WO2003016174A1

WO2003016174A1 - Packaging container for bottles, the production kit therefor and a modular device comprising such containers

Info

Publication number: WO2003016174A1
Application number: PCT/FR2002/002808
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudius Alazard; Max Pujante
Original assignee: Nature Bois Emballages
Priority date: 2001-08-17
Filing date: 2002-08-06
Publication date: 2003-02-27
Also published as: EP1425236A1; FR2828682B1; FR2828682A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a novel packaging container that is used to protect, store and transport fragile objects. The technical field of said invention is that of the production of packaging containers for transporting wine or oil bottles. According to the invention, the packaging container (1) is intended for at least two bottles and comprises at least six walls (3, 9, 14). Said packaging container is characterised in that: at least on of the walls thereof is pierced; at least one portion of at least one of said walls can be detached or warped to form an opening that is used to remove at least one bottle; and said container comprises lower mutual fixing means (12, 13) and upper mutual fixing means (16) which are complementary to said lower means.

Description

Packaging for bottles, kit for its manufacture, and modular device comprising such packaging.

The present invention relates to a new protective packaging, storage and transport of fragile objects, in particular glass bottles containing a liquid food such as wine or oil; the invention also relates to a kit of parts to be assembled to form such a package, and to a modular device or piece of furniture made up of several of these packages.

The technical field of the invention is that of the manufacture of transport packaging for bottles of wine or oil.

It is known to package such bottles in a receptacle of polygonal cross section - in particular rectangular -, such as a box or a cardboard formed by folding or mounting one or more sides of paper; it is particularly common to offer a packaging for bottle (s) consisting of a cardboard box of rectangular parallelepiped shape; such a case can contain a single bottle or several - in particular 6 or 12 - bottles.

In order to avoid movement of a bottle in the packaging containing it, the packaging is generally custom-made to dimensions corresponding to those of the bottle to be contained; alternatively and / or when the packaging is intended to receive several bottles, wedging members are inserted into the packaging. The walls of such cardboard boxes are generally full, not pierced, in order to give the packaging sufficient rigidity; in order to limit the cost of the packaging, these walls are opaque and therefore do not allow the bottle (s) contained in the packaging to be seen. It also happens that such bottles are packaged in an open package allowing, at a point of sale, a potential buyer to see the bottle; such packaging may consist of a case or a basket to which is associated an "overpack" such as a transparent plastic film; such packaging is unsuitable for stacking and transport. For the transport of closed and opaque cardboard boxes of parallelepiped shape, it is generally necessary to join the stacked cartons together, for example using a film or strapping bands; once the film is torn or the strapping tape cut, the stability of the stack is no longer ensured; in addition, the use of strapping bands frequently causes, when the band is tightened, deformation and / or deterioration of at least part of the packages thus secured. The object of the present invention is to provide improved packaging for bottles, and to at least partially remedy the drawbacks of known packaging for bottles or similar fragile objects.

An objective of the invention is to propose an economical packaging capable of containing several bottles, to protect the bottles from shocks during their transport or their handling, to leave visible a substantial part of the bottles contained in the packaging, and capable of being Sheaves easily for transporting or storing a stack of packaging containing bottles.

Another objective of the invention is to provide packaging in kit form for bottles, into which the bottles can be introduced and which can then be closed easily and quickly.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a modular bottle storage unit, in particular at a point of sale, which also serves as a device for transporting the bottles. According to a first aspect, the invention consists in proposing a packaging for at least two bottles of wine or the like, which comprises at least six substantially flat walls: a base or bottom wall, at least four side walls preferably extending respectively in at least four planes substantially orthogonal to the plane of the base and parallel two by two, and an upper wall or cover preferably substantially parallel to the base; at least one of the walls - preferably said cover - is perforated (e) to allow to see a part of the bottles contained in the packaging without requiring its opening; at least a portion of at least one of the walls is preferably detachable or deformable without requiring the use of a tool (that is to say manually) to form in the wall considered an opening sufficient to extract at least one bottles contained in the packaging; in addition, the package comprises first mutual wedging means - called lower ones - of several identical stacked packages which are provided - and preferably protrude - on the external surface of the base, and comprises second mutual wedging means of several identical stacked packages, which are provided - and preferably protrude - on the outer face of the cover and which are shaped to cooperate with first means of mutual setting of a second package placed on said package.

