US3375966A - Full depth carton for large eggs - Google Patents

Description

April 2, 1968 K. L. CRABTRi EE 3,375,966

FULL DEPTH CARTON FOR LARGE EGGS Filed Feb. 10, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 1968 K. CRABTREE 3,375,96'6

FULL DEPTH CARTON FOR LARGE EGGS Filed Feb. 10, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet.

United States Patent 3,375,966 FULL DEPTH CARTON FOR LARGE EGGS Kenneth L. Crabtree, Fairfield, Maine, assignor to Keyes Fibre Company, Waterville, Maine, a corporation of Maine Filed Feb. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 615,162 9 Claims. (Cl. 229-25) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A molded pulp egg carton of the full depth style, as

opposed to the foldable cover style, having outwardly bulged pockets to receive the commercially popular large sizes of eggs while retaining the maximum carton width dimensions required for packaging the filled cartons in standard size cases and also maintaining the minimum draft angle required for removing the damp molded cartons from the open-face suction forming dies on which they are made.

Background of the invention cessfully commercialized. One style of carton, herein referred to as the foldable cover style, comprises in essence a bottom section with pockets for individually packaging the lower portions of the eggs, and a dished or walled cover section integrally hinged to the bottom and adapted to fold over upon the bottom and enclose the upper portions of the eggs; such a carton is illustrated, for instance, in FIGS. 14-18 of Patent 3,243,096 granted to me on Mar. 29, 1966. The other style of molded pulp egg carton, herein referred to as the full depth style, comprises in essence a single bottom section having deep pockets for individually packaging the eggs and having side and end walls which extend upwardly to at least the full height of the eggs, so that a separate cover arrangement may be placed thereover to enclose the contents of the carton; such a carton is illustrated, for instance, in FIGS. 1-8 of my aforesaid patent.

The present invention is concerned with the latter or full depth style of molded pulp egg carton as opposed to the former or foldable cover style. The forerunner of the present day commercial full depth egg carton is disclosed in Wade Patent 3,129,866 granted Apr. 21, 1964. The previous full depth egg cartons, however, such as illustrated in the Wade patent and in FIGS. 1-8 of my aforesaid patent, are useful for packaging only small eggs of the pee-wee, small, medium and perhaps the smaller large classifications, and are unsuitable for packaging large eggs of the larger large, extra large and the smaller jumbo classifications. The latter large egg classifications presently account fora substantial percentage of eggs packed for retail sales.

The reason the prior full depth cartons are unsuitable for packaging large eggs is controlled essentially by two factors. First, there is a manufacturing requirement that a suitable slope or draft anglethe outward flare of the carton side walls-must be maintained to permit removal of the damp, molded cartons from the rough, screen covered surface of the open-face forming dies against or on which the cartons are molded. Second, the overall outer dimension of egg cartons is restricted to a "ice predetermined maximum which enables the cartons to fit three abreast into the standardized packing cases. For instance, in the variety of egg carton which has a foldable cover, the depth of each half of the carton as molded is only about half the height of an egg. The carton can thus be the prescribed maximum 3%" width at the top of the pocketed bottom section-adjacent the widest or fattest part of the egg-and this allows an. abundant draft angle without the pocket'and cover side walls tapering inwardly far enough to interfere with the bottoms and the tops, respectively, of the eggs in the carton. In the full depth style of carton, however, the maximum 3%" width must be maintained at the open top of the carton, where the outward flare of the side walls is the greatest. The side walls, however, must incline or slope steadily inwardly below this level to provide for the necessary draft angle of, at the very least, several degrees from the vertical. This, of course, means that the width of the full depth carton at the middle height, where the eggs are the fattest, must be significantly less than the 3%" width of the carton at its top; Whereas, in the folda'ble cover variety of carton, the 3% maximum width conveniently occurs at the mid-height of the carton. Thus, where the foldable cover variety of carton can easily accommodate eggs of the largest size while maintaining the maximum width dimension at carton mid-height, cartons of the full depth style have heretofore been able to accommodate only smaller eggs.

