Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D81/00—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents
  • B65D81/02—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents specially adapted to protect contents from mechanical damage
  • B65D81/05—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents specially adapted to protect contents from mechanical damage maintaining contents at spaced relation from package walls, or from other contents

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a packaging element or preform of the kind set forth in the preamble of Claim 1.
• Packaging elements of this kind are used as intermediary supporting means when packaging apparatus to be protected against impact in an outer packaging element.
• One example that may be mentioned is impact-sensitive electro ⁇ mechanical equipment, such as video-tape recorders, to be packaged in an outer corrugated-paper box for shipping purposes.
• the raised portions in the packaging element must be able to absorb at least part of the energy of the fall in order to protect the sensitive equipment.
• the raised portions have an appropriate "compression characteristic", as they must be sufficiently rigid to resist deformation by loads within the permitted limits, but at the same time they must be able to yield under powerful impact loads, in order to prevent all the impact energy from being transmitted to the packaged equipment and damage the same.
• the packaging element or preform according to the present invention primarily exhibit also the features set forth in the characterizing clause of Claim 1.
• each raised portion or projection is given a certain limiting strength - corresponding to the greatest force it can withstand without being deformed - and by suitable choice of the size and number of the raised portions or projections, this makes it possible to adapt the packaging element or preform to whatever the packaged article concerned can withstand.
• Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a packaging preform according to the present invention as viewed against a major surface
• Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II in Figure 1,
• Figure 3 is a sectional view along the line III-III in Figure 1,
• Figure 4 shows one of the ends of the packaging preform shown in Figures 1-3 in a situation, in which the preform is folded-up so as to form a side protector for an electronic apparatus to be protected in a corrugated-paper box or the like, partly in section along the line IV-IV in Figure 5,
• Figure 5 is a partial sectional view along the line V-V in Figure 4,
• Figure 6 is a sectional view along the line VI-VI in Figure 4 and shows the packaging element in use when packaging a video-tape recorder
• Figures 7-9 are three partial sectional views roughly corresponding to the central part of Figure 3 through one of the pockets of the packaging element, and shows partly a modified shape of the pocket, partly how the pocket is compressed under a high load, and Figure 10 is a sectional view along the line X-X in Figure 7.
• FIG. 1-4 The exemplary embodiment of a packaging preform according to the present invention shown in Figures 1-4, which - like the remainder of the exemplary embodiments referred to in the present specification - is contemplated as being manufactured in a similar manner as the well-known packaging means for eggs, e.g. egg trays and egg cartons of fibre pulp material, i.e. by aspirating a layer of fibre pulp on a suction mould, comprises a generally plane body portion 1, on which is shaped a number of raised portions or projections 2-4, partly of various shapes, which in relation to the body portion 1 can be described as raised portions or recesses, depending on whether the preform is viewed from the same side as shown in Figure 1 or from the opposite side.
• the wall thickness in the body portion 1 and the projections 2-5 are of the same order of magnitude, in practice normally between 1 and 3 mm.
• all these projections will be described as "pockets" in the following specification, and it will be evident from the context, whether they are to be regarded as raised portions or recesses.
• the pockets 2-5 are constituted by
• the exemplary embodiment of a packaging preform shown in Figures 1-3 is primarily intended for use as a side protector for a video machine for home use, in the present case having the shape of a closed flat box.
• the packaging preform shown When the packaging preform shown is placed as a side protector on such an apparatus, the body portion 1 extends in contact with and, along one of the long sides of the apparatus, the side portions 6 and 7 being bent so as to come into contact with the opposite and the lower side repectively, while the end portions 8 and 9 have been bent relative to the side portions 6 and 7 respectively into contact with the two end surfaces of the apparatus.
