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
  • B65D5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper
  • B65D5/02—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper by folding or erecting a single blank to form a tubular body with or without subsequent folding operations, or the addition of separate elements, to close the ends of the body
  • B65D5/06—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper by folding or erecting a single blank to form a tubular body with or without subsequent folding operations, or the addition of separate elements, to close the ends of the body with end-closing or contents-supporting elements formed by folding inwardly a wall extending from, and continuously around, an end of the tubular body
  • B65D5/067—Gable-top containers
• • 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
  • B65D5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper
  • B65D5/02—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper by folding or erecting a single blank to form a tubular body with or without subsequent folding operations, or the addition of separate elements, to close the ends of the body
  • B65D5/06—Rigid or semi-rigid containers of polygonal cross-section, e.g. boxes, cartons or trays, formed by folding or erecting one or more blanks made of paper by folding or erecting a single blank to form a tubular body with or without subsequent folding operations, or the addition of separate elements, to close the ends of the body with end-closing or contents-supporting elements formed by folding inwardly a wall extending from, and continuously around, an end of the tubular body
  • B65D5/061—Rectangular containers having a body with gusset-flaps folded inwardly beneath the closure flaps

Definitions

• the present invention pertains to a carton having a folded and sealed bottom wall. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a carton having a bottom wall having folded-in gusset tips.
• gable top carton One common form of container for milk, juice and the like is the gable top carton.
• packaging technology has made enormous strides visa-vis these gable top cartons, as well as other types of packages.
• technology permits packaging perishable food items for non-refrigerated extended shelf lives. These packages provide the ability to bring these food items into parts of the world that have limited transportation, distribution and storage infrastructure.
• packaging materials are formed from paperboard or fiberboard-based materials formed in a composite structure.
• one or more layers such as polymeric coatings, foil coatings and the like, are applied to the paperboard or fiberboard substrate to reduce or eliminate the gas and liquid permeability of the substrate material.
• a carton bottom folding configuration that reduces or eliminates the raw (exposed) paper edges within the carton product storage region.
• a carton uses, for the most part, a traditional creasing, folding and sealing configuration.
• a carton can be formed on known form, fill and seal packaging machines (with minimal modification) and using less packaging material than known over-folded bottom arrangements.
• a package having a bottom wall with in-folded gusset tips includes a plurality of, preferably four, upstanding side walls, each side wall contiguous or sealed to its adjacent side walls.
• the package has a sealed top, such as the familiar gable top, and a sealed bottom wall.
• the sealed bottom wall is formed from opposing leading and trailing panels and intermediate, opposing gusset panels.
• the gusset panels are folded inwardly toward one another to form triangular panels.
• the triangular panels are disposed interior of the leading and trailing panels.
• the ends of the gusset panels define triangular tips that are folded away from one another.
• the triangular tips are disposed between the triangular gusset panels and the leading and trailing panels, and the leading panel is sealed over the trailing panel.
• the triangular tips are spaced a predetermined distance from one another.
• a sixth panel is contiguous with the trailing panel.
• the sixth panel is folded rearwardly so as to lie between the leading and trailing panels.
• the sixth panel has a length that is less than the distance between the triangular panel tips.
• a blank for forming the package is also disclosed.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary carton embodying the principles of the present invention
• FIG. 2 is a view of the bottom wall of the carton as viewed from the inside of the carton;
• FIG. 3 is a view of the bottom of the carton as the gusset panels are being folded inward and as the gusset tip is urged outward as in-folding occurs;
• FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;
• FIG. 5 is a further view of the bottom of the carton, similar to
• FIG. 3 showing the gusset panels folded further inward (than FIG. 3) and as the gusset tip further urged or held outward as in-folding occurs;
• FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6—6 of FIG. 5;
• FIG. 7 is a view of the carton bottom with the leading panel removed for clarity of illustration, showing the folded-in gusset tips and the tab panel;
• FIG. 8 is a plan view of a blank for the carton
• FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the tab panel.
• FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the creases on the carton for forming the folded-in gusset tips.
• FIG. 1 An embodiment of the package 10 in accordance with the principles of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1.
• the package 10 can include an optional closure, such as a threaded cap or flip-type cap (not shown).
• the package 10 appears to be a conventional package having a gable top 12, first and second side walls 14, 16, a front wall 18, a rear wall 20, front and rear top panels 22, 24, top infolded or side gable panels 26, 28 and a top fin 30.
• the bottom wall 32 likewise appears as a conventional bottom wall.
• a longitudinal side seal wall 34 (or fifth panel, shown in blank form in FIG. 8) is formed adjacent one of the side walls 16 for sealing to, for example the front wall 18, to form the tubular carton form.
• the bottom wall 32 is formed from in-folded side gusset panels