The inherent restrictions in the full depth style of molded pulp egg cartons are illustrated in Swift Patent 1,990,145 granted Feb. 5, 1935. In that patent, there is illustrated a full depth egg carton wherein, with reference for instance to FIG. 3, the width dimension at the very top of the carton is substantially greater than the width of the carton at its middle height where the eggs are fattest. Swift, however, in 1935 was not concerned with the limitations concerning the modern standard size ship: ping case, as is evidenced by Swifts recommendation that his cartons be packaged in individual sleeve wrappersfi. Moreover, the percentage of eggs larger than the large classification in 1935 was not a large factor in the egg packaging industry; whereas, today the larger eggs predominate because of popular demand and the scientific advances in feeding and caring'for chickens.

Thus, the problem heretofore unsolved by the prior art is the provision of a. full depth molded pulp egg carton having a width whichwill enable it to'be accommodated in standard size shipping cases, a draft angle which'will permit it to be removed from the dies on which-it is formed, and the important ability to accommodate eggs of the largest size with a full measure of protection.

Summary of the invention This invention provides a full depth molded pulp egg carton wherein the mid-portion of the side wall of each egg pocket is formed so that it bulges outwardly with a rounded configuration to cradle even the largest size egg s deep in the pockets,'and the side walls'are initially'rnoldcd with sufiicient draft angle-or outward flare to permit removal on a high speed commercial basis from the molding die, and the top portion of the side walls above the outward bulge may be pulled and held inwardly by a suitable cover arrangement so that the overall width dimension of the filledand closed carton conforms with the requirements dictated by the standard! size shipping cases. To this end, the inwardly contoured half-pose along the sides of the carton are preferably made'narrower at the top to facilitate in-Ward flexing of the top portion of the carton side wallsby the cover, and the side walls are'preferably scalloped downwardly between the half-posts. to reduce the area of extremely steep side wall and thusfacilitate removal of the cartons from the forming die. The downwardly scalloped portions of the side walls have the added advantage of increasing the visibility of eggs packaged within the full depth carton in combination with certain transparent types of covering arrangements. Thus, this invention achieves the primary object of providing a full depth molded pulp egg carton having a width which will enable it to be accommodated in standard size shipping cases, a draft angle which will permit it to be removed from the dies on which it is formed, and the long sought ability to accommodate eggs of the largest size with a full measure of protectlon.

Brief description of the drawings Numerous advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a reading of the detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the full depth molded pulp egg carton according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the egg carton of this invention on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the egg carton of this invention with an opaque and relatively inflexible cover member attached;

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view of the covered egg carton of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the egg carton of this invention with a transparent and relatively flexible cover member attached;

FIG. 6 is an end elevational view, with parts broken away, of the covered egg carton of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of a portion of the egg carton of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional plan view on line 8-8 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is another sectional plan view on line 9--9 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of a portion of the egg carton of this invention on line 10-10 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a sectional elevational view on line 11-11 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 12 is another sectional elevational view on line 1212 of FIG. 7.

Detailed description Referring in more particularity to the drawings, a full depth molded pulp egg carton 10 of the 2 x 6 variety for holding one dozen eggs is illustrated. It will be appreciated, however, that other egg positioning arrangements, suchas2x5,3x4, 2x3,1x3ore-ven1x6,canbe incorporated in full depth molded pulp egg cartons benefiting from this invention.

,wardly with a predetermined draft angle; otherwise, the article could not be withdrawn or separated from the die.

This restriction, however, has certain advantages in that all molded pulp articles are thus inherently capable of nesting or telescoping one within the other which permits them to be conveniently stacked for shipment to and storage by the purchaser ofv the products. In this operation, it .is common practice to compress a stack of nested articles to jam the articles one into another so that the maximum number of articles can be shipped in a stack of minimum height..The purchaser of the pulp articles, however, is then obliged to separate or de-nest the articles .4 for individual use, either manually or by apparatus such as disclosed in Burt Patent 3,297,201 granted Jan. 10, 1967. The job of unstacking the articles grows more difficult, as can be understood, with articles having a preponderance of steep side wall or post portions, because the steep walls frictionally engage between adjacent articles in the compressed stack. Thus, whenever there is reference to the outward flare or draft angle herein, it will be appreciated that this phenomenon pertains to removing the damp, molded article from the screen covered die on which it is formed as well as removing articles one from another in a nested stack of such articles.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the carton 10 comprises a pair of upwardly flaring opposed side walls 12, 14 and a pair of upwardly flaring opposed end walls 16, 18 of predetermined width which define a generally rectangular full depth egg carton. A plurality of inwardly contoured, upwardly tapering half-posts 20 are integrally formed at spaced intervals in the Walls. There are five such halfposts on each of the side walls 12, 14, one such half-post on each of the end walls 16, 18, and four such half-posts which may also be referred to as quarter posts-at the four corners of the rectangular carton. Four upwardly tapering full posts 22 spaced interiorly of the carton extend throughout the full height'of the carton, and one full post 24 in the center of the carton extends upwardly to only approximately the mid-height of the full depth of the carton. As is well known, the spacing of the halfposts and full posts is such that they are arranged at the corners of squares, so that each egg pocket is surrounded by four posts.

