US2920782A

US2920782A - Carton dividers

Info

Publication number: US2920782A
Application number: US796897A
Authority: US
Inventors: Butters Otto
Original assignee: HUNT FOODS Inc
Current assignee: HUNT FOODS Inc
Priority date: 1959-03-03
Filing date: 1959-03-03
Publication date: 1960-01-12
Anticipated expiration: 1977-01-12

Description

Jan. 12, 1960 o. BUTTERS CARTON DIVIDERS Filed March 3. 1959 INVENTOR. 02-70 flan-25 7 am mr' A 2,920,782 Patented Jan. 12, 1960 CARTON DIVIDERS Otto Butters, Oakland, Calif., assignor to Hunt Foods, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application March 3, 1959, Serial No. 796,897

7 Claims. (Cl. 217-32) This invention relates to cartons, as, for example, of fiber material such as corrugated cardboard, and to internal compartment dividers therefor, and more specifically, to dividers comprised of a plurality of interlocked partitions which effect a saving in material without sacrificing the cushioning eifect of the dividers with respect to articles stored therewithin, or sacrificing the rigidity which carton dividers provide to the cartons in which they are used.

In the storage and shipping of frangible objects such as glass bottles, it is customary to provide corrugated cardboard cartons with one or more lengthwise partitions and one or more crosswise partitionswhich are interlocked with one another so as to form a plurality of separate compartments for the reception of such articles. The partitions prevent the articles from hitting one another and thus prevent breakage. In addition, the partitions usually extend from top to bottom of the carton to strengthen the carton vertically against crushing if the cartons is used annually and various attempts have been -made to decrease the amount of material used in forming the partitions, since even a small saving in size per individual partition will result in a large gross saving in I cost in material for all partitions used.

These-attempts, generally taking the form wherein the carton, have not been entirely successful. Although ,there has been a saving in material, the previously known partitions have not provided the desired vertical stiffness to the cartons, nor have they protected bottles when. stored in both neck-up and neck-down positions. In addition, many material saving partitions slide up and down in the carton and require special upright handling of the full carton and/or require special temporary spacers for keeping the shape of the cartons as their flaps are glued under pressure.

An object of this invention is to provide a carton divider made up of a plurality of easily assembled partitions which eifect a substantial saving of material while providing vertical stiffness to the carton and which will protect frangible articles stored therewithin from breakage, whether the articles are stored right side up or upside down.

-Another object of the invention is to provide such partitions with means to lock the partition together in order to prevent accidental disassembling.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in .the course of the following detailed description.

In the drawings, forming a part'of this application, and

in which .like parts ,are designated by like reference h numerals throughout the same,

some or all of the partitions are of shorter height than Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carton and a carton divider therefor constructed in accordance with the invention, with parts broken away to show the details of the assembled dividers;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of one of the upper partitions used in Fig. 1 with the lower partitions being shown in section and assembled therewith;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of one of the lower partitions used in Fig. l with the upper partitions being shown in section and assembled therewith;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view in section, illustrating the manner in which bottles may be stored in neck-up position within the compartments formed by the carton and dividers;

Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 4, illustrating the storage of bottles in a neck-down position.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a carton 10 having a bottom 11, side walls 12 and wall 13, and top flaps 14. A carton divider 15 is disposed within the carton, and comprises a plurality of crosswise partitions 16 extending between the side walls 12 of the carton and a plurality of lengthwise partitions 17 extending between the end walls 12 of the carton.

As is seen in Fig. 3, each crosswise or lower partition 16 has two vertical slots 18 formed therethrough extending downwardly from the top edge 19 of the partition towards the lower edge 20 thereof. Although the invention is not so limited, the root 21 of each slot 18 is a distance from the lower edge 20 equal to half of the inner height of the carton 10, and is also equal to twice the distance from the slot root 21 to the upper edge 19 of partition 16.

Each slot 18 has the lower portion thereof of a width generally equal to the thickness of the upper partition 17, and has the upper portion of one side thereof diverging away at 22 from the other side thereof to the upper edge 19. The other slot side has a locking key 23 formed adjacent the upper edge 19, which key extends towards the diverging slot portion 22.

