WO1989005270A1

WO1989005270A1 - Flower container

Info

Publication number: WO1989005270A1
Application number: PCT/DK1988/000198
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hans Jørgen SEJER-HANSEN
Original assignee: Evergreen Flora B.V.
Priority date: 1987-12-02
Filing date: 1988-11-30
Publication date: 1989-06-15
Also published as: DK85488D0; DK634387D0; AU2793789A; DK85488A; DK634387A

Abstract

A flower container, primarily a disposable container, comprising a water-tight tray (2) situated in the bottom area of the container (1) and being open at the top, supporting means (3) which ensure that the flowers are held in a substantially upright position having their stalk or root ends extending down into the tray (2), and a vertical casing (4) surrounding the flowers in their entire length is designed so that the inner surface of the casing (4) is a cylinder face being open at both ends, said cylinder face surrounding the tray (2) and the supporting member (3), and so that the container (1) comprises holding means (5) which will prevent the tray (2) and the supporting member (3) from sliding down underneath the casing (4). The container makes it easier and quicker to pack and subsequently remove the flowers without risk of damaging the buds or heads of the flowers than offered by hitherto known containers of the same type.

Description

FLOWER CONTAINER

The invention relates to a flower container, primarily a disposable container, comprising a water¬ tight tray situated in the bottom area of the container and being open at the top, supporting means which ensure that the flowers are held in a substantially upright position having their stalk or root ends extending down into the tray, and a vertical casing surrounding the flowers in their entire length.

Flower containers of this type are being increasingly used for transportation of flowers from the producers of large quantities of flowers, mainly cut flowers such as carnations and roses, to wholesalers and on to retailers.

Containers of this type are known from among others German published specification no. 27 05 086 which describes such a container whose casing is produced with a weakening line along its perifery, such as a perforation at a distance above the supporting members and below the level at which the buds or heads of the flowers are. The tearing line makes it possible to easily remove the upper part of the casing so that the flowers in the container become visible and can be displayed in the sales rooms.

A different flower container of the same type is known from European patent application no. 0 164 795. The container described herein consists of a box part being folded from a piece of square water-tight card¬ board in such a manner that the produced box forms a water-carrying tray as well as the supporting member, whereas the other part is a cover part which forms the casing and a covering lid. Both the mentioned containers are provided with holes at the same level in their opposite sides which serve as carrying handles.

During recent years the production and sale of cut flowers has become increasingly continentally or¬ ganized meaning that large amounts of an individual flower type are produced at a single or a few places on a continent, such as Europe or North America, and are distributed from these few places to the entire continent in question. Consequently, flower contain¬ ers are required which will meet with a number of re¬ quirements, such as the following.

a) the container must be able to keep the flowers fresh for several days, preferably approx. five days. b) the container must be able to stand being stacked in several layers c) the container must be able to stand moist surroundings for a long time, and at least its bottom area must be able to withstand water. d) the container must admit a certain small amount of air to the flowers during long hours of transport¬ ation. e) the container must support the flowers, also horizontally. f) the container should be easily opened for inspect¬ ion of the flowers and easily closed again. g) one man must easily be able to lift the container. h) the container should be able to be transformed ea¬ sily and quicly into a sales stand displaying the flowers in the retail shop. i) prior to use, the container must be storable in a limited space, it must be made ready for use in a simple and quick manner, must be closed in a reliable and quick manner with no risk of damaging the flowers, and j) when no longer used, the container must easily be discarded without taking up much space.

For delivery of flowers over particularly short distances a container can be completely satisfactory without necessarily meeting all the above require- ments. t

None of the known flower containers meet all the above requirements. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a flower container of the kind described in the introduction which can meet all the above mentioned requirements; at the same time, more simple embodiments of the container will be useful for purposes which make fewer demands in terms of long storing hours and strength in order to withstand mechanical impacts and loads.

This object is achieved by a flower container of the mentioned type when this container is characteristic in that the inner surface of the casing is a cylinder face being completely open at both ends, said cylinder face surrounding the tray and the supporting member, and in that the container comprises holding means which prevent the tray and supporting member from sliding down underneath the casing, and whose holding capacity can be removed and perhaps restored.

Such a container is advantageous in that the tray filled with water (possible of a water absorbing material) and the supporting member packed with flowers whose root or stalk ends project down into the water can easily be placed in the casing without risking to damage the flowers. The casing can be placed around a pedestal or the like on which the inner container with flowers is placed, whereafter the casing is pulled up around the flowers, or the tray with the supporting member, water and flowers can be lowered into the casing which is advantageous¬ ly situated on the floor. Because the upper edge of the casing can be lifted from beneath, the flowers are not damaged, and the inner smooth cylinder- face makes sure that no flowers are pulled out of the water tray and the supporting member. When the flowers are to be removed from the casing, they may be taken out from beneath for instance by lifting the casing the reason being that the holding means can be removed or released.