Rib means 26 intersect the half-posts 20 as well as the full posts 22, 24 to define with the walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and the posts, a plurality of downwardly dished egg pockets 28. The rib means 26 in the preferred embodiment comprise a pair of upwardly converging walls having upwardly directed extensions 30 which are integrally formed as extensions of one of the rib walls, as well as stacking apertures 32 directly molded into the other of the rib walls beneath the extensions 30 to receive the like extensions of cartons placed therebelow in a nested stack. The extensions 30 extend upwardly to the Zone of maximum girth of eggs packaged in the pockets 28, and thus prevent shell checking or cracking which would otherwise be caused by eggs shifting directly against each other in response to lateral forces to which the filled carton may be subjected. In addition, each rib means 26 includes a pair of thickened gusset formations 34 at the base of each upwardly directed tab 30. The gusset formations are useful as strengthening members as well as antijamming devices to prevent the cartons from nesting one within the other beyond a predetermined depth so that the frictional engagement of the carton side walls will not be so great as to make de-nesting from a stack impossible.

The egg pockets 28 include an upper extremity 36 at a level slightly above the tops of eggs to be packaged in the carton. The pockets also include a lower extremity 38 at the level of the bottoms of eggs to be packaged therein. It is general practice to include a bottom 40 for each pocket, and the bottom advisably may include a convex egg seat 42 to properly locate the bottom or pointed end of the egg.

The carton side walls 12, 14 and end walls 16, 18 extend from the lower extremity 38 to the upper extremity 36 in the manner of a full depth egg carton, as opposed to the half depth with foldable cover type. The carton side walls have a bottom portion 44 which extends from the lower extremity 38 of the pockets to a mid-portion 46 thereof, and they also have a top portion 48 which extends from the mid-portion 46 to the upper extremity 36 of the pockets. The bottom portions 44 of the side walls are disposed at a greater angle to the vertical than the top portions 48 of the side walls.

The mid-portion 46 of the side walls and end walls is, according to this invention, bulged significantly outwardly adjacent the center of each egg pocket in a rounded configuration to cradle eggs deeper in the pockets. With reference specifically to FIGS. 8 and 10, which are horizontal and vertical cross-sectional views through the point of greatest outward bulge, it can be seen that the provision of the outwardly rounded configuration will permit eggs of maximum girth to be inserted deep within each pocket until the lower end of the egg is properly accommodated in the convex egg seat 42 of the bottom 40 of the pocket.

With further reference to FIGS. 7l2, it can be seen that the bottom portion 44 of the side walls gradually merges from an outwardly bulging rounded configuration of the mid-portion 46 to a substantially flat configuration adjacent the lower extremity 38 of the egg pocket. Similarly, the top portion 48 of the side walls at each pocket also gradually merges from the outwardly bulging configuration of the mid-portion 46 to a substantially fiat configuration adjacent the upper extremity 36 of the egg pocket. For instance, the juncture between the bottom portion 44 of the side wall and the bottom 40 of the egg pocket is substantially straight, as at 50, without any bulge. Similarly, the top portions 48 of the side walls are substantially straight between the top of the half-posts near the upper extremity of the egg pockets. Thus, as seen in FIGS. and 12, the bottom portion 44 at the mid-portion of the pocket where the outward bulge is greatest is at an angle of approximately 22 to the vertical; whereas, the bottom portion 44 near the edge of the pocket adjacent the half-post is an angle of only approximately 16" to the vertical. Similarly, the top portion 48 of the side wall at the center of the pocket where the bulge is greatest is at a bare minimum draft angle of about only 2; whereas, the top portion 48 at the edge of the pocket adjacent the half-post 20 is at a reasonable draft angle of about 6 to the vertical.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the distance between the opposed side walls 12, 14 at the upper extremity 36 of the pockets is greater than the width of the end walls 16, 18 in the as-molded condition. For instance, the end walls 16, 18 have a maximum, predetermined width, at the up- ,per extremity of the pockets, of 3 /8. The distance between the side walls, however, at the top of the carton is slightly over 4except, of course, at the extreme ends of the side walls where they obviously converge slightly with each other to join the corner halfposts. Thus, in