• the preform is provided with two sets of folding lines, viz. a set of minimum folding lines 10 and 11 and a set of maximum folding lines 12 and 13, intended for bending or folding the preform to make it conform to an apparatus of relatively lesser and relatively greater height dimensions respectively.
• the minor end pocket 5 should engage so firmly with the major end pocket 4, that these parts do not come loose of each other, partly due to the residual elasticity in the folding line, partly due to loads caused by ordinary handling of the packaging element, including placing it as a side protector on the apparatus to be packaged, and
• this angle should be at least 20° and at the most 40° for these conditions to be met.
• the two inter-engaging pockets 4 and 5 shown in Figure 4 have a total strength corresponding to two pockets. In this manner, extra protection is achieved in a region, which may be particularly strongly exposed.
• Figure 6 shows how a video-tape recorder 29, of which no more than a part of the long side is schematically indicated, is supported against the inside of a corrugated-paper box 30 by means of the central pockets 2 and the side pockets 3.
• the free edges of the side portions 6 and 7 are provided with guiding-in lips 31.
• the latter may be formed during the moulding operation proper or during the subsequent pressing, which may comprise imprinting of the folding line, cutting-off of flash etc.
• the pocket 15 shown in Figures 7-10 is shaped roughly in the same manner as the pockets 2 and 4 in the exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 1-6, but differs from the latter partly by having all side walls curved with the convexity facing outwards, and partly by being shaped with a view to making it able to yield, in part elastically, in part plastically.
• the pocket 15 comprises a side wall 16, which as evident from Figure 10 is curved all the way round with varying curvature so as to form the side wall in a "rounded rectangular pyramid", said side wall 16 extending from the base material, in this case constituted by the body portion 1 or the end portion 8 as shown in Figure 1, to a bottom wall 17 consisting of a peripheral rim portion 18 surrounding a support nipple 19 placed centrally on the bottom wall 17.
• the rim portion 18 When being loaded within a limited interval of loading force, the rim portion 18 will, as indicated in Figure 8, function as a kind of disc spring, which can be utilized e.g. to insert the packaging element "rattle-free" between the article being packaged, e.g. the video-tape recorder 29 shown in Figure 6, and the outer packaging, e.g. the corrugated-paper box 30 likewise shown in Figure 6. If the load on the packet 15 is increased beyond the limited force interval referred to, and the rim portion 18 yields to such an extent, that the side wall 16 comes directly under load, a progressive plastic deformation of the side wall 16 will occur, forming "accordeon pleats" 20 as indicated in Figure 9.
• the curved shape of the side wall 16 shown in Figure 10 contributes towards avoiding that the side wall 16 collapses in the manner mentioned above. Even though the generally plane side walls in the various pockets 2-5 shown in Figures 1-6 in the majority of cases will have a minimal tendency to collapse under load of the kind referred to above, the curved shape of the side wall shown in Figure 10 provides extra protection against such collapsing.
• the angle 21 should lie in the interval between 20" and 40", an angle of approximately 30° appearing to be optimal with a view to ensuring that the plastic deformation of the side wall 16 occurs in the manner indicated in Figure 9 without risk of collapsing.
• this preferred angle interval and this preferred angle corresponds to that angle interval and that angle respectively as explained above, which constitute the best compromise between on the one hand the mutual locking ability for the end pockets 4 and 5 and on the other hand the possibility of removing packaging preforms singly from a stack. It is, however, probable that such coincidence will not occur in packaging preforms differing only slightly from the example shown.
• the fibre pulp referred to may be made from e.g. vegetable fibre mass, especially wood pulp, or paper p p, including recycled such.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Buffer Packaging (AREA)
• Packaging Frangible Articles (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8091548

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (8)

Citations (5)

• 1992
  • 1992-02-28 DK DK26192A patent/DK168279B1/da active
• 1993
  • 1993-02-26 EP EP93905226A patent/EP0628010A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1993-02-26 WO PCT/DK1993/000069 patent/WO1993016940A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1993-02-26 AU AU36275/93A patent/AU3627593A/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (5)

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