If flowers are to be stored for a longer period of time in the container or, if they must be transported in several layers of containers stacked on top of each other, it is expedient to design the container with a lid for the casing. Such a lid is also advantageous if the holding means is one or more tension straps which surround the container ver¬ tically in that the lid and the tray and/or the supporting member can then be designed to absorb the horizontal forces exerted by the holding means on the top and bottom portions of the casing, respectively. Tension straps are expedient because they are in¬ expensive, quick and safe and to some extent will further reinforce the container.

If the supporting member is designed as a box which is open at the top, such advantages are obtained as are known from hitherto known containers, i.e. as known from the above European patent application; at the same time such a container construction can easi- ly be made so that it can absorb horizontal forces from the tension straps surrounding the container. If such a box is coated on both sides with a water-tight material it may per se serve the purpose of being water tray and supporting member at one and the same time; similarly, if a separate water tray is pro¬ vided, it is expedient -that such an inner box element will remain absolutely rigid.

It has turned out that flowers keep best in a con- tainer which is completely air and water-tight except from small ventilating holes which are dimensioned so as to provide the required degree of ventilation. Such holes are best designed as described in claim 6 in that the described holes at two height levels will provide optimum vertical ventilation. At the same time, such a design makes it easy to lift up the container, whether assembled with the casing surrounding the flowers where it is best lifted by the upper holes, or open where it is of course lifted up by the grip holes in the box. Finally, this em¬ bodiment makes it very easy to remove the casing from the box once the holding means have been inactivated or removed. In connection with transportation through areas with highly varying humidity and/or temperature conditions which are not adequately compensated for by means of air conditioning, a natural horizontal ventilation of the air-filled space above the flowers is expedient in order to avoid condensation in this part of the container since moisture in this area will deterior¬ ate the quality of the flowers, particularly if it is so dense that it will start dripping on the flowers. Claim 7 describes an inexpensive and expedient embo¬ diment.

For transportation of very large quantities of flowers, particularly over long distances, it is an advantage to be able to stack the flower containers in several layers, often in up to four layers on top of each other. In such cases, and if the cargo may be subjected to vertical impacts, the casing must be able to absorb considerable vertical impacts. Claim 7 describes an inexpensive and expedient manner, of re¬ inforcing the container in the required direction in that the degree of the reinforcement can be calcul¬ ated by experts when the load is known.

If the flower container according to the invention is stacked in many layers in the height, for instance in four or perhaps even five layers, and if such a stack is subjected to vibrations as it might be during transportation by lorry where normally rather strong vertical impacts can be expected, it is necessary that the stack of containers can tolerate a hori¬ zontal displacement of a container unit relative to the supporting container unit. The walls of the casing are narrow, and thus even a very small dis- placement means that considerable forces are trans¬ mitted by means of the holding means. Instead of using particularly strong and hence expensive holding means or arranging rigid plates between the layers of containers, the invention teaches an embodiment according to claim 10 which is expedient since it has proven to be inexpensive compared to the tested alternative options, and, additionally, this embodi¬ ment gives the flower container according to the invention extra strength for it to withstand handling, prior to, during, and following the stack¬ ing.

In order to ensure optimum climatic conditions inside the container during very long hours of transport¬ ation of for instance cut carnations, and in order to ensure permanent rigidity of the container material, it is expedient that the entire flower container, except from the dimensioned ventilating and grip holes, is water and air-tight. Consequently, it may be expedient to apply a coating of wax or plastic onto the container material of the casing and lid.

In the following the invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawing which shows an expedient embodiment, and wherein

Fig. 1 is perspective view of a closed flower con¬ tainer according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of four elements of the embodiment of the container according to the invention as shown in fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a section through the container accord¬ ing to fig. 1 across the tension straps.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a second embodi- ment of the casing and lid for the contain¬ er according to the invention, and

Fig. 5 shows a detail of a section at right angles to a side of the container through the bottom area corresponding to the lower part of fig. 3 but shown on a larger scale and illustrating a different embodiment.

Fig. 1 shows the closed container 1 according to the invention so that only one casing 4, one lid 6 and two tension straps, so-called container straps 5, are visible. The tension straps 6 serve as holding means and make sure that the water tray, the supporting member and flowers do not fall out underneath the container 1 when this is lifted. The tension straps also make sure that the lid 6 is kept -in place per¬ manently.

