US3069003A

US3069003A - Duplex container and locking means therefor

Info

Publication number: US3069003A
Application number: US856115A
Authority: US
Inventors: Amatel Harold
Original assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
Current assignee: CBS Corp
Priority date: 1959-11-30
Filing date: 1959-11-30
Publication date: 1962-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 1979-12-18

Description

Dec. 18, 1962 H. AMATEL DUPLEX CONTAINER AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFOR Filed NOV. 30, 1959 11 Fl G. 6

INVENTOR AMATEL Has.

HAROLD United States Patent ()fiti c e estates Patented Dec. 18, 1962 3,ti69,htl3 DUPLEX CQNTAENER AND LOQKIWG MEANS THEREFOR Harold Amatel, Verona, N.J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 856,115 7 Claims. (Cl. filo-dill) This invention relates to containers and, more particularly, to a duplex type container for packaging two groups of articles and to means for conveniently, economically and separably locking the packed container segments together to form a single package.

In my copending application Serial No. 763,070 filed September 24, 1958, now U.S. Patent No. 2,980,240, owned by the same assignee as the present invention, there is disclosed and claimed a sleeve type article-packing and dispensing carton that is open along one side and provided with inturned flaps thereat which resiliently engage and retain a plurality of articles in side-by-side single-row formation Within the carton. Since the retaining flaps must engage each of the packed articles in order to be effective only a single row of articles can be accommodated. This presents a problem in the case of such articles as miniature type photo-flash lamps or the like, for example, that are customarily sold in lots of twelve and are preferably so packaged as to be easily portable and readily withdrawn for use, in that a single carton containing this number of lamps would be too long to be inconspicuously and conveniently carried by the user. The desired compactness could be achieved by arranging two 6-lamp packs in abutting side-by-side relation to form a duplex package and the cartons wrapped in' cellophane or the like. However, the additional cost of the extra wrapping material and operation required make this type of package impractical.

It is accordingly the general object of this invention to provide a duplex type container and package that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

Another and more specific object is the provision of means for securely but separably locking the two segments of a duplex type package or container together with a minimum amount of labor and material.

The foregoing, and more detailed objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, are achieved by utilizing a pair of sleeve-like cartons of the type described in the aforementioned US. Patent No. 2,980,240 as the container segments and fabricating a protruding locking tab-and-tongue assembly from a part of each of such cartons that was heretofore necessarily discarded. Such locking assemblies are provided at only one end of each of the cartons and are adapted to be inserted into the other carton between the end wall and end edges of the inturned article-retaining flaps at the adjacent end of the other carton and automatically snapinterlock with the inturned article-retaining flaps thereat when the cartons aree abuttingly seated one against the other. In this manner the container segments or cartons are securely but separably locked together at both ends in side-by-side coplanar abutting relation to form the desired duplex container or package.

A better understanding of this invention will be obtained from the following description of the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the duplex lamp package according to this invention, portions of the side walls of each of the cartons being broken away to more clearly illustrate the locking means at opposite ends of the two cartons;

' of each of the cartons.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in elevation along the line LIL-II of FIG. 1, in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a plan view on a reduced scale of the preformed blank from which each of the cartons shown in the other figures is fabricated;

H6. 4 is a perspective fragmentary View of one of the loaded cartons preparatory to the coupling thereof with the other carton or segment of the package;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the adjacent ends of the two cartons before the locking assembly has been collapsed for insertion; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the final phase of the package assembly operation showing the last of the locking structures collapsed and ready for insertion into the adjacent end of the other abutting carton.

While the present invention may be advantageously employed in unitizing two separately packaged groups of various kinds of articles that lend themselves to this type of merchandising, it is especially adapted for use in conjunction with duplex photoflash lamp packages and has accordingly been so illustrated and will be so described.

With specific reference to the drawing, in FIG. 1 there is shown a duplex photoflash lamp package according to the present invention which package consists of two loaded cartons A and B that are open at one side and coupled together in coplanar abutting relationship with their open sides facing each other. The cartons A and B are of substantially the same dimension and configuration and generally comprise a pair of end walls 12, a pair of side walls 14 and a bottom wall consisting, for example, of a pair of interlocked closured panels 16, arranged and connected together to form a rectangular sleeve type enclosure.

