US3276621A

US3276621A - Can carrier

Info

Publication number: US3276621A
Application number: US371895A
Authority: US
Inventors: William M Tolaas
Original assignee: Waldorf Paper Products Co
Current assignee: Waldorf Paper Products Co
Priority date: 1964-06-02
Filing date: 1964-06-02
Publication date: 1966-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 1983-10-04

Description

W. M. TOLAAS Oct. 4, 1966 CAN CARRIER Filed June 2, 1964 INVENTOR W/L4/AM M. Tam/2s BY 0 7 United States Patent 3,276,621 CAN CARRIER William M. Tolaas, St. Paul, Minn., assignor to Waldorf Paper Products Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed June 2, 1964, Ser. No. 371,895 6 Claims. (Cl. 220-105) Thisinvention relates to an improvement in can carrier and deals particularly with a carrier having a retractable handle to simplify the carrying of the cans.

During recent years a great number of different types of paperboard can carriers have been produced. Many of these carriers are designed to hold six cans of a product, such as beer, the cans being arranged in two side by side rows. In some instances, these carriers have been provided with handles, usually extending upwardly from the center of the top panel and foldable into the plane of the top panel or against the top panel during shipment and storage. However, in the interest of economy, other carriers are produced which are merely provided with finger openings registrable with spaces between the cans so that the fingers may be inserted for lifting the carriers from the packing case in which they are shipped.

The machinery employed to package the cans is extremely expensive equipment, and normally travels at high speeds. Once this machinery is produced to close a carrier of a certain type, considerable expense is involved in adapting the machinery to handle a different carton. For example, if the apparatus is designed to enclose cans in a carton which does not include a carrying handle, it cannot be conveniently adjusted from time to time to accommodate carton blanks provided with carrying handles. In other words, substantial revision must be made to change the mechanism from forming one carton blank to another.

Many breweries produce various grades of beer, some of which sells for a relatively high price, and some of which sells for much lower price. Usually the lower priced beers are packaged under a different label. In order that all of the cans of beer produced by the brewery may be packaged on the same machine, the type of blanks used must remain substantially the same. Thus, while it might be desirable to provide a carrying handle on the packages used for more expensive beer, this is not usually considered practical. If an economical blank must be used for the less expensive product, the same form of blank must be used on the more expensive grades of the product. i

It is an object of the present invention to provide a beer can carrier which may in general be of the type illustrated in the patent to Raymond A. Cote, No. 2,963,148, issued Dec. 6, 1960, and in adding a separate handle to such a carrier. This type of carrier comprises an elongated strip of paperboard which is transversely creased to provide a central panel designed to extend across one end of the cans of two side by side rows, side walls hingedly connected to the central panel, and two half top panels hingedly connected to the side wall panels, each of which is designed to extend over the cans of a single row. Flanges are hingedly connected to these half panels which extend between the cans of the two rows in a direction toward the central panel, these flanges being secured in face contact. Usually, additional reversely turned flanges are provided on the edges of the attached panels, these latter flanges being designed to engage against the chimes of the cans. With such an arrangement, a generally U-shaped separate handle having parallel sides terminating in hooked-shaped ends may be inserted between the attached flanges to extend into open areas between the cans. The central handle bar portion of this handle may normally rest along the juncture between the two half panels where is does not interfere with the stacking of the cartons. However, by grasping the handle bar and pulling it upwardly, the hooked-shaped ends of the handle will engage the flange structure to limit upward movement of the handle bar relative to the half panel. As a result, a convenient carrying handle may be provided on a conventional carton of the type now being used in great volume.

A feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the handles may be applied to the carton during the gluing process or may be mechanically inserted in the seam between the attached flanges after the cartons are complete. Spaced unglued areas may be provided between the flanges if desired or the handles may be inserted :at a time when the adhesive is not completely set to simplify the inserting operation. In actual practice, handles have been successfully inserted between the flanges after the gluing operation is complete, as the flanges have a tendency to adhere less securely in the open spaces between the cans.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invent-ion will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a can carrier, showing the handles in place therein.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a form of handle which may be used.

FIGURE 3 is a partial end view of the cart-on showing the manner in which the hook ends of the handle engage the flange structure.

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section viewing the upper .portion of the carrier, the position of the section being indicated by the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the carrier, the view being directed upwardly toward the top of the carrier.

In view of the fact that the bottom of the carrier is unimportant in the present invention, it is not shown in detail. The carrier A may be similar to that shown in the Cote patent previously referred to. Usually the carrier includes a bottom panel 9 which forms the center of the blank, and which is connected along parallel fold lines to side walls 10 hingedly connected along their upper edges 11 to half panels 12, these half panels being of a width substantially equal to the diameter of the cans of one row. In the particular carrier illustrated, the cans B are arranged in two side by side rows of three cans each.

The half panels 12 are hingedly connected at 13 to flanges 14 which extend downwardly between the rows of cans B. The lower edges 15 of the flanges 14 are hingedly connected to anchoring flanges 16 which are preferably shorter than the flanges 14 and which are designed to engage the chimes 17 of the cans B. The flanges 14 are adhered in face contact in the manner best illustrated in FIG- URE 3 of the drawings.