Preferably and according to another aspect of the invention, this packaging is supplied in the form of a kit ready to be assembled, at the place of packaging of bottles; preferably, this kit includes: a first structure forming a base, four side walls, four corner reinforcements, mutual wedging means complementary to the corner reinforcements, and a second wedge of length secured to a side wall,

a second structure forming a cover capable of being secured to two opposite side walls of the first structure and of partially closing the packaging, and comprising first means for setting the thickness of the bottles, and

- If necessary, a third structure in the form of a board forming a third wedge insertable between two adjacent bottles of the package.

This facilitates the rapid production of packages each comprising at least two bottles contained in such packaging; it suffices to insert the bottles into the first structure by laying them parallel to each other on the bottom of the first structure, then to insert if necessary between two bottles of each pair of adjacent bottles of the package, the third timing structure; the package is then closed by placing the cover on the bottles and securing it by stapling to the two lateral longitudinal walls of the first structure.

In order to facilitate this pressing of the cover on bottles having a body whose diameter and flare (taper) can vary in significant proportions, this cover preferably comprises two longitudinal lateral battens which are parallel to each other, which are connected by at least two coplanar boards orthogonal to battens; the boards thus form with the cleats a cover in the form of an openwork frame which can be fitted by sliding along the internal faces of the longitudinal side walls of the first structure; said cleats preferably have at least two bearing faces on the bottles which are inclined relative to the plane in which the cover extends, in particular inclined at an angle close to 45 ° relative to this plane.

These cleats of the cover thus form shims - said first shims or shims of thickness - ensuring immobilization of the bottles in the packaging along an axis (or direction) orthogonal to the base.

These two wedging cleats integrated into the cover and extending along its longitudinal edges can be replaced and / or supplemented by at least one central cleat extending longitudinally, parallel to the bottles of the package, and having a cross section, preferably V-shaped or U-shaped flared, so as to form two additional bearing surfaces on the bottles; in the case of a package of two bottles, the cover can thus comprise a single central cleat extending along a median longitudinal axis, which rests on the two bottles. In the case of a package of three bottles, the cover will have two central cleats parallel to the longitudinal edges, which each rest on two adjacent bottles; these central battens can thus contribute - at least in part - to a transverse wedging to immobilize the bottles along a transverse axis (or direction) which is parallel to the base of the packaging, to avoid impacts between two adjacent bottles; this transverse setting can also be ensured - and / or supplemented - by inserting said third structure of the kit.

Preferably, said first structure of the kit - as well as the packaging - includes integrated wedging means along a third axis (or direction) orthogonal to the first two, that is to say a longitudinal axis; these means comprise one or two shims - called second shims or shims in length - which is (are) integral (s) with (each) transverse side wall and which is (are) mounted (s) protruding (s) on an internal face of this (these) wall (s); this allows, by choosing one or two shims of thickness adapted to the height (length) of the bottles to be packaged, to immobilize them along the longitudinal axis of the package, by wedging; these wedges can be rectangularepipedic in shape and hollow.

These means for wedging the bottles in the packaging along three axes are very simple to manufacture and to adapt to bottles of different shapes; these means thus make it possible to manufacture said first structures (apart from said length block) according to a single geometry for a large number of different shapes of bottles; this thus contributes to allowing the stacking of several packages containing bottles of different shapes, the external ("interface") dimensions of the packages being identical.

This makes it possible to propose, according to another aspect of the invention, a modular cabinet for storing bottles consisting of at least one stack of packages according to the present invention, nested two by two by their mutual wedging means.

The packaging, kits and furniture according to the invention can be easily produced from boards and wooden cleats which are secured by stapling

; in this case and in order to facilitate the detachment of a side wall in order to access the bottles contained in the packaging, this side wall is preferably fixed to two corner reinforcements by "straight" staples, without being fixed at the base (or another element) by corner clips as is usually the case.