Each of the cartons A and B is fabricated from a preformed blank 26 (see 'FIG. 3) of relatively stiff packaging material such as paperboard or the like and contains six well-known miniature type photoflash lamps 29 arranged in side-by-side single-row formation. The lamps 2b are separately and collectively maintained in their loaded positions by a pair of resilient article-retaining flaps 18 that are hingedly connected to and coextensive with the side walls 14 and inturned into their respective cartons. As shown most particularly in FIG. 2, the article-retaining flaps 18 are located at and extend inwardly from the open sides of the cartons and, by virtue of the inherent resiliency of the carton material, are biased toward one another into generally convergent relationship within the cartons and are accordingly normally spaced from the adjacent side walls thereof. The inner ends of the retaining flaps iii are serrated and adapted to coactively and elastically grip the inwardly flared constricted ends of each of the packed photofiash lamps 20 in such a manner as to maintain the latter in loaded position within the cartons. A carton of this character and the manner in which the inturned article-retaining flaps 18 coact to permit the packed photoflash lamps 20 or other articles to be separately or collectively dispensed from and then reinserted into the carton are described in detail and claimed in the aforementioned US. Patent No. 2,980,240.

The coupling of the loaded cartons A and B in the desired coplanar abutting relationship to form a single compact package of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is achieved according to this invention by providing an outwardly projecting locking assembly at opposite ends As shown more particularly in FIGS. 4 to 6, each of the locking assemblies comprises a protruding member such as an elongated tab 22 and a pair of resiliently collapsible cleat-like flap elements such as tongues24 that are hinged to the sides of said tab. As shown in FIG. 3, the tab 22 and tongues 24 are fabria,oes,cos

cated from the portion of the preformed blank 26 that lies between the article-retaining flaps 18 and extends outwardly from the centrally located end wall 12, which portion was heretofore necessarily cut out of the blank and discarded in order to prevent it from interfering with the inturning or subsequent freedom of movement of the article-retaining flaps. The tongues 24 are separated from the adjoining article-retaining flaps 18 by divergent cut lines 21 and are hinged to the tab 22 along a pair of convergent score lines 23, the aforesaid cut and score lines meeting and forming an apex at the corners of the adjacent end wall 12.

As shown more particularly in FIGS. 4 to 6, the tab 22 by virtue of the foregoing construction is integral with and constitutes a rigid extension of the end wall 22 and tapers inwardly toward its outer end, whereas the hinged tongues 24 are integral with their respective tabs and taper in the opposite direction. The tongues 24 are, accordingly, triangular-sh ped and of maximum width at their outer ends and, when disposed fiat in the same plane as the end wall of which it is a part, extend beyond the side walls 1 5 of the abutting carton, as shown in FIG. 5. The tabs 22 are preferably delineated from their respective end Walls 12 by a perforated line 25 to permit said tabs to be easily and neatly separated from the end walls and the cartons A and B thus conveniently and quickly broken apart, after they are locked together in package form.

Locking of the loaded cartons A and B in abutting relation is accomplished by first collapsing the tongues 24 of one of the cartons against and in overlapping engagement with the inner face of the respective tab 22 along the score lines 23, which operation is depicted in the upper portion of FIG. 6. The collapsed tongues 24 and tab 22 are then inserted into the side opening of the other carton, at the end thereof that does not have a locking assembly, between the end wall 12 and end edges of the inturned article-retaining flaps 18 of the other carton. The cartons are then firmly seated one against the other at this end whereupon the tongues 24, by virtue of their resiliency and inherent tendency to spring away from the tab 22, will automatically snap into upstanding position behind the inturned article-retaining flaps 18 of the other carton and become interlocked therewith. The locking assembly of said other carton (carton B as shown in FIG. 6) is then manipulated and inserted in the same manner, thereby securely snap-interlocking the packed cartons A and B together at both ends and maintaining them in tightly-clamped abutting but easily separated relation to form the compact duplex package illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

It will be noted that the engaged ends of the packed photofiash lamps 20 tend to force the article-retaining flaps apart and that the tongues 24 tend to spring back to their normal upstanding relation with respect to the tabs 22. Thus, the tongues, once they are snapped into place behind the retaining flaps, will remain firmly wedged between said flaps and the adjacent side walls 14 of the cartons until the package is broken apart and the tabs 22 severed along the perforated lines 25.