the as-molded condition, .the width of the carton is greater than that which is permitted for the standard size shipping cases. In such cases the maximum width of the carton is 3%", which permits three cartons to be packaged abrest in each layer of cartons in the case.,Thus, while the width of the carton in the empty, asrnolded condition is beyond that which is acceptable for present day commercial use, the steepest or minimum draft angle, which is the 2 angle of the top portion 48 of the side wall at the centerline of each pocket, is such that the cartons can be removed from the dies during manufacture and can be de-nested from each other for use by the purchaser.

The egg carton of this invention is rendered useful in the present day packaging environment, however, in the following manner. With reference to FIGS. 3-6 and 10, it will be seen that a cover member 52 is utilized in conjunction with the molded pulp carton. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover member 52 comprises an opaque, relatively inflexible fiat member 54 having side flanges 56 folded downwardly and secured to the outside of the top portions 48 of the carton side Walls. The cover member 54 may conveniently be made of plastic, cardboard, chipboard or other such material, and may be obtained by the egg packager from numerous sources complete with visibility windows, perforated tear strips, and/or appropriate printing or other advertising indicia, as desired. Such cover members 54 may be applied across the tops of the filled egg cartons 10 by suitable automated equipment in the larger egg packaging establishments, and the side flanges 56 may also be folded downwardly and secured by glue or other adhesive media to the outside of the top portions of the carton side walls by automated equipment.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, the cover member 52 takes the form of a transparent, relatively flexible film overwrap 58heat shrunk to at least the outside of the top portion 48 of the carton side walls. Such an overwrap may, for instance, be applied in numerous well-known ways. Advisably, especially for the small egg packaging establishments without automated equipment, the overwrap may comprise an elongated sleeve or tube of heat shrinkable thermoplastic material sealed at one end in the form of a bag which, after thefilled egg carton 10 is inserted endwise therein, may have its open end heat sealed closed against the end wall of the carton. This unit is then exposed to heat for a short time to suitably shrink the enclosing filmtightly around the carton.

With reference to FIG. 10, it will be appreciated that the cover member 54 of FIGS. 3 and 4 and the cover member 58 of FIGS, 5 and 6 secure the opposed side walls 12, 14 inwardly so that they are spaced apart, at the upper extremity 36 of the egg pockets, only 3 /8" or substantially the same distance as the predetermined width of the end walls 16, 18. For instance, in FIG. 4 it may be seen that the side flanges 56 are adequate to hold the upper portions 48 of the side walls in the desired, inwardly bent position. Similarly, in FIG. 6 lt can be seen that the film overwrap 58, which encloses the carton, holds the upper portions 48 of the side walls in the desired, inwardly bent position. The desired, inwardly bent position is one wherein the upper portion 48 of the side walls has been moved inwardly through a few degrees of angular motion until it is substantially vertical. All of such inward motion takes place well above the midportion 46 of the side wall, and thus does not intefere with the eggs in the pockets.

In the preferred embodiment, the half-posts 20 along the sides 12, 14 and the ends 16, 18 of the carton 10 have a deep inward contour 60 between the bottom portions 44 of the walls, and a shallow inward contour 62 between the top portions 48 of the side walls. The deep inward contours 60' merge smoothly at 64 with the shallow inward contours 62. In addition, it will be noted that the half-posts 20 extend upwardly to a height where the tops 66 of the half-posts are at the upper extremity 36 of the pockets.