The handle C is formed as is best illustrated in FIG- URE 2 of the drawings. The handle C includes a handle bar 19 which is connected at its ends 20 to parallel handle shanks 21. The handle bar 19 and shanks 21 provide a generally U-shaped handle structure. Reversely turned hook ends 22 are provided at the lower ends of the handle shanks 21. The parallel shanks 21 and the handle bar 19 lie in a common plane. However, the hook ends 22 are bent somewhat out of the plane, preferably into parallel relation with one hook end extending to one side of the plane and the other hook end extending to the other side. Accordingly, when the handle C is inserted down between the flanges 14, until the upper ends 23 of the hook ends 22 are below the level of the folded edges 15 of these flanges, the hook ends will engage opposite flanges when the handle is drawn upwardly. Thus the weight of the carton contents is supported by the engagement between the hook ends 22 and the folded

flanges

14, 16.

When not in use, the handle C rests upon the top of the carton at the juncture between the top half panels 12 and the flanges 14. FIGURE 1 of the drawings shows the handle in this position in dotted outline. When it is desired to lift the carton from the packing case or to carry the carton, the handle is raised and the fingers inserted beneath the handle bar 19, permitting the carrier to be readily carried.

While it is possible to insert the handle at the time the carriers are glued, they may also be inserted automatically after the cartons are closed by forcing the ends of the handle between the flanges 14 as they leave the packaging machine. In order to facilitate this operation, the flanges 14 may either be provided with unglued areas, or else the handles may be inserted while the adhesive is still moist. The use of this handle permits all of the packages to be generally uniform while still permitting the use of a handle on the packages wherever desired.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of construction and operation of my can carrier, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

'1. A can carrier for containing a group of cans arranged in two side by side rows, the carrier including,

an elongate-d sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallel fold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a said group of cans, side wall panels adapted to extending along opposite sides of the said group of cans, half top panels each adapted to overlie the upper ends of a row of said cans, and flanges hinged to the edges of said top panels and adapted to extend between the said two rows of cans in side by side rows, said flanges secure-d in face contact,

a U-shaped handle including substantially parallel shanks extending between .said flanges, and angularly extending ends on said shanks,

said shanks being sufficiently long to be normally substantially below the lower edges of said flanges when the center of the handle rest-s upon the top panels, and said shanks having said angularly extending ends und-erlyingly engageable with said flanges when said center portion of said handle is raised. 2. A can carrier for containing a group of cans arranged in two side by side rows, the carrier including,

an elongated sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallel fold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a said group of cans, side Wall panels adapted to extending along opposite sides of the said group of cans, half top panels each adapted to overlie the upper ends of a row of said cans, and flanges hinged to the edges of said top panels and adapted to extend between the said two rows of cans in side by side rows, said flanges secured in face contact,

a U-shaped handle including a central handle bar and generally parallel handle shanks on the ends thereof extending between said flanges,

said shanks being of 'a length substantially greater than the width of said flanges and having offset lower ends underlyingly engageable with one of said flanges when said handle is lifted upwardly.

3. The structure of claim 2 and in which said offset lower ends are hook-shaped.

4. The structure of claim 2 and in which said flanges are hingedly connected at their lower ends to outwardly and upwardly turned flanges, and said offset means engages the folded edges of one of said flanges.

5. A can carrier for containing a group of cans arranged in two side by side rows, the carrier including,

an elongated sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallel fold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a group of cans, side wall panels adapted to extend along opposite sides of the said group of cans arranged in side by side rows, half top panels each adapted to overlie the upper ends of one said row of cans, and flanges hinged to the edges of said top panels and adapted to extend between the two said rows of cans and secure-d in face contact,

outwardly and upwardly turned flanges hingedly connected to the lower edges of said first named flanges,

a U-shaped handle including a central handle bar and generally parallel handle shanks connected to the ends thereof and extending between said first named flanges,

said shanks being longer than the width of said flanges and including upwardly turned hook ends on the lower ends thereof,

each said hook end being engageable with the folded edge between one said first named flange and the flange hinged thereto.

6. The structure of claim '5 and in which one said hook end is engageable with the fold between one pair of flanges and the other is engageable with the fold line between the other pair of flanges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,605 10/ 1952 Wahlbom 220-104 2,678,751 5/1954 Ringler .220104 3,010,573 11/1961 Chidsey 2 20- 1 12 X 3,120,903 2/ 1964 Cote 220-112 GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A CAN CARRIER FOR CONTAINING A GROUP OF CANS ARRANGED IN TWO SIDE BY SIDE ROWS, THE CARRIER INCLUDING, AN ELONGATED SHEET OF PAPERBOARD TRANSVERSELY CREASED ALONG PARALLEL FOLD LINES TO PROVIDE A BOTTOM PANEL ADAPTED TO UNDERLIE A SAID GROUP OF CANS, SIDE WALL PANELS ADAPTED TO EXTENDING ALONG OPPOSITS SIDES OF THE SAID GROUP OF CANS, HALF TOP PANELS EACH ADAPTED TO OVERLIE THE UPPER ENDS OF A ROW OF SAID CANS, AND FLANGES HINGED TO THE EDGES OF SAID TOP PANELS AND ADAPTED TO EXTEND BETWEEN THE SAID TWO ROWS OF CANS IN SIDE BY SIDE ROWS, SAID FLANGES SECURED IN FACE CONTACT, A U-SHAPED HANDLE INCLUDING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL SHANKS EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FLANGES, AND ANGULARLY EXTENDING ENDS ON SAID SHANKS, SAID SHANKS BEING SUFFICIENTLY LONG TO BE NORMALLY SUBSTANTIALLY BELOW THE LOWER EDGES OF SAID FLANGES WHEN THE CENTER OF THE HANDLE RESTS UPON THE TOP PANELS, AND SAID SHANKS HAVING SAID ANGULARLY EXTENDING ENDS UNDERLYING ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID FLANGES WHEN SAID CENTER PORTION OF SAID HANDLE IS RAISED.