Fig. 2 shows a water tray 2, a supporting member de- signed as a box 3, a casing 4 and a lid 6 inter- distanced above each other.

The tray 2 is preferably made by vacuum shaping of a thermoplastic sheet material or by injection and compression casting of a thermoplastic material. The tray 2 has inside measures in order for it to fit into the supporting member designed as a box 3 with no possibility of shifting horizontally. The side- walls of the tray 2 are so high that it will contain the necessary water supply, and leave a certain margin for security reasons, and perhaps a water ab¬ sorbing material, such as a rockwool mat which will prevent splashing, as well as the plant parts which are lowered into the water to the bottom of the tray 2.

In the illustrated embodiment the supporting member of the container 1 is designed as a box 3 having a bottom and four walls. A horizontally elongated hole 7 is provided at the centre in the upper half of each wall. This serves partly as grip 7 and partly as a ventilating hole which is necessary in order to ensure a suitable supply of fresh air to the flowers in the container during a longer period of storing in the- container 1. The box is made of 'cardboard which is treated with wax on both sides similarly to milk cartons so that its strength is preserved even if it is wetted by water from outside or from within.

Above the box 3 the casing 4 is seen which is made of waxed cardboard, waxed corrugated cardboard or the like. On each of the four walls of the casing there is a grip and ventilating hole 8 which, when the con- tainer 1 is assembled, flushes with each a grip and ventilating hole 7 in the corresponding- wall of the box 3. An upper grip and ventilating hole 9 is situated above the grip and ventilating hole 8 in each of the walls of the casing 4. With two holes situated above each other, sufficient ventilation is provided for even long-time storing of the flowers in the container according to the invention. The upper holes also ensure a more convenient manual transport¬ ation of a single closed flower container than has so far been possible. It should be noted that a suitable size of a container can be a surface measure of approximately 39 x approximately 39 cm so that six container units can be placed on one Euro-pallet, and the height varies from approximately 50 cm up to twice that height, depending on the length of the flowers. The casing 4 consists of one or more pieces of flat cardboard or corrugated cardboard with a wax or plastic coated surface. It is joined in a seam along at least one corner in the prism, and overlap¬ ping of material on one or both sides of such a corner may occur. The degree of overlapping and the number of corners with joints is largely determined by the demands on the casing 4 in terms of vertical carrying capacity. The joint can be performed as a fastening for instance by means of - staples or by means of an adhesive. It should be noted that adhesion must be made by a water-proof covering adhesive in order to improve the carrying capacity, and a joint by means of staples must be carried out with fairly densely positioned staples in order to produce this effect; this method is well known among experts within the container industry.

The lid 6 is made of the same material as the casing 4 and preferably assembled from its flat shape by the same method as the casing. It should be noted that, if necessary, the lid can be reinforced in a general¬ ly known manner in order to be able to stand up to impacts exerted by the straps 5. The lid makes it possible for e.g. the wholesaler to easily inspect the flowers without risking to damage the flowers if these must be removed from and later put back into the casing. Following any inspection the holding means being designed as surrounding straps would of course have to be re-applied prior to further transportation.

Fig. 3 shows a section through the container accord¬ ing to figs. 1 and 2. This illustration shows how flowers 11 - of which for practical purposes only a few are shown - are kept in the closed container 1 with their stalk or root ends projecting down into the water tray 2, the stalk is supported sidewards by the box 3 to a point some distance below the bud or the full-blown flower, and the height of the casing 4 has been chosen so as to produce a small free air- filled space above the highest part of the stored flowers and below the lid 6 in that this and the box 3 .are secured relative to the casing 4 by means of two surrounding straps or tension straps 5.

Fig. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the casing 4 and the lid 5. On each of its four sides and arranged with a semi-circle on each side of the folded line forming the passage from the lid surface to a sidewall of the lid, the lid 4 according to this embodiment is provided with punched round ventilating holes 11. These holes can of course be differently designed, but the chosen shape is partly inexpensive and partly expedient in terms of strength. In the top edge of each wall the casing 4 is provided with cut¬ outs in the shape of semi-circular recesses 12 which, once the container is assembled, will flush with that part of the ventilating holes 11 which are positioned in the sidewalls of the lid. Consequently, the assembled flower container according to this embodi¬ ment has a natural horizontal ventilation of the air- filled space above the heads of the stored flowers. It has turned out that this horizontal ventilation eliminates the tendency to condensation within the container which might otherwise tend to occur inside flower containes of this type during storing under varying humidity and/or temperature conditions.

