US3145901A - Shipping carton - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 25, 1964 w. B GILE SHIPPING CARTON 1 w/ e z p/viii. my? M f 3% m j m w ma l Aug. 25, 1964 Filed April 12, 1960 W. B. GILE SHIPPING CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fnuenfar zuzzzzamfi Gila United States Patent 3,145,901 SHIPPING CARTON William B. Gile, Marion, 111., assignor to Borg-Warner Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 21,763 3 Claims. (Cl. 229--23) This invention relates to shipping containers or cartons for domestic appliances, such as automatic washers and dryers;

For use-in the shipping and storage of domestic appliances, such as automatic washers and dryers, carton manufacturers are presently providing two standard types of cartons for this purpose. These types of cartons are known in the trade as the drum (tube and cap) type carton and the regular slotted type carton. The drum type carton comprises a box-like tubular body of square or rectangular cross section and having the open top and bottom ends enclosed by caps having slide flaps extending and fitting over the open ends of the body and engaging the adjacent side wall edges of the tubular body, the caps being held-in place by wire bands or fiat steel strapping surrounding the caps and tightly engaging the flaps. This drum type carton has considerable merit in packaging and shipment of domestic appliances in production quantities, including its economical manufacture and also the facilitiy with which the carton may be economically made and the packaged carton handled during shipping and removal of the appliance for installation. However, disadvantages of this carton are that the carton is bulky and cumbersome; expensive due to the considerable amount of corrugated board utilized for the flaps of the caps and the tubular body, the cost of the wire or steel strapping, and of labor costs as it requires two men to apply the wire strap bands or steel straps; and there is always the possibility of the wire or strap breaking and the unit being dropped with damage to the appliance.

The regular slotted type carton is used in the shipping and storage of domestic appliances by several major manufacturers. This carton is formed of a single corrugated board having a box-like tubular body with four flaps on each of its top and bottom ends folded over and sealed with glue so that two layers of corrugated board are provided on each end of the carton. This type of carton has several advantages over the drum type carton as it requires less corrugated board to be used; the carton can be sealed by automated sealing equipment; requires less floor space than the drum type carton; is a much neater looking package; and may be more economically manufactured than the drum type caron. However, several disadvantages of the regular slotted type carton are that manufacturers are required to invest a considerable capital expenditure for the equipment necessary to seal these cartons on production lines, and in addition, this sealing equipment requires a further expensive investment in view of the substantial floor space area needed for the equipment; and the sealing equipment has the disadvantage of being incapable of being readjusted in height to absorb and handle different height cartons rapidly. Further disadvantages are that it is necessary to provide a wood frame, at least at the top of the carton, when folding'over the flaps, to prevent the flaps from dropping down into the tubular body; or, in place of the Wooden frame, an additional piece of corrugated board may be used to provide a firm support for the flaps during the sealing thereof. In addition, these types of cartons utilize only a single thickness of corrugated board onall of the sides and edges which frequently provides inadequate protection to the appliance within the carton as the'cartons fre quently break open during handling in shipment and for storage.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a shipping container or carton characterized by increased strength of the carton in shipping and storage handling, and'utilizing a minimum amount of corrugated board in its-manufacture resulting in considerable lower material costs, and which may be readily assembled and then used for packaging at considerably lower labor costs, than that of the present standard types of shipping containers or cartons.

An important object of the invention is the provision of a shipping container or carton having the upper end of the tubular appliance-containing body of the carton provided with four edge flaps of small width folded over and having sealing engagement with a cap inserted within the upper open end of the carton so that each of the four sides at the upper edge of the carton are provided with two layers of corrugated board providing sufficient strength to the carton to insure ample protection of the appliance from externalblows during handling for shipment or storage.

