the packing house for repacking. Their life, in any event, is short.

By means of my invention a new use is provided for the filler flats, i.e., they are severed into retail units and so associated with an inexpensive and simple outer covering, the two constituting a carton, that costs are reduced and at the same time adequate protection is given to the eggs in reail handling and prior thereto.

The filled molded pulp container section and cover member are so formed and associated that hollow posts of the container extend through apertures in the bottom wall of the cover member and are fitted thereto, restraining the base egg-bearing contact areas of egg receiving pockets from passing below the cover bottom wall.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the carton cover blank.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the blank formed up into operative position, but without containing a filled molded pulp container section.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the closed molded pulp container and carton cover showing in dotted lines the bottom wall apertures.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the combined filled molded pulp container and carton cover, taken below the tuck-in flaps of the cover, but leaving the eggs undisturbed.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 55, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 6-6, Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, I will first describe the carton wrap. It consists of a sheet of cardboard which customarily will be printed with matter indicating the dealer, etc. The wrap is provided with scored longitudinal fold lines at 2, the wrap itself being designated by the numeral 1, Fig. 1. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the carton wrap is formed with inwardly directed lines of cut at 3 bounding two wedge-shaped connecting fingers 4 adapted to enter passages at 5 in order to releasably connect folded top panels 6 as indicated generally in Fig. 2.

When the carton cover is folded and panel flaps 6x connected as shown in Fig. 2, the central panel 7 of the blank forms the bottom of the structure, and panel 7 is formed with a row of spaced apertures at 8, which in the embodiment are dumb-bell shaped.

Any type of molded pulp container may be coacting member of the assembly, provided it is formed with rows of spaced posts, corresponding with the rows of eggs held by the flat. In the drawing, I have shown a section cut from the standard wholesale box molded pulp container and which has pockets for two rows of eggs, six eggs in each row. The downwardly directed posts of the fiat, in two rows of six each, are indicated at 8x, Fig. 5. When the egg-containing molded pulp container is placed in position relatively to the carton cover, the posts enter the apertures 8 in the bottom wall 7, and when the carton cover flaps 6 are closed and latched, the flat section, with its eggs, will be held against movement in any direction.

In Figures 4 to 6, the eggs held by the molded pulp container, and indicated at 9, are, as to each egg, bounded by four pyramidal posts indicated at 10, the base of each egg being seated in sockets between the posts. The posts may be connected by reinforcing ribs 11. No claim is made to the filler fiat per se, and any type of egg holding molded pulp container having rows of posts projected downwardly, may be employed.

It will be understood that the formation of dumb-bell apertures in the base wall 7 of the folded carton cover may be substituted by two rows of unconnected apertures, and that the method of latching the downturn flaps 6x of the carton cover may be widely varied. In fact, friction alone will, in some cases, sufiice when the eggs are large and give light pressure upon the flaps 6x, although in general practice the walls 6 will be held in the position of Fig. 2 by suitable means of which one exemplification has been shown and described.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the elements illustrated for the embodiment, and particularly with respect to the form of the filler fiat and means for connecting the top wall of the carton cover.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An egg carton for retail sale consisting of a cardboard cover member and a molded pulp egg container, the pulp container being formed with downwardly extending parallel rows of egg receiving pockets which are open at their tops, and the said container also being formed with spaced hollow posts downwardly extending to end positions located below base egg-bearing contact portions of said pockets, the cover member embodying a base wall of approximately the width of the molded pulp container, side walls and areas adapted to cover the top of the said container, said cover member being formed with apertures in its bottom wall and the hollow posts of the said molded pulp fitting said apertures and extending downwardly therethrough, whilst restraining the base eggbearing contact areas of said pockets from passing below the cover bottom wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,010,683 Williams Aug. 6, 1935 2,013,874 Whalley Sept. 10, 1935 2,226,603 Gagen Dec. 31, 1940 2,270,030 Benoit Jan. 13, 1942 2,345,274 Manson Mar. 28, 1944 2,646,202 Gibbons July 21, 1953 2,691,456 Shepard Oct. 12, 1954