The partition 16 has an opening 24 therethrough in line with slot 18 and spaced from the slot root 21. It will be noted that the distance between the sides 25 and 26 of opening 24 is greater than the width of slot 18, and that side 25 is substantially in line with the side of slot 18 which has the diverging upper portion 22. The opening 24 has a height slightly greater than the height of key 23, and the upper edge 27 of opening 24 is spaced from the slot root 21 a distance approximately equal to the distance from the slot root 21 to the lower edge of key 23.

Each lengthwise, or upper, partition 17 is similarly provided with a plurality of slots 28 extending from the lower edge 30 of the partition toward the upper .edge 29 thereof. In the embodiment shown, the distance from the root 31 of slot 28 to the upper edge 29 is equal to half the height of the carton 10 and is also equal to twice the distance from slot root 31 to the lower edge 30 of partition 17.

Slots 28 are inverted duplicates of slots 18 and are provided with locking keys 33 adjacent the lower partition edge 30. Openings 34 are provided through the partition 17 for the reception thereinto of the locking keys 23 of partition 16.

The divider 15 is assembled by sliding the upper partitions 17 within the slots 18 of the lower partitions 16 and the lower partitions 16 within the slots 28 of the upper partitions 17 until the roots 31 of the upper partition slots are in vertical engagement with the roots 21 of the lower partition slots. At this time the locking keys 23 and 33 of the partitions spring into the

openings

24 and 34 to lock the partitions together against accidental disassembly.

The assembleddivider I is then placed within carton 10, with the lower edges 20 of the lower partition resting on the carton bottom 11. The upper edges 29 of the upper partitions 17 are flush with the inside top of the carton so that the flaps 14. will rest thereon and he supported thereby when folded to a closed position.

As is seen from the drawings, the assembled divider has an overall height equal to the internal height of the carton 10, and thus provides Vertical stiffening therefor, even though each of the partitions 16 and 17' has a height substantially less than the height of the carton, which elfects a substantial saving in material. Also, when the carton'is closed, none of the partitions can move vertically or horizontally either relative to one another or relative to the carton, so there is no need for special handling of the box to prevent such movement. I

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the manner in which frangible .bottles 40 may be safely stored in the carton. As is seen, the larger parts-of the bottles are fully cradled and protected on all four sides between the lower edge 30 of the upper partitions 1-7 and the upper edge 19 of the lower partitions 16'; this being so whether the bottles are neck up, as in Fig. 4, or neck down, as in Fig. 5. Thus, the divider 15 provides the same amount of protections to the bottles when used in operations in which the 'bottles are stored in both directions.

The partitions 16 and 17 have been disclosed herein as of equal height, which is the preferred embodiment, since it eliminates the necessity for the storage and handling of partitions of different heights and facilitates the manufacture of these partitions. In addition, the slots 18 and. 28, and openings 24- and 34, are identical for both partitions so that the same or duplicate dies can be used in forming each pair of slots and openings in the partitions. However, it is to be realized that the partitions 16v and 17 can be of unequal heights and that the

slots

18 and 28 can be made of unequal depths, as long as the condition is maintained that the distance from the lower edge of the lower partition 16 to the slot root'21 thereof plus the distance from the upper edge 29 of the upper partition 17 to the slot root 31 thereof be equal to the internal depth of the carton 10, and that the distance from an

opening

24 or 34 to its respective slot root 21 or 31 is equal to the distance from the slot root to the locking key of the partition to be locked therewith.

Thus, it is to be realized that the form of the invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred embodiment of the same, but that various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the attached claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by'Letters-Patent is:

l. A carton having a uniform internal depth, a first vertical partition having its bottom edge resting on the inside bottom of said carton and extending upwardly therein, said first partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof, a second vertical partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebteween with a portion of said first partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being in vertical engagement, the vertical, distance from the root of the slot of said first partition to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the vertical distance from the root of the slot of said second partition to the top edge of said second partition being approximately equal to the internal depth of said carton, at least'one of said partitions having a height substantially less than the internal depth, of said carton, one, of said partitions having the slot therein formed with a portion of one side of the slot. diverging, awayfrom. the;v other side of said slot to the. edge: of. saidpartition, a lip formedv on the other side ofsaid slot adjacent the edge of the partitionand extending towards the diverging side, and the other of said partitions having an opening therethrough in line with and spaced from the root of its slot, said lip being received within said opening to lock said partitions together.