Another object of' the invention is to provide an improved shipping container as described in which filler strips are utilized not only to insure the secure packaging of the appliancebut also to hold and maintain the cap in position during the assembly of the carton and in subsequent handling and shipping of the packaged appliance.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the container in its set up closed position;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the container taken on line 22 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, the appliance in the container being shown in'dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the container taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is anexploded perspective view of the container illustrating the several component parts of the container shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in making the tubular box-like body of the container;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in'making upper cap portion of the container shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in making the bottom cap of the container shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective View of one of a pair of lift forks used in handling the carton.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the various parts of the improved shipping container are designated by letters; the letter B indicates the tubular box-like body'member or portion of the carton, the letter U'designates the top or upper end cap' or closure member of the carton, and the letter L indicates the bottom or lower end cap or closure member of the-carton. The letters BB', UB, and LB respectively designate the cut and scored blanks from which the body member B of the carton is formed, the'upper or top end cap U is formed, and the bottom or lower cap end L is formed.

The carton is substantially square in cross section and includes the tubular body portion or member of corrugated board designated at B having four side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13, the side walls and 12 being parallel to each other and the side walls 11 and 13 also being parallel. For this purpose, the blank BB is scored along spaced parallel lines 14 and, when folded along these lines, define the side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13. The side wall 10 of the blank BB has an outwardly extending flap 15 extending longitudinally of the free edge thereof and the blank is scored and folded along the line 16 to define this flap 15. Upon folding the blank BB on the scored lines, the flap 15 is positioned beneath the edge of the side wall 13 and firmly united thereto by glue inserted between the flap 15 and the edge of the side wall 13, as shown particularly in FIG. 3, to form the body portion B of the carton. The upper and lower edges of the side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the blank BB are provided with integral top flaps or flanges 17, 18, 19 and 20. and bottom flaps or flanges 21, 22, 23 and 24. The top flaps are defined by and may be folded along the longitudinally extending score line 25 and the bottom flaps are defined by and are foldable along the longitudinally extending score line 26, each of the score lines extending the length of the blank BB as shown in FIG. 5. The blank BB is also provided with V-shaped notches 27 along its upper and lower edges with the vertices of each V-shaped notch terminating at the score lines 25 and 26. In addition, the top and bottom flaps 20 and 24 of the wall 13 have diagonal edges 28 and 29, and the side wall 10 has its upper and lower flaps 17 and 21 provided with diagonal edges 30 and 31 terminating at the top and bottom ends of the score line 16. Upon folding of the blank BB as previously described, the upper and lower flaps of the body portion B of the carton are disposed in the position shown in FIG. 4 and, as the upper and lower flaps are moved inwardly toward each other along the score lines 25 and 26, the adjoining diagonal and V-shaped edges of the flaps meet in proximate abutting relation to each other with the top flaps lying in a single plane and bottom flaps also being in a common plane as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

Referring now to the upper or top end cap U of the carton, the cap comprises a blank UB of corrugated paper (FIG. 6) substantially square in shape and having score lines 32, 33, 34, and 35 permitting folding of the blank to provide flaps 36, 37, 38 and 39 to provide the cap U; It will be seen that the blank UB is provided with V-shaped notches 44 at each of the four corners thereof whereby the adjacent edges of the flaps, when folded, will be in close proximity to each other and be disposed in a common plane. As will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 6, the side flap 39 is of greater width than the uniform widths than the other side flaps, the flap 39. having spaced openings 40 and 41 therein. Secured to the top end cap blank UB, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4, is a wood board 42 secured in any suitable manner to the blank with the board disposed closely adjacent to the score line 35. and extending longitudinally between and terminating at the score lines 32 and 34 adjacent the flaps 36 and 38. As seen in FIG. 4, the board 42 is of such thickness as to be disposed above the openings 40 and 41 in the flap 39 of the cap for a purpose to be described herinafter. It will be noted that the openings 40 and 41 may be punched through the flap 39 with portions shown at 43 extending within the end cap as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring now to the lower end cap L in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 and the blank LB in FIG. 7 the blank LB is formed of corrugated paper square in shape and having score lines 45 so that the longitudinal side edges of the blank may be folded to provide four fiaps 46 to form the lower end cap L as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. It will be noted that the blank LB is provided with V-shaped notches 47 at each of its four corners so that the adjacent ends of the flaps are in close proximity to each other and be in a single plane, upon folding of the flaps.

