US3695503A

US3695503A - Manifold case

Info

Publication number: US3695503A
Application number: US91231A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph A Mascetti Jr
Original assignee: Plastofilm Industries Inc
Current assignee: Plastofilm Industries Inc
Priority date: 1970-11-20
Filing date: 1970-11-20
Publication date: 1972-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1989-10-03
Also published as: CA961451A

Abstract

Two identical package halves are vacuum formed from a relatively thin plastic sheet. Along the bottom and along two side edges there are flanges with mating protuberances and sockets which snap together to hold the two halves together. Between the two ends there are a plurality of vertical pockets in each half. At the top of the pockets there is a slanting wall having openings therein through which the objects to be held in the pockets extend. A cap fits over the top of these objects and the slanting walls and snaps into place. At two locations along the bottom edge are a pair of bulges forming feet.

Description

United States Patent Mascetti, Jr.

[ MANIFOLD CASE [72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Plastofilm Industries, Inc., Wheaton,

Ill.

[22] Filed: v Nov. 20, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 91,231

[52] US. Cl ..229/2.5 [51] Int. Cl. "B6511 1/00 [58] Field of Search ..229 /2.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 ,342,397 9/1967 Duitsman ..229/2.5 3,498,523 3/1970 Stembridge et a1. ....229/2.5 X 2,961,123 11/1960 Boydak et a]. ..229/2.5 X 3,305,086 2/1967 Hartman, Jr ..229/2.5 X 3,351,270 ll/l967 Hohnjec ..229/2.5 X 3,355,084 11/1967 Donovan ..229/2.5 X

Joseph A. Mascetti, Jr., Geneva, Ill.

5; 3,695,503 [4 1 Oct. 3, 1972 3,383,559 6/1971 Brander ..229/2.s x

FOREIGN PATENTS on APPLICATIONS 453,195 3/1968 Switzerland ..229 2.s

Primary Examiner-Davis T. Moorhead Att0mey-Darbo, Robertson & Vandenburgh [57] ABSTRACT Two identical package halvesv are vacuum formed from a relatively thin plastic sheet. Along the bottom and along two side edges there are flanges with mating protuberances and sockets which snap together to hold the two halves together. Between the two ends there are a plurality of vertical pockets in each half. At the top of the pockets there is a slanting wall having openings therein through which the objects to be held in the pockets extend. A cap fits over the top of these objects and the slanting walls and snaps into place. At two locations along the bottom edge are a pair of bulges forming feet.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures MANIFOLD CASE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an inexpensive package for protectively packaging tubular objects.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a package made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view, partially broken away, of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

, DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacy and aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent which is to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further improvements. The claims at the end hereof are intended as the chief aid toward this purpose, as it is these that meet the requirement of pointing out the parts, improve ments, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

The package illustrated in the drawing comprises two package halves, generally and 10', and a cap, generally 11; All of these are vacuum formed from a relatively thin sheet of thermoplastic resin (plastic). The two package halves are identical and thus can be formed from a common mold. One of these 10 is described specifically. The same numbers with a prime added are applied to the other 10' in the drawings.

Along the two ends of the package half, or precursor, are

flanges

13 and 14 and a flange 15 extends along the bottom. Flange 13 and the adjacent half of flange 15 has a conformation which defines a protrusion 17 on one side of the flange and a corresponding socket 18 on the opposite side. The other half of flange l5 and flange l4 defines a protuberance 19 and a socket 20 on opposite sides of the sheet. As best seen in FIG. 4, the protuberances are largest adjacent their distal ends (in the form of a rim about the protuberance adjacent the distal ends) and the sockets are largest adjacent their distal ends and are constricted by inwardly extending rims adjacent their proximal ends. This form might be referred to as an undercut which is formed by molding. It provides a means by which the two halves can be locked together.