The shallowing at 62 of the half-posts 20 has the advantage of providing more space for fingertip insertion, which enables the ultimate consumer to more easily remove the eggs from the carton. This is important because it has long been recognized that one of the disadvantages of the full depth style of egg carton, which ordinarily includes deeply inwardly contoured half-posts extending throughout the full height of the carton for strengthening purposes, is the difficulty in removing eggs. A more important advantage of the shallowing at 62 of the upper portion of the half-posts 20, in conjunction with the present invention, is the ability to bend the upper portions of the side walls inwardly to the desired extent after the carton has been filled with eggs so that the filled carton will be accommodated in standard size shipping cases. The reduced depth of the half-posts at their upper extremity permits the side walls to be drawn inwardly, for instance, by the mere process of folding the side flanges 56 of the cover member 54 downwardly, or by the process of heat shrinking the film 58 about the carton. The reduced depth portions 62 of the half-posts provide adequate resistance against vertical forces to strengthen the carton side walls throughout their full height and thus provide a fullrneasure of protection for the eggs. In addition, even the reduced depth portion provides a suitable top 66 for the half-posts to serve as a flat base or support for the cover member 52. A final advantage in providing the half-posts with the shallow upper portions 62 is that the total surface area ofextremely steep walls is reduced. This facilitates removing the cartons from the dies on which they are made, as well as facilitating de-nesting of empty cartons one from the other by the purchaser.

The preferred embodiment, in addition, is characterized by side walls wherein the top portions 48 are scalloped downwardly at 68 adjacent each egg pocket 28. The downward scallop 68 thus extends between the upper portions 62 of the halfposts 20, and results in the following advantages. First, the scalloped out portions, while relatively small compared with the overall pulp content of the entire carton, are so positioned so that they expose a significantly larger amount of the carton contents than is the case with an identical carton without the scalloped out portions. Especially when the carton is used in combination with a transparent covering member, the scalloped out portions thus greatly enhance the utility of the carton. Second, the scalloped out portions serve to reduce the extent of the outwardly bulging zone of the top portions 48. For instance, the steepest (2 draft angle) portion of the carton occurs at the centerline of the top portions 48, from the mid-portion 46 to the upper extremity 36 of the pocket. This steep zone becomes more sloping from the center toward the edge of the side wall between half-posts, where it is 6, as is clearly shown in FIGS. 10-12. Since the scalloped out portion 68 is deepest at the centerline of the pocket it will be clear that the steepest portions at the outwardly bulged zone of the top portions 48 are significantly reduced even by relatively small scalloped out portions. This, of course, facilitates removal of the cartons from the forming dies and from each other in the nested condition.

In use, the full depth molded pulp egg carton according to this invention is removed from the screen covered forming die and completely dried, after which it is a completed product ready for use without expensive afterpressing operations. A plurality of such cartons are nested one within the other in a stack, and the stack is suitably compressed to provide a shipping bundle of a maximum number of cartons in a stack of minimum height. The stack of empty cartons is thereafter shipped to the purchaser, an egg packaging establishment, who stores the stacks of empty cartons until they are needed in the egg packaging operation. As the cartons are needed, they are separated one at a time from the stack and filled with eggs. Up to this point, the egg carton according to this invention has the opposed side walls 12, 14 spaced 4" apart rather than the standard 3 /3". This extraordinary width has allowed for a workable draft angle and permitted the carton to be molded and satisfactorily removed from the molding dies, and also has enabled the cartons to be readily separated from each other by the purchaser. In addition, the wide, outwardly flaring side Walls facilitate the placement of eggs properly in the pockets.

Thereafter, the carton filled with eggs is supplied with a cover member. The cover member may be of a number of different styles, as noted above. In any case, however, the cover member is applied in such a manner that it draws the top portions 48 of the carton side walls inwardly until they are spaced apart no more than the requisite 3%. The cover member is then secured to the carton in a manner which retains the top portions 48 of the side walls at the desired inward position.

This results in a package which completely protects the eggs with all the advantages of a full depth, as opposed to a half-depth with a foldable cover, style of egg carton. In addition, this package has a separate cover member which may be inexpensively printed with advertising or other indicia, another advantage of the full depth style of carton. This package is the full 3% width at its midheight, where the packaged eggs are fattest, and it thus is capable of holding the large size eggs-an important advantage from a commercial standpoint. Finally, it is no more than 3 /3 wide even at the upper extremity of the egg pockets, normally the widest part of a full depth carton, which enables the cartons to be packaged three abreast in a standard size shipping case.