In the assembly of the carton and for packaging a domestic appliance, such as an automatic washer AW indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 2, the blank BB is formed and folded and the flap 15 secured to the side wall 13, as previously described, to provide the tubular box-like body member B. The lower end cap L, provided by the blank LB formed and folded as described, is then inserted within the lower end of the member B and the flaps 21, 22, 23 and 24 thereof are then folded toward each other and firmly secured to the lower end cap by gluing, or the like, so as to be contained wholly within the member B to form the bottom of the carton as shown in FIG. 2. The automatic washer AW may then be positioned within the carton with a conventional wood support S secured to the bottom of the Washer by the threaded leveling feet F of the washer in conventional manner. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the support S is received within the lower end cap and comprises three spaced parallel boards S1, S2, S3 connected at their ends by boards S4 and S5, which are firmly secured to the boards S1, S2, S3 by nails or other securing means connecting these boards above the ends of the boards S4, S5 to provide a unitary structure. The washer is secured to the support S by the threaded leveling feet F. After the washer and its attached support is inserted within the top of the body member B of the carton to assume the position as shown in FIG. 2, shock absorbing corner posts or filler strips P8, of V-shaped cross section and having a length extending from the top to the support S at the bottom of the carton, are inserted at the four corners of the carton and pushed downwardly between the carton and washer to firmly wedge and hold the washer at the four corners thereof against movement relative to the carton. The top end cap U, shown in FIG. 4, is then inserted and positioned within the upper end of the carton so as to be wholly contained within the carton, and with the flaps thereof positioned between the body member B and the filler strips as shown in FIG. 2, and with the openings 40 and 41 on the flap 39 in alignment with openings 48 and 49 at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the carton. It will be noted that the tops of the filler strips engage the top end cap, as seen in FIG. 2, to provide supports for the cap and to limit inserting movement of the cap to properly position the cap for engagement with the top flaps of the body member B. The flaps 17, 18, 19 and 20 are folded down over the top end cap and then securely fastened by glue to the cap. The carton and washer assembly is shown in FIG. 1.

The purpose of the openings 48 and 49 of the side wall 12 of the carton and the openings 40 and 41 in the flaps 39 of the upper end cap U are for the purpose of permitting insertion of forks FT of a lift truck, one of the forks being shown in FIG. 8. Two of these forks are conventionally used in a lift truck and are provided with arms F1 insertable within the openings of the carton for engagement with the board 42 of the carton.

It will be noted from the foregoing description that the top and bottom end caps of the carton are substantially similar in construction and cooperate with the carton body B in an identical manner by being inserted within the carton body member and having its top and bottom flaps firmly secured to the upper and lower end caps. It will be equally apparent that the bottom of the carton may be modified to provide the conventional overlapping flap arrangement of the regular slotted carton type, if desired. The advantages of my improved carton are that it requires less corrugated board than any other carton presently used in packaging domestic appliances; the provision of the top cap, inserted between the corner posts and the tubular body portion of the carton, engaging the tops of the posts provide all the supporting strength required for the flaps of the body portion to be folded over to engage the cap for sealing without the danger of top cap caving in; the provision of the lift-fork engaging wood board being secured to the top cap permits ready lifting and maneuvering in warehouses and car loading without any possibility of damage to the carton and its contents; as there are two layers of corrugated board on each of the corner edges of the carton, the strength of the carton is considerably increased for lifting and handling; the carton provides the smallest dimensions possible While still complying with uniform freight classifications; the flaps of the carton may be readily sealed by manual effort without requiring a major capital investment for automated sealing equipment; and, as the end caps are enclosed and confined totally within the carton, there is considerable saving in the car loading over the conventional drum or tube and cap type carton permitting a substantially larger amount of cartons to be utilized in the same car loading space and Warehousing space.