• the tips 44, 46 of the infolded triangular or gusset panels 36, 38 are folded over or folded in, so that they lie under the triangular panels. That is, the tips 44, 46 are folded over so that they lie between the triangular panels 36, 38 and the leading and trailing bottom panels 40, 42.
• the gusset panels 36, 38 appear to have a truncated triangular shape, thus defining a folded over edge (indicated at 48, 50), rather than leaving a raw or uncoated edge portion within the inside (product storage region) of the carton 10.
• the tips 44, 46 lie within a sealed region and as such are isolated from the product storage region (or wetted region if used for liquid food packaging) of the carton 10.
• the polymer coating on the paperboard softens and melts during the sealing process thus fusing the panels (coatings) to one another.
• a tab or sixth panel 52 is folded over so that the raw or uncoated edge of the trailing panel 42 is also outside of the product storage or wetted region. That is, the uncoated edge is "shifted" from the end of the trailing panel 42 to the end of the tab panel 52 and, because the tab panel is folded over, the uncoated edge (indicated at 54) is thus, like the gusset tips 44, 46, sealed between the triangular panels 36, 38 and the bottom panels 40, 42.
• the sixth panel 52 has a width (as at W52) and a length (as at I 52 ). This configuration results in less material (about 3 percent less than known configurations) which provides a material cost savings.
• a blank 110 for the package 10 is shown in FIG. 8.
• score or crease lines are those areas in the packaging material that facilitate folding the material along a predetermined, desired line.
• the lines are formed by, for example, embossing and the like.
• score line and crease line are to be considered interchangeable.
• a plurality of corresponding bottom panels 32-38 are partitioned from the corresponding or respective front, rear and side panels 14-20 by a lower horizontal score line 114.
• a plurality of lower diagonal score lines 1 16 further define the bottom gusset panels 36, 38 and are for folding purposes.
• the bottom or tab panel 52 (also referred to as the sixth panel) is separated from the trailing panel 42 by a score line 118.
• the diagonal score lines extend fully from the horizontal score line separating the side panels from the bottom panels to the edge of the bottom panels (indicated at 120), and the score lines meet at the edge to form the triangular panels.
• the diagonal score lines 116 terminate at a folding region 122 that includes a rectangular area 124 having smaller triangular areas 126 adjacent to the sides of the rectangular area 124.
• the areas 124, 126 are defined by a first horizontal score line 128 contiguous with a pair of spaced apart vertical score lines 130 (forming an upside-down U).
• the major diagonal score lines 116 terminate at the corners 132 of the U or at the respective junctures of the horizontal and vertical score lines 128, 130.
• each of the bottom gusset panels 36, 38 includes a pair of minor diagonal score lines 134 that extend from the edge 120 of the panel to the respective junctures (corners) 132 of the horizontal and vertical score lines 128, 130 with the major diagonal score lines 116.
• FIGS. 3-6 illustrate the carton bottom 32 as it is being folded.
• the bottom side (gusset) panels 36, 38 are slightly infolded at the triangular portions 36a, 38a, of the panels 36, 38.
• the folding regions 122 are folded or pulled outwardly (see arrow A in FIG. 3) relative to the in-folding of the triangular portions 36a, 38a of the panels 36, 38. This forms the truncation of the gusset panels 36, 38 by folding the tips 44, 46 of the panels 36, 38.
• FIG. 7 illustrates the bottom 32 (exterior) of the carton with portions of the leading and trailing bottom panels 40, 42 cut away to better view the in-folded gusset tips 44, 46 and the optimized sixth panel 52.
• the sixth panel 52 is folded into the folds of the 44, 46.
• the sixth panel 52 has a length I 52 (at the base of the panel 52, at score line 118) that is slightly less than the distance U 44 ⁇ e between the triangular tips of panels 44, 46 (see FIG. 7).
• the angle ⁇ formed by the folding of the tips 44, 46 is less than or preferably about equal to the angle ⁇ formed by the edge 52a of panel 52.
• the panel 52 lies wholly within a "footprint" that is defined by the folded tips 44, 46, and the leading and trailing bottom panels 40, 42. Accordingly, this configuration prevents an excessive number of "layers" of material. It has been found that this configuration provides the necerney area for proper sealing, while minimizing the amount of material needed.
• the top or gable portion 12 of the carton 10 is formed as in a traditional manner.
• the front panel 22 is partitioned from the front wall 18 by an upper horizontal score line 136.
• side top panels 26, 28 are partitioned by the score line 136 from their respective side wall panels 14, 16.
• the rear wall panel 20 corresponds to top panel 24 which is likewise partitioned therefrom by the upper horizontal score line 136.
• the top fin 30 of the package 10 is formed by a plurality of fin panels, indicated generally at 138 in FIG. 8.
• the fin panels 138 are partitioned from their corresponding top panels by horizontal score lines.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Cartons (AREA)
• Control And Other Processes For Unpacking Of Materials (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=36123143

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Families Citing this family (9)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 2005
  • 2005-10-26 US US11/163,657 patent/US7147145B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2005-11-10 ES ES05824932.7T patent/ES2447771T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2005-11-10 WO PCT/US2005/042136 patent/WO2006065457A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2005-11-10 EP EP05824932.7A patent/EP1824744B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2005-11-10 JP JP2007546683A patent/JP4896890B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2005-11-10 DK DK05824932.7T patent/DK1824744T3/en active
  • 2005-11-25 TW TW094141624A patent/TWI279365B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2007
  • 2007-07-04 NO NO20073445A patent/NO338817B1/no not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (6)

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