Preferably, moreover, in a wooden packaging according to the invention, the base and two opposite longitudinal side walls are formed by U-folding of boards previously secured and weakened by hollow deformations along two parallel lines forming the longitudinal edges of the base, and the packaging comprises a structure for wedging the bottles obtained by V-folding of a board, and comprises two longitudinal boards chamfered at their ends and projecting from the underside of the package to cooperate with corner reinforcements of triangular cross section. Other characteristics and advantages of the invention appear in the following description, which refers to the appended drawings and which illustrates, without any limiting character, preferred embodiments of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates, in an exploded perspective view, the three structures making up a kit according to the invention. Figure 2 is a top view of a package of two identical bottles arranged in a wooden package according to the invention.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view (along a plane such as A-A Figure 2) of another embodiment of wooden packaging according to the invention.

Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of a package according to the invention, which is inverted to better illustrate the lower mutual wedging means and the manner in which they cooperate with complementary wedging means to form a stable stack d packaging.

Figure 5 is a side view of a cabinet according to the invention consisting of two stacked packages, and the upper package has been devoid of a side wall for access to the content.

With reference to * FIG. 1 in particular, the package 1 in kit comprises a lower structure or box 2, an upper structure 3 or cover able to partially close the upper part of the box, and a board 4 able to be inserted between two bottles to form a wedge extending along a vertical plane parallel to (and / or containing) the horizontal longitudinal axis 5 of the package.

The body 2 (FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular) has an openwork base 6 and two openwork longitudinal side walls parallel to the axis 5; with reference to FIG. 1, these three walls are obtained by folding into a U, along two lines 7, 8 parallel to the axis 5, of a grating comprising four thin thin boards 9a, 9b, 9c which have been stapled with a part with two end slats 10, 11, and secondly with two slats 12, 13 extending projecting from the external face of the board portions 9b of the base 6; the slats 10 to 13 are parallel to the axis 5; the board portions 9a and the slat 10 form an openwork side wall, as do the portions 9c and the slat 11.

The body 2 further comprises two transverse side walls 14 and 15 and four corner reinforcement structures 16 to which the side walls are secured by clips such as 17; each structure 16 is of cylindrical shape with axis 18 vertical and triangular cross section; each structure 16 may be constituted by a section of cleat, or by a board folded to form a hollow tube.

The cover 3 (Figures 1 and 2) is formed of two transverse boards 19 and 20 which are integral with two longitudinal battens 21 and 22 of triangular section, and which form with the battens a frame.

The distance 23 (measured transversely) separating the respective external faces 24, 25 of the two battens 22, 21 is provided so that these fit together with little play in the body 2, the faces 24, 25 extending respectively in view of the internal face of the portions 9a, 9c of boards of the lateral faces of the box; after pressing the inclined faces 26, 27 of the cleats 22, 21 against the body of the bottles 28, 29, these cleats are stapled to the elements 9a, 9c, 10, 11 forming the side walls.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the elements 19 to 22 constituting the cover leave visible a large part (which is hatched in this figure) of the bottles 28, 29. The folding of the grating 9 to 13 is carried out after weakening of the boards 9 along lines 7 , 8 folding; although this weakening can be obtained by an operation - called tracing - of surface cutting of the boards, preferably, in order to facilitate the subsequent folding of the boards, a plurality of deformations of each board is caused along said fold line, in deviating - without cutting them - from the fibers of the board.

Preferably, to cause each of said deformations, a punch of generally pointed or tapered shape, in particular of conical or frustoconical shape, for example temporarily penetrated inside at least part of the thickness of the board pyramidal; this avoids - to a large extent - cutting fibers, and facilitates their deviation under the effect of the progressive penetration of the punch in the board.