Between the two ends are a plurality of molded pockets 22 set off from each other by dividers formed by spaced walls 23. At their inner ends a portion of the walls are flared outwardly, as indicated at 24, to aid in retaining objects 25 safely in the pocket.

Along the bottom flange 15 are a pair of

bulges

27 and 28. These form feet to cause the finished package to stand up right on a level surface. Like the protuberances and the sockets, these are symmetrical about the center line of the package.

Above the pockets 27 is ,an inclined wall 30 supported by angular gussets 31 at each end. This angular wall 30 has a step which forms an undercut or socket 32 for holding the cap 1 1 in place. The angular wall 30 has its inward end in the plane of the flanges 13-15 where it extends into a vertical wall 33. Vertical wall 33 has an opening 34 at the top thereof and spaced from the center line of the precursor.

Adjacent the bottom of the cap 11 it has an inwardly extending ridge 36 which fits into the socket 32 about the top portion of the package thereby locking the cap in place. On each side of the cap are a pair of inwardly extending angular slots 37 formed by spaced walls 38 connected by band 39.

All of the pieces are ideally suited to vacuum molding. The two package halves can be made on a single mold and the cap 11 on a second mold. They are symmetrical about a vertical centerline as viewed in Fig. 1 or 2. After molding, the two halves are positioned with their flanges in juxtaposition. The protuberance 17 of end 13' is inserted into the socket 20 of end 14. The protuberance 17 of end 13 fits into socket 20 of end 14'. Because of the undercut formation of the protuberances and the sockets the parts snap together and securely lock. If one should desire to pull them apart, a finger is inserted into each of the openings 34, 34' and pressed against the adjacent wall 33', 33, respectively, to exert sufficient force to separate the protuberances from the sockets.

When the two halves have been assembled, the ob jects 25 then are inserted into the pockets 22, 22' through openings 29 in the inclined wall 30. A wide variety of objects could be packaged in this fashion, such as suppositories, vials of medicine, bottles of food coloring, etc. The cap is then placed over the packaged objects. The ridge 36 fitting into socket 32 not only holds the cap against displacement (and thus the objects 25 in the package), but it also provides a remarkably effective hermetic seal. This seal is not absolutely air-tight but it does have a substantial effect in preventing the drying out of, or picking up moisture by, the objects in the package.

Packages produced in accordance with the present invention have a number of significant advantages. They are very inexpensive to produce yet they provide an attractive package appearance. This appearance may be varied and/or enhanced by the use of differently appearing plastics. One half may be one color and the other half another color or transparent. The cover 11 can be transparent or a contrasting color. This offers numerous possibilities to the package designer.

The package is ideally suited to be produced and filled entirely by automatic machines with no manual intervention involved. The objects can be loaded either before or after the two package halves are put together. The walls 23 between the objects, in conjunction with the flares 24, do a remarkable job of holding and cushioning the packaged objects, as do

walls

30, 33. The very fact that a relatively thin plastic is employed supplies some resilience to aid in the cushioning. At the same time, the various indentations,

e.g. walls

23 and 38, as well as the protrusions and sockets about the peripheral flanges, supply a remarkable amount of rigidity to the overall package. The term relatively thin plastic is employed herein to identify those thicknesses that are particularly suited for vacuum molding as known to those skilled in that art.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the outer sides are tapered which facilitates their extraction from a carton holding a substantial number of such packages. This taper also supplies a bulge just above the middle of the package which has a cushioning effect.

I claim:

, l. A package half for use with an identical half to form a package, said half being vacuum formed of relatively thin plastic, said half having a marginal flange about at least a portion of the half, said flange having a side which faces the corresponding side of the other half when the two halves are assembled, said flange having two parts extending therealong and symmetrically positioned with respect to said half, one part having a first conformation therein which extends substantially the length of said part and defines a first socket on said side and a first protuberance on the other side, the other part having a second conformation therein which extends substantially the length of said part and defines a second protuberance on said side and a second socket on the other side, said protuberances having relatively long side walls and. being relatively narrow, said second protuberance being of a size to fit into said first socket, said conformations including interengaging means in said side walls to lock said second protuberance in said first socket when two of said halves are assembled.