Fig. 5 shows a detailed section through another embo¬ diment of the container according to the invention. Compared to the flower containers described above, this embodiment comprises a further container element in the form of a transport bottom 13 which is made of the same material as the container casing 4 and the container lid 6. The transport bottom is suitably shaped identically to the container lid 6 but without any -ventilating holes 11. This additional container element has surprisingly turned out to be a highly economical measure for producing the necessary strength for absorbing such forces as occur in connection with particularly car transportation of flower containers stacked on top of each other in many layers.

The embodiments of the invention described above are merely illustrative examples, and all construction embodiments which fall within the scope of the patent claims are within the scope of the invention. For instance, the water tray and the supporting member can be designed in one piece which can be delivered by the container manufacturer as a flat blank and prior to use be set-up to form a box, for instance as shown in the European patent no. 0 164 795 mentioned above. The supporting member can have partition walls which divide the flower area into several compart- ments so that in an only partially filled container flowers are also fairly well supported horizontally. Such sidewalls can be folded walls as shown in the mentioned European patent, or they can be separate partition walls such as are generally used in for instance wine bottle cartons, the supporting members may comprise special construction elements with holes, as shown in German published specification no. 27 05 086 mentioned in the introduction, or other constructions selected according to economical and/or technical and/or sales technical criteria. The casing or lid might be designed of other materials than those mentioned, under special circumstances for instance of a transparent plastic sheet material. The holding means need not be surrounding tension straps but could for instanc'e be one or more pins each stuck through the lower part of two of the walls of the casing in that such pins can be pulled out when the casing is pulled off the inside container and stuck back in before the inside container is again placed in the casing. Such an embodiment might prove useful when packing smaller consignments to be stored for a shorter period of time when the lid is perhaps not required.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S

1. Flower container, primarily a disposable contain¬ er, comprising a water-tight tray (2) situated in the bottom area of the container (1) and being open at the top, supporting means (3) which ensure that the flowers are held in a substantially upright position having their stalk or root ends extending down into the tray (2), and a vertical casing (4) surrounding the flowers in their entire length, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the inner surface of the casing (4) is a cylinder face being completely open at both ends, said cylinder face surrounding the tray (2) and the supporting member (3), and in that the container (1) comprises holding means which prevent the tray (2) and the supporting member (3) from sliding down unterneath the casing (4).

2. Flower container according to claim 1, c h a - r a c t e r i z e d by a lid (6) which can cover the upper end of the casing (4).

3. Flower container according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the holding means (5) comprise at least one tension strap, for instance in the form of a so-called container strap.

4. Flower container according to claims 1, 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the supporting member (3) is a box (3) being open at the top and having vertical walls which on the outside can slide into the casing (4) in that the height of the walls of the box (3) is smaller than that of the casing (4).

5. Flower container according to claim 4, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the box (3) is made of cardboard coated with wax, plastics or another water- tight material, possibly on both sides.

6. Flower container according to claims 4 or 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a first pair of grip holes (7) are provided in the upper half of at least two opposite walls of the box (3), said grip holes (7) being suited as handles, and in that a second pair of grip holes (8) are provided in at least two opposite walls of the casing (4), said grip holes (8) being flush with a first pair of grip holes ^' (7) of the box (3) when the box (3) is inserted in the casing (4), and that a third pair of -grip holes (9) are provided in at least two opposite walls of the casing (4), said grip holes (9) being placed closer to the upper edge of the casing (4) .than the second pair of grip holes (8).

7. Flower container according to claim 2 and possibly according to one or several of claims 3-6, c h a ¬ r a c t e r z e d in that recesses for instance in the form of holes are provided in at least two of the sidewalls of the lid (6), which holes may each par¬ tially extend into the lid surface, and that recesses are provided in at least two of the walls of the casing (4), said recesses entirely or partially being flush with corresponding recesses in the lid (6) so that the possibility is established of providing natural horizontal ventilation of the upper part of the cavity of the closed container.

8. Flower container according to at least one of the preceding claims and whose horizontal outline is a polygon, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the casing (4) is made of one or more pieces of card- board, corrugated cardboard or the like being folded along at least one generatrix-line in the cylinder face of the casing (4) and which is/are joined so rigidly in at least one overlapping joint at a polygon corner by means of staples, adhesion or the like that this corner obtains a greater vertical carrying capacity than does a corner produced merely by folding the casing material.

9. Flower container according to claim 2 or one or several of claims 3 to 8 and claim 2, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the tray (2) is made of ther¬ moplastic plastics, and that the casing (4) and the lid (6) are made of cardboard, corrugated cardboard or the like which on at least one side is treated with wax, plastics or a similar moisture-proof mate¬ rial.

10. Flower container according to at least one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it further comprises a transport bottom (13) with sidewalls extending a distance up around the casing (4).