While the invention has been described in connection with a certain specific embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not by way of limitation and the scope of my invention is defined solely by the appended claims which should be construed as broadly as the prior art will permit.

I claim:

1. In a shipping container, a box-like tubular member having means closing one open end thereof and the marginal edges of the side walls defining the other open end thereof being formed to provide foldable flanges, a closure member inserted and disposed Wholly within said other open end of said tubular member and having laterally extending edge flaps engaging the inner surfaces of the side Walls of the tubular member, said flanges being folded over and secured to the outer stu'face of said closure member, said flaps having spaced openings therein aligned with openings in the engaging side wall of said tubular member and a board secured to said closure member adjacent one of said flaps and having the lower surface thereof aligned with the upper edges of said openings.

2. In a shipping carton, a box-like tubular member having means enclosing the open lower end thereof and the marginal edges of the side walls defining the upper end thereof being bent inwardly to form flanges, a closure cap inserted and disposed wholly within said upper end of said member and having laterally extending edge fiaps engaging the inner surfaces of the side walls of said member, V-shaped filler strips positioned in said tubular member and fitting into the corners defined by the adjoining side walls thereof, the upper ends of said strips engaging and supporting the closure cap, said flaps being disposed between said side walls and said filler strips, said flaps having spaced openings therein aligned with openings in the engaging side walls of said member, said flanges being foldable over and secured to said closure cap, and a board secured to said closure cap adjacent one of said flaps and having the lower surface thereof aligned with the upper edges of the openings.

3. In a shipping carton, a box-like tubular member having means enclosing the open lower end thereof and the open upper end of said member being provided with V-shaped notches formed at the intersection of the marginal edges of the side walls of said member to define flanges, said flanges being folded to position the flanges in a common plane with the adjacent ends thereof in approximately abutting relation to each other, a closure member inserted and disposed wholly within the upper end of said member, and having laterally extending edge flaps engaging the inner surfaces of the side walls of the tubular member, and ti-shaped filler strips positioned in said tubular member and fitting into the corners defined by the adjoining ends of the side walls thereof, the ends of said strips engaging and supporting the closure member, said flaps being disposed between said side walls and said filler strips, said flaps having spaced openings therein aligned with openings in the engaging side wall of said tubular member and a board secured to said closure member adjacent one of said flaps and having the lower surface thereof aligned with the upper edges of the openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,979,956 Boeye Nov. 6, 1934 2,085,292 Bourland June 29, 1937 2,132,666 Williams Oct. 11, 1938 2,277,674 Belsinger Mar. 31, 1942 2,597,848 Reeser May 27, 1952 2,671,598 Rosen Mar. 9, 1954 2,730,287 Mueller Jan. 10, 1956 2,918,205 Zeitter Dec. 22, 1959 2,937,799 Adams May 24, 1960

Claims (1)

1. IN A SHIPPING CONTAINER, A BOX-LIKE TUBULAR MEMBER HAVING MEANS CLOSING ONE OPEN END THEREOF AND THE MARGINAL EDGES OF THE SIDE WALLS DEFINING THE OTHER OPEN END THEREOF BEING FORMED TO PROVIDE FOLDABLE FLANGES, A CLOSURE MEMBER INSERTED AND DISPOSED WHOLLY WITHIN SAID OTHER OPEN END OF SAID TUBULAR MEMBER AND HAVING LATERALLY EXTENDING EDGE FLAPS ENGAGING THE INNER SURFACES OF THE SIDE WALLS OF THE TUBULAR MEMBER, SAID FLANGES BEING FOLDED OVER AND SECURED TO THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID CLOSURE MEMBER, SAID FLAPS HAVING SPACED OPENINGS THEREIN ALIGNED WITH OPENINGS IN THE ENGAGING SIDE WALL OF SAID TUBULAR MEMBER AND A BOARD SECURED TO SAID CLOSURE MEMBER ADJACENT ONE OF SAID FLAPS AND HAVING THE LOWER SURFACE THEREOF ALIGNED WITH THE UPPER EDGES OF SAID OPENINGS.

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