2. A package half as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means comprises a peripheral enlargement adjacent the distal end of the second protuberance and a peripheral enlargement adjacent the proximal end of the socket.

. 3. A package half as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flange extends along opposite ends and an adjacent edge of the half, said half, between said ends defining a plurality of pockets parallel to the ends and each adjacent pair of pockets separated by a double walled divider, the part of said half opposite said edge defining a wall slanting over said pockets and terminating approximately in the plane defined by said flanges, said slanting wall having a plurality of openings aligned with said pockets.

4. A package half as set forth in claim 3, including a pair of bulges at said edge and spaced from each other therealong, said bulges extending generally transverse to said edge.

5. A package made by joining two of the package halves as set forth in claim 3.

6. A package as set forth in claim 5, wherein at the proximal end of said slanting wall the half defines an undercut, said package including a cap fitting over the slanting walls of the two halves and having an inwardly projecting rim adjacent the bottom thereof and engaging the halves at said undercut.

7. A package made by joining two of the package halves as set forth in claim 1.

8. A package formed of two halves each half being vacuum formed of relatively thin plastic, said half having a marginal flange about at least a portion of the half, said flange having a side which faces the corresponding side of the other half when the two halves are assembled, said flange extending along opposite ends and an adjacent edge of the half, said half, between said ends defining a plurality of pockets parallel to the ends and each adjacent pair of pockets separated by a double walled divider, the part of said 33 5 5%??? $3 3%i3%plll?i y'"fn plane defined by said flanges, said slanting wall having a plurality of openings aligned with said pockets, the flanges of the two halves being connected, at the proximal end of said slanting wall the half defining an undercut, said package including a cap fitting over the slanting walls of the two halves and having an inwardly projecting rim adjacent the bottom thereof and engaging the halves at said undercut.

Claims

1. A package half for use with an identical half to form a package, said half being vacuum formed of relatively thin plastic, said half having a marginal flange about at least a portion of the half, said flange having a side which faces the corresponding side of the other half when the two halves are assembled, said flange having two parts extending therealong and symmetrically positioned with respect to said half, one part having a first conformation therein which extends substantially the length of said part and defines a first socket on said side and a first protuberance on the other side, the other part having a second conformation therein which extends substantially the length of said part and defines a second protuberance on said side and a second socket on the other side, said protuberances having relatively long side walls and being relatively narrow, said second protuberance being of a size to fit into said first socket, said conformations including interengaging means in said side walls to lock said second protuberance in said first socket when two of said halves are assembled.

3. A package half as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flange extends along opposite ends and an adjacent edge of the half, said half, between said ends defining a plurality of pockets parallel to the ends and each adjacent pair of pockets separated by a double walled divider, the part of said half opposite said edge defining a wall slanting over said pockets and terminating approximately in the plane defined by said flanges, said slanting wall having a plurality of openings aligned with said pockets.

5. A package made by joining two of the package halves as set forth in claim 3.

7. A package made by joining two of the package halves as set forth in claim 1.

8. A package formed of two halves each half being vacuum formed of relatively thin plastic, said half having a marginal flange about at least a portion of the half, said flange having a side which faces the corresponding side of the other half when the two halves are assembled, said flange extending along opposite ends and an adjacent edge of the half, said half, between said ends defining a plurality of pockets parallel to the ends and each adjacent pair of pockets separated by a double walled divider, the part of said half opposite said edge defining a wall slanting over said pockets and terminating approximately in the plane defined by said flanges, said slanting wall having a plurality of openings aligned with said pockets, the flanges of the two halves being connected, at the proximal end of said slanting wall the half defining an undercut, said package including a cap fitting over the slanting walls of the two halves and having an inwardly projecting rim adjacent the bottom thereof and engaging the halves at said undercut.