US3050230A - Shipping and display carton - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 21, 1962 H. E. COHANE ETAL 3,050,230

SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CARTON Filed July 10, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. HARRY E. CO HANE L .225. j HERBERT J. HOWARD ATTORNEYS 1962 H. E COHANE ETAL 3,050,230

SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CARTON Filed July 10, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS.

HARRY E. COHANE HERBERT J. HOWARD aw M ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 21, 1.962

3,050,239 SHEPPING AND DHSPLAY CARTON Harry E. Cohane and Herbert J. Howard, Toledo, Ohio,

assignors to Penetray Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed July 10, 1961, Ser. No. 123,059 4 Claims. ('31. 22939) This invention relates to shipping and display cartons and more particularly to a shipping and display carton intended for dual usage as a protective carton for breakable articles of merchandise and as a display carton for such articles of merchandise wherein the articles of merchandise may be held in display position on a counter or self of a store by the carton in which they are both shipped to the store and carried away from the store by the customer. For purposes of illustration, a modification intended for the shipment and display of electric lightbulbs will be described.

It is the principal object of the instant invention to provide a simple, lightweight shipping carton comprising essentially a hollow tubular or elongated jacket or sleeve and a tray adapted to be inserted into the jacket for the purpose of mounting an article of merchandise in the interior of the jacket for protecting the item of merchandise during shipping or handling, the tray also being adapted to be adjustably positionable in the jacket at at least one second position wherein the tray is located at the upper end of the jacket so as to display the article of merchandise above the jacket.

More specific objects and advantages of the invention will be better understood from the specification which follows and from the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a carton embodying the invention as designed for the shipping and display of an electric lightoulb, the carton being shown in the display position;

FIG. 2 is a transverse, vertical sectional view of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1 and showing the article of merchandise, in this case a lightbulb, with its supporting tray located in the interior position wherein the outer jacket protects the lightbulb during shipping and handling;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a blank of sheet material as cut and creased for the folding of a tray constituting one of the two basic elements of the combination embodying the instant invention;

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective showing the blank illustrated in FIG. 3 in partially folded condition and illustrating how structural bracing and support members are positioned relative to each other in this partially folded condition; and

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective illustrating the tray forming blank of FIG. 3 folded beyond the condition illustrated in FIG. 4 and further illustrating how the final fold is made to position a retaining tab to hold the folded tray together as a unitary structure.

While the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings and specfiically described in the following specification is intended for the purpose of storing, displaying and protecting electric lightbulbs and is illustrated as having a rectilinear cross section, it will be appreciated, of course, that modifications in the particular shape and size of both the jacket and tray which embody the invention readily may be made and are determined only by the size and configuration of the article of merchandise to be protected or displayed thereby.

In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, a hollow, rectilinear jacket lil is illustrated as being constructed from a sheet material having a smooth exterior side 11 and a corrugated interior side 12, the corrugations 13 thereof extending laterally around the inner wall of the jacket 10. In this specific embodiment of the invention, the jacket 10 is formed by folding a single sheet of one-surface corrugated material with its corrugations l3 turned inwardly, four folds being made and the free edges of the first and fourth folds being joined as for example by an adhesive strip (not illustrated) or by overlapping or other means. The essential consideration in the design of the jacket 10* is, of course, that it have some form of rib-like projections such as the corrugations 13 on its inner surface and that there be a suflicient number of such rib-like projections to provide for at least two positions of an interior tray, generafiy indicated by the reference number 14 and shown in almost completely folded condition in FIG. 5.

The exterior surface 11 of the jacket 10 may, of course, be decorated with suitable advertising messages or pictures relating to the particular article of merchandise which is to be displayed and/or shipped in a carton embodying the invention. In the particular modification illustrated in the drawings, such pictures and words would relate to a lightbulb generally indicated by the reference number 15.

The tray 14 in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings is constructed by folding from a single sheet generally indicated by the reference number 16 in FIG. 3, and comprising a number of individual portions each of which is delineated by cuts or creases formed at the time of blanking the sheet 16 in the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3. These portions include a bottom forming portion 17, a shelf forming portion 18, a first side forming portion 19, a top forming portion 20, a second side forming portion 21 and a retaining tab 22. The blank in the particular modification illustrated in FIG. 3 also includes a shelf support portion 23, a pair of oppositely configured and arranged shelf supports and braces 24 and 25, a pair of top flaps 26, a bottom flap 27 and two lips 28 and 29 which in this embodiment are integral with and protrude laterally from the bottom forming portion 17.

In this embodiment of the invention, it is the lips 28 and 29 which cooperate with the corrugations 13 on the interior of the jacket 10 to adjustably retain the tray 14 in the interior of the jacket 10 in two positions, of which the first is the upper position for display purposes illustrated in FIG. 1, and the second is the lower position for shipping purposes illustrated in FIG. 2. It should be observed in FIG. 3 that the top forming portion 20 has a central opening 30 with a plurality of cut tabs 31 around its edges and the shelf forming portion 18 has a central opening 32 which, when the tray 14 is folded, is aligned with the opening 30 in the top 20. The openings 39 and 32 are so shaped and of such size as to accept, respectively, a conical portion 33 of the lightbulb 15 and its base 34 (see FIG. 2).

The particular tray 14 illustrated in the drawings is formed by folding the blank 16 of FIG. 3 in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. Reference to FIG. 4 shows that the first fold should be along a pair of creases 35 which join the two supports and braces 24 and 25 to opposite sides of the tray portion 18. By folding supports and braces 24 and 25 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4, two downwardly extending legs 36 are created. The next fold is along a crease 37 which joins the shelf 18 with one side of the shelf support 23 and the next fold is along a crease 38 which joins an opposite side of the shelf support 23 to one edge of the bottom 17. At this point the blank 16 has been partially folded into the condition illustrated in FIG. 4 with the shelf 18 now extending parallel to and spaced above the bottom 17, being supported in such position by the shelf support 23 and 3 the two legs 36 already described. In FIG. 4, the retaining tab 22 is also shown as being bent upwardly somewhat along a crease 39 joining the tab 22 to the second side forming portion 21.