In order to obtain a weakening of each substantially homogeneous board along the desired fold line, preferably a regular spacing of the deformations is caused along this line, and deformations of substantially identical shape and size are carried out; for this purpose, it is preferable to use a tool comprising a plurality of punches of identical shape and regularly spaced, which is rotatably mounted along an axis of rotation relative to a base and has a cylindrical face along said axis of rotation, at the surface from which said punches are prominent and / or projecting; in particular, said tool comprises and / or essentially consists of a disc on the edge of which said protruding punches are provided; this makes it possible to very simply produce said tool and said deformations of the board, by pressure bearing of the board against the edge - or cylindrical face - of the tool.

Preferably, at least part of said deformations extends over the entire thickness of the board, so that this results in the presence of a plurality of orifices passing through the board right through; for this purpose the height of the punches is chosen to be greater than the thickness of the board.

This technique thus makes it possible to simply produce weakening zones in boards of variable thickness; if necessary, the same punching tool can be used to form boards of different thicknesses; this also makes it possible to carry out these deformations at a high rate.

The plurality of deformations causes a local weakening of the board along the desired fold line, causing the breaking of a minimal quantity of fibers of the material constituting the board.

As a result, to obtain a folded board having a determined mechanical strength, it is possible to use a board of thickness less than that necessary when a large quantity of fibers is cut.

Advantageously, wooden slats or boards are used having a thickness lying in the range from 1 to 5 millimeters, which can easily be folded in two opposite directions. To simultaneously carry out two pluralities of deformations extending respectively along two respective lines of desired folding, in particular two parallel lines, use is made of two disc-shaped tools mounted to rotate according to two respective axes of rotation which are parallel to each other and orthogonal to the fold lines.

After the boards 9a, 9b, 9c of the grating have been weakened, the assembly is placed in a shaper having at least one fixed part and at least one movable part, so that the weakening lines of the weakened boards are located substantially along two edges of said fixed part of the shaper; moving said movable part of the former to press on part of the grating and cause it to fold. This method of deformation and folding of laths also advantageously applies to the folding of laths entering into the constitution of the cover, shims and corner reinforcement structures; said reinforcements and / or wedges can essentially consist of a board or portion of board folded in three folds substantially parallel to each other. This avoids the use of a cleat and reduces the mass of the packaging while ensuring sufficient rigidity. With reference to FIG. 2, a wedge 30 in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped is fixed on the internal face 31 of the wall 14, in a projecting manner; its thickness 32 is chosen so that when the bottles 28, 29 are elongated in the box, their end comprising a stopper 33 being in abutment on the internal face 34 of the transverse wall 15 opposite the wall 14, the bottom 35 of the bottles rests on one face 36 of the wedge 30, so that the bottles are immobilized in translation along their longitudinal axis parallel to axis 5.

With reference to FIG. 3, the cover comprises, in addition to the transverse boards such as that marked 20, two hollow battens 121, 122 of triangular section and of axis parallel to the longitudinal axis 5; each cleat has an inclined face 126, 127 resting on the body of a bottle 28, 29; the cover comprises in coulter a third hollow batten 128 of triangular section, parallel to the axis 5 and equidistant from the battens 121 and 122; the central cleat 128 has two inclined faces 129, 130 forming a V and also pressing on the body of the bottles so that it tends to separate them from one another; this can remove the wedge 4 Figures 1 and 2; in Figure 3 an additional wedge 131 is placed on the bottom 6 and also has in the central part two bearing faces 132, 133 forming a V and on which abut the bodies of the bottles 28, 29; this wedge can be obtained by folding a board. With reference to FIGS. 3 and 5, the corner reinforcements have a length such that their upper end 40 extends at a distance 41 above the cover 3, which distance is greater than the thickness 42 of the projecting wedges 12 and 13 under the base; therefore, when two packages 1 are superimposed (fig. 5), their means 40, 12, 13 of mutual timing being correctly nested, a gap remains between the base of the upper package and the cover of the lower package, this which facilitates the gripping of the upper packaging for its separation from the lower packaging.

The packaging 1 in FIG. 4 is shown inverted, the bottom wall 6 extending above the side walls 14, 9a.

The packaging comprises four corner reinforcement structures 16 (one of which is hidden), of tubular shape of triangular section and of axis 18 orthogonal to the plane of the bottom 6.