When the closed carton of eggs is purchased by the ultimate consumer, such as a housewife, and the cover member removed, the carton according to this invention has additional advantages. With the cover member removed the opposing side walls 12, 14 easily resume their original wide, outwardly flaring configuration. This, especially coupled with the half-posts which are shallow at their upper portions, greatly facilitates fingertip insertion so that the eggs can be removed from the full depth carton with ease. The carton also provides a handy refrigerator package for storing eggs until they are needed because it need not be wholly removed from the refrigerator shelf to remove one or two eggs therefrom; whereas, a foldable cover style carton must under ordinary conditions be fully removed from the refrigerator so that the cover may be swung upwardly to expose the eggs for removal.

There has thus been disclosed an invention in molded pulp egg cartons of the full depth variety having a width which will enable the carton to be accommodated in standard size shipping cases, a draft angle which will permit it to be removed from the dies on which it is formed, and the long sought ability to accommodate eggs of the largest size with a full measure of protection.

While the above described embodiments constitute the preferred mode of practicing this invention, other embodiments and equivalents may be resorted to within the scope of the actual invention, which is claimed as:

1. A full depth egg carton molded of fibrous pulp material comprising a pair of opposed side walls and a pair of opposed end walls of predetermined width defining a generally rectangular carton, a plurality of inwardly contoured, upwardly tapering half-posts integrally formed at spaced intervals in the Walls, rib means intersecting the half-posts to define with the walls and the half-posts a plurality of downwardly dished egg pockets, the pockets including an upper extremity at a level slightly above the tops of eggs to be packaged in the carton and a lower extremity at the level of the bottoms of eggs to be packaged therein, the carton side walls extending from the lower extremity to the upper extremity adjacent at least some of the pockets, the carton side walls having a bottom portion extending from the lower extremity of the pockets to a mid-portion thereof and a top portion extending from the mid-portion of the pockets to the upper extremity thereof, the bottom portions of the side walls being disposed at a greater angle to the vertical than the top portions of the side walls, the mid-portion of the side wall bulging outwardly adjacent each pocket in a rounded configuration to cradle eggs deeper in the pockets, the bottom portion and the top portion of the side walls at each pocket gradually merging from the outwardly bulging rounded configuration of the mid-portion to a substantially flat configuration adjacent the lower extremity and the upper extremity, respectively, of the egg pockets, and the distance between the opposed side walls at the upper extremity of the pockets being greater than the width of the end walls when the carton is in the uncovered, as-molded condition.

2. An egg carton as in claim 1 wherein the half-posts have a deep inward contour between bottom portions of the side walls and a shallow inward contour between top portions of the side walls.

3. An egg carton as in claim 1 wherein the top portions of the side walls are scalloped downwardly adjacent each egg pocket to reduce the extent of the outwardly bulging zone of the top portions.

4. An egg carton as in claim 3 wherein the half-posts in the side walls extend upwardly to a height where the tops of the half-posts are at the upper extremity of the pockets.

5. An egg carton as in claim 4 wherein the top portions of the side walls are scalloped downwardly between halfposts.

6. An egg carton as in claim 5 wherein the half-posts have a deep inward contour between bottom portions of 10 the side walls and a shallow inward contour between the heat shrunk to at least the outside of the top portions of downwardly scalloped top portions of the side walls. the carton side walls.

7. Au egg carton as in claim 6 wherein a cover member References Cited is supported at the upper extremity of the pockets by the tops of the half-posts, and the cover member secures the 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS opposed side walls inwardly so that they are spaced apart 1,990,145 2/1935 Swift. at the upper extremity of the egg pockets substantially 3,129,866 4/1964 Wade.

the same distance as the width of the end walls. ,162, 12/1964 SWaim 229-25 XR 8. An egg carton as in claim 7 wherein the cover mem- 8 71 5/ 1965 Reifers 2 29-25 ber takes the form of a relatively inflexible flat member 10 3,193,177 7/ 9 ra tree 229-25 XR having side flanges folded downwardly and secured to 3,221,971 12/1965 y 9-2-5 the outside of the top portions of the carton side walls. 3,243,096 3/1966 Crabtree- 9. An egg carton as in claim 7 wherein the cover mem- 3255877 6/1966 Kracht et 206-650 ber takes the form of a relatively flexible film overwrap 15 DAVIS MOORHEAD Primary Examiner

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