Subsequent to the condition illustrated in FIG. 4, the blank 16 is further folded to erect the shelf 14. These folds include folding up the bot-tom flap 27 along its creases 40 leaving the lip 28 protruding laterally from the bottom 17 and co-planar therewith because of a. cut 41 which delineates the lip 28 from the material of the bottom flap 27. Similarly, by folding the first side forming portion 19 upwardly, as indicated by the sweeping broken line arrow in FIG. 5, along creases 42 joining it to the bottom 17, and because of a cut 43, the second opposed lip 29 is left co-planar with the bottom 17 to protrude from the side of the bottom 17 opposite to the lip 28.

In subsequent stages, the top forming portion 20 is folded over on a crease line 44 which joins it to the first side portion 19, as illustrated in FIG. 5, and its flaps 26 are folded downwardly on their crease lines 45. The flaps 26, of course, are not essential to the structure but in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, these elements have been added for purposes of further strengthening the tray 14. After the top 29 is swung into the position of FIG. 5, the central opening 3%) therein is aligned with the opening 32 in the shelf 18.

The second side forming portion 21 isthen folded downwardly on a crease 46 joining it to the top 20 and the retaining tab 22 swung around and inserted through a receiving opening 47 which is formed when the flap 27 is bent upwardly and, which is defined by the out line 41 which delineates the lip 28 from the bottom 17. The retaining tab 22 is slightly keystone-shaped in configuration and has two shoulders 48 which are wider than the width of the opening 47 so that when the tab 22 is inserted through the opening 47 the shoulders 48 snap beyond the flap 27 to retain the tab 22 in place.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the lightbulb 15 is inserted downwardly through the opening 30, depressing the tabs 31 as illustrated in FIG. 2 and its base 34 is screwed into the opening 32 in the shelf .18 to retain the lightbulb 15 in the tray 14. The lips 28 and 29 have a maximum overall outer dimension slightly greater than the minimum inner dimension laterally across the jacket between the ribs of the corrugation 13. The dimensions of the lips 28 and 29 and the bottom 17 are, of course, also less than the maximum lateral dimension between valleys of the corrugations in the jacket 10. Thus, the lips 28 and 29 function as displaceable retaining means being ratcheted, as it were, along the corrugations 13 for moving the tray between its upper position of FIG. 1 and its lower position of FIG. 2 or in any intermediate positions as may be desired. This same frictional engagement between the lips 28 and 29 and the corrugation 13, of course, retains the tray 14 in any of its adjusted positions depending upon whether or not the lightbul'b is being displayed as in FIG. 1 or shipped or handled as in FIG. 2.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A shipping and display carton for articles of merchandise, said carton comprising, in combination, a tubu- 13.1 jacket having horizontally extending spaced ridges around the interior thereof in at least two zones, a tray having exterior lateral dimensions and plan configuration generally mated to the interior lateral dimensions and plan configuration of said jacket, said tray having a body comprising a flat platform top, at least one lower cross member parallel to said top and spaced side walls connecting said top and cross member, at least one lip on said body protruding horizontally outwardly beyond said side walls for engagement with said ridges in said zones for retaining said tray in at least two different positions within said jacket, the first of said positions being with said top of said tray near one end of said jacket and the other of said positions being with the bottom of said tray near the other end of said jacket, and means for removably retaining an article of merchandise on said tray with a major portion thereof above said top, said jacket having a height at least about equal to the total height of said tray and said article of merchandise mounted thereon.

2. A shipping and display carton according to claim 1 in which the tray is folded from a single piece of sheet material cut and creased for delineating a bottom portion having a plan size and configuration adapted to extend laterally across the jacket, at least two side portions joined along their edges to different edges of said bottom portion, the lips being integal and co-planar with the bottom portion and extending beyond the edges thereof, a top portion joined along its edge to at least one of said side portions, a third side portion equal in height to at least one of said first and second side portions and joined along a first edge to one edge of said top portion, a retaining ta'b joined to said third side portion at a second edge thereof, and a slot cut in one of said portions other than said third side portion for receiving said retaining tab.

3. A shipping and display carton according to claim 1 in which the tray has a parallel top and bottom and an intermediate shelf parallel thereto and spaced therebetween and said bottom having the laterally protruding lips.

4. A shipping and display carton according to claim 1 in which the tray is folded from a single piece of sheet material cut and creased for delineating a bottom portion having a plan size and configuration adapted to extend laterally across the jacket, a shelf having a plan configuration similar to said bottom, at least one shelf supporting portion extending normally to said shelf and said bottom when folded, one of said shelf supporting portions being joined to a first edge of said bottom and to said shelf along parallel edges thereof, a top portion, a side forming portion joined to said bottom along a second edge thereof and to a first edge of said top along a parallel edge, a second side forming portion joined along a first edge thereof to said top along a second edge of said top parallel to the first said edge of said top, said two side forming portions extending normally to said top and bottom when folded, at least one of said top, shelf and bottom functioning as a support member for said tray with said lips integal and co-planar with and extending laterally from opposite edges of said support member, a retaining tab joined to said second side forming portion along a part of a second edge thereof and a slot for said retaining tab cut in a vertically extending element of said tray at the side of said bottom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,712,840 Povel May 14, 1929 1,958,257 Addis et a1. May 8, 1934 2,197,510 Ringler Apr. 16, 1940 2,883,047 Casdell Apr. 21, 1959

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