It will be recognized from the foregoing that the objects of the invention have been achieved by providing a compact duplex type container and package wherein the container segments are securely but separably coupled together by a novel locking assembly that requires no additional packaging material and that can be convenicntly fabricated and snapped into place.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of parts can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A duplex container comprising a pair of enclosures hat are open along one side and disposed in coplanar relation with the open sides thereof abutting one another, the abutting portions of each of said enclosures being of substantially the same configuration and dimensions and including a pair of side wall connected by a pair of end walls, first flap means resiliently hinged to the abutting edge of each of said side walls and protruding inwardly therefrom into the respective ones of said enclosures, and locking means at oppositely-disposed ends of said enclosures, each of said locking means comprising a rigid tabular member that is attached to and projects from an end wall of the respective enclosures and has a second llap means that is hingedly attached to a side edge thereof and is resiliently collapsible from upstanding position into overlapping relation with said tabular member, the tabular member of one of said enclosures being interposed between the proximate end wall and end edges of the first flap means of the other of said enclosures, and the second flap means of one enclosure being sprung into upstanding position behind and into interlocking engagement with the first flap means of the other enclosure, thereby locking said enclosures together at both ends in abutting relation.

2. A duplex container as set forth in claim 1 wherein, said first flap means comprises article-retaining fiaps that are inturned into their respective enclosures and are disposed in normally-convergent relation therein, said tabular members comprise integral parts of the respective end walls, and said second fiap means comprise cleat-like tongues that are resiliently hinged to the side edges of the respective tabular members and are normally disposed in upstanding position.

3. A duplex container as set forth in claim 1 wherein, said first means comprises article-retaining flaps that are substantially coextensive with the side walls of said enclosures, and said second flap means comprises tongues that are enlarged at their outermost ends.

4. A duplex container comprising a pair of opensided sleeve-like cartons of substantially the same configuration and dimensions disposed in coplanar relation with their open sides facing and abutting one another, each of said cartons having a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls and article-retaining flaps that are resiliently hinged to and substantially coextensive with the abutting edges of said side walls, said article-retaining flaps being inturned into the respective cartons and normally disposed in convergent relationship therewithin, an elongated locking tab projecting from and constituting a rigid extension of oppositely-disposed end walls of said cartons, a resiliently collapsible but normally upstanding triangulanshaped tongue hinged to each of the side edges of said locking tabs, said tongues being of maximum dimension at their outermost ends approximate the free ends of said locking tabs, the locking tab of one carton being interposed between the proximate end wall and end edges of the inturned article-retaining flaps of the other carton, and the tongues of one carton being seated and interlockingly wedged behind the inturned article-retaining flaps of the other of said cartons, whereby said cartons are locked together at both ends in abutting relation.

5. A duplex container as set forth in claim 4 wherein, said cartons are fabricated from integral cut and scored blanks, and each of said locking tabs is joined to its respective end walls along perforated lines and said container is thereby rendered conveniently separable into two segments.

6. A package separable into two self-contained segments each of which encloses a plurality of articles, said package comprising two sleeve-like cartons of substantially the same configuration and dimensions open along one side and disposed in coplanar abutting relation with their open sides facing one another, a row of articles packed in each of said cartons, each of said articles having inwardly-flared constricted ends that are disposed toward the open sides of said cartons, an article-retaining flap resiliently hinged to each of the side walls of said cartons along the edge thereof that defines the carton opening, said article-retaining flaps being inturned into their respective cartons and coactively gripping the inwardly flared portions of the packed articles and thereby maintaining said articles in loaded position within the respective cartons, an elongated ta-b attached to and pro jecting from end walls located at opposite ends of said cartons, a resiliently collapsible but normally upstanding tongue hingedly connected to at least one of the side edges 01 each of said tabs, the tab of one carton being interposed between the proximate end wall and end edges of the inturned article-retaining flaps of the other of said cartons, and the tongues of one carton, by virtue of their resiliency and the pressure exerted on said article-retaining flaps by the packed articles, being interlockingly wedged behind the article-retaining flaps of the other carton, thereby locking the packed cartons together at both ends and maintaining them in abutting coplanar relation without dislodging any of the packed articles from their loaded positions.

7. A package as set forth in claim 6 wherein each of said locking tabs is sevcrable from its respective end walls along perforated lines and said package is thereby rendered conveniently separable into two units each containing a predetermined number of articles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,253,489 Houghland Jan. 15, 1918 1,996,172 Reed Apr. 2, 1935 2,714,445 Nemoede Aug. 2, 1955 2,834,461 Dusseault May 13, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 375,694 Great Britain June 30, 1932