2. A carton having a uniform internal depth, a first vertical partition having its bottom edge resting on the inside bottom of said carton and extending upwardly therein, said first partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof, a second vertical partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition received in said second partition slot and a portion of said second partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being in vertical engagement, the vertical distance from the root of the slot of said first partition to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the vertical distance from the root of the slot of said second partition to the top edge of said second partition being approximately equal to the internal depth of said carton, at least one of said partitions having a height substantially less than the internal depth of said carton, and means on said partitions for locking said partitions together when assembled.

3. A carton having a uniform internal depth, a first vertical rectangular partition having its bottom edge resting on the inside bottom of said carton and extending upwardly therein, said first partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof, a second vertical rectangular partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition received in said second partition slot and a portion of said second partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being in vertical engagement, the upper edge of said second partition being substantially flush with the inside top of said carton, the vertical distance from the root of the slot of said first partition to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the vertical distance from the root of the slot of said second partition to the top edge of said second partition being approximately equal to the internal depth of said carton, each of said partitions having a height equal to one another and both partitions having a height substantially less than the internal depth of said carton, and means on said partitions for locking said partitions together when assembled.

4. A carton divider comprising a first vertically disposed partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the top edge thereof, a second vertically disposed partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition received within said second partition slot and with a portion of said second partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being vertically engaged with one another, the distance from the root of the first slot to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the distance from the root of the second slot to the top edge of said second partition being substantially greater than the height of one of said partitions, one of said partitions having the slot therein formed with a portion of one side of the slot diverging away from the other side of said slot to the edge of said partition, a lip formed on the other side of said slot adjacent the edge of the partition and extending towards the diverging side, and the other of said partitions having an opening therethrough in line with and spaced from the root of its slot, said lip being received within said opening to; lock said partitions together.

5. A carton divider comprising a first vertically disposedvv rectangular partition having a vertical slot extendiug downwardly from the top edge thereof, asecond vertically disposed rectangular partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition received within said second partition slot and with a portion of said second partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being vertically engaged with one another, the distance from the root of the first slot to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the distance from the root of the second slot to the top edge of said second partition being substantially greater than the height of either of said partitions, one of said partitions having the slot therein formed with a portion of one side of the slot diverging away from the other side of said slot to the edge of said partition, a lip formed on the other side of said slot adjacent the edge of the partition and extending towards the diverging side, and the other of said partitions having an opening therethrough in line with and spaced from the root of its slot, said lip being received within said opening to lock said partitions together.

6. A carton divider comprising a first vertically disposed partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the top edge thereof, a second vertically disposed partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition being received within said second partition slot and with a portion of said second partition being received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being vertically engaged with one another, the distance from the root of the first slot to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the distance from the root of the second slot to the top edge of said second partition being substantially greater than the height of at least one of said partitions, and means on said partitions for locking said partitions together when assembled.

7. A carton divider comprising a first vertically disposed generally rectangular partition having a vertical slot extending downwardly from the top edge thereof, a second vertically disposed generally rectangular partition having a vertical slot extending upwardly from the bottom edge thereof, said partitions being interengaged at a horizontal angle therebetween with a portion of said first partition received within said second partition slot and with a portion of said second partition received within said first partition slot and with the roots of said slots being vertically engaged with one another, the distance from the root of the first slot to the bottom edge of said first partition plus the distance from the root of the second slot to the top edge of said second partition being substantially greater than the height of either of said partitions, and means on said partitions for locking said partitions together when assembled.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 213,848 Stevens Apr. 1, 1879 276,289 Schoenthaler Apr. 24, 1883 FOREIGN PATENTS 535,801 Great Britain Apr. 22, 1941