In order to obtain a mutual wedging of two superimposed packages, four prominent shims are provided on the bottom wall, which are capable of coming into contact respectively with the four corner reinforcements 16a - shown in phantom - of a second package ( not shown) superimposed with that illustrated in this figure. These wedges are constituted by bevelled ends of two parallel boards 12, 13 which project from the bottom, and the spacing 50 of which is adapted so that the four bevelled faces 51 of board are fitted between the internal faces 16b of the corner structures 16a, with little play; this allows for simple mutual calibration, the boards also contributing to the rigidity of the bottom.

Claims

1. Package (1) for at least two bottles (28, 29), comprising at least six walls (3, 6, 9, 14, 15), characterized in that at least one of its walls is perforated, in that that at least a portion of at least one of its walls is detachable or deformable to form an opening making it possible to extract at least one bottle, and in that it comprises lower means (12, 13, 51) for wedging mutual and upper means (40, 16b) of mutual timing complementary to said lower means of mutual timing.

2. Packaging according to claim 1, which further comprises at least two wedging means (4, 30, 26, 27) of the bottles in the packaging, in at least two directions orthogonal to each other, in particular along three orthogonal directions.

3. Packaging according to claim 1 or 2, which essentially consists of wooden boards or slats joined together, preferably by staples (17).

4. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which comprises

- a substantially flat base (6, 9b),

- at least four side walls which are substantially flat and parallel in pairs,

- a cover (3) substantially planar, substantially parallel to the base and substantially orthogonal to the side walls,

- at least four corner reinforcement structures (16), each integral with two successive (or adjacent) side walls, which project relative to the upper external face of the cover, and

- at least two lower structures (12, 13) of mutual wedging of two stacked packages which project relative to the external face of the base and of which a portion (51) at least is of shape complementary to that of the upper ends (40 , 16b) of said corner reinforcement structures, these ends forming said upper means of mutual wedging.

5. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising a cover (3) comprising transverse boards (19, 20) integral with two longitudinal battens (21, 22) fixed to two opposite side walls of the packaging.

6. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a cover (3) comprising a first wedge (128) - called thick - extending longitudinally (with reference to the largest dimension of the bottles), and a cross section of which preferably has a V shape, and which projects from the inner face of the cover.

7. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 6, a side wall - said transverse - has a second shim (30) - said length - which is protruding on the internal face (31) of said side wall (14 ).

8. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which further comprises a third longitudinal wedge (4, 129, 130) capable of separating two adjacent bottles arranged side by side in the packaging, which may include a board ( 4) not integral with the walls of the packaging.

9. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 8, in which the base and two opposite longitudinal side walls are formed by U-folding of boards

10. Packaging according to claim 9, wherein the boards are previously secured and weakened by hollow deformations along two parallel lines (7, 8) forming the longitudinal edges of the base.

11. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising a structure (121, 122, 128, 131) for wedging the bottles obtained by folding, preferably in V, a board.

12. Packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 11, comprising two longitudinal boards (12, 13) chamfered at their ends and projecting from the underside of the packaging to cooperate with section reinforcements (16) transverse triangular.

13. Kit for the production of a package comprising a packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 12, which includes:

a first structure (2) forming a base, four side walls, four corner reinforcements, means for mutually wedging complementary to the corner reinforcements, and a second wedge of length secured to a side wall,

a second structure (3) forming a cover capable of being secured to two opposite side walls of the first structure and of partially closing the packaging, and comprising first means for wedging the thickness of the bottles, and

- If necessary, a third structure (4) in the form of a board forming a third wedge insertable between two adjacent bottles of the package.

14. Furniture for storing and / or transporting bottles, consisting of at least one stack of packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 12, nested two by two by their mutual wedging means.

15. A method of manufacturing a packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein, to weaken a board included in the constitution of at least one of the walls, shims, or corner reinforcement structures packaging along a line (7, 8) and facilitate its subsequent folding along this line, a plurality of deformations of the board is caused along this line, by deflecting fibers from the board, preferably by rolling under pressure of the board against the edge of a disc-shaped tool comprising a plurality of punches.